The Couch Review

Toofaan(2021)- Review Toofaan is a 2021 Hindi sports drama. The film takes us through the ride of Aziz “Toofaan” Ali aka Ajju Bhai (Farhan Akhtar), a local goon. Aziz is an orphan and was taken under the wing of a local gangster Jaffar Bhai (Vijay Raaz) at a tender age, since then he has served Jaffar in assisting in his illegal activities. Aziz is very good at fighting however only having done it at ‘street fights’ trying to terrorize the general public. On a fine day, Aziz finds himself at a local boxing ring and puts his unsavory fighting skills acquired doing illicit activities. Instantly he falls in love with the sport and realizes he could be very good if plays his cards right. But for getting to the next level of boxing on a bigger stage he requires a talented coach. He is told that the coach that can propel his fighting career is Coach Narayan “Nana” Prabhu (Paresh Rawal). With initial reluctance, Nana ultimately takes Aziz under his wing, with both aiming for the highest ho

The Man in the High Castle(2015–2019)- Review Have you ever wondered what might have been if something in history didn’t come to fruition; how the world would be different, how would people be, how different would you be. The Man in the High Castle is a series that does just that. It takes us through the ride through the world where the allies lost the second world war and the world is at the mercy of Nazi Germany and Japan. Based on the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick , the story rotates around Juliana Crain (Alexa Davalos) a woman living in San Francisco, which is on the Japanese side of occupied America called Japanese Pacific States. Initially introduced to the possibility of a better world by her sister, Juliana gets involved in the mission to free this dystopian America; the mission run by someone that goes by the moniker of The Man In the High Castle. Throughout the series, we are acquainted with a dearth of characters on both sides of the divided America among who

Mumbai Saga(2021)- Review  “Aaj se Mumbai tera ja Raaj kar” Mumbai Saga is a Hindi action crime film by director Sanjay Gupta. As the name suggests the movie takes us through the saga that unfolded in the ’80s and early ’90s in Mumbai or what it was called then Bombay. The movie primarily focuses on Amartya Rao (John Abraham). Amartya lives a simple life and earns his living as a fruit and vegetable vendor. Vendors like him are often extorted by the local mob, choosing not to engage with the miscreants Amartya usually turns a blind eye and obliges with their demands. However, he is forced to take action against them when his younger brother is victimized by their harmful acts. After fending off a high-powered gangster and his goons, Amartya finds himself in power with the support of a local leader Bhau (Mahesh Manjrekar) who in his own words tells Amratya “Aaj se Mumbai tera ja Raaj kar” (From today Mumbai is yours, go rule). With Bhau’s blessings he does go on to rule Mumbai for

I Care A Lot(2021)- Review   “Are you a lamb or a lion?” Most con movies are based on this simple principle of animals, eat or be eaten, showcasing the protagonist as a highly ambitious unempathetic person who will stop at no end to complete their con; to game the system, breaking rules and laws. While most of the general characteristics meet with the protagonist of I Care A Lot, Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike), but she does her grifts in line with the system and the laws. The scam is simple yet brilliant. Marla finds naïve elderly clients who have considerable assets and wealth. After spotting these potential clients, she convinces the court to grant her guardianship of these elderly people, on the grounds that they cannot function well by themselves. After being appointed their guardian she racks up money by utilizing their assets. The business is going well and Marla is enjoying life with her girlfriend and business partner Fran (Eiza Gonzalez). But the story gets less colorful wh

Scorpion(2014–2018)- Review “Not Good”- Happy Quinn, Scorpion (2014–2018) “Not Good” as Jadyn Wong’s character Happy Quinn would say almost every episode, the series too can be simply put under that category. The premise of the series is very simple; a group of ‘geniuses’ use their intelligence time and again to solve complex problems, usually problems that can’t be solved by anyone else. These high-intellect individuals work for Scorpion, lead & founded by Walter O’Brien (Elyes Gabel) whose IQ is the fourth-highest ever recorded. Walter is aided by Sylvester Dodd (Ari Stidham) a ‘human calculator’, Tobias Curtis (Eddie Kaye Thomas) a world-renowned behaviorist, and Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong) ‘world’s best mechanic’. The team also houses a couple of ordinary people, Agent Cabe Gallo (Robert Patrick) a Homeland Agent working as the muscle of the team, and finally Paige Dineen (Katherine McPhee) who helps the geniuses interact with the world. Scorpion throughout the series takes on

The Guilty(2018)- Review The Guilty is a Danish crime thriller featuring Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren), a Copenhagen police officer awaiting a hearing for shooting a man while on duty. Currently, he is assigned to answer emergency calls. The day prior to his hearing Asger receives a call from a woman who identifies herself as Iben Østergård (Jessica Dinnage). Not getting any cries for help or claiming an emergency, he doesn’t make too much of the call and is about to hang up. But as he continued with the conversation with Iben he realizes that she is under some kind of distress and discreetly reveals to him she has been abducted and is in a white van. The movie throughout continuous with build-ups in this storyline; Asger using his skills and doing all he can for rescuing the woman who is counting on him. Firstly, the creators need to be lauded to have the imagination and the creativity to deliver the way the movie did with the extremely bold script showcasing & limiting all the

Instructions Not Included(2013)- Review   Instructions Not Included is a Mexican comedy-drama film about Valentín Bravo (Eugenio Derbez). He carries a persona of a playboy and has no interest in having a normal lifestyle. He has always been fearful and afraid of everything that would require courage. His father Juan ‘Johnny’ Bravo is quite the opposite of him, extremely courageous and full of vigor. Juan in order to make his son brave like him tries all means available and exposes Valentín to every possible fear he has. But to no avail, Valentín continuous to be frightened and runs away resenting his father. Years later after Valentín is the local playboy and sleeps with pretty much every tourist that comes into town. But on one dreary morning, he finds at his doorstep the nightmare that is to turn his life upside down. The movie continuous with Valentín and his daughter Maggie (Loreto Peralta) building an envious bond when he raises her letting go of his lifestyle giving Maggie a

Late Night(2019)- Review Late Night is a comedy-drama about a late-night talk show hosted by Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson), who is a celebrated comedian and has had an extensive career over the years. While she is considered a pioneer in comedy, she is seen as only that a veteran who paved way for the next generation, whose glory years are well past her. Lately, her show has seen a steady decline and a reduction in viewers, which is not appreciated by the network which telecasts her show. Once she was a generous artist working and bonding with people around her, but now people working for her neither like her nor come in too much contact with her. In order to revamp the show, there is an opening among the writing staff for a woman. Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling) is a secluded Indian-American woman who has an interest in comedy but has never had the opportunity to showcase her talent. After she gets to know that show is looking for a writer she tries to get that job. To her awe &

Newton(2017)- Review Newton is a black comedy film featuring Nutan "Newton" Kumar (Rajkummar Rao) who is a novice government official, currently serving as a reserve for election duty. Newton is a hardliner for rules and believes doing his duty truthfully & diligently. After a main officer assigned to a polling station bows out, Newton being the next reserve is called upon. He unquestioningly accepts his task and sets out for fulfilling his duty. The task however is not so straightforward, the area assigned to him is a naxal-controlled territory that too with very few registered voters. To safeguard him and his team a security force, led by Assistant Commandant Aatma Singh (Pankaj Tripathi), is assigned to be with him. Neither the security forces nor his colleagues take their task seriously but Newton being the honest man he is tries his very best to conduct free and fair polling despite there being a looming threat of possible attacks. The film simply depicts Newton’

The Big Sick is a romantic comedy written by Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani. It is based on the real life love story of the two. Kumail is an Uber driver by day and a struggling stand-up comedian by night. While he has embraced the American lifestyle to the full, his family still live within the ideals & culture of their native Pakistan. Kumail not wanting to hurt his family’s feelings tries to keep up the ruse of being as devoted as they are. One fine day after a stand-up gig he meets Emily Gordon (Zoe Kazan), an American psychology student, they happen to like each other from the get go. Both acknowledge that their little rendezvous is nothing serious, but still keep on being around each other from time to time. Kumail’s parents, assuming he is single, start to set him up with Pakistani women for an arranged marriage. As time passes Kumail keeps on meeting women while Emily, safe to say now his girlfriend, isn’t aware of the dates he goes to. While everything is going stup

  Two and a Half Man is an American sitcom mainly about a Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) his brother Alan Harper (Jon Cryer) and his nephew Jake Harper (August T. Jones). Charlie a jingle writer with a playboy lifestyle and a care free attitude had never been one to be close to his family or the type of person to make one. The sitcom begins with Alan looking for a place to stay with his son, when his wife Judith (Marin Hinkle) decides to divorce him. With this he turns to his elder brother for a temporary place to crash. Charlie lets Alan and Jake stay at his Malibu beach house, after Alan pleads that it is going to be temporary. This simple story produces hilarious scenes with Charlie hoping to continue his lifestyle but being hindered by Alan who seems to have made his stay permeant and his 8 years old nephew always around. The story even at its basic level feels like an amazing plot for a sitcom which is made even better by Chuck Lorre. Chuck makes sure to keep the show humorous thr

Tandav(2021, Season 1)- Review   Tandav is a political drama centring on the controlling party of India lead by Devki Nandan (Tigmanshu Dhulia) the three time prime minister of India, en-route to win the latest election and retain his seat for the fourth time. His son Samar Pratap Singh (Saif Ali Khan) full of ambition and vigour aspires to one day take his fathers place. Devki has a lot of experience and is entrusted by his party and has very close relationship to its members, Gopal Das Munshi (Kumud Mishra) & Anuradha Kishore (Dimple Kapadia) in particular. The series takes the viewers through the wild ride that is to come after the party wins the election as expected. Along with showing the highest pedestal of politics it also delves into student politics with showcasing the student presidential election of a university in Delhi, which houses among it Shiva Shekhar (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) a student with no desire to get his hands dirty with politics, but still finds himself

12 Angry Men(1957)- Review 12 Angry Men is a courtroom drama displaying deliberations, as its name suggests, by 12 men who are part of a jury and have to make a consensual decision about an 18 year old boy who has allegedly stabbed his father to death and faces a death penalty. The boy does not come from a glorious background and with his violent past everyone quickly forms a judgment of him. Initially seeming an open & shut case with all evidence pointing fingers to the boy, all jurors unhesitatingly vote guilty in a preliminary vote apart from one, Juror 8 (Henry Fonda). While he too doesn’t have very high regards for the boy, but believes the evidence collected can be questioned when thoroughly studied. With this he feels there is a reasonable doubt to the boy’s involvement to the horrendous act. Other jurors already having made a conclusion in their mind initially get agitated by Juror 8 who is taking an opposite position to the general public & all the jurors. Without

Section 375(2019)- Review Section 375 is a courtroom drama based on, as its name suggests, the section 375 of the Indian Penal Code. The film focuses on a well-known film director Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhat) who comes to the infamous center stage when one of his subordinates Anjali Dangle (Meera Chopra), an assistant costume designer for his movies, accuses him of rape. Dejected and felling like a victim himself Khurana sees his reputation tarnished leading to a downfall in his personal & professional life while he is arrested and in jail. While in the court of public opinion he is already convicted, senior criminal barrister Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna) still accepts to be his lawyer. Though his task won’t be easy with Hiral Gandhi (Richa Chadda), once his trainee, now the prosecutor and defence barrister of the claimed victim. The film takes us through the events of this case in and out of the courtroom with both counsellors trying their best to prove their client’s innocence