The vote was tied 7-7 until... Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com reveals how Court was chosen as India's nominee for the Academy Awards.
India scored at the recently-concluded Telluride Film Festival, reports Aseem Chhabra.
'I don't want a government to tell me that I can't be there for my sister's wedding.'
Why were two of 2018's critically panned films awarded?! exclaims Aseem Chhabra.
While work on his most ambitious project Bombay Velvet is on, Anurag Kashyap's taut and gritty thriller Ugly screened at the ongoing New York Indian Film Festival.
Twitter broke down the barrier between movie stars and their fans, says Aseem Chhabra.
Bombay Velvet was Bollywood's biggest flop this year.
Fan gives Shah Rukh Khan space to exploit the actor in him and he tries hard, with a nod to his creepy characters in Baazigar and Darr.
Can a film and the voice of its actor really influence us, and change our lives? I like to believe so, says Aseem Chhabra.
Mira's films are alive, rocking and so true to the reality I know. They are gifts that I keep revisiting, and I cannot wait for what more she will share with us, notes Aseem Chhabra.
Bollywood's biggest overseas event, the IIFA Awards, will be held in the US for the first time. Aseem Chhabra reports.
Fans of the Before trilogy have grown up with Celine and Jesse... The films, says Aseem Chhabra, are charming, funny, romantic and very talky, but also close to real life.
'I sat down and asked them what they would want in their new school. One student said a football field, another one asked for computers. One little girl came and sat next to me and said, "A separate toilet for the girls." I think these small things make a huge difference in the future of education in India,' Nita Ambani tells Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com
'We went around with the story, but no one came forward to finance it. They would say 'Who would want to watch this?' Or they would say 'Ek to ladka dal do is me.' We said no, we didn't want to compromise.'
Bengali film Asha Jaoar Majhe is a must watch, a once in the lifetime kind of work that should be supported by film lovers and experienced on the big screen, writes Aseem Chhabra.
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Anand Gandhi's directorial debut is a film we've all been waiting for.
Pran lived a full life, entertaining and scaring the hell out of many people, writes Aseem Chhabra, in his tribute to the legendary actor who passed away on July 12.
It reminds us why we like to watch films, writes Aseem Chhabra.
Films that amazed Aseem Chhabra at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.
Anurag Kashyap has a lot of talent, says Aseem Chhabra. He just needs to stop making films that are very similar.
'Responding with outrage is not enough. It is the time, and the responsibility of all who hold those rights dear, to fight back, says Aakar Patel.
'No country has moved from bigotry to equality fast, and India, with its leisurely, elephant-like pace for the most non-controversial of things, will only take longer.'
Aseem Chhabra watched some great films and some huge disappointments in 2021.
'If you don't have children, that's also a problem.' 'There's no right way to live because everybody has an opinion about your personal life, and how you should live.' 'You have to listen to them, unless you can pick a fight with everyone.'
'In Boyhood, I saw the father that I had been to my son: Not always perfect, but never giving up on the child I helped to bring to this world.'
The 91st Annual Academy Awards was anything but boring, feels Aseem Chhabra.
'Medha had been so alive, smiling in the pictures she posted on Facebook and the comments she left on my profile page. I did not think she would leave us so soon.'
'The Maoists want the tribals to boycott the election while the police think the election is a farce and do not want to risk going deeper in the conflict zone.' 'Newton (played with sincerity and deep felt passion by Rajkummar Rao) wants to make sure that the locals cast their vote, a right given to them by the Constitution.'
Shakespeare Wallah had been out of circulation for a long time, but a restored version of the film opened in New York on November 10. It will travel after that to other cities in the US and hopefully, soon to India as well, says Aseem Chhabra, author of the bestseller Shashi Kapoor: The Householder, The Star.
There is a group of La La Land haters -- especially jazz aficionados who feel the film gives too much importance to a white man who sets out to save the musical genre associated with the African American community, points out Aseem Chhabra.
'We cannot be the country that created the Kamasutra and then we show flowers kiss and a child is born.'
'If someone is consistently horrible to you, for me, I would ask myself, what am I doing?' 'Why am I continuously putting myself as a target for this?'
'That night -- when Gandhi won Best Picture at the 1983 Oscars -- belonged to India and it meant a lot to a young student like me, who was trying to establish his Indian identity among the Americans around him.' Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com, who worked as an extra on Richard Attenborough's acclaimed biopic, salutes the late legend.
'I swayed my arms in the air with strangers when George Michael sang Careless Whispers' 'I was in heaven.'
Will Priyanka start a family? Or does she have some career aces up her sleeve? Longtime Rediff.com contributor Aseem Chhabra, author of
Aseem Chhabra mourns the passing of the gentle and knowledgeable Mr K D Singh, who owned a quaint bookshop in New Delhi.
Besides the five Indian films that are playing at the Toronto International Film Festival this year -- a rather large collection at an international film festival, says Aseem Chhabra -- there are more films with an Indian connect.
Salman Khan features in five of these movies!
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