Following in the footsteps of her mother Aparna Sen, Konkana has crafted (written and directed) an immensely watchable debut film. McCluskiegang, four decades ago, was a prosperous town in Bihar (now Jharkhand) with a sizeable number of Anglo-Indians. In the Christmas holidays of 1978, Nandu (Gulshan Devaih) along with his wife Bonnie (Tillotama Shome) and…
The fifth and latest in the Pirates franchise coming six years after the last is also the shortest in terms of running time. It’s back to the familiar premise as the perpetually sozzled—obviously on Caribbean rum—Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johny Depp, on familiar territory) is shown botching up a bank robbery attempt : he’s found asleep…
Explorers are a restless, transient tribe of people; they seldom pay heed to reason, relying on their own impulses and acting accordingly. David Grann’s 2009 real-life book (based on his 2005 article on the same and published in the New Yorker magazine) on the explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) has now been translated onto the…
The average Indian’s twin obsessions (pun intended) are cricket and cinema. In making the docu-drama ‘Sachin’, director James Erskine certainly holds the perfect curriculum vitae, having made films on the world’s three greatest sports — Football (‘One Night in Turin’, ‘Shooting for Socrates’), Tennis (‘Billie Jean King’) and yes, even Cricket (‘From the Ashes’, of…
[otw_shortcode_info_box border_style=”bordered” css_class=”boxed”]The 18th edition of Mumbai Film Festival kicked off with delegates, media and filmmakers from all over the world assembling at one or the other of the seven venues spread across the city. Our film critic Hoshang K. Katrak reports.[/otw_shortcode_info_box] Dog Days (China, 95 min); Dir. – Jordan Schiele: An Abba-type Chinese song…
The last five minutes perhaps symbolizes the major part of the film. We’ll discuss it later. Stunts and action run in Ajay Devgn’s blood — his father Veeru Devgan was a ‘thrills’ director. Celebrating 25 years in films (Phool Aur Kaante, 1991), AD releases his second directorial venture — his first, ‘U, Me Aur Hum’…
Picked up by a sneery sheriff and his deputy from a cafeteria, hauled into the slammer and breaking free with military-precision impunity, Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) flexes his muscles and uses both his fists to telling effect. Jack Reacher 2 is an out-and-out action thriller, with the opening scenes bearing faint resemblance to Rambo: First…
The amusing title is apparently inspired from the song in ‘Waris’ (1969), which had newcomers as actors. The similarity between the two films ends there. Brought up by an uncle and aunt, Kunwar Aditya Pratap Singh (Sharad Malhotra) is from an erstwhile royal family. His palace is home to spooky ghosts and eerie goings-on, family…
31 October 1984 was a dark and black-lettered day in the annals of Indian history. The film is Director Patil’s effort to recreate an episode emanating in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assass-ination by her two Sikh bodyguards on that day. As Devender Singh (Vir Das), his wife Tejinder (Soha Ali Khan) along with their…
‘What you don’t see can’t hurt you’, would be an apt tagline for the film. A Hitchcock-sounding title is bound to arouse more than a little curiosity. Based on the 2015 novel by the same name — the fastest selling adult-novel in history — by Paula Hawkins, the film has the alcoholic and depressed Rachel…
A film which was held up by the censors for close to 3 years due to the profligacy of its profanity is bound to be a head-turner. For one not used to the old Delhi or North Indian rural ‘tapori’ language, this film may be a revelation, or fill one with a sense of revulsion…