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10/10
Funny, touching and heartwarming
25 February 2024
Movie "All India Rank" - Must Watch The movie is funny, touching and heartwarming.

Varun Grover's directorial debut has proved that he is an amazingly talented movie maker.

The theme is the middle class IIT dream - of crossing a bridge that would lead to some eternal bliss.

There are striking events that cause disillusionment in staunch IIT-goal-forcing parents to reassess their children's life in a humane light, a smashing of the madness (NOT in a burlesque 3-idiots sort of way) An important aspect is the understatement of situations, the movie does not try to make the events too dramatic or sentimental, rather it portrays them with a kind of empathy that understands the larger issues which are mostly systemic.
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Neelavelicham (2023)
10/10
Evocative and nostalgic
25 April 2023
I admire Aashiq Abu for making this aesthetic treat.

It is a risky step, to remake an old time classic and adapt a known story to the present-day audience.

The music is mesmerizing and the frames are aesthetically supreme.

There are problems with the casting, especially the lead actress, they could have cast an actress with more talent and versatility perhaps.

The dialogues could have been adapted better for the present times, some of Basheer's cheesy lines could have been modified to give it a relatable feeling for the present-day viewers.

But, I cannot take anything away from the tremendous effort of the director in recreating the time-period and experimenting with a movie that looks beyond just commercial success.
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Shéhérazade (2018)
10/10
Epic love story
28 March 2023
A La La Landic love story of the ghettos.

It is at the same time grey and colourful.

It is at the same time filled with indifference and an unbounded-unconditional-innocent love.

The girl with the name Shéhérazade (the name of the teller of the Arabian Nights) and Zachary become in front of us another epic lovers.

The place is beautifully captured. The director has done a great job in bringing out the best in the actors. The sequence of events is such that the characters are introduced in an impactful manner. The depth of characters is beautifully captured. The aesthetic part is well taken care of , the way the characters look in every situation is genuine.
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Bheed (2023)
10/10
Powerful and impactful depiction of the horrors of the countrywide lockdown.
26 March 2023
Powerful and impactful depiction of the horrors of the countrywide lockdown.

The only way forward is to accept and come to terms with the mistakes made.

The administration left, right or centre failed 'miserably and completely' to take care of the migrant labourers of this country.

The movie is about how humanity suffered during an unexpected crisis.

It is a mirror that shows us how precarious the system was in the first place.

Without being political about it, we can see the tragedy unfold and how love and compassion prevailed in the grimmest moments.

Amazing acting performances and directorial brilliance.
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10/10
Lijo's Midsummer Night's dream
26 February 2023
Nanpakal Nerathu deals with mysticism, the story has magical realism in it.

Based on the idea that we are sometimes different people in our dreams, shown in the movie as inspired from a couplet by a famous Tamil poet.

The complex character transition of the protagonist was humorous.

The rural village setting was beautifully captured.

The most interesting thing was the high contrast between the two personalities the protagonist plays.

More than the acting performances, the directorial brilliance is what makes the movie stand out, the technique to picturize an otherwise banal script into a visual comedy, like a little Shakespearian Midsummer Night's Dream.

This is the second movie of Lijo's that I liked, after Ee Ma Yau.

Not that his other movies are pure trash, but they dealt with subjects/stories I could not appreciate.

Lijo is a brilliant director who has a great aesthetic sense, all of his movies have scenes that are aesthetically amazing.

I liked the short story on which Jallikattu was based (Maoist by Hareesh), but the adapted screenplay was pretty deviated from the original story I felt.
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Sherdil (2022)
10/10
Well-crafted and touching
22 October 2022
It is a well-crafted movie with a good mix of dark humour, political satire, outstanding acting performances and simple story telling.

Do not believe the shockingly low ratings this movie has garnered.

The story shows how largely disconnected the political leaders and bureaucrats are from ordinary citizens.

A village head in a place battered by natural and man-made calamities takes an extreme step to help out the villagers. The story is based on true events.

It is a touching story of innocence that makes us laugh and muse at the irony of events.

Pankaj Tripathi and Sayani Gupta have delivered amazing performances.
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8/10
Good movie
17 August 2022
About Lal Singh Chaddha

It's not a brilliant movie like the legendary Forrest Gump, but it is a good movie - a movie full of love and innocence, memorable funny and sentimental scenes.

It's adapted well to a conservative Indian-family-audience genre whereas Forrest Gump portrays harsh realities in all their rawness.

I didn't like Aamir Khan's previous two movies as producer - Dangal and Secret Superstar.

Dangal was about a father ridiculously bullying his kids for his own satisfaction and inflicting them with mental torture about the aftermath of not "winning". The whole movie was against the basic idea of sportsmanship - to accept success and defeat with humility.

Secret superstar was a cute little movie, but it lacked credibility with all its corniness.
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Modern Love Mumbai: Baai (2022)
Season 1, Episode 2
5/10
Cheesy drama
17 May 2022
There is no cohesive story telling here.

Content that could not be longer than ten minutes is dragged and stretched into forty minutes of slow motion scenes and songs.

The plot is so sloppy that there is hardly any emotion attached to it.

The theme is socially progressive, but extremely poor story telling, so hard to believe Hansal Mehta directed this.
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Modern Love Mumbai: Raat Rani (2022)
Season 1, Episode 1
5/10
Dull and boring
17 May 2022
There's no story for a forty minutes episode.

There's no conviction in the script, the plot is so simplistic that it does not evoke any emotion.

Thee story does not go into any depth of the relationship, it is shallow and superficial.
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Hridayam (2022)
5/10
Pathetic movie
30 March 2022
Could not even watch this dull drama, left it at midway.

This guy Pranav Mohanlal's acting and dialogues were so artificial, that it was unbearable to continue watching.

The college scenes were so cheesy, the seniors looked like a bunch of clowns in front of the heroic protagonist.
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Dune (2021)
5/10
Terribly Boring
30 March 2022
The movie was terribly boring. I haven't read the book, not planning to the read the book as well. Thought of watching a sci-fi movie for some entertainment, but this was such a bore, slow eerie music from start to end, which bought Hans Zimmer an Oscar, but I didn't like it. Visual effects are good, but that doesn't make the movie even slightly not-boring. The story, the way it was shown on screen, does not evoke any sort of emotions, so cold !
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Churuli (2021)
5/10
Philosophically flawed but aesthetically good
23 November 2021
Churuli has been in the media for the foul language used in the movie. Video clips were shared on WhatsApp, of scenes in which expletives unprecedented in Malayam cinema were used.

When I watched the movie, I felt that foul language is not the main issue with the movie.

Even though foul language is used excessively without the scene demanding it for conviction, that is a director's creative freedom. We have seen plenty of Hollywood crime/mafia genre and recently Bollywood movies(Anurag Kashyap/Motwane genre) having similar dialogues.

The main issue with the movie is the projection of the human condition as inherently violent. The fugitive in the climax says that "Inside, we all wish to rape or kill someone".

This is absolute nonsense based on ancient religious philosophy and scriptures.

A person becomes violent or sociopathic due to cultural conditioning and individual experiences. There is nothing commonly inherent in humans for making such general statements.

The movie's cinematography is aesthetic, gripping and intense.
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Sardar Udham (2021)
10/10
A stellar masterpiece that the whole world should watch
26 October 2021
In popular culture, most of what I could remember on Bhagat Sigh was Ajay Devgan singing "Des mere, des mere, meri shaan hein tu". Ajay Devgan walking like a macho man arm in arm with his friends talking about patriotism in a visceral sense.

The Bhagat Singh that we see in Sardar Udham is a vigorous young man who identifies himself as a revolutionary socialist, who wishes to free the entire world of imperialism and oppression.

He is shown as a humanist who talked at length about the difference between the violence inflicted by revolutionaries and terrorists, about symbolic acts which could make the oppressors realise about the oppression they are committing, and not with an intention to hurt anyone.

The movie stands out as the best movie I have watched on India's independence movement. It shows the spine-chilling and heart-wrenching absolute horror of the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh.

It has amazing narration and cinematography intensifying the struggle and transformation of the orphan Udham Singh from a naive lad to a staunch revolutionary.

The non-sequential narration of the story actually abstracts many a detail from the viewer, but it essentially shows the core emotions that the protagonist goes through.

The governor Dwyer is not shown a demonic villain but a man who is philosophically flawed by the ideology of his colonial times.

Udham Singh's experience of the massacre is the central theme of the movie and it is extraordinarily portrayed.
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Mandela (2021)
10/10
A must watch political satire
12 April 2021
Watching Mandela was an amazing experience, how with exquisite humour and emotionally touching scenes involving a downtrodden man as the protagonist, a politically and socially conscious movie was woven out.

This movie tells the story of a village ripped apart by good-old rigid casteism and crushed by severe lawlessness and thuggery.

The story is inherently about liberation and emancipation of the oppressed by making people aware of their rights, but it was not shown through the usual rigmarole but through witty and intellectually engaging scenes.

One important aspect was there was no element of the usual Tamil-movie histrionics that even Vetrimaran cannot avoid most of the time. There was no larger-than-life hero anywhere in the vicinity, who'd launch tirades to crowds who follow him religiously.

I think it wouldn't be a bit of stretch to say that the movie can be regarded as a classic political satire.
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Joji (2021)
7/10
Story lacking in conviction
10 April 2021
Speaking of the director's previous movies - Maheshinte Prathikaaram and Thondimuthal were classes apart.

The problem with Joji is there is an element of predictability lingering in the air, right from the start till the very end.

Characters have no great depth, all we know about Joji is he is frustrated with his life, but to what level and due to what reason is not clearly conveyed. Same goes with his accomplice Bincy.

Acting performances are good.

Movie has a steady pace and it does not drag.

Background score could have been scores better, all one remembers of the background music is that eerie western classical playing all the time, offering nothing fresh.

Overall an ok-ok watch !
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AK vs AK (2020)
10/10
Amazing
13 February 2021
The kind of humour in this movie I guess is unprecedented in Hindi cinema. It plunges us into the amusing real lives of the 2 AKs portrayed in parody. It has entertaining punch lines and ridiculing satirical mockery of the Bollywood stars and lives.

It also brings up the important debate of who are the real heroes -actors or directors. In a scene, actor AK says that without superstars no movie will run successfully. To this Anurag says "That is the case here, you should go to Europe and see, how people queue up to see the movies of famous directors".

I admire the brazenness of both the AKs to let us take a peek into their personal lives, although wrapped up in parody.

Overall a good entertainer , do not delve too much logically into the plot of the story, rather enjoy the theme presented and the dark humour.
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Ludo (2020)
7/10
Light hearted fun-filled entertainment
13 February 2021
Ludo is a light hearted fun-filled entertainment movie. Don't expect anything too serious from this. It has genuinely funny scenes, aesthetic shots and some really nice songs. It drags towards the end, a bit too long. Nevertheless , it is a memorable movie with catchy music.
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Andhaghaaram (2020)
1/10
Pathetic
22 January 2021
It is a pathetic movie. Watched this because it was shown on new18 movie-review show as one of the best movies of 2020. But it was pure torture to watch this senseless mockery of a horror thriller. The story depicts supernatural events with extremely clumsiness and lack of conviction with the one of the dumbest plots imaginable.
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8/10
Good movie, highly recommended
20 January 2021
Good movie, highly recommended, not just because it is a satirical take on patriarchy. It has a well devised plot that is compiled vividly with intertwined funny and serious scenes.
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Lootcase (2020)
8/10
Genuinely funny
1 August 2020
It's a light hearted black comedy. It evoked good laughs throughout. Acting performances are exceptionally good. If you want to indulge in a laughter filled couple of hours, go for it !
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Breathe (2018)
3/10
Technically good but the story gives a horrendous message
4 July 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Some good things - The series was technically good. Direction, camera and sound-effects etc were exceptionally good. The episodes were engaging too, they were successful in keeping me longing to know what would next happen in the story. Acting performances and the cast was good as well.

Logical flaws -

1.)The story lacked authenticity in terms of rationality. It was bizarre to see that the serial killer could find such deserted areas in the middle of the densely populated city of Mumbai, where he moved about without others noticing him or getting caught in cctv footages.

2.)The lover of the killer whom he kills in the middle of a buzzing road, out of instant rage was monstrously downplayed in the further part of the story. It was nearly unbelievable that the crime-branch could not get the info about the woman(whom he dated apparently not very discretely) got killed so easily in public, unnoticed. And this happened at a time when the killer was in the crime-branch radar continuously. The woman was even known to the family of the killer, also importantly she was the doctor of his kid as initially shown. Still, there was never a funeral or anything after her death shown, nor the crime-branch could get any info about these events.

3.)The point 2 could be let gone, given that Mumbai was a big city and maybe the death of the woman would have been reported to some other police station or something. But, all the other murders that the killer does of the organ donors, get reported to the same crime branch folks, very much in sequence. And the pattern of the organ donors is cracked by the crime branch. Nevertheless, the poor folks couldn't even find out the woman , who was his son's doctor, whom he was dating publicly, and who even managed to find out that he was behind the killings of the donors.

Atrocious and monstrous message given to the public -

The last episode was the biggest spoiler for me. The killer was actually glorified and depicted as a good father who tried to save his kid by committing some forgivable sins. I was always under the impression that killer would be stamped a psychopath(which he was by all means) in the end, and would be demonised to such an extent that even for his kid , he would become a disturbing memory. He did heinous, gruesome and ruthless crimes, to innocent people(people who even had pledged their organs). He even killed the woman who loved him and dreamed of a life with him, since she had found out about the killings. That anti-social monster was glorified as a good father who tried to save his child. A child who was dying of a natural disease and was not getting an organ donor in time. Is it only me to whom the this glorification seems utterly grotesque and morbid? Is it a reflection of the prevalent society in which people are able to care or love only their own children or family? The killer developed a misanthropist attitude to society in which majority people are not pledging their organs. He has no apathy towards humans in general, whose lives he destroyed, all he cared was about his own kid, his own little family. He is in all manner a sheer psychopath, who should have been portrayed as one. Instead, the last few scenes of the episode showed how much he loved his kid. Maybe this is how our society is at present, where people only love their own possessions, living or non-living , and have nothing but apathy for everything else.

A dire message for organ donors? -

If this was meant to be a message for more people to come ahead and pledge their organs, I think it is lame. A good cause should never come out by ways of intimidation, it should come out of conviction by reasoning and compassion.
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1/10
Pathetic morbid stuff
31 May 2020
It was an unbelievably and unbearably pathetic show. His jokes were misogynist, body-shaming, elitist and most importantly 'not funny', just morbid.
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Ghoomketu (2020)
7/10
Decent humorous movie
22 May 2020
It is a realistic movie. There is good amount of authenticity in the background-setting and the presentation of characters. The comedy genre is not conventional, it is rather tending towards dark comedy. The humour is good and the narration is pretty impressive. I am surprised by the beating this movie has received at the hands of many critics for not being up to the mark. I don't know which world these critics live in, as this movie is far better than the 95% Bollywood trash out there.
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Newton (2017)
9/10
Must watch movie for all
5 September 2019
I don't know why this movie is so less discussed and talked about. According to me , it is one of the finest movies in recent times. Outstanding story, screenplay, direction , acting. The theme might not satiate typical Hindi movie audience. That is one of the exact reasons why this movie stands out. This was not too artistic or caviar for the masses to skip the trouble of watching. It was entertaining , humorous and socially extremely relevant. The humour was satirical and dark but it was hilarious. The character of Newton brings out strong messages out to the public. One instance where his parents take him to see a girl for a marriage proposal, where the girl was not even of age. His father asks , 'What kind of girl do you want? Do you want a graduate, how will then she massage your mother's feet?' Newton jumps on an opportunity others were unwilling to take due to the risks involved. Of going to a naxalite area for election duty. The scenes at the naxalite area are so paradoxical. Everyone is helpless in one way or the other. The tribal school teacher talks about the plight of the tribals, nobody cares for them , neither the government nor the naxalites. When Newton asks her "Are you a NirashaVaadi(Pessimist) like the others". She says "I am an Aadivaasi". It probably alludes to the fact that the question itself is so futile. She says during the one of the scenes that she is not afraid of the Naxalites and they won't do her any harm. The reserve police deployed there have their own share of dire difficulties. They don't have advance weapons to sustain the risks involved there and they are not so well paid. Overall it is a deadlocked condition, and nobody cares to improve anything. Newton tries from his limits of a low-level clerical position , to make a positive difference to the system. He is relentless and doesn't care about the viral pessimism all around him.
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8/10
Classic Tarantino entertainer
5 September 2019
There are few things like watching a Tarantino movie in a movie house. He has only made a handful of movies in his lifetime. Almost all of them are entertainers to the core. Everyone may not enjoy them, but I have enjoyed them immensely. 'Once upon a time in Hollywood' does not disappoint by any manner a Tarantino fan. It has all the essential elements of a Tarantino classic. Terrific acting performances, especially by Di Caprio and and Brad Pitt, meticulous direction and immaculate cinematography. The background music is fabulous as ever, one of Tarantino's specialties. Intense scenes, teleporting us in time and mood to the period of the story. Scenes are so real and captivating, it's a thrilling watch. Initially it takes some time to set the premise, to introduce the characters. Character detailing is minutely done - the little girl in the shoot, the hippie girl and her community, the small scale actress etc , people who seem unimportant story-wise are so memorable. The movie showed two sides of the place of Hollywood, one where rich affluent people live and the other of hippies. Di Caprio, playing an actor in the movie goes through a crisis in his career, Brad Pitt is a cool headed stuntman who lives a humble life, but is a tough guy. After watching the movie, they all had become a part of my life that I spent in the Hollywood , back in the sixties.
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