The Zoroastrian Society of Ontario (ZSO) hosted an evening with Mervon Mehta — Zubin Mehta’s son — who brought Zubin’s new movie, ‘Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds: The Conductor Zubin Mehta’, to be shown at the local Darbe Mehr. The evening started off with Mervon sharing an introduction to the movie and saying a few…
Genre: Biography, Drama Rating: 2/5 108 minutes Director: Vijay Ratnakar Gutte The film could be termed a severe disappointment, or a hilarious take on the political scenario of our country from 2004-2014, which was the period when a certain, and ‘contingent’ gentleman held the office of India’s Prime Minister. It all depends on which side…
‘Reach for the moon and the stars will fall in your lap,’ seems to be the philosophy followed by SRK and the people responsible for bringing the film to its title ‘Zero’. In a runtime of two-and-a-half-hours plus, Zero undergoes a series of transformations – possibly more than the number of titles thought of by the…
Kedarnath could be succinctly described as a 20-minute film on natural calamity wrapped around in a 2-hour romantic drama. Mansoor (Sushant Singh Rajput), a Muslim lad of modest means and temperament, ekes out a living transporting pilgrims 14 km from Gauri Kund up to the holy town of Kedarnath. Love blossoms when he comes across…
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…
When was the last time one saw a film where tears of sorrow turned to sporadic laughter and the other way around? The third film of playwright-turned-director Martin McDonagh (screenplay too), ‘Three Billboards…’ narrates the story of Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), a grief-stricken mother whose daughter was raped and burnt to death and is seeking justice…
Early on in the film one of the central characters in the film mouths the dialogue “In our job we cannot afford confusion”. This line could very well have been spoken by writer-director Neeraj Pandey as viewed throughout the first half of the 160 minute film. The lengthy opening disclaimer too is understandable – after…
The snowy locales of Himachal Pradesh is the setting for this curiously titled film, and one soon learns that it is the name of a hotel in Manali. The film opens with a person running frantically in the snow as if the devil was after him. Cut to ACP Ashwin Dixit and his wife Shikha…
That famous victory sign, the pugnacity of the man, the perennial cigar in his mouth with those protruding jowls under the bowler hat and the oratory skills which earned him the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature, are all brought to screen via an intense portrayal of two-time British PM Winston Churchill by Gary Oldman. The…
Films of this genre normally start off sedately – the protagonist (being an ex-cop helps) working hard for a living, usually with a spouse and child (comes in handy as hostages), and losing his job – wondering how to break the news at home. So, in The Commuter we have Michael MacCauley (Liam Neeson), an…
The only reason the director might offer for this film going haywire long before the end is that it was his debut feature. The premise, although a tried and tested one, promised much more. Two girls, unknown to each other and coincidentally sharing their first name, decide to go on a road trip to Sweden….