For those unfamiliar with the subject – Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955) was a prolific storywriter who supplemented his earnings by penning film scripts. His writings could be acerbic and vitriolic, but more of that latter. Biographies are generally arduous to navigate, leaving the filmmaker with a tough choice – whom to appease – the paying…
Genre: Drama, Crime Rating: 2.5/5 130 minutes Director: Sanjib Dey It’s been widely publicised as India’s first multilingual film — English, Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Manipuri and Nagamese — in English subtitles wherever necessary. ‘lll Smoking Barrels’ is an anthology of three stories, all based in ‘Far East India’ but disparate — by director Sanjib Dey,…
Genre: Action, Thriller Rating: 3/5 123 minutes Director: Antoine Fuqua There would have apparently been a strong enough reason for Denzel Washington to have assented to do his first ever sequel — four years after ‘The Equalizer’ which was based upon the TV series of the 80s. He reprises his role of Robert McCall, a…
One of the first films to showcase (pun unintended) the plight of brothels and their inmates was ‘Mandi’ (1983). The dusky Mrunal Thakur, making her debut in Hindi films in the eponymous ‘Love Sonia’, has shades of the late Smita Patil, who essayed Zeenat in Shyam Benegal’s 1983 classic. Noorani’s directorial feature debut goes several…
Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy Rating: 3/5 157 minutes Director: Anurag Kashyap Whatever Punjabis do, it’s not only without inhibition but with a great deal of spontaneity. If ‘Udta Punjab’ (2016) showcased the rampant drug menace in the state, ‘Manmarziyaan’, Anurag Kashyap’s latest — a romantic comedy — has dollops of free-spirited, licentious and overt passion….
Genre: Drama, Romance Rating: 3/5 102 minutes Director: Kanwal Sethi Telephonic conversations between a divorcee and a widowed mother — both at least in their late 40s — which gradually progress towards a certain degree of romance, are at the centre of ‘Once Again’, available on Netflix. Amar Kumar (Neeraj Kabi, fresh from his stint…
Genre: Drama, Romance Rating: 2.5/5 140 minutes Director: Sajid Ali ‘A modern-day love story’, proclaims one of the film’s publicity posters. Well, it certainly is — part of the blossoming romance is on the mobile phone. Possibly the eighth Hindi film to be so titled (two of them during the silent era), this latest, co-written…
Genre: Drama, Thriller Rating: 3.5/5 114 minutes Director: Dipesh Jain ‘Gali Guleiyan’ translates to ‘In the Shadows’. In this sense, the film, for its major part retains a dusky, gloomy look, which is possibly the intention of its first-time feature director Dipesh Jain. Screened so far at almost ten Film Festivals worldwide, Gali Guleiyan features the…
Originally planned as a seven-minute short (by the director’s own admission), former Google executive Aneesh Chaganty has helmed a rather impressive film in his debut feature outing. The title alludes to a father’s frantic hunt for his missing 16-year-old daughter. It was a happy threesome until David Kim’s (John Cho) wife passes away after a…
Genre: Drama, Crime, Thriller Rating: 3/5 133 minutes Director: Michael Noer It would be a toss-up as to whether classics need to be remade, especially if that classic featured legends such as Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. 45 years after their ‘Papillon’ (1973), based on the (exaggerated?) 1969 personal memoirs of Henri Charriere, comes another…
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Thriller Rating: 3/5 115 minutes Director: Amar Kaushik In 1967, that talented director Raj Khosla completed his trilogy of suspense films — Woh Kaun Thi (64), Mera Saaya (66) and Anita (67) — all of which had the enigmatic beauty Saadhna in the role of the spooky and elusive woman as the…