In the age when headless torsos surface (literally) with alarming and disturbing regularity, Mardaani 2 serves as a timely reminder of the atrocities dished out against women, in particular. The sequel to the 2014 hit has Rani Mukerji Chopra reprising her role of SP Shivani Shivaji Roy. The sequel shifts to Kota, Rajasthan, as the…
It took 22 years for the first sequel to be made – ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’. And then just a couple of years for this, the second sequel. The success of ‘Jungle’ possibly prompted Kasdan, who directed it, and one of the co-writers, to helm this one too. Jumanji, based on the 1981 picture…
‘Lagta hai ke mera Khuda bhi ab unke saath hai’, utters the power-hungry Afghan king Ahmad Shah Abdali (Sanjay Dutt) in exasperation, seemingly outwitted by the wily Maratha commander Sadashiv Rao Bhau (Arjun Kapoor). ‘Panipat’ is all about the third Battle of Panipat, on 14 January, 1761 between the two. Nanasaheb Peshwa (Mohnish Bahl) comes…
India’s 26/11 has been invariably, and universally, compared to 9/11 of the US – the moral bankruptcy of the perpetrators and their handlers, the meticulous planning, targeting of the commercial capital cities, the suddenness and viciousness of the attacks, and above all – the resilience of the peoples of the affected countries. ‘Hotel Mumbai’, inspired…
Two particular scenes at the beginning of the film prepare the viewer for 32-year-old NYPD Detective, Andre Davis’s (Chadwick Boseman) tough, no-nonsense character – as a 13-year-old, he silently weeps at his father’s funeral – a sincere policeman slain in the line of duty; and later, as a detective specialising in killing cop-killers, standing up…
‘Hair today, gone tomorrow’! If the trio of directors of this film (led by Abhishek Pathak) are to be believed, ragging in Delhi has gone up several notches – first-year students deride and ridicule even their lecturers for a paltry reason such as going prematurely bald! Not having seen the original 2017 Kannada movie, ‘Ondu…
Well, hadn’t he promised, or warned, in 1984, that he’d be back? On his return, Schwarzenegger brings along with him the series’ original director, James Cameron (in a different capacity) and the ubiquitous Linda Hamilton, as Sarah Connor. The film is set 22 years after Judgement Day, and has, as protagonists, the augmented human Grace…
Lest the viewer forget what the film is all about, the opening words – ‘definition of an aphrodisiac’ also serve to reassure that he is in the right auditorium. Raghuvir Rao (Rajkumar Rao) is an enterprising but unsuccessful entrepreneur. In the hope of turning his business around, his cousin, Devraj (Sumeet Vyas) takes him on…
“I never argue, I explain,” is just one of the many one-liners veteran actress Maggie Smith, as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, gets to deliver in this reprisal of the hit British TV series, which aired in Britain from 2010 to 2015. It’s 1927, and what begins as a simple story of King George…
‘P se P, F se F’ refers to Article 15 of our Constitution, which enshrine clauses pertaining to ‘discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste and sex’, much as the recent ‘Section 375’ which referred to IPC’s section on sexual assault. ‘Based on continuing true stories’, is what we are informed. Sooraj Mali (debutant Bhavesh…
The opening frames of the film could well serve as a reminder of the recent bounteous monsoon – with IIT students running around the hostel, clad only in underpants, drenching one another as if there was no tomorrow. Maya (Shraddha Kapoor) and Annirudh (Sushant Singh Rajput) were rank holders in 1992, but are now a…