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Javed Akhtar says "All films originate from Mother India". He practices what he preaches. Doffing its hat to both the Oscar nominated classic and Dilip Kumar's Ganga Jamuna, his film Deewaar presents a similar tale of two brothers finding themselves on either sides of the moral compass (overtly denoted by a fork outside a temple). The brothers, divergent in life pursuits, converge at a single syllable cry: Maa! The mother has always been an iconic part of literature, but a more fervent one of Bollywood. Why? Because it adds melodrama, facets of motherly devotion, religiosity, sacrifice and putting up with life's challenges with a brave smiling face. Mothers in Indian cinema are, or were for the most time, Gandhian, saintly and as innocent and pure as the biblical sheep. But what happens when the sanctity of "maa" is challenged? Obviously, her more moralistic child wins, leaving the bad apple to die, repent or redeem. Also, the two of them are then critically

All Gulzar films have a clichéd compartmentalised plotline. Estranged people meet at a juncture where time makes relationships things and ascribes relationships to things. An article here, an object there, and the mind goes down memory lane. I call this formulaic storyboarding as the Gulzar flashback, which he uses so judiciously and masterfully in his films. Ijaazat is just one of them. And even though its story is adapted, it has that Gulzar touch, of maturing relationships while nurturing moments and vice-versa. Source: IMDb Mahendra (Naseeruddin Shah) is caught in a love triangle with fiancee Sudha (Rekha) and lover Maya (Anuradha Patel). He gets engaged to Sudha but has to reimagine life without Maya's fatal attraction towards him. This is the premise of the film. In other words, it does not begin here.  It begins at a railway station, where the estranged couple meet. Mahendra and Sudha, who were once a promising couple, now sit a distance from one another. One thing leads to

No rain No grain,  "Ghanan Ghanan" But all in vain.  Now, pay or play.  Bhutan's XI decide to save  Their dharti-ambar  By the Gentlemen's game "Chale Chalo".  Firangi Russell is insane,  Loving is the gori mem.  Meanwhile Gauri "Radha" chhori is in envious flames. Her beloved "Kanha" is in a love triangle, Unrequited Lakha's in a haze. The boys train, Kachra spins, joins the game.  Nigh is the day, "O Palanhare" please save! Scorching sun rays The English and their ways Bhutan's XI struggle In pain and hail Bhuvan when he's kept his strike Over the days Bhuvan's ablaze And the crowd is amazed As the ball goes up Up all the way Alas it is caught By the scheming angrez Oh no! Oh yes!  It is a six The paschim is dazed. Farewell farewell  To the taxing days Farewell farewell For here comes the rain "Ke bhaiyya chhooti lagaan!"

Source: IMDb Pari is a question mark on the sensibilities of childhood fables. It is far removed from a world of binaries, where the good is puritan white and the evil is satanic black. Its story juxtaposes such fantastic characters as jinns into the real world, grey and pulsating with emotions. It humanises the feared, making us feel for the numbed, making us realise frame after frame that there is life within those without it. The film starts off with a dewy mise en scene and maintains it throughout the two hours of runtime, possibly signifying the unpredictability of the unknown hiding behind a pall of rainy mist. But the suspense does not linger for long. The overuse of auditory jump-scares—which are nothing but amplifications of minuscule diegetic sounds—makes for a heart-wrenching first impression and an indifferent last one. Indian audiences have had enough of those shrieks, heavy breaths and sudden jerks since the Ramsay days. What’s so different about Pari then? Its ability

The romantics have naysaid their hobby to be a tragedy. How they meet the “someone somewhere made for them” and then Cupid conjures the sorcery of separation. This is the moniker of traditional romantic sagas. Tough on the heart and over the head, these stories attract either mushy couples or midnight loners to the cinema.  But few can digest this saccharine on-screen. This poses a challenge to the director. How to present the idea of love without making the audience cringe? How to make the film lighter? Simple. Dilute love with laughter and give rise to the adolescent potpourri called romantic-comedy, lovingly abbreviated “rom-com”.  When Harry Met Sally... (1989), the best rom-com according to Google. Image source: Amazon A Google search of the ‘best rom-com’ leads to the 1989 hit When Harry Met Sally…, a film which launched both Meg Ryan and countless spin-offs, both at Hollywood and home. The plot chronicles the chance encounters of the lead pair as they question and eventually fin

Bollywood Muslim socials have come a long way from merely qawwalis, courts and courtesans. Since the mid-‘90s they have been venturing more domestically within the Muslim milieu. How faith interplays in and gets affected by matters of the home and beyond. This is consummately evident in Shyam Benegal’s National Award winning Mammo .  Source: IMDb Written by Khalid Mohammed, the film serves as the first instalment of his Muslim trilogy. Though the films that follow ( Sardari Begum and Zubeidaa ) harken back to the stereotypical courtesans and Muslim aristocracy, Mammo is a slice of life story embittered with the macabre of the Partition and the administrative apathy in assuaging its brutal aftermath.  Mammo follows the life and times of Mehmooda “Mammo” Begum (Farida Jalal), as she visits her sister and grandson in India, coming all the way from Pakistan (on a temporary visa) to escape her abusive in-laws. Domestically and legally speaking, Mammo is homeless. At most she is (and most

The autobiographical Mahesh Bhatt did a Scorsese, but the music made up for it. Source: IMDb Sadak is the story of a suicidal and insomniac taxi driver Ravi (Sanjay Dutt) who hustles all night long to sleep and escape his nightmares. On one night shift, he meets Pooja (Pooja Bhatt) and it is typical love at first sight. He later comes to know that Pooja has become a reluctant prostitute at the brothel of the evil eunuch Maharani (Sadashiv Amrapurkar). What happens next? Watch on YouTube. No points for guessing that the film's plot blatantly lifts that of Martin Scorsese's 1976-film  Taxi Driver , albeit it shows the hero in a more positive light than the grey psychology of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro). Unlike Bickle, Ravi does not frequent red light theatres; but like him, he is a jobless vigilante, a rebel with a cause. Sadak also plays on the pluralistic pallette of religions in India. While the "good Muslim" character of Salim bhai (Avtar Gill), the taxi owner w

It does not have those floating colourful balloons, it does not have that pumped up will to live, it has serious illnesses, but it does not feel terminal. Guzaarish is what you would like to Anand , but it isn't it. Source: IMDb Quadriplegic ex-magician Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan) has had enough of life and its tricks for 14 years (no, he's not 14) and demands ( guzaarish ), or rather legally petitions for euthanasia. His dutiful nurse Sofia (Aishwarya Rai) is torn between her love for Ethan and his desire to die. Meanwhile, an aspiring magician Omar (Aditya Roy Kapoor) enters their lives to learn from the once greatest magician of all. What follows is the journey of Ethan, as he garners support for his cause to die through his radio show Radio 'Zindagi' (life). What happens next? Watch on Netflix. Guzaarish is no different from other Bhansali films. It has emotions ranging from tears to fears to cheers, it has beautiful Goan/gothic aesthetics, and it has a crè

The poster, which is funnier in Hindi, reading " Yuar Most Wanted Bhai " Source: BollywoodMDB Radhe is not a bad film, it is beautiful. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder; and you need a certain eye to sit through a Salman Khan film. An eye accustomed to a dimwitted villain, an eye prepared to see a damsel in distress ably saved by the hulky hunk, and an eye all eyes for an eye for an eye, in other words: violence. Radhe, touted as a sequel to the 2009 Prabhu Deva-Salman Khan hit Wanted, is a treat for these eyes. Though fans have been left a wee bit disappointed, Deva has meticulously maintained his decade strong manifesto of masala Bollywood.  The plot is simple. Rana, the drug lord (Randeep Hooda) is wreaking havoc in the city. He has targeted the most vulnerable of the lot: students. With friends and fellow citizens of Mumbai city bawling over their intoxicated future, a messiah awaits. Superman Salman sets off to save the day, chucking his record of transfers and

“Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaye to kya hai” Existentialism and poetry have always been best friends, meeting at the common juncture of falsafa (philosophy), Pyaasa (thirsty, or wistful) is a musical transposition of the poetry, philosophy and life of Sahir Ludhianvi, the poignant lyricist of the film’s soundtrack.  Source: IMDb Helmed by Guru Dutt, the depressed yet charismatic filmmaker, there is something antithetical to serendipity in his pitiable portrayal of Vijay, an educated unemployed youth in the India of the 50s, as nascent and vulnerable as the protagonist’s slowly corroding optimism.  Vijay inhabits a world revolving around a coin. Money makes the world go round; what sells, is bred, what does not, is discarded at the drop of a hat. Among the discarded bunch of ambitions, lie the poems of Vijay—rejected by the press, thrifted by his brothers. The scheming brother formula is still ripe for the time.  As Vijay and his miseries form the crux of the film, it dollies on the perip

It was hot. And so I pushed open the door beyond which sat misogynistic caricatures of men, discussing everything from poop to politics. And all of a sudden, the commotion which had been rattling my eardrums and intriguing the kids to come outside and partake and increase the hullabaloo―it died down. It died down in the din of the cooler. The cooler which was just a periphery became a central figure to my struggle against patriarchy. My curious friends, zeitgeist of the modern woman trapped in the dichotomy of adulation and negation, watched me make my way into the "men's room". No longer was I bound in the shackles of man-ordained womanhood, no longer did I suffocate under injustice, no longer did I feel overwhelmed by responsibilities. For the cooler took it all, away and apart in its liberating air. And silence bespoke. I was not spilling tea anymore in the kitchen, it was time for some juice . Source: IMDb Originally logged on  Letterboxd .

From 1988 to 2003, Tezaab gained so much notoriety that it metaphor-ed its way into a pious euphemism: Gangaajal. For whom? For your eyes only. Source: Reelgood Doing Singham better than and before Singham, Ajay Devgn stars in the film as the typical Bollywood upright (and chainsmoking, because of stress) cop. Along is Gracy Singh between the loop of Lagaan and Munna Bhai MBBS. They are supported by Mukesh Tiwary (or Vasooli bhai ), Akhilendra "ee to s**l* hona hi tha" Mishra and Yashpal Sharma as the typecast ruffian and the main baddy in the film: Sunder Yadav. The badlands of UP-Bihar (as corny and cliché as the alliteration may sound), have been around for quite a while to weave intriguing police stories. And Prakash Jha, though batting from home ground, bedecks the film with all micro-tropes possible. A paan eating police officer? Check. Sweet purabia lingo? Check. Aggressive/abusive purabia lingo? Check. A lackadaisical and servile police force? Check. Mysterious viole

Inspired by love letters to Hindi cinema like  Om Shanti Om  and  Guddi ,  Luck By Chance  is a sombre but glittering account of what goes about in the industry―behind the screen. And who better to helm a struggler story than (and oxymoronically) Zoya Akhtar: Javed Akhtar's daughter and Farhan Akhtar's assistant sister. All shades of nepotism aside, the film can be viewed as Zoya's guidebook of the film industry to and from her brother, father and stepmother (all of whom appear in the film). What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, but Bollywood does not completely buy into this moniker. It's a nepotistic, capitalistic warzone where each whisper is worth a tabloid fortune. Speaking of tabloid and in turn,  Page 3 , Konkona Sen Sharma puts up a most effortless and convincing performance as Sona, albeit the headstrong, independent woman role has become a typecast for her, really. And our hero? The struggler who gets lucky by chance, Vikram Jaisingh (big brother

The cinema of syncretism is celebrated but not restricted to that of Manmohan Desai. Given the popularity of the secular trio of Amar, Akbar and Anthony, many people erroneously cite them as the first such syncretic trio. Among others, a similar, albeit shallower trio had come out four years earlier in the Prakash Mehra hit and the Bachchan stardom spawner Zanjeer. Source: The Tallenge Store The film features three unrelated brothers in arms. Hindu Vijay Khanna, Muslim Pathan Sher Khan and Christian De Silva. All three conspire to find and eliminate Teja, the smart but dreaded don of the city. Teja Source: Rediff Two parallel stories, two parallel traumas mark the plot of the film.  The white horse. Vijay's traumatic past and his nightmarish present. The aloof child, Vijay "Jab tak baithne ko na kaha jaaye, sharafat se khade raho. Ye police station hai tumhare baap ka ghar nahin" The hardened, honest inspector Vijay Khannna roughs up his future pal Sher Khan (Pran). It is