Achutam Jha

Raid 2 is a fairly decent entertainer about power and corruption and deception, not an inch too deep but effective due its cast and a very well paced plot. I don’t think the movie had any aspirations to be anything more than what it is.

People involved at every stage in the making of this movie should be charged with a hefty fine. I could not finish watching it.

Param Sundari is the probably most forgettable and unoriginal movie I’ve recently watched but it’s far from the worst. Every single dialogue, punchline, scene and plot point is lifted from somewhere else and the themes of cultural confluence are presented in the most outdated and juvenile ways possible. Just like any strictly formulaic venture, a few things here and there work with surprising impact- such as a diligent Sundari’s (Jahnavi Kapoor) eventual change of heart for a devil-may-care attitude wala Param (Siddharth Malhotra). The rest of the movie is flat and keeps going on casually (probably a bit too casually)- cringe expositions of Malyali culture, random horny supporting characters, pre wedding functions, boat races and so on till you’re just waiting for the movie to be over. It’s not boring, but it’s not entertaining either.

F1 is impressively made with stunning practical effects and magnificent shots of real tracks, but there is nothing memorable about the plot, dialogues or the performances- all three of which are crucial for a good sports drama.

Kesari 2 is a decent entertainer, with an engaging courtroom drama and sincere performances by the cast. It’s cursed with the latest trends in Bollywood- over the top and heavily underlined storytelling and emotions spelt out than felt in the story, but Bollywood is doing so bad these days that these misfires are largely forgivable.

Metro (In Dino)’s soundtrack is one of Pritam’s best ever compositions, with deeply moving songs featuring the most talented instrumentalists and singers of the nation. The movie however is a hot mess- with vapid writing, an overly smart and utterly meaningless direction by Anurag Basu and wasted performances by a talented cast. On a side note, I think we have seen too much of Pankaj Tripathy, he needs to take a break. On another side note, we may not have seen much of Sara Ali Khan, but what we’ve seen is enough. She should no longer be working in movies where some form of acting is required.

Dhadak 2 could have been an emotionally charged romantic thriller about the horrors of caste-based violence, but it’s Bollywood in 2025 and Dharma seems committed to make everything desperately relatable but incorrigibly out-of-touch with the real world. Caste is reiterated in the movie like a PSA tagline and it’s bad moviemaking. The movie has one hundred shots of Siddhant Chaturvedi getting unilaterally beaten up and humiliated that are probably meant to induce frustration but end up inducing little more than boredom. The romance between the leads almost seems like plot B and Chaturvedi and Dimri struggle to make the love or the loss even remotely believable. Shazia Iqbal is not a good director by any measure and if she’s being celebrated by anyone anywhere, God bless the future of this industry.

Aap Jaisa Koi is an exceptionally good looking love story without any counterpart charm or flavour in the story. Cinematographer Debojeet Ray has a talent for framing everything from closed and open spaces to roads and bridges with style and beauty. The music by Justin Prabhakaran and Rochak Kohli is also just the right amount of delightful to delicately build an atmosphere, but all of it is to no avail as the characters do not feel real- Madhavan’s Shrirenu and Fatima’s Madhu have their character traits listed by the characters around them who are further written like they are in a text book. Their meeting and the blossoming of their love are charming enough, but the conflicts that come into play post this are manufactured and resolved as quickly as they unfold. The movie announces its feminist intentions far too late and their take is neither memorable nor gripping.

Superstore is one of my fav shows, hers why: It transcends the usual shortcomings of the workplace-sitcom genre by weaving into its plot some seriously good drama with high stakes and unexpected twists. The show has a kafkaesque view of the corporate retail world- a class of invisible officials that control the miserable lives of floor workers are nowhere to be seen and can only be accessed through an automated sounding army of middlemen, each one more unhelpful and confusing than the last. The employees then find solace in each other's company and support as they endure the endless torture of working in a dangerous environment with little to no benefits. The characters are well written and the humor is sharp and effective. The central romance is built very slowly and proceeds against far worse odds than what one expects in a comedy, but they payoff is completely worth it. It's six seasons of good TV.