The ‘three is a crowd’ dictum is amply demonstrated in ‘Fantasy Island’… with as many as three writers collaborating on the story, including the director, the film turns out to be a mishmash, convoluted end-product. And the title, which seems to suggest an animated, children’s film, couldn’t have been more misleading. Five ‘lucky contest winners’ […]
Tag: Director
Film Review: DOWNTON ABBEY
“I never argue, I explain,” is just one of the many one-liners veteran actress Maggie Smith, as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, gets to deliver in this reprisal of the hit British TV series, which aired in Britain from 2010 to 2015. It’s 1927, and what begins as a simple story of King George […]
Film Review: Diego Maradona
Sifting through 500 hours of archival footage – most of it not seen before – Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia, has constructed a lively and obsessive documentary about the world’s best-known footballer of the 80s. The film begins when SSC Napoli, a little-known football club in Italy, welcomes their newest recruit, 23-year-old Maradona on 5 July, […]
Film Review: Joker
“For my whole life, I didn’t know if I even really existed,” – the reader would be forgiven if even a glimmer of likeness was to be found with similarly titled films! Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a part-time clown, part-time stand-up comedian, with minimal success in the latter vocation, but who’s grown up idolising […]
Dr. Firdos Shroff Receives Special HEF Award
On 14th September, 2019, Advocate Lion Prof. Dr. Firdos Shroff, Director, The Zoroastrian Co-operative Bank Ltd., received the Special HEF Award for Academic Excellence at the hands of Prof. Dr. R Gopal, Director, D Y Patil School of Management, Belapur and Meheli Shroff, brother, in recognition of his exemplary services in the field of Higher Education […]
Film Review: HUSTLERS
When a horde of scantily clad women descend (literally!) upon a guy, it could mean one of two things – either the guy is extremely good looking or well-heeled and gullible. ‘Hustlers’, scripted and directed by Lorene Scafaria, who had chanced upon an article by Jessica Pressler in the New York Magazine, lays bare the […]
Film Review: ABOMINABLE
The mythical creature Yeti finds itself injured and lost on the rooftop of Shanghai-based, teenager Yi (voiced by Chloe Bennet), a violin player who does odd jobs to save up for a holiday trip. Yi, along with her young friends Jin (voice of Tenzing Norgay) and the playful Peng (voice of Albert Tsai) name it […]
Film Review: SECTION 375
“Never fall in love with the law”, warns senior criminal lawyer Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna) while delivering a guest lecture to law students. This scene quickly turns to a film set where well-known but domineering director Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhatt) is at work. Jump to his residence where assistant costume designer Anjali Damle (Meera Chopra) […]
Discovering Identity: Creating Continuity
Twenty years ago, UNESCO requested me to create a programme on the Parsi Zoroastrians, as they realized that this community was facing demographic extinction. With the loss of culture, the world loses a part of its wisdom and UNESCO’s mandate was for us to record this culture. Even as a student and teacher of the […]
Film Review – CHHICHHORE
The opening frames of the film could well serve as a reminder of the recent bounteous monsoon – with IIT students running around the hostel, clad only in underpants, drenching one another as if there was no tomorrow. Maya (Shraddha Kapoor) and Annirudh (Sushant Singh Rajput) were rank holders in 1992, but are now a […]
47 Meters Down: Uncaged
It’s the sequel to the 2017 sleeper hit ’47 Meters Down’, where a couple of girls in a cage crash down into the ocean, with oxygen depleting. This one, for obvious reasons has a suffix: Uncaged. It involves four girls – twice the number, but with half the thrills and excitement. Mia (Sophie Nelisse) and […]