The Couch Review

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...

Crazy About Her(2021)- Review Crazy About Her is a Spanish Netflix Romantic Comedy by director Dani de la Orden. The movie is about Adri (Álvaro Cervantes) a successful writer for an entertainment magazine; and a woman he has a one-night rendezvous with Carla (Susana Abaitua). They classically bump into each other and hit it off instantly. But rather than get things complicated and complex, they decide to have one crazy night out with no strings attached and never to see each other again. Come dawn the perfect arrangement ends and the two go their separate ways. But Adri can’t help thinking about her and decides to find her. Sounds like a perfect classic rom-com right; here things start getting interesting. Carla is a patient at a mental hospital. Extremely smitten by Carla, Adri hatches a plan to get into the hospital and get her number. Little did he know Carla has no further interest in him and he is to get stuck in a mental hospital. Netflix often at times does not focus too m...

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 colorfu...

Moxie(2021)- Review “In some ways, a lot has changed and, in some ways, nothing has changed at all.” Amy Poehler recently used this line while promoting the Netflix movie she has directed and starred in. The above line fits quite perfectly with the premise of the film. There is a high school that acknowledges and is aware of the wider societal issues but nonetheless does not fully understand or execute them. The students are rampant in carrying out activities they deem unharming, with ignorance running wide among teachers and the principal alike. In this backdrop, Vivian (Hadley Robinson) finds herself enraged and wanting to do something about the toxic and dilapidating culture at her school. After getting inspired by her mother, Lisa (Amy Poehler), and her rebellious past, the shy & quiet Vivian takes matters into her own hands initially starting a zine and ultimately driving a school-wide revolution. Surrendering to the sign of the times, with Moxie Netflix hopes to be at the...

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...

The Trial of the Chicago 7(2020)- Review The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a courtroom drama entailing the events leading to and the aftermath of anti-Vietnam war protests which ended up in riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention . The movie captures the court case that ensued on the Chicago 7 for inciting a riot. The movie starts with introducing each of the main characters with their backgrounds, their motives, etc. After the initial set of scenes, the movie kicks-off with the key protesters being accused of a Federal Crime. The movie then goes on to showcase the accurate story about the high-profile & historic case it ended up being with an outlandish judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) presiding the trial and a young prosecutor Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) making the case for the government. Firstly, the casting for the movie should be lauded for gathering an ensemble of actors that perfectly fit in the roles. Often at times, movies try to cast very big na...

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 ...

The White Tiger(2021)- Review The White Tiger is a drama film based on the book by Aravind Adiga of the same name. It is a story about Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav). Balram is born in a humble family with very few means or as stated in the movie in a ‘Lower-Caste’ family. Despite studying in a village he has quickly grasped the English language and envisions to study further and be a well-educated man unlike his family and this dream is further propelled when he is told he shall be given a scholarship to study in Delhi. But his fate had a different plan altogether. After his father’s untimely demise he is forced to leave school and start working to pay off his family’s debt. As time passes his dream of being educated stays a dream nowhere near his reality. Tired and fed up of his life in the village he wishes to step up the ladder by working in the city. The perfect opportunity comes along the way when he learns. Ashok (Rajkummar Rao the son of the village’s landlord is on the look...

  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...

Inside Man(2006)- Review Inside Man is heist thriller movie by director Spike Lee. It takes us through the 24-hour heist  on a Wall Street bank. The mastermind and the executor of the heist Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) devises a plan for a “Perfect Bank Robbery” which includes taking control of the bank and in turn everyone inside the bank as hostages. Though it’s a minutely crafted strategy everything should go as planned to the letter, and the authorities need to be kept at bay. This won’t be the easiest thing with Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) assigned to negotiate. He is highly motivated official hoping to make Detective First Grade and to swipe the tarnish of his scandalous past. Arthur Case (Christopher Plummer) the chairman of the board of directors and founder of the fictional Manhattan Trust bank, has his own set of skeletons in the closet that he wishes were not revealed to the world. To make sure of this he hires Madeleine White (Jodie Foster) as a powe...

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 ...

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 ...