Mini Review : Special Ops (Hotstar) and Panchayat (AmazonPrime)

Special Ops
Creator : Neeraj Pandey
Directed by : 

Neeraj Pandey (5 episodes, 2020), Shivam Nair (4 episodes, 2020)

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11854694/

Hamari agency mein hum kahaani aur misaal.. dono bahut accha banate hai. 

Spoilers ahead .. 

Himmat Singh (Kay Kay Menon) from RAW has been in search of the mastermind terrorist Ikhlaq Khan behind the 2001 Parliament attacks for about 19 years now. He has placed some of his agents throughout the world and has a feeling that he is getting closer and closer to catching Ikhlaq, a name many believe is just a theory and not real. Kay Kay Menon whether he plays the on-field agent in the backstory or how he handles his agents in present day situation, he is just spectacular in his performance, even engaging in the scenes that are dull or stretching to limits. And Vinay Pathak in supporting role is effective too. Same goes for Sajjad Delafrooz who plays Hafiz Ali to perfection, though it would give a dejavu of his character from Tiger Zinda Hai, just a bit. There are times when I did think Hafiz is Ikhlaq only but they did play out the narrative around him well enough to keep you guessing till late end. What spoils the series is the 'finance' interrogation that two guys do with Himmat which is used as narration to introduce the backstory to us. For me it was tiring to watch it, despite having share of laughs in between, the director could easily had used either voiceover of Himmat or some other way of narrating the past 19 years. And it doesn't help with none of the agents getting a decent backstory to get more involved with their enthusiasm to give their life for this secret mission. Karan Tacker was very inconsistent for me playing the role of Farooq Ali, somewhat miscasted, could easily had been better if his role was swapped with Vipul Gupta, who played Bala and had much lesser screentime but felt was a much better actor. Also, Sonya (Sana Khaan) track was pretty boring for me.  I like how various real events like Parliament Attack, 26/11,  mention of Osama, Srinagar Attack etc are used and its executed in a believable way so it doesn't really matter if they have fictionalised certain things in the entire show. The finale was a major let-down, expected better way of catching Ikhlaq Khan, was funny that his guys took so much time to reveal Farooq's real identity. And what happened to that insane guy at the function, when entire focus is just on Sadia Qureshi (Divya Dutta) who gives message of 'people who are hurt and get brainwashed could still find a way of doing the right thing in the end rather than more destruction'. Pretty good series despite all the problems I had, pretty much like FamilyMan, this is a series dominated by one actor, which is Kay Kay Menon in this case.

My Rating : 7/10



Panchayat
Creator : TVF
Directed by : Deepak Kumar Mishra (8 episodes, 2020)
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12004706/

Swades ka 'Mohan Bhargav' banne ka mauka mil raha hai tujhe.. 

A story about engineering graduate Abhishek (Jitendra Kumar) who joins Phulera village of Uttar Pradesh as Secretary/Gram Sachiv of a Panchayat Office. We get to see the journey of Abhishek who finds the place difficult to live and wants to pass CAT exam to get better salary job in some city As his friend in starting scene says to him 'Swades ka Mohan Bhargav banne ka mauka mil raha hai', its fun watching how most of times Abhishek struggles adjusting in this different kind of lifestyle he hadn't been to before or so it seems by the looks of it. Been myself pretty much like that, and the fact that its a short series with episodes mostly lasting 25-30 mins, its fun to watch with the mood mostly light and comical throughout. 'Chakke Wali Kursi' and 'Computer Nahi Monitor' were my favorite episodes, some episodes do go slow but I still ended up liking most of them. That scene where the person tells he mistakenly stole monitor thinking it was TV is hilarious and so is the conversation between Abhishek and Vikas/GramSahayak (Chandan Roy) when they go at the haunted tree in the night. The political angle isn't explored too much which is good. Love how the bonding develops between Abhishek and Brij Bhushan Dubey/Pradhan Pati (Raghuvir Yadav). Performances wise, enjoyed everyone, Raghuvir Yadav, Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta, but the pick of the series was Chandan Roy for me, he made me laugh many times and looked so effortless in his act. Would love to see another similar kind of short fun season.

Rating : 7/10

Mini Review : Repulsion and Contagion

Repulsion
Directed by : Roman Polanski
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059646/

We must get this crack mended.

Carol Ledoux (Catherine Deneuve), a manicurist at a beauty salon lives a strange kind of life. She hardly talks especially feels uncomfortable when a guy approaches her and even at work many times is lost in her own thoughts. She lives with her sister, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) sharing same apartment and often is seen getting irritated by Helen's boyfriend Michael (Ian Hendry) who often stays the night invading her personal space. Then, there's this guy Collin (John Fraser), always chasing Carol seeking a date and much more from her. None of them are aware what actually Carol is going through, the kind of fear and hallucinations she has that is only getting worse. This is my first Roman Polanski film, and to be honest the experience wasn't great. I expected a lot better film, and I know some believe its a masterpiece but I felt Carol's character was under-written to really care about and it doesn't help that the guys she murders were kind of creepy or atleast you can't call them good guys. There's no background shown except for the final shot of her picture when she was young which either means someone from her family did something bad or she was like that even then. There's some long tiring scenes of Carol, either walking on road, or at the apartment roaming from one room to other. I don't mind sitting through a slow pace first half but it has to lead to something interesting. Yes there are some great scenes, the one where Carol hears footsteps and is scared to death or the guys who try to rape her which was ofcourse the hallucinations she was going through. Even the landlord scene is directed very well, as a viewer you know his fate quite early. Catherine Deneuve act is pretty good. But it didn't have the kind of impact say someone like Norman Bates in Pyscho had on me. Polanski could had easily done more on the madness angle either through backstory or maybe show how Carol went with a guy who wasn't trying to just get in bed with her. Repulsion got some admirable shot sequences and very good cinematography, but not enough to make me watch the movie again...

My Rating : 4/10



Contagion
Directed by : Steven Soderbergh
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/

Somewhere in the world, the wrong pig met up with the wrong bat.

Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) is at Airport, returning home from a business trip but you can sense she is ill, maybe just some flu. She dies after back home, and so does her son on the very same day leaving the husband Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon) clueless. We slowly see more people dying due to illness before it is learned that some kind of virus has spread and is the reason behind this. Director Steven Soderbergh from the very first scene lets the camera pan to the things Beth is touching or eating, even the credit card she gives to get tickets. He does same with infected people touching door knob or such things which matters, as that will pass on to non-infected people. We get to see the struggle of common people, the chaos that happens when situation goes out of control, the constant effort of doctors and CDC trying to find a cure, and also some idiots among public or the system like a journalist trying to make money out of the pandemic. Basically Soderbergh touches almost everything one would notice happening in such times, how Mitch's daughter feels irritated that she can't see her boyfriend anymore or go out of house, or the urge of a particular community that wants to be ahead of the line when the vaccine arrives. I don't know how it would have felt watching Contagion in 2011, but in 2020 when the Covid thing is going on, its very relatable, you feel like slapping that chef in final scene who was irresponsible to have not washed hands before coming out to take selfie with Beth. I felt Contagion could had gone more complex or explored the political angle but I am assuming Soderbergh probably wanted to keep it a bit simple giving us insight of how different humans react in such disaster.

My Rating : 6/10

Mini Review : The Platform (Netflix) and Asur : Welcome to Your Dark Side (Voot)

The Platform
Directed by : Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8228288/

On those high levels you can eat anything you want, but you don't have anything to wait for. Your mind runs wild. 

Spoilers ahead... 

Goreng (Ivan Massague) joins a vertical prison on his own choice for 6 months, wanting to quit smoking. The prison has one cell per level, and every cell contains 2 people. Daily a platform of food passes by each level, with roughly 2 mins per day they get to eat. At end of every month, surviving people of every cell gets shifted to a new level. Its a surviving test specially with the ratio of food getting reduced if you get a 100 or plus level. Movie starts off on interesting note as the adminstrator is checking all the great looking dishes if they have been cooked perfectly. And then we are cut to Goreng waking up on the Level 48 as like him we get to hear the shock of the place this is. Slowly by slowly we learn as does Goreng, that you can't be stubborn and despite knowing the food is leftovers from above 47 level people, you just gotta eat to survive or you can just end your life with suicide as some others do by jumping down the hole. The conversation between Goreng and Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor) is hilarious that includes 'obvio' for more than 20 times.

There's some gore that's hard to watch where survivors in higher levels have to eat human flesh. Basic message of movie is clearly how humans don't know to adapt and get greedy, when they could have just eaten properly and let food stay eatable and available for the rest levels like the lady that Goreng gets as new partner in cell tries to but struggles. You can view the movie more like a system vs common man or upper class vs lower class, just like Trimagasi says earlier 'Don't speak to the people below because they are down below, and the above people won't answer you'. While Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay) who goes down the hole once every month to feed her little girl can be seen as a person who tries to exploit the system successfully but eventually dies. Similarly, Goreng and his partner at Level 6, Baharat (Emilio Buale) fail when they think stopping people upto Level 50 is the way to get the food till last Level. As far as I can gather, the message wasn't the pannacotta or even the girl, rather it was just eat what you told was your favorite food when you were interviewed before been admitted into the hole. The girl clearly had 'pannacotta' as her favourite food which is why the cell doesn't get too hot or too cold when the food is kept even after the platform goes down. The ending is open, hard to say what happens when the girl reached Level0, maybe nothing, thats how humans are, they never learn and thereby the chaos may continue. Quite a thoughtful and interesting movie, and love that background theme, except for the gore sequences its a movie that I totally enjoyed.

My Rating : 8/10



Asur : Welcome to Your Dark Side
Creator : Gaurav Shukla
Directed by : Oni Sen (8 episodes, 2020)

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11912196/

Kya tumhe abhi bhi lagta hai ki duniya mein achaayi hai? 

A psychopath Shubh Joshi (Vishesh Bansal) believes in Hindu Mythology while he kills randomly, cuts one hands index finger and leaves no clues about his pattern. Dhananjay Rajput (Arshad Warsi) and Nikhil Nair (Barun Sobti), are working as CBI officers on the case, eager to find the common link if any among all the killings and stop the next death from happening. I think first 15-20 mins of 1st episode was the only time I felt not interested in this series, after that its damn good watching the tussle while the real Shubh Joshi aint revealed. Twists are pretty convincing and so are the first scene of every episode that sets the mood up. Love the use of pure shuddh hindi by the antagonist.

I personally felt Rasool Shaikh (Amey Wagh) was Shubh Joshi which the director clearly wants us to believe too with the final ending scene, but digging up some online comments by other people, their theory seems more likely to be true that we actually haven't seen real Shubh yet and all we saw were 3 male and 1 female followers of Shubh. Amey actually reminded me of Riteish Deshmukh a lot, looks and dialogue delivery wise both. Arshad Warsi is superb, while Barun Sobti dialogues at some places were hard to understand, else he was good too. Liked Riddhi Dogra too, and keen to see if at all there's any surprise in store with her character. Anupriya Goenka who plays wife of Nikhil, was quite irritating character until she starts to help out Dhananjay. Sharib Hashmi great as always, kinda of making his name in these kind of roles now and its a pity that they had to kill him off. The tone does remind of Joker from The Dark Knight, especially that Dhananjay and one of Shubh follower scene where he has to know the location to save people, and even the philosophies of Shubh match to certain extent, a person who just wants to watch the world burn. Would love more of Shubh past shown in 2nd season as Vishesh Bansal (he is too good as young Shubh) and ofcourse reveal him out by the end of season. Except for some very minor issues, I thoroughly enjoyed the 1st season, and totally adore that background theme, very catchy and maybe inspired from Baahubali. Hoping 2nd season lives upto the expectations.

My Rating : 8/10 

Mini Review : Guilty (Netflix) and She (Netflix)

Guilty
Directed by : Ruchi Narain
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10062614/

Yeh kiska khawaab hai, khayaal hai.. main kiski kharaabi, main hoon. 

Nanki Dutta (Kiara Advani) is on the lookout for truth about the accusation of rape made on her boyfriend Vijay Pratap Singh (Gurfateh Pirzada) by a fellow college student Tanu Kumar (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor). Felt like a very amatureish movie for most part that tries to use MeToo angle in a suspense manner without much success. And at places reminded a lot of 13ReasonsWhy which only makes the matters worse for Guilty. There were numerous occasions when I was feeling engaged in a conversation like the interrogation scenes and then either a character would say something very stupid or the scene would totally shift to a different tone for no reason.  The courtroom drama never comes either. And then the stupid climax that tries to manipulate in a long monologue, its like they had a good idea in hand even if not fully original and when it came to execution it just fell totally flat.  Even the music is so average, 'Rehne Do Na' and 'Likhi Meri' are only songs that felt decent. One thing I don't get is why the cliche of 'Neta ka beta so powerful' be used again and again to tell a story about sexual assault, its one of very safest approach of storytelling in my opinion. I did like the performances of leads, specially Kiara and Gurfateh. Even the rest cast acting was spot on, just letdown badly by the writing team. Manu Rishi Chaddha is pretty much wasted. Its a watchable movie and that too if I try to be bit lenient which I don't wish to for the rating.

My Rating : 3.5/10



She
Creator : Imtiaz Ali
Directed by : Arif Ali and Avinash Dash (7 episodes, 2020)
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11905720/

Tum karo.. jo tumko theek lage. 

Spoilers ahead.. 

A police constable from Mumbai, Bhumika Pardeshi (Aditi Sudhir Pohankar) is asked (more of an order) for an undercover assignment where she has to go as a prostitute and try to get information about a drug ring and the future plans they got. Even though the plot is about catching the drug mafia that are trying to expand work in Mumbai, the actual focus is on Bhumika who discovers her sexual side having been told as a 'cold girl' by her husband. The reason behind that is told in last episode with her been through some incident as schoolgirl though its not totally revealed yet. There's this lovely scene where she tries to seduce Sasya (Vijay Varma) and almost appearing like for a moment she did forget she was a cop. Or the final sequence where she offers deal to Nayak (Kishore Kumar G.). Would need next season to be certain if that was just to save her life or she has indeed turned into a monster as the Anti-Narcotics guy, Jason Fernandez (Vishwas Kini) fears has happened. If you view the series from the point of view of Bhumika's transformation then it would work for most of the time. Aditi Sudhir Pohankar delivers quite a good performance minus the dialogue delivery that at times I didn't find perfect. But if you see the series as a cop vs bad guy catching thriller then its very underwhelming. It does work till Sasya's interrogation scenes, with Vijay Varma in great form again, but the moment focus goes to Nayak and the scenes of Nayak derails the narrative. I lost interest in that part of story and was only keen to see where the character of Bhumika will lead to next more than what plans Nayak got. Some cliches like showing montages of Bhumika training could had been ignored, and Vishwas Kini was probably the only weak link in acting.A decent series that has scope to get better in next season.

My Rating : 5.5/10 

Mini Review : Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan and Bhoot Part One - The Haunted Ship

Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhaan
Directed by : Hitesh Kewalya
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10309906/

My sexuality is my sexuality.. None of your sexuality. 

Kartik Singh (Ayushmann Khurrana) and Aman Tripathi (Jitendra Kumar) are in love with each other but when Aman's parents comes to know the reality of their son been a gay, they decide to get him married to a girl. It's Hitesh Kewalya's directorial debut and he does succeed in keeping the typical stereotypes away, almost to extent that there's scenes like Aman riding bike with Kartik behind like open lovers which in Indian cinema is new specially with the new law out just some years back regarding gay love no longer treated as criminal act. If only Hitesh had more of these kind of scenes rather the focus goes to the ongoing marriage of Aman's cousin sister where Goggle Tripathi (Maanvi Gagroo) is hilarious in a scene where she is taking the '7 phere' on her own with husband gone away cancelling marriage. Even Goggle's dad, Chaman Tripathi (Manu Rishi Chadha) gives some fun lighthearted sequences, but all this comes at the expense of Aman-Kartik relationship that just gets lost around. The plot of Kusum (Pankhuri Awasthy) was totally unwanted, and even the 'Kaali Gobhi' scientist angle could had been done away with. Ayushmann Khurrana is better than he was in Bala, it helps that he isn't really the main character here, at places he does ham, I liked the scene where he tries to give Aman a long lecture. In a way Ayushmann plays Raj from DDLJ, we even get the scene when Aman's dad says to Aman 'Jaa simran, jee le apni zindagi'. All this is fun but keeping the comic tone throughtout doesn't help in the serious scenes when Aman's parents (played well again by the last hit pair Gajrao Rao and Neena Gupta) try to show the typical 'what will society say'. They both get scenes that misses the point due to the tone of movie, where they complain that they can't accept the sudden change so quickly. Jitendra Kumar to me is best part of the movie, Bhumi Pednekar has a forgettable special appearance, thank god for that. Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan failed to entertain me enough, and then it never really brings out the gay relationship like I would have preferred, and I am seriously tired of 'DDLJ' train sequences used as spoofs, can you please get past it!

My Rating : 5/10 

Bhoot Part One - The Haunted Ship 
Directed by : Bhanu Pratap Singh
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10463030/

Koi hai.. 

An abandoned ship called Sea Bird is found at the shores of Mumbai with no crew around. Prithvi (Vicky Kaushal) is given the job of getting it off the ground but he slowly explores the ship and learns about various haunting stories about the Sea Bird which he himself starts experiencing. The best scene is when Prithvi with torch in hand tries to inspect the deck, unfortunately we had seen that already in the teaser. It only gets repetitive after that, and also silly. Bhumi Pednekar is yet again in a special appearance that co-incidentally runs away from home to marry Prithvi, just like she does in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. Also, another directorial debut, Bhanu Pratap Singh uses the shots of outside the ship well in narration (credit to the cinematographer) but the inside scenes gets repetitive after a while, the jump scares just keep coming and at the end when real story is revealed it only makes you groan in anger. We get a unintentional comedy scene with Professor Joshi (Ashutosh Rana) reciting mantras like he was a regular at 'bhoot bhagao' ritual, or wait maybe he is, as he did exact same thing in Raaz many many years back. On serious note, the death of Prithvi's wife and daughter, that trauma is so under-utilised to carry the movie forward. Something film like Talaash did really well. Vicky Kaushal performance is good enough to sit through this lazy writeup and being a Part1, you can only wonder if they can improve or give similar product in Part2 also.

My Rating : 4/10 

Mini Review : You (Season2) (Netflix) and Narcos Mexico (Season2) (Netflix)

You (Season 2)
Creators : Sera Gamble, Greg Berlanti
Directed by : 

Silver Tree (3 episodes, 2019)

DeMane Davis/Harry Jierjian/Shannon Kohli/Meera Menon/Cherie Nowlan/John Scott/Kevin Rodney Sullivan (1 episode each, 2019)

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7335184/

So Karma and I, we are in a fight. Some people, they get what they deserve. Some people don't. 

Spoilers ahead .. 

Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) goes to LA wanting to start a new life but the past always finds you as Candace Stone (Ambyr Childers) seeks revenge. The moment Joe sees Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), he falls in love again and promises himself unlike Beck this one he will make sure works and he won't hurt her. But things expectedly turn haywire with some surprising revelations.

Dear 'You', I Wolf You. Another great season! Penn Badgley plays Joe Goldberg to perfection yet again with that brilliant narrative style, but what catches my eye and I was hoping it would, is Victoria Pedretti.. she is just spectacular! I had the same 'What The Fuck!' expression like Joe, when Love reveals her true side. That was a 'tables turned around' moment done in a super manner like watching a female Joe all of a sudden! And I have loved Victoria previously too in 'The Haunting of Hill House'.

Weak point was Candace, somehow her scenes didn't interest me much and constantly keeping her away doesn't help either. I was actually quite happy to see her die. Leaving asides some of middle episodes, it was another good season to enjoy.

Also was fun to watch Joe with a different perspective, having an idea how he would be acting in similar situations he did in the 1st season, also good to see them show his childhood sequences. I have to say I again ended up rooting for him despite him been a very messed up guy. Love's friends portion weren't fun to watch like it was with Beck's friends in 1st season, but thats then covered with plot of Delilah (Carmela Zumbado) and Ellie (Jenna Ortega).

The final scene I am not sure if its really what Season3 will go to or its just trying to mislead to that. Looking forward to it! In next season I would like lots of new challenges Joe faces including maybe going to prison.. hopefully not killed off as I want this series to go few more seasons!

My Rating : 7.5/10



Narcos Mexico (Season 2)
Creators : Carlo Bernard, Chris Brancato, Doug Miro
Directed by : 

Andres Baiz/Amat Escalante (4 episodes each, 2020)

Marcela Said (2 episodes, 2020)

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8714904/

You know,, it takes someone special to abandon everyone and still find a reason to blame them. You fucked over anyone who cared about you. Now bad things are happening to you. Because you are a bad guy. 

Spoilers ahead.. 


I liked Season1 but it was nothing in comparison to the Escobar and Cali seasons. Same is the case with Season2 of NarcosMexico.

The plot is about how Felix (Diego Luna) tries to keep the government support while he manages different plazas to work together and then there's Walt Breslin (Scoot McNairy) who seeks revenge for the death of their agent Kiki Camerana.

Initial 3-4 episodes just meanders along, not much is happening apart from Walt's Operation Leyanda where they keep trying to come a step closer to Felix. If you are patient enough then the show gets interesting post 5th episode, even though the pace is still slow only. It was still fun to watch Felix empire crumbling with all the plaza owners not really co-operating as he would had liked. Also how  Felix struggles and always fears death is around the corner, that plane sequence was hilarious when he refuses to go inside for the talk. He certainly ain't a character to love (which even Escobar, Cali guys shouldn't be either), but lets just put it this way that he was lot less human with the decisions he made than those other guys we have seen in previous seasons, like Maria (Fernanda Urrejola) perfectly describes him as a selfish person who never cares about his friends, partners or family.

Walt Breslin who narrated Season1, continues the good work here, episode by episode coming closer to catch Felix. Amado (Jose Maria Yazpik) is one character thats hard to read, thereby you can't easily predict which way he's gonna go in the 9th episode (my most favorite one), and chances are he might be the one on whom next season would be built on. Or it could be mix of Chapo (Alejandro Edda) with him who also gets enough screen-time this time around, liked that tunnel sequence or when he tells Felix to let Hector Palma (Gorka Lasaosa) return back to the federation.

Pacho (Alberto Ammann) scenes with Felix are probably the best part of this season, first the initial episode scene when Pacho rejects Felix change of deal offer reminding killing Kiki Camarana was his mistake. Then the best of all, when Felix goes to Panama with a deal in his head thinking he will rule over Columbians and Pacho does the quite opposite leaving Felix speechless. And then the last where for once Pacho isn't the one calling shots as Felix gets the edge but as viewer you quite well know that its just a moment he got, the actions he did to have this will bite him badly.

Acosta (Gerardo Taracena) was another interesting character, specially the conversations he has with Amado, his girlfriend or Walt. However, sub-plot involving Acosta and the guy who is after him was kinda of dull.

Love the ending scene with Felix giving a detail of how the plazas would work and where it would end in a war one day. And when he says 'You will miss me', I have to admit despite him been such a bad person, I will still be missing him in future seasons. Season2 may not work for most, but if you enjoy watching Felix then like me you won't get bored despite the adrenaline rush missing in this entire Mexico series.

My Rating : 6.5/10

Mini Review : Ghost Stories (Netflix)

Directed by : Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10230404/


After Bombay Talkies and Lust Stories, talented directors, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar return with new short stories (roughly 35 minutes each), this time taking on the horror genre.


Zoya Akhtar

Darwaaze pe koi hai.. 

Sameera (Jhanvi Kapoor), a nurse, arrives at a mansion to look after a old lady Mrs Malik (Surekha Sikri) who is suffering from many diseases and whose son was supposed to be there over weekend but there is no sight of him. Meanwhile, Sameera is looking forward to meet Guddu (Vijay Varma) later at the house, who is having affair with her despite been a married guy. Both the plots have a common theme which is 'waiting' and we get a key scene where Mrs Malik tells Sameera that if she had her life she won't wait for Guddu. Unfortunately the horror reveal raises too many questions, like how the readings hold up when it was ghost of Mrs Malik all the time even if for a moment you accept that the point is the ghost might just change the life of Sameera planting the seed of Guddu ain't worth it. The horror elements are mostly regular, starting with scene where Sameera is sitting alone on bench with background of gloomy weather and tree with no leaves and crows all around cleverly not showing it was just dull opposite side of a regular busy Mumbai road. While at house its the noises coming at night, door opening and others. Performances of both Jhanvi and Surekha Sikri is spot on. Vijay Varma is pretty much wasted. Watchable, but the premise and rainy Mumbai backdrop deserved better, you just miss the thrills.


Anurag Kashyap


Maasi ab sirf ansh ko pyaar karegi.. 

Neha (Sobhita Dhulipala) is pregnant again, after having lost her child last time. She has a nephew Ansh (Zachary Braz) who isn't quite happy that there would be someone else too coming in future, feeling possessive to have the love her maasi gives him get split. This short is easily most wierd of all which is expected been Kashyap as director. From what I could understand, Neha had seen how her sister was scolded by their mom for bringing a crow's egg and warning one day someone would take away her child too which happens with Neha (not her sister). And then there's supernatural powers Ansh has got, maybe he is some kind of Satan child, who wants the unborn child dead as seen from the drawing and worm scenes. The unstable mental side of Neha is shown many times through the scenes she spends in the attic, one of it was very tough to see where she sees the big creature like crow in mirror and then thinks she herself got wings and begins scratching her skin. Wonderful performance by Sobhia Dhulipala. Its again a watchable short, maybe Kashyap goes too much into visual metaphor scenarios, might have worked better keeping it simple.


Dibakar Banerjee


Jo khaate hai, unko woh nahi khaate ..

A visitor (Sukant Goel) arrives on a job at Smalltown having been dropped 4 kms before the village by the autorickshaw guy. But as he reaches the place, he finds mysterious wierd things happening in town, people are acting like zombies and eating humans with only 2 children left alive, one boy (Aditya Shetty) and another girl (Eva Ameet Pardeshi). Interestingly, not a single character in this short has a name to be called with. Its basically a social commentary on the system prevailing between powerful and non powerful, its upto you whether you take it politically or society or any religious manner. As the boy says 'don't move' equals don't raise voice against the powerful people or the mention of 'jo khaate hai, unko woh nahi khaate' leading to if you do as the corrupted people ask you to then they won't trouble you at all. There's lot of metaphors Dibakar uses, to such a extent that he shows zombies in different manner, there's actually a leader among Zombie who can even think. Now some may not like this aspect and call it bullshit or kuch bhi, I felt as a nightmare with the zombies angle not real, this was very well done by the writing team. And then the final scene, where the visitor is been feeded food giving the hint he is joining the wrong people side and the good days for the BigTown will continue. Easily the best short of the film, Dibakar is in tremendous form, except for that gore scene of guy eating flesh there was nothing to dislike.


Karan Johar


All I needed to hear was 'Goodnight Granny'...

Ira (Mrunal Thakur) meets Dhruv (Avinash Tiwar) as their families are going through the formalities of their arranged marriage. But Ira finds Dhruv has a certain attachment to his granny even after her death. She feels all will be fine after marriage, but has no idea it was only going to get worse. Firstly, what I don't get is, if they got 4 months before getting married as told in story, didn't they meet enough to notice how creepy Dhruv was whenever talk came about granny. Even if I ignore that flaw, the point of story is so childish, there's a granny who wants to hear 'GoodNight' daily from Dhruv or play peekaboo. There's the scene where Ira just abuses numerous times using 'fuck' word to granny, and that was the only likeable scene for me, because I felt as frustrated with this short as she felt for a unseen granny who gets so much attention in house. Was excited to see Avinash Tiwari post Laila Majnu brilliance, but it was a disappointment to see him in this role.  There was almost no jump scare scenes in previous 3 shorts, but you get numerous ones in here. Clearly, Karan Johar has to learn or not do another horror genre in future, specially if he's still gonna stick to the weddings and rich families here too.


So, there was Dibakar's short story that totally stood out, while Karan Johar's one was cringeworthy to the fullest that leaves a bad taste since its the last short. Zoya and Anurag stories had potential but just lacked the 'wow' factor. The one likeable aspect atleast of the 1st three stories is that you aren't forced to watch those crap looking ghosts/aatma, rather the ghosts in these stories is the situation or the kind of life you had in past. So, if you are looking for horror in literal sense then you would be disappointed, otherwise you can give it a chance.

My Rating : 5/10 

Mini Review : The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix)

Creator : Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Directed by : 

Rob Seidenglanz (9 episodes, 2018-2020)

Alex Pillai (3 episodes, 2019-2020)

Craig William Macneil/Viet Nguyen (2 episodes each, 2018-2020)

Maggie Kiley/Lee Toland Krieger (2 episodes each, 2018)

Michael Goi/Antonio Negret (2 episodes each, 2019-2020)

Kevin Rodney Sullivan (2 episodes, 2019)

Rachel Talalay/Jeff Woolnough (1 episode each, 2018)

Alex Garcia Lopez/Salli Richardson-Whitfield (1 episode each, 2019)

Roxanne Benjamin (1 episode, 2020)

Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7569592/

Wait.. so Hell is a beach ? 

1st Season

Was a very upside down season, many times Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) gets to my nerves because of the story often going 'shall she shift more towards her witch powers or be more mortal'. But the unique things they show at the Witch academy of unseen arts, all those adventures makes it a worth to sit through all episodes. However, its still one of my least liked series.





2nd Season

After having signed the book, Sabrina now has more interest in the Witch world to an extent she wants to participate in election of new Top Guy at the academy and point out why a girl can't be elected with her eyes set as far as been the next High Preistess, which ofcourse, Father Faustus Blackwood (Richard Coyle) doesn't like. The story goes further on what new tasks Dark Lord/Lucifer Morningstar (Luke Cook) has in mind and in what way Lilith/Miss Wardwell (Michelle Gomez) continues to help him in this regards.

In many ways I found this season far better, though it has many

problems too. What really works is Miss Wardwell character, she was irritating to watch in 1st season as we just saw her always plotting things against Sabrina. This time she gets bit human, showing feelings towards a mortal and trying to go against Dark Lord, all of which makes for a very good watch. Same goes for Zelda Spellman (Miranda Otto) who was too Blackwood/Dark Lord pro in 1st season, but here we see her more supportive towards Sabrina. I didn't like Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch) and Rosalind Walker (Jaz Sinclair) as couple, just seems something off or maybe thats how the writers want it to be. Also, Theo Putnam (Lachlan Watson) character gets very less character build then what I was expecting.

Then there's Prudence Night (Tati Gabrielle) who I feel takes too long to differentiate between right and wrong, I just hope she chooses better in 3rd season. The 'horrors of Doctor

Cerberus house' episode was very lovely change from the narrative, even if it was very clear from the start that its Miss Wardwell pretending to be tarot reader. The execution could had been better though. What disppointed me most was last episode, how they tackled Dark Lord with very little difficulty, even if its temporary yet I was wanting lot more struggle than a simple conjuring ritual. I liked the uncanny resemblance Dark Lord (in his heaven avatar) has with Nick, which makes the decision to let his body be used for conjuring a good decision. Despite some of the sillyness this series has still present, I would still rate this season better.


3rd Season

Sabrina goes on the quest to get her boyfriend Nick back from the Hell (a silly move if you ask me, atleast not the way she tries). Her mortal friends help her out and then there's the rebuilding of the 'Academy of Unseen Arts' to be done but with a hiccup that the witches are losing their energy, the

reason been they went againt the Dark Lord. This season was a complete downer for me mainly because of 2 characters, Nick and Caliban (Sam Corlett). Nick's character grows too annoying, I for

one never liked him from Season1 but it would had been nice had they not turned it to 'lets breakup' and rather get more involved in helping Sabrina fight the mess she has got in with the arrival of Pagans witches, Blackwood out on loose and Dark Lord escaping. And if thats not enough, a repeat of 'Top Guy' kind challenge happens, this time for the throne of Hell, between Caliban and Sabrina, my question is, was that needed at a time when there's already a lot to deal with on Earth. With Caliban playing a wannabe 'Prince of Hell' doesn't help.

Mary Wardwell (teacher) killing Aunt Zelda was a bit too much a direct step with no buildup, and also why would Aunt Hilda not take help from Sabrina or her family when she knew she has got a bad spell casted on her by the pagan witch. Also, what the fuck were those musical numbers used in some of the episodes. Blackwood who I dont like much, was only one character thats written much better and also well acted, and the ending scene suggests he may have a large role in next season.  The 'time travel' used was interesting but keeping two Sabrina, one at Earth and other at Hell, looked more like desperate writing to work on for next season, I don't think they would benefit much from it but will still wait to see what they do with it and how long they will let Lilith or Dark Lord not know about it.  There wasn't a single episode that I could say I enjoyed fully, it was always bits and pieces which is how a series season shouldn't be. Hoping Season4 turns it around, want Dark Lord play more active part and also I would like Quentin to be involved in big ways after having been fully omitted in this season. There's enough hints at Harvey-Sabrina reuniting at many times, so wonder if that would happen. And Prudence for once didn't play dumb, hope it continues that way. And I got no idea where they will take Nick next. Forgettable season, lets see how next one goes.

Still a average series, with the 2nd season been the best of all.


My Rating : 5.5/10

Mini Review : Malang and Love Aaj Kal (2020)

Malang
Directed by : Mohit Suri
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9877170/

To live life from one high to another, Mazza chahiye, Sukoon nahi. 

Spoilers ahead .. 


Advait (Aditya Roy Kapoor) visits Goa and meets Sarah (Disha Patani), a free spirited girl and starts spending time together eventually falling in love. Everything is going fine until a incident happens leading to Advait in jail. He seeks revenge now against the people that wronged him and his girlfriend. Its a typical Mohit Suri film having bizarre dialogues, characters laughing exceedingly loudly and a routine awkward Shaad Randhawa cameo. The love story part of Advait-Sarah is cliched and so is the realization of how they want more than the hippie kind life they think suits them. Also the final twist would had been visible to those who had seen the trailer or remembered it well, which I guess I didnt, probably a mistake by makers to keep that gun scene of Disha in the trailer. Yet the tight screenplay, a strong enough 2nd half, excellent songs (please do listen 'Ho ja mast malang' original version, nescafe's 'Bol Hu' which features brilliant 8 yr old girl singing part of the song) and very good chemistry between Aditya and Disha makes for a gripping watch. Kind of masala films I like watching even though it has many visible flaws. And I really liked Kunal Khemu in the grey role too, he somehow appeals to me in his acting despite not getting much limelight. Good timepass movie, the kind you may watch many times on T.V to get entertained.

My Rating : 6/10



Love Aaj Kal (2020)
Directed by : Imtiaz Ali
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10023024/

Aana toh poori tarah aana, ya toh aana hi mat. 

Two different tales, one from 1990 involving Raghu (Kartik Aaryan) and Leena (Aarushi Sharma) and other from 2020 with Veer (Kartik Aaryan) and Zoe (Sara Ali Khan). The former is about parents not agreeing to marriage, while the latter has the lady giving importance to career over love/marriage. I felt after watching trailer that even if with all the resemblances to the same title film of Imtiaz in 2009, it would still be a good movie because afterall its Imtiaz and there's no shahrukh this time. But that didn't happen, infact I never felt bored before in a Imtiaz film like this (yea I liked Jhms). Just 2 positives from the film, one was the Raghu-Leena story where a twist is made and it doesn't end like the Rishi Kapoor one did in 2009 version.  And other positive ofcourse is the music by Pritam, such respite from the dullness of screenplay, Mehrama and Dooriyan were my favourites. Zoe-Veer story especially is irritating and infact at places childish way Zoe uses Randeep Hooda (elder Raghu) to implement it to her life. I can think of 2 scenes that I enjoyed most, one was the break-dance between Raghu and Leena, followed by the melodious track 'Shayad', and other was the silent scene when Raghu goes over to meet Leena after long time only to find she was pregnant. Performances wise, I liked Aarushi Sharma most, while Kartik Aaryan is likeable as Raghu in parts whereas as Veer his character never worked for me. Sara Ali Khan mostly shouts or overacts, and Randeep Hooda's cameo lacks the charm that Rishi had in older version of Love Aaj Kal. Usually there's lot to talk in a Imtiaz movie because there's so much detailing he goes through but I don't feel like talking anything about that here, just a movie I wish he never made.

My Rating : 3/10 

Mini Review : Thappad and The Invisible Man

Thappad
Directed by : Anubhav Sinha
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10964430/

Just one slap.. par nahi maar sakta.

Amrita (Taapsee Pannu) who is a housewife seems to be pretty happy with her obvious looking robotic daily life routines until that moment at a house party when her husband Vikram (Pavail Gulati) slaps her in front of everyone for no reason. Anubhav Sinha builds narrative slowly towards the party, taking Imtiaz Ali kind route wanting us to see through Amrita for all the things she is avoiding right now with all possible hints for how Vikram treats her. And with parallel running stories of a lawyer who herself has a husband dominating her or the maid (amazing Geetika Vidya Ohlyan from 'Soni' fame) who happily tells stories to Amrita about having got beaten again by her husband. Anubhav Sinha is in great form yet again, and I would had thoroughly loved the film if not for Taapsee Pannu been the lead. For me a different actor would had done more justice to the character, and I don't mean to say Taapsee fails, its just that she never lifts up the character and then the fact that too much emphasis is laid on that 'one slap' doesnt help either as it just gives the sense of some agenda rather than keeping it to the reasons why Amrita shouldn't stay with Vikram anymore, like the scene post the slap when Vikram doesn't say sorry and rather continues to crib about his business, or the numerous comparisons one can make whenever he talks about his work while Amrita expresses through her eyes.

Pavail Gulati is really impressive in what is a well written character, grey and not making him look total villain yet he is at fault. Also enjoyed Dia Mirza's calm character and the response she gives when Vikram tells her to lie for his divorce case. Many other supporting actors like Ratna Pathak Shah, Kumud Mishra and Tanvi Azmi makes it for a gripping watch even if certain mentioned things makes me not fully enjoy movie. Love the scene between Amrita and Vikram at bench outside court, if only they had avoided that very manipulative aarti monologue scene of Amrita. Thappad is a good watch despite the flaws it has, not solid like Mulk or Article15 but its still worth a watch and if you don't find any problems with Tapsee act then more likely you would enjoy the film lot more than I did.

My Rating : 6/10


The Invisible Man
Directed by : Leigh Whannell
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/

He said that wherever I went, he would find me, walk right up to me, and I wouldn't be able to see him. 

Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) runs away from her abusive boyfriend Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and days later she learns about him committing suicide. Happy to get a chance to start life anew, but certain events lead her to believe that Adrian is alive and to make it worse has found a way to be invisible. I liked the idea, heard its used before too with different story but the execution or narrative lets it down. Was hooked for first 30 so mins but then there's many problems like we never see enough of Adrian before he goes invisible or scenes like the restaurant one where a single camera would reveal the truth yet it doesn't and then the climax that was pretty loose. Elisabeth Moss performance is good but its not a film I would see again. Opportunity missed!

My Rating : 4.5/10