Tag Archives: 2.5 Stars

Movie Review: Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba (2024)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey reprise the chaotic lovers Rani and Rishu from 2021’s Haseen Dillruba in Netflix’s first Original movie sequel: Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba (“Beautiful Beloved is Back” — and yes, there’s now an extra ‘s’ in Hasseen).

Familiarity with the first film is essential to understanding the characters and why they are living the way they are in the sequel (which takes place several years after the original). Thankfully, Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba offers a plot summary via a song montage within the first ten minutes. It’s a sufficient memory refresher for those who’ve watched the original.

As in Haseen Dillruba, the sequel begins with Rani (Pannu) in the middle of a crisis. She runs into a police station on a rainy night, claiming that her husband is trying to kill her. The action then flashes back to two months earlier. Rani lives in Agra and tells everyone she’s a widow, but the truth is her husband Rishu (Massey) is actually alive and living in town as well. They meet secretly in a park with a view of the Taj Mahal and plan their escape to Thailand, where they can finally be together again.

Of course things don’t go as planned. Inspector Kishore Jamwal (Aditya Srivastava, whose character was named Kishore Rawat in the original) still believes that Rani is a murderer, and he tracks her down in Agra. Worse, he’s brought along tenacious police officer Mritunjay Prasad (Jimmy Shergill), who happens to be the uncle of Rani’s affair partner Neel from the first movie. “Uncle Montu” won’t rest until he finds Rishu and makes him and Rani pay.

To confuse the cops, Rani proposes marriage to love-struck pharmacist Abhimanyu (Sunny Kaushal, who plays smitten beautifully). She warns him that her heart will always belong to Rishu, but Abhimanyu says he’s okay with that — until he finds out that Rishu is still alive.

Though Jayprad Desai directs Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba — and capably so — the franchise is the brainchild of screenwriter Kanika Dhillon. Mystery series are often centered around detectives, so there’s novelty in having the protagonists be criminals while still hitting all the necessary genre beats. The surprising character developments of the first film are largely absent since Rani and Rishu are known quantities, but that adds a pleasant feeling of familiarity.

In the best mysteries, there’s an element of “play along at home” that the viewer engages in, trying to figure out what’s going on before the writer reveals the solution. While there are some nice setups and payoffs, the ultimate revelations seem to come out of nowhere. More obvious possibilities are ignored in favor of answers that are totally unpredictable.

Part of why this happens is that Rani’s character is a fan of a fictitious mystery author Danish Pandit, and his works are continually referenced. Were Rani a fan of Agatha Christie, well-read viewers would be able to spot allusions to her books and guess where the story is going. But the Haseen Dillruba movies are tethered to the internal logic of an imaginary author’s bibliography, allowing Dhillon to explain everything away via a connection to Pandit. Everything makes sense if you’re a fan of Danish Pandit — but no one but Dhillon is, because Pandit isn’t real.

Nevertheless, Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba is consistently entertaining, with interesting performances throughout. If there’s a way to keep this franchise going, I hope Dhillon comes back for a third round.

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Movie Review: Maharaj (2024)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Maharaj recounts a legal case of historic importance but fails to stir the emotions around its sensitive subject matter.

The main story takes place in Bombay in 1862 and focuses on journalist Karsandas Mulji (Junaid Khan, son of Aamir Khan). Growing up in Gujarat, young Karsan questioned everything, refusing to follow orders on blind faith. By the time he was 30, he was an established social reformer, activist, and writer.

A devout Hindu, Karsan worships at a sect run by a charismatic religious figure — or maharaj — called JJ (Jaideep Ahlawat). The other holy men at the place of worship appreciate JJ for expanding the sect’s reach and growing its coffers.

In return, JJ exploits his peers’ permissive attitude and his followers’ blind faith to indulge in what the movie calls “erotic escapades.” He uses tradition to pressure young women devotees into having sexual intercourse with him under the moniker of “divine service.” Other men pay to watch, promised that witnessing the act will help them achieve salvation.

Theology also enables this sexual abuse. Holy texts are written in Sanskrit, which most lay people can’t read. The maharaj interprets scripture for the laity, who lack the knowledge to challenge his interpretations. It’s akin to the language barrier which separated Catholic lay people from the liturgy until the 1960s, at which point priests were finally allowed to conduct mass in local languages rather than exclusively in Latin. The parallels between the abusive culture in Maharaj and the abuse abetted by the Catholic Church is hard to miss — though the film goes out of its way to frame JJ as a lone bad actor without blaming Hinduism as a whole.

JJ’s abuse comes to light when he sets his sights on Karsan’s fiancée Kishori (Shalini Pandey), and Karsan witnesses her partaking in “divine service.” Though she’s uncomfortable about what happened with JJ — it’s unclear whether she knew she was being observed by strangers — her faith refuses to allow her to question the leader’s intentions. Only when Karsan breaks their engagement does she realize she may have been wronged by the holy man.

Kishori’s mistreatment prompts Karsan to write about JJ’s sexual abuse in his newspaper. JJ responds with social pressure, witness intimidation, and even arson. When Karsan refuses to back down, JJ sues him for libel for an astronomical amount of money.

The way the events are portrayed in Maharaj — which is directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra and written by Sneha Desai, Vipul Mehta, and Bernard Williams — Karsan prints his allegations with little in the way of concrete proof, so there actually is an interesting question as to whether JJ has a case. Unfortunately, the courtroom scenes show little of the legal back-and-forth and primarily set up Karsan’s climactic speech (though JJ does give a few theatrical shows of power that are entertaining).

Overall, the film falls into an uneasy space where it doesn’t hit the emotional parts of the story as hard as it could have for a real melodrama, nor does it delve into the details like a legal drama or film on investigative journalism. It’s undoubtedly watchable, but it feels like a very well done made-for-TV movie.

Ahlawat is perfectly cast as the slimy JJ, maintaining an infuriating air of self-assurance throughout. Pandey is sympathetic as the duped Kishori. Shavari Wagh appears midway through the film as Karsan’s admirer, Viraaj, but the comic relief she’s asked to provide feels out of place.

Khan is under the microscope as a star’s son his first lead role, and he performs okay as Karsan. It’s a tough role to play in a story this tepid. Khan is very tall, and there’s a physical awkwardness to the way he moves — like a foal on unsteady legs. Being that he’s a newcomer, it’s hard to know if that’s his characterization of Karsan or simply him.

Malhotra and studio Yash Raj Entertainment tread carefully with this story about a corrupt holy man to avoid inflaming tensions unnecessarily, resulting in a movie that pulls its punches. Unfortunately, the folks who were always going to be mad about it got mad anyway, and the rest of us got a movie that was good but not great.

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Movie Review: All India Rank (2023)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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To call All India Rank a coming-of-age story about a student trying to get into a prestigious college is too simple. The story’s real protagonist is the student’s father.

All India Rank takes place in 1997. 17-year-old Vivek Singh (Bodhisattva Sharma) doesn’t have any say in the direction of his life. His dad R.K. (Shashi Bhushan) wants him to get into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), so that’s what Vivek must do. Father and son travel from Lucknow to Kota, where Vivek will spend the next year at a coaching school training to take the IIT entrance exam.

Paying for Vivek to train to take a test is more expensive than immediately enrolling him in a local college, but R.K. is convinced that the family’s future financial stability hinges on Vivek getting an elite degree. The Singhs aren’t exactly rolling in money. R.K. works at the state telecom company, and mom Manju (Geeta Agrawal Sharma) runs a small shop with a pay phone. Sending Vivek to Kota is a stretch.

Vivek hardly knows why he’s at the coaching center. He has no goals of his own, and he’s far from the best student there. But he makes friends, meets a girl he likes, and gets a bit closer to discovering what he wants from life: pretty typical coming-of-age movie stuff. Vivek’s growth arc is predictable. His father’s is not.

R.K. is so invested in his plan for his only child that he hasn’t stopped to consider the wisdom of it. Nor has he considered the effect it has on Vivek and Manju. It doesn’t occur to R.K. that he and his wife are now empty nesters until she points it out to him. When both parents have work trouble that affects their income, the financial risk of sending Vivek to the coaching academy becomes apparent, too. Shashi Bhushan and Geeta Agrawal Sharma do a lovely job playing the couple, as they try to persevere through a phase of life that’s more difficult than they anticipated.

The problems faced by the parents — which also includes a sex pest who uses Manju’s pay phone to make dirty calls — are much more interesting than anything that Vivek goes through. Yet the story spends much more time with Vivek in Kota. The narrative balance feels off, and the film overall feels less ambitious than it should have been.

All India Rank is obviously made for an audience familiar with the stakes associated with taking the IIT entrance exam and the infrastructure built to support it, but that leaves the unversed on the outside looking in. The term “All India Rank” is never explained, nor are the numbers associated with the students’ test scores. I’m sure this is clear to the intended audience, but it makes it hard for outsiders to gauge Vivek’s progress.

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Movie Review: Woh Bhi Din The (2024)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Woh Bhi Din The went through quite a journey before its release. The movie was shot in 2013 and only just now made its global debut on Zee5. It’s a good thing it finally did, as it presents an accurate depiction of the emotional lives of teenagers.

The film opens with a cameo by John Abraham giving the least-inspirational speech ever by an alumnus to students at his old high school. Being back on the campus of Loyola School leads him to reminisce about his own colorful past with his rowdy friends in the late 1990s.

Cue a flashback montage of a bunch of teenage boys doing dumb teenage boy things. The young version of Abraham’s character Rahul is played by Rohit Saraf, who was 15 at the time of filming. His best friend is Joy, played by a baby-faced Adarsh Gourav. They are part of a larger group of boys who cause a little trouble but generally aren’t bad kids.

One huge point working against Woh Bhi Din The is that a homophobic slur is a regular part of the boys’ banter. And they say it a lot. Given that the movie isn’t otherwise malicious, I suspect/hope the term would not be used if the film were made today.

Loyola is the first school the boys have attended that is coed. Same for the girls in the class. The town where the story takes place is small and conservative, so the boys and girls keep mostly to themselves.

The exception is Malaika (Sanjana Sanghi), who prefers the nickname “Milky.” She’s new to town after having lived all over the world, so she’s more outgoing and comfortable crossing the informal gender boundary than her peers.

Rahul is initially put off by Milky’s free-spiritedness — he’s had an unrequited crush on his demure neighbor Shalini (Charu Bedi) for years — but when Joy befriends the new girl, Rahul realizes she’s actually cool. When she confesses her crush on Rahul, he’s smitten.

Having a first girlfriend should be a happy milestone for Rahul, but it’s actually the catalyst for his world falling apart. His temper gets shorter, he neglects his friends for Milky, and he starts policing her behavior. When she shakes another guy’s hand, he asks her, “Why don’t you just sleep with him?”

The emotional immaturity of the characters is spot on. Their relationships and reactions feel authentic. Teenagers are a rarity in Hindi films, especially as main characters, and seeing them portrayed with accuracy and compassion is a treat.

The main actors are very competent, especially considering how young they are. Gourav’s talent is readily apparent in a character that requires understatement. Saraf is a fitting leading man as Rahul faces the consequences of his selfishness. Sanghi is a delight as Milky, who’s a charming mix of bubbly and vulnerable..

Woh Bhi Din The is the directorial debut of Sajid Ali, who co-wrote the story with Saurabh Swamy. The pacing of the screenplay is a bit off, because it’s longer than it needs to be, but it’s overall a thoughtfully-made film. Kudos to Ali for taking a chance on working with teenage actors and doing right by them.

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Movie Review: Patna Shuklla (2024)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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The earnest legal drama Patna Shuklla is elevated by an unexpected climax.

Raveena Tandon stars as Tanvi Shuklla, a lawyer who is more renowned for her homemade ladoos than her prowess as a litigator. She’s happily married to government worker Siddharth (Manav Vij), and they have a cute young son, Sonu (Arijeet Kaurav). The biggest crisis in her life is when Sonu forgets his lunch and she has to chase down the school bus on her scooter.

Then a challenging case falls into Tanvi’s lap. College student Rinki (Anushka Kaushik) asks Tanvi to represent her in a case against Rinki’s university. The young woman is sure she passed her final exams, but the university says she failed. Rinki believes the school is lying, and that it has something to do with the fact that she and her father are poor. She wants the court to compel the university to investigate.

It’s a shock when superstar lawyer Neelkanth Mishra (Chandan Roy Sanyal) shows up in court to represent the university for a seemingly small administrative matter. His presence alone seems to confirm Rinki’s suspicions that there’s something fishy going on.

Soon enough, Tanvi is pressured by political scion Raghubir Singh (Jatin Goswami), who was part of Rinki’s graduating class and is about to run for office himself. But threats only steel the resolve of the two women fighting for justice.

The tone of the film, especially at the start, is very light — almost sitcom-esque. There’s a goofy vibe as neighbors demand Tanvi’s attention while she’s trying to get Sonu ready for school, hence her having to chase the bus with his lunch. Characters directly address their feelings, and there’s little subtext in the film. The story’s conclusion is unexpected, but the film’s straight-forward delivery never changes. What you see is what you get.

One of the most interesting aspects of the story is the assumption that corruption is present in every part of society. That even people of humble means find it more expedient to bribe someone to solve a problem of their own making than to wait and try again on the up-and-up. Tanvi rightly points out that admitting her own transgressions doesn’t absolve others of theirs, but it’s a curious thought experiment as to what constitutes fairness when everyone cheats.

Raveena Tandon and Anushka Kaushik carry the film and do a competent job doing so. It would have been fun if Chandan Roy Sanyal’s rival lawyer character had a bit more to do.

The late Satish Kaushik plays the judge overseeing the trial. He’s a man of peculiar mannerisms — he only walks in straight lines, for example. His quirks feel overwritten at first, but they add weight to his conduct during closing arguments and the delivery of his final verdict. After the trial is over, a shot from Tanvi’s point of view watches him as he turns his back and walks away. It’s a bittersweet, meaningful farewell from co-directors Vivek Budakoti & Rajendra Tiwari and editor Vini N Raj.

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Movie Review: Tiger 3 (2023)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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The latest entry in Salman Khan’s Tiger action franchise, Tiger 3, is in keeping with the two previous films, both in terms of quality and theme. What’s new is that the announcement of the YRF Spy Universe — which happened a few years after the second Tiger film, 2017’s Tiger Zinda Hai — means that Tiger 3 features a cameo by Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan and a preview of what’s next for Hrithik Roshan’s Kabir from War.

Tiger 3 picks up with the semi-rogue Indian spy Tiger (Khan) on a mission to rescue fellow RAW agent Gopi (Ranvir Shorey, from Ek Tha Tiger) in Afghanistan. With his dying breath, Gopi reveals that Tiger’s wife — semi-rogue Pakistani spy Zoya (Katrina Kaif) — is working with a terrorist outfit.

Tiger is surprisingly quick to believe his friend over his wife, but Gopi’s intel is partly correct. Zoya is being blackmailed by her former mentor and ex-deputy director of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Aatish Rehman (Emraan Hashmi). Rehman has a vendetta against Tiger and Zoya, and he poisons their son Junior (Sartaaj Kakkar) to get them to do his bidding.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Irani (Simran) has proposed demilitarization talks with India, and Rehman is determined to stop the talks and seize control of Pakistan’s government for himself. He forces Tiger and Zoya to steal nuclear codes in exchange for the antidote for Junior. The married spies are rendered traitors in the eyes of the nations they love.

The screenplay relies heavily on news broadcasts to convey information, so seemingly everyone around the globe knows secret agent Tiger’s identity. This is extra weird since it’s very easy to disguise one’s self in this world. Zoya fist-fights Tiger while he’s dressed like a roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd, and she doesn’t recognize him until he pulls off his fake beard.

As in previous Tiger films, Zoya’s action scenes are the highlights. This includes the bathhouse towel fight sequence that featured prominently in the movie’s trailer. In the film, the bathhouse scene is intercut with shots of Tiger rappelling down a clock tower, which blunts some of the effect of the towel fight (perhaps deliberately — the franchise is named after Tiger, not Zoya, after all).

Tiger’s action scenes are fine, but they lack the dynamism that Kaif brings to Zoya. Further, the cameo by Shah Rukh Khan’s wisecracking Pathaan emphasizes just how little there is to Tiger’s personality. This is a franchise that relies on the audience’s pre-existing affection for the leading man.

As in Tiger Zinda Hai, Junior exists when the plot needs him to, then disappears. Tiger 3 even introduces another surrogate son character in the second half of the film who likewise appears on-screen until his plot utility runs out.

What Tiger 3 does have going for it that earlier films didn’t is a compelling villain in Aatish Rehman, played with great presence by Hashmi. Rehman puts Tiger and Zoya in seemingly impossible situations, keeping the tension high throughout.

Perhaps the biggest selling point of the Tiger franchise is its dedication to the idea that peace between India and Pakistan is a worthwhile goal. Across all three movies, Tiger, Zoya, and their teams work together to save lives and prevent war. It’s a welcome respite from the violent nationalism that pervades so many Hindi action films these days.

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Movie Review: Christmas as Usual (2023)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Indian comedian and actor Kanan Gill is the romantic lead in a Norwegian Christmas movie. Yes, you read that correctly. Gill stars in the English/Norwegian Netflix Original film Christmas as Usual.

Jashan (Gill) and his girlfriend Thea (Ida Ursin-Holm) live together in Los Angeles. He proposes marriage a few weeks before Christmas. She accepts, despite their short courtship, and then invites him to spend Christmas with her family in Norway.

In what is quickly revealed to be a recurring problem, Thea neglects to share some very important information. She doesn’t tell her mom Anna-Lise (Marit Andreassen) that Jashan is Indian. Anna-Lise is awkward from the moment Jashan steps out of the taxi, and things don’t really get any better.

Christmas in Thea’s family — which includes her brother Simen (Erik Follestad), sister-in-law Hildegunn (Veslemøy Mørkrid), and little niece Ronja (Matilde Hovdegard) — is a multi-day schedule of events that must be completed in a specific way, more to alleviate anxiety rather than because anyone enjoys them. It’s been this way every since Thea’s dad died.

Given how rigidly Thea’s family adheres to tradition, it’s in everyone’s best interest for Thea to share the rules with Jashan in advance. But she doesn’t. Virtually all of the conflict in Christmas as Usual stems from Thea needlessly withholding information. The simplistic plot mechanism neutralizes a lot of opportunities for humor in what is at times a pretty funny film.

It also undercuts the “culture clash” angle that the movie is going for. Anyone who’s not Norwegian would struggle with Christmas at Thea’s house, accidentally deviating from rules that they don’t even know exist. At some point, it’s fair to call into question how much of Anna-Lise’s disapproval of Jashan is just racism and not him being an outsider.

To its credit, Christmas as Usual directly addresses some of Norway’s persistent racism. Jashan has a humorous reaction to finding out that there is a (real) spice brand named “Hindu.” It’s also entertaining when Simen and Hildegunn make some well-meaning but clumsy attempts to connect with Jashan about his heritage.

Those who primarily watch Indian films will appreciate Jashan’s use of a well-timed Hindi curse word and a closing scene set to “Punjabi Wedding Song” from Hasee Toh Phasee.

When jokes land, it’s largely thanks to Gill’s terrific performance. He gets the tone of the humor just right and elevates the written material with his perfect delivery. Who knew “Christmas movie boyfriend” was a role that would suit him so well?

It’s hard to get a sense of Ursin-Holm’s abilities since Thea spends most of her time grimacing at the unfortunate consequences of her refusal to communicate.

Christmas as Usual doesn’t veer far from the standard Christmas movie formula — which is fine, since familiarity is part of the genre’s appeal. But Kanan Gill’s surprisingly charming performance makes this one to consider when you’re in a Christmas mood.

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Movie Review: Khufiya (2023)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj is gifted at adapting plays and books into killer screenplays, from his Shakespeare trilogy (Maqbool, Omkara, and Haider) to 7 Khoon Maaf, based on the Ruskin Bond short story “Susanna’s Seven Husbands.” His latest — Khufiya — is based on Amar Bhushan’s espionage novel Escape to Nowhere, but the resulting film is not one of Bhardwaj’s most successful adaptations.

Khufiya‘s setup is pretty straightforward. It’s 2004, and a mole within India’s intelligence bureau RAW leaked information that got one of their operatives killed. RAW needs to find out who the mole is working with and how they’re transferring sensitive documents.

In the years since the 1999 Kargil War, both India and Pakistan worked in secret to influence elections in Bangladesh. It’s there that an Indian operative named Heena (Bangladeshi actress Azmeri Haque Badhon) is murdered at a swanky party while trying to poison Pakistani Brigadier Mirza (Shataf Figar).

RAW officer Jeev (Ashish Vidyarthi) quickly and correctly identifies an employee named Ravi (Ali Fazal) as the source of the leak. Jeev lets his most trusted deputy Krishna (Tabu) lead the operation to follow Ravi as a way of getting payback for Heena’s death. Though they may not have publicly acknowledged it, it’s clear that Krishna’s partnership with Heena was more than just professional.

The spy stuff is fun, as Krishna’s crew bugs Ravi’s house with hidden cameras and follow him around town. There’s some suspicion that Ravi’s wife Charu (Wamiqa Gabbi) is helping him transfer documents, but she mostly hangs out at home smoking weed and dancing to old film songs in her underwear.

When they finally discover who Ravi’s working for, the truth reveals a web of global geopolitics that is more complicated than India versus Pakistan, spy versus spy. The second half of the film switches the focus from Krishna and India to another character in another location, similar to Gone Girl.

Khufiya‘s two standout performers are Badhon as Heena and Gabbi as Charu. Badhon is ideal as a sexy vamp. Gabbi is sassy and adorable as Charu when she thinks no one is watching her and heartbreaking when the consequences of Ravi’s double-dealing come to bear. Fazal is totally solid as Ravi.

Tabu’s Krishna is stoic as she puts her pain on the back-burner to focus on the mission at hand. Despite Krishna being the main character, we don’t get to know her as well as I wanted to, and Tabu doesn’t get to show the emotional range she’s capable of.

That’s because the screenplay isn’t a great adaptation of the novel. The movie feels very much like it was based on a book, with lots of subplots, complex international relations, and character introspection. There’s so much going on that Bhardwaj would’ve been better either turning Khufiya into a series or cutting some subplots out of the final draft.

Making Khufiya into a series would have allowed more time to showcase all the subplots — particularly Krishna’s relationship with Heena — while enabling more in-depth character development and opportunities to establish atmosphere. The midpoint character point of view switch also would have felt more organic. As it stands, the movie feels simultaneously too dense and not dense enough.

If Bhardwaj was set on shooting Khufiya as a film, it would’ve been fair to axe Krishna’s ex-husband Shashank (played by Atul Kulkarni) and their teenage son Vikram (Meet Vohra) from the plot. As is, they seem like afterthoughts who don’t add enough to Krishna’s arc. The only reason to keep them is that it gives Bhardwaj an excuse to work a couple of Shakespeare references into the story, with Vikram starring in a production of Julius Caesar and having a Tempest poster hanging on his bedroom wall.

The music is terrific, as it is in every Bhardwaj picture (he’s also the film’s composer). Singer Rahul Ram plays a holy man, and his songs “Bujhee Bujhee” and “Mann Na Rangaave” are soundtrack highlights.

Khufiya is by no means bad. It just could have been better.

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Movie Review: Neeyat (2023)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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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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Movie Review: Satyaprem Ki Katha (2023)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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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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