Thoughts on movies, shows, books and life will be found here. Read at the risk of getting addicted.
Four directors bring us very different scary stories.
Zoya gives us the creepy one with Janhvi Kapoor who has done a decent job.
Anurag Kashyap gives us the abstract one with symbolism and an unexpected evil.
Dibakar Banerjee gives us the spine chilling series of events that befall an unfortunate village (watch out for Gulshan Devaiah).
Karan Johar gives the opulent and vague relationship of a grandmother and her grandson.
3/5
Created by Dan Levy and Eugene Levy, this is a brilliant show with comedy woven into the most unlikely scenarios.
Joined by Catherine O’Hara, Annie Murphy, Emily Hampshire, Jenn Robertson, Chris Elliott, Tom Rozon, Sarah Levy and Noah Reid, it is a laugh riot in the most subtle way.
It starts off slow, where you get to know each character and their idiosyncrasies. Very soon they start growing on you, they shed their one dimensional forms and become real.
The humour blends with reality and bonding between the characters, the personal evolution of the family and their small and important milestones, making it an endearing watch, a breath of fresh air in terms of content.
6 seasons on Netflix and loving it!
Kudos to Ayushmann Khurrana for taking on a subject as a lead role that no Bollywood hero would touch. Bravo to director Hitesh Kewalya for infusing so much healthy comedy in the film. The laughter made the truths easier to digest for the audience who was grappling with it for the first time.
The film starts off by normalising a gay relationship and exposing it pretty quickly to the family. Everything happens fast, without giving you much time to dwell on it. The family reaction and everything that comes with it follows with many eye openers about self love, doing the right thing, speaking your truth and fighting prejudice.
Jitendra Kumar has some superlative scenes and gets able support from his film family of Neena Gupta, Sunita Rajwar, Maanvi Gagroo, Gajraj Rao and Manu Rishi. They represent everything about a family, the balance and the chaos, the opposing views and the unconditional love and all that happens in between which cannot be explained, but only felt.
A wonderful balance of laughter, love and music. A sort of ‘coming of age’ of Indian Cinema, society and landscape.
3.5/5
Directed by Noah Baumbach this film is everything that is frustrating about a marriage that’s ending. The writing is superlative, capturing the highs and lows, silences and fights with an undercurrent of care and connection.
Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson give brilliant performances, showing how complex it is for couples to seperate emotionally and mentally. How they can care for each other beyond a label or piece of paper. They also show the loathing and dislike in equal measure, which is heartbreaking to watch.
Laura Dern has won an Oscar for a very cunning performance, playing a double edged divorce lawyer, but to say it’s her best or a career defining one would be incorrect. She is much better in Big Little Lies.
Not an entertaining film, as it’s very emotionally charged, but it’s very sensitive and insightful.
3.5/5
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A funny and insightful introspection, a nostalgic journey of everything Indian and what many of us associate with India. Filled with laughs, jibes, the uncomfortable and the real, Vir Das treads boldly but gently, carrying you with him effortlessly.
An endearing film about a yeti who hails from the Everest and a group of three brave and adventurous friends who unwittingly volunteer to return him home.
What follows is a wonderful connection with nature, the gift of music, the power of memories and the language of love.
An excellent family film with meaningful messages and a great tribute to China.
3/5
Sam Mendes gives us a tense masterpiece which gives the impression that it is captured in one long shot. Besides pulling off a technical and aesthetic masterpiece, it also serves as a reminder of the horrors of war and how unnecessary it is.
The film is poetry in motion, with crescendos and troughs, it keeps all your senses engaged because you don’t want to miss a thing. The sheer scale and craft will dazzle you, just as the humanity and fear will shake you. Nuanced acting by the principal and supporting cast make it a rich and deep viewing.
You come away from the film not only appreciating the freedoms you enjoy because brave people gave their lives but also contemplate how difficult the conditions were and how quickly you had to move on in grief and loss.
Worthy of all the awards and accolades, this is a bit of world history brought to life from the stories by the director’s grand father Alfred Mendes.
5/5
Meghna Gulzar gives us a brilliant film which compels us to think. Deepika delivers one of her career bests as ‘Malti’, an acid attack victim survivor.
We get to examine what has enabled the crime, the plight of the survivors, the flaws in the legal system and the wonders of medical science.
Exceptional direction and acting makes this not a ‘poke in the eyes to make you cry’ but a ‘stab in the heart to make you think’. The haunting background score helps to further that cause.
It was an emotional and empowering viewing that makes you strongly want to burn away the prejudice.
4/5
Movies&Musings 