With Queen of Katwe, Mira Nair has, as in Mississippi Masala (1991), put Uganda once more on the world map. Based on a true story, QoK is a simplistic tale of an 11-year-old who is plucked from virtual obscurity to being a global chess player. It’s 2007 in the poverty-stricken slums of Katwe, in Kampala, […]
It’s a trilingual film, produced simultaneously in Tamil (as Devi) and in Telegu (as Abhinetry). Krishna (Prabhu Deva) proposes to practically any female in his multinational company, where he works as an executive. His repeated attempts to woo modern, hep girls perpetually end in dismal failure. Resorting to marrying a village belle (Tamannaah), but embarrassed […]
For the second year running, giving the 18th edition of the festival a boost, are the two major sponsors – Jio and Star. Opening the JIO MAMI this year to a select audience at the newly restored Opera House, will be Konkana Sen Sharma’s (debuting as director) A Death in the Gunj. Cherry-picked from film […]
Dhoni’s initials are the most famous of all cricketers’ — M S could stand for Master Strategist or Motivational Skipper. It could perhaps, also denote Mahendra Singh. A film made on one of the shrewdest tacticians the game has seen, is bound to create more than just a flutter. MSD charts the ascent of the […]
‘Days of Tafree’ — whatever that means — uh, uh, it’s supposed to mean your ‘carefree’ days, is an official remake of the 2015 Gujarati film ‘Chello Divas’ (by the same director), alluding to your last day, or days, in college. As you may have guessed, it has at the core of its story (story?), […]
A second sequel, 15 years after the original is by Hollywood standards not an unduly long interval. But, perhaps it would, if the subject is romance and subject is romance and at the core of the film is a 43-year-old childless spinster. Bridget (Renee Zellweger) celebrates her 43rd birthday all by herself. But at a […]
In a country where archaic laws prevail, especially over women, and in a society where hollow traditions are hallowed, a film with a subject so bold as to tackle female emancipation has to be lauded. Set in an obscure village in Rajasthan, the film has four protagonists, all of them subjugated in various ways. There’s […]
In ‘Raaz Reboot’ we are shown a couple Shaina (Kriti Kharbanda) and Rehaan (Gaurav Arora) in Romania, in Dracula’s homeland Transylvania to be precise — an extremely noble gesture on the part of the filmmakers to forewarn us! Rehaan has chucked a job in India, one through which he could buy a house within three […]
Based on the 2012 novel by ML Stedman and spanning 32 years – from the end of WW1 to 1950, LBO is as evocatively emotional as it is refreshingly riveting. Shot in New Zealand and Australia, LBO tells the story of Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender), who, after his stint in the Great War, takes up […]
600 feet can be more than just a distance – it could spell the difference between life and a gruesome, horrifying death. Texas girl, Nancy Adams (Blake Lively) has dropped out of medical college after her mother’s death due to a long bout of cancer. She sets out to visit the beaches and surf the […]
Daniel Dafoe’s 1719 influential novel — by the same name — has undergone a sea-change (pun intended) in the 297 years since it was published. Kesteloot’s film gives Dafoe’s beloved tale a new dimension — a 3D one. Crusoe (voice of Yuri Lowenthal) gets marooned after escaping a shipful of buccaneers. Stepping on an island […]