Of course, the picture is a spoiler – yes, we did see Fighter on Sunday – to be more precise, it was one of the 3 movies Ajey and I ended up watching on Sunday. Definitely not the norm for us, and definitely not planned – and but as you will see through the sequence of events I’m about to explain, it all made perfect sense!! Ever since the previews came out, we knew we wanted to go see Fighter in the theatre – in fact, Manasi wanted to see it so badly, she asked us to come to Champaign on Saturday so we could watch together. And if she hadn’t had a ton of homework, we would have seen the movie on Saturday, and that would have been the end of the story – but no movie, we spent a perfectly nice afternoon with her and then drove back home. Next morning, V calls and asks if we want to go – and really, this is the 2nd and probably last weekend it’s playing at AMC – it’s either today or wait for streaming – so although we did felt guilty about going without Manasi, we decided to go!

So is it worth the hype? Well, to be honest, the kind of form Hrithik is in – I would have happily watched 3 hours of just him slo-mo walking towards the camera! Seriously, that could have been the entire film – so don’t be expecting an objective review from me here!! There’s the obvious Top Gun vibes – the ‘maverick’ ace pilot who’s misunderstood, a motley crew that bonds into a team – replace soccer on the beach with snowball fights and campfires!, an impossible mission, overhyped alpha-masculinity, and a lot of aerial stunts, spectacular dogfights and breathtaking feats of flying!! Add a healthy dose of Bollywood tadka – a snarling evil bad-man complete with a single freaky bloodshot eye, the good Indian Muslim – who will at some point in the film most certainly quote the Koran at the misguided terrorists, the bumbling Sardar to provide the comic relief, the best friend with the noble sacrifice, stunningly beautiful dream sequence songs on the beach, the disgrace and redemption arc for our hero, and of course, the rah-rah patriotism that is the hallmark for such war-based films!

Surprisingly, the most disappointing part of the film was Deepika – well, her role, to be more precise. Like Hrithik, Deepika herself is incandescent – her presence lighting up the screen. Whether in a flight suit, or cavorting in the surf – she holds her own – but the script lets her down. She provides the love interest, of course, and is also the platform for the film’s not-so-subtle ‘women can soar’ message – but would have loved to see her in some combat scenes, or even making decisions and providing direction for the team! The veteran Anil Kapoor holds it all together with yet another stellar, age-defying performance – can you believe he’s almost 70??!! The biggest flaw, in my opinion, was that the bad guy didn’t really inspire the gut-wrenching hate and fear to be a worthy adversary – considering he’s the leader of Jaish, I would have expected someone more cold and calculating – someone with not so obvious bogey-man vibes – I feel that would have been far more chilling. Bottom line? Definitely worth a watch!!

On the way home from the movie, we had to stop by the Indian store to pick up samosas – you know, that movie experience is definitely incomplete without samosas during the interval. Popcorn? – meh!! But samosas and movies – totally the perfect, unbeatable combination!! At this point, we thought we were done for the day – but the rest of the evening played out quite in an unexpected manner! After almost 3 hours of inactivity, a workout at the gym seemed like a good choice. Except – what do you need at the gym? Yes, entertainment! In the last couple of weeks, having exhausted (binge-watched) all my favorite TV series, I’ve turned to old Hindi movies. They’re predictable and mindless – just the thing for the gym! Favorites like DDLJ, Maine Pyar Kiya, even Daag have found their way to my playlist. I’m quite content to watch these an hour at a time, only at the gym. The selection bar is quite low – it’s usually the next one recommended by Prime – so it was quite by chance that this Sunday’s gym movie was Talaash.

Talaash – a Mumbai cop (Aamir Khan) investigates a string of unexplained deaths, while fighting his own personal demons. It definitely is an exceptionally well-made thriller – perfect casting, fantastic soundtrack, a solid script. What completely draws you in, however, is the tragedy at the heart of this story. Totally the reason I couldn’t leave this unfinished, and kept watching after the gym, through dinner until the end. The cop and his wife lose their only son to a freak accidental drowning – and the aftermath, guilt and trauma is the driving force of this film. It is the ultimate nightmare for every parent, and the fallout is so sensitively depicted here. Especially that one scene where Aamir Khan, unable to sleep, keeps replaying that fateful afternoon in his head, each time a different choice made, each time a happier outcome – man, that hits hard! There’s somewhat of an absolution for the parents at the end of the film – but I was still heartbroken at the end, a complete emotional wreck!

Never going to be able to sleep after that – absolutely need a palate cleanser, a detox of sorts! Usually, our go to for this kind of nightcap TV is standup or a clip from the absurd, yet hilarious, Maharashtrachi Hasya Jatra. Today, Ajey chose ‘Air’ – again, the plan is to watch 10-15 minutes, and then head off to bed. You’ve heard of Air, right? – the story of how a rookie Michael Jordan signed up with Nike, the collaboration leading to the creation of Air Jordan and history!! An absolutely riveting watch!! Matt Damon, Ben Affleck are fantastic and Viola Davis completely steals the show!! It is a behind-the-scenes peek at some of the wheelings and dealings in the multi-billion sports industry, and some absolute gems of information! Like, did you know that the co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight, wanted to call the company Dimension 6? And’Nike’ was chosen because the public likes four-letter words?!! This one for sure, is an absolute must watch, and it’s playing on Prime!!

So that’s our 3-movie Sunday – totally different genres, each one good in a different way! I’ll be the first one to admit that Ajey and I watch way too much TV – I’m sure far more than most adults our age – but this was a record even for us!! Reminded me of the good old days when we would scape and scrounge, beg and borrow to rent a VCR and 3 movies during summer holidays – and settle in for an all-night movie marathon!! Sure, as newly minted empty-nesters, we do find ourselves with a itty-bitty surplus of time – but we’re most definitely not making a habit of this movie-bingeing!! Always open for recommendations, though – what have you been watching recently?