Binge Watch Suggestion List on Sony Liv 🙂

Sony Liv is the youngest web channel on the internet. Currently, it's kitty of Hindi web series comprises of 3 originals. All of them are - Indian by origin, constitute of only the first season and quite worthy of binge watching.

They are -

1. Your Honor (18 Jun 2020)

Genre: Crime Drama Thriller

No. of Episodes: 12

Running Time: 35 minutes

Short Review: This web series is about - how an extremely honorable and effective circuit court judge (Jimmy Shergill) in Ludhiana, Punjab is first blinded by the love for his only son and then his ambition and the stake imposed upon his life and career, so as to put in danger, the life and reputation of an innocent teenager, who is just a small time thief.

The story backdrop is a complex web of tussle between two local dons - a  local Punjabi and a migrant bhaiyya aka UPite, who further get entangled with a sharp lady police officer (Mita Vashisht) and a CRPF personnel (Varun Badola).

The web series ends with an absolutely unthinkable climax.

Jimmy Shergill and Varun Badola are expectantly good. Mita Vashisht as the seasoned lady cop is a treat to watch. Whenever she is in the frame, she just steals the scene. Rest of the cast has also performed well.

The pace of the web series is rather uneven and majorly slow.

2. Gullak (27 Jun 2019)

Genre: Comedy Drama Family 

No. of Episodes: 5

Running Time: 24 minutes

Short Review: Centred around the middle class Mishra family comprising of father, mother and their two sons, one barely of voting age and the other in high school, Gullak is a not a story but a collection of anecdotes narrated by the gullak aka the earthen piggy bank of the family!

Inspired from the usual happenings of any town based nuclear middle class family, the anecdotes are simple, funny, engaging and a treat to watch. 

The casting is perfect and everyone has acted quite well. Vaibhav Raj Gupta, who plays the elder son, looks and sounds a lot like Arjun Kapoor.

3. Undekhi (10 Jul 2020)

Genre: Crime Thriller Drama

No. of Episodes: 10

Running Time: 26-40 minutes

Short Review: A well scripted and engrossing web series that travels from poverty ridden tribal lands of Sunderban to pomp, glitz and power oozing wedding of Manali, in the house of the ultra rich industrialist cum don (Harsh Chhaya) of the hill station.

Two tribal women are the common link between the aforementioned places, who happen to face extremely bad deal in both the places, as if their root level vanilla existences simply don't matter!

Harsh Chhaya has marvellously enacted the role of the extremely powerful and revered but perennially drunk and melodramatic Papaji aka patriarch of the family, as well as, the business enterprise.

Surya Sharma has stood out as the stoic, practical and ruthless Rinku ji, the blind follower, relative and true successor of Papaji.

The web series is well paced and unmasks some gruesome out-in-the-open but royally ignored practises of the society.

ZEE5 Movie: Ghoomketu (22 May 2020)

Genre: Comedy Satire Drama
Language: Hindi
Duration: 108 minutes

Writer: Pushpendra Nath Mishra
Producer: Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl
Director: Pushpendra Nath Mishra

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raghubir Yadav, Ila Arun, Anurag Kashyap, Swanand Kirkire, Bijendra Kala, Ragini Khanna

Music: Zubin Balaporia
Background Score: Sneha Khanwalkar, Jasleen Royal
Editing: Pushpendra Nath Mishra, Kratika Adhikari
Cinematography: Satya Rai Nagpaul

Introduction:

Shouldered by the fine acting of primarily Nawazuddin Siddiqui and secondarily Raghubir Yadav and Ila Arun, filmed around scenes from different genres of movies, with comic satire woven around stereotypes and deja vu, Dhoomketu is an offbeat engaging watch with well timed guest appearances by multiple Bollywood stars.

Plot:

Ghoomketu (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a village bumpkin and aspiring writer from Mohna is constantly fired by his father (Raghubir Yadav), who is unanimously addressed as Dadda by Ghoomketu and his father's siblings - a widow sister (Ila Arun) and a bachelor brother (Swanand Kirkire), addressed as Santo Bua and Guddan Chacha respectively, by Ghoomketu.

The absence of Ghoomketu's dead mother has caused Dadda to re-marry in the past, but the motherly figure in Ghoomketu's life is Santo Bua, his bossy and smart aunt.

Guddan Chacha is a political representative from the village, with not much brain but simpleton comic antics and some clout.

Dadda has a tendency to shout non-stop over mundane things. Funnily, all the family members are scared of his shouting, but they never fail to make fun of this trait, in his absence!

Ghoomketu aspires to become a writer and requests the local publication 'Gudgudi' to employ him. Therein, Editor Joshi (Bijendra Kala), instead of employing him, gives him a self written book about the art of writing movie scripts, wherein each chapter is dedicated to a different genre of movies.

Thereafter, Ghoomketu is married off in a samuhik vivah aka group marriage event, a charity initiative wherein the concerned organization bears the expanse and responsibility of marrying off a group of bachelor men and women in random pairs.

During his first night, Ghoomketu finds his ghoonghat (veil) wearing bride (Ragini Khanna) quite fat, unlike she seemed during the marriage ceremony. He doesn't even bother to lift her ghoonghat and rejects her without seeing her face, even for once!

After some contemplation, Ghoomketu solely confides in Santo Bua and runs off to Mumbai to fulfill his dreams, not before stealing around one month worth of basic daily use items and money from his Dadda's shop and locker respectively.

In Mumbai, he somehow manages to rent a makeshift accomodation in a room adjacent to his landlord's flat and gets in touch with a small time producer who asks him to write a script.

Given the basic lifestyle items and money at hand, Ghoomketu gives himself exactly
one month to find his niche in Mumbai.

Back in Mohna, Ghoomketu's sudden disappearance creates a furor in his household and after some village styled comic antics, a missing person's report is lodged in the local police station with the citation of a strong suspicion of him running off to Mumbai.

Guddan Chacha makes use of his political clout and a Mumbai police station receives the aforesaid missing person's case sans any pic but with enough political pressure, which makes it imperative for Inspector Badlani (Anurag Kashyap), a laid back and corrupt police officer, to find Ghoomketu within a month, or else to get posted in a forlorn area sans any extra income.

Though Inspector Badlani happens to be Ghoomketu's landlord, but by Bollywood styled turns of fate, both of them cross each other many times, but never once does the Inspector recognises him.

For his script writing assignment, Ghoomketu pens songs and scenes of different genres, as and when he reads about them in the book gifted by Editor Joshi.

Somehow after one month of his Mumbai arrival, he finishes a bound script, only to get it stolen right in front of his eyes.

He lodges an FIR with Inspector Badlani. Therein, his identity surfaces. By the time, the inspector confirms it, he gets a revelation and leaves the police station, packs his bags and leaves for Mohna.

How will he be received in Mohna? What will be the fate of his marital life? Will his attempt to write for movies find any closure? What will he eventually end up doing?

Watch the movie to get the answers of all these questions.

Analysis:

Along with it's comedy, satire and Ghoomketu's funny action-reactions, the movie highlights the fact that just aspiring to be something in Bollywood is not enough. One has to have enough talent and luck to make it there. Also, that at times even though the movie honchos desire and attempt to give due credit to the concerned artists, but fate doesn't let them.

The movie is funny in parts and well made. But it lacks innovation in depiction of different genres of film making. Also, the line between the actual happenings and the scenes playing in the protagonist's mind while writing, is quite thin.

Cameos by Amitabh Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha and Chitrangada Singh and Nikkhil Advani keep the movie interesting.

There is a cheesy item number by Lauren Gottlieb. There are no adult scenes.

The music and the cinematography of the movie are average.

With 'Motichoor Chaknachoor' in 2019 and Ghoomketu in 2020, Nawazuddin has proved that he can singularly hold the audience even without spitting out choicest of expletives and crudely picturized copulation scenes.

Ila Arun's matriarchal and gutsy performance with mischievous twinkle in her eyes is a treat to watch. Raghubir Yadav has wonderfully displayed an altogether new style of aggressive frustration. Rest of the cast has also performed well. Anurag Kashyap is an excellent director, but acting is not his cup of tea.

Conclusion:

Watch the movie for the web of fun created by Ghoomketu, Santo Bua and Dadda.

Prime Video Movie: Gulabo Sitabo (12 Jun 2020)

Genre: Satire Comedy Drama
Language: Hindi
Duration: 124 minutes

Story, Screenplay & Dialogue: Juhi Chaturvedi
Producer: Ronnie Lahiri, Sheel Kumar
Director: Shoojit Sircar

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurana, Vijay Raaz, Bijendra Kala, Srishti Shrivastava, Farrukh Zaffar

Music: Shantanu Moitra
Cinematography: Avik Mukhopadhyay
Prosthetics Make-Up Designer: Pia Cornelius

Introduction:

Gulabo Sitabo is a social satire depicting greed harbored by the owner, heir apparent, tenants, government officials and prospective buyers of a prime property.

Plot:

The 78 years old tall, lanky, haggard, hunchbacked but ever vigilant Mirza Chunnah Nawab (Amitabh Bachchan) resides in a century old and dilipidated Fatima Mahal in Lucknow, with his delirious wife Fatima Begum (Farrukh Zaffar), a couple of domestic helps and four tenants.

Fatima Begun is 15 years older than Mirza and the actual owner of Fatima Mahal, a heritage property passed on by her grandfather to her father and by her father to herself.

Mirza lives with the solemn dream of owning the aforementioned property one day. Thus he constantly wishes for the Begum to die her natural death, given her age and state of mind and health.

Three of the aforesaid four tenants pay him a measly rent of Rs. 70/-. But the fourth tenant, Baankey Rustogi (Ayushmann Khurana) who stays with his widow mother and three sisters, pays him only Rs. 30/- and that too not on time!

Miffed with the ridiculously low rent, Mirza wishes for all the tenants to evacuate the premises of Fatima Mahal and constantly invents pranks, so as to disturb them enough to leave his abode. In fact the movie starts with Mirza stealing Baankey's light bulb.

Alongside, Mirza also indulges in hush-hush selling of Fatima Mahal's interior decoration items.

One day at Fatima Mahal, during a scuffle for using the common toilet, Baankey kicks it's wall in anger, causing a big gaping hole in the wall.

Since, neither Mirza nor the tenants are ready to pay for the repair of the wall, theyt to seek the assistance of different authorities and personnels, ultimately ending up into the clutches of a lawyer (Bijendra Kala) and an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officer, Gyanesh Mitra (Vijay Raaj).

From here starts the greed filled endeavours of all concerned.

Mirza privately contacts the lawyer to facilitate evacuation of all of his tenants and they set onto a journey to establish Mirza as the sole owner of the concerned property.

The lawyer alongside works for a wealthy bigshot to get him Fatima Mahal as soon as possible, in lieu of only 5% of it's actual price to Mirza!

The ASI officer starts his series of investigation, so that he can declare Fatima Mahal as an old heritage property, so as to evacuate everyone and hand it over to a minister for his personal use! For smooth evacuation, he false promises all the tenants a LIG flat in return.

All the concerned forces spring into action and employ all their tricks and treats, only to get a surprise of their lives in the end.

Watch the movie to see the surprise and other nitty gritty that lead to it.

Analysis:

Exploring an interesting subject with an altogether new treatment, Gulabo Sitabo is a well made film with witty remarks, correct dialect and perfect body language.

The unsaid spine of the film is Fatima Mahal, which must have seen generations of greed and usurping tendencies and even in it's dilipidated condition is stronger and sturdier than the beings inhabiting it.

Juhi Chaturvedi has beautifully penned the entire tale giving a full view of assorted greeds, but each character has been so humanely portrayed that you don't end up holding against any of them.

Expectantly, Shoojit Sircar's direction comprises of fine nuances and detailing. He has well grasped both the ambience and pulse of the story.

The prosthetics used on Amitabh Bachchan are relatively much better than what we usually see on the Indian screen. Hats off to this legend and senior actor for trying out such physically demanding roles.

Both him and Ayushmann Khurana have acted with perfection and carried off the entire film sans any glamour or heroine, on their shoulders. The best part is that none of them ever tries to be heroic or over powering. They have simply surrendered to their respective characters, both of which are stubborn, eccentric and constantly mocked at.

Given that she is a much junior actor, Srishti Shrivastava has quite well held on to her bullish character of Guddo, one of Baankey's sister.

Vijay Raaz, Bijendra Kala and other actors have also performed well.

Now the question arises that who is/are Gulabo Sitabo? Well, they are two puppets who are at constant loggerheads. They appear in the beginning of the film, in the middle of the film and also at the end of the film. They kind of set the mood of constant state of difference between two entities.

Conclusion:

Gulabo Sitabo is an intelligent satire with surprising climax and a message that greed leads to defeat and loneliness. It's an easy paced engaging film but not an entertainer.

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part VI 🙂

I am sharing below my pick list with short reviews of 7 popular and well made Netflix and Prime Video web series from India. All the web series are in Hindi.

1. Inside Edge (10 Jul 2017, 6 Dec 2019)
Channel: Prime Video
Genre: Thriller
Season: 1, 2
No. of Episodes: 10, 10
Running Time: 40-47 minutes

Short Review: Based on a fictional T20 playing league and cricket franchise, it is Amazon Prime Video's first original Indian series. It stars Bollywood actors like Vivek Oberoi and Richa Chadha.

The series shows the power play and lobbying involved in running a high profile cricket franchise and the mammoth changes incurred when there is any change in it's ownership. Alongside, it focuses on the eccentricities of the players, their work culture and their willing/unwilling participation in match fixings.

The series is Bollywood style and well made. It comprises of enough political drama, use of abusives and adult scenes.

2. Sacred Games (5 Jul 2018, 15 Aug 2019)
Channel: Netflix
Genre: Crime Conspiracy Thriller Mystery
Season: 1,2
No. of Episodes: 8,8
Running Time: 43-58 minutes

Short Review: Based on Vikram Chandra's novel called Sacred Games and directed by award winning Bollywood directors, with both of it's main protagonists being the mainstream Bollywood actors, it is the first Netflix original series in India.

It's plot is a complex web of flash back and mysteries. Both of it's seasons are starkly different from each other.

In the first season, a notorious gangster who has been missing for 16 years, informs a troubled police officer about his whereabouts, only to leave him with an alarming clue and die, the clue being the need to save the city within 25 days!

What follows is a mayhem of police investigations and emergence of various connected people and incidents and the surfacing of concerned police officer's personal demons both in his personal and professional life.

The series ends with the hanging question - whether or not the city annihilation took place?

The second season starts with the disturbed police officer's continued search for the tool and venue of the aforesaid annihilation. It also continues with the parallel autobiography of the gangster in the past mode, accompanied with his narrations in both past and present modes, covering his associations with - drug lord of Mombasa in Kenya, RAW agent, ISI and finally the queer and mysterious Guruji.

The series' storyline is quite new and the depiction of it's series of sequences is quite interesting.

It's an engaging watch with some brilliant acting by lead artists, like - Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Saif Ali Khan, Radhika Apte, Pankaj Tripathi, Amrita Subhash etc.

You can read the detailed review of Sacred Games 2 at -

http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2019/08/netflix-series-sacred-games-2-15-aug.html?m=1

3. Ghoul (24 Aug 2018)
Channel: Netflix
Genre: Horror Fiction Thriller
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 3
Running Time: 45 minutes

Short Review: Based on Arab folklore monster Ghoul, it is a horror series picturised in an eerie military detention centre in a near future dystopian society.

A series of confusion and murdering of officials ensues when a sect leader is brought in the detention centre for interrogation, because he has invoked a ghoul, who can take the form of any human being that he touches.

Laced with effective direction, acting, make-up and music, it is one of the most horrifying horror series that I have ever seen.

4. Mirzapur (16 Nov 2018)
Channel: Prime Video
Genre: Crime Action Thriller
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 9
Running Time: 43-53 minutes

Short Review: Involving a lot of lawlessness, shooting, blood and gore, this series is about a millionaire carpet exporter cum don of Mirzapur, his power hungry and eccentric son and two sons of a simple and moralistic lawyer, whose lives get entwined with the aforesaid don to the point of causing a power shift in the region.

It's a well casted, scripted and enacted series with good dialogue delivery in pure eastern UP dialect by most of the actors.

If you can digest mindless action and assassinations, then do watch this series.

5. Made In Heaven (8 Mar 2019)
Channel: Prime Video
Genre: Drama Satire
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 9
Running Time: 50 minutes

Short Review: It is a close peek into the lives and experiences of two high end wedding planners and close friends, with one of them being gay and the other being the wife of an affluent businessman, in whose office she used to work as an employee!

Each episode reveals an altogether different range of dynamics involved in a big fat Indian wedding, some usual, some unusual and some outright scandalous.

The series is about how the aforementioned duo handles the myriad situations to ensure a happening wedding or a moral outcome, alongside handling their not so happening lives.

It's a big budget series filled with glam and gloss. It's an interesting and engaging watch.

6. The Family Man (20 Sep 2019)
Channel: Prime Video
Genre: Action Espionage Thriller Drama
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 10
Running Time: 38-53 minutes

Short Review: It's a complex series with a lot happening in the cat and mouse chase between a top class intelligence officer of T.A.S.C. (fictious branch of National Investigation Agency) and a tough terrorist, controlled by ISIS.

The officer in question is also a middle class family man with a wife, son and daughter. He is in constant state of guilt and unsurety because of not being able to spend ample time with his family or getting to know them as he should which causes him to lie blatantly every now and then and even harm his marital relationship.

It's an extremely well scripted and picturized series with Manoj Bajpayee being it's well deserving star.

It's quite interesting and amusing to see the hardcore shrewd abusive spilling Manoj Bajpayee, the agent to become speechless in front of his growing children and feel overwhelmed upon his son's usage of mild abusives.

Do watch this series.

7. Bard of Blood (27 Sep 2019)
Channel: Netflix
Genre: Action Espionage Thriller
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 7
Running Time: 40-49 minutes

Short Review: Based on the novel of the same name by Bilal Siddiqi, this series is like a Bollywood espionage thriller complete with high end weapon props and special effects. Even the protagonist herein is Emraan Hashmk, a Bollywood mainstream hero.

He plays a former intelligence officer who is sent on a crucial rescue mission to Balochistan to free four Indian intelligence officers from the clutches of Taliban. Though Balochistan is the place  of his painful past, still he moves ahead with the mission and enters into the complex web of past associations, risky plannings, secret hideouts, failures and triumphs.

The series is like a usual Bollywood spy thriller, no more no less.

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part I - http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/03/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-i.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part II - http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/03/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-ii.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part III -
http://angrezipicture.blogspot.com/2020/04/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-iii.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part IV -
http://angrezipicture.blogspot.com/2020/04/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-iv.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part V -
http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/05/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-vl.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part V 🙂

Burnt out after months of binge watching high octane American sci-fi and thriller series and Indian crime thrillers set amidst the political backdrop of UP and Bihar, I searched for some simple, upbeat, factual and regional movies and ended up watching the 3 below given Bengali movies.

They were a refreshing watch and provided good edutainment and effective awareness.

1. Alinagarer Golokdhadha (20 Apr 2018)
Channel: Prime Video
Genre: Adventure Mystery
Duration: 139 minutes

Short Review: An interesting trail of riddles comprising of clues pertaining to the centuries of history of Kolkata and it's nearby regions leads to an exclusive prized possession, with a parallel track of crime and greed for the same object.

Alongside, there is a good peek of the modern day reality and decay of the age old affluent rajbaris.

Full of edutainment, this movie is an interesting watch. You will end up learning a lot about the city of joy - it's people, historic monuments and food, ever since it was a collection of three villages, till it was captured by the Britishers, followed by Siraj ud-Daulah, then again Britishers.

If you are wondering about the nomenclature of the movie, then watch the movie and find the close connection between Alinagar and Kolkata!

2. Shah Jahan Regency (18 Jan 2019)
Channel: Prime Video
Genre: Drama
Duration: 156 minutes

Short Review: It is the second movie adaptation of the famous novel Chowringhee (1962) by Mani Shankar Mukherjee. The first movie adaptation was also titled Chowringhee (1968).

Shot beautifully in relatively dim light, befitting the interiors of a posh and iconic city hotel, the movie covers all the nooks and corners of a hotel named Shah Jahan Regency and different aspects of the lives of the people connected with it, starting from it's owners, to it's staff, to it's patrons and visitors.

Subtly paced, the movie gives a well etched view of life in modern day Kolkata, all inclusive of it's beauty, ugliness and irony.

It's a one of a kind movie that will keep you glued to the screen and leave you with a faint streak of dismay, establishing the fact that all that glitters is not gold and nothing in this life can be taken for granted.

3. Samantaral (24 Nov 2017)
Channel: Netflix
Genre: Drama Family Psychology
Duration: 114 minutes

Short Review: Set amidst the backdrop of an old styled middle class Bengali bari, it is a family drama centred around a mentally retarded (claimed to be) individual who is under house arrest (read room arrest) from years.

His grown up but orphan nephew visits the house after three years, empathizes with him and tries to find the reason and cure of his lost state. He is well supported in his endeavor by his girlfriend.

Watch the movie to find out the shocking divulge.

Hopefully, the viewers will learn few long pending lessons from this film.

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part I - http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/03/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-i.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part II - http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/03/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-ii.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part III -
http://angrezipicture.blogspot.com/2020/04/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-iii.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part IV -
http://angrezipicture.blogspot.com/2020/04/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-iv.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part VI -
http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/05/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-vi.html?m=1

Voot Web Series: The Raikar Case (9 Apr 2020)

Genre: Crime Thriller Drama
Language: Hindi
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 7
Running Time: 25-34 minutes

Writer: Karmanya Ahuja, Brijesh Narayan, Chinmay Mandlekar, Anitha Nair
Director: Aditya Sarpotdar

Cast: Atul Kulkarni, Ashwini Bhave, Kunal Karan Kapoor, Parul Gulati, Reena Wadhwa, Honey Kamboj, Manava Naik, Prakash Ramchandani, Vaishnavi Kadam, Neil Bhoopalam, Lalit Prabhakar, Saloni Khanna

Music By: Aditya-Nayantara
Editing By: Kathikuloth Praveen
Cinematography By: Manoj Soni

Introduction:

Woven around an affluent Goan business family, with a powerful and politically connected patriarch, The Raikar Case web series is about the murder investigation of one of the aforesaid family's members, a sixteen years old lad whose father and sister are already dead due to a car accident four years back.

Plot:

The series starts with an assumed suicide scene of Tarun (Honey Kamboj) with his cousin cum favourite person Etasha (Parul Gulati) on spot. But in reality, as per a severe and clotted gash found on the side forehead of Tarun's corpse, the investigating police officer John Pereira (Neil Bhoopalam) declares that his death was caused by murder and not suicide.

As the series unfolds, different variations of the assumed murder scene are played on screen, covering almost all the living members of the Raikar family!

The Raikar family comprises of the following members - Yashwant Naik Raikar (Atul Kulkarni), his wife Sakshi (Ashvini Bhave), his son Mohit (Kunal Karan Kapoor), his daughter, his son's fiancee, his late brother's widow and the murdered lad's mother Lily (Reena Wadhwa), his sister Anandi (Manava Naik), her husband Jagdish Apte (Prakash Ramchandani) and their daughter Manika (Vaishnavi Kadam).

Other people closely associated with their lives are their business lawyer, his wife, a local politician, his son Eklavya (Lalit Prabhakar) and his fiancee Mini (Saloni Khanna).

In regards to the murder, John Pereira establishes the following facts -

- the murder spot was a cliff overlooking the shoreline with the straight view of the lighthous.

- the time of the murder was after 10 pm.

-  Tarun placed twelve phone calls to Etasha in vain few minutes before his murder.

- most of the aforementioned family members had visited Tarun around his murder time and had one or the other motive to commit his murder!

- Raikars are a clan with lots of individual secrets and noone exactly speaks the truth at once.

Given the above-mentioned facts at hand, John Pereira enters into a series of interrogation of all the suspects and starts collecting the victim's missing items like laptop, mobile phone etc. to scoop out important evidences.

Layer by layer, a lot of secrets are revealed and a couple of more assassinations and kidnappings take place, till the real killer is finally revealed.

Watch the series to know the real killer and the aftermath that follows.

Analysis:

It's a well made murder investigation series with a lot of family drama filled with instances of - love, betrayal, ambition, incest, blackmail, fear and repentance.

Thankfully, the series is free of the otherwise customary semi clad foreign tourists scenes on the Goan beaches. The entire focus is on the Raikar family and their associates. Also, there is no nudity.

The well maintained and spacious Raikar's household is quite tastefully done in traditional Goa style. It is eye appeasing.

Atul Kulkarni has expectantly performed as a seasoned actor. Ashwini Bhave has made an impressive comeback after a long gap.

Parul Gulati and Neil Bhoopalam share good chemistry.

Everyone in general has performed well.

The editing and cinematography are taut. But the ending is kind of unimpressive with an unnecessary surprise at the end.

Conclusion:

Though not an edge-of-the-seat thriller, but the series is still a well made engaging watch with every episode peeling off a layer of lie and/or mystery.

Zee5 Movie: Bamfaad (10 Apr 2020)

Genre: Romance Thriller Drama
Language: Hindi
Duration: 102 minutes

Director: Ranjan Chandel

Cast: Aditya Rawal, Shalini Pandey, Vijay Varma, Jatin Sarna, Vijay Kumar, Chandan Anand

Editor: Nitesh Bhatia, Parikshhit Jha
Cinematographer: Piyush Puty

Introduction:

'Bamfaad’ - the word is a North Indian slang for an explosion.

'Bamfaad' - the movie is the debut film of Aditya Rawal, veteran actor Paresh Rawal's son and debut Hindi film of Shalini Pandey, the petite actress of 'Arjun Reddy' (2019)', the recent Telugu blockbuster.

Ever since the announcement of 'Bamfaad' being Anurag Kashyap's upcoming directorial release and given it's name, the movie was expected to be as explosive and unique in treatment like 'Gangs of Wasseypur' (2012), the last mega crime thriller directed by Anurag Kashyap.

However, 'Bamfaad' comes across as a well planned but hastily wrapped up project, perhaps because of the ongoing lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it's expected repercussions.

Even the director in the credits is Ranjan Chandel, a long time assistant director of Anurag Kashyap and not Anurag Kashyap himself, though the credits state that the movie is presented by him!

Plot:

Nasir Jamal aka Naate (Aditya Rawal) is a UP ishtyle intense and daring but misguided youth in Allahabad, who is always loitering with his friends and often involved in random mischief around his college and other surroundings, but always gets saved by the clout and money of his politically connected father (Vijay Kumar), an experienced and stoic personality with Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb.

Instead of pursuing any career, Naate looks forward to meet and join Jigar Fareedi (Vijay Varma), the local gangster. But, by some strange stroke of fate, he bumps and falls in love with Neelam (Shalini Pandey), a cute looking nice girl, housed and frequently visited by Jigar!

Not the one to leave his lady love in lurch or to get scared by Jigar, Naate enters into an open tiff with Jigar.

Jigar being a seasoned game player and power figure, in aid with Zahid (Jatin Sarna), one of Naate's groupmates, creates situations which result into Naate killing a person and exploding an electrical transformer, pulling around half of the city in darkness!

Post committing the aforementioned unintended crimes, Naate escapes to Lucknow with Neelam. But his lady love is caught there by the local police and sent back, which brings Naate back to Allahabad, in spite of the the looming threat to his life therein.

In order to safeguard the upcoming elections, an imprisoned political big wig seeks immediate arrest or encounter of Naate.

SP Nagar (Chandan Anand), an honest officer sees this as an opportunity to pressurize Naate's father to turn witness against the aforementioned political figure, in lieu of saving his son's life.

Naate's father agrees to do the SP's bid, but he is shot dead by Jigar's men, right in front of Naate, causing Naate to visit Jigar's den, wherein he shoots and wounds a couple of persons, including Jigar and runs off with Neelam.

They manage to catch a moving train. But Naate boards down the train to finish off his pending duties and asks Neelam to travel till the last station and not board off in between, may what happen. He promises to find her once he is done with his duties!

Later he is shown burying his father and surrendering to the police.

Analysis:

Upon watching the movie, specially it's senseless ending, it becomes quite evident that the majority of the film was already shot, along with a couple of songs and the makers compiled it all to release the film on a web channel.

The film is not bad, but due to the aforesaid limitations, neither it effectively explores the rustic political scenario of UP, nor the live-together-or-die love angle of the lead pair cause and tug to the heartstrings.

The background sound is loud and clear, but the dialogues at times are inaudible and unclear.

In fact, I had to rewind and see a particular scene thrice to understand a word, which sounded like 'murder', but in actuality was 'bhasad', a North Indian slang for ruckus and confusion born out of anger and frustration between parties involved!

On the brighter side, Aditya Rawal has come across as a promising hero with good diction, body language and acting skills.

Post 'Gully Boy' (2019) and 'She', (2020) much more is expected of Vijay Varma. Both he and Jatin Sarna are quite under utilized in the movie.

Vijay Kumar has well enacted the endearing Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, an almost lost culture both in life and on screen.

Shalini Pandey and other actors have limited timeframe in the movie and all have done justice to their respective roles.

Conclusion:

In spite of all the aforementioned limitations, the movie is definitely a one time watch, for good casting, direction, acting, dialect and art direction.

TVF Web Series: Panchayat (3 Apr 2020)

Genre: Comedy Drama
Language: Hindi
Country of Origin: India
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 8
Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video
Running Time: 25-35 minutes

Writer: Chandan Kumar
Director: Deepak Kumar Mishra

Cast: Raghubir Yadav, Neena Gupta, Jitendra Kumar, Faisal Malik, Chandan Roy, Biswajit Sarkar

Music: Anurag Saikia
Cinematography: Amitabh Singh

Introduction: 

Panchayat repeats the lovable UPite mother-son casting of Neena Gupta and Jitendra Kumar, whose performances were applauded in 'Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan', a recent hit and critically acclaimed Bollywood release.

But Raghubir Yadav, playing the role of the village Pradhan, steals the show, right under everyone's nose, with his all knowing eyes, chaste UP dialect, witty remarks, loving and chiding attitude towards his wife and the overall body language of the village patriarch.

Plot:

Abhishek Tripathi (Jitendra Kumar) an average engineering graduate, in the scenario of no lucrative high paying or high profile job in his kitty, reluctantly accepts the post of the sachiv or secretary of Phullera village panchayat in Uttar Pradesh.

In the remote village of Phullera, though due to the government’s reservation for women in the previous election, the pradhan or head happens to be Manju Devi (Neena Gupta), her husband Brij Bhushan Dubey (Raghubir Yadav) is the one who actually dons the hat of the acting pradhan. He is blindly supported and followed by his up-pradhan aka deputy head Prahalad Pandey (Faisal Malik).

Abhishek's welcoming team comprises of  the aforementioned men and Vikas (Chandan Roy), the office attendanant, a relatively smart and trustworthy guy, committed to his job and well being of his immediate boss aka Abhishek.

Expectantly, during his first year at Phullera, Abhishek comes across myriad idiosyncrasies of the villagers and gets frustrated with the slow pace of life, loneliness and stark difference in the biological clock, as the entire village goes off to sleep by 7:30 pm and considers 9 am as late noon.

But mostly, he is disillusioned about his non-happening life. Unlike his city friends, he has no fun times to post or brag about on social media.

To pass off his extra time and to fulfill his ambition, he asks his best friend Pradeep (Buswajit Sarkar) to courier him the CAT (entrance examination for MBA) courseware and studies for around four hours everyday after the office hours.

Amidst all the comedy and drama around him, eventually he appears for the CAT examination.

You need to see the series to know his result, his decision thereafter and whether or not something happening happened in his life.

Analysis:

Preceeded by Uttar Pradesh based series like - Mirzapur, Rangbaaz and Bhaukaal, which showcased high end usage of abusives, criminal activities and dirty politics in UP, thankfully and refreshingly Panchayat is a far cry from the aforementioned series.

It focuses on the simplicity, illiteracy and the state of non awareness of the people and the government aids and guidelines issued to combat them. In Panchayat, no one is a criminal or harbinger of dismay and unhappiness.

As mentioned in the beginning, Raghubir Yadav is just perfect in his portrayal of the acting pradhan and patriarch. In fact, many a times his style of acting and contemplation resembles that of Amitabh Bachchan!

Neena Gupta has well portrayed the role of hard-working and wise but bossy and illiterate homemaker, who is quite confident of her husband's wealth and power, but keeps both his generosity and over confidence in check.

Chandan Roy is a glee to watch in all his earnestness and obedience.

Jitendra Kumar comes across as a decent but disillusioned city guy who generally believes in bottling up and keeping quite in the face of ridicule that surrounds him.

Rest of the cast has also performed well. The casting is quite apt.

The background music is upbeat and interesting. In the limited given scope, the cinematography is good.

Conclusion: 

If you love to see the comedy and drama ensued out of the following scenarios -

- someone getting a better office chair
- a thief returning the mistakenly stolen article with a sorry note
- a groom in tears and his marriage on the edge of being cancelled because someone called him an 'asshole'
- villagers finding a particular family planning slogan on the wall to be insulting to their child(ren) that took birth after their second child

then Panchayat is your to-watch out series.

Panchayat is also a must-watch for those who enjoy the simple tales of rustic India.

Hotstar Specials Web Series: Special Ops (17 Mar 2020)

Genre: Espionage Thriller
Language: Hindi
Country of Origin: India
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 8
Running Time: 44-55 minutes

Writer: Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani, Benazir Ali Fida
Director: Neeraj Pandey, Shivam Nair

Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Vinay Pathak, Parmeet Sethi, Kali Prasad Mukherjee, Karan Tacker, Meher Vij, Saiyami Kher, Vipul Gupta, Muzzamil Ibrahim, Sajjad Delafrooz, Sana Khan, Sharad Kelkar, Divya Dutta

Composer: Advait Nemlekar
Cinematographer: Sudheer Palsane, Arvind Singh
Editor: Praveen Kathikuloth

Introduction:

Special Ops is an engaging espionage thriller, constantly shuffling between flash back and present time, to show the years long tedious process involved in locating and nabbing a dangerous terrorist, responsible for masterminding the Indian Parliament attack in 2001, followed by 5 subsequent attacks all over India.

The web series also justifies the need to grant elaborate espionage budgets by demystifying the usage of the same.

Plot:

The series starts with Himmat Singh (Kay Kay Menon), a senior analyst at Research And Analysis Wing (R&AW) being questioned by Mr. Abbas (Parmeet Sethi) and D K Banerjee (Kali Prasad Mukherjee), the two officers handling the inquiry commission established to probe the reasons behind 28 crores worth of expanses incurred by Himmat to establish and run R&AW's UAE desk, ever since there was terrorist attack on the Parliament of India in 2001 by five armed terrorists who got killed on spot.

During the inquiry, at first Himmat flatly refuses to divulge the identities of his 5 hand picked agents and any explanation about the aforementioned expanses, all of whom he had put under the category 'miscellaneous'!

But when the inquiry officers delve deeper into the accounts and case at hand and ask him about his theory behind the Parliament attack and his following discoveries and actions, Himmat re-lives and speaks about his last 19 years, wherein -

- He was the only official with the theory that the Parliament attack was carried out by not 5 but 6 people, the sixth one being Ikhlaq Khan, considered to be a progeny of Himmat's imagination by most of the officials around him.

- He had recruited 5 different agents, 2 ladies and 3 gents and placed them in different middle eastern countries with fool proof identities. These agents were Farooq Ali (Karan Tacker), Ruhani (Meher Vij), Juhi (Saiyami Kher), Bala (Vipul Gupta) and Avinash (Muzzamil Ibrahim) and they were placed as businessman, homemaker, traveller, chef and shooter respectively.

- His quest covered the wide arena of the following locations for the last 19 years - India, Turkey, Jordan, Azerbaijan
Dubai, Tehran, Tbilisi, Istanbul, Amman and Baku.

- Even after meticulous planning and putting their respective lives on risk, his agent(s) missed Ikhlaq Khan by a hair's breadth more than once!

- Alongside, he was also living the simple life of a husband and father, constantly trying but unable to give sufficient time to his family and undergoing the usual perils of a clueless father with a growing-up daughter.

You need to see the series to see how Himmat and his team continue with their quest of catching Ikhlaq Khan and terminating his future terrorism plans, amidst the ongoing inquiry and it's final decision to release no more funds to Himmat and his team.

Analysis:

It's a wonderfully made series with good script, casting, direction, acting and cinematography.

Kay Kay Menon shines throughout the series with his brilliant acting, both as a committed and shrewd RA&W agent and as a worrisome and guilt struck family man.

Rest of the cast has also performed well.

Conclusion:

If you are an espionage thriller enthusiast, then do watch the series for it's brilliant take on solving a mammoth puzzle with the minutest of clues and mildest of links available

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part II 🙂

I am sharing below my pick list with short reviews of 3 Hindi movies that recently released on web channels -

1. House Arrest (15 Nov 2019)
Channel: Netflix
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 104 minutes

Short Review: Ali Fazal's self imposed house arrest results into a comedy of errors upon unwanted arrivals of a mysterious package and a nosy journalist.

It's a neat comedy displaying fine nuances of acting by Ali Fazal. He well portrays the psyche and body language of a person who is happy and occupied in the solitary confinement of his beautifully done apartment and abhors the idea of stepping outside the apartment or entertaining any guest!

Jim Sarbh is at his bohemian best and Shriya Pilgaonkar's subtle presence stands out amidst the other restless and/or loud characters.

2. Operation Parindey (28 Feb 2020)
Channel: ZEE5
Genre: Action Thriller
Duration: 50 minutes

Short Review: Based on true events, it's a short movie about a ground breaking prison escape by a dangerous terrorist and a few other prison inmates from a Punjab jail.

It shows how in reality, the police force works in coalition and nabs the escaped convicts and terrorists and compels them to divulge information.

Amit Sadh, Rahul Dev and Aakash Dahiya are the known faces here. They have acted well.

3. Maska (27 Mar 2020)
Channel: Netflix
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Duration: 111 minutes

Short Review: It's a nice, well made, light drama around a loving mother-son duo for their family legacy, the Rustom Cafe. The mother expects her grown up son to improvise it and bring back it's glory of the old days, while the son is star-eyed and desperate about his Bollywood debut. He is even ready to sell the cafe to facilitate the same!

Manisha Koirala is fantastic as the loving and lively mother. She lights up the screen in every frame that she appears. Prit Kamani, the son looks handsome and convincingly plays the part of a lost and simple hearted Parsi boy. It is his debut movie.

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part I -
http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/03/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-i.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part III -
http://angrezipicture.blogspot.com/2020/04/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-iii.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part IV -
http://angrezipicture.blogspot.com/2020/04/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-iv.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part V -
http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/05/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-vl.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part VI -
http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/05/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-vi.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part I 🙂

Watched: Indian Web Series During Lockdown March 2020

Being quite an avid consumer of books of substance in the past and well crafted movies/tv series/web series in the present, the ongoing lockdown prompted me to binge watch quite a few Indian movies and web series.

I am sharing below a release datewise list of 5 such web series with a short intro and review of each. All of them are in Hindi.

1. Rangbaaz (22 Dec 2018), Rangbaaz Phirse (20 Dec 2019)
Channel: ZEE5
Genre: Action Crime Biography
Season: 1 & 2
No. of Episodes: 18
Running Time: 35 minutes

Short Review: Both the sequels depict how the political honchos push the capable youth into the world of crime and provide them protection till they are useful, but terminate them in association with the police, once they are out of their respective personal control.

The first sequel is woven around Uttar Pradesh, while the second one is woven around Rajasthan.

Saqib Saleem's performance in Rangbaaz is his best till date, while Ranvir Shorey is expectantly good. Jimmy Shergill has acted good in Rangbaaz Phirse, but Sushant Singh is simply awesome.

2. Asur (2 Mar 2020)
Channel: Voot
Genre: Mythological Thriller, Serial Murders, Dark
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 8
Running Time: 36-61 minutes

Short Review: It's a dark thriller exploring forensic science and ancient Indian Mythology. It's kind of haunting and very well scripted.

Arshad Warsi and Barun Sobti keep you glued to the screen.

3. Bhaukaal (6 Mar 2020)
Channel: MX Player
Genre: Crime Thriller
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 10
Running Time: 22-30 minutes

Short Review: Crime ridden land of Muzaffarnagar, ruled by two rival gangs - Shaukeen gang in the east and the Dedha brothers in the west is a suicidal place for any police officer trying to establish any law and order around the aforementioned gangsters' nefarious activities.

Mohit Raina (Lord Shiva fame) brings about fifty percent of the required change, facing a lot of threats and failures, but slowly and steadily cleaning off one of the aforesaid gangs.

Other known and impressive artists are Abhimamyu Singh, Siddhanth Kapoor and Bidita Nag. Usage of rustic abusive language is to the optimum.

4. Mentalhood (11 Mar 2020)
Channel: ZEE5 & ALT Balaji
Genre: Drama
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 10
Running Time: 18-23 minutes

Short Review: It depicts the roller coaster ride of five urban mothers and one single father, all of whose kids study in an upscale and swank Mumbai school. They all appear different but somewhere share the same trials, turbulations, happiness, confusion, dilemma and guilt conscience of parenting.

Karishma Kapoor, Sandhya Mridul, Shilpa Shukla, Shruti Seth, Tillotama Shome, and Dino Morea are a treat to watch. In fact, Karishma has kind of singularly shouldered the entire series.

5. Special Ops (17 Mar 2020)
Channel: Hotstar
Genre: Espionage Thriller
Season: 1
No. of Episodes: 8
Running Time: 44-55 minutes

Short Review: An engaging espionage thriller, constantly shuffling between flash back and present time, to show the years long tedious process involved in locating and nabbing a dangerous terrorist, responsible for masterminding the Indian Parliament attack in 2001, followed by 5 subsequent attacks all over India.

Watch it for the stellar performance by Kay Kay Menon.

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part II -
http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/03/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-ii.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part III -
http://angrezipicture.blogspot.com/2020/04/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-iii.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part IV -
http://angrezipicture.blogspot.com/2020/04/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-iv.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part V -
http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/05/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-vl.html?m=1

Binge Watch Suggestion List - Part VI -
http://jaimaadurga.blogspot.com/2020/05/binge-watch-suggestion-list-part-vi.html?m=1

Amazon Prime Video TV Series: Afsos (Feb 2020)

Genre: Black Comedy Thriller
Language: Hindi
No. of Episodes: 8

Writer: Dibya Chatterjee, Anirban Dasgupta, Sourav Ghosh
Director: Anubhuti Kashyap

Cast: Gulshan Devaiah, Anjali Patil, Heeba Shah, Robin Das, Aakash Dahiya, Jamie Alter, Shyam Bhimsaria, Sulagna Panigrahi, Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, Danish Sait

Music: Neel Adhikari
Casting: Parag Mehta
Editing: Prerna Saigal

Introduction:

This series is about suicide attempts, assassinations, quest for 'amrit' and 'amar' aka the elixir of life and the immortal respextively.

Plot:

'Afsos' is a totally out of the box TV series which opens with the scenes wherein -

- the protagonist Nakul (Gulshan Devaiah) is hell bent on committing suicide and attempts the same repeatedly in vain!

- a foreign scientist Dr. Goldfish (Jamie Alter) is conducting a seminar on immortality and ways to achieve it.

- one fine morning, all the sadhus of a remote ashram in Uttarakhand are found shot dead, barring Fokatiya Baba (Robin Das), who has supposedly ran away to Mumbai with the 'amrit' potion, which was rumoured to have been present inside the ashram!

The ashram massacre happens the very next day of a media publishing about the 'amrit' present therein and Ayesha Mirani (Sulagna Panigrahi), the concerned lady reported is lambasted by her boss for such an irresponsible and superstitious publishing. She is asked to stop pursuing the fictionary 'amrit' trail and follow another story about an operational suicide service, run by Maria Gomes (Ratnabali Bhattacharjee), that professionally assists people in committing suicides, both by motivation, as well as, assassination!

This same squad has been recruited by Nakul to fulfil his desire of dying and the contract of his assassination has been given to Upadhyay (Heeba Shah), a no nonsense hitwoman who leaves no stone unturned to finish her job at hand and is immune to collateral damages involved.

However, Nakul's shrink Dr. Shloka's (Anjali Patil) expression of love towards himself motivates him to cancel the aforementioned contract. After some tussle, though Maria agrees to do the required cancellation, but Upadhyay is hell bent on killing Nakul and that too with an added vengeance because in continuation with his trait of failed suicide attempts, he keeps on dodging Upadhyay's bullets.

On the other hand, to investigate the mass massacre of Uttarakhand sadhus, the local inspector of that region, Bir Singh (Aakash Dahiya) arrives in Mumbai to nab Fokatiya Baba.

Alongside, Dr. Goldfish and his team of musclemen also arrive in Mumbai in pursuit of amrit.

As if all the aforesaid pursuits were not enough, both Fokatiya Baba and Dr. Goldfish are also in pursuit of a one and only immortal person on Earth, the 'amar' entity who holds the unique power to immortalize someone else other than himself!

How all the aforementioned personalities cross each other while pursuing their independent pursuits and how their personal stories get inter connected is for yours to watch.

Analysis:

It's a very well made series with good script, casting, direction, acting, background score and editing.

All the actors look the part and have performed well, but Gulshan Devaiah is a treat to watch. Using minimum dialogues and few solid expressions, he has amazingly portrayed the character of the suicide seeking lad, who has absolutely no will to live or fear to die.

Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, as the practical businesswoman who provides suicide assistance without batting an eyelid, but also loves her kid daughter and is against collateral damage is an interesting study.

In this series, people get killed every now and then, both intentionally and unintentionally, but fail to give any tug to your heart strings. May be, that's how the series' creators intended them to be.

Conclusion:

It's an engaging and taut thriller with no edge of the seat drama but an altogether different thought process.