Ghar Vapsi - Nolan Style : My quick take on Nolan’s “Odyssey” (Theatrical release) Christopher Nolan has done what few filmmakers would dare attempt. He has taken one of humanity’s oldest surviving stories and mounted it on the biggest cinematic canvas possible. The Odyssey is not merely a film; it is an event. Watching it in IMAX is like stepping into an ancient world carved out of light and thunder. And that leaves me a little conflicted. Should I simply join the bandwagon

Pritam & Pedro (JioHotstar): Tintin in Goa, Hirani Style! That makes it an Arshad Warsi hat-trick for me. After Welcome to the Jungle and Dhamaal 4, I thoroughly enjoyed Pritam & Pedro. Three completely different outings, one common denominator… Arshad proving yet again that effortless comic timing is a rare superpower, the kind that lands like a perfectly timed cricket shot in the final over. Rajkumar Hirani makes his OTT debut as creator-producer, while Avinash Arun (Paatal

Alpha, Beta… Gamma Gone! : My quick take on two movies “Alpha and Baby Do Die Do” (Theatrical release) A Survivor’s Report Public Service Announcement: I survived Alpha and Baby Do Die Do. The doctors say recovery is possible, though my cinematic faith is still in intensive care. I watched them in Alpha-Beta order. Or should I say Alpha & Beti, because both films revolve around sibling relationships. Yes, that’s a PJ. After these back-to-back screenings, my IQ has entered the

RAAKH: Not for the faint-hearted. Not for the binge-happy. (Amazon Prime) It’s dark. It’s depressing. It’s dreadful. And that’s precisely why Raakh finds a place among the finest crime dramas I have watched so far. It comfortably sits in the same league as Asur, Delhi Crime, Kohrra, Undekhi, Paatal Lok, Suzhal: The Vortex and Tabbar. When the creative force behind Paatal Lok is holding the baton, one expects quality. Raakh doesn’t disappoint. Though inspired by the infamous R

Governor: When Macroeconomics Gets a Theatrical Release There are films that entertain. There are films that educate. And then there are films that seem determined to complete the unfinished syllabus of your economics degree. Watching Governor, I couldn’t help but think of my IIM Calcutta macroeconomics professor, @Partha Ray. Had he watched this film, in his trademark witty style, he would probably have called it: “Macroeconomics and Fiscal Policies for Dummies… or perhaps D

Kaisa BANDAR banaya !! : My quick take on “Bandar” (theatrical release) A deadly combination of the Paatal Lok writers and the ever-enigmatic Anurag Kashyap was reason enough for me to buy a ticket. I walked in expecting a commercial film with festival-film ambitions. I walked out feeling I had watched a festival film trapped inside a commercial movie. Or perhaps the other way around. Bandar is dark, disturbing and relentlessly uncomfortable. The desolate mood it creates slow

A ‘Watch’ Story Worth ‘Watch’ing : My quick take on awesome web series “Made in India : A Titan story” (Amazon Prime). A web series about a watch company that’s actually worth a watch! I must confess, I may sound a bit biased in this review. But kya karega, apun bhi ek proud Tata product hai na bhai! Having started my professional journey with Tata Motors (then TELCO) as a Graduate Trainee Engineer GTE-19 way back in 1986, a little gratitude toh banta hai na bhai. After years

A Winning Performance in an Uneven Film : My quick take on ‘Peddi’ (Theatrical release) Just watched Peddi. And I walked out of the theatre with one lingering thought: Watching Peddi is like watching talented Vaibhav Suryavanshi smash the ball all over the park, score a breathtaking century… and still end up on the losing side. That, in one sentence, is Peddi. Our protagonist plays a Good (Gud) Boy, whose unique expertise is making special gud (गुड). 😜 The irony? While the h

A ‘Watch’ Story Worth ‘Watch’ing : My quick take on awesome web series “Made in India : A Titan story” (Amazon Prime). A web series about a watch company that’s actually worth a watch! I must confess, I may sound a bit biased in this review. But kya karega, apun bhi ek proud Tata product hai na bhai! Having started my professional journey with Tata Motors (then TELCO) as a Graduate Trainee Engineer GTE-19 way back in 1986, a little gratitude toh banta hai na bhai. After years

A Kick-Ass Family Affair! : My quick take on Tamil movie “Blast” (Theatrical release) Thanks to my buddy @sarvanamuthu balsubramanian for recommending this kick-ass (literally!) movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed. When Hollywood served us various versions of Karate Kid, lo and behold, our Kollywood came up with a befitting response: “Karate Family.” After all, we are a family-oriented audience. Why settle for one karate kid when you can have an entire family handing out flying

Kara, just short of becoming be-kara!! : My quick take on movie “Kara” (Netflix) When Money Heist Takes the Scenic Route Through Rural south India Looks like Netflix’s AI recommendation bot was in full swing. After successfully convincing me to sit through both Berlin spin-offs back-to-back, it confidently served up Kara. Going by the thumbnail, I expected a gritty Tamil heist drama. What I eventually got was Money Heist and Do Bigha Zameen sharing the same bullock cart. To b

From Money Heist to Honey Heist : My quick take on two web series “Money Heist - Berlin, Jewles of Paris & The Lady with an Ermine” Have you ever watched a prequel after watching a sequel? I recently did. After watching Berlin: Lady with an Ermine, I realized that this was actually a sequel to another Money Heist spin-off, Berlin: The Jewels of Paris. So I decided to sit through nearly 16 episodes of Berlin and his band of lovable lawbreakers before writing my take. My sponta

DRISHYAM 3: Georgekutty Strikes Again , And Gets Away With It. Let’s be honest. After Drishyam 2, most of us assumed Georgekutty had finally earned retirement. The man had outsmarted the police, buried his secrets deeper than Jio’s fibre cables, survived investigations that would send the FBI into group therapy, and was quietly living his best Kerala life. What more could possibly go wrong? Apparently, he decided to produce a film. The scrappy cable operator of Drishyam 1 has

This Movie Didn’t Scare Me. It Reframed Me. : My quick take on spooky movie “Backrooms” (Theatrical release) Backrooms Or When Your Subconscious Hires an Interior Designer With Commitment Issues I walked into Backrooms expecting a horror film. What I got instead was a full-blown NLP workshop conducted inside an abandoned office building designed by anxiety itself. And honestly? I loved every bizarre fluorescent-lit minute of it. First things first: this is not your regular po

Chand Mera Dil : From Student Of The Year 3 Vibes to Surprisingly Soulful Cinema I nearly skipped this Dharma drama despite getting hold of tickets for the premiere show in Dubai. Thanks Gaurav Paul 😄 But then the long weekend forced me into the theatre with a fair bit of skepticism. Not because of the heavily trolled “Ananyadancenatyam” clips floating around social media, but because the film was rolling out from KJo’s ever-running conveyor belt of beautiful people discove

Dubai Stole the Movie. Jack Ryan Just Ran Through It : My quick take on movie “Jack Ryan - Ghost war” (Amazon Prime) Classic Jack Ryan chaos: rogue black-ops, global conspiracy, ticking clock, and somehow one CIA analyst doing everyone’s job. But honestly? It works. John Krasinski keeps Ryan grounded, Wendell Pierce brings gravitas, and Sienna Miller thankfully exists for more than “love interest energy.” Despite the often repeated plot of an agent going rogue and the “good m

System: The Case of the Missing Tight Screenplay : My quick take on movie “System” (Amazon Prime) System Or When Bollywood Put the Judiciary, Nepotism, Social Justice, Family Drama, and Slow Motion Walking Into a Mixer Grinder and Pressed “Emotion Purée.” There are courtroom dramas. There are social commentaries. And then there is System, a film that walks into your living room wearing the expression of a constitutional crisis but occasionally behaves like a particularly exha

Dubai Stole the Movie. Jack Ryan Just Ran Through It : My quick take on movie “Jack Ryan - Ghost war” (Amazon Prime) Classic Jack Ryan chaos: rogue black-ops, global conspiracy, ticking clock, and somehow one CIA analyst doing everyone’s job. But honestly? It works. John Krasinski keeps Ryan grounded, Wendell Pierce brings gravitas, and Sienna Miller thankfully exists for more than “love interest energy.” Despite the often repeated plot of an agent going rogue and the “good m

Kartavya: Short Runtime, Even Shorter Surprises : My quick take on “Kartavya” (Netflix) Netflix’s Kartavya feels like the makers opened a pressure cooker of North Indian social issues and threw in class divide, honor killings, dera culture, corrupt cops, and one lone “system se ladta hua imaandaar officer.” Unfortunately, somewhere between the whistles and steam, originality escaped. But credit where due. The Sartaj Singh of Sacred Games rides again. Saif Ali Khan does shine