By Sharada Iyer Kunal Khemu’s debut directorial venture Madgaon Express is a brilliantly scripted and intelligently directed film laced with rib-tickling humour from beginning to end. The narrative engages the viewer from the very first scene and the characters are so effectively written that we find ourselves completely invested in the goings-on in their life and the two and a half hours just breezes away with plenty of laugh-out-loud situations. It is just pure situational comedy and does not resort to any cheap innuendos, raunchiness or even item numbers. The genius of the film lies in its ..read more

By Sharada Iyer March 2nd, 2024, was a memorable day for yesteryear fans and lovers of old Hindi films when we witnessed the screening of the 1939 Ashok Kumar-Leela Chitnis starrer Kangan on big screen at the iconic Regal cinema of Mumbai. Organized by Film Heritage Foundation, NFDC-National Film Archive of India, The German Consulate General of Mumbai, and The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, it was a historic evening as we were transported back in time to 1939 to watch this super-hit film being screened after 85 years! Produced by the legendary studio Bombay Talkies Ltd., the film was direct ..read more

By Sharada Iyer Away from the world of glitter, glamour, designer garments, brands and star power, director Kiran Rao takes us on a delightful ride into a world of cinema very few would dare to tread today. Set in 2001, against the backdrop of a village in Madhya Pradesh, every frame is perfect in this heart-warming satirical tale which basically revolves around the lives of two brides and is a perfect amalgam of humour and irony. On the face of it, though ‘Laapataa Ladies’ or ‘missing ladies’ as the title conveys narrates the tale of two brides who go missing soon after their wedding due to u ..read more

By Sharada Iyer Lord Rama is one of the most loved and revered deities in our country. Worshipped as the Lord of Dharma or ‘The Supreme upholder of social values’, Lord Rama is regarded as ‘Maryada Purushottam’ or ‘Epitome of Righteousness’. The story of his life written in the epic Ramayana has come to be regarded as one of the most sacred texts in India. His calm demeanor, stoic composure, and his unwavering pursuit of Dharma while facing any situation in life is entrenched so deeply in the culture, emotion, and the psyche of every Indian, that just chanting his name with faith is believed t ..read more

By Sharada Iyer As far as box-office collections go, the year 2023 will be remembered for dishing out several massive blockbusters after a dry spell of the last few years. We had several big-budget films like Pathan, Jawan, Dunki, Animal, Gadar 2, Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani and Tu Jhooti Main Makkar, which managed mind-boggling collections ranging from Rupees 500-1000 crores! Small budget films like The Kerala Stories, Satyaprem Ki Katha, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and 12th Fail ended up becoming sleeper-hits due to word of mouth publicity and raked in enough moolah. Even the Hindi dubbed versi ..read more

By Sharada Iyer Away from the baggage of box-office collections, star power and even nepotism overdrive, comes a delightful film – Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, with an impactful narrative and excellent performances from the cast and it released on Netflix on 26th December. Produced by Farhan Akhtar’s Excel entertainment and Zoya Akhtar’s Tiger Baby films, this engaging narrative packs a punch with its fresh take on friendship, love, and a roller-coaster of emotions in today’s digital age in the lives of three young friends – Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Adarsh Gourav. As the story unfolds, w ..read more

By Sharada Iyer DUNKI is the story of four youngsters from a fictional village in Punjab, India, who dream of going to England in the hope of getting a better and more rewarding life than their dull life in the village. How they set about realizing their dream, why do they decide to become illegal immigrants, and how they end up facing painful and grueling circumstances to reach their destination forms the crux of the story. Indeed, on paper this must have sounded great, but on-screen the narrative sadly lacks the emotional connect to engage us for 2 hours and 41 minutes. The film looks jaded ..read more

By Sharada Iyer Defying all expectations of the makers, the cast, the critics, and the film industry in general, director Sandeep Vanga Reddy’s latest offering ANIMAL starring Ranbir Kapoor has emerged to be one of the biggest hits of 2023 beating even Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan in terms of first-day collections. The sixth day collection worldwide has surpassed rupees 500 crores declaring it a massive success at the box-office. To begin with there were some points against its favour. For the violence and the sensitive narrative, the film was saddled with an ‘Adults only’ certificate. Also, it was ..read more

By Sharada Iyer The contribution of Hindi cinema and Hindi film music in taking the basic knowledge of Hindustani classical ragas in a simple form to the masses is indisputable. While an average listener without any technical knowledge of these ragas would find it difficult to listen to any classical song in its pure form with all the typical nuances intact, such a person would thoroughly enjoy any film song lightly clothed in these ragas and embellished with meaningful lyrics that touch an emotional chord in his/her heart. This glorious accomplishment can be attributed to the music directors ..read more

By Sharada Iyer YRF’s Diwali release Tiger 3, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in their usual roles as a RAW agent and an ISI agent respectively, is packed with very-well choreographed and thrilling action sequences which keep the viewer glued to the screens. In fact, the concentration is so much on the action scenes that it looks like the writers just interspersed some banal screenplay as fillers between the various action scenes!This is the third instalment in their Tiger series after Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017). Though it is an out and out Salman Khan film catering t ..read more