Both RRR and The Kashmir Files continue their onslaught on the box office, as new releases keep coming in.
The Hindi version of SS Rajamouli‘s period drama film even witnessed a jump of 30% during its second week, and collected over Rs 162 crore as its nett income.
Silverscreen India brings to you, a compilation of reviews of films that have released both online as well as in cinemas:
The story of the Swaroop RSJ-directorial revolves around three kids who embark on an adventure to find the underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim. The film also features actor Taapsee Pannu as an investigative journalist.
According to Sankeertana of Silverscreen India, calls the viewing experience confusing.
“In contrast, the kids with their insane ideas plan more thoroughly than the group of adults. Swaroop, too, wins here with his writing of these three distinctive characters. Their characteristics and passions find an organic place in the proceedings and move the story forward,” she writes.
She adds that the narrative feels natural and engaging when the kids take charge, while the weak writing becomes apparent when the narrative shifts to the adults. Sankeertana attributes this to the uneven script.
Mukesh Manjunath of Film Companion, reflects similar sentiments as Sankeertana, and writes, “Swaroop RSJ is most comfortable in the scenes with the children in the first half of the film”.
However, “.. it is the investigation and the message-y part of the film that the director is uncomfortable in staging. Taapsee Pannu as an investigative journalist never feels like she’s in any desperate situation,” he adds.
“Swaroop wants us to laugh at the children, yet believe the threat of child trafficking. Achieving this convincingly needed a quirkier hand,” Manjunath notes, and adds that this makes the audience guilty for laughing at the film.
Latha Srinivasan of Firstpost, notes that Pannu’s role in the film is not really performance-driven, and blames it on poor characterisation.
Srinivasan further compares Mishan Impossible with Swaroop’s debut, Agent Sai Srinivasa Athreya (2019), and calls the former extremely disappointing that shows lazy writing.
The film has an IMDb rating of 6.5.
Kaun Pravin Tambe? (Disney+ Hotstar)
The Jayprad Desai-directorial narrates the life of Pravin Tambe, a cricketer from Mumbai who made heads turn when he made his debut in professional cricket at the age of 41 in 2013. Actor Shreyas Talpade essays the role of the protagonist.
Aswathy Gopalakrishnan of Silverscreen India, notes that the film takes the road less traveled by, that does not inject the formulaic trope of viewer patriotism.
“It is, at once, an incredible personal story and a portrait of a nation that treats the dreams of those without financial or social capital callously,” she writes.
The most intriguing aspect of the film, according to Gopalakrishnan, comes from the narrator’s space, voiced by Parambrata Chattopadhyay.
She calls Talpade’s portrayal of Tambe’s character as the actor’s resurrection on screen, and notes, “Kaun Pravin Tambe brings the career of Shreyas Talpade full circle. He rose to fame playing a deaf cricketer, Iqbal, in Nagesh Kukunoor’s film in 2005, and wandered in Hindi cinema for 17 years playing negligible, if not humiliating, roles.”
For Rahul Desai of Film Companion, even though the film brings the audience closer to the film, it has its issues.
For starters, he calls the background score and soundtrack unimaginative templates. “The cricket on the field is supposed to be club-level, but still looks unconvincingly shot, choreographed and edited. In terms of writing, Tambe’s last-ditch IPL selection comes out of nowhere. It feels a bit random,” he adds.
Chattopadhyay’s presence, according to Desai, complicates an otherwise easy story with the flashbacks that come as a part of having a narrator.
For him, the film is rooted in the city of Mumbai – where it is based. He writes, “Mumbai defines Tambe, and his dance between conformism and desire.”
Anna MM Vetticad of Firstpost, calls the film “an absorbing, engaging drama with a sense of humour in unexpected places.”
Although she also notes that the tension between the characters of Tambe and Sanyal fell needless.
Vetticad also notes that the film ignores a development in Tambe’s career, which got him disqualified from the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The film has an IMDb rating of 9.2.
Madhimaaran’s Selfie features actors GV Prakash Kumar and Gautham Vasudev Menon. While Kumar plays a student who gets into the world of selling college seats, illicitly, Menon essays the role of the broker, Ravi Varma.
For Subha J Rao of Silverscreen India, the only fault that he would pick in the film, is the “slightly rushed climax, where it seems like the team was in a hurry to end things because they’ve been on edge for a little over two hours.”
Ranjani Krishnakumar of Film Companion, reflects similar sentiments and calls the film tiresome.
However, she found the dialogues to be note-worthy. “Not only because so much of it has been muted, presumably on kind advice by the CBFC, but also because the lines that are left aren’t very palatable either.”
The film also lacks emotional beats, according to Krishnakumar.
She writes, “Deaths, funerals and humiliation barely sting, despite there being an elaborate family story. The character arcs are uneven, perhaps deliberately, but it takes away from the emotional impact of a film so dense.”
Recommended
Selfie has an IMDb rating of 8.7.
Apart from the aforementioned films, late actor Rishi Kapoor‘s last project, Sharmaji Namkeen, also bowed on Amazon Prime Video. Ashok Selvan‘s Manmatha Leelai, and John Abraham‘s Attack are also running in cinemas.