Film Review: Sarkar 3

Forget Dharmatma; forget Dayavan. Sarkar 3 is the closest to The Godfather you’ll get to see — in terms of dialogues, the sepia-coloured frames, the subplots, or even the grating and rasping voice of the Don (one could be forgiven for wondering whether subtitles would be needed). The Bal Thakarey inspired character Subhash Nagre’s (Amitabh […]

Film Review: Mukti Bhawan

When one has a premonition that death is imminent, there is bound to be consternation. And when the person happens to be a 77-year-old, there could be some amusing moments too. Septuagenarian Daya (Lalit Behl) wakes up one morning to harry his son Rajiv (Adil Hussain) into accompanying him to Benaras in order to spend […]

Film Review: A Dog’s Purpose

Adapted from W. Bruce Cameron’s 2010 novel — with a few changes — A Dog’s Purpose is a charming, and at times, sentimental tale of a dog’s life and his purpose on earth, vis-à-vis humans. Narrated by the dog Bailey (voice of Josh Gad) the film starts off with a young Red Retriever being adopted […]

Film Review: Poorna

At 13 years, one is just about old enough to learn about the Himalayas, notably its tallest peak Mount Everest. On 25 May 2014, Malavath Poorna, the impoverished daughter of poor and illiterate Adivasi village-folk in Telengana, became the youngest female to ascend the famed peak. In his second directorial effort (Everybody Says I’m Fine, […]

Film Review: Phillauri

Phillauri is the story of a friendly but confused ghost and age-old traditions, peppered quite liberally with Punjabi folk songs. Kannan (Suraj Sharma – Life of Pi) is a Canada-returned Punjabi boy due to marry his childhood sweetheart Anu (a comely Mehreen Kaur Pirzada in her first Hindi film). But as the disinterested Kannan is […]

Film Review: Logan

Largely based on the graphic novel ‘Old Man Logan’ by Mark Millar and ‘X-23: Innocence Lost’ by Craig Kyle, Logan is the tenth and final instalment of the X-Men series, which premiered in 2000.  It is also the last of the three Wolverine films which debuted in 2009. Set in 2029, barely a dozen years […]

Film Review: Patriots Day

Three hours  into the race and thirty minutes into the film,  a series of explosions rocked the site (near the finish line) of Boston Marathon on 15 April, 2013 — the  third Monday of the month — traditionally celebrated as Patriots Day in that part of the US. Mark Wahlberg is Sgt. Tommy Saunders of […]