Cinema, Karam, Kapi

What happens in the island, stays in the island. Perhaps not, if it is the death (rather, murder) of someone on the eve of a high profile wedding! Merritt Monaco (Meghann Fahy) is one of the closest friends of bride to be Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson). She is getting married to Benji Winbury (Billy Howie), the second son of Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman) and Tag Winbury (Live Schriber).  Greer is a prolific author and has several books to her credit, while her latest one is awaiting a launch right after the wedding is over. She is not happy with her son’s choice of bride, as Amelia doesn’t match the “class” of her clan, and hence always looks down upon her.  Tag is a chilled out husband of a popular persona, that is his wife. He makes it appear that their wedding is just the kind of story people love to believe. The media makes a celebration of their relationship, calling Greer and Tag “ The Perfect Couple ”.  Though, they are exactly the opposite in real life. Tag is fed up of Gre

The Police force of India tries its best to reign in on the rowdies and the anti-social elements to ensure peace is upheld all the time. Though policing is a state-specific department, Indian Police Service (IPS) is governed through the Central Ministry, directly under the Ministry of Home. Some of the notorious goondas and culprits have largely arisen from specific cities. And Mumbai is no exception. While one wouldn’t say the city tops (with the most number of such elements), the city’s crime scene has always been on top, especially for film makers. Murshid is one such subject, depicting the behind the scenes of what happens in the lives of such rowdy elements. Two men deployed by Farid (Zakir Hussain) are to exchange money for drugs with the men of an operator who has a Talibani background and is based in Dubai. While exchanging the “goods”, one of the men shoot 3 members of the other group and tries to escape with the booty – money and drugs while the other guy rushes to the office

Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is among the most coveted departments in the Government of India where one gets to explore the world, even as their negotiating with one another foreign country’s office either in India or where they are posted. From responding to SOS messages on social media platforms to ensuring the top brass of governance know what / how to respond on crucial matters, the life of an IFS staffer is excruciating.   In the Hindi language movie Ulajh (meaning Entangled), Jahnvi Kapoor does full justice to her role as a newbie IFS officer – from the first screen till the end.  Initially posted in Nepal, Suhana Bhatia (Jahnvi) is the daughter of IFS Officer Dhanraj Bhatia (Adil Hussain) gets posted in the UK. Her father is not happy, even as she occupies a senior office at such a young role and that the media is constantly assessing her abilities, giver her lineage. Her grandfather was an IFS officer too, according to the story.  Once in London, Suhana befriends Michelin star

A sitting Chief Minister, running a party that is 50 years old, has to face trial over a case that is at least 17 years old. His daughter, son in-law and a political advisor are all looking to fill his large shoes, while the main Opposition party is busy trying to bring down the party in power.  A political drama unveils in Director Vasanthabalan’s political thriller “Thalaimai Seyalagam”. With a wide ensemble of actors, the Director has taken the liberty to craft a piece of work that is captivating and engaging enough for one to finish the entire web series in one go.  In deep interior Jharkhand, a woman is punished brutally, to which she takes revenge. The Director skilfully doesn’t reveal who she is until the climax. How I wish he never did, and continued with Season 2 of the web series.  Cut to Chennai, there is a lot of buzz at the house of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Arunachalam (Kishore). He is about to travel to a small town in Andhra Pradesh where the Hon’ble Judge is sa

I am not a big fan of reading, writing or even discussing about the Naxal movement in India. On one extreme, they are (till date) gunning down their enemies – from upper caste leaders / personalities to those in power & bureaucracy including Politicians, Police and Forces. On the other, their claim of displaying their angst against the establishment for want of bringing about a change – I wonder, if the Western way of doing things has found results in India.   The Web series of the title on Sony Liv is a fictitious account of what happened on 13 Nov. 2005, when a huge group of rebels thronged the District Jail in Jehanabad in South Bihar. They freed their fellow comrades who were housed there, in a daring attempt of prison break-in, kidnapped a few leaders of the upper caste Ranvir Sena and sent a strong message to the State and Central Governments of their might in full public display. This whole incident happened late in the night and almost no civilian were attacked or injured a

Blanco Scales is a respectable manufacturer in town. Julio Blanco (Javier Bardem) has inherited the business of making “Industrial Scales” from his father and is considered the best by his employees. He is a father, an elder brother and a well-wisher to everyone at the workplace. Except, that he is selfish, self-centred and cunning to the core. Well, this is a “fictional story” but the guy is real in blood and flesh all over the place. The Spanish language film, dubbed in English is now playing on Amazon Prime. Considered to be of a Dramedy genre – Comedy + drama (loads of it), the story moves very slowly, building the audience’s patience. But few cannot not- relate to this guy, whom we see around everywhere. The movie begins with Blanco having to let-go of one of his long serving employees, Jose. In shock at his job loss, already undergoing a painful separation with his wife with a partial custody of his kids, Jose is shattered. He even gets his kids to plead with Blanco to retain his

What happens when you know nothing about an interesting start-up business and still go ahead and attempt doing it, guessing some angel will help you succeed? The film shows how and why it may not work all the time! Otis is a playboy living in Nairobi and has trouble inheriting his family business. He flirts with many girls and ends up dumping each one of them, time and again. He is also a father to his daughter but his ex-wife has moved on in life. He is pitching his business idea to a potential Investor Dele but the latter is not convinced if Otis is trustworthy. His partner Khalid is also not sure of Otis’ acts and doesn’t trust him much. That’s when Otis proposes to Dele to allow him organise his wedding in a grand manner in Kenya. After much reluctance, Otis and his fiancé agree to this.  However, Otis has no clue whether he can pull this off by his own, so he invites his friends Richard & his girlfriend Celine, TK, Judy and Khalid to the Kenyan resort a few days before the wed

Ram Setu, dubbed as Adam’s Bridge is an important edifice of the epic Ramayana. Believers and followers of Sanathana Dharma do not question its existence from the time immemorial. It is the naysayers, non-believers and those of other religions who are hell bent on breaking the remnants of the bridge, so cargo vessels can pass through the Gulf of Mannar instead of taking a circuitous route around Sri Lanka. This long debated subject is the research of an ASI archaeologist in this film who goes from disbelieving the story of the bridge built by Lord Rama all the way to finding the erstwhile location of King Ravana’s palace. All within 200 mins!   Aryan Kulshreshta (Akshay Kumar) is shown digging up wealth in a box, believed to be 100s of years old in the Taliban region. Though many of his colleagues get killed by the Taliban in a massive shoot-out, he and his colleagues reach safely to tell the story of the ancient link between Afghanistan and India. His next assignment at ASI is to find

It’s Christmas time, so makes a lot of connect to watch movies which have been made for the season! This one is on Amazon Prime and wouldn’t let you down for sure. Hayley Taylor (Cora Kirk) and Hubert James Hughes (Asa Butterfield) are classmates and are departing by train to their respective family homes. The couple seem to be deeply entrenched in love and seem to already miss each other’s absence. In a sudden last minute decision, they alight from their respective trains and board the other one’s train. Each one wishes to surprise the other by coming to the other’s place for Christmas. Sounds a bit odd, as ideally they would wish to reunite with their families for the holidays. Alas, both have done the same thing, so they are going to be travelling solo, without each other!  When they arrive at their respective destinations, they figure out they did not travel with the other. Hayley manages to walk all the way, finding Hubert’s house, only to be accosted by a gunman who assumes her t

Maaran is the third consecutive OTT release for actor Dhanush after Jagame Thanthiram  and Atrangi Re. This time on Disney+Hotstar.  Sathyamurthy (Ramki) is a news reporter who is into investigative journalism. On the day his wife delivers their second child, a girl baby, Sathya is killed by his detractors while his wife deceases upon delivery. Mathimaaran brings up his sister Shweta (Smruthi Venkat) along with his uncle (Aadukalam Naren). Maaran changes job often due to his straightforward way of writing and eventually lands up  with a News channel (owned by Jayaprakash) where he gets to show his professional work and grows up the ranks while also gaining social popularity. Thara (Malavika Mohanan) is his colleague and the two build a mutual liking for each other. Pazhani (Samuthrakani) is a former Minister who is trying to get re-elected in the upcoming by-election. However, as he is unsure about his victory, he indulges in tampering with the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). In Maar

Who is a better actor – Vikram or Dhruv Vikram? While the question itself is silly, the film makes me wonder. Perhaps, it's all in the genes. Dhruv shines as much as his father in this crime drama and proves to be the most promising among the star kids who have hit the silver screens in the past decade. While no comparisons with others, he certainly stands out after an impressive performance in Aditya Verma. Mahaan, Gandhi Mahaan (Vikram) is a school teacher with a small family and lives a typical 80s and 90s life in Tamil Nadu. As a child, he was skinned by his father Mohandoss (Adukalam Naren) for playing cards with friends. As a staunch Gandhian himself, the namesake’s father takes an oath from his son beating him black and blue that he will lead the live of Mahatma Gandhi as a Mahaan. Years later, he is settled with his wife Nachi (Simran) and son Dadabhai Naoriji (Dhruv) and lives a typical middle class mundane life running errands and as a doting husband cum father. When his