OTT Watch: Lots of Hungama, fake marriages & ode to young love

There is enough Hungama this weekend as Priyadarshan’s comedy drama releases this weekend. Priyadarshan, who has a flair for creating rib-tickling, mad capers laughed all the way to the bank with hit Hindi films like ‘Bhool Bhulaiya’, ‘Hera Pheri’, ‘Hulchul’ and ‘Bhagam Bhaag’.

Priyadarshan also made a very successful Hindi remake of his own 1984 Malayalam comedy film ‘Poochakkoru Mookkuthi’ in 2003. Titled ‘Hungama’, it had Paresh Rawal, Akshaye Khanna, Aftab Shivdasani, Paresh Rawal, Rimi Sen, in lead roles and tells the tale of a young girl who poses as a rich man’s daughter to keep her job and the comedy of errors that stems from her deceit.

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The film was a laugh riot and was a commercial hit. Priyadarshan, who began his career in Malayalam cinema in the early 80s, and credited with helming entertaining comedies decided to make another comedy because of the “scarcity of humorous films”.

“This is my genre, what I am accepted by the Hindi film fraternity and the audience. Whenever I have tried humour, almost 90 per cent of the time I have worked. So I thought to try it again,” he said in an interview. ‘Hungama 2’ is based on his 1994 romantic comedy ‘Minnaram’, and the idea to do was given to him by none other than superstar Mammootty himself, who had wondered why the director had never made a remake of the Malayalam film. ‘Hungama 2’, which releases on Disney+Hostar this weekend, promises some gags and for Shilpa Shetty recreating her sensational hit number, ‘Churake dil mera…’

Also read: OTT Watch: Thaen journey, salute to Satyajit Ray & cross-border love

Not 7 but 14 phere at a wedding? 

After a complicated murder mystery, ‘Haseen Dillruba’, Bollywood actor, Vikrant Massey appears in what seems like a comic caper cum family drama –’14 Phere’ premiering on Zee5. Cast opposite Kriti Kharbanda, he’s no diabolical husband this time but plays a light-hearted character. Sanjay (Vikrant Massey) and Aditi (Kriti Kharbanda) meet in college, fall in love and start living in together.

They want to marry but Aditi’s father is hell-bent against love marriages, while Sanjay’s dad won’t agree to an inter-caste union. Sanjay and Aditi come up with an unconventional solution to solve the problem or the writers of the film have stretched their imagination to come up with entertainment Bollywood style.

So, instead of one, they decide to have two weddings with fake parents and get the help of ‘Delhi ki Meryl Streep’ Gauahar Khan, who plays Massey’s ‘not-real mother’. Massey ostensibly fell in love with the script immediately, while Kriti was impressed by the “kickass script” to sign on the dotted line.

Interestingly, ‘Mirzapur’s’ Vikrant Massey’s career seems to be on an upward trajectory. His future projects include Shah Rukh Khan’s home production movie ‘Love Hostel’, which is a Hindi remake of Malayalam film ‘Forensic’ and Santosh Sivan-directed action-thriller ‘Mumbaikar’.

Ode to Young Love

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Netflix cannot have enough of anthologies. ‘Feels Like Ishq’ drops on the platform this weekend, and it is an anthology series of six short films directed by different directors, showcasing stories of people from different walks of life. It is stories of young love and the heartaches that come along with it. There is love, grief, loss, and laughter, as the characters begin to understand what exactly love means to them.

There is more love in another Netflix offering this weekend. Called ‘The Last letter from your lover’, this English film is about a journalist who sets out to solve the mystery of a secret affair, after she finds a trove of love letters from the 1960s. It is an adaptation of a novel by Jojo Moyes.

Murder in the Hills

What’s OTT without murder and gore? Darjeeling is the setting of this Bengali crime drama, ‘Murder in the Hills’ directed by Anjan Dutta. A famous Bengali star is murdered and an investigative journalist is on the murderer’s trail. Dutta told the Telegraph that the film is an extremely dark story filled with very complex characters, who are all contemporary and young. “It’s violent, reeking in secrets, lies and scandals. The hills become very murky… where blood is shed and the violence of the past catch up with the present,” he said. This film is streaming on Hoichoi channel.