'I would think a hundred times before I wrote a gay character or a mentally challenged character because it requires a lot of research and empathy. That's the reason I shy away entirely from stories that have rape. I just can't. It's just terrifying for me, as a woman, to handle subjects like that because it's so sensitive.'
Adah Sharma, who seems to be holding back an eye roll, is the only half-way decent actor amidst the crowd of amateurs and a bored-looking Rahul Dev in Reeta Sanyal, observes Deepa Gahlot.
While Satya's pleasures are palpable -- among them the poetry of the coarse language, the mercifully rough-hewn texture, the oh-so-familiar underdog story -- these pleasures hit you at a completely different speed. The movie is charged with a sense of discovery, and every shot is a cornucopia of details existing independent of the main story. It's touching, notes Sreehari Nair.
Though Zanjeer is credited as Amitabh's breakthrough film, it didn't immediately enthrone him. Rajesh Khanna countered with a huge hit in Daag that year. But Deewar upended audience's cinematic taste and filmland hierarchies at the very start of 1975. Bachchan emerged as a one man industry, the angry young man who could regulate the thermostat of the entire film industry, recalls Dinesh Raheja.
'We've had our fights, and our laughs too.'
Despite its minor flaws, lack of logic, and lecture-style moral narrative, Vettaiyan should be enjoyed in a theatre amid Rajini fans and their wolf whistles, endorses Divya Nair.
As Swades turns 20, Aseem Chhabra looks back at the film that spoke to him.
Every year has its share of duds and turkeys. 2024 was no different except that even the rotten ones are too drab to have any real offence value.
It was a hit and miss for some but each one of them revelled in the opportunity to showcase their talent.
'I hadn't worked for three-and-a-half years.' 'I felt industry was based on who you knew.' 'I didn't belong to a network.'
'I may not have accrued a large bank balance, but I think I've earned something far valuable. Respect.' 'That's what Andaz Apna Apna brought me, and I wouldn't exchange that respect for any amount of money in the world.'
This year's Sundance Film Festival was rich with films and the theatres were warm, even as temperatures outside dipped to below freezing point. It snowed only once but the sidewalks remained slippery for a few days.
Chhota Bheem: The Curse of Damyaan is a fun movie, its adventurous story and lovable characters make it worth watching with family, notes Riddhi Soni.
'It was my job to read out their lines to the actors and make sure they spoke them with the right diction, accent and pronunciation. If you look at my photographs from the Sadma set, you will always find me with a file in hand, even when I am in my costume. While Kamal and Sridevi were diligent about their Hindi dialogue, Silk Smitha, while always respectful, was not too interested in her lines or my instructions.'
Tovino Thomas' big budget action entertainer is a middling, tonally inconsistent watch that keeps you hooked, observes Arjun Menon.
Members of the volunteers' movement Repair Together travel to regions which were under Russian occupation and help local residents clean up damaged buildings to the accompaniment of electronic music.
The police force on Tuesday reiterated the incident is "not currently being treated as terror-related and we are not looking for anyone else in connection with it".
'It must have been the nervous excitement of shooting with THE Amitabh Bachchan. I had kept tossing and turning all night. The next morning, I promptly fainted in my choreographer Farah Khan's arms. When I came round, I heard Amitji saying, 'Please don't faint. I promise I'll dance well.''
'We shot about 20 or 30 days, I'd say at best 20 per cent. The big stuff is remaining.'
Ishq Vishk Rebound is a drab romance and dull comedy that even the intended teen audience might have a hard time keeping up with, sighs Mayur Sanap.
'We brought melody back to Hindi cinema and our songs which came straight from the heart, be it Papa Kehte Hain, Aye Mere Humsafar, Ghazab Ka Hai Din or Akele Hain To Kya Gham Hai, resonates even today.'
From Hrithik Roshan's mind games in Vikram Vedha to South Korea's biggest blockbuster of 2023 so far, Sukanya Verma lists everything you can watch on streaming platforms this weekend.
'Kamal has surfed and navigated a lot of tidal waves, manoeuvring the peaks and troughs, combining rare intelligence and commonly available intuitions to overcome unimaginable crises all his life.' 'There is no looking back at the past, for his only motto has been 'Tomorrow belongs to us'!'
A poignant political play, needed for today's times, is being staged in Mumbai.
Abhijith Gopinath aka A.B.I was mocked through school and college. He found solace in hip-hop and chose love over hate.
'When you walk on to a Sanjay Leela Bhansali set, it is complete surrender. You have to become a sponge.'
Vasan Bala's ability to jolt our Bollywood conditioned brains into experiencing new forms of menace, turning a John Woo-style prison riot into a Chinese communist movement and showcasing Alia in a savage new light won Sukanya Verma's dil and jigra.
The top 10 films of the year may not be great by themselves but they stand out amidst the other OTT releases.
Zeenat Aman had scored more hit songs than any of her contemporaries. This can be attributed partly to happenstance and partly to the fact that her forte for high glamour could be showcased most winningly in a crowd-pleasing number, observes Dinesh Raheja.
Mehmood and R D Burman shiver, wail and flail when they encounter a stuffed tiger that wags its tail, furniture that moves on its own volition and dancing skeletons and mummies. Dinesh Raheja revisits a must-watch.
'Whenever people say to me that all my work looks unique, I say to them originality is the art of concealing your source.' 'You can't see the sources that I take from because usually, they are Indian.' 'But then Indians don't find my work Indian.'
What follows is essentially a long scene set in a single location, and you watch in amazement as the scene grows into one of Indian cinema's funniest and most spectacular pieces of sustained craftsmanship, accumulating emotional power and subtext, growing wings and claws, becoming its own beast, applauds Sreehari Nair.
'Alia's security watched the film with us -- he belongs to the Simmba audience because he saw it multiple times and loved it.' 'After watching Gully Boy, there were tears in his eyes.' 'And he's a 120 kilo muscular guy!'
Yuvan Shankar Raja has etched an intricate musical feast to compliment the tale -- and quite a feast it's turned out to be, a la the original. Pa Vijay, who penned the lyrics, has done an adequate job.
'This maha-parivarik is because of Mallika Sherawat.'
The Kardashians serve as a blueprint for The Tribe's own journey, observes Shristi Sahoo.
