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Siraj Syed is the India Correspondent for FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. He is a Film Festival Correspondent since 1976, Film-critic since 1969 and a Feature-writer since 1970. He is also an acting and dialogue coach. @SirajHSyed
Prime Video’s first original film, Maja Ma, Trailer launch: Mad about Madhuri
One afternoon in 1984, I was invited to the Natraj Hotel, Marine Drive, Bombay, to the release get-together of Rajshri Productions’ Abodh. My benefactor, writer-director Gobind Moonis, who had wanted to cast me as the blind boy in Dosti, had now discovered a girl with a very pretty face who had learnt kathak too. But the star of the day was Gyan Shivpuri, an actor who came with a reputation. When I trie...
Dhokha Round D Corner, Review: True lies, deception-perception and betrayal-portrayal
Way back in 1940, a British film was made under the title Gaslight. It had an American version in 1944. Since then, it has inspired a lot of psychological thrillers, in India too. In the film, a man plots to convince his wife and all around them that she is mad, in order to recover the jewels that he had tried to steal from her late aunt, who he had just murdered, but had failed by the sudden arrival of the ...
I’m Gonna Tell God Everything, Pre-Review: May peace be on earth
A special screening of the award-winning film - 'I'm Gonna Tell God Everything', produced by Jay Patel and Abhishek Dudhaiya, and presented by Sanjay Dutt, was held earlier this week at the PVR Icon Multiplex, Andheri, Mumbai. Among the invitees were film journalists and actress Mandakini, of the film Ram Teri Ganga Maili fame, who came with her son, a young man who is about a foot taller than her. She was ther...
Chup: Revenge of the Artist, Review: Critickill analysis
Film critics, run for cover! Better still, seek police protection. Take a cue from the one renowned film critic already has police protection, and comes to our press previews with an armed escort, in uniform. The reason for this shield is not known to me. But all the other reviewers are mere mortals, some senior, some junior and some newbies. Some of them are well paid, some are paid much less than what they deserve, some are well-to-do...
Modi Ji Ki Beti, Trailer launch: What’s in a surname?
Modi is not a common a surname as Shah, Patel and Mehta in India and Smith in England. But, in India, it happens to be the surname of Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India. That should work in favour of persons with such a surname, only Narendra Modi has no children.
Film, TV and theatre actress Avani Modi, who comes from a small town in Gujarat, and has worked mainly in Tamil and Gujarati films, faced a queer situation when it...
The Scorched Forest-Part I-The Kindling, Review: The Killing Fields
A twenty-one years old man, whose father died in an accident, is at the bottom end of the class pyramid. Living in abject poverty, he, his mother and sister, work as daily-wage labourers and have a huge debt to repay to a money-lender. The ‘man’ of the house chops (removes) harmful thorns from the plants and trees in a field, for a paltry sum, which is barely enough to help keep the kitchen fires burning. This beg...
Siya, Review: We didn’t see ya
A man who has produced 12 films, including masterpieces like Masaan and Newton, over the last eight years, decides to make his directorial debut under his own banner, Drishyam Films (Drishyam means ‘scene’), at the age of 49. His name is Manish Mundra. All eyes are on him. What subject has he chosen? Who are the actors? How will be his treatment of the script, and so on. And then comes the invitation to attend the première of Siya. There...
Jahaan Chaar Yaar, Review: 4 oppressed wives and 1 dead, naked, male stripper
Sometimes, you don’t realise you have made a fairly good beginning and deviate into unnecessary trappings. Sometimes you don’t realise that it ain’t broke, so don’t fix it. Sometimes you start tinkering with the engine, and don’t realise that the problem is that you have run out of petrol (read ‘ideas’). On the other hand, you might realise that you have run out of petrol an...
Everything Everywhere All at Once, Review: Good, bad and worse, All at Once
Trying to define Everything Everywhere All at Once is like trying to define a feature film itself. A narrative. A beginning middle and an end, an assembly of actors, some known some unknown, some from one country, others from other countries, playing roles or characters, an entity shot by a camera, consisting of motion and still pictures, mainly motion pictures. Of 70 minutes+ duration. Can currently be viewed on cine...
Prime Video holds a press conference, unveils trailer, but remains Hush Hush
A new web series begins 22 September on the Prime Video platform, in seven episodes, and is titled Hush Hush. It is not about gossip, as some might conclude, but a murder mystery. A trailer was released and shown twice in succession, as is the norm, at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, Juhu, Mumbai, yesterday. The series marks the OTT debut of film director Tanuja Chandra (Dushman) and film actress Ayesha Julka (Jo Jeeta Wohi...
Small Scale Industries play a crucial role in the country’s productivity
Laghu Udyog Bharati (LUB/ Small Industries of India) focusses on and works towards uplifting and strengthening the Medium and Small Medium Enterprises MSME sector. There are multiple levels at which LUB operates, including targetting policy adversity, policy intervention, guidelines, entrepreneur development programme, exports, power, industrial land and property, banking and finance, etc. At a press meet held at t...
Vivek Anand Oberoi turns Chief Strategy Officer, and it is not for a film role
Renowned actor and son of another thespian, Vivek ‘Anand’ Suresh Oberoi has donned a new hat. He is partnering retired Colonel Rajendra Prasad Nadella, an army veteran who has chosen to fight at new frontiers, in an enterprise called BlendEd, which coaches students for competitive exams. And he is taking on the role of a CSO. BlendEd 2.0 was held at the Novotel Hotel, Juhu, Mumbai, yesterday. The coachi...
MISMFF 2022, 06: Sweat, anxiety, sleepless nights and dedicated hard work
A film festival cannot be held without a team of dedicated organisers and workers. Many of them spend sleepless nights, are at a high level of anxiety months before the event and spend sleepless nights, once the inauguration date approaches. This is true of the Mestia International Short & Mountain Film Festival (MISMFF) too. And if the team is relatively small, as is the case at MISMFF, the responsibilities a...
MISMFF 2022, 05: Silence! Here comes the Founder-Director, Dr. Khatuna Khundadze: Exclusive interview, by Siraj Syed
Q.: How was the first festival conceived and why?
A: If you are in Georgia, in Mestia, and standing on the Terrace Theatre, the first word that come to you will be “mountain”. In Georgia, and in the Caucasus, there was no mountain film festival. I, and my partner, Gegi Paliani, there should be a mountain film festival, and so ...
Karthikeya 2, Review: “Ptolemy told me”
A pilgrimage for followers of Lord Krishna, and a mosaic of breath-taking locales awaits those who venture into theatre territory and buy tickets to see Karthikeya 2. Add to that some impressive VFX and animation. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there is little else to justify making of the film per se. Combining religious events that occurred 5118 years ago, and much earlier, with a present day atheist doctor, it chronicles...
Laal Singh Chaddha, Review: A run for your money, in branded underwear
It’s been fifteen years after Aamir Khan acted in and directed Taare Zameen Par, about a dyslexic child, and 28 years after Tom Hanks captivated our hearts as Forrest Gump, who had an IQ of 75 and needed braces to correct what was believed to be a curved spine. In 2022, here comes a film that is the official remake of Forrest Gump. It could be among the warmest, heart-tugging tales you’ve heard being told, or i...
Odd Couple, Review: Tying the not
It’s nice to be taken by surprise, especially if the film is not a suspense thriller. And Odd Couple does just that. Borrowing its title from the 1965 Neil Simon comedy play, The Odd Couple, made into a film (1968) starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, in which one of the two bosom friends does all the household chores that you would normally associate with a woman, this film has the man, of a man-woman couple, doing the laundry and the cooking, and ...
Haryana, Review: But for Alia
She is not in the film. Reading the names of the cast, you will realise and confirm this fact. But then why this head-line? Because Alia Bhatt is the premise of almost one-third of the film, the last one third, that is, and her name is mentioned at least 100 times in the dialogue. Now that is not fair, you might grumble. The film is titled Haryana, isn’t it? Well, there is a lot of Haryana and a lot of Aliana in the movie. A well-intentioned film, with seve...
Bullet Train, Review: Brad luck Pitt
A Japanese book adapted into an American film, with Brad Pitt in the leading role, set on a high speed train, with armed and dangerous Mafia agents and gangsters on board, seems to be the menu for a high-octane entertainer. And for once, a film delivers most of what it promises. It is a quaint mix of mayhem, mirth and thrills. Bullet Train re-works the gangster genre with a twist that is so obvious that you wonder why did nobody think of it before. And tha...
MISMFF 2022, 04: Announcing the Jury for the 2022 film festival
With the Mestia International Short & Mountain Film Festival a fortnight away, we present the esteemed Jury that will officiate this year, and pick the winners.
HERVÉ SCHNEID, ACE. Award-winning editor, Hervé Schneid is one of the most respected editors working in films today. He has collaborated with a number of directors, including Sally Potter, Lars Von Trier, Mike Figgis, Regis Wargnier, Bille August, Jea...
MISMFF 2022, 03: The 2021 five-member Jury, which makes way for the 2022 five
An eminent five-member Jury judged the entries at the Mestia International Short & Mountain Film Festival (MISMFF) last year. As usual, judging is an onerous, albeit honourable, task. These were the five.
You will meet the 2022 Jury in this column. Just wath this space.
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Ek Villain Returns, Review: V for Villain, Q for Qiran
What do you call a serial killer? An Assistant Commissioner of Police, at a public forum, shows a picture of Rakesh Mahadkar, the serial killer in Ek Villain (2014), calls him “A “Villain,” as if Archimedes’ spirit has entered his body and he actually wanted to say “Eureka!” That does not mean that the new serial killer will get caught in the next few seconds. No way. It will be six months before he is ...
Vikrant Rona, Review: Ducking in 3D
Exotic, lush green locales and serial killing do not go together, but here they do. Vikrant Rona is the name of the protagonist (or is it?), the second part of which, ‘rona’, means ‘crying’ in Hindustani. The ‘n’ is pronounced more harshly in the film, so it is not exactly ‘rona’ but roȠa (approximation). The makers decided to retain this name from the original Kannada, although it could have easily been chan...
Trailer launch of Dobaaraa: EK and SK join hands with SK and AK in remake of Mirage
K is a constant, and most of Ektaa R. Kapoor’s TV and film forays have had titles beginning with the letter k. As have the films of Rakesh Roshan. Exceptions prove the rule, and Dobaaraa is one such vehicle. The other ‘k’s in the picture are Sunir Kheterpal (co-producer) and Anurag Kashyap (the director). The trailer of Dobaaraa was dropped on 27 July at PVR Icon Multiplex, Citi Mall, Andheri...
MISMFF 2022, 02: Georgia’s rich film heritage and list of 2021 festival winners
While the countdown has begun for the second Mestia International Short & Mountain Film Festival (MISMFF), some interesting facts about Georgia deserve mention. Documentary films have been made in Georgia since 1908, though the first feature was made in 1916. There was a period when 150 feature films and documentaries were shot a year, in a country of merely five million people.
Indians were really exp...
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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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