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The Subaru XV slots nicely between its medium and large SUV avatars occupied by the Forester and the Outback respectively. Now in its second iteration, the XV is completely new, although it doesn’t look like it. Today we are going to drive it and tell you exactly how it is.

Exterior

Yes, it looks like a hatchback on stilts. It’s longer and wider than before—though no higher. Up front, the XV looks strong. The large hatchback silhouette has a strong stance that emphasizes the adventure feel of the vehicle. You get a decent looking front grille with black cladding all over the car as is the styling norm these days. There are aggressive LED headlamps with sharp looking DRLs. This is accentuated by large tires with 17- or 18-inch wheels, roof rails that look like they can handle heavy weight, and a sloping roofline. All of which give the impression of a highly capable hatchback going on an adventure. Over on the rear, you get LED tail lamps and a chunky rear bumper, and a blacked out roof spoiler with integrated brake lamps complete the look of the XV.

Interior

Inside the Subaru XV, everything feels chunky and satisfying to touch and feel. There are big buttons and switches everywhere from the door inserts, infotainment, and climate control. You get fabric seats with premium finish. The tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel allows for a lot of adjustment, and the driver seat is six-way-adjustable so you will be able to find a sweet driving position quite easily. Visibility is excellent out on the front thanks to a big windshield, small front pillars, and small sectional windows near the windshield. A big rear window and rear quarter-panel windows make for great rear visibility as well.

The steering wheel is nice and solid, encouraging you to drive more. There’s also steering mounted controls for the infotainment system. Speaking of infotainment, you get not one but two screens on the dashboard and that’s when you exclude the small screen on the instrument cluster.

The main screen is a 6.5-inch infotainment unit loaded with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, along with a CD player and digital radio while there’s also an 8-inch unit on higher trims. The center screen’s crisp graphics are appealing. The XV’s cabin has plenty of headroom and legroom at the front and a decent amount of room at the back. But those over 6 feet may find the backseat legroom a little cramped. The Subaru XV also comes with a large 310 liter of boot-space. Overall it has an interior worthy of leading its class.

Performance

Under the hood, the Subaru XV is powered by a 2.0-liter boxer four petrol engine mated to a Lineartronic CVT that makes a decent output of 154bhp and 196Nm of peak torque. The car is a bit clumsy to get a move on but will pick up speed once it gets going; highway cruising and overtaking will come easily without a lot of throttle input. The Subaru XV comes equipped with All Wheel Drive (AWD) which may not be noticeable on the tarmac, but makes a lot of difference off-road. Thanks to the power being delivered on all four wheels the XV makes short work of even bad potholes and crummy road surfaces. The steering is light but does offer good feedback and the car gives you a confident ride helped by an AWD system that never makes you doubt the amount of available traction.

Off-roading is where the Subaru XV shines, thanks to the 220mm of ground clearance. Subaru's X-mode in the XV, basically an advanced off-road mode with auto hold and hill descent functionality, is fantastic, and is a rare feature in this class. While the XV does look like a scaled hatchback, make no mistake, this is a serious off-roader.

Verdict

The Subaru XV will not turn many heads on the road, but the bottom line is that it is a solid car. All the elements in the XV are of high quality carefully put together to make this one complete package. It looks great on the outside. The interior, although simple, is one of the best places to be. The engine packs a decent punch on the tarmac, but it is when the tarmac ends the XV is a different animal all-together, giving full-size SUVs a run for their money. All this, in a small, practical, family-friendly package makes the Subaru XV an instant recommendation.

Despite its discouraging 2 hrs 25 mins-length, “Chhichhore” at the cinema doesn’t feel long. The coming-of-age story of young college students who turn into responsible adults is told in a parallel narrative, one of which is filled with fun and comedy while the other deals with the serious issue of broken family, pressure to succeed, and suicidal tendencies. The director of the highly successful sports biopic “Dangal” (2016) Nitesh Tiwari dons a different hat for Chhichhore, which has more typical Bollywood features.

The film starts in the present with Raghav (Mohammad Samad), the young son of Anirudh (Sushant Singh Rajput) and Maya (Shraddha Kapoor), attempting suicide by jumping off a roof when he fails to clear his engineering entrance exam. Raghav survives but is severely injured and the old Bollywood formula of ‘miracle over medicine’ ensues. Then Anirudh has the bright idea of encouraging his son’s healing process by narrating to him the story of his college days and his quirky friends from the H4 Hostel—also taunted by the rest of the college as ‘Losers’—and of their encouraging run, even as heavy underdogs, in a sports tournament.

The narrative takes us back to the late 80s/early 90’s (the time horizon is undisclosed except for the name of the 1985 movie “Teri Meherbaniyaan” a character mentions which helps us take a shot at guessing the timeline). Now this is where Chhichhore gets interesting. In this narrative, the audience gets a piece of nostalgia of their college days and if they’ve ever lived in hostels, they’ll find the universal camaraderie and brotherhood of ‘hostel boys’ really intriguing.

Although Rajput and Kapoor are the supposed stars of the film, having done many lead roles in the past, they don’t entirely get the screen and that’s what makes Chhichhore a bit different from the regular ‘hero-heroine’ Bollywood sagas. The screen time is cleverly distributed between an ensemble of supporting cast—Tahir Raj Bhasin as Derek, Tushar Pandey as Mummy, Saharsh Kumar Shukla as Bevda, Varun Sharma as Sexa, and Naveen Polishetty as Acid—who are part of the Anirudh’s ‘Losers’ group.

Director Tiwari smartly introduces the supporting cast with small backstories of their own and gives enough screen time to these talented actors to create a diverse screenplay. This narrative is full of college romance, ‘bromance,’ ragging and rivalry typical of an engineering college. What makes the film better is that the director gets the best out of all supporting actors, even the ones in very small roles. Nobody seems out of place.

But we only wish this was the case of the ‘present’ narrative. Maya and Anirudh, Derek, Tushar, Mummy, Bevda and Sexa appear in their middle-aged versions in this narrative, with the same actors playing these roles, but none of them looks believable. Rajput and Kapoor don’t look old enough and seem too lost, and so do the H4 boys. Despite some balding, grey hairs and a few attempts to dig up some middle-age gravitas, the young actors fail to look convincingly old. Given that most of the film is humorous, even the intense scenes feel like the actors are performing a comedy skit as middle-aged people and they may break out of their characters with a hysterical laugh at any moment. But that does not happen.

Tiwari’s transition from directing the perfectionist Aamir Khan in Dangal to working with a cast of newcomers is not smooth. One can only wonder what made the director of a $300 million+ gross sports biopic, made as realistic as possible, choose to work on a ‘semi-sports’ fiction where an engineering college has an annual sports event that runs for two months! To cut a long story short, Chhichhore attempts a “Jo Jita Wohi Sikander” (1992) but ends up as an improved version of “Student of the Year” (2012).

Rating: 2.5 stars

Who should watch it?

Despite a few flaws in storytelling, Chhichhore is quite enjoyable. If you’re up for college comedy and don’t mind the melodramatic bits, you’re in for a fun ride. PS: Although the film is rated PG, there are many direct and indirect sexual innuendos. But which college doesn’t have lusty, dirty college boys, right?

The Japanese island of Okinawa, where Ikigai is believed to originate from, has the largest population of centenarians in the world. Ikigai is apparently their secret to longevity, beauty, and mindfulness. Ikigai, which roughly translates to “a reason to get up in the morning” or “a reason for being”, has existed in Japan for centuries and is still deeply ingrained in Japanese daily life and culture. But the concept of Ikigai isn’t exclusive to the Okinawans and the Japanese. Ken Mogi gives us an insight on what it is and how it works in ‘The Little Book of Ikigai’.

But that’s just what it is—an insight. Don’t expect to understand the concept and be motivated to find your Ikigai after reading the book. If you have heard about Ikigai but don’t know much about it, the book might be able to give you a few ideas. Though Mogi introduces you to the five pillars of Ikigai—starting small, releasing yourself, harmony and sustainability, the joy of little things, and being in the here and now—and explores them through different aspects of Japanese life, the book feels more like a guide to Japanese culture. That could have been a good thing because the Japanese culture is fascinating. However, the author makes everything appear so idealistic and perfect that you can’t help but feel a bit annoyed. 

Mogi is also far from assertive and only seems to be interested in presenting the Japanese ways of life and declaring how Ikigai plays a role in almost everything without giving any clear examples. He leaves you to draw your own conclusion on whether or not you should seek your own Ikigai, but you don’t have much to base your decision on. His analysis is superficial to the point of being preachy. Also, Mogi isn’t a skilled writer so his narrative is jumpy and he has a very roundabout way of explaining things, which makes The Little Book of Ikigai a tedious read.

However, there are snippets that make the (thankfully) short book interesting. Mogi writes about how Hayao Miyazaki, a Japanese animator who co-founded Studio Ghibli, one of the most popular animation studios in the world, understood the importance of “being here and now” by making fantastic animations for children. Then there’s the story of Jiro Ono, owner of a popular sushi restaurant, who enjoyed and believed in serving the perfect sushi. He is 91 years old, and once said that he wants to die while making sushi. It is through interesting bits like these that Mogi manages to make you curious about Ikigai. But if you want a good understanding of it or want to adopt it in your life, you will have to find other books on the topic.

The subject that director Nawal Nepal’s “Maruni” deals with is strong in itself. The film is a rare Nepali production where people of a different gender other than the conventional ‘male’ or ‘female’ are not heavily stereotyped or given offensive comic cameos. “Maruni” makes a case for a person to be able to choose a gender. With a transgender woman in the lead role, the film has a somewhat unprecedented story, at least in the Nepali film industry.

In “Maruni,” actress Samragyee RL Shah plays Suman—biologically a man who undergoes a sex reassignment surgery to turn into a transgender woman. Suman falls in love with Yash (Puspa Khadka), and her love turns into obsession even as Yash rejects her advances, not because he knows she is transgender but because he is married to Madhu (Rebika Gurung.)

Despite a strong subject, the film does not have a thoughtful story. Marketed as “an obsessive love story”, one can neither feel the love nor the obsession in the two-hour runtime, thanks to a forgettable performance of lead actors.

Nawal Nepal—as a story/screenplay writer, assistant director and director—has been in the industry for almost two decades and yet has gone without a successful film. Unfortunately for him, “Maruni”, despite taking up a strong social issue, won’t give him that success either. And being low budget compared to the multi-million dollar Bollywood flick “Saaho”, a simultaneous release, is no excuse as he has chosen popular faces in the cast at the expense of hiring talented actors who could carry a strong storyline.

In this digital age, content is the king and there have been multitudes of low-budget movies in Bollywood itself, which have given tough competition to big productions. Complaining about getting less screen time in Nepali halls is also out of place when filmmakers can’t even entertain the little audience they get.

Coming back to the film, Shah as Suman is a disaster. Playing a character with so many different layers and who needs to drive the whole film forward, Shah never gets into it. She is unable to grasp the weight of her character and wears a confusing expression in most scenes. Her dialogue delivery is ridiculously anglicized and at times incoherent.

Another lead, Khadka as Yash, does a slightly better job but lacks the intensity his character requires. As someone fighting an obsessive pursuer, Yash isn’t successful in emoting his struggle before the audience. Neither is his chemistry with his wife believable. We don’t even know if he is loyal to his her or is too scared to cheat on her with another woman. Yash is that futile. A prime example for filmmakers that popular faces from social media and music videos cannot necessarily lead their films. For a multi-layer storyline, Shah and Khadka’s acting is amateurish to do justice to the film.

In terms of the script, too, the filmmakers have made juvenile blunders in their attempt to add “masala” to the movie. The song and dance sequences are unwanted and there’s a fight scene where Yash—so drunk that he can’t even stand on his own—immediately gets up and fights off a bunch of goons with high flying kicks and acrobatics. Mr Nepal, if you don’t want Bollywood to compete with you, why do you stick to Bollywood’s masala formula?

The film also attempts a serious twist which we can’t reveal as it would be a big spoiler. So we completely and deliberately neglect one important character.

Who should watch it?

Well, if you love Shah and Khadka for their social media popularity and despite their poor acting. The duo are decent dancers and the songs, although awkwardly placed in the movie, are well choreographed with the two flaunting their skills to the hilt. Deepak Bajracharya’s “Jam Na Maya Jam” is probably the best thing about the movie. His playback singing gives a new sound to Kollywood cinema and Shah and Khadka perform their sequences with flair. Maybe they should stick to music videos.

Rating: 1 star

Cast: Samragyee RL Shah, Puspa Khadka, Rebik Gurung

Director: Nawal Nepal

Run time: 2 hours

Genre: Drama