In Sitaare Zameen Par, An Overeager Aamir Khan Is Not Good News
| Much like Khan’s performance, RS Prasanna’s film is dunked in bluntness. Everything is text, even the subtext. Ishita Sengupta reviews.
| | | | | Cast: Aamir Khan, Genelia D'Souza, Dolly Ahluwalia, Gurpal Singh | | | | IF AAMIR KHAN'S Sitaare Zameen Par were a person, they would err on the side of excess. They would be “too” quick to commit mistakes and “too” eager to rectify. They would be “too” prone to misacting and later be “too” contrite. If Sitaare Zameen Par were a person, they would resemble Khan’s on-screen persona, most of which is built on a saviour complex and dishing out wisdom to unsuspecting adults. Except, he switches sides this time — for once, the actor wants to be taught. This is common. Khan hosted and produced the relevant Satyamev Jayate , a show dedicated to spotlighting pressing social issues; all episodes consisted of him sitting amidst experts and being struck by one revelation after another. This enthusiasm to learn, coupled with the actor’s recent propensity of making every act act distils his turn in Sitaare Zameen Par — a film that badly wants your tears. It is not an unreasonable want. Sitaare is the spiritual sequel of Taare Zameen Par (2007), Khan’s directorial debut that can function as a synonym of a sob-fest. Two decades ago, he played a perceptive teacher who recognised a dyslexic child’s struggle when his parents failed to. This time, he plays an impolite basketball coach entrusted with the task of teaching the sport to a group of specially-abled people. Although adapted from the 2018 Spanish film Champions , there is a neatness to the circle, an authenticity to the premise of a teacher wanting to be taught. | | | Detective Sherdil: A Murder Mystery Even Diljit Can't Save
| Ravi Chhabriya’s film underutilises Dosanjh in an oddly annoying role. More's the pity.
| | | | | Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Diana Penty, Boman Irani, Ratna Pathak Shah | | | | DILJIT DOSANJH , one would assume, can do anything. In the last couple of years, the pop star has catapulted into a global icon and graced Jimmy Fallon’s show and the Met Gala with equal grace. His shows are sold out, his Instagram is filled with hilarious reels, and his upcoming filmography promises to be both subversive ( Punjab ‘95 ) and mainstream ( Border 2 ). His rise has been so meteoric that he looks infallible, and his success so constant that it feels destined. Detective Sherdil , his latest film, is an exception to the narrative. Ravi Chhabriya’s directorial debut, a whodunnit, makes art out of disengagement. It is a thriller with so little thrill that it could be a case study, and sitting in 2025, it features Dosanjh in the lead and the audacity to underutilise him, making his character, dare I say, annoying. On paper, it might seem improbable, but Detective Sherdil achieves this with a vengeance I had not foreseen. Dil maange more Diljit? Stream Jodi on OTTplay Premium. Dosanjh plays Sherdil, allegedly a genius detective, fond of making reels after solving a case. I use “allegedly” because Chhabriya’s film (written by Sagar Bajaj, Ravi Zafar and Ali Abbas Zafar) gives zero evidence of his skill set. The film opens with a flashy introduction that, I assumed, set the stage for exposition. Detective Sherdil , however, goes nowhere near it, giving us instead a detective whose only job is playing the mouth organ at all times, like he is imagining it (ruining my happy memory of watching Shah Rukh Khan do it in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa ). — I.S. | | | Elio Is A Savoury Pixar-Flavoured Snack For Thought
| Elio underlines a rather sweet and disarming notion: that space travel is a collective reaction to loneliness just as much as a burning interest in the unknown. Rahul Desai reviews. | | | Dir: Adrian Molina, Domee Shi | | Cast: Yonas Kibreab, Zoë Saldaña, Remy Edgerly, Brad Garrett | | | | PIXAR'S children’s-films-for-adults slate has been running on fumes for a while. The inventive settings and cultural oddities aside, all the stories and themes have begun to coalesce into a blob of curated wonder. Running out of ideas is normal, but running out of ways to explore them is a bit alarming. Sometimes, the “back to the drawing board” mood shows. After the disappointing Elemental , the Lilo-and-Stitch -coded Elio further gentrifies the misfit-orphan-meeting-alien and reaching-for-the-stars template. There’s a design about the dreaminess that’s no longer...new. It revolves around an 11-year-old space fanatic, Elio, who lives with his young aunt, Major Olga Solis, on an American Air Force Base. The lonely kid’s only goal is to be abducted by aliens. He spends his days in the middle of self-created crop circles on the beach that screams “abduct me!”. When he’s finally beamed up to an interplanetary organisation composed of ‘ambassadors’ from several galaxies, his cosmic misadventure — being mistaken as Earth’s leader (and an adult); being a negotiator; bonding with a cute worm-like son Glordon of the warlord villain; sending his clone back to cover up for him on Earth — begins. You know how it goes. Elio finds a sense of belonging up there. Olga’s career is compromised by her sudden guardian status. Glordon becomes the eccentric Dory-in- Finding-Nemo crowd puller. Warlord dad softens. The plot itself goes by the book. You can tell that almost too many cooks — writers, directors, animators, executives — are involved. | | | The one newsletter you need to decide what to watch on any given day. Our editors pick a show, movie, or theme for you from everything that’s streaming on OTT. | | 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. | | | Hindustan Media Ventures Limited,
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