Member Reviews

HBO has wrapped for the first season of Dune Prophecy which also starred our very own Tabu in the role of a Sister working with The Sisterhood aka Bene Gesserit, widely known in the Dune Universe. The show takes place 10,000 years before the current films directed by Denis Villeneuve. But the prequel is still connected to the current storyline as it explores the lore of how the Bene Gesserit prophecy about Paul Atreides came into being. The show begins with the story of two Harkonnen sisters who have been accepted into the sisterhood. One of them, Valya Harkonnen had special powers which let me control the will of others on her command, she goes on to teach the same to others in the sisters who followed the same values as her. Meanwhile, another has her own secrets to protect. The sisterhood also has factions, while one believes in nurturing the good in humans and use the power of truth sense to lead humanity towards a better future after the War with Thinking Machine which destroyed the world. The other faction believes, that humans need a genetically enhanced leader to take them to the right direction.

What If…? returned with season 3 sharing a deep dive into the 5th dimension and hinted at what we can expect from the future of the multiverse. The show does show Sam Wilson as the new Captain America on a world saving mission with Bruce Banner and others. Meanwhile, more magical and mystical creatures come to life as the Watcher guides more superheroes to save their universes. With every season of What If…? Marvel continues to surprise their fans with something unexpected, the same is true for season 3 as the multiverse gets more weird and messy. Each episode shared a piece of a story from a different universe and what canon event may have shaped it. It also reveals how The Watcher sees it, and experiences it, the changes he would have expected and wished for. In the past seasons, The Watcher had gotten himself involved in the multiverse by saving lives and reshaping the world. As he continues to do so, it leaves The Eminence unhappy. That too shapes a path for the mortals to move on to a new dimension and turn their fate over.

We’re in leafy Pune, the idyllic city of the retired. Aadima (Sharmila Tagore), graphics novel illustrator, has her grandson Neel (Jihan Jeetendra Hodar) visiting her while his parents (Sonali Kulkarni,Neeraj Kabi) grapple with their work schedules, their roles as mom and dad and with their marriage. Nana (Mohan Agashe) lives on his own, has his own routine and brushes off his son (Sunil Abhyankar) who wants dad to transfer his flat to his name to facilitate a loan, and move to Mumbai. Not quite lonely, companions like a cat who steals his milk and friendly banter with neighbour Londhe (Pradeep Jeshim) keep life moving for Nana.

The core premise is potent with possibilities for an empathetic experience. When elderly Deepak Tyagi (Nana Patekar), battling dementia, is abandoned in crowded Banaras by his hard-hearted family of three sons and their wives, his journey back home and comeuppance for the callous is an emotional space. Co-writing with Amjad Ali and Sunil Sirvaiya, director Anil Sharma places the family property named Vimla Sadan in a picturesque, snow-laden Palampur in Himachal Pradesh. Tyagi has plans of turning it into a trust. His sons and daughters-in-law who want to get their hands on the money, would rather desert him in faraway Banaras with no papers to identify him than let him sign the deed. It is tough for a man with memory lapses to survive.

Prolific filmmaker Tyler Perry’s latest is a departure from his usual fare. The actor-director tells the story of the inspiring women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only all-Black unit of the Women’s Army Corps that served in Europe. It is a tale not many were aware of, and the movie highlights how the women endured and served with dedication despite the odds against them.

The new music documentary Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous attempts to show the darker side of fame. It prods and probes, but eventually, it allows the artist to be. The Netflix documentary is engaging enough, showing how an ordinary young man from Punjab rises to become the Indian music industry’s most well-known artist and goes on to open doors for others as well. The real truth of the docu-film lies when it features the man himself and those closest to him to open up about what he went through during his self-imposed break.

The ‘mismatched’ couple Dimple and Rishi is back for another season in the popular Netflix series. Mismatched Season 3 returns with a three-year time jump as viewers are plunged back into the long-distance couple’s lives, with updates on their friends and family. Against the background of the virtual versus real world, the show puts its characters through new sets of problems that often feel misplaced. Focusing on its large cast and some faces, the new season feels like an odd reset back to its first season.

Inside Out 2 returned this year to theatres with great fanfare as the sequel took audiences back to Riley’s life as she begins high school. The new animated series, Dream Productions, is set slightly before the film and follows Riley as a pre-teen adjusting to the time in-between being a kid and a teenager. Instead of the core gang of emotions that we are used to, the miniseries focuses on bubbly dream director, Paula Persimmon, who finds herself being obsolete.

Returning after two years, the second season of the political drama Tanaav was split into two parts. The first six episodes premiered in early September, and the remaining six episodes of Vol. 2 wrap up the story that was introduced in part one. Manav Vij’s Kabir Farooqui and the Special Task Group (STG) race to contain Fareed aka Al Damishq (Gaurav Arora) before a crucial peace conference in the valley. While the first part felt like unfinished business, the second part comes to a thrilling end.

More than two decades ago, Love Actually became the quintessential British Christmas film. The rom-com featured connected stories of love, family, and, of course, Christmas. Writer-director Richard Curtis’s latest holiday offering is a family film, That Christmas, that follows the same template, but even with the mighty touch of Santa Claus, it can’t recreate that one-of-a-kind feeling. However, for a younger audience, the craziness of the narrative might be just passable.