Marriage is no doubt a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution. Azazel Jacobs’s The Lovers (2017), Do Aur Do Pyaar movie shows that marriages are not only about sharing a bed and a bedroom. It needs to have the zing which is missing in most modern day marriages. Probably the familiarity and the comfort of the relationship is so huge that couples start taking the relationship for granted. And that is where the down slide begins.

Marriages are never rosy. It’s mostly messy and that’s what make it challenging. Kavya (Vidya Balan) and Ani (Pratik Gandhi) are married for 12 years. They are not exactly unhappily married, but that mad, passionate love is not there anymore. So, they are looking for affection outside marriage. A relationship outside marriage that makes them feel alive and that partner outside marriage is not judging you for your looks, clumsiness or your personality. That partner outside marriage is finding your flaws to be attractive.

Often in marriages beyond a certain year, you stop engaging with each other, you lose interest and most importantly you don’t argue or fight with each other. Both of you are just like two pieces of furniture. Like Kavya (Vidya Balan) says in the film, “Why is that we don’t have fights like the way we used to do during our initial years of our relationship.” Very true, isn’t it? Relationships stay alive with fights and we often forget that. And again not always do you need to be faithful to each other. Shirsha Guha Thakurta’s feature debut 
Do Aur Do Pyaar
 tries to say that a certain element of adultery in a relationship is normal.

Do Aur Do Pyaar
 shows that for Kavya (Vidya Balan) and Ani (Pratik Gandhi) relationship all they talk about is the size of the garbage bags and allergy medicine. The relationship has gone monotonous and there isn’t any freshness in their conversation. Kavya finds happiness in her relationship with a handsome photographer who mostly works out of New York, but has decided to settle down with her in Bombay. The role is played by Sendhil Ramamurthy. While Ani feels alive in the arms of an aspiring actor Nora played by Ileana D’Cruz. Simple concept that happens in many urban households, but the way the film treats it is what makes it refreshing.

But the happiest part of the film is when Kavya and Ani make a trip to her hometown, Ooty, Tamil Nadu when Kavya’s grandfather expires. They revisit the beginning of their love from there. It kind of brings back nostalgic memories of their love story starting from the lamppost where they hit while riding a scooter to the retro-bar where they used to go for a drink and most importantly their favorite love songs.

The connection of food in films is kind of dying and it is great to see the new filmmaker showing the origin of Chicken65 and Begun posto (aborigines with poppy seed paste). The clash of cultures and the clash of two states (Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) is beautifully  depicted in Do Aur Do Pyaar.

Rating: 3 and half out of 5

5

Get ready for the “battle of the exes!”

The trailers, and even the official plot summary for Challengers is weirdly vague compared to what happens in the film. Even the official descriptions of the plot leave many desired details to be filled.

Guadagnino’s approach to the material manages to avoid the traps that many films regarding a love triangle fall into,  the main one being the annoyance. The film gives audiences just enough on the surface to most of Guadagnino’s filmography showcases his style of capturing the personal ambitions of young people, whether they are romantic or professional, and there is a striking balance between the two with Challengers.

The plot itself pretty much reads like a modern day adapation of William Shakespeare’s Lady Mcbeth.

Zendaya has spent the past decade laying down the foundation for her acting career, from her humble beginnings on the Disney channel to becoming a critical darling. Challengers shows that she is more than capable of being able to lead a high profile motion picture. She is intense, physical, cunning , and determined in her role as Tashi Duncan, and does not lose one ounce of steam from beginning to end.

What is nice about the film is how it manages to keep the viewer engaged. Even those who do not fancy films about love triangles will find themselves to be hypnotzed by the intense and entrapping

For all of the interesting aspects that this film has going for it, there are certain moments towards the end that feel padded out. With the stakes clearly established,

Could the characters of Challengers have had more depth? Sure. The elements that do make it work minute the flaws to make possibly one of the strongest films of the year so far. It may look like an innocent flower, but it be the serpent under it.

If you always thought your garden-variety heist movies could do with a bit more blood-sucking vampire, have we got a flick for you.

“Abigail,” featuring a 12-year-old tutu-wearing member of the undead, is way better than it should be, a gleeful genre-smashing romp through puddles of gore.

Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and producer Chad Villella — part of Radio Silence Productions — have cracked the modern horror code with such hits as “Ready or Not,” “Scream” and “Scream VI.” They do not disappoint with “Abigail,” even perhaps opening a new, bloody revenue stream. (And wait for the phone call scene, a nod to “Scream.”)

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“Abigail” starts with an odd assortment of mercenaries — played by “Scream” veteran Melissa Barrera, “Downton Abbey” star Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Kevin Durand, William Catlett and the late Angus Cloud.

The six — representing the muscle, sniper, computer expert, getaway driver, medic etc — are hired to kidnap a rich preteen (nicknamed “Tiny Dancer”) and hold her for ransom. The rules are: No names. No backstory. No grabass, which is a weird request, if we’re being honest. All this group needs to do is detain the target for 24 hours until rich dad pays $50 million in ransom.

Why are six professional underworld characters needed to snatch and detain a sweet preteen, still wearing her tutu? That’s easy: Not all of them are going to survive to claim their share of $7 million. That’s because Abigail (Alisha Weir, awesome, stay away from me, no seriously) is really into, well, neckwork.

“I’m sorry about what’s going to happen to you,” Abigail sweetly tells the kidnappers. We have some idea — and it’s going to be great. Suddenly, the rambling estate they’re holding her becomes a prison. The tables are turned.

The script written by Stephen Shields (“The Hole in the Ground”) and regular Radio Silence collaborator Guy Busick (“Ready or Not” and the “Scream” movies) — gleefully mines humor in the horror. Laughing a moment after a body fully explodes is normal here.

“This whole thing is a trip,” says one of the gang. Believe them. “Something doesn’t add up,” says another. Believe that guy, too.

Garlic, sunlight, spears and crucifixes are employed to try to stop Abigail, who has hijacked the heist movie and turned it into a run-for-your-life thriller. She’s a very smart 12-year-old who turns hardened mercenaries against each other.

Barrera, who had been so central to the life of the “Scream” franchise, shows why she’s so good at horror — funny, sarcastic, vulnerable, athletic, soulful and very convincing with a stake in her hand.

Stevens, who famously left the aristocratic “Downton Abbey” for better roles, may wonder what he’s doing here now, bathed in blood fighting a preteen vampire, but does an admirable job, definitely in on the camp.

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits