Cast: Mélanie Thierry (Anna Habert). Souheila Yacoub (Sarya Dogan). James Krishna Floyd (Nasser Yassin). Dean Ridge (Paul Wilkins). Leo Hatton (Ellie Gordon). Zed Josef (Jake Al-Shami). Tasnim Cheham (Nisrine Dakka). Thibaut Evrard (Maximilien Weiser).
Plot: Anna rescues a 12 year old girl Nisrine from being sold as a sex slave. Nasser is still being pressured by Anna to get information on the ISIS and but Paul shoots her dead. Sarya is back from France after recovering from her life threatening wounds. Max, a French journalist wonders, how she was airlifted to France , since he has heard rumors of a French woman code named Shamaran working for the all female YPJ military unit. Ellie, a student counsellor in Lubbock, Texas, sees a video of a masked jihadi with a strong Texan accent and is sure that it is her much younger former student Jake, with whom she had an intense affair. She gets in touch with Jake who instructs her how to come to Raqqa to be with him forever…
The disparate strands of the story are superbly and deftly woven together neatly into episodes which usually show how the entire ISIS operations affect everyone and has long term consequences. Since Anna is shot dead by Paul, Nasser and he grow distant , though not at loggerheads. Nasser moves to the oil production unit, so that he can get information about how the oil money is moved around and get closer to the “money man” Jake. Nisrine, whose mother taught her French, wants to avenge her mother being sold into ISIS through a contractor.
The proceedings appear too complicated at first but are absolutely absorbing and ultimately disturbing to watch, especially the ISIS scenes. Elle is so madly in love with her student that she betrays the FBI team who want to apprehend him and reaches Raqqa to be with her Jake. At first , she is shocked at the instant justice doled out to homosexuals, pedophiles, and anyone who doesn’t agree with the ISIS way of life – being thrown alive from a building’s roof. Later she proves to be the perfect ISIS bride, even betraying one of the runaway women , to be sold as a slave. Her brainwashing is complete and these scenes are really disturbing.
The crisscross plot keeps moving at a blistering pace and yet we know all the strands that are in play. Paul’s brainwashing is also complete; he doesn’t want anything to do with the West and is now a complete ISIS acolyte, even ready to betray his childhood friend Nasser.
There is enough material here to keep us absorbed over the eight riveting and disturbing episodes (there is actually a warning before each episode about disturbing scenes). The oil extraction through very primitive and crude methods is shown fairly realistically.
There are some major goofs too – like women being allowed out alone without accompanying men. Usually this was not allowed with the all female al Khansa brigade questioning such lone women; in real life such lone women would have been immediately flogged or executed. Also the characters look too fresh and well bathed ; continuous field operations without any bathing or cleaning facilities would mean that they would all have been very dirty and filthy.
All these goofs can be overlooked as this fictional story is set around two incredibly disturbing realities of recent history that is only a decade old – the ISIS treating women as things to be sold and the all female YPJ taking up arms to fight them head on.
Overall a superb , disturbing view of recent historical events that pulls no punches
https://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.png00Rammeshhttps://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.pngRammesh2026-09-27 11:06:562026-09-27 12:43:08No Man’s Land – Season 2(2025) – Intense
Subject:The MiG-21’s retirement from the Indian Air Force in September 26, 2025
Its not every day that such a momentous and truly historic event happens and is celebrated publicly. There have been many planes before in the Indian Air Force/ Armed Forces history but none of them have been the subject of a documentary and that too by Netflix. Hunter, Sukhoi Su7, Canberra, Sea Hawk, Sea Harrier and many more were retired in ceremonies where only the service personnel were present . Since the giant Tupolev Tu-142 was replaced by the Boeing P-8I , it was a strictly Indian Navy event with very few outsiders allowed and there are very few clips available .
But none of them are subject of a full length movie/ documentary.
Background history of the MiG-21: The Mikoyan Gurevich (the name of the two lead designers of the MiG design bureau) MiG-21 was a product of the late 1950s thinking of catching high flying (30,000 feet + ) American bombers and shooting them down. Since it was all a matter of time to intercept, the plane had to be fast , fast , fast. Thus came the delta wing design which , as with any design, has both advantages and disadvantages; the main disadvantage were the high speeds of takeoff and landing. But it did the job and quickly at that. The 1950s thinking was that a plane could fire missiles at stand off ranges and shoot down an intruding bomber. It was NOT designed to be a dogfighter that would go against another fighter. The Americans too had similar delta wing designs for the US Air Force, the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and the Convair F-106 Delta Dart, both of which served – unsurprisingly – as pure interceptors, intercepting Soviet Tu95 bombers which ‘tickled’ American radars into operation, thus enabling them to record the radar signature for future (conflicts , if that happened). The French delta design was the famous Mirage III which found fame against MiGs in the Middle East Wars (see below).
Operation Diamond and bad reputation: The Americans badly wanted a MiG-21 in their kitty so that they could study its weaknesses and take suitable counter measures. They sent the word out and lo and behold, they had a MiG-21 with them. Israel’s Mossad’s Operation Diamond persuaded an Iraqi Christian pilot to defect to Israel, in return for asylum for him and his family . The full details are available at this wiki linkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Diamond. Steal the Sky is a 1988 film on this operation , though it shows a MiG-17 instead of a MiG-21 .
The Israelis flew the plane on their Independence Day , painting it in a primal red color and giving it a cheeky and infamous serial number ,007. (Wiki link shows the same picture). The Israelis and Americans dismissed the plane as a supersonic sports carand thanks to “bad handling” by the Arab pilots during the 1967 Six Day war, shot down many in air to air combat, with many further destroyed in the waves of attacks on airfields. (Those interested can check out videos on this topic by a You Tuber Showtime 112). It is however the post WW2 combat aircraft that was the most manufactured at 10,000+ units. Here’s a link from April 2026 that mentions some of these facts https://migflug.com/afterburner/the-mig-21-10000-built-60-countries-still-flying/
The US secret program Constant Peg: Despite their dismissal of the MiG-21 as a supersonic sports car, such was the US obsession with MiGs that they actually used real MiGs in a secret program called Constant Peg ; This was where MiG-15s, MiG-17s, MiG-19s, MiG-21s were actually bought secretly from various countries and used to train American fighter pilots. If that sounds weird and unbelievable, the above link on Constant Peg and the below photos of MiG-21s in US Air Force markings, in formation with US Navy F-14s should disprove this (and these pics are at least 15 – 20 years old._
India’s use: India actually wanted the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter . often dubbed missile with a man , due to its sleek design, but thanks to Cold War politics, ended up buying the MiG-21. There were just 10 MiG-21s in the 1965 war , 3 of which were destroyed on the ground by Pakistani attacks. Mostly they ended up doing CAP (Combat Air Patrol) – wasteful but essential duty of orbiting over a select area , ready to shoot down any intruding enemy planes. By the 1971 war, license manufacturing of the MiG-21 was well under way and it proved its worth very well , though sadly this was not trumpeted from the rooftops unlike Pakistan, which continued to share fabricated stories of Indian planes being shot down in droves.
MiG-21 in Indian Air Force combat use: The moment of truth arrived in the 1971 war in the Jamnagar sector when two MiG-21s met its contemporary adversary, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. The MiG-21s fired their missiles which missed , since most first generation air to air missiles were notoriously prone to failure. Though the Russians had supplied some gun packs and refused to take any more ownership saying that the MiG-21 was not a gunfighter, the Indian Air Force proved that the spirit of “positive jugaad” prevailed, resulting in shooting down the intruding F-104 off the Jamnagar coast, with guns. Here’s an excellent link from the superb Website on Indian Armed Forces Bharat-Rakshak . Sadly this incident is NOT COVERED in detail in this documentary which gives more focus on the Eastern Sector, where the MiG-21s were mostly used for ground attacks. It was a MiG-21 bombing attack that finally persuaded the Governor of East Pakistan to resign and within a day, the Pakistani Army surrendered.
By the time of the 1999 Kargil war, the IAF was operating the last variant of the MiG-21, the MiG-21 bis. While many aircraft types were involved in Operation Safed Sagar, the MiG-21 once again proved that it was a true multi role aircraft as it did photo recce, ground attack and CAP.
In the Balakot operations, a “2nd generation” MiG-21 supposedly shot down a “4th generation” F-16 and this is shown in the documentary as “Falcon Slayer”. Like all Indo-Pak war claims, this one is also highly debatable, as each side gives contradictory information about what happened. Since the truth about the 1965 and 1971 Indo Pak wars are available only now, after 50 to 60 years, we suppose we will have have to wait another 50 years for the truth to emerge about the claim of a F-16 shoot down by a MiG-21 :)
As an aside. it is worth mentioning that during the Vietnam war, the USAF F-4 Phantom pilots often complained that they didn’t get an opportunity to dogfight the MiG-21 , despite the F-4’s much “superior” technology and the MiG-21’s “inferior technology”. One pilot supposedly said “the Vietnamese MiG-21s could come screaming out of the sun, make a firing pass, disengage and vanish”. Only fools would argue that this was “not right”; tactically it was the perfect thing to do since the Vietnamese had very limited number of MiGs. (During WW2, many German aces who had more than 200 kills used the same tactic of one firing pass and then scoot away, most notably ace of aces Erich Hartmann, with 352 air to air kills). The Vietnamese MiGs however fell prey to a ruse codenamed Operation Bolo, where the MiG-21s were lured into the air combat by F-4 Phantoms mimicking signals, flight paths, code names of the F-105 bombers and were shot down.
Bad reputation : This is tackled in some length in the documentary. After the end of the Cold war and the breakup of the Soviet Union, with many factories in the newly independent republics, a desperately broke Russia demanded hard cash for the spares at four or even five times the going price. Accordingly , alternative sources from the former Eastern Bloc countries and the new republics, were thought to be a lucrative source for spares. Some reports suggest that these spares were often defective and of low quality, resulting in the MiG-21’s reputation in the Indian press and public consciousness, as flying coffins/ widow maker, and so on. Just one such link (among many) is included here https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-buying-faulty-mig-parts-russia/articleshow/20395007.cms This aspect, namely the MiG-21 is NOT a flying coffin, is covered in depth in the documentary, with many veteran officers pooh poohing the irresponsible press reports. As with most such things the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. Rang de Basanti , the hit 2006 film , also made it, the core idea of the story since the somewhat unfocused, “vagabond” characters band together, to ‘avenge’ the death of their MiG-21 pilot friend, who loses his life due to “corruption in the system of buying low quality spares”.
Except for Operation Diamond, the 1971 combat operations, Vietnamese use, many of the above mentioned facts are covered well in-depth in the documentary. The picture that emerges is of a plane, a powerful beast, that once tamed , can be and proved to be a benign plane . One of its champions Air Commodore (Retd.) S.S.Tyagi who logged a record 4003 hours on the MiG-21, is almost in tears when he says he would love to fly the plane again. Here’s a lovely tribute to both the man and the plane in Anchit Gupta’s superb page on the Indian Air Force
Verdict :Military nerds, like yours truly, simply love this film as its one of the rare Indian documentaries WITHOUT any jingoism and shows the man-machine interactions in detail than any jingoistic trumpeting However even the layman can watch it as most of the talking is done by the people who flew and maintained it ,both air and ground crew, which shows a picture of their enduring love for a much maligned beast of warplane.
https://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.png00Rammeshhttps://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.pngRammesh2026-09-20 11:17:552026-09-20 14:17:06The Last Salute (2026); a love letter to the MiG-21 – Heartfelt tribute
Cast: Matt Damon (Odysseus). Tom Holland (Telemachus). Anne Hathaway (Penelope). Robert Pattinson (Antinous). Lupita Nyong’ (Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra). John Leguizamo (Eumaeus). Samantha Morton (Circe). Zendaya (Athena). Charlize Theron (Calypso).
Plot: Queen Penelope of Ithaca waits for her husband Odysseus who is presumed lost and dead, after going to war and on a voyage. Many unruly suitors gather daily to ask her hand in marriage while her young son Telemachus, who is not of age and cannot assume the throne, watches with increasing revulsion and anger. The blind slave Eumaneus is convinced that Odysseus is alive as Argus, Odysseus’s very sick hunting dog, is unusually alive for twenty years, long past a dog’s usual life span. Odysseus is in an island with a beautiful woman Calypso with whose help he is trying to remember his past, who he was, what happened to him and what happened to ‘his men’ as he is sure he commanded a ship with many sailors…
Statutory Declarations:
I haven’t read Homer’s Odyssey. So, I do not know the “original” story and cannot “compare” the film with the original story.
I only have a vague idea that Odysseus went on a journey, had multiple adventures and finally came back to his kingdom.
An entire industry has started about what was there in Homer’s Odyssey and how Nolan has messed it up.
I approached it as a film comparable to our Indian epics.
Given this background, I saw a story of ancient civilizations, queens, kings, treachery, monsters, ghouls, spirits, witches and what not. And I ENJOYED IT IMMENSELY since I didn’t have material to compare with and pick holes in the story as to “nah – that’s not correct; this is not what happened; this is too filmy; etc “. While watching the film (twice), I was mentally comparing with other cinematic epics like Spartacus, The Ten Commandments, etc and our own two great epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, as the sensibilities are somewhat similar. Film critics, ancient historians, bloggers, and anyone with a keyboard, have said that the “soul” of the story had been destroyed by Nolan due to an over emphasis on Odysseus and his guilt of his dead soldiers, lending a “modern” politically correct sensibility and thus supposedly “destroying” the core of the original story. In my view, this “modern sensibility” is what probably appeals to many viewers. A commander cant send his troops into battle without feeling sorry about the deaths, especially when his decisions prove fatal to many of his troops . (WW2 nerdy data : many British generals of WW2 who fought as young men in WW1, generally were extremely cautious in offensive operations, lest it end up as a WW1 style mass massacre).
But thats digressing. Lets look at the core story.
A King in exile trying to piece together his past. A queen pining for her husband who may or may not be dead. A blind loyal slave (Leguizamo is brilliant as Eumaeus). Multiple journeys with many adventures of meeting evil monsters, giants, unusual ghouls, etc. Actions and its consequences – somewhat like the karmic sensibilities of the Mahabharata. War and its consequences. A blind belief in the “Laws of Zeus” which once broken, has all round negative consequences. In fact I feel the film is one large story about action and consequences.
As for the overall narration, it is done in the typical non linear choppy back and forth style for which Nolan is famous (or notorious as might be the viewpoint). Starting with Ithaca, the gift of the wooden horse to Troy, jumping to Odysseus and Calypso, then years before with a young Odysseus, Trojan war – this back and forth narration can leave one confused but his strong screenwriting doesn’t falter and the threads are absolutely intact so much that someone – and that includes most of the lay film lovers/ film goers – who don’t know anything about Homer’s Odyssey, and haven’t read a word about the story, can easily follow what is happening , all the way to the final conclusion when Odysseus returns from his involuntary exile , back to Ithaca, reclaim his throne and fend off the unruly turned evil suitors led by Antinous.
The first time I saw it on Imax at Inorbit Mall, Malad and didn’t really feel anything different about the Imax factor ; googling produced the result that this was actually a “LieMax”. The second time I saw it at PVR Palladium, Lower Parel (with my wife) and this time the 70 mm sweep of the story was visible along with the crisp clarity of prints. The various locations serve brilliantly for the various scenes.
This is easily one of the most passionately done epics in recent if not all times.
Script – 5 out of 5
Story – 5 out of 5
Direction – 5 out of 5
Photography – 5 out of 5
Total – 5 out of 5
A special rating for Passion for Film – 6 out of 5 😊
PS: MY wife simply LOVED IT .
4 responses to “The Odyssey (2026) – BRILLIANT EPIC”
You are hereby encouraged to get additional input into all your reviews! For whether it is that of Mrs. KVR, or Penelope or Athena or Calypso or sometimes even the dangerous Circe, a woman’s instinct is usually infallible!
Your review is spot on, as usual. Learned something new today – there is a format called ‘LieMax’; (what a name!)
Not much to add to your review.. just a few random points.
1
My experience shared with a few friends: seeing it the first time (3 hour film) was difficult; for the second-time I did a brief bit of prep-homework: read a summary of the epic. So, enjoyed/understood the film much more and it did not feel as long.
2
As expected, the film has entered the ‘Billion Dollar Club’.
3
One small puzzle – unless I did not hear the words right, the use (two times) of the F-word and once the S-word seemed out of place.
4
Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattison are having quite the season this year.. a couple of films released and more coming.
5
As is now widely-known, the official poster of the film was not on Matt Damon, but a body-double, Canadian stuntwoman Devlyn Dalton.
Forced Perspective: Standing at 4 feet 6 inches (137 cm), Dalton helped create the optical illusion of towering giants when paired with seven-foot tall stuntmen.
The Famous Biceps: Matt Damon publicly praised Dalton’s physique, stating she had “the greatest arms I’ve ever seen”. Her muscular arms are prominently featured both on screen and in the movie’s official poster.
6
So much of the film is a reminder of our own Indian epics: the breaking of the bow…. Exile…. superhuman gods and monsters…. eventual victory of good over evil….
7
Lastly, a good occasion to revisit Tennyson famous poem:
(the Latinized name of Odysseus)
Cast: Kirk Douglas (Spartacus). Laurence Olivier (Crassus). Jean Simmons (Varinia). Charles Laughton (Gracchus). Peter Ustinov (Batiatus). Tony Curtis (Antoninus). John Dall (Marcus Publius Glabrus)
Plot: Sold as a slave, the ever rebellious Spartacus is bought from a rural salt mine owner by trader Batitutus and sold for gladiator combat where one gladiator fights another to death. Varinia is offered to him for his pleasure but he refuses. Soon they get attracted to each other. Spartacus is called into the gladiator ring to amuse Crassus, Marcus and their female companions. Spartacus’s opponent refused to kill him and instead tries to kill Gracchus and is instead killed. Soon all the slaves being trained as gladiators revolt and march on Rome. None of them are educated . Antonius, Crassus’s slave also escapes and acts as the translator of documents. Spartacus defeats the Roman Army of Marcus who is released back to face Roman senators led by Grachus who wants to promote a new leader Julius Caesar. The war against the slaves is on …
Wikipedia has a fairly decent link on the overall story of Spartacus and his role in The Third Servile War aka The Gladiator war, which was the third and the last of the rebellions that threatened the Roman Empire. His role in the revolt, and how it all ended was later written by Plutarch based on accounts. Given these accounts were not immediate, there is surely some possible embellishment. This is what provides wonderful cinematic material: a charismatic leader, the thirst and hunger to be free than be a slave and finally a rebellion that is surely doomed. Thousands of years later, Napoleon Bonaparte proved this, with his statement “God is on the side of the big battalions”.
The film has also many back stories that can itself provide material for another film, say, Spartacus rising – the making of Spartacus (or an equally mundane title). In the 2015 film Trumbo (played brilliantly by Bryan Cranston), there is a section where Kirk Douglas meets Dalton Trumbo and says that Trumbo will be credited for the screenplay. This was a huge risk given that the Cold War was turning colder, and the depredations of the McCarthy/ HUAC hearings were still being felt with “Reds under Beds” attitudes still prevalent everywhere. (Cinephiles know that Dalton Trumbo wrote the Oscar winning screenplay of A Roman Holiday where he was uncredited). Trumbo alluded to his internal beliefs and inner strength of characters in the scene where Crassus asks the slaves to give up Spartacus, so that their lives can be spared. Every slave shouts “I am Spartacus“. This was Trumbo’s middle finger to all the McCarthyists , saying that every decent person who was branded as a “Communist” was still a decent human being and wouldn’t inform on his fellow citizens whether they were Communist or not.
However the final result is simply STUNNING. This is one of those films that deserves to be seen ONLY ON THE BIG SCREEN. The original version was 174 minutes long = 2 hours 54 minutes long. The restored version which I saw at Regal was 3 hours and 17 minutes long , longer by 23 minutes and includes a scene between Laurence Olivier and Tony Curtis which ends with Olivier remarking that he likes both oysters and snails, a clear reference to the then (1950s and 1960s) taboo topic of sexuality and in this case bisexuality.
Douglas is suitably heroic and tragic in equal measures. In the initial scenes, he only acts with his eyes as slaves are forbidden to talk and that calls for some great emoting only with his eyes. Jean Simmons is luminous as his love interest. Olivier is brilliant as the arrogant, no nonsense Crassus who wants to crush the rebellion. But it is Peter Ustinov as the trader and Charles Laughton as the Roman Senator who steal everyone’s thunder with two equally laconic performances , with each matching sleaziness with the other. The slave trader is sleazy and will do anything for money which at times is “for the good” while the Senator is only concerned with advancing himself and his protégé, Julius Caesar, through sleazy politics. The other characters may appear a bit two dimensional but that cannot be helped. What else do you expect former slaves to do except to yearn for freedom and hate their former captors.
Lets also not forget the battle scenes. The film would be nothing without its incredibly staged battle scenes all done with ‘live’ extras.
It is simply stunning to see thousands of extras on both sides (by one count 10500+) – Roman Legionnaires and This was possible because the battles scenes were shot in Spain and the Spanish Army was used as extras for these scenes. (Spanish Armed Forces would figure in many 1960s war films such as Battle of the Bulge, Patton and most famously Battle of Britain as the Spanish Air Force still had operational WW2 vintage Me109 fighters and He111 bombers ). The rebellious former slaves and the Roman Legionnaires march to battle, get ready in battle formations and then finally clash. This is incredible epic film making in the style of The Ten Commandments , Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, etc.
Cast: Félix Moati (Antoine Habert). Mélanie Thierry (Anna Habert). Souheila Yacoub (Sarya Dogan). James Krishna Floyd (Nasser Yassin). Jaouhar Ben Ayed (Iyad Bel Tagi). Dean Ridge (Paul Wilkins). James Purefoy (Stanley). Roda Canioglu (Commandant Adar). Julia Faure (Lorraine).
Plot: While visiting the hospital with his wife Lorraine, architect Antoine watches a news clip about Kurdish women fighters, fighting ISIS and is sure that he has seen his supposedly dead sister Melanie, when the video clip ends with an explosion. Antoine goes on a trip to Istanbul to visit Luke, an injured American in the video clip, which further takes him to the Syrian border and finally into Syrian heartland, in the middle of the Syrian Civil War. About to be ‘sold’ to ISIS soldiers, he is inadvertently rescued by the Kurdish female soldiers of the YPG who think he is also part of ISIS. Meanwhile three friends from Britain, Nasser, Iyad and Paul, join ISIS, due to a perceived ‘Islamophobia’ and “injustices’ in Britain. There is only one problem – Nasser has already been recruited by an intelligence officer known as Stanley who keeps popping up at regular intervals. Meanwhile Antoine meets Sarya, a Kurdish fighter; she is sure that Melanie is dead and asks him to return back to France which he refuses and goes with them on missions, determined to find out the truth about Melanie…
Its also clear from Nasser’s behavior that there is something very “off” about him as he is always watchful and cautious unlike his two friends who exult in the mayhem. I have already given a mild spoiler in that in Episode 3. Nasser, ex British Army and supposedly a British ISIS recruit, is already a spy for a man named Stanley whom he meets somewhere in no-man’s land and shares information about ISIS. (Don’t ask me how Nasser and Stanley escaped the regular ISIS patrols). There are some “are you kidding me” moments like these. Beyond that , its an absorbing thriller with some disturbing scenes in the ISIS segments.
The beauty of the series lies in the fact that like every good or great story, this is a quest. It’s about Antoine’s quest for the truth behind Melanie’s death. She was an archaeologist who had an Iranian boyfriend activist who was deported back to Iran and executed. She was supposedly blown up in a car bomb in Cairo due to her anti Iran activism. Antoine refuses to let go of this and keep digging more and more, while watching the brave Kurdish women fight off the ISIS who think they won’t attain paradise if they are killed by a woman! The women have much more to lose than anyone and so fight fiercely. The switches between Antoine’s quest, Nasser’s actions, the ISIS depredations (very disturbing), and the parallel stories that they generate are very interesting as we want to know what happened to Melanie and what is happening to the Kurdish women who have sworn to fight to death.
Spoilers: This series is NOT an easy watch as Episodes 3 and 4 deal with the ISIS depredations. Be warned, that though there is nothing graphic the sound effects, the actions and the dialogues make it clear what’s happening onscreen. All the more reason that the YPG women fight to the death. However, from Episodes 5 onwards, it more or less becomes a pure spy series as we learn about Melanie, Stanley, Nasser and how their fates are intertwined with each other. Iyad has become kill-happy while Paul is sure that there is something wrong with Nasser, as he has seen a change in his behavior.
Both Season 1 and Season 2 are available on Lionsgate Play (through Amazon Prime) and just for this series, I have subscribed to it. The night scenes are at times too dark and they give the required effect of dread.
If you want to watch a well-made series embedded in the brutality of the Syrian Civil War, the ISIS brutalities and all that centers around it, then this makes an equally disturbing and thrilling watch, due to the accurate historical backgrounds.
https://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.png00Rammeshhttps://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.pngRammesh2026-08-30 11:09:472026-08-30 11:09:52No Man’s Land – Season 1(2020) – Thrilling and Disturbing
This is my 200th Post since November 2022 . I have been steadily posting every sunday and I wanted something special and chose the classic The Seven Samurai
Clickable Links in red
It can be argued that Akira Kurosawa’s film The Seven Samurai is highly influential worldwide as it put post WW2 Japan on the world cinema map. At the same time, Japan continued its string of ‘regular Japanese masala films’, like Godzilla – originally titled Gojira (1954) – continued and that too put Japanese cinema on the world cinema map.
The Seven Samurai has been exceptionally influential worldwide. The concept of a small town / village hiring mercenaries to defend itself against the depredations of local bandits who regularly harass them, proved cinematic gold. Hollywood made the first adaptation, which was virtually a copy-paste with localization into the Western genre. The Magnificent Seven (1960) gave ample scope for the employment of the disparate group of mercenaries, each with his own special skill. Even the young idealistic Samurai, who joins the experienced warriors, was copied as the young gunman, played by first time actor Horst Bucholz, who joins them. The same film was remade in 2016 but the original was the original. Return of the Seven (1966) with only Yul Brynner from the original cast, as the leader, proved that the magic of the original will always remain the original and any follow up would pale in comparison , which is what happened. The Wikipedia page of Akira Kurosawa cites some 10 worldwide inspirations and only 1 Indian inspiration, which only means that you can rely on Wiki only so much :). By my count there are at least 4 Hindi film inspirations and probably more that I am unaware of in other Indian languages. A google search ridiculously mentions Tamil film Thalapathi(1991) as one among many inspirations, while everyone who has seen the film knows that its a modern twist on the Karna-Arjun story from Mahabharat..
Except for Sholay, the other films are all available on You Tube. So, here’s my take on the inspirations that adhere to the formula “village hiring mercenaries to save itself from cruel dacoits”:
Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) – or One Samurai!
Casual criminal Ajit (Dharmendra) is hired by ex-Army soldier turned villager Jaswant (Jayant) to defend a village against a dreaded dacoit Jabbar (Vinod Khanna). After the initial false starts, Ajit soon starts liking village life to the extent of falling in love with a local lass Anju (Asha Parekh). Things turn a bit complicated when Jabbar’s mistress and nautch girl Munnibai (Laxmi Chaya) also starts liking Ajit and wants to wean him away from Anju.
Raj Khosla’s reputation as a “hit film maker” solidified with this film which was a perfect masala of story, action, dialogues, songs and charismatic main characters played by equally charismatic lead actors. Vinod Khanna’s reputation shot up after his role as Jabbar. Dharmendra was already on a roll as a bankable action star and so too Asha Parekh as a dependable leading lady. What’s unusual is that Laxmi Chhaya also got equal if not more footage as the semi vampish woman who finally sides with Ajit and naturally pays the cinematic price for doing so. The music by Laxmikant Pyarelal delivered one memorable song after another and what’s unusual is that Laxmi Chhaya, the vamp, had three songs picturised on her: “Aaya aaya atariya pe koi chor”, “Hai sharmaun kis kisko bataun” and the most famous of them all ‘Maar diya jaaye ke chhod diya jaaye”. What’s also unusual is that Lata Mangeshkar sang all the three songs for the vamp and also two for the lead heroine – the solo ‘Sona le jaa re” and the superb duet with Mohammed Rafi “Kuch kehta hai ye sawan” which hovers around six notes. The film preceded Sholay by a full four years and was a huge hit. The villages around Udaipur added to the authenticity of the rustic tale of one village against dacoits.
Watching it a few years ago on You Tube, I was struck by the fact that it still seemed fresh – if one doesnt unnecessarily compare with today’s films and understands the times in which it was made. (That applies to all the films discussed below)
My Rating – 4/5
Khotey Sikkey (1974) – or Five (and a half) Samurai meets The Man with No Name.
This is a clever mix of For a Few Dollars More and The Seven Samurai. Here it is dreaded local dacoit Janga (Ajit) and his depredations for which one of the villages sends Ramu (Paintal) to bring his cousin brother Jaggu (Narendranath) back to the village along with his friends Danny (Danny Denzongpa), Bhaggu (Sudhir), Salim (Ranjeet) , a wrestler and his midget friend. They soon encounter a lone man on a horseback (Feroze Khan), always dressed in black and whose name no one knows . Soon the six (and a half) band together to defend the village against Janga.
While the Seven Samurai part is clear, the Dollars part becomes even more in the segments dealing with Feroze Khan and his quest to take on Janga alone. The ticking musical watch that serves as the start of the killing of a police informant and in the long drawn out climatic fight between the duo – all these are a straight copy-paste from For a Few Dollars More.
The digressions and localisation are in the shape of Danny bringing his city girlfriend Reeta (Alka) to the village, a courtesan Paro (Rehana Sultan) being courted by the Man with No Name, Jaggu slowly liking the much-harassed widow Madhu (Madhu Chanda), Bhaggu the inveterate womaniser and the five goons being a mix of religions and communities. They are the ‘khotey sikkey’ – the fake coins – of the title that ultimately prove to be the ‘true’ coins. Writer Director Narinder Bedi does an excellent job and the overall action and plot is very much in keeping with the ethos and story of The Seven Samurai. In such a film, music can be a double-edged weapon as none of the main ‘Samurai’ can be seen singing. So, it is left to the horseback rider’s father singing in a flashback, Jeevan me tu darna nahi, which he sings to the village children and recurs as a refrain from time to time. Since Paro is a courtesan, she does the obligatory mujra number, Pyaari pyaari suratwaale. It might feel slightly kitschy but that is true for most films made in the 1960s and 1970s.
This is as enjoyable as they come even if it feels tacky at times.
My rating – 4/5
Sholay (1975) – or Two Samurai.
There is nothing much that can added to the classic and it still remains a perfect masala film with an equal share of comedy, tragedy, action, emotion and music. The recent release of the restored version with the original ending of Thakur killing Gabbar Singh , and its immediate aftermath of Thakur weeping as he has lost his life purpose, is far more powerful , than the original limp ending of Gabbar being led away by the police which was under political pressure about ‘law and order forces should be seen to triumph’ . That kind of dogma would soon be upended by a series of films where the main character would have shades of grey . As someone said, Hindi Film Industry can be divided into two eras – Before Sholay and After Sholay.
Both Amazon Prime and Jio Hotstar have the prints with “original” ending of Gabbar being handed over to the police!
My rating – 5/5
China Gate (1998) – or Seven “Old” Samurai 😊.
China Gate is the ONLY film that I know of where at the start of the film, there is a tribute to Akira Kurosawa and his film The Seven Samurai. Given this tribute, this film is a nice twist on the “Seven Samurai Universe” in that they are not mercenaries but seven ex-Army soldiers who had been cashiered/ court martialed for a critical anti terrorist operation that went wrong. All of them have been branded as cowards and their court case was also thrown out. The seven are old, surviving on odd jobs, facing private humiliation, generally past their best. Their old C.O. Colonel Krishnakant Puri (Om Puri) has faith in them, but the old men are not so sure. They are at the village to combat Jageera (Mukesh Tiwari) under the invitation of Sandhya (Mamta Kulkarni) whose father and Puri had been friends. There is also a would-be Samurai, a young runaway who wants to join the Army and thinks that being with the Samurai will teach him how to do it – this fulfils the original “young fresh samurai” formula.
Rajkumar Santoshi’s tribute is well made and has superb action sequences with the ‘old’ Samurai doing what they do best. There is a localization with a corrupt cop (Paresh Rawal) demanding that the seven show their arms licenses and generally trying to be obstructive. He is even friendly with Jagira and wonders out aloud “Better to be friends with them ; who knows tomorrow they may end up as politicians”. There is also the Hindu-Muslim tension in the form of the long feud between Colonel Keval Puri (Amrish Puri) and Major Sarfaraz Khan (Naseeruddin Shah). Depending on how one sees it, it’s a bit of fun to see the ‘old timers’ saving the village from the dreaded dacoit. Musically the number ‘Chamma Chamma’ for a special dance number by Urmila Matondkar, was a chartbuster. The posters and promos were all of her in the song costume while she was there only for the song. There were some rumors / press reports that the ‘heroine’ Mamta Kulkarni was upset at the director for not including her in the promos.
I didnt want to see it as I was sure it would be a disaster. Yet I saw it on the last day last show (9:30 pm) at Metro cinema in 1999. I wasnt sorry that I saw it and enjoyed it. Even Jageera was good and suitably nasty.
My rating – 4/5
In summary, these four Hindi make the grade perfectly. If there are any films in other languages that fulfill the ‘formula”, do share.
What’s your take on these Seven Samurai clones? Do you know of any other films that STRICTLY follows the “mercenaries hired by a village/ city” formula? Share your thoughts and do write in.
6 responses to “The Seven Samurai (1954) – and its Indian inspirations.”
Siddhesh Raut
A massive and really inspiring achievement! You now have an archive that people can trust to get the best of the best in your unique niche. Can I just say that your enthusiasm and detailed is so contagious and fun. You really engage with details in a way that makes your work authoritative, and fun too. It reminds of a tidbit around how a lot of archeaological/heritage work in India was done by enthusiastic government teachers who took out their bicycle to explore the countryside. I meaningful way to live if anything. Congrats and keep at it! :D
WRT the post: I really enjoyed Seven Samurai, and coincidently was going to watch Rashomon this week too.
Congratulations on your post ! In this world of forgettable/depressing/inconsequential news, they are certainly something to look forward to you! Adds a bit of mirch-masala to the week.
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“The concept of a small town / village hiring mercenaries to defend itself against the depredations of local bandits who regularly harass them” – Hindi/Indian films
Have to think of this some more..but does ‘Ramgarh Ke Sholay’ count? I have not yet dared to view this film!
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Congratulations on hitting 200 posts! Hats off to your consistency. I haven’t watched the original Seven Samurai and your post has convinced me to correct that at the earliest.
Of the Indian adaptations, I’ve watched Sholay and China Gate, and the latter has weirdly been one of my favourite movies to rewatch. I think Jageera as a villain is a bit overblown but everything else works well for me, including the lovely Alsation dog that Amrish Puri’s character has a problem with until the end, where he takes on his care. :D
Thanks. Jageera has to be overblown, given that there would be comparison with other “iconic” (how I hate that word for being overused) villains like Gabbar SIngh, Mogambo and so on.
As for the original, once you watch it, I am sure you will feel these are but pale imitations. Its available on You Tube but you the auto translate leaves much to be desired !
https://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.png00Rammeshhttps://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.pngRammesh2026-08-23 11:18:592026-08-23 13:53:53The Seven Samurai (1954) – and its Indian inspirations.
