Blog | Amodini's Movie Reviews

Movie Review : Animal (2023)

Posted on December 3, 2023 by amodini

Rating : 🍅 (0/5)
Genre: Action
Year: 2023
Running time: 3 hours 10 minutes
Director: Sandeep Reddy Venga
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Rashmika Manadana
Kid rating: A

Animal gives me Kabir Singh vibes, but in comparison to Animal, Kabir Singh is a pleasant walk in the park. In comparison to Animal’s Vijay, Kabir Singh’s Kabir seems like a normal, sane person. Animal is a crazy of another level.

RannVijay Balbir Singh (Ranbir Kapoor), son of Indian’s richest tycoon Balbir Singh (Anil Kapoor), hero-worships his father. The adulation is toxic; RannVijay can sacrifice anything to win Dad’s approval. Meanwhile the father has no time for him, so per Bollywood rules, Vijay morphs into a entitled, violent criminal pining away for Daddy’s love.

At the first sign of violent crime, he’s packed away to boarding school, and then later the US. He returns 8 years later, when there’s an attempt on his father’s life. Convinced that there will be more attacks, he musters an armed task force and engages in a full-out bloody war.

That’s the gist of it. While the story holds for the first hour or so (of this overlong gore-fest) the film soon devolves into a mish-mash of fight sequences without a coherent plot.

Animal exists in a man-verse (like Kabir Singh, Jersey etc.) where poor little boys traumatized by neglectful parents, cruel society etc. grow up to be entitled brats with guns, money and machismo, and they take, pillage and kill, while families, police and governments look on.

RannVijay is a feral animal, and so is his arch nemesis (Bobby Deol). While technically RannVijay is the hero, you can’t think actually think of him as one, because he so clearly needs psychiatric help. It’s like watching The Joker where you know the guy is out of his mind and you follow his antics clinically, uninvested and uncaring.

The film is Ranbir’s and he gives it his all. Everyone else drifts in and out of his frames. The women in the film are there to provide food, housekeeping services, sex and to be put down, slapped around, raped and degraded. It is aggressive misogyny; while Bollywood is not quite the gold standard in it’s depiction of women, I haven’t seen any other Hindi film treat its female characters with such casual disregard, like they weren’t even human.

Animal has got to be the most violent Hindi film I’ve ever seen. It is also one of the vulgarest. One is sadly used to the David-Dhawan-esque brand of vulgarity and double entendres, and cuss words, but Animal takes it up (or down) a few notches, with extremely distasteful and degrading dialogs.

On the pro side, the film did have good music and the fight sequences were choreographed well – almost like music videos. And of course the acting was pretty good – Ranbir was stellar, Anil Kapoor and Rashmika Mandana (who was so very inconsequential in Mission Majnu) were great.

That’s still not enough to spend 3 hours on this film though. Highly de-recommend.

Kidwise: Extremely unsuitable for kids; graphic, bloody violence, vulgarity and abuse towards women.

Posted in 2023, bollywood, dark, drama, New Films, rating-A, rating-R | Comments Off

Goldfish (2023): Delicate mother-daughter relationship!

Posted on September 29, 2023 by amodini

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Action
Year: 2023
Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes
Director: Pushan Kripalani
Cast: Deepti Naval, Kalki Koechlin, Rajit Kapoor
Kid rating: PG

Goldfish is about a mother and daughter. The daughter is an independent adult who comes back home to London when her mother’s condition (dementia) worsens and she cannot take care of herself anymore. Suppressed emotion and guilt is dredged up, leading to a predictable end.

The film starts from the point when Anamika (Kalki) comes home. Although the mom, Sadhana (Deepti Naval) and daughter are courteous it is obvious that there are unfriendly undercurrents. The women are at odds; one is unwell and resistant, and the other duty-bound to take care of her. Between them, anger simmers.

Bollywood films swim with emotional melodrama, thick, treacly globs of anger, betrayal and guilt. Normally I could do with less, but with this film, I’d rather have had a little more. The emotional drama is obvious but understated.

I did feel for both the mother and daughter – so there the film succeeds. Director Pushan Kripalani manages to make us empathize with each of the women. They have different viewpoints, each valid in their own right. As they stay together while Anamika figures out the lay of the land, they skirmish, voicing out their anger in fits and bursts. Anamika can’t forget the painful memories of childhood. And Sadhana might have never wanted motherhood in the first place.

It is a pleasure to see Deepti Naval on screen again, doing what she does best. Kalki Koechlin too is good as Anamika. Rajit Kapoor play the neighborhood grocer and the Sadhana’s reclusive admirer.

But even with these fine actors, the film had a stilted quality about it, halting, awkward silences and music-less passages of time. A background score might have helped.

This was a good film. Not quite the wondrous, luminous movie I was expecting with that star cast, but still pretty watchable.

Kidwise: Adult themes.

Posted in 2023, bollywood, Good Hindi Movies To Watch, passes Bechdel Test, rating-PG, recommended, touchy-feely, women | Comments Off

Jawan (2023): Bad, Worse, Worst!

Posted on September 9, 2023 by amodini

Rating : 0/5
Genre: Action
Year: 2023
Running time: 2 hour 45 minutes
Director: Atlee
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Nayanthaara, Vijay Sethupati, Deepika Padukone, Varun Grover, Sanya Malhotra, Aijaz Khan
Kid rating: PG

I walked out of Jawan midway. Couldn’t take the nonsense anymore. This is a massy entertainer, with no logic, lots of over-the-top (and I mean really OTT, even by Bollywood standards) emotion and hyped up drama. It is all show with very little substance but if you are going in with those expectations you might very well be able to sit through the entire film. Unlike me.

I would tell you of the plot, but I might as well build castles on the moon. Because they are both figments of the imagination. Jawan centers around Azad Rathore (Shah Rukh) a prison warden moonlighting as a disguised do-gooder. To make the corrupt pay, he and his gang of women take some aggressive measures (like hijacking a Mumbai Metro for ransom) and run into National Security Guards officer Narmada Rai (Nayathara).

I walked out some time after that, but as you might guess it’s Azad’s alter ego against Nayathara. There’s also Vijay Sethupati as Kaliee Gaikwad the OG villain, Varun Gover as Irani – Narmada’s right hand man, Sanya Malhotra as part of Azar’s gang of do-gooders. Deepika Padukone has a special appearance. Apparently Sanjay Dutt has a small role later in the film, but I was spared that.

Jawan was in Hindi, but I felt like I was watching a Tamil movie. Even the dialogs felt like they were translated from the Tamil/Telugu originals. The acting is extremely overdone and hammy, so SRK must feel right at home. Each scene is a showcase for the actor and their clothes and their “look” – Nayanthara is dressed to the nines even when reporting for duty – knee high boots, cool jacket, full-on makeup, sunglasses – the works. There is not a shred of realism anywhere in the film.

This film is being compared to Pathaan, but Pathan was a much better film, even though that also was on the OTT side. Pathan at least had a semblance of sanity; Jawan is all-out chaos. Besides that, Jawan brings a 80s-like crudity and crassness we’d almost gotten rid of in Hindi movies. Cringey scenes abound – like the one where Narmada’s little daughter, Suji, in interviewing potential husbands for her. Smart-talking, mouthy kids in Hindi movies are annoying, but Suji’s character takes the cake. And if that were not enough, we had to watch a fine actor like Sanya Malhotra ham it up big time for her role as Dr. Eeram. Quite torturous.

Jawan is probably the worst movie I’ve seen in quite a while. Be prepared for this film; this is trademark Atlee, I learn post-walkout. Making mental note to avoid his work, for the future.

Kidwise: Gory violence; sharp pointed weapons being thrust through bodies, lots of dripping blood.

Posted in 2023, action, bollywood, cringe-worthy, drama, masala, New Bollywood Movies, New Films, rating-PG13, stinker, thriller | 1 Comment

Guns and Gulaabs: Quirky, fast-paced and action-filled!

Posted on September 4, 2023 by amodini

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : Drama
Year : 2023
Season: 1, Episodes: 7
Directors : Raj & DK
Cast : Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salman, Adarsh Gourav, Gulshan Devaiah, Satish Kaushik, Vipin Sharma, T.J. Bhanu
Kid rating : PG-15

Tipu (Rajkumar Rao) is a mechanic in the small town of GulaabGunj. The town is special because farmers of the area grow poppy, and the opium is sold to the government for medicinal uses. However a lot of it is also bought up by two local mafia gangs – one led by the ruthless Ganchi (Satish Kaushik) and the other headed by Nabeed (Nilesh Divekar).

Tipu’s father, Babu Tiger works for Ganchi. He is killed in one the many skirmishes between the gangs. Soon after, Tipu’s best friend Suneel (Goutam Sharma) is also murdered in cold blood, almost in front of Tipu’s eyes. Tipu vows revenge and joins the Ganchi gang. But the Ganchi gang is in upheaval with its leader out of commission. Plus the new honest Narcotics officer who’s been posted to GulaabGanj promises to make life difficult for the opium mafia.

Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. direct Guns and Gulabs. They’ve also directed the fabulous series Family Man, the very recent Farzi and one of my favorite movies – Shor in the City. Their work is always innovative and often unconventional. And Guns and Gulabs is no different. It is a fast-paced, quirky drama with lots of interesting characters, a great plot, and some dark humor to boot.

What’s great about G&G is that despite the numerous characters and the many-threaded plot-line, there is coherence and a beauty to the way the directors bring everything to a climax. The characters are well-defined, often with amusing details added into their characteristics. Like how the killer Chaar-Cut Atmaram always calls from a pay phone where he does not talk for more than a minute. Ever. We see him reply in monosyllables and keep an eye on the pay-phone clock, itching to shut down the conversation. Any time we see him walk into a phone booth, we know what’s coming.

I really like that the plot-points have a side of dark humor to them. We don’t for example, get the importance of the woodwork being done at the Ganchi home until later. When the miserly Ganchi carps at the carpenter about the cost of the wood, we think nothing of it – just Ganchi being himself. Little do we know!

Similarly, the affection Jugnu Ganchi has for his friend’s wife seems odd, until things click into place. Then, as the layers are peeled back, one joins the dots, and smirks a little. A-ha moments! Many of them. Sprinkled throughout the 7 episodes.

Of course, a lot of the credit does go to the excellent star cast. Rajkummar Rao as Tipu is a marvel. He exudes haplessness as a stuck-in-the-mud mechanic, and goofiness when faced with his reluctant lady-love. No one pays poor Tipu much mind, until they need him. Poor schmuck, you think. He will never get what he wants. You feel for the guy.

And then there is Adarsh Gaurav who plays Jugnu “Chotu” Ganchi, who must run the business in his father’s absence. We saw him in The White Tiger as the simple Balram, but here he plays the wily Jugnu with ease and insouciance. Dulquer Salman is Arjun Verma, the narcotics officer with secrets of his own. Gulshan Devaiah, another actor who makes everything better by just being in it, plays the eccentric killer-for-hire Atmaram. T.J. Bhanu as the schoolteacher Chandralekha also makes an impression.

Guns and Gulabs starts off with an introduction to GulaabGunj and it’s inhabitants (and this could very well have been the town of Chaman Bahar). It trots along nicely feeding us lots of red herrings, and finally culminates in a fabulous climax.

Really quite lovely, and a pleasure to watch.

Kidwise: Violence, often bloody. Colorful language.

Posted in 2023, All Netflix, directors, drama, Good Shows to Watch On Netflix, humor, Must-see, Netflix Recommendations, outstanding, quirky, rating-PG15, recommended, series | Comments Off

Made In Heaven (Season 2): Complications in life and love!

Posted on August 21, 2023 by amodini

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : Drama
Year : 2023
Season: 2, Episodes: 7
Directors : Nitya Mehra, Zoya Akhtar Reema Kagti , Prashant Nair, Alankrita Shrivastava, Neeraj Ghaywan
Cast : Arjun Mathur, Sobhita Dhulipala, Kalki Koechlin, Jim Sarbh, Shashank Arora, Shivani Raghuvanshi
Kid rating : PG-17

We’ve waited what seemed like aeons for Season 2 of Made In Heaven. And was it worth the wait? Oh, yes! (Although let’s not wait another 4 for Season 3 please!)

Season 2 is much shorter than Season 1 (and by much, I mean 2 episodes) but follows almost the same pattern – every new episode brings 1 or 2 new marriage “situations” where Tara, Karan and gang are doing everything and more to host successful events. Then there are the stories that continue throughout the episodes – Tara’s messy divorce proceedings with husband Adil, Karan’s unhappiness at his mom’s overt rejection of him, Jazz (Shivani Raghuvanshi) and Kabir’s (Shashank Arora) off-again, on-again not-quite-a-thing, new Production designer Meher’s (Trinetra Haldar) life as a trans-woman, and the introduction of a new team member – auditor Bulbul Jauhari (Mona Singh).

Made In Heaven is a compendium of personal stories, with a bunch of issues built into them. Through the marriage events Karan (Arjun Mathur) and Tara (Sobhita Dhulipala) plan, and through their own lives, we are introduced to a myriad of social issues. Every “ism” in the book is here. There’s classism, sexism, racism, colorism, casteism, ageism. Then there is sexuality – gay, lesbian, trans. And then there is drug abuse, domestic violence, polygamy, same-sex marriages, gender inequality, and the patriarchal “boys-will-be-boys” mindset.

Made In Heaven and it’s makers fearlessly go where no tv show piped into our homes has dared to go before. And they do it with panache, given that they have tried to fit everything into these 7 episodes. Zoya Akhtar and her team have hit upon a super-sound formula, achieving just the right balance between aesthetic beauty and meaty issues to keep us engrossed and entertained.

The characters of Season 2 are flawed, and they lose their minds and their logic, from time to time, just like the rest of us. But each and every one them is drawn with nuance and care, depth and detail, and with the help of some very good actors manage to make us believe in their reasoning to do what they do and still have us sympathize with them in their choices!

The one flaw I see, is that unlike Season 1, Season 2 feels almost too crammed with issues. Each episode deals with on average 5-6 separate issues – there’s one or two weddings each highlighting a different problem, Tara and Karan have various battles they are fighting on personal fronts – and these come with their own moral-science-y lessons, and there’s often another story arc where one of their team members is facing a situation.

There’s no downtime. Tara goes from a stressful divorce meeting to fire-fighting issues at the wedding venue, to dealing with her disapproving mother right after. Karan gets to the hospital, follows that up with an issue at work, and then runs into a tumultuous situation in his love life. How do these characters not get overwhelmed? I am anxious just watching them deal with the incessant influx of turmoil in their fictional lives!

All that said, Made In Heaven is a heady mix of fantastic production values, skilled direction, great acting, and the right emotional notes – be they happy or sad. We’re invested in Tara and Karan’s lives, at least a little concerned for impetuous Jazz, and a little afraid for the hurt we know is coming Meher’s way – to name just a few story arcs. At the end of it all, we listen to Kabir’s pithy take-aways, watch our characters pick themselves up from their latest misstep, and smile a little at the wondrous way life goes on.

Kidwise: Adult themes, sexual situations and scenes.

Posted in 2023, Amazon Prime Video Recommendations, directors, drama, feel-good, feminism, Good Shows To Watch On Amazon Prime, hinglish, humor, Must-see, New Shows on Amazon Prime, rating-PG15, rating-PG17, recommended, romance, series, social issues, touchy-feely, women | Comments Off

Kohrra (2023): Gripping murder mystery and police procedural!

Posted on August 11, 2023 by amodini

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : Mystery
Year : 2023
Season: 1, Episodes: 6
Director : Randeep Jha
Cast : Barun Sobti, Suvinder Vicky, Varun Badola, Harleen Sethi, Manish Chaudhari
Kid rating : PG-13

Kohra is a murder mystery set in Punjab. Tejinder “Paul” Dhillon, a young British national in Jagrana for his arranged marriage, is found in a field with his neck slit. His close friend Liam Murphy has also gone missing. The investigators are Sub-Inspector Balbir Singh Sekhon (Suvinder Vicky) and Assistant-Sub-Inspector Amarpal Garundi (Barun Sobti) of the Punjab Police.

The murdered man was the nephew of a local businessman Maninder Dhillon (Varun Badola), who uses his clout to get the police off his back when he thinks they are getting too intrusive. The dead man’s fiancé is evasive, his father “Steve” Dhillon is taciturn and prone to violent fits, and his family, wanting quick answers, are still openly hostile to the police. Both Sekhon and Garundi must work within the confines of the system, keeping their superiors happy and the witnesses cooperative.

Kohhra was so gritty – the violence, the everyday misogyny, the class divides and politics that are at the root of the problem – every situation is raw and bleeding. There is a seething, raw, almost vicious underbelly to all that Punjabi bonhomie. Series creator and writer Sudip Sharma brings the intensity of his earlier work, Paatal Lok, to Kohrra.

Sekhon and Garundi are the heroes of this series, but they aren’t your typically do-gooders. Kohrra’s writers draw these men with nuance, and plentiful flaws. I did want them to succeed in catching the killer, but honestly, I was more sympathetic to the women they so ill-treated. Sekhon’s daughter’s story was especially heart-rending.

The most intriguing mysteries, even police procedurals, work best when the situation is deeply mired in the society and the milieu in which the characters live. And Kohrra is spot-on in that regard! The murder, and the events surrounding it are linked to the social norms and taboos – there are undercurrents of animosity and jealousy, sibling strife, the weight of familial obligations and of course the ever present patriarchy.

Paul was in India for his arranged marriage. His wife-to-be might have had a checkered past. Paul’s father and his uncle (father’s brother) aren’t on good terms because of a long-standing land dispute. The uncle’s son lives under the constant weight of never being good enough for his father. And on and on. So many emotions, and so many motives!

Fantastic acting all around here. Baron Sobti (we also saw him in Asur), as the streetsmart Garundi, delivers what might be his best performance. Surinder Vicky is a revelation – he IS Sekhon right down to his measured walk and menacing stare. Varun Badola looked almost unrecognizable under that turban and does well. Harleen Sethi as Sekhon’s unhappy daughter Nimrat is quite marvelous!

Kohrra is at the end of the it, a mystery, a police procedural with lots of personality and emotional undertones. And it does work at that level. The mystery is many-layered and the layers peel a little by little, in every episode, keeping you hankering for the next installment.

Kidwise: Mature themes, so caution with the younger ones.

Posted in 2023, All Netflix, directors, drama, Good Shows to Watch On Netflix, Must-see, mystery, Netflix Recommendations, rating-PG13, recommended, series, suspense | Comments Off

Movie Review : Pachu and the magic lamp (2023)

Posted on August 6, 2023 by amodini

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama
Year: 2023
Running time: 2 hour 51 minutes
Director: Akhil Satyan
Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Viji Venkatesh, Anjana Jayaprakash, Dhwani Rajesh
Kid rating: PG

When I first started this Malayalam movie, I knew nothing about it other than the short blurb that Netflix displayed, and that was pretty vague. Still, I continued, because the main character is played by Fahadh Faasil who has got to be one of the best actors of his generation, if not the absolute best. If you haven’t seen his other movies like Kumbalangi Nights or Bangalore Days or Maheshinthe Pratikaram, do; you’re in for a real treat.

Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum (Pachu and the magic lamp) is Prashanth (Faasil), or Pachu’s story. Pachu runs a successful pharmacy in Mumbai, but returns to Kerala to meet his family. On the trip back, a Mumbai acquaintance requests that Pachu accompany his sick, elderly mother, Laila, who is also traveling back to Mumbai. Pachu agrees, but the lady has other plans. She disembarks mid-journey at Goa, and when Pachu tries to get her back on the train, she pepper sprays him. All hell breaks loose.

There is more, of course, to this situation than meets the eye, and once Pachu realizes that, he gets pulled deeper and deeper into it. Initially, it’s because he is promised a rich reward, but the reward comes at a high price.

This was such a great film! It is long – almost 3 hours – but honestly, the time flys by. It is strongly plot-driven. There is something or the other always happening, but besides the eventful ride, there are also humorous episodes with friends and family. Faasil delivers an immaculate, heartfelt performance as the impish, easy-going Pachu. And the rest of the cast, especially Viji Venkatesh as Laila and Anjana Jayaprakash as Hamsadhwani are fantastic too!

The film has such an impact because the characters seem natural, and their emotions realistic. PAV has everything – drama, emotion – humor, anger, surprise, betrayal, love – all beautifully woven into an interesting plot-line. You cannot but help get invested in the lead character’s lives!

Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum was an amazing watch – highly recommended!

Posted in 2023, All Netflix, directors, drama, malayalam, Netflix Recommendations, rating-PG, recommended, romance | Comments Off

Movie Review : Rocky aur Rani kii prem kahaani (2023)

Posted on July 31, 2023 by amodini

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
Genre: Romance
Year: 2023
Running time: 2 hour 48 minutes
Director: Karan Johar
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Aamir Bashir
Kid rating: PG

Rani Chatterjee (Alia Bhatt) is a Bengali news anchor on television and Rocky Randhawa (Ranveer Singh) is the scion of a wealthy Punjabi business family. She is into culture and he is into name-brands, and never the twain shall meet until . . . hidden family ties come up. Then they are co-conspirators in another love-story. All this meeting, mingling and co-conspirating has effects on the twosome too. And this being a Karen Johar production, it’s all done with color, cliche and comedy.

Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani milks the Punjabi-Bengali culture divide for all it’s worth! Rocky comes from a traditional Punjabi business family where the women (except for the matriarch) keep the house and their counsel. Rani comes from a cultured, well-read, egalitarian family, where the women speak their minds. Rocky is flamboyant, loud, and really out there. Rani is well-educated, sophisticated and ready for a fling. Because when the meet-cute happens and the attraction grows, it is, for her, “a fling, just a thing”. For him, it is much more.

Of course when they get over that hump, there are several more – the chief one being convincing the families to countenance each other and the proposed alliance. So they come up with a plan – Rocky will go live at Rani’s place for three months and she will go live at his – and they will each attempt to endear themselves and their philosophies to the family members. Now what could go wrong with that hare-brained scheme?

There is much opportunity for comedy when polar opposites attract. And Ranveer and Alia are just the couple to give that comedy wings. Ranveer is perfect as the hyper-flirtatious Punjabi hunk, and Alia is wonderful as the confident, truth-speaking firebrand Rani! He mistakes a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore for Rani’s grand-father, and she seethes watching his father ill-treat his mother. This cannot end well!

The films spews Karan Johar’s brand of feminism – pooh-poohing misogyny, and castigating illiberal Punjabi folk, while preaching the message of equality. It is a good message too, and we get behind it and the lovely couple when they attempt to act on it, despite opposition. There are fireworks galore, with head-on cultural collisions and plenty of emotional drama to keep the film engrossing.

I say Johar’s brand of feminism because he dabbles in it off-and-on, and when it makes money (cynical? who, me?). In the past, his films have spouted liberal tenets (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna) but they have also had scenes poking fun at fat people, or gay people or just “different” people. His films have glorified pativrata naris and Karva-Chauth, suhaag and sindoor ad nauseum.

So, Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani will not dismantle patriarchy, but it will help move the needle on acceptable societal norms. The film has a vivacious smart heroine and a zany, fun-loving hero to carry it’s progressive message, and we are all here for it.

It is a trademark Johar-esque slick, colorful, family drama full of cliches and some hamminess – and about time too; it’s been a long 7 years since Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Yes, it does get a tad stretched towards the end – could have easily been shortened by 30 minutes. And yes, the resolutions are a tad simplistic and swift. But for a Bollywood movie, it is a great Friday night entertainer, well-worth your money and time.

Kidwise: Nothing too scarring beyond frequent lip-locks.

Posted in 2023, bollywood, comedy, directors, drama, New Bollywood Movies, New Films, rating-PG, romance, touchy-feely, watchable | Comments Off

Severance (2022): Amazing, atmospheric, astounding!

Posted on July 14, 2023 by amodini

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : Sci-fi/Dystopian
Year : 2022
Season: 1, Episodes: 9
Director : Ben Stiller
Cast : Adam Scott, John Turturro, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman
Kid rating : PG

Ever brought work home? And wished you didn’t have to? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a clean break once you left the office, with nary a thought of work when you were at home – and vice versa! Well, Severance takes that concept and runs with it.

In Severance’s dystopian world, one can choose to be “severed”, severed from all work memories when you step out of the office, and severed from all personal ones when you step back in. You essentially then have an “outie” who goes out into the world and forms relationships, and an “innie” who slogs in the office and has no memories of the outie’s life, to the point where they would not recognize family if they saw them.

Our hero Mark (Adam Scott) has chosen to be severed after the death of his wife, unable to bear the pain. When he’s at work he does not have any memory of her. And you’d think that that would let Mark function, but there’s more to it than that. Isn’t there always?

“Outie” Mark goes into the office everyday, and as he is taking the elevator to the “severed floor” below, he becomes “Innie” Mark. “Innie” Mark hasn’t actually ever left the office, and the only people he knows are his workmates, who are also “severed”. They do some very odd “macro-data refinement”, get rewarded with creepy “waffle parties” and “dance experiences”, and then leave every evening to transform into their “Outies” on the elevator upwards. The whole office setup, and the people in the office filled me with unease, although rule follower Mark can’t see it, until a co-worker comes to meet his “Outie” self.

Severance is an amazing, atmospheric, astoundingly engrossing series. The writing is stupendous. I’m in awe of the creators and their imagination. Director Ben Stiller is a genius. The entire concept, and it’s setting, each scene and each dialog is beautifully crafted, at the right place and at the right time. No one could have done it better!

The cast couldn’t get any more perfect. Adam Scott is spot-on as Mark, a by-the-book introvert who toes the line Lumon Industries lays down. Everyone else is fantastic too – John Turturro, Trammel Tillman, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken are just the right amount of weird.

Yes, I use a lot of superlatives in this review, but I stand by all of them. I love sci-fi, and I have a lot of favorites, but Severance is, without a doubt, my most favorite.

Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger and I cannot wait for Season 2!

Posted in 2022, AppleTV+, directors, drama, Dystopian, Must-see, outstanding, rating-PG, sci-fi, suspense | Comments Off

Dahaad: Engrossing police procedural with intrepid heroine

Posted on July 9, 2023 by amodini

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : Crime/Mystery
Year : 2023
Season: 1, Episodes: 8
Director : Reema Kagti, Ruchika Oberoi
Cast : Sonakshi Sinha, Vijay Verma, Gulshan Devaiah, Sohum Shah
Kid rating : PG-13

There’s a serial killer loose in India’s small towns. He prays on unsuspecting young women, women who see him as a way out of their desperate lives. He takes his time, spinning elaborate yarns for them, professing love and proposing marriage.

One such case makes it to the attention of Sub Inspector Anjali Bhaati, and she digs and digs until she sees a pattern. The killer hides in plain sight, and proving her case will be the tough part.

Dahaad is a series with an intriguing premise featuring as lead a female sub-inspector. And she is no ordinary police officer, but one buffeted by taunts about her caste and her background. And that’s the interesting thing about Dahaad – yes, it’s well-made, has an interesting storyline, with a tight script and great actors to boot, but it is Sub Inspector Bhaati i.e.; Sonakshi Sinha who ultimately makes it work.

She has to contend with the vagaries of the outside world – the casual misogyny, the casteist politics, the social norms which deem her an “odd girl”, and the ones within the home – the nagging mother who wants to see her sari-draped, domesticated and married. Anjali rebels, sometimes by avoiding the issue, and sometimes overtly, like the time she appears in full police regalia while meeting a prospective groom, instead of the un-threatening, feminine sari that her mother would have her wear.

While SI Bhaati is one of the big reasons you’d want to watch Dahaad she is not the only one. There’s Vijay Verma, who as the wily do-gooder Anand Swarnekar, does an amazing job here. Not a surprise if you have seen his earlier work – especially his role in Gully Boy.

And then there’s Gulshan Devaiah, who’s got to be one of the actors I’d like to see more of because he takes each role he plays and makes it his own, wide and varied though they may be. (his most recent filmi appearance was in Badhaai Do as Guru Narayanan, a gay lawyer). Devaiah as Bhaati’s boss is just perfect, a stolid yet smart family man, balancing the political needs of his job with solving actual crime, and then finding the time to stave off his wife’s jealous insecurities and her close-minded views on raising their daughter.

Dahaad is an atmospheric mystery, situated in and around rural Rajasthan. This is also a police procedural, with occasional forays highlighting several related ills – misogyny, casteism, politics and the general air of oppression for women and the weaker sections of society. We know who the killer is, almost from the beginning – the interest springs from the chase.

We’ve see the Zoya Akhtar-Reena Kagti combo in fantastic form before – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Dil Dhadakne Do, Talaash, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd and Made in Heaven (Series), to name a few – and this time with Dahaad they deliver the goods again!

Kidwise: Elements of (severe) violence; caution advised for younger kids.