February 18, 2008 – 4:40 pm
I didn’t want to blog about the controversy around Jodhaa Akbar simply because it doesn’t deserve the attention it is getting. The opinion I’ve heard about the movie is that it is an expensive and lengthy bore–at the least. Taking liberties with history is nothing new to Bollywood. Jodhaa Akbar is just the latest after [...]
I’m a flunked film critic and this is my story.
My dad’s list of favourite movies began with Nagin, Anarkali, Bees Saal Baad, Chaudvin ka Chand, Aah, Shri 420, Dilli ka Thug, Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam, Funtoosh, China Town, Aawara, Anari, CID, Jewel Thief, Gumnaam, Kashmir ki Kali, Love in Tokyo, An Evening in Paris, Janwar, [...]
I finally watched the movie that’s sent the whole of Karnataka into a tizzy. I’m glad I watched Mungaru Male.
The best things in life are often simple. Mungaru Male’s simplicity is its success secret: when was the last time you saw the Sold Out sign for a Kannada film in an upmarket theatre like PVR [...]
I haven’t followed any Girish Karnad plays after the horrendous Agni Mattu Male (The Fire and the Rain). But it is nice to learn that his plays still enjoy enormous fan following in the circles that matter.
To my knowledge, Karnad has written at least three plays after Agni Mattu Male. All three have expectedly received [...]
The inevitable has to happen to any religion that only stands on the shaky ground of faith: it has to die its natural death. When Faith can no longer be asserted by violence, other, more desperate means are tried. Money, for example. Even that cannot take you too far, at best it can prolong the [...]
February 7, 2007 – 4:05 pm
This time it’s a journalist, not a novelist. Reviewing (shallow) Water made by the self-scourging Deepa Mehta. I had covered the likes of Mehta earlier. So this review is not worth writing about. And he makes all the usual noises about the backwardness of widow-related traditions, and other blah-blahs.
Is it surprising then, that the [...]
December 21, 2006 – 5:30 pm
This was inevitable.
Film actor Sanjay Dutt, held guilty for possessing arms in the 1993 bomb blast case, on Thursday arrived at the TADA court which would hear his plea seeking time to surrender. Dutt’s lawyers are likely to seek a pardon for him on the grounds of good behaviour.
G-o-o-d b-e-h-a-v-i-o-u-r.
December 21, 2006 – 12:55 pm
Tarka (trans=Logic) launched one of the most amazing directors in Kannada cinema. Although it didn’t exactly set the box office ablaze, it signalled that Sunil Kumar Desai had arrived with his maiden directorial venture. A pity that Desai retired a couple of years ago.
Tarka is a suspense-thriller, murder-mystery and pscyhological-horror tale all rolled into one. [...]
December 18, 2006 – 6:07 pm
As promised, here’s my review of Shankar Nag’s debut movie. Apart from paving the way for Shankar’s trailblazing career as both actor and director par excellence, this film has in its own small way, retained a cult-like reputation. A one-of-a-kind film in Kannada cinema, almost no other Kannada film has managed to achieve its class [...]
December 18, 2006 – 3:17 pm
I’ll take a temporary departure from blogging about political dirt and assault you with my enlightened views on Shankar Nag’s movies. No, I’m not his fan–not now, not in my childhood despite growing up watching his movies.
I simply think he made, and acted in some amazing movies that beg to be talked about in [...]
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Jodha Akbar: Does it Deserve the Attention?
I didn’t want to blog about the controversy around Jodhaa Akbar simply because it doesn’t deserve the attention it is getting. The opinion I’ve heard about the movie is that it is an expensive and lengthy bore–at the least. Taking liberties with history is nothing new to Bollywood. Jodhaa Akbar is just the latest after [...]