Tumko Meri Kasam, Kanneda: Reviews This Week

Tumko Meri Kasam Is A Sappy Courtroom Drama

Vikram Bhatt's Tumko Meri Kasam is a vanity vehicle. This is not an anomaly but given the rut Hindi cinema is in, the existence of such a film only reinforces the pliability of the industry. Ishita Sengupta reviews.

Dir: Vikram Bhatt

Cast: Anupam Kher, Ishwak Singh, Adah Sharma, Esha Deol

Playing in: Theatres

SECOND TIME WITHIN MONTHS there is an Aurangzeb reference in a Hindi film. If the Mughal ruler was vilified in Laxman Utekar’s Chhaava then he is freshly referenced in Vikram Bhatt’s Tumko Meri Kasam. A character wickedly says he can do anything to sit in the seat of power, like Aurangzeb. But neither the man saying it is particularly odious nor is the outcome of the mention a disaster. One can argue about the overall ineffectiveness of Bhatt’s new work, but, in reality, Tumko Meri Kasam harks back to the good old time in Hindi cinema when films were made without agenda and motives, and scenes were allowed to breathe and not spliced together by furtive video-game editing.

Well, one part of this is more true than the other. Scenes go on unendingly in Tumko Meri Kasam (endearing at first and grating soon after) as the narrative veers towards propaganda. Except, Bhatt’s film props up a man and not a nation. But given that it props at least something up, Anupam Kher features in a central role and does everything. He stands in court as the accused; he argues as his own lawyer and doubles up as a detective to find loopholes in the case even as police officers remain conspicuously absent like what we are watching is a figment of someone’s imagination.

Well, this also might be true. Tumko Meri Kasam centres on the life and times of Dr Ajay Murdia, the fertility specialist who founded the nationwide India IVF chain. He is famed to popularise the concept and dispel stereotypes about it. Kher plays Murdia as the film straddles timelines ( Ishwak Singh plays the younger version) and tells the latter’s origin story from his humble beginnings as a teacher to a later flourishing career as a businessman. But here’s the thing: Tumko Meri Kasam has been produced by Murdia’s Indira Entertainment, it features him as the protagonist and embellishes his life with harder tragedies only to highlight his greatness.

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Kanneda Is A Soapy Take On The Punjab Immigration

The show's multiple plotlines and half-baked characters create an incomplete portrait of displacement reducing grief, trauma and the hurt of leaving home to a singular narrative of racism.

Dir: Chandan Arora

Cast: Parmish Verma, Ranvir Shorey, Arunoday Singh, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub

Streaming on: JioHotstar

CHANDAN ARORA'S Kanneda on JioHotstar is one of those serviceable shows which is content being the second screen. The narrative is aware of the frugal attention it evokes and factors that in by unfolding in broad strokes—gunshots, frequent killings, side swapping—without resting with one for a while. Kanneda seeks to tell the story of a person and a country, each entwined with the tragedy of displacement, and makes as little effort as possible.

Honestly, I will take it. The series is harmless, sticks to its lane and concludes each of the eight episodes within a sleek 30-minute turnaround. This already makes Kanneda more tolerable than most of the series crowding the streaming platforms lately. But Arora’s show is also afflicted with tiring filmmaking, familiar staging and questionable performances even though Arunoday Singh acts on behalf of everyone.

Kanneda, a phonetic rendering of Canada in Punjabi, is about the immigration of Indians from Punjab to Canada after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the racism that followed. If nothing, it is a timely premise given how burgeoning the issue has been in recent times. The series, however, probes very little into the reason and chooses to focus instead on the aftermath. The question of why people left their motherland is glossed over to prioritise what happened to those who did.

— IS

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