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

Sardar Ka Grandson(2021)- Review Sardar Ka Grandson is a Hindi comedy-drama film entailing the quest of Amreek Singh (Arjun Kapoor), as indicated in the title the grandson of Sardar Kaur (Neena Gupta), to fulfill his ailing grandmother’s only wish. Sardar in her early life had built a home along with her husband and envisioned enriching a family in the home and live with her husband until they grow old. However, life had different plans for young Sardar (Aditi Rao Hydari) and her husband (John Abraham). In the wake of the Indian independence and the following partition, Sardar had to escape the new dominion of Pakistan with her husband having to sacrifice his life in the process. Now, decades later Sardar still hasn’t forgotten her beloved home that still lay on the soil of Lahore. With insinuating circumstances Sardar cannot return to Lahore to fulfill her last wish; so Amreek decides if her grandmother cannot go to her house, he’ll get the house to her. The whole debacle and effo

Madam Chief Minister(2021)- Review Madam Chief Minister is a Hindi language political drama taking us through the journey of Tara Roopram (Richa Chadda). Tara comes from a small village born to a family that comes on the lower side of the societal pyramid. Discriminated all her life and at the lowest point of her life, Tara comes to get acquainted with Master Surajbhan (Saurabh Shukla). The Master is a leader of a political party who has been campaigning all his life for the people who have always been neglected by the society. After coming under the wing of Surajbhan, Tara learns the tricks of the trade and how to survive in the political spectrum drenched in corruption, greed, and hegemony. In a short time, Tara proves her worth and ability to succeed as a political leader, be it still considered a novice by everyone. With time she earns the seat of becoming the Chief Minister; with the help of a few friends and not to mention more than a few enemies. The movie then continues wit

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

Indoo Ki Jawani(2020)- Review Silly comedies with irrational storylines and frivolous scenes have come to the forefront of Bollywood comedies since the early 2000s. As illogical as they are not many would deny they end up being extremely funny too. With films like Bhagam Bhag , Garam Masala , Hera Pheri , Bheja Fry , Golmaal are some of these well-known comedies that will be cherished for years to come. But very few films in recent times have been able to replicate these films’ content or even their success. With Indoo Ki Jawani Netflix is attempting to do just this. Starring as the lead in Indoo Ki Jawani Kiara Advani takes the role of title character Indira Gupta, a young, shy & conservative girl, nonetheless very bold, who lives in Ghaziabad with her parents. Being as pretty as she is there is never a doubt of her turning heads, with more than a few admirers of her. While there are always eyes on her she is yet to be smitten by her knight in shining armor. For the past year,

The Lift Boy(2019)- Review The Lift Boy is a drama film taking us through a period of 24-year-old Raju Tawde’s (Moin Khan) life. Raju is a happy-go-lucky young adult without much worry and no plans for the future. With this carefree attitude, Raju has flunked his exams a few times and so is yet to graduate. On a normal day, he finds himself in an unsavory situation after his father suffers a heart attack. His father works as a lift operator in a building. With him not being in a state to fulfill his duties, Raju is told to be the proxy and fill-in for his ill father for the near future. Raju reluctantly goes to ‘work’ without much any worry or concern. While working as the Lift boy, he comes across many people living in the building and even befriends a few. Among the residents of the building resides Maureen D’Souza (Nyla Masood) who is also the owner of the building. In the coming few weeks the two form an uncommon friendship which further flourishes when Maureen assists Raju wit

Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi(2021)- Review Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi is a drama-comedy directed by Seema Pahwa. It starts with Ramprasad’s (Naseeruddin Shah) demise and his family having to come and live under the same roof to perform all the Hindu rituals within the 13-day mandatory period that they need to stay for. Ramprasad & his wife (Supriya Pathak) have a big family with 6 children their spouses, their children, and a lot many close relatives. While the task of staying and showing their respect sounds simple enough the enormity of the family and the friction among some of the members, the task is going to be nowhere near easy. The movie tries to showcase the familial bonding that one share’s, even after having some dicey moments with their loved ones, and aims to do so with few comic scenes here and there. In the modern hustle & bustle of urban life modern families often share a not so great relationship with their family. While this has come to be in recent times it is nothing as

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’

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

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

Bazaar(2018)- Review Bazaar is a thriller drama film showcasing an Allahabad stock broker Rizwan Ahmed (Rohan Mehra) who   a spires to be in the big leagues of the Indian stock broking setting. With this in mind he comes to the financial capital of India, Mumbai with a barely filled wallet & a pocket full of dreams. He looks up to Shakun Kothari (Saif Ali Khan) a lauded businessman who has a reputation of making money whichever way he sees possible. Rizwan idolises Shakun and hopes to work with him some day. But that seems a tall order when he finds the reality of the city of dreams when he starts looking for work. With a lot of effort and determination he finally has his opportunity to shine. The quick learner he is, Rizwan quickly learns the tricks of the trade and is on the ladder of success. With his professional life buzzing it doesn’t take time for his personal one also to do so when he gets close to Priya Rai (Radhika Apte) his co-worker at the trading firm he works for.

Ludo(2020)- Review Ludo is an anthology film created by Anurag Basu and distributed by Netflix. It showcases a series o f   characters playing out different storylines. First is Akash Chauhan (Aditya Roy Kapur) who finds out there is a sextape uploaded online of him and his ex-girlfriend Shruti Choksi (Sanya Malhotra) who is to be married in a few days. He wishes to find out the culprit who uploaded it and to remove it from the internet. Then comes Alok “Alu” Kumar Gupta (Rajkumar Rao), he has been in love with Pinky (Fatima Sana Shaikh) since they were children. Even after she is married to someone else Alu still can’t forget her and jumps to be a part of her life once again, when she comes hoping for his help. Next comes Bittu (Abhishekh Bachchan) originally a right-hand to a gangster, after falling in love lets go of that life style, but his past comes back biting and he is jailed for 6 years. Now after serving his sentence Bittu finds himself alone and without his wife & ch

Queen(2013)- Review Queen is a comedy drama film starring Kangana Ranaut as the lead, who plays the role of Rani Mehra.   R ani is a timid & shy girl living in Delhi with her parents. During her college days she falls in love with Vijay (Rajkummar Rao) and is to marry him in a big Indian wedding. The story kicks off when Vijay, on the eve of their wedding day, informs Rani that he has had a change of heart and thinks they are not right for each other. Dejected and heartbroken Rani feels she should build up the courage to be independent and bold rather than being helpless and reliant. With this epiphany she asks her parents to let her go by herself on the pre-planned honeymoon she was supposed to go with Vijay. Hesitant & scared her parents allow her to go. Rani starts her journey in Paris where she meets Vijayalakshmi (Lisa Haydon) a free spirited single mother. Alien to the European ethos initially she gets astounded by the city and its culture, but with a few passing days

AK vs AK(2020)- Review AK vs AK is a Netflix film starring Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap, playing themselves as the title  c haracters. The film begins with displaying a celebrity feud between the two “AK’s” that has been boiling for years. The story then kicks in when Kashyap develops an idea for a film/documentary where Kapoor’s daughter Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, needless to say played by herself, is kidnapped on his birthday and he needs to find her before the sunrise of the coming morning. Kapoor’s quest to find his kidnapped daughter will be filmed by Kashyap, and he’ll need to follow a few instructions as laid out by Kashyap. The film runs through Kapoor’s attempts & pursuit trying to fulfil the story/film as devised by Kashyap. But it won’t be a cakewalk as planned with a few surprise curveballs & speed breakers that come along the way. The story seems rudimentary with a simple kidnapping story unravelling, but it quite far from being a simple kidnaping movie. The movie b

Coolie No. 1(2020)- Review Coolie No. 1 (2020) is a comedy film, remake of the 1995 film Coolie No. 1 starring Govinda and Karisma Kapoor in the lead roles. It starts with Jeffery Rozario (Paresh Rawal) who wishes to marry his daughter, his only criteria is choosing a boy who is extremely wealthy. Soon he gets acquainted with Kunwar Raj Pratap Singh (Varun Dhawan), who is a billionaire, has a slew of cars, and dines with famous cricketers & film stars and has phone calls with Trump & Modi. Sounds way too good to be true right? That is because it isn’t remotely true. Kunwar Raj Pratap Singh is in reality Raju a coolie. In order to get married to Jeffery’s daughter Sarah (Sara Ali Khan), Raju is portraying the persona of being ultra-rich, after he is convinced by pundit Jai Kishan (Javed Jaffrey) to do so if he wishes to marry Sarah. Jai Kishan has an ulterior motive of bringing the pride of Jeffery, after he was balefully insulted by him. Raju, in trying to keep up the ruse