In 2003, Kuwaiti musical trio, Guitara, released the zeitgeist-y club banger Ya Ghaly to mass success across the Arab World. Its unique, wildly infectious fusion of late 90’s trance, Carnatic sangeet and Khaliji made it the proverbial song of the… Continue Reading
This year is unlike any other in Bollywood history in that there are no less than four epic films scheduled for theatrical release. Marnikarnika, Kangana Ranaut’s hotly anticipated biopic on the historical warrior queen, Lakshmibhai of Jhansi is releasing this weekend,… Continue Reading
If 2017 was the year Bollywood faced both creative and financial lethargy then 2018 is the Hindi film industry’s rebound year. This is the year in which Bollywood underwent a remarkable artistic renaissance – small budget films with larger-than-life stories… Continue Reading
There’s been a dearth of truly ground-breaking songs in Hindi films this year but there have been a few standout songs that deserve to be acknowledged and celebrated. These aren’t your average Sufi qawwalis, electro-trash numbers or dreary 90s covers. … Continue Reading
Like most people who rely wholly on film critic consensus to dictate their movie-going experience, I was excited to see A Star Is Born based on all the glowing reviews it got and its Oscar buzz. There was also a part… Continue Reading
At one point watching Badhaai Ho, I laughed so hard that I fell off my chair and rather than adhere to social decorum and get up quickly, I decided to savor the moment by staying on the floor and continue… Continue Reading
We all saw this one coming. Someone was bound to make a film about India’s extraordinary Mars Orbiter Mission a.k.a. Mangalyaan, a momentous event that established the Indian Space Research Organization as a serious contender in the world for the… Continue Reading
A few days ago, I woke up to a disturbing video playing in my newsfeed. It was that of a helpless Bihar professor, Sanjay Kumar, being thrashed ruthlessly by a group of goondas for allegedly insulting beloved former prime minister… Continue Reading
The surge we are now seeing in inspiring female-lead films (Queen, Neerja, Raazi, Veere Di Wedding et al.) was sadly not because of a moral awakening on the Hindi film industry’s part. Instead it was driven by Bollywood executives capitalizing… Continue Reading
I don’t know about you but I spent the better part of my weekend binging on Netflix’s new Bollywood show, Sacred Games. It sucked me in good. Saying that it’s just another great digital show (there’s a lot of them… Continue Reading