Reviews

Chandu champion is a biography sports war action drama historical film directed by kabir khan.

Kartik aaryan has unarguably given his best performance till date. He still holds his that boyish, teeth-widening smile, which we are used to, but this attribute gives the character of murlikant petkar an edge. It tells us how mature that chandu champion has become, to culture and morph into a gold champion. His dialogue delivery, still needs work alongwith his expressions, but he will get better with these kind of serious films. Another actor, without whom this film is incomplete is vijay raaz. Whenever he comes on screen, he lights it up. How unused he still is by bollywood, it amazes me! His scenes with aaryan are the most efficient ones. He makes the latter work hard in those scenes, and this works. Bhuvan arora plays the usual happy-go-lucky punjabi, which is still stereotypical. Shreyas talpade, rajpal yadav and brijendra kala make some impactful cameos.

Another aspect I would like to appreciate is the hindi accent with the marathi twang, used by the characters when the story was in sangli, maharashtra. It lent a great rootedness. The writing follows the known rise-fall-rise template of sports dramas, and uses it effectively. Kabir khan has made sure that the tropes don't feel generic. The first half writing takes its time to build up, the emotions remain raw. But the second half, really comes into its own and you are bound to shed a tear or two by the end of it. The comic punches are inconsistent. Some land, some don't. The background score is effective, the music is noteworthy. 'Satyanas' reminds us of 'galti se mistake' very much. The title track is also very energetic.

I wish the film felt more emotionally attached to me. It kept me distant and detached in quite some portions of the film. The dialogues are good.

Watch out for some scenes, for instance, the one shot war sequence before the interval. That was brilliant cinematography and continuity, in my opinion. The boxing matches could have had more nuance to it, but it is difficult to portray one sport into one film authentically, let alone two. Though, the swimming portion have been shot well, and the finals where murlikant's life and struggles flash before his eyes elicit great emotions.

Blackout is a comedy thriller film directed by devang bhavsar.

The film started on a good note. Seeing vikrant massey in an animated character was not on my cards in big 2024, but he acted really well. That is the good thing about great actors, they can pull off diverse roles. The film gets a boost once sunil grover enters, and good lord he gobbles up with his screen presence. He outshadowed massey in various sequences. The black comedy, dispersed throughout guides the film. The lines given to karan sonawane and saurabh gadge are hilarious. They always come up with some crackers in between conversations. Mouni roy really needs to work on her acting. Ruhani sharma, anant joshi, jisshu sengupta and other fringe characters were decent.

The second half literally wanders around to hundred directions. Anything and everything was happening in the second half. Twists after twists were coming but only one or two worked. How will the rest work without some good breathing space between scenes. After a point, the scenes looked reverse engineered. It didn't happen because of logic, but because of convenience. The screenplay, was losing steam because of this and suffers.

The background score is great, I would say. The suspense and adrenaline is pumped up by the score. Some old songs are used with some wacky humour. I like that the film knows what it's doing and breaks the clatter sometimes. Because, in some scenes the chaos was overpowering the storytelling. The humour felt off to me in various scenes. The dialogues were not up to the mark. The scenes where massey imagines diamonds and jewels falling from the sky is brilliant. The editing style of the film is also pretty good.

I wish the second half didn't throw so many curveballs in my direction. I would have loved it more.

Satish kaushik and anupam kher put up commendable performances, other actors too do good with their characters. But the story is very surface level. It is evident that the makers wanted to encash the success of the first installment. The screenplay takes too much time to build up, which makes it quite boring. The cinematography and music is decent. If you want to, you can watch this, your time wouldn't be wasted.

I wish the writers went and delved in the storytelling more. See, the story is simple but the screenplay and narration could've been better and then it would've been a really really good watch.

Do aur do pyaar is a drama film directed by shirsha guha thakurta.

The acting performances are superlative. Vidya balan, pratik gandhi, ileana d' cruz and sendhil ramamurthy, everyone leaves their mark. Balan and gandhi perform an impressive chemistry, charming and natural instantly. Their characters are really comolex and they play it out with utmost reverence. The other two actors are also pretty solid.

The music of this film is beautiful, its like morning coffee, sweet and fresh. The cinematography is pretty good. Its an urban film and the camerawork completes the spaces. The screenplay felt a little loose at some places, resulting in an increase in the runtime. It could have been chopped by 15-20 minutes. The dialogues are great.

The film has an inherent comedy to it which is not forced. Some dialogues, some scenes instantly make you laugh, and it makes us feel good. I liked how the writers wanted the extramarital affairs to have their own complexities. The characters of nora and vikram too get fleshed out and thankfully, never villainized. This is some mature film making. If anything you feel compassion for them, that they got tangled with one seriously confused couple.

LSD 2:-Love, sex aur dhokha 2 is a conedy crime drama romance film directed by dibakar banerjee.

This seems to be the weakest film of banerjee's filmography. The actors have done a pretty good job, considering some were just debuting. But the problem lies in the inconsistent screenplay. The screenplay is just too flippant for my liking, too much experimental for even my liking. It gets slow and fast according to its whims, slow sometimes to the point of boring. I like the cinematography, the shots are composed of all types of video forms, starting from CCTV footage style, to laptop screens, to live camera streams. Its brilliant, but the writing seemed off to me. The last two segments, specially the third was very good. But the first one seemed way too haphazard, the critique on reality show scam is okay but the way it is told is too "matter of fact" manner. The subtext of the second story is the most I resonated with. It deals with the gay community and how apparently "they need to be saved." The music is great, by sneha khanwalkar.

Dedh bigha zameen is a family drama film directed by pulkit.

The writing on this film is very good. The plot is nit new to us, but the way the characters and the events take place slowly gives us the time to contemplate about the condition of middle class in this society. This is a highly social and culturally rooted film. The hinterlands of UP is authentically set up. The performances by the cast is commendable. Pratik gandhi is superb as the bread earner of the family. His expressions are tangible andhis distress is clearly felt. The rest of the cast is good. But the problem is that the emotions are off. Nothing can be felt for the characters. The events are taking place one by one but not one iota of emotion is felt. We have sympathy for them, but nothing more than that. The music is good, the songs are melodious and soothing. See, this is a highly real film, with little to no over drama. It portrays how a middle class person sees the world around him, everybody is as nice as him, as humble as him.

Swatantra veer savarkar is a biography drama film directed by randeep hooda.

The strongest point of the film is randeep hooda. His dedication towards his craft, his perfirmance, his mannerism is praisewrothy. I liked how the film gives importance to savarkar's ideologies and tries to pinpoint them. But, in the process, it also vilifies the congress and gandhi the most. They had a fair share of flaws, but so did savarkar, I wish the film had a more nuanced take on the ideological clash. Also, we never get to know savarkar, his inner self, his vulnerabilities, his flaws. The film does not give this asoect importance. I liked the music and cinematography, for a film on a limited budget, it does a great job of re-building the pre-independence era. The film also tries to justify many lies and conspiracy theories which is a very amateurish thing to do.

Srikanth is a biography drama film directed by tushar hiranandani.

The biggest victory of the film is rajkummar rao. He is outstanding in the film. The way he has carried the mannerisms of a blind man in the film is outstanding. No wonder the man is the recipient of so many awards. Jyotika too, gives a solid performance, despite her character is paper thin. Same is the case with sharad kelkar. The acting in the film is solid.

The message is loud and clear, its a good thing. But sometimes, the film goes overboard with its messaging. Every other scene is used as a ladder for srikanth to climb, and that too very easily. This leads to a lack of conflict in the film. The screenplay is otherwise engaging. The music is good. And the cinematography too. The film also suffers in the first half, due to its highlights reel approach. There is little to no breathing space between the scenes. The screenplay is rushed with no time to film srikanth's inner turmoil.

Yodha is an action drama thriller film directed by sagar ambre and pushkar ojha. It also falls under the subgenre of one person army.

Sidharth malhotra's action range is commendable. He is fluid in his movements and looks dashing while pulling off the stunts. However, the same praises cannot be bestowed upon his acting range. He was trying very hard. No characters get any screentime to leave a mark. The twists are good, whenever they cime in the film. The film defies the laws of physics multiple times and there are some convenient plot points without any buildup. The climax is good, and we root for arun katyal. The music is done really good. The songs, the background score, though saturated support the film. The screenplay is engaging but the writing has many loopholes. The characters are poorly setup. The action scenes are well done really.

Lootere is an action crime series directed by jai mehta.

One of the strongest points of the serues is its steady hold on its narrative. The events take its time, the politics come into light and the writing keeps a track of the events.

The actors have done a splendid job. Starting from rajat kapoor and chandan roy sanyal to the african actors. Martial batchamen tchana as barkhad will interest you with his demeanor. He did a fabulous job. The other actors too were superb. Vivek gomber, though looked a fish out of water to me. His bursts of frustration seemed artificial. However, he got better as the series went on. But there was a layer of rust in his portrayal.

The film explores the political landscape of somalia pretty well, the dealings of terrorist organizations and its linkage with politics is also dealt with subtlety. The background music is terrific, of course when done by achint thakkar, the man behind the riveting score of scam 1992. There are some subplots which take time and test your patience, but once invested it keeps you engaged.

All india rank is a comedy drama film directed by varun grover.

This is a sweet film. The era of 90s is beautifully captured, the production design, the art design is really good. The screenplay uses various animations to bring freshness into the narrative. The music is something I really liked, specially the background score. The teenage life is also retty genuine. But the problem is that all the things are surface level, the problems, the tension, the solutions are never really explored deep, the emotions are lacking, as a result you are just like, meh its okayish. The subplot of the vulgar PCO boy was unexplained, making no sense to me. The film is about life, how it is not at all random, but I wanted more from it.

Amar singh chamkila is a biographical political drama musical romance film directed by imtiaz ali.

I want to pronounce that imtiaz ali is back and how. You see the film and realise how you missed the OG imtiaz. He has experimented with his narrative style this time, used documentary style attaching real life footage and photos with the enacted scenes, used animations to great effect, and even comic bookish form in some scenes. What this does is stop the rut the screenplay could have suffered(low possibility anyway), by the routine narrative style.

Diljit dosanjh is a gem, he has done wonders with the character of chamkila, he isn't good or bad, that is for the audience to decide, fate and destiny to decide, but he is the way he is. Obviously, the film highly benefits from the fact that a real life performer is playing another performer, the authenticity and energy is tangible. Parineeti chopra, too shines in her own merit. Amarjot is a subdued character, starting off as shy and less expressive, but opens up with the film. She too is a singer and puts it to good use, it shows on screen. The supporting cast of anjum batra, anurag arora, apinderdeep singh too are very efficient in their respective roles.

AR rahman's music provides some wings to the film. The songs are bangers in their own merit. The lyrics by irshad kamil hit too hard. The lyrics are synonymous with the kind of songs chamkila used to sing. They are brash and expressive, but never pretensive. Vida karo will remain in my senses for a long time, that song hits at many places at once. Its a soul stirring one. The background music is never indulgent, maintaining a safe distance from the audience, never spoonfeeding them, except some scenes where it tries to be too dramatic.

I will specially give credit to the writing department which never tries to whitewash chamkila, never tries to hide chamkila's flaws. It embraces like chamkila did in his time. It lets the audience think about whether they will like him or not. The character of amar is very well sketched out, he is given maximum space and rightly so, an interesting man instead. Amarjot too, gets her fair space in the film. The dialogue writing too is highly appreciable.

There is a direct commentary on censorship and morality in the film. Who decides what people will listen to, and what not? Why is it not the audience who decides and only some men in power who decide it for the masses. The men in their suit-oants preach morality while resorting to vulgarity and vouyerism in their sheltered homes. The film highlights the utter hypocrisy of the human society, it studies the relationship between the art, artist and audience through the life of an eccentric persona, and it is enjoyable to say the least.

I could collect only one drawback in the film. The film starts with a bang in the first sequence, it is shocking and horrifying, but what it also does is, it dilutes the scene when it occurs again in the final scene. I wished I could feel more about the incident in the finishing part of the film.

Maidaan is a biographical period sport drama film directed by amit ravindernath sharma.

Ajay devgn surpasses his last acting performance with this film. His prowess is on full display here, his eyes speak everytime he is on the sidelines of the maidaan. His demeanor fills us with a pride that there was a person who tried and tried to bring indian football on the world map. Priyamani supports him with full charisma. There is one scene in particular, one powerful scene, where saira asserts that the dream is not only his, but his family's too. She literally brings syed abdul rahim in his senses. The football players, too have acted well but mainly, played well. They know how to play and it shows on screen. The characters of gajraj rao and rudranil ghosh are pretty under-written and as a result they come off as caricaturish and one dimensional antagonists. Their performances were affected by the underwriting.

One of the strongest points is the cinematography of this film. The non- football scenes are obviously good, well lit, well staged but the match scenes are outstanding. Cinematographer andrey valentov, who shot the match scenes, has given his full to capturing every angle of the dribbling, running and sprinting. Some shots even follow the ball from the pov of the runner, it was absolutely terrific. The music is good, however 'ghar aaya mera mirza' is a great song. The background score seemed overused in some sequences but its a minor hiccup.

The writing has been pretty good. The beats of the film are predictable at times, but the staging and execution take it over the line. Despite being 3 hours long, the duration is never felt, which is a good sign. The dialogue writing is very good. The penultimate scene where syed rahim gives his motivational speech to his team is praiseworthy. There are some minor abonormalities here and there, but this is one solid solid film. Definitely give your love to this film in theatres.

Maamla legal hai is a drama series directed by rahul pandey.

The series starts very meekishly for me. The jokes were seemingly lame, the intention was always there but something was really missing. It became evident as the series progressed and the series just caught its right pace. The emotions were missing, you cannot go comedy comedy comedy all the way, it will get stale after a point of time.

Ravi kishan is the star of this show. Starting off as a cocky, high ground lawyer, his character transitions to be a very likeable one, mainly due to his antics and the shades brought into his character. His equation with his father, though in brief sequences, was effective. Naila grewal impressed me a lot. She had to play a character who had to learn that there is always a distance between law and justice. I think she carried off that smug attitude really well. Nidhi bisht is funny. Her character started off well, but somewhere in between, her motives were not given importance. The writers had to develop her character more. The other characters are decent.

I think the series was confused whether it wants to be a comedy or a satire, because the writing has to be different for both. The series learnt that thing from the 4th or 5th episode onwards. The slight pokings at the lawyers' and judges' plight in this country helps the series. The series portrays different abrupt cases which were weird and wacky. The homour in those places seemed off, I mean the level of humour being generated with those cases was off point. Another gripe has to be the use of background score. It was almost present in all emotional scenes. The makers had little confidence on their audience and their writing, to be honest.

There are some humorous one-liners which are worth remembering. The short sitcom approach helps the series from being dragged on. A solid 7.5/10.

Love storiyaan is a romantic documentary series directed by six different directors.

If I write in short, then only one story was absolute best according to me. Homecoming, i.e the third segment was the most heartfelt, a romance tested by changing times and revolution. The attachment to one's roots and home is so wonderfully established in this segment. Some other segments were good too, for eg love on air and raah sangharsh ki. Others were strictly average, their storytelling bogged down by fictional characters simulating the real ones. The scenes become loud many a times and really sour the taste. If you plan to watch some storues from this series, make sure it is homecoming, love on air and raah sangharsh ki.

Bhakshak is a crime drama film directed by pulkit.

I found the old and newfound bhumi pednekar once again through this film. The one I fell in love with in films like dum laga ke haisha and other pre-covid films. Her dialogue delivery and expressions were on point. She plays a character with a strong spine and moral character, and everybody knows it has its own challenges. She aced it really well. Sanjay mishra is, as always, effortless in his performance. This was a piece of cake character for him, a support system to the protagonist. Aditya srivastav, on the other hand, brings out his devilish, dirty intentions out and makes us all bleed disgust. He alongwith his accomplices give a performance which will make us doubt over human character and basic compassion. Tanisha mehta as 'sudha' portrays the trauma of living in a disturbed space really well. She has seen things, things which are ghastly and amoral. She shivers and her eyes cast down due to the fear about speaking of those ghastly sins.

The first scene itself shows such a harrowing detail that it disturbs your sane mind. How can you do this? How is this behaviour even possible? You will ask those questions yourself. The screenplay is taut throughout, slackening a bit in the second half, when the police come into play. The police procedural should have been written better. A film so detailed deserved that part. The film never shows any gruesome details in general but only the aftermath of those, and yet it is so effective. The sound design of this film is impeccable, the music is very good. The background score is used very less which brings out the natural quality of the scenes.

The subject which the film discusses about women and the crimes against them is not new. But the execution has been superb. The film also presents a strong argument in favour of the media, the fourth pillar of democracy which has stooped to lower than lower levels in today's world. A strong media, a supportive media to the commons' cause can create upheavals in this world, this waa just a small instance.

Joram is a psychological drama action adventure crime thriller directed by devashish makhija.

I won't say much but only this that everybody needs to watch this film. Be it for a thought provoking narrative, superlative performances by the leads and supporting or the heartwrenching portrayal of a rotten system at the top, nothing falters in this film. Manoj bajpayee is guttingly real and personified, smita tambe is achingly menacing. You cannot blame any certain individual for whatever is happening, the narrative is tight, unfolds slowly, makes you feel many things while also making you numb by the portrayal of a rotten system. The music is outstanding. I cannot recommend it more.