Reviews

Is this a film by Neeraj Pandey? No, certanly not. This is a sloppy sentimental rubbish! The querky humour is absent. Stupid sentimentality with maudlin songs have entered the Pandey arena. Growing old? May be.

Is he the maker of Special 26, Baby, and the best of the encomium, A Wednesday? No.

Then what is this stuff about? Nothing. It's a remake of the undigested stuff that prevailed in the 'smart' 80s and early 90s. Not befitting the brilliant wit of Neeraj.

It's a bland movie; I give 3 out of old sentiments. The script is banal so are the dialogues. Competents actors appear like... Puppets.

This is what a poor story and a weak screenplay can do to a movie. All the actors have done their job, but they've all done much better elsewhere. Though it's very surprising, unpleasantly, that in the days of smart and intelligent TV series, they did not object to the screenplay and dialogues, which are banal and loose pick-ups from better movies and series. There are many loose ends. I just cite one. There is a frightened boy in this movie belonging to Zaraar's group. He just gets vanished into thin air. He could have helped the police to draw a picture of the terrorist. But then the project would not stretch to so many episodes. It's also astonishing why such a noted platform like Prime Video has given it such space...space wasted.

I am still quite entranced by the series. The problem with adjectives is that they turn all praise or condemnation to an average, mediocre cliché, unless you have a great command of the language, which i don't have.

'Chhotolok' is supposedly a thriller , which it is, and much more. It's full of touching strains. While remaining well within the confines of the genre, it deals with caste issues, minority issues and such other bigotries in little touches, almost in a whispering manner. And all this hurts. The script, cinematography, acting and editing combine, again, not shouting, not protesting, just cinematically, to present a scene of massive waste.

Acting follows the same undertone and impact. But Daminee Benny Basu stands out. Sabitri stands out with her burden of caste discrimination, lonely fight and the resultant neurological subtle expressions, a touch of non-urban 's' and 'sh', and the 'sh' she considers repugnant, which is expressed in the scene when she beats up the CA. It comes out from deep down, from a series of humiliations. Kudos, kudos, all the way!

We expect more of this, Indranil, from you. Congrats!!!

I watched the first two seasons of 'Aarya' and I rather liked it. The third season is a big disappointment, and as I presume, there are newer episodes coming on. This is almost predictable, and they might add to the absolute mediocrity of the third season.

The problem is that the plot is absurd. Aarya's rise to the underworld power echelon and her resolutions all fall flat because of her total inefficiency in handling crisis. Even though she often proclaims in her husky voice and hushed threatening note that she will protect people close to her, it all turns anticlimactic. Violence here is facile, and that's due to the script. Acting is just basic; because today when we see great pieces of acting, especially on the OTT platform, this stands in no comparison with some very fine work happening around. Again, this is the discredit of the script and the director.

As a common viewer, I am sad to see my rating go down like this. Cinematography and editing deserve nothing better. The only exception happens when we discover that Anton is a two -faced monster. But he also dies very poorly.

While writing this, I correct my rating from 8 to 9, because it has now slowly touched a different layer of feeling. This is not only sad for a poor Muslim girl, but for all of us, all isolated people who disdain to be an alienated spectacle. There's no villain here, other than poverty and poor education. The parents are as much a victim of the system, as the provider. A candid look from a kid, a female child, does the magic of revivification, asserting a girl's dignity in the face of gross discrimination. Hat's of to the cast and the crew.

Technologies expand, whatsup and down whats face and whats book we all know, but the slow silent giant gobbles down all our human aspirations. We forget our puny martyrs.

It was moving on nicely. The dialogues, as dubbed in Hindi and subtitled in English, are weak. But. The 'Twist ' actually marred it. Dayaa suddenly turning a fight-master, no trace of which was previously established, is absolutely bizarre. It's absurd. I . Personally, had apprehended, that Dayaa's so-called 'heroism' would come out some time. But it seems some people fervently expected it. The 'Twist' must have pleased them. But the sudden change in Dayaa's character does not please me,; I find it childish. My regret is that it could have been more realistic.

But later on, the plot thickens and moves in interesting directions. Camerawork improves. There are remarkable improvements on the script and dialogues.

The short series is awesome. Other than the brilliant acting by Vijay Varma and others, it shows the personal and public life of the police force. The overall sadness in this aspect is mind-boggling. Their sleeplessness, helplessness, domestic pangs have been dealt with in a most human way. The only problem that I personally found with the story is that it ends abruptly, and we press 'new episode' for another series, unwarrantedly.

I wonder how successful the effect of the songs is in this series. It did not really move me. Having said that, I don't intend to say that the songs are bad, but it did nothing to enhance the mood of 'Kalkoot'.

Very poor show built upon a series of illogical assumptions. A negotiation is going on between the police and the people inside a ramshackle house where a policewoman is kept prisoner, but nobody from outside wants to hear her voice. For the sake of convenience of the flimsy plot, they all trust an unknown negotiator, apparently a hostage. Even when they hear a gunshot they don't ask the 'abductors' to allow them to talk to the policewoman. The whole of the second episode is bizarre, and only the actors grimace to show how terrible all this is. There's apparently no source of food and water. But nobody seems to bother.It's very stupid in these days of realistic entertainment.