Suchin Mehrotra

The customary opening stretch of production company logos and streaming partners and marketing partners, and so on, is accompanied by playful voiceover commentary from the film’s lead character, poking fun at what all the logos and titles mean and why every film must open with long stretches of them. Vibe is Kemmu’s second film as director after the clutter-breaking Madgaon Express, which remains one of the rare worthwhile (and consistently hilarious) comedies to emerge from Hindi cinema in the last few years. At a time when the comedy genre itself has become little more than a lazy punchline of minimal effort and squeaky sound effects in the name of “slapstick” (Housefull 5, Bhooth Bangla, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, Dhamaal 4), Madgaon Express was a much-needed reminder of the sheer effort, craft, writing and performances that go into cracking a laugh-a-minute comedy for the big screen.

That the tired third (and most recent) season of Mirzapur—Prime Video’s landscape-defining gangster saga—was a disappointment is hardly breaking news. But the third instalment also served as a massive ego boost for two figures in particular whose absence felt instrumental to the show’s diminishing returns. The first is the original creator and lead writer, Puneet Krishna. The second is Divyenndu, whose endlessly quotable Munna Tripathi—one of the streaming era’s most crackling creations the makers regrettably killed off in the second season, thereby shooting themselves in the foot (which, ironically, is a pretty Munna thing to do). Enter Mirzapur: The Movie—a prequel that takes place before the explosive, Red Wedding-esque Season 1 finale. So, all the key characters are still alive and ticking, and writer Puneet Krishna is back at the helm alongside the show’s other creative architect, director Gurmmeet Singh.

A chirpy couple and their young daughter smile endlessly at each other while sitting in a train compartment, headed for a vacation. But this is a film by Devashish Makhija (Ajji, Bhonsle), so you know darkness and horror lurk around the corner. Right on cue, within minutes, the child is abducted from a platform. While chasing after her, her mother Bani (Taapsee Pannu) is severely injured and left unconscious. Forget mustering any sort of meaningful tension, felt emotion or rudimentary atmosphere, Gandhari struggles with the bare basics of storytelling: establishing and communicating who’s who, what’s what, what is happening, why it’s happening, how we got here, where we’re headed and how we get there.

A suspended police officer returns to her hometown to find her childhood friend murdered. The Sudip Sharma (Paatal Lok, Kohrra) voice is instantly recognisable in Prime Video’s latest original film, Babita Singh Reporting. Sharma serves as producer on the film, directed by Ambeicka Pandit (Black Warrant) and written by Amita Vyas. The world, atmosphere, and ‘vibe’ are immediately familiar, and not just because this is yet another moody crime drama—the staple genre of the streaming age. Officer Babita Singh AKA Baby (a terrific Nimisha Sajayan) is, in spirit, the rookie cousin of Paatal Lok’s Hathiram Chaudhary. Like him, she’s an underestimated, overlooked cop who’s determined and recklessly brave. Self-destructive as it may be, she isn’t capable of looking the other way or, as Hathiram would say, putting naukri over duty. But unlike the tired, jaded Hathiram, Babita is the wet-behind-the-ears junior officer at the very start of her career. This film is the origin story of her becoming.