Glimpses from the launch of Raja Sen's first book, The Best Baker In The World.
Despite the Oscars, the box office glory, and the universal acclaim, Francis Ford Coppola, I am sure, remembers The Godfather with as much frustration as pride. Like Michael Corleone, he got into it with the best of intentions, and got out of it on top but lost in the heights. Sreehari Nair revisits the film as it turns 50 this month.
In March 1972, The Godfather was first screened in a New York theatre. The movies were never the same again. Forty six years later, longtime Rediff film critic Raja Sen talks about why that film means that much, and how it led him to a unique tribute.
What the UK is getting out of the Serum Institute is what India is losing. And the responsibility of the Indian State ought to have been to dictate where Serum Institute's vaccine doses should go, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
No matter how much the likes of Modi brag about cleaning up politics, the goondas and the godfathers will flourish until India can deliver justice to its poor and the system can work to the benefit of ordinary Indians, says Vir Sanghvi.
Every single one of Parinda's magnificent frames is a masterclass in slick. Sukanya Verma tells us why.
Subhash K Jha remembers the flamboyant star, 12 years after he passed away.
'We feel thrust into a motion picture that has all the makings of a carnival but no real fireworks,' Sreehari Nair notes after watching Malik.
Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite Indian films of 2021.
'My journey as an actor started to evolve when Web series started blowing out in a big way.' 'I lucked out because Inside Edge was one of the first big shows so that gave me a good platform, and led to more opportunities.' 'Web series have an ensemble star cast, and the characters are well written.' 'It's not only about a hero or a villain.'
In Maqbool, Vishal Bhardwaj did a Godfather; in that he took something that was pulpy and fast and gripping, and made out of it something timeless and grand, feels Sreehari Nair.
... And sometimes, that's enough, says Sreehari Nair.
'In the merry-go-round of Indian cricket, amid abhorrent match-fixing scandals and incessant politicking, Ravi Shastri is a multifaceted personality who, when called upon, can don any hat with ease.'
'This is a movie made with this gaze fixed on its immediate well-wishers, while at the same time it squints hard looking for those swaying back and forth on the fence,' notes Rohit Sathish Nair.
They have inherited their parents' good genes.
Ram Gopal Varma is back with Part Three of that series, which presented to us the first clear evidence that the great man was slipping, rues Sreehari Nair.
'What would a composite of Dawood, Rajan, and Arun Gawli be like?' 'What if an absconding mafia boss were to land in Mumbai tomorrow, tired from all the running, and tender his final apology to the city by narrating his story and narrating it with brutal honesty?' Sreehari Nair watches Sacred Games.
How do you even define a movie that primarily exists as an invitation to its audience -- an invitation to come and merely laze around with a set of interesting characters, asks Sreehari Nair.