Saiyami Kher

Starring : Kay Kay Menon, Karan Tacker, Vipul Gupta, Muzammil Ibrahim, Sana Khan, Meher Vij, Saiyami Kher, Divya Dutta, Vinay Pathak, Sajjad Delafrooz

Directed by : Neeraj Pandey, Shivam Nair

Producer(s) : Shital Bhatia

Cinematography : Sudheer Palsane, Kavita Sachdeva Wani

So, continuing the series of reviewing movies and shows during the lockdown period, our today’s pick is the Hindi web series Special OPS. The show is available on Disney-Hotstar and let’s see how it is.

What’s it about

Himmat Singh(KK Menon) is a RAW officer who feels that there is a sixth terrorist behind the Indian parliament attacks that happened in 2001. All the five were killed but Himmat feels that there is a sixth person and for this, he forms a team of five who are undercover all over the world to track this attack. The series is an espionage thriller based on the Indian government’s acts to catch this terrorist and how all this unravels is the basic story of this web series.

What’s good?

KK Menon is a terrific actor and he proves it once again with this series as he is amazing as the RAW office who masterminds the search operations. The series is co-written by star director Neeraj Pandey and he sets the story well in various countries. The initial episode is good as it shows how the governments deal with such situations. The last three episodes are quite racy and have the needed twists of an espionage thriller.

The way secret agents live their life and how they go to any extent for the country has been showcased well. The production values of the show are top-notch and create a good watching experience. Karan Tacker does a fine job as agent Farooq and looks dashing throughout the series. The detailing gone into this thriller is quite good

What’s bad?

After an interesting first episode, the story dips in the next three episodes. Too much time is wasted in the backstories of KK Menon which has no connection to the story at all. The story is dragged to no extent and many logical errors keep erupting in. The chemistry between Karan Tacker and Sana just buzzes out and doesn’t appeal much to the viewers.

The transition between the past and present isn’t swift enough as the screenplay is not that gripping. Neeraj Pandey, who is a master with thriller does not get it completely right with his writing here as it has many loopholes.

Final Word

Overall, Special OPS is an espionage thriller from the production of noted director Neeraj Pandey. His story has a decent premise and good performances but the dull narration in the middle episodes keeps you bored. If you sit through this, the last three episodes are quite gripping and have good twists and still make up a decent watch.

Rating: 3/5

Starring : Saiyami Kher, Roshan Mathew, Amruta Subhash, Rajshri Deshpande

Directed by : Anurag Kashyap

Production Company : Good Bad Films

Cinematography : Sylvester Fonseca

Music by : Karsh Kale

So, continuing the series of reviewing movies and shows during the lockdown period, our today’s pick is the new Hindi Netflix original film Choked directed by Anurag Kashyap. Let’s now see how it is.

What’s it about?

The film is set in 2016. Sarita(Sayami Kher) is a bank employee who is the sole breadwinner of the house. She is doing all this so that her struggling husband(Roshan Mathew) can fulfill his dream of becoming a musician. Sarita and her house have so many typical middle-class issues and one of them is their sink that always gives them trouble. One fine day, when taking care of it, Sarita finds money in the form of small packets and gets the shock of her life. Things take a new turn from there as she keeps discovering money in the same place in the night time. Sarita’s life changes upside down and when things start becoming super happy for her, the note ban is announced by the Government of India. What does Sarita do with the rest of the money is the whole story of the film.

What’s good?

The set up created by Anurag Kashyap is solid and dwells into the lives of middle-class people as to how money is everything for them and how they faced issues post note ban. Sayami Kher takes a U-turn from her regular glamor roles and is superb as the struggling and money-hungry Sarita. The film completely runs on her and the way she showcases varied emotions throughout the film is just superb.

Roshan Mathews, who plays Sayami’s husband is also cool. The art direction should be given full marks for showing the crazy middle-class life of the Mumbaikars in a special manner. After a long time, Anurag makes a film that the entire family can watch as it has suspense, twists, and emotions. The camera work is also solid but the BGM takes the cake here and keeps the audience hooked until the end.

The film also showcases how the political system does things for their own interest. The way the film is ended with a funny satirical song is also good. Production values of the film are top-notch and the best part is how each and every character is nicely related to the story making things interesting.

What’s bad?

The narrative takes a beating here and there. Anurag’s satirical dig at the whole demonetization effect can get diverse responses from the public. Once the story is established, things get a bit slow in the middle part of the film and the pace drops. The climax could have been explained in a better manner to make things easy for the audience.

Final Word

Overall, Choked is surely not Anurag Kashyap’s best work to date but the story, premise, and amazing performances draw your attention most of the time. Though the logic and narration take a beating in the mid part, this film has decent drama and twists for you to give it a shot during this lockdown period. You may watch it.

Rating: 3/5

Lockdown Review : Special OPS – Hindi series on Disney – Hotstar

Lockdown Review : Choked – Hindi film on Netflix