Yes, I am aware of all the positive accolades being garnered by Lenny Abrahamson’s Room. I will not be surprised if it also wins a few Oscars next month. But having said that I have to confess that the film left me really cold. Call me a philistine but no, I could not just engage […]
In Conversation With Kanishk Tharoor
It wasn?t long ago when Shashi Tharoor, wrote in the ?Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century?, Indian diplomacy is like the love-making of an elephant: It is conducted at a very high level, accompanied by much bellowing, and the results are not known for two years! Just like his father, Kanishk […]
Trumbo: A Period Film that is highly Topical for India
Trumbo is the biopic of Hollywood Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who did bulk of his work between 30s and 60s. So, why should Indians watch it, apart from the fact that it stars our favourite Walt from Breaking Bad? Well, there are many reasons why not only film lovers but every contemporary Indian should watch it. […]
Hateful Eight: Nightmare in a Blizzard
Nobody has done more in the last two decades to aestheticize violence and bring it to the mainstream than Quentin Tarantino. Such elements existed in spades in B movies and Japanese Horror but he took those elements and turned them into Oscar worthy dramas because he was not merely imitating but creating his own original […]
Everybody Wants Some Trailer: Linklater goes back to College
The trailer of Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some is out and it looks like a breezy comedy about some 80s baseball obsessed American college kids. But can we expect it to be just another comedy? Surely Linklater will not be limited to that! Over the years, Linklater has become the master of time on celluloid. […]
The Marathi New Wave
Let us crunch a few numbers to begin with. Bengali films have won 22 SwarnaKamals (National Film Award for Best Feature Film) since the inception of the award compared to 13 Hindi, 11 Malayalam,6 in Kannada and 4 Marathi among others. But since 2000, there have been 3 each from Marathi, Malayalam and Hindi, easily […]
Sonakshi Sinha Unleashes inner Honey Singh in her maiden single
Sonakshi Sinha is back, but not in a film but in a music video, that too as a singer and not only as the singer. To be honest it is not sure whether to be elated or terrified with the prospect of Bollywood actresses releasing singles, especially after the ‘exotic’ stuff Pee Cee came up […]
Neerja Trailer: Will Sonam finally make a Breakthrough?
The trailer of Sonam Kapoor starrer Neerja is out. It is a biopic based on the life of Neerja Bhanot, a flight attendant working for Pan Am who laid down her life while protecting the passengers during a highjack conducted by Palestinian terrorists. She became the youngest person to win Ashok Chakra, India?s highest peacetime […]
Jai Gangaajal Trailer: Looks not like a sequel? but a remake!
The trailer of Jai Gangaajal is out and everyone must have seen it by now. So, here are a few thoughts on Prakash Jha?s films and the trailer itself. Prakash Jha was a part of parallel cinema in the distant, nearly forgotten past. In between he went through many transformation and turned into something different […]
Tanu Weds Manu Returns: Has the Glass Ceiling Been Finally Broken?
Well… Where should I begin! As a critic of mindless and illogical Bollywood films, I find it a bit hard to openly express my adulation for this film. But yes, to be honest Tanu Weds Manu Returns was the most enjoyable film I have seen in recent time. I cannot imagine doing some of the […]