Murder by the Sea

Dhootha | Cast: Naga Chaitanya Akkineni, Parvathy Thiruvothu | Creator: Vikram K Kumar | Telugu | Prime Video

T he media has been having a terrible run at the movies and in streaming. Once upstanding embodiments of truth speaking to power, they have been reduced to figures who compromise for the sake of power and pelf. So it is refreshing to see a young journalist excited to take over a newspaper at the start of the series in a glittering ceremony. He speaks about truth, seems a team player, and wants to act as a watchdog against the establishment. Clearly there is no recession on screen here. But is Sagar (Naga Chaitanya Akkineni) as upstanding as he seems? A series of events involving accidents and deaths, all foretold, start happening to him, even as his father, clearly disturbed, turns up at regular intervals to complain about his profession. There is a wife, a colleague who is a little too helpful, and a smart police officer played by Parvathy Thiruvothu, who looks at blood patterns, newspaper clippings and old photographs with a sharp, clinical eye. The cinematography by Mikolaj Sygula, in what seems to be incessant rain in Visakhapatnam by the sea, is as blue and grey as the subject is, but also strikingly atmospheric.

Why watch it: It is not flawless but somewhere between a police procedural and a moralising tale, there lies a smart thriller with a paranormal explanation

The Town He Left Behind

Shehar Lakhot | Cast: Priyanshu Painyuli, Shruthy Menon, Chandan Roy Sanyal | Creators: Navdeep Singh and Devika Bhagat | Hindi | Prime Video

The setting is a tiny desert town in Rajasthan, with vast wastelands of white marble mines, a corrupt police officer who is as tough on his juniors as he is servile to the local masters (an always excellent Manu Rishi Chadha), and quietly dysfunctional families falling apart by the minute. Into this rides our hero, in a borrowed Fortuner, a jail term behind him, and a nasty job to be done. There is a potential strike to be disrupted, an old flame to catch up with, a brother to be reckoned with, and a father from whom forgiveness is to be sought. The local businessman is played with swagger by Chandan Roy Sanyal, all hukum and highness, while the junior police officer, played with a straight spine and a grim smile by Kubbra Sait, tries to investigate the murder of a foreign woman. This is a town where photo studios double as SIM-card stores, where white-skinned women are seen as sex objects, and where life is cheap. There are some arresting faces, two of whom stand out: Shruthy Menon as the woman who was left behind, and Manjiri Pupala, as a hitwoman with manic energy. Similarities with Dahaad, seen earlier this year, are only superficial.

Why watch it: Cut out the violence in language and action, and there are some fascinating character studies of what greed can do to people

The Best and Worst of Mumbai Cinema

The Archies | Cast: Agastya Nanda, Suhana Khan, and Khushi Kapoor | Director: Zoya Akhtar | Hindi | Netflix

The Archies embodies the best of the Mumbai film industry and its worst. It is the best because of the attention to detail in building the fantasy world of the Indian Riverdale and the worst because of its parade of star children. The leads from the beloved comic book are played by children with famous last names: Agastya Nanda is Archie Andrews, Suhana Khan is Veronica Lodge and Khushi Kapoor is Betty Cooper. Charming as the three are, there is little doubt that their DNA landed them the key roles. So we have a group of youngsters, all Anglo-Indians set in Riverdale in 1964, grappling with issues of identity, sexuality and ambition. So even as the young actors sing, dance, skate and cycle through the movie, they touch upon key issues: female friendships, unchecked capitalism, the claim of minorities to their mulk, climate change, and alternative sexuality. The songs are Broadway Lite, with lines like, “He’s got the bark but we’ve got the bite,” as are the group dances. But the period setting, the hairstyles, and the costumes are top-notch. There is much talk of going to Australia but the parents, if they are not cooking or drinking, all seem to be proud of the country they were born in and chose to stay on in, with young Archie getting the best line to encapsulate the sentiment: “The grass is not greener on the other side, it is greener where you water it.” The young actors share an easy camaraderie, no doubt from their off-screen workshops and readings, and perform with gusto. It is tempting to think of the movie as ‘The Students of the Year 2023’, but the movie has a bigger heart and definitely a bigger brain. And it is just as well that the characters played by the actors are Anglo-Indians, who are not particularly known for their ability to speak Hindi, because the accented Hindi is an embarrassment even by Bollywood’s standard.

Why Watch It: For its sweetness and light and pop culture references that are oh-so-smart

DhoothaentertainmentOTTShehar Lakhotstreaming businessThe Archies