What’s with the rabbit? What was Andhadhun all about? (WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD) Andhadhun begins with a rabbit. An one-eyed rabbit escaping a hunter. The director begins with setting the theme for the next two-and-a-half hours. This is going to be the story of a rabbit caught in the headlights. Hunted. At the cross-hairs. In the…
Tag: indian cinema
Review: Village Rockstars (2017)
Village Rockstars is a unique film. It’s unique in the sense that at no point does the action or the acting seem staged. It renders an almost fly-on-the-wall (or should I say fly-in-the-grass!) perspective. As we watch a mother and her two children, or a girl and her friends, or a group of villagers dealing…
Review: Asomapto (Incomplete) (2016)
Review: Asomapto (Incomplete) (2016) Director: Suman Mukhopadhyay; Cast: Ritwick Chakraborty, Bratya Basu, Swastika Mukherjee, Paoli Dam et al. Suman Mukhopadhyay’s Asomapto (2016) centres around 36-year old Indrajit’s (Ritwick Chakraborty) visit to the hills (probably somewhere in Darjeeling) in a bid to rediscover his childhood. He plans to stay at his old friend Moloy’s (Bratya Basu)…
Review: Tamasha (2015)
Tamasha (Dir.: Imtiaz Ali; Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Piyush Mishra et al.) Ritwik Ghatak peeks through in a frame when Ranbir Kapoor’s Ved and Deepika Padukone’s Tara enter to watch a film in Tamasha. Ritwik Ghatak was a man who did not compromise with his art for the sake of making it easier for…
Review: Asha Jaoar Majhe (Labour of Love)
Review: Asha Jaoar Majhe (Labour of Love); Director: Aditya Vikram Sengupta; Cast: Ritwick Chakraborty, Basabdatta Chatterjee Wow! And wow! Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s Asha Jaoar Majhe (English title: Labour of Love) is a cinema that grows on you – slowly, steadily and with love. It creeps up to you and snuggles close to your heart. And…
Review: Tanu Weds Manu Returns
Review: Tanu Weds Manu Returns Director: Aanand L Rai; Cast: R Madhavan, Kangana Ranaut, Deepak Dobriyal, Jimmy Shergill, Swara Bhaskar et al Director Aanand L Rai returns with his loved characters Tanuja Trivedi (Kangana Ranaut) and Manoj Sharma (R Madhavan) from his 2011 film Tanu Weds Manu in this sequel. Rai?s imaginative thinking is on…
Review: Bombay Velvet
Bombay Velvet (Dir.: Anurag Kashyap; Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Karan Johar, Siddhartha Basu, Anushka Sharma et al.) Anurag Kashyap’s mainstream debut is a mixed bag for his admirers. I am an admirer of the director myself, but I suppose my high expectations played spoilsport with my experience of Bombay Velvet. Bombay Velvet lacks Anurag Kashyap’s trademark…
Review: Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!
Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (Dir.: Dibakar Banerjee; Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Anand Tiwari, Divya Menon et al.) Dibakar Banerjee has begun his Byomkesh Bakshy series in a flash of blood and rock. I say “begun” and “series” because this is clearly the first of multiple servings he has in mind. In that context, “Detective Byomkesh Bakshy”…
The Worship of Mediocrity
The commercial release of a Bengali movie in Kolkata coincided with the Durga Puja of 2014.? I still remember the first movie made by the same director a few years back. Impressed with the slick trailer and unconventional songs, I wanted to watch it. Back in my home town from college for a between-terms break…
Review: Hasee Toh Phasee
Hasee Toh Phasee (Dir.: Vinil Mathew; Cast: Parineeti Chopra, Sidharth Malhotra) Nikhil (Sidharth Malhotra) is visiting a wedding when he falls in love with the bride’s sister, Karishma (Adah Sharma). Jump to seven years later: Nikhil and Karishma are engaged to be married in a week at the end of a seven-year courtship. Cue for…