sutithi Reviews

Bramayugam (2024)

Good but overrated

[5/10 · 26 March 2024]

Heard great reviews so took to watching. I found this movie to be highly overrated. Beyond a point, there was nothing left in the story. No surprises. No psychological burner either. If was clear where the story was headed. The usual template of human greed, lust for power and wealth told in a fantasy form. The first half was captivating, but once the reveal was done, the frames seemed a little too long drawn. I had to use the seeker and skip ahead by 10 secs in some of the uselessly long scenes. After that, the only saving grace in this movie was Mamoothy'a acting. Had it been any other actor, I'd not have been able to watch the full movie.

There is comparison with Tumbadd, so I must say this. Cinematically, I foung Tumbadd better. Maybe it's the use of colour.

Taranath Tantrik (2019)

Waste of a good franchise

[2/10 · 12 October 2023]

Anyone who has read the stories of Taranath Tantrik would hate to watch this series. If Q wants to mess up things through his forcefully and therefore meaninglessly different style of execution, he should look at stories that he has written himself. Not masterpieces by the likes of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay.

Added to the unnecessary trippy presentation, we also have stilted acting. Not a single actor acted the way the story required them to. Kishori and the narrator were particularly bad. Taranath could have been someone from our own industry - bengali cinema does not have a dearth of accomplished seniors.

Chari's character is shown as if she's a mysterious woman of the night who sells drugs on the sly. God! As far removed from reality as could be.

And then there are the quick and abrupt scene changes and sharp music to instil fear and awe. None is instilled.

Don't watch this. Go read the book for a real trip.

Kumudini Bhavan (2023– )

Watch it for Ambarish

[7/10 · 27 August 2023]

Good plot. Good story. Mostly good acting by the key characters (except Ushashi). But the real star here is Hochi Sarkar. Hochi Sarkar is not the kind of police officer whom one would dare make the cornerstone of a 7 episode web series. He's not your typical gym-made, dashing man of the law, dripping with magnetic sex appeal and charisma that captivates the audience and keeps their mind away from all the nonsense that the content makers throw at the other side of the screen. Hochi is genuine. He is that character that we all recognize, that we have all been at some point in our lives. A strong, capable, grounded common man with a keen sense of duty and fairness.

Watch Kumudini Bhavan for Hochi Sarkar.

Adhura (2023)

Passable watch on a wet weekend

[5/10 · 9 July 2023]

It was raining cats and dogs. And I had nothing better to do. So I watched Adhura. The only solace is there was nothing better I could have done with my time.

The story had premise. But it couldnt be presented well enough. Horror content makers should know that all the fear is gone the moment we can see the source of that fear. The crippled ghost plodding around added nothing to the screenplay, in fact it took away from the suspense. It doesnt work that way. Horror doesnt work that way.

Almost everyone's acting was bad. The story was based on the age old cliche of supernatural revenge - really, nothing new there. The young boy's angle was refreshing. It was understandable why he was the chosen one. But overall, so much could have been done with what was available.

Bhediya (2022)

Nice work

[8/10 · 28 May 2023]

Started watching with low expectations. Thought it would be another werewolf story adding to the rich genre of existing tales and works. But Bhediya turned out to be a nice, heartwarming surprise. The story is not unique, but the acting of all the characters had added the extra dimension to this film. The socio-political messages around the issues in the north east also land well. As do the messages around naturaliam and conservation. The mesaage around animal rights is also touching. My favourite dialog: tum insaan hi theek ho, jaanwar banne ki kaabil nahin ho tum". Appliea to the entire human race.

As I said, Bhediya surprised me. It's deeper than it looks.

Sherni (2021)

Sloppyily done, bad editing

[5/10 · 3 May 2023]

A poweful story told in a shabby way. The narrative is disjointed, almost as if no one has edited the sequence of scenes with any particular care. Lots of things unexplained. The film portrays the hard-hitting truth, but in the most insipid and languid way. No one made an effort.

I was not impressed with Vidya Balan's acting. It's almost as if she lost interest in the script the moment she figured that it had no superwoman expectation from her character. Her character was that of a helpless upright forest officer - one who sees corruption everyday, does not support it but at the same time can do nothing about it. She could have added more character to the role that she played.

Not clear what happened to the cubs. Tiger cubs that small do not survive in the forest if the mother dies.

But overall, I'm glad that we are making movies on issues like this one. Everyday in our country, hunger forces man to encroach into animals' rightful territory. It is very easy to blame the animal, but such movies help spread the right message and that is this. When a wild animal attacks and kills a human in a forest, the only culprit is the establishment, which refuses to do anything to help either man or beast.

Dilkhush (2023)

Dilkhush lives up to it's name

[8/10 · 18 February 2023]

Great acting, a nice story and excellent execution. And very relatable. Some very prominent social issues of our times are woven into the structure of the story. The loneliness even amidst endless social media consumption and participation, the stigma of seemingly age-inappropriate behaviour, the desire to live and love despite all odds, complicated filial relatuonships, it's all in there.

Nothing much to say separately about the cast. If you throw actors like Poran Bandopadhyay, Kharaj Mukherjee, Anindita Adhya into any creation, it is bound to get a level of its own. Refreshingly free of the so called glam icons, this movie is a weekend treat for the careworn soul battered by the week's usual battles.

Go watch!

Gobhir Joler Maach (2023–2024)

Imbeciles

[2/10 · 12 February 2023]

I don't quite know how to write this review. Because I've just spent 200 minutes getting nowhere with this story! Absolutely nowhere. Ok. Lets start with what we know: 1. There are 4 women who desperately need constructive things to do in their lives. In the lack of such pursuits, they spend their time behaving like imbeciles.

2. There are 4 men who are god's gift to man and womankind. They can do no wrong. Even if they philander, they come back and say sorry to their spouses. Awwww.

3. There is a haplesss waiter, whose sexual preferences are tremendously convenient to the plot. Glaringly so.

4. There's an idiotic police officer who, well, tries to do his job amidst this pool of imbeciles but gets no where...not at least in this season.

5. There are a bunch of people behind the camera who take their audience to be imbeciles.

That's the cast and crew. And that's 200 minutes wasted. Don't watch this series. Not unless you enjoy toxic relationships that you know are bad for you but you can't leave halfway because your mind boggles thinking just how far down could it stoop. And you keep wasting your precious weekend minutes with it.

Ballabhpurer Roopkotha (2022)

Complete entertainment!

[9/10 · 15 January 2023]

Watched a wholesome Bangla entertainer after a very long time! As a huge Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay fan, each frame and scene of Ballabhpurer Roopkatha was a delight for me to watch. Every actor, despite not being the so called established names, did a swell job of bringing the characters to life. The protagonist, Satyam Bhattacharya, is just mind blowing! Such a simple, linear story told in such an engaging way! The dialogs are just optimally comic, the supernatural setting is perfectly balanced with the comic one...I can go on and on. One small disppointnent: would have loved to see the director playing one of the roles.

Watch this one and watch it along with the little ones.

Defending Jacob (2020)

Just perfect

[8/10 · 4 January 2023]

A lot of people are saying that the ending was unsatisfactory. I quite disagree. It would have been had this show been meant to be a whodunnit. But it never was that. If it were, it would have been called 'the murder of Ben Rifkin' and nit 'defending jacob'. This show is all about Jacob and his family. This is a show about how the balance of a perfectly normal family can go haywire when faced with an adversity such as a murder charge on a 14 year old. How doubt and suspicion can eat away at seemingly perfect bonds and suddenly make everything fall apart. It's about how we end up externalizing our troubles when the root actually lies deep within ourselves.

I liked every bit of it. As a mother of a 14 year old boy nyself, I would say the "defending jacob" affected me deeply. Couldnt find myself taking sides. Yes, this kind of an untoward incident, if it happens to anyone, will impact their family exactly the way it inpacted the Barber family. Very realistic characterization, awesome acting by everyone. Michelle Dockery disappoints a bit - its as if she forgot at times that she's playing the hapless mum of stoic teenager and not the wooden faced over-bred aristocrat from Downton Abbey.

Dhokha (2022)

An insult to the audience's intelligence

[2/10 · 13 December 2022]

I have see such a bad movie after a long time - primarily because I have stopped watching new Hindi movies.

There are various things wrong with Dhokha round D corner 1. Very predictable plot 2. Horrible acting by everyone without any exception 3. Hammy dialogues 4. Improbable storyline - an AQ trained terrorist is unlikey to fall in love with a woman within hours of meeting her. Even if she constantly heaves her bosom at him.

There is nothing going for this movie. An insult to the audience's intelligence. There could have been a good tight thriller made with the same resources. All it needed was the filmmaker not taking his audience to be idiots who will guzzle in anything thats thrown at them.

Cuttputlli (2022)

Messed up good opportunity

[4/10 · 4 September 2022]

For people like me, who didnt know about the Tamil original Ratsasan, this could have been a taut thriller had it not been for the following: 1. The protagonist didnt fit the role 2. The hardnut police officer looked exactly like the love interest 3. Everybody's acting sucked 4. There was too little focus on the psychopath's psyche 5. A complete lack of subtlety. Killers, psychos or otherwise, don't unravel their motives dramatically when facing imminent capture/death

Give it a miss is all I'll say. And yes, there should be a law against making crappy films or remakes about psycho killers. It is a serious subject that most Indian filmmakers don't know how to handle.

Murder by the Sea (2022– )

Weak plot, bad acting, horrible dialogue

[1/10 · 13 August 2022]

We love Anjan Dutt. As a singer. Not as a web series maker. After the hill story, we thought he'd stop. He did'nt. I get it, he wants to make bad series'. Atleast he could have used another Agatha Christie plot this time. But no, he did'nt. He went original. And there lies the problem.

The story doesnt exist. A poorly structured, convoluted tale with too many twists and turns and coincidences. After a point, it is almost as if the makers of this series are insulting the intelligence of their audience.

The acting is immature and hammy. Anjan Dutt himself is the only redeeming factor in the acting department.

Dialogues are childish and jerky. Its hard to imagine that the man who wrote Bela Bosh and Ami Brishti Dekhechhi would associate such banal use of the Bengali language with his own name.

Overall, a very poor creation. Disappointing.

Sampurna (2022– )

Sensitive topic, very nicely handled

[8/10 · 29 July 2022]

Here is a show that upholds feminism not by portraying women as cigarette puffing, free willers belting abuses "like men", but in a way that actually delivers impact. The drama is well-controlled, the dialogues are sharp, the performances measured. Most importantly, the characters are real, and the issue at hand is very very pertinent.

Here are some of the things in the Sampurna that any level-headed man or woman will be able to relate with:

1. The my-son-can-do-no-wrong mother of the family 2. The psychologically disturbed yet perfectly functioning young man with a thriving career 3. The aloof and spineless elder brother of said young man 4. The hapless O-God-what's happening-to-my-family father who is typically always the last to know about any family catastrophe 5. Meddlesome neighbours and relatives 6. The kickass homemaker of a daughter-in-law, who earns the "activist" tag just because she wants to do the right thing.

And then there is the subtle use of loads of much prevalent stereotypes that bring the script alive. Some examples:

1. Childlessness is solely the woman's problem, 2. The man who works hard to earn for the family may as well rape and torture the legally wedded wife a bit 3. A woman complaining about marital r#pe is mentally unhinged 4. Even if it may be rampant within the family, talking about marital r-#pe and torture goes against the family's culture, etc.)

Go watch Sampurna. These are the kind of shows that make me feel like doing something to change the various wrongs happening around us.

Forensic (2022)

Just about ok for a one time watch

[6/10 · 27 June 2022]

I havent seen the original, so have nothing to compare to. I liked the overall theory etc but as is the case with most hindi production, there are cringy worthy elements that could have been avoided. These are:

1. Radhika Apte - neurotic and irritaing 2. The whole thing around snap your finger and put them to sleep - is it even scientific?

3. Vikrant Massey - wasted potential 4. The flippant Johnny Johnny business in the most tensed moments - seriously!

5. The potential of another 2.5 hours of neurotically chasing a murderer in Goa while fooling around with that "Yes Darlingl childishness.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022)

Weak and nonsensical

[1/10 · 20 June 2022]

The review below was written after watching Bhool Bhulaiya 2. A small update after rewatching Bhool Bhulaiya 1. The second part should not have been allowed to be made. I hereby revise my rating.

Bhool Bhulaiya dealt with the very credible premise of a mental disorder manifesting itself as a supernatural phenomenon. This second part has shot all the fineness of the original movie through the head by converting the key character, Manjulika, into an ash-sindoor smeared real "bhoot". That too would have been OK. But what with glaring holes in the story, bad acting, blunt comedy, unneccessary song sequences and stilted Bengali dialogues delivered by actors who cannot speak the language, Bhool Bhulaiya 2 is not a great watch. Vidya Balan's original did not have a real bhoot in it, but it was far more spine chilling than this one. Tabu is the only reason I rated this a 4.

The Eken (2022)

Not up to scratch

[6/10 · 5 June 2022]

Eken babu sleuths around a murder mystery in the misty slopes of Darjeeling along with Pramatha and Bapi. What could go wrong with a premise like this? Well this. The script could have been so much tighter, the characters could have been developed more before making them slide between the good-bad barrier. Some of the dialogs are stale and lack punch. I feel Somak and Suhotro are a waste in their roles. We all know from the Somak-Agni clips what magic Somak can weave with his acting...and those who have seen Gora know Suhotro's potential too. These two could have been given better dialogues and more involvement in the plot instead of just hanging around the protagonist saying lame and obvious things.

The storyline doesnt come together with a click the way it happens in good whodunnits. My rating of 6 is just because of Anirban Chakraborti's acting and presence. The fellow never ceases to entertain.

Kakababur Protyaborton (2022)

Not quite Kakababu

[5/10 · 17 April 2022]

Let me cut to the chase: Pros 1. Susoenseful scenes of danger involving wild animals 2. Anirban Chakrabarti's acting

Cons.

1. Shamless contextual advertising marring the plot 2. Too much reference to Feluda and Lalmohan Ganguly. Almost as if Srijit knew his Kakababu didnt have it in him to carry the entire script on his own shoulders and therefore the desperate attempt to cling on to a character that Bengalis would warm up to with 100 % certainty.

3. Hardly any whodunnit angle. The bad man revealed himself and solved the mystery for Kakababu 4. A sorry Kakababu (in Sunil Ganguly's manuscripts, where did the old man go to highlight his hair I wonder?) and a sorrier Shontu ( i expect a more cerebral looking fellow as Shontu. How about Riddhi in the next one?)

Overall a good watch but a slightly disappointing one. I have said this earlier about Srijit messing with famous Bengali literature. If you do take up the job of fliming originals penned by folks like Satyajit Ray or Sunil Ganguly, you got to live up to a certain standard. Else, just film stories of your own. You do a much better job with originals (dwitiyo purush notwithstanding).

Tiktiki (2022– )

Not a thriller, but an acting fest

[8/10 · 18 March 2022]

It's like 3 hours of watching two brilliant actors serve up their talent against each other, building a perfect chemistry, mersmerizing the audience with their mastery over their art. The storyline is weak, the thrill dies out after a while, the plot confuses, but the two protagonists shine on till the end. This two character show is like watching a theatre performance.

No words to review Kaushik G's performance - as is usual. Anirban, as always, excels in a role with darkish edges. His performance as the inspector astounds and once again proves his versatality as as actor!

Just watch Tiktiki for these 2 men. Forget the plot. Just the acting of this duo is a treat for the discerning Bangla audience.

Rudra: The Edge of Darkness (2022)

Terrible

[4/10 · 13 March 2022]

Frame by frame copying of a foreign series doeant work if the social and cultural aspects are not taken care of. Plus If the actors don't measure up to the original. Luther broods, so does Rudra, so Rudra is Luther. But Ajay Devgan is NOT Idris Alba. Tough luck.

The Fame Game (2022)

Sad. No punch

[5/10 · 27 February 2022]

It's simple. There's no punch in this one. Everyone else other than Madhuri and Suhasuni Mulay is very ordinary in terms of acting. The plot is convoluted and unnecesarily so. The audience has been taken for a dimwit and deliberately delivered the provervial red herring over 8 long episodes in a very over the top way. It's almost as if we were never supposed to guess the real twist, given how silly we are, so its was ok to show us intricate fabrications in a bid to hold us to the show.

Too much emphasis on same sex love. To make same sex love mainstream, we need to treat it like it is mainstream and stop using the angle with every second character.

Too many cliches. And what's with the line "main apne bachho ke liye kuchh bhi kar sakti hoon?" First Sushmita Sen in Arya and now this. Apne bachho ke liye toh kutte billiaan bhi sab kuchh karte hain. Why go around parading maternal love? Facebook post hain ya ma ka pyar?

The police lady's woodenness grates on the senses. Just because she's a law enforcer and also the apparent butch in a lesbian relationship, she need not have been that mechanical. So much potential in that role wasted!

Season 1 ended on a cliff hanger...err shutter banger. The next season will be all about mommy daughter tension. Waiting to give it a miss.

Byadh (2022– )

Nice message

[9/10 · 19 February 2022]

It is worth the while sitting through the whole series just for that monologue Kanai Das delivers in the last 10 mins of the last episode. How close to home was that!?

Human (2022– )

Massive letdown

[4/10 · 16 January 2022]

Bad acting and stereotypes spoilt what could have been a taut medical drama. Never seen Shefali Chhaya deliver so poorly. There were so many shades to her character that she failed to etch out. She talks like a human only when she is speaking to her dogs. Rest of the time, she sounds like an expensive robot. Evil people talk just as normally as normal ones. There was no need to make her sound like that. Vishal Jethwa was a treat in Mardaani 2. Here, he has overacted the bejeezuz out of his role. Kirti is good. Done a fair job, this intelligent man's Katrina Kaif. Everyone else is just ok.

The subject of malintent behind human trials of new drugs is a sensitive one in a world grappling with a formidable pandemic. There is already a large segment of big pharma hating non-believers in the world who will surely feel vindicated watching this series. That said, the subject was good, so the series could have panned out much better than the hamhanded over the top convolution that it is.

Aranyak (2021– )

A Netflix-grade crime thriller after months and years!

[9/10 · 11 December 2021]

Finally! An edge of the seat crime thriller thats worth each and every binge hour. Some salient points: 1. Great story. Hopefully not copied from somewhere.

2. Great actors. Especially Parambrata and Ashutosh Rana.

3. A female lead who is not Radhika Apte (thank you Netflix)

4. Nice portrayal of a daughter-in-law/father-in-law relationship

5. The mystery created by a slight touch of the supernatural that turned out to be credible in the end

Waiting for Rabbit's story to unfold in Season 2.

Indu (2021–2023)

Slow but engaging

[7/10 · 28 November 2021]

Good series. Too many subplots though. Good acting, good storyline. The intent to stretch out the story over multiple seasons has created a drag effect. I hope they can bring the pieces together skillfully in season 2.