Clik here to view.
Arundhati - a woman and her dagger.
It is so rare to see an actress at the centre of a Telugu masala film, that when I spotted the Malayalam dubbed DVD of Arundhati, a 2009 Telugu supernatural thriller, I knew instantly that I had to buy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Lunchbox and the argument for self-reflection.
The pointlessness of consumption starts to hit home when the DVDs you've hauled from half-way across the globe gather dust as you're so preoccupied with life and other interests that you've got....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Highway, and a journey home.
Sometimes being out of the loop, not following every promo and trailer, can be so beneficial for a film aficionado. I didn't expect Imtiaz Ali's Highway to be much more than maybe a strange, Stockholm...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Filmi year 2013 - better late than never, I guess?
2013 was kind of a very strange year for me, in terms of following Indian cinema. I started the year in a frenzy, watching and enjoying a lot of films, then the interest fizzling, but keeping up with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hasee Toh Phasee: overcomplicating a good thing.
My first reaction to Parineeti Chopra's character in Hasee Toh Phasee was enthusiastic - to use the cliche, it was something new, something different, and something that would allow her to further...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Soodhu Kavvum - just watch it. Watch it now.
We can only make farcical cinema, as far as politics is considered because politics is farce in our country. Either we can make farce or we can make (it) very dark because there is no middle road. -...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom - wait, what happened?
Bugs, Saras and Bhaji have a problem - their friend, Prem, fell over while playing cricket the day before his wedding, and as result of a concussion, now fails to recall events that happened up to a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Queen.
If there's a fast-emerging genre of films of Indian women re-gaining their self-esteem by embracing life and themselves while traveling abroad, it's a development I can't really dislike. English...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gaddaar - if you find it, grab it.
Around two years ago, me and Beth compared our Vinod Khanna notes, and she recommended some films I hadn't yet seen while I recommended some films of his that she hadn't got to yet. In that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Maha Badmaash. Is. Awesome.
Maha Badmaash is a 1977 masala extravaganza that's kind of bad, but also kind of amazing. When a film begins with some rather unfunny, yet simultaneously ludicrous anti-black racism (with the "African"...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Let's talk about ... Deepika Padukone!
I haven't done an installment in my "Let's talk about" series in ..gosh, quite a while. I figured it might be good time to bring it back up, as I'm trying to give my blog a bit of a revival, and what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A treatise on masala, and Kick.
Masala films are like being sucked into a dream taking place in somebody else's head. To say they contain no logic is misinterpreting their own, magical logic, one that relies less on representing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Traipsing through underwhelment; some mini-reviews of films.
Miss Lovely (2012 originally/2014 wider release) - I know, I know, this doesn't belong here, but I had to be honest about this. I love a lot of things about this movie; Nawazuddin Siddiqui is number...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mardaani: heroism for today.
Films react on a delay, and so it is only now that we're getting to see films that draw from the impact of the Delhi bus gang rape in late 2012, and the resulting larger discussion about violence and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bobby Jasoos, a mystery of modest charms.
Ideally, a film about a private detective would marvel with its tightly plotted and well-scripted twists and turns. Bobby Jasoos is more focused on the detective herself, enthusiastic and smart and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What makes Indian cinema so easy to ignore?
For over a decade, or at least as long as I can remember, the Helsinki International Film Festival has had at least one Indian film in their programme, every single year. Last year, we were treated to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Main Tera Hero. It's a film. It exists. It's not very good.
Every now and then I wonder why I watch movies, besides the fact my life is boring and ultimately empty, and circle back to thinking that in some ways I watch each film with the sincere wish that it's...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mumbai Police: a lesson in story mechanics.
I'm a real admirer of breaking up chronological order in story-telling. At times it may feel like a cheap gimmick to employ when one's story is not that intriguing to begin with, but sometimes it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The year end romantic film bloat: Khoobsurat, Daawat-e-Ishq & Kill Dil.
So it finally happened: Shaad Ali has has a misfire that I actually agree with the haters on. Jhoom Barabar Jhoom was a film not everybody was on board with (critics and audiences loathed it, but it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Filmi year 2014.
Considering I began the year enjoying the delights and heights of a fancy Chennai hotel at a New Year's Eve party, you'd think I'd have spent the rest of it all caught up in the glam of the various...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blogging hiatus maybe kind of sort over. Pakka promise.
Here is what has happened in 2015 so farI haven't written here much at all, because truth be told I have not really been watching much Indian cinema. I had a very boring first half of the year and then...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mini reviews: playing catch up.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan - When you haven't been watching any Hindi films for months and months on end, it feels rather lovely to be swept up in the melodrama again, and this Salman Khan starrer certainly fit...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mini reviews: the Films I Actually Liked Edition.
NH10 - I went in not knowing much about this one beyond the initial premise of an urban couple getting mixed up in rural violent disputes along the highway. I also probably won't ever go back to this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Baahubali: The Beginning.
At times a worthwhile talking point precedes the reputation of a film so much that while it doesn't quite color my viewing, it does hamper me with preconceptions. This was the case with Baahubali, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Filmi year 2015.
This year was one in a long while where I actually failed to get a true sense of the film industry and its trends. Usually even as I miss out on most films and only catch the major releases there is an...
View Article