Another of those typically happening weeks on Indian OTT platforms with plenty of interesting new offerings. We have two big releases, Kaduva and All Or Nothing: Arsenal, already streaming on Prime Video. The latter is not a movie but a sports docu-series that gives a behind-the-scenes peek at what transpired for the English football club Arsenal in the 2021-22 season. It is an interesting one you must check out. You can read all about it here.
Our weekly list this time comprises Alia Bhatt’s first production venture and Netflix original Darlings, Prithviraj Sukumaran’s mass Malayalam movie Kaduva, Jayasurya’s investigative thriller John Luther, the intriguing Tamil anthology Victim – Who Is Next, and the Telugu flick whose title will leave you in no doubt about its genre Pakka Commercial.
Another Tamil movie Maha will also stream on Aha. But this much-delayed film doesn’t make it to our list that is limited to 5. The award-winning Malayalam sci-fi movie Aavasavyuham: The Arbit Documentation of an Amphibian Hunt will stream on SonyLIV. You must check these two, too.
Kaduva
Quick Details
Director: Shaji Kailas
Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran, Vivek Oberoi, Samyuktha Menon
Language: Malayalam
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Release date: August 4, 2022.
Synopsis: Shaji Kailas is a director who has made the mass masala movie segment his own in Malayalam. His movies carry all the ingredients that work at the box office. By no stretch of imagination they are high art. But they sure provide what a bulk of audience come looking for in a theatre: Entertainment. Kaduva unabashedly belongs to that genre, and was a big success when it released in cinema halls. The film also courted controversy and ran into legal issues with a resident of the Pala town in Kerala, Jose Kuruvinakkunel, alleging that the film was based on his life story and has several sequences in the movie defame him and his family. The issues were eventually sorted out. The film is set in the late 90s revolving around the life of a young high range rubber planter from Mundakayam and his rivalry with a high ranking Kerala police officer. The cinematic riffs are not new, but with adroit screenplay it is kept fresh. Vivek Oberoi provides apt counter-force to Prithviraj. All in all, movie made for the weekend.
Darlings
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Director: Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah, Vijay Varma, Roshan Mathew
Cast: Jasmeet K Reen
Language: Hindi
Platform: Netflix
Release date: August 5, 2022.
Synopsis: This film is Alia Bhatt’s debut production venture (jointly with Gauri Khan and Gaurav Verma of Red Chillies Entertainment). It’s happening time for Alia Bhatt. The comely actress married Ranbir Kapoor recently and announced her pregnancy too. Her recent Hindi movie Gangubai Kathiawadi got her enormous critical acclaim and proved to the world that she could carry alone the burden of a film on her slender shoulders. She also had a small role in the biggest pan-Indian hit in recent times, SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR. The young actress is also set for her Hollywood debut through the movie Heart Of Stone that also stars Gal Gadot.
Darlings, a dark comedy, delves into the lives of a mother-daughter. According to a statement from the makers, the duo is “fighting for love and finding their footing in Mumbai whilst also battling their demons.”
John Luther
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Director: Abhijith Joseph
Cast: Jayasurya, Athmeeya Rajan, Siddique, Drishya Raghunath, Sreelakshmi
Language: Malayalam
Platform: ManoramaMax
Release date: August 5, 2022.
Synopsis: Jayasurya is among the Malayalam actors who is gritty without being flashy or funky. He brings a rare emotive realism to his roles. In this film he plays a police inspector who is on the case of a missing teacher. As the investigation progresses, the cop suffers a personal setback in an accident. He loses an important faculty, and he has to overcome this loss and still crack the case. An emotional undercurrent to a sharp investigative thriller. The debutant director Abhijith Joseph can be praised for smartly mixing sentiments and suspense. It is a tough
Victim – Who Is Next
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Directors: Chimbu Devan, M Rajesh, Pa Ranjith, Venkat Prabhu
Cast: Prasanna, Amala Paul, Nasser, Thambi Ramaiah, Natraj, Priya Bavani Shankar, Guru Somasundaram, Krish
Language: Tamil
Platform: SonyLIV
Release date: August 5, 2022.
Synopsis: Without putting too fine a point on it, Tamil cinema’s stab anthologies have left a bit to be desired. Amazon Prime Video had previously released Putham Pudhu Kaalai, its sequel of sorts Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadha while Netflix had streamed Navarasa and Paava Kathaigal. All the four were a mixed bag.
With a bunch of directors, with their own sensibilities and approach at play, anthologies by their very nature are bound to be chequered and patchy. Victim – Who Is Next has the works four directors — Chimbu Devan, M Rajesh, Pa Ranjith, Venkat Prabhu — all of whom are talented. Apparently, this anthology is Venkat Prabhu’s idea. It was at his behest the other three came on board. To start off, the idea was to make a thriller. But after seeing the scripts, the makers felt there was a common thread and decided to call it Victim.
Pakka Commercial
Quick Details
Director: Maruti
Cast: Gopichand, Raashi Khanna, Sathyaraj, Rao Ramesh, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Saptagiri, Viva Harsha
Language: Telugu
Platform: Aha
Release date: August 5, 2022.
Synopsis: The film, as the title suggests, aims for masala entertainment. The film starts off as a madcap comedy but picks up steam with emotions, action and intrigue. With formula films, you know what to expect. You get all that here in this in which Gopichand is on familiar territory. He plays an advocate who is the son of a principled and conscientious judge. The latter gives up the court in a fit of pique. the son grows up into an advocate who takes up cases for the sake of money. As it happens, plot twists makes the father and son to face-off. It is on patented lines. But the director keeps the proceedings alive with a good mix of everything.
Previous Weeks’ Recommendations
Good Luck Jerry
Quick Details
Director: Siddharth Sengupta
Cast: Jahnvi Kapoor, Deepak Dobriyal, Mita Vashisht, Neeraj Sood, Sushant Singh, Saurabh Sachdeva
Language: Hindi
Platform: Disney Plus Hotstar
Release date: July 29, 2022.
Synopsis: This is an official remake of the 2018 Tamil black-comedy Kolamavu Kokila. Starring Nayanthara in the lead, the Tamil flick stood for its zany characters, funky music and a brooding atmosphere whose menace was masqueraded in a strange kind of mirth. For the young Jahnvi Kapoor, the character of a woman turning a dru carrier for the money for her mom’s treatment is a big responsibility. In the Tamil original, Nayanthara pulled it off with silence and short lines. The ensemble cast of goofy characters was what made Kolamavu Kokila the fun ride it was. Going by the trailer, Good Luck Jerry, set in Punjab, seems to have been a pitched a bit louder than the Tamil original. Will the change work or not is something that’s difficult to tell now.
19 (1)(a)
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Director: Indhu VS
Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Nithya Menen, Indrajith Sukumaran, Indrans, Srikant Murali, Athulya Ashadam
Language: Malayalam
Platform: Disney Plus Hotstar
Release date: July 29, 2022.
Synopsis: The title of the film refers to the Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution that deals with the right to the freedom of expression. Not surprisingly, Vijay Sethupathi, who is making a big entry in Malayalam movies through this outing, plays a writer from Tamil Nadu. He had, however, debuted in Malayalam through the 2019 movie Marconi Mathai. For Nithya Menen, this is a comeback of sorts in Malayalam as she had been more busy in Tamil and Telugu in recent times. There is very little known about the film, which is the directorial debut of Indhu, except that it is going to focus on the current issues of what can be said or written in public. The political aspects of the film should be interesting.
777 Charlie
Quick Details
Director: Kiranraj K
Cast: Rakshit Shetty, Sangeetha Sringeri, Raj B Shetty, Bobby Simha, Danish Sait
Language: Kannada
Platform: Voot Select
Release date: July 29, 2022.
Synopsis: This Kannada film, which released in theatres on June 10, has taken its time to reach the streamers. That is because the movie has been a big hit and has been having good run even after a month. The story is an uncomplicated one. It is about a worker who is a bit despondent in life. But his approach and perspective to life change when he comes across a dog, a Labrador to be precise. The relationship between the two virtually stray living beings is the story. There is plenty of heart-warming moments, and there is a lot of humour too. The movie has become so popular that there is a chance that it would be remade in Hindi, too.
Paper Rocket
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Director: Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi
Cast: Kalidas Jayaram, Tanya Ravichandran, Gouri G Kishan, Poornima Bhagyaraj, Renuka, Chinni Jayanth, Karunakaran, Kaali Venkat
Language: Tamil
Platform: Zee5
Release date: July 29, 2022.
Synopsis: Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, who is part of Tamil Nadu’s first family, is not new to direction. Her Vanakkam Chennai film was a cute little fun romance ride. But her second Kaali was a kind of a disappointment. So as a director, she is on trial with this 8-episode series. This is billed as a travel drama. The series follows a group of strangers who go on a road trip that ends up becoming a journey of self-discovery. As a premise, this is not exactly new. There have been many such trips that become introspective peregrinations of sorts. But this being a series, with a gaggle of characters, it should have lots of fun and comedy. But we have to temper it with the fact that all the Tamil web series that have been pitched as a comedy before have been monumental disasters.
Shikaaru
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Director: Hari Kolagaani
Cast: Sai Dhanshika, Tej Koorapati, Abhinav , Dheeraj, Navakanth, Chammak Chandra, Kishore Kumar
Language: Telugu
Platform: Aha
Release date: July 29, 2022.
Synopsis: The film’s tone and tenor is decidedly fun and comic. But within it, the film pushes the envelope slyly. The story is about a young woman who does not find love from her husband. She decides to take up formal education to distract herself from the issues at home. As it happens, she gets attracted to a classmate. She even makes bold to invite him to her house when no one is around. This may lead you to believe the film to be a certain kind. What happens is, it is here that the film changes tack. It takes a comical turn with her family members coming back and the secret guest stuck somewhere in the house. The film looks at the lighter side of the situation. For some, this might seem as a cop out. But fun and humour is never out of place.
Ghar Waapsi
Quick Details
Director: Ruchir Arun
Cast: Vishal Vashishtha,Akanksha Thakur, Atul Shrivastava, Vibha Chibber, Saad Bilgrami
Language: Hindi
Platform: Disney Plus Hotstar
Release date: July 22, 2022.
Synopsis: This is a light-hearted family drama the kind of which is unfortunately slowly evaporating from our screens, as most web series tend to be either investigative thrillers or unabashedly youth-centric. The middle-age family drama, the kind of which used to be hugely popular in Doordarshan of yore and also shaped the sensibilities of millions of people, is getting passe.
But Ghar Waapsi is one of the happy exceptions. This is a slice-of-life story, an unassuming comedy. It revolves around a household Indore in which the main man comes back from Bengaluru after losing his job. He hides the fact from his family members. The story is centered on the many funny situations around this. But it also explores the idea how fickle is the life of startup employees. The six-episode series should be endearing and enjoyable.
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