bollywood

Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein — now streaming on Netflix — has an inherent promising black comedy setup at its core. In it, a powerful politician's doe-eyed daughter Purva Awasthi (Anchal Singh, from Undekhi) has had her eyes on the accountant's veritable small-fry son Vikrant “Vicky” Singh Chauhan (Tahir Raj Bhasin, from Chhichhore) since they were kids at school. (Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein's premise would be creepy on several levels if you were to gender flip the whole thing. But that's a different debate.) And because Vikrant…

Amazon Prime Video has unveiled 23 Indian movies for next two years — that includes three originals, two co-productions, and one “special collaboration”. The remaining 17 licensed films come from the likes of Karan Johar-owned Dharma Productions, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani's Excel Entertainment, Ajay Devgn's Ajay Devgn FFilms, and the Aditya Chopra-run Yash Raj Films. These will premiere in theatres before exclusively streaming on Prime Video globally. Madhuri Dixit Nene-led comedy-drama Maja Maa leads those…

Gehraiyaan — the new Amazon original movie with Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, and Ananya Panday — is a classic case of being all over the place. It starts off as a romantic character drama, as the Gehraiyaan trailers and songs have hinted at. An aimless woman (Padukone) is trying to pick between two guys and their polar-opposite philosophies, and a man who takes no prisoners (Chaturvedi) is trying to have it all and juggle two worlds. But Gehraiyaan transforms into another beast over the course of its bloated…

The Fame Game — the new Netflix series with Madhuri Dixit Nene, now streaming — at its heart, desires to be an examination of the dark side of being a celebrity. That explains the title switch from the more intriguing and psychological Finding Anamika to the plainer and more generic The Fame Game. Through its new title, the makers posit, it will dive into the cult of stardom. And who better to lead such a TV show than one of Bollywood's biggest yesteryear “superstars” in Dixit Nene. But despite being made by some of the…

Mai — streaming Friday 12:30pm IST on Netflix — keeps asking the same question in the beginning through its titular protagonist: “Who killed my daughter?” For a series that's meant to be about a mother (Sakshi Tanwar, from Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii) trying to find those who did the deed, it's a simple way to reassert what it's about. But maybe it ought to have served as a reminder for Mai's makers too. For the Netflix series gets side tracked — again and again — with half a dozen subplots. There's a child given up at birth. A…

London Files — the Arjun Rampal-led series, now streaming on Voot Select — is a hilariously bad cop show. There's no getting around it, so I might as well acknowledge that straight up. Rampal's police detective is stuck inside the TV, except he doesn't know it. After all, that's the only way to explain his bewildering actions, things no cop in his position would do. At one point, while Rampal is following a suspect, he calls out their name and gives himself up, just because London Files needs an episodic cliffhanger. When…