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Asia Tech x Singapore, 2025, 05: Alibaba and SAP in strategic partnership
Alibaba Group and SAP have announced a strategic partnership aimed at helping enterprises modernise their operations through cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence.
As part of the collaboration, Alibaba Cloud has joined SAP’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Certification Program and will support customers running SAP’s enterprise cloud solutions.
Alibaba Group will also use SAP Cloud ERP Priva...
Sitaare Zameen Par, Review: Lots of sympathy, very little empathy
Aamir Khan has earned for himself the sobriquet of a crusader, or an actor with a conscience. Several of his films have dealt with social issues, as in Taare Zameen Par (autism) and PK (an alien who helps earthlings to battle social evils), or cricket+revolt against British imperialism of yore (Lagaan). He also hosted a TV show, wherein he tried to get justice for sufferers of societal victimisation and injustice. So, making a ...
7 Dogs: USD 40m Saudi Arabian-Egyptian film, with Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt, releases teaser
His Excellency, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), Advisor Turki bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Sheikh, recently launched, via his official account on the X platform, the first teaser video for the highly anticipated action film 7 Dogs, the largest Arab production with a budget of $40 million. Starring Egyptian and Arab cinema stars Karim Abdel Aziz and Ahmed E...
Asia Tech x Singapore, 2025, 04: Building a trusted AI ecosystem, and creating jobs
At the recent ATxSummit, the apex event of Asia Tech x Singapore (ATxSG) 2025, organised by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), key global and regional efforts around AI, LLM models, AI adoption for enterprise and up-skilling for talent were announced.
Building a trusted AI ecosystem is a key focus for Singapore, as maximal adoption and innovation can happen, leading to greater produ...
Swaha-In the Name of Fire, Review: Burning issues and stark reality, in black and white
Deprived lower castes, without cash or savings, living in abject poverty and being targeted by members of higher castes, is a theme that we have seen and heard and read a lot about. We have also read, seen and heard on media, and learnt through vicarious narrations, that these adverse circumstances have slowly abated over the last 75 years or so, though, by no means have they been dealt with, in finality. ...
Made in 2011, This is Not a Film is a genre-defying, ground-breaking film (yes, it is a film) about the reputed Iranian film-maker, Jafar Panahi, made in collaboration with one of his friends, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, who wields the camera too. It was shot secretly in, and from, the house and building of Panahi, where he was serving a house-imprisonment sentence, for having made anti-establishment films secretly, and for supporting the revolution against the ruling Iranian clergy. The film was scre...
Asia Tech x Singapore, 2025, 03: Industry Leaders to Accelerate Tech Adoption including GenAI for more than 6,000 Enterprises
1. New partnerships with industry giants Alibaba Cloud, Prudential and ST Engineering will give more local SMEs access to cutting-edge technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and cyber security. Announced today at the opening of ATxEnterprise by Mr Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, these new collaboration...
AsiaTech x Singapore, 2025, 02: Future of Broadcast: Asia-Pac, navigating the shift from legacy TV to a cloud-driven, streaming era
One of the key themes shaping ongoing conversations in the broadcast and media industry is the Future of Broadcast.
BroadcastAsia is the premier broadcast trade show in the Asia-Pacific region, bringing together the most influential broadcasters, media executives, and entertainment professionals. The event offers invaluable insights into the technologies a...
From the World of John Wick-Ballerina, Review: Biting the Ballet, gunfire and fireguns
Father and young daughter talking seriously, almost in whispers; daughter clinging on to a plastic toy, where a ballerina performs to Tchaikovsky’s tune, in a small round container
Heads, torsos and figures emerging from a river, carrying guns
Hell breaks loose; there are a dozen or more men; they want to get to the man and his daughter, who, live in a fancy, remote mansion
Bullets, bullets, more b...
Kubera song launch: Beggars can be choosers
Nagarjuna, Dhanush and Rashmika Mandanna in one film. Music by Devi Sri Prasad (DSP) and direction by Sekhar Kammula. This makes the project special (not Director’s Special, please). Also present was Jim Sarbh, who, apparently, plays the villain. They all came to the Juhu PVR INOX multiplex to launch two songs and a teaser on June 10. Proceedings began about two hours late, because Dhanush was shooting and could only come to the venue during t...
Asia Tech x Singapore, 2025, 01: Expo-nential
What began as a regular event at the Expo Exhibition during end May/beginning June, the humungous technology extravaganza was held during May 27-29 this year. This is where it began, and after stints at Marina Bay and Suntec City, it has returned to its roots, at Expo, in the far East of Singapore, which is where I first attended it, some 25 years back. It was then known as CommmunicAsia. Some years later, it added Satellite Asia, Broadcast Asia, ...
Bhool Chuk Maaf, Overview: 29 retakes of Scene 29, Take 29
Maddock Films has produced this movie. Maddock is a rarely used word and means "fortunate" or "goodly", and is of Welsh origin. It's an anglicised form of Madog, a Welsh given name. Historically, Maddock was a common surname and given name in Wales and neighboring areas. So, let’s put all mad in the dock, start looking at a film from this production power-house, and forgive mistakes, if any, for that is w...
Lilo & Stitch, Review: A Stitch in Time, and Space--Bad kid+bad alien=good kid+good alien
Why li lo for 23 years, when you can stitch together a film that cocks-a-snook at genres? And what age-group is this cartoon, animation, live action, stop motion, motion capture, VFX, space travel, and many other technical processes, like AI? Get cracking. Wait a minute. Who is the product aimed at? The target audience? The age group?
0-3 years
You must be joking! Do0 children in this bracket watch...
Mission Impossible-The Final Reckoning, Review: Tom Cruises through air, water, ice and land; dies twice, lives thrice
1,000? You are nowhere near. 10,000? You are getting warmer. 100,000? That, I guess, is very, very, close. It must have taken at least 100,000 persons to put together this humungous spectacle called Mission Impossible-The Final Reckoning, going by the end credits roll. I am making a wild guess, since it was not possible to count the names, which went on rolling for several m...
PARAM KALRA: From sci-fi to Rom Kom
Writer-director Param Kalra began his career rather modestly, with sex romps. He learnt about the basics of shooting any film during this period. Fate then got him opportunities to work for off-beat film-maker Anurag Kashyap and showman Subhash Ghai. Today, he has already made a sci-fi drama, ZIPCODE 47, and is working on his feature debut film, Rom Kom.
Through a reference, Param joined showman Subhash Ghai in his story department, where he worked with An...
The Networker, Review: Not-worker
This might sound funny in the days, when film sound-tracks are no more released and marketed separately, but the makers of The Networker should consider ways of marketing their back-ground score. It is constant, comprehensive and compelling. It is also loud, distracting and jarring. But does it drown the dialogue? No. How is that possible? It is, if the dialogue track is equally loud and blaring. Was the team unaware that the sound is faithfully captured on m...
WAVES and I: Registrations open for everyone, except the most deserving media journalist
Press Information Bureau (PIB) team WAVES put out a Press Release on 28 April on its website, as below. Reading it, we learn that WAVES will be held at the Jio World Center in BKC, Mumbai, during May 01-04.
It ends with these words: Register for WAVES now.
But it does not say that media-persons cannot register now, or hereafter.
PIB is the central government’s public relations and inform...
The Legend of Ochi, Review: Conversations with a baby monster
Whenever Hollywood films take-up a subject that is steeped in folklore, mythology, talking animals, birds, creatures or monsters, it creates a universe for them. In other, similar films, the creature is neither a hero or villain among his own ilk. Then there is the choice between full-fledged animation, or a combination of Animation and VFX. The Legend of Ochi is one film where the monster is neither glorified nor vilified. Instead...
Auntypreneur, Review: Stock market saves sassy Aunty’s housing society from demolition
There are very few of his kind. Pratik Rajen Kothari is a cool, calm live-wire. I had seen him only in plays so far, so it came as a pleasant surprise that he has directed a Gujarati feature film. His father, Rajen Kothari, was an ace cinematographer, who died young. But Pratik is a real chip of the old block. Shot in Ahmedabad, with local actors, barring his protagonist, Supriya Pathak Kapur, the fil...
Another Simple Favor, Review: Hope, Charity, Faith and the other ‘f’ word forever
An author who writes reality fiction and has a huge following on her ‘Moms’ social platform; she spills the beans on a gym instructor at a school, who films his children in the buff; he shoots and kills himself; she also provides material in her next book on a woman who, she says, murdered her sister; she sleeps with her half-brother; she has an obese black woman as an publishing agent wh...
Ground Zero, Review: Found Hero
Kashmir. The paradise on earth. The powder keg. The subject of a dozen films made in the last few years. Terror attacks launched by Pakistani infiltrators, or locals recruited by handlers, and Indian armed personnel targetted. Sometimes, civilians are among the casualties. Sometimes only civilians are killed. India’s Border Security Force (BSF) and the local police retaliate. Perpetrators are often found and eliminated. Their ‘handlers’ are se...
Jewel Thief—The Heist Begins, Review: Slick flick from Netflix, but does it click?
A film with a giveaway title. A film that repeats the title of a brilliant 1967 crime suspense thriller, starring Dev Anand and Ashok Kumar, and directed by Dev’s younger brother, Vijay ‘Goldie’ Anand. A film those title reminds you of the passable ‘sequel’, Return of Jewel Thief, directed by Ashok Tyagi and starring Dev Anand and Ashok Kumar. A film produced by Siddharth Ana...
Kesari, Chapter 2, The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh, Review: Trigger-happy General Dyer, and Barrister Sankaran Nair on fire
It is the era of real stories, ‘based on real incidents, and biopics. Here is none more of the popular genre. Kesar is the Hindi word for saffron. It is also used as a patriotic symbol. Kesari means saffron-coloured. A film titled Kesari was released in 2019, the centenary anniversary of the Jallianwala massacre. It retold the story of Battle of Saragarhi, whe...
Big Bad Idea’s Outsiders Film Festival gets big, good audience
Had it been a regular theatre, they would have put up a sign saying House Full. But Veda Black Box in Aram Nagar II, Versova, is not a cinema, and is designed for more intimate gatherings, like plays and workshops, so no such sign greeted me when I arrived at the venue of the Outsiders’ one-day film festival, some 2 hours after it had started. That happened because I had another appointment in the morning/forenoon, and...
BIFFes 16, 2025: The flicks, picks and my jinx, Part II
My third visit to the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) in three decades was enjoyable and comfortable. However, my selection of films to watch was jinxed, with very few movies meeting minimum expectations. Not surprising, considering the same had happened at the International Film Festival of India. As a critic, I prefer to pick films without doing any background reading or asking people who might know somethings about them...
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About Siraj Syed
 Syed Siraj
(Siraj Associates)
Siraj Syed is a film-critic since 1970 and a Former President of the Freelance Film Journalists' Combine of India.
He is the India Correspondent of FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the international Federation of Film Critics, Munich, Germany
Siraj Syed has contributed over 1,015 articles on cinema, international film festivals, conventions, exhibitions, etc., most recently, at IFFI (Goa), MIFF (Mumbai), MFF/MAMI (Mumbai) and CommunicAsia (Singapore). He often edits film festival daily bulletins.
He is also an actor and a dubbing artiste. Further, he has been teaching media, acting and dubbing at over 30 institutes in India and Singapore, since 1984.
Bandra West, Mumbai India View my profileSend me a message
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