News and Views

“Desh khatre mein hain” - it’s a sentiment that’s echoed in most web series these days. Terror plans being hatched and security forces trying everything in their capacity to abort them. Amazon Prime Video‘s latest offering The Family Man has a similar plot line. This drill can get a tad drab if not for some genuinely smart writing. Luckily for us, The Family Man doesn’t disappoint us.

Directed by Raj and DK, who have also written it along with Suman Kumar and Sumit Arora, gives us a fresh perspective through which to process officer Srikant Tiwari’s tactics. He’s a family man first - someone seen fixing a sandwich for his daughter, is scared of upsetting the wife, negotiating his “family time” with a demanding career. Thats’s Srikant Tiwari for us.

Listen to the podcast for the whole review!

Fabeha Syed catches up with her Urdu teacher and DU's professor Dr. Najma Rehmani who gives a master class on Mir Taqi Mir's poetry that sums up 18th Century Delhi with his politics, love, loss, and his feelings for an attaar ka launda (son of a perfumer).

Yet another star kid being launched! Yet another PPT presentation for a film! This time Sunny Deol is helming the project to launch the Deol khandaan’s gen next – son Karan Deol. 

He is cute and easy on the eyes. The actor opposite him is also being launched – Sahher Bambba. Rest it’s business as usual!

The name of the film brings to mind dada ji Dharmendra’s timeless song from the 1973 movie Blackmail. ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas’ is a beautiful number and that one scene in the film when the female lead sings the first stanza of the original song – it does feel good. 

And then the realisation dawns that one was better off listening to the song on loop than sitting through this “launch the son” project!

Listen to the podcast for the full review!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yet another star kid being launched! Yet another PPT presentation for a film! This time Sunny Deol is helming the project to launch the Deol khandaan’s gen next – son Karan Deol. 

He is cute and easy on the eyes. The actor opposite him is also being launched – Sahher Bambba. Rest it’s business as usual!

The name of the film brings to mind dada ji Dharmendra’s timeless song from the 1973 movie Blackmail. ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas’ is a beautiful number and that one scene in the film when the female lead sings the first stanza of the original song – it does feel good. 

And then the realisation dawns that one was better off listening to the song on loop than sitting through this “launch the son” project!

Listen to the podcast for the full review!

Based on Anuja Chauhan’s 2008 novel by the same name, The Zoya Factor tells the story of its eponymous character in a quirky endearing fashion. Zoya Solanki and Sonam Kapoor’s Cheshire cat’s grin do complement each other. 

The movie opens with Shah Rukh Khan’s voice-over telling us about the baby who was born on the day when India won the 1983 World Cup. Her father (Sanjay Kapoor) declares her to be a gift of the Cricket Gods to the family. Zoya however grows up cursing her luck until she finally declares that “my personal life sucks and my professional life sucks.”

A fortunate stroke of serendipity takes Zoya to the Indian cricket team’s breakfast table. Soon everyone seems to be taken in by her “lucky charm story” except for the very good-looking team captain Nikhil Khoda (Dulquer Salmaan). But how does one explain the fact that having breakfast with Zoya would almost always lead to heroic wins on the field and her absence means a crushing defeat!! However another question pops up- how long will the Zoya factor last? 

Listen to the podcast to find out!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Based on Anuja Chauhan’s 2008 novel by the same name, The Zoya Factor tells the story of its eponymous character in a quirky endearing fashion. Zoya Solanki and Sonam Kapoor’s Cheshire cat’s grin do complement each other. 

The movie opens with Shah Rukh Khan’s voice-over telling us about the baby who was born on the day when India won the 1983 World Cup. Her father (Sanjay Kapoor) declares her to be a gift of the Cricket Gods to the family. Zoya however grows up cursing her luck until she finally declares that “my personal life sucks and my professional life sucks.”

A fortunate stroke of serendipity takes Zoya to the Indian cricket team’s breakfast table. Soon everyone seems to be taken in by her “lucky charm story” except for the very good-looking team captain Nikhil Khoda (Dulquer Salmaan). But how does one explain the fact that having breakfast with Zoya would almost always lead to heroic wins on the field and her absence means a crushing defeat!! However another question pops up- how long will the Zoya factor last? 

Listen to the podcast to find out!

You know what the beauty is of an Ayushmann Khurrana film? You look at its trailer and you're convinced director ne actor dekhke role likhi hai. Imagine a wizened, battle-hardened director saheb/saheba sitting at their desk and jabbing at a computer keypad, going, "What can I write that'll make Ayushmann Khurrana truly shine?" That's the kind of space Ayushmann has managed to create for himself - and it's a well-deserved one.

It is with that promise that the premise of Dream Girl is set up - a role you'll begin to realise, 5 minutes in, that no one other than Ayushmann would be able to pull off this well.

Listen to the podcast for the review!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know what the beauty is of an Ayushmann Khurrana film? You look at its trailer and you're convinced director ne actor dekhke role likhi hai. Imagine a wizened, battle-hardened director saheb/saheba sitting at their desk and jabbing at a computer keypad, going, "What can I write that'll make Ayushmann Khurrana truly shine?" That's the kind of space Ayushmann has managed to create for himself - and it's a well-deserved one.

It is with that promise that the premise of Dream Girl is set up - a role you'll begin to realise, 5 minutes in, that no one other than Ayushmann would be able to pull off this well.

Listen to the podcast for the review!

The story of Section 375 is pretty simple - filmmaker Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhat) is accused of raping a junior costume assistant, Anjali Dangle (Meera Chopra), at his residence. 

With all the circumstantial evidence piled up against him, Rohan is found guilty and sentenced to 10-years of rigorous imprisonment by a local court. 

Rohan’s wife approaches the hot shot Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna) to fight his case in the Mumbai High Court, and a fiery Hiral Gandhi (Richa Chadha) appears to represent the survivor. 

How what appears to be a simple open-and-shut case then unravels into a tangled mess of truth and lies forms the rest of the story.

Listen to the podcast for the review. Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Watch the video review here. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The story of Section 375 is pretty simple - filmmaker Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhat) is accused of raping a junior costume assistant, Anjali Dangle (Meera Chopra), at his residence. 

With all the circumstantial evidence piled up against him, Rohan is found guilty and sentenced to 10-years of rigorous imprisonment by a local court. 

Rohan’s wife approaches the hot shot Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna) to fight his case in the Mumbai High Court, and a fiery Hiral Gandhi (Richa Chadha) appears to represent the survivor. 

How what appears to be a simple open-and-shut case then unravels into a tangled mess of truth and lies forms the rest of the story.

Listen to the podcast for the review. Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Watch the video review here.