'On our first day at the Kumbh Mela, there was a fire and shook our confidence. 'There must have been a few crore people there.' 'How do we place the camera in between them?'
'Your family doesn't want you to come to this field because there's no direction, no formula.' 'It's not as if your career is settled and you will get work consistently.'
While Nishaanchi is not a homerun for Kashyap, there's enough joy in this audience pleaser, notes Mayur Sanap.
Though Vash Level 2 doesn't deliver an absolute knock-out experience we would expect from a horror sequel, it has got enough zing to keep the franchise hurtling forward, raves Mayur Sanap.
'He knew the world's eyes were on him, and he had to speak directly to the fears that immigrants in New York feel right now.'
'I would think a hundred times before I wrote a gay character or a mentally challenged character because it requires a lot of research and empathy. That's the reason I shy away entirely from stories that have rape. I just can't. It's just terrifying for me, as a woman, to handle subjects like that because it's so sensitive.'
What if Sholay were produced now, in our technologically advanced era, with AI vying for our attention?, asks Atanu Biswas.
Unlike the TVF shows that manage to mine humour and nostalgia for family bonds that are seen to be fraying in real life, the ordinariness of Bakaiti becomes its stumbling block, observes Deepa Gahlot.
'Whenever we did any scenes together, whatever we did in the film, he never said, "Let's do another take or let's move on".' 'He always asked me, "Parmeet, is it okay?" Till I gave my best, he kept going on.'
Few people have left the kind of imprint on India's advertising canvas as Piyush Pandey. An observer who seemed to know what made the country tick, a man who could find humour in life's everyday struggles and spin magic from it, one who understood that to reach the masses you needed to communicate with them in their language and context -- he was all of this and more.
'The audience has an expectation that the climax will be similar to the last 20 minutes of the previous film.' 'All I can say is you will get what you're expecting and you will also get what you're not expecting.'
'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?'
Dinesh Raheja charts the highs and lows of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's creative association with five megastars -- Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dharmendra.
Hridayapoorvam does not break any new ground or tell a story as old as time with any novelty but its sincerity keeps it alive, notes Arjun Menon.
Do You Wanna Partner is frothy and funny without being loud or crude, which is something so many Indian comedies cannot manage, observes Deepa Gahlot.
'They are clueless about the man on the currency notes.' 'They have been fed with WhatsApp forwards, so either Gandhi is vilified or deified. There's nothing in between.'
It was a proud evening for Shah Rukh Khan, as elder son Aryan Khan shone under the spotlight for his first ever premiere.
The film lurches from one melodramatic situation to another, for nearly 160 minutes, before culminating in an ending that embodies Director Anupam Kher's personal philosophy: Kuch bhi ho sakta hain, notes Mayur Sanap.
'People message me on Instagram saying that because of your novel, I find happiness, it helps me deal with depression. When I see this, I realise that I'm doing something meaningful'
'I fell in love with Suraiya and that was my first real gafla. The more I couldn't get her, the more I wanted her. When I couldn't marry her because the world didn't want it, I cried for the first time.'
The jokes don't land. The one-liners fall flat. And worse, nobody from the well-stacked cast looks like they are having fun, observes Mayur Sanap.
The emotional quotient of They Call Him OG falls flat, the plotting looks jerky, and the runtime feels compromised, but hey, if you are a Pawan Kalyan fan, none of this matters, notes Arjun Menon.
'Abrar uncle said he had started drinking from the afternoon on that fateful day. And he continued drinking till late at night.' 'Thereafter, he must have consumed some sleeping pills, as was his habit.' 'I think that combination went fatally wrong.'
Sabar Bonda is a tender, and exquisitely crafted slice-of-life drama that taps into universal human desire of making a meaningful connection with another human being, observes Mayur Sanap.
'For all you know, in the next five years there could be a path-breaking cancer treatment and I may be absolutely fine. Or maybe I won't be. I have to live with both scenarios.'
What's unforgiving about Season two is the way the ever-so-entertaining Venkatesh Daggubati is under-utilised, complains Mayur Sanap.
Seventy years after Pather Panchali released on August 26, 1955, we finally get it. Shuttling between the village of Boral and a studio in Calcutta, caught between worrying about the next purse of funds and wondering which item to mortgage next, Satyajit Ray was explaining Indians to themselves, discovers Sreehari Nair.
The young star kid is all set to make his big fat debut in the OTT series, The Ba***ds of Bollywood.
In the era of uber-stylish batters, Pujara was that glue that held the Indian batting together for a decade between 2013-14 till 2023 over a period of 100 plus Test matches.
The sheer awfulness of Andaaz 2 really doesn't deserve anyone's time or attention, warns Mayur Sanap.
'If I'm playing Shah Rukh Khan's role, then of course, I would have loved to do it.'
'They were born stars the day they were selected for this film.'
'So my question was, 'What is it that you are proud of? What have you achieved? What is your contribution?' 'He had no answer.'
'I was to do Sanam Bewafa but it had a contract that my father was not okay with.'
'Pahlaj Nihalani came to my rescue. There was no Instagram in those days so I didn't recognise him.' 'I almost fainted when he told me he was Pahlaj Nihalani, the producer of Ilzaam, the hit film that had just made Govinda a star.' 'I told him I was a model and an aspiring actor, and he responded, "You have an interesting face. Come and meet me in the office tomorrow".'
'My relationship with my father is a journey of mental growth and understanding and finding joy and happiness together.'
'I wouldn't have called myself an athletic person growing up. But training for this film changed that.' 'It pushed me in ways I didn't expect and made me discover a strength I didn't know I had.'
The festival's People's Choice Award, voted by the audience, is a strong indication of films that can eventually be nominated and even win Oscars. Twelve of the last 15 People's Choice winners have received Best Picture Oscar nominations.
'I make films which I think have the possibility of being liked by a majority of people, and you present it with the right emotions.'
With his killer smile, the sex symbol image, Robert Redford would go beyond just being an actor, remembers Aseem Chhabra.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances