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Browsing All Posts filed under »Cinema: Hindi«
Century Bazaar
Hindi cinema still dominates India’s vibrant film culture.
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Borne ceaselessly into the present”
May 31, 2013
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… “Dreams die first”
May 3, 2013
Can you believe QSQT is a quarter-century old? And can you believe that love, once, was so unattainable? I’m sorry if I’m turning this column into some sort of nostalgia machine, remembering movies simply because they turn a certain age – but there just wasn’t any way I was going to be able to resist […]
‘What else can I do?’
May 2, 2013
AR Rahman isn’t in the mood to talk about his music for ‘Maryan,’ but about everything else he’s happy to hold forth. AR Rahman seems to like having his picture taken. He’s seated at the edge of a couch in one of the many small office rooms at his Kodambakkam studio, and the harsh lights […]
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… “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 […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Argo amuse yourself!”
January 18, 2013
The Golden Globes ceremony, as always, was a lot of fun. But now we also seem closer than ever to predicting whom the Oscars will go to. The narrative around the Golden Globes, acknowledged thus far as little more than a pre-Oscar party, has changed. Earlier, Anne Hathaway’s win (for Les Misérables) over sentimental favourite […]
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June 5, 2013
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