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Reviews
The White Tiger (2021)
It is just fine, nothing great
It is a well marketed, hyped, and pushed on top by Netflix India so it is bound to catch eye balls. Although the movie itself is not that great, but then it is not bad either. It is forgettable. The best work to describe the movie is: Meh. The movie is, at heart, a Western movie with superficial coating of Indian themes, so none of it seems relatable, believable or emotional. Over all, a 6. If you don't watch it, you are not missing anything.
Tribhanga (2021)
Among the garbage that Netflix India produces, this was a welcome change
It is not among the best pieces of work out there, it is forgettable but very much entertaining. Note a 6 is a tremendously high score for something on Netflix India platform, so please don't go by the number. All the characters were very well developed and the story flow was very good.
There were slight issues where the hindi-writer character's use of Hindi words was made fun of and looked down upon, with the argument that a more normalized way of talking is English. This felt negative and coming from a colonial mindset. Its depressing that Netflix India always makes it a point to desecrate on our local cultures and languages. I mean how dare an Indian speak in their native language right? Off with his head! That put me off a bit in some moments.
But still, a good movie. To notice that the entire movie happens in a hospital room with only some quick small shoots outside, shows the thriftiness as well. Good performance by all actors as well. Definitely watchable.
Sir (2018)
Truly a great and honest film
SIR starts off slow, continues slow, and at a point I realized it is going to be slow, and yet I felt comfortable with it, and continued with that pace. If you feel the same, do give it time, let it settle down, you will enjoy it.
The movie is a really honest and good take on personal relationships we build regardless of our social status, and at the same time, in very honest terms, challenges its problems as well. It is not a melodramatic fantasy Cinderella story of a poor girl rescued by a rich prince. Instead that of a proud young lady who is making ends meet on her own terms, and a guy who sees very little in the riches he owns but sees a lot in his maid.
After all she is just a maid. And he is a rich fella. Can society accept them together? Obviously not! That also is handled in a very honest way and overall I am so happy that someone made a film like this. Very beautiful, very good. Do watch it!
Coolie No.1 (2020)
Remakes are generally bad. This one didn't surprise
Coolie movie back in the day when Govinda starred in it was a masterpiece. Some of us where highly excited to relive those fun moments with a new makeup and it ended up being a disappointment. I am not saying this with any impact because remakes are generally not good, and this one did not surprise anyone. Nothing much to see here, it is a remake, and it is bad. Simple.
I remember as a teenager how strong the original movie was to me. The idea of a coolie, who are not well to do, who carries heavy load, as a hero worked really well for me. I even started paying Coolies in real life a little extra since the movie.
What is striking is what we thought was a movie carried by David Dhawan, was actually Govinda all along! This is proven in Coolie No. 1 2020 as the director remains the same but the output is extremely basic, and downright intolerable after 30 minutes itself.
There is really not much to say here. Bad movie. Move on. Don't give it any of your brain space.
Bhaag Beanie Bhaag (2020)
Standup comedians' broken record is now getting annoying
I watched the trailer, I got a hint what this will be, then I took a look at an episode and my hint got confirmed. This is a story which has been told millions of times in India since 2 decades and every stand-up comedian ever has played this broken record. If I could have a dollar every time it plays.
It is almost condescending that the same message is being pushed over and over with the mindset that either Indians are not understanding or that every Indian must become a standup comedian, because this has to be what everyone wants, right? NO! A lot of us aspire to be doctors and engineers, hate us all you want, we are not going away.
At this point I feel Ekta Kapoor and Standup Comedians have ironically become the status quo in entertainment, and a counter culture drive is needed to pull them down from their privilege.
On top of all this, It does not help that, Netflix as a platform, is a private company owned, instead of a market regulated one, because of which they force keep their mediocre produce to the top for an entire week. I find it disappointing that Netflix India has a very superficial and sometimes wrong interpretation of what people are looking for.
Raat Akeli Hai (2020)
A refreshing breath of a non-politically loaded movie on Netflix
Excessive self righteous moral preaching and heavily politically biased stories on Netflix get a bit boring and cliched. And that change here itself makes this a good movie.
But leaving that non-creative virtue aside, lets look at the movie.
The movie starts with a very good premise, and takes it forward really well. There are some boring parts in the middle but as the movie progresses it makes sense they are there to maintain the pace of the movie, so make sure you stick to watching it. The journey of the police guy goes from composed to full paranoia and it is simply fun to watch that change happen over time. To say anything about the movie goes in the spoiler zone. Just watch it. Highly recommended.
Serious Men (2020)
Very entertaining with some questionable sensitivities
The movie is incredibly entertaining. From end to end as we explore various scenes, a gripping story, the socio-economic problems a lower caste person has to face in India, to the twists that come about, the movie is an absolute adventure! Made even more awesome by Nawaz's fantastic performance as always who can carry any movie on entirely his shoulders. Salute to him, a forever fan!
The movie is spot on by showing that upper caste people deny the problem as they have solved it from their end as most in India have stopped common practices related to caste. Which in itself is a good thing but the denial tends to ignore the systemic challenges still prevailing. And that we all need to at-least first acknowledge the problems.
Another part I absolutely loved was how missionary schools and evangelicals prey upon lower caste people so that they can be converted into Christianity. They act charitable but the motive is aggressive proselytization. Another problem lower caste Hindus face in India.
The problem I had with the movie was that the lower caste person was shown as someonne doing shady things who takes the negative route. While it's understood that is, but it doesn't help that in pop culture we always show lower caste people doing wrong things which doesn't exactly help with the systemic problem they face. It is insensitive. While I adored the movie, I hope that we focus more towards positive tales related to lower caste people who are able to overcome the problems of society.
A Suitable Boy (2020)
Deep Rooted Netflix India Mediocrity
What could have been a great story is marred with forced edginess, continued demonization of Hindus, which Netflix keeps indulging into, and is left as a click bait mediocre attempt at gaining crowds.
Netflix's cliched Hinduphobia continues quite openly in this, it is not even subtle. This is not helped by the dull acting where it seemed these actors already know what they are working for will not be entertaining anyway.
A severe disappointment of a show with the added problem of Netflix India's ever increasing toxic cultural insensitivity.
Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare (2019)
Extremely Boring, and a bit Jarring
The movie starts really good with a good premise about a middle class family, and certain sexual tensions around family members, but then the movies gets extremely boring. There is something about the movie, which keeps it feeling disconnected with what it is trying to say. And the boring nature does not help. I am not using "extremely" as a hyperbole here. It is indeed very boring.
The movie has the same cliched tropes that Netflix absolutely loves to show in their productions. Indians are bad people, Hindus are bad people, Indians are orthodox, Indian men are horrible etc. etc.. Netflix India's HInduphobia and the racism continues to show in this movie as well which is not surprising given it seems to be their mission in India. I am mentioning this because it doesn't help on top of the poor quality of the movie.
It is to be stayed completely away from. It is just yet another Netflix India's mediocre production.
Panchayat (2020)
The type of entertainment India is looking for
Everything this show does from every technicality aspect of film making, be it script, screenplay, story, story telling, devices, comedic timings, camera work, editing, you name it, is done very well. I just wanted to get that out of the way.
While that is something professionals handle very well, the main awesomeness of the show comes from it's faithfulness to the Indian villages and the point of view of an Indian middle class boy and his aspirations in life.
The grace with which the show explores different scenarios and critics sensitive social economic topics in our country, is commendable. It is not easy to get that right given how crass and culturally insensitive Netflix India shows get when they handle similar issues. Probably makes sense that this show is not palatable to Netflix and thus this is instead on Amazon prime.
Not to mention every episode is a wholesome packet of entertainment. The actors are fantastic and pretty much they carry the show. This is an extremely easy 10 rating from me, no doubts. Must watch.
Sadak 2 (2020)
From a hype machine to a Lackluster delivery
I think hype should be in proportion to the quality of content. Otherwise movies fall really flat on their faces. I have faint memories of the older one being decent, definitely not a 2, with what I am rating this.
This movie was the epitome of mediocrity. The acting was over done by most, insincere drama in most of the places, India's beaten to death concept of showing some religious dude in bad light, and Alia's cliche'd angry loud young girl acting which is getting really really old and boring now.
And most importantly right from the start, unless you are really distracted, you can sense if the director has passionately applied a vision or not. Half and hour in, it is just not visible in this movie. Too bad fantastic film crew and technical teams are misused by mediocre directors like these.
Flesh (2020)
I especially hate it when good concepts are ruined like this
These real world scenarios are only and only possible to watch if the actors are doing justice to it and that just didn't happen here. I want to go in so many scenes and details but that would be spoilers so I won't. I really feel frustrated writing this review, because the series could have had a good impact and message.
I will simply say this: Swara Bhaskar has not done justice to the role. In all honesty, she is simply not that good as she makes herself out to be. And it makes sense too. Whatever fame she has, it is all due to her loaded political statements. She doesn't really have anything going for her other than that. And this is visible in all of her work on screen: Just not good. (Believe it or not, but I have watched a lot of her stuff).
From a pure objective point of view, she is just below the line of mediocre. Her presence is somehow not positive on the screen, and her acting seems like a unholy mix of Hindi serial melodrama with Hollywood style forced coolness.
What I dislike the most is that the concept and the message is super important and good. And I especially hate it when good messages are spoiled like this. Very disappointing. 2 stars for the efforts of the backend team. Sorry.
Bandish Bandits (2020)
Musicians aside, the show is not that great
The musicians have done an amazing job, and a show dedicated to them is great. But if there was a DVD set or an album of just the musicals, I would rather have that. Reason is the main characters. Their love story, struggles, meetings, relationship, everything is superficial and shallow. I feel the main characters are the prerequisites and fundamentals of a good show or movie. Here they are a disappointment and make watching it a drag. I was often skipping the filler for the main stars which was the musicians, and that process was exhausting. Sorry, its a 3 for me.
Shakuntala Devi (2020)
A movie of a legend by a legend
It is truly a poetic justice that a movie about a woman who made her own life, is played by a woman who made her own life. Vidya Balan is a really good actress and she does justice to the really interesting life of Shakuntala Devi. Shown in a non chronological fashion but in a very seamless fashion. The story comes full circle in the end and works really well.
Me being a man, I love that all men are shown kind hearted, supportive understanding in her life, encouraging us to be supportive to all the women in our lives too.
Do note, that Vidya Balan is not liked by establishment, so do not fall for the low ratings. Enjoy this emotional ride of a legend by a legend.
Gulabo Sitabo (2020)
Ayushmaan Khurana's acting is aging
You know, you see a face, that smile, that talking style over and over again, and for some you love it, and for others you don't. Ayushman unfortunately falls in the second category, his presence on screen has not aged well.
Don't get me wrong, the guy is great. And Amitabh Bachchan has done fantastic. But the script was a bit random, an unclear message, a lazy political satire, and the most boring thing for me was Ayushman's acting.
Over all, worth watching in the background while you are doing something important.
Dark (2017)
A masterpiece after a very long time!
Off late I was getting a bit annoyed by how every Netflix series is trying to make us look into theory and "ending explained" videos. I stayed away from Dark for quite a while thinking this will be yet another one of those shows.
One fine day I finally decided that wife and me will watch it, and we instantly got hooked. We don't binge watch by the way, I am old school. Maximum 2 episodes in one sitting. By the time we reached end of season 2, season 3 was out, so it was perfect timing for us. The show is difficult to keep track of but it sincerely comes back to explain everything to you without keeping loose ends.
The finale was fantastic and very emotional and a perfect ending. I did not need to watch any stupid YouTube theory videos. I just went to the dark website because I was curious about some family tree complexities.
A very good intriguing show after a very long time. 10/10
Hasmukh (2020)
Yet another Netflix India trash
May be people who are standup comedians, cannot be actors, that's what this show tells me. Obviously I couldn't go beyond a few episodes but from whatever I could gather, things overall seemed out of place.
What I find disturbing, is most of the Netflix India show ideas root in Western themes, and they seem very out of touch of their crowd. They live in their own fantasy world which has Indian Props but underneath it's a Western world.
Netflix India shows remind me of the casual game "Cut the Rope" Indian version, where the developers put a turban on the main character and called it a day, "There you go, now this game is Indian".
This makes things very cringe and simply unwatchable even if the technicalities with camera work and screenplay was alright. 3 star for the backend team. Rest, typical Netflix India garbage. Stay away.
Krishna and His Leela (2020)
Mediocrity at best, Yet another disappointment pushed by Netflix India
Seems Netflix has made it a mission to shove western mediocrity down our Indian throats. There is absolutely nothing special about this, other than decent technicalities around screenplay, camera work, compositions etc. which is something even youtubers do well these days, but just for that it makes it a 4 rating for me as the backend team has done a good job.
1 star lesser because there is an unnecessary use of the title "Krishna and his Leela". You can change the title, and change the names of the characters, and the movie will remain exactly the same. The title is pretty much a shameless click-bait, completely irrelevant, and reminds me of the spam content creators who use clickbait thumbnails to get views on various platforms.
Overall it checks the usual tick-boxes for a Netflix India Content:
Selling Sex for Views? Check!
Forced Controversy? Check!
Click-bait? Check!
Western Mediocrity? Check!
Western Sycophancy? Check!
A "Netflix" Cliche? Check!
Give it a pass, not worth your time.
Space Force (2020)
A good show after a long time!
I have not watched the office so coming from a completely independent and unrelated set of eyes towards the director, I found the show amazing. It was funny, interesting, little crass at times, every episode had a new refreshing idea, characters are adorable.
I was shocked to see the bad reviews. Reading deep into it, seems there is some history and expectation around Steve Carrel's "The Office" with this show and fans of that show are not liking something here.
At-least from an unbiased set of eyes, I will say, it's a great show!
Ghoul (2018)
Unrealistic and Non relatable fantasy
It is fun at a level so I give it 4 stars. But why must a fantasy ghost story MUST include a realistic political angle when it can carry itself on it's own, is something I will never understand about netflix, and leaves a bitterness which can easily be avoided. This is a consistent netflix's problem where it spoils perfectly good concepts by reminding and forcing on us their cliched political inclinations injected in these stories. No thanks.
Asur: Welcome to Your Dark Side (2020)
Good example of wasted potential
The story unfolds in a very interesting way, but some highly glaring problems completely overshadow an otherwise interesting concept of a show. I kept missing the beat and had to force myself to come back to it. Ok so let's start.
First. It did not make sense to open the show with the least talented actor. The Nikhil Nair character has too much focus on his persona instead of believable acting. Also, this may be just me, but his accent is illegible. I generally understand the Indian American accent well, but this was something else. Anyway, most other characters have acted well. Arshad Warsi has acted great but then that's not surprising, he is a veteran. Over all I cared very less for any of them.
Second. This is not that big of a deal but worth mentioning. Asuras were not necessarily bad people in our various mythologies. May be Rakshashas or Daanav term could have been used. Really hoped a modern show will be mindful of correct cultural sources. Instead they went ahead with a common vernacular misconception. I hope nobody is using this as a source to learn about whatever they were showing about Indian mythology. Best to assume it was about an isolated lunatic.
Third. Let's talk about the real issue. It seemed as if the creator has chosen Indian colors but the painting is Western. If that metaphor didn't work, try this: The show seemed like a low esteem Indian kid who wants the attention of the cooler white kids. Its essentially a wannabe Western show. References to autism, psychological disorders, True Detective style fantasized religious shock value, redundant gory elements, almost zero cultural relatability, and some technical goof-ups. Because of these reasons, the show lives in a world of it's own, where things just look Indian but the soul is Western. This causes a disconnect and it comes off very dull, uninteresting and a drag. Let's just say that I could not reach the last episode. No interest in what the cliff hanger is.
Year One (2009)
turns out its not that bad
So it was a lazy day and I thought I will go in the tub, have some beer, and will watch this movie. As I saw its rated quite low and I wouldn't have to pay much attention so Year One may be a good choice.
I actually saw the movie twice. Because first time I could not pay attention and I was drawn into seeing it the second time because the movie was not bad at all. And I did enjoy it the second time. I am giving it a rating of 10 not because it deserves a 10... it does not at all. I am giving it a 10 because it has been widely under-rated and I really don't see why. May be most religious people got offended or something, I don't know.
Jack Black was his usual self doing his thing. Michael Cera again, was playing the cliché role of a loser turns into a hero guy. There were few jokes. It is not a 5, thats all I am trying to say here. May be a 6.5
Megamind (2010)
In simple terms, its entertaining
From the makers of KungFu Panda and How to train your dragon, comes a new movie called 'Megamind', which you can get skeptic about a lot of things, but you cannot deny that its entertaining. I got to see this in a screening few days back. The movie is full of explosions, nice special effects, enormous scale of the world, well mixed soundtracks, and fantastic presentation. Every character is likable and sympathetic. The animation quality is unquestionable and it has some nice jokes. It is fast paced, although I personally would have preferred if they made the movie a bit longer; There is a lot of margin for drama and emotional content with the story they have and also since DWA is really putting good depth in their movies lately, I was expecting the same, but they preferred to keep it short.
As I have always seen, one thing DWA movies have in common... they are entertaining.