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Film Reviews

Film Review: Neeyat (2023)

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STORY

Business tycoon Ashish Kapoor (AK) invites his family and close friends to his residence in a Scottish castle and throws a birthday party one day. Each of the invitees has a different kind of dispute with him. Meanwhile, AK also invites a CBI officer Mira Rao to arrest him for running away from his home country over non-payment of salaries to his 10,000 employees and owing 200 billion rupees to the Indian banks.

The party does not proceed as planned and AK infuriates everyone. But to everyone’s shock, AK dies in mysterious circumstances. Mira senses that one of the invitees murdered AK. So Meera investigates the crime, searches for the culprit, and judges their neeyat.

NEEYAT ON KNIVES

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Like every critic and audience of the film, I will also raise a similar theory that ‘Neeyat‘ highly reminds me and looks to be inspired from ‘Knives Out‘ and ‘Glass Onion‘ as well as Agatha Christie‘s narrative style of detective novel. Knives Out was released worldwide in the last quarter of 2019, so it is highly likely that director Anu Menon would have taken the inspiration and presented her version of Knives Out but without giving the credit to be Knives Out’s official remake. But taking inspiration from Glass Onion is very unlikely because that was released by the end of 2022. Whereas Neeyat was released 7 months after Glass Onion.

A CAST WITHOUT BLAST

In any case, Neeyat comes with an interesting story with a talented cast but surprisingly, Anu Menon fails to thrill me because the entire murder mystery was badly written and directed. I felt if the makers had zero passion to rock my world for at least 90 minutes and drop my inquisitiveness towards drawing the line of suspense and head towards a shocking revelation.

What also astound me was the actors in the film being over-dramatic. No one bothered to drive us into contemplation by their performances. They were just rich on the camera but not by acting skill. Actors like Neeraj Kabi, Shahana Goswami, Rahul Bose, Amrita Puri, and Ram Kapoor left no impression at all.

Vidya Balan in the lead as Mira Rao was the only who did favor and after a really shocking revelation, her being so bad as a CBI officer made sense. Now when I rewind a few moments of her character’s body language against every development of that day, her strange attitude completely makes sense.

BAD EXECUTION

What goes wrong with the film is the poorest execution of the entire script that certainly held promises. First of all, Neeyat was unfit to be made as a film. It should have been a limited series. Second, the appearance of a huge casting for the film breaks the spine because neither many characters grew with time, nor they developed with others in the same room. And this is a vital reason why Neeyat must have been a limited series. Third, the developments built no tension at all. If someone got killed besides AK, it didn’t crash the audience. The screenplay was sagging. Fourth, as per my calculation, it took 53 minutes to officially kick off the main purpose of the story. Not that if 53 minutes were spent in building the tempo before the crime. It was just not pacing with so many characters indirectly demanding to have their respective screen minutes.

CLOSING REMARKS

Project Neeyat is a plan failed by its engineers and contractors. The hired labors not utilized properly. A magician forgetting his trick or Genie disappearing from the lamp. Neeyat is a failed concert with the spectators walking out and Vidya Balan on the drum watching her band leaving with drumsticks in her hands hanging in the air.

RATING 4/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Minus 31 – The Nagpur Files (2023)

REVIEW

In the times of the pandemic, officer Preksha investigates the murder of a builder Dayanand Pande that leads to the disappearance of an employee who worked in his factory. She has been missing since Pande’s murder and her name is also Preksha.

‘Minus 31: The Nagpur Files‘ is a crime drama about two struggling free-spirit daughters. One is a cop whose work is distracted by her sentiments. The other is a street rapper who wants to get famous overnight.

This is a small-budget film with a different story and clearly a different execution. One can observe that the director Pratik Moitro tried to relate things in the screenplay. Set in a pandemic period, you will watch some careful details like a sanitizer dispenser not working in the police station, and women clanking steels in the society to make corona disappear.

Minus 31 should be considered a female-oriented film due to the fact that both Prekshas scream their identity and existence in a holistic nature of social circumstances. The hip-hop Preksha had not much choice of her own freedom due to her grandfather and couldn’t make out her own way where she was employed.

Inspector Preksha was also less optimistic due to her retired amputated father, and receiving not enough cooperation in solving a crime case that involved politician. That affected her health and was missing her cycle. Her periods were getting delayed. The stress of it was pretty evident. She also had no mother so she expressed her periods problem with her father. This is something unusual, I cannot recollect a memory of watching such instance before. And the scene was not exaggerated but was dramatized as usual so that the makers humbly addressed the audience that in such cases, women can address their problems with their fathers.

The father-daughter chemistry was so natural. Once, the father heavily scolds her over getting suspended and starts complaining her existence. Preksha pushes him and bursts out.

I like the pressing over cleaning the mess on the floor by roomba at a wealthy residence of Dayanand Pande. One’s necessity is other’s luxury. It amazes to those who cannot afford but keep it in the life plans. By the end of the film, you will see a roomba in Preksha’s apartment.

As I mentioned a wealthy residence, there is an interesting shot where Inspector Preksha walks between the horns and at the very same time, Mrs. Pande walks down from the other side. Maybe I am observing way too much but I found that shot attractive.

There was another shot when Inspector Preksha chases down Sandy for a few seconds from the pharmacy. The way it was shot, Pratik Moitro would have made the chase more thrilling if this chase was a one-shot for half-a-minute from Preksha’s angle.

CLOSING REMARKS

It is not coincidence that the two important characters of the film were named Preksha. While trying to solve the case, Preksha found similitude in Preksha and therefore she began to find a purpose. Surprisingly, the film concluded on a high note.

‘Minus 31’ is a heavy thunder but without black clouds. The director’s effort is there and you can see honesty in presenting the story with sharp aesthetics but I feel the story needed more spark. The background score and cinematography is a plus.

But the biggest plus is Rucha Inamdar as Inspector Preksha who deserves the praise for giving us an honest portrayal of a policewoman who is stuck in the line of duty, health, and household. Scuffling with personal predicament, her character looks more relatable and human.

RATING 6.5/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Bheed (2023)

STORY

During the coronavirus pandemic, the government ordered nationwide lockdowns including checkpoints at the borders. Inspector Surya Kumar Singh Tikas is tasked to control one of the checkpoints but thousands of travelers get stuck on that border because they are not allowed to cross. The consequences are heavy. The impatience leads to frustration and people begin to quarrel, blame, and protest.

REVIEW

Bheed

I am not sure if the film “Bheed” is based on a true geographical event but if I assume that it is fictional, then the incidents in this fictional event represents one of the million stories that occurred in India, and one of the billion stories in the world. Bheed plays at least five different stories in the same parallel. Due to this reason, the growth of the characters are challenging within two hours of the screentime. Moreover, Bheed has another challenge that the screenplay must not exhaust the viewers because almost an entire film is shot on the checkpoint.

Although the film didn’t do well at the box-office because it was understandable that the audience do not wish to spend the time on a severe depression that recently haunted almost every one in the world. But frankly speaking, it is an absurd reason if I consider that’s the case. Bheed, in its full potential, served the purpose. The dramatization of tension building was remarkable, the panic in the crowd was impressively alarming, and the emotions were rightly despair.

BLACK AND WHITE

The one aspect that I found very impressive about Bheed is that the director Anubhav Sinha chose to make this film black and white. As an observer, there can be two reasons. One is that the migration in the film will heavily remind you of the partition era. Second, the colorless theme can represent the national tragedy. Such creative aesthetics indicate that the filmmaker is serious about conveying a message to the audience. And I like that spirit when the film-making artistry is taken too serious.

A POTENTIAL BEST SCENE

There is a scene where a sudden noise among the crowd erupts and Inspector Tikas has to run to check what happened and it is the police that sanitizes people by showering them. I wish if I was Anubhav’s assistant so I would have suggested him to make that a one-shot scene from Tikas’ angle running the entire route of the noisy crowd until that mark of sanitizing them. I know that could have been a very difficult shooting but that is the beauty. What’s the fun if the director has to shot the film plain and simple. My suggested shot would have been the best Bollywood scene of the year 2023.

THE DAUGHTER

I think the best of all stories was the hopeless cycle riding of a young daughter and drunk father. Their survival was not imminent but were not giving up. It was strange that only one car spotted them riding towards a different route. And this was followed by that car following them until a very moving scene caught our attention when the driver of the car refused to obey his madam and helped them cross the route. This was an important message to the audience coming from the global disaster. On such a cruel planet, the natural disasters are the only certain situations where strangers help each other out.

THE TROUBLEMAKER

But then there are circumstances where people do not allow helping each other. Balram Trivedi is one such character who provoked the harmony twice. When the Muslims aided the Hindus with food, Balram snatched all the packets and returned. It was too late to realize and regret that he was wrong and then the packets were distributed somewhere. When he couldn’t borrow the time of feeding them by not dropping his ego, he chose desperate violence of invading the mall nearby which was illegal and unacceptable. Had he allowed the Muslim aid, the circumstances would have not gone worse.

CLOSING REMARKS

The commercial failure of Bheed gives a wrong reflection on the choices of the audience. Because the film had technical brilliance in direction, story, screenplay, cinematography, and editing. The dialogues, the major performances especially of Rajkummar Rao as Tikas and Pankaj Kapur as Balram, and even the closing in the final 20 minutes were impressive. So forget the box-office and do yourself a favor, watch Bheed on Netflix.

Bheed successfully shows how the pandemic still cannot defeat the caste system, the religious conflicts, and the prejudices. People still find reasons to raise hatred and squabble by differentiating. Perhaps, the humans fighting over stupid reasons is a bigger pandemic than the pandemic.

RATING: 8.2/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway (2023)

STORY

An Indian couple from Kolkata in Norway loses the custody of their two children to the country’s Child Welfare Service when the latter fail them for ‘incompetent parenting’. ‘Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway‘ is a legal drama that is based on a real life story of Sagarika Bhattacharya who fought against the state to get her children back.

REVIEW

Without a doubt, the event is real and not fiction but my concern is the micro-detailing of the real event that doesn’t buy me tokens of belief in the screenplay. As for example, the draconian portrayal of the child welfare institute. There was no neutrality, Norway looked like some devilish state offering no tolerance to the foreigners. Mrs. Chatterjee who wakes up after an unconscious collapse, grabs her husband’s mobile, runs away from the institute with no camera and security detecting her escape. The most outrageous of all wrongs was the ladies of the welfare service running away with their children as if they were kidnapping.

I have no knowledge if the real Mrs. Chatterjee somehow took her kids from a foster house and ran away from Norway to Sweden. I also have zero knowledge about the Indian side of the film if the relatives signed any treaty with Norway disallowing the mother to get her children from the relatives. As an observer, all these scenes looked sensationalized. If all that is actually true, my severe sympathy with Ms Sagarika Bhattacharya. Then I say that the directional execution of the entire story was ordinary.

The film began with a boring BANG! that Mrs. Chatterjee runs towards the welfare car to get her children from them. And then the flashback focuses how it all started. You could have simply started the film with the welfare ladies making the final visit at the Chatterjees and spending at least five minutes of their formal conversation making the audience uncomfortable and clueless that something is really looking off in this meeting. And then BOOM! the ladies breaking the dreadful news to the couple of taking their children. The parents losing their Goddamn minds and protesting the decision. Getting panicked and protecting their children from them. Making panic calls here and there. This is how the film should have started.

I don’t know why is this film in Hindi. The Bengali couple speaking in Hindi with each other didn’t look right at all. The film must have been in Bengali and Norwegian languages with Hindi limited only to the third person. Speaking of the language, the High Court scenes of India are dramatized in Kolkata. I am not sure if Hindi is used in the high court of the West Bengal state or not.

I happen to notice an extremely silly mistake in the film. The first scene of the Kolkata High Court shows the arrival of the judge in the court. In the first line where Mrs. Chatterjee is benched, two legal representatives are appearing. In a few seconds, we observe there is only one and the prosecution lawyer is actually missing. She is shown to have arrived late to the court due to heavy traffic. And the prosecution lawyer, I was stunned and really thought that Mamta Kulkarni has returned to the silver screen after decades. But I was mistaken, she is Balaji Gauri.

RANI MUKHERJEE

I think Rani Mukherjee was a very good choice for Mrs. Chatterjee. For a mother who was traumatized by the authorities for taking her children, a restless translation of injustice, Rani brilliantly gave us a tragic motherhood appeal. You may feel annoyance about her mental outburst making the case of the Welfare Service stronger but this is the type of a frustrated mother Rani was roped in to.

CLOSING REMARKS

Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway deserved a better screenwriter and a director. The story had every potential to turn into an exceptional courtroom drama. Perhaps, a limited series would have done justice, only if the writing was genuine.

RATING 4/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: The Kerala Story (2023)

STORY

Shalini takes admission in a college and befriends three other girls in her hostel. One of her roommates Asifa successfully manipulates and misguides Shalini and another girl Geethanjali towards Islam and destroys their lives in deception by love jihad. Consequently, hell breaks on them while seeking heaven.

BACKLASH

‘The Kerala Story‘ sparked nationwide criticism and ignited deadly religious tension in India. Several petitions were filed at the Kerala High Court, the Madras High Court, and the Supreme Court of India to ban the film. Eventually, the West Bengal government banned the film for hate speech.

The Kerala High Court did order to remove the teaser of the film that claimed 32000 girls to have converted to Islam to get recruited to ISIS. 32000? The film begins with a disclaimer stating that there is no authenticity to back the claimed figures. But in one scene, a character does press to be more than thirty and even quotes that the unofficial number is 50,000. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, approximately 30,000 fighters from at least 85 countries had joined the ISIS until December 2015.

BJPWOOD

Although, countless films have been produced in India for decades about Islamic terrorism and the militants waging a holy war or a crusade against India funded by Pakistan. The speciality of ‘The Kerala Story’ is that the film worked on the audience as a reminder to distance themselves from the Muslim community because there is every deliberate chance of pushing you towards Jihad. And especially, if you are a non-Muslim female, then be prepared to spread your legs for “Muslim Mujahideen” as one of the babas suggests in the film to the young recruits to impregnate the girls.

I do not deny about the forced conversions of non-Muslims towards Islam worldwide. This is happening in many countries. And let me inform you that forced conversion is not only a Muslim thing now, this physical and spiritual abuse is happening in all major faiths around the world. Also, keep this in mind that spreading extremism or religious terrorism is completely different than preaching.

Whatever cruelty by the militant fighters is dramatized in the film, without a doubt, half of the madness is accurate. There is no denying about that. But another factor that cannot be denied is that “The Kerala Story” was heavily promoted by the ruling party of India, Bharatiya Janata Party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi quoted the film during the Karnataka Assembly Election of 2023. Recently, BJP welcomed the film’s screening by the Idukki diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church for catechism students. And this is not the first time that BJP have raised their voice in favor of such films with similar contents. Remember ‘The Kashmir Files’?

CINEMATIC DISASTER

Another failure is the joke of an execution. Director Sudipto Sen and producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah were neither smart about story-telling nor gave a sensible continuity. Engrossed with ordinary dialogues, irritating background score, and ridiculous sense of brainwashing, the film looked completely amateur and first-day first-show debacle.

‘The Kerala Story’ is a propaganda film due to the fact that it was more about the Islamic extremism and the supreme invasion of Islamic terrorism blended with the hows and whys of the religion’s punishments and tortures than growing the unfortunate stories of those girls. The only thing that was good about the film was the performance of Adah Sharma who played the leading character Shalini. The changing of mood, facial expressions, shocks, beliefs, surprises, suffering, tension, the whole body language was there.

CLOSING REMARKS

‘The Kerala Story’ is for those who have fire in their hearts for Muslims and Islam. The film is for those who want to read a conspiracy theory against the religion and beliefs. The film is for the violent protesters who are interested in damaging properties of the Muslims and make them suffer for a few notes of money. The film is for those whose favorite life moment is watching a man on the street burning the Holy Book or looking at the cartoons of some French newspaper.

RATING 1/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai (2023)

STORY

‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hay‘ is a courtroom drama about Advocate Solanki who fights a case of a minor girl who was raped by a very popular spiritual leader, Baba. This film is based on a true story. In 2013, the spiritual leader Asaram was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. Almost five years later, Asaram was found guilty and was sentenced to life. During this time, Asaram was denied bail 12 times.

REVIEW

I think the aesthetics of the film-making didn’t do justice. The film’s opening phase ran too quickly. The main characters were not settled in the script. The writers must have prioritized to carefully introduce the victim and his family on one side, and Baba and his ashram on the other. And give a dedicated shot at running those moments thoroughly for around 15 minutes.

I do not suggest dramatizing a sexual assault of a minor girl at all. But I do not believe that the director Apoorv Singh Karki was bold to give us a haunting vibe. If the content is so sensitive, the director needs to take risks of making the audience feel discomfort. Moreover, the pressure on Solanki was immense but the dramatization about his life in danger looked more dramatic than real. Knowing the fact that Asaram’s arrest was met with violent demonstrations across the country by his supporters, the film didn’t meet that tone.

Like several films, the background score disturbed the momentum. The courtroom drama had the promises but at some moment, Advocate Solanki teasing a few people around the court was distracting a very serious tone. I do not understand how come Baba was not brought in front for testing and interrogating.

PERFORMANCES

The actress Adrija Sinha who played the victim executed such a sensitive role very well and confidently. Observe, when her statement to Advocate Solanki closes at her hopelessly crying. Manoj Bajpayee played Advocate Solanki but what is special about such an excellent performance is that he act it differently. The body language and the accent was different. And the reason for Manoj being so different in the film is that Manoj adopted mannerism and personality of the real-life Advocate Solanki.

CLOSING REMARKS

I have no clue how did this film win 5 Filmfare OTT awards. Only Manoj deserved to win but this is not one of his best performances despite being so different. ‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hay’ deserved a Hansal Mehta or Anubhav Sinha treatment for such a story.

RATING 5/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Dhak Dhak (2023)

STORY

Four women from different backgrounds and generations are destined to bike-ride Khardung La. Lali, the youngest, played by Sanjana Sanghi, has low self-esteem and is recently engaged. Uzma, played by Dia Mirza, helps her husband run home by secretly working as a mechanic. Mahi, the oldest, played by Ratna Pathak Shah, has recently learned to ride the bike after winning it as a prize. And Sky, played by Fatima Sana Shaikh, the leader of the gang is a videographer. Sky was newly a victim of internet crime when her private pictures were leaked by her ex-boyfriend. And she had not informed them.

TRUE STORY?

Dhak Dhak had an interesting plot but in my observation suffered from a lot of issues. Without a doubt, all four stories were well connected but here is the penny to entwine. The film presses that this is based on a true story. What true story? I did not find the true story on the internet. If this was based on true story then why the real-life footage or pictures were not shown in the end? Was this a lie to sell popcorn? Let me know if any of you has any idea about the true story.

MISINFORMATION

Secondly, Dhak Dhak’s plot-line pressed that Khardung La is the highest motorable road in the world which is around 17,500 ft. If I am not mistaken, this is a wrong information. Forget the world, Khardung La was never the highest in India in the past. It was Dungri La that stands at 18,400 ft. And in recent years, Umling La has become the highest not in India but in the world, that stands at around 19,000 ft.

POOR WRITING

Dhak Dhak’s screenplay was disappointing because after highlighting their origins, the direction could not grow the four characters together. The film didn’t spend or was unable to invest time in developing their unusual friendship. I didn’t get the feel when the continuity pretended that they had already climbed the first ladder of knowing each other. I was surprised and found it bizarre that the bikers were punished on the street with the ear-holding sit-ups, especially Mahi.

There was a very important scene in the film that got terribly wasted due to weak direction. A video about their private conversation while being drunk went viral on social media and was blamed on Sky. Later, it was discovered that a foreigner recorded them. Next scene? They move ahead to their next destination. Did the ladies take no action against the foreigner and ride off to the next destination? Just like that? Knowing the fact that this is a female-centered film, I think the director Tarun Dudeja missed the chance to address. The story could have concluded that character by calling the police and making him record a live confession.

CHARACTERS & PERFORMANCES

I think Uzma got to join the gang very comfortably. Despite the fact that she lied to her husband, I really thought that her husband will raise questions and inquire from the contacts she was lying about meeting them. After all, she was planning to leave alone, not even her daughter was accompanying her. But he let her go. It was strange due to the fact that Uzma was living in a semi-conservative Muslim household. I was expecting a ‘Secret Superstar‘ kind of tension here.

It is not like if the writing of the film did nothing exceptional. Lali’s character had a strong individual portrayal. She represents many millions of girls who are afraid of taking a step on their own. Lali cannot even open a packet of chips. Not that if this problem is threatening but can be. You have the right and must be bold to make your own life decisions. It was a thoughtful scene when her guru asks what the soon-to-be-husband does and she is blank.

And Sanjana Sanghi played her part very well, so did Dia Mirza. In fact, Dia is unsung for her performances in recent years. Her acting has improved if anyone notices. I don’t think I need to invest my time explaining Ratna’s performance. She has been in splendid form for some time now. But Fatima Sana Shaikh has indicated that the audience needs to take her seriously. Watch her when she drops her frustration after a heavy stream destroys her work. All the hearts break when she laments over how people respond her posts and communicate when they see her. I think this was one of the best scenes of the year.

By the way, Taapsee Pannu was one of the producers of the film. She was perfect for the role of Sky. Unsure why she didn’t appear but she was missed.

CLOSING REMARKS

In overall a poor writing, Dhak Dhak was also annoying me with over-usage of songs that were highly unnecessary. The background score was a huge distraction and sometimes the music was louder than dialogues. The final 15 minutes were average and predictable.

Dhak Dhak, despite an interesting plot and good performances, is a chance missed and deserved a better writing and direction.

RATING 4/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video (2023)

STORY

Sajini Shinde belongs to a traditional and conservative Marathi family from Ahmednagar. By profession, she is a Physics teacher at a reputed school in Pune. She has found a man, Siddhant, for an arranged marriage through a dating app. With her priorities in life placed in order, one big mistake ruins her forever when her colleagues insist to get drunk and enjoy her birthday party wild. All the mobiles come out to capture her moment and the video goes viral all over the social media. Her video reaches the school administration, young students, the society, and her family. She is shamed and expelled from the school. The family as well as her soon-to-be husband Siddhant are furious. Besides a couple of feminists, she has no support. And one day, she disappears.

REVIEW

“Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video” is really the title of the film. Reminds me of Saeed Akhtar Mirza‘s films that used to have long titles. Coming back to my assessment, this is a mystery film where two inspectors Bela and Ram investigate the disappearance and get stuck in the complexity of the case. The film grows so intense into the second half, that most of the characters begin to look like involved in kidnapping or killing her. Every arc gives a different and genuine understanding.

I was absolutely sold to the core of the story followed by a marvellous continuity. Because, let me tell you something, in the presentation of a story and between the lines of the continuity, the viewers must always keep themselves open for a broader theory of what that film wants you to sink into. Generally, the film is about the whereabouts of Sajini but moreover, from where I am looking at is a broader picture, that the film is about things that led to Sajini’s disappearance.

This film has made me listen to possibly the best dialogues written for any film of 2023. One of the parents asks the principal if she will send her daughter to a school where a teacher does a sandwich dance between two naked men in a foreign country. I’m afraid she has a point and almost every parent will question about their children’s future. And then there is Sajini’s colleague Shraddha who complains that the fun is acceptable if you are a film star but crime for a school teacher.

Was it even Sajini’s call? She wasn’t eager to get drunk. It was Shraddha who convinced her to enjoy it like that and also was she who uploaded her dancing video by mistake. We can throw the blame on Sajini’s guy who asked her to get modern. Didn’t he know his woman’s definition of being modern would come out of a book? Or was Sajini from a small town, who was trying to fit in and get accepted in modern ambitions, really that dumb to not understand what he approved her about enjoying?

Do you get my point? I am not playing with your mind but informing you that this is a thought-provoking story that is not limited to her disappearance but is too large for assessment. I can write at least 25 pages about what I have watched and how and why is the message of the film so important for all of us.

Almost every character was developed. The film had a lot to offer. There was dark humor, the continuity had pace, and the suspense was captivating. The film wasted no time in introducing to the inspectors. And speaking about the supporting characters, the film opposes obviousness and gives a more realistic portrayal. Sajini confesses that she loved Siddhant. But Siddhant was not a good guy at all. He was a sore loser who had a bad past with other women. And even after Sajini disappeared, his personality was questionable. And I really liked that in such a scenario, the writer and director of a Bollywood film chose to show that the ideal man of the leading character is not quintessential. Yes, there is every possibility that the chosen portfolio is not the right person.

Radhika Madan as Sajini was outstanding but unfortunately, the story didn’t allow her character to spend much time in the film. And by this thought, I bethink that this story had every potential to transform into a limited series. You can easily stretch it to six or eight episodes and give more breathing to some promising characters like colleague Shraddha, principal Kalyani, and brother Aakash, and run Sajini’s important life events in it. Radhika did a superb impression of a small-town simple-minded girl giving such a raw-scale mannerism while meeting her date or speaking with people. Notice when she doesn’t find Siddhant’s heist joke funny and hides her discomfort in her smile.

CLOSING REMARKS

Although, the film somehow met with a fair conclusion with Inspector Bela delivering a very important message. But from an artistic angle, the film’s final scene should have been Sajini’s video message. With that, the film would have served the purpose. Also, this suggested ending would have hit hard on the audience.

I believe “Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video” is a spectacular debate about freedom and its social conflicts. This film is where liberty questions slavery and selfishness become self-esteem. Everyone performed at an average scale but Nimrat Kaur as Inspector Bela deserves the praise. The direction of Mikhil Musale, and dialogues, and screenplay are the biggest pluses.

Food for thought. Can a woman have her own choice of freedom? Why? Why not? But which one? Good freedom or bad freedom? What is that? Can freedom be bad? And who will decide if that freedom is good or bad? We the society? Or you, the seeker of freedom? Can a woman distinguish good freedom or bad freedom? Hold on a second. can a woman even distinguish what is good or bad? If she can, why are people offended? And if she cannot, why do her parents want her to get married?

Does Sajini have the right to enjoy? Must she have gotten drunk and danced? Must she have avoided doing all this in fear of getting caught by a camera in the era of social media? Does being a teacher dissuade her from all this? If you are thinking about, when will I finish my review then my dear readers, my series of questions will never end because this is all about a woman, and that too, is in trouble. So where does the problem really lie? The problem lies in our minds.

RATING 8.2/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Friday Night Plan (2023)

REVIEW

‘Friday Night Plan‘ is a Netflix coming-of-age comedy-drama about two brothers Sid and Adi who get a chance to drive their mother’s car and attend a party at Nat’s with whom Sid has a crush. The film stars Babil Khan, Amrith Jayan, Aadhya Anand, Medha Rana, Ninad Kamat, and Juhi Chawla.

This film gives an insight about an introvert Sid who has been a pupil in the same school for eight years but has not gained any recognition and reputation like others. He has a crush on the girl but doesn’t know how to interact and impress. But then suddenly, he is the talk of the school and has built a status because he won a football tournament for his school. And now he is more uncomfortable.

There is always a need of the background story for the main character in the coming-of-age genre. This film grew Sid by talking about his past in the later phase of the film that developed more reasons behind his being extra silent and careful. His younger brother Adi is the best detailing for a younger brother as he was fast, smart, chill, irresponsible as well as a troublemaker. The last two traits are obviously not the best qualities in the person but in a character because the smart Adi just couldn’t realize why losing a car to the police was a big problem. Instead, he suggests that the mother will take care of it as he does not want to give up the party at all.

The heated argument between the two was interesting because they opened up their lives to each other. What Adi brings to the story is trouble as well as relief for Sid. He is his hype-man and really wants his brother to calm his solemnity and open up to the world. It is so well shot without exaggerating when Adi starts praising his brother when Nat enters the room.

CLOSING REMARKS

‘Friday Night Plan’ has a very simple and straight route for the continuity of the story. There are no interesting filming techniques to bring an excellent crafting from a coming-of-age. Also, for such a simple story based on one day, this film is too lengthy and slow for having a screen time of almost two hours. The dialogues were easy-going and realistic.

The whole sub-plot of inspector being furious over being egged was a bit time wasting and unnecessary stretch. Another reason why I say that the film was too simple is because Juhi Chawla’s role of the mother of two kids didn’t get to test. She came nowhere close to her car getting towed. If I was the writer, I would have her character do the talking with her sons and conclude the film on a better note.

I am getting fond of Babil’s acting since watching him recently in The Railway Men as I watched that first. His character execution, voice, and behavioral attitude is a gift from his deceased legendary father and anyone can observe that.

I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Friday Night Plan’ but for me, it was at least 30 minutes long and deserved a better conclusion to all dramas that occurred in one night.

RATING 6.5/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Rabia and Olivia (2023)

Young Olivia suffers from night terror since her mother passed away and several nannies have been changed since then because they couldn’t comfort her. Rabia is an illegal immigrant seeking job. From a close contact, she gets a job and becomes Olivia’s nanny. Therefore, Rabia and Olivia is a story of two people from different worlds who have been brought to each other by fate and grow a bond like a mother and a daughter.

Watching this film was like some bunch of brown dudes in a foreign country raising the funds in the community, mosques, and churches to finance a film about mutual respect. And in that money, they hire some non-professional low-profile actors. I guess more than half of the collected funds were allocated to sign a well-known actor to raise awareness because I recognized only one artist and she was Sheeba Chaddha and that too in a brief role.

See, I recognize compassion in the story but such plots are not meant for a feature film length. The right platform is the shorter length. I felt I was watching the longest version or some director’s cut of a short film. The aesthetics were below-par with level-1 video effects and most of the artists showing terrible skills of acting.

I appreciate the effort but Rabia and Olivia is like some passion project of a community that they will remember after a couple of decades at some party as a generous effort.

RATING 2/10

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