March will be remembered for producer Sajid Nadiadwala and actor Salman Khan’s combined catastrophe. Sikandar is a disaster on every level. Who greenlit this disastrous venture? I feel sorry for the supporting cast. A R Murugadoss’s directorial calibre has dipped drastically. He needs to take a long break. He has just done the unthinkable: made a film that even the Salmaniacs hate.
Salman Khan’s new release is a travesty of all good taste and a mockery of all rational justification for a film to exist. It also shamelessly mocks Salman’s superstardom by giving him a screenplay, probably written as a joke by someone who has a grudge against him, which treats his royal character like some kind of a super-hero who was lobotomized by marauders when the haveli’s doors were open.
March was also the month when the underrated Shivam Nair taught the film industry lessons on tautness. The Diplomat was the best film last month, buoyed by a restrained effective performance by John Abraham who certainly knows what is good for him, unlike some other superstars who just don’t know where to get off.
Three other releases of the month Be Happy, Inn Galiyon Mein and Tumko Meri Kasam meant well . Good intentions don’t always translate into positive viewership.
Be happy on OTT isn’t entirely bereft of joy. But it is way too unambitious and vanilla-sweet to cope with the cutthroat competition. Inn Galiyon Mein was a small film with long legs. Pithy and pungent ,it takes us into a lane in Lucknow where Hindus and Muslims co-exist. Tumko Meri Kasam is not a grand masterpiece. However Vikram Bhatt not only takes up a subject that is true life and potentially inspiring, he suffuses the narrative with evidence of his own healing process.
