Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 32
May 15, 2025
The Royals Is Better Than Its Below-4 IMDb Score
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Eight episodes long, season one of The Royals (it evidently ends with a promise of a sequel) is pure escapist romantic comedy, where a prince of a fictional kingdom falls in love with the CEO of a fictional company who wants to convert one of his palace wings into a luxury BnB. This is Wattpad stuff, fan-fiction ramblings, glossy fantasy nonsense, and pure entertainment. Want to watch something historically accurate, culturally sensitive, factually precise? Well then yes, The Royals is not it, and it didn’t promise any of that in its trailer.
Starring Bhumi Pednekar and Ishaan Khattar in the lead, I thought the show was fun, if you don’t take it seriously, because the show is rarely serious itself. So, when I went to rate it on IMDb, I was taken aback by its rating of 3.4 stars out of 10 by multiple users (it slowly increased to 3.9 at the time of this write-up). “Wait, was I swept away by the charms of a shirtless Ishaan Khattar?!” I thought to myself, because it seemed I was way more satisfied with the show than most other Indian viewers. I am rarely so off the mark, considering how I view myself as a pedestrian reviewer, who can be as impatient or demanding as any other regular Bollywood enthusiast.
Read My Full Review Here: The Royals: Ishaan’s Raja & Bhumi’s ‘AamKumari’ Click
But then on second thought, Ishaan Khattar is not somebody who gets me starry-eyed, although he is certainly cute and naturally good at emoting his character’s personality. I enjoyed taking in the the colourful palaces, comical characters, and the eye-catching costumes. Besides, even Bhumi Pednekar looks amazing in the show, and her onscreen chemistry with Khattar is cute, sensuous, and watch-worthy. Also, it’s been consistently on Netflix ‘Top 10 Shows’ in the first week of its release.
A friend who watched the show after reading my review of The Royals agrees that it’s a good ‘time-pass’ kinda series. Although we also agreed that while Bhumi looked great, her lips were distracting, and one can’t help but wonder if she has gotten something done. Lip fillers? Surgery? Who knows? But yes, if you don’t think you like her new look, I understand if you’d want to skip the show. Visual appeal matters. I’ve refused to see a lot of popular stuff just because the lead actors don’t interest me. He He 
But if you like Bhumi and Ishaan, and are looking for some Bridgerton-like romance series, with zero interest in historical accuracy, but total enthusiasm for a ‘Prince falls for the common girl’ kinda love story, ‘The Royals’ is a decent one-time watch. And I will be watching a season 2, if that happens.
Read Next: The Rose of Versailles Review: Sparkly Anime Snips Marie’s Arc
Also Read: Superboys of Malegaon: Ode to DIY Cinema (Audio Version Below)
Bring Her Back Trailer Delivers Foster Mom From Hell?
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“Stay safe, stay reliable”
Foster homes are supposed to be safe havens for orphans, but if onscreen stories are anything to go by, they often feel more like breeding grounds for horror tales. Directors Danny and Michael Philippou (creators of Talk to Me) add to that trend with Bring Her Back, a creepy new 2025 horror film about two siblings sent to live with a foster mom who may be dangerously unhinged.
Billy Barratt and Sora Wong star as siblings Andy and Piper, who are immediately freaked out by the sight of a stuffed dog at their new foster mom Laura’s (Sally Hawkins) house. But soon, they realize that the taxidermied animals are the least disturbing things in Laura’s secluded home. The duo uncovers eerie rituals and haunting ghosts from Laura’s past, all seemingly connected to her dead daughter. Are the kids being used as pawns in some twisted attempt to bring the girl back? The title certainly hints at it.
From the looks of the trailer, Bring Her Back promises to be an eerie thriller where two young children are terrorized by their foster mother. Will they survive the ordeal, or fall prey to some ghastly crime or supernatural force? Horror fans will find out when the film hits theaters on May 30.
Watch the trailer on YouTube, it’s also embedded below.
Something In The Water: Graphic Novel Review
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
It’s the classic corporate giants versus working-class folks in Elijah Joseph’s graphic novel Something In The Water. The plot follows Rainforest, a greedy mega-corporation pushing a chemically altered, addictive drinking water onto small towns, water that makes people want to buy more. The side effect? It turns consumers dangerously aggressive.
The graphic novel kicks off with a sponsored talk at a high school by a Rainforest rep preaching the importance of “hydration” and announcing their plan to sponsor the school’s water supply with their brand, Sweet-Water. Except Sweet-Water is anything but sweet, and its effects on the townsfolk quickly spiral out of control.
Two teen best friends, Daniel and Jeremy, discover the truth and set out to stop their town from descending into chaos. In a hilarious sequence, the kids try to steal all the packaged water in their neighborhood, while two officers investigating a string of violent incidents begin tailing them. A small sub-plot about Daniel rekindling with his estranged dad adds some family drama into the tale.
Something in the Water is fast-paced, kind of gritty, but the artwork, while retro in tone, felt visually jarring. The character expressions are exaggerated; some look like reanimated zombies with big creepy eyes, as if this were a horror comic. The art and the story don’t quite mesh, and I found myself losing interest halfway through. I still finished it, but the climax felt rushed and a little too convenient.
Overall, Something in the Water is an okay read. I might’ve rated it lower if I’d paid for it, but luckily, it was part of my Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Rating: 2.5 on 5.
Read: 10 Great Historical Non-Fiction Books on Kindle Unlimited (audio version below)
May 14, 2025
The Rose of Versailles Review: Sparkly Anime Snips Marie’s Arc
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Look, even if you haven’t read the original manga by Riyoko Ikeda, it’s very evident from the 2025 Netflix film The Rose of Versailles that it omits a lot of material from the original series! Studio MAPPA has done a fantastic job with the sparkly animation of this grand, historical series that reimagines the extravagant life of Marie Antoinette, juxtaposing it with the struggles of a fictional, cross-dressing female military commander called Lady Oscar.
Directed by Ai Yoshimura, The Rose of Versailles starts off by introducing a teen Marie Antoinette arriving in France to live with her husband, Louis XVI, the heir apparent to the French throne. Marie is portrayed as a young, beautiful, romantic heroine who doesn’t feel butterflies for her husband and falls in love with a Swedish count, Axel von Fersen (a real historical figure, although there’s no concrete record of his having had an affair with the Queen). Oscar François de Jarjayes, a woman raised as a man by her father so she can inherit his position as the military commander, becomes Marie’s first friend in France.
While at first you’re led to believe that both Marie and Oscar will serve as dual protagonists in The Rose of Versailles, the second half of the film heavily focuses on the military commander’s disillusionment with the monarchy and her active role in the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette is all but forgotten by the end, with some key arcs from the manga missing in the story. The disparate attention to the protagonists is disappointing, even though Riyoko Ikeda’s attempts to humanize the larger-than-life personality of Marie Antoinette through this re-imagination still works.
Viewers may briefly empathize with a young teenage girl, married off by her empress mother to the future King of France for diplomatic gain. But due to its limited runtime, The Rose of Versailles fails to convincingly chart Marie’s transformation from a sweet, dreamy Dauphine in search of true love to a self-indulgent, hedonistic Queen. Oscar’s ideological shift is smoother, as she confronts the crushing poverty and misery in the streets of Paris. In contrast, Marie and her courtiers remain blissfully detached from reality – a disconnect that ultimately seals their fate. The stark contrast between royal opulence and common suffering is briefly but memorably portrayed.
The animation for the film is by MAPPA studios, which captures the sparkle and glamour of the French court with dazzling, glossy animation. But since MAPPA has been in news for overworking its animators on the smash-hit anime series ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’, maybe they didn’t want to commit to a longer series for ‘The Rose of Versailles’ and opted for a shorter feature film version. Well, given that the manga came out in the 1970s, they should’ve taken all the time in the world and delivered a more faithful adaptation.
In its current form – especially for those who haven’t read the original manga – The Rose of Versailles film is a decent one-time watch.
Rating: 6 on 10. Watch it on Netflix.
Read Next: The Royals Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version Below)
Coach Aamir Gets Schooled by Real Champions in Sitaare Zameen Par Trailer
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OH NO! We already feel like this is going to be great tear-jerker, because just the trailer is enough to make viewers emotional and excited.
Directed by Prasanna RS and written by Divy Nidhi Sharma, the 2025 trailer for the Bollywood film Sitaare Zameen Par might sound like a sequel to Aamir Khan’s 2007 hit Taare Zameen Par—about a talented dyslexic student, but it’s actually a new tale about a disgraced basketball coach who is assigned to train a group of special-needs children as ‘punishment’ for three months. So, while in Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan helped Darsheel Safary discover his potential, in the new film Sitaare Zameen Par, it’s Aamir’s character who gets schooled by the kids on compassion, love, empathy, and athletic spirit.
“We’ve come to win, not to humiliate anyone,” a kid tells Aamir’s character when he tells his team to crush their opponents. The trailer might remind some of the 2022 sport comedy ‘Home Team’, where Sean Payton plays a suspended football coach who takes on a job to train a 6th grade football team, comprised of kids who simply want to have fun and don’t care about victories. Then came Woody Harrelson’s 2023 sports comedy Champions (itself a rehash of the 2018 Spanish hit Campeones), which follows nearly the exact same storyline as Sitaare Zameen Par: a basketball coach is suspended for drunk driving and receives a court order to coach kids with special needs. In-fact, the Bollywood version is eerily similar, but with new desi jokes, including hilarious digs at Aamir’s height. He is nick-named ‘Tingu’ in the film!
While we don’t see any credit to the original creators or writers in the Bollywood trailer, that doesn’t change the fact that it seems like a fun and heartwarming movie that could help educate Indian audiences about the potential of children with Down Syndrome. Featuring a cast that includes real kids with Down Syndrome, Sitaare Zameen Par already earns brownie points for its authentic representation.
Watch the trailer on YouTube, it’s also embedded below. Release date: 20th June in theatres.
May 13, 2025
GhostBox Issue #5 Review
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
At this point, I’ve honestly lost all interest in GhostBox, so much so that I didn’t even remember the comic book series was still ongoing or that I have yet to finish it.
Created by Mike Carey, Pablo Raimondi, and Jose Villarrubia, this supernatural fantasy series about ghosts, demons, and monsters started out interesting but has steadily been losing steam. The plot follows Chloe, who is in possession of a magical ghostbox, coveted by many, including a super evil monster. So this issue is all about everybody trying to get their hands on it and I had a hard time following the story, even though it’s less than 30 pages long.
At least the artwork seemed fine before, but this time, the color combinations in the first few pages of Issue #5 were a total eyesore. I wonder if it would’ve looked easier on the eyes had I purchased a physical copy instead of reading it on Kindle Unlimited. Then again, there are plenty of colorful comics on KU that aren’t so jarring to the eye.
For instance, I’m currently reading a few other ongoing comic book series like You Never Heard of Me and Groupies, the latter also on Kindle Unlimited, and both have a glossy, colorful palette that’s a visual treat. But with GhostBox Issue #5, the artwork is so chaotic, it was hurting my eyes. The only thing that did stand out comically in this issue was a massive naked angelic being, with huge white wings, who tries to save the day.
Sigh…. sorry, I just don’t have anything constructive to say about this issue, and I’m not going to rate it either. This wasn’t supposed to be so disappointing.
Read Next: No Longer Human Review: A Tragic Masquerade in Motion
Also Read: Shubeik Lubeik Review: Fantastic Blend of Magical Realism (audio version below)
Weak Hero Class 1 Review: Brutal Beatdowns for Action Fans
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Yeon Si-eun is at the top of his class when it comes to math and academics but at the bottom rung of the ladder in popularity. He is often bullied in different ways by troublemakers in his class, and when he finally decides to hit back, it spirals him into a vicious cycle of violence.
Based on the Korean webtoon of the same name by Seopass and Kim Jin-seok, the eight-part first season of Weak Hero Class 1 is directed by Yoo Soo-min and Park Dan-hee. Park Ji-hoon plays Yeon Si-eun, the serious, broody protagonist who has no friends and lives with his father. He is frequently teased and tormented by a group led by bully Jeon Yeong-bin (Kim Su-gyeom).
Right from episode one, viewers can see that Yeon Si-eun has a weak constitution, he looks overworked, sleep-deprived, and is always studying. Si-eun uses his wits to beat the crap out of his bullies during an unhinged rage episode at school, only to be stopped before things get truly out of hand by classmate Ahn Su-ho (Choi Hyun-wook), a slacker known to have trained in martial arts. Actor Hong Kyung plays Oh Beom-seok, a new transfer student at the same school, who is used against Si-eun by the bullies. However, a turn of events leads to an unexpected friendship between Yeon Si-eun, Ahn Su-ho, and Oh Beom-seok.
Given that Weak Hero Class 1 is set in a high-school setting, the constant bullying and violence among students is often gratuitously overdone. But action fans baying for onscreen blood will absolutely enjoy all the raw punches, angry kicks, knife slashing, and body bashing that constantly fills the screen. Some action sequences are fantastically choreographed, and giving Ahn Su-ho’s character a martial arts background helps slip in some slick moves. That said, you can’t help but feel that our ‘weak hero’ is often saved by the stronger Ahn Su-ho. Yes, the series tries to highlight how the frail Si-eun uses his knowledge of physics and general intelligence to survive hostile situations, but many moments make him seem like a secondary hero in his own story.
Interestingly, Oh Beom-seok undergoes the biggest character transformation in Weak Hero Class 1, and actor Hong Kyung portrays it with convincing grit. From being a victim of vicious bullying, including domestic abuse at home, Beom-seok is first shown to abhor violence but eventually becomes a malevolent perpetrator himself. His character also serves as a showcase for class differences in the tale, as Beom-seok is the son of a powerful politician, which gives him access to easy money and also police immunity whenever he lands in serious trouble.
Lead actor Park Ji-hoon rarely gets to smile in Weak Hero Class 1, and I genuinely feel the makers should have inserted a few more laid-back friendship moments between his character and the others. But despite Yeon Si-eun’s extremely gloomy personality, he has a kind heart, which he expresses through his actions toward his new friends. Choi Hyun-wook as Ahn Su-ho is the only character who brings rare comical moments to the series, mostly through his confident, cheery demeanor and his constant hunger for delicious food.
If you’re the kind of action fan who’s not interested in comedic side-stories or romances cluttering the plot, Weak Hero Class 1 is a great pick for a dark, sad, blood-laden high school saga. What’s ironically tragic about the series is that Yeon Si-eun always tries to defuse violence through peaceful means, only to be met with even greater brutality each time he believes the savagery has ended.
The climactic episode of season one is all about vendetta and almost unfolds like a horror movie, where one of the characters goes on a diabolical blood quest to avenge a friend. So, even though there is no romance in the show, the friendships stand strong.
Rating: 7 on 10. Watch Weak Hero on Netflix.
Read Next: Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing Review
Also Read: The Royals Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version Below)
May 12, 2025
‘A Deadly American Marriage’ Documentary Review
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“It’s one of the bloodiest crime scenes I’ve seen in a long time,” Lt. Wanda Thompson of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Department says at the beginning of the Netflix documentary A Deadly American Marriage, recalling the house in which Jason Corbett was found dead from multiple fatal wounds.
Like many non-American and non-Irish viewers, I knew nothing about the 2015 Jason Corbett killing, and archival footage from the crime scene is indeed extremely disturbing. There are blood splatters on the walls, the floor, the bed sheets, charging sockets, the bedroom door, the night lamp… it would put horror movies to shame. Jason’s wife, Molly Martens Corbett, and her father, retired FBI agent Thomas Michael Martens, made a 911 call, reporting he had hit Jason with a baseball bat while defending Molly from domestic violence. Jason Corbett was an Irish citizen running a business in America and had two children from his first wife, who had died when they were toddlers. The children, Jack and Sarah, both under the age of 11 at the time, were found asleep in their bedrooms and were made to close their eyes to spare them the trauma of witnessing the horrific crime scene.
Interestingly, the Netflix documentary features interviews with all key surviving members connected to the case, from primary accused Molly Martens and Michael Martens, to the children, their relatives, lawyers on both sides, and investigators. Ideally, that’s how a balanced documentary should be. However, many true-crime documentaries on Netflix end up lopsided, often due to the reluctance of key people to come on camera. In such cases, the creators typically insert a note: “we attempted to interview X but were denied permission.” For instance, in American Murder: The Gabby Petito Story, the documentary makers couldn’t get any close family members of her boyfriend Brian to participate. In contrast, A Deadly American Marriage divides its 1 hour 42-minute runtime almost equally between both sides of the case.
Everyone presents their version of events, while Molly claims she was being strangled by an abusive husband when her father intervened in self-defense, Jason’s family believes the Martens murdered him with malicious intent so Molly could gain custody of the children. It’s a classic ‘he said, she said’ case, though there’s no denying the brutal nature of Jason’s death – he was clearly bludgeoned to death.
The documentary spans years of coverage, from the Martens’ original sentencing in 2017 to their appeal and re-sentencing in 2023. What happened to them, and to everyone else, is a matter of public record, but the interviews offer a disturbingly close look into a case where the full truth of what happened on the night Jason was killed remains elusive. But we do have concrete answers on how the system and the law dealt with the case and the prime accused.
If you’re a true-crime enthusiast unfamiliar with the Jason Corbett case, A Deadly American Marriage might be worth your time.
Watch it on Netflix.
Read Next: Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing Review
Also Read: The Royals Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version Below)
‘We Hope This Reaches You in Time’ Review
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“You are worth it”.
This book felt like an extended L’Oréal ad that keeps reminding the reader of their self-worth.
It’s been a while since I read a poetry collection, so I specifically typed “poetry” into my Kindle Unlimited subscription’s library, and this was one of the more highly rated titles available to read. I usually fight tooth and nail with some of my friends over how poetry has no rules – it doesn’t need to rhyme, it can be free-form – and I often argue for the freedom of how a poem can be anything. But We Hope This Reaches You in Time was largely a bunch of repetitive little notes about self-love. A lot of it made me think of content writers who work for third parties that expect them to write ten different articles about the same product.
Maybe some younger readers might find comfort in some of its pages. It’s very encouraging. It keeps telling the reader not to feel hopeless, defeated, or devalued; to look at the brighter side of life; to love themselves constantly; and not to depend on external validation.
This wasn’t for me. I expected more profound poetry, and not so much random, generic self-help prose. Maybe I’m at fault for expecting more, but like the writers say in this book –
We’re hard on ourselves when things don’t work out. It’s not enough that it didn’t go the way we thought; we have to punish ourselves for it. It’s our fault that we weren’t what someone wanted or needed. There has to be something wrong with us. We’re lacking in some way. I think we need to stop putting ourselves down every time someone can’t see something within us. Ok, things ended, it hurts, I get that. Chalking it all up to you somehow being “lesser than” or anything of the sort is detrimental. You’re not going to be compatible with every single person you find yourself interested in; that’s ok. You just need to realize that it is ok and learn what you will from the experience without tearing yourself down in the process.
Read Next: No Longer Human Review: A Tragic Masquerade in Motion
Also Read: Shubeik Lubeik Review: Fantastic Blend of Magical Realism (audio version below)
May 11, 2025
Khidki Short Film Review: Quiet Window Into Loneliness
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
What if your only companion was the view outside your window? – filmmaker Anhad Mishra asks the viewer and then answers the question through his short film ‘Khidki’, starring Naseeruddin Shah.
The veteran actor plays Suresh, a retired man living in a small one-room apartment by himself, but with a huge window that lets him see the vibrant world around him: young lovers taking selfies, puppies playing around, moms picking up their kids from school, and what not.
Khidki starts on a super nostalgic note, with a young man who works for Suresh as his house help putting on a cassette tape to play music. Viewers born post-2000 might not even recognize the device, and that serves as a subtle visual metaphor for how disconnected Suresh is from present times and the next generation. His son lives with his family in a different city, and Suresh refused to move in with them because he didn’t want to leave the house he spent most of his life in. There is visible resentment on both sides over this.
Clearly, the creators wanted to show what happens to elders in the family when they’re left alone. It’s a scathing criticism of ‘youngsters,’ although quite frankly, Suresh seems to be partially responsible for his plight—but that’s really not the mudda of this short film. The main theme is the loneliness, isolation, and loss of hope that come with age and the steady loss of close family to death, distance, and time. So, Suresh’s khidki is his window to the world, and when the owner wants him to shift to a new place, that world is at stake.
A little over 15 minutes long, Khidki is fueled by Naseeruddin Shah’s poignant acting. If you’re looking to watch something over your tea break, it’s a good option to stream online.
Watch the short film on YouTube.
Read Next: Superboys of Malegaon: Ode to DIY Cinema (Audio Version Below)
