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.