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A wannabe standup comedian with serious stage fright and who stammers when nervous suddenly finds an elixir to his problems—killing a human being. Following the accidental murder of his boss/mentor Gulati (Manoj Pahwa) at his hands at the backstage of an event, the nervous Hasmukh (Vir Das) takes the stage, just to discover that he now has the ability to perform a hilarious standup skit without any hesitation. 

This starts a string of live stage performances for Hasmukh, arranged by his manager Jimmy (Ranvir Shorey)—his literal partner in crime. The artist-manager duo commits murder after murder just to get Hasmukh to the stage, and as success starts coming, so do suspicion and law. 

Co-created and written by producer/director/screenwriter Nikkhil Advani and actor/standup comedian Vir Das, Hasmukh is an Indian mini-series that premiered on Netflix in mid-April and quickly became the talk of the virtual town. Nikhil Gonsalves directs the 10-episode series, each episode about 30-minutes long. It means the Season 1 can be binged-watched within five hours, which is not nearly long in the current situation, and this is not the only woe for Hasmukh.

Despite featuring a talented team of actors and producers, Hasmukh is a troubled production. Vir, even with his vast experience as a standup comedian, fails to embody the character. Hasmukh, an orphan, is supposedly a timid small-towner whose ambition of becoming a famous standup comedian never really takes off under a dominating boss and an oppressive uncle. He manages to murder both of them—the former unintentionally and the latter deliberately—but the audience cannot feel the intensity of a would-be-serial killer in his character. Vir is not convincing enough in his dual murderer-performer roles. 

Seasoned actor Ranvir Shorey seems to have a similar problem. Having starred in multiple comedy movies under big banners as well as independent production houses, but is way under his prime in Hasmukh. As Jimmy, a greedy artist manager who quickly switches to managing Hasmukh as soon as he finds out about Gulati’s death, and then also participates in the murders Hasmukh commits, Ranvir struggles to find the rhythm throughout the series. There are moments when he shines in his character and outperforms Vir, but given his experience and reputation, overall, Ranvir’s Jimmy is sub-par. 

Even with seasoned actors like Raza Murad and Ravi Kishan playing significant roles in the series, their presence does not spice up the screenplay. Maybe the average screenplay is why Hasmukh is an average production. A screenplay that is not able to establish the ferocity of a serial killer is definitely a major problem. The writers seem to be so split in giving Hasmukh multiple personas that he cannot embody. 

And since the story of Hasmukh does not end with the first season (what a bummer), we will now have to wait for the second season to find what happens in the comedian-cum-serial killer’s life.

Who should watch it?

In the end, we also realize that we might be judging Hasmukh a bit too harshly. Over a month of continuously binging on highly rated movies and series has probably raised our standards and spoilt our tolerance. All biases aside, Hasmukh is definitely a watchable series and better than most movies we reviewed in the first quarter of 2020. Anyone who’s forced to stay indoors due to the lockdown and has Netflix can watch it. 

Hasmukh

Rating: 3 stars

Actors: Vir Das, Ranvir Shorey, Ravi Kishan

Director: Nikhil Gonsalves

Run time: 5hr (approx.)

I love historical fiction and I immensely enjoyed ‘Birdsong’ and ‘Charlotte Gray’ by Sebastian Faulks. Birdsong, set during the First World War, and Charlotte Gray, a story of a British agent working with the Resistance in Vichy France during the Second World War, were bestsellers that made Faulks a favorite of many. His latest work, ‘Paris Echo’, although set in present times, is steeped in history, too. And I liked it even though I wished the storytelling had been better.  

Personally, I prefer narratives that ricochet between two or more characters because that gives you a broader sense of the story as well as gets you looking at the same issue from different perspectives. It can be quite thrilling to live multiple lives that way. In Paris Echo, the narrative shifts between the two main characters, 19-year-old Tariq, a runaway from Morocco, and 31-year-old American researcher Hannah.

Tariq, who ends up lodging in Hannah’s small room, wants to find out more about his Algerian mother who died when he was 10. He was brought up in Paris, born to a French father. Hannah, on the other hand, is in Paris to study the testimonies of women who lived through the German occupation for her postdoc. Much of the book is also the stories Hannah spends her days listening to, which Tariq often helps translate. This forgotten history of wartime women that Hannah slowly uncovers is more interesting than the main characters’ stories.

The problem is that the main story can get quite confusing at times, and more so when Faulks brings in an aged puppeteer called Victor Hugo, who carries an ancient leather bag and has mayonnaise smeared on his beard. There is also a lot that feels wrong with the characterizations and thus you only connect with Tariq and Hannah on a superficial level, never really understanding or caring about what they are going through. Hannah especially infuriates you in the end when she feels “rescued” by a chivalrous Englishmen who makes her realize that she has been selfish and shallow her whole life. And Tariq’s pressing need to lose his virginity also gets a bit much after a while.

However, what’s evident and intriguing is Faulk’s deep connection with and affection for Paris and French language. He leaves no stone unturned to try and evoke a feel of the place. His fondness for quirky streets and corners of Paris jumps out in the narrative and transports you there often. France and its history have been so well brought to life in Paris Echo that had the story been a tad better crafted with a clearer connection between the past and the present, it could, no doubt, have been another masterpiece.

Fiction

Paris Echo

Sebastian Faulks

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2018

Language: English

Pages: 298, Paperback

The corny-sounding Telugu movie “World Famous Lover” has an attractive starcast with Vijay Deverakonda (Gowtham/Seenayaa), Raashi Khanna (Yamini), Aishwarya Rajesh (Suvarna), and Chatherine Tresa (Smitha) in lead roles. Written and directed by Kranthi Madhav, World Famous Lover is a combination of four different love stories that gel into a single story of love, trust, and sacrifices. Released in theaters in February, the film recently popped up on Netflix with subtitles for a wider range of audience, which is certainly good news for Nepal’s South Indian movie fans.

The film starts with the story of live-in couple Gowtham and Yamini. Gowtham is a stay-at-home aspiring writer who has been unable to write anything for a year. His mental block and frustrations surrounding it weaken his relationship with Yamini, who is the sole breadwinner of the house. Her expectations from her partner have certainly not been met. Gowtham is not only nonchalant towards his work, but also indifferent to her wants and feelings.

Things change when Yamini finally decides to leave Gowtham. Hurt by the Yamini’s departure, Gowtham decides he needs to force his way past his writer’s block and prove his worth. This is when the film begins to unfold in flashbacks and imaginary sequences. Gowtham’s first story has himself as the main character in the form of Seenaya, a middle class working man who’s married to Suvarna. Seenaya, also the union leader of the factory he is working in, gets romantically involved with his boss Smitha. When Suvarna finds about the affair, she is distraught but decides not to confront him till the very end.

At the end of the Seenaya-Suvarna story, Gowtham is shown as a young and highly paid executive living and working in Paris. There, Gowtham meets Iza (Izabelle Leite), an international pilot acquainted with the Telegu language and Indian culture. They quickly fall in love before their love story is cut short by a tragedy.

As the stories Gowtham is writing unfold in visual form, his own story with Yamini is told in flashbacks. The moments when Gowtham first saw Yamini, their courtship, their acceptance of each other’s love, their start of the live-in relationship, all are shown in flashbacks to give the audience an insight into the now estranged couple’s life.

Not all stories in the film are perfect. Nor are the endings to all love stories happy for the characters but that does not seem to be the film’s motive. Love is looked at from a wider perspective with a message that compromises and sacrifices are essential in sustaining it.

Actor Vijay Deverakonda retains his rustic look and the angry demeanor from the blockbuster “Arjun Reddy” (2017). Following Arjun Reddy’s success, there has been no looking back for the actor who has impressed fans and critics alike with his good looks and effortless acting. After delivering a string of back-to-back hits, Vijay takes the screen in multiple roles in this film. From a frustrated writer to a devastated lover; from a young college graduate to a small-town factory worker; to a suave professional in Paris—Vijay performs all his roles with conviction and compliments each of his opposite actors who are as adept in their respective roles.

The only problem with the movie is its 2h 34min run time, which is not supported by the screenplay. Despite the story having enough girth to make for a compelling love drama, the screenplay feels painfully slow and certain scenes redundant. There are also attempts at humor that fail to engage the audience.

Who should watch it?

As we have the power to skip scenes we don’t like on Netflix, World Famous Lover is an enjoyable love story. It is one of those South Indian movies that deviate from the feisty and stereotypical mainstream cinema to present a serious, lifelike narrative. Definitely a ‘can watch’ during the lockdown.

Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Romance/Drama

Length: 2h 34min

Director: Kranthi Madhav

Actors: Vijay Deverakonda, Raashi Khanna, Aishwarya Rajesh

Released on March 20 this year, “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” is probably the most talked about mini-series on Netflix right now, even in Nepal. The crime-based documentary can compete against the best fictional series and holds so much grit that the 5h 17min runtime (divided into 8 episodes) is as enjoyable as watching an hour and a half-long action movie.

Tiger King is essentially about the life of Joe Exotic—owner of the Oklahoma based G.W. Zoo, who breeds, raises, and trades in big cats—and his arch-nemesis Carole Baskin, an animal activist and owner of Big Cat Rescue. There are colorful casts of real-life characters on both the sides—including drug dealers, conmen, cult leaders, and ex-convicts. The war between them over whether big cats can be kept as pets starts with harmless banters, and culminates in a murder-for-hire plot.

Joe Exotic, after whom the documentary series is named, is a character deserving of the title of Tiger King. Born Joseph Allen Schreibvogel, who then changed his name to Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, Joe Exotic is a charismatic figure who runs his roadside zoo with a team of renegades like convicted felons and drug abusers. He thinks he is helping them fit into the society. And the under-paid, over-worked staff are more than happy to raise hundreds of exotic animals like tigers, ligers, lions, leopards, and alligators, to name a few.

These animals are then smuggled across the country and even cross-border to be sold to private zoo owners and wealthy collectors. Joe also used to organize traveling shows across the country, displaying exotic animals and giving people photo ops with them for money.

Carole Baskin, on the other hand, runs a volunteer organization that rescues the animals owned by private zoos, which she claims abuse the animals and treat them inhumanely. Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue has a huge team of activists who not only raise awareness and stage protests against animal breeding, but also spy on the activities of animal breeders to gather evidence of abuse.

Shot over five years by directors Rebecca Chaiklin and Eric Goode, Tiger King gives the audience a glimpse into the lives of these two main characters and also a host of equally interesting supporting ones who playing themselves—characters like (gay) Joe’s husbands John Finlay and Dillion Passage; Bhagavan Antle, the owner of the Myrtle Beach Safari; Jeff Lowe, businessman and Joe’s partner who runs him out of the business; Howard Baskin, Carole’s husband and co-owner of the Big Cat Rescue; among others.

What makes Tiger King more interesting than your regular documentary series is that the filmmakers have spent real time with the characters and made them comfortable enough to spill their worst beans. With real life footages that give insights into the lives of the principle characters, the documentary proves that truth can be stranger than fiction. It does not judge the characters, but leaves it up to the audience to decide.

Joe—a king in his own world who is confident enough to run for the President of the United States in 2016, and for the Governor of Oklahoma in 2018 representing the Libertarian party—is a gun-wielding, mullet-bearing, rough-mouthed, arrogant and shrewd businessman.

At the opposite extreme is Carole, the savior of the big cats, who is gentle, friendly and calm on the outside. But Joe and the family suspect foul play behind the disappearance of Carole’s deceased husband Don Lewis. Carole inherits millions after Don is pronounced legally dead in 2002 when he fails to turn up for over five years, raising suspicions. So, ultimately, it is again the audience that gets to apportion blame.

Who should watch it?

With controversies and talks of lawsuits already haunting the documentary makers as well as Netflix, anyone interested in the docu-series should definitely do a marathon-run of Tiger King. It might vanish anytime. Also, big cat lovers will also enjoy the mini-series that documents the lives of these exotic animals in captivity.

Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Run time: 5h 17 min (8 episodes)

Director: Rebecca Chaiklin, Eric Goode

Actors: Joe Exotic, Carole Baskins, John Finlay