Hrishika Sharma

Finally watched something invigorating along the lines of Kdrama. I mean, I am pretty sure there are a myriad of other themes apart from the conventional cute love stories that are portrayed, but me not being much of a Kdrama fan, haven't come across a lot of them. I particularly like this series because of the different horizontals that it scaled. The foremost among them is the fact that it's centred around 3 strong women personalities and that the male leads were actually narrowed to supporting roles. I mean, Hyeong-joo and Hye-seung's marriage was more of a fan-demanded ending. She could have easily not married anyone and there wouldn't have been any change in the plot. Jin Yoo-hee as the antagonist was much much much more eye-catching than Hye-seung. But ofcourse, that was how the roles demanded. Throughout the show, I, as I am sure the other viewers too, were confused as to ship whom with Hye-seung. Seok-jin's insistence on marrying her annoyed me initially as love was all about setting it free. Although I did root for him to act the way he did in the end, setting her free, my eyes welled up. I particularly liked Choi Yu-seon. What a strong and dynamic character she was portrayed as, playing diplomatically throughout, making sure to save her company from any foreboding. But as fate has it, it takes you down when it has to. The ending, in the end was indeed a bit rushed. Jung Mi-jin, one of the main characters throughout the plot, completely disappeared towards the end. I felt the dialogue between Hyung-joo and his mother where he persuades her to accept Hye-seung would have been quite impactful, had it been displayed. Apart from that, a refreshing take on mature themes and the satire on the rich and affluent class, Kdrama surely has some immense scope.

Now where to begin. I am not even judging the plot since it was meant to be "soft porn" with a storyline just strewing them together. What disappointed me more was the lack of chemistry between Laura and Massimo this time, which wasn't the case in part 1. I mean, that was one reason I was waiting for the second part. Unlike the Fifty Shades trilogy, which was a classic erotic drama of it's time, this movie-series came up nothing to it's match. Not only Massimo and Laura. Even the intimacy and sexual tension between Nacho and Laura that the director tried so hard to show, failed devastatingly. The movie also brought in a second couple, a romance between their best friends which I thought would be shed some light onto, but that abruptly ended somewhere as the plot advanced as well. Coming to the set-up, the sex scenes were unevenly distributed throughout. The first half, or rather the first 70% of the movie was packed with a lot of sex, which was "unnecessary" at times too. But the last 30% struggled hard to be a thrill-packed movie. Acting was definitely poor. Songs abound, although they were nothing related to the ongoing scenes of plot in general, but the playlist was good. In short, the makers tried to put in a lot of elements while trying to stay true to their underlying theme (erotica) but failed in everything.

-----GENERAL OVERVIEW----- If you are a fan of thrillers, squid game shouldn't be a disappointment for you. However, if you watch it expecting logic and relatability.... you might want to switch to a different series. ------SPOILER ALERT------ The thing I liked the most about the show is it's unpredictability. The game proceeded normally throughout. However, there was always a certain part of me(or maybe my bollywood mindset) where I was expecting the game would be busted before it finishes and all the "good people" will be saved. The director decided to take the story forward in a way unlike the conventional Kdrama stories where you hit the climax in the penultimate episode and how everyone returns to their normal life in the last episode. Now, 4 stars because of the few loose plots in the story. The revelation of Oh Il Nam in the end failed to have much of an impact. Unless they are planning on a season 2, the revelation seems completely unnecessary. Again, the revelation of the Front man as Jun Ho's brother was also left hanging on the rope. Now we know Netflix is notorious for persuading makers into a season 2 of any successful show. But Korean people are equally deterministic not to deter from their decisions and the director already announced that he isn't interested in a season 2 as it requires a lot of creative effort. Whether we shall indeed have a season 2 of squid game or not is the biggest suspense of the story :D But overall a very good show. Perfect blend of all the traits required to make the show successful, in a subtle manner. Not overdoing anything. The dilemma of Cho Sang Woo leading him to be the antagonist of the show and the equal dilemma of the audience whether to actually call him the villain or not is another thing to commend. The character of Gi Hun has been written perfectly. While it shows him as an immature and careless person throughout, his selfless nature was something to actually fall for. His attitude of never leaving behind the old man, which affected favoured his luck. It tries to convey the gentle message of 'if you do good, good will be done to you'.

Coming straight to the point- It is a great movie with perfect end-to-end execution. Doesn't let your guard down even for a minute. The movie unravels at a steady pace, neither too fast nor too slow. The climax arrives at the right time, neither too soon, nor too late. There are no songs to fill in the gaps unlike the conventional Bollywood movies. The plot however, is not a unique one. But again, this movie is more about the flow of scenes and the sequence of events rather than the plot. It isn't too common either. The filmmakers have picked up one element of the board category of RAPE- capital punishment to pull the movie. Naina demanding to meet the PM seemed too dramatic however since it was not relatable at any ground (well, good thing it isn't relatable though). I also felt it was unnecessary to show a "pregnant" Neha Dhupia. It was evident the makers wanted to show how a working women is struggling, but that idea seemed far stretched. Moreover, it felt as if the makers tried to portray some hidden relationships and intimacy between Cathy-Javed and Rohit-Shalini but failed to bring it at par with the main plot. Talking about acting, each actor were perfect in their own roles. Yami Gautam did a fantastic job, especially the switch of behaviour between a friendly nursery teacher and a ruthless kidnapper is worth mentioning. Dimple Kapadia's gravity as a PM was on point while Neha Dhupia and other actors justified their roles. Atul Kulkarni seemed a bit loose on his role as a "super cop" though.

A poignant plot moving subtly through the storyline, SIR gives you nothing but calm vibes throughout. And it is much more than just the theme. The direction and narrative had been excellent, so were the props and settings. Ashwin's house was adorned with modest furniture and odd combinations of wall colours which overtime, you will realise, coincides with his personality, or the overall mood at that period of time. So does the melody that pops up at specific times. Ratna's struggles actually depict the struggle of any low class city dweller. SIR is much more than what just meets the eye- a landlord falling in love with his maid. In spite of having love as it's underlined theme, the makers, for once did not venture to shift it towards the erotic angle. It is a movie that you can watch with your parents, your kids, as well as your spouse. It was unpredictable throughout. Whether they would eventually succumb to society or decide to fight against it kept me glued to the screen. But the ending seemed to be in a bit of a rush. I expected the movie to at least shed some light towards society's response to their relationship. The movie ending with Ratna's decision seemed a bit generic. Maybe it wanted to leave us an open ending- although they decided to fight against society, did they succeed? Did they fail? Maybe it tests our mentality as a third person in the society to this entire plot.