Shivaay on Ponniyin Selvan: II

PS2 brings to fore the master Mani Ratnam’s genius in every sense. Principal photography across different landscapes from Gwalior fort to Ramoji film city to the forests of southern India (along with a generous dose of VFX) is brilliant while the Hindi dialogues (ably dubbed by few of the most talented from our industry like Khattar, Aditi Rao & Shorey) leave a strong impact.

An Jo on Ponniyin Selvan: I

PS1

We know some characters having studied them in our school, but hardly anything to the depth like in Kalki’s book.

The cinematography, landscape, BG score, resplendent of those times, were very well done. I did have issues with the initial ‘dumping’ of characters for the first 30 minutes. They were a lot to absorb. But I felt after that, Mani kind of ironed-up the screenplay, with occasional mis-steps in between; especially with Karthi’s character.

Shivaay on Rocket Boys 2 (Updated)

If Kalam’s intro sequence of “har shaakh par ullu baitha hai” questioning the loyalties of a minority yet substantial number of Indian Muslims was the punchline of season 1, season 2 belongs to Dr Bhabha’s “We’re surrounded by trouble”.

Z’s Viewings

Watched The Romantics past couple night.

SPOILERS…

Best part for me was few second scenes of Yash Chopra marriage.
How Aditya Chopra was a better dancer than Hrithik when they were kids and having friendly dance competition at parties.
How Aditya visualized and built the YRF Production House.

Master on ‘Pathaan’

Watched PATHAAN. Movie is good and not great but the movie has the perfect combination of ticking off all the checkboxes in covering everything: a proper bollywood syp/thriller/heist bad-spy gone rogue, good spys from everywhere, etc.
The movie starts well with SRK’s introduction and fight sequence (just like Bond movies do) prior to the titles and it is extremely well shot and choreographed (albeit too fast).

An jo on ‘Pathaan’ Trailer

The trailer review: Have been poor at reviewing trailers but a bit better at reviewing movies. However, catching some breathing space during hectic schedules, caught the trailer and quite liked it. Not impressed with the trailer as a whole but it provided the lay of the land and what to expect, and specially, what not to expect, quite literally and clearly.

A sharp and well-cut trailer, encompassing parts of the current mood of the country portrayed openly, while maintaining the ‘Pathaan’ identity as intended to meet SRK’s attempts over the years of his film-acting career.

An Jo on “GoodBye”

On a surprisingly good film, ‘Goodbye’…

Finally, got the chance to watch ‘Goodbye’ on Netflix. It is a good film, not a great one for sure: But it has its heart and much of the writing in the right place. In the ‘90s marriage was the place for relatives/siblings to meet and laugh or cry; post-2010 and Covid, it seems to be death in a family where folks not only meet, or see each other after a long time, but also vent out their frustrations with each other onto the audience.

Naveen on Kantara

Watched Kantara Last evening.

Kantara Hindi Review

Kantara is a village spectacle. It is story about the culture and beleifs of a small coastal tribe in Karnataka which can resonate with anyone and from any part of the country.

Shivaay on Vikram Vedha

Vikram Vedha Review :

*It was over 90% capacity here at a PVR branch in Mysore, further reinstating the film’s astonishing run in the south (the exact opposite of the core Hindi markets!)

Raj5 on Vikram Vedha

Just watched Vikram Vedha. The theater was 50% full on a Thursday night. Hrithik Roshan isn’t my #1 favorite actor, but I really like him. I had watched the original film back when it had come out 5 years ago, so I remembered the basic story but not all of the details.

Master on Brahmāstra

Watched Brahmastra. It’s been a long time since there’s been a movie which almost succeeds in attempting such a difficult genre in Bollywood. Remaking a south movie and getting success is alright but creating an original story based in Indian mythology is such a unique and challenging project that itself wins the brownie points for the attempt.

Shivaay on Brahmāstra

BRAHMASTRA Full Review :

*Summary : A noble attempt at the fantasy adevnture genre? Yes. But does it work? Only in bits and pieces.

*Story & Screenplay :

Despite being one of the earliest attempts at this genre you cannot help but get a feeling of deja vu upon hearing a tale of a Brahmastra (weapon of destruction) being divided into 3 parts, each of which is in possession of an individual in a different corner of India (horcruxes, infinity stones anyone?) . And while the story of ancient brahmastras and astras might intrigue the mythology lover within you, the screenplay which is not just haphazard (random characters coming in and going out of nowhere) but for a large portion of the first half, extremely lacklustre (an unconvincing love story between a leading pair that have virtually zero allurement between them despite being man & wife in real life!) just keeps going round and round in circles thereby testing the viewers patience to a point where you virtually do not mind taking a couple of coffee or smoke breaks just to keep yourself awake. At 2 hours & 45 minutes, the film is just way too long for its limited content and this deserved a chopping off of at least 30 minutes on the editing table.

Raj5 on Brahmāstra

Just got back from watching Brahmastra in 2D in Connecticut (housefull).

I’d give it a 3/5. It’s a solid one time watch, for the big screen only. I’d say if you don’t plan on watching it in theaters, then just skip it because it won’t be good on a phone/tv lol. It is ambitious and visually stunning! I watched all the prelease videos, and I believe Ayan Mukherjee when he says its taken 10 years of planning etc to make this movie. It’s hard to try to set up your own universe, and even harder in and Indian context. When I saw the trailer, I couldn’t tell if the VFX was some of the best ever from Bollywood, or absolutely faltu..but thankfully it’s some of the best from Bollywood ever.

Marcus on Brahmāstra

Saw Brahmastra yesterday. It is a very much wannabe Hollywood film with a story/plot that is a mishmash of several successful Hollywood franchises as BR has mentioned in his review. One obvious reference point he has missed is Da Vinci code with a secret society, prominent society members holding a secret for which they are getting murdered and a so-called ‘Brahmastra’ instead of the ‘Holy Grail’. And the so-called Indian mythological context is as superficial as it gets; with some Rishis getting some Astras to protect by doing tapashya and that is pretty much the depth that this mythological tale has.

Shivaay on “Mission Kashmir” – A revisit

Quite an appropriate film in today’s (and yesterday’s) turmoil in Kashmir viewed through the lens of an upright police office IG Inayat Khan (Sanjay Dutt) and his foster son Altaaf (Hrithik Roshan). An extremely dark and disturbing tale of the grey nature of human psychology where there are no rights and wrongs, only perspectives that decide the outcome of everyone’s destiny (ironically Roshan’s next Vikram Vedha explores a very similar theme from a gangster’s lens this time). The film has smartly not taken sides and presented an unadulterated view of the dilemma of human life and the trechery of Kashmir politics over the years. A couple loses their son, the father eliminates an entire family to successfully perform a counter insurgency operation, one member of the eliminated family survives and grows up to hate the SSP for his actions regardless of the SSP being his own foster dad. Now whose right and who isn’t is impossible to guess. There are no rights and wrongs, only circumstances.