News reports, think pieces, and analysis aren’t doing the cliffhanger elections in Karnataka any justice. With all the absurd drama that has unfolded this week, our netas deserve their own multi-genre TV show – working title, Kar-Naatak, The Wild Wild State.
Nadia on Russian Doll becomes a proxy for the viewer as she scrutinises her life while stuck in an endless time loop, confronting all the decisions she ever took for granted.
It’s not that every show should be a cosy sitcom populated by well-lit, attractive people. But do they all have to be a gritty rural crime drama, or a chilling biography of a serial killer? For some bizarre reason, logging into my Netflix has become like stepping into a dark and terrible world.
By showing how close the links are between right-wing religious extremism and the violence and subjugation of women, The Handmaid’s Tale seems like a warning for present times.
Indian joint families and the Ekta Kapoor brand of TV serials are caught in an endless loop of art imitating life imitating art imitating life. The only difference is we don’t look as pretty as the characters on TV, and we can’t change the channel when we’ve had enough.
Like Sacred Games, Atul Sabharwal’s Powder revolved around a cop obsessed with nabbing a dreaded drug kingpin. It may not boast of the production values of a Netflix adaptation, but as a commentary on the pluralities of Mumbai, Powder was just as powerful.
Even though De De Pyaar De revolves around a 50-year-old man falling for a 26-year-old woman, it never quite addresses the peculiarities of being with someone from a different generation. It doesn't help that Ajay Devgn, used to playing heroes who are half-his age, plays Ashish with the attitude of a 30-year-old from Delhi.
Green Book takes a muddled viewpoint of racism. But together, Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen bring to screen an unforgettable chemistry that’s poignant, rousing, and which single-handedly enlivens the broad strokes of the film’s script.