(Surekha Sikri as Faiyazi Ma in Mammo) The actor Surekha Sikri is not keeping very well these days. I wish her good health and send her love. What better way to do that, than revisit a film in which she has acted? I will not discuss in detail the nuances of her performance, or the character she plays. For actually, the protagonist of the film is very ably played by that other lovely actor – Farida Jalal. I love both performances equally. But here, I remember the film for Surekha Sikri. Surekha Sikri and Farida Jalal in Mammo Mammo is an important film. It released in 1994. Often, when we happe ..read more

Two nights in a row I read news of people I loved and admired re-admitted to hospital because their debilitating disease desired so. Two nights in a row I went to sleep asking and avoiding the terrible question, what if…? Two nights in a row I did not know I would wake up to the ‘what if’ coming true. They are stars, after all, they will be fine. And ultimately everyone has to die, they will too, but not now, not like this, I kept telling myself. But they did. I just didn’t know it would feel like this, so personal even words are saying I will give into the moment and stay silent. Irrfan was ..read more

New-age urban-liberal-feminist Bollywood is where women’s issues go to die. Domestic Violence has been ‘dealt with’ in a popular Hindi film last weekend. How Thappad depicts it, what solution it suggests, is now part of the popular imagination. Tick. One more issue has been covered. No other film on this topic will be made for a long time. I think this is why the male dominated industry is now ‘allowing’, facilitating this new wave of ‘women oriented’ films – they are confident of the superficiality with which the issues will be ‘dealt with’. After all, this superficiality is made possible on ..read more

Ctrl Alt Cinema is now in its 3rd Year! Announcing our annual course 2019 dates: June 16th – July 3rd. Ours is an intensive, 18 days residential course on the art of cinema. Register Here: https://www.ctrlaltcinema.com/apply Our People: https://www.ctrlaltcinema.com/love-cinema Our Course: https://www.ctrlaltcinema.com/learn-cinema-1 Our Gallery: https://www.ctrlaltcinema.com/live-cinema We are a group of people with a wealth of experience in film-making and teaching cinema. Students are drawn to the course because of the prospect of direct engagement with, and guidance from, the best in ..read more

Click to view slideshow. It is brutal watch. Yeah, that’s the actual statutory warning, but we are all old enough for it, right? The reason I am writing about Reason is because there is every reason for all of us to be talking about the exact same things as the film. First off, this is not a review – cute things like ‘reviews’ don’t matter to films like these. Anyways, it isn’t the film that needs a review, the country does – the truths it challenges are so stark. It lays bare in no uncertain terms the clear divide between (religious) rhyme and (democratic) reason, literally and figuratively ..read more