talktoashish

It's always refreshing to watch an Indian story told well. This movie is similar to PadMan in concept and would have been 10/10 if not for silly avoidable songs and slightly misfit heroine. But that's not the point of story anyway.

The script is heartwrenching to say the least. Sheer amount of corruption, power play, brutal evilness shown by the system and main villain brought tears. Sheer number of problems after problem would make any galf-sane person give up thousand times. And course, even hundreds insane "sarfire" have died unknown unsung heroes not able to fight establishment.

When you see situations like this in movies, you usually console yourself that that was India in 70s and 80s but this movie depicts time period just 20 years ago when India was so-called liberalized.

I still need to authenticate how much of this story is true but dramatized version but even if a quarter of this is true then this movie is a must watch.

Just to call out that most negative reviews and ratings of this movies are because this is a remake, which is an absurd reason for an legitimate authorised remake. Unfortunately India's language war spills into movie ratings too but a movie should be judged on its own and absolutely should not have low rating just because an perhaps better original movie exists.

It's very hard to get time travel movies right, so it's no surprise that this too fails. Despite amazing premise and captivating first 6 episodes, story just unravels to shreds in the last 2 episodes. Conclusion reminded me of another famous thriller series called Lost. At the end of the mini series you will not be able to understand why anything had to happen the way it is said to be supposed to happen.

Harker wanted big bomb so that he can create new world. Where do naked dead bodies fit into that narrative? What use are those corpses in glass vases? Why take such convoluted route over 150 years instead of just telling bombs secrets to any of terrorists group in 2023? Why little girl had to die in 1941? Those so called important vinyl tapes hardly played any role, since final trigger was boy Harker's mom, which was also random. Nothing made sense. Somehow everyone is hell bent on reversing the bomb not realising how that adversely affected everyone who came after because world wasn't peaceful. And future people won't exist anymore. And finger prints survive over 50 years. Why bomb had to be in basement of bank? How did original Harker manage to recruit so many people and what story he told that they became ardent followers of a future generates later?

I mean, it's gripping watch with nice period touch but it's nonsense all the way.

I watched it the first fourty minutes before giving up. Yes, it's that bad. Reminded me of Adi Purush.

Sounds like a conspiracy theory but make movies on Hindu stories and then making them really bad sounds like another attempt to denigrate Hinduism?!

Anyway, it's ridiculous in CGI, dialogues, technology, whatever of story and so on. Maybe one day I will get courage to watch and finish this.

... Here I am just filling space because IMDb wants reviews to be certain minimum length even if there is nothing else to write. After all stupid rules encourage stupid compliance. Finally, I got the character count.

I am sci-fi buff so I'll probably watch 2nd season too. I was on hook for the 1st season as well. But all said and done, story is terribly slow. I watched at 1.5x speed on Netflix and still felt slow. I wish Netflix has 3x speed option for shows like this. Not to mention, when you think about it, whole 8 episode content can be presented in 2-3 episodes when it comes down to quantity of the story material.

Many characters are extraneous. Story arc moves very slowly. Science parts are explained just enough, though which was good. Lots of silly liberties were taken, like no oversight on message to aliens, scientists acting like cult and not finding that odd, aliens making sense of world they are directly observing from children's stories, and so on.

What a movie! Well, less of a movie but mix of documentary and theatre. Shows so much of Indian pre-independence history you don't hear in conventional school.

Story of Savarkar told in unashamed terms. Doesn't hide good, bad, or ugly. No unnecessary song or drama. No grandiose dialogues. Just one dialogue which elicited laughter. Many scenes address the fourth wall almost like a monologue.

So many names even moderately educated Indians would not have heard of who contributed to freedom struggle. Yet, doesn't feel too fast paced at all. Must watch. Of course, anything like this won't do justice to everyone but tells one story really well.

Good movie worth a watch. However not deserving of 9+ rating it's getting. First half an hour is good when hero decides to do IPS. Then movie becomes typical underdog achiever movie and fairly predictable. Hero does lots of hardships, gets doses at luck at right time and places, has brief fling with romance, and achieves his dream.

Without inspiring songs or emotional montage, such movies leave nothing to latch onto for viewer. Complete absence of songs doesn't help either. There is no aftertaste or lingering feeling. Not to mention, his dream while projected in idealist tone, was purely materialistic with goal of getting high paying government job. What honest stuff did he achieve after becoming IPS is not referenced even in end credits.

Movie is biography of Sam Manekshaw from birth to retirement. In this long period and illustrious career, he participated in many wars. Movie depicts all key events in his life. There is only one proper songs, and no much else in sense of typical Bollywood tropes.

What works? It's unusual topic for Bollywood hence producers should be rewarded for taking a risk. It's story of a real hero who every Indian should know. Many historical events are described in matter of fact way without excessive jingoism so it it's good history lesson for typical Indian.

What doesn't? Movie covers so many events that none gets proper due. For instance, Ghazi movie shows story of single submarine war, or Raazi shows one instance of spying, and it takes proper 2 hour to tell a good story in an engaging way. Sam Bahadur has 100 such incidents and none gets its due. Essentially movie becomes rushed documentary of all things he did. Each event gets barely 10 screen minutes, and then timeline jumps to next 5-10 years. They could have started late in his career and showed only few events in details.

Few other noteworthy things: Key political leaders of time e.g. Nehru, Indira, Patel, VP Menon also get barely some time and also show fairly factually without fawning over. In the earlier career, Sam was soldier under British government and movie didn't display his any point of view towards wanting it contributing to India's independence. He was a good soldier and he remained a good soldier whichever army he was in.

For a scientific movie, this is very well done. Story is limited but kept taut and emotions weaved beautifully through background music. No side plot, no political angle, no religious commentary, no love story, no songs, and even no humour track, but just pure storytelling. It does the job well given the subject but given above strict adherence to story, after taste of the movie is minimal though watching experience is good. Does the job well of exposing agenda of foreign vaccines and toolkit journalists. Good educational movie and inspirational to show behind the scene efforts of researchers. I will put Mangalyaan a notch higher because that remains scientific while also entertaining, but a solid movie on unique subject.

Story is simple. Too simple really. A princess falls in love with a soldier. Soldier sacrificed his life for people and country. In fact, first half is slow and feels like dragging.

Characters don't seem to stay in personality and logical. An angry student is happily willing to be rusticated but won't say sorry but immediately wants grandfather's money to pay back for car's damage. An orphan soldier is audacious in his love proposal and seems to know all tricks of romance. A princess wanders without anyone noticing both inside her palace and outside. Soldier seems to not figure out how a dance teacher can afford first class in train and VIP chair at magic show. Why Noorjahan was in that village in Kashmir is never explained.

Most characters are good on both side of borders despite some being terrorists. And twists are kind of predictable a little in advance, if not entirely, in advance.

I saw this in Hindi which means songs don't translate well and music was forgettable.

Saving grace why this gets 6/10 is because of good emotional drama packed in last hour of movie. It's high on nationalism quotient and symbolism of Ram-Sita naming is not lost which I appreciate. But then, movie has to either make me laugh or cry or not bore .. and this kind of doesn't do anything. So yes, watchable but missable as well.

Yes, it's copy of the US version of the Office which 2as the copy of UK version. Nobody is hiding that. And yes, if you have seen either, then comparison is inevitable and it may or may not match your expectations and momories of those experiences.

That said, in itself, this is amazing series. Humour remains intact. Indianization is done amazing well, in story, in characters, and in dialogues. Series gets better after first couple of episodes and elicits genuine laughter. Worth watching even if you have seen UK or US versions. And you will love it.

Don't be distracted by low ratings from folks with low self esteem who cannot appreciate good Indian drama.

I am writing as person who didn't play this video game, nor who plays any video game. For me, the show was slow at times and introduced storylines not related to main story arc. 50 minutes felt very stretched for each episode. By the second half, I interpreted series to more of philosophical descriptions of varieties of social orders that will eventually emerge in post-apocalyptic world, neither of them right or wrong.

Of course, series is not without technical flaws and internal inconsistency. World changes A LOT in 20 years and things need maintenance. To expect that roads are not covered in vegetation, or rooftops are not crawling with insects, or electric infrastructure will somehow work well, and self surviving house has modern amenities and working everything, or that fuel hasn't evaporated or vehicles still work, and so on. None of other reviewers seem to care about that even in passing mention.

Things also kind of happen conveniently at many places. Attacks work or don't work suitability to keep our heros going. Infected are there in droves and then aren't.

Not to mention the completely shocking last episode. I mean, Joel isn't good guy, sure, but still you are with both of them throughout and kind of rooting for them. To completely take away the only known option for saving the world in his utter selfishness makes you hate yourself for rooting for the guy.

Overall still 7/10 because it keeps you hooked and because of decent thrills provided in the second half of the show against slow first half. Bill/Frank and Riley episodes were most waste for me, but the former seems be public favourite.

It's a good little timepass, with series of mini thriller adventure stories. 25 min episode size and mostly disconnected episodes means you can watch few and stop, or watch in any order, though there is a thin connection across the series.

Story is told purely from the point of view of protagonist. However, it's not really realistic and practical if we consider that there are other people in the world, specially law enforcement.

Things happen conveniently at right time. Our anti-hero is insurmountable. His face is in all CCTVs, fingerprints are everywhere, people go missing, bodies are dumped in open, his car number plate is observed, yet no hint of any consequences. Police doesn't exists in the world this is set in. Not just police, his wife or kid or girlfriend aren't suspecting of what he does, long absences, his friends. Basically everybody is just exists to take our hero's story forward without any common sense.

And hero himself is ruthless with no iota of redeeming qualities. He won't help when he can. He won't mind killing completely innocent and unrelated strangers.

Season 1 - 8/10 Season 2 - 5/10

Pretty much what others have said. Enjoy first season. Skip second.

First Arabic movie for me, so judge this review accordingly.

Movie is light hearted, with funny incidents thrown in, though they don't work most of the times. But again, perhaps I am not culturally tuned to this form of humour. Everyone laughs a lot with lots of dramatic and over the top gesture, even when there is nothing funny going on. Still, a good overall story and decent enough comedy e.g. The drive on the way to funeral. However, the ending just ruined it. Uncle dies for no reason. Magdy suddenly decides to and manages to lose weight. Last scene on magazine opening had no meaning. He not only changes his body size but also changes his character.

This is my first movie from these countries so I gave it go ahead, even as within first thirty minutes it was clear that it doesn't have a story but series of clever/stupid things a boss can do told as sequence of narrative. Acting is mediocre from all, and obviously over the top for the heroine. Pretty sure she is famous for being pretty rather than for her acting. Random kind heart montage in the end with orphanage was out of place and inconsistent. Okay to watch but easily avoidable.

Reviews of this show tend to fall into extremes. There are those who love it and rate 9-10 and those who hate it and rate 2-4. And both are right. But if you use rating as guide to decide if you want to watch this or not then middle 7 is about right. If course this is silly, lazy, unrealistic, going around in circle storyline. But this is also fast paced and suspenseful to keep you hooked. Go ahead and watch it and you won't be disappointed, at least for first two seasons. If you have seen Money Heist then you can relate to this. Stupid but watchable.

First two seasons are good, third is also fine. Story goes haywire after fourth. Series starts well, drags in middle of first season as novelty wears off, but then picks up again as main story gains strength. Each episode is mix of long running main story and episode specific short story. Don't expect too much logic though.

I am not British, and have no general interest in British monarchy... but this series more than exceeded my expectations! It's breathtaking visually, dialogues are amazing, and while there is hardly any story per episode, you don't feel bored, but instead hooked with strong binge-worthiness. How modern kings and queens live itself is pretty interesting.

And while many people have simply rated this 1/10 because "it glorifies monarchy", it really doesn't. It lays bare how sham all this is. How monarchy continues to charm and fool and adapt to stay relevant and continue its existence. And it's terribly wretched to have to watch every single one of these people who have been given life on platter, with all luxuries of world for free, trying very hard to ruin it. Every single one of Philip or Maraget or Charles or Anne or Harry or Diana intentionally make wrong choices while knowing what's at stake and still then blame everyone else but themselves. While the Queen herself was charming and noble in first two seasons, she also showed cold harsh demeanour in third and fourth seasons, to the extent that many problems can be attributed to her brushing them under carpet.

And yes, I did check whether it's accurate or not. And while there are some minor errors of dates and accuracy, it's 90% accurate and good enough for all purposes except for school essay or court evidence.

I am watching this good 20 years after release so perhaps review is mired in experience since then, but here it is. Movie is barely okay if you are looking for random action scenes. It's watchable, alright, in that you won't be tempted to turn it off, but that doesn't mean you should not. No story. No nuance. Just action. Unbelievable heroism. Lots and lota of loopholes and unexplained stuff. What I call, turn off your brain and watch kind of movie.

*Reviewing after 2 Seasons*

This story of super heroes with unusual and reluctant powers (for some) keeps you hooked from start to finish. Tight editing and good music keep the story flowing. There is subtle and quirky humour throughout. Cockiness of Five - and let's be honest, the only guy with some sense in his actions - is charming. Everyone else is temperamental and prone to tantrums.

Where it gets loopy is in the logic and self-consistency of story. Of course, source of super power is not under question. However, many a times characters do things which can be avoided and expedited only if they use their power which, for some reason, they don't, e.g. Five driving. Use of powers is also inconsistent, e.g. Time travelling with others with or without touching them and with or without their consent. Without these and many similar logical gaps, this series could have been 9/10.

I didn't find second season to be better than first, but both are good. Storyline is similar in that there is repetition of impending doomsday, reluctant and futile attempts to get everyone together, and avoiding doomsday in most unplanned and accidental manner unrelated to whatever was happening up to that point in the story.

This may be first time travel series or movie in India in Hindi, and considering type of audience this is targeting, it has done decent job. For avid fan of time travel movies in English, this comes out as basic story and filled with patchy acting. Worth to get your parents interested in idea but not very particularly interesting story.

Movie is set in Bhopal in lower middle class neighbouring households. Ambience and local languages are superbly done. Story is okay but moves at reasonable pace and doesn't feel slow. Songs are nothing to talk about except one after marital disagreement. There is hardly any comedy except last chasing scene which seems forced, unrealistic, and out of character with rest of the movie. It's bittersweet movie with decent family drama and emotional content and easy on eyes.

Many people have give this move low - extreme 1/10 - rating because dowry is often mentioned and there is a scene of husband slapping wife. Well, it is showing realistic picture of lower middle class India so dowry talk is not out of place. In fact, to expect otherwise is to put personal moral notions above portrayal of realism in movie set in contextual environment. And there is context and story behind slap as well which any person with semblance of comprehension can understand. People who find that objectionable are with black and white outlook to life and inability to connect consecutive events to form coherent reasoning.

Do watch if you are not rabid faminist type and you will not be disappointed.

I had to pause movie within first few minutes and recheck that it indeed is 8/10 rated on IMDB as I found it to be overacted and cheesey right away. Editing seems random throughout- what's with republic day long scene, or first real CBI chase scene, or even last cricket stadium scene?! Less said about the background music the better. Even walk to nowhere and non-event scenes are accompanied by thriller score. What about logic? Police had Anupam Kher's house address so what stopped them even if they were deceived by robbers? And if Jimmy wasn't real cop then what were initial scenes? And scene with SP of Police in front of minister where he dismissed him? It's little thought through ad-hoc scripted story.

It is said to be based on true events but how much of it is true I don't know. One good thing is that I think it managed to portray 1980s India authentically.

I could not understand anything in this film. There is no logic or story. And there was no explanation anywhere on internet to make sense too. Everyone has pitched in subtle metaphor of imagery and what not. Well picturization wasn't particularly pretty and I would watch a painting if I wanted imagery. Obviously I am not arty type audience for this. Still doesn't take away the fact I wasted time on this nonsense horribly slow random collection of scenes. Don't watch until you are absolutely sure what you are getting into.

Story starts great and remains fairly suspenseful over first 2 seasons but in last few episodes pace slows down. Only reason this doesn't get 9/10 from me is because story becomes illogical over time. Everybody does dumb things. Robbers get lucky all the time. Hence I have decided to not watch third season onwards.

• SPOILERS -

Hundreds of police cannot shoot one Tokyo on bike. Many scenes have all robbers in one room busy when hostages could have simply opened front door and walked out but didn't. Monica, Angel, and Raquel characters change so much in so brief interactions that they give up their whole life and own sense of righteousness and help robbers. Monica and Raquel have excuse of 5 day love but somehow (even at cost of daughter!) Angel also sides with robbers without trying to understand anything. Professor spent whole life planning heist can falls head over heels in love in 1 day? What was his goal in first day offering charger if he didn't want to be close to Inspector? Why didn't he disengage when he realised his growing love? And robbers get lucky so many times that police actions seems laughable. When hostages escape first time around what stopped them from bombing that door open again? Berlin is able to hold on to tens of police alone. In last escape from hanger scene everyone is wasting time on sentimentality but somehow gets ready and out just a minute before. Professor left Island clue for Raquel even though she was police and somehow was convinced that she would side with him. I could name more but you get the gist ...