Early deaths of Hollywood legends (the legend status conferred posthumously at times) has always held the industry and its fans in awe. Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Elvis Presley are just three names that come to mind. Add to that, actress-singer Judy Garland, who died 12 days after her 47th birthday, in 1969. The talented Renee Zellweger…
For a community known for its highly talented, quirky and obvious (and sometimes, inadvertent!) entertainment-value, the ‘Bawas Got Talent!’ Bonanza-of-a-Contest, comes as the perfect harbinger to kick off the brand-new decade! Held under the aegis of the NCPA and Adi Marzban Endowment Trust, ‘Bawas Got Talent’ (BGT) is a Zoroastrians-Only, Mega Talent Extravaganza, which is…
‘Lagta hai ke mera Khuda bhi ab unke saath hai’, utters the power-hungry Afghan king Ahmad Shah Abdali (Sanjay Dutt) in exasperation, seemingly outwitted by the wily Maratha commander Sadashiv Rao Bhau (Arjun Kapoor). ‘Panipat’ is all about the third Battle of Panipat, on 14 January, 1761 between the two. Nanasaheb Peshwa (Mohnish Bahl) comes…
“For my whole life, I didn’t know if I even really existed,” – the reader would be forgiven if even a glimmer of likeness was to be found with similarly titled films! Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a part-time clown, part-time stand-up comedian, with minimal success in the latter vocation, but who’s grown up idolising…
When a horde of scantily clad women descend (literally!) upon a guy, it could mean one of two things – either the guy is extremely good looking or well-heeled and gullible. ‘Hustlers’, scripted and directed by Lorene Scafaria, who had chanced upon an article by Jessica Pressler in the New York Magazine, lays bare the…
“Never fall in love with the law”, warns senior criminal lawyer Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna) while delivering a guest lecture to law students. This scene quickly turns to a film set where well-known but domineering director Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhatt) is at work. Jump to his residence where assistant costume designer Anjali Damle (Meera Chopra)…
The opening frames of the film could well serve as a reminder of the recent bounteous monsoon – with IIT students running around the hostel, clad only in underpants, drenching one another as if there was no tomorrow. Maya (Shraddha Kapoor) and Annirudh (Sushant Singh Rajput) were rank holders in 1992, but are now a…
It’s the sequel to the 2017 sleeper hit ’47 Meters Down’, where a couple of girls in a cage crash down into the ocean, with oxygen depleting. This one, for obvious reasons has a suffix: Uncaged. It involves four girls – twice the number, but with half the thrills and excitement. Mia (Sophie Nelisse) and…
“Stories have the power to hurt or heal,” says a child’s voice at the beginning of the film. In this film, adapted from the series of stories by Alvin Schwartz, one wonder what power this film could have – to hurt, heal.. or horrify! Set in 1968 during Halloween (that’s a given), in the small…
Set in Madhopur, Bihar, in 2005, with joints having names like ‘Murgh Donald’ and ‘Shotgun Shaadi Band’ (the film, incidentally, was initially titled ‘Shotgun Shaadi’) abound in this unending drama of forced marriages from the girl’s side (for a change), in cases where exorbitant dowry is demanded. Hukam Singh (Javed Jaffrey), who specializes in such…
In Hinduism, there’s a concept of renouncing the world and taking ‘sanyas’ or refuge in a forest or an ashram and living an ascetic life. This practice started with Buddha’s abdication of his ‘Raj-Dharma’ (Royal duties) and ‘Grihasthi-Dharma (Householder’s duties). This concept of ‘sanyas’ causes an unnatural divide between those seeking spiritual evolution and others…