'How will this woman find her? And how does that affect her, because it's not a biological relationship.'
'It's a harrowing book because in the first 100 pages, you have the first-person account of very young girl being abused. It's an important, crucial document from her point of view, but impossible to emotionally endure if one is to illustrate it on screen.'
'I met with people who had their flats redeveloped. I saw this was a real human struggle.' 'People get caught in the middle between their dreams, wishes and their community.'
Make your Oscar predictions, and see them come true on Hollywood's biggest awards night.
Aseem has written Irrfan Khan: The Man, The Dreamer, The Star and he's here to answer your questions on Irrfan.
'Raghav and I complement each other. He talks to me a lot about form and how he approaches his characters. Our paths are different, but we both are very much aligned emotionally.'
'It would have never crossed anybody's mind where life would have taken us or that Irrfanji would fall sick.'
Know all you want to know about the star!
'I wish Ra.One had more of the evil character played by Arjun Rampal. I wish we could have seen some more sparks of evil from Kapoor. But Ra.One is mostly about Shah Rukh Khan.'
Lovingly made, heartfelt stories that speak the truths about our lives.
13 films from the 2026 Cannes film festival, highlighting award-winning international cinema, unexpected gems, and restored classics that truly celebrated the art of filmmaking.
Filmmaker and actor Manish Acharya died in a freak accident in Matheran on Saturday. He was only 40 years old. Aseem Chhabra salutes a friend and colleague.
'Cinema is such a powerful medium. It is not just the emotional impact, but some of these films are so strong that your entire body cannot help but react.'
When Arundhati Roy wrote her first novel God of Small Things, her team reached out to Shah Rukh Khan inviting him to read a passage from the book at its Mumbai launch. Perhaps because he still held a grudge, Khan refused the invitation.
'Much later when I came to Afghanistan, I realised that there were songs in Bollywood films.'
This Hamlet and most of the film's characters are Hindus, so there is an elaborate wedding sequence with a baraat, dholki players, dancing baraatis, and a dance performance piece, set to the qawwali Mast Qalander.
'Each mother I have played is different, but the writing dictates the doing of it. If it's written well, that's half the work done for an actor.'
'I am quite impulsive when making a movie. That is the reason I need to stop sometimes, probably pause.'
'One's country is the best place to live, no matter what problems, what difficulties.' 'My country is where I can breathe, where I can find the reason to live, and where I can find the strength to create.'
'Filmmaking is such a weird line of work, artistic expression and collaboration.' 'It is letting go, then holding on to something, being democratic and then being tyrannical.'
Having grossed nearly $370 worldwide, Sinners filled up Warner Bros coffers when many of the studio's key 2025 films lost money, and deserves its many Oscar nominations.
'I want to show bearded men actually caring and loving for their sons or a woman from Pakistan in a position of power. How radical is that?'
Aseem Chhabra lists his top 10 films from this year's Sundance festival, a blend of narratives and documentaries made in the US and other parts of the world.
'This story has been always there since my childhood because of missing people.' 'I remember a family member who disappeared and I kept wondering what happened to him.'
This year's Golden Globes was a test to see if Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another is still riding on an unstoppable train, similar to one that Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer rode on in 2023, observes Aseem Chhabra.
Chennai Express is a full throttle masala entertainment ruled by Shah Rukh Khan's star power
'What if a ring had gotten stolen, or a gem had fallen? There were uncut diamonds, rubies and emeralds. And the security from the jewellery shop came to watch the shoot.'
A skinny African-American man, with goofy ears and Hussein as a middle name is going to become our 44th president. It is a win for all of us-- African-Americans, whites, Latinos, Asians, men, women and children, old and young, straight and gays. We should rejoice at this historic moment.
'What interested me more than the influencers was how were they surviving in Bombay?' 'How many reels did they make per month? How much money did they need to get by?' 'Did they get a job and then come back home and do this at night?'
The New York City mayor-elect's mother has made some incredible movies.
'We have come to the point in civilisation where emotion seems to be something you hide or you have to be discreet about, or to be ashamed of.'
'...including my baby sisters, age three and one.' 'My dad was humiliated, and he started screaming at them.'
Aseem Chhabra ranks the Best of 2025's films that released in theatres, or went directly to OTT platforms.
'It is something that he always wanted to do and he has achieved phenomenal success in doing it.'
The four-day CIFF was packed with so many other new projects, like Radhika Apte's first directorial effort Koyta, with Vikramaditya Motwane as the producer, Venkatesh Maha's Ko Ko Ko, Jeo Baby's Punishment and Shonali Bose's Black Mountain Monpa.
Shriya Pilgaonkar recaps March on social media, giving everyone a look at her many emotions and events.
'For the longest time, he was not an activist.' 'He was just trying to build his own self-identity, self-respect and ambition.'
'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.'
This weekend, we lost Diane Keaton, that piece of American heart, Hollywood's darling hummingbird. Thank God she is still alive in her films. Aseem Chhabra on the Hollywood star he was in love with.
