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Showing posts with the label binge watch

JAWAAN (2023) : review

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And finally the much hyped, much awaited Jawaan saw light of the day ! Big stars, big budget( humongous budget actually), big music composer, everything super large. But does it meet the expectations of the average viewer? No it goes not. Read on.  A decorated jawan locks horns with a criminal called Kaali, this is in 1986 ( the year movies like Aakhri Raasta released, just for reference). Kaali gets him eliminated and send the pregnant wife to jail. The baby born in jail grows up to become the hero (look alike of the father) and decides to avenge the misdeeds done to his innocent patriotic parents. Well, isn’t it a masaaledaar full on Bollywood- Tollywood drama subject ?  And then the director Atlee also borrows ideas and references from various retro movies, some idea from Sholay (1975) as the hero assembled a gang of jailed Qaidis in order to form a team to nab the villain, then there’s an entire episode borrowed from Dhartiputra (1993), and the basic theme is copy pasted ...
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THE ASPIRANTS (2021) review

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Streaming on: YouTube  Directed by: Apoorva Singh Karki  Cast: Naveen Kasturia, Shivankit Singh Parihar, Abhilash Thapliyal, Namita Dubey, Sunny Hinduja, Kuljeet Singh, Nupur Nagpal, and others.  In my case TVF seems to be having an 100% entertainment success rate, never disappoints. If you liked the Kota factory series then this is a must watch , from stereotyping ‘coming of age’ as visiting Goan shores (Dil Chahta Hai) or an expensive kidney sale overseas adventure (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) we get to watch what it actually means to come of age in this series. Friendship, betrayal, companionship, puppy love, ambition, motivation, you’ve got it all rolled into this five episodic ‘intellectually’ satisfying series.  Set in old Rajinder Nager, Delhi the series time travels between the present and the past wherein we get acquainted with three young men ‘well settled’ in their respective jobs of an IAS officer, a business man and a professor. We get flash backed recurr...
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MASABA MASABA (2020) review

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MASABA MASABA (2020)  Directed by : Sonam Nair  Cast: MASABA Gupta, Neil Bhoopalam, Satyadeep Mishra, Neena Gupta, Pooja Bedi, Suchitra Pillai, Tanuj Virwani, Malavika Mohanan, Kiara Advani(Sp.App), Mithila Palkar(Sp.App) and others.  ‘Slice of life’ Yes, ‘Chick flick’ No not exactly. This six episodic Web-series is a fictional account of the day to day lifestyle of fashion designer and celebrity stylist MASABA Gupta. In a span of just about a decade she’s got a brand label in her name and has designed for celebrities like Kareena Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor.  The series follows the situational comical outcomes of MASABA’s daily life hacks, her social media addiction, dealing with a separation, a fashion show fiasco, tussle with her mother and many more. Thankfully it’s not an over the top account, there are occasional potholes but considering the duration it’s quite a smooth journey.  MASABA has a natural flair for acting, not sure if this is her debut, but she’s q...
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(Temporary Backup) Raktanchal (2020) review

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Raktanchal (2020)  Director- Ritam Shrivastava  Cast- Nikiten Dheer, KrantiPrakash Jha, Chittaranjan Tripathy, Soundarya, Vikram Kochhar, Daya Shanker Panday, Krishna Bisht, Ronjini Chakraborty, Basu Soni, Pramod Pathak, Rajesh Dubey.  Right from the onset we can guess the inspiration for this gangwar webseries, it has to be the cult classic Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), high on violence, replete with choicest Hindi expletives it’s also got a good storyline.  Set in UP, the basic plot centres around two warring gangs, one led by the egoistic cold blooded Waseem Khan(Dheer) and the other by a simpleton turned gangster Vijay Singh(Jha), their mutual hatred for each other multiplies the dead body count where the two try outdoing each other notwithstanding innocent lives getting butchered in the bargain.  Direction is first rate, Shrivastava stays clear of making it another Mirzapur(2018) but the overdose of foul language and graphic violence could’ve been toned a bit...
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BETAAL (2020) review

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BETAAL (2020)  Directed by: Patrick Graham and Nikhil Mahajan  Cast: Vineet Kumar, Ahana Kumra, Jitendra Joshi, Jatin Goswami, Suchitra Pillai, Siddharth Menon, Manjiri, Ankur Vikal, Pawan Singh, Akhilesh Unnithan, Ratan Nag, Baby Syna, Savita Bajaj, Meenal Kapoor and Richard Dillane.  Picture this- one fine day, or preferably at night you discover that your immediate boss has turned into a bloodthirsty zombie, how would you react? The lead actor faces this uncomfortably dangerous situation in this horror webseries.  A special squad is assigned inorder to evacuate a village, unknowingly they end up reactivating a battalion of British zombies who ruled that location centuries ago. Thereafter begins a blood soaked violent battle between the living and the dead, with survival of the fittest.  The director is known for his earlier horror attempt Ghoul(2018) which didn’t quite cut the ice with viewers, with Betaal he tries mixing age old Indian myth with a contempora...
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पाताल लोक (2020) review

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पाताल लोक (2020)  Directed by: Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy  Cast: Jaideep Ahlawat, Neeraj Kabi, Ishwak Singh, Gul Panag, Jagjeet Sandhu, Aasif Khan, Bodhisattva Sharma, Swastika Mukherjee, Aakash Khurana, Vipin Sharma, Loveleen Mishra, Maerambam R Singh, Rajesh Sharma, & Abhishek Banerjee. Dark, gripping, thrilling and expectedly disturbing, that’s what Paatal Lok is all about. Right at the outset the protagonist played by Jaideep Ahlawat as a righteous cop explains to his subordinate about the three Loks humankind belong to viz; Swarg Lok inhabited by God, Dharti Lok by common men and the dreaded Paatal Lok for which the viewers have to take a ride through the nine chilling episodes to get acquainted with the rotten reality of our mere existence in a hollow world.  The plot centres around a failed assassination on a leftist liberal media personality, the attempt thwarted by the cops get the four assassins arrested. The cop assigned the case starts investigating and ...
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KASHISH (1991) - revisited

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KASHISH(1990) - revisited YouTube is generously retelecasting retro Doordarshan serials and one such classic is the fresh as a morning daisy Kashish (1991), almost thirty years and still so watchable and heart warming.  Directed by Kaamna Chandra it’s a simple love story actually a love hate story between an eccentric film maker (Sudesh Berry) and his heroine(Malvika Tiwari). With just eight episodes it deals with their bittersweet relationship, egos, unspoken romance and must say the director has handled it with so much tenderness and simplicity. There’s also a lovely ghazal sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy.  Nothing over the top, no sex no violence, yes there is a prospective Saas and her to be Bahu but they are so normal almost unbelievable in today’s context of tv serials! Berry no doubt had an visible Amitabh hangover but he looked dashing and fit that Mills and Boon hero slot in this romance. Malavika looked like a dainty, petite blooming flower, that husky sexy voice and s...
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