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Browsing All Posts filed under »Cinema: English«
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Borne ceaselessly into the present”
Some thoughts on Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby.’ That’s right – not F. Scott Fitzgerald’s but Baz Luhrmann’s. Baz Luhrmann likes dramatic, scene-setting openings. At the beginning of Moulin Rouge!, over darkness, there’s the gentle roar of audience members settling into their seats. Then there’s applause as the screen brightens and a conductor is seen […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Our men… from Venus?”
May 24, 2013
Has there ever been a pure “guy’s night out” movie made in our country, or do we like our action only if mixed with lots and lots of sentiment? I heard an interesting phrase a few weeks ago, in connection with the film Shootout at Wadala. While I’d looked at the film as a stylish action […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “The lost action heroes”
May 17, 2013
Why are stunt professionals so invisible in Hollywood? Is it because it’s the writers who dream up those action scenarios in the first place? The new Iron Man movie is, thankfully, less about Iron Man than Tony Stark, the man inside the metal. Choosing to showcase a human being over a superhero is always a […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Taking a knife to a classic”
May 10, 2013
Thoughts on Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho,” Gus Van Sant’s remake of ‘Psycho,” and the ruthlessly butchered ‘Psycho’ that’s shown on television. Psycho is widely seen as the progenitor of the modern-day slasher film, yet watching it today, I wonder if that credit shouldn’t actually go to the movie Hitchcock made immediately after – The Birds, where the […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Pictures for posterity”
April 26, 2013
A fascinating new documentary throws the spotlight on an indefatigable preserver of Indian cinema. Who is PK Nair? The release of Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s Celluloid Man should answer this question for a general audience – at least, the audience that gets around to watching two-and-a-half hour documentaries. A word about the form, first. Thanks to […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Twenty years after”
April 19, 2013
Some thoughts on seeing ‘Jurassic Park’ on the big screen after two decades. The human mind is amazing – like an attic. You’ve forgotten all about the things up there. And then, one day, you stumble upon something and you realise it’s been there all along. Sitting inside the cinema hall during the 3-D release […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “The ‘D’ is silent”
March 29, 2013
Quentin Tarantino’s new movie is somewhat restrained by his standards. And who knew he thought like a film critic? When I read about how the idea for Django Unchained took root in Quentin Tarantino’s head, I had to smile. This is what he told Entertainment Weekly (rather, this is what he said at a Comic-Con […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Adult discussions”
March 22, 2013
‘The Master’ leaves you with all kinds of thoughts – about censorship, about the vandalism of art, and especially about acting. Watching The Master at a Chennai theatre, I got the feeling that the director Paul Thomas Anderson would have been thrilled by the way the film was presented – its sexuality was kept largely intact. The […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Innocent until proved guilty?”
February 1, 2013
It’s easy to blame cinema as the reason we behave this way and that, but doesn’t some of the responsibility lie with us? A few days ago, in panel discussion about the objectification of women, I found myself in the somewhat unenviable position of having to defend our cinema against charges like… well, you all […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “A fanciful notion of what’s real”
January 25, 2013
The question around the underwhelming ‘Les Misérables’ isn’t how realistic a musical should be but whether musicals need be realistic at all. Mere days after Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Les Misérables was festooned with Academy Award nominations, it has sailed onto our shores – but this isn’t the first time Victor Hugo’s novel was set […]
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May 31, 2013
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