India Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Bad Newz,’ starring Vicky Kaushal, Triptii Dimri and Ammy Virk

July 30, 2024

by Carla Hay

Triptii Dimri in “Bad Newz” (Photo courtesy of AA Films)

Directed by Anand Tiwari

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Indian cities of Mumbai and Mussoorie, the romantic comedy/drama “Bad Newz” (a quasi-sequel to 2019’s “Good Newwz”) features a predominantly Indian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An ambitious chef has sexual intercourse with two men (her ex-husband and her boss) on separate occasions on the same night, she gets pregnant with twins, and all three adults find out that the twins were conceived in a rare situation where the twins have two different biological fathers.

Culture Audience: “Bad Newz” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching shrill and silly romantic dramedies that are more than two hours long.

Vicky Kaushal and Ammy Virk in “Bad Newz” (Photo courtesy of AA Films)

The comedy/drama “Bad Newz” squanders the movie’s unusual concept of a woman pregnant with twins from two different fathers and how she copes with the love triangle that ensues. This moronic film just lazily rehashes tired stereotypes of superficial romantic comedies. And with a total running time of 140 minutes, “Bad Newz” quickly wears out its welcome, like an obnoxious suitor who won’t go away.

Directed by Anand Tiwari, “Bad Newz” was written by Ishita Moitra and Tarun Dudeja. This bloated movie is completely predictable and does absolutely nothing clever with the rare situation of twins having two separate biological fathers and one biological mother through natural means—not through in vitro fertilization or other artificial fertility methods. This pregnancy condition is called heteropaternal superfecundation. The words “heteropaternal superfecundation” are said a few times in the movie—and that’s the closest that “Bad Newz” gets to showing any intelligence.

“Bad Newz” is a quasi-sequel to the 2019 hit movie “Good Newwz,” a comedy/drama about two married couples who get pregnant through vitro fertilization and find out that each husband’s sperm was accidentally used to fertilize the wrong wife’s egg. “Bad Newz” begins in Mumbai, India (where the movie was filmed on location), by showing a chef named Saloni Bagga (payed by Triptii Dimri) meeting with actress Ananya Panday (playing a version of herself) for lunch at a restaurant. Paparazzi and fans have followed Ananya to this restaurant. Saloni and Ananya are meeting because Ananya is going to portay Saloni in a movie.

What is so unusual about Saloni’s life that would be turned into a movie where Saloni will be portrayed by a famous actress? “Bad Newz” then goes into flashback mode for most of the movie to show that Saloni is the one who’s had a heteropaternal superfecundation pregnancy. The long-winded plot (which is padded with generic song-and-dance musical scenes) has no surprises in depicting the “love triangle” that caused this unusual situation.

Saloni is about 26 or 27 years old. At the beginning of this flashback, she is living in Mumbai, where she is the head chef at a restaurant called Panama Cafe. Her dream is to be the head chef of a retaurant that gets the highest-rated Meraki Star, which is this fictional movie’s version of the Michelin star. Eventually, Saloni also wants to own her own restaurant.

Saloni goes to a wedding reception and meets vain and arrogant Akhil Chadha (played by Vicky Kaushal), who likes to describe himself as the Greatest of All Time (his self-appointed nickname) when it comes to being a lover. Akhil (who’s about four years older than Saloni) immediately makes it known to Saloni that he’s attracted to her and he wants to date her. She resists his advances because she says she wants to stay focused on her career.

However, Akhil is persistent, and Saloni agrees to date him. Saloni and Akhil have a whirlwind courtship and then get married. Why would Saloni agree to marry this jerk? She sees a vulnerable and caring side to Akhil when he tells her that he checks up on his mother often, out of guilt, because he wasn’t with his mother when his father died.

There are problems in the marriage from the start. Akhil (whose profession is never mentioned in the movie) apparently has nothing better to do than show up at the restaurant where Saloni works as a head chef to interrupt her work and harass people. When he’s at the restaurant, he expects Saloni to pay full attention to him while she’s supposed to be working.

Akhil also demands that customers excessively praise Saloni. He makes disruptions by shouting to anyone who listens that Saloni is an amazing chef. He thinks he’s being a supportive husband, but he’s not. Saloni asks Akhil to stop showing up at her job and acting in this boorish way, but Akhil won’t listen.

Akhil’s rude and overbearing attitude erupts into violence one day when he physically assaults a restaurant customer who complains about Saloni’s cooking. The Panama Cafe manager (played by Navin Kaushik) orders Akhil out of the restaurant, while the assaulted customer leaves in an angry huff. Saloni is understandably humiliated and ashamed by Akhil’s abusiveness.

When Akhil and Saloni go home after this assault incident, they have a big argument, which ends with Akhil ordering Saloni to move out of their home. She willingly goes and then files for divorce not long afterward. Akhil and Saloni were married for almost six months when they had this nasty breakup.

Saloni’s parents disapprove of Saloni getting divorced and try to get her to change her mind and reconcile with Akhil, who also wants the reconciliation. However, Saloni stands firm in her decision. Akhil’s widowed mother Vishni Chadha (played by Sheeba Chadha) also wants to see the couple get back together. Saloni’s aunt Ma Corona (played by Neha Dhupia) often acts as a peacemaker and advisor for Saloni’s love life problems.

Back at the Panama Cafe, the restaurant is being visited by Meraki Star judges. Saloni is expected to be in top form. Unfortunately, Saloni is stressed-out and distracted by her divorce problems, so she flops during the judging session, and the restaurant doesn’t win the Meraki Star. Because of her blunders, Saloni is fired from Panama Cafe.

Akhil comforts Saloni after she is fired. But it’s still not enough for Saloni to change her mind about the divorce. Saloni tells Akhil that they rushed into the marriage, which is why she thinks the marriage was doomed to fail. She also tells him, “Our dreams will always clash.” Akhil changes his mind about contesting the divorce and agrees to the divorce.

After the divorce, Saloni decides to start fresh by moving to Mussoorie, a small town about 1,742 kilometers or 1,082 miles away from Mumbai. Even after this move, Saloni can be heard saying in a voiceover that maybe her decision to divorce Akhil was too hasty. Saloni gets a job as the head chef of a restaurant owned by an available bachelor named Gurbir Singh Pannu (played by Ammi Virk), who has a personality that is the opposite of Akhil’s personality. Of course he does, because this is a cliché-ridden movie about a love triangle.

Saloni sees right away that Gurbir (who’s slightly older than Akhil) is kind, polite and humble to everyone. At the restaurant, Gurbir is able to diplomatically smooth over conflicts, whereas Akhil is the type of person who is more likely to cause conflicts. Gurbir, whose parents died when he was a child, is attracted to Saloni, but he doesn’t want to make the first move.

Gurbir is enough of a gentleman to be aware that as a boss, he should not be trying to date an employee unless he is absolutely sure that the employee wants this type of relationship. Saloni thinks Gurbir is a nice guy who’s emotionally mature. She is also lonely because she doesn’t have any friends in Mussoorie. In the meantime, Gurbir and Saloni hang out together as platonic colleagues.

One fateful night, Gurbir and Saloni are one of these platonic dates during a trip where they’re both staying at the same hotel. Saloni gets drunk and impulsively has sex with Gurbir in his hotel room. When she goes back to her hotel room, she’s shocked to see Akhil waiting for her because he wanted to surprise her. (Can you say “stalker”?)

Akhil has brought a cake with him because that day happens to be the ex-couple’s wedding anniversary. Saloni is drunk and lonely, so she has sex with Akhil on the same night, within less than an hour after having sex with Gurbir. And because “Bad Newz” already reveals in the beginning that Saloni has a heteropaternal superfecundation pregnancy, you can easily guess what happens during the rest of this movie.

“Bad Newz” tediously drags with unimaginative scenes of the rivalry that develops between Akhil and Gurbir when they find out that they are both the biological fathers to the twins that Saloni is carrying. Expect to see Akhil and Gurbir try to outdo each other to prove to Saloni who will be the better father. All of it is very outdated comedy, with jokes that fall very flat.

Saloni has a hard time deciding which man she’ll choose to be her co-parent, or if she will choose to raise the twins on her own. Has she really fallen out of love with “bad boy” Akhil? Might she fall in love with “good guy” Gurbir? And what about the fact that Akhil and Gurbir stubbornly accuse each other of not being a suitable parent to these twins? Will anyone care by the end of this overly long mushfest?

Kaushal, Dimri and Virk don’t do much to make these characters endearing to audiences. Akhil is an egotistical creep who thinks his physical appearance entitles him to get any woman he wants. And if Akhil goes through any personality changes in the movie, it just looks phony. Dimri’s portrayal of Saloni makes her look flaky and a little bit manipulative. Virk’s depiction of Gurbir gives this character a decent personality, but it’s too bland and without the charisma needed to convince viewers that Gurbir can charm Saloni into the passionate love affair that she wants.

The movie’s depictions of Saloni’s visits to her obstetrician Doctor Baweja (played by Faisal Rashid) are also off-putting. Dr. Naweja treats Saloni more like a scientific experiment than a human being. He doesn’t care what the stress of this love triangle might be doing to pregnant and vulnerable Saloni. (Predictably, Akhil and Gurbir show up during these doctor visits and argue in front of the doctor.) Dr. Naweja just seems to want to have bragging rights that he’s a rare doctor who treated a patient with a heteropaternal superfecundation pregnancy.

“Bad Newz” is also one of those movies that has an incessantly annoying music score and soundtrack that are punctuated with silly comedy sound effects. The movie’s uneven tone also shifts to soap opera territory with over-styled scenes where people have wind flowing through their hair while they stare off wistfully into the distance, as if they’re at a photo shoot for a romance novel. “Bad Newz” isn’t the worst movie you could ever see, but “Bad Newz” asks viewers for too much time for a story that is as flimsy and boring as it is.

AA Films released “Bad Newz” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on July 19, 2024.

Review: ‘Indian 2,’ starring Kamal Haasan, Siddharth, S. J. Suryah and Rakul Preet Singh

July 16, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Indian 2”

Directed by S. Shankar

Tamil with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of India, the action film “Indian 2” (a sequel to 1996’s “Indian”) features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Four young adult YouTubers coax an outlaw vigilante to come out of hiding after he disappeared for 28 years, and the vigilante and his YouTube supporters go on the hunt to get justice for corruption.

Culture Audience: “Indian 2” will appeal primarily to people are fans of the first “Indian” movie and mindless vigilante stories.

Siddharth in “Indian 2” (Photo courtesy of Red Giant Movies)

“Indian 2” is nothing but a bloated mess. This idiotic and unnecessary sequel has tiresome clichés about a vigilante and his minions, who want corrupt people to be punished. The real punishment is watching this entire three-hour cinematic abomination. “Indian 2” (which is also titled “India 2: Zero Tolerance”) is filled with stupid-looking action sequences, hollow characters with no development, and time-wasting, reptetive scenes that didn’t need to be in the movie at all.

Written and directed by S. Shankar, “Indian 2” is a sequel to the 1996 action film “Indian,” which was directed and co-written by Shankar. Kamal Haasan reprises his role as vigilante Veerasekharan Senapathy, who is a former Indian National Army agent and who has the nickname Indian. The plot of “Indian 2” is so flimsy, it didn’t need to be a three-hour movie. This overlong running time makes the terrible movie even more irritating.

“Indian 2” (which takes place in various part of India) begins by showing four YouTuber friends in their 20s: Chitra Aravindhan (played by Siddharth), Aarthi Thangavel (played by Priya Bhavani Shankar), Thembash (played by Jagan) and Harish (played by Rishikanth). The four pals have a YouTube channel called Barking Dogs, which does political satires that poke fun at officials and leaders who are caught doing unethical things. These YouTubers use a lot of animation for their YouTube content.

Chitra, the leader of the Barking Dogs team, has a strong sense of morality and likes to help protect or defend underdogs. The other members of the Barking Dogs team have similar values. These values will be tested when they start investigating corruption that is very close to home.

One day, the community experiences a shocking and tragic event. A young woman named Sunitha flings herself off of a balcony and dies instantly. Chitra is one of the people on the street who witnessed this suicide.

Sunitha’s grieving brother tells the gathered crowd that Sunitha killed herself because corrupt officials demanded that she pay them bribes. When Sunitha refused, the officials told people that her college degree was fake. Sunitha couldn’t bear the shame, so she committed suicide.

Aside from all the illogical problems of this storyline (such as: colleges keep verifiable records of who graduated), the movie then stages an unrealistic impromptu protest at the suicide scene to have these corrupt officials arrested. Chitra is one of the most vocal people leading this protest, which also includes Arthi, Thembash and Harish.

The four friends get arrested and are bailed out by Chitra’s affluent girlfriend Disha (played by Rakul Preet Singh), who supports their cause but cautions them that they alone can’t change the world. Chitra, Arthi, Thembash and Harish get together and begin to wonder whatever happened to Indian, who made news for the events that happened in the “Indian” movie, but Indian has been missing since 1996. The four friends think that they should enlist the help of Indian, but they need to find him first.

Chitra comes up with the idea to start a social media campaign using the hashtag #ComeBackIndian. And sure enough, Indian finds out about the campaign, comes out of hiding. In an effort to look “modern,” Indian makes a social media video that he says is specifically aimed people under the age of 40. In this video, Indian makes a rallying statement for people to become social justice warriors against corruption by turning in corrupt people to the authorities.

The Barking Dogs friends take this advice to heart and start investigating people in their own family. Chitra’s father Varadharajan (played by Samuthirakani) is a police officer. Harish visits his uncle’s motel and discovers they serve stale food to customers. Thembash finds out that his brother-in-law, Nanjunda Moorthy, accepts bribes from customers, as does Aarthi’s mother, Kanagalatha.

Meanwhile, Indian doles out his own type of justice, which is often violent. Indian is a master of disguises and has hypnosis skills. And apparently, based on the movie’s very fake-looking action scenes, Indian also has superhuman-level strength and agility. One of the things that Indian likes to do in his hypnosis tricks is make people under hypnosis think that they are horses, and he tells them to run for the rest of their lives.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been on the hunt for Indian for the past 28 years because of what happened in the first “Indian” movie. Now that Indian as resurfaced, two CBI agents named Pramod Krishnaswamy (played by Bobby Simha) and Elango (played by Vivek) have been assigned to find and capture Indian. It should come as no surprise that Pramod and Elango repeatedly bungle the task, as Indian remains elusive. Why else would this bloated movie be three hours long?

One of the many problems with this disjointed movie is that the four Barking Dogs friends mostly work separately from Indian. There are large chunks of the movie that seem to completely forget all about the Barking Dogs friends. The separate storylines in “Indian 2” clumsily fail to blend cohesively when Indian and the Barking Dogs friends share the same scenes.

Most of the corruption in the movie’s ill-conceived plot has to do with bribery. The movie quickly becomes bogged down in unimaginative, repetitive scenarios of Indian donning disguises and doing his hypnosis tricks. There’s at least one other person who commits suicide out of “shame” related to corruption accusations. “Indian 2” also has a few bombastic song-and-dance musical scenes that look out-of-place and have forgettable songs.

The action sequences in “Indian 2” relentlessly insult viewers’ intelligence. Viewers are expected to believe that when Indian is cornered by about 20 muscular men in a fight, the men will stand around and take turns to get a chance to fight Indian. In reality, anyone who’s outnumbered this way would be quickly ganged up on and defeated, unless their opponent has a weapon that the others don’t.

One of the phoniest-looking action sequences is toward the end of the movie, when someone makes an escape by riding a unicycle. Viewers are expected to believe that this unicucle can outpace all the cars chasing after this unicyle. The person making the escape also does flips ona tunnel wall during this vehicle chase.

None of the acting performances in “Indian 2” is special. Some of it is downright awful. This movie clearly had a sizeable budget that was spent on production design (often gaudy) and visual effects (often fake-looking), but the movie’s production budget didn’t buy good film editing. There’s so much quick-cutting film editing that’s meant to make “Indian 2” look fast-paced, but it just looks like amateurish editing that can’t fix this abysmal screenplay.

Even with this choppy editing, “Indian 2” drags and gets boring because there’s so little substance to the movie’s story, which has a horrendous ending. A mid-credits montage gives a montage preview of what to expect in 2025’s “Indian 3,” and it looks just as awful as “Indian 2.” You’ve been warned.

Red Giant Movies released “Indian 2” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on July 12, 2024.

Review: ‘Ullozhukku,’ Urvashi, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Arjun Radhakrishnan

July 4, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Ullozhukku”

Directed by Christo Tomy

Malayalam with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Kuttanad, India, the dramatic film “Ullozhukku” features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A young widow from a middle-class background has conflicts with her wealthy mother-in-law, as preparations are made for the funeral of the widow’s recently deceased husband.

Culture Audience: “Ullozhukku” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and are interested in watching a well-acted drama that has realistic family problems.

Arjun Radhakrishnan in “Ullozhukku” (Photo courtesy of Central Pictures)

Bolstered by credible performances by Parvathy Thiruvothu and Urvashi, the absorbing drama “Ullozhukku” offers an intriguing look at a family disrupted by secrets. The story examines the dilemmas of following traditions versus following one’s heart. An arranged marriage is the starting point for the conflicts that ensue in the story, but the movie is not a criticism of arranged marriages. Rather, it’s a candid observation of what can happen when people have conflicting motives for a marriage, and how these conflicts can do damage in the long run.

Written and directed by Christo Tomy, “Ullozhukku” (which means “undercurrent” in Malayalam) takes place in Kuttanad, India. During most of the story, a steady downpour of rain has caused flooding in Kuttanad, resulting in the delay of the funeral that is a main event in the story. The movie’s title refers to the undercurrent of secrets and lies that could be exposed and could change the lives of family members.

The beginning of “Ullozhukku” shows the wedding of Anju (played by Thiruvothu) and Thomaskutty (played by Prashanth Murali), attended by both sides of the family. It’s an arranged marriage. Thomaskutty is a “mama’s boy” who is doted on by his strong-willed and wealthy mother Leelamma (played by Urvashi), who is divorced. Her ex-husband is deceased.

Anju’s middle-class parents Joseph (played by Alencier Ley Lopez) and Jiji (played by Jaya Kurup) are thrilled that Anju is marrying into a rich family. Anju is an only child. The wedding celebration is festive, although Leelamma gets emotional about “losing” Thomaskutty, who will be starting a new life as a married man.

Some of the wedding happiness was just a façade from Anju, the newlywed bride. During the honeymoon, when Thomaskutty initiates sexual intimacy with her, Anju seems repulsed and is very reluctant to go along with what he wants. It’s a loveless marriage that Anju didn’t really want but she felt pressured by her family to marry Thomaskutty.

It turns out there’s more to why Anju didn’t want to marry Thomaskutty: She’s still in love with a man named Rajeev (played by Arjun Radhakrishnan), whom she broke up with when she got engaged to Thomaskutty. Anju’s parents disapprove of Rajeev (who works as a restaurant server) because he’s in a lower caste and he has a history of being unemployed.

Even though Anju is now married, Rajeev is persistent in wanting to see Anju. At first she tries to avoid Rajeev. But it isn’t long before Anju and Rajeev resume their love affair—this time in secret. Anju and Rajeev become sexually intimate again around the same time that Thomaskutty becomes gravely ill (he has seizures and vomits) and needs 24-hour home care.

Anju and Thomaskutty have a loveless marriage, but Anju pretends to Leelamma that Anju is a devoted wife. The timing of Anju and Rajeev re-igniting their love affair can be interpreted as a way for Anju to escape from the ordeal of her miserable marriage to someone who doesn’t love her and who has a very grim medical diagnosis of having a terminal illness. Thomaskutty has a tumor, but the movie doesn’t say where.

Leelamma moves in with Anju and Thomaskutty to help in taking care of Thomaskutty. With Leelamma in the household, she spends time with Anju and begins to open up to Anju about her life. Leelamma tells Anju that Leelamma’s ex-husband was very cruel to Thomaskutty and eventually abandoned the family when Thomakutty was a child.

Leelamma also expresses heartbreak over her strained relationship with her first child Sheba (played by Smruthi Anish), who is a few years older than Thomaskutty. Sheba rarely visits or contacts Leelamma and Thomaskutty. Leelamma feels abandoned by Sheba and tells Anju that if anything happens to Thomaskutty, then Leelamma doesn’t want Anju to leave Leelamma.

However, Anju secretly has other plans. After Thomaskutty inevitably dies, Anju wants to move out of the area with Ranjeev. Ranjeev later tells Anju that he wants more financial security before they live together. He says he intends to get a better-paying job, and he pressures Anju to convince Leelamma to sign over property to Anju as a widow inheritance.

It’s around this time that Anju finds out that she’s pregnant. She want to keep her pregnancy a secret from Leelamma, but Leelamma figures out that Anju is pregnant because of how Anju is acting. For example, Leelamma catches Anju touching her own abdomen in the way that pregnant women do.

Anju admits to Leelamma that she’s pregnant. The news is announced to the rest of the family. All of this information is revealed in the trailer for “Ullozhukku.” What isn’t revealed in the trailer (but it’s revealed in the movie) is which man is the father of the unborn child. The impending birth of this child makes Leelamma even more determined to exert some control in Anju’s life.

Leelamma is elated that she’s going to become a grandmother, which is one of the main reasons why she was so eager for Thomaskutty to get married. However, shortly after this pregnancy news is revealed, Thomaskutty ends up in a hospital, where he dies. Because of recent flooding in the area, Thomaskutty’s funeral is postponed for several days.

During this waiting period, tensions start to simmer and increase between Leelamma and Anju. After Thomaskutty dies, Anju starts to assert herself more and lets it be known that she’s not going to be a passive widow. The rest of the movie is about how those conflicts are dealt with by various people, as more secrets and lies emerge. A nun named Sister Rosamma (played by Veenah Naair) becomes somewhat of a grief counselor to the family, and she has a pivotal role in the story.

The funeral arrangements also prompt the arrival of Sheba (played by Smruthi Anish), an irritable snob, who never approved of Anju because Sheba thinks Anju’s caste is beneath what Thomaskutty should’ve married. While Anju is desperate to escape from Thomaskutty’s family to be with Rajeev, Anju’s parents are pressuring her to stay close to Leelamma so that Anju and her unborn child can benefit from Leelamma’s wealth.

“Ullozhukku” keeps viewers in suspense over what will happen in this story and doesn’t follow a lot of predictable storylines. It should come as no surprise that Leelamma has secrets too, but they aren’t as shocking as what some viewers might expect. “Ullozhukku” doesn’t pass judgment on Anju’s infidelity but it does have a scathing indictment of what caste prejudices and greed can do to people and relationships.

What also makes “Ullozhukku” an above-average family drama is that the movie doesn’t present anyone as a clear “hero” or “villain.” (Sheba is the most mean-spirited character in the film, but the movie hints there’s more to Sheba’s story that remains untold.) The main characters are all flawed human beings who make selfish decisions that are often motivated by love intentions, even if those intentions might be misguided or wrong by other people’s standards.

“Ullozhukku” has very artful direction and a well-written screenplay. However, the “Ullozhukku” wouldn’t be as impactful if the wrong people had been cast in the film. The movie’s performances show admirable talent, especially from Thiruvothu and Urvashi, who don’t hit any false notes in their scenes.

Anju and Leelamma are two women who are seemingly very different from each other but they actually have something big in common: They are both lonely people who want to find happiness with a loved one, even if painful sacrifices need to be made. “Ullozhukku” has a powerful ending scene that shows how people can learn unexpected things about themselves and what they want out of life.

Central Pictures released “Ullozhukku” in select U.S. cinemas on July 4, 2024. The movie was released in India on June 21, 2024.

Review: ‘Chandu Champion,’ starring Kartik Aaryan, Vijay Raaz and Bhuvan Arora

June 30, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Chandu Champion”

Directed by Kabir Khan

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India and partially in Japan and in Germany, from 1952 to 2017, the dramatic film “Chandu Champion” features a predominantly Indian cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Indian Army soldier Murlikant Petkar’s dream of becoming an Olympic gold medalist boxer is shattered when he is severely wounded in the Indo-Pakistani War, and he re-invents himself as a swimmer who trains for the Paralympics.

Culture Audience: “Chandu Champion” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and are interested in watching an inspiring biopic about an underrated athlete.

“Chandu Champion” has a familiar formula of sports underdog movies, but in this case, the formula works marvelously. It’s a well-acted and artfully filmed biopic about Paralympic champion Murlikant Petkar. Even if you didn’t know this true story before watching the movie, it’s easy to predict how the movie is going to end. That predictability doesn’t take away from emotion-stirring thrills and heartbreaks that viewers will experience in this cinematic journey.

Directed by Kabir Khan, “Chandu Champion” was co-written by Khan, Sumit Arora and Sudipto Sarkar. The movie takes place from 1952 to 2017, mostly in India and partially in Germany. Because the movie trailers for “Chandu Champion” reveal almost the entire story arc that’s presented in the film, it leaves very little room for surprises. However, this 142-minute film doesn’t feel overly long or overstuffed with filler because the movie’s writing, directing and acting are very good at maintaining interest and keeping viewers emotionally invested.

“Chandu Champion” begins in 2017, when Murlikant “Murli” Petkar (played by Kartik Aaryan), who is 72 or 73, walks into a police station and announces that he wants to file a complaint against the president of India for not getting the Arjuna Award, which is India’s second-highest prize for sports achievements. (For the purposes of this review, the real Murlikant “Murli” Petkar will be referred to as Petkar, while the Murlikant “Murli” Petkar character in “Chandu Champion” will be referred to as Murli.) Murli then proceeds to tell the gathered police officers his life story, which are presented as flashbacks in the movie.

In 1952, when Murli was 7 or 8 years old (played by Ayan Khan Sroha), he was smaller than most boys his age. He grew up in the village of Peth Islampur in Maharashtra, India. As a boy, Murli was a big fan of wrestling. And he would tell almost everyone that he was going to become a Olympic gold medalist wrestler. Murli’s father (played by Nitin Bhajan) thinks it’s a foolish dream, while Murli’s mother (played by Hemangi Kavi) is supportive of Murli.

Unfortunately, other boys in the village began to mercilessly taunt and bully Murli for expressing his wrestling goals. One bully in particular named Dagdu Patil (played by Haraq Bhartiya) singles out Murli for physical fights. Undeterred, Murli seeks out a villager named Ganpat Bhau (played by Ganesh Yadav), who is known to train wrestling champions. Murli asks Ganpat to train him as a wrestler. Because of Murli’s young age and small size, Ganpat laughs at Murli’s request.

The movie than flashes forward to a young adult Murli (played by Aaryan), who is now tall and has a lean but muscular build. Murli is now a talented wrestler, but Dagdu Patil (played by Amit Kumar) is still Murli’s enemy. When Murli wins a public but informal wrestling match against Dagdu, several of Dagdu’s supporters get very angry and turn into a violent mob chasing Murli. (The very fake-looking wig that Aaryan wears in these scenes is a distraction, but it doesn’t ruin these scenes.)

A frightened Murli manages to escape by hopping on a slow-moving train. It’s on this train that he meets mild-mannered Karnail Singh (played by Bhuvan Arora), who is a recruit in the Indian Army. Murli tells Karnail about his dream to become an Olympc gold medalist in wrestling. Karnail suggests that Murlikant join the Indian Army so that Murli can get trained as a boxer.

And that’s exactly what happens. Murli’s boxing coach in the Army is Tiger Ali (played by Vijay Raaz), who becomes Murli’s most important mentor. Karnail becomes Murli’s best friend. Murli becomes a boxer who wins many fights. He and Karnail are selected to take part in the international Military Games in Tokyo. It’s at a Miltary Games reception where Murli meets a editor/journalist (played by Sonali Kulkarni), who takes an interest him on a professional level. She will play a pivotal role later in the story.

Murli’s life takes an unexpected turn in 1965, when he is shot with nine bullets while in combat during the Indo-Pakistani War. He ends up with paraplegia and is told by medical professionals that it would be too dangerous to remove one of the bullets lodged in his back because it would leave Murli with an even more serious paralysis. Murli then decides to re-invent himself as a swimmer who trains for the 1972 Paralympics in Germany, with Tiger as his coach. None of this is spoiler information because it’s all in the trailer for “Chandu Champion.”

During his long and painful recovery in a hospice, Murli battles depression not just because of his medical issues but also because his family denied his request to move back home with them. His family members think that Murli is better off at the hospice, where he can get the medical care that he needs. Murli befriends a cheerful hospice orderly named Topaz (played by Rajpal Yadav), who is able to lift Murli’s spirits most of the time.

“Chandu Champion” is probably the most physically demanding role of Aaryan’s career. He more than rises to the challenge, because the grueling transformations that Murli goes through look very authentic. Aaryan has been mostly known for starring in lightweight comedies, but he capably shows his acting versatility in “Chandu Champion,” which depicts Murli’s obstacles and triumphs in a very compelling manner.

On a technical level, “Chandu Champion” has excellent cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee. One of the best scenes in the film is toward the end when Murli sees flashes of his life during a very important swimming competition. It’s a combination of the immersive cinematography, film editing and visual effects that make this scene so memorable.

The movie also has a rousing musical score by Julius Packiam. Thankfully, “Chandu Champion” avoids having a sound mix that that makes the score music too loud, which is one of the most irritating aspects of numerous movies with action scenes. The song-and-dance musical interludes in “Chandu Champion” seem out of place but luckily do not take up a lot of screen time.

“Chandu Champion” is a worthy tribute to a sports hero who might not be on a superstar level but deserves to have more people know about his story. Beyond what Petkar achieved in real life as an athlete is what he represents as a human being, in terms of bravery and perseverance. It’s an inspirational story that people can take to heart, no matter who they are.

Pen Marudhar Entertainment released “Chandu Champion” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on June 14, 2024.

Review: ‘Kalki 2898 AD,’ starring Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone and Disha Patani

June 28, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Kalki 2898 AD”

Directed by Nag Ashwin

Telugu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India in the year 2898 (and briefly in 3102 B.C.), the fantasy action film “Kalki 2898 AD” features a predominantly Indian cast of characters (with some white people and black people) who are mortal humans or immortal gods.

Culture Clash: A bounty hunter gets caught up in a race against time with heroes and villains to find the woman who will give birth to a deity named Kalki.

Culture Audience: “Kalki 2898 AD” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching overly long action movies that have more style than substance.

Amitabh Bachchan in “Kalki 2898 AD” (Photo courtesy of Prathyangira Cinemas and AA Creations)

Bloated and incoherent, “Kalki 2898 AD” is weighed down by bad acting, a rambling story, uneven pacing, and erratic visual effects. This fantasy action film, based on Indian mythology, rips off well-known franchises “Star Wars,” “Mad Max” and “Pacific Rim” for much of how the movie looks. The characters in the movie also have hollow personalities and lackluster or terrible dialogue. And this nearly three-hour movie does not justify its overly long run time, when the story could’ve been told in a movie that is two hours or less.

Directed by Nag Ashwin, “Kalki 2898 AD” was co-written by Ashwin and Rutham Samar. It’s one of those unfortunately long-winded and bombastic movies that seems to think over-the-top visual spectacles will automatically make an action film entertaining. The characters are so poorly written, viewers will have a hard time remembering anything memorable that these characters said after the movie ends. “Kalki 2898 AD” just careens from one fight scene to the next.

“Kalki 2898 AD” (which takes place in a fantasy version of India) does a substandard job of introducing characters and explaining the purpose of the story. The movie’s opening scene takes place in 3102 B.C., after the Kurukshetra War. Ashwatthama (played by Kushal) is the young adult son of a warrior named Dronacharya. While invoking the Brahmashirastra, Ashwatthama shoots an arrow at a pregnant princess named Uttarā (played by Malvika Nair), whose unborn son is Parakshit, in an attempt to kill Uttarā and her unborn child.

The deity Krishna then confronts Ashwatthama on a battlefield filled with dead bodies, Krishna curses Ashwatthama to a life of immortality. A magical gem that Ashwatthama has is then taken away. Much of this movie is about Ashwatthama trying to find this gem so he can place it back in his forehead and regain certain powers.

The only way for Ashwatthama to break the curse is to find an unborn child named Kalki, who is supposed to be the last living representation of the god Vishu. Ashwatthama knows that Kalki will be born centuries in the future. And so, finding Kalki is villain Ashwatthama’s main quest in the story.

“Kalki 2898 AD” then cuts to about 6,000 years later, in the year 2898. Even though Ashwatthama received this immortality curse when he was a young man, he somehow still grows up to look like an elderly man who’s stuck looking like he’s in his 80s. Amitabh Bachchan, who has the role of elderly Ashwatthama, was in his early 80s when he filmed this movie.

If the “Kalki 2898 AD” filmmakers had more imagination, they would have made Ashwatthama actually look like he’s more than 6,000 years old. There was certainly enough money spent on visual effects in other aspects of the film, but none was spent on imagining what a 6,000-year-old immortal person would look like. The visual effects in “Kalki 2898 AD” are hit-and-miss: Sometimes, they look spectacular. Other times, they just look tacky.

Most of the action takes place in a desolate desert city called Kasi, which looks like imitation production sets from “Mad Max” and “Star Wars” films. Kasi is a city populated by survivors of an apocalypse. Kasi is ruled by a tyrant god king named Supreme Yaskin (played by Kamal Haasan), who lives in a pyramid-shaped structure called the Complex, which hovers above Kasi. The Complex uses Earth’s resources to have an idyllic oasis existence for those who can afford to stay there.

Yaskin is aided by two nefarious subordinates who carry out Yaskin’s orders of oppression: Commander Manas (played by Saswata Chatterjee) is the head of an army called Raiders. Counsellor Bani is on the frontlines in a lot of the dirty work. There’s also a group of rebels resisting this totalitarian government.

It’s all very much a concept copy from the 1977 “Star Wars” movie. Just substitute Emperor Palpatine for Yaskin, Darth Vader for Commander Manas, Grand Moff Tarkin for Counsellor Bani, and Stormtroopers for Raiders. “Kalki 2898 AD” didn’t even bother changing the name of the rebel group to something that doesn’t used the word “rebels,” which is the same word that the “Star Wars” movies have for the group of resisting fighters.

In the city of Kasi, fertile females are kidnapped and sold into imprisonment as part of a scientific experiment called Project K. These female prisoners are impregnated through artificial insemination. The fetuses of pregnant women who are trapped in Project K are supposed to be used as serum to extend the life of Yaskin.

Only fetuses that are more than 120 days old can effectively be used for this serum. The problem is that most of these Project K women can’t carry their pregnancies past 120 days. However, there’s a pregnant woman named Sumathi (played by Deepika Padukone), who is given the code name SUM-80 in the Project K program, and she has a pregnancy that lasts for more than 120 days. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who her unborn child is.

The “Star Wars” influences abound in the presentation of “rogue warrior” Bhairava (played by Prabhas in “Kalki 2898 AD” Bhairava, who is a bounty hunter and frequent thief, is obviously a version of Han Solo from the “Star Wars” movies. Bhairava is a sarcastic and reluctant hero, who would rather carouse and get drunk in nightclubs, but he gets pulled into this “good versus evil” saga anyway. Bhairava is the pilot of a space ship and has a talking robot co-pilot named BU-JZI, also known as Bujji (voiced by Keerthy Suresh), which is a less-entertaining version of C-3PO from the “Star Wars” movies.

Unlike the movies in the “Stars Wars,” “Mad Max” and “Pacific Rim” franchises, “Kalki 2898” has more female characters and gives them slightly more to do. But that’s not saying much when these characters are so shallow, and much of their worth is defined by how fertile they might or might not be. The female characters who are part of the action include Mariam (played by Shobhana), the leader of a secret city called Shambhala; Kyra (played by Anna Ben), a Shambhala rebel; and Roxie (played by Disha Patani), who is Bhairava’s love interest. Roxie is nowhere close to being as charismatic and intelligent as Leia, Han Solo’s love interest in “The Star Wars” movies.

The space ships and costumes in “Kalki 2898” are influenced by how space ships and costumes look in “Star Wars” movies. Many of the large, roving land vehicles in the desert are straight out of what can be seen in “Mad Max” films. The heroes in “Kalki 2898” operate giant robots that look like they could be siblings of the giant robots in the “Pacific Rim” films. All of this unoriginality gets tiresome to watch and even more irritating because the characters are so sloppily written.

There are people presented as holograms, and there are attacks from clones (in other words, more “Star Wars” concept ripoffs) that are part of the “Kalki 2898 AD” story. Some of this movie’s viewers might be dazzled by all the high-priced visuals in “Kalki 2898 AD,” but the movie’s story is just a complete mess that doesn’t have much innovation. And even worse: The movie ends on a cliffhanger because of planned sequels, thereby prolonging this excessively long and tedious saga. “Kalki 2898 AD” became a huge and immediate hit in India. But just because a movie is popular doesn’t mean it has good or imaginative filmmaking.

Prathyangira Cinemas and AA Creations released “Kalki 2898 AD” in U.S. cinemas on June 27, 2024, the same day that the movie was released in India.

Review: ‘Bhaje Vaayu Vegam,’ starring Kartikeya Gummakonda, Tanikella Bharani, Ravi Shankar, Rahul Tyson and Iswarya Menon

June 5, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Bhaje Vaayu Vegam”

Directed by Prashanth Reddy

Telugu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, the action film “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two young adult brothers move to Hyderabad, where they have conflicts with two brothers from an older generation who are corrupt leaders.

Culture Audience: “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching bloated action movies that are weak imitations of other action films with the same themes.

Sharath Lohitashwa in “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” (Photo courtesy of UV Creations)

“Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” is just another long-winded and bombastic action film with the same over-used story themes of family revenge and violent murders. It’s a mostly forgettable tale of two pairs of brothers who are on a collision course of conflicts. This 136-minute bloated fiasco of a movie gets especially sloppy in the last third of the film, when it tries to cram in too many plot twists, most of which never look believable.

Written and directed by Prashanth Reddy, “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” is Reddy’s feature-film directorial debut. “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” could have been much better, but it just relies too heavily on storylines cobbled from many other similar actions films. The beginning of the movie, which takes place in India, shows a compassionate man named Rajaram (played by Tanikella Bharani) bringing home an orphan named Venkat, whose parents have been killed. Venkat is about 10 or 11 years old and one or two years younger than Raju, the biological son Rajaram and his wife Yashoda, who live in an unnamed village

Rajaram and Yashoda raise Venkat and Raju as brothers. Rajaram is fairly affluent and pays off the the debts that Venkat’s parents owed. At an early age, Venkat had a personality of beng rebellious and a bit of a troublemaker, while Raju was usually the responsible and obedient brother.

When Venkat (played by Kartikeya Gummakonda) and Raju (playe by Rahul Tyson) are adults, they move from their small village to Hyderabad to fulfill their dreams, thngs don’t go quite in the way that they expect. Venkat wants to become a professional cricket player, but he can’t afford the bribes needed to pay officials to be get n the fast track to be on India’s national cricket team. Venkat also has a gambling addiction. Raju gets fired from his computer technology job after assaulting a co-worker who accused Raju of lying about Raju’s qualifications.

Raju and Venkat both have a secret that they’ve been hiding from their father Rajaram: They sold the land they inherited from him, in order to pay off their debts. Raju and Venkat both plan to buy back the land when they can afford it.

Meanwhile, a story is told about another pair of brothers who also traveled from a small village to Hyderbad to make their dreams come true. George (played by Sharath Lohitashwa) and David (played by Ravi Shankar) both worked in a steel mill and were treated like outside. The two brothers got caught up in union politics at the steel mill.

George killed a union leader and ended up in prison, but he got out of prison by a corrupt politician who didn’t like the union leader. This corrupt politician became George’s mentor and eventually helped George become the mayor of Hyderabad. David has been living in George’s shadow and has become jealous and resentful.

The rest of “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” is a messy story about how Venkat, Raju, George and Davd cross paths and get into conflicts wth each other. There are the expected shootouts, chase scenes and bloody battles. There’s also a race against time when Rajaram needs an operation for pulmonary hypertension disease, and Venkat and Raju desperately scramble to get the money for the operation.

The acting performances range from mediocre to terrible. Iswarya Menon has a “token female” role as Venkat’s love interest in a relationship that goes nowhere. “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” has a story that’s ultimately time-wasting for people who’ve seen many of these types of movies already.

UV Creations released “Bhaje Vaayu Vegam” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on May 31, 2024.

Review: ‘Love Me If You Dare’ (2024), starring Ashish Reddy and Vaishnavi Chaitanya

June 1, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Love Me If You Dare”

Directed by Arun Bhimavarapu

Telugu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, the dramatic film “Love Me If You Dare” features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A YouTuber believes he has been talking to the ghost of a woman with a scandalous past, and he tries to solve the mystery with the help of two of his close friends.

Culture Audience: “Love Me If You Dare” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching overly long, nonsensical movies about supernatural love stories.

Ashish Reddy in “Love Me If You Dare” (Photo courtesy of Dil Raju Productions)

The title of “Love Me If You Dare” should be “Watch This Garbage If You Dare to Kill Some of Your Brain Cells.” This is a bloated, incoherent drama about a man who falls in love with a ghost woman who hides behind a veil. The acting is also terrible. During the course of this 128-minute mess of a movie, he tries to find out more about who this ghost really is and documents his investigation on his YouTube channel. When the answer to the mystery is revealed, it’s an insult to viewers’ intelligence and still doesn’t explain all the story’s plot holes and unanswered questions.

Written and directed by Arun Bhimavarapu, “Love Me If You Dare” (which is also titled “Love Me” in some countries) takes place in an unnamed city in India. The movie begins with an unseen woman asking in a voiceover, “Have you ever heard of a man who fell in love with a ghost?” The narrator soon claims that she is the daughter of a woman named Divyavathi, who had a tragic death an unnamed number of years ago. People in the community still talk about this death years later amid stories that the ghost of Divyavathi could still be haunting the area.

Divyavathi (played by Samyuktha Menon) lived in a small unnamed village with her husband of six years and their daughter, who was about 4 or 5 years old when Divyavathi died. The strange thing about Divyavathi was that she was never seen outside of the house. And if she was ever seen by anyone who didn’t live in the house, Divyavathi would always hide her face by wearing a veil. Another bizarre thing about their household was that an alarm clock could be heard ringing in the house every night at 8 o’clock.

One night, the alarm didn’t ring, and Divyavathi walked out of the house. It was the first time she was seen outside the house in six years. But when Divyavathi walked out of the house that night, her entire body was engulfed in flames. She collapsed and died in the town square. What happened to Divyavathi’s daughter? That answer is eventually revealed in the movie, although at one point it becomes pretty obvious what the reveal is going to be.

Years later, a popular YouTuber named Arjun (played by Ashish Reddy), who has at least 1 million subscribers, tells his best friends Prathap (played by Ravi Krishna) and Priya (played by Vaishnavi Chaitanya) that he is starting to fall in love with a woman he has been talking to for an unspecified period of time. Prathap and Priya are dating each other and have been together for an unspecified period of time. Arjun only sees this woman in an abandoned building that’s near a graveyard.

Arjun confesses that he has never seen this woman’s face because she always wears a red veil during their meet-ups. She won’t let Arjun see her face when he asks her to lift the veil. Arjun starts to wonder if he’s talking to the ghost of Divyavathi, based on some things that this woman has said to him. No one in the story really questions how stupid Arjun looks for not even trying to get this woman’s name. Arjun becomes obsessed with this mystery woman and wants to spend as much of his free time with her as possible.

The rest of the movie (which has very choppy editing) is just a jumbled hodgepodge of Arjun investigating this mystery, making videos about it on his YouTube channel, and getting some help in the “investigation” from Prathap and Priya. Arjun also has visions that this ghost woman could be dangerous. There are multiple scenes of Arjun digging up graves and holding skulls from these graves to inspect the skulls.

A forensic artist later does face reconstructions of these skulls. Don’t expect the movie to explain why, except for some plot nonsense about four missing women: 19-year-old Pallavi, 22-year-old Noor, 24-year-old Charishma and 19-year-old Vennela. The unseen female narrator says that she’s one of these missing women.

As time goes on, Priya and Arjun spend more and more time together. Priya looks like she’s becoming very fond of Arjun, as Prathap starts to fade in and out of the story. Is this going to turn into a love triangle? “Love Me If You Dare” has a weird and clumsy mix of wanting to be like a soap opera romance but also a Gothic-inspired horror story. By the time this abysmal movie reveals the story’s “big secret” near the end, most viewers just won’t care anymore—assuming that they watched this junk until the very unsatisfying ending.

Dil Raju Productions released “Love Me If You Dare” in select U.S. cinemas on May 24, 2024. The movie was released in India on May 25, 2024.

Review: ‘Rathnam’ (2024), starring Vishal and Priya Bhavani Shankar

May 5, 2024

by Carla Hay

Vishal and Priya Bhavani Shankar in “Rathnam” (Photo courtesy of Ayngaran International)

“Rathnam” (2024)

Directed by Hari

Tamil with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Vellore, India, the action film “Rathnam” features an Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An enforcer for a Member of the Legislative Assembly gets caught up in a violent feud with corrupt businessmen who want to steal land ownership from a group of villagers.

Culture Audience: “Rathnam” will appeal primarily who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching idiotic action movies that are too long.

Murali Sharma in “Rathnam” (Photo courtesy of Ayngaran International)

“Rathnam” is just another long-winded, repetitive and idiotic action flick with no surprises and no soul. The movie has an unappealing subplot about the shallow “hero” falling in love with a woman who looks exactly like his dead mother. Other than that bizarre part of the story, “Rathnam” has the typical barrage of unrealistic fight scenes and murderous revenge schemes. It’s all becomes so dull and tiresome after a while. And it’s made worse by the movie’s too-long runtime of 155 minutes.

Written and directed by Hari, “Rathnam” (which takes place in Vellore, India) is the fourth movie collaboration for Hari and star Vishal. They previously worked together on 2007’s “Thaamirabharani,” 2014’s “Poojai” and 2022’s “Yaanai.” Vishal portrays the title character in “Rathnam,” which means “gem” in Tamil. This movie is far from being a gem-like treasure. It’s trash.

“Rathnam” begins with a flashback to 1994, by showing how a group of three bandits commit robberies on the road. The three thieves throw eggs at the windshields of passing vehicles on isolated roads, to get the drivers to lose control of the vehicles and crash. The thieves then swoop in and rob the people in the crashed vehicles, regardless if the people are dead or alive.

The thieves use this heinous robbery tactic on a bus, which crashes and kills a total of 26 people. The thieves rob the dead and dying people before escaping. Later, when police try to catch the robbers on a cliff road, eggs are thrown on the police car’s windshield, and the police car falls over the cliff.

The movie then fast-forwards to 2024. Vellore is plagued by corruption from several politicians and business owners. Rathnam works as an enforcer for a Member the Legislative Assembly named Panneer Selvam (played by Samuthirakani), who sends Rathnam to do a lot of Panneer’s dirty work.

One of these criminal politcians is a council member named Babu Reddy (played by Pondy Ravi), who is seen trying to sexually assault a kidnapped teenage schoolgirl while he’s driving her in his Jeep. She jumps out of the vehicle to escape and ends up in a hospital, where police have been called to interview her. Babu Reddy denies anything to do with the crimes he committed against this victim.

The next thing you know, Rathnam and three of his cronies hunt down Babu. Rathnam then kills Babu with a chainsaw. Rathnam’s weapons of choice tend to be anything with blades, because he likes to behead many of his victims. Expect to see many scenes of Rathnam slashing his way through fights by using large knives and machetes.

Fairly early on in the story, Rathnam talks about his past to explain why he turned out to be the person he is. When he was 5 years old, Rathnam and his mother Loganayagi (played by Priya Bhavani Shankar) were kidnapped. The kidnappers forced Rathnam’s mother to become a sex slave. She became an outcast in their community and committed suicide (by hanging herself) out of shame. “Rathnam” has some other flashbacks to his family’s past, with the flashbacks showing relatives such as Rathnam’s father (played by Ganesh Venkatraman) and Rathnam’s grandfather (played by Y. Gee. Mahendra).

Meanwhile, in the present day, three ruthless brothers have been bullying the villagers to sign over land to them. This dastardly trio of brothers are Beema Rayudu (played by Murali Sharma), Subba Rayudu (played by Hareesh Peradi) and Raghava Rayudu (played by Vettai Muthukumar), who have a connection to Rathnam’s past that won’t be revealed in this review. The villagers who don’t comply are at risk of being murdered by the Rayudu brothers, who have a large group of thugs working for them.

Rathnam’s love interest is a medical student named Malliga (also played by Shankar), whose father Vedha Nayagam (played by Jayaprakash) and unnamed grandfather (played by Vijayakumar) are among the outspoken villagers who are resisting the threats and attacks from the Rayudu brothers. Rathnam is immediately smitten with Malliga the first time that he sees her because she looks identical to his dead mother. When Malliga finds out about this uncanny resemblance, she doesn’t think it’s creepy at all that Rathnam is attracted to her in part because she looks like his mother.

Rathnam and Malliga have a volatile relationship where they break up and get back together multiple times. Rathnam is very jealous and possessive and can fly into a rage if he thinks Malliga is having “impure” thoughts about another man. The movie tries to make this relationship look romantic when it’s actually an emotionally abusive and dysfunctional relationship.

“Rathnam” is filled with ridiculous fight scenes where Rathnam has unexplained superhuman strength and abilities. When he is outnumbered by opponents, the opponents just stand around and watch while Rathnam takes on one man at a time. It’s all such idiotic and lazy filmmaking. There’s nothing about “Rathnam” that can be described as “great” or “very good.” It’s all just a parade of mediocre-to-bad everything that is not worth the time of anyone who wants to see an entertaining action movie.

Ayngaran International released “Rathnam” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on April 26, 2024.

Review: ‘Ameena’ (2024), starring Rekha Rana, Anant Mahadevan and Utkarsh Kohli

April 24, 2024

by Carla Hay

Rekha Rana in “Ameena” (Photo courtesy of Kumar Raj Productions)

“Ameena” (2024)

Directed by Kumar Raj

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, Dubai, France, Africa, and the United States, the dramatic film “Ameena” (based on the 2016 movie “Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai”) features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with some black people and white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An actress, who is starring in a play as a real-life teenager who committed suicide after being raped, goes on a revenge killing spree after she is also raped.

Culture Audience: “Ameena” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching terrible movies that are based on real-life tragedies.

“Ameena” tries to look like a female empowerment film, but it’s sloppily made exploitation of a real-life tragedy. This horrible drama’s jumbled plot is about a play based on rape injustice and the play’s star actress going on a vigilante killing spree. The movie jets around to some glamorous-looking international locations, but all this jet-setting is really just putting a glossy sheen on some very unappealing and horrendous filmmaking.

Directed by Kumar Raj, “Ameena” is based on Raj’s 2016 feature film “Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai,” a movie that was Cameroon’s official entry for the Academy Awards category that was then known as Best Foreign Language Film. There’s nothing Oscar-worthy about “Ameena,” which is jaw-droppingly terrible and tone-deaf. “Ameena” mishandles two storylines (one based on real life, one completely fiction) in such a clumsy way, the real-life story didn’t need to be part of the plot at all.

“Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai” (based on a true story) is about a teenage girl named Ameena in Hyderabad, India. Ameena’s parents sold her into marriage to a Saudi Arabian man who was old enough to be her grandfather. Ameena was raped by three teenage boys in India and committed suicide after the rapists were acquitted because they were underage.

In “Ameena,” a teenage actress named Meena (played Rekha Rana) is starring as Ameena in a dramatic play titled “Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai” at the Prithi Theatre in India. (Meena is never convincining as teenager in her everyday life. She always looks and acts like she’s in her 20s.) The play is happening 32 years after Ameena’s suicide, but the play changes the timeline and describes the present year as 15 years after the tragic events. The play is nothing but some awkward-looking, incoherent and melodramatic stage scenes.

Meena is portraying Ameena at 15 years old. Ameena is distressed about being sold by her parents to marry a 65-year-old Saudi Araban man. Anant Mahadevan, who has the role of the unnamed playwright of “Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai,” just sits on stage and makes nonsensical comments as this playwright. Ameena’s ghost (also played by Rana) appears to the playwright to give him commentary and advice. All the scenes with Ameena’s ghost scenes are among the worst things about this very tacky film.

Near the begninning of the movie, Meena is shown in a police interrogation room, which is an obvious reveal that she’s going to be arrested for something later in the story. Meena defiantly says in voiceover narration that she is a criminal, and her crime is being female. Most of “Ameena” then has flashbacks to show how Meena ended up in this interrogation room.

One night, after leaving the Prithi Theatre to go home, Meena is kidnapped by three men, who rape her and viciously assault her. She is thrown into an open shallow grave and left for dead. Meena is found and brought to a hospital, where she is in a coma, but she eventually recovers.

During her recovery, Meena has a lot of time to think about the crimes that happened to her. And she decides she’s going to get revenge by killing her rapists and their gang boss Raghu Verma (played by Abeer Goel), who had ordered his thugs to kill Meena. Meena spews some nonsense about not only avenging herself but also teenage rape victim Ameena. It’s an illogical and lousy excuse to become a murderer.

Meena says her killing spree is a way to bring awareness of the injustice of Ameena’s rapist not being punished. (Conveniently, Meena seems to forget that her rapists are adults and wouldn’t be held to the same legal standards as the underage teenagers who weren’t held accountable for Ameena’s rape.) And how is she really helping herself if she gets arrested for murder?

Before she goes on her killing spree, there’s a silly-looking montage of Meena training as if she’s training to be become a mixed-martial arts fighter: She lifts weights, learns how to box, takes martial artist classes, and she goes on outdoor obstacle courses. The movie makes a point of showing that Meena is doing much of this training in a Los Angeles gym, with no explanation for why she’s in Los Angeles.

Meena gets some help and encouragement in her training from her love interest Ashish Shrivastav (played by Utkarsh Kohli), who occasionally shows up in the story. Ashish, who is very religious, is seen praying a lot by himself, almost as much as he is seen with Meena. Ashish is not seen for large chunks of the story, but then he shows up at the end of the movie for a very corny scene.

Meena’s travels also take her to Senegal, Togo, Dubai, and France. She stays at upscale hotels and hires some local men to help her hunt down her targets. Who is paying for all of these vigilante activities and trips? That answer is rushed into the end of the movie. While Meena is in France, she goes to the Cannes Film Festival, where she obtains a fraudulent festival pass, which she then exchanges for a gun. Yes, this movie really is that stupid.

After she murders certain people (in very cringeworthy and unrealistic action scenes), Meena feeds the corpses to wild animals, such as lions and alligators. While she’s in Africa, there’s a very upbeat hip-hop video-styled musical interlude that looks extremely out-of-place in this movie that is supposed to be about such a serious subject. The movie gets worse as it goes along.

And what exactly is law enforcement doing about these unhinged vigilante murders? Police Commissioner Bhupan Joshi (played by Kumar Raj) is leading the investigation into the murders that happen in India. The very unrealistic outcome of Meena’s arrest is also shown in the movie.

The acting performances in “Ameena” are downright awful and at times hard to watch. The overall technical aspects of the filmmaking are very amateurish, including shoddy film editing and an ill-suited film score. “Ameena” director Raj is also a producer of this garbage. It’s such a waste of money, not just for anyone who made this film but also for anyone who has the misfortune of paying to see this junk. The real-life story deserves better than the tawdry and pointless version that’s in “Ameena,” which is an abomination to cinema.

Kumar Raj Productions released “Ameena” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on April 19, 2024.

Review: ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ (2024), starring Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F, Sonakshi Sinha and Ronit Bose Roy

April 13, 2024

by Carla Hay

Akshay Kumar, Alaya F, Manushi Chhillar and Tiger Shroff in “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (Photo courtesy of Yash Raj Films)

“Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (2024)

Directed by Suraj Gianani

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, China, and Pakistan, the action film “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (a reboot of the 1998 film of the same name) features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with some black people and white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two former Indian Armed Forces fighters and their allies are recruited by the Indian Amed Forces to defeat a mysterious terrorist.

Culture Audience: “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and action movies that have nothing to offer but loudness and silly fight scenes.

Prithviraj Sukumaran in “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (Photo courtesy of Yash Raj Films)

“Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” is obnoxiously loud and mindless schlock that drags on for too long with terrible acting and idiotic scenes. There’s no suspense in this formulaic garbage about military agents fighting a terrorist. If you dare to watch this abomination, you might need to wear earplugs to protect the assault on your eardrums from the movie’s aggressively noisy and deafening score soundtrack.

Directed by Suraj Gianani, “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (which means “big master little master” in Hindi) was written by Gianani and Ali Abbas Zafar. “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” is a reboot of the 1998 film of the same name, with this reboot keeping a few of the story elements from the original film. This bloated 164-minute reboot movie has a ridiculously simple plot that could have been told in a movie with half the runtime. There’s a lot of time-wasting filler scenes that add nothing to the story. The cast members give mostly lousy performances.

In the beginning of “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan,” a military convoy on a northern Himalayan road gets hijacked in a shootout where a “powerful weapon” has been stolen. The movie then shows a scene in a Shanghai cafe, where Captain Misha (played by Manushi Chhillar) from the Indian Armed Forces meets an informant named Chang (played by Kinnar Boruah), who tells her that India has a new friend. Chang adds, “He’s not part of any organization. He desires to change the regime.” Chang then gets shot to death in the cafe, while Captain Misha escapes and returns to India.

It’s soon revealed that this so-called “friend” of India is a mysterious, mask-wearing terrorist named Eklavya (played by Prithviraj Sukumaran), who has been leading a group of other mask-wearing terrorists to wreak havoc in different places in India, China, and Pakistan. Why these three nations? Eklavya’s true identity and motives are later revealed in the movie. Eklavya likes to send taunting video messages before and after he commits acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the Indian Armed Forces have recruited two former Indian Armed Forces soldiers to help defeat Eklavya. Captain Firoz, also known as Freddy (played by Akshay Kumar), has a relationship like an older brother to Captain Rakesh, also known as Rocky (played by Tiger Shroff), who were both dishonorably discharged from the Indian Armed Forces for insubordination. Flashback scenes show that Freddy (the smooth-talking “big master”) and Rocky (the cocky “little master”) both got in trouble for a mission where they accomplished their goals, but they didn’t follow orders, and more people were killed than necessary. After being dismissed from the Indian Armed Forces, Freddy worked at an oil mine, while Rocky worked as a firefighter.

Now that Freddy and Rocky have returned to working for the Indian Armed Forces, they set their sights on capturing Eklavya, who seems to know these two wisecracking pals and has a personal grudge. Colonel Adil Shekhar Azad (played by Ronit Bose Roy) is the commanding officer for Freddy and Rocky. Also on the mission are Captain Misha, an information technology specialist named Dr. Parminder “Pam” Bawa (played by Alaya F) and Captain Priya Dixit (played by Sonakshi Sinha), who used to be Freddy’s lover.

“Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” is the worst type of action movie because it takes a potentially interesting plot twist in the story and just turns it into predictable mush. The movie’s dialogue is excruciatingly horrible—especially for Pam, who is supposed to be a technology whiz, but she is made to look like a shallow and immature ditz. Things that are supposed to be funny are cringeworthy. You know the rest: Gun shootouts, bomb explosions, stupid unrealistic stunts. The heroes might survive by the end of the story, but some of your brain cells won’t.

Yash Raj Films released “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on April 10, 2024.