Category: Reviews

Posted in Reviews, Series Reviews

I’M NOT OKAY WITH THIS

Posted on by gyannloaded

By: Samyukta Narayanan

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While watching Netflix new teen supernatural series ‘I Am Not Okay With This,’ it’s easy to be reminded of all the TV shows and movies it borrows from there’s a hefty dose of ‘Stranger things,’ ‘Carrie,’ a ‘Breakfast Club’ homage, a bit of the Spider-Man origin story and the teen drama of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ With a short first season and a great star, it has the potential to stand out from Netflix’s weekly dump of new series. 

‘Okay’ is chock-full of tropes you’ve seen before. Superpowers as a metaphor for puberty, sexuality and emotion. Quirky kids stuck in small towns. Dead parental figures. But it succeeds precisely because it feels so novel in spite of these familiar building blocks. It outstrips the higher-profile would-be ‘Stranger successor’ ‘Locke & Key,’ which made a solid effort but sometimes had trouble nailing down a cohesive identity.

The writers know exactly what show they are making, and there isn’t a wobbly moment in the seven-episode, first season. It is a singularly focused series riding high on a fabulous young actress who makes her journey from Point A to Point B immensely successful.

Across the season, we watch Sydney live her awkward teenage life. She’s burdened by the loss of her father, a best friend who recently hooked up with an awful jock, a love-sick weirdo pal who she can’t bring herself to romantically reject, and, perhaps most pressing of all, a budding psychic power that manifests in her horrible ways when she’s angry.

The series makes the smart move of focusing on Sydney’s relationships with the rest of the cast, especially the ebb and flow of her feelings towards her best friends Dina (Sofia Bryant) and Stanley (Wyatt Oleff, who starred alongside Lillis in the recent It adaptation).

Lillis has been making waves in Hollywood for a few years now. She stole scenes as Young Beverly in ‘It,’ popped up as a younger version of Amy Adams in ‘Sharp Objects,’ led a Nancy Drew movie and recently anchored another strong horror showing in ‘Gretel and Hansel.’

This series moves her fully from ‘up-and-coming’ talent to ‘arrived.’ The series simply would not have power (super or otherwise) without her as a sympathetic protagonist. It is a slight shame that the three teens around her are not nearly as fully drawn characters, although Stanley comes close. 

These characters, for all their flaws, are likable and compelling, and the awkward realness of their teenage personalities is what makes the series work. The show has the good sense to realize that most viewers will be charmed by Stanley’s weirdo ways, and Sydney feels fully formed. Her ability to float things with her mind, and the fact that things sometimes break or go flying when she’s angry, feels like a manifestation of the other issues in her life rather than the thing that defines her. She’s a lot like Stranger Things’ Eleven, but a bit older, a little less in control.

I Am Not Okay With This is a sweet-natured show with a dark side; one moment it’s all charming conversations between likeable characters, and then the next something heavy and distressing will happen. The show walks the line between these tones well, and by the end of the short first season I was invested in the characters, what they were going through, and the hints of lore peppered throughout.

I recommend y’all to watch it, the first season was a comforting slice of television that you can finish in an afternoon but it ends with a tempting cliffhanger, I was sad that there wasn’t more to watch.I’m eagerly waiting for the next season to be released as quickly as possible.

Posted in Movie Reviews, Reviews

CHAL MERA PUTT – 2

Posted on by gyannloaded

By – Simran kaur

In typical times, or in times where we are not 1feeling good and happy, Chal Mera Putt-2 is a mixture of full of drama, comic portion and the emotional bond that the characters share with each other is what wins your heart over. In this, Simi Chahal as Savvy, Garry Sandhu as Deepa and Amrinder Gill as Jinder, they have worked so well that it can be described a fun film on the basis of their dialogues.

The situations that all the friends throw each other into keeps you glued to the screen. There is not even a single dull moment in Chal Mera Putt-2 .


Throughout two halves, you enjoy the constant leg pulling of each character by the others, which most of the people enjoy a lot. In every movie there is a single male lead (hero) but in this movie, the uniqueness of the movie is that there is no hero , but all the 6 of them did a tremendous job and your heart beats for them all. The romance is relegated to the backseat in this part.

If we talk about the characters, Amrinder Gill has good command over humor, drama and emotion. Simi Chahal has a brief part and she does it very well. Garry Sandhu, in a cameo appearance adds to the star quotient. Iftikhar Thakur, Nasir Chinyoti, Gurshabad Singh, Hardeep Gill and Akram Udas, they all are superb .

The movie carries forward the unique essence of everlasting friendship and love between illegal immigrants struggling for their PR in UK. In this it has been shown how many challenges they face and how they overcome these challenges. They come across a few characters adding more fun to their journey showing us that when it comes to the struggle of life, no border can divide human hearts and the love inside.

Chal Mera Putt -2 is a perfect blockbuster sequel of Chal Mera Putt (2019) . In this movie, Indian and Pakistani actors have shared a single screen space. This movie tends to speak the language of the youth who face problems in foreign lands.

I recommend to every person whether a kid, old aged or our youth to go and watch this movie as they have entertained us in most unadulterated manner which is quite tough in today’s time.

Posted in Book Reviews, Reviews

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Posted on by gyannloaded

By Rahul Baghel

Recently, I’ve Finished reading a book titled ‘Then She Was Gone’ by Lisa Jewell.

The Book was nominated for the Best Mystery and Thriller novel at the Goodread’s yearly choice awards. Lisa Jewell was born in london in 1968. she started her First novel, Ralph’s party foe a bet in 1996. she finished it in 1997 and it was published by penguin books in May 1998. It went on to become the best selling debut novel of that year. she has since written further nine novel as is currently at work on her tenth.

The story is about a Missing girl called Ellie. We don’t learn much about her, the plot rather resolves around the cause of her missing and the effect it left on her environment. Lisa Jewell is an experienced writer and she knows how to tell an attention, grabbing story but I Must admit that the plot is quite predictable and wasn’t sure whether that was author intention or not. However, predictability didn’t repel me from the book, which is quite unusual. I simple wanted to see what happens next and if it could it any crazier and it gets.

Important characters in Book ‘Then she Was Gone’ – Laurel Mack, Ellie Mack, Paul Mack, Hanna Mack, Floyd Dunn, Poppy Dun, Sara-Jude Virtue, Noelle Donelly.

Much of the story resolves around grief, denial and hope mostly told from the POV of Ellie’s Mother, Laurel. We get to see the Manipulative and Exploitative side of human nature who are willing to do anything for personal gain, crushing everything and everyone who are standing on their own ways. In the game, nobody actually wins and the reckless, selfish, manipulative behavior effects more people than we can think of.

Although the story was built on some rather unbelievable set of events, with a lot of obvious patches for plot holes, which are not quite well explained. In this Novel, no blood, no violence, yet the reveal exposes how cheap human life is to some people but that doesn’t put you of or stop you from reading until the very last page. After all, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading mysteries, but be prepared to reveal a lot of information by yourself. The Ending was both satisfying and touching.

Posted in Movie Reviews, Reviews

THAPPAD: What we Think

Posted on by gyannloaded

By Samyukta Narayanan

From ‘Thappad se darr nahi lagta sahab’ to ‘Bas ek thappad, lekin nahi maar sakta,’ Bollywood has grown up.

Thappad begins like every other rom com movie where Amrita (Tapsee pannu) and Vikram(Pavail Gulati) seem like the usual happy urban Indian couple where Amrita is the dutiful and chirpy housewife and Vikram the ambitious breadwinner.

The first 30 mins lull you into a false sense of comfort till one slap changes the dynamics of the whole movie. Vikram is angry about a failed promotion and Amrita ends up as the unfortunate punching bag as she is slapped in front of a crowd at a party. The movie questions the gender roles that exist in society and what is the worth of dignity. Is it necessary to be beaten up to lose dignity or is a slap enough to lose your self respect?

Anubhav Sinha, the director does a commendable job as he deals with the subject matter with subtlety and treads the fine line between melodrama and realism effortlessly.

Also to be applauded are the actors as each actor plays their part with conviction. Tapsee gives a nuanced performance as the chirpy housewife who finally wakes up to her invisible existence, Pavail Gulati does a fine job playing Vikram, who is not a demon but instead just an entitled young Indian man. Special mention to Kumud Mishra as the doting father who is heartbroken at the plight of his daughter.

Tapsee gives a career defining performance. Amrita is meek, dutiful and chirpy but the sudden shift in her demeanor doesn’t seem unbelievable.She gives off an aura of quiet confidence that is admirable.

One of the strongest points of the movie is that it is never preachy in its tone. The actions and emotions speak for themselves and the director trusts the audience to read between the lines. Emotions are always simmering but rarely reach a breaking point.

Sinha constructs a believable and relatable universe which makes the audience more invested in how things unfurl, mostly because we can feel the familiarity of these situations.
We have all had that house help who complains about domestic violence nonchalantly or worse still, we have experienced it in our own households.

However the movie isn’t without its flaws as it drags a little too much in the second half. But it’s worth it for the heart-wrenching climax that is surely going to result in a few moist eyes in the hall.

I strongly recommend catching this movie in theaters near you. A tight screenplay, strong performances and a powerful theme make this movie a must watch in our opinion.

Posted in Movie Reviews, Reviews

Mardaani II: What we think

Posted on by gyannloaded

By Padma Dolma

In the era where romance and comedy are the most popular genres, a movie like Mardaani 2 is trying to break the shackles. Very different from the mainstream entertainment and with a very important message for the audience, it hits all the right nerves.

For us, it was an eye opener and shows the sick mentality of some men who can’t handle criticism, especially by a woman.

Laced with gut wrenching and hard hitting scenes, it is a good try on part of the team to talk about such prevalent but ignored subject.

The sequel to Mardaani, Shivani Shivaji Roy, a lady super cop is after a young & remorseless criminal who is murdering young women and raping them. Yash Raj’s this film has broke forth wall where the villain talks to the audience directly and keeps that pace through out the film.

The movie portrays the misogyny structure of Indian society where Shivani faces discrimination at her work place.

The story is based in ‘Kota’ city which is a student region where crime happens very often and ‘Sunny” a criminal who was hired by a local politician to kill a reporter and he has a personality where he can’t tolerate the women’s empowerment and their high status in the society ,he has a sick mind and in the process of assassination of the reporter he encountered several girls who he had rapped and murdered and Shivani is the SP of the city.

In the phase of catching him she calls him “Dedd Shana,” an over smart lad in a press conference that made him even more igitated, and he takes it as an open challenge. He sends her flowers, busts into her house and took some of her dresses, even got a job in tea stall near her police station where he got to evesdrop the case. He also abducts the witness who is a kid and kills him, getting all the fingers pointed on Shivani and making her the center of media criticism, resulting in her transfer.

While everyone was busy in Diwali celebration she had just two days in hand to catch the culprit. At last she gets the criminal and allows all her aggression to let go. 

Anupama Chopra says, Mukherjee’s performance was a consistently watchable one , her review on the movie states that she was satisfied by the punishing of the criminal who did heinous crime to women.

Image courtesy: @timesofindia