Author Archives: Kathy

Movie Review: Jaane Jaan (2023)

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4 Stars (out of 4)

Watch Jaane Jaan / Suspect X on Netflix

In Jaane Jaan (also known as “Suspect X“) — filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh’s adaptation of the novel The Devotion of Suspect X — Ghosh showcases the same gifts for establishing atmosphere and directing actors as he displayed in 2012’s brilliant thriller Kahaani.

Much of what made Kahaani so engrossing were the subtle interactions between characters, like the tender way Officer Rana looks at pregnant Vidya, the woman he’s helping search for her missing husband. He’s smitten with her, even though he (and we) know they can never be together. Jaane Jaan is full of poignant glances and meaningful expressions that command the audience’s attention even more powerfully than a flashy action sequence.

Kareena Kapoor Khan plays Maya, a single mother living in the West Bengal hill town Kalimpong with her 14-year-old daughter Tara (Naisha Khanna). One day, the nightmare Maya has feared for almost fifteen years comes true: her husband Ajit (Saurabh Sachdev) — a sleazy Mumbai cop who dabbles in human trafficking — finally tracks her and Tara down. Though Maya assumes that Ajit is there for her, his intentions are more sinister.

Maya’s next door neighbor Naren (Jaideep Ahlawat) — a respected but aloof mathematics teacher — is reticence personified, but he’s a keen observer. He puts some clues together (thanks in no small part to their apartment building’s paper-thin walls) and determines that Maya is in trouble. He knocks on her door at a crucial moment, offering mother and daughter an unexpected but desperately needed lifeline.

Days after Ajit’s arrival, another stranger comes to Kalimpong: dashing Mumbai police officer Karan Anand (Vijay Varma). He hopes to find Ajit and use him to bring down the human trafficking racket he’s a part of. Soon enough, Karan figures out Maya’s connection to Ajit. And he’s surprised to meet his old college buddy and fellow martial artist, Naren.

By the time Karan arrives, Ajit is nowhere to be found. The three characters engage in a delicate dance, careful not to disclose more information than they should while trying to figure out what each other knows. It’s a dangerous situation because Naren knows how smart Karan is, and it won’t be long before he assumes Maya is involved with Ajit’s disappearance. Complicating things further is that both men are attracted to Maya.

All three of the main actors give some of the best performances of their careers in Jaane Jaan. Varma moves Karan through the world with the easy confidence of a man with looks, brains, charm, and authority. He instantly befriends his new partner on the local police force, Sundar Singh (Karma Takapa). Even when Karan is focused, he’s physically relaxed.

Karan is the opposite of Naren, who Ahlwat plays with imposing rigidity and minimal expressions. Ahlawat’s job is to convey the complexity of Naren’s feelings through microscopic movements of facial muscles and barely perceptible changes in appearance. It’s a daunting challenge, but Ahlawat pulls it off beautifully. Naren is a fully realized character of great emotional depth, even though those around him can hardly tell. He’s misjudged, but he also engages in some problematic behavior, so he’s more complicated than just a sympathetic underdog.

Kapoor Khan is excellent in guiding Maya through the storm that upends her life when Ajit and Karan come to town. Whether Maya is afraid, resolute, standoffish, or vulnerable, Kapoor Khan executes everything that’s asked of her with precision.

The masterful acting isn’t limited to the main three characters and their battle of wits. Sachdev’s Ajit is a total slimeball. Khanna is wonderful as a young teen forced to shoulder unfair burdens. Characters like Officer Singh and Maya’s well-intentioned but nosy co-worker Prema (Lin Laishram) are delightfully performed and give Jaane Jaan a real sense of place.

Kalimpong is the perfect location for a mystery, full of twisting roads, hidden alleys, and towering hills. Low-hanging clouds obscure and conceal, yet its beautiful vistas and lush forest invite exploration. With Jaane Jaan, Sujoy Ghosh shows again that he knows exactly what he’s doing.

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Streaming Video News: September 21, 2023

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime with today’s streaming debut of the blockbuster Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. Looking forward to finally catching up on it this weekend. Other new additions today include the Marathi film Subhedar and the Telugu movie Bedurulanka 2012. Amazon also announced a September 27 premiere date for the fourth and final season of Hostel Daze.

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with today’s world premiere of Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh’s latest mystery Jaane Jaan (also known as “Suspect X“), starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Vijay Varma, and Jaideep Ahlawat. I’m still working on my review, but I can say that Jaane Jaan is terrific. Netflix also announced an October 18 launch date for its new series Kaala Paani (“Dark Water“):

Finally, I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Hulu with the addition of three Bengali titles from a few years ago: Bhootchakra Pvt. Ltd., Borunbabur Bondhu, and Rawkto Rawhoshyo.

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Movie Review: Neeyat (2023)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

Watch Neeyat on Amazon Prime

Neeyat (“Motive“) draws from classic mystery stories, though it falls short of becoming a classic itself.

Ram Kapoor plays AK, a wealthy industrialist on the run from the Indian government due to shady financial dealings. He hasn’t paid his employees in two years, leading to at least eight suicides by people on his payroll suffering financial distress.

AK gathers his closest friends and family members at his Scottish castle — the eerily named Highgrave Manor — to celebrate his birthday. Everyone invited is subsidized by AK in one way or another, whether it be the boarding school tuition he pays for his niece Sasha (Ishika Mehra) or the jewels he buys his much-younger girlfriend Lisa (Shahana Goswami). They all depend on him to maintain their lavish lifestyles.

As a dangerous storm closes in, event manager Tanveer (Danesh Razvi) sends the rest of the staff home before the only bridge leading to the castle is raised, stranding everyone there for the night — but a late arriving guest reveals AK’s ulterior motives. AK announces at dinner that he plans to turn himself and all of his remaining assets over to the Indian authorities, and that CBI officer Mira Rao (Vidya Balan) is there to take him into custody the following morning when her cohorts from Scotland Yard arrive.

This causes an uproar as the guests realize that their gravy train is about to derail. All of them have reason to stop AK from carrying out his plan. When he falls over a cliff to his death, officer Mira tries to determine which of the guests turned murderer.

There are lots of characters (in the colloquial sense) among the characters, played to varying degrees of success. Kapoor’s AK is boisterous, but not over-the-top. Same cannot be said for Rahul Bose’s depiction of AK’s hard-partying, bisexual brother-in-law Jimmy, whose big reactions border on cartoonish.

Subtle performances from Goswami as the current girlfriend, Shashank Arora as AK’s neglected stepson Ryan, Dipannita Sharma as AK’s former flame Noor, and Neeraj Kabi as Noor’s husband Sanjay steady the film and help to maintain movement as the investigation into AK’s death kicks into gear.

The big question mark among the characters is Mira. She’s part quirky detective and part taciturn loner, and Balan never quite hits the right tone to make her feel believable. Due to Mira’s penchant for describing the situation with technical specificity, one of the characters refers to her as a “walking encyclopedia.” It’s a nod in the direction of a brainiac detective like Sherlock, but she lacks his charisma.

Further, writer-director Anu Menon shows some of Mira’s tics — like her periodically eating butterscotch hard candies — that seem like they are going to meaningful but ultimately aren’t. The thing about detective stories is that the audience has been trained to pay attention to the smallest details, making the choice of what to include in the narrative crucially important. If something isn’t going to be either a clue or a red herring, leave it out.

That said, the setting — an isolated castle in Scotland on a stormy night — is evocative, making the whole film feel very comfortable for genre fans. While not perfect, Neeyat does what it needs to do to meet the needs of mystery aficionados.

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Streaming Video News: September 14, 2023

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Hulu with today’s debut of two brand new Indian series: the Hindi show Kaala (available in Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu dubs) and the Tamil series MY3 (also in Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, and Telugu). MY3 is an official remake of the 2017 Korean series I’m Not a Robot.

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon with this week’s premiere of the new Hindi series Bambai Meri Jaan (“Bombay My Beloved“).

I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with the streaming debuts of the Telugu films Ramabanam and Bhola Shankar. Netflix also announced an October 5 release date for director Vishal Bhardwaj’s Netflix Original movie Khufiya (aka “House of Spies“):

If you want to read more about next week’s big premiere of director Sujoy Ghosh’s Netflix Original thriller Jaane Jaan (aka “Suspect X“), check out this preview I wrote for What’s on Netflix.

Finally, I was able to review Bhumi Pednekar’s comedy Thank You for Coming ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s set to release in Indian theaters on October 6 and will eventually land on Netflix. If you want an early sneak peak, check out my review of Thank You for Coming.

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Movie Review: Thank You for Coming (2023)

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2 Stars (out of 4)

Bhumi Pednekar showcases her ability to master any kind of material in the sex-positive comedy Thank You For Coming. Unfortunately, poor pacing and inconsistent world-building keep this progressive story from reaching its full potential.

Pednekar plays Kanika Kapoor, an energetic single woman in her early 30s with an unfulfilling sex life. The film opens with a recounting of all of the disappointing men she’s dated, from a selfish high school boyfriend to a much older professor (played by Anil Kapoor). After we receive all this background and are introduced to her gynecologist mom and conservative grandmother, we learn Kanika has decided to marry a well-to-do nerd named Jeevan (Pradhuman Singh). Better to be hitched and unsatisfied than alone and unsatisfied, she figures.

For some reason, all of Kanika’s exes are invited to the couple’s engagement party. After a drunken night, Kanika wakes up in her hotel room alone. The only thing she remembers is that she finally had her first orgasm, but she doesn’t know who was with her when it happened. She and her pals set out to find the mystery lover before the wedding takes place.

Kanika’s hotel room revelation marks the halfway point in the story, which is way too late in the proceedings, especially since the material that proceeds it is only okay. Besides a few funny moments from Kanika — made all the more entertaining by Pednekar’s committed delivery — there’s a lot of dialogue that isn’t particularly humorous or informative. Critical information that will be relevant later is said in passing rather than shown, so it hardly even registers as something that might be important to the story.

One strange choice by director Karan Boolani and writers Radhika Anand and Prashasti Singh is that they hardly feature Kanika’s cool and very movie-friendly job. A new acquaintance Rushi (Shehnaaz Gill, who is bubbly and fun in her role) says that she is a super fan of Kanika’s work as a food blogger. The only time we see Kanika actually working is in a single, brief scene where her friend’s teenage daughter Rabeya helps her take some food photos. That’s it.

Incorporating food into films would’ve been an easy way to provide visual interest in a movie prone to telling, not showing. Plus, one of the film’s themes is about Kanika accepting herself as she is, and being a popular food blogger would seem to be a pretty big endorsement of one’s self-worth. Instead, the movie reduces Kanika’s whole being down to her floundering sex life.

Thank You for Coming makes compelling points about the double standards held against women who pursue sexual satisfaction. It’s particularly effective in a subplot featuring Rabeya that calls back to Kanika’s own troubled high school romance and its effects on her reputation.

Still, there’s too much dull, inessential fluff in Thank You for Coming, keeping it from being the snappy comedy it should be. Pednekar is a delightful lead, but the story lets her down.

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Movie Review: Satyaprem Ki Katha (2023)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

Watch Satyaprem Ki Katha on Amazon Prime

Satyaprem Ki Katha aspires to be a social issue picture that feels less heavy-handed than other Hindi films about important topics sometimes do. It almost meets its goals, but it trips just before crossing the finish line.

One of Satyaprem Ki Katha‘s selling points is that its characters are nuanced and have room to grow. Kartik Aaryan plays Satyaprem, whom everyone calls Sattu. He’s a nice but mediocre guy who’s been left behind as his peers advanced in their careers and romantic relationships. He tends the house with his dad/best friend Narayan (Gajraj Rao) while his mom Diwali (Supriya Pathak) and sister Sejal (Shikha Talsania) earn money teaching dance and exercise classes.

Sattu pines for the beautiful woman he saw dancing at last year’s holiday function: Katha (Kiara Advani), daughter of wealthy shop owner Harikishen Kapadia (Siddharth Randeria). When Sattu doesn’t see Katha at this year’s function, her father tells him that she felt unwell and stayed home. Sattu sneaks into the Kapadia mansion to confess his feelings, arriving just in time to stop Katha’s suicide attempt from succeeding.

Worried that Katha’s recent breakup with her rich boyfriend Tapan (Arjun Aneja) and her newly revealed mental health problems will tarnish Katha’s reputation among the upper crust, Harikishen marries her off to the first suitable groom he finds: Sattu. Katha agrees to the marriage, but only because her dad threatens to kill himself if she doesn’t. The look of heartbreak and betrayal on Katha’s face as she leaves home after the wedding is devastating.

Understandably, the marriage starts off rocky. The fact that Katha won’t let Sattu sleep in the same room as her becomes hot neighborhood gossip. As unsympathetic as Katha’s father is to his daughter, he kindly explains to Sattu that something awful must have happened for Katha to have attempted suicide. Sattu takes his time earning Katha’s trust, helping her to open up and reveal the trauma she’s been hiding.

Harikishen is a good example of what Satyaprem Ki Katha — directed by Sameer Vidwans and written by Karan Shrikant Sharma — does well in terms of character creation. All of the characters are multidimensional, sometimes holding contradictory views or changing their stance depending on the circumstances. Narayan is the same way, counseling Sattu on patience and understanding, but only until the family is threatened by scandal.

Such complexity makes the characters feel believable and gives the actors a chance to demonstrate their range. Advani nails her part, but Aaryan understands what’s being asked of him, too, saving his smarmy grins for dream-sequence dance numbers. Pathak and Rao are also quite good as Sattu’s concerned parents.

Speaking of dance numbers, the inclusion of several song sequences lightens a film that deals with heavy subjects, but without being jarring or tonally inconsistent.

For all the good work Vidwans and Sharma do creating characters who address complicated issues from multiple angles, the moral center of the film falls apart as the story draws to a close. What had been a good example of how to exercise patience with victims and take their accounts seriously becomes yet another film where a victimized woman is sidelined and the male hero is centered. By the end, it’s Sattu who decides the proper way for Katha to heal, and he defines what constitutes justice.

I’m not willing to write Satyaprem Ki Katha off entirely just because it doesn’t stick the landing. There’s some value to be found in dissecting the ways the movie gets things wrong at the end, as well as what it gets right early on. Still, it’s a bummer to see it come so close only to fall apart.

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Streaming Video News: September 7, 2023

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime with the streaming debut of Superstar Rajinikanth’s film Jailer. Multiple language versions are available in the movie’s audio menu.

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with a September 14 streaming release date for the Telugu film Ramabanam.

Yesterday, Zee5 premiered the revenge drama Haddi, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui. I watched about 40 minutes of it, but I found the story muddled and decided not to finish it.

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Movie Review: Friday Night Plan (2023)

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2 Stars (out of 4)

Watch Friday Night Plan on Netflix

If one tried to create a movie for teenagers who can’t put away their smartphones for more than a few minutes, it would probably look like Friday Night Plan. The latest Netflix Original Indian Film is generic and lightweight, so there’s no reason to give it one’s full attention.

The premise of Friday Night Plan feels familiar. Two bickering brothers — high school senior Sid (Babil Khan) and high school junior Adi (Amrith Jayan) — are left home alone on a Friday night when their mom (Juhi Chawla Mehta) goes to Pune for a work trip. She warns them not to fight or take the car out, assuming the boys will stay home playing video games.

Of course, the brothers wind up taking the car to a party at the house of the prettiest girl at their wealthy international school, whom Sid has had a crush on for years, only to lose the car while playing a prank on students from a rival school. Sure hope they can get the car back before Mom gets home!

The familiarity of Friday Night Plan — which seems like a hundred teen movies that have come before — isn’t a problem in itself. But the film is boring. The boys’ “wild night out” lacks a sense of danger or urgency. Even they don’t seem that worried about getting into trouble. Yes, the kids at the party drink alcohol, but there’s also karaoke and a pillow fight.

Real teenagers are funnier and more interesting than this movie’s flat dialogue makes them out to be, and the characters are bland. The school’s top jock Kabir (Aditya Jain) isn’t a bully, he just sometimes gives people unflattering nicknames. The pretty girl Nat (Medha Rana) has no secrets, she’s just good-looking and rich. Even the two brothers aren’t really that different from one another.

It’s not fair to blame the cast for the tepid characterizations. Hardly any of them have any acting credits, since children barely exist in Hindi films. Friday Night Plan is writer-director Vatsal Neelakantan’s first feature film, and his inexperience shows in both the direction of his young actors and in his screenwriting. Tighter pacing would have amped up the excitement level of this tame story without having to make things any spicier.

There’s one misstep I can’t let slide. The events of Friday Night Plan take place one week before senior prom, and none of the kids have asked anyone to be their prom dates! That’s not enough time to order matching corsages and boutonnieres, make after-party plans, and figure out where to take photos — let alone find a dress and shoes and make a hair appointment if you weren’t already planning on going to the dance solo!

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Streaming Video News: August 31, 2023

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime with today’s additions of Vidya Balan’s murder mystery Neeyat and the Telugu film Ustaad (which is listed in Amazon’s catalog as “The Ustaad,” for some reason).

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Hulu with today’s premiere of the new Hindi series The Freelancer, which is also available in Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.

I will update my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix tomorrow with the debut of the Netflix Original film Friday Night Plan, starring Juhi Chawla and Irrfan Khan’s son, Babil. This week, Netflix announced a December 7 release date for Zoya Akhtar’s hotly anticipated movie The Archies.

If you missed any of the new releases on Netflix in August, check my monthly roundup at What’s on Netflix.

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Streaming Video News: August 24, 2023

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime with today’s additions of the Hindi romance Satyaprem Ki Katha and the Tamil horror flick Pizza 3: The Mummy. Earlier this week, the Kannada film Aachar & Co became available for streaming.

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Hulu with today’s debut of Tamannaah Bhatia’s new Hindi crime series Aakhri Sach, which is available in Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu as well. The first two episodes are available for streaming right now, with new episodes added on Fridays (Thursday afternoons in the US, probably).

Finally, I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with today’s addition of the Telugu movie Bro., which is also available in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil.

News leaked this week that Sujoy Ghosh’s Netflix Original film adaptation of the novel The Devotion of Suspect X starring Kareena Kapoor Khan will be called Jaane Jaan (although in the US, the title is listed as “Suspect X,” for some reason). Netflix made a cute video celebrating Kareena’s streaming debut (which may happen next month). [Update: Netflix officially announced its release date as September 21, Bebo’s birthday]:

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