Aseem Chhabra ranks the Best of 2025's films that released in theatres, or went directly to OTT platforms.
Dekh Indian Circus and Gattu impress and pick up awards at the New York Indian Film Festival.
Pankaja and O'Sey Balamma bring deeply personal yet universally resonant stories to Sundance. They represent a new wave of South Indian storytelling, blending cultural authenticity with cinematic innovation, and mark an important step in amplifying regional voices on the international stage.
Homebound missed an Oscar nomination; Sinners broke the record by getting the most nominations ever, at 16 counts.
'...including my baby sisters, age three and one.' 'My dad was humiliated, and he started screaming at them.'
Love, Sex Aur Dhoka and Mirch will be some films travelling to the west.
How wonderful it would be for all of us to watch the Oscar ceremony on March 2, 2025 and watch AWIAL win an Oscar, notes Aseem Chhabra.
At the special screening of Mrs, Sanya wore a kurta designed by her mother, Renu Malhotra, and wrote an heartfelt letter to her mother.
'I hope this film will bring some change in people, their homes, and in our society.'
With his killer smile, the sex symbol image, Robert Redford would go beyond just being an actor, remembers Aseem Chhabra.
'What is it about the institution of faith that makes somebody get a sense of impunity, that they believe they can get away with anything?'
'She was brave. She didn't care a hoot. And India was not the strongest of nations as it is now.'
'She was brave. She didn't care a hoot. And India was not the strongest of nations as it is now.'
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.
From India's entry to the Oscars to the foodie flamboyance of Bollywood's first family to Srikant Tiwari's hope for a hat-trick and Korean entertainment in deeply dark mode, it's raining OTT goodies this week.
In the slot of rural poor, there are those who struggle to pull themselves out of crumbling hovels, and there are the Jamtara-like bunch who turn to crime. Neeraj Ghaywan's Homebound is about the former, whose quest for respect and dignity is thwarted because they are underprivileged, notes Deepa Gahlot.
Radhika Madan's new film Sanaa opened at the UK Asian Film Festival on May 11, and the actor has been making fashionable pictures at its promotions.
Hot girl summer is in full swing as far as this pretty lady is concerned.
The theme of the film festival was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Indian cinema, with focus on women filmmakers.
Check out who came for the opening night of the Ninth Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival in New York.
'When India opened its doors to the world, moving away from an agrarian to a market economy, everything, whether life or love, was commodified.'
'Whenever people say to me that all my work looks unique, I say to them originality is the art of concealing your source.' 'You can't see the sources that I take from because usually, they are Indian.' 'But then Indians don't find my work Indian.'
His cinema of compassion inspired me, gave me tools to develop empathy for others. But it also made me understand that serious, socially committed cinema with deeply engaging narratives and great performances is an art form to admire, appreciate and explore. Aseem Chhabra remembers Shyam Benegal, who passed into the ages on Monday evening.
Her acclaimed film All We Imagine As Light received two Golden Globe nominations in the Best Director (Motion Picture) and Best Motion Picture (Non English Language Film) categories. This marks the first time an Indian director has been nominated in the Director category.
'In a world which is full of categories, hatred and ideologies, there was this basic decency.'
With two directors -- Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta -- whose films have been nominated for Oscars, and with the veteran actress Shabana Azmi and the relatively younger Preity Zinta joining the celebrities, the eighth edition of the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival opens on Wednesday in New York.
'The nicest thing is that it is not my film.' 'People bring their own stories and life histories to the film.'
The sixth edition of the South Asian International Film Festival kicks off.
'When the girls said they want to play football, the mothers were encouraging.' 'It was the fathers who were against the idea.'
Jin's powerful storytelling in A Touch Of Sin has touched a nerve in China.
Founder Shilen Amin tells Arthur J Pais how far the South Asian International Film Festival has come since its inception 10 years ago
'This is a film that speaks to the spirit of women who have been cast into the bottom of India's social hierarchy, and how they have navigated their way to redefine the meaning of power.'
Aseem Chhabra watched some great films and some huge disappointments in 2021.
Bollywood is making beautiful pictures in different parts of the world.
Tanishtha Chatterjee, who won the Best Actress award at the New York Indian Film Festival, talks about the state of affairs in Indian cinema.
'I hadn't worked for three-and-a-half years.' 'I felt industry was based on who you knew.' 'I didn't belong to a network.'
While work on his most ambitious project Bombay Velvet is on, Anurag Kashyap's taut and gritty thriller Ugly screened at the ongoing New York Indian Film Festival.
'A lot of people think violence is strong in my movies, but they aren't actually seeing it. Even the beheading scene in Gangs Of Wasseypur is not there. The camera is behind the person and all you see are his hands moving. The imagination makes the audience think they actually saw the beheading and they are completely shaken by it.' Anurag Kashyap, in an exclusive interview.
Films that amazed Aseem Chhabra at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.
'Rapists do have families. I wanted to see how a father or mother would deal with it.' 'They go through shame as well and get discriminated from the rest of the village.' 'Why don't we show it that way?'
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