For those whining about misogyny, glorification of crime etc, get a life. Movies are there to entertain not to reform the society. The protagonist is not shown as a very nice guy but he has a justification for being over protective towards his family. And the deal about the antagonists being shown as belonging to a particular religion actually makes the movie very realistic; as it shows the practices of the adherents of that faith. Ranbir is maturing as an actor and he plays his role with full conviction. Rashmika is shown as a South Indian so she speaks with an accent. Don't listen to the nay-sayers. Enjoy the movie.
Reviews
34 Reviews
The White Tiger
(2021)
zenophobic movie
28 August 2023
Basically a movie which stereotypes Indians and shows India in a bad light. I guess this is the primary reason why the movie was well liked by the international audience; because they were able to see India the way they prefer it to be portrayed - backward, poor, full of crime and bigotry.
Basically a movie which stereotypes Indians and shows India in a bad light. I guess this is the primary reason why the movie was well liked by the international audience; because they were able to see India the way they prefer it to be portrayed - backward, poor, full of crime and bigotry.
Basically a movie which stereotypes Indians and shows India in a bad light.
Basically a movie which stereotypes Indians and shows India in a bad light. I guess this is the primary reason why the movie was well liked by the international audience; because they were able to see India the way they prefer it to be portrayed - backward, poor, full of crime and bigotry.
Basically a movie which stereotypes Indians and shows India in a bad light.
Viking Wolf
(2022)
Boring, cliche drama with brainless plot
13 March 2023
After Troll, this is the second completely brainless movie I endured. It is not a horror movie by any stretch of the imagination. More of a teenage angst film, with a thin sprinkling of ridiculous werewolf on top.
Every character in the film is totally stupid and unlikable. Plus you have the usual yawn-inducing cliches - bullying classmates, fish-out-of-water teenager, lady cop subjected to misogynist remarks by smirking men.
One teenager is brutally killed in the woods and the next day, the lead teenager goes back to the same spot casually; because what's the big deal about being mauled to death, right?
And the lead teenager turns into a werewolf on full moon night and kills her boyfriend. The next day she tries to run away by boarding a bus and again she transforms into a werewolf. Guess every night is a full moon night.
The slain werewolf is twice as big as a normal wolf; yet the animal specialist doesn't accept that it is a werewolf. He still keeps insisting that it is just a normal wolf with mange.
And in the end, the experienced werewolf hunter who hands out silver bullets to others himself tries to kill it by driving a large truck at it (he fails obviously).
The werewolf hesitates to attack its younger sister; but has no such compunctions about attacking its mother.
The acting too sucks big time. The lady cop, animal specialist, werewolf hunter, the second husband - all need to go back to acting school.
This movie is a huge embarrassment.
Every character in the film is totally stupid and unlikable. Plus you have the usual yawn-inducing cliches - bullying classmates, fish-out-of-water teenager, lady cop subjected to misogynist remarks by smirking men.
One teenager is brutally killed in the woods and the next day, the lead teenager goes back to the same spot casually; because what's the big deal about being mauled to death, right?
And the lead teenager turns into a werewolf on full moon night and kills her boyfriend. The next day she tries to run away by boarding a bus and again she transforms into a werewolf. Guess every night is a full moon night.
The slain werewolf is twice as big as a normal wolf; yet the animal specialist doesn't accept that it is a werewolf. He still keeps insisting that it is just a normal wolf with mange.
And in the end, the experienced werewolf hunter who hands out silver bullets to others himself tries to kill it by driving a large truck at it (he fails obviously).
The werewolf hesitates to attack its younger sister; but has no such compunctions about attacking its mother.
The acting too sucks big time. The lady cop, animal specialist, werewolf hunter, the second husband - all need to go back to acting school.
This movie is a huge embarrassment.
Kaduva
(2022)
Cringe fest
13 February 2023
Absolutely trash and cringe-worthy movie. It seems that they tried to make this movie like Ayyapanum-Koshiyum; but that film is 1000 times better than this garbage.
This film is a thorough cringe-fest in more ways than one. Unnecessarily and repeatedly showing religious symbols worn by the protagonist in slow-motion; like his finger ring, neck chain with cross, beads handing from his car window is nauseating. And what's with all the syrupy-sweet songs praising saints and god, taking name of God in every second dialogue, showing religion in almost every third frame?
On top of this the storyline is very weak and indigestible. The feud between the main characters has absolutely no practical reason; it looks inserted forcibly. And the way that the hero is showing taking revenge is so crappy and nonsensical; you will find yourself rolling your eyes all throughout. Whoever finds this movie good would definitely have gone to the theatres, leaving their brains at home.
There is so much overuse of the slow-motion action sequences and the fights themselves are comical, rather than impactful. 98% of the fight scenes are in slow-motion. Pathetic action.
The editing is so lousy; that in one scene, a bloodied bad guy is shown frantically ringing the church bell and then the hero comes and pounds him to a pulp. But how was the bad guy bleeding from before? Did the hero chase him?
In the middle of a chase scene between the antagonist and vigilance officers, just when the bad guy is getting away, the hero appears from nowhere and coolly shoots off the tires of his jeep. So is he some kind of superhero that he can appear anywhere at will? Nothing makes sense at all.
And looking at the film, you will think that only Christians live in Kerala; because every single character is a Christian.
Best to avoid.
This film is a thorough cringe-fest in more ways than one. Unnecessarily and repeatedly showing religious symbols worn by the protagonist in slow-motion; like his finger ring, neck chain with cross, beads handing from his car window is nauseating. And what's with all the syrupy-sweet songs praising saints and god, taking name of God in every second dialogue, showing religion in almost every third frame?
On top of this the storyline is very weak and indigestible. The feud between the main characters has absolutely no practical reason; it looks inserted forcibly. And the way that the hero is showing taking revenge is so crappy and nonsensical; you will find yourself rolling your eyes all throughout. Whoever finds this movie good would definitely have gone to the theatres, leaving their brains at home.
There is so much overuse of the slow-motion action sequences and the fights themselves are comical, rather than impactful. 98% of the fight scenes are in slow-motion. Pathetic action.
The editing is so lousy; that in one scene, a bloodied bad guy is shown frantically ringing the church bell and then the hero comes and pounds him to a pulp. But how was the bad guy bleeding from before? Did the hero chase him?
In the middle of a chase scene between the antagonist and vigilance officers, just when the bad guy is getting away, the hero appears from nowhere and coolly shoots off the tires of his jeep. So is he some kind of superhero that he can appear anywhere at will? Nothing makes sense at all.
And looking at the film, you will think that only Christians live in Kerala; because every single character is a Christian.
Best to avoid.
Biest
(2014)
Boring C grade movie
14 January 2023
The only good thing about this damp squib is its short length. It is amazing that such cliché monster movies are still being made in 2022. I thought I had seen the last of such movies in the 1990s. This sub-standard plot is matched by its cheap visual effects, which are an eye-sore. Basically some cheap-ass Yeti-like man-eating monster is haunting the Austrian mountains and is eating people for decades; without the authorities having a freaking clue or even being bothered. And he is hiding in plain sight in a run-down house, which the visiting main lead discovers within half a day; but the accomplished local hunter can't find even though he has been searching for his wife for days. Incredibly dumb. And a monster which is just slightly bigger than the average human has taken a dump which is 5 feet high. And the lead takes a handful of the faeces and rubs it on his face and his wife's face; for no reason whatsoever. This dump of a film deserves negative ratings.
Rorschach
(2022)
Highly pretentious and sub-standard movie
28 December 2022
God alone knows what the scriptwriter was high on when he wrote the script for this confused and pompous apology of a movie.
This is one of those so-called new age wannabe experimental movies which like to call themselves as neo-noir psychological thrillers. Actually it is neither psychological nor a thriller. There are gaping holes in the narrative and nothing makes sense.
The cherry on top of the irritating pretentiousness of the movie is the English song-track which is belted out throughout. Now the said song-track will make sense if the movie was a high octane thriller shot in a city, replete with car and motor bike chases. However it is entirely set in rural areas and forests, which adds several fake notes to the overall experience.
The makers of the movie were confused whether to make it a psychological or supernatural thriller; so they compromised by adding half-baked elements of both. Many things in the film make no sense at all. That can be ignored if they were minor aspects of the story; but these are major plot holes.
For example, the lead character's wife is murdered in Dubai and he comes to India to take revenge. But he learns that the murderer has already died and his family is living in a village inside a forested area. So he stages a car accident and lies to the police that his wife was in the car with him and she has vanished. And the murderer's father gives him company in his trips to the police station etc. Finally the father ends up selling his half finished house to the lead. But this is too big a coincidence to be digested.
The police is shown to be completely dumb. If they had done even a basic check in the background of the lead character, they would have discovered that his wife was murdered in a foreign country. But they do absolutely nothing.
Everything in the movie happens because the script-writer wanted it to happen that way; but such things will never happen in real life, nor will real people behave in the way as shown in the movie.
Mamooty looks old and jaded. Though he still has tremendous screen presence, it is obvious that he is wearing a wig and has dyed rest of his facial hair jet black. That looks incongruous with his sagging features. It would have been much better if he had been given a natural look with salt and pepper hair and moustache. They have tried to make a 71 year old man look like a 50 year old and failed miserably.
The fight sequences look phony and staged. Mamooty just has to move his hands and people go flying effortlessly.
And the big payoff at the end of the movie turns out to be a damp squib. When the murderer is already shown to have died in an accident, nobody would want to stay back and expend considerable time, money and energy in tormenting his family or destroying his reputation. But that is exactly what the lead character claims to have done. And somehow that is a big deal and he is an awesome person.
This is one of those so-called new age wannabe experimental movies which like to call themselves as neo-noir psychological thrillers. Actually it is neither psychological nor a thriller. There are gaping holes in the narrative and nothing makes sense.
The cherry on top of the irritating pretentiousness of the movie is the English song-track which is belted out throughout. Now the said song-track will make sense if the movie was a high octane thriller shot in a city, replete with car and motor bike chases. However it is entirely set in rural areas and forests, which adds several fake notes to the overall experience.
The makers of the movie were confused whether to make it a psychological or supernatural thriller; so they compromised by adding half-baked elements of both. Many things in the film make no sense at all. That can be ignored if they were minor aspects of the story; but these are major plot holes.
For example, the lead character's wife is murdered in Dubai and he comes to India to take revenge. But he learns that the murderer has already died and his family is living in a village inside a forested area. So he stages a car accident and lies to the police that his wife was in the car with him and she has vanished. And the murderer's father gives him company in his trips to the police station etc. Finally the father ends up selling his half finished house to the lead. But this is too big a coincidence to be digested.
The police is shown to be completely dumb. If they had done even a basic check in the background of the lead character, they would have discovered that his wife was murdered in a foreign country. But they do absolutely nothing.
Everything in the movie happens because the script-writer wanted it to happen that way; but such things will never happen in real life, nor will real people behave in the way as shown in the movie.
Mamooty looks old and jaded. Though he still has tremendous screen presence, it is obvious that he is wearing a wig and has dyed rest of his facial hair jet black. That looks incongruous with his sagging features. It would have been much better if he had been given a natural look with salt and pepper hair and moustache. They have tried to make a 71 year old man look like a 50 year old and failed miserably.
The fight sequences look phony and staged. Mamooty just has to move his hands and people go flying effortlessly.
And the big payoff at the end of the movie turns out to be a damp squib. When the murderer is already shown to have died in an accident, nobody would want to stay back and expend considerable time, money and energy in tormenting his family or destroying his reputation. But that is exactly what the lead character claims to have done. And somehow that is a big deal and he is an awesome person.
Documenting the Witch Path
(2017)
Extremely bad
24 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This travesty cannot even be called as a movie. Even high school projects will be much better than this. Poor acting, bad story, sub-standard character development and boring as hell. This horrible thing should be shown to film students as an example of what to avoid while making a movie. I was really angry with myself for wasting an hour of my time. The actors played themselves and they were really unlikeable and irritating. They can't act to save their lives. Production values are very cheap. The movie is full of boring monologues and hardly anything else. Lot of time is spent in inanities like why we are told not to go there. Then when they get there, they spend lot of time getting scared, for no reason at all. End of movie, it is all revealed to be a prank. WTF !!!!!!!!
The Chalk Line
(2022)
Underwhelming and slow
15 December 2022
This is one hell of a slow movie with some very obvious plot-holes. And in my opinion, if you take away those plot-holes then the entire movie collapses.
If you are a woman and you realized that your creepy neighbour has been kidnapping girls and holding them hostage, would you wait for the cops to come and do their job or would you barge into his house and try to solve the mystery under his nose? Suppose the lead character had just waited in her house and directed the cops when they came, the movie would have ended without all that unnecessary drama.
And why do the cops leave without checking the neighbour's house even when the lead character has told them very specifically that he has been involved in kidnapping girls? Just in order to drag out the movie unnecessarily for half an hour more?
How does the wife of the kidnapper know that the small girl was held hostage by her husband and that too in the basement? Was she a mind-reader?
And just on the basis of some random hand-prints on the glass, the cops come to know at the end that the man is actually the kidnapper and they storm into his house in such an over-dramatic manner? Especially when the previous day, they left without even insisting on searching his house?
The kidnapped girl had some kidney related problems; but how did her daughter also have the same? And why did the kidnapper just turn her loose on the road?
The biggest plot-hole is that if the small girl was locked up in the basement since her birth, she would never be able to recognize the house from outside. Yet she recognizes it by looking at the window and she even draws it to indicate that it's where she was living.
Overall, a really underwhelming experience.
If you are a woman and you realized that your creepy neighbour has been kidnapping girls and holding them hostage, would you wait for the cops to come and do their job or would you barge into his house and try to solve the mystery under his nose? Suppose the lead character had just waited in her house and directed the cops when they came, the movie would have ended without all that unnecessary drama.
And why do the cops leave without checking the neighbour's house even when the lead character has told them very specifically that he has been involved in kidnapping girls? Just in order to drag out the movie unnecessarily for half an hour more?
How does the wife of the kidnapper know that the small girl was held hostage by her husband and that too in the basement? Was she a mind-reader?
And just on the basis of some random hand-prints on the glass, the cops come to know at the end that the man is actually the kidnapper and they storm into his house in such an over-dramatic manner? Especially when the previous day, they left without even insisting on searching his house?
The kidnapped girl had some kidney related problems; but how did her daughter also have the same? And why did the kidnapper just turn her loose on the road?
The biggest plot-hole is that if the small girl was locked up in the basement since her birth, she would never be able to recognize the house from outside. Yet she recognizes it by looking at the window and she even draws it to indicate that it's where she was living.
Overall, a really underwhelming experience.
Sijjin 3: Love
(2016)
Unrealistic movie filled with jump scares
15 December 2022
If these tame movies full of cheap jump-scare effects is what Turkey has to offer in the name of horror, then I think I should stop watching them. Dabbe 4 was the only movie which interested me to some extent. None of the other Turkish horror movies really are up to the mark.
When you have a lame, non-scary plot, then you have to rely on cheap scary effects and grotesque faces to try and scare people; which is exactly what they have done here. And it is pretty much the same formula in almost all Turkish films.
So in this film, you have a guy whose wife dies in an accident and he digs out her body from the grave and resurrects her. This is a plot twist which is revealed only at the end; but it is so predictable that you can see it coming from a mile away.
But the pieces of this puzzle don't really fit very well; because of lazy script writing. If the guy resurrected his wife, how do the djinns get involved in it? Why do they want to take her back? As per the theory, Djinns are a separate species of creatures.
This part is not at all explained and it is a pretty glaring plot hole. The wife's cadaver is shown to be kept separately; so it is clear that the husband has been living with some other creature, which is taken away by the djinns in the end. But why would the husband who loves his wife so much and prays for her to be returned to him, settle for living with a djinn instead? And she doesn't even resemble his wife, as is shown in the end. She has a very grotesque face.
And why would the djinns kill his parents? What do they gain by that? None of these things are satisfactorily explained. Some very vague explanation is given, which doesn't make sense at all.
When you have a lame, non-scary plot, then you have to rely on cheap scary effects and grotesque faces to try and scare people; which is exactly what they have done here. And it is pretty much the same formula in almost all Turkish films.
So in this film, you have a guy whose wife dies in an accident and he digs out her body from the grave and resurrects her. This is a plot twist which is revealed only at the end; but it is so predictable that you can see it coming from a mile away.
But the pieces of this puzzle don't really fit very well; because of lazy script writing. If the guy resurrected his wife, how do the djinns get involved in it? Why do they want to take her back? As per the theory, Djinns are a separate species of creatures.
This part is not at all explained and it is a pretty glaring plot hole. The wife's cadaver is shown to be kept separately; so it is clear that the husband has been living with some other creature, which is taken away by the djinns in the end. But why would the husband who loves his wife so much and prays for her to be returned to him, settle for living with a djinn instead? And she doesn't even resemble his wife, as is shown in the end. She has a very grotesque face.
And why would the djinns kill his parents? What do they gain by that? None of these things are satisfactorily explained. Some very vague explanation is given, which doesn't make sense at all.
Dabbe 6: The Return
(2015)
Not at all scary, but disgusting and cringe-worthy
12 December 2022
This film is a relentless onslaught on the senses; and not in a good way. The aim of the director is to somehow scare the viewer by throwing every horror film trope on him; but the effect is disgusting instead of being scary or creepy.
Overuse of dream-within-dream sequence, overuse of people approaching possessed individuals and being attacked by them, overuse of Djinn-possessed characters screaming at others - this movie is heavy on jump-scares and very low on actually telling the story. The director seems to have lost the page on which the script was written and he tried to fill in 80% of the film by showing zombies tearing flesh off people, doing horrible things in dreams and badly animated CGI sequences.
In one sequence, we are incredibly treated to a dream-within-a dream, within-another-dream, within-yet-another-dream. So you have the wife killing her husband and then waking up to realize that she was dreaming. Then she is attacked by Djinns, but even this is a dream and she wakes up and her husband cannot recognize her and is attacked by her sister. Then he wakes up and finds that it is a dream. Then the possessed sister runs off and attacks the couple and both wake up to again find that they have been dreaming the same things. Phew!
If you have seen other films in this series, you will already know the inevitable plot twist that will come in the ending. The movie could have cut out all the endless sequences of possessions, dreams and zombie attacks and focused on the story in a shorter, tightly edited version; and that would have made this a much better product.
Overuse of dream-within-dream sequence, overuse of people approaching possessed individuals and being attacked by them, overuse of Djinn-possessed characters screaming at others - this movie is heavy on jump-scares and very low on actually telling the story. The director seems to have lost the page on which the script was written and he tried to fill in 80% of the film by showing zombies tearing flesh off people, doing horrible things in dreams and badly animated CGI sequences.
In one sequence, we are incredibly treated to a dream-within-a dream, within-another-dream, within-yet-another-dream. So you have the wife killing her husband and then waking up to realize that she was dreaming. Then she is attacked by Djinns, but even this is a dream and she wakes up and her husband cannot recognize her and is attacked by her sister. Then he wakes up and finds that it is a dream. Then the possessed sister runs off and attacks the couple and both wake up to again find that they have been dreaming the same things. Phew!
If you have seen other films in this series, you will already know the inevitable plot twist that will come in the ending. The movie could have cut out all the endless sequences of possessions, dreams and zombie attacks and focused on the story in a shorter, tightly edited version; and that would have made this a much better product.
Dabbe 2
(2009)
Attack of the black smoke things!
12 December 2022
This is a very cheap-looking, badly acted C-grade movie. Besides the cringe-worthy special effects, nothing in the movie is explained or even makes sense.
What in hell are the smoke things supposed to be? Sometimes they leave people alone or just knock them off their feet, but at other times, they turn them into slobbering zombies or kill them outright. And the scenes of Istanbul being attacked looks so fake; like a computer screen-saver.
The teenage girls are way too irritating and one of them especially keeps freaking out and screaming for most of the time she was on the screen. I was actually happy when she turned into a zombie and stopped shrieking.
If this is what the apocalypse looks like, then I would say it lacks a severe deficit of vision and imagination on part of the director.
The lead actress was quite hot though; so one star just for her.
What in hell are the smoke things supposed to be? Sometimes they leave people alone or just knock them off their feet, but at other times, they turn them into slobbering zombies or kill them outright. And the scenes of Istanbul being attacked looks so fake; like a computer screen-saver.
The teenage girls are way too irritating and one of them especially keeps freaking out and screaming for most of the time she was on the screen. I was actually happy when she turned into a zombie and stopped shrieking.
If this is what the apocalypse looks like, then I would say it lacks a severe deficit of vision and imagination on part of the director.
The lead actress was quite hot though; so one star just for her.
Troll
(2022)
Cheap copy of Independence day with a troll instead of aliens
8 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This is such an infuriatingly stupid movie with a wafer thin plot and one dimensional characters. Except for the camera work, great visuals and a cool-looking troll, this is just an even more dumbed down version of Independence day with a troll replacing aliens.
It also has some sequences which are copied from Jurassic Park 2. In both movies the main character is trying to lure the dinosaur/troll away from civilisation by driving around with something that will bait it (baby dinosaur/skull of baby troll).
There are several face-palm moments and the entire movie is just one trope following the other. You have a thick-headed and incredibly dumb female president of Norway, who is a dead ringer for Theresa May. She strongly believes that any problem in the world can be solved by nuclear weapons. Neither she nor her bone-headed advisors can think of any other out-of-the-box solutions (even though all they do the whole time is to sit in a conference room and engage in banal discussions).
Then you have the "strong" female lead who has an unconventional approach which doesn't sit well with the powers-to-be, a comical side-kick (Asian for sake of political correctness), a loyal soldier who will do anything for the well-meaning main character, an old and crazy guy who turns out to be right in the end and a host of other stereotypical characters.
The plot is so thin that only the main character can see and understand what should be painfully obvious for anybody with half a brain. Even after encountering the troll and observing that its behaviour closely resembles what is written in fairy tales, everybody keeps tell each other not to call it as a troll.
And the ending was so dumb. The main character decides to kill the troll with UV lights, then has a change of heart at the last moment and switches off the lights; but the troll gets killed anyway as the sun rises surprisingly fast. But before that, they showed that the troll doesn't die in the sun; rather it simply turns to stone and comes back to life when the sun slips behind the clouds.
I will give this travesty a single star for the cool visuals and great computer effects.
It also has some sequences which are copied from Jurassic Park 2. In both movies the main character is trying to lure the dinosaur/troll away from civilisation by driving around with something that will bait it (baby dinosaur/skull of baby troll).
There are several face-palm moments and the entire movie is just one trope following the other. You have a thick-headed and incredibly dumb female president of Norway, who is a dead ringer for Theresa May. She strongly believes that any problem in the world can be solved by nuclear weapons. Neither she nor her bone-headed advisors can think of any other out-of-the-box solutions (even though all they do the whole time is to sit in a conference room and engage in banal discussions).
Then you have the "strong" female lead who has an unconventional approach which doesn't sit well with the powers-to-be, a comical side-kick (Asian for sake of political correctness), a loyal soldier who will do anything for the well-meaning main character, an old and crazy guy who turns out to be right in the end and a host of other stereotypical characters.
The plot is so thin that only the main character can see and understand what should be painfully obvious for anybody with half a brain. Even after encountering the troll and observing that its behaviour closely resembles what is written in fairy tales, everybody keeps tell each other not to call it as a troll.
And the ending was so dumb. The main character decides to kill the troll with UV lights, then has a change of heart at the last moment and switches off the lights; but the troll gets killed anyway as the sun rises surprisingly fast. But before that, they showed that the troll doesn't die in the sun; rather it simply turns to stone and comes back to life when the sun slips behind the clouds.
I will give this travesty a single star for the cool visuals and great computer effects.
Khakee: The Bihar Chapter
(2022– )
Gripping, family friendly series
1 December 2022
Without resorting to swear words, abuses or intimate scenes, Neeraj Pandey has managed to craft a gripping and well-acted series. The lead actors have done a competent job of acting, even if there is nothing exemplary. However veteran actors like Ashutosh Rana, Ravi Kishan and Abhimanyu Singh are a delight to watch.
Even the title track is short, delightful and easy on the ears. I did not fast-forward it in any of the episodes.
Having read the book just a couple of months ago, I can say that incidents in the series have been dramatized (to make them more exciting). In the book, Amit Lodha was not directly involved in the capture of the antagonist. He was sitting in his office and directing the entire show; but the actual catching of the gangster was done by his men. However certain amount of dramatization and exaggeration is to be expected when the book gets transformed into a series.
Couple of sore points - showing the female telecom company manager frequently was incongruous and also felt somewhat gratuitous. Her character felt like forcibly inserted in the script just to provide eye-candy. She was made to wear low-waist saree and shown repeatedly; which was unnecessary. Also the way that the crafty Chandan Mahto fell into Amit Lodha's trap in the end felt too easy. Another plot-hole (and a major one at that) is how the cops managed to record Chawanprash's wife professing her love to Chandan? Without making Chawanprash listen to that recording, it would have been impossible to convince him to testify against Chandan.
Still barring these few inconsistencies, the series is well worth a watch!
Even the title track is short, delightful and easy on the ears. I did not fast-forward it in any of the episodes.
Having read the book just a couple of months ago, I can say that incidents in the series have been dramatized (to make them more exciting). In the book, Amit Lodha was not directly involved in the capture of the antagonist. He was sitting in his office and directing the entire show; but the actual catching of the gangster was done by his men. However certain amount of dramatization and exaggeration is to be expected when the book gets transformed into a series.
Couple of sore points - showing the female telecom company manager frequently was incongruous and also felt somewhat gratuitous. Her character felt like forcibly inserted in the script just to provide eye-candy. She was made to wear low-waist saree and shown repeatedly; which was unnecessary. Also the way that the crafty Chandan Mahto fell into Amit Lodha's trap in the end felt too easy. Another plot-hole (and a major one at that) is how the cops managed to record Chawanprash's wife professing her love to Chandan? Without making Chawanprash listen to that recording, it would have been impossible to convince him to testify against Chandan.
Still barring these few inconsistencies, the series is well worth a watch!
Sang Krasue
(2019)
Middling love story, dressed up as horror, with ridiculously cheap-looking computer effects
16 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
So what they have done here is taken a rural ghost legend and tried to weave a boring love triangle around it and thrown in a bunch of horrible computer graphics.
Now since the focus of the film is the love triangle, the ghost legend has to be twisted somehow to accommodate it. So that involves taking large liberties with the plot and leaving gaping holes, hoping that somehow the audience won't notice.
Ideally it should have been the other way round. Take the original ghost legend and write the love story to fit the legend. But who cares, especially when you feel you can take your audience for granted, right?
The first and largest plot hole is that the main female character inherits the curse as a child; but it takes effect only when she becomes an adult. Does that mean that the curse lies dormant in children? Not at all, because another child is shown being hit by the curse and getting affected instantly.
Countless such inanities pepper this sub-standard movie, leading to several eye-roll moments for the viewer. Beyond a certain point, suspension of belief becomes impossible; especially when the movie veers towards cringe-worthy and overly convenient plot devices.
At the beginning of the film, we are told that if a man is infected with the curse (by shallowing the saliva of an infected female), he will die an extremely painful death. Yet the male character in the love triangle exchanges several wet kisses with the cursed female lead; and except for falling to the ground and groaning in pain a couple of times, he is absolutely hale and healthy. How's that for plot absurdity?
Then at one point, the group of demon-hunters have surrounded the house of the female lead and are waiting for her to transform into a demon so that they can kill it/her. But somehow she sneaks out of the house with her boyfriend quite easily and goes off to a haunted house in the forest, which somehow has a garden full of magical plants. And next you know, the ghost-hunters are there too. How they got there is not explained, nor is it explained as to why the monk didn't give those magical plants to his own wife (to stop her transformation in the past).
The way the characters are written also leaves a lot to be desired. The female lead's boyfriend is a selfish and cowardly character; and the guy who she rejects (the third part of the love triangle) is a far better and more courageous human being.
Less said about the acting, the better.
The coup de grace of the whole affair is the climax, where we are subjected to half an hour of the most horrible and cheaply done VFX creatures and a surfeit of bad acting. The main demon, when we get to see her properly at the end, looks so ridiculous that I burst out laughing.
I would give negative points to this movie, if I could.
Now since the focus of the film is the love triangle, the ghost legend has to be twisted somehow to accommodate it. So that involves taking large liberties with the plot and leaving gaping holes, hoping that somehow the audience won't notice.
Ideally it should have been the other way round. Take the original ghost legend and write the love story to fit the legend. But who cares, especially when you feel you can take your audience for granted, right?
The first and largest plot hole is that the main female character inherits the curse as a child; but it takes effect only when she becomes an adult. Does that mean that the curse lies dormant in children? Not at all, because another child is shown being hit by the curse and getting affected instantly.
Countless such inanities pepper this sub-standard movie, leading to several eye-roll moments for the viewer. Beyond a certain point, suspension of belief becomes impossible; especially when the movie veers towards cringe-worthy and overly convenient plot devices.
At the beginning of the film, we are told that if a man is infected with the curse (by shallowing the saliva of an infected female), he will die an extremely painful death. Yet the male character in the love triangle exchanges several wet kisses with the cursed female lead; and except for falling to the ground and groaning in pain a couple of times, he is absolutely hale and healthy. How's that for plot absurdity?
Then at one point, the group of demon-hunters have surrounded the house of the female lead and are waiting for her to transform into a demon so that they can kill it/her. But somehow she sneaks out of the house with her boyfriend quite easily and goes off to a haunted house in the forest, which somehow has a garden full of magical plants. And next you know, the ghost-hunters are there too. How they got there is not explained, nor is it explained as to why the monk didn't give those magical plants to his own wife (to stop her transformation in the past).
The way the characters are written also leaves a lot to be desired. The female lead's boyfriend is a selfish and cowardly character; and the guy who she rejects (the third part of the love triangle) is a far better and more courageous human being.
Less said about the acting, the better.
The coup de grace of the whole affair is the climax, where we are subjected to half an hour of the most horrible and cheaply done VFX creatures and a surfeit of bad acting. The main demon, when we get to see her properly at the end, looks so ridiculous that I burst out laughing.
I would give negative points to this movie, if I could.
A Record of Sweet Murder
(2014)
Dafuq did I just watch?
16 November 2022
Seriously that was my reaction to several scenes in this movie. At the end, I felt as if my IQ levels have dropped drastically. That's how dumb this film was.
Now where to begin? Let's start with the plot of the movie. Whoever wrote the script was definitely high on something.
In the first place, you cannot have all your characters being phenomenally stupid and/or taking several decisions which are highly dangerous to their lives. But that is what every character in this film does, right from the start till the very end.
If the main character had an iota of self-preservation instinct, she would not have gone alone (OK she takes a cameraman with her) to interview a crazed serial-killer in an unknown location. And if she had refused then this movie would never have been made. But Koji Shirashi wanted to make this movie, so that is how it starts. And then it goes downhill in a spectacular fashion.
The lead character keeps provoking and challenging the crazed lunatic serial killer and pushing him over the edge. Basically it is shown as if she is trying to talk some sense in him. And she is supposed to be a trained reporter.
Then two extremely unlikely characters enter the fray and the absurdity of the plot plummets further by several notches. The movie then disintegrates in an orgy of sex and violence, which is so surrealistic that I wondered if I had slept off and was experiencing a strange dream. Everybody kills each other as if it is no big deal at all. It is extremely disgusting and voyeuristic, not to mention unrealistic.
The ending was good. That is the only positive thing that I can say about the film. One star for that.
Now where to begin? Let's start with the plot of the movie. Whoever wrote the script was definitely high on something.
In the first place, you cannot have all your characters being phenomenally stupid and/or taking several decisions which are highly dangerous to their lives. But that is what every character in this film does, right from the start till the very end.
If the main character had an iota of self-preservation instinct, she would not have gone alone (OK she takes a cameraman with her) to interview a crazed serial-killer in an unknown location. And if she had refused then this movie would never have been made. But Koji Shirashi wanted to make this movie, so that is how it starts. And then it goes downhill in a spectacular fashion.
The lead character keeps provoking and challenging the crazed lunatic serial killer and pushing him over the edge. Basically it is shown as if she is trying to talk some sense in him. And she is supposed to be a trained reporter.
Then two extremely unlikely characters enter the fray and the absurdity of the plot plummets further by several notches. The movie then disintegrates in an orgy of sex and violence, which is so surrealistic that I wondered if I had slept off and was experiencing a strange dream. Everybody kills each other as if it is no big deal at all. It is extremely disgusting and voyeuristic, not to mention unrealistic.
The ending was good. That is the only positive thing that I can say about the film. One star for that.
Cult
(2013)
Good fun, but forgettable affair
11 November 2022
To be frank, the movie was a lot of fun and I quite enjoyed it. However several aspects were so terrible that it warranted a review on my part.
The three actresses were extremely annoying and their behaviour was childish to say the least. They were squealing and shrieking like 5 year old girls at the smallest excuse. Nobody screams that much and their acting was lousy.
What also struck me as unrealistic was the fact that the company was forcing them to risk their lives and go into a haunted house, even when they were extremely uncomfortable with the idea. And the actresses themselves were totally cool with it. I don't know if this is common in Japan or an incongruity in the script. But in a free world, forcing a trio of young women into extreme danger against their will is a criminal offense. However this fact was glossed over.
Even when one of the women wanted to quit, the other two were behaving as if they couldn't believe that somebody can just refuse to be part of such a dangerous business. They kept repeating "It's your job, you have to do it, you can't just quit". And later her boss scolds her for stepping out.
The black tendrils were very laughable, flat and unrealistic. They screamed fake, computer graphics. That and the incessant screaming ruined the illusion of the movie for me. The director could have easily used some practical effects and it would have been much more realistic.
Now the good part. The acting of the exorcist and his master was excellent. The Neo character too was fairly good. The small possessed girl was sufficiently creepy. The plot and pacing kept me engaged and entertained. I didn't care for the ending as it was a bit abrupt and left the viewer hanging.
Overall, worth a one-time watch.
The three actresses were extremely annoying and their behaviour was childish to say the least. They were squealing and shrieking like 5 year old girls at the smallest excuse. Nobody screams that much and their acting was lousy.
What also struck me as unrealistic was the fact that the company was forcing them to risk their lives and go into a haunted house, even when they were extremely uncomfortable with the idea. And the actresses themselves were totally cool with it. I don't know if this is common in Japan or an incongruity in the script. But in a free world, forcing a trio of young women into extreme danger against their will is a criminal offense. However this fact was glossed over.
Even when one of the women wanted to quit, the other two were behaving as if they couldn't believe that somebody can just refuse to be part of such a dangerous business. They kept repeating "It's your job, you have to do it, you can't just quit". And later her boss scolds her for stepping out.
The black tendrils were very laughable, flat and unrealistic. They screamed fake, computer graphics. That and the incessant screaming ruined the illusion of the movie for me. The director could have easily used some practical effects and it would have been much more realistic.
Now the good part. The acting of the exorcist and his master was excellent. The Neo character too was fairly good. The small possessed girl was sufficiently creepy. The plot and pacing kept me engaged and entertained. I didn't care for the ending as it was a bit abrupt and left the viewer hanging.
Overall, worth a one-time watch.
Suicide Forest Village
(2021)
Long, boring, pretentious
8 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This is a confused and underwhelming movie, which is also so long that it tests the patience of the viewer. The horror is virtually non-existent and there are several scenes which make you go WTF?
I was confused whether I am watching a horror or a comedy. What was with the bunch of people who were roaming around in the forest for several days, including the social media influencer, and then suddenly as soon as they meet the main character all of them are killed (or absorbed in the forest and its trees)? Why were they acting so annoyingly clownish?
The ending was pure hokum; with all the tree spirits rising up in various forms and shapes and chasing the two girls through the cave. It was not frightening at all, though that was the intention.
The movie just went on and on and on with unnecessary drama and convoluted scenes crammed in. The entire affair could have been concluded in a tight 15 minute short film.
I was confused whether I am watching a horror or a comedy. What was with the bunch of people who were roaming around in the forest for several days, including the social media influencer, and then suddenly as soon as they meet the main character all of them are killed (or absorbed in the forest and its trees)? Why were they acting so annoyingly clownish?
The ending was pure hokum; with all the tree spirits rising up in various forms and shapes and chasing the two girls through the cave. It was not frightening at all, though that was the intention.
The movie just went on and on and on with unnecessary drama and convoluted scenes crammed in. The entire affair could have been concluded in a tight 15 minute short film.
Dachra
(2018)
Badly copied from Hollywood films
5 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Well though this film is technically well evolved, the plot is average and a confused mishmash of Hollywood horror movies.
Is the film about witch-craft and human sacrifice? Is it about cannibalistic villagers? Is it about supernatural beings? Is it about a meat-eating monster? Is it about giving out some social message? All these aspects and more are crammed in this over-long film filled with some of the most idiotic characters to grace the screen.
The director has tried to give it an artsy touch by some camera flourishes and we can see the occasional flash of technical brilliance. But that can't substitute for the lack of a compelling and well-written script.
Many things are left unexplained and not in a good way. These are gaping plot-holes which have the viewer shaking his head in disbelief.
Why does the male character lead the other two into a trap? What is his motive behind it? And considering that the female lead is the same child that was rescued from the village, isn't it too much of a coincidence that the male character picked her up 20 years later to be trapped? Did he know she is the same person and if yes, how?
How does her grandfather find her at the end? Are the villagers into sacrificing children, adults or new-born babies? What is the point of feeding their own new-born infants to the meat-eating monster? Why exactly are they doing all this? If they just wanted to eat humans, what is the need to add the witch-craft, monster and other mumbo-jumbo?
Lastly why don't the journalists leave by foot in the morning especially when they found everything creepy and unnerving the last night? They walked to the village through the jungle the first day, so they could have easily retraced their steps the next day. They even get warned by a pregnant female villager to run away from that place; but they still hang around, as things get more and more creepy around them. Don't they have any survival instincts at all? Especially when they know that it is the same place where a woman was brutally cut up 20 years ago in some sort of botched up ritual?
There are so many other ways in which the movie could have gone and it would have been brilliant. But instead the film-makers chose to ape all the Hollywood movies that they have ever seen.
Is the film about witch-craft and human sacrifice? Is it about cannibalistic villagers? Is it about supernatural beings? Is it about a meat-eating monster? Is it about giving out some social message? All these aspects and more are crammed in this over-long film filled with some of the most idiotic characters to grace the screen.
The director has tried to give it an artsy touch by some camera flourishes and we can see the occasional flash of technical brilliance. But that can't substitute for the lack of a compelling and well-written script.
Many things are left unexplained and not in a good way. These are gaping plot-holes which have the viewer shaking his head in disbelief.
Why does the male character lead the other two into a trap? What is his motive behind it? And considering that the female lead is the same child that was rescued from the village, isn't it too much of a coincidence that the male character picked her up 20 years later to be trapped? Did he know she is the same person and if yes, how?
How does her grandfather find her at the end? Are the villagers into sacrificing children, adults or new-born babies? What is the point of feeding their own new-born infants to the meat-eating monster? Why exactly are they doing all this? If they just wanted to eat humans, what is the need to add the witch-craft, monster and other mumbo-jumbo?
Lastly why don't the journalists leave by foot in the morning especially when they found everything creepy and unnerving the last night? They walked to the village through the jungle the first day, so they could have easily retraced their steps the next day. They even get warned by a pregnant female villager to run away from that place; but they still hang around, as things get more and more creepy around them. Don't they have any survival instincts at all? Especially when they know that it is the same place where a woman was brutally cut up 20 years ago in some sort of botched up ritual?
There are so many other ways in which the movie could have gone and it would have been brilliant. But instead the film-makers chose to ape all the Hollywood movies that they have ever seen.
Descent Into Darkness
(2013)
Over-rated movie
28 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I read a lot of rave reviews about this movie, so I was fairly excited to watch it. Also the fact that it is not easily available for downloading, I was all the more intrigued. Finally, when I did get to watch it, it felt distinctly underwhelming.
Let's take the script for starters. A lot of things don't add up and seem plain improvised. Considering that the lead character is a crazed lunatic living on the streets for 60% of the film, where does he charge his cameras? He is shown to be assaulting, robbing and killing people, setting houses on fire (with people inside), raping and chopping up women openly; but no cops are bothered about it, forget trying to catch him. And this is in a developed country like France with a low crime ratio.
Why and how does he go from a rational, likeable individual to a crazed, flesh-eating, full-blown lunatic in a span of few days? Alcohol and drugs might make you do stupid stuff in a state of inebriation, but once you sober up you go back to acting normal; you don't become deranged 24x7. The kind of shocking and repulsive acts that the man is seen doing normally takes years of lunatic degeneracy.
The film starts off as a found footage; but later the makers abandon all such pretence. Several scenes are filmed like a normal movie.
The acting is reasonably competent; considering the fact that the main lead doesn't have much to do except mumble gibberish, stare at the camera with an unhinged look and chuckle diabolically.
The film had so much potential; but it squandered the opportunity to be a truly remarkable movie.
Let's take the script for starters. A lot of things don't add up and seem plain improvised. Considering that the lead character is a crazed lunatic living on the streets for 60% of the film, where does he charge his cameras? He is shown to be assaulting, robbing and killing people, setting houses on fire (with people inside), raping and chopping up women openly; but no cops are bothered about it, forget trying to catch him. And this is in a developed country like France with a low crime ratio.
Why and how does he go from a rational, likeable individual to a crazed, flesh-eating, full-blown lunatic in a span of few days? Alcohol and drugs might make you do stupid stuff in a state of inebriation, but once you sober up you go back to acting normal; you don't become deranged 24x7. The kind of shocking and repulsive acts that the man is seen doing normally takes years of lunatic degeneracy.
The film starts off as a found footage; but later the makers abandon all such pretence. Several scenes are filmed like a normal movie.
The acting is reasonably competent; considering the fact that the main lead doesn't have much to do except mumble gibberish, stare at the camera with an unhinged look and chuckle diabolically.
The film had so much potential; but it squandered the opportunity to be a truly remarkable movie.
Liger
(2022)
Boring movie
26 August 2022
This is a very boring movie with over acting by Deverakonda and under acting by Ananya.
Mike Tyson is there in a blink-and-you-miss-it role and his cameo is totally irrelevant to the story. They just got him in the movie because his fees was very less probably.
The story is so generic and the movie so mediocre that nobody will be happy even watching it on OTT.
Mike Tyson is there in a blink-and-you-miss-it role and his cameo is totally irrelevant to the story. They just got him in the movie because his fees was very less probably.
The story is so generic and the movie so mediocre that nobody will be happy even watching it on OTT.
The Kashmir Files
(2022)
Hard-hitting & courageous
11 March 2022
For me The Kashmir Files has to be the most hard hitting film I have ever seen in my entire life. Watch it only if you have the courage to see the truth. Vivek Agnihotri has made a phenomenal film, his career best. Anupam Kher has given the performance of his life. Hat's off to the entire team!
Gangubai Kathiawadi
(2022)
Dull, plodding movie
27 February 2022
SLB must be the worst choice of filmmaker to make a movie on the gritty and sleazy underbelly of prostitution in Mumbai. A guy who is famous for the exceedingly lavish and pompous settings for his movies rather than any directorial abilities shouldn't be allowed near such topics with a barge-pole. The real individual on whom this movie is made was a non-glamourous, jaded prostitute/lady don in Mumbai's rather infamous Kamathipura. Bhansali has tried hard to glamourize the titular character by having her dance, pose and mouth flamboyant dialogues. Basically yet another poor attempt to make criminals look glamourous and fashionable.
Clinton Road
(2019)
Rating of 6? You gotta be kidding me!
12 February 2022
This movie sucks big time. Dumb plot, dumber ghosts and awful acting. It's actually like a parody of horror movies. The movie starts out half-way decent, but it gets rapidly worse. By the mid-way mark, you are pinching yourself out of disbelief at the way the movie is floundering. The so-called ghosts are laughable. The acting is so bad that you feel school students can act better.
Mirzapur
(2018– )
Pathetic Season 2
17 December 2021
Season 2 of Mirzapur grates on the nerves. While the first season was good to some extent, the second season has all the short comings of the first, but none of the positive characteristics. Too many improbable and contrived plot twists.
Sadak 2
(2020)
Horrible movie by Mahesh Bhatt
17 December 2021
This movie is horrible by all standards. Acting, storyline, direction - everything sucks. Time for Mahesh Bhatt to stop making such crappy movies. Sanjay Dutt is pale and a shadow of his former self in the first Sadak movie.
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