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.

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.

 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

https://www.netflix.com/title/81252372

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.

https://www.sonyliv.com/movies/por-thozhil-hindi-1000231235

Dahaad (Web Series, Hindi, 2023)

 Saw Dahaad recently on Amazon Prime: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Dahaad/0KPV2GFQQ5XA8NCXXQ82XO3G1C

Anjali Bhaati (Sonakshi Sinha) is a Sub-Inspector at the relatively sleepy town of Mandawa in Rajasthan. She is a feisty woman, brought up by her late father to live proudly. Belonging to a lower caste, she faces the double whammy of caste prejudice and the constant questions regarding her marriage.

She has her boss - Devi Singh (Gulshan Devaiah) and a previously senior, now demoted to her level -  Kailash Parghi (Sohum Shah). 

One fake "Love Jihad" case leads to another woman disappearance case being investigated. They find out that she was found dead. But her case leads to another. And another....

Initially thought of as suicides, too many dead women lead to a rethink. All ran away from home to get married and ended up dead. Later the police figure out that it's murder, not suicide. So serial killer enters the picture.

The rest of the series is how they investigate, and go after the serial killer. He's an apparently mild mannered, teacher - family man - do gooder from the same town. His son goes to the same school as Devi Singh's son. Anand Swarnakar (Vijay Varma). The last guy you'd suspect.

The series is based on Cyanide Mohan, who operated in Karnataka.

A lot of issues are highlighted skillfully without preaching - the evils of dowry, the utter disregard for people of lower castes, and the way society functions. Even a police office like Anjali has to face discrimination in her day to day life.

All the episodes are quietly entertaining and firm. There's very little drama usually. But that is the charm. 

Anand Swarnakar goes about his tasks coolly and calmly. No mess, no fuss. Other than the killings, of course.

Anjali Bhati learns to reign in her impetuousness and stick to facts and procedure.

Devi Singh's arguments with his wife are so real that you can almost imagine them happening to you or someone else you know. His desire that his daughter will not be less than any boy, and his talk with his son about sex are heart warming.

The most a character grows is the demoted cop, Kailash Parghi. He goes through so many conflicting emotions - the need for promotion, the dread of bringing a new child into this horrible world, etc. that you just love the way it has been handled. His tremendous hesitation and soul searching when he must choose between a promotion and loyalty to his colleagues is one of the highlights of the show.

Anand Swarnakar is the star of the show, of course. Clever, methodical, cool. Always thinking of how to get out of a corner. The way he wins one battle against Anjali and his betrayal of his own student are brilliant manouvers.

The supporting cast is also good. The ladies who come under his spell. Anand and Devi Singh's wives, Miriam as the new wife when Anand runs, Anand's other family members, all do a good job.

Some dialogues and scenes get etched in your memory. 

One belongs to Anand. While teaching kids in remote villages, he says that each grain of sand represents an evil committed by humanity. Humanity committed so much evil that Rajasthan turned into a desert.

Second one is for Anjali.

When she is prevented from entering the Swarnakars' house for searching because of her caste, she brushes him aside, stating: “Kaun unch kaun neech, ye tere pushton ka time nahi hai, sanvidhaan ka time hai, kayde kanoon ka time hai."

Note: Not family friendly. The concept and a few uncomfortable scenes are the reason.

All in all, a must watch.

Jana Gana Mana (2022, Malayalam)

Saw Jana Gana Mana recently on Netflix --> https://www.netflix.com/title/81477034 (Original Malayalam, English subtitles).

Seldom does it happen that a movie is so out of the ordinary that it feels as if it belongs to some other realm altogether. This is one of them. What starts off as one thing swirls into something else altogether, taking you along for the ride.

The brutal rape and murder of a lady Muslim college professor (Mamta Mohandas as Saba) shocks everyone. As students start protesting, they are brutally beaten on campus by police. People are enraged - nationally via Social Media. Law and order threatens to spiral out of control. A cop (Suraj Venjaramoodu as Sajjan Kumar) comes in, and promises justice to the dead lady's mother. 

The cop cracks the case, and 4 people are arrested. But then before the case is to go to trial, all 4 are gunned down by the same ACP. 

Story over, right? Wrong.

A human rights case is filed against the extra judicial killings. Public sentiment is firmly on the cops side, esp. the ACP who "delivered justice". But the lawyer (Prithviraj Sukumaran as Aravind Swaminathan) "representing" the 4 dead men gives a major twist to things. Now things go topsy-turvy.

The movie paints a picture of the state of the eco system that we all live in. How the media manipulates us, how we never know what goes on in the name of law and order, and how nobody has time for the actual truth.

The movie touches on the rampant casteism in our society, esp. educational institutions (remember Rohit Vemula?), handling of various rape cases, to encounter killings (that bring cheer in the short term but can be grossly misused in the long term), to "they can be identified by the clothes they wear" (if you know, you know).

Suraj as Sajjan Kumar does a fantastic job of showing all the emotions that he goes through. Anybody who can act with silence is a good actor.

On the other hand, Prithviraj has all the "seeti maaro" dialogues - "we all want instant coffee, instant justice". But his character raises pertinent questions about what kind of a society we live in, and do we want to continue like this?

Those two together make for a great film.

The movie has flaws. Prithviraj's back story gets a rushed treament. Other characters are not as well developed.

None of the lower caste characters uplift themselves - the others have to do the uplifting. Also there are multiple taunts on the BJP - something that could have been avoided, but Kerala is Kerala :-).

Setting aside these minor flaws, a must watch.

Not family friendly - not because of the physical content but because of the emotional level. If you show it to your kids be ready for multiple deep discussions.

An Action Hero (2022, Hindi)

An Action Hero is a Hindi film. Watched this on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81514149?source=35 . This is truly the one that got away, and I would have gladly paid to watch this in the theater. Not for any big screen sequences, but just to give my bit towards this fun gem.

Maanav (Ayushmann Khurana) is an "Action Hero" in Hindi movies. His life is going great.

Until a fateful day while shooting in a small town in Haryana. Vicky Solanki, brother of a local strongman/politician, wants to take a photo with Maanav. But Maanav is distracted by his new car, and ignores Vicky. An incensed Vicky confronts Maanav, who pushes him and Vicky dies, totally by accident.

But the strongman, Bhoora Solanki (Jaideep Ahlawat) is out for revenge. Maanav flees to UK, where he has a house. Bhoora follows him there as well. Maanav doesn't know him, but soon finds out :-). No amount of pleading by Maanav is enough to pacify Bhoora, who is out for revenge. And then they go hammer and tongs at each other.

There's a bunch of characters who pop up - a fixer called Sai (Neeraj Madhav from "A Family Man") who is also a double crosser, a lower level gangster called Kaadir (who also wants to get Maanav), and finally a Don who is the name changed version of Dawood Ibrahim. There's Harsh Chhaya as Maanav's assistant, as competent as ever.

During this time, Maanav's reputation in India is in the toilet. News anchors are going hammer and tongs at him. Special mention to the Arnab Goswami parody by Sandeep Dhabale. He has you in splits. Others are cleverly presented so that you can imagine whichever anchor you want in their place.

But the main characters are Maanav and Bhoora. They have a hate-love relationship. Beating the crap out of each other, and yet stopping short of killing the other multiple times.

Even though it is Ayushmann's film, Jaideep has the choicest dialogues. Delivered with his classic deadpan look, he has some gems like:

Chhota kare toh galti, bada kare to misaal banti hai. 

Jyada samajhdaari dikhai, to mein bewakoofi kar doonga.

And the killer one when Maanav doesn't recognize the gangster Kaadir either:

“Saale kisi ko to pehchan le! Hum saare chu**ye hai kya jo tujhe maarne nikale hai?”

There is a twist in the end, which I can't reveal as it would be a spoiler. 

The movie is beautiful at many levels. It shows how the media and public opinion can swing in an instant. The same media first crucifies Maanav, and it also praises him after a twist. 

It is a satirical look at our society in general at one level.

On the other level, it shows the growth of Maanav. From a cushioned, pampered action hero to one who really fights for himself. 

It also shows what really motivates a person - Bhoora and Maanav are brutally honest with each other about that part. The end also says something about the real driving force behind people.

The movie is not family friendly due to the rough language used, so beware. Other than this caveat, a must watch.

Pathaan review

Saw "Pathaan" today. Low on logic, big on action.

SRK is on India's side. Deepika is a Pakistani. ISI agent. John Abraham was a RAW agent. But John felt let down by his country during a very crucial time. So now he's a freelance terrorist who's anti India.

Other star cast is good - Ashutosh Rana + Dimple.

Plot - not much. Shah Rukh has to stop John. Lots of body count on the way.

Special appearance by Bhai. And door opens to YRF Spy Universe (grand term) where these folks will do cameos in each other's films.

SRK is back. He was looking anemic previously, now no more.

Haters will hate. And find ways to #BycottBollywood, spelling mistakes and all.

Summary: Go if logic is not a criterion. And for the action. And for the scene post credits, Marvel style.

Dedication - "Din Dhal Jaaye"

"Din Dhal Jaaye" from Guide, sung by Mohd. Rafi. 

The story goes that Rafi gave umpteen takes for this song. And at that time there was no chopping and recording sections. The entire song had to be done again from start to end.

S D Burman was the music director. After some time he went up to Rafi and asked "Why are you doing retakes? Every time I found your singing perfect."

Rafi sahab said "At the end of the song there is 'Aise mein kisko kaun manaaye'. The emphasis on 'kaun' that you put when explaining it to me, I am not getting it. Once I get it, I will stop."

S D Burman had no answer to this. Rafi kept singing. And stopped when he got it.

They don't make them like they used to anymore.

https://open.spotify.com/track/0YSDElkycJ6Z8raNGUlWiZ?si=af1480307bae48d8

Rakshan The Ghost (Tamil)

Saw this on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81646772

A blend of everything: John Wick, childhood trauma, uncontrolled action.
You know what is coming when the movie starts off in the desert. And within 3 minutes the body count has gone to 50.

Story? Nagarjuna. The invincible. Called Ghost, in case there was any doubt.

Ok but story? Nagarjuna. Body count in thousands.

Ok seriously, story? Sigh. Ok. 

Haunted by childhood trauma of Hindu - Muslim riots. Taken under his wing by an Army officer. Has an older sister called Anu (Gul Panag), who becomes estranged from their father due to his objection to her marrying an older divorced man. 

Becomes an Interpol officer who deals in blood spill as if it was water. After a child rescue attempt ends in the child's death at the kidnapper's hand, goes rogue. Drifts away from partner / lover (Sonal Chauhan). Chops off gangsters and then vanishes.

Until big sister calls him since she is in mortal danger. Reforms spoilt niece, puts holes (big and small) in everyone, and rescues the day. Never even coming close to dying.

Action sequences are slickly directed. There's some decent sword play, and other stunts. 

But the rest of the film left logic at the door right at the beginning. When the child is shot, the "first aid" that Nagarjuna applies is a big pad of cotton. I'm not kidding. This is the level at which the rest of the story operates.

I am a Nagarjuna fan (ever since "Shiva" in Hindi, back when Ram Gopal Verma could direct). So I watched it for him, and didn't mind the missing storyline. If you are a Nagarjuna fan, you will not be disappointed. 

Others, there's pretty much nothing for you. Please watch John Wick instead.

Vikram Vedha (2017, Tamil)

 "It's easy to choose between right and wrong. But hard to choose between 2 wrongs."

Vikram is an honest police officer who is out to rid the world of as many criminals as possible. But he has 2 major flaws: 

1. He sees everything in black and white.

2. He uses illegal / immoral means to achieve his goal, esp. in encounter killings.

The counterpart to Vikram is Vedha. A gangster who has committed 16 murders. Terror and a law unto himself. But extremely loyal and family oriented.

Vikram is out to get Vedha. The main story starts with an encounter where many of Vedha's aides are killed. That sets in motion a chain of events that draw us into the gray area of right and wrong, puppet and puppeteer. The encounter has multiple facets, all which pose moral questions as well as pose a mystery.

Vedha surrenders himself in a major surprise to Vikram. But soon he's out on bail arranged by his lawyer - Vikram's wife. And the mind games begin. 

Vedha tells Vikram 3 stories that shake his entire belief system.

Based on Betal Pachisi, this is a good adaptation. It takes the gist of that tale and gives it a good flavor of its own.

Acting is first class. Madhavan as Vikram is good as usual. Vijay Sethupati as Vedha does a good job in being understated instead of over the top.

The twist at the end is delicious. I didn't see it coming.

Totally worth a watch.

Dhareshwar Math Mandir (Patan, Satara)

 Dhareshwar Math Mandir is a cave temple located in Patan taluka, Satara district. Google Maps will show you directions.

It's a cave temple, hundreds of years old. Water always falls down on the outside 365 days a year without any apparent water source above. पाण्याची सतत धार म्हणून धारेश्वर. 

Swayambhu idol of Lord Shiva was discovered by villagers inside this cave. Then they found out that it was a temple and restored it. The idol apparently grows a little every year. It was underground, now it has come overground.

The story goes that Lord Ram visited this temple after defeating Ravana. 

There's a visit by Pandavas during Agyatvaas mentioned too. 

The Pujari was a kind, gentle sort of guy. It's a Math. So there have been (22?) Swamis so far, many of whom took Samadhi there as well. While telling the stories, the Pujari mentioned that Pandavas restored the temple and then later Lord Ram visited it. I didn't have the heart to correct him on chronology :-). 

Road leading up to it was horrible towards the end. Rocky and a little dangerous. We  thought we would reach the Lord directly at a point in time :-). 

Oh, and the monkeys! There are lots of them. So beware - keep car doors and windows closed. If you want to feed them - we did - then keep all the food ready to give / throw. They are fast, and will reach you in the blink of an eye. So just be alert. None of them troubled us, but they are always on the lookout for food.

It's just something about a cave temple that I like. And unlike some places this is not dark and gloomy inside, it's quite well lighted.

All in all, this place is definitely worth a visit. 

Hush Hush (Amazon Prime) Series: Season 1

 Amazon Prime  just launched (Sep 22) a mystery drama series called "Hush Hush"

A quartet of friends (rich and famous) have their lives going on as usual. Until, at a party, things go horribly wrong for one of them. The others also get drawn into it. A man dies. And you have a full scale disaster on your hands. 

Then onwards, it is a spiral. It is also a discovery for 3 of the friends that they may not have known the 4th (Juhi Chawla as Ishi) well at all. Ishi is found dead at her home, presumably death by suicide. After that, so many layers of her life unravel that it becomes harder and harder for them to remain loyal to her, and cracks begin to show.

It is a curious quartet of friends.

Ishi - Juhi Chawla - the power broker who roams around in the corridors of the high and mighty. She has powerful friends and equally powerful enemies.

Saiba - Soha Ali Khan - the journalist who gave up her risky job to start a family. As talkative as Ishi is measured.

Dolly - Kritika Kamra - the youngest - bubbly Punjabi girl whose MIL has only one aim in life - get an heir out of Dolly for their khandaan.

Last but not the least, Zaira -  Shahana Goswami - a very successful designer who has 2 problems in her life: An old flame and a psychotic assistant, who really can't be trusted.

The case is investigated by a brilliant yet non worldly wise inspector called Geeta (Karishma Tanna).  During the investigation, she finds out that Ishi was actually an orphan. And she has left everything she owned to her friend in the orphanage (Ayesha Zulka as Meera). Meera now runs a girl's orphanage along with her husband.

Why did Ishi die? What was it amongst her many scandals that finally got her? Why are people after her friends who try to unravel the mystery behind her death? Did the dead man have many friends who are out for revenge or is there more than meets the eye?

The overwhelming feeling that one gets while watching this season is "With this much talent, this is all you came up with?" There's a brilliant lineup of actors and supporting actors - other than the main ones there's Benjamin Gilani as Dolly's FIL, Vibha Chibber as ACP Madhu, Geeta's boss.

But you still get a feeling that in the planning of having multiple seasons, you got short changed in this one. The serial promises to take off to great heights, but never does. You have things used as check boxes - f*** being thrown around generously, same sex relationship, etc. But it feels more bolted on than part of the original structure. Gurugram is the setting. But you never get a feel of the place, like any good series gives you. See Patal Lok for what a brilliant job looks like in making you almost smell the place it is located in.

3 directors have directed this - Tanuja Chandra, Kopal Naithani, Ashish Pandey. Maybe too many cooks did spoil the broth.

The relationship between Ishi and Meera is so complex. But it never gets its full due.

The tension between the friends - with Saiba doubting Ishi's character and Zaira blindly supporting her dead friend - is half baked. 

Karishma Tanna is supposed to be a middle class Haryanvi. But she looks like she just took off glamorous clothes and wore middle class ones. Ayesha Zulka is much better in looking the part of a (relatively) poor woman.

It is Juhi Chawla's first OTT foray. She seems to have gotten a raw deal as far as her character handling by the makers goes.

The only part which really was done well was the evolution of Dolly. From a overwhelmed by MIL, keeping her mouth shut woman to an assertive, independent thinker, her evolution is the best.

Also Benjamin Gilani going full scale MCP during his tirade against Dolly and her friends to his employee was refreshing. Although he did use the phrase "self actualized women", which was like the "Love Storiyaan" part of the Kesariya song in Brahmastra.

The one thing that will entice me for Season 2 is that one of my favorites -  Jaaved Jaafri - enters at the very end as a CBI officer who will now lead the investigation.

12th Man (Malayalam)

Continuing my streak of viewing Malayalam films on OTT, I recently saw 12th Man (Malayalam). 

OTT Platform: Disney+ Hotstar.

This stars Mohanlal, and a bunch of characters (11). The other actors I am afraid I don't know due to my limited knowledge of the Malayalam film industry.

11 friends gather at a resort outside the city for a bachelors(?) party hosted for their friend Siddharth. It includes Fida, Siddharth’s fiancée Aarathy, Mathew and his wife Shiny, Jithesh and his wife Dr. Nayana, Sam and his wife Merin, Zachariah and his wife Annie.

7 out of the 11 are college mates. The others are their spouses / fiancee (1). In the beginning they are annoyed by a drunk person called Chandrashekar who demands alcohol for them. They try their best to get rid of him. But he keeps popping up everywhere, even in the party.

In the party, one of the group (Fida) says that even though they are close friends, there are always secrets between them. Others disagree. 

Then someone suggests that they should play a game to finish off this argument. The game is simple. Everyone will keep their mobile phones out on the table for 1 hour. Any call received will be played on speaker phone. Any private text will be read out.

As expected, nothing good comes out of this :-). One by one embarrassing secrets start tumbling out. Financial problems, family issues, etc. 

The icing on the cake comes when Siddharth gets a call from one of his friends asking about the name of abortion pills that he got for one of the women in their group. All hell breaks loose. Accusations and counter-accusations fly around as to who the woman is (and by association, who the man is that had an affair with her). Insults are thrown at each other

The party disintegrates rapidly. Everyone goes to different parts of the resort, including their own rooms.

After a while, Shiny is found dead near a view point. Did she fall, commit suicide, or was murdered?

The police arrive. The friendly drunkard - Chandrashekar - turns out to be actually an ACP who has been temporarily suspended. The actual investigating officer has to handle election duties, so he hands over the case to his superior (Chandrashekar).

And then the game of cat and mice begins. Everyone is called, Agatha Christie style, into a big room. They are told to unlock their phones and put them on the table. So the game is resumed, this time with Chandrashekar as the puppeteer. He accesses everyone's phones, tells them whom to call, what to speak, etc.

It's only these actions primarily that peel back the layers. A lot of skeletons tumble out of everyone's closets. Affairs, financial irregularities, huge money transfers between people in the group, etc. - a whole basket of motives is presented.. 

How Chandrashekar guides the investigation towards a conclusion is the meaty part of the movie. Mohanlal effortlessly switches between the drunkard in the beginning to the sharp detective after the incident. He has the meatiest role, and does full justice to it.

The other characters are also well cast. They make their roles believable to a large extent.

All in all, a good film. Family friendly, nothing to worry about.

Note: There is only Malayalam audio available, with English subtitles. I personally love watching any movie in its own language for the feel it gives. But to each his own. If you are looking for other language options, there aren't any for this film.

Under Suspicion (2000)

 Under Suspicion is a 2000 Hollywood film. Starring Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman and Monica Bellucci in the main roles.

This is one of my favorites. One that I watch again and again, although not frequently. Because it is an intense one. So I space out the viewings.

Trust is fragile. It is undefinable. But it either exists or it doesn't. And you know for sure whether someone trusts you or not.

If someone is guilty of a crime, then they deserve to be punished. But what of suspicion? If someone is suspected of a ghastly crime without proof, isn't it actually worse than being guilty?

Gene Hackman (Henry Hearst) is a wealthy tax attorney. He is about to give a speech at a big fundraising event, as the city celebrates a festival. Just before the event, he is called by Morgan Freeman (Captain Victor Benezet) for questioning. Just 10 minutes, is what he is told.

As the questioning by the Captain and Detective Felix Owens (Thomas Jane) proceeds, Hearst learns that this is no 10 minute matter. It is also very serious. A young girl has been raped and strangled. 

There has been one more rape and strangling of another young girl a few weeks ago. He is being questioned about that too.

So it is obvious that he is the prime suspect.

In the beginning Hearst is at ease. Rich, powerful, connected. Captain Victor Benezet's boss is eager for Hearst to be released ASAP. He even interrupts the questioning to have Hearst cross over the street to the event, give his speech, and then go back to the police station.

As the interrogation proceeds, there is a lot of back and forth. Hearst's life is peeled apart piece by piece until there is absolutely nothing left. We learn that his is a sexless marriage due to which he visits prostitutes in absolutely shady areas (one near the first murder). 

Why is the marriage sexless? Because his wife, Chantal (Monica Bellucci) thinks that he tried to seduce her niece, who is a young girl. So she withholds the one thing that he most desires as a cruel form of punishment.

Hearst has been lying to the police from the start. There are gaps in his story. This convinces them that he is the murderer and they go at him real hard.

In her adamant belief in her husband's guilt, Chantal allows the police to search their mansion, even though they had no basic initial evidence to do so.

Is Hearst the killer? That's a spoiler I can't go through with.

But the mystery is not the juicy part. It's the dynamic duo of Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. Monica Bellucci plays an important role, but she is not the main attraction.

Freeman and Hackman - Cat and mouse. Dancing, dueling. Repartee - witty sometimes, insulting to the other at times. Trying to wear the other down. Expressions. Absolute masterclass in acting.  They turn an ordinary story into something at a much higher level. 

Back to trust. If you have it, heavenly. If you don't, nothing else matters. All the money and luxury in the world is hollow if you don't have someone important to you believing in you.

Currently on Netflix.  Not family friendly, as you might have guessed :-). But  most definitely worth a watch.

The Gray Man

 Watched The Gray Man on Netflix. 

CIA assassin is targeted for termination by the new people in charge. But obviously he cannot be killed,  no matter what or who is thrown at him. 

Nothing new in the story. Ryan Gosling does a fair job as the indestructible agent. Rest is more memorable for the carnage than the storyline. 

But couple of surprises. 
1. Captain America (Chris Evans) plays an out and out psycho to reset his goody-goody image. He goes all out in the psycho department until the director yelled "cut!" at him. And he still kept stabbing / torturing.

2. Small but noticeable part as an "honorable assassin" for apro Dhanush! Tamizh hero in Hollywood movie! Aur kitne acche din chahiye?

Unfortunately he is referred to as Avik San for some reason. Kaala Japanese vibes? 

Even more unfortunately his scenes are mostly in the dark. Sorry to say, makes it harder to see him 😜 (#racist). 

So watch it if you like the genre. Or for psycho Captain America. Or our nanban Dhanush.