Amit Brahmo

Very monotonous and drags unnecessarily for tad too long. Too much melodramatic. Not well written. The movie hangs very heavy at times. Actingwise not too disappointing- Akshay was loud and eccentric in his mannerisms. He always looks better in the action scenes. In emotional ones, he is pathetic.Radhika Madan as Rani is sweet. Her acting impresses. Things look very farfetched at times. Passengers on board the low cost airlines are too theatrical and scenes look contrived. Very boring.

I won't rate this very highly amongst Kaushik Ganguly films but Kaushik at his next to best form, is ten times better than his contemporaries. Actingwise brilliant. Silajit surprised me as a diffident man who has lost his job and now lives off his wife's salary. His helplessness and angst have been beautifully portrayed. Sabaash Silajit. Rituparna and Prosenjit are powerful too. Music is very appropriate. Cinematography excellent. That scene on a full moon night on the Puri beach is to die for. All in all, very watchable.

Two stalwarts Churni and Jaya Ahsan come face to face in this film. Former is ex wife and the latter, the present one. Koushik Sen the husband is fighting for his life. Turmoil is palpable. The ex helps the present wife in locatibg vital documents of her former husband. At times, much against her wishes. A kind of bond starts building up between the former and the present wife. Superb acting by all actors. Churni takes the movie to the next level. Jaya is restrained in her acting befitting a reluctant present wife seeking help from the ex wife.

Marriage is an institution. But who wants to live in an institution " This is about the marital story of Kavya Ganeshan,a dentist and Aniruddha Banerjee, a factory owner going sour after nine years. Both sides have lost interest in each other. Aniruddha is too busy with his cork factory and Kavya sulks as Ani is too occupied with his work. The marriage goes frigid. Both find a relationship- Ani with Nora, a budding model and actress and Kavya finds solace in the arms of Vikram, an international photographer. Ani and Kavya live in the same house but like strangers sharing a hotel room. Just then Kavya's grandpa dies at Ooty and Ani offers to accompany Kavya for the funeral. It's on this trip that both of them rediscover their lost chemistry of the past. Whether they will be able to salvage the relationship, is the movie all about, Vidya is brilliant as usual and Prateek is competent as well. Their onscreen chemistry is brilliant. Music is appropriate and direction is good if not outstanding. A watchable film. Duration- 139 minutes. Amit Brahmo

I am not a malayali but a bong living in Kolkata. But I am a big fan of malayalam films. Had read Goat days by Benyamin. Then my daughter recommended Blessy's movie Adujeevitham starring Prithviraj. The story is about Najeeb's leaving for the middle East with a dream to work for a 'company'. He is from a small village in Kerala and for a living digs river bed sand and loads on boats. His dream is what thousands like him have - leave for greener pastures in search of jobs. Earn some quick money and settle debts at home. Then retire with money in the bank. He mortgages his house and valuables and pays the unscrupulous agent for fixing his visa etc. A 'sponsor' is waiting for him and his companion at the Riyadh airport, to take them to their 'dream job'. On reaching Saudi, what happened to Najeeb's dreams is what Adujeevitham is all about. Incidents are stark and morbid at times. You feel for the plight of Najeeb and his companion Hakim. They face untold sufferings. Najeeb often goes into reveries of his beautiful countryside village, its river and his lovely wife who was pregnant when he left her. Najeeb's life in the desert country is tough and inflicts unfathomable pain on him. He cries and wants to escape but fails. What happened thereafter is for you to go and see in this well made film. I don't want to act as a spoilsport. Coming to acting, one can talk about Prithviraj's Najeeb times without number. This is a masterclass of living and getting under the skin of the character. This is not acting. Prithviraj has surpassed himself in a watershed role. Cinematography by Sunil is top notch and original score by Rahman very soothing. One disclaimer though. The film may be too stark and morbid fir few. মিথ্ম

Lapata Ladies was not on my agenda until yesterday when a friend rang up and suggested I see this film. I checked up a few fact about LL and found that it's an Aamir Khan production and Kiran Rao has directed it. So it better be good. I wasn't disappointed. It was like fresh draught of air really. Gave glimpses on women empowerment without being preachy. Fresh actors mostly. Bride swapping by sheer chance not on purpose. Then the story takes the two brides on new trajectories. Storytelling is brilliant. The rural milieu has been beautifully captured. Denouement is interesting. We come out of the audi, happy. An immensely watchable film. w emempowermenemp

Freelancer is an ott series currently airing on Hotstar. The plot revolves round ISIS trying to rope in educated and brainwashed assets from all over the world and assigning them specific tasks. Aliya Khan, a young muslim girl from Mumbai and with a relatively liberal family background married her batchmate Mohsin whose family is also quite modern. A lady agent brainwashes them to give up ostentatious life and follow shariat. The family gets indoctrinated and is taken to Syria. Aliya is caught in this maze much against her wishes. She attempts to escape but fails. Thus starts the drama of her rescue mission by her father's colleague Avinash, a freelance mercenary. The series is worth a watch and moves at good pace with competent acting, direction, editing and looks quite authentic. The ISIS hub in Syria is captured well. The rescue mission though looks a trifle facile. But overall, a good production.

Children live in their own world. They are oblivious of what go on between their parents and others. They are naive and that is only normal for that age. On the other hand, adult parents see the goings on from their perspective and that complcates matters. A must see film for grown ups so that they can handle their kids properly. Once again a lovely film by nandita and sivaprasad duo, which entertains as well as teaches you a thing or two.

The rat race continues from where we had left it in "Kota Factory" right upto the current web series " Crash Course ". Characters' names may have changed but the pressure on these young boys and girls remains much the same. It's indeed a ' pressure cooker' situation. Relationships go sour in no time at the altar of a ' do or die' mad race. Warm friendships go cold. Students are ready to go to any extent in order to achieve their goals. End is important ( read getting admission in the IITs) not means. There is cut throat competition amongst the coaching institutes. Ethics take the back seat. Jindal Sir dreams too big- owning the Kota town. Batra Sir is the scrupulous one but his sons have adopted unethical means to outshine Ratan Jindal's RJ institute. Students are the ultimate sufferers in this fierce battle. Will the right prevail? Or things will be as bad as before. Young actors look their part but Annu Kapoor as RJ is a treat to watch- ruthless and insidious. Worth a watch.