Member Reviews

69 की उम्र में विजय मैथ्यू को अहसास होता है कि उसने पूरे जीवन में आखिर किया क्या? कल को वह मर गया तो लोग उसकी तारीफ में क्या बोलेंगे? वह तय करता है कि वह ट्रायथलन में हिस्सा लेगा और 67 की उम्र में ट्रायथलन पूरी कर चुके किसी शख्स का रिकॉर्ड तोड़ेगा। ट्रायथलन यानी एक साथ डेढ़ किलोमीटर स्विमिंग, 40 किलोमीटर साइक्लिंग और दस किलोमीटर की दौड़। क्या विजय यह सब कर पाएगा? कर ही लेगा क्योंकि सपनों की कोई एक्सपायरी डेट नहीं होती। चलिए जी, यह तो हुई कहानी की बात। इस किस्म की फिल्मों की कहानियां तो प्रेरक होती ही हैं। इसकी भी है। लेकिन ऐसी फिल्मों में कहानी से बढ़ कर होता है उसका ऐसा वाला प्रेज़ेंटेशन जो दर्शकों के रोंगटे खड़े कर दे, उनके दिलों में भावनाओं का ज्वार पैदा कर दे, उनका दिमाग झंझोड़ दे और जिसे देख कर लगे कि अगर इस फिल्म के हीरो की तरह हमने यह नहीं किया तो फिर क्या किया। लेकिन अफसोस यह फिल्म इस मोर्चे पर नाकाम रही है, बुरी तरह से। दिक्कत असल में इस फिल्म की लिखाई के साथ है। अक्षय रॉय ने कहानी का आइडिया तो अच्छा सोच लिया और उसे ट्रायथलन के साथ जोड़ कर अच्छा विस्तार भी दे दिया लेकिन उसी कहानी को एक स्क्रिप्ट के तौर पर बुनते और उसमें किस्म-किस्म की घटनाओं व किरदारों को चुनते समय वह फैल गए और नतीजे के तौर पर जो बन कर आया वह न सिर्फ रूखा है बल्कि सूखा भी है और पिलपिला भी।

‘Life happens while you’re busy making other plans’. ‘Here’ is a moving love letter to life and fleeting time. The iconic Forrest Gump team (Hanks, Wright, Zemeckis) reunites after 30 years to give us yet another poignant human story on the evolution and circle of life. While one constantly looks ahead, the story urges you to live in the present, live ‘here’, where every beginning is the end and vice versa.

How far would you go to help your loved ones? This question is oft explored in books and cinema. If done well, it can be an emotionally moving drama. Komal R Bharadwaj, who has written and directed the Telugu indie film Rahasyam Idham Jagath, gives this idea a different spin, interspersing elements of science fiction and mythology. There is romance, a bitter past, a possibility of revenge, unexplained murky happenings in an eerie setting and the possibility of time travel through a wormhole. It is an ambitious, interesting idea on paper but does not translate to an engrossing adventurous ride, despite the earnest execution of the film.

The never-say-die mantra of its 69-year-old protagonist is what forms the crux of Vijay 69. This is a story of spirit, spunk and resilience which is birthed within Vijay Mathew when he, ironically, is given up for dead. Played by Anupam Kher with the kind of chameleonic ease that has seen the actor make 500-plus films in 40-odd years, Vijay Mathew’s moment of epiphany arrives in the film’s initial moments when he lands up at his own ‘funeral’. When former swimming coach Vijay is spotted ‘diving’ into the sea in the middle of the night and not turning up till the morning, his friends and family assume the worst. The truth is that Vijay was spending the night at a drunken sesh and when he stumbles on to his coffin the next morning, it is a wake-up call for him.

If there exists a parallel world where losers are guaranteed to find salvation, Girish A.D’s characters would probably be the rulers of that world. Down and out protagonists have been a common factor in all his films till date, be it Thanneer Mathan Dinangal or Super Sharanya or Premalu. His latest outing I Am Kathalan is no different, but just as always, he brings the same underlying theme in a different packaging.

Director Muhammed Musthafa made his debut in the critically acclaimed Malayalam film, Kappela. The film, which is streaming on Netflix, stood out in terms of filmmaking and social message. After four years, he is now back with an action entertainer, Mura, which features Suraj Venjaramoodu and All We Can Imagine As Light-fame, Hridhu Haroon. Let’s see how the film has turned out. Local gangster Ani (Suraj Venjaramoodu) is the right hand of tough businesswoman Rema (Maala Parvathi), who entrusts him with many illegal activities. Ani, who is in touch with many rowdy gangs in the locality, reaches out to Anandhu (Hridhu Haroon) and Saji’s gang about a high-profile robbery. Anandhu, Saji, Manu and Manaf are young guns who grew up together, and know how to escape a crime scene.

It hits the ground running all right but the mission of sustaining the momentum is an abject failure. Much of what Citadel: Honey Bunny attempts to do proves way too much for a script that, even at its best, can only laboriously inch its way forward - and backwards. Citadel: Honey Bunny is an Indian spinoff of Amazon Prime Video’s Citadel Spyverse that was birthed last year in an espionage thriller series fronted by Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden and executive produced by the Russo brothers. While it has its share of action, it runs low on intrigue and suspense.

Is there something called an overdose of spyverse? If there is, I am one of the first victims of it. Too many spyverses are in play in pop culture and quite honestly none offer anything new. In Prime Video’s latest series Citadel: Honey Bunny – an Indian prequel to Russo Brothers’ Citadel featuring Priyanka Chopra – the action sequences are in plenty and almost relentless yet seem repetitive. Raj & DK have spoiled us with The Family Man, a sharp series where wit and action were quick on their heels. In Citadel: Honey Bunny – the lead pair Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Varun Dhawan give their all to the action sequences and perform some awe-inspiring stunts, yet the series lacks the thrills. Mostly.

First things first: all hail the arrival of Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian cinema’s first real female action star who demands our attention from the get-go and never loses it through the six part series, Citadel: Honey Bunny. She’s coiled, ready for action, exploding off the screen whenever the script demands it of her, and the demand stays consistently high. As the family woman-cum-spry spy, who will do anything to protect her daughter, Samantha’s Honey is the best part of this enterprise, directed and written by Raj and DK (Sita Menon also gets writing and directing credit), and executive produced by the Russo Bros.