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I only have one rule in life. When a Dhanush film releases, I have to watch it first day, first show, especially when it is premiering globally on multiple digital platforms on the same day. I’m kidding. But I am 100 percent sure there are enough Dhanush fans around the world who follow the first-day-first-show rule, online or off. The South Indian movie star’s latest “Jagame Thandhiram” (transl. The Universe is a ruse) probably also got the same reception on its June 18 Netlfix release as it has been on ‘trending’ since. 

Written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj, the Tamil-language (also available in other Hindi languages) gangster movie draws a lot of inspiration from Hollywood while keeping the vibrancy of South Indian cinema alive. One of the biggest names from the South, with a string of successive hits under his belt, Dhanush delivers another power-packed performance in the lead role, maintaining the flawless consistency he’s had most of his career. 

Suruli (Dhanush), a small-time gangster and paratha chef from a small Tamil Nadu town, is headhunted by a London-based gang to work for them. Lured by the prospect of earning huge money and to escape some gang war-related problems at home, Suruli leaves for England to work under Peter Sprott (James Cosmo), a politically-connected gangster and white supremacist. 

Dhanush’s job there is to eliminate Peter’s arch-rival Sivadoss (Joju George), a Sri Lankan Tamilian gangster who is also the rescuer of illegal immigrants and refugees coming into London, something that Peter hates him most for. Suruli, with his ruthless cunning, manages to destroy Sivadoss’ gang and to have him killed at Peter’s hands. But Suruli also meets another Sri Lankan migrant Attilla (Aishwarya Lekshmi) and falls in love with her. As their lives intertwine, Suruli realizes he has chosen the wrong side and decides to make reparations.

Jagame Thandiram is fashioned like a Hollywood gangster epic. Its storyline, setting, the way it begins by introducing each of the main characters, feels like the film is mirroring an old-school gangster movie. The background scores, OSTs, and also the film’s length of 2h 37mins strengthen the similarities. But Jagame Thandiram is not a Hollywood film.

Right from the opening scenes, you know you are being taken into the Tamil Cinematic Universe where you expect a hero with all the swagger and jive in the world who is always a step ahead of the villain and who has a heart of gold despite being morally compromised. Suruli is that hero for you and Dhanush, with the immense talent he exfoliates, makes you live through the TCU without even realizing you are being shown an atrociously fictional sequence of events that disregard basic logic. But you don’t watch action movies for logic, do you?

Produced to be an all-out action film, Jagame Thandhiram’s story also has undertones of refugee issues and migrant crisis. Some flashbacks show the civil war in Sri Lanka and the exodus of Tamilians from the country to Europe in search of safety. But the filmmakers do not delve deeper as they probably wanted their content to be light enough for mass consumption. 

And mass appeal, Jagame Thandhiram does have, despite some major flaws in storytelling and the film’s unclear timeline. Dhanush is the biggest appeal but on the downside, as he outshines everyone else, any scene without him dips in energy. Dhanush is a fireball in Jagame Thandhiram and that’s both a curse and a boon for the movie. The film’s music and cinematography are the only elements that seem to match Dhanush’s energy and combined, their synergy just blows you away in some scenes. 

Who should watch it?

Jagame Thandhiram is exactly what had been missing from Netflix’s new releases section for some time. The film, as suggested above, attempts to put itself in the leagues of Hollywood gangster movies. Honestly, it falls way short. Still, the combination of Dhanush’s acting skills put to test in a film that almost entirely revolves around him, with brilliant cinematography and intense background music/OSTs, makes this film worth the time for movie lovers of all sorts. 

Rating: 3.5 stars
Genre: Action, drama
Actors: Dhanush, Joju George, James Cosmo
Director: Karthik Subbaraj 

Confession time: I’m smitten by Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s ‘Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe’. Ever since I finished it, I’ve been dreaming about it (quite literally too—Dante made a guest appearance in my dream where my dad was trying to train our dog to do somersaults by doing it himself). The title initially felt like a mouthful but, after reading it, I realized it beautifully sums up the book’s essence. The cover is gorgeous too. 

It’s a YA novel but I believe it will resonate with readers of all generations. I wish I had read the book as I was growing up. It would have definitely broadened my then-narrow perspective on gender and relationships. I plan to reread it soon and see what nuances I might have missed in this beautiful coming-of-age story that is a though-provoking exploration of sexuality and identity.

The book is about two Latino boys, Aristotle or Ari and Dante, who first strike a friendship at the pool where Dante teaches Ari how to swim. The two lead different lives—Dante, the son of professors, is a confident boy while Ari is shy, comes from a modest background and has a brother in prison. Ari is an angry teen while Dante has an unusual way of looking at things. They seem to have nothing in common but surprisingly get along well.

The story is narrated by Ari and though his view colors the narrative, every other character still manages to shine through. Dante specially wins your heart with his charming ways. The family dynamics between the characters and their parents is engaging. There is also a strong sense of disavowal of toxic masculinity—Danta cries easily and doesn’t feel the need to express his dominance through violent acts. I feel there is a need to explore the vulnerable side of men in literature to reinforce the idea that strength has nothing to do with being unemotional and that emotionality is a feminine trait.

As the boys transition into young adults, Sáenz portrays different facets of growing up, focusing mainly on masculinity and the complicated, often warped, ways in which we start developing ourselves. The book also deals quite a bit with race, ethnicity, homophobia, and psychological trauma. Sáenz has been able to bring these elements together without anything feeling distorted and confusing the reader. It’s all seamless. Some chapters are long and some are short but each is impactful and crucial to the overall plot.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe doesn’t have plot twists and intense drama. The simplicity of the story is what makes it compelling. The story consumes you, and refuses to let go of its hold long after. It was the hopeful and uplifting read I needed during what felt like a desperate and bleak time. It was a soothing balm to my lockdown woes.

Five stars
YA Fiction
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Published: 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 359, Paperback

After more than a year of continuously watching and reviewing Netflix movies/series, it started getting a bit monotonous. I know it’s an OTT platform and there are new releases all the time, but the whole waiting and watching does get a bit boring when you know you have to review a movie every week. So, I decided to surf through YouTube to see if I could find something interesting.

A quick search for Bollywood movies gave me multiple options but the one that caught my eye was the 2018 film “Baazaar,” for personal and semi-professional reasons. The Indian language crime/drama is largely based on the share market and it’s inside stories. Enough reason for an aspiring NEPSE trader to watch, you might think. Well, that is partly true.

The film uses two men from different walks of lives and backgrounds to tell the inside stories of power and money struggles in the stock market. Rizwan Ahmed (Rohan Mehra) is a small-time stock-trader in Allahabad who idolizes Shakun Kothari (Saif Ali Khan), a Gujrati share market tycoon based in Mumbai. Rizwan’s wish to work with the very best in the share market makes him chase Shakun, who in turn recognizes the youngster’s potential and thus begins a collaboration between the two men—the former a naïve entrant and the latter a ruthless whale. Facilitating their relationship is Rizwan’s co-worker and girlfriend Priya Rai (Radhika Apte), who has an already successful career in the firm they work for.

As Rizwan starts making money by the millions for Shakun, the two get close. Shakun, usually reserved and distanced, starts taking a personal liking to Rizwan and even their families, including Shakun’s wife Mandira Parekh (Chitrangda Singh), get involved. But like any bull or bearish trend in the market, their relationship also does not last long. Greed for power and lust for money comes between, with guile, treachery and retribution coming into play.  

Directed by Gaurav K. Chopra, Baazaar’s story feels uncannily similar to Oliver Stone’s 1987 masterpiece “Wall Street,” although there is no official mention in the credits. The writers of Baazar try to show the darker side of the stock market where deception and scam are just another day’s work. (This is kind of true for almost every share market.) The film has intense movements and suspenseful subplots to make it thrilling enough.

Still, the three writers credited for Baazaar do a lazy job of omitting the very details of how a market operates for real. There is a lot to watch in the film, but nothing to take away. It focuses more on the power struggle between the players than realistically show at least some actual processes that the audiences could relate to.

Badly written it may be but the film flows at a good pace, making its 2hr 17mins length bearable despite the boring soundtracks and background music. Like most of the Bollywood films on stock markets and finances, Baazaar too uses its females as mere tools in storytelling and pretty faces on screen. Both the central female characters—Priya and Mandira—played by the best actors in the industry were in a position to make an impact on the story, but the writers only make them blend and then fade into the background.

This lack of character-building for other actors, including Mehra’s Rizwan, shifts all the focus on Khan’s Shakun. Shakun, who has made it to the top of the market with his shrewd trading skills and a little help from his wife’s family money, is a multi-layered character with shades of black and white throughout the movie. The actor Khan does a fine job of getting into his character but still feels tied down due to the terrible writing and stereotypical characterization. 

Who should watch it?

Baazaar fetishizes the stock market and the uncountable amount of money that floats in it. Glorification of financial crimes works for some and doesn’t for others. So you know if you really want to watch it.

PS: We’ll most probably be doing a YouTube movie every alternate week. So if there’s something you’d like to get reviewed or saw a movie you particularly liked, please send us a link. We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Or mail us at [email protected]

Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Crime/drama
Actors: Saif Ali Khan, Rohan Mehra
Director: Gaurav K. Chopra
Run time: 2hr 17mins

Tambudzai is a black Zimbabwean woman in her forties living in a women's hostel in Harare. It’s a temporary arrangement as she is older than the permitted age and has to find a place of her own soon. But having quit her job at an advertising agency after white male co-workers got credit for her work, she is struggling to find accommodation and employment. The traumatic experiences and hardships that she goes through affect her mental health and she is even institutionalized for a while. All in all, Tambudzai or Tambu has a difficult life.

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s novel ‘This Mournable Body’ that got shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize is somewhat bleak. But despite the general theme of despair running through the book, This Mournable Body is actually a story of triumph and the strength of the human spirit to persevere. Tambu is aware of the brutal reality of her situation but she never loses her sense of self. She is a strong character. She is every woman who has ever found herself in a difficult situation.

This isn’t a book without problems—it’s slow, for instance—but it shifts your perspective on things and that’s an important kind of storytelling. But what I loved about the book is that it is narrated in second person from Tambudzai’s perspective. You feel like you are Tambudzai and literally in the midst of all that is happening. Tambu is sometimes quite self-centered and thus a difficult character to like. If it hadn’t been for the writing style that put me in her shoes, it would have been frustrating to understand or feel connected to her.

I did, at various points in the novel, wish I knew more about Tambu—where she came from, what her childhood and growing up years were like, and how she ended up where she was. Turns out, This Mournable Body is actually the concluding novel in a trilogy. You needn’t have read the previous parts to pick up this book—it works fine as a stand-alone novel. But reading the other two books will definitely give you a better sense of things.

The first book, ‘Nervous Conditions’, published in 1988, is about Tambudzai’s childhood. The second, ‘The Book of Not’, out in 2006, follows her time at convent school before she starts working in advertising. Set 20 years later, the final instalment of the series chronicles the later years of Tambu’s life. It’s a sad depiction of how the education system is filled with false promises for black Zimbabwean women and how they deal with that reality. It’s also an essential commentary of sorts on class, race, and misogyny that divide most societies even today.

Three stars

Fiction

This Mournable Body

Tsitsi Dangarembga

Published: 2020

Publisher: Faber & Faber Limited

Pages: 363, Paperback