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Business News/ Industry / Media/  Friday Film Wrap: ‘Malang,’ ‘Shikara’ compete with Oscar release ‘Little Women’
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Friday Film Wrap: ‘Malang,’ ‘Shikara’ compete with Oscar release ‘Little Women’

Historical drama Shikara stars Aadil Khan and Sadia and is directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra
  • Romantic action drama Malang stars Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani and is directed by Mohit Suri
  • Shikara movie poster. Photo: TwitterPremium
    Shikara movie poster. Photo: Twitter

    NEW DELHI : A bunch of new Hindi movie offerings compete with Oscar-nominated American drama Little Women this week.

    Historical drama Shikara starring Aadil Khan and Sadia directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra is ultimately weak as far as the history lesson goes, but the romance is always strong, says Scroll. Admirably shot by Rangarajan Ramabran and tightly edited by Chopra, Shikara resists the seduction of a grand-sweep narrative for an intimately observed story of a tragedy that is leavened by love. Chopra’s first film in five years is his most restrained yet.

    The film focuses more on the lead couple than the problems of the refugees in general, says Filmfare. Though a mass exodus is shown, the hurdles this huge group of people must have faced are all but glanced over. It’s as if the director doesn’t want to go there. This reluctance steals the film of some of its gravitas. The lead pair, however, impress with their natural ease in front of the camera.

    Romantic action drama Malang starring Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur and Disha Patani directed by Mohit Suri wastes a lot of time setting up the story; far less is assigned to unravelling the mystery or providing adequate backstory to all the characters, says Firstpost. The thriller ultimately raises more questions than it answers.

    Kaanchli Life in a Slough starring Sanjay Mishra directed by Dedipya Joshii is low on content and high on skin show, says The Times Of India. The predictability of the plot, a strong sense of directionlessness seeping through the plotline and its overall presentation makes this film a humdrum of an A-rated movie.

    For the Hollywood fans, American period drama Little Women directed by Greta Gerwig starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen and Laura Dern comes to India this week. This follow-up adaptation of an American classic takes an overly familiar story and makes it immediate and important and daring, says Empire magazine. Warm but never wishy-washy, cosy without being cutesy, this is a superb adaptation of the source and further evidence that Gerwig is the real deal.

    Writer-director Gerwig has not betrayed the feminine gaze that made the two-volume 1860s novel a literary landmark, says Rolling Stone. Instead, she shows why this story of four sisters and their mother, living in a house without men is both surprisingly timely and enduringly timeless.

    Superhero flick Birds of Prey directed by Cathy Yan starring Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett-Bell is thin, lively, loud, brash, diverting, and forgettable, says Variety magazine.

    The Guardian calls it a crass but weirdly watchable spin-off from Suicide Squad. This film is a blitz of bad taste, a cornucopia of crass, and it is weirdly diverting – more than you might expect, given the frosty way Suicide Squad was received critically – and engagingly crazy. Watching it feels cheerfully excessive and unwholesome, like smoking a cigarette and eating a chocolate bar at the same time.

    Tamil action drama Seeru starring Jiiva and Sathish Muthukrishnan directed by Rathina Shiva is a solid commercial movie that nicely balances sentiment and action, says The Times Of India. The director keeps the narration engaging with hardly any lull and packages the script with smarts.

    Malayalam drama Varane Avashyamund starring Dulquer Salmaan and Shobhana directed by Anoop Sathyan is a neat family entertainer according to early audience reactions on manoramaonline.com. Salmaan is highly impressive while Shobhana lights the screen up with her presence.

    Bengali drama Sraboner Dhara starring Soumitra Chatterjee and Gargee Roychowdhury directed by Abhijit Guha and Sudeshna Roy suffers because of a poorly crafted narrative, says Firstpost. On one hand, there are some laudable performances, a beautifully written script and an excellent storyline. But existing alongside is a poorly crafted track – involving all the aforementioned names – one that made even such veteran actors as Soumitra Chatterjee look like bumbling amateurs.

    Several releases this week haven’t inspired any reviews yet. These include crime thriller Hacked, Tamil films Sandimuni, Vaanam Kottattum and Adavi, Telugu movies Degree College, Savaari, 3 Monkeys and Jaanu, Kannada films Gentleman, Malgudi Days, 3rd Class, Matte Udbhava, Deadly Affair, BillGates and Jiilka, Malayalam action comedy Ayyappanum Koshiyum, Marathi dramas Makeup and Mhorkya, Punjabi action drama Zakhmi and Bengali mystery drama Neem Phul.

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    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Lata Jha
    "Lata writes about the media and entertainment industry for Mint, focusing on everything from traditional film and TV to newer areas like video and audio streaming services. She loves movies and spends a lot of her free time watching them, which makes her job both fun and a bit of a challenge. Lata tries to find and write about things in the entertainment world that most people don't notice, even though a lot of people in her country are really into movies and entertainment news often just talks about the glamorous side of things. "
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    Published: 07 Feb 2020, 11:37 AM IST
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