By Joginder Tuteja




July would go down as a month with maximum number of star driven films arriving on the OTT. If Vidya Balan had brought her Sherni in June, it was Taapsee Pannu to step into the fold with Haseen Dillruba. The film arrived straight on Netflix and unfortunately turned out to be a disappointing affair.


The promo had given an impression of a film that delves upon the theme of 'love sex aur dhokha' and that's exactly how director Vinil Mathew narrated the story as well. However, the end result was so farfetched that the culmination didn't seem plausible at all. Of course, the film was meant to be in pulp fiction genre, and suspension of disbelief is one of the core elements in such kind of literature. However, in this case, it is more bewildering than entertaining, due to which the impact is lost.


Not that the film doesn't have anything redeeming. Taapsee Pannu is good all over again, especially in the first half where she is a young woman trying to adjust at her in-laws. Vikrant Massey is decent, and so is Harshvardhan Rane. However, the biggest culprit in this Kanika Dhillon written film is the sheer lack of suspense. You get an idea about the core twist in the tale within first 15-20 minutes itself and from here on it is just the 'why' factor that gets solved in the end. Had the 'how' factor not been revealed so early, the film could have been better.


Another release of the week has been the second season of Samantar. The first season was quite impressive as it explored the core plot of one man [Swwapnil Joshi] in hunt of another [Nitish Bharadwaj] whose past is his present. The 'samantar' [parallel] running of the two destinies, though separated 30 years apart, made for an intriguing drama when it arrived in Marathi and Hindi on MX Player.


Now the second season has taken the narrative forward, what with Swwapnil knowing one day in advance about what future has in hold for him. What brings the twist in the tale is the stepping in of Marathi star Sai Tamhankar into the fold. The way she holds prominence in both the stories is something that keeps the viewers hooked. On the other hand Tejaswini Pandit has a delightful screen presence, something that she had shown in the first season as well. Director Sameer Vidwans has established his case to be seriously looked at for a Hindi film too.


Coming soon


This week is going to be pretty exciting as Akshaye Khanna as well as Jimmy Sheirgill would be bringing in a thriller each. Both are playing men-in-uniform in these films which have been designed for OTT itself. While Akshaye Khanna is bringing on State of Siege: Temple Attack, Jimmy Sheirgill would be leading the show in Collar Bomb.


Let's talk about State of Siege: Temple Attack first. Second in the State of Siege franchise by ZEE5 (after State of Siege: 26/11 which had released last year), this one is a film instead of a web series. Arriving on 9th July, it chronicles the Akshardham attack that happened on 24th September 2002, and how NSG stepped in to take on the terrorists. The trailer promises a thriller in the offering and with Akshaye Khanna making his debut on OTT as an NSG commando, one can be assured of a quality outing here. Ken Ghosh, who has Abhay series to his name, directs.


On the same day arrives Collar Bomb. A Disney+Hotstar film, it boasts of an interesting concept of a man with a collar bomb around his neck, and how every minute is counting. Jimmy Sheirgill plays the man in charge who has to avert this attack. However, he has his own battles to find, something that makes this 'race against time' movie pretty interesting. Yet again, the promo promises thrill a minute affair and in some way, it also reminds one of A Wednesday which had a similar plot with Jimmy Sheirgill playing the officer on the ground.


Release dates


State of Siege: Temple Attack - ZEE5 - 9th July


Collar Bomb - Disney+Hotstar - 9th July