l

'Sanju remembers her only for the love'

'I don't think my troubles would have happened if she was with me. I kind of lost my way after she was gone,' Sanjay Dutt once told Subhash K Jha about his mother Nargis, the legendary actress who passed away this day 41 years ago.




l

Is Jaideep Ahlawat India's Finest Actor?

If Irrfan could have been our finest professor of empirical philosophy, and Nawaz is our foremost poet of that space halfway between the gutter and the stars, then Jaideep Ahlawat has to be our greatest artist-scientist, asserts Sreehari Nair.




l

The Small Big Pictures Of Rajamouli & Co

RRR isn't the "spectacle" it is made out to be, argues Sreehari Nair.




l

Is Ms Marvel Really EPIC?

<em>Ms Marvel</em>'s first episode did not bore me, but it made me question the very existence of the first Muslim superhero, observes Subhash K Jha.




l

'Difficult to keep up with Ranveer'

Ranveer is loud, but not shrill, notes Subhash K Jha.As in singing, in acting holding your pitch in the higher notes is a Himalayan task.Ranveer resides on the highest notes of the musical mountain and still manages to be coherent, fluent and persuasive.




l

Lijo Jose Pellissery's Women And Mine

Pellissery's women continue to express the beauty in our common humanity. And often, these women go so far into expressing our hopes, desires, absurdities and follies that they end up acting at variance with the ethical prescriptions of our age. And this, I believe, is precisely why they remain "invisible" to a whole bunch of viewers, says Sreehari Nair.




l

Why Priyanka is UNSTOPPABLE!

I have heard cynics say that Priyanka Chopra Jonas as we know her today is the creation of a PR machinery, but that is rather a poor reading of a determined woman and the work she has done to get to where she is.Aseem Chhabra salutes the movie star on her 40th birthday on July 18.




l

Ranveer Looks Tired And Quite Unsexy

Far from outraging any woman's sensibility or sense of modesty, Ranveer looks like he could do with a hot meal and a hug, notes Deepa Gahlot.




l

Darlings Is Daring!

I cannot think of another Hindi movie that has, without so much as a hint of cynicism or speechifying, brought out that fundamental fact of Muslims being an integral part of the Indian culture while being at the same time a subculture with its own polite niceties, observes Sreehari Nair.




l

Thallumaala: One Of The Films Of 2022

Friendships are not merely severed, but built over scuffles.And just about anything can stir things up -- a long-standing feud, a pointless stare, a disrupted moral stance, a fist that ricochets off a face and smacks another face in the near vicinity, observes Sreehari Nair.




l

Pushpa Effect Makes Allu Arjun Brand Star

A little bird in the know of things tells me that Allu Arjun will most likely become the face of a global cola brand very soon.And he has jacked his brand endorsement price to an unheard of Rs 7.5 crore per day, leaving the likes of Virat Kohli and Ranveer Singh trailing by quite a margin, reveals Sandeep Goyal.




l

Why Lataji Didn't Sing With Rafi, SD...

Long before she won royalty rights for playback singers, there was an undisclosed incident in Lataji's life where she not only put a male colleague in place, but also refused to sing with him thereafter.




l

Doctor G: Lazy, Dishonest, Film

Doctor G is outwardly all for women, but evidently has no interest in them, observes Sreehari Nair.




l

Rare Appeal: Remembering Smita Patil

Smita has left behind a rich haul of films that showcase her enormous ability to offer us a glimpse into her soul each time she performed a role.




l

The Lataji I Knew

I spent almost all my life trying to figure out how anyone could express so many shades of human feeling in her voice, wonders Subhash K Jha.




l

The Lesson We Can Learn From Ariyippu

Ariyippu drives home the point that nothing can force you to leave the path of righteousness, discovers Utkarsh Mishra.




l

Keeravaani's Gracious Act At Globes

The composer thanked other artists for the making of the song.




l

Pathaan Is About Shah Rukh's Life

More than anything else, Pathaan is a silent and subtle statement of Shah Rukh Khan about his place, his commitment to cinema and, if one can say, his politics, observes Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.




l

When Pathaan's Villain Made You Think

Let us get high on Pathaan and his simple-minded antics, sure, but let us also take a moment to think about Jim who, with that one cunning piece of dialogue, goes on to boldly state that patriotism is a many-hued thing, observes Sreehari Nair.




l

Mammootty Gets Off A Bus; Goes Down A Rabbit Hole

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam is a masterpiece, and like most masterpieces of the cinema, it's a great act of folly, observes Sreehari Nair.




l

The Plight Of Food Delivery Boys

<em>Zwigato</em> urges viewers to think critically about the kind of unethical behaviour that food delivery workers have to put up with on a daily basis because of insensitive customers, observes Chintan Girish Modi.




l

PS:2: So Who Killed Aditha Karikalan?

The question 'Who was/were behind Aditha Karikalan's killing?' will continue to remain a historic mystery despite Mani Ratnam setting out to unravel it in his own way, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.




l

Why 2018 Is The 'Real' Kerala Story

Kindness and compassion is all you need to survive and build your life. And that is what makes 2018's Kerala story so relevant, notes Divya Nair.




l

The Power Of The Law... And Hope

Sirf Ek Banda Kaafi Hai reminds us that we haven't run out of instances where even the most vulnerable can secure justice against the mighty, applauds Utkarsh Mishra.




l

What Makes Jaya-Amitabh A Golden Couple

One of Hindi cinema's most high-profile couples celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 3.




l

Why Did This Kerala Story Become A Hit?

'Cinema or the sentiment of a people, disgusted by contemporary politics and wanting to feel whole by collectively recalling a moment of great difficulty that was also a cause for togetherness?', asks Shyam G Menon.




l

Mirror Puts Dance Back Into Lust Stories

Konkona Sen Sharma's short Mirror in Lust Stories 2 is a rare thing: A feminist film that is also very, very funny, states Sreehari Nair.




l

Oppenheimer: Film-Making At Its Best

The narrative is faithful to the source, American Prometheus, but what makes it absolutely spell-binding is Christopher Nolan's technique, notes Shreekant Sambrani.




l

Gadar 2: A Love Letter To Sunny Deol

When the movie started, the crowd went wild.They cheered for Sunny Deol and booed the villains.They laughed at the jokes, cried at the emotional scenes and whistled and cheered at all the action.Rajesh Karkera records the audience reactions at a screening of Gadar 2.




l

Gulzar's Madhur Dosti With R D Burman

None of R D Burman's collaborations was as rewarding and resplendent as with Gulzar, who turns 89 today, August 18, 2023, says Subhash K Jha.




l

Jailer And Vikram: Alike Yet Apart

What is noticeable in both movies is the willingness with which both the ageing stars -- Kamal is 68 and Rajini, four years older at 72 with a kidney transplant that he has not shied away from acknowledging -- have learnt to respect their age and bodies, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.




l

You Know What's Sadder Than National Film Awards?

We are back to being a country that talks about box office numbers as the measure for what an audience's real feelings about a movie are, laments Sreehari Nair.




l

National Awards: Bollywood Clout At Work

'No small artistic film can even hope to win, except, maybe, as random tokenism,' asserts Deepa Gahlot.




l

'How Can Truth Hurt The Film-maker?'

As Mahesh Bhatt turns 75 on September 20, Subhash K Jha calls him the 'eternal seeker of truth in cinema and in life'.




l

What Was Jawan All About?

There is no plot, no central story line or theme. It appears Atlee felt if he put a Shah Rukh Khan (there are two of them actually!) on screen doing just about anything, the film would sell, sighs Nitin Sathe.




l

Movie Memories: Double-Deckers Ride Into The Sunset

Thousands of movie buffs remember the double deckers of Mumbai, associating them with stars and blockbuster songs of yesteryear, recalls Debarghya Sanyal.




l

Memories Of Chandler Bing

I don't know how the other Friends will react to Matthew Perry's death, but I am sure a part of them will be buried with Chandler, believes passionate Friends fan A Ganesh Nadar.




l

What Makes Tabu A National Treasure

She is superior to 90 percent of the performing fraternity and she knows it.Subhash K Jha salutes the actor who turns 52 on November 4.




l

Will Thalapathy Vijay Take A Plunge Into Politics?

At the Leo fete, Vijay had this also to tell his fans: 'I know you all are in my heart. But today, I also know that I am also in the hearts of all of you...'A typical politician's line, did you say, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.




l

A General Reviews Sam Bahadur

For someone like me who studied Sam so intently, if a lump could form in the throat during the emotive scenes, I think the cast did a superb job, notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).




l

Who Says Animal Is Anti-Women?

Be it Kabir Singh or Ranvijay Singh, alpha males are nothing but grown men in diapers, observes Durba Dhyani.




l

Shah Rukh Khan Is A Lifelong Learner

From the pinnacle of <em>Veer Zara</em>'s teary romance, the transition to <em>Pathaan</em> and <em>Jawan</em> must have entailed a lot of resetting, rewiring, and recalibration in the mind.But SRK has done it. And done it well, notes Sandeep Goyal.




l

My 5 Top OTT Films of 2023

There's been so much interesting content on OTT. Subhash K Jha picks his Best Original Feature Films on digital platforms.




l

NYT Praised Kaathal. What Did We Think?

'As I watched Mammootty 'try out' Mathew Devassy, I could hear from my theatre seat the ready-made appreciation of the liberal press, their applause for the great actor having flirted with queerness on screen.''But it is a flirtation and nothing more, for I could not detect in Devassy any hint of love, not for his homosexual lover, not for his wife,,' observes Sreehari Nair.




l

7 Cliches Of Movie Criticism &amp; Reporting

This isn't a hatchet job, and my excuse for the exercise is my feeling that when you invert some of the clich&eacute;s mentioned here, you might just arrive at the portals of genuine movie-making energy, says Sreehari Nair.




l

Why Sahir Ludhianvi Is Relevant Today

While the country is gripped by Ram Mandir frenzy, Danish Husain -- without shouting from the rooftops -- silently staged his opinion with this play on one of India's best-known poets, observes Neeta Kolhatkar.




l

Merry Christmas: I Felt Shortchanged

If you have never seen Sriram Raghavan fly, you would hardly realise that this time, he is happy in his cage, this time he isn't reaching for the skies, notes Sreehari Nair.




l

Fighter: Blood On The Dance Floor

Siddharth Anand's artistry bespeaks an upbringing filled with GI Joes, plastic combat boots and plastic bayonets, fake punching noises and fake sounds of gunshots, rudely interrupted by an adult voice saying, 'Beta, all this is good, but try bringing in some feelings too', observes Sreehari Nair.