I am not a big fan of Singham Franchise. I saw the first one out of sheer boredom with a friend and given the overall theatre experience, I liked it. The film became a success. And later, came with multiple franchises/sequels but I have yet to see any of them including Sooryavanshi despite boredom. But I had high hopes for Singham Again. So when I saw an official trailer released on YouTube, I could not wait but had to see it. And it left such a bad taste. Why?

Let's talk about the good things/appeals first. The film has an array of popular stars. It is studded with Bollywood stars, including some of my favorites. From the action genre they have Ajay Devgun [ we like the older version better], Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff [I dunno why is he so underrated?], and Jackie Shroff [80s ka cop verse]. For glamor, it has Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. There are other actors including an over-enthusiastic [straight from the set of Cirkus] Ranveer SINGH, a very talented Ravi Kishan [cast in a serious role?], and a very stale-looking Arjun Kapoor. Still, the film manages to kill Josh and fails to impress. Oops, it was a trailer right, and not a film. Well, the trailer was so elaborate that it barely left anything for the film. Oops, baring the Chulbul Pandey's cameo. 

The film has an interwoven [whyy] holy Ramayan story, where the modern-day protagonist looks less like idols and more like Jokers. 

Talking about the Parallel, which actually makes for a perpendicular bisector with one side having fans of the film, lapping the crap and the other side, audiences like us who are so done with Bollywood hero-worshipping that even interweaving [again whyy] Ramayan would not help but makes it look gimmickry n caricaturish.

Ramayan is not a comic book: Caricaturish Casting

The overall cast, as an ensemble doesn't gel in. It's hard to see Kareena as Maa Sita, though she is one of my most liked actresses, she doesn't fit the bill. If age wasn't an issue, Aishwarya Rai would have still looked better in this role. Ma Sita is someone who commands purity, grace, and respect. Kareena looks far independent and like she will just break into Fevicol's song. The film supposedly has Salman Khan's, Chulbul Cameo. Maybe instead of Ramayan, it could have been Mahabharta as Kareena's Avni has 5 cops coming to rescue her against one villain, as flimsy as Ki ka Ka. Ranveer Singh as Hanumanji is too goofy. And irrespective of all the sins that Ravana may have committed, Arjun Kapoor's casting for this role is like Bollywood at its worst casting ever! Does he cut off as a powerful antagonist who requires an entire army of seasoned actors, fighting with him? Too much.

A Pan masala endorsing Devgan could be a Singham but Ram? Akshay Kumar as Jatayu? Really Rohit Shetty what has gotten into you. The cop universe idea is good but not with the Vimal Gutka gang. It repels more than impresses. The ensemble could have been better. 

Bollywood seems to be currently, obsessed with sequels and franchises. If the formula is working for them fine, but how about original ideas and storylines? There is a difference between Ramayan and Avengers. Avengers is a comic book, and its success may have propelled many filmmakers to make superhero-like franchises of their own but with their limited creativity and myopic narration. 

Even if you want to use Ramayan as a common ground at least make the context worthy, and bring a cast that could do cinematic justice. 

Which Ramayn character Deepika Padukone is Playing?

After "Katappa ne Bahubali ko kyu mara", I guess this would be the next most discussed question which thankfully won't make you wait till the release of part 2. Well, not meaning to brag but I very well guessed the Katappa Bahubali riddle while watching the first film. For this one, my wild guess would be Sugreev. She is a lady Chewing gum oops Singham but most of her dialogue part looks like chewing gum only. 

Deepika tries to be Ranvir and Ranvir goofs up again. I still love Dara Singhji as Hanumanji as I feel he was the best ever.  Deeepika's glam looks, and fit persona get badly ditched as soon as she opens her mouth to deliver some really horrible cliche dialogues. It looks as horrible as her sleep-talking scene from Chennai Express. No, that was entertaining in parts, this one is- caricaturish and repetitive unless the movie shows that she dumps Halwai and becomes a cop. 

It was refreshing to see Shweta Tiwari in a cameo. And Daya is also there with the legend dialog "Daya Darwaza tod". But the delivery? It is an iconic dialogue but the way Kareena spills it out, it lands bland unless supported by CGI and Dolby in theaters. The actors look heavily hamming. Babaji, the Ramayana parallel is so unsettling. Sari pehna ke bindi laga di aur Poo ko Parvati bana diya? Joker ko Hanuman. And added "Jai Maharashtra" as another prop to entice audience' awe?? All these could have looked good a decade back. Today they look stale and very cheap tactics that play with audiences' emotions. Tsch. Problem with the the film is that it has too many caricatures. too many.

Singham ka Bhajipao Chewing gum

It's not about the genre but every idea has a shelf life and while the "cop universe" is a new idea somehow the trailer doesn't cut the thrill it was meant to. There is almost everything in the trailer which in a way is good for fan frenzy and fan pages to promote the content and clippings over the social media. Like they did with Animal, making Bobby Deol' cameo a big hit and quite a puller for people who haven't seen the film, to go and watch the film. Yours truly was being the one. Singham Again' trailer is probably trying to bank the same strategy and may encash it as well. 

Well, to each their own. Maybe the film manage to rest the cliche and entertain all alike. It may be a hit as well. So far it looks like a mass movie, meant for star crazy audience. Such is my love for the franchise which I think is nothing but good old Bollywood star machismo cinema that no longer holds relevance but will entice ensemble fans of ensemble casts. Fans to Rakhi Sawant ke bhi hai. What do you mean she is playing Shoorpnakha in this film? Lolz, they need someone to do an item number with Chulbul Pandey as Malaika broke with Arjun and Kareena replaced Kajal Agrawal as Avni. 

Do not tell me, this film has Kajol as a guest star or SRK's Jawan joining the cop universe. Hey Maa, Mataji. Daya ben, I mean Daya karo. 

I discovered Thomas Tovin in Minnale Murli. And quite liked the film. One of the rarest films where you like both the hero's and the villain's performances equally. They were strong performances indeed. Liked Mohanlal's performance in Drishyam 2 [He was par excellence and the Hindi remake was nowhere near it]. So, when I found a new release on Netflix starring Thomas Tovin, I had to watch it. 

Was the film worth the watch? I have my doubts. 

The film could not evoke a shock or an awe. Though it is a mystery, a la who-dun-it kind of cinema, it felt short on holding attention. Though TT looked quite suave the storyline was more of a narrative than an active investigation. Maybe the language change marred the impact but both the stories have 1 thing in common. In both cases, the suspect kills himself, either by mistake or via a planned move. Watch this film on Netflix to know more.

Paris and Christian Dior!

After watching this film, I also feel like, having a Christian Dior Dress. And why not, watch the film especially the scene where they have a special preview of a new Anniversary collection. 

The names from Bar Dress to Temptation to Venus, are very present in their true aura, regal, archival, and forever retro chic! 

When I started watching this film, I wasn't aware that it would have such an iconic exhibit underlying a very modern-day Cinderella Story. 

The Film

Mr Harris Goes to Paris AKA MHGP is an old-world, charming movie about a woman with humble means who dreams of a haute couture. It is the story of a sincere English Housekeeping lady Ada [Mrs Harris] who suddenly stumbles upon a beautiful Dior dress and instantly aches to own one. 

But you must wonder if a cleaning lady would manage to earn her dress or not, and if she does, then by what means? 

As they say, the Universe conspires with those who sincerely inspire. Well, it's London, and everything is made possible. So in turn of events, she ends up having a beautiful piece and losing it too in no time. 

The premise sounds so good and the film has really heart-warming scenes. Netflix left no stone unturned in showcasing this film on my timeline until I clicked to watch and left it mid-way for weeks. 

So last night, fully determined as I am, I managed to watch another chunk of this film and completed it this afternoon. Well, why would you be interested in my timetable, so let's move to Mrs. Harris, a very talented Leslie Manville, and her Dior story.

So in a Do or Dior case, Mrs Harris manages to earn a fortune in the form of her late husband's pension arrears[see I told u it is London and things are quite possible], a small reward for returning a priced jewel that she found on her way and a portion of a lost betting money. 

Lo and Behold, she lands in Paris. The plane journey was kind of unnecessary and bore no relevance to the story. But what unfolds next is - pure filmy that even Bollywood and Indian TV will be awed to learn. The film doesn't just climax with her acquiring the new dress, but it further explores something very striking MS Colbert challenges Mrs Harris's innate desire in the Hous of Dior.

Watch the film to know more as I do not want to seed spoilers and plant my opinion 😊 

Numerounity Review: There is an Ada in all of us.

Ok so it is a "feel-good, Dior Cindrellla" Kinda story but unfortunately not a very seamless or flawless one. The struggle is quite a miss. Suddenly Mrs Harris gets everything on a platter. The erstwhile financial crisis of CD, the chance meeting with the trio Natasha-Andre-Marquis, winning the way into seamstresses Cove, etc. Certain transformations served more as cliches than evolved. 

The film lacks Ada's struggle but is filled with cliches that I may have lapped a decade back saying Awwww. The story and portrayal are indeed heart-warming and Leslie Manville becomes a familiar face to watch. 

The more impressive performances came from Lambert Wilson and Isabell Huppert who played the roles of Marquis and Colbert respectively. Alba Baptista [Natasha] looked dreamingly beautiful and Lucas Bravo as Andre was good too. The biggest star of the film is the costume designer- Jenny Beaven. 

Vintage Dior fashion preview truly transports you into a different world and every time the camera moves inside the Dior house, you are star-stuck. It left me wanting more of it but the story moves back to a dull London, but for a reason. 

As I said- Ada is quite relatable, though we do not have a gem of friends like her, the character is quite relatable. You could sense her loneliness, her indifference towards her insensitive employers, her comeuppance with loss in solitude, also including her fascination with a dress without any ulterior or exterior motive beneath. I gave her a silent yet resounding applause when she mouthed-

"Them are the days when you can treat people like scum and expect Loyalty in return"

Verdict: It is a sweet, harmless film..I may watch it again [for the new-found love for the CD world]. Warning- the film may make you want to groom your hair or dress up a little more couture, a little more Parisian, if you are not already. 

As Jean Paul Sartre said- Pour Soi, En Soi

I am gonna explore that more. Go watch this film. Am told that there are 2 more films made from the same book, I really want to see them including Mrs. Arris Goes to Paris starring Angela Lansbury [1992]

.....

PS: Is it a better film than "Ticket to Paradise" also streaming on Netflix? Oh, any day. 👍

Thanks to Netflix, and other OTT platforms, I can watch a good deal of movies while nursing my toddlers. Sleep bereft during pregnancy and post-delivery, became a luxury that I could not afford or buy until my mom came. Of course. 

While watching movies at theatres has its own fun but new mother like me esp with twin children, can only dream of going out. Hence, OTT comes as a fresh breeze wherein you can watch, re-watch, and snack on movies and series in the comfort of your child's mood and your sleep availability. 

So earlier this month, I caught these two movies [read title] using my husband's Netflix account. Thank God, I didn't have to buy a Prime subscription like I did for Dahad and Satyaprem.  It was worth it for Dahaad though and Satyaprem could have been better than the bha oops pasuri it turned out at many places. Never mind, Karthik Aryan and Kiara Advani's film had one of my favorite stars- Supriya Pathak, and that made up for it. That reminds me- if Kehvat Laal's family been released on OTT yet and is there any update on "Carry on Kesar"? 

For the uninitiated, these are two Gujarati films I have meant to watch. Yeah, after moving to Ahmedabad, I have developed a strong liking for Gujarati movies too. There are so many good Gujarati films to watch like Golkeri, Dear Father, Thai Jase, and more.  Unfortunately, it is difficult to find them on OTT whereas you can find almost every K drama or typecast Hollywood film online. BTW, you can watch some quite good Malayalam films on OTT [with translation and subtitles of course]. Start with Jaya Jaya Hey on Hotstar, which also houses some other amazing movies including the recently released Baipan Bhari Deva [Marathi].

Murder Mubarak

Murder Mubarak is a modern-day multi-starrer with popular names like Karishma Kapoor, Sara Ali, Dimple Kapadia, Vijay Verma, Pankaj Tripathi, Tisca Chopra, Sanjay Kapoor, and more. However, if one guy steals the show is [un] lead actor but a very important part of the film- ... GFY [Go Find Yourself, sometimes it is good to search deserving actors on Google too]. You would have seen him on TVF Aam Aadmi Family or the recently released- Mamla Legal Hai.

The rest of the stars are either too overwhelming [like Sara Ali's Bambi Todi] or too underplayed [Like Dimple Khanna in a very minuscule role yet looking so delish and Tisca Chopra playing a typical Aunty Turn Modern in Chetan Bhagat' era]. Actually, the film's treatment is quite CB's style, and no matter how interesting the plot is or could have been, the characters look caricaturish. The film also has Grusha Kapoor who brings ease and freshness in her small role. Pankaj Tripathi looks the same as in almost all his films of late and his constant dig at his assistant looks borrowed. 

Overall, the film is indeed a good one-time or a repeat watch if you ignore the over-imposing cliche characters built in Indian Novels, further translated on screen. You expect some suave characters too and no Vijay Verma alone enough cannot fill that gap completely for the film with Brijesh Kalra.

Merry Christmas on the other hand has just one star- Vijay Sethuraj. I am sorry but I am big fan of Vijay Sethuraj, especially when he acts in Hindi films or series. Yes, I watched the whole Farzi for him. And he was the reason, of course along with the mystery built-in with Bollywood demi goddess Katrina Kaif in the film's trailer. I am so oblivious to the directors these days that I learned it is S Raghavan's film from a friend's Facebook post. However, the unkind comparisons with the director's previous venture- Andhadhun didn't act as a dampener. Until they showed Luke Kenny's dead body, the film made me think they were going to kill Vijay Sethuraaj or he would kill Katrina as it was obvious that he killed Rosie. Radhika Apte played the gold mining lover's role perfectly. Am sorry if you have not seen the film but I didn't tell you that she played Rosie or Bouganvillea. 

Bad jokes aside, except for the over-extended demolition scene [which may have been a good watch in theaters as the suspense unfolds], I was quite besotted watching Sethuraaj and his Tamil accent Hindi. Sanjay Kapoor was loud as ever in his new-found stereotyped genre but if that's what it is, it is what it is. 

Notwithstanding any comparison with the director's previous hits, I liked Merry Christmas and you know why. 

So, here's a short and sweet personal review of the two murder mysteries hitting the OTT. If you have seen the film, do care to share your views in the comment [if you are still reading my blog even after years of inactivity]. 

Both the movies are 1000 times better than Neeyat [reviewed earlier in this blog]

And since I mentioned Mamla Legal Hai, I must share it is a great watch. Go and watch it [again] on Netflix. Oh Netflix, I love you. 

 I was equally thrilled and doubtful when I heard that one of my favorite novels [read the review here] will be made in a film soon. With Kareena Kapoor as lead, the expectations went higher and I was eager to see it translated into a motion picture. While I had my doubts about the Bollywood mainstream execution. The doubts were somewhat backstage when I learned about other character lines, esp Ahlawat and Vijay Verma. If you know me, you would know that I had extra soft corners for character actors [ all due to their immense yet underrated acting talent] than the stars. To me, these character actors are the real stars, and not otherwise, as they really live up to the role and leave a better impression in any film. 

Coming back to the Devotion of Suspect X, being translated as Jaane Jaan in Bollywood, were my fears real? Did the film live up to the great expectations that the novel created? What went right or wrong for me? Read more to know...

1) Prose to Picture: First thing First, the storyline was unique with a dash of maths for mystery. I read this book way back in the early 2000s. I must say that when the book was given to me for review- I wasn't at all excited. I wasn't a big audience of Japanese or Asian Fiction books [given low exposure of course] but given the genre, I picked up and needless to say, was left being a fan of this book. Yeah, I read the English translated version of course. 

Now, converting a Japanese story into Indian Parlance may be a tough cookie and needs a little more genius than expected. Since am not a genius, I would leave that comment but will talk only as a viewer who chanced to have read the book before the film. Many other films were being made on this book, including the famous Drishyam [the Malayalam version which is leagues ahead of the Hindi one] allegedly being inspired by this book. Yet, I haven't watched many of those films but now am eager to watch one of them. 

So translating the Japanese story into Indian parlance was a tough cookie and the makers played safe by placing it in the eastern part of the country. The cloud-kissed roads and muggy mornings were all beautiful but not as dreamy as NE is. The book was quite elaborative [ of course] and could paint a picture of everything while you read black and white. The film fails to do so despite an impressive North East backdrop. The story, characters, and the background didn't blend for me. 

2) Stars over Characters: Kareena Kapoor looked great yet she looked less like Sonia or Maya and more like Kareena. In the novel, you feel empathetic with the protagonist Yasuko, here that was missing. Ditto with the other 2 actors. Jaideep A, I felt was most brilliant but he was made to look unnecessarily repulsive when he could have gotten away with being made to look just plain and unattractive. Now, these two things are different hope you will understand how. The charisma of a maths-led narrative was reduced to mere a backdrop when it could have been more impactful.

3) Emphasis on the star rather than story, dojo rather than double genius.

Unnecessary emphasis was given to the opening fight scene of Vijay Verma. Was it an action film? No. Itna playing to the gallery could have been avoided kyunki then the story would become the backdrop and the stars would look like focus objects. Stars and not characters I must clarify. 

you feel as if those scenes and references were created to push/ maintain an image rather than being part of the storyline. It looked superficial. 

We all know Kareena is hot and could see that. Kareena. Yet the repeated instances looked rather odd, over-pushing than emphasizing. It felt like actors were not paid adequately and the director promised to substantiate that less by portrait and more by repeating sentences. 

The actor who played Ajit could be a good case in point. No efforts or lines were made to tell how sinister he could be, yet with his limited screen time and presence he seamlessly, creates that impression about him. 

While I liked how they infused mathematics with A=B=C in the film, much for the comprehension of a mathematically challenged person like me, the overall impact was missing. And so was the conjecture of the film's title [the famous Bollywood song] with the story. You keep on wondering why the film was named Jaane Jaan. 

4) Too much Too fast

So Vijay Verma was portrayed as a genius police officer with a sharp mind and great fitness, yet his solving 2+2=5 within a few minutes, looked disjointed, too quick, and to the fashion of reverse calculating a problem when you have the solution.

The climax was different than the book but was cliched. 

Numerounity Verdict: The film is a good time to watch and could have done better in theaters with its sound, backdrop, and subject. As a person who read the book accidentally [as I am not in Japanese lit] and loved it, the film falls short of expectations. Given the fact that it borrower almost everything from the Kai Wang film. If you separate the film from the Novel, then this film is way better than Neeyat. Otherwise, it is just another bad copy.

Is this film better than OMG 2? Stay tuned to this blog.

Update: OMG 2 had a brilliant subject but again a star-struck treatment. the film banked too much on its star assets that it failed to focus on overall editorial. OMG1 was way better and crisp. This one was a mishmash and again a case of a lost cause. 

Numerounity