OTT Round Up - Meenakshi Sundareshwar Is Sweet, Akkad Bakkad Rafu Chakkar Doesn't Impress, Action Thrillers Special Ops 1.5 And Squad Arrive This Friday

Sanya Malhotra and Abhimanyu starrer Meenakshi Sundareshwar is a sweet movie about long distance relationship and the fact that it is set in Mumbai and Bangalore brings with it its own charm.

OTT Round Up - Meenakshi Sundareshwar Is Sweet, Akkad Bakkad Rafu Chakkar Doesn't Impress

By Joginder Tuteja

This Diwali has been truly entertaining with a lot happening on the big screen as well as the small screen. If Sooryavanshi is invading theatres across the country, Annaatthe capturing audience attention down south and Eternals working quite well for the Marvel fans, then on OTT too there were a couple of arrivals, one hyped (Meenakshi Sundareshwar) and another sedentary (Akkad Bakkad Rafu Chakkar).

Let's talk about Meenakshi Sundareshwar first. It was a double bill for Karan Johar as he is not just associated with Sooryavanshi but is also the producer of Meenakshi Sundareshwar. This could well be the first ever instance of a filmmaker having two simultaneous releases, one in theaters and another on OTT. While Sooryabanshi has anyways been in news for last 3 years ever since its announcement was made in Simmba, the filmmaker made sure that Meenakshi Sundareshwar found its right deal of visibility as well.

The Sanya Malhotra and Abhimanyu starrer is a sweet movie about long distance relationship and the fact that it is set in Mumbai and Bangalore brings with it its own charm. Though the duration of the film is pretty long (2 hours 20 minutes) especially for the genre (romcom family drama) in which it belongs, you do go through the proceedings since director Vivek Soni keeps things simple. Yes, a couple of things seem a bit implausible, especially the one around the leading lady's love for Rajinikanth and how it settles her marriage, but still you don't mind.

All in all, it makes for a good family watch and while it is not extraordinary, there are moments in there which stay, especially the romantic background score which brings in the soul of Saathiya and Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein.

Another release of the week is Akkad Bakkad Rafu Chakkar and it just unprecedented that Amazon Prime has given it such a sedentary release. Leave aside the hype, there was no pre-release announcements either accompanying the web series which is inspired by real life headlines around a fake bank been created. After watching the web series, you further get an idea around why the OTT platform may have decided to bring it on rather quietly. Reason being that the narrative just doesn't hold you and the overall look and feel hardly impresses either.

Coming soon

Coming week would be special for the action lovers since there is a web series and a film each coming on a similar track - Special Ops 1.5 and Squad.

Special Ops 1.5 is a Neeraj Pandey creation who, along with Shivam Nir, had created one of the best web series of 2020, Special Ops. The action thriller had boasted of a narrative as well as as production values which were akin to watching a big screen entertainer. Now the promo of Special Ops 1.5 promises something similar as well since the scale and grandeur seems to have gone a few notches up. This time around, one gets to evidence the story of what made Himmat Singh [Kay Kay Menon] the man that he is today, and the genesis of it all.

Arriving on Disney+Hotstar, which has a mixed track record of either its web series being truly impressive or barely passable, Special Ops 1.5 comes across as the kind which would find itself in the former range.

On the other hand Squad is a film which went on floors around a couple of years back and has been pitched as one of the biggest action entertainers to have come out of Bollywood. Directed by Nilesh Zaheeda Sahay, this one is about a rescue mission that an officer embarks on to save the life of a little girl. Marking the debut of Danny Denzongpa's son Rinzing Denzongpa, it boasts of an action packed trailer where one man takes on an entire army, something that was the 'sur' of Baaghi 3 also, though presented in a more realistic manner here.

The film, which premieres on ZEE5, marks the comeback of Pooja Batra on the big screen, and the good thing is that she looks as fit as she did 20 years back. On the other the leading lady here is Malvika Raaj who was seen as the younger Poo in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. It is rather uncanny that exactly a couple of decades have gone by since the release of the Karan Johar directorial (which had arrived on 14th December 2001) and the event now marks the arrival of Malvika Raaj as a heroine.

Release dates

Special Ops 1.5 - 12th November - Disney+Hotstar

Squad - November - 12th November - ZEE5