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Reviews
12th Fail (2023)
Restart
Now this is the stuff meant for oscars. Still shaken by the movie writing this review while credits are still scrolling. Vikrant has outdone himself. Its a stellar performance worthy of any award there is. One of the very rare Indian Movies where romance actually was relevant, especially this being a real story.
All the characters were stellar, no weak links and the realism with which it was picturised was nothing less than genius. The tension in the climax was well created and never even a fraction of a dull moment any any point in time in the whole movie.
Highly recommended to everyone - Entertainment seekers or Motivation seekers.
My respect to Vidhu Vinod Chopra for creating this masterpiece.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Not expected from Nolan
I am afraid i am posting contrary to popular opinion. This is not one of Nolan's outstanding works. There is no unifying track and felt like all over the place.
Couldn't understand Matt's role, just felt like he was there just to say his lines that's all. Inconsequential. And about Robert, didnt understand the seemingly artificial tension that was tried to be created and all of a sudden Rami Malek was airdropped into the climax to turn things around a bit but that was just to counter Robert and that was it. Why was the socialist propaganda stretched in the movie I am not sure, but if it was only to drag this in the dispositions, then thats overkill. That secret dialog with Einstein that he revealed in the end was so underwhelming...
While his pursuit of science, regret and affairs etc are all there, somehow don't demonstrate the storytelling one would expect from Nolan. I cant believe Nolan made it, I want to know who Nolan delegated this movie to.
This movie wasted a lot of genuine talent and great performances just because the storyline was not edited properly. Can't unsee it though. So much for imax.
Thar (2022)
Great watch
I don't agree with the low ratings some of the users have given. The story is tight, though it doesn't seem like a movie set in 80s, still, the story is tight and compelling.
It is a revenge drama and has a western movie feel to it. Rural scenes are convincing. Anil Kapoor's acting is great.
The Kashmir Files (2022)
Realistic and gut wrenching
This is the pinnacle of storytelling. While there have been different narratives since so many years, this is the first time a narrative from kashmiri pandit point of view, and going by the response of the audience including me, seems truer than the other narratives.
Acting is superb and the story is tight. Extremely emotional and heart breaking. One should watch this movie with open mind rather than calling it propaganda. It is up there with Hotel Rwanda, Schindlers list and other such movies.
This is surely going to be an oscar winner in the international category.
The Family Man (2019)
Very watchable, but...
Why do many series close in a hurry these days? Take The family Man for instance - Very watchable, binge worthy show that could do with 2 more episodes to gracefully close some important subplots.. it seems like they just chose to forget them in a hurry to contain it in 10 episodes..
No closure on his wife and her colleague, no closure on his daughter's doubt on their impending divorce, no closure on sajid, no closure on Samir.. These are not something that you would want to address in the next season.
Aspirants (2021)
Thank you for this masterpiece!
After watching a long list of expletive laden, action/thriller filled series with or without the writers' political agendas, here comes a series that celebrates ambition, perseverance, positivity and the most of all, friendship.
This series is a masterpiece that has dwarfed the Amazon primes and Netflixes of the world and given us excellence. All the actors were superb and the story line was water tight.
Only One turnoff: unacademy sometimes felt like forcefit. Beyond a certain point, it felt like ya ya i get ut, just move on with the story. But such was the strength of the story that i would let that slide with pleasure.
Thanks TVF.
Kathmandu Connection (2021)
Don't waste your time
It starts well, but it gradually degenerate into a very clichéd storyline. Amit sial has performed well but i don't know what has happened to the ott script writers, they want to integrate their personal social agendas and views and want to impale that into the public. It is sad.
The White Tiger (2021)
Simply awesome
I read White tiger 12 years ago and finished to book in one sitting. It was a mesmerising story and truly deserved every bit of accolade that it got.
When I saw the promos of the movie, I was a bit apprehensive but honestly, great job done in making that story come alive visually. It is a great satirical narrative on the socio economical structure of Indian society without getting politically left or right!
Stellar performance by Adarsh Gaurav, the dude's going places after this! Needless to say Rajkumar Rao and Priyanka Chopra were awesome and so were the rest of the carefully chosen cast!
In a nutshell, a must watch.
McMafia (2018)
Not everybody's cup of tea
If is more of a crime drama rather than an action series. That explains a comparatively lower rating, but if you are interested in great storytelling, this is a series you wanna invest you time in.
Very tight series with some spectacular turn of events. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Bandish Bandits (2020)
Respectable premise, bubblegum drama
To be honest, it started great. Classical music was great and one would anticipate the voice of classical music finally reaching far beyond a certain niche. Then it started going downhill. That cheesy romance by the third episode was the final nail in the coffin.
Left it in between the third episode. Surprised by such a high rating.. it is really unfair to the hard work and creativity demonstrated in other high rated classics.
Special OPS (2020)
A great series but leaves some questions unanswered
No doubt that there are very few series in India that are so tight and nail biting as this one. Kay Kay Menon is just superb. So are many other actors in this but not all. Farooq is unconvincing. Other people in the team are good but their role is not very defined. One could live with all this but can't digest some story flaws and sub plots that have been (conveniently?) ignored.
1. Sonya calls Amjad Farooq. How is this possible?
2. What happened to that half brain Salim guy who has come to do fake firing on Himmat Singh? He is also seen at the venue but is still inconsequential??
3. How did Himmat guess that somebody from the security team is also among conspirators? He remembered Farah with the pak security head only after he has already killed him.
4. When akhlaq's security guy tracks taxi through the cctv camera, why couldn't he just see Farook in the first place rather than tracking taxi down and then calling?
Main concern is Farooq. He is unconvincing and ideally should have been played by the person playing Bala.
Though I would confess that despite all these loopholes, the series is utterly watchable and I I went through some of the reviews, I didn't see anyone pointing these very obvious loopholes.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
This is not a movie
A sequel can be enjoyed even if you haven't seen the first part like terminator 2 (just an example). This is not like that. If you haven't seen BrBa then I would suggest you watch it because it is the most glorious way to conclude some left over threads of a supremely knitted story. Fantastic.
The Family Man (2019)
Very watchable, but...
Why do many series close in a hurry these days? Take The family Man for instance - Very watchable, binge worthy show that could do with 2 more episodes to gracefully close some important subplots.. it seems like they just chose to forget them in a hurry to contain it in 10 episodes..
No closure on his wife and her colleague, no closure on his daughter's doubt on their impending divorce, no closure on sajid, no closure on Samir.. These are not something that you would want to address in the next season.
Leila (2019)
A waste of time
Going beyond the obvious - Anti hindu propaganda in the garb of Dissent - Flavor of the day for intellectual far left leaning niche who have been spinning venom since long before the just concluded elections in India. One can only guess who thankfully won!!
Coming to the story, it is weak and highly predictable. In between it becomes painstakingly slow. Huma Qureshi has done a great job though.. However, her endless hopping on trash and dingy lanes cannot save a story that is already trash. Individual Performances are good generally but cop calling out "Panchkarmi, Panchkarmi" like a bloke hardly evokes any respect for the craft of storytelling in this case. All the tension in scenes is sadly diluted by so many things the director wants to convey all at once.
Poor direction and story has seriously let the good efforts of the actors down. I watched it for the story mostly while ignoring the propaganda part only but at the end of it one feels cheated.
It is a time waste even if you are anti Hindu. This is not the type of content for which you pay high subscription costs on OTTs.
Hanna (2019)
Overrated and underwhelming
Under committing then delivering is always better than other way round. Requires no exceptional talent to do so. Coming to the series, I haven't seen the movie but I have seen the series.
They have been successfully been able to build suspense and intrigue. Makes one continue episode after episode. Eventually, you land up towards the last episodes and the story that unfurls is seriously underwhelming. Lot of questions remain unanswered. So many things that were built up nicely just fizzled down.
What about the DNA thingy that's supposedly made them special? If it was keen sense of listening and some bit of telepathy, then why did it become apparent only towards the last?
While this series is good for light viewing, I would suggest there are still better series on prime if you can skip this one.
Would commend the girl's acting though. She has a convincing presence. I face, the cast did a good job on performance, its only the story and some bit of editing part that could be better.