ashish arora

The Buckingham muders . OTT . Netflix. . Looks like a vanity project in making Kareena look like Kate Winslet from mare of easttown . the director, hansal mehta , knew it's a crime thriller whodunit drama for Indians but was very subtle, like a bbc murder series . the atmospherics with tension between colleagues , parents , couples, business partners , legacy religious animosity groups was quite revealing about relationships and why murders are not committed for money alone .. each character had a knotty relationship with a motive that needed to be unravelled one by one slowly .. loved the contrast of Kareena's character heartfelt pain on loosing her son to the step mom planning to kill her step son because she felt deprived of love and affection from her son obsessed husband and then also eliminating the love struck teenage murderer by calling her hot headed hubby home , when the admirer is being manipulated to seduce her and also trying to implicate the guy who tried to reform her son from smoking by hiding her son's bag n drug at his place ... what deviousness comes to play on a housewifes psyche on being spurned of love and respect from her husband who is also having an affair. Is more complex than just an oedipus complex story with a lingering postpartum depression aka cat eating her kitten myth and black widow spider eliminating her lover mixed in .. a new villian is fleshed out . Aseem aarora screenplay weaves the distrust betrayal mentality between Hindus and Muslims even when they are uprooted and geographically economically cohabitating but also shows that they also share the same patriarchal misogynist flaws ..

Netflix IC814 the kandhar hijack . Anubhav sinha's series on 1999 hijack is actually more like a Shakespearen black comedy of errors , a tongue in cheek look at spy vs spy warcraft rather than a taut action filled jingoist spy- terrorists thriller . A jaane bhi do yaaron expose on link between those in power and terrorists instead of state and builders. casting a comedian as the main villian- terrorist was the first clue .then the other villian as a romantic wannabe hero trying to impress the airhostess .. but bumbling along with no knowledge of fuel capacity and flying distance , night landing facility in Kabul etc the bureaucratic delays . ignoring the warning cable from a raw operative . oneupmanship ,incompetence .scapegoat .. raw vs ib . Tom n Jerry. no inkling that the Taliban , it's foreign minister, Osama , ISI , Dawood and the hijackers were all in on the hijacking plot . the political capitulation. the storming of the plane by commandos averted to save the onboard brother in law of principal secretary to PM. Politicial expediency by jaswant singh , badal n vajpayee mirrored in the society by the shirking of duty and self preservation. The security guards chatting during screening at the airport.the person who didn't disclose his assets with family.. Dr who shirks doing treatment for a knife wound saying he's a skin Dr also similarly has no bonding with his specially abled son . Passengers use of the toilet and cleanliness of the aircraft. Relatives dharna to negotiate for the release even by releasing terrorists and setting a precedent. Remember that phone scene in Jane bhi do yaaron where Naseer is speaking to satish shah on the phone , then in the same room even switching handsets telling him that the editor is making a fool of him and he agrees .. even when seen , playing deaf n mute and is credible..that reminded me of the Taliban foreign minister playing the two intelligence agency heads , DRS and Mukul Mohan, despite their knowledge of his proximity to Osama including visiting him and manipulated into resolving the hijacking with a swap of prisoners and moolah and forsaking a shootout option by NSG commandos .. Remember the iconic hanging scene in the end with the hum honge kamyab ek din . Similar affect was given by the dialogue We won ! Did we ? We fought! Did we ?

Review #Munjya What a brilliant movie by the fabulous Aditya Sarpotdar from the supernatural horror comedy universe of maddock films as the step brother of stree . Hats off Dinesh vijan I hope you noticed the political tongue in cheek black humour...brahmin as villain and the pursuit of stubborn unrequited lust beyond mortal life (rss) the said transfer of lusting soul to another living being marked with a similar symbol( wolfsangel-swastika rotated ) and thereafter to similar toxic masculine person . ( Chacha character ). The evil spirit being visible to only the family.. ( sangh parivar) South Indian secular Elvis ( southern states ) as the saviour ( from abki baar 400 par ) with dialogues like "evil has no religion "and like the masked magician from breaking the magician code revealing the showmanship n jumla baazi n chicanery of a spiritual leader by chanting "hallelujah -( JSR ! of supreme non biological ) and brain washing of the community .. The vision of grandmother to rise up against the fear ( electoral bugbear of muslims) The cane being used on the truant child's back - to rip the shirt apart , election ink vertical mark to vote against demagogue. Didn't like the item song.. stree's item song was the one that gave the women agency . This one took it away . Loved the strong character writing of the women and the vulnerability of the hero .

Kho gaye hum Kahan . Netflix.. such a brilliant tongue in cheek , pun intended , title for a whole generation lost in the gaze-maze of social media , each one chasing their 15 minutes' of fame . .. Such a well written movie with all the actors personality fully etched out , warts n all , that it felt like a Woody Allen script.. mercifully it was an OTT, otherwise the dim lighting and the close up camera work , montages would not have worked on the large screen .Brilliant performances from the trio Ananya Siddhant Adarsh. Ananya was at her best when she was ribbing her friend , her best performance till date .. Adarsh , crossing the line reaction was marvellous.. Siddhant's growth as a stand up from a train dabba like venue introducing his friends to his interval time pulling one friend down and resulting animosity to his climax catharsis about his childhood trauma n guilt which bonds all three friends back was the foucault pendulum which showed the full unraveling of the movie .. Kalki"s role was perplexing as her story of loosing a mate n then filling the void with multiple short term meaningful relationships , throughout which she kept a keepsake snap dovetailed that of Siddhant who went into revenge denial about his culpability in a long term abusive relationship through multiple one night stands without any emotional engagement .Vijay maurya shone well as the archetype well meaning n preachy Dad who finally sees his son turn around . What was refreshing was that all the characters made mistakes and how they owned up like adults and made suitable amends in their life makeing it a suitable soul successor of Dil chahta hai and zindagi na milegi dubara . Well done director Arjun Varain Singh .

What if Animal the movie was satirical allegorical art like animal farm ( sequel mentioned in end credits is intriguingly named Animal Park) and it's writer director an auteur like George Orwell, whose subterfuge style is by camouflaging a dystopian society with just a rotten individual? When the protagonist slashes the neck of the antagonist, there was no gasp of horror from the theatre audience, in fact the bgm instigated the audience , whose pavlovian response ,as tutored , was to stand up at the sound of an anthem , to now clap n whistle , which led to an epiphany .. reminded me of another December in 1992 when Bombay riots had broken out and the privileged neighbours had similarly turned on their minority neighbours , without any remorse and taking pleasure in goading cheering mob brutality orgy by extracting cold blooded revenge .. Vijay + 2 sisters (sanghi-bhakt-shiv sainik) are the offspring of sarsanghchalak of swastika industries (rss symbol ) who slashes open the neck of mute abrar haque ( muslim without voice = beef lynching-bombay riots 92 ) to extract revenge .. looses his hearing ( no media reportage-or castigation ) attack oh him in a corridor ( godhra train burning) retaliation with axe and a huge gun ( gujrat riots . sanghi swords + police culpability . 300 bodies dumped in dumpster . no police .. attack in school (jnu ) hotel ballroom where the educated people are forced to close their eyes while a person is strangulated ( 370 article abrogation n internet shutdown) Is #Sandeep Reddy Vanga an abstract painter like Dali , toying tongue in cheek with his critics ? Just as life of pi wasn't about the bengal tiger or the hyena but an allegory about the animal like instincts in us humans , Sherdil -The Pilibhit Saga( Pankaj Tripathi -netflix) is a tongue in cheek movie about how the government and the animal instinct system is more concerned about the welfare of the top apex predator than the meek and submissive villagers . The poachers role , the crux of the movie , like the hyena / cook , is moralised as doing it for a living , but with regret of the path taken ... his Krishna like sermons are a treat and evoke enough laughter and philosophical wonder for you to rewind..

Watched Joram as had been bowled over by it's director devashish makhija's earlier film Ajji n short taandav n a very political tongue in cheek agli baar (abki baar , modi sarkar).. the film was gripping mainly due to Manoj"s acting and a few punch lines , graffiti and folk tunes but lacked the soul of kaala pani series or the last farmer by M manikandan or viduthalai by Vetrimaraan or Avatar which had also showed the pastoral beauty of the land and harmony of the tribals with nature in that area and also the skills n wisdom of the tribals which made it a more compelling case for their lifestyle and environment to be preserved and cherished... This was more like Eeb Allay Ooo . The politics of Pragati and displacement of cultural roots and the joyless invisible life of the migrant .. wish the director had showed the tribals skills and the longing for a return back to the past by say making his wife cover the under construction flat walls with tribal art and keeping a pet or holy plant or such and Manoj skilfully climb the scaffolding to rescue a struck worker from a beehive .. the brutal lynching of the antagonist's son with agonizing howls , diluted the shock of her subsequent revenge through his wife's murder because there no similar howl from her n no attempt to help from the neighbours - migrant labourers, though all appear to look at him when he rushes down to catch the murderers .. the lack of support from a migrant family who tells him not to return and a comrade who squeals on him and then without remorse tells him he too has a family and had no choice doesn't further their tribal preservation case . It becomes more like a drishyam with Manoj trying to protect his family -child while she tries to get-kill him in revenge for her son's murder.. Zeeshan was wasted as he didn't look like a city cop at all and the change of heart arch of a cop for a maoist n murderer was unconvincing . Smita was very good as a tribal and when she decides to return back to her home knowing that dasru will seek her out and accepts her fate with equanimity (it started with her accomplice choosing to eat with her father instead of with her ) even when she is informed that he is clinging on the back of her security Jeep , she doesn't get him killed in cold blood, reminded me of Mollie burkhart who perhaps deep inside knows that Earnest - Leonardo DiCaprio is not as honest as he pretends to be and is interested in her only for her money .. Joram thus also like killers of the flower moon doesn't make a compelling case to preserve the culture and environment of the tribals . I think I rooted more for tom hanks in a ma

Warm sensitive film .. relationship drama like lunchbox.. that dialogue of Nana about friendship is a scene stealer.. Nana looks so comfortable playing a love struck person.. his dialogues with Shriya are delivered so naturally and with such authenticity that I was reminded of another Irrfan lovelorn movie qarib -2 single .. Tapsee dubbing is a let down but she adds the oomph . Ali is charming as usual.. songs were melodious .

Hilarious black comedy that parodies the government's use of a bug bear to distract us

Tumbbad . Was travelling back to back to Hong Kong n Singapore n missed watching it at the cinema hall big screen when it released . Hence unable to relish it's majestic natural light cinematography on a 32 inch TV via Amazon prime . Also the spine chilling background score . But like ghoul which I saw on Netflix , was hooked by the craft of the movie on a tv screen with basic audio . The period setting with the cursed deserted tumbbad hamlet , overpowering incessant rain , overcast gloomy sky , bleek grey desolate skyline n a funeral pyre glow , n no other living being in sight creates the atmospheric for a scare me with heebie jeebies . The M.Gandhi quote about greed is the leitmotif of the movie . Just as there are overtly politically motivated movies about I Gandhi n emergency n M M Singh n accidental PM , there are subversive movie's like Ghoul which was about the undeclared emergency , currently , Patakha a cock a snook at our warmongering leader n now tumbbad , about greed by Sarkar's ( govt ) . The greed about building a temple (ayodhya ) n milking the voter's devoutness . The resultant curse of the rainy bad day's ( communal disharmony ) instead of achhe din . The money lender ( banks ) greed n his dalliance with opium ( liquor king mallaya ) . Hastar the god of wealth is a metaphor for the business n working class paying taxes . You can only loot the gold coin ( tax ) from the tax payer as long as you provide them with enough to feed themselves with . If you try n tax more n they don't have enough food , they will revolt n change Sarkar . The journalist army n judges are the sheckled ravenous great grandmother who is to be fed regularly by Sarkar n his minions n told to just eat n sleep else she will devour Sarkar n give secrets to the next Sarkar on how to snatch the gold coin ( tax) from the business community . The dichotomy of Hastar being able to possess all the wealth but not the food grains is a parable about how the business community alone should be taxed , not the farmers . The current predicament of our sarkar with agrarian crisis n trying to increase the tax payers base by bringing more items in the formal tax economy bracket by demonetization n gst n the revolt by the resultant new increased tax payers .

#Dasvi ..@juniorbachan managed to pull off the lovable , corrupt politician act and us rooting for his emancipation , due to the empathy generated for him by @yamigautam , the bhadki hui masterrani act and @Nimratofficial , the overlording cunning biwi .. if they had hammed it over the top just a little like a kader khan movie , it would have been just another regular potboiler script movie .. the boisterous background score and the khichdi script aided that .. but the earnest performances and the authenticity of the sets gave it an anurag kashyap black humour that salvaged it .