Baap Aur Punya The best known sequence, till now, of Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor is of ‘Naseeb’ (1981) where the two cavort to the evocatively sung Mohammad Rafi’s ‘Chal mere bhai’. Now, in ‘102 Not Out’, their sixth collaboration, AB and RK deliver an unbridled comedy, based on the eponymous Gujarati play, written by…
Motley Melodrama Celebrated Iranian Majid Majidi’s first film set outside Iran, ‘Beyond the Clouds’, has the master filmmaker capturing the sights and sounds of Mumbai’s slums and shanties, the red-light areas and prison cells – all against the backdrop of poverty and probity. After their parents’ death in a car crash, Aamir (Ishaan Khatter) is…
Unrequited Love The tagline, ‘This is not a love story, but rather a story about love’ threatens to wear thin after a while; but National award-winning director Shoojit Sircar reuniting (Vicky Donor, Piku) with his favourite writer Juhi Chaturvedi manages to hold the viewer’s interest. Varun Dhawan plays 21-year-old Danesh (Dan) Walia, interning in various…
The political predicament in the Middle East has been at the forefront of humanity since the past several decades, exacerbated by the Munich Olympics massacre in 1972, followed by the evacuation of hostages at Entebbe, Uganda on 4 July 1976. Within a year of the latter, three films were made on the Entebbe incident —…
At one point in the film, one of the central characters utters “All parents are liars.” ‘The Valley’, presumably titled due to its setting in the Silicon Valley, California, narrates the story of first-year college student Maya (Agneeta Thacker) — a second generation Asian American — striving to cope with cultural differences. Neal Kumar (Alyy…
It’s a well-known allegory that in communist dominated Russia, the citizens had to toe the line of the powers-that-be, no matter what. Taking a cue from this parable, former CIA operative Jason Mathews’ 2013 novel has been fashioned into an espionage thriller, based on Justin Haythe’s screenplay. Jennifer Lawrence plays ballerina Dominica Egorava, who breaks…
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 dawn of February 11th saw many vintage and classic beauties, both two-wheeled and four, congregate at Horniman Circle – Fort, Mumbai for the Annual Vintage Car Fiesta held by Vintage and Classic Car Club of India (VCCCI). A symphony of sounds and pitch filled the air. Die-hard enthusiasts and others, were up early to…
The info, or rather statistics, imparted to the viewers in the beginning attempts to assure them that they are in for a thriller. We are told that Los Angeles is the bank robbery capital of the world – every 48 minutes there is a bank heist in the City of the Angels. The film opens…
History is seldom recorded by the vanquished and, as such, is frequently inaccurate. The film opens to a slew of disclaimers, no doubt prompted by the dictates of the censors to appease the ‘senas’ who had objected to the inaccuracies in the film, which is inspired by the Sufi poet, Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s 1540 epic poem,…
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…