Recent Posts

• FC@Berlin 2019, Dispatch 9 – The provocative, thrilling ‘Synonyms’
• FC@Berlin 2019, Dispatch 8 – A devastating “pray the gay away” drama
• Celebrate Valentine’s Day with these “love letters” from one filmmaker to another
• “Photograph”… A romance that’s a little too low-key, but with winsome little touches
• FC@Berlin 2019, Dispatch 7 – A powerful drama about a man who mistakenly says “talaq, talaq, talaq”
• Gully Boy At Berlin: An Oral History
• FC@Berlin 2019, Dispatch 6 – The art and life of Pauline Kael
• My Favourite Film Decade – Bollywood in the 1980s
• FC@Berlin 2019, Dispatch 5 – “For non-mainstream films, it’s essential to think about international distribution and exhibition”
• Viewer’s Voice: Mohammed Sabbit (Dulquer Salmaan fan)
• FC@Berlin 2019, Dispatch 4 – Francois Ozon shines a ‘spotlight’ on the Church and paedophilia
• “Gully Boy”… A softer than expected, but hugely entertaining and beautifully made street-rapper story
• FC@Berlin 2019, Dispatch 3 – “These primitive tales are often progressive in nature”
• FC@Berlin 2019, Dispatch 2 – The ‘Gully Boy’ press screening, plus 40 years of Panorama
• FC@Berlin 2019, Dispatch 1 – Before Zoya Akhtar and Rima Das, these Indians were at the Berlinale (yup, Ram Gopal Varma’s in the list)
• Bergman’s movie-watching, François Ozon, and Charlotte Rampling, recipient of the Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlinale
• She Says She Says: Let’s Talk About Peranbu
• “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga”… A pleasant (and yes, safe) romance with an inspired meta angle
• #Ilayaraja75 – His lesser-known songs for Tamil heroes
• “Vantha Rajavathaan Varuven”… An in-form Simbu cannot save a comedy-drama that works as neither
• “Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi”… A great historical character is dully recreated in a by-the-numbers epic
• Celebrating Berlinale Jury President Juliette Binoche, and ‘The Widow of Saint-Pierre’, one of her more mainstream movies
• “Peranbu”… Mammootty plays the gentlest “Ram hero” in Ram’s least angry, most moving drama
• Interview: Ram
• “Sarvam Thaala Mayam”… An affecting, feel-good drama about a Dalit musician who dreams big
• Viewer’s Voice: Sarath (AC Mechanic)
• “Thackeray”… A celebratory epic that’s less about a leader’s psyche than his penchant for punch lines
• Why the Sivaji Ganesan kind of stardom isn’t possible anymore
• The Classics section of the Berlinale finds a place for James Cameron as well as Carl Dreyer
• Interview: Sid Sriram on ARR, Ilayaraja, MSV
• She Says She Says: Nivin Pauly’s Top 3
• Interview: The heroines of the ‘Queen’ remakes
• Thoughts on the writing of “Petta”…
• As ‘Dogtooth’ turns ten, a look at Yorgos Lanthimos, who’s now an awards-season ‘Favourite’
• Going by the review, is Ajith’s film better than Rajinikanth’s?
• “Uri: The Surgical Strike”… Not so much a war movie as a ‘Hukumat’-style revenge drama, but it works
• #AskBR – Petta
• #AskBR – Viswasam
• Interview: Santhanabharathi (25 years of Mahanadhi)
• “Simmba”… Ranveer Singh is ridiculously good in Rohit Shetty’s most focused film
• Readers Write In #65: Request for feedback
• “Viswasam”… With this pretty decent action-drama, Siva finally repays Ajith’s faith in him
• “Petta”… A treat for fans of the star makes you wish it had also been one for fans of the director
• Demy and Truffaut and Kieslowski… these are a few of my favourite foreign films
• “Sigai”… A missing-person mystery gets an evocative start, but the underwhelming resolution is a bummer
• Viewer’s Voice: Shanmughathaai (Eatery Owner)
• This new year, make a resolution to watch more foreign cinema (and here are some hacks)
• She Says She Says: Marvelling Over Mrs Maisel
• Interview: Sruthi Hariharan
• On Gérard Depardieu’s birthday, a look at his work with the director Maurice Pialat