6. Corona days: Moving pictures

I realize that its Motion Pictures and not Moving Pictures but the title for this piece is dedicated to Rush. Calling it Movies is simpler but there are times when one does not wish to be simple. After many months, I have watched a number of movies in a stretch and I believe this journal should be aware of this achievement.

1 and 2. The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2 - The titles and the posters of the two movies suggested that these are mindless action movies. I love watching mindless action movies. For one, I can watch these movies alone, which is an interesting experience. Second, the movies proceed at pace that provide little opportunity to think. The template for a good mindless action movie is simple. A few good guys fight against many bad guys. Initially, the bad guys have the upper hand and this results in the few good guys becoming fewer but soon the tables turn and the good guys give a solid thrashing to the bad guys. By the end of the movie, most if not all the bad guys are dead and in most cases, the one or two good guys limp away or are carried away in stretchers. They wear a brave smile on their lips despite being covered in blood. While watching a mindless action movie, it is important to identify all the good guys right at the beginning. The remaining people in the movie are either bad guys or will die within twenty of their appearance on screen. In some case, some of the good guys might be bad guys acting like good guys. Halfway through the movie a ta-dang scene reveals their true identity. A true lover of the mindless action movie curses profusely as soon as this reveal is made and eagerly waits for the brutal death of the was-good-but-is-now-bad guy. This true lover of the mindless action movie also pounds his fists on all the furniture around him as the main good guy pounds the main bad guy into a pulp in the climactic sequence. Historians suggest that Die Hard is the mother of all mindless action movies and Bruce Willis is the God of all good guys.

NOTE: In the above paragraph I have used the word guy instead of guy / gal or person. My apologies for being a sexist. In my head, it seems inappropriate to use anything other than 'guy' when talking about mindless action movies. So please remember that the word guy in the above paragraph is unisex in nature.

I decided to add the introduction to mindless action movies after I completed my first draft. Earlier I only wrote "Action filled Indonesian movies. The first part is amazing. If you are not averse to a lot of blood and crunch sound, these movies are thrilling with amazing action sequences." I realized I was being unfair to the movie and wrote some more.

The Raid: Redemption is one of the best mindless action movies that I have seen. I place my neck on the line by saying that it is even better than Die Hard. But that does not mean that the hero of this movie is Godder than Bruce Willis. That's impossible! Both parts of The Raid proceed at incredible pace. There is an enormous amount of blood filled action sequences in these movies. The hero is an exponent of an Indonesian martial art form and this makes the action sequences interesting. The first movie is simple and as a result is impressive. The second part is intricate, which is usually not a good word to associate with a mindless action movie. That does not mean that the second part is not good or interesting. It only means that the second part is not as interesting as the first one. I will watch these movies again. Warning: If you are allergic to spluttering blood and scrunching bones, this movie is not for you.

2. Driving license - This movie's story is simple. In a way, it is similar to Shah Rukh Khan's 'Fan' but is a lot more interesting. The movie has three big advantages over SRK's Fan. Double role gimmicks are not used in the movie. There are no complicated action sequences. There are no identifiable villains. The movie is about a fan's adoration for a star landing both of them in trouble. The movie also depicts the life of a star and the issues and controls he faces. Every person around him has expectations from him and when he fails to meet the expectation, they berate him in public. It is also about people who try to take advantage of such situation for their own sake. The movie does not paint them as villains but people who use these situation to resolve their own issues. The movie holds the audience to their seats. Towards the end of the movie a touching sequence shows that a fan will always be a fan. Suraaj and Prithviraj are brilliant through the movie. Prithviraj excels in the role of a  hassled superstar role.    

3. Ayyappanum Koshyum - Prithviraj is back and this time he has issues with Biju Menon. He no longer seems like a victim as in the case of Driving license. Instead, his character in the movie hides his insecurity behind arrogance and money. The character played by Biju Menon has been made a cop for the well-being of his community. As his superior in the movie says "he can only be controlled through the discipline of being a policeman else he will be on a rampage". In the second half, when Biju Menon's character gets suspended from the police force, he goes on a rampage and the audience start sympathizing with Prithviraj's character. The action and the tussle between the two stars make the two hour forty five minute movie seem shorter. Gowri Nandha plays an interesting character in the movie and has a fiery dialogue and sequence in the movie. 

4. Trance - I love the word trance. I think Scorpions is responsible for this love. They have a great song titled "In Trance". I especially love the part where Klaus Meine sings "I am in a traaaaaaance".  Once I started listening to electronic music, trance became a part of my vocabulary. So when I saw the poster of a jumping Fahad Faasil with the word Trance written underneath, I could not wait to watch the movie. Much to my disappointment the movie received mixed reviews. Watching movies in theatres has become an expensive affair and so I indulge in them only if I have a maximum guarantee. Besides, I have to consider the interests and tastes of the fourteen year old in my house . I took him to a theatre to watch Jallikattu and he hated the experience. The movie was too haphazard for him and he despised the background score. So I did not want to put him through a similar experience. As a result, we chose to watch a movie that he wanted to watch, Sonic, which turned out be a fun experience that I did not expect. I now realize that I made a mistake by not watching Trance in the theatres. Trance is a fantastically mad cap movie. It provides an irreverent peek into the world of Christian missionaries. The movie is like trancy version of the movie "Oh God!" and the Genesis song "Jesus he love you". I am tempted to say that Fahad is the reason for Trance being as good as it has turned out to be but that is not a fair statement. Fahad is fantastic; he gives a no holds barred performance. But there are other brilliant performances too - Dileesh Pothen, Sreenath Bhasi, Guatham Menon, Chemban Vinod and Vinayakan. The background music and the songs are brilliant too and so is the cinematography. The movie is near perfect in a number of departments. The near perfection is spoiled by a pointless forty minute section in the second half. The first few minutes of the second half live up to the name, Trance, more than any other part of the movie. But soon it gets into an annoyingly serious stretch. The forty minutes of seriousness does not fit into the movie. This part is important for the movie's climax but I think the attempt to show Fahad's character in a good light resulted in this part of the movie becoming serious. The strength of his character is that he always thought of himself as a good person. It was not necessary to try and change him by making him see the harm he is doing and in the process bring out the good person in him. I thought the character could have continued to live in his shell of good, as most persons on this planet do. While others went through misery, Fahad could have continued to view himself as a messiah. But the movie falls into the trap of reforming its protagonist, which waters down the impact of the movie. Fortunately, the movie's climax is electric and we walk out of the movie feeling satisfied. I think I will watch this movie again.  

5. Anveshanam - This is a tough movie to watch. Had it been taken well, it would have ended up being disturbing and as a result would not have been enjoyable. The movie is not made well and as a result is a melodramatic and painfully slow investigative mess. Jayasurya is an actor I like to watch but in this movie he is painfully serious. The other actors do not make an impact. The crux of the movie is interesting and also I liked the way it unfolded initially. But unfortunately, some of the actors have not brought out their characters well. Thus as the movie proceeds one's involvement in the story reduces. More importantly we are not shocked by the unfolding events. Secondly, once the details of the crime become clear, the movie loses its grip as the number of suspects becomes small. The movie tries to make it up by throwing in a twist in the climax but this twist waters down the story. It kills the movie. I think this twist should enter the Guinness book of records as the worst one ever. Ultimately, this twist and the unconvincing show by everyone other than Jayasurya make the movie a terrible watch. Interestingly, I thought that Jayasurya's convincing act is also as issue. He convinces the audience that he is speaking the truth and thus reduces the investigative aspect of the movie to nothing. 

6. Kedarnath - I wanted to watch this movie in the theatres. I love the Namo Namo song and it is shot well too. But the reviews for the movie were mixed bag and I decided not to spend half my fortune in purchasing the tickets. After watching this movie, I continue to agree with this decision . It is a decent movie but the story is so ancient that stone age humans might have painted it on the walls of their caves. High caste, high class Hindu girl and a poorer than poor Muslim boy are so attracted to each other that they cannot help but fall in love. Once they are discovered the family does everything to keep them apart, including marrying her off to a creepy but successful high caste, high class Hindu boy. Then it starts raining and Kedarnath gets destroyed. The brave hero, conveniently, dies in the floods (I was fascinated by the red lighted "Overload" sign blinking on the dashboard of the helicopter when two people were left to board the helicopter. The pilot immediately announced that only one of the two can board the helicopter. What! If the helicopter is overloaded, leave both to their destiny or take both. We can suspend our beliefs to think that a blinking-red-overloaded helicopter can take of the hero too. But no! The hero has to sacrifice his life and love to ensure that a son does not lose his father). The last scene shows the heroine dressed in white listening to the hero's favourite song over the radio. As ridiculous as all this sound, I like the movie and have seen bits of it many times over the past few days and I believe will continue to do so. The romantic scenes between Sara and Sushanth are some of the best I have seen in recent times. I like the way he helplessly tries to keep away from her and she helplessly teases him. Both of them convince us that the two characters had no choice but to fall headlong in love with each other. Amit Trivedi's "Qaafirana" sweetens this intoxicating mix. I am not sure if this is realistic representation of life but it sure tastes like a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

7. Uri - I did not like the movie. I started watching the movie with a grudge. This movie shared a national award with "Kumblangi Nights". My Malayalee pride is hurt - I believe it is better for a movie to not receive an award than to share it with a Bollywood movie. Even now I am shocked that Sunny Deol won the National Award for Best Supporting Actor for his screechy "Damini" and Sivaji Ganesan got a special mention award for his role in "Thevar Magan". Sunny Deol winning a National Award by itself is a shock but it being considered better than Sivaji in Thevar Magan is unpardonable. If Sivaji's name was not mentioned then I would not have realized that he "lost" the award to Sunny Deol. It is a wonder Sivaji did not stop acting after this debacle. The same is the case with "Uri" and "Kumblangi Nights" sharing an award. From my point of view, Bollywood movies are good when compared to other Bollywood movies. It is blasphemous to compare a Bollywood movie with a Malayalam movie. So I started watching the movie with a cynical frame of mind. It will be unfair to call Uri a bad movie. I might go as far as calling it decent movie. That's it! No more! The movie did not hold my attention. A few sequences are plainly annoying. The robotic kite sequences, the hero's brother-in-law's funeral sequence and the climatic sequences come to my mind as examples. I like Vicky Kaushal and so will give him a thumbs up - Well tried but try acting in a Malayalam movie.

8. Ladoo - An unknown Malayalam movie which has a set of people in the lead roles. Ladoo is a low budget why-does-the-movie-not-have-a-hero-or-a-heroine type of movie. In this case, the movie has a heroine. But I am not sure if the guy with whom she loves is the hero. There are others in the movie who are as important as the hero. Only towards the end of the movie does the heroine's lover get five entire minutes focused on him. Regardless of this, I laughed through the movie. Lots of jokes and almost none of them are vulgar. The movie has a ridiculous story and is taken in a ridiculous manner. In a generous mood, I might even call it a spoof on romantic movies. I movie might watch it again in the future. Since I am in an unforgiving mood I will end by declaring that I like this unknown movie better than Uri. Eda Uri! Ninakku anganethanne venam! 

9. Porinju Mariyam Jose - The presence of Joju Joseph and Chemban Vinod was reason enough for me to choose this movie. It is a Joshy movie and he tries to go back to his heydays of 80's and 90's. Joju Joseph is going through a great phase in his career. Many of his movies are turning out to be hits and he is winning critical acclaim for his acting too. He got a Special Mention in National Awards for his role in the movie Joseph - an amazingly dark movie. I think Joju started off in negative roles before moving to comedy and now to serious lead roles. I first noticed him for his comic timing in the Mammootty movie Rajadhiraja. Depending on the movie he has the ability to fit into the role. This movie is a masala movie set in the 70's and 80's. At best, the movie is an interesting watch. Besides the two men, the heroine, Nyla Usha and Vijayaraghavan play their role well. The name of the movie is a combination of the names of the characters played by these three actors. Since this is a Joshy movie, there are many violent sequences in the movie.

10, 11, 12. Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the Kings) - I love the book though I have only read it once. I liked the movies but as is usually the case, they are not as good as the book. Many important parts of the book are missing in the movie. Worse, there are a few annoying additions too. A few years back, I got the extended version of the movies; nearly one and a half hours of additional footage are added in the extended versions and this makes a huge difference. For many years, I have considered binge watching these movies - ten continuous hours of LOTR. The lockdown seemed an ideal time to do so but that did not happen. No one other than I was interested in watching them and so I did not get the television. Watching these movies on a laptop using headphones for ten hours is impossible. So I ended up spending the afternoons across four days on the Lord of the Rings. Based on LOTR, I would split the world into three groups. First, people who love LOTR. Second, people who hate LOTR. Third, people who don't bother to hate or love LOTR. I belong to the first group.  

13. Joker - Soon after the lockdown commenced, I received the following message on my WhatsApp. "After they asked everyone to stay home.  America decoded all channels of movies and entertainment for free. Please click on this link .... https://blah-blah-blah the above has all the latest movies.. Very impressed with this link. Worth saving.. Has many choices". I used this site to watch "Joker". A bit later when I tried watching another movie, I realized that the site is a shady one. Since then I no longer visit it. Besides there are a million movies to watch on Prime.  Since then, much to my annoyance, Joker has been released on Prime. I enjoyed watching Joker. Joaquin Phoenix and the pacing of the movie are excellent. Though they keep you hooked to the movie, it is a difficult movie to watch. The protagonist goes through the a number of humiliations for major portion of the movie. I don't think the difficulties he faces are unrealistic and his decision to become a killer does not seem unrealistic either. Only yesterday I saw in the news, a person shooting down 19 people in Canada.  People taking anger out on the society is not limited to terrorists. Actually, an act of terrorism is not necessarily born out of anger. But most of the other mass killings are born out of anger. This is what Joker shows. The big issue with the movie is that the viewer enjoys the transformation of this person. Whether intended or not, it is easy to accept Joker, who is considered a villain, than Arthur Fleck, who is a common man with extraordinary difficulties. If one has a choice between the two, one would prefer to be the former. As I see it, the movie pushes you to this preference through the use of background music and the portrayal of the Joker character. By portrayal, I don't mean Phoenix's performance alone; it includes the manner in which the camera focuses on him and the kind of music that plays in the background. There is something uplifting about being Joker whereas no one would want to be Arthur Fleck. That is the danger posed by such movies on impressionable minds. The other issue with the movie is that Joker is associated with comics. The Joker has been portrayed by many well-known actors in many superhero flicks. As a result, many children are eager to watch this movie. But this is not a superhero flick and I am sure not many children have the patience to deal with this movie. 

14. Kong: Skull Island - I did not plan to see this movie. Actually, I did not plan to see many of the movies in this list but this one did not interest me at all. For a long time, for reasons not clear to me, King Kong and Godzilla did not interest me. Last year, I saw the 2014 version of Godzilla and found it interesting. But this did not arouse my interest in King Kong. Last week, "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" was released on Prime and the introduction to the movie mentioned that this is a follow-up to Kong: Skull Island. So I decided to watch Kong. The movie held my attention as I watched it. But at the end of it, I decided I did not like the movie. I like Tom Hiddleston, especially when he talks, but he does not talk much in this movie. Other than Samuel Jackson and John C. Reilly no one really talks in the movie. Samuel Jackson plays the role of a person who confuses bravery with stupidity. The movie could have been shortened by an hour and a half had his character decided to not be stupid. But the world would have ended up being a dangerous place. As a result he ends up being the most important character in the movie after King Kong. This probably is one of the worst performances by Samuel Jackson. I wasted two hours of my life on Kong. 

15. Jawaani Jaaneman - I did not expect much when I started watching the movie. The reviewers had trashed movie. I think I saw words like "tired" and "stale" used to describe the movie. But I like Saif movies especially when he plays goofy roles. The poster for the movie has Saif in a billowing bathrobe à la Marilyn Monroe and this was good enough for me to press the play button. I really liked the movie. As expected, the story is goofy. Saif is goofy too and his chemistry with Alaia is wonderful. The chemistry between them by itself makes the movie worth a watch. I got to know that Alaia is Pooja Bedi's daughter though I did not see much of Pooja Bedi in her.

16. Sarileru Neeke Varu - I used to watch Telugu movies regularly. First during my college days when Gharana Mogudu was released. After leaving college, I stopped watching Telugu movies till a Telugu friend dragged me to the Jayapradha theater, which I was told was owned by Jayapradha,  to watch Pokkiri. If I am to make a list of the movies I have enjoyed the most, this one will figure in it. Since Pokkiri I have watched every Mahesh Babu movie since. Unfortunately, except for Khaleja none of his movies are half as good as Pokkiri and yet I watch his movies. Of course, I don't watch them in theatres anymore. This one was released on Prime about a month back and I heard it was a super-duper hit in Andhra and Telangana. So I started watching the movie with a some  expectation. It did not live up to it. The movie is not terrible but is far from good either. It has a weird comedy - romance track running in parallel with the main track. The main track by itself is not interesting. Mahesh Babu's character is a one man army. As a result, Prakash Raj's villain character ends up being a clown. In such a situation, the movie moves from scene to scene and story has no relevance to it. Though a waste of time, it is a little better than Kong due to the weird humour track.  

17. Good Newz - I watched this movie right at the beginning of the lockdown and since then I have watched more than twenty movies. So my thoughts about the movie are sketchy. I enjoyed watching the movie. The theme by itself is interesting and plausible. The movie handles the theme in a humorous manner but in real life this situation would result in pain and anger. As I watched the movie, this thought struck me in a few situations, especially when the doctor informs the two couples of the issue. I think it will be interesting to see a serious movie on this topic. Diljith Doshanjh steals the show from the others. I first saw him play a serious cop in Udta Punjab. Since then I have seen him in three other movies and in all them he plays ridiculously comic roles, which he plays well. His role in Arjun Patiala is the best. Akshay Kumar is considered a pro at comedy roles. since the movie Hera Pheri. But I believe he tries too hard to be funny and this becomes a problem. Though his comedy in this movie and others are not painful. Unfortunately, the women don't do much in the movie. Kareena probably does but I don't enjoy her acting and so have nothing to write about her. A reasonably funny movie that I will not bother to see again. 

18. Contagion - For the past two months, Contagion has stayed in the top five recommended movies on Prime. I was familiar with its story and knew that it is about the world being attacked by a virus similar to COVID-19 and that it has similarities to the current pandemic. But for some reason, I did not have a good opinion about the movie and stayed away from it. I have a feeling I have seen this movie in the past but I might be wrong. There are many movies on pandemics. The movie is directed by Steven Soderbergh and I don't like watching his movies. I remember watching Sex, Lies and Videotape, Traffic and Ocean's Eleven. Though I believe these are fine movies, I did not enjoy watching them. As a result, I was not very enthusiastic to watch Contagion. But one lazy afternoon we had nothing else to watch. This movie too was like the other movies by the director - not enjoyable. There were a number of spooky parallels between the current pandemic and the ones in the movie - characteristics of the virus and the fact that it starts in a Chinese city. Since Chinese have the reputation to eat anything and everything, many have believed across the years that pandemics would emanate from some Chinese town. Yet, I did not find the movie interesting. I think the movie should have been an hour longer. It did not build on the suspense and the end came too soon. As the movie proceeded neither did I care for the different characters nor about the virus itself. Watching the movie turned out to be pointless.

19. City of God - I got a copy of this movie from god knows where. It stayed with me for a long time but I did not watch it. I was not very excited about watching a Brazilian movie. I tried watching a few scenes from the movie at some point of time and did not like it. So I let it stay with me. At some point of time I saw a video in which director Pa. Ranjith listed his top 5 movies. "City of God" was second in the list. He mentions that in the video that the movie had a profound effect on him and his movies. So I sat down to watch this movie at the start of the lockdown (or maybe it was a few days prior to the lockdown, I don't remember). It is an interesting movie; like a raw version of the Hindi movie Satya. As I watched the movie, I got the feeling that it is too cinematic to be true but at the end I realized that it is based on real life incidents. The movie is set in the 80s and the depicts the hardships faced by the poverty stricken residents of Rio. Many children on the roads grow up to become killers that is if they don't get killed in the process. Drugs are available everywhere and words like life and well being have no value or meaning. While watching the movie, I found myself living within the movie. The protagonist of the movie did not seem very different from me and every time he was surrounded by trouble, I felt the fear he felt. In the end, I was glad the protagonist was the only character who survived. But the end is not a happy one. The end shows the birth of the next generation of gang leaders. Watching this movie is a surreal experience. 

20. Chhichhore - I find it comforting to watch a Sushanth Singh movie. He acts well and has the ability to carry the movie on his shoulders. I had heard that Chhichhore is an interesting movie but had never got to see it. One evening I was desperately searching for a movie to watch and found this one on Hotstar. I liked the movie for most parts. The college parts in the middle seemed like a crass version of 3 Idiots and Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar. These parts had some good laughs. The romance between the lead pair seems to have been done in a hurry and hence seem sketchy. At the beginning of the movie we see that the lead pair are divorced and this probably affects one's view of the romantic parts. Also, this movie is not about romance. It has loftier heights to climb and so the romance is pushed aside quickly. The romantic portions in Kedarnath work well as the scenes are central to that movie and hance a the required amount of time is spent on developing it. The disaster part of that movie was only a backdrop for the romance. In this case, romance is only a tool used to move to the message part of the movie. The message in the movie is painful and preachy. I think 3 idiots has already passed this message effectively. I am not sure why we need a sappy and preachy version of the same. But there are many who don't agree with and thanks to them this movie is a hit. I like some of the funny dialogues and scenes and Sushant Singh is as good as ever. So it did not being a waste of time.

21. Shylock - A typical Mammootty movie. Mammootty is a superman who cannot fly.  Mammootty is a superman who does not wear cape. Mammootty is a superman who does not wear an underwear above his pants. Mammootty is a superman who does not emit laser from his eyes. Otherwise one can be sure that Mammootty is a superman. I think Malayalees can change the Superman phrase to "It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's a flying Mammootty with a cape and an underwear worn above his spandex pants". He smashes everything that comes in his way. Only once does he let the Police beat him up (Maybe not! I don't remember). At one point,we think the Mammootty character has shades of anti-hero associated with him (not villain, only anti-hero though at his age it is better to term it as uncle-hero). But the anti-hero feel gets messed up in the second half when we are taken through a flashback in Tamil with Rajkiran being a Nattamai like figure. Through the flashback we realize that Mammootty indulged in villainous acts against villainous characters as the villainous characters are actually villainous enough to indulge in villainous activities against the absolutely not villainous Mammootty and his family. This flash back suddenly justifies all the heinous activities that Mammootty indulges in through the movie. The movie ends on a happy note when last of the villains is killed brutally. I did not enjoy the movie; not because all the villainy and killing but due to the dumb flashback. The Rajkiran character is so good that I was glad to see the villain's knife on his back. But all said and done Mammootty ki jai.  

22. Jack and Daniel - I am not being truthful by placing this movie in this list. I had to take a break after watching forty minutes of this movie. I never went back to it and so decided I will not watch it further. I liked the name of the movie and the posters seemed interesting . But the movie has a B-grade feel. Dilip tries to act like a cool dude but ends up seeming like a dull mule. Dilip used to be good in the comic roles but he has not been at his best for the past few years. In Punjabi house and Meesa Madhavan his acting seemed spontaneous but he has lost his spontaneity for many years now. This is the case even in fun-filled movies like 2 countries, where Mamta Mohandas steals the show from Dilip. Besides his involvement in the actress case has reduced my interest in watching his movies. Earlier, I used to watch the comedy scenes from movies like Kalyanaraman regularly but since the case, I have not even watched it even once. Unfortunately, it is difficult to keep the person away from the character he is playing; Personal - professional divide exists only on paper and not in life. The movie also has Arjun, who usually plays cool dude characters well but not in this movie. So the movie seems a bore and I will not waste my time on it.

23. De De Pyaar De - I did not intend to watch this movie. The poster of the movie has Ajay Devgn (I had to check the spelling of his second name. I would have never guessed that there was no 'a' or 'e' between the 'g' and 'n') in the centre with Tabu to his left and a younger actress to his right. It seemed like a middle aged / old man having a relationship outside his marriage with a much younger woman. There was already a new version of the movie Pati, Patni aur Woh. So I was not sure why this version of that movie is required. As I watched the movie, I realized that this is not a version of  Pati, Patni aur Woh. The movie has an interesting premise. Some of the lines in the movie's first half are funny. Ajay Devgn tries his best to be cool old dude but ends up looking like someone who does not know how to react. The second half of the movie is funny. Ajay Devgn's character transforms from being a cool dude to an dull dud. It is an incredible transformation. From being a mildly annoying character he transforms into a totally annoying character. One wonders why anyone would want to associate with this pathetic character but by climax everyone thinks he is not just a purush but a mahapurush. The movie is also misogynistic for the old man gets the young girl but the old woman has still not accepted another old man who is interested in her. The handful of funny lines thrown into the movie helps one to tolerate this movie once. Incidentally, this pathetic movie was a hit too. What is wrong with the people of this country!

24. Simbaa - Ranveer Singh's energy in a Rohit Shetty movie should have made the movie a live wire. Unfortunately, the live wire is fed by a 9-volt battery. The movie starts off well and in the initial parts Ranveer Singh keeps the audience hooked to the movie. But the story gets off track trying to balance between good and bad. The Simbaa character's transformation from the bad to the good is too quick. Nothing he does in the first part of the movie makes you believe he has any kind of good in him. Of course, he feels some kind of affection for the girl who teaches the children by the roadside. But she becomes his 'behan' in thirty seconds. This bond is not developed at all but is the crux of the movie and as a result everything that follows is weak. The movie does not spend time on anything other than Simbaa having fun at everyone's expense. The romantic relationship he has with Sara Ali Khan's character is unconvincing. I don't remember anything about Sara Ali Khan in this movie and after the first hour she disappears almost entirely from the movie. Yet, the movie is almost watchable till the climax. I am a fan of Govinda's Hero no: 1 and so logic is not something I look for in movies. I shut the analytical part of my brain and took in all the din chaks that Ranveer threw at me. But then the climax is unforgivable. It is terrible. What the hell were the makers of this movie thinking! Rohit Shetty is like Shankar - highly overrated. But Rohit Shetty should learn from Shankar the art of making a masala movie. Shankar has the ability to make a good masala movie. The problem with Shankar is that at most times he tries to make a Shankar movie and goes over the top. Rohit Shetty's idea of a masala movie is a lot of noise and colour. The story is always incidental. Thus most of his movies seem interesting for a bit before ending up in what-the-hell territory. Incidentally, this movie is a hit too. Unlike the previous movie I did not use the word pathetic due to the presence of Ranveer Singh.

25. Chunkzz - I am always on the look out for Malayalam movies. I had watched almost all the well known Malayalam movies during the lockdown. So I started scanning the various lists on Prime for lesser known movies that could surprise me.  Ladoo was one such movie and it turned out to be good. Next, I picked Chunkzz. This movie is directed by the director of Happy Wedding. I landed in a theatre in Kochi quite accidentally to watch Happy Wedding and it turned out to be a laugh riot. So I started watching Chunkzz with some expectation. It is a terrible movie and does not come anywhere close to the director's previous effort. I laughed at all the jokes and managed to watch the whole movie. I will be lying if I said I hated the movie or even disliked it. Much to my embarrassment it was fun to watch though it undoubtedly is a terrible movie. It is filled with double entendre and  it insults women, lesbians, Lebanese, fathers, mothers, brothers, masala dosa, husbands, wives, Goa, men, colleges, lecturers, medical shops, friends and pregnancy kits. It is made in bad spirit but I laughed spiritedly at the jokes. People with fragile constitution should avoid the movie. The reaction from a reviewer says it all "Anna MM Vetticad of Firstpost found the film so bad and misogynistic that she refused to rate the film, and instead wrote the film's review in the form of a derisive poem in which she remarked that the film 'is not even worth our ridicule'". But I laughed through the movie and it was a hit at the box office. Damn! I feel guilty for having enjoyed a misogynistic movie!

26. Venky Mama - Telugu movie! Venkatesh is known for his comic timing. The name of the movie and a few scenes in the trailer seemed funny. But I was cheated. This is the worst movie of the lockdown. It was not funny. The jokes were not even jokes. The story was nonsensical. It was taken badly too. It was filled with melodrama. The Indian Army is made to look like a bunch of clowns and the climax seems like a spoof of Uri. Two hours of my life down the drain.

27. Death of Stalin - Death is treated like a joke in this movie. Stalin and his bunch of comrades were ruthless and killed at will. The first few minutes of the movie brings this out beautifully. These scenes also bring out the resultant paranoia among the people. During that period, everyone in USSR did everything with utmost care. The situations seem absurd but these could have happened in Stalin's Soviet Union. Everyone must have seemed ruthless for everyone else and hence death would have seemed more real than life. Thirty minutes into the movie Stalin dies. This part of the movie is hilarious. Stalin gets the treatment he deserves. I went through the Wikipedia pages and realized that the movie was probably not exaggerating. According to Wikipedia, Stalin had a haemorrhage and was not shown to a Doctor for twelve hours. This delay probably resulted in Stalin's death. The power struggle between the various factions close to Stalin starts and ends with one side winning. There are no good people in the movie. This is blackest black comedy that I have seen and is a fun ride. I laughed aloud for a number of scenes and dialogues. I think power hungry people who have no respect for others should be spoofed in this manner. If their souls exist and are roaming around the planet, they should witness the ridiculous manner in which their future generations are treating their name and fame. A great movie to watch that I will probably watch again in a few months.

28 Photograph - I have been wanting to watch this movie for some time but did not get the opportunity till this afternoon. It is from the director of Lunch box and has similarities with that movie. The movie proceed at a slow and quiet pace. The end is not really a conclusion and is only a hint of how the lives of the protagonists could continue. As some of the movie summaries have suggested the story is about an unlikely romance. The reason for the heroine to like the hero is not clear but looking at her surroundings it seems plausible. As the movie proceeded I thought the relationship is based more out of curiosity and a sense of freedom than romance. The two persons really like each other but they are also aware that they would not fit into each other's lives. But this does not hinder them from trying to keep each other happy for the brief time they meet. An interesting movie, which drags a bit in the middle. Maybe they could have shortened the movie by fifteen minutes. Sanya Malhotra steals the show from Nawazuddin. She has a calm presence through the movie. Compared to her role Pataka, this one resides at the other end of the world.

29. Bala - A funny movie on losing hair at a young age. I am tempted to call it a good movie but am not sure. Movies that deal with body shaming are not pleasant to sit through. Combining humour when describing a person's problems ends up in trivialising the issue. But the director has handled some of the embarrassing situations well and has thus made the movie watchable. The casting is good. I am not a big fan of Ayushman Khurana but his selection of movies are excellent. Bhumi and Yami play their roles well. Bhumi once again portrays a role not considered attractive by people. In this movie, the makers seem to have dipped her in black paint before they started the shoot. As a result, she looks odd. For many Indian, women need not be that dark to be consider dark skinned. So the makeup went overboard. Ideally they could have got someone who does not have to go through a process of becoming black. If that would seem insensitive then it is best not to produce such movies.  Incindentally, Bhumi gets to say an interesting political statement towards the end of the movie - "Poora Uthar pradesh chal raha hain bhagvan bharose tho ...". The dialogue came up suddenly and took me by surprise. Worth a watch on Hotstar.

The movies took care of a part of my day for the past four weeks. Twenty nine seems a lot but is just one per day. With ten days of lockdown left I hope to end with forty movies. Damn! I am sure to miss the lockdown once it ends.