Namrata Thakker picks her 10 favourite Leo movies.
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.
'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.'
Arjun Menon looks at the Top 10 South films that made an impact in 2024.
'Thanks to Chhaava's success, I now have the creative freedom to pick and choose.'
Ashnoor Kaur's style is a perfect mix of sweet and sassy.
'Did anyone else get the feeling that AWIAL -- despite being ostensibly based in the Mumbai of today -- is actually set in a Neverland of Solemnity?' asks Sreehari Nair.
As is always the case with big films, there is no decision on the count of screens allotted to the big releases, Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3.
Sukanya Verma lists 15 scenes that reveal facets of Salman outside the formula.
CDs of home cinemas, produced on shoestring budgets and mostly dealing with social and emotional issues, now have a wide audience in the northern districts of Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kannur, Palakkad and Kasaragod.
Dinesh Raheja tips his hat to his favourite Raj Kapoor movie, as we continue celebrating the legend's birth centenary.
This will be Virat Kohli's first Ranji Trophy match in 12 years.
'On the governmental level, we are saying all the right things, like beti bachao, beti padhao. Yet, a High Court judge in Prayagraj, who is highly educated, has studied the Constitution and its laws, says breaking the naada of a pyjama or touching the breasts of a minor girl is not part of the reform process. Just giving lip service is not enough, the general mindset has to change.'
'But when we actually express ourselves, sometimes our parents can surprise us, because they just love their children.' 'Sometimes it's just that simple. That is what I wanted to show in this film.'
'We have loved Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Apocalypto.' 'The thought was 'When are we going to do such films?''
'...just be neutral about everything.' 'I will just take life as it comes.'
'Two males in the same house, one who is trying to become a man, and the other one is losing his manhood, when they cross paths, it can be a tricky situation.'
The 23rd Indian Television Academy awards brightened the weekend for some film folk who took home awards for their work this year.
'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.
It was a hit and miss for some but each one of them revelled in the opportunity to showcase their talent.
Witches and westerns, goosebumps and goldfish, it's all there on OTT this week.
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.
'Prior to release, we heard only exemplary things about the film, so the failure came as a complete shock to my father.'
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.
'...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.'
The biggest releases of 2025 will actually start arriving in theatres from the Independence Day weekend.
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.
'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.'
'Sudip sir keeps telling me that what I have done is very Hollywood.'
'I used to plan my life earlier, but life does not go according to a plan.' 'So now, I just go with the flow and see where life takes me.'
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.
'That will happen and we shall overcome sooner than we expect.'
'His understanding of human nature and emotions can never be matched by me.'
'I believe India is very different from Bombay, Delhi and Kolkata.'
'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.'
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.
'Those movie stars are asking for Rs 35 crore and are opening to Rs 3.5 crore.' 'How's that math working?'
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.'