Adultery is one of Bollywood’s preferred topics to explore comedy subjects within. You know, it is a crazy adventure for an average Indian adventure to break rigid rules to commit the dastardly sin – often referred in hush-hush tones as an affair. In director Mudassar Aziz’s Pati Patni Aur Who […]
Read Time : 8 Minutes
“Jojo Rabbit”… Taika Waititi’s eccentric Nazi satire is thought-provoking and also great fun!
Before I begin, let me confess to you that no film genres turn me on the way satire and absurdist comedies do. If made well, these films emulate a certain audacity that serious cinema tackling the very same subject(s) do not. Produced in polarizing times where art forms get censored […]
Read Time : 9 Minutes
“Bala” sparks a new conversation about self-esteem and beauty standards!
There is something about Hindi filmdom’s fixation for syrupy small-town-based cinema with a golden (sometimes idealist) message. The genre is a surefire sellout but not all makers possess the ability to structure them right. That said, the poster boy of this very school of cinema, Ayushmann Khurrana has somehow mastered […]
Read Time : 8 Minutes
“Jallikattu”… A visually overwhelming spectacle from the master of mayhem!
If there’s a thing called ‘non-vegetarian cinema’, Malayalam filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery possesses all merits to own that space. After serving us pork in his smashing crime caper Angamaly Diaries in 2017, the director is back in 2019 with a story around buffalo meat, or rather a buffalo which had […]
Read Time : 5 Minutes
“Pain and Glory”… A reflective, self-referenced medley of deeply endured emotions!
How often do we come across cinema that is meditative with a uniquely fluid storytelling method at use? The fluidity I am referring to is with respect to the way the screenplay evolves, balancing one element with another while also translating its rather odd structure to screen with remarkable conviction. […]
Read Time : 6 Minutes
“Ujda Chaman” is bald man’s ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’ with no screenplay to do the weightlifting!
Back in 2015 came Dum Laga Ke Haisha which arguably is the decade’s finest Hindi romantic comedy. Beyond its affable genre, the film was primarily about a flawed young man. His issues weren’t that obviously spoken about in the film. They did not have a physical form. The protagonist’s inability […]
Read Time : 7 Minutes
“Saand Ki Aankh”… Casting goofs up an otherwise rousing empowerment tale!
Pretty early in director Tushar Hiranandani’s Saand Ki Aankh, there is a glaring montage that chronicles the evolution of a woman in rural Uttar Pradesh. The passage ends with a striking visual of three women in a household along with their battalion of children and grandchildren. This would make way […]
Read Time : 5 Minutes
“Housefull 4″… A reincarnation revenge saga which is funny at no point!
Bollywood franchises are impossible to make sense of. You give them any premise and a set of recurring characters, the writers – albeit their extreme lack of creativity – will concoct a story around them. By that logic, director Farhad Samji’s Housefull 4 could actually have been easily the next […]
Read Time : 9 Minutes
“Asuran”… A chilling revenge saga with a strong statement on India’s caste and class divide!
We live in times when the civilians and several of India’s ruling party representatives have begun questioning the reservations for scheduled castes/tribes. It is at this outset that director Vetrimaaran brings to us a compelling period drama (set between the 1950s and mid-1980s) Asuran which, interestingly enough, do not look […]
Read Time : 6 Minutes
“Joker”… A jaw-dropping origin story which revels in its audacity!
Come what the naysayers may say, we are essentially living in the days where social awareness seems to be trickling into every strata and demographic. Some call them woke, and other term the movement a mere sign of a needful change. At the same time, this is also the very […]