Kaala #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #OTTSeriesReview

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #OTTSeriesReview #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #DisneyHotstar #Thinkinkcommunications Title: #Kaala Cast: #AvinashTiwary #RohanVinodMehra #NivethaPethuraj #TaherShabbir #JitinGulati #ElishaMayor #HitenTejwani #MitaVashisht #ShaktiKapoor #AjinkyaDeo Creator/Director: #BejoyNambiar Rating: * * * Runtime: 8 Episodes/ 30-50 mins each Producers: #BhushanKumar #KrishanKumar #BejoyNambiar @everyone #everyone @everybody #everybody

Bejoy Nambiar’s busy crime series ‘Kaala’ is yet another attempt to milk the patriotism angle by intermingling the army within this so-called powerplay of money, crime, and corruption. It’s about the persistent investigation of a reverse Havala racket by an IB team. It’s not exactly intelligent but is immersive enough and has quite a few tense moments thanks to a bustling momentum, surprise reveals, plot twists, a contra-twist, and some standout performances by #AvinashTiwary #RohanVinodMehra and #JitinGulati. Gulati’s nuanced essay of a queer man owning up to his identity while wreaking havoc on the world around him/her is the best performance in that space, yet.

Jawan #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Jawan Cast: #ShahRukhKhan #VijaySethupathi #Nayanthara #DeepikaPadukone #SanjayDutt #SanyaMalhotra #PriyaMani #SunilGrover #GirijaOak #LeharKhan #SanjeetaBhattacharya #AaliyahQureishi #SeezaSarojMehta #EijazKhan #RidhiDogra Director: #Atlee Rating: * * Runtime: 170 mins #RedChilliesEntertainment #SpicePR #everyone @everyone #Everybody @everybody

This one is where ShahRukhKhan as Father and son apes the #VishalDadlani look and #KamalHassan’s chameleon act in #Indian while trying to rectify the ills of society by heading an army of skilled women who are in jail for crimes that were meant to save society. It’s his show all the way, the swag, the romance, the action, the dialogue ensures that its him hogging the limelight. Everyone else is just window dressing and even the villain comes across as a caricature. In fact Atlee’s film feels more like a comic strip than a cinematic adventure. The narrative is strip happy, the performances are stylised and unrealistic and the action feels contrived and fake.And the loud melodramatic turns are pitiably ineffective. Even though the film tries to address current ills like farmer suicides and electoral malpractice, there’s no emotional connect driving it forward. What’s with the bandaged look? Doesn’t make sense whatsoever. Atlee and S Ramanagirivasan’s screenplay lacks cohesiveness, Sumit Arora's dialogues sound vacuous and the songs are imminently forgettable. This film doesn’t have staying power!

Haddi #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Haddi #ZeeStudios #ChaseIndia Cast: #NawazuddinSiddiqui #AnuragKashyap #MohammedZeeshanAyyub #IlaArun #SaurabhSachdeva #RajeshSharma #ShriidharDebey Director: #AkshatAjaySharma Rating: * * 1/2 Runtime: 134mins #everyone @everyone #Everybody @everybody #ChaseIndia #ZeeStudios #AnanditaStudios

A gritty but also grisly, gory, macabre tale of revenge and retribution boxed within the world of transgender people, ‘Haddi’ flirts around evil politicians and vicious goons who also appear to have some linkage with the ‘Kinnar’ world. Ultra-violent, bestial, and off-putting, the narrative devolves into confusion and mayhem as the Kinnars take on the Politician in a lesser evil versus greater evil fight for cadavers and human remains. #AnuragKashyap appears to be having a ball and #Nawazuddin makes a sincere effort to look and feel the part but the narrative’s obsession with the gruesome and the ghastly makes it hard to appreciate anything here. There’s neither subtlety nor nuance to be had here

Made in Heaven Season 2 #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #OTTSeriesReview

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #OTTSeriesReview #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Title: #MadeInHeavenS2 #TBCnetwork #AmazonPrime #Primevideo #everyone #everyone #MadeInHeavenOnPrime Cast: #ArjunMathur #SobhitaDhulipala #MonaSingh #TrinetraHaldar #ShashankArora #JimSarbh #KalkiKoechlin #ShivaniRaghuvanshi #VijayRaaz #MrunalThakur #RadhikaApte #ShibaniDandekar #SarahJaneDias #NainaSareen #ElnaazNorouzi #IshwakSingh #SamirSoni #SanjayKapoor #NeelamSoni #KallirroiTziafeta #ZaynMarieKhan #SheenaKhalid Directors: #ReemaKagti #ZoyaAkhtar #NityaMehra #AlankritaShrivastava #NeerajGhaywan. Rating: * * * 1/2 Runtime: 7 episodes /60-65 mins each @excelmovies @tigerbabyofficial

Made in Heaven Season 2 delves deeper into the complexities of organizing and celebrating big fat Indian weddings. The narrative is nuanced and heart-felt and encompasses various social prejudices while revealing the dichotomy of tradition, modern aspirations and belief systems. Compelling episodic storylines, great production values, accompanied by brilliant involving performances, this dark depiction of wedding finery intermingling with Indian societal and social intricacies makes you sit up and take notice. The show addresses issues and topics that are usually brushed under the carpet- while touching upon themes like casteism, physical abuse, color discrimination, same sex marriages and polygamy. It’s a thought-provoking and socially relevant viewing experience.

Commando #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #OTTSeriesReview #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #OTTSeriesReview #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Title: #Commando Cast: #Prem #AdahSharma #VaibhavTatwawadi #ShreyaSinghChaudhry #AmitSial #Mukesh Chhabra #IshteyakKhan #TigmanshuDhulia Creator/Director/Producer: #VipulAmrutlalShah Rating: * * Runtime: 4 Episodes/ 25-40 mins each #everyone @everyone #Everybody #DisneyHotstar #HotstarSpecials

Yet another attempt by Vipul A Shah to rouse the latent sentiment of fake armchair patriots, this so called ‘tales of valour, Patriotism for the country’ is entirely fake and contrived and runs like the regular pop-patriotic mass formulaic Hindi film. The thankfully ‘short or runtime’ series has a fresh faced young cast and also includes Shah’s recent muse #AdahSharma ( #TheKeralaStory fame) in a principal role. The narrative is woefully short on genuine ideas and relies entirely on Indo-Pak antagonism to score with the ideologically indoctrinated audience that is it’s core target!

OMG 2 #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #OTTSeriesReview #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Title: #OMG2 Cast: #PankajTripathi #AkshayKumar #YamiGautam #PavanMalhotra #AarushVarma #GeetaAgarwal Director: #AmitRai Rating: *** Runtime: 156 mins #Viacom18studios #CapeOfGoodFilms #Wakaoo #HypePR #everyone #everyone #Everybody

The first half trails a trivial pursuit in ‘masturbation’ even while bigger issues like ‘invasion of privacy’ and ‘Bullying’ get blown aside… before coming good through courtroom histrionics involving a reformed Brahmin Mahadev bhakt egged-on by his deity's human avatar, detailing a fervent appeal while making a strong pitch for the inclusion of sex education in school curriculum. While the premise is unbelievably silly, the result is not. The post interval half uses humor, a stirring tongue-in-cheek performance from #PankajTripathi and a playful one from #AkshayKumar to kerfuffle the audience. The contrived and peculiar courtroom arguments might not sit well in a court of law but they are guaranteed to get the audience to vote in OMG2’s favor!

The Jengaburu Curse #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #OTTSeriesReview

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #OTTSeriesReview Title: #TheJengaburuCurse Cast: #FariaAbdullah #SudevNair #Nasser #MakarandDeshpande #DeipakSampat #MelanieGray #AaryaBhatta #RBadree #ShrikantVerma #ManineeDe #HiteshYogeshDave #PavitraSarkar #SukumarTudu Director: #NilaMadhabPanda DOP: #PauloPerez Editor: #JabeenMerchant Music: #AlakanandaDasGupta #DurgaPrasadMohapatra Sound Design: #BobyJohn Screenplay/Dialogues: #MayankTewari Rating: * * * Runtime: 40-50 mins /7 episodes #MoeArt #StudioNext #SonyLiv #SPE #everyone @everyone

Nila Madhab Panda’s OTT debut series is a passionate ode to Tribal welfare. The fictional story featuring the Bondia tribe, is set in Orissa, and is about mining for uranium at the expense of human life. The narrative is taut, hard-hitting and fairly intriguing and the performances, camerawork, editing, direction and music add tremendous depth to the telling. The film encompasses dirty politics, tribal rights, green cover conservation and environmental activism while making singing indictments against rabid avaricious development displacing rooted tribal inhabitants.