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Manraviel
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Reviews
The Irregulars (2021)
Give it a chance
I know that the language and music are chock full of anachronisms. But that doesn't bother me. This is not the first show to introduce anachronisms to tell a story to a more modern audience and it won't be the last. Also, the detractors seem to think that Sherlock Holmes and Co. Have been needlessly included in this supernatural story. That is a fair criticism if you are deeply wedded to the idea of the Sherlock Holmes ACD dreamed up. But there have been SO many versions of the SH character that considering that as a criticism does not hold much water any more.
So did I like the show? Yes. The cast was good with decent acting from most of them. The reveals and mysteries were interesting to hold my attention. The monsters of the week actually made me care about them.
I say give it a chance. But please leave your preconceived notions about what a story involving Sherlock Holmes and that era should be like, and just enjoy the ride.
Laxmii (2020)
Unbelievably bad
The only way someone could make this bad a movie is if they were actively trying to make a bad movie. The only way they attempted to create humor was through overacting and overdone scenes. And the horror was that same old bhoot pret atma. Screeching noises and jump scares. It is telling that Sharad Kelkar's 5 min speech is the only well acted scene, and the 10 min flashback is the only thing that redeems this movie a little bit. The concept wasn't inherently bad, but you couldn't make the execution worse even if you tried.
Nishabd (2007)
Story OK... Treatment....err...
There is nothing wrong with showing an old man falling in love with a young girl. Lolita did it. American Beauty did it.
But. They did it subtly. They did not make it so apparent from the start that the director is gearing them up to make them fall in love with each other. Not as naturally as two people would (Age no bar) but forcing them to be around each other as if they were SUPPOSED to fall in love.
All in all, there should have been chemistry. It would have solved the biggest problem. People with reservations against the subject would also have been engrossed and perhaps convinced. It would have become the perfect love story, no matter the impracticality.
I found it difficult to believe Jia's character at times. What I found more difficult to understand, is why Vijay - a photographer and an artist, who seems serious - would have had an interest in a girl so frivolous. Unless he himself has some frivolousness hidden in himself, which did not come out at all.
There is a lot of use of Dutch angles or angles in which the frame is tilted. It is generally used to show something unnatural or something that might lead to something that is not right. So RGV is himself calling the relationship unnatural.
The camera angles, background score, editing, and even the juxtaposition of shots and symbology emphasises and overemphasises their relationship. Is the Indian audience so dumb that we need to be told something in 10 different ways for us to understand? Especially when the two of them were dancing together... it was apparent what was happening. What was the need of slowing the scene down with dramatic background music? I feel the subject was very well chosen. But Verma should not have made the film with the fact in mind constantly that this is a controversial subject. If it is, then handle it delicately, why don't you?