Thursday, March 14, 2024

Anweshippin Kandethum (Malayalam)

Anweshippin Kandethum --> Seek and you shall find. This Malayalam movie lives up to its title. I saw it on Netflix.

The movie is a police procedural drama. Set in 2 parts, it joins both of them quite well.

SI Anand Narayanan (Tovino Thomas) has always thought differently from other police officers. He is more interested in solving a case correctly than sucking up to his superiors. 
Naturally this independent streak gets him into trouble. 

The movie starts with him being suspended, and waiting to meet the SP. In between he starts remembering the case that got him suspended.

Anand was the initial lead into a murder of a young girl, Lovely Mathan. He suspected the hand of someone in the nearby monastery, but is prevented by his superiors from going ahead. The superiors frame a history sheeter and try to beat him into confessing. Any suggestions given by Anand are dismissed. He is sent to get biryani for them instead of taking part in the investigation.

But Anand bypasses them, and uses proper police investigation to arrive at who murdered Lovely. He learns some shocking secrets along the way.

Unfortunately, as the team is taking the killer to the court, he/she escapes. After a chase, the killer is run over by a train and dies.

The team bears the brunt of his/her death. They are suspended for negligence. Not only are they branded killers in public opinion, but also they don't get the satisfaction of having proven in court that they were right.

Flashback ends, present begins. The SP (who is sympathetic to them, unlike the previous superiors) gives them a cold case. 6 years old. Another young girl (Sridevi) was murdered. Multiple teams have tried to solve it, including a reputed officer, and failed.

The team takes it because 
a) They get something to do
b) If they fail, nobody is going to say anything because others have failed before.

The team goes to the village, which is highly antagonistic to them because the previous police had used heavy handed means while investigating. 
But slowly and surely, they make progress. Thread by thread they unravel the mystery. And find the culprit.
Who was the actual murderer comes as a real shock in the end (at least I couldn't guess it). 

The cinematography captures the essence of the village in both cases. The lives of ordinary people, the simmering politics, buried resentments, the tension in the air when people have to deal with police, all are presented well.

The movie never develops a fast tempo. But that I think is deliberate. It is a relatively slow, but not at all boring journey. The emotions in the team, their highs and lows, all are captured pretty well.


There is no gore, no extra bloody scenes. Just plain mystery, and the unravelling of it. It makes this a wonderfully different film, and totally family friendly.

All in all, recommended.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Kadak Singh (Movie)

 Saw Kadak Singh on Zee5 (Hindi).

A man  - A. K. Srivastava (Pankaj Tripathi) apparently tries to commit suicide, and ends up in the hospital. There it is discovered that he now has retrograde amnesia due to the suicide attempt. 

The amnesia is so bad that he doesn't even remember his own daughter. He only remembers his younger son, that too at year 5 (the son is now 17, the daughter is older).

A. K. was investigating a major chit fund scandal as part of his work at the Department of Financial Crimes (DFC). He suspects that his suicide(?) was related to that scandal's investigation. Interestingly, one of his colleagues had earlier committed suicide a few days earlier, and he too was looking into the same case.
His extremely strict demeanour at home has led his children to give him the nickname of "Kadak Singh".

Since he remembers almost no one, he trusts no one. The Rashomon effect method is used well in this movie. There is a daughter Sakshi (Sanjana Sanghi), a love interest Naina (Jaya Ahsan) - his wife died in an accident years ago, a colleague, a boss, a head of the department. Everyone tells their own version of the story. 
It is A. K. who has to put the pieces together, and decide which pieces are correct and which are false.


A. K. may have forgotten people and places, but his procedural memory - he was the top investigator at his department - is intact. In all of this he is helped by the nurse at the hospital - Ms. Kannan (Parvathy Thiruvothu). She is the only one he can trust, because she has no vested interest in him or the events surrounding him.

The supporting cast is good. Sanjana Sanghi is an unexpected pleasant surprise. She showcases all the aspects of being an elder daughter in a house with a dead mother and a "married to his work" father, and a druggie younger brother, well.

Arjun (Paresh Pahuja) as the devoted junior colleague, who has full faith in his boss' ethics, and Tyagi (Dilip Shankar) as A. K.'s boss, do a good job. So does Naina as his love interest. 
The surprise package is the nurse, Kannan. With extremely limited scope, she still manages to show so many emotions as to endear herself to you.

Amidst all of this, Pankaj Tripathi stands tall. His eyes are expressive. His acting is as close to perfect as can be. He is one of my favorites, and proves again how good he is in this film.

Where the film lacks is in pace. It is slow (but steady). And is hampered by the fact that it is shot mostly indoors (hospital), thereby limiting the options for increasing the tempo.

But overall, will definitely recommend.


 

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Kannur Squad (Malayalam)

Kannur Squad is a 2023 Malayalam-language crime thriller directed by Roby Varghese Raj and produced by Mammootty. The film is based on a real life police squad who were part of the Kannur Squad, a crime investigation unit, formed by former Kannur SP S. Sreejith IPS.

I watched this on Disney + Hotstar.

The movie starts off with the squad, led by ASI George Martin (Mammootty) finding an apparent suicide in the forest. They suspect murder instead. After investigating, they find the culprit and solve the case. 

But shortly thereafter, one of the members, CPO Jayan is found guilty of taking a bribe. This brings the entire Kannur Squad into disrepute and it is disbanded.

A couple of years later, a rich Muslim businessman, Abdul Wahab, is found murdered in the course of a dacoity at his house in Kasargod. The local police are unable to make any progress. So the SP of Kasargod gets the Kannur Squad formed again, in spite of resistance due to the previous stain on their reputation.

The squad gets into action. Using good old fashioned detective work, they find that a local named Riyas had purchased two SIM cards for someone else. On further investigation, they discover that Riyas found that Abdul Wahab had kept a lot of money at his house. He then involved two more people called Ameer and Zulfiqar, in exchange for a cut. Ameer and Zulfiqar also got 2 goons, Hathooda and Bambiha along for the job.

The job went wrong. Money was not at the house. In anger, Ameer killed Zulfiqar and assaulted his teenage daughter. Then they escaped.

The squad makes an all India chase. First Bhubaneshwar, then Faizabad. There they are given one single constable of the UP Police, Yogesh Yadav. Using his local knowledge, they land up in a village where the criminals' accomplice Pawan stays. And what a village!! Every one united in trying to kill the policemen "who are outsiders", without any morals about their own villager who is a criminal.

Pawan gives them Payagpur as the destination. One more train chase. The squad manages to capture Hathoda and Bambiha on the train leaving Payagpur.
But the main ones, Ameer and Zulfiqar, are going to Babaganj to finally cross over into Nepal. So the squad rush and corner them in their hideout in the jungle. After a fierce fight, the squad manages to overpower them, aided by the Sahastra Seema Bal (our border force for the Nepal - Bhutan border).

In all of this, there is no support from the department. Air tickets are not sanctioned. They have to travel using a standard police SUV for thousands of kms.

In the end, they are asked to turn back. In one of the best scenes of the movie, Mammootty refuses a direct order from his superior. And the chase is still on.


There is no mystery in this movie per se. Everything is pretty cut and dried. It is the grit with which the squad faces a lot of hardships, and their never-say-die attitude, which raises this movie above normal level.

Once they capture the criminals, they are offered plane tickets "to rush back as soon as possible", so that their superiors can bask in the glory of a job where they had no positive contribution. The squad refuses, and comes back by road :-).

The squad fight for the pure nature of being a police officer, which is to capture criminals and bring law and order into society. 

This is what I think cinema originally was supposed to be about. No gimmicks. No special effects. Only pure storytelling.

Mammootty magic backed up by an excellent supporting cast.
A film definitely worth a watch. 

Thursday, December 07, 2023

Mumbai Police (Malayalam Film)

 I recently watched "Mumbai Police" (Malayalam) on Disney + Hotstar.

The film starts with a police officer driving and talking on the phone with someone. He says "I have found the culprit". And the next moment, he has an accident.

From there the story begins. Because in this accident, he has had a major memory loss. He not only doesn't remember the culprit, but a whole lot of other things as well. He doesn't remember his friends - in the Police and outside, his own sister, where he lives, etc. He doesn't even remember who he is, in the true sense of the word.

Plus he is again given charge of the same case that he had solved. But for him, this is like a new case due to his unique condition.

ACP Antony Moses (Prithviraj Sukumaran), this policeman, starts all over again. We find that the case is actually the brazen shooting death of a fellow policeman and friend Aryan John Jacob (Jayasurya) . The death (by a sniper's bullet) occurred at a function where tons of policemen were present, ironically for giving a gallantry award to Aryan Jacob. 

Antony's brother-in-law Farhan Aman (Rashin Rahman), who plays the Commissioner of Police) tries to help him get his memory back.

Antony discovers that Aryan, Farhan and he were very good friends. They earned the nickname "Mumbai Police" because all of them had served in Mumbai at a point in time, although Aryan hadn't served exactly at the same time as the other two over there.

The plot dives and weaves among possible suspects. Antony discovers a lot of things about himself. He finds that he was not a good person and has earned a lot of enemies, some of whom try to attack him post discharge. He actually was called "Rascal Moses", such was his reputation.

During this time Farhan is also not his usual self.

Antony finds that his previous investigation was not really up to the mark, which is surprising as he is a competent police officer. So then was he deliberately messing up the case? Was he protecting someone after finding the truth?

There's a sudden twist at the end, and the truth is revealed. It is at a very personal level, and is pretty unexpected.

All the main actors have done a decent job.  All in all, a decent mystery. Worth a watch.



Monday, November 06, 2023

Monster (2022): Malayalam film

One more of Mohanlal's films. I am a big fan of his in particular, and Malayalam films in general. So I am biased :-).

Monster is a thriller film with a major twist at the end.

Bhamini (Honey Rose) is a driver at a She-Taxi company. A partner in the firm, Lucky Singh, is her pickup for the day. Lucky Singh is a "Malayali Punjabi". He has a flirtatious, over-the-top manner. He is a Malayali who embraced Sikhism after a Sikh holy man changed his fortunes drastically one day in Amritsar near the Golden Temple.

Lucky Singh flirts shamelessly with Bhamini in spite of knowing that she is married. He invites himself to Bhamini's home even though it is a actually her wedding anniversary. Her husband, Anil Chandra (Sudev Nair), has a foot injury from a recent accident. The other people in the house are Anil's daughter Kunjatta (Jess Sweejan) from his previous marriage, and a maid, Durga (Lakshmi Manchu).

Lucky Singh has a bumbling yet cheerful manner. Yet we know that beneath that exterior, there is something hidden. And that comes out in a drastic manner. The film stops at the interval with a dramatic twist.

In the second half, Bhamini's world comes crashing down. Just as she is on the verge of doom, comes another twist. And things move towards the climax, where the biggest twist is revealed.

The second half is a story of wasted potential. The script writing isn't taut enough. The interrogation scenes lack finesse. 

And the most major twist lacks a certain sensitivity that a female director might have done better at. Vysakh, the (male) director, excels at action scenes. There is one between Mohanlal and a female character that is especially good.

This is by no means anywhere near Mohanlal's best. However, if like me, you are a Mohanlal fan, then this is still worth a watch. For others, I would guess it's a 50-50 toss-up on whether you would like it or not.



Saturday, October 07, 2023

Asur (Web series, Season 1 and 2, Jio Cinema)

 Asur on Jio Cinema (free). I finished Season 1 and 2. 

Drafted in June, forgot to publish. Ah well...

Story is decent. A blend of modern technology and ancient scripture (Vedas, etc.). By itself it wouldn't have been enough to keep you hooked. But good writing, slick direction, and a skilled star cast manage to hold your attention most of the time. 

The series tries to draw you into a moral dilemma, akin to Thanos. It (at least partly) succeeds, and I think therein lies its success.
The growth of the characters due to what befalls them and the decisions they have to take have been shown quite  

Arshad Warsi, Barun Sobti, Anupriya Goenka, Riddhi Dogra, Sharib Hashmi all are good. So is Marathi manoos Ameya Wagh.

One nuisance is the ads that come on Jio Cinema (even if you have a paid subscription). But it is what it is.

Worth a watch. Not family friendly due to disturbing visuals (language / nudity is pretty controlled most of the time).

https://www.jiocinema.com/tv-shows/asur/3500240

Khufiya (Netflix)

 Khufiya on Netflix.

Tabu is a married RAW operative who battles her secret identity and also struggles with conflict due to loving another woman.

There's a mole in RAW that leads to a lot of leaks, and ISI getting the upper hand in Bangladesh. To correct this, Tabu tries her best. But her loved one gets murdered in the process. The mole (Ali Fazal) escapes outside India too.


The rest of the movie is about retribution and redemption.

Tabu - excellent as usual.
Ashish Vidyarthi and Atul Kulkarni as Tabu's boss and estranged husband respectively are solid as expected.

Ali Fazal is competent. Wamiqa Gabbi as the mole's wife is bold enough to do a couple of explicit scenes (just enough to make it rated 16+, else rest is ok). His mother is played well by Navnindra Behl.

Azmeri Haque Badhon is a Bangladeshi actress who did a good job as Tabu's recruit cum lover. 
Raghu Ram of Indian Ocean fame was a pleasant surprise.


The disappointment is the usually competent Vishal Bharadwaj. His direction is good in parts, but not enough to grip you in entirety.

Worth a watch, but not as good as it could have been.

Monday, August 14, 2023

Por Thozil (Tamil movie)

Watched Por Thozil(Art of War) on Sony LIV. 
Story has 2 policemen - a very seasoned one (Sarath Kumar) and a total rookie (Ashok Selvan) - paired together to catch a serial killer who is targeting women. He seems to have come out of dormancy after 30 years.

Nothing great in the story per se - I nowadays am a little tired of the overuse of serial killers. But the chemistry between the 2 leading men is great. The evolution of the rookie, and a little bit of mellowing of the tough seasoned cop in his company makes the story worth watching.

Very little gruesome scenes, so ok from that point of view.


The seasoned cop has had a rough childhood. At one point the rookie has a soft corner for the serial killer because his father had physically abused him throughout. The senior cop brushes this away saying, "Lots of people have a tough childhood. But all don't become criminals. Some become normal people who catch criminals."
The rookie replies, "Sir, you may be many things. But a normal person is not one of them."

I watched in Tamil. There's a Hindi audio option too. But I prefer to watch in the original language.