Vir Das' Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos Is A Good Hang |
This genre-defying film is shaped by a humour that is homegrown yet specific, impossible to distil yet improbable to ignore. And much like its creator, it is a lot, Ishita Sengupta reviews.
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| | Dir: Vir Das, Kavi Shastri |
| Cast: Vir Das, Mithila Palkar, Mona Singh, Sharib Hashmi | | | | VIR DAS is a lot of things. He is an actor, host, stand-up comic, and author. He is also an Indian who carries the country to the world. A chunk of his comedic set pieces expands on this familiarity to critique ( Two Indias) and swathe the nation with nostalgic afterglow (For India). By doing so, Das occupies an interstitial space where he is both an outsider and an insider, possessing an objective gaze with subjective bias. His directorial debut, Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos, is a culmination of this hybrid status. The genre-defying film is shaped by a humour that is homegrown yet specific, impossible to distil yet improbable to ignore. And much like its creator, it is a lot. Helmed by Kavi Shastri and Das (both had worked together as actors in Imtiaz Ali’s 2009 Love Aaj Kal), Happy Patel is a nutty, chaotic comedy that is nothing like anything. It runs when it could walk, deflates when it could climax and chooses only to swing for the fences when it could…just not. It is as off-kilter as it gets, and while that is not necessarily the best thing, the (good) thing about Das’ assured outing is that it doesn’t care. Stream the latest films and shows with OTTplay's Power Play monthly pack, for only Rs 149. |
| | Taskaree: The Smuggler's Web Is Fun Till It Is Not |
The Netflix series begins as a smart, textured look at the hidden machinery of smuggling, but its compulsion to outwit the viewer ultimately turns ingenuity into excess.
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| | | Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Sharad Kelkar, Amruta Khanvilkar | | | | NEERAJ PANDEY'S latest Netflix series, Taskaree: The Smuggler's Web, rests on ingenuity. It foregrounds a world that is mostly wrapped in intrigue and focuses on a group of people who aren’t necessarily under the spotlight. In a streaming landscape crowded with an assembly line of thrillers, even an inventive premise counts a great deal, and Pandey offers it in plenty. His latest show is concerned with the machinery of customs and widespread smuggling syndicates that continue to bypass them — a swing that pays off till it does not. Taskaree has a lot going for it. The newness of the worldbuilding (efficient and flashy – a Pandey trademark), the series’ resistance to design itself on the sole heroism of one character, the hint of humour scattered across the narrative, competent actors and a mindful research that rewards investment. For the large part of the seven episodes, these work in favour of the series. Taskaree takes place largely in the Mumbai airport (the fact that several scenes are shot in a crowded set-up adds to the texture). A rap from the Finance Minister brings substantial changes in the customs department in the city. An honest officer, Prakash Kumar (Anurag Sinha), is brought in. He, in turn, brings him a cohort of honest officers: Arjun Meena (Emraan Hashmi), Ravinder Gujjar (Nandish Sandhu) and Mitali Kamath (Amruta Khanvilkar). They face Bada Choudhary (Sharad Kelkar), a billionaire running a syndicate outside India. The officers’ effort to upend the network forms the crux. Experience the best of Emraan Hashmi’s works, from the gritty underworld drama Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, the hard-hitting investigative thriller Tigers, to the bold cinematic journey of The Dirty Picture, all available now with one OTTplay Premium subscription. — I.S. |
| | Vaa Vaathiyaar Is A Fun, Campy Vigilante Film
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In Vaa Vaathiyaar, Nalan Kumaraswamy weaponises the idea of MGR, the screen hero, staging a pulpy vigilante drama that is as much about cinema’s myths as it is about the state’s abuse of power, writes Aditya Shrikrishna.
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| | | Cast: Karthi, Krithi Shetty, Sathyaraj, Rajkiran | | | | NALAN KUMARASWAMY has been around Tamil cinema forever now. Yet the first winner of Naalaya Iyakkunar, the programme that gave us a handful of new-age filmmakers still working today, has only made three films. It’s surprising, considering the prolific output of his contemporaries and the value of the singular voice he brings to cinema. Thirteen years after his debut, his third film, Vaa Vaathiyaar, finally made it to theatres this week. The one quality that stands out in Nalan’s work is the postmodernism that permeates his characters and extends beyond mere window dressing in his frames. It is present in entirety of Soodhu Kavvum (2013) and very much central to his script contributions in Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Super Deluxe (2019). Funnily enough, his sophomore film Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum (2016) is far from cynical and serves as one of the best romantic films from Tamil in the past two decades. Vaa Vaathiyaar is marketed as a masala or commercial fare from Nalan, and it is easy to see why. 5 Tamil films to watch in theatres for Pongal 2026: From Theri re-release to Vaa Vaathiyaar Vaa Vaathiyaar possesses all of Nalan’s staples in its design. It is about Rameshwaran (Karthi in terrific form in a scenery-chewing role) who came into this world just as MG Ramachandran, the star, actor, leader and politician, breathed his last. Ramu’s grandfather (Rajkiran) is one of the MGR crazies, one for whom the matinee idol is life-sustaining oxygen itself. He realises Ramu is MGR reborn and nurtures him in his hero image. Ramu learns to fight, he learns to question injustice and playfully pretends to be the neighbourhood vigilante long before his adult life. A freak admonishment from his grandfather turns him away and into the dark side of MN Nambiar. While the grandfather always wanted him to be an upright police officer (incidentally, MGR’s first-ever film role), Ramu grows up to be the cookie-cutter corrupt cop. To stand out, he wears a checks-laden uniform he stitched out of a safari suit that’s not exactly khaki-coloured. He is unapologetic about his wicked ways and hides them from his grandfather out of love. While MGR’s film references and songs waft in and out, Nalan sets this up in a fictitious city of Masila (from that song, yes), which is pulpy in its veneer, and SMK is the party in power. These bits recall a more tongue-in-cheek Nalan as does giving Sathyaraj — as business magnate Periyasamy — the same buck teeth his famous character, Ammavasai, sported in Amaidhi Padai (1994). |
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