Worse than senseless films are those with the germ of a great idea squandered in pursuit of easy gratification. Nupur Asthana's Bewakoofiyaan falls in this category. It picks up a topical theme and fails to make a halfway decent watch of it. Read more
In Queen, Rani (Kangana Ranaut) is dumped by her fiancé (Rajkummar Rao) on the eve of their wedding. While the family is still struggling to come to terms with this shock she locks herself in her room crying all night long. Then, on an impulse, she decides to avail of the honeymoon ticket to Paris and seeks her father's permission. "Jaana zaroori hai?" he asks. "Nahin," she replies, "Agar aapk manaa karenge to nahin jaaoongi." Read more
Instead of the regulation item song, the end credits of Soumik Sen's Gulaab Gang roll to inspiring stories of women who've overcome disadvantages of birth and of patriarchal oppression to find ways to fulfil themselves and help others. It's a welcome change. Read more
In principle I have a problem empathising with a heroine whose sole aim in life is to win a dance reality show. It didn’t work even when Rani Mukerji displayed such chutzpah in
Bunty Aur Babli running away from home for a modelling contest. Add to that, the girl in question (Preeti Desai) is neither a dancer nor an actress. She’s first and above all a London-bred model with a thick accent, dazzling hair and tall, thin legs.
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Dear Papa, I am writing to you from my new home in the mountains where the air is so fresh, the water so clean, the sheep so adorable and the women in ethnic costumes so trendy! I now live in a mud house with cute little square windows and have even learnt to make tea on the chulha, sweep the floor and make my own bed. Of course, when it's warmer I sleep on the green grass and gaze at the stars shining bright in the ink blue sky. Read more
In Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine Cate Blanchett plays a down-and-out former heiress surviving on a staple diet of vodka, Xanax, rage and self-pity. She talks to herself and is rude to everyone in sight. But the character's vulnerability cuts deep and as you loathe her selfishness you also feel terribly sorry for her. Read more
It would be easy to dismiss Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bullett Raja as a lazy studio-funded collaboration between a reasonably talented director-star duo. Sadly, it doesn’t seem a mere aberration. More likely Dhulia and Saif Ali Khan have run out of ideas and are desperate to cash in their chips. Worth noting here that the filmmaker’s best work, Paan Singh Tomar (2010), came at the end of a seven-year drought. Read more
When you walk into a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film you have to leave your inhibitions at the door. The guy expects unconditional surrender to his grandiose vision, wound up characters, over-wrought emotions, and operatic sets and costumes. You can’t do Bhansali without a million candles, humungous chandeliers, wall-to-wall murals, orgiastic colours, picture-perfect lighting and people who scream their feelings out and wring each other’s necks in love. Read more
First the good news. Krrish 3 has by far the best special effects one has seen in an Indian film; Dhoom 3 better pack enough fire-power to outdo the mind-boggling wizardry of chameleons morphing into human forms, gravity-defying spins through Mumbai's streets and a couple of breathtaking action sequences. Not to mention the villain’s den atop a Swiss mountain that James Bond would’ve been proud to decimate. Read more
Quality Foods Store -- the Asian food and grocery chain in Southall, Hounslow, Ilford, Hayes and Upton Park -- can be convenient and wearisome at the same time. It is delightful to see one store stock up on all Indian/Asian goodies under one roof but sometimes the quality, pricing and shopping experience can leave you a bit underwhelmed. Read more
