Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam : Lucid Filming.

നന്പകൽ നേരത്തു മാത്രമല്ല പല നേരത്തും പല സന്ദർഭങ്ങളിലും മയങ്ങി പോയിട്ടുള്ള എനിക്ക് ഈ പേര് കേട്ടപ്പോൾ ആദ്യം ഓർമ വന്നത് എന്റെ തന്നെ ഒരു നൻപകൽ നേരത്തെ പഴയ ഒരു മയക്കമാണ്. ഇത് പോലാരു നൻപകൽ നേരത്ത് മയക്കത്തിൽ നിന്ന് ഞെട്ടി ഉണരുമ്പോൾ കൈയിൽ ഒരു വണ്ടിയുടെ സ്റ്റിയറിങ്. മുന്നിലൊരു റോഡ്. വീണ്ടും ഞെട്ടിയത് സൈഡിൽ ഇരുന്നു മയങ്ങുന്ന ഡ്രൈവിങ് ആശാനെ കണ്ടപ്പോഴാണ്. നൻപകൽ നേരമായതു കൊണ്ടും റോഡ് വിജനമായിരുന്നു എന്നത് കൊണ്ടും വീണ്ടും ഞെട്ടേണ്ടി വന്നില്ല. പ്രായം ചെന്ന മനുഷ്യൻ അല്ലേന്ന് കരുതി ഞാനും പുള്ളിടെ മയക്കത്തെ തടസ്സപ്പെടുത്താൻ പോയില്ല. അതിപ്പോ ഭക്ഷണമൊക്കെ കഴിച്ചു നൻപകൽ നേരത്തു ഒരു വണ്ടീൽ കേറി ഇരുന്നാൽ ഏത് മമ്മൂട്ടി ആയാലും മയങ്ങി പോകും എന്ന് പടം കണ്ടപ്പോ മനസിലായില്ലേ.

മലയാള സിനിമയിലെ സമ്പ്രദായങ്ങൾക്ക് വിപരീതമായി പ്രചോദനമാവാൻ കാരണമായ ഒരു സൃഷ്ടിയെ പരാമർശിച്ചു കൊണ്ടാണ് സിനിമ തുടങ്ങുന്നത്. ആമേനിൽ കാണാഞ്ഞ ഒരു കുമ്പസാരം. അതിൽ തന്നെ ലിജോ ജോസ് പെല്ലിശ്ശേരി സിനിമയെ കുറിച്ചു പറയാനുള്ളതെല്ലാം പറയുന്നുണ്ട്. ആ പരസ്യവും പിന്നെ പുള്ളി കണ്ട കഥാപത്രങ്ങളും ജീവിതങ്ങളും.പിന്നെ ഒരു തിരുക്കുറലും ഒടുവിൽ അല്പം ചുരുളിയും. ഒരു വിഭാഗം മലയാള സിനിമാ പ്രേക്ഷകരെയെങ്കിലും ആസ്വാദനത്തിന്റെ മറ്റൊരു തലത്തിൽ എത്തിക്കാൻ ലിജോ ജോസിനും എസ് ഹരീഷിനും ഇത് തന്നെ ധാരാളം. പിന്നെ മമ്മൂട്ടി എന്ന പേരും. ആ പരസ്യം കണ്ടില്ലായിരുന്നെങ്കിൽ ഒരു പക്ഷെ പൂർണമായും പുതുമയുള്ള അനുഭവമായിരുന്നേനെ. ലിജോയുടെ തന്നെ നാടക പശ്ചാത്തലവും സിനിമയിൽ ശക്തമായ സ്വാധീനം ചെലുത്തുന്നുണ്ട്. തിലകൻ ചേട്ടനെ വിളിച്ചറിയിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്‌ എന്ന് ഡ്രൈവർ പറയുമ്പോഴും വണ്ടിയിലെ ബോർഡിലെ നാടകത്തിൽ തിലകൻ എന്ന പേരിന്റെ സാന്നിധ്യവും കണ്ടപ്പോൾ തോന്നിയത് ഇതൊരുപക്ഷേ ലിജോയുടെ ഒരു ഇത് വരെയുള്ള സൃഷ്ടികളിൽ പുള്ളിയുടെ ജീവിതത്തിനോട് ഏറ്റവും അടുത്ത് നിൽക്കുന്ന ചിത്രവും ആയിരിക്കാം എന്നാണ് .വിപിൻ അറ്റ്ലിയുടെ കഥാപാത്രം ലിജോ തന്നെയാണോ എന്നുമൊരു ചിന്ത വരാതെയിരുന്നില്ല. അങ്കമാലി ഡയറീസ് തൊട്ടു ഓടിക്കൊണ്ടിരുന്ന ലിജോയുടെ സിനിമകളിലെ ഫ്രെയിമുകളെയും ക്യാമെറയയെയും തേനി ഈശ്വറിനെ കൂട്ടുപിടിച്ചു തളച്ചിടാൻ ഒരു ബോധ പൂർവമായ ശ്രെമം ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു എന്ന് ലിജോ ഒരു അഭിമുഖത്തിൽ തമാശ രൂപേണ പറഞ്ഞിരുന്നെങ്കിലും ഈ സിനിമയ്ക്ക് ഏറ്റവും യോജിച്ച ചലച്ചിത്ര ഭാഷയാണ് ഇവിടെ അവർ സാത്‌ഷാകരിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത്. പോസ്റ്റ് പ്രൊഡക്ഷൻ നീണ്ടു പോകാനുള്ള കാരണം ഒരുപക്ഷെ സിനിമയുടെ പശ്ചാത്തല ശബ്ദങ്ങൾ ആയിരിക്കാം എന്ന് ഇപ്പോൾ തോന്നുന്നു. സന്ദര്ഭങ്ങൾക്കു ചേർന്ന പഴയ തമിഴ് സിനിമ സംഭാഷണങ്ങളും ഗാനങ്ങളും കണ്ടു പിടിക്കാൻ തന്നെ ഒരു വൻ പരിശ്രമം ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നിരിക്കാം എന്ന് സിനിമ കണ്ടു കഴിഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ തോന്നുന്നു.കഥയിൽ കാണുന്നത് പോലെ ഭാഷയുടെയും സംസ്കാരത്തിന്റെയുമൊക്ക അതിർവരമ്പുകളെ ഭേദിച്ചു ഒരു സന്ദർഭത്തിൽ പരസ്പരം സഹായിക്കുന്ന പോലെയായിരിക്കാം ഈ പശചാത്തല ശബ്‍ദവും സൃഷ്ടിക്കപ്പെട്ടത്.

ചുരുളി പോലെയൊരു തുറന്ന, പ്രേക്ഷകരുടെ മനോധര്മത്തിനു വിട്ടുകൊടുത്ത ഒരു ക്ളൈമാക്സ് ആണ് ഇതിന്റെയും എന്ന് തോന്നുന്നു. ഇതിനെ കുറിച്ചുള്ള ചർച്ചകളിൽ പ്രേക്ഷകർ അവരുടേതായ വ്യാഖ്യാനങ്ങൾ അവതർപ്പിക്കുമ്പോഴും ചർച്ച ചെയുമ്പോഴുമാണ് എഴുത്തുകാരനും സംവിധകായനും വിജയിക്കുന്നത്. വീട്ടിലിരുന്നു അവസാനമായി ഭക്ഷണം കഴിക്കുന്ന സുന്ദരത്തെ കാണിച്ച ശേഷം ലിജോ നമ്മളെ കാണിക്കുന്നത് കുറെ കാക്കളെയാണ്. ബലി തർപ്പണം ചെയുമ്പോൾ കൈ കൊട്ടി വിളിക്കുന്ന കാക്കകൾ ആത്മാക്കളാണെന്നാണല്ലോ വിശ്വാസം. തനിക്കു ആ വീട്ടിലും നാട്ടിലും ഇനി ഒരു സ്ഥാനമില്ല എന്ന് തിരിച്ചറിയുന്ന സുന്ദരത്തിന്റെ ആത്മാവ് ബലിച്ചോറു കഴിച്ചു യാത്രയാവുകയാണ് ചെയ്തതെന്ന് വേണമെങ്കിൽ കരുതാം. അമ്മയോടൊപ്പം അവസാനമായി ഇരിക്കുമ്പോൾ ടീവിയിൽ കേൾക്കുന്ന സംഭാഷണം സുന്ദരത്തിന്റെ ജീവിതത്തിന്റെയും മരണത്തിന്റെയും സൂചനകൾ നൽകുന്നതാണ്. ടിവിയിലെ സിനിമയിലെ കഥാപാത്രം തന്നെ ചതിച്ച അമ്മാവന്റെയും അച്ഛന്റെയും കാര്യവും മറ്റൊരു കഥാപാത്രം ആദ്യ കഥാപാത്രത്തിന്റെ മരുമകനും സഹോദരനും തമ്മിൽ സംസാരിച്ച ഒരു വിവാഹത്തിന്റെയും കാര്യം പറയുന്നുണ്ട്. സുന്ദരത്തിന്റെ സഹോദര കഥാപത്രത്തിന്റെ പെരുമാറ്റം കണ്ടപ്പോൾ സുന്ദരത്തിന്റെ തിരോധാനത്തിന് പിന്നിൽ ഒരുപക്ഷെ അയാൾ ആയിരിക്കാം എന്ന് തോന്നി.അയാൾക്ക്‌ മാത്രമല്ല ഒരു പക്ഷെ സുന്ദരത്തിന്റെ ഭാര്യ ഉൾപ്പടെ ആ വീട്ടിലെ പലർക്കും അതിൽ പങ്കുണ്ടായിരുന്നിരിക്കാം എന്നും ചില സംഭാഷണങ്ങൾ കേൾക്കുമ്പോൾ തോന്നി പോവുന്നുണ്ട്.

തികച്ചും ഡി -ഗ്ളാമറൈസ് ചെയ്ത ഒരു മമ്മൂട്ടിയെ ആണ് ചിത്രത്തിൽ കാണുന്നത്. ക്രിസ്റ്റഫറിൽ കണ്ട മമ്മൂട്ടി അല്ല ഇത്. കാതലിൽ കാണാൻ പോകുന്ന മമ്മൂട്ടിയും അല്ല. ഡി എയ്‌ജിങ്‌ ചെയ്‌തിട്ടും എഴുപത് വയസുള്ള ഡി നീറോ നിലത്തു കിടക്കുന്ന ഒരാളെ തൊഴിക്കാൻ കഷ്ടപെടുന്നത് ദി ഐറിഷ്മാനിൽ കണ്ടതാണ്.അതേ പ്രായമുള്ള മമ്മൂട്ടി ക്രിസ്‌റ്റഫറിലും ഭീഷമയിലുമൊക്കെ കാണിച്ച ശാരീരികമായ പ്രകടനം കാണുമ്പോളാണ് ഒരു നടൻ എന്ന നിലയിൽ ആഗോളതലത്തിൽ തന്നെ പുള്ളി എവിടെ നില്കുന്നു എന്ന തിരിച്ചറിവ് ഉണ്ടാവുന്നത്. നാൻ ഇന്ത ഊരുക്കാരൻ താൻ എന്ന് ആണയിടുന്ന രംഗങ്ങളിലും ഒടുവിൽ ഭക്ഷണം കഴിക്കുന്ന രംഗങ്ങളിലുമൊക്കെ മമ്മൂട്ടി എന്ന നടനിൽ നിന്ന് നമ്മൾ പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കുന്ന വികാര പ്രകടനങ്ങൾ കാണാമെങ്കിലും എന്റെ ശ്രെദ്ധ ആകർഷിച്ചത് നാൻ ഇന്ത ഊരുക്കാരൻ എന്ന് ആണയിട്ടു പറഞ്ഞിട്ട് നാട്ടുകാരെ വെല്ലുവിളിക്കുമ്പോൾ പുള്ളി കൊണ്ട് വരുന്ന തീവ്രതയാണ്. ആവനാഴി തൊട്ടു ബെസ്റ്റ് ആക്ടറിലെ ക്ളൈമാക്സിൽ വരെ കണ്ട ആ തീവ്രത. ഇത് കൊണ്ട് തന്നെയാണ് മമ്മൂട്ടി എന്ന നടന്റെ സിനിമകൾ പുള്ളിയുടെ മക്കളുടെ പ്രായമുള്ള നടന്മാരുടെ സിനിമകൾക്കിടയിലും പ്രസക്തമാവുന്നത്.
ഒരു പരിപൂര്ണത ഇത് വരെയുള്ള പുള്ളിയുടെ എല്ലാ സിനിമകളിലെയും അഭിനയ രംഗങ്ങളിൽ കണ്ടു ശീലിച്ചത് കൊണ്ടായിരിക്കാം ബസ് ഊണ് കഴിക്കാൻ നിർത്തി ആണുങ്ങളെല്ലാം വെള്ളമടിക്കുമ്പോൾ തമാശ പറയുന്ന ജെയ്മസ് ഒരു നിമിഷത്തേക്ക് ഏകാഗ്രത തെറ്റി ഫോർത്ത് വോൾ ബ്രേക്ക് ചെയ്തോ എന്ന സംശയം വന്നത്. മാറിയ കാലഘട്ടത്തിലെ സാങ്കേതിക വിദ്യകളുടെ സാന്നിധ്യത്തിൽ അഭിനേതാവ് എത്രയൊക്കെ ശ്രദ്ധിക്കണം എന്ന് മമ്മൂട്ടി തന്നെ ഒരിക്കൽ പറഞ്ഞാണ്. ഇതിൽ തന്നെ ഒരു എക്സ്ട്രാ നടന് അത് സംഭവിക്കുന്നുണ്ട്.ഒരു പക്ഷെ ആ നാട്ടിലെ തന്നെ ഒരു സാധാരണക്കാരൻ ആയിരുന്നിരിക്കാം അത്.
പിന്നെ മറ്റൊരു പ്രധാന ചോദ്യം കഥയിൽ ചോദ്യമില്ല എന്നിരിക്കെ തന്നെ സ്വന്തം ശബ്ദവും കൈകാലുകളും ശരീരവും കണ്ടാൽ സുന്ദരത്തിന് താൻ മറ്റൊരാളുടെ ശരീരത്തിലാണെന്നു മനസ്സിലാവില്ലേ എന്നതാണ്. എന്തിനു കണ്ണാടി കാണുന്ന വരെ കാത്തിരിക്കണം. ഇവിടെയാണ് സാമുവൽ ടെയ്‌ലർ കോളറിഡ്ജ് പണ്ട് പറഞ്ഞ സസ്‌പെൻഷൻ ഓഫ് ഡിസബിലിഫിന്റെ പ്രസക്തി. അത്യാവശ്യം ആകർഷകമായ ഒരു കഥ പറയാനുണ്ടെങ്കിൽ ഏത് പ്രേക്ഷകനും വായനക്കാരനും തന്റെ യുക്തിയേയും ചോദ്യങ്ങളേയും മാറ്റി വെയ്ക്കുമെന്നു. ഈ മ യൗവിനോടൊപ്പം നിൽക്കുന്ന ഒരു ലിജോ ജോസ് പെല്ലിശ്ശേരി ചിത്രമാണ് നൻപകൽ എന്നതാണ് എൻ്റെ അഭിപ്രായം. ചർച്ചകൾ പക്ഷെ അവസാനിക്കുന്നില്ല.അവിടെയാണ് ലിജോയുടെ വിജയവും.

#NanpakalNerathuMayakkam #LijoJosePellisserry #Mammootty

RRR : Where Rajamouli Roars.

Steven Spielberg and James Cameron are two filmmakers who have consistently used technology as a tool to expand the horizons of their dreams and aspirations as storytellers. Spielberg practically invented blockbuster films when he found success with Jaws, ushering in a new era in visual effects in movies, while he was at it. Decades later he did it again with Jurassic Park. Cameron teased with the possibilities of CGI in Terminator 2 : Judgement Day, but it was Spielberg who again went full throttle with Jurassic Park. Visual effects were always an integral part of Cameron’s films from Aliens to Abyss to Avatar. His fascination with the technology used in deep sea exploration saw him diving to the depths himself, leading up to the creation of one of his biggest hits, Titanic. He explored new realms of filmmaking with Avatar and is still at it. It’s not a coincidence that it is with Industrial Light and Magic, the visual effects studio run by another stalwart, George Lucas that both Spielberg and Cameron collaborated with throughout the length of their careers, on their most significant works. Technology was always an integral part of their vision as filmmakers and they have always had a compelling story to tell too, that connected with a global audience. Spielberg more often than Cameron, has always told his stories around families and created heroes out of ordinary human beings in his films. It is to this school of filmmaking that SS Rajamouli belongs to, in the Indian context, I’ve always felt. Bahubali may have gained him much deserved attention across the country but it’s Eega where he truly blazed trail as a maverick filmmaker, if you ask me.

Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi was one film that came to my mind few minutes into watching RRR, for some reason. It must be the image of all those turbaned Indians scampering across a dusty landscape. Gandhi incidentally holds the world record for most number of extras in a film and this was the pre-CGI era too. Rajamouli wastes no time here in prepping the viewer for what’s in store for the length of the film and sets the mood and tone with this scene. You may have seen lynching mobs on screens but it has to be a cinematic first where a mob gets lynched and Rajamouli manages to suspends your disbelief, despite the sheer absurdity, to the point that you let go and decide to indulge yourself as a viewer. It’s a bit like cheating on your diet. The cinematography, action choreography and Ram Charan’s performance are perfectly aligned with Rajamouli’s vision and when the pleasure centres of your brain are being constantly bombarded, you have little choice but to give in. The movie is held together by a string of such epic action set pieces, interlaced with some very generic plot-lines and wafer thin characters elevated only by the delicious quirks of Rajamouli’s writing and vision that saves the most cliched of sequences on more occasions than one, in the film. MM Kreem’s music plays a pivotal role in that aspect, throughout the length of the film too. Noteworthy was the shift in the score in the hunt sequence when the tiger succumbs to the drug. Rajamouli knows his music and Kreem knows what exactly Rajamouli wants, it seems.

Rajamouli is here to hit the ball out of the park on every delivery he faces, so to speak. He’s Sehwag, not Dravid. It’s interesting how he sets up and builds his action sequences into a crescendo. Take the bridge scene where the lead duo rescues the kid. Ram Charan’s character picks up the flag and when he swoops down the bridge hanging from the rope, he soaks the flag in the river. NTR Jr then wraps himself around with the very same flag when he swings through the raging fire. That’s the whole basic working principle of any Rajamouli film in a frame, if you ask me, the nuances and the thoughts that go into the creation of these sequences, that sets them apart from your regular commercial mass masala fare. The hunting sequence is another example. The viewers do not realise the significance of those scenes until Rajamouli springs a surprise on them and the Brits, much later. You saw this in Eega , where again you do not realise the actual reason why Samantha’s character is written as a miniature modeller, until the climatic showdown between the fly and the bad guy. The CGI was pretty impressive, by Indian standards though Rajamouli again proves that he doesn’t need CGI or blockbuster action sequences to kick up frenzy, when the movie breaks into the Nach Nach song. The boundless joy and sheer energy that Ram Charan and NTR brings to this song-dance sequence is the reason why movies are shown in theatres. Watching the film on Netflix at home, I truly regretted missing out on the full house theatre experience on this one.

It was refreshing to watch a few bonafide western actors playing foreigners, especially Ray Stevenson, though his character was written like one meant for Bob Christo from any of the 80s and 90s Bollywood movies. But I’m willing to indulge here considering the fact that even Spielberg chose to portray Indians in a rather bad light in his films, in the past. The monkey brain delicacy from Temple of doom found a joke reference in one of the Office episodes, over two decades later. That’s how pop culture works I guess, leaving lasting impressions. Alison Doody who played his wife is an ex Bond-girl and her reaction when the tiger tore up the guard was particularly impressive, perfectly accentuating the horror of the scene. Olivia Morris had a bit more to do than Alia Bhatt and Sriya Saran wouldn’t be complaining considering the screen time Ajay Devgan got, I think. But then again, in a Rajamouli film, when he is at his best, screen time is not exactly a measure of the impression that you leave on the viewers, as an actor. It’s Rajamouli’s intuitive writing again that elevates the scenes with Devgan and Sriya. It’s all about striving to churn something new out of every cliched situation in the script when it comes to mainstream commercial Indian films and you win some, you lose some in the process as a filmmaker. But when it’s Rajamouli, it’s more wins than losses, I think. But it’s also not to say that the film is without flaws, fundamentally. One being the depiction of the two real life historical figures in a setting sold as a historical fantasy, where Rajamouli decided to infuse a hierarchical structure into the dynamics of the relationship between those two characters. The politics in a more contemporary context, of the film, is evident when icons from Sardar Patel to Pazhassi finds a spot in the closing song finale but Gandhiji or Nehru doesn’t. Incidentally the flag that features in the final song and the bridge scene was the Flag of Indian Independence raised by Bhikaji Cama in 1907, at the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany. If the argument is that the Rajamouli intended to showcase the armed revolutionaries of the Freedom Struggle, a figure conspicuous by absence is Tipu Sultan. Sardar Patel wouldn’t make the list by that logic either. Revolution is not always about taking up arms and despite his means, Gandhiji was silenced in the most violent of ways. I don’t intend to digress here and it’s not a perfect world either and all things said, RRR is indeed mainstream cinema at it’s best and I have to add though, that I’m relieved that Rajamouli decided against bending palm trees this time around, in the climatic showdown.

Kate is fun!

Despite what the internet might tell you Kate is an engaging Netflix Original with some pretty slick action sequences and a car chase that reminded me of the motorcycle chase from Gemini Man though I’m not quite sure if the Kate sequence was 120fps too, no I don’t think so, considering the fact that it’s a Netflix film ultimately, costs and all.

What’s with French directors and the assassin genre? Or is Cedric Nicolas-Troyan paying a tribute to his favorite Luc Besson films from La Femme Nikita to Leon to Lucy ? Kate might even be Mathilda all grown up. That being said, Kate doesn’t exactly have a new story to tell you here but some really good writing by Umair Aleem has aided the director who almost won an Oscar as a visual effects supervisor, in pulling off a decent action flick. Interestingly, I felt that underneath, Kate is also a political film. A film set in Tokyo where western assassins aid warring Yakuza clans finish off each other. The writer talks through the ageing Yakuza boss when he says that the westerners take all from cultures they do not understand until there’s nothing left and that they then empty their bowels on the whole world. And you expect the western media to shower petals on this film, Mary Elizabeth Winstead or not?

Speaking of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, she carries the film entirely on her shoulders. She’s not exactly Keanu Reeves but she’s got some mean “gun- fu” skills if you know what I’m talking about. I felt that she was a tad slow in the action sequences when it came to movements but she more than just makes up with her swag. And the camera moved like it had a black belt of it’s own so that helped too. Woody Harrelson plays Leon to Mary Elizabeth’s Mathilda – Kate and is his smouldering self. Miku Martineau just might be the next teen star and she did hold her own with the talented Winstead. With the action genre trying to re-invent and realign itself with the shift in gender politics of late, that pairing helps the film’s cause in more ways than one. And it would be a crime not to mention Jun Kunimura and I can’t but help say this – കിളവൻ ആള് കൈരളി ആണെന്ന് തോന്നുന്നു!
Watch Kate and find out why.

kate #Netflix

To Binge Or Not To Binge : Nine Thrillers.

If you are experiencing a binge withdrawal syndrome because you’ve already streamed the hell out of the likes of True Detective, Mindhunter, Line of Duty, Money Heist, Stranger Things, and Unbelievable to name a few of the main”stream” favourites and the play something button isn’t helping much either, this might help. Or not.

Giri/Haji I Netflix I Japanese/English

Has it all, the Yakuza, London gangsters, good cops, bad cops, conflicted cops, daughters, moms, wives, girlfriends and grandmothers battling their demons between London and Tokyo. Breaks a few racial stereotypes to an extent and is grim, witty and poignant at the same time. Definitely binge-worthy.

The Innocent I Netflix I Spanish

Orio Paulo who’s totally capable of pulling off decent twists on his own collaborates with Harlan Coben whose plots have more twists than a steel reinforcing bar, so to speak. Some of these can be quite outlandish though the pace makes up for plausibility. Features Orio’s regular cast here too and manages to keep you hooked to the end.

Safe I Netflix l English

Harlan Coben has a Netflix deal and he’s on a quest to find out if languages and cultures are a barrier when it comes to plot twists. This series is about a girl who goes missing in a gated community and her dad played by Michael C. Hall sets out on a frantic search for her, uncovering more secrets than he would have liked about the people in his perfect life.

The Stranger | Netflix I English

Harlan Coben again and this time it’s about a stranger who seems to be on a mission to disrupt the lives of some decent folk. It doesn’t have any of the dark humor Coben has infused in his other shows on Netflix and is rather grim and there is this sense of impending doom throughout. Oh yes, twists too.

The Alienist I Netflix I English

A period thriller set in New York just before the dawn of the 20th Century. Based on a bestseller by Caleb Carr, Dakota Fanning steals the show literally from her co stars Luke Evans and Daniel Bruhl. The mood in general is that of the umpteen Jack the Ripper spin offs and Sherlock Holmes shows that we have seen before but still makes for an engaging watch and S02 would rank higher than S01 in my book in terms of closure.

Erased l Netflix l Japanese

Based on a manga and Netflix has listed both the manga and live action versions. You could call it the Japanese Stranger Things. A compelling watch of a thriller that pushes all the right buttons. All it takes to be a hero is a heart, says the show.

Beyond Evil I Netflix l Korean

The K-Drama obsession with serial killers and food continues. But the show elevates itself here with some consistently good writing across episodes and performances to back from a couple of incredibly talented actors. Of course that’s again a perspective subject to cultural sensibilities.

Bosch I Amazon Prime I English

I had been skipping Bosch for the longest time and once I streamed it, had me wondering why. If you are a fan of The Wire, you might end up loving Bosch just because more than a few actors from that show makes appearances here thanks to show runner Eric Owermeye . Based on books by Michael Connelly the show is about a relentless detective on the mean streets of LA, Harry Bosch played by Titus Welliver. You might just end up like Bosch, relentlessly streaming the seven seasons.

La Mante I Netflix I French

It is essentially a French twist to the Hannibal Lecter lore, The Silence Of the Lambs to be
specific and has been around for a while. Despite the inevitable comparisons the show might still work for you if grim thrillers are your thing.

Selection Day | S01 | Netflix

Yet another Indian Original has debuted on Netflix and is based on Aravind Adiga’s eponymous novel. A Booker prize winner, cricket and Netflix, sounds like a match made in Indian binge-heaven. I haven’t read Adiga’s work and knew little of the book when I slouched on the couch and decided to netflix (v) the other day. For a nation obsessed with anything related to cricket, it’s a bit surprising that we do not have as many movies or shows based on this favorite sport of ours as we would have liked to have had. I mean, considering the number of movies that the Americans have made on Baseball and Football and Basketball and Boxing, we pale in comparsion given the fact that we are equally obsessed with the showbiz too. If I must name one, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal is the only film that did justice to the true spirit of the game I feel.

Selection Day chronicles the lives of two young boys from a village in Madhya Pradhesh, who are groomed by their father to be the best batsmen cricket has ever seen. Rajesh Tailang plays the father and you see him telling another character early on that he married the mother of his children because she was a star hockey player who could mother champion sons for him. Grooming is a subtle word, considering his obsession with the cause and that being the Under- 16 selections for Mumbai. The show starts with him moving the kids to Mumbai as the day edges closer. Yash Doyle and Mohammad Samad play the champions to be. Samad was seen in the rage of the season, Tumbaad recently and is one actor to watch out for. Karanvir Malhotra is another new face. Mahesh Manjrekar reinvents himself as the reluctant coach Tommy Sir. Giving him company is television and stage veteran Ratna Pathak Shah. Shiv Pandit appears and disappears, literally. Akshay Oberoi plays an industrialist chasing dreams of a different kind. Making an impression in a couple of scenes as “Gulshan” is Dibyendu Battacharya and something tells me we are going to see more of him in the industry. The strength of the show is perfect casting and earnest performances from these actors with some great writing to help them do that too. I have to read the book before Season 2 comes out to tell you if it’s Adiga or the writers who have done the work here.

Much like the T20 version of cricket that’s being marketed by cricket boards these days, Selection Day too keeps the episodes short, this helps when you binge on a regular weekend. In fact the whole running time is lesser than that of a Bollywood film. But that doesn’t take away any of the fun or the charm of the series. I think it’s safe to call it the Malgudi Days of our times. You’d infact find yourself wanting Selection Day to return faster than you want Sacred Games to. Adiga’s writing has been branded Dickensian by critics I’m told and Selection Day is no different from what I have witnessed. Udayan Prasad, the director has done a fine job of translating Adiga’s vision on to the screen. I’m divided now though, like a batsman eyeing the fielder and looking for that second run. I could wait for Season 2 to find out the fate of the characters or I could go get the book off the closest shelf and something tells me I’m not the only one in that predicament.

Dogs Of Berlin | S01 | Netflix

The 90s opened the Hollywood floodgates to India thanks to Mr.Manmohan Singh and his policies. Major American movies were hitting local cinemas without much delay. The advent of Cable TV that followed soon ensured that you were hooked early on with the trailers that popped up on the Star Network. No, teasers weren’t a thing back then. Con Air was released in 1997 and was a personal favorite for a long time. Nicolas Cage it seemed, was done with serious Cinema and was trying to turn himself into an action hero. Wouldn’t blame him, something as intense as Leaving Las Vegas could do that to any actor. There was a slew of action films that starred Cage in his macho avatar from The Rock to Face-Off to Gone in Sixty Seconds and they remain favorites from a time when everything awed me. Cable TV back then was the internet, to put things in perspective. Con Air even had me taking upside down push ups, yeah. The movie had a lot of bad guys who said a lot of cool lines, at least it sounded cool to me back then. But I was in for a shock when I watched the film recently, two decades later. The movie reeked of racism and prejudice. I guess this is what happens when your world view changes. You don’t actually need to look for “subtexts” in Con Air to see all that’s wrong with the film, it’s been laid out blatantly, unapologetically. If Con Air was criticised for its racist content at the time of it’s release, it didn’t reach my part of the world. These days everything is scrutinised, some deservingly, some not. Irrespective of intentions, the scanner is working round the clock. If you are a serious student of Cinema and the society, you tend to look for it, at times it hits you right away. And I don’t take upside down push ups anymore either.

Now, the reason why I deliberated extensively on Con Air is because I chanced upon Dogs Of Berlin, a German Original on Nefltix the other day and was mid way into the first episode when I found myself asking if this too was biased and it bothered me because I liked what I had seen already. I didn’t want the urge to read into the subtexts to ruin this for me. More than being just a source of entertainment the most important aspect of cinema that fascinates me is the fact that it is the universal language that connects us human beings despite the geographic, genetic and cultural differences that we use to differentiate and identify eachother with, on a daily basis. I have said this aloud more than once. This is even more true in this age of unlimited exposure thanks to the internet. Netflix, Prime and other streaming portals have magnfiied this exposure by facilitating access to innumerable shows from other countries too. Dogs Of Berlin, which debuted on Netflix this month is the second German series to catch my eye, the other being Dark. Run Lola Run, The Lives Of Others and Der Baader Meinhoff Komplex are the only German films that I have watched and they were fine examples of German Cinema. Dogs Of Berlin showed promise early on and hence my apprehensions too.

Dogs Of Berlin looked different and relevant even with the minimal understanding I had of the present day German society. Cars and football are what comes to mind first when one thinks of Germany and of course it’s Nazi past. In stark contrast to that chequered past, Germany under Angela Merkel has had a different approach towards migrants and asylum seekers, especially in the wake of the Syrian crisis. Merkel’s policies were even blamed for having triggered the migrant crisis in Europe. Though it doesn’t exactly unfold against the backdrop of this migration, Dogs Of Berlin does deal with the German society that’s now a melting pot of cultures and the conflicts that are inevitable in such a scenario. The series is about an investigation into the death of a German footballer of Turkish origin on the eve of a football match between Turkey and Germany. There are multiple narratives woven into the story and they function in perfect cohesion as the series progresses, with the precision of a BMW engine. The death is discovered by a German police officer who has a gambling problem and is essentially the bad cop of the tale here. It does’nt help that he used to be a neo-nazi and that his brother who sports a moustache and a Hitler haircut and estranged mother are still very much a part of the organisation in Berlin. The good cop is another German, but of Turkish origin and is a representative of the Turkish diaspora in German, which I later found out, was substantial. The investigation is essentially a tour of the German underworld. We are introduced to the Lebanese Mafia in Berlin early on and they are the drug pushers, the Yugoslavs are not far behind with their grip on the football bookkeeping, there’s a Turkish biker gang who lament that they had to settle for the protection racket and of course there’s the Neo-Nazis who hate everything that’s not German by heritage.

The German Turk and the German German are forced to team up due to political reasons but they have no love lost for each other. The investigators have their own agendas and their share of personal problems which ultimately catch up with their professional lives as the tale progresses. The German cop’s wife has her set of demons that she is forced to deal with on her own, which doesn’t end well for him or her. The cop on the other hand is having an affair with his childhood friend. The Turk is gay and has daddy issues. His father refuses to accept him for what he is and he is an emotional wreck. His ex on the other hand is dating the Lebanese Mafia kingpin who in turn is dealing with a younger brother who wants to be top dog in the organisation. This brother also wants a piece of the betting business run by the Slavs and is tyring to turn a promising player of African origin who just debuted on the national team. Thrown in the midst of these are a couple of other characters who have a story of their own but they fit perfectly into the jigsaw that this series is. The series is highly provocative and even hints at corruption and coercion that goes up to the highest echelons of the German football administraion. Initially you cant but help notice that the makers have portrayed the outsiders as the ones on the wrong side of the law mostly or as the ones who are tempted to stray. The Neo-Nazis get a rather sympathetic portrayal I coudn’t but help notice and the series justifies their existence by the pitching them as a reaction to the menace the immigrant gangs have become. Though the series takes the Dan Brown way out of this web of deceit and deception at the end, what’s commendable is fact that despite the staggering number of parallel narratives, the series stays on course for most part. Apart from getting to know a bunch of talented German actors, thanks to the series, I did end up learning the German word for migrant workers, Gastarbeiter. One man’s Bengali is another man’s Gastarbeiter, to put things in perspective.

Bodyguard | S01 Netflix | BBC

Twenty minutes. That’s all it took for Bodyguard, the BBC show that debuted on Netflix the other day, to get me hooked. And I presume I’m not the only one, if the rave reviews and ratings the show garnered on it’s original release on the BBC network are anything to go by. In fact those very twenty mintues are all it took again for none other than Theresa May to switch off the show too, as she herself told the Press. Now, that should add some perpsective if you’re looking for some. Whatever you have heard or read about the show is entirely justified I vouch, now that I have binged through the six seaons of some very British intrigue and thrills. Come to think of it, from Sherlock to Line of Duty to The Night Manager, the BBC have proven time and again that when it comes to the very serious business of classy thrillers and gritty police procedurals, they are past and reigning masters.

For a show that moves at the pace it does, Bodyguard touches upon on a range of issues from PTSD to xenophobia while telling a decent tale of intrigue. Hollywood has used all variants of PTSD to set the cash registers ringing right from the Vietnam War days to the American campaigns in the Middle East and around but it’s not everyday that you get to see a troubled British war veteran on screen. In fact I’d go so far as to say that David Budd, the central character played passionately by Richard Madden is nothing less than a modern British version of John Rambo, that quintessential poster boy of PTSD, on celluloid. Bodyguard was fearless too I felt for most part as it did not stick to stereotypes and shunned prejudice early on but it has to be said that it turned out to be a deftly played card of a plot twist which was indeed disappointing to an extent. Reminded me of the regular Dan Brown template for thrillers where every major instituition as we know it is attacked and portrayed as agents of evil but the actual acts of crime turns out to be the doing of one deranged mind. The writers have obviously heavily borrowed from current day British politics and the PM in Office currently was interestingly the Home Secretary too earlier, which is one of the main characters here, played by a short-haired Keeley Hawes. In a curious gender reversal of sorts the incumbent PM in Bodyguard resembled Boris Johnson and the Home Secretary is the one who is after his job here, deft sleight of hand by the writers indeed.

Apart from the writing, much of the intensity on the screen owes it to the performances of the lead actors, namely Madden and Keeley Hawes. Richard Madden who made a name for himself as the short lived but much loved Robb Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones is the mainstay here and has delivered a moving and engaged performance. Keeley Hawes plays a character that has shades of the one she played in Line of Duty, to an extent and is most probably the reason why she was cast in the role of Julia Montague, the Home Secretary. Other actors who make more or less silent entries early on but go on to make their mark towards the end. Nina Toussaint-White, Ash Tandon and Anjli Mohindra stands out in their roles and something tells me we’d be seeing more of them in the future as actors. Recent BBC shows have displayed active engagement in the cause of diversity when it comes to casting and is essentialy a reflection of the British society at large too I feel. Bodyguard is not without faults entirely but it makes for an engaging and intelligent watch. One thing I like about the BBC shows is that they are short but intense affairs in contrast to epics like Breaking Bad. Unfair, unnecessary and pointless comparision I agree but that’s just me and trust me I’m not complaining.

Ghoul S01 | Netflix : Z meets The Exorcist In A Familiar Landscape.

Ghoul lured me in with it’s trailer. Hot on the heels of Sacred Games, here was an Indian Original that looked interesting and featured a prominent cast member from that other rage of the season Anurag Kashyap – Vikramaditya Motwane production too. Though the series speaks Hindi it is set in a more or less unnamed land – except for a brief historical reference by one of the characters- and looks nothing like anything that we have come across on Indian screens, the fact that Sacred Games had set the bars high notwithstanding. Adding to the intrigue off-screen is the presence of a non-Hindi speaking writer-director, Patrick Graham at the helm. Maybe that explains the kind of tone and mood that’s alien to shows and films from our part of the world. Ghoul is pitched as a superatural horror series and it is scary, but not because of the horror element.

Costa Gavras’s Z is as political a movie could get and The Exorcist set the mould in which every other horror movie since has been made. Ghoul has elements of both the classics and their genres in a delicious mix. It presents a dystopia which is not about a dusty, windy, rundown future or a world where machines have taken over, neither is it one where humans have moved to Mars, rather Ghoul leads us into a very real place where the government has taken control of lives and any voice of criticsim and dissent is in danger of being clamped down ferociously. Patrick Graham was researching torture in modern warfare when he hit up on the idea he claims. Now, that must give you an idea. Ghoul even reminded me of The Silence Of The Lambs not necessarily because it had a female officer walking down a dark corridor with prisoners in cells on either side. Radhika Apte seems to be doing at home what Priyanka Chopra is trying away. Manav Kaul transforms into an army officer who’s eons apart from other characters he has recently portrated with ease.One actor to watch out for.

Anurag Kashyap’s first two films never saw the daylight thanks to run-ins with the regulatory authorities, namely CBFC and it later turned into a regular excercise for almost all his productions. So when a giant like Netflix streamed its way onto Indian screens with the kind of creative liberties it bestowed upon talented individuals with whom they joined hands like Kashyap, who has been working the system from within for decades us as an audience were definitely the ones to benefit most. If Kashyap flexed his muscles with Sacred Games, he has gone for the sucker punch with Ghoul. It’s not the demon that’s the scariest in this miniseries, it’s the people in it and the system they represent that leaves you disturbed. If you thought Sacred Games was perfectly timed, Ghoul would leave Rahul Dravid drooling. The release eerily coincided with the crackdown on activists across the country . Kashyap and Co have almost done a Nostradamus I’d say.

Sacred Games : S01 | Netflix

Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra, Shantaram by Greogory David Roberts and Maximum City by Suketu Mehta are three books which were published few years apart at the dawn of the millenium and all three of them have a common central character, that being Mumbai. Mehta and Chandra coincidentally had collabroated on Mission Kashmir too. Apart from Sacred Games, the rest could safely be called non-fiction with Shantaram treading a thin line between fiction and reality. But then any story about Mumbai is a genre in itself, magical realism meeting Mario Puzo, if I may. Shantaram was the one book that I looked forward to being made into a movie and if I am not wrong Mira Nair was supposed to do one with Johnny Depp in the lead. That never took off I guess. Sacred Games to be honest was a difficult read, in terms of the sheer number of pages it ran into and was a slow burner but it had all the makings of a potential gangster drama, in the hands of the right filmmaker. Ram Gopal Varma was fresh on the heels of his take on the Mumbai gang land with Satya and Company and looked the perfect candidate in those days, now not so much. So it was only natural that one of his early collaborators who went on to make a distinct name for himself in India and globally, Anurag Kashyap turned out to be the one who brought Vikram Chandra’s magnus opus-as it would be touted now- to life on the screen finally, and how. It’s also a landmark in terms of the fact that it’s the first Indian Netflix Original.The book was a critical success, commercial not so much back then and given the hype and rave reviews Season One has generated thanks to Kashyap and Co. , I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a revived interest in the book itself and offer some consoloation to the author towards the cause of the unrecouped original million dollar advance by Harper Collins.

Ganesh Gationde, the surreal character who is a hero, a villain and a victim simultaneoulsy needed a Nawazuddin Siddiqui to be elevated to greatness as one of the most memorable characters ever written.Back when I read Sacred Games, Gaitonde did not have a face. Now, I cannot imagine anyone else but Nawazuddin as Gaitonde. It’s his destiny as an artist, I can’t but help feel. Consider this, it took Vikram Chandra around ten years to write the book.He travelled to Bihar and attended Bollywood parties as part of the writing process.The book was released in 2006. Nawazuddin Siddiqui made one of his early screen appearances in a minor role in Anurag Kashyap’s unreleased Black Friday in 2004. Little did Siddiqui or Chandra know that their creative talents would come together and were fated to take on Netflix by storm decades later.This will go down as Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s greatest role ever and the man scorches the screen every second he’s on it.When he is not on, his voice over holds sway over the audience. Sartaj Singh, a cop, the other central character in Sacred Games interestingly had made an appearance in Vikram Chandra’s earlier novel, Love and Longing in Bombay, I am told. Saif Ali Khan brings Sartaj Singh to life here and delivers a performance that is a testimony to the fact that Bollywood is a jungle where even the most talented artists could get lost for eternity. Anurag Kashyap has rescued Khan here from that jungle, so to speak, who has shown in the past that in the right hands, he could give the best in the business a run for their money. He plays Sartaj Singh with such depth and sensitivity that he has transformed himself completely into the character. Even his silences tell the audience stories here. Most notable is the scene where he meets constable Katekar’s wife. Katekar played brilliantly by Jitendra Joshi is an endearing character and is Sartaj’s sidekick, as the genre would have it. Radhika Apte is a no-nonsense intelligence officer who is far removed from the female cop characters we have come across on Indian screens. Luke Kenny, a familiar face on Channel V of yore is seen as an assassin here. Jatin Sarna makes an impression as Bunty, Gaitonde’s man. Rajshri Deshpande plays a different kind of gangster’s wife here, quite unlike anything that we have seen on Indian screens before. Kubra Sait is Kukoo the primary love interest in Gaitonde’s life, a character already being talked about in the media. Every other actor from Neeraj Kabi to Shalini Vatsa to Geetanjali Thapa lingers in your psyche as the characters they play. Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap have co- directed the series with Motwane working on the Sartaj timeframe of the story and Kashyap on the Gaitonde origins. The decision was right on the money given the fact that the urban landscape is where Motwane’s stories have flourished till now in contrast to the hinterlands that we are now familar with in Kashyap’s films.

Sacred Games is a case of art-imitating-life-imitating-art.The timing of the show could not have been more perfect, considering the central theme it deals with and the times we live in. In the Mumbai of Chandra, Kashyap and Motwane, the good guys are not that good and the bad are not exactly evil. The city decides the fate of the individual.Delhi, the power centre is no match for Mumbai, it’s a different world altogether, a character reiterates that in a line he speaks. Sacred Games explores the underbelly of Mumbai where agents of politics, businesses, movies and religion are indulged in a constant process of evolution in a struggle for power and control. Gaitonde is almost Forrest Gump here with major incidents that shook the nation in the past couple of decades proving turning points in his life as a career gangster. Even someone as dreaded as Gaitonde is a pawn in the hands of the people in power, politically. Motwane and Kashyap have successfully brought in an element of suspense and maintains it without losing their grip on the aesthetics of the tales being told. The series is particulary critical about the past governments who were in power when incidents which changed the country forever occurred. Sacred Games is what happens when an irresistible force in the entertainment industry like Netflix meets a filmmaker with immovable vision and outlook. Kashyap and Co. have come out all guns blazing here and have delivered a world class piece of entertainment. Looking forward to the next season and I think I’m going to revisit the book again.

Seven Seconds : The Netflix Series to Binge and Brood over This Month.

Sadhya, which is mostly attributed to the festival Onam globally but is otherwise a regular fixture in almost all events and ceremonies in Kerala, when served in its true form and devoured passionately as a true Malayali is expected to, can leave you bloated and intoxicated even, when you haven’t concluded it as it should be. If you have been to one of these elaborate sessions, you must have come across people going around with a serving of spiced buttermilk towards the end. This has in fact been immortalised in the minds of Malayalis across the globe by actor Innocent and the whole idea is that the buttermilk serving is supposed to work as an antidote to wave off the intoxicating effect of the feast, especically the penultimate serving of paayasam, the sweetened porridge of sorts. Now if your’e wondering what in the name of Mahabali’s belly does this have to do with Seven Seconds, the show that debuted on Netflix few weeks back, it’s the most fitting analogy that I could come up with to convey the kind of effect, watching the show close on the heels of Black Panther, could have on a viewer. Seven Seconds is the dose of buttermilk to wave off the sway of Black Panther and jolt you back to reality.

Veena Sud, the creator of the show specialises in remaking and transplanting foreign shows to the American heartland for the benefit of the English speaking audience. She did it in the past with The Killing, the Danish show and this time around she has found the perfect cultural setting for the Russian movie The Major in Jersey City. The show is a police procedural, a courtroom drama, a crime thriller and social commentary at the same time.Seven Seconds does not hide the fact that it draws inspiration from the #blacklivesmatter campaign and features direct references to the events in Ferguson and New York. This is one show that is not afraid to take sides and call a spade, a spade. It shows you how ordinary people struggle with personal loss and how it wreaks havoc in their lives.While they demand answers and asks questions too, they are not always the same ones that the crowd of protestors ask.Everyone is a victim here of the choices they make, some more than the others, justice is elusive and penance is not an option, as in real life.

The show rides on some of the most powerful and compelling performances in recent times by a group of talented actors. Regina King and Russel Hornsby play parents to a slain kid with an honesty and depth that leaves you no choice but to empathise with the characters. Clare-Hope Ashitey plays the troubled prosecutor and keeping her company in the hunt to nail the bad guys is Michael Mosley whose cop character and portrayal is an oasis of sorts for the viewer in a story that’s otherwise grim and bleak to the core. The most complex character of the lot, that of the cop who is torn between his own past, his integrity, the crime that he commited and the decision that changes his life forever taken under the compulsion of his corrupt colleagues, is played by Beau Knapp. Though it starts off slow to a brooding pace, the series makes up for it the later episodes and takes the tone of a thriller almost, that would make Grisham proud.There are a few successful attempts to break steterotypes and avoid cliches. All things said, this is one show that chooses to stick to ground realities and offers little or no closure to the viewers and the charcters in the end, much akin to the world that we live in.