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Siraj Syed is the India Correspondent for FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. He is a Film Festival Correspondent since 1976, Film-critic since 1969 and a Feature-writer since 1970. He is also an acting and dialogue coach. @SirajHSyed
Sukhee, Review: What’s so bad about feeling good?
If you are a woman, as typified by the protagonist in Sukhee, there’s plenty bad about feeling good. The Sukhee women want to be independent and do things that only men indulge in, at least most of them. But can they get away with such audacity? That’s a good platform for developing an attractive screenplay. Sadly, Sukhee, which means Happy, tries too many things and, in the process, dissipates the central idea. It also bring...
Sukhee, Review: What’s so bad about feeling good?
If you are a woman, as typified by the protagonist in Sukhee, there’s plenty bad about feeling good. The Sukhee women want to be independent and do things that only men indulge in, at least most of them. But can they get away with such audacity? That’s a good platform for developing an attractive screenplay. Sadly, Sukhee, which means Happy, tries too many things and, in the process, dissipates the central idea. It also bring...
Jawan, Review: Eggs on the windshield
You can be pardoned for believing that Jawan is Pathaan rebooted, if you walked in as ShahRukh Khan (SRK) is lying half-dead on a bed somewhere near the Indian border (with which country?) and a chinky medicine man is spending days, and possibly weeks, using all kinds of herbs and other local Ayurvedic medicine to revive him. It was exactly the same in Pathaan, where he was nursed back by a Pathaan tribe. Obviously, the makers thought once is not enough, ...
Fukrey 3, Trailer launch: Risqué sera sera
On an authoritative website, the word ‘Fukrey’ translates as ‘slackers’. It must be native to Delhi and its environs, as I have never come across this word anywhere else. That a Mumbai-based production house (Excel Entertainment, of Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani), bank-rolled this definitive Delhi dalliances caper, beginning with its first episode in 2013, and stayed with it for another 10 years, shows the faith the...
Ramblings of a Bandra Boy, Book release: Haps, mishaps and madcaps
Joy Bimal Roy has lived his entire, or almost entire life, in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra. The only son of venerated film producer and director Bimal Roy, his address was Godiwala Bungalow, Mount Mary Road. And living there has given him much joy, though his name ought to be spelt Jai for non-Bengalis, Joy being the Bengali way of pronouncing the more common Jai. Joy’s book, Ramblings of a Bandra Boy, was released at the...
Bambai Meri Jaan, Trailer release: Kay Kay is on a role
In the crime thriller Bambai Meri Jaan, Kay Kay Menon plays the key role of Ismail Kadri, an honest cop. Just the other day, I was chatting with a fellow journalist and we both agreed that Kay Kay’s portrayal of a victimised badminton coach in the very recent sleeper film, Love All, salvaged his reputation of playing hardened cops or intelligence officers, as a norm. He did a pretty good job, and Love All led us to believe ...
Kaala, Trailer launch: Reverse osmosis – turning white money into black
There has been an ongoing illegal operation conducted in India over many a decade: it is called the generation and circulation of ‘black money’. ‘Black money’ is unaccounted wealth, on which no tax has been paid. Most black money transactions have been conducted in cash, to avoid leaving any trace. There is no record of the amount of money that has been floating in the market, as black money....
Goldfish, Review: Without your memory, you are like a goldfish out of water
Probably used as a metaphor for the memory lapses of its central character, who is suffering from dementia, the goldfish, believed to have a memory span of three seconds, has, in fact, a rather long memory. On the website Live Science, the short-memory theory has been debunked, “In reality, goldfish (Carassius auratus) have much longer memories — spanning weeks, months and even years. And the science...
Love All, Review: Goodbye badminton, Hello badminton
No, it’s not about love as is depicted in Hindustani films. And it certainly does not propagate the noble axiom, Love All. The ‘love’ here is derived from the French, l’oeuf, which means an egg, but is pronounced very nearly like love. Since the score 0 (zero) in games like tennis and badminton is the starting point for the players, these games begin with Love All. After a dozen films on cricket, footfall, hockey, sp...
One Friday Night, Review: Cheat on wife, pay with life
Get captivated by the Pawna Lake hilly region, close to Mumbai. Watch Raveena Tandon and Milind Soman in a first time pairing. Sit back as Vidhi Chitalia enters the scene, playing the ‘other woman’, the third angle of the triangle. And go along with the flow, as One Friday Night works towards the only real twist in the tale, the climax. That is if you care for this narrative and cast. If not, don’t spend One Friday Night...
Vardi Ke Veer: Worthy of singing praise
A press conference in the Padma Ranga Chamber Music Hall of the Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha? Why would anybody hold it there? But if you have an event coming up at the same venue, in the Sri Shanmukhananda Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Auditorium, on the 12th of August, Why not? It’s called Vardi Ke Veer (Braves in Uniform). Well known stage singer Ameya Dabli’s ADventures (clever play of his initials) outfit is putting t...
Goldfish, Trailer launch: Mind matters
Splendid Films yesterday released the trailer of their internationally acclaimed film, Goldfish, followed by a panel discussion, in association with Mpower Minds, an initiative of Aditya Birla Education Trust. Goldfish, which was shown at IFFI 2022, is set to release in India on 25th August, 2023. The event was held at Birla Centurion Business Centre, in Worli, Central Mumbai. For once, I was late. Very late. The venue was absolutely new to me and there ...
Dream Girl 2, Trailer launch: Meet Ayushwomann, the body behind the voice
Meeting Dream Girl 2 was not easy. In fact, it was 3 times as difficult as one would have imagined. First hurdle was the location hunt, as the invitation just said Meta Office, BKC. BKC is a huge settlement, and it took us (me and my friend Prasad Sovani, who had come down from Pune) a while to locate the venue, though we still managed to arrive on time. Secondly, we had to wait about 45 minutes to get identity badges a...
Made in Heaven, Season 2: "Marriages are made in heaven, so are thunder and lightning"
Although the quote comes from Clint Eastwood, you can say it again, for this is Season 2. And unlike most marriages in real life, on OTT you get a second chance, to revisit heaven. After a successful Season 1 (2019), the team from Excel Media and Entertainment, and Tiger Baby Films, is back, with Season 2. Many characters are retained, and a few are added, to make these marriages work, I presume, ...
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, Review: All rhyme, no reason
When a film tries too hard to please too many viewers, it shows. When it has too many stars, including stars of yesteryear, predictably, its length grows. When the maker goes back three generations and sets one chunk of the story in 1978, the public knows. When a layman at a bus-stop on a rainy night tells you lots about a film he has not seen because, perhaps, he has seen the trailer and read stuff about the movie, you know that&rs...
Bharateeyans-The New Blood, Review: Overboard, gored, bored
Preminchukundam Raa, Premante Idera, Kalisundam Raa, Eeswar (2002 film), Lahiri Lahirilo, Sardukupodaam Randi, Nagaram Nidrapotunna Vela and Sakhiya. These are not the names of the characters or cast of Bharateeyans-The New Blood, but the names of films written by Deena Raj, collaborating with Dr. Shankar Naidu Adsumilli, a well-known surgeon based in the USA. Deena Raj teams with Naidu again for his directorial debut, at age 53, Bha...
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Review: Eureka-boom
A whole new bunch of actors and three different time zones are what you get when you dial-up destiny and visit your chosen cinema-hall to watch Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. It is hard to believe that neither Steven Spielberg nor George Lucas wrote or directed the movie, which is the last hurrah for the whip-cracking archaeologist who was first dug-up by Hollywood in 1981. Spielberg directed the first four outings, based larg...
Amazon Prime Video's Adhura trailer launch: First half, second half
“We have surfed the horror genre, and though I, personally, am a bit scared of scary content, the genre has a huge following. So, when EMMAY Entertainment approached us with a proposal for making a full-blown horror series, I thought we should venture into it.” That was Aparna Purohit, Head of India Originals Content at Amazon Prime Video, speaking at the trailer launch of Adhura, held on the 28th June, late e...
72 Hoorain: Untouched, heavenly virgins, 72 of them; go, have a blast!
That is what the title of this film means. It is derived from the preaching of some misguided Muslim religious leaders, who brain-wash impressionable Kashmiri youth into becoming terrorists, and set-off bomb-blasts, in the hope that 72 hoorain will be waiting for them in the hereafter. It is not a documentary, but claims to be inspired by true incidents. The makers describe it as a tale that delves into the depths of the h...
Satyaprem Ki Katha: Tittleation
A title like this would be an anachronism, had it not been for the surfeit of ‘shudhha’ (pure/chaste) Hindi that can be heard in most places, of late. Be thankful! The film was originally titled Satyanarayan Ki Katha, which is a religious ritual among the majority community. But move a little eastward and you will find a film called Ballabhpurer Rupkotha (ignore the o in kotha, please). So, if they can get away with it, why can’t our guys? To ...
Tiku Weds Sheru: A ‘Senior’ artiste weds a ‘Junior artiste’
By all accounts, Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a senior artiste. He ranks on the high rung and is 49 years old. That he started as a junior artiste is now stuff that legends are made of. Avneet Kaur is said to be 21, though I find that hard to believe (17-18 is more like it), did a couple of film roles and a couple of cameos. By comparison, in terms of age and experience, she is a ‘junior’ artiste. In th...
To Catch a Killer, Review: Mass murderer vs FBI veteran and rookie policewoman
It’s a tame title, considering the killer puts down 29 individuals in the first round of his carnage. The other title, Misanthrope, is vague. It’s not nail-biting stuff, rather a thinking man’s whodunit, with occasional movements towards the edge of the seat. Mounted on a great scale, it is unable to escape the familiar tropes: Good officer being bullied, taking the rookie under his wing, a couple...
Chidiakhana, Review: Of all the animals in the zoo…
Made under the Children’s Film Society masthead, now merged with the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), Chidiakhana is not a zoo story. It won’t do much good to the reputation of NFDC. Stretching logic a bit too far, the makers justify the title by having the lead character imagine human beings as animals. And the animals talk with human voices. Guess what the core subject is? Football. And when you are making a...
Aazam, Review: “I want to be the next Don, and stop me if you can”
Ministerial power often stems from a ‘healthy’ give and take with underworld Dons. There is a popular belief that legislators play one gang against the other, and like to work with just one Boss, rather than a multitude of Mafiosos. Then, there is the power and succession struggle between gang members, often resulting in brutal killings. Choosing these elements as its theme, Aazam builds a narrative th...
Fast X, Review: Vin some, lose some
Weapons and vehicles are the twin jet propellers on which Fast X rides. Weapons come in all potencies and sizes, including IT software/hardware and a (nuclear?) bomb that could blow up a whole city. Vehicles too, come in all shapes, sizes and models, including a container and a mini-aeroplane. All these are transported across continents, with the ease of greased lightning. There are two more twin jet-propellers that help the film cruise along, and these are...
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About Siraj Syed
 Syed Siraj
(Siraj Associates)
Siraj Syed is a film-critic since 1970 and a Former President of the Freelance Film Journalists' Combine of India.
He is the India Correspondent of FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the international Federation of Film Critics, Munich, Germany
Siraj Syed has contributed over 1,015 articles on cinema, international film festivals, conventions, exhibitions, etc., most recently, at IFFI (Goa), MIFF (Mumbai), MFF/MAMI (Mumbai) and CommunicAsia (Singapore). He often edits film festival daily bulletins.
He is also an actor and a dubbing artiste. Further, he has been teaching media, acting and dubbing at over 30 institutes in India and Singapore, since 1984.
Bandra West, Mumbai India View my profileSend me a message
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