‘Lagta hai ke mera Khuda bhi ab unke saath hai’, utters the power-hungry Afghan king Ahmad Shah Abdali (Sanjay Dutt) in exasperation, seemingly outwitted by the wily Maratha commander Sadashiv Rao Bhau (Arjun Kapoor). ‘Panipat’ is all about the third Battle of Panipat, on 14 January, 1761 between the two. Nanasaheb Peshwa (Mohnish Bahl) comes […]
India’s 26/11 has been invariably, and universally, compared to 9/11 of the US – the moral bankruptcy of the perpetrators and their handlers, the meticulous planning, targeting of the commercial capital cities, the suddenness and viciousness of the attacks, and above all – the resilience of the peoples of the affected countries. ‘Hotel Mumbai’, inspired […]
After we see three brainwashed Muslim youth arrested by the police, two of whom had converted to Islam, the scene quickly shifts to Gurugram in Haryana, where in an akhada, a depraved pehelwan attempts to outrage the modesty of a young schoolgirl by raising her skirt. Enter Commando Karan Singh Dogra (Vidyut Jammwal) who flattens […]
Two particular scenes at the beginning of the film prepare the viewer for 32-year-old NYPD Detective, Andre Davis’s (Chadwick Boseman) tough, no-nonsense character – as a 13-year-old, he silently weeps at his father’s funeral – a sincere policeman slain in the line of duty; and later, as a detective specialising in killing cop-killers, standing up […]
Mirzapore, in East UP is known more for its carpet weaving industry, and less for the child exploitation that exists there. Noted documentarian, Brahmanand Siingh, whose oeuvre includes documentaries on R D Burman and Jagjit Singh, has directed and co-written ‘Jhalki’, a film on child exploitation, particularly on […]
“DDLJ jaisa ending hoga kya?” asks a character, referring to the blockbuster of the 90s. This is just one of the many films alluded to in Amar Kaushik’s latest, written with wittiness by Niren Bhatt. The theme of male ‘premature’ issues seems to be captivating audiences of late. Just a week after ‘Ujda Chaman’ hit […]
“Sinners are not punished. If they were, there wouldn’t be so many men in the world,” says one of the women, fettered by generations of bondage to their menfolk through ignorance stemming primarily out of unfounded beliefs. The first Gujarati film to win the Golden Lotus Award, while winning Best Feature Film at the […]
‘Hair today, gone tomorrow’! If the trio of directors of this film (led by Abhishek Pathak) are to be believed, ragging in Delhi has gone up several notches – first-year students deride and ridicule even their lecturers for a paltry reason such as going prematurely bald! Not having seen the original 2017 Kannada movie, ‘Ondu […]
Well, hadn’t he promised, or warned, in 1984, that he’d be back? On his return, Schwarzenegger brings along with him the series’ original director, James Cameron (in a different capacity) and the ubiquitous Linda Hamilton, as Sarah Connor. The film is set 22 years after Judgement Day, and has, as protagonists, the augmented human Grace […]
The weeklong Jio MAMI 21st Mumbai Film Festival with Star, concluded on 24th October, 2019. With 200 films from across the world, cinephiles had a blast, rubbing shoulders and hobnobbing with celebrities. Judging by audience response, of the 8 venues (18 audis) – the single-audi Regal, with its 1,100 plus capacity, seemed to be the […]
Lest the viewer forget what the film is all about, the opening words – ‘definition of an aphrodisiac’ also serve to reassure that he is in the right auditorium. Raghuvir Rao (Rajkumar Rao) is an enterprising but unsuccessful entrepreneur. In the hope of turning his business around, his cousin, Devraj (Sumeet Vyas) takes him on […]