Cast: Avinash Dhyani, Tulna Butalia, Prashant Narayanan Films such as Fredrick should be included in every Film study and appreciation course – to show how a film ought not to be made. It’s touted as ‘a thrilling musical journey’; if the sole criterion of ‘musical’ is the sheer number of songs in a film, it […]
Voice: Red-Jason Sudeikis, Chuck-Josh Gad, Bomb- Danny McBride, Matilda- Maya Rudolph, Leonard- Bill Hader, Mighty Eagle- Peter Winklage Even birds of disparate feathers flock together – that, probably, is the only message sent out in this app-inspired animated film by the two debutant directors. Red, who’s supposed to be a bird with a questionable temperament, […]
With ‘Veerappan’, Ram Gopal Varma seems to be back in business after a series of duds. Voltaire’s ‘a society gets the criminal it deserves’ is artfully woven into the film’s introduction even as RGV opens the film of a juvenile delinquent settling down to an avowed life of crime, chronicling 40 years of evils of […]
Shorn of the usual trappings of Hindi cinema – tear–jerker dialogues and outlandish performances – ‘Waiting’ (largely in English), alluding to the time spent in waiting-rooms of hospitals and the periods consumed waiting for the recovery of your loved ones, has a refreshingly rational take on the above. Shiv Kumar (Naseeruddin Shah) is a retired […]
In the mid-80s when Tata Housing Development Company envisaged Cama Park, one wonders whether they constructed the circular interior road of 400m (the identical distance for track events), by design or inadvertently. This track, particularly the gradient in a few places, has motivated the youth of Cama Park colony, Andheri and benefited them at excelling […]
2015 marked 160 years since Western Railway (erstwhile Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway) as we know it, was inaugurated; 145 years since Churchgate station originated; and 18th December marked 85 years since Bombay Central was established as a station! In an interesting and amusing review, Hoshang Katrak ‘tracks’ a few train-based songs in Hindi […]
The title may sound vague, if not misleading. It alludes to the conformist book-learning system of education in India as opposed to the knowledge gleaned in the developed countries by imparting practical learning. Santoshi Kumari (Tannishtha Chatterjee), whose motto is ‘one should celebrate failure too’, is happily married to an income-tax official i.e. till he […]
Biopics are a gateway to revisiting your childhood heroes. Ramchandra Chitalkar (C. Ramchandra the music director) was Bhagwan (Dada) Abhaji Palav’s alter ego. The two sons of the Maharashtrian soil combined harmoniously to give the Hindi film industry, in 1951, arguably its greatest musical sleeper hit. Ekk Albela opens in 1930 before the diminutive actor […]
Though the film is peppered with piquant humour, the wittiest portion of the film is before it even begins. After proffering the viewer copious information and statistics on Raman Raghav, the serial killer of the 60s, comes the audacious disclaimer – ‘This film is not about him’. But let that not be a criterion of […]
A successful prequel is never a certainty for the fate of its subsequent films. Firstly, the title is a bit of a misnomer. The film is all about a young blue tang fish Dory (Ellen De Generes) with a short-term-memory loss syndrome, who gets separated from her parents. The trials–and tribulations-of the adorable Dory while […]
Recipe for a successful film: take a controversial subject—ensure the outdoor location is a porous state of India—sign a rockstar hero (the shorter the better) — add a diva – X, Y or Z, preferably an ex (doesn’t matter if they do not have scenes together)—sprinkle liberally coloured powder (no kitchen condiments please)—add one more […]