Bollywood just go on and on talking about telling fun and masala films meant just for audience entertainment INSTEAD OF JUST DOING IT.
And there comes this Malayalam powerhouse of a film that blasts on all cylinders of the masala-movie template, fueling it through a subtext and filmmaking vigor so strong that would make your belly ache.
On a conceptual level, "Aavesham" blends two of the most beloved subgenres of comedy in Indian cinema - that of gangster comedies and…
The film about an artist who often pandered to his base to maintain his precipitous rise to stardom is potentially the least pandering of all Ali's films in of its thematics. In other words, it's a beautifully made poignant study on the internal strides that often consumes an artist's life, whether it be in the power of striving vs being subjugated to the societal norms, the need for creating art vs the desire to thrive, or between life and…
One can go on two ways writing about a sports biopic. One would be based upon how they perceive a biopic that often tends to checklist on key historical events while painting a sprawling look at the legacies of the people involved. The other is based on how they want the film to upend the conventional template of the genre to showcase its themes in a more customized way. Not that there couldn't be streamlining of these two from a…
One of the best films of 2023 with even a historic Oscar win was pulled from US theaters earlier this year. What's even more puzzling is that it still hasn't opened widely in many Asian markets. Despite "Godzilla Minus One" being in the top 10 movies for US theaters garnering both critical as well as audience acclaim, there's no sign then or now of when it'd be available on streaming or any kind of home video.
The reported gatekeeping of…
Movies are generally said to have either a small scope, tracing a character's mental or spiritual journey while going inward in the narrative approach, or a large scope that encapsulates the ethos or zeitgeist of a particular era or a world. Crafting a world with a well defined smaller scope can particularly become daunting while telling a story in the landscape of Sci-Fi. After all, the tranquility offered by the avenues of spaceships, interstellar travel and futuristic speculation can very…
In one way, "Poor Things" is the most obscure movie you'd see in a while. But it's also one of the most epiphanic movie-watching experiences of the year. A wholly imaginative and seamlessly crafted adolescent story that byes all conventional norms just like the filmmaking vigour that channels it.
As a privileged yet determined woman's right to ambition gets throttled by society once they realize she dared to prioritize her husband over something else - even when that something else happens to be the nation - Gulzar's 1975 film shows echoes of the poignantly bittersweet undertones one would expect from the writer. What surprised me the most is in the way in which it attempts to look at a prideful man's own motivations as he comes to with…
In his first outing with Rajkumar Hirani, SRK yet again plays a soldier this year after "Pathaan" and "Jawaan". This time around, however, his patriotism comes secondary to the kind of angelic savior he portrays. While the extensive de-aging flashback ceases to be as jarring as the film picks its momentum, the lack of any sort of palpable motivation renders his arc inefficacious. Hardy expresses his love and loyalty for the nation while also trying to repeatedly articulate how people…
Zoya Akhtar and team's refreshing intent of re-contextualizing the bubble-gummy vintage vibe of the Archies comics with a more reflexive take on the generation born out of it gets undercut by the overwritten script.
What could've been a ruminating take on capitalism and modernization with all its breezy vibe soon turns into a film that shifts as clumsily between its subplots the way most of the lead actors break into their dialogues. The performative musical aspect of the staging never…
It becomes almost impossible to watch Sam Bahadur without projecting the same reverence for the cast and crew behind the way the story does for its subject. Right within its first few minutes, the film makes sure just how deliberately (and sloppily) paced it would be. One moment you watch Bahadur as a kid, the next you see him as a young British cadet being punished for a night out. Before the inciting incident, he’s already become a platoon commander…