Prity Poddar

While the prequel Stree (2018) was about the terror of 'Stree' amongst the menfolk of Chanderi, the sequel Stree 2 is about the terror of 'Sarkata' amongst the womenfolk of the same village! Again the good hearted and simpleton Vicky (Rajkumar Rao) is bestowed with the task to fight the supernatural and terminate the terror, along with his buddies Rudra Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi), Bittu (Aparshakti Khurana), Jana (Abhishek Banerjee) and his mysterious sweetheart (Shraddha Kapoor), who finally reveals her identity towards the end of the movie. Ably carrying forward the legacy of it's prequel, the movie is a heady mix of good comedy with some well placed puns, horror (not really), sharp editing and good acting by all the actors of the lead cast, as well as, the ones who made guest appearances (read Akshay Kumar, Varun Dhawan and Tamannaah Bhatia). All the scary entities of the Maddock Supernatural Universe are showcased or at least mentioned in the movie along with the reveal about the next one in the pipeline! The climax is well penned, but it could have been shot better. Overall, the film is a good watch.

A prequel to the last Mad Max release, this action-thriller is an amazing conceptualization and execution of a dystopian society in the Australian wastelands where habitats of clean water and food produce are almost non-existing and thus the greatest necessity and cause of cruel feuds between gangs and people. Strangely, there is no food but more than enough machinery to cause mayhem and destruction!! Chris Hemsworth as warlord Dementus, the head of a biker horde, has taken acting to an altogether different level. He has delivered much more than it could have been on the paper. Be it anger, sarcasm, nonchalance or comic timing, he is simply bang on. All of his good/bad actions seem justified if you consider his past experiences and point of view, which he makes sure that you understand, by using the right facial expressions!! Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa is interesting to watch as a silent and stoic kid turned into an intelligent, gallant and ruthless warrior with mammoth inner strength. The cinematography by Simon Duggan is impactful and the direction by George Miller is simply amazing. Overall it's a 148 minutes watch of full madness with method.

Woven around Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, specifically the Battle of Garibpur in 1971, Pippa is a well depicted tale of immense personal & professional growth of Captain Balram Singh Mehta (Ishaan Khatter) of India's 45 Cavalry regiment and his newly acquired expertise in manoeuvering PT-76, the Russian amphibious war tank, that floats on water like an empty ‘pippa’ (tin) of ghee and was highly instrumental in his winning the aforementioned battle!! India won the war which eventually led to the formation of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh. Special care has been taken to just touch base with the cruelties bestowed upon the citizens of Bangladesh and Bengali nationalist forces by the Pakistan military and supporting pro-Pakistani Islamist militias called the Razakars who amongst other atrocities violated umpteenth number of girls and women and left them as bad as living dead! Something that totally stands out in the movie and surprisingly not much is being buzzed about is Ishaan Khattar's fluid and perfect dance sequence in the song 'Main Parwaana...'. He dances so effortlessly, with full expressions, without missing a single beat, with crystal clear moves, that his performance seems like a beautiful symphony. Undoubtedly, today he is one of the best dancers in Indian cinema. The combo of A. R. Rahman (music director), Arijit Singh (singer) and Ishaan Khattar (dancer) is too good. Overall, 'Pippa' is a well made movie with good casting, direction, acting, production design, editing and cinematography. Do watch it.

Four women of different ages and social set-up embark on motorbikes from New Delhi to Khardung La in Ladakh, the highest motorable mountain pass in the world. None of them are professional bikers but all of them are kind of trapped into a state of nothingness in their respective lives! The aforesaid trip along with it's mixed bag of assorted experiences gives them a new taste of freedom, bonhomie and an altogether new perspective of life which eventually turns each of their personal life from dull to energized and meaningful. Good cast, direction, acting and cinematography are the strong points of the movie. The movie is aspirational & entertaining and ends with a beautiful poem.

Fact: Due to leakage of 40 tonnes of lethal methyl- isocyanate from Union Carbide, a US corporation owned pesticide factory in Bhopal on 2 Dec 1984, as per the official data, 3,800 people were instantly killed, most of whom resided in a slum located in the close proximity to the factory. The unofficial data of instant deaths was much higher!! Till today, the city of Bhopal has not fully recovered from this tragedy. What led to such a tragic night? - Low safety standards maintained inside the factory. - Inapt awareness and training of factory staff. - The mere presence of such a high risk factory in the populated area and not the vacant outskirts. Webseries Plot: The 4 episodes series is primarily about the unsung heroes of Indian Railway whose honest efforts, quick action and sacrifices in ensuring (as much as they could) - the vacation of Bhopal Junction railway station, calling in relief services from all quarters and helping people in exiting Bhopal, helped save a multitude of lives. The screen credits display the death toll figure to be 15,000!! Two most heart wrenching scenes from the movie are - - An infant feeding on his/her mother's breast while she is already dead! - A soon to be wed full decked up bride coming out of her abode into the street searching for her missing mother, only to find her entire 'baraat' along with the groom lying dead!! Analysis: Being the first webseries from the stable of YRF Entertainment, 'The Railway Men' has been made with careful r&d and scripting coupled with apt casting and production design, making it a brilliant series to watch and engage in spite of the tragic massacre it entails. Kay Kay Menon as the wise, dutiful and extremely concerned station master simply wins your heart with his yet again display of amazing acting prowess. The actor can emote myriad of emotions sans any dialogue! Also, his continuity throughout the series is awesome. Babil Khan plays an inexperienced loco pilot with past working experience in the Union Carbide factory with almost perfection. His acting is raw, fresh and honest which makes it quite appealing. He is definitely a talent to watch out for. R. Madhavan plays the GM of the West Central Railway zone. He enters the series quite late but brings in the required clout and star power, which stays till the end. Divyenndu Sharma plays a robber who eventually ends up as a saviour. His energy and dialect brings in the much required comic relief in the series. Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Raghubir Yadav, Juhi Chawla Mehta, Mandira Bedi and Sunny Hinduja are other prominent actors that play assorted small but effective roles in the series and help in making it better and wholesome. Conclusion: Do watch 'The Railway Men' for it's a well engineered fact based fiction and overall good cinema.

Plot: Thiruchitrambalam is a humorous story about food delivery agent Pazham (Dhanush), his no holds barred friendship with Shobana (Nithya Menen), who lives in the same building as himself, and his unconventional but endearing relationship with his wise & witty grandfather (Bharathiraja). A slice of film is also about Pazham's interesting turncoat of emotions with his strict father, Inspector Neelakandan (Prakash Raj). Otherwise, the movie is about Pazham's one sided feelings for a couple of girls which soon enough get rejected and disillusion him till he realizes that Shobana is the one!! But does Shobana shares the same feelings? Will they both eventually unite? Watch the movie to satiate your all such queries. Analysis: Dhanush has expectantly enacted like a seasoned actor. Whether he is expressing child like glee or disappointment or releasing pent up anger or bashing up baddies, he has managed to do it all within his character. Nithya Menen simply lights up the screen whenever she is in the frame. She has well matched Dhanush's juvenile vibe. Also, they share good onscreen chemistry. Bharatjiraja is endearing as Dhanush's grandfather, partner-in-crime and middleman between him and his father! Prakash Raj has quite well enacted his initial role of a strict but grieving father and eventual role of a dependent and supportive father. The background score and music are soothing. Conclusion: Overall, it's a sweet & funny film about genuine childhood friendship & innocent love between two trusting simpletons. You will enjoy watching this clean movie with child-like glee!!

Polite Society had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival on 21 January 2023. Hilarious in parts, the movie is basically comedy-action-drama woven around a British-Pakistani family where the younger sister who aspires to be a stunt woman is hell bent on stopping her elder sister's upcoming marriage so that she can get back to fulfill her aspiration of becoming an artist!! Look out for the martial art style dance adaptation of 'Humpe ye kisne Hara rang dala...' song from the Indian movie 'Devdas' (2002)!! Overall, it's an entertaining watch.

Analysis: The best bits of 'Tiger 3' movie are - ... A chase sequence atop a rocky mountain terrain of Afghanistan. It's innovative, quite well conceptualized and amazingly captured on the camera. ... Hand-to-hand combat scene between Katrina Kaif and a Chinese lady inside a spa while both are wrapped in just bath towels! Both the ladies are extremely fit, toned & agile and well manage to pull off the action scene effectively without making it look vulgar at all. ... Cameo by Shah Rukh Khan when he appears out of nowhere to help escape Salman Khan from his assassination in a Pakistani prison. Both the Khans share amazing chemistry and look fabulous performing the long action and chase sequence. In fact, Salman Khan looks most agile and lively during this cameo scene!! Also, Shah Rukh Khan looks fabulous sporting his man-bun from 'Pathaan' (2023). ... Post-credit scene from upcoming movie War 2 featuring Hrithik Roshan. It features Japanese style ruthless massacre by hooded Hrithik followed by a crooked smile. You never get to see his eyes, but can very well feel the intended chill! The low points of the movie are - ... It's pace which appears quite sluggish at times. ... An average soundtrack. With such an amazing star cast and budget, one expects much better. ... A not so fit as required and a tad bit disinterested looking Salman Khan. Gone are the days when a hero can woo the audience merely by mouthing iconic dialogues. ... The overall direction. Spy thriller movies are clearly not Maneesh Sharma's genre. Conclusion: Definitely, the expected adrenaline thrill is missing, otherwise the rest of the elements are in place - amazing stat cast, big budget production design, beautifully covered locales (read Delhi, Mumbai, Istanbul, Saint Petersburg and Vienna), international style chase & action sequences and the likes. You can still watch the movie.

Jaane Jaan is an intelligent thriller with good acting and tight screenplay. It's engaging but don't expect any edge-of-the-seat moment. Do watch it and ponder how the entire storyline could have been depicted better!!

The movie scores high on multiple grounds. It has a powerful script with concise screenplay. Not a single frame is lost on unnecessary built up or cheap thrill. The direction is quite intelligent and thoughtful. Violation of a minor girl and any sort of vibration around relegion or relegious gurus are two of the most sensitive matters and both form the crux of the depicted investigations and arguments in the movie. But Apoorv Singh Karki, the director has ably managed to maintain the required dignity & empathy in the scenes concerning Nu and he has kept the arguments against the godman quite logical and completely within the dictum of the Indian law & justice. Arjun Kukreti, the cinematographer has not only well captured the iconic bird's eye views of Jodhpur, the Blue City and it's crowded lanes, but he has also captured the court scenes in assorted well conceived angles, thereby making them more effective and engaging. Manoj Bajpayee has again surprised with an altogether new portrayal of character. He is so good and thorough that at times you feel that he is not acting at all but just conversing. Watch out for his scenes when twice big shot national level lawyers with star power and intimidating personalities visit the courts to get bail for the godmen. Just notice how Manoj Bajpayee expresses his awe & inspiration for them, how he is intimidated to put forward his statements against them, but still how thoroughly with full determination he does his job!! Also, watch out for his closing statement at the end of the court case, wherein he uses relegion itself as the weapon to stab the sheer misdeed performed by the relegious guru. Full marks to Deepak Kingrani, the writer for writing this scene. All the other actors have also performed well. The editing is good. It's an engaging and extremely well made movie on an extremely sensitive topic sans any propaganda or scandalous depiction. The heart of the movie is in the right place. Do watch it.