The Disciple (2020)

I don't think I've ever seen another movie in which the main language is Marathi. Nor am I aware of another Indian movie executive-produced by Alfonso Cuarón. Neither of those facts are why I checked this out; I just wanted a drama, and this one is short by Indian standards, at 127 minutes.

The story follows Sharad Nerulkar from young adulthood (with a childhood flashback or two) to...well, I'm not sure; the mustache might make him look older than he's supposed to be. The important thing, he goes from an amateur classical vocalist to enough of a pro to get many YouTube reactions in English. Nonetheless, he remains plagued by doubts, or perhaps certainty that he'll never equal his celebrated elderly tutor, Guruji. Maybe not even his strict father.

TTT: Thalaivar Thambi Thalaimaiyil (2026)

From the initialism, I expected a spiritual successor to RRR. Nope, different feel, different studio, different language, probably none of the same people working on it. The Tamil title translates roughly to "Under the Leader and Younger Brother."

Somewhere in modern India, during a pre-wedding party, an elderly alleged prophet dies of natural causes. His son insists on holding an elaborate funeral at the same time the wedding is scheduled to begin. Village council president Jeeva has his work cut out for him in keeping the peace between hostile, sometimes criminal neighbors, especially after the bride is mistakenly believed to have run off with another man.

Chak De! India (2007)

Never before had I watched field hockey (called just "hockey" throughout the picture), but getting the gist looked easy enough. At any rate, I chose to watch this partly because I had plenty of time to kill and partly because I can count on a sports flick to end happily. Or at worst, it's not a very important defeat.

In a Men's FIH Hockey World Cup match, Indian team captain Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) makes a shot so bad that, in conjunction with his Islamic faith, people widely assume he took a dive in Pakistan's favor. Under pressure, he resigns and even moves out of town. Seven years later, he sees the opportunity for redemption when invited to coach the women's team. Of course, he wouldn't get that chance if officials had a high opinion of the female players....

Tenet (2020)

Christopher Nolan doesn't seem to have directed any unpopular features, and this was one of the more profitable of the (infamously off) year. But I haven't encountered people discussing it much, and its IMDb rating is relatively low for him, so I hesitated to watch. The 150-minute runtime didn't tempt me either. Only a Netflix notice that it would stop streaming at the end of the year prioritized it for me.

Like in Looper, the time machine hasn't been invented "yet," but its effects can already be seen. Unlike in Looper, it doesn't just send things back; it can send things backwards. Even inanimate objects behave differently that way, as by falling upward to be caught by a "dropper." The curiously unnamed protagonist (John David Washington), a CIA agent, comes across such effects on a mission and is then made privy to a still more secretive agency, Tenet (clearly named just for the palindrome), that tries to use time travel for the greater good. He and recruiter Neil (Robert Pattinson) are among a globe-hopping team out to neutralize the forces of the world's most dangerous time traveler, Russian oligarch Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh).

Udaan (2010)

This is about the same length as my previous viewing, which makes it quite short as Indian movies go. It's also about as dramatic as my previous Indian viewing. Only afterward did I learn that the title means "Flight" in Hindi.

Upon expulsion from a boarding school, Rohan (Rajar Barmecha), 17, returns to widowed father Bhairav (Ronit Roy), whom he hasn't seen in eight years. Bhairav's minimalist annual letters had failed to mention his second marriage, the subsequent divorce, or Rohan's six-year-old half-brother, Arjun (Aayan Boradia). Rohan is jealously hostile to Arjun at first, but they bond in the shared crisis of their father's nastiness.

Drishyam (2015)

Can this really have been the first Indian production I've seen in two years? Guess I'd finished most of the promising ones I knew of. Anyway, I had a lot of time to kill, so I chose the longest feature on my Netflix list, at 163 minutes. It's a Hindi remake of a 2013 Malayalam pic by the same title, so be careful if you go looking for it. Then again, the two have nearly equal IMDb ratings.

Vijay (Ajay Devgn) runs a cable installation service in Goa. He tends to stay late at the office watching movies rather than spending time with wife Nandini (Shriya Saran), teen daughter Anju (Ishita Dutta), and single-digit daughter Anu (Mrunal Jadhav). But when Anju accidentally kills Sam (Rishab Chadha), a peer trying to blackmail her or Nanditi into sex, Vijay gets off his duff to obscure all evidence. Alas, Sam's mother, Meera (Tabu), is a hardened inspector general who will stop at nothing to find her son, and Vijay has been antagonizing the rather corrupt Sub-Inspector Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant) lately....

RRR (2022)

This is the first Indian movie I've seen at my mom's suggestion; she'd read good things about it. Perhaps the strangest thing about it is the title. In the opening sequence, the letters expand to "Rise Roar Revolt," but it started as a working title based on initials of the director (S.S. Rajamouli) and leads (N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan). I went in knowing little more than its 185-minute runtime, as Netflix doesn't describe the plot. Nor does it offer audio in the original Telugu for some reason; I settled for Hindi.

In 1920, owing to a language barrier, the Hindu Gond tribe unwittingly sells preteen Malli (Twinkle Sharma) into slavery as a henna artist in the Delhi mansion of Governor Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson), who won't sell her back. Malli's adult brother figure, Komaram Bheem (Rao), assumes the alias of Muslim "Akhtar" and plots to bust her out. He befriends Rama Raju (Charan), an undercover cop assigned to arrest the mystery man alleged to be plotting against Buxton. Neither friend has the slightest suspicion at first....

Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids (2004)

I had seen my previous dead serious documentary feature (as opposed to kiddie fluff) more than two years ago. These viewings may not be fun, but I think they're enriching enough to be worth my unhappiness now and then.

It sounds like Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman did not set out to document the children in particular, let alone to change their lives. Zana wanted to photograph the prostitutes, who were disinclined to agree, since they feared legal trouble. To get on their good side, she launched a junior photography class. Then she realized that she might be able to help the kids have more of a choice for what to do in the future, whether that meant professional camerawork or just learning and living in a better environment.

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)

This was an Academy Best Picture nominee starring Gary Cooper, but neither of those details drew me in as much as the peculiar title. What makes it more peculiar is that the film focuses almost equally on three Bengal lancers. It turns out that the title was lifted from a book with a different plot and characters, much like Blade Runner was.

Cooper plays Lieutenant McGregor, a Canadian serving in the British Army in colonial India. He becomes well acquainted with two lieutenants new to his unit: Forsythe (Franchot Tone) and Stone (Richard Cromwell), the latter being the estranged son of their colonel (Guy Standing) and newly commissioned. Alas, Stone has yet to cultivate sufficiently responsible behavior and ends up a hostage for incipient rebel leader Mohammed Khan (Douglas Dumbrille), who overestimates the colonel's sentimentality. Fortunately, McGregor is only so ruly himself and can persuade Forsythe....

My Name Is Khan (2010)

If this title sounds bland to you, know that the surname (pronounced with a spirant like "chutzpah," as repeatedly stressed in the movie) is associated with Islam, at least in India. The phrase forms part of the main character's catchphrase, along with "and I am not a terrorist." That should tell you something about the heavy-handed focus, but it didn't drive me away; as the TV Tropes Wiki puts it, some anvils need to be dropped.

Rizvan Khan (played primarily by, heh, Shah Rukh Khan) moves from Mumbai to San Francisco and marries a Hindu single mom, Mandira (Kajol Mukherjee), against the wishes of his brother, Zakir (Jimmy Sheirgill). This works out until after 9/11, when the Khans face so much bigoted oppression that Mandira wishes she'd never taken the name. Rizvan aims to make it up to her by saying his catchphrase to the president of the United States in person. Alas, Rizvan is somewhat further along the autistic spectrum than I am, so he doesn't have a great sense of how not to alarm people....

Dangal (2016)

I had a lot of time to kill last night, so I decided to watch a longer movie than usual. India's are quite reliable in that regard. This one runs 161 minutes, but the main reason I chose it over other options on my queue is its current placement on IMDb's top 100.

Retired wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat (Aamir Khan, who's also the producer) regrets his failure at an international championship and hopes to have a son finish what he started. After begetting four girls in a row, he becomes discouraged -- until the two oldest, Geeta (Zaira Wasim and later Fatima Sana Shaikh) and Babita (Suhani Bhatnagar and later Sanya Malhotra), beat up some offending boys. He then becomes their drill sergeant-like coach and forces them to pursue his dream, despite obstacles of poverty and any other dreams they had.

Barfi! (2012)

Can you tell this is a foreign title? It's one of the most off-putting I've read since the Barf detergent brand. But as the exclamation point suggests, this is partly a comedy, so the distaste may be deliberate.

The protagonist (Ranbir Kapoor) is officially named Murphy, but since he's always been deaf, he can't speak well, hence the nickname. Raised only by his impoverished father, Jung (Akash Khurana), he has had little discipline and keeps getting in trouble with the police, particularly Inspector Dutta (Saurabh Shukla). He and the beautiful Shruti (Ileana D'Cruz) fall for each other, but her parents disapprove and she sticks with a preexisting engagement, only to find him popping up in her life again and again. When Jung needs expensive medical care, he hopes to collect a ransom on his wealthy childhood friend, Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra), who has autism and a crush on him.

Monsoon Wedding (2001)

All I recalled learning of this one was that my mom had seen it and reported that people in India apparently know how to put on lavish parties. I didn't need her to tell me that India favors spectacle. Still, it sounded potentially interesting.

Don't read too much into the title: While rain eventually falls, it doesn't affect the plot. Or rather the four or five plots, which might constitute a metaphorical monsoon. The overarching theme is preparation for the New Delhi wedding of Aditi (Vasundhara Das) and Hemant (Parvin Dabas), neither of whom seems to mind that it's an arranged marriage, tho Aditi needs to remind herself why she didn't go another route. That lack of concern may be just as well, because there are enough other concerns flying around, starting with the price of the celebration, which mainly worries Aditi's dad, Lalit (Naseeruddin Shah).

PK (2014)

Gosh, more than year has passed since my last Bollywood viewing. I attribute this mainly to my reluctance to watch longer movies. Indeed, I chose PK in part because it's "only" 153 minutes.

A space alien (A-lister Aamir Khan) who looks fully human, albeit with protruding ears and almost constantly wide eyes, takes a solo trip to India for peaceful research purposes. Before long, someone snatches his fancy necklace, which is really the remote to summon his spaceship. It's not clear how long he had planned to be away from the ship, but he soon grows desperate, partly because he has almost nothing else. He adopts the nickname "PK," because it sounds like the Hindi word for "tipsy," which he is frequently accused of being. The second main character, fledgling anchorwoman Jaggu (Anushka Sharma), notices PK when he passes out fliers saying, "Missing: God." Her boss is leery about covering stories that could provoke religious anger, but she's simply too interested in his unique perspective on the subject.

The Razor's Edge (1946)

Despite having seen Of Human Bondage and The Letter, I've had a hard time remembering any of what W. Somerset Maugham wrote. My memory of this film may break that pattern, because he himself is a supporting character in it (played by Herbert Marshall). The character's role is roughly that of Nick in The Great Gatsby, for perspective and exposition rather than influence on the plot.

The story begins in 1919 and ends an indefinite amount of time after the crash of '29. Larry (Tyrone Power), a shell-shocked WWI vet, abandons a lucrative job offer to travel in search of meaning. To Isabel (Gene Tierney), his fiancee and the niece of proud aristocrat Elliott (Clifton Webb), this is absurd, so she turns over the ring. When they meet again, Larry has found what he craved and Isabel has married his friend (John Payne) for money, which didn't turn out so well. Now she wants Larry again, but marital status aside, there's the obstacle of his feelings for long-time friend Sophie (Anne Baxter), who needs emotional healing of her own....

Kai Po Che! (2013)

Between slow disc deliveries and a desire to save a certain disc for Christmas, I resorted to my streaming list. It had been a little while since my last Bollywood flick, so I opted for the shortest one available. Afterward, I considered skipping this review, but it's too popular in India -- and too mixed in reception elsewhere -- for me to feel right about not saying a few words.

Like several Indian movies I could name, it stars a trio of young male friends. Unlike the others, it's not comedic at all. It starts with the potential for such, as they've been semi-delinquent slackers but move forward with plans for a sporting equipment and education shop despite obstacles. Ishaan focuses on advancing a juvenile cricket prodigy, Ali, who initially prefers marble games. Meanwhile, group nerd Govind tries to tutor Ish's sister, Vidya, but she'd rather study Govi himself, if you get my drift. Omkar serves mainly to acquire funding from his uncle in exchange for help with political campaigning, which he doesn't enjoy. Nothing too serious so far, but then comes the 2001 Gujarat quake, followed by social upheaval....

Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)

For once, an M:I entry has the same director as last time. As such, it enjoys clearer continuity than usual, perhaps helping us remember the order of the unnumbered sequels. (I might have been the only person in my theater to recognize a callback to the first movie in the form of a funeral for "Max.")

The Apostles, the Syndicate's offshoot following the arrest of leader Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), have acquired three nuclear bombs and plan to sell them to a terrorist code-named John Lark. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) accepts the mission to stop them, partly by impersonating Lark. But while the FBI director (Alec Baldwin) trusts the Impossible Missions Force now, the CIA director (Angela Bassett) doesn't, so Ethan must go with CIA agent August Walker (Henry Cavill), who's not introduced with good humor and thus will be obnoxious at best. Indeed, Walker initiates the suspicion that Ethan is Lark....

Lion (2016)

Why did I wait this long to see a rather popular, uncontroversial Academy Best Picture nominee? Mainly because the plot summary sounded like all I needed to know. It's even been adapted into a TV commercial, so how much more could we get from a nearly two-hour movie? Still, six Oscar nods, even without wins, are nothing to sneeze at, and this was the most tempting option on my streaming list at the moment.

The true story begins in a little-known Indian town in 1986, with a family poor enough to make some desperately risky choices. Such risks lead to five-year-old Saroo (Sunny Pawar) waking on a train far from his family. Knowing way too little information to return, he ends up in an orphanage and is then adopted by a Tasmanian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). Only more than halfway through the film do we come to the unique aspect: After two decades, someone gives Saroo (now played by Dev Patel) the idea to use Google Earth until he recognizes his hometown.

Rang De Basanti (2006)

This time I didn't wait so long since my last Bollywood viewing. It's also unusual for me to have seen two movies in a row that appear on IMDb's top 250, partly because I've seen most of them. I hadn't exactly planned that, but when something's been on my radar for a while, I start to give it priority.

Sue, a young Englishwoman, goes to India in order to make an indie film about five real historical young men who gave their lives for India's independence movement. Unable to find actors the conventional way, she hangs with her friend Sonia's rather irresponsible college buddies and decides they'd be great for the roles. Unfortunately, they have trouble relating to revolutionaries when they have almost no love for their backwater "free" country and can't see themselves dying for any cause — until a tragedy causes them to feel that they could use a new revolution.

Shalom Bollywood: The Untold Story of Indian Cinema (2017)

This may be the most obscure film I've ever reviewed. It presently has no Wikipedia entry and only seven votes on IMDb. But since I usually like documentaries about the industry, I gave it higher priority than other entries in the local Jewish film festival that had my dad interested. (The few docs directed by Danny Ben-Moshe that don't have a Jewish focus are even more obscure.)

As you probably knew, Jews make up such a small percentage of the Indian population that most lists of religions in India lump them under "other." But in the second most populous nation, that still allows several thousand -- more than enough to leave a significant impact on Bollywood. In particular, they've had the advantage of a relatively permissive faith with regard to depictions on screen. Here's a hint: The poster shows dancing cartoon women.