Hindi movies
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An old professor of mine, well known for his generosity in handing out F grades, suddenly turned lenient as he progressed towards retirement. When asked why, he said, “When I used to regard my students as my children, I was tough on them. Now they seem like my grandchildren, so I find myself pampering them.”…
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I spent a good bit of time trying to figure out how to write a coherent review Paa before I realized something. The entire publicity machine for Paa focuses on the fact that Amitabh Bachchan plays a twelve year-old with Progeria (a genetic disorder that makes him look like he’s pushing seventy) and Abhishek Bachchan…
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Vishal Bharadwaj brought The Bard into this milieu. And now, here’s his protege Abhishek Chaubey with some film noir. The ingredients are all there — criminals, a femme fatale, a dog-eat-dog world, betrayals, a tenuous code of honour… Except, it isn’t quite film noir. At a crucial point in the story, one character is revealed…
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Beware: There be spoilers! Ranbir Kapoor’s star power — and make no mistake, the man definitely has it — seems to derive from his ability to project puppy-dog earnestness like nobody else in the business. That we haven’t tired of it yet bodes well for him, but I am eager to see if he can…
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Apropos the controversy about Chetan Bhagat’s name in the credits, I don’t remember enough of the book or what got shown in the opening or closing credits to comment. I will say, however, that I noticed at least a few jokes circulating on the Internet making their way into the movie. The one about submitting…
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I was discussing the beauty of old Hindi film lyrics with a couple of friends here and the following observation came up: Most of these songs use some Urdu word or the other. There seem to be two reasons for this. First, the “softer” sounds in Urdu are well suited to convey the sort of…
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As ensemble dramas go, Rang De Basanti ranks among the best that has come out of Bollywood in recent times. Apart from the fact that it is mostly well-written and acted, it deserves brownie points its effort to make the freedom struggle relevant to a generation born decades after independence. The most obvious way of looking at…
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Dear readers, First I hear that Ben Kingsley is in India. ToI announces this news with a picture of him and his wife Daniela at the Taj Mahal. Then I see this picture. Am I the only one whose mind is screaming Bunty Aur Babli Strike Back? Please let me know. Regards Ramsu
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Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat has a brilliant section about the protagonists making a list of things to take with them on the boat trip. The first list they make turns out to have so many items that the boat would likely sink under the weight of it all. Then one of…
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I owe my abiding love for B-movies to Dabba. The official name was Sri Ganesh Talkies ad it was located a couple of kilometres from the campus gate at BITS, Pilani. It had four walls, a makeshift ceiling, and the projectionist’s dhoti for a screen. I’m guessing he diligently washed it every February 29th. Front…
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