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Bitty Ruminations 76
So this morning, I get a fit, and it is brought on — I think — by my nearing the close of the book I am reading. As pleasurable as it is to notch up another scalp, the bibliophile’s answer to compulsive womanising, something happens when there are fewer and fewer pages to be turned. [...]
POSTERNAMA March Edition: The secret language of movie posters
In this edition of Posternama, I'll take a closer look at the posters for Bollywood releases in March.Then just for fun, I grade them. Bollywood, consider this feedback! I, Me Aur Hum - March 1 A smirking John Abraham is sandwiched between two women. Show More Summary
Bitty Ruminations 75
On Jan 30, 2003, I wrote this review for The Economic Times: Madras Plus. And that makes it a decade since I began reviewing (and indeed, writing) for publications, a decade since I shucked off a life in another continent and began another back home in India. Felt I needed to mark this on the [...]
The story of Amrit Rao's new, infectious Tamil album - Nirangal
There was a kannadiga called Amrit Rao who lived in Bangalore and plied his trade as a Computer Science major in India's burgeoning technology market. Once Amrit sat eating cold giraffe stew at a cafe when the manager - a guy by the name of Santosh - walked up. Show More Summary
Filmfare Award?! Annu Kapoor should be getting an Oscar for Entertainer of the Year!
Let's get this straight: the 58th Filmfare Awards were funny as hell! Sure there were parts that were unfunny and dragged - like those parts where people were trying to be funny. The best moments came when people tried really hard to be sincere and came across as looney. Show More Summary
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “The home and the world”
Making the case that a certain kind of “good cinema” can be made without adhering to the aesthetic traditions of what’s traditionally accepted as “good cinema.” A few days ago, at a dinner conversation, I was asked: “How come there’s been no ‘world cinema’ from the Tamil film industry?” The person asking this question – [...]
Valentine's Day Music
This Valentine's Day, I'll leave you with two new songs - custom made for this fake, but endearing occasion.If you are the super romantic types, you'll love Neha Bhasin's breathy, unplugged collaboration with Sameer Uddin "Tera Mera Pyaar". Show More Summary
“Special 26.”… Heist stakes
Based on the two movies he’s made so far, Neeraj Pandey seems to have zeroed in on a niche – spicing up Hollywood genres with based-on-true-events-in-India twists. If A Wednesday! was an update on the catch-the-bomber thriller, Special 26 is a variation on the cat-and-mouse heist movie mounted on a number of rugs just waiting to be pulled. The [...]
“David”… The Good, the Okay, and the Ugly
Just how might Bejoy Nambiar, the director of the tripartite feature David, have convinced a huge star like Vikram to take on what is essentially a supporting actor’s part? (Even if Vikram is the star of his segment in this film, which tells the interleaved stories of three different men named David, in three different [...]
“Vishwaroopam”… Terror messages
I’m sorry, but as a Tam-Brahm I must insist on the immediate ban of Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam. Firstly, this film glorifies Islam, portraying the Muslim as an upstanding specimen who won’t think twice before punishing a wrongdoer from his own faith. And who do we have to represent Tam-Brahms? The annoying Nirupama (Pooja Kumar), that’s who. [...]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Hardboiled tweets”
Thanks to social media, the world has become an even more unfair place. And there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Every time a major release ends up being savaged on social media, there rises a question about the fairness of it all. The points made by the filmmakers and their PR people are these: [...]
“David”… 84578532-7565-78
Just how might Bejoy Nambiar, the director of the tripartite feature David, have convinced a huge star like Vikram to take on what is essentially a supporting actor’s part? (Even if Vikram is the star of his segment in this film, which tells the interleaved stories of three different men named David, in three different [...]
Bitty Ruminations 74
Time for a “Note to Self.” The people who like what you write, the way you write, the people who understand where you come from, they’ll always read you. That’s not surprising, and the response to that can only be profound gratitude. But when people who don’t care for what you write or the way [...]
“Kadal”… Coast analysis
Spoilers everywhere. Kadal contains what is easily the most gruesome moment in the Mani Ratnam oeuvre, and it occurs in an early scene about a dead prostitute from a Christian fishing community. A few locals take the corpse to church, where the priest refuses to permit this sinner’s burial in a plot inside, and so they [...]
The land of the unfree
With every passing controversy, we’re learning to redefine our rights. This is the story of two YouTube videos. The first one came up bare hours before I sat down to write this, and it featured an actor, a producer, a director announcing to a media gathering that he was now homeless in every sense. His [...]
“Midnight’s Children”… India yesterday
When the young Saleem Sinai, him of the protuberant proboscis reminiscent of the Deccan peninsula, hears in his head for the first time the voices of the other “midnight’s children,” he bounds down the stairs to tell his parents, only to receive a sound thrashing from his father. Stung, he races back up, all alone [...]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Innocent until proved guilty?”
It’s easy to blame cinema as the reason we behave this way and that, but doesn’t some of the responsibility lie with us? A few days ago, in panel discussion about the objectification of women, I found myself in the somewhat unenviable position of having to defend our cinema against charges like… well, you all [...]
Meet MODERN MAFIA, purveyors of punk and creators of BANDHAY from the movie DAVID
Loved the soundtrack for the film David? Modern Mafia composed and performed the terrific punchy rock song on the soundtrack called Bandhay about impending doom and spirited fightbacks. Modern Mafia are a four piece indie band from Mumbai...Show More Summary
Kahaani mein twist ki Talaash: Watching movies differently when you know there is a twist coming
I finally buckled down to seeing writer-director Sujoy Ghosh's much loved and immensely entertaining sleeper hit from last year - Kahaani (thank you Netflix streaming!) It's well known that Kahaani has a twist in it. And its a fairly well guarded one because a year after the release, I still didn't know about it when I sat down to watch. Show More Summary
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “A fanciful notion of what’s real”
The question around the underwhelming ‘Les Misérables’ isn’t how realistic a musical should be but whether musicals need be realistic at all. Mere days after Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Les Misérables was festooned with Academy Award nominations, it has sailed onto our shores – but this isn’t the first time Victor Hugo’s novel was set [...]
