Kishkindha Kaandam (Malayalam)

On Hotstar: https://www.hotstar.com/in/movies/kishkindha-kaandam/1271336670 . I saw it in Malayalam with English subtitles.

This is a 2 hour movie. For the first 1 hour, it is slow. It is so slow that you may be fed up and feel like giving up.

But then it suddenly grabs you. And refuses to let go. What seemed mundane is now interesting. What was ordinary takes on a new meaning, and you are hooked.

Where this movie starts and where it ends up are poles apart. The journey that it takes the viewer on is just superb, because of the screenplay. It's amazingly well written.

It starts off with the discovery that a gun belonging to a grumpy ex Army officer Appu Pillai (Vijayaraghavan) is missing. This discovery coincides with the second marriage of his son, Ajay Chandran (Asif Ali), to Aparna (Aparna Balamurali).

From a missing gun we go to a missing person - in this case it is Ajay's son from his previous wife, Chachu. 3 years ago, Chachu had gone missing at the same time that his mother suffered a serious medical emergency. At that time, only the grandfather Appu Pillai was at home.

The entire household is centered around adjusting to the old man and his weird habits. He trusts no one, and flies into a rage whenever someone enters his room.

We slowly discover the reason for his grumpiness. Appu Pillai suffers from major memory loss. He can't remember things at all - short or long term. He has devised ways to fight it. But it is a losing battle. He tries desperately to find his lost grandson.

Amidst all this, a small body is found buried on the grounds - it has been put in the ground 3 years ago. Whose body is it?

Aparna, the new daughter-in-law, not only adjusts to all this, but tries to be a part of the household. She finds Appu burning documents from time to time. What is in those documents?

She (and the viewer) can't make up their mind - is Appu Pillai really that forgetful or is he pretending? And is he guilty or innocent? And if guilty, of what exactly?

The side characters like Sumadathan (Jagadish) and Sivadasan (Ashokan) do a good job as well.

Asif Ali and Aparna Balamurali are good at their roles.

But the star of the movie is the father / grandfather Vijayaraghavan. One of the best performances that I have seen in some time. His character grows on you as the movie progresses.

The main question we are asked is this: Is it sometimes better to forget certain things than remember them? 

If you create your own reality, is that a better deal than actual reality?

The cinematography is the icing on the cake. You feel as if you are there, in the small village, far away from it all. All sights and sounds have been captured well. 

The screenplay is masterful. By the time the movie ends, you forget that you got fed up for half of the running time :-).

I will heartily recommend this. Family friendly as well.

Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein (Hindi) (Netflix series)

How far can obsession take you? Usually it is from the view point of the stalker or the one with the obsession. 

But this Netflix series is from the other side - the one who is the object of the obsession (the target).

Vikrant Singh Chauhan (Tahir Raj Bhasin) is a normal person with 

dreams in a small city. 

He has a girlfriend, Shikha (Shweta Tripathi). He is an engineer, and is certain of getting a job in a big city where he plans to ultimately settle down after marrying her.

But fate has other plans. Purva Awasthi (Anchal Singh) is the daughter of the big shot politician Akheraj Awasthi (Saurabh Shukla). 

Purva was Vikrant's classmate in school. She had gone away as a child for a long time, and comes back just as he completes his Engineering.

Purva had always liked Vikrant, and it has turned into an obsession. Vikrant's father, 

Suryakant Chauhan (Brijendra Kala) is Akheraj Awasthi's accountant cum money manager. 

Brushing aside Vikrant's choices, he gets him a job in the Awasthi household.

And there the downfall begins. Vikrant tries to get out of the current job. 

He tries to get the job in another city that he wants, to start a new life with Shikha.

But Akheraj, and his nephew, Purva's cousin, Dharmesh (Surya Sharma) scuttle anything and everything he has planned. 

His job applications get rejection replies. 

On top of that, his family is harassed - electricity and water is cut off, legal notices come, etc.

Vikrant has no choice. He stays in the town. 

Everything else goes back to normal.

But Vikrant knows that he is a "marked man" in another sense.  All roads are leading to Purva.

Vikrant tries all tricks that he can to get out of it. Including trying to kill Purva.

He takes the help of his good friend called "Golden" (Anant Joshi) in his schemes.

Over Season 1, we see the moral decay of Vikrant as he tries to get out of the end game which is his nuptials with Purva.

Purva is ruthless, and the only thing she will not do is kill Vikrant. 

Anything else is ok with her.

So the game continues. People die, get hurt, many twists and turns.

But ultimately in Season 1, Vikrant has to marry Purva.

In Season 2,  Vikrant is obsessed with killing Purva since that is the way out. 

It gets even darker.

He gets a hitman to kill her, but the hitman Jalan (Arunoday Singh) is extra smart. 

He recognizes Purva, and kidnaps her for a huge ransom of Rs 1000 crore instead.

There are also new characters. 

Sherpa (Varun Badola). He offers Aditya Rs 3000 crore if he brings Purva to him instead of to Akheraj.

Guru (Gurmeet Choudhary), who has a very soft spot for Purva.

He's the desi Tom Cruise type who has a team that tries to rescue Purva from Aditya.

He suspects Vikrant, but can't prove anything.

Vikrant helps Aditya since his goose will be cooked if the truth is found.

Along the way, bodies fall like ninepins. There's more gore in Season 2 than in Season 1.

Amongst all this, Purva is like a cat with nine lives. She bounces back every time. Plus she is pregnant with Vikrant's child.

Purva finds out the truth in this season. She catches Shikha, Vikrant and others before they can flee to Nepal.

The series ends with a cliffhanger where Vikrant is shown to be shot in a 

totally different location and bleeding. 

What happened between Purva catching him and him ending up in 

a ragged state, fighting for his life is a mystery.

What will happen next is left as a question - Season 3 will definitely come.

Vikrant's moral decline is shown excellently by the director. Tahir Raj Bhasin does 

justice to this author backed role.

Purva does her part well. The facets to her personality - obsessive and 

trusting towards Vikrant, ruthless otherwise are shown well.

Shikha is not a well etched character. In spite of her family suffering so much, 

she still doesn't leave Vikrant. It's pretty inexplicable, especially in Season 2.

Arunoday Singh does another good job as Jalan the contract killer. 

He has a lot of clarity on what he wants, which is more than what you 

can say for most of the characters in the series.

Anant Joshi does a good job as Golden. But his character flounders and 

then comes back on track multiple times.

Brijendra Kala as Vikrant's father delivers yet another solid performance, as befits his calibre.

You can identify with the father's exasperation towards what he thinks is the sheer lunacy of his son. 

But at the same time, he can't abandon him.

Surya Sharma as Dharmesh does what is expected. 

His character is a little uni-dimensional, but he does justice to the role.

Varun Badola as Sherpa is good, as expected. But far too short a role to enjoy his acting.

As usual, a solid performance by Saurabh Shukla as Akheeraj Awasthi. 

The ability to act with silence, and inspire fear by just a look, is an art. And Saurabh Shukla has it.

Season 1 is better than Season 2. Whenever Season 3 comes, I will have low expectations because it should have logically ended with the 2nd season.

Note: There is a lot of blood gore in this series. So those who don't like it should be forewarned.