Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 253

‘Jagame Thandiram’ Review: Starts Fun, Gets Chaotically Boring

The 2021 film ‘Jagame Thandiram’ written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj starts on an exaggerated but fun note – a white dude is murdered by a Tamil-speaking gang in London. The victim is related to a racist British Tycoon who drives a car that has ‘White Power’ written on the number plate.

Hollywood actor James Cosmo plays Peter Sprott, the primary antagonist of the story, a xenophobe who flies in a notorious Tamil goon from India to take on his Tamil rivals in London. Enter Suruli, played by Dhanush, an amoral carefree gangster who’ll do anything if he paid the right price. What follows is an entertaining clash of rival gangs. A London-based software engineer Vicky (Sarath Ravi) acts as Suruli’s translator and the banter between the two polar-opposite personalities provide ample laughs in the first half.

Everything was interesting until Peter Sprott has a confrontation with bossman of the rival group called Sivadoss (Joju George). There is a very irritating sequence, where the two men are sitting across each other, and the camera keeps rotating a full circle to show them both a few times. It makes the viewer dizzy and adds no value to the screenplay. From there on, even the script goes downhill and gets tedious.

The first-half lulls you into believing that this is just a fun action movie, with silly jokes and a typical ‘love at first sight’ romance. But what could’ve been an enjoyable flick, turns into a slow political saga about immigrants facing hostility in foreign lands. From a money-minded clever criminal, Suruli becomes a preachy-soppy guy who now has a better motive in life than just gaining quick bucks out of murdering people. The change is motivated by ‘love’, but felt completely insincere because Aishwarya Lekshmi who plays Atilla, Suruli’s girlfriend, barely gets any screen time. A tragic flashback to her own past as a Sri-Lankan Tamil seemed like a blatant attempt to gain some emotional brownie points from viewers. But it just doesn’t work. A dramatic mom is thrown out of nowhere, to pull in some tears too.

Interestingly, I was watching the film with three Tamilians and they were all on their phones by the second-half (mine was on charge). Karthik Subbaraj could’ve wrapped up this movie one hour early, but drags on the story for too long, with predictable twists. To his credit, the climax scene was quite hilarious, almost like poetic justice, but the dull hour preceding it just cannot wash over the viewer’s disappointment with the poor story-telling.

The background music was upbeat and peppy, and the director’s decision to mix old and popular songs along the storyline work well. Dhanush is very Rajinikanth-like in his acting, aping a lot of mannerisms of the super-star and is able to pull it off with the same confident swagger. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the script. It’s a 5/10 from me.

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Listen to episode 29 for some fun movie recommendations.

Only The Dead Have Seen The End Of War…

When the first world war ended, many people at the time may have thought that it was the end to the bloodbath. Men and women, who lost their sons, daughters, friends and lovers to the war, must have hoped that the world would never plunge into such darkness again.

“Snow is a strange word;

No ice or frost

Have asked of bud or bird

For Winter’s cost.

Yet ice and frost and snow

From earth to sky

This Summer land doth know,

No man knows why.

In all men’s hearts it is.

Some spirit old

Hath turned with malign kiss

Our lives to mould.

Red fangs have torn His face.

God’s blood is shed.

He mourns from His lone place

His children dead.

O! ancient crimson curse!

Corrode, consume.

Give back this universe

Its pristine bloom.”

This is a poem by Isaac Rosenberg. He was 28 when he died during the first world war. If you can tell from the poem, all he wanted was for the war to end. For the world to have its “pristine bloom” back. To have peace and life back.

“I never joined the army for patriotic reasons. Nothing can justify war. I suppose we must all fight to get the trouble over.” – he had written in a personal letter.

For him, the war ended only with his death. Had he survived, he would have seen yet another war, one of the deadliest yet, in the history of mankind.

Yes, a war definitely ends eventually, but one can never tell when the next war will begin. This is what Plato (or whoever wrote it) meant – that one will see the end of war only in death.

People who live in conflict zones, for them, every day is a battle. One bombing barely ends when the rattle of another strike shatters their neighborhood again. Only death gives them an end. At least, this is what my interpretation is.

My Answer to Quora Question – What does Plato mean when he says “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”?

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Here’s a poetry themed episode from the show –

The Seventh Day – Horror Movie Review

Is it awful that the mere thought of writing a review for the 2021 horror film “The Seventh Day” is making me sleepy? It’s bad enough when somebody sees a disappointingly boring film, should they have to spend more time thinking back to the experience and write about it? Sounds like double punishment.

Directed by Justin P Lange, “The Seventh Day” had the potential to be “The Exorcism” meets “The Karate Kid”, so instead of training to fight bad guys, they battle demons. The plot is pretty simple – newly ordained Father Daniel (Vadhir Derbez) is put under the wings of master exorcist Father Peter (Guy Pearce) and the two are on the mission to purge evil from the bodies of the innocent. Their search leads them to a 12-year-old Charlie who murdered his parents and sister. The duo is pretty sure that the kid was possessed, the rest is about them trying to solve the case.

Guy Pearce looks a little too suave for the role of a priest and they try to make the character a little ‘too cool for school’. So he is a religious dude who smokes, then smokes out malevolent spirits by intuition, he doesn’t need distress calls from victims to tell them where the devil is. Vadhir Derbez as Father Daniel also looks a little out of place in the film. He has the kind of face that would look better in a super-hero film or a romantic comedy, and his acting range seems quite limited. It’s child actor Brady Jenness who plays Charlie,the possessed boy, who shines out the most among the cast, despite his limited screen time.

The exorcism sequences with the guys chanting out verses from the bible get a little tedious. As far as the ‘scary quotient’ is concerned, there are a few scenes that manage to get you on the edge of your seat, but nothing is memorable. Some of the jump scares are too flat and weak. To the writers’ credit, the climax does have an interesting twist, some viewers will be able to guess what’s coming in the end, but only because they foreshadow it a lot. Unfortunately, all the build-up to the climax is just not gripping enough. It’s a 4/10 from me.

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Listen to episode 29 for some fun movie recommendations.

The Houseplant – Quick Review

The Houseplant is a standalone short story by Jeremy Ray. At first glance, the title was very reminiscent of a popular short by HG Wells. But while the Wells’ story was a horror tale, ‘The Houseplant’ is a touching story of how a hostile plant met its first human caretaker.

From an ugly unloved fern languishing in a bathroom, the houseplant finds a new spot, a new new name and eventually a whole loving family. So our protagonist is called George, whose character grows from a human-hating plant to an emotional being who begins to connect with its owner.

Ray’s language is simple, the plot quite straightforward and yet, you may never look at your plants in the same way after reading this short story. Not what I was expecting at all. It’s a 5/5 from me.

‘The Bird’s Nest’ Review – Doesn’t Fly Too Far

I am kind of mad at myself for never having had come across some mention of what a great macabre writer Shirley Jackson is, especially because English Literature was my major in college and I am a big horror fan. So anyway, I found out about her in a book celebrating women who aren’t applauded enough and decided to buy one of her novels. Honestly, “The Haunting of Hill House” would have been the first choice (it’s been made into the popular horror Netflix series) , but it’s a lot more expensive than other Jackson titles, so I bought ‘The Bird’s Nest’ instead.

First published in 1954, ‘The Bird’s Nest’ is about a young woman called Elizabeth, who suffers from MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) and a doctor tries to help her out. Wish I had read this classic while still in my teens and maybe it would’ve impressed me a lot. Instead, it was Sidney Sheldon’s “Tell Me Your Dreams” that blew me away as a teen reader, for until then, I had no clue what MPD was. Jackson’s book came out almost half a century ago and although it is quite interesting initially, it leaves you wanting more.

The protagonist Elizabeth is an asocial young woman who holds a mundane clerical job and lives with her aunt Morgan. When she starts suffering crippling headaches and begins to act unusually, her aunt makes her see a doctor, who in turn refers her to a psychiatrist called Dr Wright. Slowly, the reader gets to meet her multiple personalities, while the doctor tries to help integrate them all into one individual. The story is told from different point of views (POV) and the one from Dr Wright’s POV was dry, dull and sometimes quite irritating. It felt like Wright treats Elizabeth case more like a pet project than a serious patient. Sure, as a modern reader, one has to understand that this book was written at a time when there was very little awareness about mental health issues, but one wishes Elizabeth was treated with more tact.

Apart from the fact that Wright doesn’t treat Elizabeth’s case with more seriousness than it needs, even the plot wasn’t very strong. A lot of things that happen to her seem a little contrived, for example the way she is treated by absolute strangers. Also, the descriptions get too long and tedious towards the second half of the novel. And Elizabeth’s eventual conflict with her aunt was quite trivial and annoying. Shirley Jackson definitely pushed the envelope for her time, but a little more imagination and research could’ve made this novel so much more ground-breaking.

Having read enough books dealing with mental health issues, “The Bird’s Nest” pales out in comparison. The protagonist’s problems are tame and we never really uncover if there is more to her childhood trauma than she sparingly reveals. As a reader you keep expecting more, but a climactic event never really takes place. At the end I was confused, even imagining a much more complex interpretation to the last chapter than the author meant, but it just didn’t fit. If you haven’t read any novel about MPD, this one makes for a decent pick. It’s a 3/5 from me.

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Listen in to episode 7 for some book recommendations.

‘Young Royals’ Review: An Engrossing Drama

The 2021 Swedish drama “Young Royals” turned out to be more engrossing than I imagined it to be, so I ended up watching all six episodes of season 1 in one go. Long review short – if you are looking to watch some teen drama filled with romance and ‘privileged people problems’, this Netflix show is absolutely binge-worthy.

Edvin Ryding plays the young Prince Wilhelm, who is packed off to a boarding school for elites called Hillerska after he is caught on tape brawling at a bar. A second-cousin called August (Malte Gardinger) who is a senior in the same school, takes it upon himself to play guardian to the prince. Very soon, the richest girl on campus – Felicia (Nikita Uggla) expresses interest in Wilhelm, but he is attracted to a non-resident student Simon (Omar Rudberg), who is on a scholarship, and thus not from an affluent family like everyone else. Simon also has a sister Sara (Frida Argento), who has Asperger’s syndrome, and has an interesting sub-plot to herself.

On the surface, ‘Young Royals’ sounds like a lot of other ‘forbidden’ love stories, with the usual class divide between the lead couple, with the hero having to choose between ‘love and family honor’, except that this one comes with a gay twist. And since it’s set in an institution for the rich, there’s also the usual sex, drugs, parties and betrayal. But what is refreshing about this show is the fact that the writers do not over-dramatize things. Simon is a confident guy, who is already out to his family. Wilhelm on the other hand isn’t very sure of what he wants, is often biting his nails and is a bit of a nervous bundle, very unlike a ‘prince’. We get a sweet, believable romance between the two, which starts from cute glances, slowly growing into something more.

The makers do a great job with blending some very cliched characters with a few very likable ones. On one hand you have an aggressive August, who is obsessed with his family’s stature and is constantly trying to keep up appearances; on the other side of the spectrum is Wilhelm, who only wants a regular life and has absolutely no airs about being royalty. Both Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg deliver earnest performances as Wilhelm and Simon and most viewers will invariably find themselves rooting for the two of them. I love how they just talk their problems out and stand by each other, instead of letting miscommunication ruin things. So the super annoying ‘misunderstanding’ trope, that has become basic to most dramas, does not exist in this show. And while a lot of the kids have grey shades to them, nobody is outright evil (so there’s no toxic bullying). The teachers barely get any screen-time and that was absolutely fine by me. Even the parents are practical and understanding, especially Simon’s mother.

Since most of the show unfolds on the swanky campus of Hillerska, visually too, it’s good to look at. There were some weird campus traditions that take place along the story that were interesting to watch. The background music is catchy, and sometimes more intense than what’s happening on the screen, but it adds a certain sense of seriousness to the tone of the show that makes it feel more poignant that in really is.

The twist towards the end that triggers the biggest conflict in the show was very predictable, but treated in a measured modern manner that doesn’t make you sigh “oh really?”. The climax was open-ended, leaving ample scope for a season two and maybe even three. Prince Wilhelm is supposed to spend three years in the boarding school, and the first season ends with some time still left for the first year to end. Like I said earlier, it was a totally binge-worthy show, and I want a season two soon!

It’s an 8/10 from me.

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Listen to episode 29 for some fun movie recommendations.

Ease

If I had words for it

There would be a 100 books

A hundred-thousand word each

To get you within my reach

Stories from the tongue-tied

Hoping it would spell-bind

Not just heart but mind

That never look this way

Each book a new leap

Their pages portals to you

If it only it were that easy

But they are only phantoms

And can never really exist

For I have no pen or ink

And worse – no words

To write or even think

‘Haseen Dillruba’ Review: Crime Patrol With Bollywood Tadka

When I first saw the trailer of “Haseen Dillruba, the first reaction was “oh cool, this looks like a fancy Bollywood version of a crime patrol episode”. And believe me, that was meant as a compliment, because “Crime Patrol” is one those rare shows I would call myself a ‘fan of’. There is nothing better than a serialized ‘true crime’ show with stand-alone episodes.

Directed by Vinil Matthew, “Haseen Dillruba” did turn out to be like a bigger budget ‘Crime Patrol’ episode, with a talented cast, and a little more heart. The plot is pretty straightforward and more predictable than most crime shows – the cops are investigating an explosion that clearly looks stage-managed, the victim is an engineer called Rishu (Vikrant Massey), the prime suspects – wife Rani (Tapsee Pannu) and his cousin who she has an affair with. There’s motive – an unhappy marriage. But with little proof, the cops are clutching at straws to solve a murder that is just not what it looks like.

What keeps the viewer hooked to the story is Vikrant Massey’s earnest emotional performance as the shy introverted Rishu. His character believably evolves from a ‘quiet loser’ to a ‘scorned husband’; his aggressive side is foreshadowed right at the beginning – he takes two years to get over a girl he fell in love with, after he met her just once as part of an ‘arranged marriage’ screening session. (I don’t know how else to put it). Rani is the second girl his parents make him ‘see’, and it doesn’t take him long to fall in love again either. But their union soon turns sour due to lack of passion & Rani’s transgression.

Tapsee Pannu was decent in her role, her demeanor was very reminiscent of her performances in ‘Badla’ and ‘Thappad’. A large part of the problem was that Rani’s character is written very inconsistently, she seems bipolar – one minute she is an unapologetic bad-ass outspoken Delhi girl, next minute she transforms into some small-town demure damsel who doesn’t know how to take control of her life. It comes across as a little disconcerting.

Actors Yamini Das and Daya Shankar Pandey play Massey’s onscreen parents, and both of them were low key brilliant in their limited roles, delivering measured performances that serve as comic relief. Yamini Das was especially adorable as the typical Indian mom who is scared that her daughter-in-law is “too smart” for her simple son. Harshvardhan Rane as Neel, the man who lures Rani into an affair looked right for the part. His acting needs more work. Aditya Srivastava as the inspector looking into the case was barely noticeable, because he slips right into the part with ease, thanks to all the C.I.D (the very popular Indian crime show) experience.

Shot in Haridwar, the movie is visually pleasant to look at. The mood flits between light humor, dark comedy and a serious thriller. It’s an interesting mix, but the script is quite hare-brained, reminded me of the pulpy Hindi crime magazines with sleazy/violent love stories that used to sell like hot-cakes in the 1990s. Although ‘Haseen Dillruba’ isn’t sleazy and a little slower than the usual racy fiction of the genre.

The climax was very predictable (or maybe I read/watch too many crime stories) and even then some questions are left unanswered due to the sloppy onscreen investigation into the murder case. It’s all just Rani’s version to the cops and their own hypothesis. We are shown close to zero groundwork by the police, which was annoying. Instead of some of the initial comic scenes at the beginning of the film, the writers should have given us some more scenes to establish the chemistry between the protagonists and more insights into the probe.

Overall, it’s an entertaining enough movie, the very typical script is held together by good performances. Vikrant Massey is the heart of this film, managing to move the viewer by his character’s plight. It’s a 7/10 from me.

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Listen to episode 29 for some fun movie recommendations.

10 Book Reviews Under 10 Minutes #6thEdition

If you are looking for book recommendations, we quickly review 10 different books under 10 minutes on our podcast.

We start the list with a wildly entertaining non-fiction travelogue of sorts by Benjamin Law and wrap it up with a sobering fictional novel by the celebrated American writer Toni Morrison. There are also some interesting graphic novels in there!

Listen in & do subscribe!

Timothy Chalamet & Natalia Dyer Have A New ‘Twin’ & The Actor Agrees

There’s nothing more fun than spotting celebrity doppelgangers. For the longest time, some of us used to think the lead actor in the 2009 romantic-comedy ‘500 Days of Summer’ was Katy Perry, while it’s actually Zooey Deschanel. Only years later, when the internet became more insidious in our lives, did we realize they were two very different people. In fact, Katy Perry has admitted that she used to pretend to be Zooey to hit clubs for free, before she got famous herself.

And now, we’ve spotted another celebrity doppelganger! While fans have already spoken about how actors Timothy Chalamet of ‘Call Me By Your Name’ fame and Natalia Dyer from ‘Stranger Things’ look like twins, there is an Indian actor who resembles them. We saw her in the trailer for Netflix India’s 2021 series ‘Feels Like Ishq’.

“Timothy Chalamet ki behen! Ya Natalia Dyer ki twin?” (Timothy Chalamet’s sister! Or Natalia Dyer’s twin?) – we quickly commented on the youtube trailer. That was really the only thing that made us excited about the video. Look at the image below, on your left is Dyer & on the right is the Indian artist.

A quick search on the internet revealed she is indie musician Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, who is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. What we didn’t expect was a direct reply from Sanjeeta to our comment. She was a total sport who was amused by the comparison and replied saying she was perhaps both (Chalamet’s sister & Dyer’s twin).

Sanjeeta is playing the most interesting character in “Feels Like Ishq” – a bisexual woman who finds herself attracted to a pretty colleague. Indian shows are finally embracing sexual diversity and portraying positive LGBTQ+ characters. Well, Sanjeeta seems to be quite the trailblazer like Timothy Chalamet, whose break out role was that of a young gay teen in ‘Call Me By Your Name”.