It was a hit and miss for some but each one of them revelled in the opportunity to showcase their talent.
'...it was for a very, very big lead actor.' 'I looked at it and saw how beautiful she was. I was like, there's no chance I'm getting it.' 'I auditioned for it and as luck would have it, they were looking for someone like me.'
'His understanding of human nature and emotions can never be matched by me.'
'I believe India is very different from Bombay, Delhi and Kolkata.'
From moments that felt long time in the coming to swashbuckling statements that could be interpreted in more ways than one, there are some that fanned our nostalgia, some made our jaws drop (or stomachs churn), some hit too close home, still others left us with a lingering sense of guilt. Sukanya Verma picks cinematic imagery that stood out in 2023.
The biggest releases of 2025 will actually start arriving in theatres from the Independence Day weekend.
'We have loved Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Apocalypto.' 'The thought was 'When are we going to do such films?''
'With passage of time, Kamal did move away from the humdrum of commercial cinema, using it only as a peg to launch a new concept or new technology, as no other actor/film-maker has done in Indian cinema.' N Sathiya Moorthy assesses the career and politics of movie legend Kamal Haasan on his 70th brthday.
This is the magic of Sircar's filmmaking -- National Award winners, many of them -- that makes every new work of his an eagerly-awaited affair.
'I never want to play a character that sends out the wrong message.'
'It didn't work at the box office. It was a very ridiculed film. But it kind of prepared me very early on about what this industry is like, what it's like to be an actor -- the highs and lows.'
Calendar 2022 will go down as a year when the real star was the Next Big Idea.
'It's very heartening because it's a kind of underdog story and you know, we're not a big film, we're not with big people, we have not been able to plaster ourselves all over the place to make ourselves be seen and watched.' 'But still, we have managed to somehow get here.'
'Just the fact that the biggest language at the box office was Telugu and not Hindi is startling.'
All We Imagine as Light has been on several critics' best of the year lists, including Sight and Sound (Payal Kapadia appeared on the magazine's cover, perhaps a first for an Indian filmmaker), to The New York Times, Time and it is the number one film recommended by Barack Obama. The future certainly belongs to Payal Kapadia, asserts Aseem Chhabra.
Sukanya Verma looks at their eclectic career of over two decades as their latest offering Citadel: Honey Bunny, the Indian leg of the Russo Brothers globetrotting spy universe series, drops on Amazon Prime Video on November 7.
IIFA Awards, the three-day award gala, returns to Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, for the third consecutive year and will be held from September 27 to 29.
'Unfortunately, we live in a 'Mainstream Bollywood' bubble, where we cannot look beyond films that we ourselves find entertaining.'
Troubled twins, dangerous cults, portent dreams, telepathic kids, World War III, yakuza clans... Sukanya Verma lists the many options on OTT this week.
'...be it a comedy, thriller or a love story.' 'The bhindi costs Rs 30 per kilo, but the price of potato remains unchanged.'
'I have not forgotten all the horrible things that you said about the film that was one of your biggest hits as a producer and a film that is loved by all even today.' 'I learnt through film circles that your ego was supremely hurt after the film became a blockbuster.'
While super hits like Jawaan are missing this year, it has been filled with a range of medium-range hits such as Crew, Teri Baaton Ne Uljhaa Diya and Guntur Kaaram, observes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
Here's some sizzle from the IIFA Utsavam night, which was dedicated to the south film industries of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.
''We are moving through a challenging period, especially bringing the crowd back to cinemas.'
'The young generation doesn't want to work with old hats like me.' 'They don't understand that we are brighter and wiser because of our experience.' 'We can take them on the right path, but they should keep their ears open.'
Gambhir was named India Head Coach in July after the end of Rahul Dravid's tenure.
'When I gave the audition and landed the role of the villain Fani, I felt this is the only character which will establish me as an actor in Indian cinema.'
'In Mumbai, isolation is a very different isolation.' 'It's not about actual physical loneliness.' 'It's the loneliness in the company of others, and I felt that that is a very Mumbai thing.' 'You can be travelling in the ladies compartment squashed against everybody's armpits and still be really, really sad and alone.'
The tide has turned for Sunny. He has another actioner in the upcoming Jatt and has reteamed with Rajkumar Santoshi after almost three decades for the Aamir Khan produced Lahore 1947.
The 23rd Indian Television Academy awards brightened the weekend for some film folk who took home awards for their work this year.
Kumble said that he does not feel that Jaiswal will change his aggressive approach in Australia, where India has won two back-to-back series.
'Those movie stars are asking for Rs 35 crore and are opening to Rs 3.5 crore.' 'How's that math working?'
Cinema Bandi brims in nave optimism, focusing on a rural community's simple, sweet characters using up all their enthusiasm and resources to make a local blockbuster, feels Sukanya Verma.
Amitabh Bachchan felicitated Chiranjeevi with the ANR National Award in Hyderabad, celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of Akkineni Nageswara Rao.
'I find his sense of history astounding, not just history of film, but of life in general.' Another fascinating excerpt from Sangeeta Datta's book Shyam Benegal.
Loud music, bombastic action scenes, over-the-top dialogues that don't have any ring of truth to it followed by scenes of blood-oozing bodies floating in a river definitely don't make for a magnum opus!' exclaims Prasanna D Zore after watching the Chhaava trailer.
'What is Balaji without Ekta (Kapoor), what is Dharma without Karan (Johar?)'
"Advait Chandan is someone I am really close to. Sometimes, I feel that he's like my son. But sometimes, I feel that he wants to destroy me. You can call him my step son. He keeps creating problems. Luckily, a very few films of mine have failed, one of which is Advait's contribution.'
'A struggling actor once came to me and told me there's no work.' 'I said when there's no work, that's when you have a lot of work.' 'He said he didn't understand.' 'I explained that you have to keep reading, watching, writing, traveling.' 'It is like riyaaz for an actor.'
At the start of the auction on Sunday, Punjab Kings had the highest funds at Rs 110.5 crore, which decreased to Rs 10.9 crore before Day 2 on Monday.
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