Back in November of 2019, before Ms. Rona crashed the party, I was invited by Saqib Saleem to the Crackdown look test. “(A look test is) basically to see how we look in different outfits or with each other in front… Continue Reading
Over the years, after reading one issue of Filmfare or Stardust after another, I realized that the Hindi film industry and the media publications who write about them, commonly use certain English words that are exclusively theirs and – sans a… Continue Reading
G-d knows I wanted to like this movie. For starters, it’s got Fahadh Faasil in it, whose been one of my favorite Indian actors the past couple years. It’s also India’s first pandemic-made film which upped its ante even more… Continue Reading
I confess that I rolled my eyes when I read that Bollywood was churning out another pseudo-inspiring chowdikar film and releasing it of course on Independence Day to capitalize on the streak of fervid nationalism coursing throughout India in this very,… Continue Reading
In one of the first scenes in Thappad, a film about a doting husband who unexpectedly assaults his loving wife for the first time at a party, I noticed a Gustav Klimt (Austrian symbolist artist) painting on the wall which tells me… Continue Reading
Contrary to popular Indian belief, South India shits out as much bad cinema as Bollywood. Varane Ayusshmand, Dulquer Salmaan’s first production venture, is a testament to this fact. The film is one faux-pas after another; an Altman ensemble film gone… Continue Reading
10. Delhi Belly Directed by: Abhinay Deo Starring: Imran Khan, Vir Das Defiantly pessimistic, hilariously sickening and completely in English, 2011’s Delhi Belly was Bollywood’s Oracle of Delphi in that it envisaged everything Bollywood would represent in the 2010s, which is… Continue Reading
10. Udaan Nadi Mein Talab Hai (Udaan) Music & Lyrics by Amit Trivedi and Amitabh Bhattacharya Amit Trivedi i.e. our generation’s AR Rahman started off the decade with a soundtrack as searingly original as the film that accompanied it. And… Continue Reading
Ranbir Kapoor is indisputably one of the finest thespians to grace the theater halls of Hindi cinema. When Ranbir Kapoor plays a role, he doesn’t just act it out, he fully immerses himself in his characters, who all drastically differ… Continue Reading
Chicchore (**1/2) It’s high time a filmmaker in Bollywood tackled India’s alarmingly high student suicide rate (the last one I heard about was of a 15 year old ending his life over a Chemistry exam) and Dangal’s Nitesh Tiwari seems… Continue Reading