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...

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...

Between 2005 and 2006 at a village by the name Nithari in Noida, UP, a domestic help along with his bossman, a well-connected rich man, kidnapped kids from the nearby slums, used them for their sadistic sexual pleasures and culled them in to parts, to be thrown away in the neighbourhood drains, one by one.  The Allahabad High Court came heavily on the police and other agencies back then, for such a botched up investigation. Sector 36 - the movie, is a loose adaptation of this civil horror, which is palatable only for a mature audience (viewer discretion suggested, especially younger children). Prem Singh (Vikrant Massey) is a household caretaker of a farm house owned by Balbir Singh Bassi (Akash Kurana) in the outskirts of Delhi. He lures young kids passing by and kidnaps them. Once in the house, he tortures them in various forms, that is reminiscent of his troubled past. His uncle, a butcher would sexually abuse Prem, which brings him nightmares and he punishes similar aged childr...

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 ...

At a gala event held at the Nehru Indoor stadium in Chennai on 20 th Sep. ’24, the makers of Superstar Rajinikanth’s Vettaiyan celebrated the audio launch as well as released the film’s trailer.  On the same day morning, the second single titled Hunter Vantaar was released by the makers across various music platforms. The film has just two songs including Manasilayo which was released 2 weeks back and has over 2.50 crore views on the official handle on YouTube.   This would be the septuagenarian’s 170 th film, even as the brisk actor is shooting for his next titled Coolie, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj.  Vettaiyan, directed by TJ Gnanavel and produced by Lyca Productions has music composed yet again by Rockstar Anirudh Ravichander, his fourth with the Superstar after Petta, Darbar and Jailer. With a stellar starcast that includes Bollywood’s Shehanshah Amitabh Bachhan, Fahad Fazil and Manju Warrier from Mollywood, Rana Daggubati from Tollywood and Abirami, Ritika Singh...

The year is 1973. A region of the world ravaged by poverty and joblessness in a country led by Communists. Two men try their hand in hijacking a plane demanding a ransom which would feed their brethren back home and freedom of a few from prison, taking hostage of 80 passengers, 2 crew members, a pilot and a co-pilot.  Will the duo succeed? This is the plot of the web series on Netflix, loosely based on a real-life hijacking of an airplane in Columbia, which was then considered the longest one.   Borja (Vallentin Villafane) and El Toro Solano (Alian Devetac) board Aerobolivar 601 at Bogota, Columbia just like any other passenger. Only that they carry guns and have an agenda.   The flight is under the care of Commander Richard Wilches (Christian Tappan), a senior pilot with hundreds of hours of flying various machines that fly in the air and his co-pilot and rookie Guillermo Luis Lequerica (Johan Rivera) whom he looks down upon for his childish attitudes.   As th...

In this fast paced Hollywood crime drama, Will Smith and his partner Martin Lawrence as detectives and best friends carry the entire story on their shoulders. What starts as a fun ride slowly moves in to an action packed second half, culminating in to some fiery gunshot scenes and melodrama that was completely avoidable.   The film opens in Miami city when co-detectives Lt. Mike Lowrey (Will) and Lt. Marcus Miles Burnett (Martin) are driving down the streets on the former’s Porsche Cayenne (we wonder if cops in the US can afford one!).     In an accident that is near death, Marcus is severely injured and is admitted in a hospital. He almost reaches the heaven to meet his former boss and cop Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano) who tells him a little secret. Thereafter, we see Marcus running away from his bed only to be found standing on the roof of the building.   He informs Will that something bad is going to happen and that they both need to manage the upcoming s...