Member Reviews

It opens on a Japanese port with a clever twist to the famous song ‘Mera joota hai Japani’, giving a miss to the second line that talks of the country, now an aggressor. But the aggression in the film is a given. What follows is a high-on-adrenaline action sequence almost like a climactic scene. So, where can Pushpa go from such a strong build-up? Well, back to where it began, right to Pushpa’s childhood and the indignities he suffered due to his illegitimate bearings.

इस फिल्म में एक फायरमैन जब यह कहता है तो उसकी यह बात कानों को चीरती हुई निकल जाती है। सच ही तो है। हम में से कितने होंगे जो किसी फायरमैन को पर्सनली जानते हैं? कितने होंगे जिन्हें उनकी निजी और वर्किंग ज़िंदगी के बारे में करीब से पता है? सच यही है कि ज्वाला से खेलने वाले जांबाज़ों के बारे में हम में से ज़्यादातर लोग नहीं जानते और इस सच का एक स्याह पहलू यह भी है कि हिन्दी सिनेमा में आज तक इन लोगों को केंद्र में रख कर एक भी फिल्म नहीं बनी। अमेज़न प्राइम पर आई राहुल ढोलकिया की यह फिल्म ‘अग्नि’ उसी कमी को दूर करती है और हमें दिखाती है कि ये ‘अग्नि-वीर’ भी हमारी-आपकी तरह इंसान हैं, लेकिन कुछ अलग जीवट वाले।

Pushpa: The Rise (2021). Writer-director Sukumar had thrown a revenge-seeking SP Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat (Fahadh Faasil) on the trail of Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) even as the cheeky red sandalwood smuggler was happily taking his wedding vows with the love of his life, Srivalli (Rashmika Mandanna). Five baits have kept the audience agog for the last three years. What will happen to the sizzling chemistry of Pushpa and Srivalli? How will the face-off between strong opponents Pushpa and Bhanwar play out? Will the item number in the sequel match or surpass the saucy raunchiness of Samantha-Allu’s ‘Oo antava’? Will the dances and songs have risque-naughty moves once again?

How refreshingly different. Writer-director Rahul Dholakia takes his camera into the life-saving heroism of firefighters, so far an unexplored subject in Hindi cinema. Cut through black smoke and scorching flames for a warm story on how Fire Chief Vittalrao Surve (Pratik Gandhi) and his colleagues respond with alacrity and put their lives on the line to save lives day in and day out. Vittal, Avni Purohit (Saiyami Kher), Jazz (Udit Arora) and Mahadev (Jitendra Joshi) are a team that fearlessly go in to bring out those trapped in a fire.

Q. Why can’t Miley Cyrus afford to buy Pushpa?
A. ‘Pushpa flower(s) nahin, fire hain.’

This PJ masquerading as a riddle — something which I made up while writing this review — is perhaps as low IQ as it can get. Much like the Pushpa franchise, which thrives on being low IQ, but does one thing pretty much consistently: it serves up, in Silk-speak, what it promises — entertainment, entertainment and more entertainment. Pushpa 2: The Rule, arriving three years after Pushpa: The Rise that became a bona fide pan-India blockbuster and laid the foundation for a big-budget franchise, packs a punch in almost all departments, even going up a notch or two from the first film.

Sukumar, the writer-director of the Pushpa franchise, is something of a genius when it comes to staging setups and their rewarding payoffs. At certain points in Pushpa 2, you sense how he’s working towards a series of payoffs, some that were set-up in the earlier portions of the first film, which is set 20 years before the events of the sequel. At other points, the payoffs are immediate, giving these scenes an elegant beginning, middle and an end that is so good, they can be developed into standalone short films capable of amassing millions of views.

Neeraj Pandey has a knack for plucking stories from crime pages and turning them into dramatic thrillers that carry the flavour of pulp fiction sold on stalls at railway stations. Like his much loved Special 26(2013), Sikandar Ka Muqaddar exudes energy and purpose as it lays out a puzzle for us. The title is inspired by Manmohan Desai’s crime drama Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978). Some of the leaps of faith that Neeraj takes could indeed have piqued the interest of Desai whose cine universe was rooted in Kismat (1968) and Naseeb (1981) but today they come across as nothing more than a well-meant tribute to the master.

चलो-चलो इक फिल्म बनाएं, नाम कैची-सा ढूंढ के लाएं, हीरों की चोरी करवाएं, चोर के पीछे पुलिस दौड़ाएं, चूहे-बिल्ली का खेल दिखाएं, अंत में एक ट्विस्ट ले आएं, पब्लिक को मूरख मान जबरन अपनी थ्योरी पकड़ाएं, चलो-चलो इक फिल्म बनाएं। सोच कर ही रोंगटे हरकत में आने लगते हैं कि नीरज पांडेय जैसे थ्रिलर बनाने में उस्ताद समझे जाने वाले निर्देशक की फिल्म में 50-60 करोड़ के हीरे चोरी होंगे, शक तीन लोगों पर जाएगा, अपनी मूल वृत्ति यानी इंस्टिंक्ट पर हद से ज़्यादा गुमान करने वाला एक पुलिस अफसर आकर केस सुलझाएगा लेकिन इस काम में 15 साल बीत जाएंगे और फिर एक ऐसा ट्विस्ट आएगा कि बस…!

There can be no debate that the black dhoti and black shirt-wearing Shivarajkumar sitting on a wooden chair placed on an arid land is one of the more iconic images of recent Kannada cinema. It exuded silent power, and as always, the superstar knew that the greatest of style statements lies in its simplicity. The character of Bhairathi Ranagal from Mufti has since attained cult status for showcasing Shivarajkumar in a grounded yet gory avatar that beautifully balanced his stature, stardom, and age. So, when director Narthan, who made Mufti, decided to film a prequel to show the origin of Bhairathi Ranagal in the film titled Bhairathi Ranagal, one couldn’t help but be intrigued.

Five villages — each having its own behaviour, its own problems, professions, and pursuits. It might sound like Black Panther, but we’ll get there later. There is a foreign invasion that threatens to disturb the status quo of the system. There is a hero who wants to do good by his land and his people, and there are external forces that won’t let him do this simple thing that heroes have been doing from time immemorial. There is a Game of Thrones-esque setting, in not just for claiming the top spot, but also in the overall look and feel. There is a timeline jump of almost 1000 years, and the way these two timelines come together is straight out of the SS Rajamouli playbook. Amidst all these familiar tropes lies Siva’s Kanguva that revels in its familiarity, impresses in its visuals, but leaves a lot to be desired in the execution of it all.