Okkadine

Okkadine
2013
3/5 stars

Shailaja (Nithya Menon), daughter of famed philanthropist Shivaji Rao (Sai Kumar), returns home from abroad.  She takes a trip to a retreat, where she meets Surya (Nara Rohit) and his household.  She falls in love with the kind family, and eventually with Surya as well.  However, murder and revenge stand in the way of happiness.

(Cast also includes Nagendra Babu;  Rachana Maurya stars in an item number.)

Rohit and Menon

The plot is involved, and isn't always logical, but is still intriguing; there is a particularly good cliff-hanger at the intermission.  While the characters are sometimes excessively emotional, the acting is generally good all around, with the leads being particularly unaffected. It was refreshing to see these two appealing principals look attractive in a natural, unsophisticated fashion.  The musical numbers are average and below.  Due to the music and the, at times, irrational story, I can only give the film three stars; however, I certainly got five stars worth of enjoyment out of it.



(This movie is available with Amazon Prime.)

Kalank

Kalank
( translates as "stigma" or "blemish")
2019
3/5 stars

In Lahore, in 1946: Satya (Sonakshi Sinha), knowing she is to die soon, persuades a reluctant Roop (Alia Bhatt) to become a second wife to her husband, Dev (Aditya Roy Kapur) so that he won't be alone at Satya's death.  Petulantly, Roop insists on taking singing lessons from Bahaar Begum (Madhuri Dixit), despite being initially forbidden to enter that part of the city by her father-in-law (Sanjay Dutt).  While there, Roop meets a womanizing blacksmith, Zafar (Varun Dhawan), and falls in love with him, a situation that leads to disastrous results.
(Kiara Advani, Achint Kaur, and Kunal Khemu also have prominent roles.)

The six main actors gave mostly natural performances, with good chemistry throughout.  Dixit was especially convincing, but Bhatt was stiff at times.  This movie is visually stunning: costumes, sets, choreography, cinematography, and even the actors themselves.  The songs are generally good, with exceptional incidental and atmospheric music.

The basic story, while mostly predictable, is strong but there are plot holes that weaken it, and unneeded scenes (the bull fight in particular) that seem to be there just to add minutes.  In addition, the action is interrupted from time to time by an unnecessary interview scene taking place with Roop ten years later.  This breaks the mood and why it was included is baffling.  Despite these negatives, it is worth watching for the visual spectacle alone.

Dutt, Dixit, Dhawan, Bhatt, Kapoor, Sinha