IAA Presents ‘Dil Se … A Musical on AR Rahman’ by Niche Entertainment
HOUSTON: Milind Oak and Niche Entertainment are no strangers to Houston, having performed many brilliant and highly entertaining shows for IAA Houston, over the years. On Friday June 2nd, IAA will present ‘Dil Se Rubaroo’ with A.R. Rahman … the story of a generation By Niche entertainment., 7:30pm at the Stafford Centre. ‘Dil Se’ is […]
‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hain’: Gripping Court Drama
Story: Inspired by real-life incidents, this is the story a Sessions Court lawyer in Jodhpur, who fights a five-year-long battle to bring justice to a minor girl sexually assaulted by a powerful godman. Review: When a revered self-styled godman is in the witness box for the sexual assault of a minor girl, you know the […]
‘Love Again’: Priyanka, Celine Shine in Rom-Com
By Shalini Langer With Celine Dion playing Cupid, counsellor, serenader-in-chief and producer in this film, does love have an option but to burst forth in song and opera, and tick off everything from cheeseburgers to cheesy lines? But if this rom-and-only-some-com has anything going in the department of rom-coms, it is that it is clearly […]
‘Kisi Ka Bhai, Kisi Ki Jaan’: Tired Formula
By Shubhra Gupta The fact that there’s no other name in the credit line of Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan is not accidental. Every one else in the cast is incidental to the non-existent plot, which exists only to serve the legend of Salman Khan, in and as Bhai and Jaan, aka Bhaijaan. So what […]
‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’: A tired, unimaginative amalgamation of every Salman Khan movie
By Shubhra Gupta The fact that there’s no other name in the credit line of Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan is not accidental. Every one else in the cast is incidental to the non-existent plot, which exists only to serve the legend of Salman Khan, in and as Bhai and Jaan, aka Bhaijaan. So […]
‘Gaslight’: Little Impact from Sara Ali Khan
By Shubhra Gupta A young woman who returns after a long gap to a Rajasthan ‘haveli’ where she spent her childhood, is beset by dark dreams. Her father isn’t there to welcome her. Days go by and there’s no sign of him. Ghostly figures flit behind curtains, a gaslight lantern left winking on the floor […]
‘Bheed’: Grim Reminder of Recent Tragedy
By Shubhra Gupta One of the most shattering sights of the Covid-19 pandemic was the flood of people suddenly rendered rudderless by the announcement of one of the most stringent lockdowns in the world — chief amongst those were daily wagers, and blue collar workers who would starve if they couldn’t go out to their […]
‘Tu Jhooti Mein Makkar’: So Boring Despite Stars
By Shubhra Gupta Luv Ranjan’s latest ‘Tu Jhooti Main Makkaar’ is basically every Luv Ranjan film till now: the guys, they’re the best, the gals, well, they gotta learn their lesson. That, and the one thing no Luv Ranjan movie can do without: the monologue. The plot, basically an excuse to hang this one-line philosophy […]
‘Gulmohar’: Family Drama with Sharmila Tagore and Manoj Bajpayee
by Alaka Sahani What turns a house into a home? Ironically, Gulmohar tries to find an answer to this just when the Batra family is moving out of their plush Delhi bungalow, which is going to be knocked down to make way for a high-rise. When we meet the Batras the night before they have to […]
‘Lost’: Nicely Atmospheric, but Ultimately Dissatisfying
By Shubhra Gupta A young man who does ‘nukkad naatak’ on Kolkata’s teeming streets, goes missing one fine day. His sister and mother are bereft, because no one, least of all the police, seems interested in searching for him. A journalist with a fine nose for sniffing out trouble is on his trail, asking tough […]
‘Shiv Shastri Balboa’: Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta Save Forgettable Film
By Shubhra Gupta Middle-aged ex-banker from Bhopal Shiv Shastri (Kher) arrives in the US, all set to start a new innings. His doctor son (Hansraj) has done well for himself, in possession of a wife, two sons, a neat suburban home, all the trappings of success. As he begins finding his feet in an alien […]
‘Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh’: Naive, Insidious
By Shubhra Gupta Looking back at historical figures with the benefit of hindsight can be an interesting exercise. Rajkumar Santoshi posits a question in his ‘Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh’: what if Godse’s lethal attack on the Mahatma had failed? What if the two were given untrammeled time to converse with each other? Would there have […]
‘Pathaan’: Shah Rukh Khan is Back with Patriotic Spy Thriller
By Shubhra Gupta Hindi movies have been constructing the ‘desi’ equivalents of the Bond-Bourne franchise for a while now. Tiger has been ‘zinda’ in a pacy double-bill, Agent Vinod has done his bit, BellBottom has flexed and flared, but it is ‘Pathaan’ which has got the spy movie-laced-with-heavy-doses-of-patriotism bouncing off the screen, with Shah Rukh […]
‘Kuttey;: Lacks Both Bark and Bite; Watch for Tabu’s Performance
By Shubhra Gupta In 2009 came ‘Kaminey’, in which Vishal Bhardwaj offered us a compendium of crooks in a plot so entertaining that it practically begged an encore. Sadly, 2023’s Bollywood feature in theatres, appropriately called ‘Kuttey’, and directed by Vishal’s son, Aasmaan, is not that film. By all rights, it should have been. By […]
Vadh: Pulp Fiction Story of a Noble Murder
By Shubhra Gupta There’s something noble about the word ‘vadh’, as opposed to, merely, murder. The latter can be tawdry, ordinary: the former is used as moral justification to end a life. But is a murder, even if it is of a monster, ever justified? Schoolmaster Manjunath (Sanjay Mishra) and wife Manju (Neena Gupta) are middle-aged, […]
‘Naam Tha Kanhaiyalal: Documentary about a True Artiste
By Pradeep Anand This morning I saw one of the most moving documentaries in my life. It was about Kanhaiyalal, an actor who was type-cast into playing harsh roles of a munshi or a clerk, a bearer of bad news or deliverer of monetary harassment to the heroic main characters of Hindi movies. Before there […]
‘An Action Hero’: A Mostly Fun Caper
By Shubhra Gupta An Action Hero is pretty much what its title says it is: it is about an action hero, and his unexpected adventures, during which he learns the difference between reel life and real life. The film is stuffed with meta jokes, in-house gags, and a running jibe against the shouty TV shows […]
‘Bhediya’: Quite the Rumble in the Jungle
By Shubhra Gupta Cast: Varun Dhawan, Abhishek Banerjee, Paalin Kabak, Deepak Dobriyal, Kriti Sanon Director: Amar Kaushik Rating: 3 stars Humans turning into werewolves is such a familiar trope that the thought of seeing yet another version wasn’t making me jump: I’m happy to report that much of ‘Bhediya’, in which a principal character turns into an […]
‘Drishyam 2’: Not as Smooth as Last Time
Bollywood isn’t really known for pulling off suspense thrillers, certainly not for sustaining the steam over a sequel. But, like Drishyam in 2015, Drishyam 2 lulls you with its modest settings, simple characters, human cops, and a family caught in events beyond its control, till it lands home its lesson a second time — it’s […]
‘Uunchai’: A Heartfelt Ode to Friendship
By Shalini Langer This is as far as it gets from a Sooraj Barjatya film. It also avoids the melodrama that movies of this kind tend to lapse into, though it can’t resist the temptation to stretch the length to at least an hour more than it should be. Still, how often do you get to […]
