Big stars, big budgets, but do these mega releases deliver? Our critics weigh in.
The Lokesh Kanagaraj Formula™ Disappoints In Rajinikanth's Coolie | ...an unfortunate result for the superstar in the 50th year of his career, writes Aditya Shrikrishna .
| AFTER FIVE FILMS, Lokesh Kanagaraj’s staples are now well known. His films teem with men embodying varying degrees of macho masculinity, vulnerability and identity crisis. Reluctant heroes drawn into battle against their will, their current pedigree not betraying their past or their abilities. The men of Maanagaram were only looking for love or an IT job or both. We don’t know what Dilli (Karthi in Kaithi ) was doing before he went to prison. We meet JD (Vijay in Master ) as an alcoholic college professor with no motivation to live for himself, much less for others. Vikram (Kamal Haasan in the eponymous film) retired to a life of geriatric parenthood and then he lost his son. Even Vijay’s Leo with his history of violence found a new name, new identity and an entrance into annals of the happy Indian family. And then shit happens. To all of them. Coolie , Lokesh’s collaboration with Rajinikanth, lays out similar terrain. We meet Rajinikanth’s Deva in Chennai as a mansion owner-warden-cook rolled into one, an ex-labourer lording over his establishment with a strict prohibition order. No alcohol touches his lips and none of it escapes his eyes. But before all this, Lokesh’s signature bounty makes an appearance. The Visakhapatnam harbour is a den of illicit activities under boss Simon (Nagarjuna Akkineni) and enforcer Dayal (Soubin Shahir). They offer a two-crore prize for the head of a police informer among them. And then there is another plot involving Sathyaraj as Rajasekhar, an engineer with three daughters — one of them Preethi (Shruti Haasan) — who has designed an electric cremation chair that is useful for Simon’s mysterious chief business. It’s all a bit vague and it only gets denser and more incoherent from here. Deva turns out to be Rajasekhar’s best friend and it so happens that he is pulled into this business of moles, shady dealings and a chair. If you are thinking that none of this sounds compelling enough, you will be correct. Even with Lokesh’s usual staples on paper, nothing in Coolie makes sense or is even engaging. And there is too much rug-pulling too often that doesn’t set your heartbeat racing. The film is as generic as the convoluted story is uninteresting. | | | War 2 Is More About Slo-Mo Walks Than The Ground Its Heroes Cover | Ayan Mukerji's Hrithik Roshan-Jr NTR starrer is worryingly ineffective, writes Ishita Sengupta .
| AYAN MUKERJI’s War 2 is the sixth film in the Yash Raj Spy Universe . It is a precarious position to be in, not least because its prequel, Siddharth Anand’s War (2019) remains objectively fun. A more pressing concern is that through the years — from Kabir Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger (2012) to now — the politics of the setting has altered. India in 2025 is not what it was a decade ago, and the shift has transformed other things. What would be identified as sweeping patriotism in the past runs the risk of being jingoistic now; what would qualify as defending the country now translates to not questioning it. To be fair, the films have been largely attuned to it. The franchise is imbued with a pluralism that accommodates shapeshifting ideals of heroes and villany. This is both rare and old-school, aligning with the secular subtext evident in films backed by the production house (Akshay Kumar’s Samrat Prithviraj was a rare exception). Tiger and Pathaan (essayed by Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan respectively), the two big architects of the spyverse, inhabit the disillusionment that comes with their job even when they remain committed to it. Their devotion translates to protecting the nation and questioning it, in seeking answers to queries like why should the country also not do its bit? Why, asked Tiger, can he not love Zoya, a Pakistani spy? Why, asked Pathaan, could they not prevent an ex-Indian spy from turning rogue? War had perpetuated the commentary by refusing to slot loyalty to one person or religion. In Anand’s film, both the dreamy Kabir Dhaliwal (Hrithik Roshan) and his diligent protege Khalid Rahmani (Tiger Shroff) headlined the archaic narrative of putting nation before self. Mukerji’s War 2 reiterates it, in many many words, and yet refuses to inspect either of the entities. This lack of bite makes it the most facile film in the franchise, one too preoccupied with slo-mo walks than the land on which the spies are walking on. | | | Like what you read? Get more of what you like. Visit the OTTplay website or download the app to stay up-to-date with news, recommendations and special offers on streaming content. Plus: always get the latest reviews. Sign up for our newsletters. Already a subscriber? Forward this email to a friend, or use the share buttons below ⬇️ | | | This weekly newsletter compiles a list of the latest (and most important) reviews from OTTplay so you can figure what to watch or ditch over the weekend ahead. | | Each week, our editors pick one long-form, writerly piece that they think it 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
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