Kaali Paani

 This story is set in a remote area, Adaman and Nicobar Islands which are part of India, but under some protection because of indigenous people.  Tourists are not allowed into areas set aside for the indigenous tribes and there is a limit for most visitors.  

The series starts in 2027 and tourists are being given greater freedom to visit.  

 The Trolley dilemma presented early to illustrate that sometimes choices can involve choosing between 5 strangers and one that is loved.  A lot of the characters face such dilemmas.  Another series with a trolley theme:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2023/02/the-trolley.html

The head doctor establishes herself as ruthless.  Borrowing from an American television plot she questions an elderly woman suffering from an undiagnosed illness implying that the real cause is sexual relations in a home for the aged that turns out to be true..  

As disaster approaches in the form of a pandemic the film provides many scenarios.  Some are plotting an escape from the island while others are searching for an antidote.  The Orakas are to be protected mainly through isolation.  Skepticism, deception and selfishness all play a role.

The Orakas were depicted as humans, not wanting Indian intervention and respecting nature.  They were not unified, but were shown arguing about what they should do.  There is a bit of twist from what happened to the North American indigenous that did not have immunity from such European diseases as measles. 

The end might have been predictable for a few, but really was stunning.  One of my top ten.

Sameer Saxena and Amit Golani (also writer) shared directing and producing.  Sameer is a showrunner for this film with 14 credits as a producer, 7 as a director and 5 as a writer. including "Jaadugar" (2022). He had started as a engineer student.  His partner did write for one episode as well as director and producer.  He has 4 writing credits, 5 directing credits and 3 producing credits also including "Jaadugar" (2022).    See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/07/jaadugar.html

Biswapati Sarkar, wrote most of the script.  He has 10 credits as a writer. and 12 as an actor including "Jaadugar" (2022)A childhood visit to the Adaman Islands helped inspire the script.  He was familiar with a Cellular Jail were Indian dissidents were imprisoned during British colonial times.

Rachita Arora provided the music.  She is a composer and playback singer with 16 film credits including "Newton" (2017) and "Sacred Games" (2018-2019).  She started with composing theatre music.   She researches relevant material for a film "to find the music inside." 

Cinematography was handled by 3 different men.  Dhananjay Navagrah has 19 credits including "Article 15 (2015) and "Anek" (2020).  Barney Crocker has over 70 credits including "Casino Royale" (2006) and "Ted Lasso" (2020-2021) 11 episodes.  Ewan Mulligan has over 60 credits including "Article  15" (2015) and "Anek" (2020).  There is a lot of lush scenery, but although the jungle was meant to convey its true beauty it was also to convey claustrophobia.  Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/article-15.html

Dev Rao Jadhar was the editor.  He has 15 credits including "Badhaai Ho" (2018) and "Jaadugar" (2022).  Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/03/badhaai-do-lgbt-film-from-conservative.html

Ashutosh Gowariker played Zibran Qadri, the military leader.  He started as an actor in both Hindi and Marathi films.  He then moved into directing,writing and producer.  His credits include "Lagaan Once Upon a Time in India" (2001), my favorite Bollywood film, "Swades" (2004), "Jodhaa Akbar" (2008) and "Mohenjo Daro" (2016).  A post outlining the work for Oscar nominated film  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/07/the-making-of-lagaan-chale-chalo-lunacy.html

Arushi Sharma played Jyotsana Dey.  Her parents were both judges while she set out to be an engineer.  She has 5 film credits including "Tamasha" (2015) and "Jaadugar" (2022).   Check:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/02/tamasha-wonderful-story.html

Amey Wagh played Ketan Sharma, a manipulative officer.  He had a career in both Marathi and Hindi films, altogether 36 credits including 2 episodes with "Sacred Games" (2019) and 9 episodes with "The Great Indian Murder" (2022).

Radhika Mehrotra played Ritu Gagra, a post doc student who looked for a plant as an antidote.  She has 2 film credits.

Sukant Goel played Chiranjeevi, the half Oraka tourist guide.  He was in chemical engineering and got involved with theatre.  He has 15 credits including "Shaitan" (2011), "Kapoor & Sons" (2016) and "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" (2021).

Mona Singh played Dr. Singh, the head doctor.  She has 26 credits including "3 Idiots" (2009) and "Laal Singh Chaddha" (2022).  A popular television host she won an award as best female television person of the year for 2004.  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/10/the-bollywood-version-of-forrest-gump.html

Rajes Khattar played Saurah Wani, a rich man with connections wanting to escape.   He is fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.  Frequently used as a dubber including for actors like Tom Hanks, Hugh Jackman, Robert Downey Jr., Mads Mikklesen, Samuel L. Jackson and more.  As an actor he has 51 credits including "Khiladi 786" (2012).  

David Warawa played Osei, an Oraka leader.  Born in Africa, he is based in Vienna, Austria and is an international award winning actor who speaks English, German, Shona and Italian.  He has 78 acting credits, 9 for producing and one as writer

Plans are already being made for a second series.  I look forward to it.

Jaadugar

This film, "Jaadugar" (2022)  may seem improbable and may be predictable when the girl and guy finally get together. but it is very charming and not without entertaining twists.  The juxtaposition of magic and soccer and romance may seem strange, but also novel. Available on Netflix.

Neemuch is a town that has one claim to glory.  A native son had scored the winning goal in an international soccer match against Iran.  They erected a statue and held an annual tournament. 

The main plot concerns a soccer team that keeps losing.  Its manager is Pradeep, the uncle to the main protagonist, Meenu who doesn't care about soccer, but is a talented magician who is courting Iccha.  Meenu is very extravagant in his courtship, but can't remember important details of Iccha and she breaks the relationship.

It is not too long before he finds another object of courtship.  There are of course problems and he falls into similar patterns.  His choice to pursue is Disha, an opthamologist who is very resistant to his very inventive ways of trying to impress her.  By a cinematic coincidence her father is a famous magician who has been sort of a mentor for Meenu.  

Tying these two together is tricky, but it turns out the father of Disha wants to test this upstart magician and decided Meenu needs to at least make the finals of a soccer tournament.  Aside from the long losing streak and his own disinterest, Meenu has resentment against his uncle,the manager.

From here there are a few twists.   Some elements to appreciate include love, winning, family and soul searching. 

There is no pretense that the players are of international caliber, but the losers do improve.  Does magic intervene?  Well; very little.  There is really quite the twist that causes a dilemma for all participants and it leads to another twist, most unusual for a sports film.  Wait until the very end to appreciate the title. 

The director Sameer Saxena was the director and producer.

Script was written by Biswapati Sarkar.   There are some interesting twists that hold attention and a few character flaws that are dealt with.

Nilotpal Bora started out as an Assamese singer and has expanded to other languages and composing music. He composed the music and you can hear his vocals on most of the song numbers.

Soumik Mukherjee handled the cinematography.  His film credits include "Thappad" (2020).  Check:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/05/thappad-or-in-english-slap.html

Editing was done by Dev Rao Jadhav.  His film credits include "Tevar" (2015) and "Badhaai Do" (2018). A delightful movie, http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/03/badhaai-do-lgbt-film-from-conservative.html

Jitendra Kumar plays the magician.  He loves in sequence two different women and proclaims his love while demonstrating magic. Very charming, but a bit egotistical.  Jitendra trained as a civil engineer, but while at school became involved in acting.  IMDB recounts that once he was forced to recite some lines as a gag and although he had not seen the film or was aware of the context (a speech by Al Pacino in "The Scent of a Women" 1992) he impressed enough of the seniors that he was recommended to the Hindu drama society where he met Biswapati Sarkar who later helped advance his career and wrote the script for this movie.  Both women notice that he can't remember little details like their last name. Jitendra has been in numerous tv series and movies including "Gone Kesh" (2019) and "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan" (2020).

Arushi Sharma played the love interest, an opthamologist  and the daughter of a master magician.     Credits include "Tamasha"(2015).  Check http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/02/tamasha-wonderful-story.html

Jaaved Jaaferi played Pradeep, the uncle to Meenu.  His film credits include "Fire" (1996), "Earth" (1999), "8 x 10 Tasveer" (2009), "3 Idiots" (2009) and "Bala" (2019).  Once known as India's first break dancer.

Manoj Joshi plays the master magician and father to Disha.  He is a kind mentor, but protective of his daughter.  Manoj started his career in Marathi and Gugarati theatre before getting into films.  Some of his credits include:  "Devdas" (2002), "Bhool Bhulaiyaa" (2007), "Guru" (2007) and  "Hasee Toh Phasee" (2014).

In summary this is in many ways a typical romance comedy, but has enough twists to make it interesting for those who think they have seen it all.