(An edited version was published in The New Indian Express) Blackmail begins with a game of Pac-Man, Dev Kaushal (Irrfan Khan) at his office desk long after regulation time, eating away the dots with the kind of determination that is usually reserved for, in an office such as this one, last minute project deadlines. There… Continue reading Abhinay Deo’s Blackmail
(An edited version was published in The New Indian Express) The Tamil cinema industry is on strike. We don’t need to get into the details but there is a multiple way deadlock between theatre owners, distributors and producers’ fraternity, over tax and digital print provider fee issues. Therefore, filming is on hold and there is… Continue reading Baaghi 2
(An edited version was published in The New Indian Express) Sidharth P. Malhotra’s Hichki hits the ground running. And then keeps running for a while. Naina Mathur (Rani Mukerji) is attending an interview for the teacher’s job at a school and as is the situational compulsion she’s been through a million times, she must explain… Continue reading Sidharth P Malhotra’s Hichki
(An edited version was published in The New Indian Express) Pop culture does not exist in vacuum. Very much a product of its times, the social and political influence cannot be discounted, even with the creatively bankrupt mainstream Bollywood of the last couple of years. It would be a good exercise to note whom the… Continue reading Raj Kumar Gupta’s Raid
(An edited version was published in The New Indian Express) The last time a horror film from Hindi cinema tried, and by that I mean really tried to be different from the usual bullet point version of Indian horror films, we got Pawan Kripalani’s Phobia. Phobia did not attempt anything different in terms of narrative,… Continue reading Prosit Roy’s Pari
(An edited version was published in The New Indian Express) In Luv Ranjan’s mouthful Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, two grown up men, best friends since school, live together as roommates but take pride in the fact that one of their mothers visits them on a weekly basis to clean the toilet. They belong to… Continue reading Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety
(An edited version was published in The New Indian Express) Neeraj Pandey is a patriot. The filmography – not just his director credits – is there to see and much can be gleaned from it. He is fascinated by the idea of nation, army, intelligence, terrorists and security. From a taut A Wednesday to this… Continue reading Aiyaary
