Article 370: Yami Gautam Packs A Punch In This Paean To India's Govt |
Article 370 wears its political agenda on its sleeve, and if anything, props to the makers for not shying away from taking a strong stand (propaganda notwithstanding), writes Swetha Ramakrishnan |
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| | Cast: Yami Gautam, Priyamani |
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THAT A FILM titled Article 370, produced by the team that made Uri: The Surgical Strike and vetted by the Prime Minister himself, begins with multiple jabs against Jawahar Lal Nehru should not come as a surprise. With a heavy voiceover by Ajay Devgn, who gives us a brief history lesson about the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, the film begins. (Stream top-rated movies and shows across platforms and languages, using the OTTplay Premium Jhakaas pack, for just Rs 199/month.) Directed by Aditya Suhas Jhambale, the film wears its political agenda on its sleeve, and if anything, props to the makers for not shying away from taking a strong stand (propaganda notwithstanding). Clarity of content is a laudable quality in the film industry, and Article 370 makes no bones about what its stand is on the Abrogation of Article 370, which gave Jammu and Kashmir special status. The film is a stylised, skillfully shot and edited puff piece on how Abrogation has solved all the issues that Jammu and Kashmir has been battling since 1947. |
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'Crakk' Is A Throwback To The Good Bad Films Of Yore |
I HAVE a question: why is Vidyut Jammwal’s new film spelt Crakk like the letter “k” was being distributed for free? I have another question: who are the Jamwalions that the actor has started dedicating his films to? There are some more: why does his accent keep changing throughout the film at the speed of light? (He starts off with a classic tapori accent, going for that aich in every word, before abandoning it.) Why is Amy Jackson speaking Hindi like she is getting her tooth extracted with every line? Why is not one word uttered by Nora Fatehi syncing with the way her mouth is moving? Why is Arjun Rampal? Now that these are out of the way, let us talk about Crakk. Jammwal’s new film is a wild beast that goes through the runtime doing whatever it wants to do. — ISHITA SENGUPTA |
| Richie Mehta’s Near-Perfect 'Poacher' Is Here |
RICHIE MEHTA has a knack of seeing things. This does not imply an inherent visual ability but an acquired one. The filmmaker has a perceptive instinct that allows him to look at familiar structures — a person in uniform, a law-enforcing force — in a light that fosters nuanced reading. In his hands, a police procedural drama sheds its sleekness and becomes a tale of a few tired people fighting the good fight within an unaccommodating setup. In his treatment, bravery is distilled to efficiency, and the triumph of officials co-exists with the failure of the system. His debut series Delhi Crime (2019), based on the Nirbhaya case, underscored his distinct voice. Poacher, a most compelling follow-up to his previous venture, unravels as a fuller indication of his intent. — I.S. |
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| 'All India Rank' Is A Whimsical Ode To Youth |
FEW things are as misrepresented in Hindi films as youth. The specificity of the time often gets drowned out by the excess of depiction. The aimlessness of the age gets consumed by the adult gaze and reluctance is coloured as disobedience. Filmmakers are prone to lending a distinct clarity to adolescence, forgetting often that of all the things young adults are, being a drifter is their primary trait. Varun Grover’s debut feature film, All India Rank is a whimsical slice-of-life film that unfolds sidestepping this pitfall. When Vivek Singh (Bodhisattva Sharma), a teenager in Lucknow, is sent to Kota for IIT tuitions, he is crestfallen. Primed to be a regular UPSC aspirant story, All India Rank ends up as a moving account of a middle-aged couple. — I.S. |
| 'The Golden Idol' & Playing A Time-Travelling Detective |
EVER wanted to travel to 18th century England (or at least a fictionalised version of it)? How about solving a murder case while you were there? How about a dozen? All spanning some 50-odd years, yet connected through a common thread? And while you are at it, would you also like to embody the spirit of a REAL detective, pushing and testing your deduction abilities to their limits? Well, aren't you in luck! Color Gray Games' adventure-puzzle The Case of the Golden Idol gives you everything you ever wanted from a detective game, and then some more. A lot more. Stabbing, poisoning, spontaneous combustion, gunshot wounds, explosions, “falling” off great heights, we've got it all. Not to mention the supernatural goings-on. — HARSH PAREEK |
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The Teacher's Lounge: When The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions |
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IDEALISM collides with reality, creating a perfect storm of speculations, miscalculations and accusations in The Teachers’ Lounge. Good intentions can sometimes lead to bad outcomes. The gulf between doing the right things and doing things right proves fertile ground for paranoia and mistrust in İlker Çatak’s classroom whodunit of sorts. At a German school, a seventh-grade teacher’s well-meaning attempt to investigate a series of thefts snowballs into a much bigger scandal. The more she labours to remedy the situation, the more she risks becoming a pariah. The bind she finds herself in raises a pertinent question: how do you stand firm against a rigid school system and by implication any bureaucratic system, which seem purposed to wear you down and make you choke on your idealism? — PRAHLAD SRIHARI |
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| Each week, our editors pick one long-form, writerly piece that they think is worthy of your attention, and dice it into easily digestible bits for you to mull over. |
| In which we invite a scholar of cinema, devotee of the moving image, to write a prose poem dedicated to their poison of choice. Expect to spend an hour on this. |
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