Rohit Khilnani

The series opens with 17-year-old Meenu Rawat arriving at a police station with her parents to file a complaint against a powerful spiritual leader, Baapji, accusing him of sexual assault. Right from this opening sequence, the tension is palpable. The atmosphere inside the police station, the silences, the discomfort and the small details around Meenu’s complaint immediately tell you that this is not going to be an easy watch. This crime is not new in India; self-proclaimed Godmen like Asaram and Gurmit Ram Rahim have abused women in their ashram and they have been convicted by the court of law in India for crimes like rape.

We often hear how difficult it is to get a show or a film approved by Netflix. There are so many projects being developed, evaluated and discussed, and only a few eventually make the cut. Which is why a show like Shaque – Trust No One makes you wonder: what exactly does it take to get a project through, and how did this one make the cut? Poorly written and badly directed by Rensil D’Silva, Shaque doesn’t just test your patience as a viewer — it leaves me with even more shaque about how this one got approved in the first place. The story begins with a nightmare no parent should have to experience. Parineeti Chopra plays a new mother whose baby is kidnapped from a hospital. The first episode actually creates some intrigue. There are enough breadcrumbs to make you suspicious of almost everyone, and for a while, you genuinely want to know who is behind the kidnapping and why. Unfortunately, that’s where much of the interest ends.

Every time Meghna Gulzar makes a film, there is excitement among film lovers. She has given us films like Talvar and Raazi, and she has consistently chosen stories that make you think beyond the film itself. So naturally, expectations are high with Daayra. The trailer tells you pretty much what to expect — one crime, two senior cops, two very different ways of looking at justice, and a clash of ideologies. The film begins with DCP Raman Kumar, played by Prithviraj Sukumaran, being celebrated after an encounter in which he and his team kill four men accused of raping and murdering a young girl. Raman is a cop who believes in putting together a strong team, giving an investigation his time and dedication, and doing whatever it takes to solve a case.

I have a theory after watching Vibe, and I think we’re witnessing something interesting in Bollywood right now: almost every male actor secretly wants to be an action hero. Think about it. Shah Rukh Khan was the ultimate lover boy, the man who could make romance his biggest weapon. But today, even he has moved towards action. Yash has built his image around larger-than-life action, while actors like Sonu Sood and Kunal Kemmu have gone a step further and directed themselves in action films. And Kunal is one of the funniest actors we have! Maybe there’s something about action that actors simply can’t resist. Romance can make you a star, but action lets you build an entire world around yourself. And honestly, audiences don’t seem to mind who is doing it, as long as the film entertains.

Priyadarshan has remade his own Malayalam film Oppam, which released in 2016, as the Hindi film Haiwaan. The original, starring Mohanlal, had a simple but effective premise: a visually impaired building manager gets involved in protecting the young daughter of a resident who is murdered as part of a revenge plot. Somehow, that story worked beautifully in 2016. In Haiwaan, the same premise struggles to hold together. The biggest problem is that the world created by Priyadarshan simply doesn’t feel believable.

Once you watch Mirzapur The Movie on the big screen, you realise this was always meant to be a theatrical experience. We have enjoyed Mirzapur on OTT, but watching these characters and this world unfold on a big screen gives the story a completely different impact. It transports you right back into their world. It also makes you realise that writing is where the real magic lies. Puneet Krishna’s writing and Gurmeet Singh’s direction are once again a winning combination. They take the same characters, put them in familiar situations and yet manage to make this feel like another chapter in their lives. The film fits somewhere in the timeline of what we have already seen in the series and works almost like another, very big episode of Mirzapur.

Taapsee Pannu plays Bani, a mother whose daughter is abducted. After losing her eyesight in the aftermath, she refuses to give up and sets out to find her child, taking on a dangerous world of crime and trafficking. Taapsee Pannu acts well and does exactly what the role demands, but unfortunately, that doesn’t save the day. Ishwak Singh too puts in a good performance, while the supporting cast does its part. The problem lies largely with Kanika Dhillon’s writing and Devashish Makhija’s direction. Gandhari is supposed to be an action thriller, but it is an action thriller without any real thrills. There are no genuine edge-of-the-seat moments, and the film rarely creates the kind of tension or urgency you expect from this genre. You keep waiting for the story to grip you, but it never quite gets there.

There are many bad films. I’ve seen bad films week after week. But there are bad films, and then there are really bad films. And then there is something like Geetu Mohandas’ Yash-starrer Toxic. The biggest problem with Toxic is not the lack of resources. In fact, it’s the opposite. The makers had everything you could possibly need to make a big, ambitious film: a superstar, a producer with money, a fantastic technical team, some of the biggest actresses, good music, huge sets, international locations and all the money required to create a spectacle. What they didn’t have was a good story.