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Disappointments, small & large: Nautanki Saala & Shuddh Desi Romance.
The more films I watch, the more I begin to understand that while there are always plenty of discussions to be had about various aspects of films, the one thing you can't really debate is the viewer's...
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A bit of self-reflection & Satyajit Ray's Devi.
Previously, when I have written about my ambivalence towards art house or parallel films in India (and elsewhere), I may have come down too hard on both myself as a viewer, who gets too easily bored...
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A month in India, part 1: Introduction.
I always knew India was a country one would enter and have all of their senses overwhelmed at once. Especially coming from a sparsely populated, cold northern country such as Finland, I was prepared...
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A month in India, part 2: R... Rajkumar.
Prabhudeva began his directorial career with the spry revitalisation of the Maine Pyar Kiya plot in the Telugu favourite Nuvvostenante Nenoddantana, and continued his directorial exploits in the South,...
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A month in India, part 3: DDLJ at Maratha Mandir.
Watching one of my favourite films in the one theatre that had never stopped showing it seemed like a life goal I would in all likelihood never get to complete; fate would work its curious ways and me...
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A month in India, part 4: Dhoom 3 on Dhoom Day, Kolkata.
If Indian film promotion is a hurricane, then the first 10 days of our time in India were spent in the eye of the storm known as Dhoom 3. This was not a thing you could avoid, from Kolkata's metro...
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A month in India, part 5: Aschorjo Prodip, or a Bengali Aladdin.
"Do you know the language?" a mature woman clad in a beautiful sari, sat next to me in the Ballygunge film theater, asked in polite English."No," I replied sheepishly. "We just wanted to see a Bengali...
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A month in India, part 6: Biriyani.
It's quite rare that a film that takes inspiration from another film actually references the film it was inspired by, so I was surprised to see Biriyani actually have its characters watch a few scenes...
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A month in India, part 7: Sholay 3D.
As luck would have it, on the last leg of my trip to India, I'd fall ill. Illness when traveling is an absolute curse - I was too nauseous to eat, to shop, to even move, and so I spent the last days of...
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A month in India, part 8: Readings in fiction and non-fiction.
Battle for Bittora, The Zoya Factor, Those Pricey Thakur Girls by Anuja Chauhan Two of these books have had their film rights purchased by major Mumbai studios, Shahrukh's Red Chillies bought the Zoya...
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A month in India, part 9: Film-related pictures.
A sign for film work in Mumbai.Last frames of DDLJ at Maratha Mandir.B or C movie theater in Mumbai. I think. A common sight in India: political posters and film posters side-by-side.Vijaykanth, a...
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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...
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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....
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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. -...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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