Pratanu Mohanty

Betaal is a nice intriguing series. The series is fast paced and they really waste no time in revealing the background and moving on to the next episode. Background: A corrupt contractor uses force to open up a tunnel closed for ages and protected by few villagers as they believed that the tunnel is cursed. (Reason for the tunnel being cursed)The commander of a British regiment which gets burnt alive in a tunnel believes in Black Magic and feeds the devil by sacrificing his own son. The devil come to life and feeds on all the soldiers who had got trapped in the tunnel. They come out again when the Tunnel is reopened and attack the Baaz security force deployed. The security then finally defeats the evil. Hits: a. Brilliant production quality b. High grade sound quality and track c. Fast paced screenplay d. Casting of the Tribal woman lead (Manjiri) e. Mudhalvan (played by Jitendra Joshi) f. Sirohi (played by Vineet Kumar) Misses: a. Casting of Tyagi mam and her acting b. The old British regiment using guns and bullets which are still working after hundreds of years. c. Aahana Kumra not being given much screentime

Marjaavaan revolves around Raghu (played by Sidharth Malhotra) and Zoya (Tara Sutaria), whose blissful lives are turned upside down by Vishnu (Riteish Deshmukh), a vertically challenged gang leader. Zoya comes as a breath of fresh air in the life of a local goon played by Siddharth. She cannot speak but touches Raghu's heart with her softness and her take on life and music as the solution to life problems. Zoya is beautiful and you would want to see her everytime. Rakulpreet plays the role of a bar dancer and loves Raghu. She looks beautiful as well. Raghu has been brought up by Vishnu's dad and is loyal and faithful to his commands to an extent of shooting Zoya as she had witnessed the murder of the family of one gangster(Gaitonde) by Vishnu. The scene in which Raghu shoots Zoya is intense and touching. Raghu gets arrested and is released only by Vishnu so that he could kill him and prevent any danger to his life. Vishnu is a dwarf by birth and hires guards and shooters to protect him. Raghu on the other hand plans a plot of taking Vishnu off-guard by planting one of his friends in Vishnu's gang. On the Dusshera day Vishnu comes out for Pooja and gets killed by Raghu. In the fight Raghu also looses his life. Characters: a. Raghu is in a killer role and can say Siddharth is back b. Zoya is beautiful as always c. Rakulpreet does a decent job d. Vishnu (Ritesh) is awesome e. Raghu's friends (specially Shaad Randhawa) have done a good job f. Nassar as Vishnu's dad is dreadful g. Norah Fategi is the ultimate item girl and could have been given more screen presence h. Ravi Kishan as ACP Yadav is cool police and decides to come late after the drama to not ruin the bollywood police history

Reincarnation drags the leads from London to a fort in Sitamgarh,India for marriage. Here starts the twist as characters are reversed and lovers swapped. Housefull 4 could have been better scripted. Inspite of that the actors have pulled it off quite well. Reincarnation comedy should not be tried again. Glamour rules the scene everytime the female leads come on screen. Songs are good but too many. Akshay' pupils rotation frequency and hearing a loud noise to forget things was forceful comedy and could have been reduced. a. The movie depends a lot on Akshay kumar b. Bobby Deol's come back is impressive c. Ritesh Deshmukh manages to sustain d. Yesteryear Ranjit papaji is too good e. Jonny lever could have been used better f. Rana Daggubati does a fab job g. Nawaz's entry was of no use h. Chunky Pandey's character is catchy

Kabir, an Indian Agent sets out for Quetta in an unsanctioned mission to set free four Indian agents abducted by Taliban. His past plays high on his head. Revenge, love and mission - all in one. High grade production quality and screenplay. Watched all the episodes in one day. The lead characters have done a great job. Quite convincing to watch. The shots look real and there is less of melodrama. Must watch series.