Change Your Image
tjaswal
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Foundation (2021)
The only thing common with Asimov's work is the name
Here's a note to the showrunner. If you wanted to write your own science fiction, you should have had the guts to do so. Instead, you have taken the most seminal work in science fiction, and murdered it in the guise of adapting it to screen.
Asimov's Foundation series blows your mind away, even after 70 years since it was written. The showrunners of the TV series pretend to bring it to screen, but instead write their own story using some of the character's names in the books. And frankly they are not as good storytellers as Asimov.
The basic constructs of the Foundation universe are destroyed in the TV show, for no reason at all. They don't even move the narrative forward - assuming that there is one in the first place.
Asimov's Foundation universe is rigorously based on science and logic. This show has some weird fantasy stuff doing on. Minor characters in the books are leads here. Events are imagined out of thin air. And the story - it is more of a daytime soap opera than it is the mindblowing narrative of the books.
In Foundation, psychohistory is the protagonist. Here, it is a curiosity which is not delved into at all. The Cleonic dynasty is a complete distraction from the essence of the psychohistoric predictions.
Asimov's robots can't kill. Their reason for being is to serve humanity. Here, we have a killer robot which casually kills for no apparent reason.
Demerzel or Daneel was a hero which brought the Robotic universe and the Foundation universe together in service of humanity. Here, it serves the Cleon dynasty.
Seldon's appearances were recordings released during a Seldon crises as predicted by psychohistory. Here, Seldon has converted to a ghost which has full two-way conversations with the characters.
The discovery of the location of the Second Foundation was the whole point of the books. Here, it is thrown as a casual fact - and it is wrong by the way.
I can go on and on. It is not the Foundation story. And had they not taken the name and the characters, it would have been a mediocre SF show. But they took the name, and that's why it is a travesty.
A Suitable Boy (2020)
Surprisingly good
I am a bit shocked to see the poor overall rating of this show. I think a lot of people are rating based on their expectations of having read the book. Some have no clue - thinking that the show is set in the 80s!
Anyway, to someone not coloured by the 1000 page book, this is a truly enjoyable albeit slow watch. The pace of storytelling is gentle, yet engaging. You are rooting for the protagonist at all times, hoping she will make the right decision. The other strands of the plot are well fleshed out, and the acting is great, once you get over most of the characters speaking to each other in English. I am truly impressed with Ishan Khattar and Ram Kapoor, who have lived in the skin of their characters and have inhabited them well. Tabu of course is brilliant as usual.
Definitely a must watch - if you are for period dramas. Gives you a glimpse of the lives of upper class Indians just after independence.
Chhapaak (2020)
Great storyline, excellently directed and acted
Do Not believe the 1-star ratings you see here. The movie is actually very good and definitely worth a watch. Unlike Deepika's last outing in Padmavat, here she has the chance to really get inside the skin of the character and give a masterclass performance. Kudos!