Let's talk about Bollywood!

Film after film, I have learnt to rejoice when they feature this delightful comedian, Anupam Kher. He went at first unnoticed, in the shadows, at the back. He was part of the sets. Then role after role, I remember I started smiling to myself: hey, it’s...

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Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa (thirsty) is so consistently lauded that it’s rather daunting to start talking about it. All the reviews I’ve read about it were superlative. Everybody says what a landmark it has been, what wonderful music it displays, what poetry...

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Hi everybody, I'm interrupting my comments of personal stuff to let you know of A2line's initiative, a very nice selection of songs from various authors, her favourite pieces, all directly available a click away. If I were you, I'd go and have a look!...

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R.K. Narayan’s “The painter of signs” is a real pleasure to read. Set in the imaginary Southern Indian town of Malgudi, this novella captures the mind by its evocative aloofness, its lighter-than life clarity. It is the story of Raman, a sign-painter,...

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Facts we should remember about Salman before we start criticising him: - Let’s face, if Sallu didn’t exist, Bollywood would be incomplete. - You can’t love Bollywood and not give at least some credit to Salman. - He can’t be that badmash, he actually...

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Very quickly after I had started watching Bollywood movies, I started crying, often at the end, and I felt somehow justified in my crying, pleased in my crying. I can’t even remember when I last cried, or if I ever cried, after having watched an occidental...

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Is friendship possible between men and women? This is the question which sprang to my mind while watching Hum tumhare hain sanam. Old question, of course, but well, since it seemed to have been important for the director (K.S. Adhiyaman), and that his...

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This is a foray into a field as yet unploughed by me, literary criticism of Indian novels! This summer I’ve read Anita Desai’s Clear light of day: perhaps some of you know the book? It was written in 1980, but tells the story of an Old Delhi family back...

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I have always liked Saif Ali Khan, ever since Kal ho Na ho, in which I first saw him squint and sidle towards the camera, like an Indian Mafioso, with his Italian airs, his raspy voice. He was a welcome difference from the Salmans, the Shahruhks, and...

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Absolutely excellent. The hubris of petty officers, the crisis and tension coming from lust and gratuitous violence, the horrifying banality of colonialism, the abuse and victimization of women: all these elements combine to create a tragedy which the...

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Swami (2007) is choreographer Ganesh Acharya’s first try at directing a film, and in spite of some clumsiness, it’s full of good surprises. It is inspired by a desire to uphold the values of honesty, faithfulness and humanity which the director obviously...

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Abstract : Admirable and moving, "I am Alive" by Sudhir Mishra is excellently served by inspired actors (Deepti Naval leading the crew), filmed with tact and reserve, and filled with emotion and realism. It tells the story of Beena, a young woman married...

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Er… I thought I would have stopped reviewing films like this one ! But Ta Ra Pum Pum by Siddharth Anand is interesting in fact, as a Bollywood phenomenon (are those of you who read me not tired of this treatment of Indian films?!). BUT: before I go any...

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After having watched the film, I asked myself what it had been trying to do... It's a filmed play about these two people - modern-India businessman Rahul Bose and eternal India prostitute Kareena Kapoor - which explores their confrontation: and the immediate...

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When I think of Kareena Kapoor, what comes to mind first is her strength, her instinct, her femininity. She strikes me as unabashedly feminine, pleased with her sex, proud of her sex. Her physique is very feminine, and first those amazing lips of hers,...

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