What’s with the anthologies these days? We seems to have a surfeit of them. We just had Zindagi InShort which was an anthology of seven shorts, and now Ajeeb Daastaans is another of 4 more. Directed by four different directors, this features a large and impressive star-cast including Konkona Sen-Sharma, Shefali Chaya, Jaideep Ahlawat (who was so magnificent in Paatal Lok) and Aditi Rao Hydari.
Rating : 4.5/5 Genre : Drama Year : 2021 Running time : 1 hour 40 minutes Director : Jeo Baby Cast : Nimisha Sajayan, Suraj Venjaramoodu Kidwise : PG
The Great Indian Kitchen is not a loving ode to Indian cooking or culture; quite the reverse. The title is satirical, because this Malayalam film is about the well-cloaked misogyny in Indian culture.
Our heroine, referenced to as The Wife, (Nimisha Sajan, whom we saw in Eeda) gets married into a prestigious family via the well-worn arranged marriage route. The joint family setup consists of her parents-in-law and her husband, all of whom are pleasant and loving. The Wife, like the dutiful daughter-in-law helps her mother-in-law with household tasks. The mother-in-law slaves from morning to night making the meals just so, doing the washing and cleaning so her husband will be pleased, and retiring at night after cleaning up the kitchen, when she and The Wife sit at the dining table (the men have eaten and are long gone) and finish their meals. When one day, the mother-in-law goes to her pregnant daughter’s house to help her with the impending delivery, The Wife is left to shoulder this burden alone.
World over women are assumed to be the implicit homemakers and care-givers. In desi culture this is true ten times over, as is shown in this film. The mother-in-law only cooks rice over the wood fire, instead of in the pressure cooker, because the husband says it tastes better. His clothes don’t seem clean from the washing machine so they must be hand-washed. And on and on and on. Of course he doesn’t have to do any of these tasks. She not only does these, but also fetches and carries for him, always at his beck and call.
If you watch one film this year, let it be this one.
Such edicts are familiar refrains. I’d seen exhortations on the web to not use non-stick pans because of the “hidden dangers” and while that may/may not be true, the advice probably came from someone who doesn’t have to cook and clean everyday. If we were to all quit the machines that make our tasks – the drudgery of repeated, energy-consuming tasks – easier, women would probably spend all their time captive in their kitchens and homes, barefoot and pregnant. Sorta like the women in this film.
This film does a fantastic job of showing us how women are trapped within the home, sans independence or support by using dulcet tones and “culture” to support the case. The edict is always a gently worded request to cook this or that, this way or that way, because well wouldn’t you (i.e.; a good woman) do that for someone you love? Other similar “advice” is given, because it is in The Wife’s best interests, or to uphold family prestige. It is a high bar to be a good (Indian) woman.
The impact of the film is felt so strongly because the director takes the time to show us in long, lingering shots of what the men and the women are doing, during the same time period. There are 2 women in this home, and there are 2 men. In the morning, the women are up early to start their chores while the men get their tea and breakfast handed to them while they dawdle at the dining table. The women continue with this chore or that chore (and there is so much to be done) while the men spend their time doing yoga, reading or simply relaxing with tea on the porch. They also leave the home in their cars, while the women continue to still slave over their chores, sans help.
And I found this aspect very surprising – this well-to-do family with a nice home and car(s) has no household help, unless one of the women of the household is sick or on her period, and during the time of the month is relegated to a spartan room of the house, almost as an untouchable, sans any comforts. The sexism, misogyny and patriarchy are on full display here, and we can’t look away.
I love that this film doesn’t force-feed you an opinion – it just presents the circumstances to you, in excruciating detail, and lets you judge for yourself. It is so effectively a mirror to society because the villains in this film aren’t loud or violent – they are regular folk, like us. I’m also quite amazed that director Jeo Baby has managed to get the female perspective so spot on! The actors are fantastic too – Sajayan embodies her character with seeming ease while Suraj manages to make her misogynist husband seem like such an affable every-man!
This movie is an absolute must-watch! If you see one film this year, let it be this one.
Kidwise: Clean. Some sexual situations, but not tawdry or explicit.
Rating : 4/5 Genre : Drama Year : 2021 Running time : 1 hour 55 minutes Director : Umesh Bist Cast : Sanya Malhotra, Ashutosh Rana, Sheeba Chadha, Raghubir Yadav, Sayani Gupta, Aasif Khan, Rajesh Tailang Kidwise : G
Pagglait (meaning crazy) is such an unusual offbeat film. It starts with a tragedy and has no hero. The film pretty much revolves around out heroine Sandhya, played by Sanya Malhotra (you might remember her from Badhaai Ho) who really carries the film beautifully. This lovely, poignant movie is a must-see.
Sandhya is suddenly widowed after 5 months of marriage. While the whole family is grief-stricken, Sandhya remains unmoved; not a tear rolls down her face. Sandhya’s parents and other relatives start pouring into her in-laws large ancestral home (this is a joint family setup), to help with last rites, while Sandhya remains secluded in her room. During the 13 days of religious rites, Sandhya stumbles upon some of her dead husband Astik’s secrets and they have a profound impact on her life.
The film’s story is situated in Lucknow. It’s got that mofussil aura – the sprawling ancestral home called “Shanti Kunj”, with an entrance way through a narrow lane, populated by cycle rickshaws. The people of the home are like it – old-fashioned and traditional, although they think themselves “open-minded”.
The relatives when they arrive bring their quirks and petty politicking with them, even in the midst of a tragedy. And there are flashes of humor here, along with grief, hypocrisy and subtle religious discrimination. The magnificent duo of Sheeba Chadha and Ashutosh Rana play the bereft parents of the dead man, who seem to be decent people but get swayed by the morally questionable family-members around them. Sandhya herself is highly educated, but appears to be traditional having had no say in her marriage or the life of domesticity chosen for her.
There is of course the elephant in the room: the patriarchy.
I liked that the film touches upon many topics, quite naturally. There is the sly satirical look at the “progressiveness” of the “open-minded”, the questioning of the mindless following of Hindu rituals, the undercurrent of religious animosity at having a Muslim person living in a Hindu household. There is of course the elephant in the room – the patriarchy – and this manifests in different ways – Sandhya’s quick anger at having her desires quashed so she can be suitably and respectably married, the discomfort among the male elders when they realize that their widowed daughter-in-law might hold all the cards, or the unspoken sentiment that for a woman to be “settled” she must be married.
It is not that Sandhya’s in-laws are evil or wicked or treat her badly. It is not that Sandhya is openly rebellious or even disrespectful. She is just an ordinary young women finding her voice and widening her horizons, even as she flounders. Pagglait’s triumph lies in that lovely, heartfelt depiction.
The superb acting – and really, with this cast, you could not go wrong – and well-fleshed out characters also helps. Sanya Malhotra proves with this spectacular performance that she needs no hero and can carry a movie single-handedly. Director Umer Bisht makes a name for hmself with Pagglait – I look forward to more of his work!
Pagglait is quite, quite lovely! Do watch!
Kidwise: Clean. Some adult situations hinted upon in dialog only.
Akshay Kumar’s spy-thriller Bellbottom is directed by Ranjit Tewari, who also directed Lucknow Central. Haven’t seen that and am a bit skeptical going by the IMDB rating.
The trailer is not much more than music and slo-mo, but the cast is impressive – Vaani Kapoor, Lara Dutta and Huma Qureshi. Qureshi does well in spy-thrillers – remember D-Day?
What The Love is a reality show hosted by Karan Johar where he helps 6 young people find true love, or at least get started on the journey. The series is entertaining to watch, just like most of Johar’s films. It is fun and light-hearted (mostly), delivers drama, and has the sheen of expensive show-making.
The first episode is the “getting started” one, in which Johar brings together a group of young people (not sure how they were chosen, but there must have been about 50 of them), for a party where he meets and mingles with them in an effort to narrow down his picks to 6 individuals.
The rest of the episodes each focus on a single individual, and Karan attempts to suss out their failed love-ki-kahaani so he can make it better. He does this in a variety of ways – getting them a mental makeover with an “expert”, getting them a physical make-over with look-and-makeup consultants (and they really knew what they were doing), and sending them on prep dates, with famous celebrities, like Arjun Kapoor, Huma Qureshi and Ali Fazal, who give him (Karan) feedback on the individual.
It helps that we are all suckers for luv-shuv and happy endings.
Then he sets up 2 dates for this individual, and after the dates have finished the individual has to pick 1 of the dates, and assuming that the person he/she went on a date with reciprocates the interest, they proceed further on their own, sans Karan.
The series worked firstly because Johar is a showman, and he knows how to present the stories interestingly. Also, it helps that we are all suckers for luv-shuv and happy endings. There’s also depth to these tales because some of them deal with real trauma, body and esteem issues, and repressive social mores, and Johar seems truly sympathetic; I feel a twinge of sadness as he muses over the fact that he himself hasn’t found ”the one” yet.
It was interesting to see that one of the episodes featured Rabane, a gay eager-beaver, whom Johar ( a gay man himself) schools. My favorite episode was the 2nd, which featured lively pathologist Aashi, and her experiences with the arranged marriage process, and discussing weighty issues with judgemental Indian men and their mothers.
This was an enjoyable, well-made show, and is well worth the watch.
Kidwise: Mostly safe for the young-ones except for Episode 3 which had some explicit innuendoes.
Zindagi inShort is a collection of 7 short films, presented episodic fashion. Each story is about 15-20 minutes long so combined this is less than 2 hours long. And what a lovely 2 hours it is!
Each story stands independently, and they have no connection to each other. The tales come with twists and revelations/surprises, and the theme of each varies from love to infidelity to rebellion. There are 7 different directors at the helm and the series has been produced by Sikhya Entertainment (which also produced fantastic films like The Lunchbox, Masaan and Titli among others).
The first short film is “Pinni”. Pinni is a Punjabi sweet, and the film is about a housewife, played by the marvelous Neena Gupta, who discovers a new way of looking at life. Pinni is directed by Tahira Kashyap (Ayushman Khurana is her husband). The second is “Sleeping Partner” featuring Divya Dutta as Beena, who’s sick of her abusive husband (Sanjay Kapoor). Then there is the lovely “Chajju ke Dahi Bhalle”, the quirky “Thappad”, the surprising “Nano so phobia”, the flaming “Swaaha” and the reflective “Sunny Side Upar”.
While I loved “Chajju ke Dahi Bhalle” I have to make a special mention of “Thappad”, which is a tale about a brother and a sister, and so interestingly filmed – throughout the film we only ever get to see the faces of the brother and sister, every other character in the film is shown only in little snatches of limbs, hands waving, feet kicking, fingers pointing, and it still manages to convey the desired emotion quite effectively!
Each of these films is something special! The acting is top notch, but then what else could it be if stalwarts like Neena Gupta, Divya Dutta and Deepak Dobriyal grace the screen? Beautifully told, wonderfully acted, these quirky films are a pleasure to watch. Highly recommended!
Yes, The Girl on The Train is based on the book by Paula Hawkins, except that here, the characters are all desi.
Parineeti plays Mira Kapoor, a woman who thinks she saw something out of a window of a moving train. It doesn’t help that she’s a depressed borderline alcoholic, has “episodes”, and can’t be taken seriously (I’m going off of the book here – the film might have indianised this a bit). The marvelous Kirti Kulhari plays the policewoman investigating crime. Adits Rao Hydari and Avinash Tiwary also star.
I loved the book so I’m hoping that director Ribhu Sengupta (who directed the well-done Amitabh-starrer series Yudh) doesn’t mess the movie up. The trailer looks fantastic, so here’s hoping! This is on Netflix 26th of February.
Here’s the 2nd part of my 2020 RoundUp in which I summarize the Best Series or Shows of 2020. You can listen to the 1st part (Best Movies of 2020) here.
As always this Podcast is available on all the Platforms listed here.
Rating : 3/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2021
Platform : Voot
Number of Episodes : 8
Director : Oni Sen
Cast : Arshad Warsi, Barun Sobti, Sharib Hashmi, Anupriya Goenka, Riddhi Dogra, Vishesh Bansal
Kidwise : PG-13
Asur is the hunt for a serial killer. This 8 part series has Arshad Warsi as forensic expert Dhananjay Rajpoot who leads a CBI team. Barun Sobti plays forensic expert Nikhil Nair who used to work under Dhananjay but quit due to differences and is now teaching at the FBI. When Nikhil starts getting coordinates of places where murders have been committed, he decides to return to India and his old job, much to his wife Naina’s (Goenka) chagrin.
On his return he works on the investigation of the most recent murder, where the killer has mutilated and burnt the body so that it is unrecognizable and untraceable. Nikhil still manages to unearth clues which reveal the perpetrator . . .
Asur mixes the serial killer trope with Hindi mythology, rooting the killer and his destructive instincts in religious mumbo-jumbo. The episodes take us back and forth in time giving us a look-see into the killer’s life, his childhood and the forces that ultimately come together to make him a devious criminal.
While the idea is good, and the Hindu mythology angle very interesting, the execution does not pass muster. I’m a little surprised that this series garners a high rating on IMDB. There are many holes in the plot and character inconsistencies. There is little attention to detail – for example, in one scene, purportedly in the US where Nikhil and Naina are living, the electrical sockets are of the 3 round-pin type, which is not found in the US.
The dialogs seem juvenile and inexplicable in places – not sure what the writers were thinking. At one point, CBI investigator Nusrat (Dogra) says that no-one can solve the case except Dhananjay – which left me flummoxed. Yes, Dhananjay is our hero, but is he the only competent officer in the entire department and are the other incompetent officers just proclaiming their own worthlessness?
Arshad Warsi is one of the better actors out there, but his character seems very uni-dimensional here. Barun Sobti is not the actor Warsi is and can’t get beyond a superficial portrayal of a nerdy investigator (and what’s with the long locks?). Sharib Hashmi was quite good as CBI investigator Lolark Dubey, and Anupriya Goenka and Ridhi Dogra are about average.
The series ends with a convoluted climax and without a clear resolution – so there will probably be a second season. I just hope that that one is more coherent and competent.
Recently I’ve watched some Malayalam films of such excellent quality that I had to make a post about it. You have probably read my reviews of Kumbalangi Nights and Bangalore Days. Here are 5 more gorgeous films on Netflix and Prime:
– Eeda(Netflix)
A modern-day Romeo and Juliet tale, Eeda has Aishwarya (Nimisha Sajayan) and Anand (Shane Nigam) who fall in love after a chance meeting in Mysore. The problem is that they belong to families on the opposite sides of the political spectrum. They both hail from the Kannur district, where their families live, practice their often violent ideologies and bay for each other’s blood.
I liked Eeda quite a bit because of its lead characters. Shane Nigam we saw in Kumbalangi Nights, and while I haven’t seen any of Nimisha’s movies, her performance in The Great Indian Kitchen has been getting rave reviews. They both are excellent in their likable characters – also great chemistry. The film went from a love-story to a high-strung drama very quickly. Well-paced and artfully told.
– Ishq(Amazon Prime)
Sachi (Shane Nigam) and Vasudha (Ann Sheetal), young and very-much-in-love are looking forward to spending time with each other. When Sachi parks in a quiet parking lot hoping to sneak a kiss with a yet hesitant Vasu, they are both in for a surprise.
I won’t give too much away but this film took a sharp turn from a love story to an edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller – very unpredictable! Fantastic performances by the entire cast, but Shine Chacko outshone everyone! An absolute must-see!
– Helen(Amazon Prime)
Helen (Anna Ben) is studying to be a nurse and hopes to go to Canada to work so she can help out her father with his debts. She’s also in love with a Muslim man, a match her religious father will definitely not be happy with. One normal, ordinary day, Helen goes to work, but doesn’t come back home. Her distraught father files a report at the police station, but Helen is not found.
This movie was a lovely mix of emotions. The father-daughter relationship is portrayed beautifully and the talented Anna Ben is a pleasure to watch as the dutiful daughter and determined young woman that she is.
– Kappella(Netflix)
Jessy (Anna Ben) gets talking to Vishnu (Roshan Mathew) on the phone quite by accident, but their accidental conversation spawns a friendship. Convinced that he is the one, very-much-in-love Jessy decides to go to the big city to actually meet him face-to-face. But their simple meeting runs into trouble, when Jessy sees a man following them.
This film started off as a simple, sweet love story, but turned rather unpredictably into an intense thriller. This was a fabulous film – really tight and well-paced, and had great acting to boot. We have seen Anna Ben before in Kumbalangi Nights and Roshan Mathew has made forays into Hindi movies like Anurag Kashyap’s Choked.
– Maheshinte Prathikaaram(Amazon Prime)
Mahesh runs a photo studio and lives a placid, pleasant life in his small town. One day, his life is thrown into a tumult when he is publicly humiliated by a goon. Mahesh, ashamed and embarrassed in front of his community swears that he will not rest until he has gotten his revenge.
This was such an interesting, beautifully done film. Wonderfully crafted and paced, with great attention to detail, this film has depth, humor and poignancy. Also a fantastic performance by Fahadh Faasil.
– 
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