‘Jersey’ movie review: Not a blockbuster. Just better
At this point of my life, I am so done with ‘blockbusters’. I watched a few of them recently and could not relate to the hype they got. I mean why would people line up in the wee hours of the morning to watch a movie that has no logic, poor screenplay and is just a collection of visuals that together make no sense? Different folks, different strokes, I guess.
But what pains me more are films that get good critical reviews but fail in the box office as they’re overshadowed by the blockbusters. The 2022 Hindi-language sports drama “Jersey” turns out to be one such film. Written and directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri, Jersey, now available on Netflix, is a remake of a 2019 Telugu film with the same name.
I have watched both the versions, and thoroughly enjoyed each. Why? Because both have a brilliant script, earnest storytelling and impressive acting. (Here I review the Hindi version.) Shahid Kapoor in the lead gives one of the best performances in his film career–a role that unfortunately was criminally underrated.
Arjun Talwar (Shahid Kapoor) is an amazing cricketer from Chandigarh, India in the mid-80s. He has the highest batting average in all of India and is a strong contender to enter the Indian national team. Unfortunately, because of nepotism in selection, he does not make the cut. A frustrated Arjun then quits cricket for good.
Fast forward to 1996, Arjun is living a quiet life with his wife Vidya (Mrunal Thakur ) and son Kittu (Prit Kamani). He has been fired from his job on corruption charges with an ongoing trial to settle the matter. He is basically jobless and dependent on Vidya. When Kittu, a cricket academy student, asks Arjun to buy him an Indian team jersey for his birthday, he is rendered helpless. The jersey is unaffordable and Vidya outright refuses to lend him the money since she is running the house on a tight budget.
This brings Arjun back to the cricket ground, solely for money at first. But when his son nudges him to play more, Arjun, at 36, rejoins professional cricket. His attempts at regaining form and making another attempt to get into the Indian national team again makes up the rest of the story.
Jersey is a feel-good movie with a sad, unexpected ending. But it is also a story of hope and struggle which does not leave the audience depressed in the end. The makers have put in every effort to make the movie realistic and relatable to a nation that eats, sleeps and breathes cricket.
This is not Shahid Kapoor’s first film as a cricketer but this is where he shows how much he has matured as an actor. Kapoor drives the film forward with his skills and temperament. I read some people complain about how his acting in Jersey is similar to the 2019 movie “Kabir Singh” and I beg to differ.
Kabir Singh was an arrogant, possessive and violent lover who had a wealthy family to back him up. Arjun Talwar is a desperate father who wants to make enough money to buy a cricket jersey for his son. There can be no comparison between the two characters.
Kapoor gives a brilliant acting performance and makes you believe no one else could have carried out this role of a professional cricketer with such aplomb. The effort he has put in picking up the nuances of batting shows. But the credit must also go to the filmmakers who hired sports action director Rob Miller to ensure all the cricketing scenes are professionally choreographed and directed. The team deserves extra points for making that effort because many Bollywood sports films just fail to convince the audiences that their characters can actually play the sport in question.
Who should watch it?
Jersey is a beautiful film without much theatrics and can be enjoyed by people who love cricket or just enjoy good movies. The 2hrs 50mins length seems a little long but then I can’t recall many boring scenes that drag the film down.
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Sports drama
Director: Gowtam Tinnanuri
Actors: Shahid Kapoor, Mrinal Thakur
Run time: 2hrs 50mins
‘Panchayat’ series review: As good as an OTT release can get
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, OTTs were uncharted territory for me. I loved the cinema hall experience with that smell of hot coffee and warm popcorn. But that love is now gone, especially when I think about the whole process of driving to a theater, buying an expensive ticket, sitting with random strangers and then having to pay exorbitant parking fees. No, sir, not happening.
With OTTs (I have Netflix and Amazon Prime), you get everything for cheap, and the convenience of starting a movie or series whenever and from wherever you want cannot beat anything. The bigger plus are the new releases on the platforms. OTT releases are winning big time compared to what cinema halls have been screening of late.
Recently released on Amazon Prime, “Panchayat 2” is one such winner–and the perfect justification for why I don’t waste any more time in cinema halls. The first season of the comedy-drama web series, created by The Viral Fever, was first aired in April 2020 and went on to win multiple awards in India.
Banking on the critical and commercial success of the first season, our favorite characters from Panchayat return to the screen with the same lovableness and charisma. Abhishek (Jitendra Kumar), the reluctant Panchayat secretary, is now more adjusted to the life and people of Phulera, Uttar Pradesh.
He has built synergy with his office team Prahlad (Faisal Malik) and Vikas (Chandan Roy). He has a cordial relationship with Brij Bhushan Dubey aka Pradhan ji (Raghubir Yadav) and Manju Devi (Neena Gupta), the actual Panchayat Pradhan. Abhishek’s proximity to the Pradhan family also brings him close to their daughter Rinki (Sanvikaa). Everything is going well with the Phulera Panchayat group when Bhushan (Durgesh Kumar), dubbed Banraakas by the villagers, starts meddling in their affairs, mainly owing to a past grudge with Pradhan ji.
Although there is continuity for some plots from the first season, Panchayat Season 2 can be watched and enjoyed as a standalone series. Deepak Kumar Mishra again takes the director’s seat for the eight episodes of the web series written by Chandan Kumar.
Centered in a small rural village, Panchayat’s simple, organic story has the underpinnings of a broader political statement. Instead of complicating the plot with a heavy juxtaposition of the personal and political, it uses narratives to tell the story of most of rural India, which is still far away from the mainstream filmmakers’ lens.
There is not one name in the lead roles that overpower the others in Panchayat. Yes, sachib ji Abhishek gets to be the center of attention in the series. Still, the rest of the cast, composed of industry veterans Neena Gupta and Raghubir Yadav, is the film’s lifeline. My personal favorite is Vikas, the office assistant. Actor Chandan Roy excellently portrays a dehaati villager who is not one of the most intelligent in the group but still loyal and dependable.
Panchayat’s imagery of a rural UP village is grounded and realistic. The attachment to simplicity and realism is probably what makes this series loved by scores of people watching it. Maybe they can relate more to Abhishek, Pradhan Ji or Vikas than Bachhan Pandey or Chulbul Pandey. We are talking about real people and real lives in a fictional village, and people identifying with everything within. Maybe mainstream Bollywood filmmakers need to be more mindful of the audiences’ changing preferences from some of the latest OTT releases.
The rest of the production seems to be aligned to entertain and not overwhelm the audience–not just the film’s writing, acting, screenplay and direction. The whole package works for Panchayat.
Who should watch it?
Everyone! No exception. Even if you don’t understand Hindi, the subtitles are good enough to tell you what's going on. Panchayat 2 makes it to my ‘must watch’ list, and I am sure it is on the lists of most of my fellow movie buffs.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Genre: Comedy, drama
Actors: Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta, Raghubir Yadav
Director: Deepak Kumar Mishra
Run time: 4hrs (approx.)
“Toolsidas Junior” movie review: An innocent biopic of a young champion
I had watched a trailer of “Toolsidas Junior” a couple of months ago, anticipated it, and then completely forgotten about it until its recent release on Netflix. Written and directed by Mridul Mahendra, the Hindi-language sports drama could be the only Indian biopic ever made on a snooker player.
Toolsidas (Rajiv Kapoor) is a champion snooker player in the 90’s Kolkata, India. He is also a middle class family man living with his wife (Tasveer Kamil) and sons Goti (Chinmai Chandranshuh) and Midi (Varun Buddhadev). One of Toolsidas’ most coveted life goals is winning the Calcutta Club Snooker Championship, something he has never done, perhaps due to his drinking habit.
In the 1994 tournament, Toolsidas makes it to the final of the championship. But then he is tricked into drinking before the final match by the multi-time winner Jimmy Tandon (Dalip Tahil). Toolsidas loses his focus and cops a massive defeat at Jimmy’s hands.
Watching the game in the audience, his youngest son Midi vows to put up his father’s name on the board of winners someday. Thus begins the 13-year-old’s journey of learning and mastering the game to beat the city’s bigwigs. In the process, Midi also connects to local legend Mohammed Salaam (Sanjay Dutt), a former champion, who coaches him to perfection.
Toolsidas Junior is a heartwarming family drama that is likely targeted at younger audiences. I say younger audiences because the film retains this innocence—both in the storyline and production—throughout. Although based on a true story, Toolsidas is not a detailed biopic like, say, “Mary Kom” (2014) or “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” (2013). The timeline is much shorter and instead of only glorifying the protagonist, the film focuses more on the coming-of-age of the main characters.
The film features one of the biggest names in Bollywood—but it is not Sanjay Dutt’s film. Neither does it belong to the late Rajiv Kapoor—a member of the famous Kapoor family—who makes his final and posthumous film appearance. Although senior actors contribute to the film’s likability with their skills and experience, it is the younger ones who steal the show.
Varun Buddhadev as the young Midi is obviously the center of attraction. The young actor’s character transitions from a noob to a champion within the film and as audience, we can see his growth and empathize with him. Midi is innocent yet bright, a teenager yet mature where he needs to be.
Accompanying Midi onscreen is Chinmai Chandranshuh as his elder brother Goti. In his late teens, Goti is the hustler in the family. He knows what’s happening in his surroundings more than Midi and is sometimes a kind of bridge between Midi and the rest of the world. While he is a caring elder brother, Goti can’t help burdening the younger one with expectations. Although quite young, Chandranshuh is an experienced actor with almost half a dozen roles under his belt and this shows in Toolsidas Junior as he teams up with Buddhadev to create heartwarming situations and at times to provide comic reliefs.
But the 2hrs 12mins screen time does feel stretched for a plot that does not require much explanation and backstories.
One can also feel that the departure of Rajiv Kapoor before completing the shooting has had some effect in the film’s storyline. Yet the story could still have been handled better, especially considering that the film’s writer and director—Mridul Mahendra—is the actual Midi and the film is about him and his family.
Who should watch it?
Although Toolsidas Junior feels as if it has been made for youngsters, it is a heartwarming, feel-good movie that can be enjoyed by everyone. With the option of skipping through the boring bits on Netflix, you can surely start watching it.
Genre: Sports drama
Rating: 3.5 stars
Actors: Rajiv Kapoor, Chinmai Chandranshuh, Varun Buddhadev, Sanjay Dutt
Director: Mridul Mahendra
Run time: 2hrs 12 mins
Sharmaji Namkeen movie review: A fitting ode to late Rishi Kapoor
Rarely do we come across a film like “Sharmaji Namkeen.” Available on Amazon Prime, the 2022 Hindi-language comedy drama has two different actors playing the titular role of Sharma ji. Unfortunately, the decision to feature two actors interchangeably in the lead role was not creative experimentation. The sad demise of actor Rishi Kapoor in April 2020, when the shooting was only half complete, forced the filmmakers into this bold experiment.
Brij Gopal Sharma (Rishi Kapoor/Paresh Rawal) is given voluntary retirement by his company, much to his displeasure. A workaholic all his life, now the 58-year-old middle-class widower from West Delhi does not have anything useful to do and as energetic as he is, the first few months of retirement drive him near-crazy. His sons—the elder Rinku (Suhail Nayyar) and younger Vincy (Taaruk Raina)—live with him but are of no help when it comes to finding something for him to do all day.
After having tried a few antics to get back into action, Sharma’s close friend Chaddha (Satish Kaushki) gets him a gig as a ‘specialist cook’ for a kitty party. Having cooked for himself and his sons all his life, Sharma’s first attempt as a professional cook impresses the women in the party, and they start hiring him on a regular basis. Sharma also becomes friends with the ladies, special Veena Manchanda (Juhi Chawla), a recently-widowed boutique owner.
Sharma is having the time of his life experimenting with cooking and enjoying himself in the process, without letting either of his sons know about his new venture as a home chef. How long Sharma ji hides this secret from his family and what happens when they find out makes up the rest of the film.
Sharmaji Namkeen’s storyline is simple and organic. There are no dramatic conflicts and plot twists of regular Bollywood movies. The film opens and closes in feel-good notes and everything we see in between are relatable and enjoyable. The setting and the characters of Sharmaji Namkeen are the products of thoughtful writing that do not go overboard at any time.
Had Sharmaji Namkeen not had a backstory of its own, it wouldn’t have been as poignant to watch though. This has less to do with the filmmakers and more with the loss of Bollywood’s iconic actor Rishi Kapoor. Coming from the grand family of Kapoors, Rishi Kapoor was one of its most successful among them. Having watched most of his movies and applauded his acting over the years, watching Sharmaji Namkeen as his last ever appearance was kind of unpleasant.
But staying true to his family’s motto of “the show must go on,” Kapoor does perform in Sharmaji Namkeen like he knew it was his last film. He is so comfortable with the character of Sharmaji that it feels like he has been preparing for it for years. As the happy-go-lucky Sharmaji, Kapoor oozes with energy and positivity.
While Kapoor embodies Sharmaji with natural elegance, Paresh Rawal had an even bigger challenge. After Kapoor’s untimely demise in the middle of production, his close friend Rawal was roped in to complete the film. And it’s not like he had to appear somewhere in the climax for a couple of scenes. Rawal in fact gets almost as much screen time as Kapoor.
The senior actor with decades of experience playing all kinds of roles fills in Kapoor’s big shoes just right. Rawal matches Kapoor’s skill and energy without trying to overshadow any of the scenes performed by the late actor. I would like to call this a tag team wrestling match where the combo of Kapoor and Rawal beat all odds.
Who should watch it?
Sharmaji Namkeen is the last Rishi Kapoor film. If you have any attachment with the Kapoor family or Bollywood, you’ll probably watch this or have already done so. If not, this is a wholesome movie you can enjoy with your family and friends or absolutely alone too. It is basically 119 minutes of good writing, direction and acting.
Rating: 4 stars
On Amazon Prime
Genre: Comedy/drama
Actors: Rishi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Juhi Chawla
Director: Hitesh Bhatia
Run time: 1hr 59mins
Sharmaji Namkeen movie review: A fitting ode to late Rishi Kapoor
Rarely do we come across a film like “Sharmaji Namkeen.” Available on Amazon Prime, the 2022 Hindi-language comedy drama has two different actors playing the titular role of Sharma ji. Unfortunately, the decision to feature two actors interchangeably in the lead role was not creative experimentation. The sad demise of actor Rishi Kapoor in April 2020, when the shooting was only half complete, forced the filmmakers into this bold experiment.
Brij Gopal Sharma (Rishi Kapoor/Paresh Rawal) is given voluntary retirement by his company, much to his displeasure. A workaholic all his life, now the 58-year-old middle-class widower from West Delhi does not have anything useful to do and as energetic as he is, the first few months of retirement drive him near-crazy. His sons—the elder Rinku (Suhail Nayyar) and younger Vincy (Taaruk Raina)—live with him but are of no help when it comes to finding something for him to do all day.
After having tried a few antics to get back into action, Sharma’s close friend Chaddha (Satish Kaushki) gets him a gig as a ‘specialist cook’ for a kitty party. Having cooked for himself and his sons all his life, Sharma’s first attempt as a professional cook impresses the women in the party, and they start hiring him on a regular basis. Sharma also becomes friends with the ladies, special Veena Manchanda (Juhi Chawla), a recently-widowed boutique owner.
Sharma is having the time of his life experimenting with cooking and enjoying himself in the process, without letting either of his sons know about his new venture as a home chef. How long Sharma ji hides this secret from his family and what happens when they find out makes up the rest of the film.
Sharmaji Namkeen’s storyline is simple and organic. There are no dramatic conflicts and plot twists of regular Bollywood movies. The film opens and closes in feel-good notes and everything we see in between are relatable and enjoyable. The setting and the characters of Sharmaji Namkeen are the products of thoughtful writing that do not go overboard at any time.
Had Sharmaji Namkeen not had a backstory of its own, it wouldn’t have been as poignant to watch though. This has less to do with the filmmakers and more with the loss of Bollywood’s iconic actor Rishi Kapoor. Coming from the grand family of Kapoors, Rishi Kapoor was one of its most successful among them. Having watched most of his movies and applauded his acting over the years, watching Sharmaji Namkeen as his last ever appearance was kind of unpleasant.
But staying true to his family’s motto of “the show must go on,” Kapoor does perform in Sharmaji Namkeen like he knew it was his last film. He is so comfortable with the character of Sharmaji that it feels like he has been preparing for it for years. As the happy-go-lucky Sharmaji, Kapoor oozes with energy and positivity.
While Kapoor embodies Sharmaji with natural elegance, Paresh Rawal had an even bigger challenge. After Kapoor’s untimely demise in the middle of production, his close friend Rawal was roped in to complete the film. And it’s not like he had to appear somewhere in the climax for a couple of scenes. Rawal in fact gets almost as much screen time as Kapoor.
The senior actor with decades of experience playing all kinds of roles fills in Kapoor’s big shoes just right. Rawal matches Kapoor’s skill and energy without trying to overshadow any of the scenes performed by the late actor. I would like to call this a tag team wrestling match where the combo of Kapoor and Rawal beat all odds.
Who should watch it?
Sharmaji Namkeen is the last Rishi Kapoor film. If you have any attachment with the Kapoor family or Bollywood, you’ll probably watch this or have already done so. If not, this is a wholesome movie you can enjoy with your family and friends or absolutely alone too. It is basically 119 minutes of good writing, direction and acting.
Rating: 4 stars
On Amazon Prime
Genre: Comedy/drama
Actors: Rishi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Juhi Chawla
Director: Hitesh Bhatia
Run time: 1hr 59mins
‘Thar’ movie review: Parched of good writing and acting
India’s Thar Desert, with an area of 200,000 square km, is a massive expanse of land that covers the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. Sparsely populated and terribly parched, the desert is a grim setting for any movie. But Netflix’s latest “Thar” opens with shots of the Thar that redefine the aesthetics of the Great Indian Desert.
Director Raj Singh Chaudhary and his group of cinematographers create stunning visuals all through the Hindi-language action thriller. Set in 1985, the film is based in Munabao, a small village in Rajasthan near the India-Pakistan border that also happens to be a transit for cross-border opium trade.
Alongside the desert’s exquisite visuals, the film begins with the unmistakable voice of Anil Kapoor, who as Inspector Surekha Singh introduces the village and gives an idea of what’s transpiring there.
Munabao has been a sleepy village since Inspector Singh’s posting there. But then an unknown assailant is shot and brutally slaughtered in broad daylight; a family preparing for their daughter’s wedding is attacked and killed by merciless dacoits. Suddenly, Singh has his hands full, trying to find the culprits behind both the incidents and figuring out if the two events are connected.
The arrival of a new man in town—Siddharth Kumar (Harshvardhan Kapoor) —further complicates things for the inspector. Siddharth claims to be an antiques dealer and hires a local called Panna (Jitendra Joshi) to work for him. While Panna is away, he convinces his wife Chetna (Fatima Sana Shaikh) into keeping him in their house as a tenant.
Styled after the Western noir genre, Thar is a dark and gritty slow burner that features the classic story of crime, revenge and punishment. Think of any John Wayne or Gary Cooper movie, but in a much darker tone and customized for the Indian OTT audience.
I mention the OTT audience particularly because Thar is not something Bollywood would produce. If it did, the 2007 suspense thriller “Manorama Six Feet Under,” also based in Rajasthan with so similarities to this movie, would not have bombed at the box office despite so many good reviews.
The legendary actor Anil Kapoor’s son Harshvardhan has previously tried to enter the Bollywood film industry but was rejected by the audience and critics alike. Thar is the starlet’s attempt to enter the Indian OTT multiverse.
But here too he fails to show any good skills and his two or three facial expressions soon get boring to watch. Kapoor Jr. is terribly outshined by his father. The movie was an opportunity for Harshvardhan to redeem himself, but he does not seem to be trying much. In a movie based in a rural Rajasthani village in the 80s, Harshvardhan is still a 2022 Mumbai-boy.
The senior Kapoor, however, gets into character easily and shows us how he’s maintained a stellar reputation for himself in Bollywood and Hollywood for all these years. But the real show stealer is actor Fatima Sana Shaikh. I admit I am no expert in Rajasthani language, but Shaikh does seem to have nailed the accent and the attitude of a local Rajasthani woman.
In her rather limited role as Chetna, Shaikh gives her best and manages to come into the spotlight even when the filmmakers seemingly did not want her to. I can’t but imagine the actor’s impact had her character been given more thought while writing.
The writing in Thar is as mediocre as Harshvardhan’s acting. It takes inspiration from tried-and-tested movie stories but does not improvise much to create something of its own. A little bit of novelty could have given the film more substance than it now has.
Who should watch it?
Thar is a slow thriller with a good amount of violence and not much suspense. So it’s basically a straight-up thriller one can enjoy without giving much thought to the (predictable) storyline. But a regular Western noir audience would know how to judge better than that, right?
Rating: 2.5 stars
Director: Raj Singh Chaudhar
Actor: Anil Kapoor, Harshvardhan Kapoor, Fatima Sana Shaikh
Genre: Action thriller
Run time: 1hr 48mins
‘All the Old Knives’ movie review: More melodrama than suspense
Spy thrillers are also so intriguing to watch. Not only do you get to follow a suspenseful plot, you can also have a peek into the lives of the people who are supposedly making the world a safer place for the rest of us. Men and women in expensive suits, fighting against Russia, North Korea and some Arab countries is the general representation of spy thrillers coming out of Hollywood.
“All the Old Knives” available on Amazon Prime Video is not so different. It’s a spy thriller set in a world that feels all too real. The film centers on Henry Pelham (Chris Pine), an ex-CIA agent who is having trouble adjusting to a normal life because of a harrowing incident in the past.
In early 2020, Henry is informed by his boss Vick Wallinger (Laurence Fishburne) that the CIA has reopened the case of Turkish Alliance 127, a 2012 terrorist hijacking that ended in a tragedy. The CIA Headquarters suspect a leak from the Vienna station, where both Henry and Vick were working at the time of the incident.
Also working in Vienna in 2012 was Celia Harrison (Thandiwe Newton), who was in a relationship with Henry at the time. The two had drifted apart after the incident, with Celia finding a new life for herself with a husband and daughter in California. Nevertheless, as the mystery deepens, Henry is sent to interview Celia to find out if she was part of the leak.
The meeting between the two former colleagues and lovers becomes the center of the movie, with repeated flashbacks to 2012. In these flashbacks, the audience gets to see a host of other characters—from different security agencies, Russian government, Islamic terrorists, Chechen rebels—all contributing to the conspiracy behind the Flight 127 terrorist hijacking and its tragic ending.
Storytelling is what the film and its characters do throughout. Something that does not settle too well with me. When I read the movie’s description, I had expected it to be an on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller a la James Bond or Jason Bourne film franchises.
The film even starts like a spy thriller with violence and suspense taking place within the first few scenes. Even the color tone on the screen promises an exciting action-packed thriller. But as the film progresses, you soon realize you are in for a let-down.
Disguised as a suspense thriller, All the Old Knives turns out to be a drama, staged to reunite two scorned lovers, with all other characters and plots just playing a side role. Henry is evidently not over Celia yet as he keeps getting flashbacks of his time with her in the past. The interview with Celia to find out the truth about the hijacking seems more like Henry’s attempt to reconcile with her.
With his well-cut suit and fancy car, Chris Pine’s Henry does at times look like the 007 star Pierce Brosnan. But he never gets to go off like 007. Henry is limited to sitting at a table of a fancy restaurant, sipping wine and talking about the past. He is a keen strategist for the CIA, and that’s all he is it seems.
In all this, Laurence Fishburne—the three time Emmy and Tony award winning actor—gets undeservingly sidelined. His first few scenes as Vick suggest that he may have a crucial hand in the film’s proceedings but no: we see far too little of the actor. This is a role that could have been given to anyone but filmmakers decided to choose the very best in business and make him underperform.
Who should watch it?
I might be a bit biased here because for me espionage thrillers need to have at least a little bit of action, or tension. All the Old Knives lacks both. There are some elements of surprise and intrigue that lead to the climax but by the time the film starts to grab the audience’s attention, it is too late. Still a decent watch for those who like drama, melodrama and more.
Rating: 2 stars
Genre: Suspense, drama
Actors: Chris Pine, Laurence Fishburne, Thandiwe Newton
Director: Janus Metz Pedersen
Run time: 1hr 41mins
“Mai: A Mother’s Rage” series review: The welcome rebirth of a daily soap star
I remember Sakshi Tanwar from back in the early 2000s. As an actor, I’d never noticed her. She was just this saree-clad character, crying her eyes out every other day in a never-ending daily soap which had my mother glued to the TV every night. Never thought I’d deliberately watch her on screen.
But “Mai: A Mother’s Rage,” one of the latest releases on Netflix, gave me that chance. “Mai” is a Hindi-language thriller drama that marks the comeback of the television star who had in all these years built a rather stereotypical image. In Mai, Tanwar breaks her own norms and features in a role she has never tried before.
Sheel Chaudhary (Tanwar) is a middle-class working woman and mother.
She works as a nurse at an elderly-care home while her husband Yash (Vivek Mushran) is a freelancing handyman. All is well in the Chadudhary household until one day Sheel witnesses her daughter Supriya (Wamiqa Gabbi) being hit by a truck right in front of her eyes.
The family is in shock but soon Sheel realizes that there’s more than meets the eye in this case. Her daughter’s accident seems intentional. Determined to find the truth, Sheel starts sniffing around for clues and ends up unraveling a conspiracy that involves powerful people who could end her life. But as a grieving mother, Sheel transforms from a caring nurse to a ferocious detective who can beg, borrow or kill to get justice for her slain daughter.
This transition in Sheel’s character is where Mai’s success lies. It is abrupt but impactful and Tanwar has pulled it off with skills she has probably never shown before on screen. Creator of the web series Atul Mongia and director Anshai Lal have also ensured that Tanwar gets full support in acting as well as production.
With only six episodes, each of around 45-50 minutes, Mai is a ‘watch in a weekend’ kind of series that really entertains you for every minute you spend on it. The series moves at a medium pace without diverging from the original story. There are no backstories or sideward glances, which make this series more like a feature film that never veers off its central character.
While the writing and direction are commendable, the acting steals the show. As mentioned, as most of the characters do not get a backstory in Mai, Tanwar in the lead gets to own most of the screen time. And she deservingly takes over every bit of spotlight with her acting prowess.
We’ve talked about Sheel’s transition in the series but it’s never absolute or complete. At times, she succumbs to her husband and his family as an unimposing middle-class woman while in the next scene, she is pouring boiling water over someone she thinks might be responsible for her daughter’s murder.
Even emotionally, Sheel’s interaction with her daughter’s ex-boyfriend SP Farooque Siddiqui (Ankur Ratan), whom she partly blames for her daughter’s fate, is taxing enough. But her biggest challenge is facing the powerful businessman Jawahar Vyas (Prashant Narayanan) and his aide Neelam (Raima Sen), who could be the main culprits behind her daughter’s murder.
Also, her interactions with the police, the goons, her colleagues and her own family calls on Sheel to wear different masks to hide her true plans. This complexity in characterization and situations makes Sheel one of the strongest protagonists we have seen recently. Actor Tanwar impresses the audience she had probably never catered to in the past. Tanwar fills every layer of her character with her natural acting and is a treat throughout.
Who should watch it?
‘Mai’ is a thriller that will delight all kinds of audiences. There is little not to not like about the series, so we can recommend this to a broad audience (although the language might not be appropriate for young children). Sakshi Tanwar’s fans have probably watched it by now. Even if you have not, you’ll still enjoy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YsPhl3d4Cg
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Thriller, drama
Actors: Sakshi Tanwar, Vivek Mushran, Raima Sen, Wamiqa Gabbi
Director: Anshai Lal
Run time: 5hrs approx.
