Blog Archives

Gangs of Wasseypur, from Indian director Anurag Kashyap (Black Friday) was the first Indian film to screen in official competition at the Sydney Film Festival, and a serious commitment for festival moviegoers. It’s an epic in two 160-minute parts, scheduled back-to-back on the last Sunday of the festival, and SFF director Nashen Moodley greeted the audience as ‘the bravest of the brave’ with a smile when he came out to introduce the film.… (read more)

Trishna opens nationwide on May 10, 2012 — check your local cinema for details.

Trishna is a contemporary adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles from English director Michael Winterbottom, with quite a change of scenery. It transplants the story to India, swapping industrial England for rural Rajasthan and urban Mumbai as India modernises.

Freida Pinto (who made her film debut in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire) plays Trishna, a young woman living in with her family in … (read more)

There are three guys in this film trying to make their own independent, free-thinking mark in life. Apparently that’s what makes them idiots according to their elders. Only an idiot would give up a high paying engineering career to become a photographer. Only an idiot could possibly fail to overcome the fear of failure that stops him from achieving high grades when his impoverished family’s future is at stake. Only an idiot would want to take a conceptual approach to … (read more)

If you dialled 1300-FILM EPICS in India, I’m sure you’ll get a direct line to Ashutosh Gowariker. The man seems to have a penchant for making big epics. Note his body of work – Lagaan, Swades, Mangal Pandey. His most famous work outside of his home country is the nearly 4 hour long Foreign Film Oscar Nominated Lagaan. So what is he offering this time with Jodhaa Akbar, a historical epic set in the 16th Mughal empire?

I’m … (read more)

No one and I mean no one could have been having a better time at the cinemas than I did last Sunday. If they claimed they did then they’re fibbing. That or they were part of the raucous crowd who were cheering along with me. Such was the effect of Farah Khan’s sophomore effort – a splashy, cheeky and retro-looking masala film that made everyone walk out with a smile on their faces and no socks on (they were blown … (read more)

It would be a rare film indeed to be inspirational, to transport the audience into its world, to be carried away by its idealistic fervour and winds of patriotism AND be a great film. So Rang De Basanti didn’t turn out to be this awe-inspiring film I expected. Boohoo. Serves me right for having high expectations and buying into the hype. Unfortunately RDB just didn’t have the complete package. Plus I forgot to take into account that I am a … (read more)

Don… If your first thoughts were of Don salami, then allow me to introduce you to the other non-cured meat variety — a suave criminal, a stylish James Bond-like figure ruling the underworld with vicious tenacity. A seminal film of 70s Bollywood, with a big star cast (Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman), it was a blockbuster that spawned several hit tunes, notably “Khaike Paan Banaraswala”. It was a slice of 70s action movie, in the vein of Bond and Dirty Harry … (read more)

Oooh boy. Where do I begin? I’m a Bollywood fan-girl but my love and appreciation reached its limit here.

Taking inspiration from 1998 superhit, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Koi Aap Sa makes no pretence about its admiration for the former film, even thanking the director Karan Johar in the opening credits. I have no problem with that except it unsuccessfully tries to channel everything from the narrative to music (is it just a coincidence that the actress who plays … (read more)