Reviews

Padmini (Netflix orig. Malayalam w/Eng. Subs.) is a cleverly made comedy with plenty of hilarious moments and (un)intentional digs at various social issues :-)

Rameshan (Kunchacko Boban) is a well liked teacher at the local school. He marries the crafty Smriti (Vincy Aloshius) who on their wedding night, promptly elopes with her lover in his Padmini car. Ramesh now becomes a laughing stock with his friends and colleagues who tease him as "Padmini" !!! Eventually Ramesh goes to a marriage broker for a second chance. He is sent to meet a prospective bride, Advocate Sreedevi (Aparna Balamurali)but the two do not gel. Sreedevi reluctantly gets engaged to a successful local businessman Jayan. A new and pretty teacher Padmini joins the school. Ramesh and Padmini bond well and decide to wed. However when the families meet, they discover that Ramesh has forgotten to divorce his first wife. Padmini's uncle is firm that unless Ramesh is legally divorced, the alliance can not proceed.

Laugh and smile your way through the subtle and in your face humour of this film to find out how the narration plays out!

Padmini (the film) is yet another well crafted Malayalam comedy. The acting is great, the sets, cinematography etc. All very good. I thoroughly enjoyed this film.

Highly recommended.

Just finished watching S2 over three days on PrimeVideo (orig. Hindi/Eng. W/Eng. Subs).

I liked S1 a lot but that was over 3 years ago and I dont now recollect the episodes in detail.

S2 is very good. The narrative revolveds around the people at a Delhi wedding planner outfit Made In Heaven, headed by Tara (Sobhita Dhulipala) Karan (Arjun Mathur) Jauhari(Vijay Raaz) Bulbul Jauhari (Mona Singh) Kabir (Shashank Arora) Jazz (Shivani Raghuvanshi) Meher (Trinetra Gummaraju), Tara's about to be divorced husband Adil (Jim Sarbh) Adil's soon to be new wife Faiza (Kalki Koechlin) and many others.

Most of their clients are well heeled families, some are celebrities and expectedly there is a lot of show, glamour and glitzy sets but this series is much more than just that.

Most of the lead characters are fun people but with their own eccentricities, quirks and often dark pasts. The episodes touch relevant social issues like abusive relationships, extramarital affairs, bigamy, problems with kids whose parents are divorced, schoolkids indulging in sexual activity with dire consequences, LGBT relationships and so forth.

The stories are interesting with several intriguing side plots. No need for Spoilers, watch and enjoy!

Good acting and cinematography. This is a very watchable series leaving scope for a Season 3, just hope there is no long gap in between.

Negatives: Too many intimate scenes. Undoubtedly these draw a bigger audience but sometimes just a hint of intimacy would more than suffice. Tara is mostly shown walking as though she's permanently strutting down a catwalk, wonder why !!! Also couldnt fathom why she was so determined to claim the Khanna home in her settlement.

I watched the web series Scam 1992 - The Harshad Mehta Story on SonyLiv in orig. Hindi/Eng. W/Eng. Subtitles.

Director Hansal Mehta has come up trumps with an engrossing narration from beginning to end. I was never into the stock market but I do remember the news reports of those days when Harshad Mehta was exposed and raided, also when he died in custody of a heart attack.

The series is based on the book Scam 1992 by Debashis Basu and Sucheta Dalal. Sucheta who was then a business journalist "exposed" the Harshad Mehta scam and rose to become TOI's Financial Editor.

Pratik Gandhi who I hadn't heard of before, is brilliant as Harshad Mehta. Pratik deserves an award for his excellent portrayal of a likeable Harshad who rose from simplicity to extraordinary heights, making one grudgingly admire the crafty brilliance of the Big Bull.

On the other hand Shreya Dhanwanthary makes her character Sucheta look like a person presenting a holier than thou image, an opportunist who leaves no stone unturned to selectively "expose the corrupt" ... and with a distinctly vindictive streak. Sucheta's character is perhaps intended to be viewed thus .. Eventually Sucheta was rewarded with a Padma award for her efforts.

BTW, never figured out who Sucheta's main source was in real life. Whereas other big names including former PM Narasimha Rao were bandied about freely in the series.

No Spoilers ... do watch this extremely well made and very watchable series. Suffice it to say that you may wonder why some got away while Harshad was destroyed, and more significantly how nothing has really changed, if anything it is worse in current times .....

Mukundan Unni Associates (Disney+Hotstar orig. Malayalam w Eng. Subs.) is the best film Ive seen in its genre this year. Certainly deserves a 10 out of 10 rating.

Request those who have not seen this film to avoid reading the plot that has been disclosed on various sites. This film is brilliant and deserves watching in entirety without knowing what lies ahead.

Its not a fall of your seat with laughter type of comedy. This film is devilish humour at its very best.

Im just giving the basics below. NO SPOILERS.

Vineeth Sreenivasan is outstanding as the devilishly devious Advocate Mukundan, whom you cannot dislike despite his actions, rather just can't help admire for his intelligently crooked mind and total absence of emotion.

Mukundan starts off as a disgruntled junior to a Sr. Advocate, but quickly learns how to become successful as a MACT claims lawyer by observing the wily Adv. Venu ( excellently portrayed by Suraj Venjaramoodu) following his mother's hospitalisation after an accident . Mukundan befriends the smart and pretty cashier (not sure of actress name) at the hospital who he eventually marries as a befitting partner in every sense :-)))

DONT MISS THIS FILM AND PLEASE DONT READ ANY SPOILERS.

I watched Kantara (orig. Kannada w/Eng. Subs.) on Prime Video with great expectations given the almost 9/10 imdb rating and so much hype and publicity. The film was overall a big let down and one wonders about the rating system!

The Good Parts:

The last segment perhaps 45mn, was brilliant where the protagonist Shiva (Rishab Shetty) becomes the Bhoota Kola ritual performer going into a superbly enacted trance.

The prologue is also well filmed introducing the background to the plot, where the King of old gives his vast land and forests to the original Adivasi forest dwellers in return for experiencing the divine through the Bhoota Kola ritual; later generations of the Zamindar are shown going to court to get back the land but die at the footsteps as per the curse.

The Bhoota Kola shamanic traditions of the region (Tuluvanadu) are well depicted as is the local Kambala harvest festival. This indeed has created interest in a large section of the public to learn more about such ancient rituals which are practised in several forms in old communities world wide as in India.

The evils of casteism are well depicted where the "upper caste" landlord to look good invites the so called "lower caste" villagers to his home but once they leave, the house is ritually cleansed :-(((

Conflicts between the forest department and the original forest dwellers which is also a present day issue in many forested parts of India, was also quite well depicted.

The music is quite good. Apparently the music of the chart busting Varaha Roopam song is changed in OTT from the cinema version due to a court order vis a vis the plagiarism charge by the band Thaikkudam Bridge for their original song Navarasam. Hombale Films who admit to being "inspired" by Navarasam, could easily have settled this issue amicably with T. Bridge! I was also reminded by one of the other songs, of something vaguely from Bollywood. Not to mention certain scenes reminded me of scenes from the recent Telugu blockbuster film Pushpa.

The Mediocre Parts:

The overall narration between the introduction and the finale which was the core length of the film, did not hold the interest. Some frames were actually boring and quite fast forwardable.

There were far too many scenes of violence, albeit slickly choreographed, undoubtedly will appeal to action lovers.

Though there were some humorous dialogues, the absence of correct comedic timing spoilt the punchline.

Excessive frames of felling the forest as a mode of protest gives a very wrong message to an impressionable public.

Summary: Overhyped film. A shorter length, tighter narration and less of the action / violence would have made Kantara a much better production. Anyway, the massive box office profits have surely made the producers very happy !

Started watching the new Bollywood movie PlanA Plan B in original Hindi audio with English subtitles on Primevideo streaming.

The acting was artificial and stilted right from the beginning of the film.

The plot may have been interesting but the overall production was really poor especially the acting was so artificial and so stilted that it became unbearable and we gave up after 30 - 40 minutes.

Briefly Ritesh Deshmukh is a divorce specialist lawyer with an office in a swanky BKC building and Tamannah Bhatia is a marriage broker who also takes an office in the same building. The two of them are constantly irritated by each other but of course some underlying romance is in the offing. If you can bear to watch, then watch the film to see how the narration plays out.

Not even worth 1/10.

I chose Jhimma just by chance last evening (Primevideo orig. Marathi w/Eng. Subs) and what a pleasing film it turned out to be.

A ladies only tour to the UK conducted by Kabir (Siddharth Chandekar) of Sunflower Tours, brings together a random group of Maharashtrian women of various ages. As they mingle, bond, squabble, make up and generally let their hair down during the tour, their individual quirks,nature, background stories, relationships play out in a sweet, spicy and poignant manner.

Some key characters from the tour are the rustic Nirmala mavshi (Nirmiti Sawant) a politicians wife just seeking a solo break from her typical routine politicians wife role, Meeta (Kshitee Jog) who is still traumatised by her loving husband's inexplicable suicide, Vaishali (Suchitra Bandekar) accompanied by her daughter Maithili (Sonali Kulkarni) who is strangely reluctant to meet her fiancee Nikhil(Hemant Dhome) who lives in London, the feisty Indu Ajji (Suhas Joshi) for whom this tour is an escape from the drudgery of living with her children and managing their homes, the perky Rama (Mrinmayee Godbole) married to a Gujarati who is desperate to conceive and the youngest member of the tourgroup, the extrovert Krutika (Sayali Sanjeev) who looks forward to meeting her Insta male friend who lives in the UK.

As the tour proceeds, the lives of the participants unfurl.

No Further Spoilers as its really a delightful watch, getting to know the characters as the narration plays on keeping the viewer nicely engaged. The music is also melodious.

Every actor has done justice to their respective role. Suhas Joshi and Nirmiti Sawant are particularly noteworthy. The sets, the locations and the cinematography are all good.

Jhimma is a lovely, pleasing film. This is another gem of the underrated Marathi film industry. Do watch.

Madhuram (SonyLiv orig. Malayalam w. Eng. Subs.) is a poignant film, very realistically made.

The plot is set in a typical ordinary govt. Hospital dormitory for patients attendants. The attendants who stay longer end up becoming firm friends and empathising with one anothers situations.

Indrans (Ravi etta) is a senior citizen attendant for his wife. Joju George (Sabu) whose wife is paralysed, has been there the longest. Sabu is a chef by profession and often brings delicious home cooked food for his fellow attendants and the hospital staff whom he is friendly with due to his long innings as an attendant. Ravi and Sabu dispense advise and are shoulders to cry on for the other attendants who come and go.

Every character is convincingly enacted by the respective actor. The narration is ultra realistic, what one experiences with patient attendants in ordinary hospitals, and their mundane lives. Several poignant moments of joy, of sadness, of the ordinary, of everyday situations enhance the plot making Madhuram a very watchable and relatable film.

Hope it did well commercially too.

7-8/10 because of the exceedingly slow pace in certain portions.

I watched Malayankunju (Prime Video in orig. Malayalam w/Eng. Subs.)

This is an intense, serious film set in a torrential monsoon season in plantations at the base of a mountain.

Anikuttan (Fahadh Fasil) is a bigoted, caste conscious, unlikeable electronics repairman who lives with his mother Shanthamma (Jaya Kurup) in a rubber plantation in the foothills of the Western Ghats. Through the rather slow build up and flashback, we learn that Anikuttan's father Radhakrishnan (Jaffer Idukki) hanged himself, unable to bear the shame of his daughter Sandhya's (Rajisha Vijayan) fleeing her wedding dais to elope with a so called "lower caste" man. Radhakrishnan had sold his farm land to bear the expense of Sandhya's elaborate arranged marriage. Anikuttan's nature worsened due to these events. During a work assignment he bumps into Sandhya and makes it crystal that he cannot forgive her for their father's suicide. He asks why she did not elope before their father sold their land to fund her marriage. This actually is a real problem with many families where girls callously let their parents incur huge marriage expense liabilities when they have no intention of going ahead with the wedding.

The neighbour's daughter comes to her parental home with her husband Deepu and newborn infant Ponni. Shanthamma is delighted but Anikuttan doesn't care for the so called "lower caste" family and can't tolerate the sound of the infant crying. He grudgingly agrees to accompany his mother to the naming ceremony ... where he chastises his mother for giving his gold ornament as a gift to the baby.

The rains become torrential with landslide threats every passing day and the people of the area are urged to move to camps in a safer area, but Anikuttan refuses to move while the neighbours agree to go with Shanthamma the next morning. Landslides occur that night, destroying their houses. Anikuttan is trapped in the mix of earth, water, broken trees and other debris. A wooden shard has pierced him and he is grieviously wounded. Most others are dead. A baby's feeble cry is heard. Ani is in a delirious state and imagines that his dead father removes the shard from his body, telling him not to bother about caste and to go and save baby Ponni.

The remaining part of the film is the slow paced survival part, but its so much more than just a "survival" tale. Fahadh Fasil is expectedly brilliant in his role - he specialises in such characters:-), all the actors are very convincing, the settings, the cinematography its all so realistic. The film is moving but would have been better had the build up and the survival portion been significantly shortened.

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect (Primevideo orig. Tamil w/Eng. Subs. Also available in several other languages ) is a narration about reknowned scientist Dr Nambi Narayanan's eventful career, his implication in a spying case, his eventual redemption and Padma Shree award. The narrative unfolds through flashback while a star anchor (Surya) interviews Dr Nambi (Madhavan and Dr Nambi himself).

This is a real life story that undoubtedly deserves to be told. The film though very watchable ... has some stilted dialogues stuck in here and there.

The first part of the film, somewhat slow, is about Nambi's enthusiasm, his stints abroad and his rise in the organisation. Most of the characters are taken from real life though Im not sure about all the events. For instance, did Nambi really unforgivably withhold from Unni (Sam Mohan) the news of his child's sudden death which would be the most tragic, the most unbearable grief for any parent to endure? Was the film maker trying to imply that Unni's curses when he eventually came to know many days later, somehow lead to Nambi's subsequent ordeal? Did Unni really take the lead in trying to clear Nambi's name?

Another question on how authentic the films depiction is comes from interesting news reports post film release including an item in The Hindu today 25/8/2022 reporting the statement released by several ISRO veterans challenging Dr Nambi Narayan's scientific achievement claims . I quote a brief extract from the news item: "Many of the claims in the Madhavan starrer ... Rocketry ... and those made by Mr Narayanan in various forums are baseless and tend to mislead the public, the former scientists which included D. Sasikumar who (had) .. also been implicated in the spy case, .... told a meet-the-press programme ... Thiruvananthapuram Press Club..."

Nevertheless, the characters are effectively portrayed by the respective actors and the overall narration holds the viewers interest .. though something is missing that could have elevated this film a few notches.

A last "politically correct scene" focussed on ..... seems to be a probable path to Best Film, Best Actor etc at the next National Awards ...... Good Luck !!!

I watched Thinkalazhcha Nishchayam on SonyLiv in orig. Malayalam w/Eng. Subtitles.

This film received the Best Film & Best Story awards which is why I watched it, but having done so, I feel the film is quite over rated.

TN has a good plot based on real such events in Indian society, amusing enough but dragged a bit and wasn't as engrossing a narration as several other films released in 2021 such as the brilliant grossly underrated Nayattu and several others with a more interesting storyline than TN : Minnal Murali, Kuruthi, Home, Kurup, Sara's, Aarkkariyam, Joji, The Great Indian Kitchen, Love and Im sure there could be more.

Anyway, not to deprecate TN, just the comparison with better films that got no awards.

The plot shows a typical middle income family where the elder girl ran off to marry the man she loved, the middle girl agrees to meet a boy fixed by her father, the match is fixed and the engagement ceremony is about to begin but the girl is planning to elope as she did not have the guts to tell her parents that she loves someone else. This is a serious problem that causes unnecessary expenditure and gross embarassment to the parents. If a girl doesnt want to go through an arranged marriage she must tell her parents firmly so, rather than put them through so much trauma. The father is a well meaning but annoying character who loses his temper very easily. Eventually even the younger brother has a girlfriend who suddenly turns up thus complicating matters. The film drags in many scenes.

Its a pleasant, amusing watch overall.

I was looking for something to watch last night and picked Gargi just by chance (SonyLiv orig. Tamizh w/Eng. Subs). Its a well made, impactful, powerful film and also credit to the makers for casting a trans person in a significant role)

Gargi (Sai Pallavi) is a school teacher who also gives free tuitions to poor kids from her locality. She lives in a modest home with her watchman father Brahmananda (RS Sivaji), mother who sells home made dosai batter and pre teen sister Akshara. Gargi is in love with Pazhani (Kalesh Ramanand) and they hope to get married soon with their parents blessings. Gargi is paranoid about her sister not stepping out of the house after 5pm, and through flashback we learn that Gargi at a very young age was subject to molestation by her tuition teacher and eventually saved by her father.

A gang rape of a 9 year old takes place in the apartment complex where Brahmananda works. Four suspects are immediately arrested and confess to the crime. A few weeks later during the official identification parade, Brahmananda is identified as a 5th accused and duly arrested. Gargi is shocked. She is not allowed to meet her father when she goes to the police station and IO Bennix (Prathap) advises her to take her family and leave town for their own good. Sure enough there is a predictable public frenzy and media trial judging Brahmananda and his family guilty with miscreants throwing stones and filth at their house.

Convinced of her father's innocence, Gargi is determined to clear his name. She gets in touch with an old family contact Sr. Advocate Bhanu Prakash (Jayaprakash) who promises to fight the case. However the Bar Association soons issues a ban on its members to defend the accused of this heinous case and Adv. Bhanu is forced to withdraw. Gargi is in great despair, when suddenly the local night pharmacist Indrans (Kaali Venkat) who is also a very inexperienced junior of Adv. Bhanu bravely offers to take on her father's matter. Indrans has little self confidence and also stammers. However with his pharma background, he is able to pick flaws in the prosecution witness evidence and the fact that the child victim was given a heavy dose barbiturates during the identification parade is brought on record, thus creating a slight benefit of doubt in favour of Brahmananda. A trans judge (S. Sudha) is hearing the in camera matter.

With Gargi's determination and Indran's effort, they manage to meet the victim's distraught father Kundhava (Saravanan) who confesses that he tutored his daughter for the identification parade as she was completely traumatised. Indrans has quietly recorded this statement. The judge grants Brahmananda conditional bail while also ordering a second identification parade without the victims fathers presence.

No Further Spoilers ....... watch this well made, powerful film till the very end.

The acting, the cinematography, the settings, its all superb. Every character is well portrayed by the respective actor. Sai Pallavi, Kaali Venkat and Saravanan stand out in particular. S. Sudha is also very effective as the no nonsense judge.

For a change, none of the horrific scenes are shown graphically, every act of violence is implied. The real issue in our society of child molestation and abuse is well highlighted, something every child should be made aware of from a very young age.

The film is excellent and deserves to be widely watched. Some confusion arose for me (maybe I missed something) regarding Gargi's line of thinking towards the latter part, which was not quite convincing.

I watched on Hotstar the Malayalam film (w/Eng. Subs) : 19(1)(a)

For quick reference: Art 19 The Constitution Of India 1949 19. Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech etc (1) All citizens shall have the right (a) to freedom of speech and expression; ....

However other than brief sundry mentions of "communal forces" trying to curb the "freedom of expression" of Indian citizens, the film does not convincingly convey any great message in this regard.

The film meanders too much into art frames and great cinematography coupled with two beautiful songs but the narration does not do very much else vis a vis the above cited Art.19(1)(a).

In brief, an ordinary young lady (Nithya Menen) whose father has lost interest in everything, takes over the running of his photocopy shop. An unknown customer (Vijay Setupathy) turns up one evening leaving a sheaf of handwritten notes to be copied. He says he will definitely pick them up later. She asks if she should bind them and he tells her to do whatever she feels is necessary. The customer fails to turn up late into the night and Nithya goes home. Breaking news reports a killing in Nithya's locality of a Tamilian author Gowrishankar who has been targetted previously by communal forces. Nithya recognises the man as her customer. Now come endless frames of Nithya in a trancelike state, almost meditating on the series of events. She starts getting dreams about Gowri getting shot. She looks for his published books and tries to meet his publisher (Indrajith) which she manages to eventually. A side plot narrates how Nithya's best friend Fathima (Athulya) who works in the next door shop, reluctantly agrees to get married as per her parents choice. Nithya attends Fathi's mehndi and bethrothal ceremonies (the two beautiful songs are in these segments). Nithya becomes obsessed with getting Gowri's last work - the handwritten sheaf of papers - to his publisher. She befriends a TV reporter Jenny (Arya Salim) who takes her along to meet Gowri's sister Saroja (Sreelakshmi). Several meaningless stretched "arty" frames later, Nithya hands over the last work of author Gowri to Indrajith.

Watch if this holds your interest to find out how the narration goes on and on and on to convey nothing very much other than beautiful cinematography. Not even any particularly defining message is conveyed about the serious attacks on Freedom of Speech & Expression that one sees in India these days.

Not to deprecate the actors, all of them who essay their respective characters convincingly. But what can you do when the plot stretches endlessly to convey nothing very much that could not have been achieved in half the time.

I watched Meri Awas Suno on Disney+Hotstar in orig. Malayalam w/Eng. Subs., not really knowing what to expect.

Turned out to be a well made film, educating the viewer about the problems faced by those who lose their larynx.

Shankar (Jayasuriya) is a chain smoking popular radio jockey (RJ) running the prime Meri Awas Suno FM show. He is popular with his colleagues and empathetic to his callers, managing to prevent a young girl caller from jumping off a rooftop. At an awards show, he suddenly finds he has lost his voice. A medical check up leads to an emergency procedure and the removal of his larynx. Shankar's life as an RJ is virtually over and he is desolate, unable to come to terms with his situation. With the encouragement of his wife Meryl (Shivada), his doctor and his radio station boss Moorthy (Johny Antony), he starts personal speech rehabilitation with effervescent Dr Reshmi (Manju Warrier). Reshmi tells him upfront that he will not get his voice back but introduces him to others who are in a similar larynx-less situation who have learnt to use voice stimuli to gain some sort of speech function. With Reshmi's intensive training, encouragement and friendship, Shankar also gradually learns how to use these devices to the point that he can manage to accomplish an electronic sounding voice. In the process of his rehabilitation, Reshmi and Shankar become very close albeit in a platonic manner. However Meryl is very unhappy and suspicious. Once Shankar manages to master the stimulation device, Meryl asks Reshmi to step back and leave Shankar to her care only going forward. In the meantime, Moorthy has come up with a new kids radio show helmed by a robot voice ... ideal for Shankar. Shankar is not absolutely confident but the first program is a success and there is no looking back. Reshmi is shown on a flight to Kashmir where her husband is based.

The narration beautifully deals with the real problems faced by those who permanently lose their power of speech, relationships, misunderstandings etc. It is a human story and very watchable.

Beautiful Film. 9 instead of 10 only because the build up was rather slow.

Prakashan Parakkatte streams on Zee5 in orig. Malayalam w/English subs.

This is a realistic poignant narration about an ordinary family of limited means, set in a rural community in the verdant foothills of the Western Ghats.

Prakashan (Dileesh Pothen) owns a small convenience shop. He lives in a modest house with his wife Latha, older son Dasan (Mathew Thomas) and much younger son Akhil (Ritunjay Sreejith). Latha's brother the somewhat dubious Kuttan (Saiju Kurup) is mostly in and out of their house as he is spoilt by his sister and sponges off his brother in law, though he is genuinely fond of his nephews.

Das is in PU but though he is intelligent, he lacks ambition and routinely fails a few subjects. Das is at that difficult stage of adolescence and Prakasha tries his best to understand him, while the mother is short tempered with Das though loving to the other child Akhil who is very cute and sweet, loved by all and good at art. Das and Akhil go to school together everyday, which though he loves his kid brother, irritates Das at times. While going in the bus, Das spots a girl Neethu (Malavika) whom he is attracted to. His best friend Anwar (Govind Pai) finds out that Neethu attends a tuition class, so the two of them also go to join that class. The tuition master waives their fees to shut them up as they have seen him misbehaving with some girl students.

All goes quite well until a sudden tragic incident takes place and life is turned upside down for Prakasha's family.

No Further Spoilers, watch the beautifully made film that realistically deals with the ups and downs of life and how the family deals with the hurdles that come their way.

Dileesh Pothen has excelled in his portrayal of Prakashan; every actor has convincingly enacted their role. The cinematography is beautiful, and the film is very well made.

I watched Nna Thaan Case Kodu (NTCK) on Disney+Hotstar in orig. Malayalam w/Eng. Subs.

NTCK is a well made film about real issues, with ample doses of well crafted humour. Very watchable.

Rajeevan (Kunchacko Boban) is a former petty thief. He runs away to a small community where he gets work as a labourer, in the process falling in love with Devi (Gayathri). They end up living together and Rajeeva also takes good care of Devi's paralysed father.

While returning from a local festival, Rajeeva is hit by an auto and is thrown into the compound of an MLA Minister Premam's (Kunjhikannan Cheruvathoor) house where he is grieviously attacked by the MLA's two dogs. Suspecting theft, the police are called and they take Rajeeva into custody, however nothing has been stolen and a badly wounded Rajeeva convinces the Magistrate(PP Kunhikrishnan) about the circumstances in which he jumped into the compound. A few days later, Rajeeva himself files a case against Premam for being negligent about repairing a big pothole in the road which led to the auto hitting him and the subsequent attack by Premam's dogs leading to Rajeev's disability.

No further spoilers, watch the movie and enjoy the intelligently crafted, amusing dialogues, twists and turns as the events play out.

Kunchacko Boban is convincing as the likeable former crook Rajeeva. PP Kunhikrishnan excels as the Magistrate, as do Gangadharan & Shukoor as the advocates. In fact, every character has done justice to their respective role. The cinematography and sets are great.

All in all, this is a well made film dealing with real issues in a humorous manner. Do watch it.

I watched Sita Ramam last night on Primevideo in orig. Telugu w/Eng. Subs.

Initially the film appeared to be a typical fantasy musical romance like many others of this genre, but the story is much more than that and it was gripping till the very end.

The film begins in London where Afreen (Rashmika Mandana) an aggressive student activist of Pak origin who hates Indians is compelled as a condition to claim her inheritance from her Pak army grandfather Maj. Abu Tarik (Sachin Khedekar), to travel to Hyderabad to deliver a 20 year old undelivered letter written by a long missing Indian Army person Ram (Dulquer Salman) to his wife Sitamahalakshmi (Mrunal Thakur). But there is no address for Sita and Afreen must take the help of Balaji (Tharun Bhasker) to trace Ram's former Army colleagues and staff in the erstwhile palace of Princess Noor Jehan to execute her mission.

No Further Spoilers .. its a new film and definitely worth watching .. so watch this film to see how the narration plays out.

The music by Vishal Chandrasekharan is quite good, the cinematography and locations are beautiful. Its a big budget movies so there are also some songs shot inexplicably in Gujarat in what certainly seems to be the fabulous UNESCO Rani Ni Vav Queen's Stepwell in Patan, and in the pond of the exquisite Modhera Temple. Every actor has convincingly portrayed their respective character, there are a few gut wrenching and poignant moments, the storyline succeeds in going beyond the much cliched Ind Pak hyped hate filled dramatisations that several other films propound. Sita Ramam is not about this, but more about the love between two individuals caught in unfortunate circumstances of their time. Much of the film is shot in well constructed flashback and period mode.

Could have been half an hour shorter.

Watched JGM on Netflix in orig. Malayalam w/Eng. Subs. Several audio portions are in multiple languages like Tamil / English / Kannada.

10 Stars for the important, disturbing mainstream current issues that are "loudly" propounded by Prithviraj as Adv. Aravind in the courtroom scenes ... with the 7-8 star rider that the courtroom scenes are far removed from actual courtroom reality! This is not important if you watch the film as fiction as indeed the Disclaimer proclaims. Nowadays one is used to expecting heavy doses of realism in Malayalam films so in that sense the courtroom scenes are a deviation.

JGM is a crime thriller that starts with a murder of a lady professor. The narration has multiple layers veering towards the convoluted and nothing is prima facie what it appears to be.

I was a tad confused with so many languages in the orig. Audio. In my understanding the film is set in Bangalore where Tamil and Malayalam are also commonly spoken.

As its a thriller, it would not be right in this review to spoil the suspense for other viewers. Suffice it to say that the film is very watchable and rivetting especially once the courtroom dramatics begin.

I watched the web series Suzhal : The Vortex on Primevideo in orig. Tamil w/English subtitles over a few days. Its available in several other languages as well.

STV is a crime thriller / police narration. S1 has 8 episodes. The first few episodes are rivetting and extremely well made, but towards the last few, the story becomes overly convoluted.

Though the acting is good for the most part, in some scenes there is TV style soap operatic excessive dramatisation and in some scenes the background music is also like in melodramatic TV serials.

R. Parthiban has brilliantly portrayed his character as the tough factory union leader Shanmugham, tormented by the events that follow. Kathir is good as the conscientious PSI Sakkarai but not as good as his Pariyerum Perumal standard. Santhana Barathi as Kothandaraman the Insurance Surveyor is also very good. The female characters are sometimes well portrayed, sometimes not that convincing except for Guna's unfaithful wife (Shanmugham's s-i-l) who is really good.

The plot deals fairly with various contemporary issues such as failed relationships, mental states of various characters, certain criminal offences etc.

The depiction of the semi rural Amman festival celebrated here as Goddess AngalAmman Mayanna Kollai is detailed, nuanced and realistic, an excellent informative essay of such Amman festivals for those who have not experienced these or may not get an opportunity, or wish to experience in person. Reminds me of the Malayalam film 41 Nalpathiyonu (Biju Menon) which likewise realistically depicts the logistics of the Sabarimala Aiyappa pilgrimage within the framework of the films main narration.

This is a new series and being a thriller there is no need to go into the plot which each viewer should experience for themselves. Overall, STV is well made and indeed watchable though could have been better had the convoluted latter episodes been condensed.

Panchayat is a pleasing, non violent, non controversial web series set in the fictional village of Fulera in UP where the village Pradhan is a lady Manju Devi(Neena Gupta) but her husband Dubeyji (Raghuvir Yadav) wields the actual power.

The Panchayat is run by a newly appointed young civil servant Secretary.(Jitendra Kumar as Abhishek Tripathi) ably assisted by Vikas (Chandan Roy) and his chacha Prahlad Pandey (Faisal Malik) along with Dubey ji of course! A thought crossed my mind as to why all are surprisingly Brahmins .... They are an amiable cooperative bunch who try to do the best they can within their limitations. Abhishek is desperate to complete his tenure, pass his UPSC exams and get out of the village. Gradually he gets used to the system and becomes good friends with his Panchayat colleagues. Season 1 is mostly matter of fact and non eventful.

Season 2 shows the Panchayat gang being much closer friends and Abhishek has more or less settled in at Fulera gaon except that he still intends to pass his exams and move upward and out of the village. Life goes on with the district zamindar MLA imparting tough political lessons to the village admin. No further Spoilers except to say that the last episode of Season 2 is so gut wrenchingly sad even in a larger sense beyond the plot of this series, with an absolutely brilliant performance from the underrated Faisal Malik.

Im sure the narrative will continue in Season 3, hope it comes soon.

I watched Kaanekkaane (SonyLiv Malayalam w/Eng. Subs) as an entirely random pick. Glad I did!

Tehsildar Paul ( a brilliant Suraj Venjaramoodu) is a widower whose vivacious daughter Sherin died in a hit and run accident.

A lonely and morose Paul comes to visit his grandson Kuttu. (Master Alok) who lives with his father Allen (Tovino) and stepmother Sneha (Aishwarya Lekshmi) who Allen married after Sherin's death. Allen is also troubled and the couple are not on the best of terms. Sneha is pregnant. Paul visits Sherin's best friend who she was with before her death and after discussing the accident, he becomes suspicious about his son in law.

No Spoilers, do watch this film with a brilliant performance by Suraj Venjaramoodu that carries the narration to a different level altogether. Everything about this film is superb, Its easy to be judgmental and pick faults in others but think hard and realise that no body is without flaws.

I didnt even need to fast forward as I usually do!

I subscribed to SonyLiv especially to watch Pet Puraan (orig. Marathi w/Eng. Subs)

This is a delightful tale more so for animal lovers. Its amusing, lighthearted, flippant but not slapstick, and the pet animals are ever so cute.

Atul (Lalit Prabhakar) and Aditi (Sai Tamhankar) are a happily married young couple without kids .. by choice. So obviously in India this means they would be and they are hounded by their respective families and friends to "do the honours" asap. Their best friend Parag has a pretty cat Godakka who has 3 ever so cute fluff ball kittens which he offers to AA but they decline. But not long thereafter they become desperate to adopt a pet dog, in particular a Golden Retriever. To cut a long story short, they end up becoming "pet parents" to a shelter dog Vyanku (Golden Retriever) and a stray kitten Baku.

The narration continues with dollops of humour with its quirky characters and its varied twists and "tales" :-)))

Watch to enjoy for yourself.

Episode 1 is slightly dragging but the remaining episodes of S1 keep you amused and with a smile on your face throughout. Good acting by all and the animals are of course the real stars of the show.

I enjoyed Pet Puraan and look forward to further Seasons!

I found Vaanku (orig. Malayalam w. Eng subs) on YouTube's NeeStream channel . It's a beautiful film with superb background and vocal music by Ouseppachan.

A class of final year students are encouraged by their teacher to fulfil their one main wish before leaving school as they will regret not having done so later on. A group of four close girls mull about what that desire would be. One wants to hug a male teacher and does so but is seen by the teacher who pounces upon her colleague who clarifies that the girl whose parents are abroad, misses her father, he reminds her of her Dad and its an innocent hug. Another two of the quartet go to the cinema with a couple of boys .... The last Rasiya (Anaswara Rajan) is from not particularly orthodox Muslim family but she has attended religious classes as a child where one teaching is stuck in her mind : that the Prophet wanted the call to prayer to be recited in a beautiful voice. When as a child she told the religious teacher (Usthad) that she wanted to recite the Azan, she was scolded and told that only a male could do so. Now she feels that is her one driven desire, to recite the Azan and that is what she must do before leaving school. Her friends advise her not to be so foolish in their conservative small community, the fanatics would surely attack her as their firm belief is that females are forbidden from doing so, but Rasia is undeterred. In the meantime Rasia's father Razak (Vineeth) a small time contractor has been recommended by the Jamaat head for a good 2 year long contract. Because of this, he feels his family should look more conservative like "good" Muslims and he gets 2 burkhas for his wife Jazmi (Shabna Mohamed) and daughter who otherwise dress normally without a burkha. Rasia expresses her desire to sing the Azan to her mother who advises against it. Her father gets angry and tells her to banish such "heretic" thoughts from her mind as "Usthad knows best". One of Rasia's friends Jyothi (Nandhana Varma) innocuously posts Rasia's desire on social media ... and all hell breaks loose. Rasia is brutally trolled, and physically threatened by the so called "conservative" minded boys of her college. Razak loses his prized contract, and the Muslim society shuns their family. Rasia goes into depression and stops attending college despite being a topper student. One day, she strolls into a nearby enchanting forest and sings the Azan by herself. Jyothi feels very guilty at causing Rasia and her family so much trouble. She arranges for Rasia to come to college in a burkha to avoid being harassed by the boys and collect her hall ticket. Razia stands up to the goons this time. Jyothi arranges for Rasia to fulfil her wish in the forest, she gets her cousin to take her there by bike.

A man see's the two entering the forest. Thinking they are a romantic couple, he calls his friends to join him to attack them, taking out his sickle as he enters the forest. Its a scary scene as the four rough looking men enter the forest hunting for the two. The suspense is held for awhile when the men eventually come across Rasia and the boy, but are spellbound by the sacred music through Rasia's divine voice, and drop their sickles. This is an outstanding and truly sacred scene, superbly shot. Loved it. Loved the film. It hasn't got great reviews but for me (and I am neither a Muslim nor a religious person) it was really good cinema. I loved the Azan put to music and also the opening Subhan Allah song and the background scores through the film.

All the characters are convincingly enacted, the scenes are realistic, the settings and locations quite real and believable.

I watched Gehraiyaan on Primevideo in orig. Hindi w/Eng. Subs.

The first 40mn of the plot did not hold my interest and the mandatory Bollywood songs certainly didn't help, so I gave up .... but resumed the next day when the narrative suddenly became intriguing and engrossing enough to complete the film albeit with a few doses of Fast Forward!

Alisha (Deepika Padukone) a middle class yoga teacher and Tia (Ananya Pandey) a well to do scion of a business family are close first cousins meeting up after a gap of a few years, with their respective boyfriends in tow. Tia's interest is a builder Zain (Sidhant Chaturvedi : Inside Edge / Gully Boy) with a lucrative project in Alibag. Alisha's guy is Karan (Dhairya A) a struggling author. The two couples spend a weekend at Tia's luxurious beach front villa in Alibag where Alisha and Zain are greatly attracted to each other. The narration moves on draggingly predictable lines until Zain finds himself in big trouble on the business front. From this point, the film becomes engrossing with twists and turns, psychotic lovers, business problems and ... no further spoilers, watch to see how it all plays out.

The acting etc is quite good. Deepika in particular, excels in her portrayal of Alisha.

This could have been a much better film had the extraneous songs been knocked off and the build up in the first half been a lot tighter.

I watched the entire Bestseller (2022) series on Prime video in orig. Hindi w/Eng. Subs. Over a few days.

To start with, the soap opera style background music put me off. The plot is far fetched, overly convoluted and the acting even by Mithun Chakravarthy is below par. Shruthi Hassan comes across as affected and most certainly does not live up to the acting skills of her esteemed parents.

In short, a one book bestseller writer Tahir (Arjan Bajwa) married to super successful director Mayanka (Gauahar Khan) struggles to pen another tome. It turns out that Tahir's best seller was based on the true story of a family narrated by the man who saved him in a road accident. The consequences to that family post publication of Tahir's best seller were dire and the wife and husband both died. The narrative of this series follows what transpires thereafter, with twists and turn after convoluted turn. No Spoilers, watch to see how this plays out and feel free to use the Fast Forward through the many dragging scenes.