Recent Reviews by Sonal Pandya
Times Now, Zoom
Sonal Pandya is the Associate Producer for Times Now and Zoom, and earlier worked at Hindustan Times, and Cinestaan.com as deputy editor. Prior to becoming a film journalist, she worked as a CG artist and digital compositor in the animation industry.
Films reviewed on this Page
Black Warrant
Squid Game S02
The Six Triple Eight
Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous
Mismatched S03
Inside Out S02
Tanaav Vol 2
That Christmas Movie
Skeleton Crew
Sikandar Ka Muqaddar
Black Warrant
Vikramaditya Motwane's Period Drama Is A Stellar Look Into Prison System
Based on the non-fiction book of the same name, the gripping prison thriller is seen through the eyes of a rookie jailer.
Co-created by Vikramaditya Motwane and Satyanshu Singh, the Netflix series Black Warrant is adapted from Sunil Gupta and Sunetra Choudhury’s non-fiction. Set in the 1980s, it follows a young man who signs up to be a jailer in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, as it is the only job available, and finds himself in the process. With compelling performances and an engrossing narrative, the prison drama unfolds just like a page-turner you can’t put down. At the end of the seven episodes, Black Warrant will leave you wanting more. Zahan Kapoor plays the straitlaced Sunil Gupta, who moulds himself and his beliefs according to the job. His co-workers, played by Paramvir Cheema and Anurag Thakur, seem better suited for the position. His boss, Rajesh Tomar (Rahul Bhat), and family don’t think he can last long. But he proves them all wrong as he keeps at it, despite facing the wrath of his superiors every other episode. Sunil must prove himself over and over again. With Sunil’s growth, audiences learn the stories of the prisoners, from the most notorious murderers to the petty criminals. Some of these are taken from the famous inmates who were housed at Tihar, some awaiting execution.
All 9 reviews of Black Warrant here
Squid Game S02
Addictive Korean Drama Returns For Another Stellar Session Of Chills And Thrills
Emmy Award winner Lee Jung-jae steps back into the shoes of Seong Gi-hun as he takes on the odds again in Squid Game.
After its premiere in 2021, it was easy to see why Squid Game became the most popular show in the world. Writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s universal story of greed and betrayal, which exposed humanity’s basest behaviour, struck a chord globally. Audiences took to the characters created in this universe and mourned as we lost several fan favourites who were treated as pawns in the deadly contest based on nostalgic children’s games. The show returns after three years and a time jump, as the last winner Seong Gi-hun decides to infiltrate the games to take it down. Lee Jung-jae’s Gi-hun is a much-changed man this season as he’s on a mission to dismantle the games. Plagued with guilt about his survival after his friends didn’t make it, he wants to save others from succumbing to the same fate. But his plan faces plenty of hurdles that he doesn’t anticipate. The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), the overseer of the game, has a bigger role than last season, and police officer Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) also returns to find his way back to find out more about the mysterious organisation that runs the games.
All 3 reviews of Squid Game S02 here
The Six Triple Eight
Kerry Washington Leads Meandering WWII Story About Forgotten All-Black Battalion
The well-intentioned war drama, directed by Tyler Perry, loses focus at points.
Prolific filmmaker Tyler Perry’s latest is a departure from his usual fare. The actor-director tells the story of the inspiring women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only all-Black unit of the Women’s Army Corps that served in Europe. It is a tale not many were aware of, and the movie highlights how the women endured and served with dedication despite the odds against them.
Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous
Netflix Documentary Is Cursory Exploration Of Singer's Life
Directed by Mozez Singh, the feature documentary charts the rise, fall, and comeback of the popular hip-hop artist and singer.
The new music documentary Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous attempts to show the darker side of fame. It prods and probes, but eventually, it allows the artist to be. The Netflix documentary is engaging enough, showing how an ordinary young man from Punjab rises to become the Indian music industry’s most well-known artist and goes on to open doors for others as well. The real truth of the docu-film lies when it features the man himself and those closest to him to open up about what he went through during his self-imposed break.
All 4 reviews of Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous here
Mismatched S03
Rohit Saraf, Prajakta Koli's Young Adult Romance Presses A Messy Restart Button
The Hindi series returns with its core cast of characters as they navigate new and chaotic challenges, along with a different city.
The ‘mismatched’ couple Dimple and Rishi is back for another season in the popular Netflix series. Mismatched Season 3 returns with a three-year time jump as viewers are plunged back into the long-distance couple’s lives, with updates on their friends and family. Against the background of the virtual versus real world, the show puts its characters through new sets of problems that often feel misplaced. Focusing on its large cast and some faces, the new season feels like an odd reset back to its first season.
All 3 reviews of Mismatched S03 here
Inside Out S02
Inside Out Animated Spinoff Series Is A Clever, Funny Hollywood Satire
This animated spinoff story meant to bridge the Inside Out films is very meta and witty.
Inside Out 2 returned this year to theatres with great fanfare as the sequel took audiences back to Riley’s life as she begins high school. The new animated series, Dream Productions, is set slightly before the film and follows Riley as a pre-teen adjusting to the time in-between being a kid and a teenager. Instead of the core gang of emotions that we are used to, the miniseries focuses on bubbly dream director, Paula Persimmon, who finds herself being obsolete.
Tanaav Vol 2
Kashmir-Set Political Drama Has Thrilling Conclusion
The final episodes of the political thriller conclude in an emotional blaze as the absorbing drama takes its story up a notch.
Returning after two years, the second season of the political drama Tanaav was split into two parts. The first six episodes premiered in early September, and the remaining six episodes of Vol. 2 wrap up the story that was introduced in part one. Manav Vij’s Kabir Farooqui and the Special Task Group (STG) race to contain Fareed aka Al Damishq (Gaurav Arora) before a crucial peace conference in the valley. While the first part felt like unfinished business, the second part comes to a thrilling end.
That Christmas Movie
Richard Curtis's Overstuffed Animated Family Film Can't Recreate Love Actually's Charm
The animated feature about the Christmas spirit in a small English town suffers from too many subplots.
More than two decades ago, Love Actually became the quintessential British Christmas film. The rom-com featured connected stories of love, family, and, of course, Christmas. Writer-director Richard Curtis’s latest holiday offering is a family film, That Christmas, that follows the same template, but even with the mighty touch of Santa Claus, it can’t recreate that one-of-a-kind feeling. However, for a younger audience, the craziness of the narrative might be just passable.
Skeleton Crew
Coming-Of-Age Star Wars Adventure In Space Is Nostalgic And Sweet
Created by Christopher Ford & Jon Watts, this new space adventure reminds one of the family films of the 1980s and 1990s.
The newest Star Wars series is a good old-fashioned space adventure led by a bunch of pre-teen heroines and heroes. Skeleton Crew brings together four imaginative children who embark on a trip to the outer galaxies that they won’t forget. The series also features Jude Law as a mysterious space pirate, whose role is yet to be determined. With only two episodes airing so far, the sci-fi series Skeleton Crew looks to unite Star Wars fans, young and old, in a classic adventure saga.
Sikandar Ka Muqaddar
Neeraj Pandey's Crime Drama Is An Overdrawn Battle Of Wills
Spanning several years, the heist drama by Neeraj Pandey is an uneven tale of revenge between a suspect and a police officer.
Neeraj Pandey’s Sikandar Ka Muqaddar is a face-off between two stubborn men played by Jimmy Shergill and Avinash Tiwary, both of whom believe they are in the right. The Hindi feature goes back and forth between their perspectives, and as the story goes from 2008 to 2003 after a diamond heist remains unsolved. The writer-director tries to get us emotionally invested in this twisty tale of wills, but the nearly two-and-a-half-hour film drags out its premise.