Clik here to view.
Why Kareena will remain Kareena
Even the Married Woman stereotype is red hot. The pallu that, in one strategic slip, changes gears from bashful to boastful. That oomph that comes from experience. That smile which knows which men to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Salman Khan Interview
You can tell a lot about a megastar by the way he throws his punch. A Hindi film hero might routinely fell over seven with one blow, but each has their own approach. Aamir Khan, all bloodshot eyes and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Dabanng 2 Review
Salman Khan has become the new Dharmendra. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaspheming for effect. When I say ‘the new Dharmendra,’ I don’t mean the fine actor from Satyakam or Chupke Chupke, or even the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hindi cinema’s best actresses of 2012
It’s been yet another mixed bag of a year for Hindi cinema, with some fine performances mired in poor films, and some fine films marred by weak actors at their centres. As actresses go, however, it’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hindi cinema’s best actors of 2012
2012 has been a very, very solid year for actors. We’ve had some sensational ensembles, and many films underscored by standout performances. And yet, ironically enough, this is a list with only eight...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Worst Hindi Films of 2012
There are two ways to make a Worst Of The Year list. One is to look at the embarrassing B-grade films, the predictably weak and awful movies that can fight for places in these lists even before they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Best Hindi Films of 2012
It isn’t often that I get to make a top ten list of good films. Most years, there are four or five good Hindi films. Sometimes I add a few more on, with a caveat. 2012, on the other hand, has offered...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Vishal Bhardwaj’s Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Without warning, there is an accident. Then, a flashback: to ten minutes earlier. A flashback which explains, nearly in realtime, how the accident comes to be. Why, then, did we not directly start from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables
Once in a while there comes a movie that automatically deserves the tag of Epic. Tom Hooper’s monumental, grandstanding adaptation of Les Misérables does that and even more: it earns the second word of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Ben Affleck’s Argo
God bless grown men who make swooshy laser sounds with their mouths. Wonderment is the cornerstone of the Hollywood we know and love (and are frequently exasperated by). The magical escape cinema...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Sahib, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns
The title means nothing, you know. Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster was fine, cheeky and homage-y but this added Returns, a grammatically incorrect English word at the end of a Hindi title? (Instead of, say,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Steven Spielberg brought Bollywood closer
It all began with a glass of water. We all have our own gateways into the wondrous world of Steven Spielberg. From the glowing doorway in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind to the first sighting of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Best English Films of 2012
10. The Avengers 9. Safety Not Guaranteed 8. Looper 7. Beasts Of The Southern Wild 6. Argo 5. “The Late Show” Parts 1-3 Louie : Season 3, Episodes 10, 11, 12 (It doesn’t have to be an actual film to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained
Some slant their glasses as they pour out their beer. Some pour it straight but fastidiously slow. Some others like their brew topped with foam. And then there are those — like a German dentist working...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Sai Paranjpe’s Chashme Buddoor
There is a scene in Sai Paranjpe’s Chashme Buddoor where Farooque Shaikh and Deepti Naval are on their first date. Despite coffee and tutti-frutti ice-cream, and her cooing enthusiasm for him studying...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kiss Kiss Clang Clang: Iron Man 3
It’s easy to forget just how much that suit weighs. And that’s because it looks so, so good. Aerodynamically magical and ergonomically perfect, the suit is a technological marvel in red-and-yellow —...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Bombay Talkies
Why do we love the movies? Why do we stiffen with anticipation when that censor certificate flashes on the big screen, its signatures the size of couches, even when I may already be warning us that the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby
A famous Hindi film actor (who shall naturally go nameless here) once told me, while gushing about Baz Luhrmann’s work and cinematic flair, that he “is like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, gone right.” I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nargis Fakhri: The World Is Not Enough
I couldn’t resist taking an umbrella along. I mean, how often do you get to have a drink with a Nargis, anyway? It’s a name we don’t run into much, despite our legendary screen goddess. The girl...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Review: Ishqk In Paris
Ah, Preity. When we first met Priety Zinta, we were bowled over by those sparkling eyes, those dimples and that genuinely fresh candour. When, in Dil Se, Shah Rukh Khan choked on his burger as she...
View Article