The Common Man Speaks

Criminal Justice (Season 4): A Family Matter review: Interesting murder mystery plus courtroom drama

by 4 Comments

JioHotstar’s Criminal Justice series, which is adapted from BBC Studio’s British series of the same name, revolves around lawyer Madhav Mishra (Pankaj Tripathi) and the cases he takes upon, which are considered impossible to crack. Criminal Justice: A Family Matter, the fourth season in the series, revolves around another case taken by him.

But by now, Madhav has established himself as a force to reckon with. The law circles are now pretty much taking him seriously. He is joined by his brother-in-law Deep (Aatm Prakash Mishra), Shivani Mathur (Barkha Singh) and his wife Ratna (Khushboo Atre).

This time, it’s the story of well-known surgeon Dr Raj Nagpal (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), who has separated from his wife and lawyer Anju (Surveen Chawla) but they haven’t divorced. She lives just next door because she wants to be there for their daughter Ira (Khushi Bhardwaj), who is suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome. Raj has hired a full time nurse Roshni (Asha Negi) to take special care of Ira. After some time, Raj and Roshni become close and fall in love. Anju is fine with it while Ira considers Roshni as her best friend.

During Ira’s birthday party, Raj and Roshni get involved in a fight. This results in Roshni leaving the house in anger. The following morning, Kamala (Amruta Sant), the house help, enters Nagpals’ residence and is shocked too to see a dead blood-soaked Roshni lying in Raj’s arms. The police consider Raj to be the culprit and arrest him.

Anju approaches Madhav and requests him to fight Raj’s case as she believes he is innocent. Madhav agrees and enters a difficult maze yet again.

The biggest plus point in this season is that the screenplay, on most of the occasions, is fast paced, which makes for an absorbing watch. The events are women in a smooth manner and keep you interested in knowing what would happen next. However, issues crop in the last three of the eight episodes that prove to be lengthy.

The show has an interesting premise. The idea of Raj and his wife Anju not being divorced, yet the former having another relationship with the nurse (Roshni) takes you by surprise. But the newness is seen only in the initial episodes and later on, the show becomes yet another murder mystery, which, although engrossing, follows the same theme as the first three seasons. Thankfully, the final twist turns out to be a savior as it not only takes you by surprise but also touches you.

The camerawork and background score go with the simple nature of the show. The editing is sharp.

The performances are also one of the biggest plus points. Pankaj Tripathi once again shines as Madhav Mishra. He finely balances seriousness and witty humour. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub succeeds in displaying his talent. He is remarkable in scenes where his expressions do all the talking. Surveen Chawla also puts her best foot forward and provides a mature act. Asha Negi is perfectly cast in the role of Roshni and she also delivers.

Khushi Bhardwaj takes away the cake with a brilliant act as a teenager suffering from Asperger’s syndrome. Shweta Basu Prasad yet again scores as a sharp opposition lawyer. Mita Vashisht lives the character of a veteran and intelligent lawyer. From the rest of the permanent cast, Khushboo Atre, Barkha Singh, Aatm Prakash Mishra, Kalyanee Mulay and Ajeet Singh Palawat continue their good work. Atre gets more exposure this time and she makes good use of it.

Overall: Criminal Justice: A Family Matter is an interesting murder mystery plus courtroom drama but the show is now becoming repetitive with four seasons following a similar pattern.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Director: Rohan Sippy

Producers: Applause Entertainment in association with BBC Studios India

Writers: Harman Wadala, Rahul Ved Prakash, Varsha Ramachandran, Riya Poojary, Sandeep Hain, Sameer Mishra and Anurag Pandey

Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Surveen Chawla, Asha Negi, Khushi Bhardwaj, Shweta Basu Prasad

Also read: Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning Review: The finale of the franchise is saved by the 2nd half

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs in the world as per FeedSpot. See the full list here – https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/

Inside Edge season 3 to feature TEST cricket?

by Leave a Comment

The first two seasons of Amazon Prime Video’s Inside Edge turned out to be entertaining for the lovers of cricket. Recently, the makers officially announced the third season of the show and shared its first poster.

For those not in the know, Inside Edge revolves around India’s domestic T20 championship. It focusses on the team Mumbai Mavericks, which is owned by Richa Chadha’s character, and the ups and downs they go through. The show primarily features betting and match-fixing in the tournament and shows its consequences.

Despite Inside Edge being known for showing a T20 tournament, it seems the third season will not feature the shortest version of the game.

There are a couple of reasons that indicate that Inside Edge season 3 will feature the longest version of the game – test cricket. This might sound crazy to many of you but let’s have a look at those indications.

Inside Edge season 3

The first poster of the third season clearly includes a red ball in the title that is unmissable. It doesn’t make sense for a show about T20 matches displaying a clear image of a red ball. For those who are not aware, a red ball is used only in test cricket and never in a limited overs match. That’s the reason why limited overs matches are called white ball cricket.

But an even bigger indication was given by the makers more than a year and half ago. Amazon Prime Video had shared a promo of their 14 new original shows in January 2020. The footage had a fleeting image of Tarun Virwani, who plays the main lead in the show, sitting in white clothes with white pads on, waiting for his turn to bat [either in the match or in the nets].

Tanuj Virwani in Inside Edge season 3

It seems impossible that a player in the show will wear white clothes and pads, irrespective of whether he is sitting for his chance in a match or the nets. Wearing white automatically means playing with a red ball. And one would neither play nor practice with a red ball for a limited overs competition.

The announcement by Amazon Prime Video about 14 new shows

Of course, we will get a confirmation only in the teaser or the trailer. These are just assumptions based on two major hints, especially the second one.

The above indications were observed by my friend Aditya Kulkarni.  

Also read:

Sachin’s 1st first-class 200 vs Australia in 1998: Forgotten moments

This number 11 ‘tail-ender’ created a batting record that is forgotten

Decoding Mirzapur 2’s POST-CREDIT scene (SPOILERS alert!)

by 4 Comments

Having a post-credit scene is in vogue in the west but the idea is currently taking baby steps in India. So, when the makers of Amazon Prime Video’s Mirzapur season 2 kept a post-credit scene at the end of the last episode, hardly anyone of us saw it since we never anticipated it.

The show’s cast member Vijay Varma, who plays the dual role of the twins Bade and Chhote, had to enlighten or spoon-feed us about it on Twitter for us to realize it. As soon as he revealed it, people rushed back to the finale of the last episode of Mirzapur 2 to have a look at it.

SPOILERS ahead

The post-credit scene in Mirzapur 2 comes minutes after the ending credits start rolling. The scene features Varma sitting in his office toying with a ring on his finger. The ring falls from his hand and Dadda (Lilliput), from the adjacent room, addresses him as ‘Bade’ and asks him to bring some files.

Explanation of the scene

After going through various comments on social media, it is found that there are people who haven’t understood the scene.

Mirzapur 2 poster

As we know, Varma plays the double role of twins Bade and Chhote. Bade is called so because he is five minutes elder to Chhote. Bade is married while Chhote isn’t. During the ending moments of the final episode, we see both Bade and Chhote getting shot. But we are not told whether both die or one of them survives or both survive.

The post-credit scene makes it clear that Bade is dead and Chhote is impersonating as Bade. He wasn’t merely toying with the ring. He was struggling to play with it on his index finger like Bade used to do [thank you Mandar Dalvi for this bit in the comments]. As he is unable to do that, he keeps it away so that his bluff doesn’t get exposed.

This should bring back memories of a moment in one of the earlier episodes where Chhote impersonates Bade and succeeds in fooling the latter’s wife.

Also read: Difference between film journalism and entertainment journalism

We now realize that that moment had plenty of relevance!

Needless to say, this obviously means that there will be the third season of Mirzapur in which Chhote will play an important role.

Additional reading:

Fact check: Was Deepika Padukone paid Rs 5 crore to attend JNU protests?

Reaction to Tanishq ad reveals THREAT to the very idea of India

Aarya Review – Sushmita Sen packs a powerful punch in her comeback vehicle

by Leave a Comment

The OTT (over the top) medium has proved to be a boon for crime thrillers. We see plenty of them in various languages over the world. Unlike cinema, the writers here get proper time to establish the storyline and slowly build up the excitement for the finale.

Disney + Hotstar’s Aarya is also a series under the same genre. The story takes place in a town in Rajasthan and it revolves around Tej Sareen (Chandrachur Singh) and his wife Aarya Sareen (Sushmita Sen). Tej runs a business of illegal medicines along with friend Jawahar (Namit Das) and brother-in-law Sangram (Ankur Bhatia).

The lust for more money compels Sangram and Jawahar to steal a large consignment of cocaine from the dreaded gangster Shekhawat (Manish Chaudhary) in order to sell it. But Tej is completely against this move. This develops a conflict between him and his two partners. Tej wants to leave the whole business; something he promised Aarya long back.

However, Tej’s plan receives a jolt after he is shot at by an unknown person. With her husband in critical condition, Aarya is forced to clear the mess in order to protect herself and her three children. Along with the bad guys, she is also pitted against ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) Khan (Vikas Kumar).

Although Aarya also falls in the genre of crime thriller, it would be unfair to say that it is just another series in the genre. This is not your usual crime saga where there’s high-octane action, too many killings and chase sequences. Aarya is a nuanced and layered drama where, along with crime, emotions also play a major part through various parallel tracks, with each being interesting.

Aarya Sushmita Sen

So, while Aarya is caught in a cat-and-mouse game with both the villains and police, her journey is more emotional due to her love for her children and dead husband. There are other interesting tracks about Aarya’s sister Soundarya (Priyasha Bhardwaj) and her to-be husband Bob Wilson (Alexx O’Nell). The troubled married life of Jawahar and his wife Maya (Maya Sarao), who is Aarya’s close friend.

Aarya also makes a statement of how even among the wealthy households, patriarchy rules even in 2020. The narrative does so in a subtle way through the sub-plot of Aarya’s father Zorawar (Jayant Kripalani) and his young mistress Radhika aka Rads (Flora Saini).

Despite the presence of a number of characters, the writers have kept the character of Aarya in the center. She is a complex woman who shows different versions of herself in front of different people. She can feel emotionally numb but at another instance shows her powerful and fearless side.

In other words, the character had to go through various emotions in her journey. Sushmita Sen has added life in each emotion effortlessly thereby packing a puck in her comeback. Her act makes it clear that there is so much left in her, which mainstream Hindi cinema should take note of.

Aarya is filled with a long list of impressive performances from the likes of Chandrachur Singh, Namit Das, Ankur Bhatia, Manish Chaudhary, Priyasha Bhardwaj, Sikander Kher, Virti Vaghani (as Sen’s daughter), Jayant Kriplani, Vikas Kumar, Maya Sarao, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Sohaila Kapoor, Alexx O’Nell and others.

There are times when it seems that the nine-episodic Aarya should have been pacier. Few sub-plots could have been given less importance. The series also takes creative liberties here and there, which is generally a case in thrillers.

Also read: Panchayat Review – A perfect ode to Swades

But Aarya ends on an impressive note which provides a kick and gains your interest for its second season. The Bhagavad Gita sequence in the end gives a perfect ode to Sen’s character. It is also refreshing to see a woman given a place of Arjuna.  

Rating: 4 out of 5

Directors: Ram Madhvani, Sandeep Modi and Vinod Rawat

Writers: Ram Madhvani, Sandeep Shrivastava and Anupkaran Singh

Cast: Sushmita Sen, Chandrachur Singh, Namit Das, Ankur Bhatia, Manish Chaudhary, Priyasha Bhardwaj, Sikander Kher, Virti Vaghani, Jayant Kriplani, Vikas Kumar, Maya Sarao, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Sohaila Kapoor, Alexx O’Nell

Platform: Disney + Hotstar

Number of episodes: 9

Panchayat Review – A perfect ode to Swades

by 1 Comment

‘Real India lies in villages’ is something we have heard numerous times. It is quite incredible to see the huge difference in lifestyle between a metropolitan city and a small village. At numerous places, these villages are based just 100 kilomers away from a big city but appear like a different country altogether.

Deepak Kumar Mishra’s web-series Panchayat, which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, tries building a connect between urban and rural India through the character of Abhishek Tripathi (Jitendra Kumar). After not scoring well in his exams, he is forced to take up the government job of a secretary in the village Phulera in Uttar Pradesh. He hates taking up this job but is encouraged by his best friend Prateek (Biswapati Sarkar).

Abhishek gets a culture shock once he lands in the village. The small accommodation, open toilets to nagging co-workers and villagers are enough for him to abhor this place as soon as he lands there. On top of that, he has to deal with the not-so-interesting work of a secretary. How long will Abhishek hang in there?

There’s a certain degree of likeability in Jitendra Kumar when he feels frustrated and helpless because of any reason. As the series progresses, we get to see different shades and emotions of the character. Much before the series ends you get convinced that he is a perfect fit for this role.

Panchayat is filled with a number of other prominent characters as well. Manju Devi (Neena Gupta) is the actual Pradhan [village head] of Phulera. As there was reservation for female candidates during the last elections, her husband Brij Bhushan Dubey (Raghuvir Yadav) makes her fight for the election. Although she wins, the task of the Pradhan is carried out by Dubey.

Panchayat

Yadav once again gives a reminder that he should get a place in the list of the best character artistes from India. As per his habit, he gives another example of how should one live and breathe a character. But as he is always seen in the village office, you wonder why they signed someone like Neena Gupta for such a small role. However, she gets her moments in the last episode where she outperforms others.

Panchayat looks at different incidents in the tenure of Abhishek Tripathi through a wide range of conflicts with each being explored in every episode. The incidents are a perfect mix of being interesting, moving and, of course, humorous. The series is a result of a fine piece of writing, which is clearly its biggest plus point. We have seen how a village setting offers plenty of scope for humour because of the lifestyle over there and the characters. The makers have made full use of it.

Also read: The Family Man Review

As the episodes go by one after the other, Abhishek slowly starts developing an unusual bond with the villagers and the village itself. Though he might not show it, it’s pretty evident. A moment which stands out is the one where Dubey and others decide to hold a simple party for Abhishek after they realize how lonely he is feeling in the village. Thankfully, a forceful love story isn’t used as a troupe here.

Surprisingly, there’s no negative point here. There are a couple of incidents which might not appear as appealing as many others. But they certainly don’t fall in the minuses zone whatsoever.

Along with the content and the characters, the other major reason why one falls in love with Panchayat is because of the location of Abhishek’s home-cum-office and its surroundings, including the high water tank. There’s something about it which makes you eager to visit it.

We had felt the same after watching Ashutosh Gowariker’s Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Swades (2004), which is considered a classic by many. Panchayat is a perfect ode to the film. Going by how the makers have included a couple of references of Swades, it seems that giving tribute to the film might be their intention too.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Director: Deepak Kumar Mishra

Producers: TVF (The Viral Factory)

Cast: Jitendra Kumar, Raghuvir Yadav, Neena Gupta, Chandan Roy, Faisal Malik, Biswapati Sarkar

Writers: Chandan Kumar

Review: The Family Man

by 1 Comment

Stories about secret agents have become a favourite topic over the years in Hindi content. This has been seen in films like Ek Tha Tiger, Agent Vinod, Madras Cafe, Baby, Phantom, RAW, etc. The idea has been explored in the web-series space as well in the recent works like Bard Of Blood, Special OPS, etc.

But director duo Raj and DK’s The Family Man, which is on Prime Video, is not just another secret agent saga because it throws equal light on a secret agent’s private life which gets heavily influenced by his professional life.

So, we have Srikant Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee) who is a secret intelligence agent working for a team called T.A.S.C in Mumbai. He has solved plenty of terror cases with his colleague and best friend JK Talpade (Sharib Hashmi). Zoya (Shreya Dhanwantary) enters their team as an intern. Their team receives flak from their seniors when they are unable to stop a scooter bomb blast at Kala Ghoda.

The Family Man poster

After some investigation, they get to know of three gaming engineers who are linked with the deadly terror group ISIS. At the same time, Moosa (Neeraj Madhav), a Keralite who had gone to ISIS after being brainwashed, gets caught when he was about to enter his home state. He tries to flee along with his two team members but is caught and badly injured. He is admitted in a hospital where he says he hasn’t killed anyone. Moosa regrets joining the ISIS and is eager to reunite with his mother.

Inside his house, Srikant is like a normal middle-class man. His family, which consists of his wife Suchitra (Priyamani) and two kids, are completely unaware about Srikant’s actual profession. They feel he is into desk work which only involves working with files. Suchitra is not happy with Sri since he is rarely at home and she is forced to look after the kids alone. The kids are also not happy with their father for not being able to give them a better life.

The aforementioned two tracks appear as different as chalk and cheese. But the intelligent screenplay merges the two diverse tracks as naturally as possible. This area wasn’t handled as naturally in Neeraj Pandey’s series Special OPS. Barring the moment when Srikant’s daughter secretly goes to a party, nowhere do the two track appear different. Raj and DK’s deft handling while displaying their quirky humour is also always on display.

Despite the home track, The Family Man is more about Srikant’s professional life. The terror angle isn’t run-of-the-mill stuff and there are quite a few surprises in store. They have deeply gone into the working of terror groups. There are creative liberties taken in the cat-and-mouse game between the bad guys and the good guys but the fast pace and entertaining presentation doesn’t let you think much about it.

A major example of this is a long single take chase and action sequence between the T.A.S.C team and a group of three college students.

Moosa The Family Man
Neeraj Madhav as Moosa

The show takes us to places like Kashmir, Syria, PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir), Pakistan, Balochistan, etc. The choice of locations, rich production design and the VFX bring every location alive and gives the series an international feel.

Manoj Bajpayee is one of the finest actors in the country. He is flawless here too. The artiste adapts to different moods and emotions of his character with utmost ease. Sharib Hashmi shows his goodness here as well. These two actors have shown that even people working for the intelligence can be just like any other working employees.

Also read: An Open Letter to Arvind Kejriwal

Neeraj Madhav, as Moosa, comes out as a surprise. He is a phenomenal actor with wide range of skills. The series has a number of other impressive acts from Priyamani, the two kids, Shreya Dhanwantary, Darshan Kumar, Shadab Ali, Gul Panaag, Kishore Kumar, Dalip Tahil, Sharad Kelkar and a list of negative characters.

The Family Man mostly succeeds in keeping a fine balance between being light-hearted and serious. But this can’t be said about the last episode where things go dark and gory. The idea of not ending the story to facilitate the second season also appears questionable. There could have been at least some closure.

But these points certainly don’t stop you from waiting for the second season.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Director: Raj and DK

Producers: Amazon Studios and D2R Films

Writers: Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK, Sumar Kumar and Sumit Arora

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Sharib Hashmi, Neeraj Madhav, Shreya Dhanwantary, Priyamani, Darshan Kumar

Number of episodes: 10

Platform: Prime Video