News Analysis India

Tag: Netflix

  • Namaste Wahala movie review: Indo-Nigerian romance misses the mark

    Express News Service
    Namaste Wahala is a rare Indo-Nigerian production, about an Indian boy, Raj, falling for a Nigerian girl, Didi, in Lagos. It’s a novel concept, given how few interracial love stories of its kind exist. There is, however, a deeper connection. Both India and Nigeria have strong national cinemas, and the film is best viewed as a union of two industries, and not the cultural landmark it claims to be.

    The director is Hamisha Daryani Ahuja, a restaurant owner turned filmmaker in Lagos (she also appears as a character in the film). Hamisha, whose parents are Indian, pays tribute to the Hindi rom-coms she loves. Investment banker Raj (Ruslaan Mumtaz) meets NGO lawyer Didi (Ini Dima-Okojie) and instantly decides to marry her. Didi’s father (Richard Mofe-Damijo) objects to the proposition — the OG conflict in a Bollywood romance. Raj even says, “this isn’t a Bollywood movie”, which can only mean it is. 

    The templating isn’t perfect. The pop track ‘I Don’t Wanna Let You Go’ tips its hats to numerous Hindi numbers, but, lacking background dancers, falls woefully flat. Similarly, when Raj and Didi have an argument — their first true emotional moment in the film — the exchange is interrupted by a call from his mom. Actor Sujata Sehgal enlivens proceeds as she lands in Nigeria and besieges her son’s life. When she first meets Didi, her blanched expression gives away a lot, though outwardly she worries if an African girl can make chole bhatures like her.

    There’s another amusing character, Raj’s best friend Emma (Koye Kekere Ekun), seemingly written to interpret the culture shock for foreign viewers (Raj turning up in a western outfit to meet Didi’s parents isn’t funny until Emma explains why it is). Though Raj has the typical hero-sounding name, the film is told from Didi’s perspective. She spends a chunk of the plot contesting her own domineering father.

    She’s headstrong and ambitious — a break from the weeping, obsequious heroines of ’90s Bollywood. In one scene, she engages her would-be mother-in-law in competitive cooking. It’s a heavily contrived moment, one familiar to most Bollywood fans, yet Dima-Okojie rescues it with her natural spunk. 

    An even better subversion of a popular trope comes later on. In DDLJ (1995), Anupam Kher leaves everything behind to help his lovelorn son. Raj’s dad in Namaste Wahala is liberal too, but can’t be bothered to leave his cricket match and join the farce. Leave your kids alone, he seems to say, they’ll figure it out.

    Movie: Namaste WahalaCast: Ruslaan Mumtaz, Ini Dima-Okojie, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Sujata SehgalDirector: Hamisha Daryani AhujaStreaming on: NetflixRating: 2.5/5

  • ‘Game of Thrones’ creators David Benioff, DB Weiss to develop ‘The Overstory’ as Netflix series

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss are developing a Netflix series based on Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Overstory”. According to Deadline, Benioff and Weiss will executive produce the series under their Netflix overall deal.

    Hollywood star Hugh Jackman will also serve as executive producer along with Bernie Caulfield of Benioff and Weiss’s Bighead Littlehead production banner. Published in 2018, “The Overstory” tells the story of a world alongside ours that is vast, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us.

    A handful of disparate people learn how to see that world and are drawn into its unfolding catastrophe. Richard Robbins has penned the pilot script and also executive produces the show. “The Overstory” series will be Benioff and Weiss’ third Netflix project after an adaptation of Liu Cixin’s sci-fi trilogy “The Remembrance of Earth’s Past” and “The Chair”, a six-part comedy series from showrunner Amanda Peet.

  • Awe-inspiring to see ‘The White Tiger’ being embraced by people worldwide: Priyanka Chopra Jonas

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Saturday penned an emotional note for the love and acceptance her Netflix film “The White Tiger” has received.

    Based on author Aravind Adiga’s 2008 novel of the same name, the movie started streaming on Netflix from January 22.

    Taking to Instagram, the actor shared the film’s poster and revealed that the Ramin Bahrani-directed movie has been on the Top 10 film list in 64 countries.

    The film, which also features Adarsh Gourav and Rajkummar Rao, has been watched in 27 million households in its first four weeks of release.The White Tiger

    ALSO READ | BAFTA 2021: Priyanka Chopra, Adarsh Gourav feature on longlists for ‘The White Tiger’

    “It’s so emotional for me to see the discovery and acceptance of this brilliant incredible story. ‘The White Tiger’ being embraced by audiences all over the world is awe inspiring,” Chopra Jonas wrote.

    The 38-year-old actor-producer thanked Bahrani, Adiga and the cast and crew of “The White Tiger” for their hard work and making the film a success.

    “Congrats and thank you to Aravind, Ramin, Adarsh, Raj, Mukul, Ava and everyone involved. Thank you Netflix for giving our little movie wings. #grateful,” she added.

    “The White Tiger” chronicled the extraordinary journey of a driver named, Balram (Gourav).

    It follows Balram’s rise from a poor villager to a successful entrepreneur in India, showcasing how hunger and lack of opportunity can build and drive a human being’s animal instinct of survival.

    Chopra Jonas stars as Pinky Madam, a first-generation immigrant in the US, who is married to Rao’s character Ashok.

    She also served as an executive producer on the film along with Emmy award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay.

    Netflix has produced the movie in association with Mukul Deora.

  • Golden Globe 2021 nominations: ‘The Crown,’ ‘Mank’ score big, ‘Queen’s Gambit,’ ‘Hamilton’ pick up nods

    After a year where the pandemic nearly emptied movie theaters, Netflix dominated nominations to the 78th Golden Globe Awards.

  • ‘The White Tiger’ director Ramin Bahrani to reunite with Aravind Adiga for ‘Amnesty’ adaptation

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Director Ramin Bahrani is set to adapt the big screen adaptation of “Amnesty”, another Aravind Adiga novel, for streaming platform Netflix.

    The project marks a reunion for Bahrani, Adiga and Netflix, after “The White Tiger”, based on the Indian author’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel.

    Set in Australia, “Amnesty” follows the story of Danny, an illegal Sri Lankan migrant who cleans houses and realises he has information about the sudden murder of one of his employers.

    As he plays a cat-and-mouse game with the suspected murderer, Danny agonises over whether to contact the police and risk deportation.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bahrani will also direct and produce the film adaptation of “Amnesty”, latest novel by Adiga.

    The American-Iranian director said he “thrilled” to adapt the book to screen.

    “I’m very grateful to partner with Netflix and my lead creative producer, Bahareh Azimi, once again. This novel gripped me from the first time Aravind shared a rough draft with me five years ago. I can’t wait to bring it to the screen,” he added.

    Adiga said “Amnesty” is his “most personal novel” that has evolved in the course of discussions with the filmmaker, his former flatmate in New York, over many years.

    “I’m delighted that Ramin and Netflix are bringing ‘Amnesty’ to life…It’s my attempt to dramatize the moral crisis at the center of the story that is faced in various forms by immigrants around the world. I can’t wait to see Ramin’s interpretation on Netflix,” the author said.

    Along with Bahareh Azimi for Noruz Films, Ashok Amritraj will produce “Amnesty” under Hyde Park Entertainment.

    Meanwhile, “The White Tiger” breakout Adarsh Gourav has earned the nomination for best male lead at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

    Also starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkummar Rao, the film follows Balram’s rise from a poor villager to a successful entrepreneur in India, showcasing how hunger and lack of opportunity can build and drive a human being’s instinct of survival.

  • Jennifer Lopez to star as deadly assassin in Netflix’s ‘The Mother’

    By ANI
    WASHINGTON: American actor Jennifer Lopez is all set to star in the upcoming Netflix film titled ‘The Mother’. The actor will also be bankrolling the action feature.

    As per Variety, filmmaker Niki Caro, who recently helmed Disney’s ‘Mulan’ remake, is in talks to direct the forthcoming movie. ‘The Mother’ will focus on a deadly assassin who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she gave up years before.

    ‘Lovecraft Country’ fame showrunner Misha Green is penning the screenplay, with current revisions by Andrea Berloff. Apart from Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith Thomas is producing for Nuyorican Productions, as well as Green, Benny Medina, and Roy Lee, and Miri Yoon for Vertigo Entertainment.

    Apart from ‘The Mother’, Lopez is also teaming with Netflix for another film, an adaptation of the bestselling book ‘The Cipher’, the publication had reported in December 2020. She will also produce and star in the movie, revolving around an FBI agent who finds herself drawn into a serial killer’s strategically designed cat-and-mouse chase.

    Lopez, who is on a roll, has several films in the pipeline, including Universal’s romantic comedy ‘Marry Me’ with Owen Wilson, STX’s crime drama ‘The Godmother’ and Lionsgate’s ‘Shotgun Wedding’, which recently made headlines for the departure of her co-star Armie Hammer. Josh Duhamel is being eyed to replace Hammer in the lead role.

    Caro’s credits include ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ and ‘Whale Rider’.

    Green recently set her directorial debut with the next installment of MGM’s ‘Tomb Raider’ franchise starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft.

    Green had also created the historical drama ‘Underground’, which featured Jurnee Smollett and Aldis Hodge and focused on the Underground Railroad in Antebellum Georgia. (ANI)

  • ‘I care a lot’ trailer: Rosamund Pike plays legal guardian, but is she genuinely caring?

    By Online Desk
    She says she is there to help, but is she really helping? The trailer of the Netflix original movie ‘I care A Lot’ will not leave you guessing. 

    Starring Rosamund Pike, ‘I care A Lot’ shows the life of a crooked legal guardian, Marla Grayson, who drains the savings of her elderly wards to meet her ends.

    But there is no room for over confidence. We see Marla meets her match when a woman she tries to swindle turns out to be more than what she first appears.

    ALSO READ | Crime Scene: The Vanishing at Cecil Hotel’s trailer gives you ‘deadly, dark’ history of a crime scene

    The film shows the succesful life of Marla, who claims ‘to care is her job’. She lands up in legal trouble after a group of people try to bust her plans. 

    Netflix India released the trailer on January 19 a month before making it available on the OTT platform.

    Directed and written by J Blakeson, the film will be released on February 19 2021.

    The Netflix original film stars Oscar-winning actor Rosamund Pike, who plays the lead Marla Grayson, Golden Globe-winning actor Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Dianne Wiest, and Chris Messina among others.

    WATCH TRAILER:

  • Crime Scene: The Vanishing at Cecil Hotel’s trailer gives you ‘deadly, dark’ history of a crime scene

    By Online Desk
    ‘Is there a room here that somebody hasn’t died in?’ says the manager of Cecil Hotel in the trailer of this new true crime series by Netflix.

    Netflix is giving its users a gritty, dark and mysterious series to binge on this Febraury. The trailer of ‘Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel’ was released on January 26.

    The docuseries focuses on the history of Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, US, which is known to many locals and tourists as ‘LA’s deadliest hotel’.

    The latest chapter in the Cecil’s history involves the disappearance of college student Elisa Lam. The 21-year-old Canadian college student was later found naked and dead inside a water tank on the roof of the Cecil Hotel in 2013, as reported by Los Angeles Times.

    But how did it happens?

    Set to release of February 10, the investigative thriller aims to unravel the mysteries behind the death of the student and what followed next. 

    ‘Go inside what some call LA’s deadliest hotel in the new docuseries Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel on February 10.’ wrote popular entertainment streamer Netflix on Twitter.

    The crime series will also dive into the ‘notorious history’ of the ‘infamous hotel’, which was once the rest stop of well-known serial killer Richard Ramirez, also known as ‘Night Stalker.’ 

    WATCH TRAILER:

  • Netflix renews ‘On My Block’ for fourth and final season

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Comedy-drama series “On My Block” has been renewed by streaming platform Netflix for a fourth and final season.

    The streamer made the announcement about the series’ renewal via a video shared on its official YouTube page.

    No premiere date has been set for the final season.

    The series is created by Lauren Iungerich, Eddie Gonzalez and Jeremy Haft.

    Actors Sierra Capri, Jason Genao, Brett Gray, Diego Tinoco, Jessica Marie Garcia and Julio Macias will all return for the fourth season of the coming-of-age comedy set in an inner-city Los Angeles neighborhood.

    “On My Block” initially followed Monse (Capri), Ruby (Genao), Jamal (Gray) and Cesar (Tinoco), four bright and street-savvy friends as they navigated their way through the triumph, pain and the newness of high-school set in the rough inner city.

    In the aftermath of tragedy and a shocking discovery, the friends leaned on each other like never before in season two, while the third season, which dropped in March last year, saw the stakes get even higher in Freeridge.

    Iungerich, who signed an overall deal with Netflix last year, also serves as showrunner and executive produces alongside Gonzalez, Haft and Jamie Dooner.

  • Tom Sturridge, Gwendoline Christie cast in Netflix’s ‘The Sandman’ series

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Netflix has unveiled a star-studded cast for its adaptation of author Neil Gaiman’s comic book series “The Sandman”. English actor Tom Sturridge will lead the series along with “Game of Thrones” alum Gwendoline Christie, veteran actor Charles Dance and “Narcos” star Boyd Holbrook.

    Vivienne Acheampong and Indian-origin actors Asim Chaudhry and Sanjeev Bhaskar round out the cast, Netflix announced in a post on Twitter. It follows the people and places affected by Morpheus (Sturridge), the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic – and human – mistakes he’s made during his vast existence.

    Christie will essay the role of Lucifer, ruler of Hell, while Holbrook will play The Corinthian, an escaped nightmare who wishes to taste all that the world has in store. Dance has been cast as Roderick Burgess, a Charlatan, blackmailer and magician.

    Acheampong will play Lucienne, chief librarian and trusted guardian of Dream’s realm. Chaudhry will star Abel and Bhaskar will play Cain, described as the first victim and first predator, respectively. They are residents and loyal subjects of the Dream Realm.

    “For the last 33 years, the ‘Sandman’ characters have breathed and walked around and talked in my head. I’m unbelievably happy that now, finally, they get to step out of my head and into reality. I can’t wait until the people out there get to see what we’ve been seeing as Dream and the rest of them take flesh, and the flesh belongs to some of the finest actors out there,” Gaiman said in a statement, obtained by Variety.

    The author will co-write the series with Allan Heinberg, who is also set to serve as showrunner. Warner Bros. Television is the studio with Gaiman, Heinberg and David S Goyer as the executive producers.