One of the reasons why mainstream Bollywood is losing the foothold it once enjoyed is easily the genericness of its content. It is no flash news that contemporary Hindi cinema churns out films as if they are generated out of a stencil and director Vishnuvardhan’s hugely hyped war drama Shershaah […]
Read Time : 4 Minutes
Locarno Review: ‘Shankar’s Fairies’ is a reflective journey to 1960s India
There is nothing that equates to the tenderness of childhood. Our growing-up years are filled with endless questions, dollops of curiosity, and many mesmerizing stories. Director Irfana Majumdar’s Hindi language film Shankar’s Fairies set in 1962 portrays a network where a bright little girl Anjana (Shreeja Mishra) forges a bond […]
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‘Mimi’ review – Kriti Sanon packs a punch in an overlong surrogacy drama
In a tiny Rajasthani town called Shekhavati lives a beautiful dancer called Mimi (Kriti Sanon). She sways like a mermaid, smiles like a fairy. Mimi talks to cutouts of Bollywood starlets in her ultra-kitschy bedroom while harbouring dreams to dethrone them one day. However, like Vimmi of Bunty Aur Babli, […]
Read Time : 7 Minutes
‘Haseen Dillruba’ review – Vinil Mathew’s pulp thriller is devoid of layers and logic
An awkward husband, a seductive wife, and a handsome relative who comes visiting – say hello to the pillars of Haseen Dillruba helmed by Vinil Mathew who, back in 2014, gave us the charming Hasee Toh Phasee. With a premise that has been filling love triangle templates in fiction for […]
Read Time : 6 Minutes
‘Sherni’ review – About bureaucracy, patriarchy, and a tigress on the prowl
“The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is inefficiency. An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty,” reads a famous quote by Eugene McCarthy. Unarguably true in every format, tribe, level, and circumstance, the decades-old statement’s authenticity is proven in director Amit Masurkar’s set up in Sherni. […]
Read Time : 8 Minutes
Tribeca Review: ‘India Sweets and Spices’ is an evolved family film with a soothing aftertaste
Time is the biggest narrative changer. In Geeta Malik’s fascinating coming-of-age drama India Sweets And Spices, UCLA freshman Alia Kapur (Sophia Ali) is at her life’s transformational ridge. Not particularly thrilled to meet her family for the summer vacations, Alia is decidedly different from the Indian fraternity that forms her […]
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‘Saina’ review – Parineeti Chopra is ace in this simplistic sportswoman biopic
Much like several of Hollywood’s musician biopics, India’s sports biographies are interchangeable. In a good majority of stories, poverty or sexism (if its subject is female) becomes the pertinent roadblocks and the protagonist emerges triumphant with nationalistic elements thrown in for extra effects. Amole Gupte’s biopic on India’s ace badminton […]
Read Time : 7 Minutes
‘Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar’ review – a deliciously quiet chase film
Think about a scenario where you are conned by a film’s title or the tone of its promotional material. Sometimes filmmakers blatantly resort to a certain visual language to drive more people into the cinemas. Ace filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee’s Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar which is incidentally backed by Bollywood’s massiest […]
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‘Roohi’ review – Hardik Mehta’s horror-comedy is neither scary nor funny
Director Hardik Mehta’s Roohi has everything running in its favour. Backed by the makers of 2018’s sleeper hit Stree, the film has an A-list star cast (Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor, Varun Sharma) headlining it. The songs are topping the charts and the media buzz is decent all over. Moreover, there […]
Read Time : 7 Minutes
‘Master’ review – Vijay’s Pongal offering is refreshingly different
As I stepped in to watch Master – my first Vijay film in a theatre after about a decade – I had clear-cut clarity on what it was going to be, even though in a broad sense. My desire was to relive the silver screen euphoria that I had missed […]