Sorry!!! Thanks!!!

Due to my own bad time management and some unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to watch the twelfth episode of Yudh! It will be on Sony Liv tomorrow. The first thing tomorrow morning will be me working on getting this review up.

Another thing I wanted to tell you guys is that I turned 24 today! A whole day of lazing around and a really nice evening out! Thanks to all my friends for making it really special today!

Loads of love! :-)

Yudh - Episode 11 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

Ah! This was one of the laziest episodes so far! I usually like it when I get to watch the occasional slow movie or television bit while lying down on the diwan. Today was not so because of a simple case of over-eating my dinner (bad idea! Very bad idea, indeed!) it almost felt like show was just not moving! Although, I'll gladly accept fault this time and not blame the show. Objectivity was not at its best tonight!

However, the episode did have some nice emotional undertones: Mona's desperation in regard to her brother-in-law's case and Rishi's resolve to fall into step with his father instead of against him were portrayed really well. Episode to episode, Mona is becoming more of a hero and I'm quite enjoying that sub-plot!

This episode's main plot-line was of how the minister knew that Yudh didn't have any hand in the village-fire and was still planning to frame Yudh for it, which somehow was rendered unsuccessful.

There really wasn't much material in this episode and was, probably, meant more as a set-up for something bigger for the coming episodes. Like I said earlier, it has been a smart move on the part of the show makers to get such episodes in between to help tell the story in a wholesome fashion.

Yudh - Episode 10 review. Minor spoilers for this and earlier episodes.

We are halfway through the series and I still haven't felt like abandoning it! Yay! :-)

Episode ten starts off with Yudh and the minister having a conversation, setting up for a face-off most likely, in the typical "Don't screw with me! You wanna screw with me? You really wanna screw with me?" fashion. Well, when you have an accomplished director and an actor whose life and work are the stuff of legends, you are bound to have a great mood setter!

As the episode went on, like I said earlier, Mona's brother-in-law got quite creepy and involved himself in a trade-off with the Malik-Excalibur Club Owner duo. If I feel like I need to reach into the TV screen, wrap up a man in cellophane tape like a mummy and throw him in a river, yeah, the actor is good! (Really not that violent! Just deep dark thoughts *tee hee*).

Taruni's and Mona's characters got a sufficiently deserved BAMF status in tonight's episode. The earlier spark exhibited by both the characters, when they were introduced, was brought back to life tonight! Taruni, especially, had a nice moment where she went all CEO on the Shanti Construction quarters' caretaker and all responsible doctor on the villagers in a truly badass way!

The story has gotten somewhat complicated now. Here's what we know so far: Yudhishtir Siwarkar is the owner of Shanti Constructions, a huge construction conglomerate (dabbling in mining as well, as far as we've seen). Yudh is battling with Huntington's disease, a disease for which there is no cure and is getting progressively worse as the show progresses, with occasional panic attacks and hallucinations. Yudh is also battling the government, his competitors and the media to run a smooth and profitable business. Helping Yudh with his efforts are Anand, who I'm guessing is the COO and Mona, who must be the PR person for Shanti Constructions. All three, Yudh, Anand and Mona, have their own family dramas to deal with, which, occasionally, get mingled with the main plot (Phew! That's the show from ten episodes!)

Frankly, I'm glad that they've decided to take twenty episodes, instead of the twelve or thirteen that mini-series in India usually take. These extra episodes will give the makers sufficient time to address all the unresolved plots and still have some time left to add suitable accompaniments here and there

Yudh - Episode 9 review. We are back to minor spoilers, now!

Hello! Welcome back from the last weekend of July! (The Queen - my queen, Jo Rowling's - birthday is coming - the last day of the seventh month arrives!) Two weeks in and Yudh is still a growing force, episode to episode, showing a lot of potential growth. However, it's been so that there has not been an episode where I've completely lost myself in the show and marvelled my luck that I got to watch it. Yes, Yudh has far to go to get that "epic" status. Yet,the fact that it has the potential to do so is, in fact, a device for hope. Of course, thank god for that!

As performances go, tonight's episode nine was a better affair than the last one; Tigmanshu Dhulia and the actor who plays Mona's brother-in-law (Aargh! I'm so bad at names! Sorry! :-( ) had brilliant cameos in this episode, both of whom, incidentally, playing sneaky grey assholes.

After all the drama of last week, with the Naxalite-Yudh war in the background of an "accidental" dynamite blast at the mine, this episode had the workers, who were led by the Negotiator (told you I was bad with names!), hold a demonstration in front of the mine plant. To deal with this issue, Yudh went traipsing down to the mine making a ton of promises of benefits to the workers, nullifying the effect of the Naxalite efforts to rally the workers to go against the construction company. The speech delivered by Amitabh Bachchan to the workers was one of passion and conviction, but not entirely blind compassion. Amitabh Bachchan's performance in delivering this was the high point of the episode!

Barring a few "wow" moments, tonight's episode, while much better than the last one, was not even reaching the mark left by the show in its middle episodes. An average performer, but satisfactory nonetheless (Have gone a bit British Cricket Commentator after a whole day of watching the test match today. Please excusing the convoluted sentences, please! Thank you!).

Yudh - Episode 8 review. Quite major spoilers this time!

Rishi is still kidnapped, Yudh and his family have gone to rescue him and the Naxalites have a whole host of demands they want fulfilled by Yudh. Episode eight of Yudh has one main focus - Operation Yudh's Son is Kidnapped (bad name, sorry!)

Since the whole episode was centred around one plot point, I thought it would be best to recap before going into the actual review: The Siwarkars are looking for Rishi and we are given an account of both the atmosphere at the Siwarkars' and the interaction between the Naxalite group and Rishi. We see that first, Yudh agrees to all of the group's demands, but, in a power play, the group raise their demand. Circumstantially, Rishi is rescued by a couple of boys who he plays Galli/Ground Cricket with. Yudh broadcasts that Rishi was let go after a payment of 20 Crores and the Naxalite group and the Negotiator are pissed. The Negotiator engineers a blast at the mine and there are casualties (Ha! Told you, didn't I Mr. Bachchan? See - Kaala Pathar. Like you could listen :-P). Yudh decides to close down the mining plant and start an inquiry into the blast. He also suggests building a medical facility near the mining facility to gain a vote of confidence with the workers, who, by the way, are now rebelling against Yudh.

A few things I noticed were: the Negotiator is more diabolical than the leader of the group, Taruni has one expression plastered on her face (of course, her character has been going through the same predicament from the beginning and is seeming highly uni-dimensional at the moment), the fact that Shanti Constructions chief and second-in-command were not adequately aware of the political scene in the area around the mining plant struck me as very odd (how could a successful business not make such a rudimentary check?) and the character Rishi Siwarkar is WEIRD to say the least (the boy is too unfazed and it seems a little unrealistic)!

All in all, I felt like tonight's episode was disappointing, in that it was covered with a blanket full of plot-holes and cliches and brought down the show's pace and quality big time!

Yudh - Episode 7 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

Episode 7, here we go. (Sigh) I'm getting rather tired of the same commercial advertisement appearing in every episode break. Getting back to tonight's episode of Yudh, the Naxalite related plot finally came into full view and the kidnapping of Nayan and Yudh's child, Rishi, took place, something the show has been teasing will happen for a while.

The episode started and ended in a quick manner. The build up to Rishi's kidnapping, especially the scene just before the incident (fireflies!), is spectacular! I wasn't sure how they would be able to carry it out and it seemed like a good enough explanation as any.

Among the few things that were noteworthy about this episode, the most prominent one was Yudh naming Taruni the next CEO of Shanti Constructions. Why that was noteworthy was because of something that Taruni's boyfriend quite clearly explains: Why would Yudh put Taruni in the front line knowing that Taruni, an oncologist, has no business running a construction company? Even if Yudh is delusional due to his illness, it still does not add up. Maybe, future episodes will provide further clarity into this.

Another thing, actually two things, that stuck with me from tonight's episode were the building frustration in Anand's wife and Mona's predicament regarding her brother-in-law who, by the way, does a brilliant job playing the innocent-but-creepy character. Both these moments from this episode left me wanting to know more about these independent stories, something that could be possible, in future episodes.

However, tonight's "brilliant" moment was, actually, Yudh's conversation with the negotiator between Yudh and the village-folk where Yudh's mining project is being undertaken, with regard to two kids being held behind bars as suspects in the kidnapping of Rishi Siwarkar. The writing in this scene shows a brilliant amalgamation between worlds where striving for the greater good, while stepping on a few toes and rules is a norm, but each world is equally appalled by the other's tendency towards it (negotiator suggests that the Siwarkars delay in looking for Rishi so its consequences can result in the village-folk having negative opinions against the Naxalites).

Although tonight's episode was able to maintain its pace and continuity in terms of its story, it ended rather abruptly. Maybe because I didn't notice the time or that I was quiet engrossed in the show, I was quiet shocked with the way it ended. This episode was without times where one felt an obvious WTF, but was definitely one that would continue to nag at the back of one's mind wondering about it. Quite a few shades, we have seen of the show, so far. Thirteen more to go! 

Yudh - Episode 6 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

All this while I kept feeling that the show was getting more interesting as it advanced, but I was not prepared for the WTF I witnessed tonight! Seriously, WTF? Not that I haven't seen my fair share of twists before, but tonight's episode brought about its twists when I least expected it! (No, I'm not going to explain that moment and spoil majorly when I've warned only for minor spoilers!)

There was this sudden break in atmosphere, an unexpectedly pleasant one, when there was a sudden death, a not-so-subtly suggestive scene of varying sexualities (surprising how well Hindi entertainment is treating this topic - Dedh Ishqiya) and a typically Anurag Kashyap scene when a man took a selfie with Mona, whom he had incapacitated earlier.

Yudh finally calls a press conference to explain his illness and make an attempt to stop all the problems this secrecy is causing. This press conference is brought on at the suggestion by Taruni. Taruni starts to find it difficult to explain her inclination to help Yudh no matter what, to her boyfriend. Taruni, like Yudh's doctor, gets an attempt on her life but escapes unscathed. This whole block of the episode, I realised, has a major issue I wasn't able to shake off - how come Yudh readily agrees to go public with his illness when Taruni suggests after taking such trouble to not let it happen and why are Yudh's doctors being targeted to get some information that Taruni's boyfriend obtained so easily?

In this episode, some of the parallel storylines took further shape without clouding the main storyline. The show proceeds to produce a mystery that seems to be much bigger than just the Malik-Siwarkar rivalry. That seems to be an interesting turn of events and is what, it seems, will likely fuel the next few episodes if not the rest (hopefully it is not some Moriarty-ruining-Sherlock's-legacy kind of a thing because Moriarty did it too brilliantly to be repeated :-P). Either way, 14 more episodes to go and I'm looking forward to them with much anticipation.

Yudh - Episode 5 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

Lo and behold! The weekend is over and Mondays are a pain! Will the fifth episode of Yudh provide some respite to the start-of-week blues? Let's see.

The first 10 minutes has a cringeworthy moment and a really captivating one indicating that the show has still some potential that it is not reaching, which is both good and bad news. Good news because it means that an already good show can become better as the episodes go on and bad news because the producers actually overlooked the obvious faux pas of a fake british accent, especially to an audience who know much too well to not notice it.

After recovering from the attack of the fake Lagaan soldier, the episode actually got much better. The dialogues, scenes involving some of supporting actors (especially the ones with Anand and his wife and the one with Taruni and Nayan) are heavy with subtext and beautifully played by the actors, the writing and yes, Zakir Hussain, are all taking the show up a notch.

This episode had some of the supporting actors taking centre stage and giving the main plot a push from the flanks and thank god for that! Although a certain Mr. Bachchan is a genius actor to say the least, the show would have been an utter flop if it's cast, as a whole, did not render the support it is beginning to do now.

This show is not only important to its makers as a platform to showcase its story, but also to other writers to venture into such shorter stories (by Indian standards) with a better quality of written and physical aesthetics and, most importantly, find acceptance in that. Therefore, it is natural that the makers of the show feel some pressure to succeed.

However, tonight, the story that started off as a bundle of loose, and numerous, story lines has begun to come together and thankfully, after the initial blind bump, the show seems to be picking up in pace and is more entertaining than it was when it started last week.

Yudh - Episode 4 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

The first 15 minutes of the fourth episode made me feel much better about it than I did about the whole of the third episode of the mini-series. I guess I like a TV show to completely envelope me in the mood of the show and that's what the fourth episode managed to do!

The music has really started to be discernible and relatable! The background score has started to match the opening credits score and it's starting to come together as one score for the show.

The focus of this episode is the Mamta Malik's murder case. Finally, it feels like an episode is not split into five bits and all the bits are scurrying around, clueless. It's a nice, refreshing change, especially after the lackluster episode three, to see each issue being fully addressed.

This episode had some good scenes and some really smartly done scenes that included a typically brilliant Amitabh Bachchan scene where he acts absolutely non-chalant after roughly throwing out the chief editor of a national news channel. There was another dramatically charged scene that seemed typically Anurag Kashyap where the said chief editor bashes up a car sent by Yudh's number 2, Anand (because, well, I love me some surprise drama!)

All in all, a much better episode compared to the previous one and future storylines are being well chalked out now.

Screwing on the pen cap, for a bit.

To the 15 odd readers of this and the "Say friend and enter" blog, thank you very much for reading it!

For a while, I will be posting only Yudh's reviews and only post something else if I am absolutely compelled to.

I am, currently, studying for a competitive exam and writing a mini-series to be published on youtube!

Will keep you all posted about any interesting developments!

Thanks!

Yudh - Episode 3 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

The third episode of Yudh continues it's story lines of the feud between Yudh and the Maliks, Yudh's mining project and how all of it is slowly impacting his personal life and health.

In this episode, Yudh seems to be in a stronger hold of himself instead of just reacting to his environment, which is a refreshing change from the lost man in the previous two episodes.

The major part of tonight's story revolves around the allegations against Yudh about his construction company's capabilities over a fallen hospital built by Shanti Constructions (the company run by Yudh).

A parallel storyline runs where a Naxalite group threatens Yudh against mining and are seen spying on his son. Mostly, this storyline will run in conjunction with the hospital storyline at a later time. As of now, it is hard to gauge what is going down with Yudh and his life and where and how did it all start going to hell?!

As I said in my previous review, the female characters are not realising their full potential. Don't get me wrong, it's not really a blindly feminist thing. It's just that I've noticed many female characters brought to the front, introduced very well and promptly thrown into stereotypes or in the background.

Tonight's episode was, probably, not as strong as last night's episode in terms of character development or story movement. However, it did have some interesting points like how the Maliks and the Siwarkar's react to each other in a social setting (not a big scene, but, it was a nicely refreshing one, all the same).

Yudh has shown good potential in the last three episodes, however, that potential seems sitting on its arse, eating chocolate chip cookies at the moment. The show still needs further dramatic thrust to fully reach its potential, which seems like it's hanging somewhere in the middle.

Yudh - Episode 2 review. Beware of minor spoilers.

The second episode opens with Yudh being in another "situation," continuing from last night's Pilot episode. So far, the man has a failing arm, some neurological problems, panic attacks, all the while being plagued by competitive and government politics. Three out of three mornings, he wakes up, drenched in sweat and out of a fresh nightmare. This "do-gooder in a sea of opportunistic sharks" doesn't seem like he will be able to catch a break any time soon.

- First thing I noticed about this episode is it's treatment of its female characters. Like Breaking Bad, which was a fabulous story about a man's downward spiralling journey into complete desolation, Yudh's story, so far, also seems like one of a man's slow unravelling. However, like Breaking Bad, Yudh's female characters seem like just supporting or inhibiting the male characters' progress, shown in a positive light only when they support their spouse/partner. As I said the last time, I hope the rest of the series gets tied up in a neat bunch.

- Scenes not involving the main characters/the seasoned actors seem loose and are lacking in a direction trick or cinematographic intelligence to compensate for it (yes, critical much!).

- This episode's surprise hero was the actor who plays Dharmendar Malik (could not find the actor's name. Please help!)

So far, Yudh's success in a returning viewer lies, primarily, in the movement of the story and the higher-than-average performances of a handful of established actors (waiting for Nawazuddin Siddiqui's arrival!). Perhaps it is because the development of the story has gone a little further than yesterday's episode, but, I'm more eager to get to the next episode than I was last night (Which is, actually, saying much considering Hindi TV's current roster of found-a-great-topic-but-lost-it-somewhere-along-the-way shows!).

Yudh Pilot real-time review

As someone who is a huge admirer of Amitabh Bachchan's work and a television enthusiast (yes, that is real!), I was very intrigued to see the trailer of a new, twenty episode, mini-series by Anurag Kashyap and starring acting stalwarts like Zakir Hussain, Kay Kay Menon, Sarika and no, I'm not forgetting Amitabh Bachchan!

The trailer doesn't say much apart from Yudh (Amitabh Bachchan) being a big-shot business man who has two wives, children who aren't public knowledge and that someone dear to him is kidnapped.

So, it was natural that after a late night, the previous night, and a heavy evening snack I was waiting with all the energy I could to its 10:30 pm broadcast.

I tuned in at the moment the opening credits were getting over and saw that my entire family was sitting around to watch the show! It is not without reason that Manish Acharya's character in Loins of Punjab talks about Amitabh Bachchan's universal appeal to all genders and generations.

Also, I'm going to try to make this review as spoiler free as possible, but be warned for minor spoilers!

- Right at the start, I am hooked to Amitabh Bachchan's face - a study in silence and in speech!

- First commercial break arrives after only a few minutes. Some tidbits about the production are shared.

- Ugh! I hate noticing stupid production or continuity errors, especially when I'm not the most observant cat in the world! For example, I noticed that the characters Nayantara (Ayesha Raza) and Rishi (Pavail Gulati) kept asking their maid (I think) for butter and she came back with something red (Does butter mean pickle in some parts of this country?)

- Some discussions about Yudh's mining dreams and his need to ensure people's safety from bad construction keep coming up (not much foresight, there, I see. Have you learnt nothing from Kaala Patthar, Mr. Bachchan? :| )

- There is this really awkward scene where a nephew receives his uncle, coming out of jail, after eleven years with much vigour. Said uncle is Yudh's wife's brother. The scene has some comically typical, CID type TV show extras and, mildly, breaks the wonderful pace at which the story in unravelling itself.

- Mona Wasu playing Mona is a small but highly effective part of the Pilot. She adds an edge that the men in the show are only vaguely venturing.

There were many moments that kept me stuck to the story tonight, but, most of them involved Amitabh Bachchan and his acting prowess. None of the other actors have been given an opportunity to add to that story, yet. Hopefully, the rest of the series will tie them all in a neat bunch.

All in all, the pilot episode of Yudh has given me enough information to keep me hooked on to watch the next episode. Although, has it left me wanting to jump time to tomorrow 10:30 pm so I can do so? No, not really. The show is starting at a fair pace and if it only grows from here, it might even be a great story and not just a show.

12:00, when the sun is shining and when it is not.

This Sunday passed in a rather heated debate about what 12 o'clock is. I'm from a Kannadiga family and know a fair bit of Kannada. No ambiguity there as to what 12 o'clock is when the sun is shining and what 12 o'clock is when the sun went "Bye bye!" into the sea. No, right? It is either "Mata Mata Madhyana" or "Madhya Rathri." Why do I even know this? Lets chalk out a typical weekend/weekday (unemployed bum at home, FYI) 12:00 noon in the Swamy household:

Mom: (In the living room, on the ground floor) Maithri!

Me: (In my room on the first floor. Ear-phones plugged in, watching some mind-less television on my laptop and the fan is loud at "5") *Smiling like an idiot at the screen*

Mom: Maithri!

Me: *Still smiling like an idiot at the screen*

My mom walks the seventeen steps to the first floor and storms into my room.

Me: *STILL smiling like an idiot at the screen* (How loud is the fan that I don't even hear the door open??)

Mom: (yanking the earphones off of my ears) Did you go for a walk in the morning? (NEED physical exercise - 24 and 75 kgs :'( )

Me: *Staring silently at anything but her*

Mom: Did you water the plants? (Well, who wakes up at 9:00 am and waters the plants????)

Me: *Staring silently at the frozen blank screen in front of me*

Mom: Did you clean the floor of the bathroom? (Ha! Stew in that filth, you imbecile!)

Me: I'll do it now.

Mom: Not necessary. Yeladu madhyana; aamele shivana dhyana! (Direct translation: (add sarcasm) You have awoken in the afternoon and you expect to meditate in the name of Shiva! Apparently, Shiva is to be meditated to only early in the morning. Say your "Howdy dos!" because any other time, he will be very busy with his duties as The Destroyer.) Surya thale mele koothidane. Mata mata madhyanadalli gidakke neeru haaka beda! (The sun is sitting on our heads. Don't water the plants when the sun is at its highest in the sky. Pish-tosh! Actually, its not good for the plants. So--yes--that--fine.)

That's how I know what 12:00 noon is in Kannada. The same night, I was given a lesson in what I shouldn't be doing at "Madhya Rathri" (eating ice cream while I write this entry on this blog) and guess what time it was?? C'mon guess? (Pehchaan Kaun??)

Anyway, that day I had a rather unnecessarily long debate with my cousin about what "Mata mata madhyana" and "Madhya Rathri" is in The Queen's language. Turns out, all I had to do was Google that stuff and that sea of free knowledge (otherwise known as My Homework Buddy or Wikipedia) told me that in a 12 hour clock, 12:00 in the day is noon and 12:00 in the night is midnight.

Yes, it took all of the 24 years of my life to come to this stupid conclusion. I spent 24 years not knowing this or might have deleted this information somewhere along the way (Really??).

However, this made me realise how small bits of information like this slips out of our minds quite regularly and how, as we grow older, we cram our heads with "Ooh! That's how I'm going to get my next promotion" or, more famously, "That's what'll get him/her to like me!"

Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with planning for the future in good detail and working towards a desired outcome. However, is it really worth the loss of small bits of information like what makes our spouse flare his/her nostrils or what makes him/her blush so deeply, he/she can't meet your eyes? (Aich!! ;P)

I don't think so. It is not an epiphany of any sort, but, taking the time to ponder over this seemingly insignificant detail of mankind's existence got me thinking about why the smaller joys and the bigger problems get lost in a sea of our own whirlpool of--well--stuff. I, myself, am a slave to this and today, it helped me take a little step back and see my life as a whole, rather than a day-to-day struggle.

Hopefully, when I wake up tomorrow, I'll be able to keep this with me and be more accepting, as a person. Otherwise, I will imagine a horde of people (Yeah, right!) ridiculing me for writing a public post on a blog about it and still eating ice-cream at midnight while watching crap television. That ought to do it!