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Independent
Gajab Thai Gayo!, Review: Study in a Gujarati medium school, you could win Rs. 25 lakh
Defying any form of classification, Gujarati language film Gajab Thai Gayo! (It’s a Calamity, though calamity is perhaps too strong a translation of Gajab) moves in so many different directions that you end up failing to appreciate its novelty and path-breaking tracks. What appears to be a film on science-fiction constantly hammers the triple messages, that India and Indians have made huge contributio...
A Hero, Review: On the see-saw of truth and lies
Out on parole, a jailbird becomes a hero overnight, without lifting a finger. It wouldn’t be much of a story if it ended there, and it doesn’t. There are twists and turns, quite like a suspense thriller, only here there is no murder nor any serious crime committed. That’s the operative word. Serious. Is lying a crime? Is repeated lying a serious crime? Is lying to garnish a truth a very serious crime? Iranian master Asghar Far...
Attack-Part 1, Review: Dawn of a new Ira
Ira is the new Artificial Intelligence set-up, inspired by Alexa, that is implanted in a soldier who has been paralysed as a result of a bullet wound, converting him into a cyborg. That concept was milked over years in Hollywood films like The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Genisys (2015), and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). Then there was the Universal Soldier series, Universal...
Jalsa, Review: The feisty anchor, their devoted maid, her teenaged daughter and a ghastly accident
If there was a contest for the most misleading film names, Jalsa (celebration) would stand a good chance of making it to the top, with the title emanating from the last few minutes, having no connection to the two hours that have gone before it. And though the film is being touted as an Amazon Prime Original Film, with T-Series and Abundantia as production partners, why did I get the feel throug...
Bachchan Paandey, Review: Gangsters are best played by real-life gangsters
Why would you choose a name like Bachchan Pandey, unless you thought you could cash-in on the franchises called Amitabh Bachchan (name of a real life actor) and Chulbul Pandey (name of a reel-life character, played in several movies by Salman Khan)? Point is, does a superstar himself, like Akshay Kumar, who plays the title role, need these props? Leaving the Paandey behind, ‘Bachchan’ is made to speak some ...
RIFF 08, 2022, 07: Third and final list of selected films released
The Third and the final list of the officially selected films to be shown at the 8th Rajasthan International Film Festival (RIFF) was released this week. It includes Student Hindi short film Riddle, Directed and Produced by Umang Patel, Rajasthani Short Film Mhari Pyari Baisa, Directed and Produced by Narpat Singh Gaur, Hindi short film Tooti Chappal, Directed and Produced by Kuldeep Vyas, two Hindi Music Video Albums by Kunal...
Radhe Shyam, Review: Goodness gracious, how flirtatious!
At its core, Radhe Shyam rakes-up an interesting debate, between destiny and those exceptions who surmount their pre-ordained destiny, and, in some cases, defy it. For destiny, read ‘predictions based on palmistry’. And yet, it tilts the balance strongly in favour of destiny, putting forth emphatically the theory that 99% of us cannot escape what has been written on our palms. Had this been the track that the screenplay deve...
Parallel Mothers, Review: Swapped babies and a Spanish history lesson from the Master
Expectations suddenly rise when the name Pedro Almodóvar is mentioned. One regrets having missed the screening at IFFI, November 2021, but then Impact Films, Mumbai, of Ashwani Sharma, acquires distribution rights of Parallel Mothers, for India, and holds a press screening at Soho, in Juhu, Bombay, a small but exotic theatre, fixes its release on 11 March 2022, and invites you to catch-up on what you ...
Spring is almost in the air, the pandemic could possibly be coming to an end soon, and a film festival in the U.K interviewed me about my filmmaking and writing. What's not to love about that?
Gareth James, Marcus Gregg, and LJ, the managers of the RATMA film Festival in West Yorkshire, England, interviewed James W. Hawk, award-winning filmmaker and author via Zoom. The RATMA Film Festival is in its tenth year. The interview covers Hawk's filmmaking and writing background and experience...
Jhund, Review: Every Jhunderdog has his day
Literally translated, Jhund means herd. Only in this case, the reference is to a group of young slum-dwelling, smoking, drinking ragamuffins, who are also petty criminals, but are transformed into a high class football team, thanks to the efforts of a neighbouring school-teacher, who is about to retire. The film is many films in one and can be seen from several perspectives, each of which would be a valid point of ‘view’. But at its core...
Submit your film to the International Thai Film Festival 2022 via FilmFreeway: https://filmfreeway.com/thaifilmfest or via FestHome: https://festhome.com/f/3906 International Thai Film Festival [International Film & Entertainment Industry Awards of Thailand] welcomes short film, animation, feature film and music video submissions from anywhere in the world, accepting productions in all styles and genres. ITFF Website: https://www.thaifilmfestival.com ITFF on Facebook: https://www.f...
Gangubai Kathiawadi, Review: Guess what is the oldest profession in the world, and meet its President
Gangubai, a variation of Ganga, is the most common name of Maharashtrian maid-servants in Mumbai. Ganga becoming Gangu is quite normal, while the Bai here refers to her designation as maid. An engaging film was made in 2013, with the maid as the central character, only it was spelt phonetically more correct, Gangoobai. In other parts of the country, Bai could mean a courtesan, a classical sin...
Love Hostel, Review: Khaps, cops, corpses, more corpses and still more corpses
It’s not about a hostel. But it is about love. And the price that has to be paid for falling in love with someone who follows another religion. Killings spread through the film like a pandemic caused by a particularly deadly virus strain, ‘LH Covid 22’. The makers could run a contest with the big question: How many people are killed in the film? The prize could be four tickets for the film, so tha...
Pondicherry, Review: Enough icing, but the cherry is missing
Marathi language Indian film Pondicherry is like a French patisserie (it used to be a French colony), with some delectable pastries to savour. It uses the relatively unknown locale quite well, and incorporates tastes of various other languages, besides Marathi: Hindi, Punjabi-accented Hindi, English, Tamil and French. It also uses characters from the ages of 7 to 70, to be really democratic in its story-telling. Having set the base ...
Tibetan Horse, a large-scale ethnic theme film produced by Maeya Films, held a grand launching ceremony in the Gannan Tibetan area a few days ago. The film is directed by young director Jade Li and starred by Cooper Budan, a famous Chinese minority actor. Maeya Films joined hands with Qinghai Mantanhong Culture Media Co., Ltd., Xining Baita Art and Culture Communication Co., Ltd., Sichuan Miding Media Co., Ltd., and Qinghai Linshui Media Co., Ltd. to co-produce the film.
Cooper Budan,...
Mirror Mountain Film Festival is now open for submissions on FilmFreeway! We’re looking for shorts, medium-length films and features in all genres, including drama, comedy, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, documentary, animation, experimental, music video, dance film and more. For the first time ever, we’re also welcoming submissions of interactive media pieces for exhibition in our festival lounge. If you’re an independent filmmaker with a unique creative voice, then submit your wor...
Pyar Mein Thoda Twist, Review: A sack-full of emptiness
A lot of action in the film Pyar Mein Thoda Twist takes place inside a bound sack. It is marked, Lena Hae Lena Hae (have to take, have to take) Brand, and it twists alright. No, not because it is haunted, but because it holds a man captive. This man is supposed to be Mr. Wanted, a dangerous criminal, whose capture carries a reward of Rs. 2 million. While the sack changes hands and locations several times, being stolen or ‘kidnapped...
Filmmakers from around the world participated in a livestreamed Q&A session during our 2021 festival.
A Thursday, Review: For whom the mobile rings
Make a hostage-taker your protagonist, pit her against the country’s police force and even the Prime Minister, cash-in on the title of a rivetting thriller called A Wednesday (2008), moving it a day further, create the ambience of a cat and mouse game in the thriller genre, and you have A Thursday. While the idea of holding hostages and making demands from the police force are common factors, this latter day ‘avtaar’, in which t...
Badhaai Do, Review: No blessing for this messing
Watching Badhaai Do, an old thought re-surfaced. I used to wonder what would happen if, by some quirk of circumstance, a homosexual and a lesbian ended-up marrying each other. Looks like some antenna picked-up this concept and turned it into a lengthy film. Unfortunately, the writers and the director are unable to decide whether they should inject humour or treat it as a tear-jerker. They lean towards the latter, but fail on the mise en sc&egra...
Minnal Murali, Review: Two bolts from the blue
Minnal Murali’s première at the Mumbai Film Festival, on 16 December, was a grand affair. The venue was the recently constructed Jio World Drive in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex, and drinks and snacks were waiting for those who arrived early. The cast and crew were present too. Viewing the film came with an embargo that no reviews should be posted before December the 24th, the day of its release directly through the streaming p...
IFFI 52, 040: Koozhangal is India’s Oscar nomination
Koozhangal (Pebbles), India’s official nomination to Oscars, delineates the pain and sufferings of a child and a mother, both victims of marital abuse.
“It’s a simple story told in the simplest form. And it is borrowed from my life itself. The film is based on the sufferings that my sister and her small child went through due to an alcoholic husband”, said the director of this Tamil film, Vinothraj P.S., at a ...
IFFI 52, 039: “We are just here to make honest cinema,”—Ganesh Hegde
To be or not to be. The very same existential question that vexed Hamlet in Shakespeare’s timeless eponymous play is what troubles 10-year-old boy Sidda, albeit in a somewhat different avatar. Having been forced to bid adieu to the pristine beauty and serenity of his village, the young boy is confronted with the inevitability of having to choose between the chaotic and alienating hustle of the city, t...
Pushpa-The Rise – Part 1, Review: Cross your legs
Having steadfastly kept away from the staple diet of Telugu dubbed in Hindi dished out on a few TV channels 24 x 7, one was not aware of what one was in for when one went to see the press preview of Pushpa at the invitation of a major, local PR agency, albeit with a notice of 11 hours. Firstly, an eponymous film, the title is an abbreviation of PushpaRaj. Pushpa, by itself, means a flower, and is feminine. You might be pardoned for recal...
Chandigrah Kare Aashiqui, Review: Engendered species
A film that takes a taboo subject head-on, but takes its own time to get there, Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui is handicapped by its own title. Running on three, or rather, three-and-a-half parallel tracks, the film has nothing to justify Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, except that it is set in the north Indian city of Chandigarh. Its lead pair turns in largely convincing performances, and when it comes to using language that is brazen and bold, to it ...
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