Manish Mehrotra

The release and success of Kalki has again started interest in films made across time range and dealing with past, present and future and having some known characters as well. This genre of so-called science fiction got a shot in arm with HG wells- novel The Time machine and later Hollywood films like Back to Future, Total Recall, The planet of apes took it further. In India Telugu film industry was pioneer in creating a successful time travel film and it was Aditya 369-directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao-released in 1991. This fascinating film stars Nandamuri Balakrishna in the lead role and stars Hindi film actor Tinnu Anand who creates a Time Machine. Then there is an evil Raja (Amrish Puri) who wants to collect all fascinating and antique stuff including the prized diamond from Raja Krishnadeva Rai’s era. The film takes a twist when Balakrishna along with heroine Mohini enters the time machine and travels across 4th dimension to land in Vijayanagar in the era of KrishnaDeva Rai (played again by Balakrishna). What follows next is interesting twists and turns which ensure action, comedy, song, and dance. The film takes inspiration from The Time machine, Total Recall and has inspiration from Bollywood big hit Mr. India and the famous science fiction series of Door Darshan Indradhanush, Space city Sigma but the product really works very well. The direction and script is very tight and not much lose ends. The sequences of Vijayanagar era are best and stay after the film is over. The future scenes look tacky, but the concept is shown well. Balakrishna plays the lead part quite ok and relies more on action and comedy. However, as the legendary ruler Krishnadeva he looks great and acted very well, maybe inspired by his legendary dad NTRs portrayal of Rai in the Tenali Raman movie. Bollywood actors Amrish Puri(who dubbed his own dialogues) and Tinnu Anand are perfectly cast. It’s kind of ironical that though the film in parts has inspiration from Shekhar Kapur’s Mr. India, Kapur’s dream film of time travel-Time Machine (Aamir Khan, Naseer, Rekha, Raveena and Vijay Anand) never got complete. On the whole Aditya 369 is a pioneer entertaining science fiction Indian film whose impact can be seen later in films!!

Kohrra is a dark unsettling murder mystery set in Punjab and available on Netflix. The series is about the murder of a young NRI guy and how the police try to solve the case and connect many disturbing dots as well. Nowadays, in this ocean of web series on various platforms, we have been observing 2 points. First is that many makers dare to touch bold uncomfortable topics to show what's happening in society, the other is that in many series you feel there is unnecessary showing of certain issues and explicit usage of violence and foul language. Sudip Sharma's Kohrra is a well-made dark murder mystery but I felt uncomfortable at parts and felt certain aspects could have been avoided. The series takes time to build due to its pace and also I felt has an overdose of issues. Having said that, there is no doubt that it is very well shot in Punjab, shows the modern issues of the state and is technically superb. What makes the otherwise heavy series appreciative is the great performances by Barun Sobti, Rachel Shelley(after Lagaan), Varun Badola, and Arjuna Bhalla(after decades of comedy series-Flop Show). The makers and team have managed to stay true to the title Kohrra and the murder mystery thickens and gets mistier after every episode till it's finally solved. The show however belongs to Suvinder Vicky who gives an amazing controlled performance and is the highlight of the show. A class act in a well-made grim intense murder mystery!

Finally watched this grand action English film "Lion of The Desert-Omar Mukhtar ",which was in my bucket list since long.This Moustapha Akkad film is based on the great Libyan freedom fighter- Omar Mukhtar who formed a formidable Arab force against the powerful Italian army.The film was funded by Libyan government led by Gaddafi wayback in 1981 so that the world gets to know about the revolt in 🇱🇾 Libya.The film shows real many historical facts Mussolini's fascism,Italian army attrocities,battle of Kufra and the final execution of Omar.Anthony Quinn is just excellent as Omar and gets into skin of the character.The film has amazing battle scenes,huge canvas and is quite an engaging watch.This was the second big collaboration of Akkad and Quinn after the awesum historical The Message. Back home in Bollywood, when Samantas made Jackie Shroff actioner Palay Khan based on the Pashtun freedom fighter, they took huge inspiration and infact even shot several scenes similar to this grand film. The film is available on YouTube and a compelling watch for action lovers!!!!