On planes, on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Zee5, Hulu, MUBI, Kanopy, film festivals... Aseem Chhabra tell us how he watched 309 films in 365 days.
'... and committed.' 'Priyanka had so much happening in her personal life...' 'Once we started, Priyanka rose to it.'
Aseem Chhabra celebrates 40 years of the prestigious Telluride Film Festival.
How many of the 354 films Aseem Chhabra watched in 2017 have you seen?
'Prashant has left us and it is really tragic. But I want to hold on to those little moments of happiness that he shared with me and with others whose lives he touched. That is how I want to remember him.' Aseem Chhabra pays tribute to Patang director Prashant Bhargava, who passed away on May 16. He was only 42.
'We want to be a nation at par with the best internationally.' 'But why is it in theatre we continue to have such low standards?'
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's next film is about aging Pakistani musicians who get a second chance because of jazz.
'I want to go back to India after my success here.'
'I realised I didn't have to wait for a spectacular event or a character to emerge. All stories of ordinary people, of your family, are extraordinary,' novelist Yasmeen Premji tells Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com
Sukanya Verma shares her exciting filmi week with us.
Aseem Chhabra watched some great films and some huge disappointments in 2020.
'Dev for me embodied all that kind of charm, optimism, energy, vulnerability, awkwardness and yet strength.' 'He's in every scene for two hours.' 'He has to play drama, melodrama, romance, pathos, comedy.' 'It was a relief when he said yes.'
'It was difficult, but we wanted to show an honest portrayal.' 'I was not trying to tear him apart.'
Aseem Chhabra introduces us to the best of Berlinale.
Jeremy Irons considered maths 'very boring' till he read G H Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology. The actor, who plays the British mathematician in The Man Who Knew Infinity, talks numbers, acting and his legacy with Aseem Chhabra/Rediff.com.
Civil rights activist Lakshmi Sridaran argues why South Asians must stand on the right side of history and resist the Trump administration's "systematic attack on the entire spectrum of the US immigration system."
P K Nair dedicated his life to restoring and archiving films.
Aseem Chhabra is impressed by Rima Das's Bulbul Can Sing, Ritesh Batra's Photograph and eight other outstanding films.
'He never went to the Bombay industry.'
'Her greatest strength is not her acting or her dancing abilities, but that she has an incredible number of fans.'
'You can't take your eyes off him.'
'In our film industry, there are not many opportunities for actors... Our films are not character based, they are hero and heroine based. The only roles we have for character actors are to play the girl's or boy's dad or a police officer...'
'We want to provide data, we want to provide consultation, but we don't want to lecture.' 'The consciousness about this issue in India is starting to get quite high and if we can help contribute to solving this air quality issue in a spirit of partnership with the Indians, it would be a big achievement.'
Martin Scorsese's The Wolf Of Wall Street could set a bad precedent, feels Aseem Chhabra.
'The nicest thing is that it is not my film.' 'People bring their own stories and life histories to the film.'
Aseem Chhabra lists the movies that taught him about the Idea of India.
How many of the 319 films Aseem Chhabra watched in 2018 have you seen?
Aseem Chhabra picks the scenes that left him impressed this year.
'I believe politics was imposed on it by the censor board, when it gave the film's trailer an A certificate, hoping to deny children, teenagers the opportunity to watch it during prime time television shows,' says Aseem Chhabra.
'When we make these action machismo films, the stupidest thing is to show that the hero sails through a thousand people. It's a tradition we have grown up with.' 'We don't have the basis of creating a Bruce Lee or a Jackie Chan.'
Why has a nation created on strong secular principles slowly chipped away those essential values? Why are so many Indians willing to compromise their freedoms and those of their compatriots for the cause of economic progress and to see a shining India,' asks Aseem Chhabra.
'The city was never the same after the attack. It was scarred,' says Nicolas Saada whose movie Taj Mahal offers a unique view of the Mumbai attacks.
'We look and say their life is so tragic.' 'But there are hundreds of millions of people in these circumstances and what can they do but to carry on.'
Actor Kumar Pallana, 94, who passed away on October 10, has acted in films like in Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. Aseem Chhabra pays tribute.
'We have used Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party as characters in the story of Indian democracy.'
Arjun Mathur recounts his journey as an actor in Bollywood.
Aseem Chhabra lists the top 10 films at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.
