The Prom for The Love of Meryl Streep
Musicals, Prom and me
Not Just a High School Musical

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Numerounity
Ekta
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December 19, 2020 0 Comments
November 22, 2020 0 Comments
You may not know the language, so try the subtitles. Cause a good story is worth watching in any of the languages. One such film is- Magalir Mattum.
The storyline is simple- Three Convent friends reunite after a considerable period of time and how. The how is the second interesting part and the first interesting part is how their lives crossed and how they separated.
The film stars Jyotika who is an independent documentary filmmaker who lives with her to-be mother in law. And how she encourages and unfolds her dreams to reunite with her school friends. The mother in law is played by a feisty Urvashi.
The film also stars Bhanupriya, Saranya Poonvannam, and R Madhvan [in a special role].
Magalir means women and Mattum means- only. This is a women-oriented film with less hyper-end drama and mostly happy endings.
What made these friends part ways, how they crossed each other's lives, and how they reunite is a treat to watch.
The film is streaming on Zee5 and you can also find a Hindi dub on YouTube. The stories are somewhat relatable and will touch your heart and funny bones too. Performances are A-notch and the screenplay is smooth.
In the world of extreme violence, religion-based politics, and the objectification of women, Magalir Mattum is a fresh breeze. This is something unique to OTT unlike a very slow-moving Devi [on MXplayer] or so-called women-oriented dramas that has either pornographic content or inspid stories [example Rasbhari].
I really loved Urvashi in this film. Her performance [even in the Hindi dub] is energetic and makes you ask for more. So, if you like a good, light-hearted movie- go and watch it.
Numerounity Rating 4/5 stars for the different storyline
November 06, 2020 Film Review 0 Comments
For some reason, this film looked like an India-Pakistan match but with a lack of sportsman spirit. No matter how progressive I am, sometimes I fail to understand the pseudo-intellectuals point film-makers these days are trying to make. Are these points or mere catch bait conjectures to invite controversy and audience. However, you need to watch the piece collectively to find the overall flavor. IF Dolly-Kitty, a cinematic dish on the celluloid, it left me with mixed taste.
Thanks to Netflix, I watched it twice to see if my opinion changes- not much actually.
This is what I felt when I watched "Lipstick Under My Burkha" for the first time. I failed to understand the extreme opposition the film's release faced. I still remember turning halfway back home after the screening of the film was unceremoniously canceled. So when it was released theatrically, I went to watch it with my mom, coming back with embarrassment and bad taste and wondering- much ado about nothing. So, I watched that movie again, and the second time I liked it better. If you ignore the unnecessary wild sex scenes, filmed on lesser-known actors to create a sensation for the film, the film did worth it's salt esp narrating the stories of 4 different women, you can relate with personally and socially. In burkha or without it.
That element is missing in Dolly-Kitty. The sexual scenes are subtle here [of course the lead actress unlike lesser-known actress to keep the compromise away]. The women's stories are present and some could be relatable but the importance is given more to sensation than substance.
Let me tell you how. Here's what I liked and what I find flawed in the film. If "flaw" is an unsuitable word, let's say, what I find "objectionable to create a mere sensation.
Why do the new age film-makers think they need to sensationalize a story to sell it? And Hindu-Muslim angles come so handily for them. They want to show a burning issue in society? fair enough. But what next? The issue becomes a mere prop.
Similarly, the Muslim-Gurjar angle was one-sided, unnecessary, and amounts to mere rabble-rousing. The scene had no bearing on the film. What could have been a personality and power clash, was conveniently labeled as a religious clash? The girl did not get a bed in a hostel run by a Hindu woman, so she finds abode in a Christian hostel. Christian hostel had girls doing surrogacy, sleeping around for iPhone, and whatnot. The delivery guy is submissive cause he is a Muslim and the Muslim girl is sleeping around for an iPhone in name of a future. Really? Why the characters were not characters but religions?
The women-centric story looked like was made to mock feminism, in its own pseudo-feminist way. Aesthetic may be damned. I remember once how a teenager posted her blood-stained, menstruating post all over Instagram to show some hidden face of women empowerment. It is like a grown-up person peeing in the bed and posting the yellow-colored pee. It is right for a human to pee, why ashamed? So, what it is gross, the sensation is all we need, a cause sensation is a new form of empowerment. Aesthetic jaaye tel lene!
When did a large vagina installation in the city become aesthetic? The city is known for its rape and harassment culture. Well, that is how pseudo feminism will prevent rape. Cause boob is an old idea, bring the gross period blood, bring vagina and humiliate women who watch your film.
There is 2 minutes, a propaganda catalyst character who is a self-nominated "Culture protector". Fair enough. he does things to pace the storyline actually. After you are tired of Kitty and Rakesh's lackadaisical romance, this man jumps in, conducts a raid, and gets the lovers attending a Valentine days' rock show at a seeming government property, arrested. Why police arrested them remains a question but when the scene unfolds, you actually find yourself praising this guy as he helps the heroine in finding the truth about his married lover boy.
She should have gone and thanked him instead, she goes off and starts kissing a man without his consent, in a public place. The man apparently she had no qualms seeing having sex with her loose-character friend. Because she is a woman. Her brother-in-law touching her inappropriately on the first day of her meeting was gross, highly agreeable. However, the rest of the things were- women empowerment!
Kitty's character runs away from her "tribal" home, decked in fine Anita Dongre, Mango clothes from day 1, she finds drinking the leftover soda from her insensitive boss' bottle is more befitting than leaving a new-found job in a new city cause her request for salary advance failed. Having alcohol with men double her age who she just met, is liberating. Calling out her sister's fashion sense in a derogatory manner is righteous, yet cracking joked with her hostel friend who is dating a man who almost raped her is, compassionate. Well, I would not blame filmmakers here. In fact, I appreciate the filmmaker for showing what is the face of a new Indian woman like Kitty, who is killing the true voice of women empowerment by endorsing such pseudo-materialistic garbage in name of liberation.
In fact, I would prefer to watch Karan Johar's Poo any day over such half liberated yet righteous women characters like Kitty. Poo too came from humble beginnings, grew up to fashion diva, had bitchy undertones to her character, yet he was much better than the pseudo feminists of the veere di wedding world, except for Sonam Kapoor. I liked her as Avni in the film. Apparently, it was Avni who did not march the feminism flag unnecessarily, yet she knew her priorities well and was ok with her vulnerabilities in spite of being a successful lawyer than a dumb bimbette with fancy clothes. PS even though she now harness a desire to be a "foot in mouth" Jaya Bachchan, I still like her accrediting that statement to a momentary lapse of logic.
On the contrary, the other female character played by Kubra Sait in the film, in spite of having clear negative shades did better. Neelima Azim on the other hand was phenomenal. Even Konkona Sen Sharma's character is well-written and well-delivered. She flawlessly drove the concept of "frigidity" and her angst, her being of what she is without many props and contexts. Even the people who may not understand frigid the concept could relate without facing it. Konkona is more like Ratna Pathak Shah in lipstick under my burkha, a character who doesn't bother to trail pseudo feminism but just want to seek some happiness in her life through pure desires and consent.
Like the male characters in the film, apparently, the makers rushed to the climax, not keeping the audience state in mind. The climax looked cliche, convenient, and yet non-resonating. The audience waited with bated breath to know what "Dolly-Kitty" would do next? However, the makers were not keen and just hurried to finish. Watch the film to know or if you have seen the film, you will know.
The story even does not bother to give male characters a suiting end. No matter what their performances were, they were reduced to mere props in the end.
Is this movie all disgusting? No... there is a lot of creative brilliance you can attach with the film or the storytelling. The opening scene in a haunted house. The visible metaphor, the brilliant execution through Konkona's "you are hormonal" escapism is a piece of art. [If you can ignore Kitty's botched up dialect]
The film raises a finger on the gender sterotyping that makes children visit two different museuam purely basis their gender and not the choice is again worth it. Also, the unspoken struggle of children facing such a dilemma or the mother who does not know how to deal with it once her denial is over.
And the metaphor when a character says -Greater Noida is new Shanghai is the stark slap on the face of urban development, new-age consumerism, an overly marketed urbanization that sells soul in name of a better life, upward mobilization but offers very little in terms of real value and all that mirth comes with empty promises made in name of modern living.
Dolly kitty overall is a decent watch and could have been better if the over the top sexual overtones. religious conflict and selective hypocrisy were avoided.
It is like Bollywood once tried to break the stereotypes with some good films over the decades but suddenly it is creating new stereotypes. Frankenstein is further fueled up and debauchery is celebrated. While is there is a lot good in name of narrative, encouraging women to fly solo then succumb to the relationship that fellow humans can never offer or afford. I wonder how is it going to break this stereotype of reducing everything to sex and alcohol and abuse. Like I always say- content becomes the culture, and stereotyped culture does not help any society.
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October 24, 2020 0 Comments
I wanted to read this book but could not give the length and my scarcity of time. So when BBC/Netflix announced the forthcoming screening of "A Suitable Boy" based on a famous book by the same name, authored by Vikram Seth, I was excited.
My excitement went leaps and bounds when I found it is directed by another favorite director Mira Nair and had some impressive, ensemble star cast including Tabu, Randeep Hooda and, others.
Dude I waited for this to release more than the Gabbar waited for Holi [ref film Sholay]. And when I finally saw it, I consoled myself that this all preface and story will set in eventually and beautifully. And I did this till the end of the last episode. I will tell you why. But first the storyline.
A Suitable Boy- Story
A suitable boy is set in the post-independence era, in the beautiful province of West Bengal - Kolkata and Brahampur largely.
It is a story of two protagonists Lata and Maan Kapoor, leading their respective lives- one in pursuit of the right suitor for marrying and the other, in pursuit of love and wilderness.
Lata's story has a classic and yet very interesting angle, involving her tryst with love and selecting a husband from her varied suitors including the ones that her mother finds for her.
Wherein Maan Kapoor's life has a little more shades than love, it has politics and friendship too.
The story is set in the era when religious tension was quite high in Indian Hindu and Muslims, each displaying their own traits, basis the political situation than the religious altercations.
While her choice of a groom may little surprise you towards the end of the film, the due process is interesting and somewhere cliche.
The story revolves more around the romance and the weirdly-disrupted society, on the brim of yearning for attention and superficial endearment.
In spite of an impressive cast, The Suitable Boy feels outdated, boorish, and fails to touch a chord. One of the biggest drawbacks is the caricaturish English. Clearly, this web series is not made for India and more clearly, it represents India in quite a wrong perspective, a lot like how slumdog did. English is very weird and you feel too outlandish in the approach.
While the backdrop has quite a vintage appeal but is a little far-fetched at times. Even though the backdrop is 1951, the series in spite of having a political angle fails to capture the mood of that era. If I may use the word- Indian society is shown hypocrite and slut. That balance is not there. I do not want to bring this up as I truly do not believe in the religious divide but the Hindu-Muslim angle was lop-sided and amounted to further create the divide.
Apart from religion, there is another successful formula of sex, well embossed in this series. Some of the women including the protagonist at times are shown absolute caricaturish, mean, and made Buffon of themselves.
A Suitable Boy: The Cast
Maan Kapoor's character is again OTT and Ishan Khattar fails to create any spark or impact. The character actors were more interesting and impactful
It was good to see seasoned actors like Vijay Raaz, Sheeba Chaddha, Vijay Verma [he was more impressive than Ishan Khattar even in that minuscule role which you feel was just created to keep the story going for few insignificant minutes or maybe show the protagonist in a heroic light.
Likewise, you do know why Kulbhushan Kharbanda was there and how added to the story except by having a role created to include few actors in the series. Tabu's role was as cliche as any other brothel owner in the 80s Hindi films. And Vivaan Shah just looked like an act of bad nepotism with no value add in the series nor having any significant screen presence. Randeep Hooda did his Monsoon wedding stint and was another prop in spite of a good screen presence. Lata Manikatala looks promising and possesses huge potential for Indo-Western projects. Namit Shah's role looked more like a tick in the box but he played it well, though looked a little out of place.There were however some fresh faces like the actor who played Ishan's friend [Shubham Saraf as Feroze] and another one who did Kabir's role. They looked apt and did their job without getting OTT.
ANOTHER noteworthy performance was from the actor [Mahira Kakar] who played Lata's mother. She shone adorably even in her caricaturish role, bringing some believability to her character. Rasika Duggal was brilliant too. Wonder why Sahana Goswami's character was made so loud when she could have seductive and sensational. The sex scene looked desperate to bring audiences.
Not to mention there were some other irrelevant stitchings like Maan Kapoor's sharp nephew who did "political analytics" for his grandpa. Or the sudden appearance of Kabir in the saint's mela only to rescue a boy, and parallel track of Lata's sister-in-law's sister, making the entire family looked buffoonish for no apparent reason. I would rather re-read Chetan' Bhagat's Two States.
The web-series have all the famous surnames from Mehras to Kapoors, Khan, and Chatterji's, yet it makes most of them look unbelievable. The music and poetry are classy and good. The backdrop is regal and vintage. Impressive cast yet non-pleasing story. Overall, the suitable boy is an unsuitable Indian portrayal, more caricaturish than real. And quite over the top. Blame it on the story or production pressures, it fails to impress, woo, or create excitement that the evolved web-series watcher expects.
In "The Suitable Boy" frames are beautiful, actors are noteworthy but the characters are sketchy and impact the whole storyline, making it sound [sorry for repeating] Caricaturish.
I suggest you rather watch "Serious Men" starring Nawajuddin Siddiqui or even Taj Mahal 1980 on Netflix.
Numerounity rating: 2/5
September 12, 2020 0 Comments
With the advent of online streaming platforms in India, India viewers are having all the indoor fun, watching a whole new gambit of movies, web-series, and their favorite actors at the comfort of their home.
You name the genre and you have it at your fingertips, in all 3 screens- Mobile, Laptop, and TV.
Comedy, Drama, Action, Horror, and even crime thriller. All those who complained that India is not making enough out of box content, complain no more and Thanks to Zee5, that is indulging its subscribers with world-class content across the genres including the wild-wild world of crime and psychological thrillers.
Talking about Psychological thrillers, there is one series that raises quite a ball when released- Abhay starring Bollywood cutie- KunalKemmu.
Yes, KunalKhemmu is back with Abhay 2, testing his limits again trying to overcome bigger criminals and newer challenges.
Abhay 2 on Zee5
Abhay2 is a Hindi language action-thriller streaming on Zee5, with 8 on your seat episodes that follow the inverted detective format of story-telling. He is joined by a stellar cast of actors like Ram Kapoor, Asha Negi, Nidhi Singh, Bidita Bag, RaghavJuval, and Chunkey Pandey.
This season thinks gets a little dark, much gorier, and horrific with fictionalized crimes, showing the depths of humankind infested with sociopaths and psychopaths within the garbs of normal and accomplished personalities alike.
Here's a quick synopsis of few episodes to give you a peek into the world of organized crimes, without giving away the mystery [ NO SPOILers]
Episode 1: Brain Soup
A criminal's horrific acts to fights his own inferiority complex
Episode 2: One-legged skeleton
A prostitute on kill
Episode 3: Game beings: This has an interesting cat and mouse chase between AbhayPratap Singh and the Antagonist. I won't tell you who. You need to watch it
Episode 4: 12-hour Challenge
A psychopath cop on a sexual hunt
Episode 5: Misplaced Retribution
Damages child marriages can cause to society.
PS: only 5 episodes are out; the remaining 3 will make their entry soon.
All the above-mentioned cases are in some ways a mirror to the society, its thwarting atrocities, and how some weak minds further succumb to those atrocities.
The series is a gory reminder of the unsafe environment around us, for men, women, and hardworking individuals alike. As scary it may sound, the characters would remind of certain legendary or common crime cases that you have read in newspapers or watched on TV.
Gory Alert
As the story gets murkier and horrific, the narrative may have many gory visuals and advised to watch only under parental guidance.
What to expect in Abhay2
1) A powerful and fresh ensemble of caste
2) India's Own Crime Thriller Series in the Hindi language
3) Engaging and on your seat cases where you want to know what went behind some of the criminals [in this show] minds and how Abhay finds a logical path to solves most illogical cases.
4) Wide arrays of antagonists and villain
5) A very strong protagonist played by KunalKemmu
After a sickening decade of typical saas-bahu brigade, and overload of horror stories, watching an action-thriller is not just an interesting break but also a reckoner of crimes in society. As a viewer, I always preferred watching short stories rather than whole hours of wild goose chase over multiple-episode. And Abhay delivers that without adding too much of unwanted suspense over seasons and yet keeps the show fans interested. I totally loved KunalKemmu's take of Abhay- Subtle, less chatty, and yet strong. The show is definitely not for the weak heart nor for people who do not like watching lot of blood and gory on-screen even though they are not the weak heart. For rest, go ahead, watch and remember- sooner or later every crime/criminal comes to justice.
Happy viewing
Numerounity
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August 27, 2020 2 Comments
August 24, 2020 1 Comments
I have always been an admirer of Pakistani dramas. I very well remember the days when I started watching them in the early 1990s. Yes, the 1990s, much before YouTube or the concept of web-series started. The first-ever drama that I saw was the classic Tanhaiyaa. My uncle prompted me to watch it for the lead female character whose glimpses he saw in me. I really loved their characterization and the way they mouth Urdu. And then there was no looking back.
In fact, when Zee Tv launched a channel - Zindagi in India, I was every inch excited and renewed my DTH connection solely for that channel.
A lot happened in between, yet the love for Pakistani dramas did not fade even if it meant that I have to watch them on the web. Thankfully, Zee Tv's web streaming platform Zee5 has an array of Pakistani dramas and series. And that's where I saw- Churails!
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Just A Murder, A Killing or Heinous Crime? A pregnant elephant died after being fed a cracker laden pineapple in Kerala. And no it was...
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