Ulajh

Suhana Bhatia, played by Janhvi Kapoor, is a young officer from Indian Foreign Service who gets promoted to a prestigious position in London. Some people who are jealous think it is because of her lineage, but she is determined to prove them wrong. To her dismay, she finds herself entangled in a big time mess – being blackmailed to leak out sensitive information much against her wishes. Her frustration leads her to verge of resigning from her post, and even suicide. Circumstances around her take sharp turns as she discovers that she had been a puppet in a bigger play of power, and there were people out there with enough evidence to prove her to be a traitor. She teams with Sebin Kutty, who had been named as a prime suspect. With help of his IT skills, Suhana and Sebin embark on the task of prevention of assassination of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Pakistan on Indian soil, who was the chief guest at Independence Day celebrations of our country.

This is a good espionage thriller, albeit with room for improvement - a movie which is devoid of the usual Bollywood romance and expensive locations. Janhvi has been dressed very formally, and looks equally beautiful in her sarees and western wear. Gulshan Devaiah did not seem like a good choice as the master blackmailer, though. The rest of the cast have done justice to their roles. The movie ends with a subtle hint of a sequel, and you would definitely be on the lookout for it.       

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Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba

Tapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey come back on screen as Rani and Rishu, to tell you about their life post their escape from police. A surprise addition is Sunny Kaushal, who plays the role of Abhimanyu, a compounder. He is totally smitten by Rani and much to his own surprise, he gets married to her. However, he discovers that she is not only married, but her husband is also alive, living in the same town, under the pseudonym of Ravi. Jimmy Shergill also comes back to screen as the persistent cop, who has personal interest in uncovering the truth behind the crime the lead pair had committed in the prequel.

The twist in the story is introduced midway – the apparently simpleton guy is a psychopath in reality, who would go any lengths to punish betrayals. This movie revolves around Sunny Kaushal, his passion for Rani and how he helps her and Rishu to escape from claws of police, just to see her happy, and hoping against hope that she would choose him over her previous husband.

For me, this was a great movie and a befitting sequel, albeit a few badly written dialogues and loose ends. Great acting by Sunny Kaushal and Jimmy Shergill, very beautiful Tapsee, except her overly done floral hair do-s, are key things to look out for.

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Haseen Dillruba

A good plot to keep you hooked to the movie till the very end. This is an apparently simple tale of love, which is moulded on the lines of a crime thriller. Vikrant Massey plays the role of Rishu, a simple guy who gets married to an incredibly beautiful girl, Rani (Tapsee Pannu). While they are in the process of getting to know each other, enters a very handsome cousin (Neel, played by Harshvardhan Rane). A short fling and he is gone. Rani confesses about her extramarital affair to Rishu, who cannot accept the pain of being betrayed. You should watch out for this segment, when Vikrant has done most of the emoting with his eyes. Gradually things start getting better between the two – when Neel resurfaces, and the past comes back haunting Rani and Rishu.

Big shoutouts go out to the performances of all actors, who bring the characters to life. Vikrant Massey showcases his acting abilities as he transforms from a reserved guy from a small town to an insane lover. The support cast have also done their job well. Initial awkward moments after marriage have been portrayed realistically, adding a subtle comedy element. You’ll love the movie right from the start – and the ending would leave you looking forward to its sequel.

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Khufiya

An intelligence agency has identified an internal mole, and wishes to nab him red handed. The intent is also to identify the reason – catch the puppet and puppeteer both. The film is led by Tabu, an actress par excellence. She is not making any attempt to hide her age. Along with her senior officer (Ashish Vidyarthi), she embarks on a journey to uncover the prime suspect, Ravi Mohan, played by Ali Zafar. I have seen him on screen after a very long time and I totally loved Ali’s bespectacled look.

Wamiqa Gabbi comes across a very strong actress too. I had seen her in a small role in Mai, a web series starring Sakshi Tanwar. I have observed her in a TV commercial and in yet another very successful web series (Jubilee). Wamiqa has definitely travelled a long way to reach her present level of acting.

Tabu and her team are surprised to learn that it is not his wife, but his aged mother, who is Ravi’s accomplice in crime. The storyline is tight, and full of twists and turns till the very end. The mission behaves like a sine curve, troughs happen when Ravi manages to smuggle sensitive information across to a rival country, and crests can be sensed when you have him cornered; till he manages to flee again. The fact that everyone has to balance their personal and professional lives is underlined yet again. An extra flavour is added in this thriller for me as quite a few dialogues are spoken in Bengali. You'll love Khufiya also because of the directional excellence of Vishal Bhardwaj.

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Dhootha: The Messenger

Have you come across a series that makes you wish you had not started it at all? Well, Dhootha, a Telegu web series, dubbed in multiple languages, was the first of this kind for me. I would say the faint hearted should not watch it at all – there’s lot of blood and ugly deaths. Also, paranormal activity is something that fails to appeal me.

The basic idea is acceptable – one should be honest towards his profession and not succumb to political pressure and greed. Heinous crimes lead to the death of an honest journalist, who was a man of principles. Thereafter, his spirit takes on the onus to teach corrupt journalists their lessons in the hard way.

Naga Chaitanya is a handsome man and has portrayed his character (Sagar) very well. He carries the series on his shoulders. The insensitive trait of Sagar comes across strongly during his final interaction with his secretary (Prachi Desai). But what she did in revenge was way more awful. The director shows no consideration for audience and portrays crimes and deaths in realistic manner. You may end up spending nights uneasily after watching gory scenes.

Plus points: Absolutely perfect cast: Everyone seems to tailor made for their roles. Direction, Story build-up, connecting the dots are good. 

Only negative is that there seems to be too much blood. And I thought couple of deaths, especially that of the Youtuber, could have been reduced.

So brace yourself, and then watch the horror series.

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