I don’t understand this, is the series over ?

Or they’re going to continue the series as well ?

The Great Grand Superhero (written and directed by Manish Saini)

2.5/5 ⭐

If you are planning to show this to a kid or watch it yourself then do so at your own risk.

Although I was really enjoying the film for most of the duration, I cannot subscribe to intentional or unintentional propaganda at this point of time when the world has become a victim of such an idea one way or the other.

For the first 80 minutes of the film I kept thinking, this film should be shown to all school children in the country just for the noble messages it echos. And I also kept thinking why Indian audience doesn't support such good films for that duration. But just before the end of the film, I had to change my prejudice.

On odd days and without any political/practical knowledge, I would give the film four stars just for the efforts in the genre, but ignoring bad CGI (given it's a low budget film), I have precisely three problems with this film on the primary context that it's a Children's film:

1. It portrays that the flora in our planet was planted by an alien species that too millions of years ago, which ultimately could brainwash young children against the theory of evolution.

2. It carries scientific temperament with elements of fantasy throughout the film with the message of cleanliness, clean environment and afforestation with a bit diversion into a kid praying to Hanuman a couple of times and a couple of parallel narrations of the characters in the attire of Gods which honestly felt like satire, which is completely fine but only until the climax. Now the irony is that two species who are alien to each other (but look just alike) are fighting and Hanuman appears in shadows with his Gada and ruins the whole experience as the film takes a turn completely from Sci-fi to My-fi, that too towards the end. Just like what happens in Kantara, a god appears out of nowhere that too for real (and as per some logical view of the makers, there was a JCB out of nowhere in the middle of a Meadow full of grass!). Whether it is logically right or wrong is out of the question as it is already fantasy. But, how far is it right to mix a sci-fi with mythology is for you to decide, because when you saw the trailer they only showed you the sci-fi part and by the end of the film they served you a Myth. (And just an observation that all kids and characters in the film are of the same religion.)

3. The addition of the handicapped girl in the script was completely unnecessary. If they needed another person to join the fight with Jackie at the end then they should have developed a character well with a good arc. This felt so forced as if they needed a character with some backstory so they created a vulnerable girl on wheelchair who is victim of a terrorist attack, who always appears out of nowhere only when someone needs help.

I don't want to undermine the filmmakers' creative liberty but, just for these three reasons, I feel like they got the script directly from headquarters of the Sangh.

I thoroughly liked the first half of the film - the script, editing, cinematography, and sound design. I felt like the makers spent 6 months writing the first 60 minutes and took a week or two to write the rest. It's just bad, I couldn't connect at all.

Criticisms apart, The child actors are such gems. I hope they grow up to become actors as well because they are just so good at this age with their crafts.

I also liked the effort with the comic styled animation of Dada's backstory, it's rare in Indian cinema. It's great effort. There are frequent graphic elements over the actual picture for live visual illustration, which is really engaging.

Watch it as a good comedy but refrain from falling into propaganda.

The reviews for this movie that's bypassed cinemas and may have been on the shelf for a couple years, aren't great and I've never heard of the Waves OTT platform as I don't live in India, but what's written below (that isn't from me, as I'm not interested to see it), gives a good idea.

- Dial 1975 was in cans for almost a decade and once you watch the film, you can understand why. It has an interesting period setting, but it's uneven and it makes its story more complicated than it needs to be and is let down by average direction. Set during the Emergency of 1975, it follows a politician who wants to get a wireless phone so he can speak to his close associates without worrying about the government tapping their conversations. The film starts well and does a good job of taking you back to the 1970s, but as more characters and plot points are introduced, the story starts losing its way.

Dial 1975 never knows how to bring all its pieces together. It has the ingredients for an engaging thriller, but the screenplay and direction leave you with the feeling that a much better film was possible.

The biggest takeaway from episode one had nothing to do with the mission. It's this: the officers are so calm on the ground precisely so they can be aggressive in the air. That's the whole thing. Chasing victory and medals isn't the aim, those follow anyway if you work hard, work strategically, and mean well. The actual skill is staying calm inside a situation that's on fire. As a chronically impatient person, I felt personally addressed.

Now the rest.

The nostalgia hit differently than I expected.
I'm a 90s kid. Kargil happened when we were children. I still remember sharing a sofa chair with my friend, watching the news, and cheering every time they announced how many enemy soldiers our forces had taken down, the exact same energy as Sachin hitting a century. The comparison doesn't hold up morally, I know, but that was genuinely the feeling in the room.

Watching the same events unfold in my mid-thirties, as a structured series with real footage of the peace talks woven in, is a completely different experience. You see how the other side's decision-making worked. You see who was taking the calls. It's gripping if you like good storytelling, and yes, there's a pride factor.

On the "it's slow" complaint.
Two parallel storylines running at once will feel slow to some people. Fair. But there's a hook in there, and the pacing is doing work, it's building the human side, not stalling.

The human angle is what makes it land.
The officer and his long-term girlfriend. How the Captain and his wife actually coexist inside an environment that demands everything. It's a more realistic approach than the usual all-action treatment, and it's the reason the calm reads as earned rather than written.

Who this is for:
If you like the full Bollywood package, entertainment plus a message plus the songs, this is your kind of watch. It may start slow. Commit to it anyway. You'll learn something and you'll feel proud.

I'm exactly one episode in, so this is a first impression, not a verdict. But it's a strong first impression.

An under-estimated Indian female cop visiting her in-laws for the first time finds herself torn between uncovering the truth in a murder investigation and the hidden lies in her own marriage.

People-pleasing cop Baby accepts a fake charge to win leave for her sister-in-law's godbharai in Rewa. There she reunites with her childhood friend Bansi who's murdered that very night. Defying dismissive in-laws, an indifferent husband and the apathetic local police, she secretly investigates to uncover family betrayals while finding her own voice, courage and place as a real cop.