ak blog

   Insidious: Chapter 3 Lin Shaye  is one of those character actors—like  Margo Martindale  and  Stephen Tobolowsky —who have worked steadily for decades in a wide variety of supporting roles and they always make everything better. Even if they just appear in a few scenes, you’re always glad to see them and you wish you could see them more.With “Insidious: Chapter 3,” Shaye finally gets her “more.” Her character, veteran psychic Elise Rainier, was the most compelling figure in the first two “ Insidious ” movies, which were surprise, low-budget hits in 2011 and 2013. Writer and co-star  Leigh Whannell , who created the series with  James Wan  and directs for the first time here, wisely places her front and center and gives her plenty of room to shine. Shaye, whose best-known roles prior to the “Insidious” franchise have been in the Farrelly brothers favorites “There’s Something About Mary” and “ Kingpin ,” gets a chance to show an unusual amou...

                                                                 Faraaz  Story :  Based on the 2016 terrorist attack on Holey Artisan Cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the film is a tense hostage drama that pits humanity and religion against extremist mindset. Review:  On the fateful night of 1 July 2016, five young militants armed with guns and grenades stormed the Holey Artisan café in Dhaka. They opened fire, took diners hostage and killed at least 22 people (mostly foreigners) in a span of 12 hours. Hansal Mehta recreates and reimagines the dreadful night that led to the loss of innocent lives. Known for his outspokenness and liberal ideologies, Mehta addresses a raging debate that’s relevant in India and across the globe — tolerance versus intolerance, religion versus radicalism and humanity over everything else...

                   Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh Story:  Mahatma Gandhi survives Godse’s attempt to assassinate him in this fictionalised story. The duo comes face-to-face in jail and debates their respective ideologies. Review:  MK Gandhi’s assassination and whether Nathuram Godse was justified have always been moot, especially of late. Rajkumar Santoshi’s latest offering attempts to present both sides through a face-off between the event’s main characters, Gandhi (Deepak Antani) and Godse (Chinmay Mandlekar). The movie begins with the India-Pakistan Partition and the communal violence that ensued. It quickly establishes the Hindu and Sikh populations’ gripe against Gandhi for their suffering. Nathuram Godse’s anger and Bapu’s assassination also follow soon enough. However, the film’s pace dips after that, and the narrative drags all of the first half to set the context. It covers some crucial events, such as Gandhi’s fast unto death f...

                            Sita   Story:  A young boy of a lower caste discovers the body of an abandoned infant girl. Despite his reservations, he decides to send her away with the proper rites she deserves, but will he be able to do so? Review:  'Sita,' written and directed by Abhinav, opens with a sequence that addressed two topics that are frequently practised in the country: casteism and abandoning girl children. Although it is only 19 minutes long, the film has a strong narrative and effectively conveys the feelings of young boy Badri (Om Kanojiya), who wants to perform the last rites for a deceased infant girl child he discovers on the stairs of a temple. But it’s not as easy as it appears. And he is confronted with reality, caught between casteism rules that forbid lower castes from participating in such rituals. What follows is a heart-wrenching message conveyed through the learnings of a youn...

                                  Freddy Synopsis:  A twisted take on love, loneliness and revenge. Freddy is a psychological thriller that sees the player and the one who got played indulge in a dangerous cat and mouse game. This race blurs the line between the victim and the villain. Review:  Haunted by a childhood trauma, Dr Freddy Ginwala (Kartik Aaryan) lives a fairly monotonous but comfortable life in Mumbai. He is a respected dentist but a lonely guy in his 30’s who has no one to call his own. With no friends except for a tortoise, no lover or parents, he craves companionship. His need borders on desperation as year after year, he gets stood up on dates, mocked and humiliated for his socially awkward existence and shamed for trying his luck with the ladies. Despite his professional success and empathy for those in need, Freddy is perceived as a loser. Things take a drastic turn when he ...

                                                             Drishyam 2 Drishyam 2 Story:  Vijay Salgaonkar and his family are still haunted by the fear and trauma of what happened seven years ago. With the police employing new ways and tracks to uncover the case, how long can the truth remain buried? And can Vijay save himself and his family again? Drishyam 2 Review:  The sequel to  Drishyam , which is adapted from a Malayalam thriller of the same name, begins where the 2015 film had left off—Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) emerging from a police station carrying a shovel. Seven years ago, the almost-perfect crime had a witness, and that's what gives the police impetus and ammo to revisit the Sameer Deshmukh missing-case investigation so many years later. Vijay is now a theatre owner who dreams of making a film based on ...

                                                                 Dasara Dasara Story:  Dharani (Nani), Suri (Deekshith Shetty) and Vennela (Keerthy Suresh) are friends since childhood. Their relatively calm lives are upended for reasons far beyond their control and things will never be the same. Dasara Review:  Debutant Srikanth Odela’s  Dasara  is a mixed bag and there’s no two ways about it. On one hand, the film is visually gripping, the characters seem like they’ve more to offer and the atmosphere feels like everything is about to come undone at any second. On the other hand, Srikanth sets up themes he never fully explores, or worse, wraps them up with hasty conclusions. Due to that, the sucker punches hit you hard and the rest…they just don’t. The setting is Veerlapally. Drinking at the Silk Bar (an ...

                                                      Pushpa: The Rise Story : Pushpa Raj is a coolie who rises in the world of red sandalwood smuggling. Along the way, he doesn’t shy from making an enemy or two. Review : With Pushpa: The Rise, Sukumar ventures into unchartered territory by making a rustic masala film filled with punch dialogues, characters that speak in a Chittoor dialect and a story that’s rooted deep in the region it’s set in. And seeing as how expectations were sky-high after Rangasthalam, what he delivers turns out to be a mixed bag that's over-long, falters at times and delivers what it promises at others. Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) is one of the many coolies in Seshachalam who chop down red sandalwood illegally and sell it by the kilo to powers-that-be. In a syndicate that consists of numerous players, Pushpa slowly learns to fin...

                                                                 Ram Setu Synopsis:  Is Ram Setu a myth or reality? An archaeologist (Akshay Kumar) must decode the origins of the mythical India-Sri Lanka underwater bridge, believed to be built by Lord Rama. Review:  Ram Setu comes across like a toothpaste ad where random actors dressed in white aprons assure you that their toothpaste is dentist recommended. The ‘doctor ki suno’ strategy is to convince people about the product’s scientific benefits and claims. Ram Setu does pretty much the same. It puts together characters parading as scientists, environmentalists, experts in archaeology with only one intention —they must acknowledge, approve and propagate the legacy of Shree Ram and Ram Setu (mythical bridge between India and Sri Lanka) as part of history and not m...