Turkish Serial

 I happened to watch completely a serial with 164 episodes! Originally Turkish, with subtitles, though a few words seemed familiar as we have derivatives in Urdu/Hindi.

The actors were very good, so was the characterisation. That helped me when I thought of giving up. The plot was OK, but got a bit repetitive. The major themes were love and betrayal, with an Al Capone type villain who controls almost everything, killing people at will and corrupting everyone who is willing.

Love triumphs, of course, like in Indian movies, but after several tribulations, and ups and downs-even though the hero is a police officer in Istanbul.

Some good acting, and scenic views of the Bosphorus- the heroine is rich- also helped. Black Money Love is the serial, on Netflix, if you are wondering..

Melon ki Aag

This is the story of a Hindi film- a potboiler, if you go by standard definitions.

There are two melons, one rich, one poor. They fall in love. Background song- aha aaye melon ki bela dekho aayee..

But there is a serious problem. Chacha of one of the melons is not happy with the rishta. He therefore kidnaps the other melon, putting a stop to their milan.

The background song- ghadi milan ki aayee, aaja tu chhutti lekar aa ja.. but it's no go.

The first melon now thinks of a plan to flee with the second, as in Happy Bhag Jayegi. But first, he has to find her. So, he puts on his x-ray goggles and asks Alexa for her location. Voila- she's being held in the Flipkart warehouse in his town, among a zillion products.

So the melon dresses up as a delivery boy, and picks her up against a false delivery invoice. On the way, they go to a Domino's and pick up a pepperoni pizza in case they are hungry. And buy a ticket to Mauritius, where they plan to disguise themselves and return to India- no questions asked. 

Is tarah do sitaron ka zameen par hai milan, aaj ki raat. The End.

Completely vegetarian fare, combines the best of current technologies and film ideas. Only some elements are copied.

Jai Gangaajal - Film Review

I probably wouldn't buy a ticket and see it. It's actually a well-scripted movie with a taut screenplay, barring a couple of flaws-but then it's a Hindi film. But I just don't dig the violent movies with a politician-policeman nexus anymore. The reason may be that I have seen too many of them with the same theme.

The best in the genre that I recollect is Ardh Satya. A policeman played by Om Puri is the protagonist in that one. Out here, the only novelty in the theme is Priyanka Chopra playing the lead as a do-gooder honest cop in a sea of corruption. Her performance is good, and that of the guy who plays W Pandey too.

Not bad if you have nothing better to do, or you haven't seen any of these kinds of films with a Bihar/U.P. setting before. The plot is pretty stale. The violence is unavaiodable given the plot, but it's not to my taste.

Byomkesh Bakshi and More- Films

Saw a Marathi film that was really well-made. It is called Coffee ani barach kahi (Coffee and much more). Very nicely directed, simple story of a guy who can't get himself to tell the girl from office that he loves, that he does. She is stuck on the view that he has to propose. The happy ending happens after a lot of waiting, but it is handled well. The lead pair, Prarthana Behere and Vaibhav Tattwawadi, bring life into their roles, and the support cast is also fantastic. Enjoyable experience.

Also watched Byomkesh Bakshi. It has its moments, of detection and the period atmosphere of 1940s Calcutta. But one feels it could have been tighter on the plot- too many China and Japan distractions for people who are zillion years away from the World War make it look less menacing than it could have been. The last scene is overly dramatic and violent. Why the villain does not shoot Byomkesh (or why he, Byomkesh, does not take adequate precautions not to get shot) is not explained by the sequence of events. The deductions are a bit abrupt, and could have been elaborated on a bit, since it is a complex plot. But still, for fans of the genre, a film that will leave you reasonably happy. Any day beats the crap flying around in the name of Bollywood films. Though Rajit Kapoor was better in this role on TV, Sushant is good, and so is the villain. The Sensuous 'Angoori Devi' adds some zing.

NH 10- Film Review

Highly avoidable, in my view.

Hardly any redeeming features. The plot is apparently copied or adapted from an English film a few years old. Adapted into the land of Khap Panchayats, and killing of the girls in the womb and outside in honour killings. What honour does a murderer have(?) is a different question altogether.

But a lot of blood and gore later (perpetrated by almost every character barring the kid), you are left wondering if you were hit by a train (that has a starring role in the film). A plot that is going nowhere and does so consistently, is mostly predictable, and with the exception of a few scenes, sleep-inducing.

Sorry, folks, you gotta do better than this. Go watch some Alfred Hitchcock films. If not, at least some good BR Chopra films- Dhund, Ittefaq, Kanoon, I think were some of his suspense films worth a watch.