CAST: Iman Vellani, Mohan Kapur,Zenobia Shroff, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Saagar Shaikh, Fawad Khan Rish Shah, Farhan Akhtar,
DIRECTED BY:Meera Menon and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
In the first (decidedly PG-rated) two episodes, the first of which drops June 8 on Disney+, Kamala’s hero worship of Captain Marvel (played in previous films by Brie Larson) makes sure that the well-established Avengers are never too far from our mind.
Kamala is a superhero fan with a vivid imagination, particularly when it comes to Captain Marvel; Kamala feels like she doesn’t fit in at school and sometimes even at home, just like a lot us growing up at her age, that is until she gets superpowers like the heroes she’s looked up to.
The show starts with a Blinding Lights theme and everything else pales after that.
Kamala’s pakistani parents are typical immigrant. That entire scene with the driving intructor was dope. Especially the incredulous looks they gave him when he suggested that he expected their daughter to signal at every crossing. Kameena Kahin Ka. That bollywood tune. Had me thiking Amitabh Bachchan action hero stuff.
Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) of Disney Plus’ Ms. Marvel is an awkward teen whose head is stuck firmly in the clouds and filled with dreams of one day becoming a superpowered hero like her idol, Carol Danvers. Much of the larger world around Kamala is still wrapping its mind around the reality of the Avengers’ win against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, but Ms. Marvel zooms in on Kamala’s life in Jersey City, New Jersey, to spotlight how, in fits and starts, people are beginning to move on.
It’s hard for Kamala’s doting father Yusuf (Mohan Kapur) and sternly loving mother Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff) to understand what compels their daughter to spend hours in her room making and uploading painstakingly crafted Avengers fan videos for her humble social media page. Obsessing over superhero fan theories is just the sort of thing Kamala — a nerd — and all of the other students at Coles Academic High School do, though, because they’re kids who grew up watching costumed vigilantes save the world from destruction on a regular basis.Kamala’s biggest challenge is getting through high school with her best friends Bruno (Matt Lintz) and Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) by her side.One of the more significant ways Ms. Marvel establishes the (at least initially) smaller scope of the kids’ world is by repeatedly catching up with Kamala in the halls of Coles Academic High School and the dialogues from other characters like Mulan. But the best part- She doesn’t buy the princess stuff.
Kamala’s faith and ethnicity are important aspects of her identity, and the show explores how and why kids of color like her don’t always feel like the world sees them as people meant to become champions. The Ms. Marvel comics’ commitment to thoughtfully digging into those types of substantive ideas is part of what made the series such a hit with fans. Disney Plus’ Ms. Marvel is definitely trying to do something very similar, and mostly succeeds, but the show makes a number of notable changes to Kamala’s story that sometimes feel more in service of Marvel’s cinematic universe than to her character specifically.
Ms. Marvel goes a bit further, though, and essentially gives Kamala a wholly new set of abilities that are only able to approximate the flashy aspects of what was originally a nuanced metaphor in the comics. Ms. Marvel still takes time to address Kamala’s self-esteem issues and some of the deeper reasons why she looks up to someone like Captain Marvel. But the show doesn’t go nearly as far with its hero in terms of using its conceit to explore ideas like internalized racism or the pressures Western (read: white) beauty standards put on people of color.
The show’s able to situate itself squarely within the messy confines of the MCU while letting the foundational elements of Kamala’s hero origin be the story for the most part.
Cannot wait for more episodes as they unravel.
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#msmarvel episode 2 is here and if you didn’t know – she is a #shahrukhkhan fan just like you and me !
She says baazigar >>> Ddlj !! Who agrees?
In this episode – the dynamics of Mosque politicking , the school drill and of course the good looking Kamran ( #rishshah) makes his way into Kamala’s heart ❤️!
As they get pally ,#kamalakhan gets to do her thing to save a girl as she tries her newly acquired super powers ! But guess who’s on her tail ? The FBI and the cops – who can’t figure out who this creature who can fly is !
And who saves her from the chase is our handsome Kamran with a very enigmatic looking #nimrabucha in his back seat !
Special mention for the soundtrack
Jalebi baby by Tesher and jason Durolu for Kamran’s walk out of the pool, Sage by Ritviz for Kamala’s shy walk to Kamran’s car as Bruno tries his best to stop her and the closing theme tune of Peechey Hutt with Hasan Raheem and Justin Bibis Feat Talal Qureshi. Dope. So Dope.
Woah we cannot wait for the next epi !
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Kamala is saved by the Clandestines or the Djinns and she comes to know about the dark secrets of her family back in Karachi and the connect with Kamran’s family. But is Kamran’s mom really so nice? Not quite. We so love how evil Nimra Bucha plays. She shares her adventure with Bruno who calculates for her that helping the group was imposible for them in the physics of things. The Department of Damaged Control heats up their search for the enhanced individual they saw at the Mosque. Kamala is worried
Good guy Kamran tries to warn Kamala of the impeding threat at her brother’s wedding but its too late. The attack happens after the wedding but before that is all fun and games. We see Sakina Jaffery in a special appearance as an auntir. OMG what is the soundtrack of this show? We are living our bollywood wet dream.
Jootey Dedo, Paise Lelo starts the festivities. The parents then dance at the reception to the Don banger Yeh Mera Dil Pyaar Ka Deewan with our local Los Angeles Group Bfunk. They also are seen in their choroed song with Kamala and Bruno in a very peppy Hadippa. The other songs in the sound track in the episode are Ritviz’s Thandi Hava, Bon Jov’s Livin’ On a Prayer and the super amazin For Aisha (also from The sky is Pink) by Memba and Evan Giia Feat. Nooran Sisters. The soundtrack of this show is sure setting us on a roll.
Kamala’s Nani ( Grandmom) calls her to ask her to come to Lahore as she had the same visions she had. Will she go? What will she tell her parents?
Cannot wait for the next epi.
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Watched Episode 4? Kamala and her mom get to Karachi where they are greeted by Kamala’s Nani (granny) and her cousins. Her nani tells her that she should be proud of her lineage and what seemed strange in her head may be her power.
Now, having said all that, the angle of the India -Pakistan partition nostalgia was a bit cheesy.
Kamala goes Karachi hopping with her cousins, to a club where no jeans were allowed. She beats the heat and the very spicy pani puri ( spicy savories) and then while shopping with her cousins finds her way to the Karachi Train station which she saw in her dreams.
There she meets Kareem (Aramis Knight) who leads her to help who makes her understand how she fits into the world- Waleed ( Farhan Akhtar). In the meantime, the clandestines escape prison in the US and come looking for Kamala ( minus hottie Kamran). The chase and the fight sequences in Studio that seemed like Karachi were lit but long.
Never thought we could see a scene with Nimra Buccha and Farhan Akhtar in one frame. But we did.
The soundtrack was pheno is usual.Here is the list.
Musarrat Nazir’s Mera Long Gawacha, Hassan and Roshaan’s Doobne De, Nazia Hassan’s Disco Deewane, The Sibbi Song by SomewhatSuper & Abid Brohi and Aag by Talal Qureshi Feat Naseeba Lal.
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Ms. MARVEL BREAKS A TIME TRAVEL RULE IN EPISODE 5 & HOW DOES NAJMA CLOSE THE VEIL OF NOOR
Ms. Marvel episode 5 sheds further light on how Kamala’s family was impacted by 1947’s devastating Partition of India, a real-world historical event that is hugely important to the MCU show’s story. Following her vision of a train in Ms. Marvel episode 3, Kamala (Iman Vellani) and her mother, Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff), travel to Pakistan to find out more about the vision and her mysterious bangle. After landing in Karachi and making a fashion faux-pas at the local boat club, Kamala learns more about her heritage, her great-grandmother Aisha, and her Djinn heritage. In Episode 5, the story of Aisha unfolds .
Visiting Karachi’s historic railway station for more information about the meaning of her train vision, Kamala comes face to face with the Red Dagger (Aramis Knight), who helps her discover more about the bangle’s history. Kareem takes Kamala to Waleed (Farhan Akhtar), who explains the devastating consequences if the ClanDestine succeeds in returning to their home dimension.
In one of Ms. Marvel episode 4’s best scenes, Kamala and her grandmother, Sana (Samina Ahmed), talk about Partition and its lasting effects of it on the collective psyche of the Pakistani people. In a moving conversation about identity, Sana says, “My passport is Pakistani, my roots are in India. And in between all of this, there is a border. There is a border marked with blood and pain.” This refers to the Partition of India, and Ms. Marvel episode 4’s cliffhanger finds Kamala seemingly transported 75 years into the past to experience this devastating historical event first-hand. The roots of the Partition of India reach back across centuries of imperial rule, religious conflict, and nationalist protests, culminating at the end of World War II with a decision made by Britain’s post-war government.
The Partition of India understandably casts a long shadow across Ms. Marvel. Sana’s speech about how she’s also still figuring out her identity in her old age beautifully mirrors Kamala’s own coming-of-age story. Like her mother before her, Kamala is a bit of a rebel who is attempting to make a life for herself, crafting a unique identity divorced from the religious borders of Partition. Ms. Marvel episode 4 casts more light on Muneeba and how she left Pakistan to do the same thing, and one scene makes it clear that she’s not been home for a considerable amount of time. Through this lens, the bangle that’s key to Kamala’s Ms. Marvel powers becomes a metaphor for the generational trauma caused by the Partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. The bangle’s connection to Sana’s survival during the aftermath of Partition is what unnerves Muneeba in Ms. Marvel episode 1, rather than the powers it holds.
Another Partition metaphor is in the division between the real world and the home dimension of the Djinn. Waleed explains that both realities co-exist, sharing a space, separated by the veil of Noor energy. He also reveals the devastating consequences for Kamala’s world if the ClanDestines get their hands on her bangle and break through the veil: “They’ll unleash their world onto ours. Until there’s nothing left of it.” The fragile border between Ms. Marvel‘s Djinn dimension and its real world is effectively a sci-fi allegory for the border between India and Pakistan.
The MCU is no stranger to time travel, having deployed it to reverse the effects of Thanos’ snap in Avengers: Endgame. The Avengers’ cavalier trip back through MCU continuity was later smoothed over by Loki‘s TVA, but Kamala’s trip back in time presents a more complex problem. Traveling back to the Partition of India in Ms. Marvel allows Kamala to play her part in reuniting her young grandmother and great-grandfather at the railway station. In essence, Kamala has played a crucial part in her own eventual birth, breaking a fundamental rule of time travel.
Ms. Marvel‘s Djinn bangle is the means by which the MCU has subtly changed Kamala Khan’s superpowers from their comic book origins. Sent by her grandmother in Ms. Marvel episode 1, the bangle has given Kamala her abilities to generate hard light to protect the innocent and face off against the villainous ClanDestine. It’s also given Kamala the intriguing new power of time travel. In Ms. Marvel episode 5, it’s revealed that by sending the bangle, Sana has enabled Kamala to reunite her grandmom’s childhood self with her father, creating a confusing MCU causal loop, breaking the first rule of time travel.
A causal loop or bootstrap paradox is when someone or something goes backward in time and becomes trapped in an infinite cause-and-effect loop until it has no recognizable point of origin. In the case of Ms. Marvel episode 5, Kamala helps Sana board the train that will begin her new life and set off the chain of events that eventually results in Kamala’s birth. This means that for Kamala to eventually be born to Sana’s daughter Muneeba, she has to already exist to set the causal wheels in motion. Kamala’s involvement in saving her grandmother, therefore, creates a cause-and-effect loop by which Kamala’s Ms. Marvel origins become indefinable. Sana has essentially saved her own life by sending Kamala the bangle in Ms. Marvel episode 1, which has allowed Kamala to essentially self-create herself and Ms. Marvel to break a time travel rule.
These types of paradoxes are generally frowned upon by scientists as a violation of the Law of Causality. If baby Kamala only exists because teenage Kamala travels back in time to secure her future, then her origins become hard to define. This uncertainty suggests that the past is no longer dead and the future is not undetermined, and the two can take place simultaneously. If past, present, and future do co-exist, then Kamala’s origins become meaningless, and future Kamala can interact with past Sana without breaking the Law of Causality. The causal loop keeps the Khan family history on its fixed course toward Ms. Marvel’s clash with the ClanDestines. The older Sana practically spells this out when she says of her parents that they “created something much bigger than either of them could have created alone.” Muneeba and Sana then look up to Kamala, emphasizing that Ms. Marvel‘s rule-breaking time travel has always been part of Aisha’s bigger plan to protect Earth from the Djinn dimension.
As Kamala inadvertently time travels, she’s afforded the opportunity to bear witness to the horrific aftermath of the Partition of India. As Ms. Marvel builds to its finale in the next episode, Kamala’s experiences in 1947 can provide insight and provide an alternative solution that allows Djinn and Humanity to live together peacefully without bloodshed.
The story of Aisha is like entering a period of romance. The first look and the touch between her and Hasan is the rekindling of good old school romance we know only Fawad Khan can deliver. And he does. So so so droolworthy.
Ms. Marvel episode 5 seemingly ended the threat of the Noor dimension through Najma ( Nimra Bucha), but how did she close the veil to the other realm? The main goal of Najma and the Clandestines was to return home to the Noor dimension through the use of Kamala’s bangle and her powers that come with it. Although, after being alerted to the dangers of sending the Clandestines home, Kamala decided not to help, turning allies into enemies in Ms. Marvel episode 3. This all came to a head with Ms. Marvel episode 5 showcasing the opening of the Veil of Noor, something which killed the secondary Clandestines upon trying to enter. This ended with Najma closing the rift, being killed in the process, and somehow passing powers on to her son Kamran (Rish Shah). How exactly Najma was able to close the rift when the other Clandestines couldn’t remains a mystery.
One of the things that could have allowed Najma to close the rift is Kamran himself. Najma ended her story seemingly showing regret for casting out Kamran, opting to close the rift as a way to save her son from the Noor dimension’s dangers. This act of love and sheer willpower could be what caused Najma to overpower the rift and push back its expansion, where Ms. Marvel’s other Clandestines couldn’t. Also, it is worth noting that the other Clandestines simply tried to travel through the Veil, as opposed to closing it as Najma did. Furthermore, it is shown that Najma has some sort of power that she passes to Kamran, which could also factor into how she closed the rift. Given Najma and Aisha being established as the two main Clandestines, with the latter also having some sort of powers, it would make sense for Najma to have more control over the Noor dimension as well. Again, all of this is merely speculation that Ms. Marvel hopefully provides answers for going into its final episode.
The music as usual is our high point. This week it was the Suraiya and Shyam classic – Tu Mera Chand making us go nostalgic in tears and then an Abida Parveen Naseebo Lal Classic – Tu Jhoom
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The sixth episode and the finale of Ms Marvel dropped today and we were kinda shocked to see the huge change in Kamala Khan origin story
MCU has decided that Kamala is the first step towards introducing the X-Men into the main timeline instead.
Kamala is a mutant, Bruno essentially tells her in episode six, “No Normal”, as the X-Men animated series theme of the ’90s rises briefly from the show’s score to punctuate the reveal’s importance. Yeah, this is a pretty big deal, there’s no denying it, and maybe, just maybe, there’s now an added impetus to watch next year’s X-Men ’97, a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series?
Ms. Marvel’s mid-credits scene also delivered an expected cameo by Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, who was baffled to have suddenly and unexpectedly appeared in Kamala’s bedroom on Earth. It’s important to note that Carol was NOT wearing the other bangle when she showed up, but the two superheroes now appear to be able to trade places; a twist rooted in Marvel Comics lore. We don’t know whether this happened because Kamala’s bangle is one of the Nega-Bands – Kree technology teased during the temple discovery in episode three – or whether it’s part of the Quantum Bands, but since both The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are both on the horizon, it could go either way.
After mostly abandoning its New Jersey story to travel to Karachi, we returned to it again in the finale, and the show suffered from a little whiplash as it attempted to shift the New Jersey characters back into narrative place so that Kamala could complete her superhero journey and save Kamran (and some innocent bystanders) from the comically useless DODC.
As a result of trying to squeeze in a resolution to Kamala’s globetrotting adventure battling the villainous Clandestine, a resolution to the conflict with her parents, and a resolution to the annoying DODC menace in these last two episodes, Zoe joining the group as an ally in this last endeavor felt rushed, and Nakia’s sadness at being left out was quickly resolved so she could team up with the rest of the group. Meanwhile, Kamran’s combined struggle with the Noor energy surge and the revelation of his mother’s passing was muddled as the show hurriedly set him up as a bigger (albeit temporary) threat. Kamala’s family also accepted and championed her as a budding superhero in the finale, which was lovely, but it felt like we missed out on a much longer conversation with her parents about this evolution that could have properly earned those later moments where Kamala got her completed costume and her superhero name
We got to witness just how powerful and adept Kamala is becoming. It was uplifting when her friends and family joined the fight back against the DODC, and the public intervening in the DODC’s crackdown invoked the earnest and wholesome spirit of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. It was also refreshing to see Bruno accept that he needed to pursue his own dreams, even if that meant leaving his best friend and unrequited crush behind.
As we say goodbye to Kamala for a while, the freshness of the premiere, the desi flavor, the energy of the young actors and the family moments with the Khans that will linger with us.
What the biggest disappointment for Ms Marvel fans will be the plenty of controversial changes to the titular hero’s comic book counterpart, the biggest that but destroys any hopes of future MCU Inhuman stories. MCU has next to no ongoing characters that can be tied to the Inhumans in any way.
The move is likely due to the terrible critical reception of ABC’s Inhumans, something that Marvel Studios have clearly tried to avoid aside from the concept of the multiverse. As the reaction to the show was so poor, and Marvel wanted to lay the groundwork for their own version of the MCU X-Men and mutants, Kamala’s change makes a lot of sense. Although, this will come as a disappointment to any Inhuman comic fans wanting to see them properly represented in the MCU, as did Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Music remains super as usual: Laura Karpman’s New Suit & Walls Close in are great compositions. Chaii’s Lightswitch, the chase from DODC is on the peppy Pritam track Hadippa and then we close the series out on Ritviz’s Aavegi.
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DID YOU KNOW THAT A FREE COMIC EASTER EGG WAS HIDDEN IN THE BUSY STREETS OF KARACHI?
Ms. Marvel episode 4 has hidden a free Marvel comic Easter Egg. On an exploratory trip through Karachi with her cousins, Kamala wants to head to the historical train station to see if there are any answers for her there. Her cousins have other plans, so they leave Kamala to figure it out on her own. Kamala, however, doesn’t know where the train station is, so she has to rely on the kindness of strangers to get directions.One such stranger is a street vendor who takes a polaroid photo of Kamala. He wants her to buy it for 1500 rupees, and while Kamala initially looks exasperated, she agrees to give him the money in exchange for directions to the train station. His directions are vague, but in the next scene of the newest Ms. Marvel episode, Kamala arrives at the train station in one piece. What’s most interesting about this street vendor, however, isn’t his photography or his unintelligible directions but rather the QR code stuck to the frame of his stall. This QR code takes the scanner to the Marvel website, where they will find a free digital copy of Ms. Marvel (2015) #12 (via Marvel).
