Aseem Chhabra introduces us to the best of Berlinale.
Aseem Chhabra celebrates 40 years of the prestigious Telluride Film Festival.
'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.'
'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?'
'I want to go back to India after my success here.'
'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.
'It was difficult, but we wanted to show an honest portrayal.' 'I was not trying to tear him apart.'
'He never went to the Bombay industry.'
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's next film is about aging Pakistani musicians who get a second chance because of jazz.
Sukanya Verma shares her exciting filmi week with us.
'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
Aseem Chhabra is impressed by Rima Das's Bulbul Can Sing, Ritesh Batra's Photograph and eight other outstanding films.
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."
'You can't take your eyes off him.'
P K Nair dedicated his life to restoring and archiving films.
'Her greatest strength is not her acting or her dancing abilities, but that she has an incredible number of fans.'
'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.'
How many of the 319 films Aseem Chhabra watched in 2018 have you seen?
Aseem Chhabra lists the movies that taught him about the Idea of India.
Aseem Chhabra picks the scenes that left him impressed this year.
'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.'
'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.
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.
'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.'
'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 have used Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party as characters in the story of Indian democracy.'
Aseem Chhabra looks at the year's best Non-Hindi Indian movies.
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.
Aseem Chhabra lists the top 10 films at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.
Arjun Mathur recounts his journey as an actor in Bollywood.
'In 2015 I watched films in so many places. I attended several film festivals around the world -- Berlin, Tribeca (New York), Telluride, Toronto, Zurich, Mumbai, Dharamsala and Goa,' says Aseem Chhabra, author of a forthcoming book on Shashi Kapoor.
'Even in its unmistakably masala tone, Bajrangi Bhaijaan firmly believes the desire for peace is universal and recommends being a hero. Or just human,' says Sukanya Verma.
Aseem Chhabra lists the elements that he loved and was pleasantly surprised by in the movies.
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