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Browsing All Posts filed under »Cinema: Marathi«
Nipun Dharmadhikari’s ‘Mee Vasantrao’ is a superb biopic that captures the essence of the great classical singer Vasantrao Deshpande
Spoilers ahead… This is a biopic about not a person but the essence of a person, which is his music. Even though we see the story beats, the idea, the concept of music is always in the forefront. A little after Chaitanya Tamhane’s The Disciple, Marathi cinema gives us another deep-dive saga of classical music: […]
Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Jallikattu is out of the Oscar race, but it was always a long shot
February 10, 2021
https://www.filmcompanion.in/opinion/hollywood-opinion/oscars-2021-nominations-jallikattu-india-entry-lijo-jose-pellisserys-jallikattu-is-out-of-the-oscar-race-but-it-was-always-a-long-shot-malayalam-movies/ The only way to hope for a shot at the Academy Awards is to make India matter in the eyes of Uncle Oscar as a “country that makes good movies”. As always, there was this dim hope that we’d make it to the shortlist, at least. After all, we’d picked a really deserving film, […]
Alisha Tejpal’s Lata, at Sundance: “I want you to ask questions. I’m not interested in passive cinema”
January 30, 2021
https://www.filmcompanion.in/film-festivals/sundance-film-festival-2021/sundance-film-festival-2021-india-lata-alisha-tejpal-mumbai-im-not-interested-in-passive-cinema-baradwaj-rangan/ The 22-minute short, which is in Competition, focuses on a domestic labourer in an upper-class home in Mumbai. Alisha Tejpal says, “My biggest question in Indian cinema across the decades, at least for me growing up in Mumbai, is the way domestic labour has been framed. How do I write a film about a domestic […]
Readers Write In #309: Chaitanya Tamhane and Maps of Meaning
December 6, 2020
(by Kartik Iyer) The Disciple is dense. It is an intricate screenplay. The story of its central protagonist, Sharad Nerulkar, is connected to multiple ideas. These range from musings on the nature of creation, relationship between two generations, idealism and its drawbacks to commercialisation of art and the limits of human effort. Chaitanya Tamhana, writer […]
Readers Write In #307: THE DISCIPLE – Chaitanya Tamhane
November 30, 2020
(by Suresh S) There are two measures by which Chaitanya Tamhane‘s new film The Disciple may be measured. First, as a follow-up to Court, his seminal exploration of the machinery of the Indian legal system. Court was the antithesis of all Indian legal dramas that had appeared till then (and even most foreign films I […]
Chaitanya Tamhane, after the premiere of The Disciple at the Venice Film Festival: “Every film is a new battle”
September 5, 2020
“A part of the film is about a musician going through an existential crisis about his art. Cinema, too, is going through this crisis, even though it’s a much younger art.” It’s the day after the premiere of The Disciple at the Venice Film Festival. How is Chaitanya Tamhane feeling? “Good,” he says over the […]
Readers Write In #218: Thoughts on casteism – Fandry, Pariyerum Perumal
July 6, 2020
(by Ninad Kulkarni) A dialogue from Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades, “Jo kabhi nahi jaati woh jati”. (The one element that never castaway is a caste) makes an ever-lasting remark. The practices of casteism are prevalent in the remote areas where education has a far-fetched impact, nevertheless, even urban areas have fallen prey for the practice – […]
“Sthalpuran”… In Akshay Indikar’s deeply felt portrait of a young boy, technique replaces traditional storytelling
February 27, 2020
World-premiering at the Berlinale, this Marathi drama will compete for the Crystal Bear for Best Film in the Generation Kplus section. Spoilers ahead… You can read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/sthalpuran-chronicle-of-space-movie-review-in-akshay-indikars-deeply-felt-portrait-of-a-young-boy-technique-replaces-traditional-storytelling/ Childhood is usually the most dynamic phase of existence. Even those of us who grow up ball-and-chained to desk jobs begin […]
In Vinod Kamble’s ‘Kastoori’, a Dalit boy yearns to free himself of the smells that cling to him
November 13, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/vinod-kamble-kastoori-marathi-dharamsala-international-film-fest-baradwaj-rangan At the Dharamsala International Film Festival, a powerful drama about a boy who cleans toilets and performs post-mortems in order to pay for school. Vinod Kamble’s Kastoori (Marathi) opens with an Indian-style toilet filled with shit. The screening at the Dharamsala International Film Festival (DIFF) was […]
Remembering Girish Karnad the director, the actor
June 17, 2019
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/remembering-girish-karnad-the-director-the-actor/ From ‘Kaadu’ and ‘Ondanondu Kaladalli’ to ‘Nishant’ and ‘Swami’, one of India’s greatest playwrights made a huge contribution to Indian cinema. If Girish Karnad’s passing weren’t sad enough, the headlines about the “Tiger Zinda Hai actor passing away” were sadder. I suppose the logic was that […]
Baradwaj Rangan, let’s talk about bias!
June 14, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/baradwaj-rangan-kaala-review-critics-mani-ratnam-twitter-conversations-southern-cinema-bias/ Because it’s impossible to have a proper conversation on Twitter, I imagine a chat with critics of my ‘Kaala’ review and argue why form is important and why ‘Mani Ratnam’ isn’t a bad word. There may be spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen ‘Kaala’. So you’re […]
Tamil cinema, English thoughts
January 25, 2018
Read the full article on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/southern-lights-tamil-cinema-english-thoughts/ In which I make a case that there needs to be more writing about non-Hindi cinema in English, if this cinema is to break through ghettos. I interviewed two authors at this year’s edition of the The Hindu’s Lit for Life. One of them was a […]
“The Silence”… A quieter addition to this year’s roster of dramas around rape
October 9, 2017
Spoilers ahead… Manda (Kadambari Kadam) is one of the many extras on the fringes of filmdom, as replaceable as the next one, but one thing sets her apart: she won’t sleep with the agent to get ahead. He insists. She protests. She says she’s here to be an actress, not a whore. Given how the […]
The Amateur’s Art #12 – “Ti… Majhyatli” (Marathi)
January 28, 2017
2See here for what this series is about. This short is by Aditya Sanjay Joshi. Story & Dialogue – Pranao Lepse Screenplay – Aditya Washimkar & Aditya Sanjay Joshi Editor – Aditya Sanjay Joshi Director of Photography – Soham Navghare Planning and Co-ordination – Prachin Bhoyar Starring – Pranao Lepse and Priya Thavare
If rushes were horses
June 18, 2016
The ‘Udta Punjab’ verdict fills me with enough hope to draw up a laundry list of wishes for our cinema. The next time a demand for a ban comes up, I wish we’d remember the Udta Punjab verdict. I wish we’d stop being blackmailed by cultural policemen about the content in cinema. Most of us […]
Village people
May 28, 2016
Thoughts on ‘Thithi’, a small film with big buzz and bigger ambitions. The burden of expectation can sometimes be too much for a small film. Raam Reddy’s Kannada directorial debut Thithi won last year’s National Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada, which seems just about right. When we think “National Award-winning film,” we think […]
“Sairat”… An epic reimagining of the typical love story touches (and crushes) the heart
April 28, 2016
The following is based on the cut of the film screened at the Berlinale this year. And yes, spoilers ahead… In Nagraj Popatrao Manjule’s first film, Fandry, a dark-skinned, poverty-stricken Dalit boy tried to get the attention of a fair-skinned upper-caste (and upper-class) girl. What if he got her attention? What if she started liking […]
Common men, uncommon stories
August 15, 2015
On the eve of the release of ‘Manjhi – The Mountain Man’, Baradwaj Rangan traces the journey of our biopics, which are no longer just about larger-than-life achievers. It all began in 1959, when a landless Bihari from the Musahar community, a scheduled caste that traditionally made a living as rat catchers, decided to make […]
“Court”… An impressive achievement
April 30, 2015
Spoilers ahead… Note the way Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court begins. An old man. A bunch of kids. The setting: an unremarkable room. The old man is trying to teach the kids something. He’s teaching them about butterflies. He’s teaching them about the country’s geography. Now, note the way Court ends. Another old man. Another bunch of […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “All the world’s a screen…”
September 12, 2014
In light of the upcoming ‘Haider’, a look at a 60-year-old Hindi version of ‘Hamlet’. Plus, ‘Sivaji’ Ganesan and Uttam Kumar as Othello. When we think of non-Western (and non-Vishal Bhardwaj) adaptations of Shakespeare, the mind settles, instantly, on Kursosawa. Throne of Blood. Ran. But a quick Google search reveals some fascinating Indian productions. A […]
Baradwaj Rangan 
April 3, 2022
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