The independent perspective on Movies… Music… & More…
In the most simplistic terms, Kia and Cosmos, the debut feature film by Sudipto Roy is the coming-of-age story of a young autistic girl who has a far from perfect life and wants to get to the truth and only that in her own capacity. But watch closely and patiently, and this beautiful film is so much more than that.
Continue reading “KIA AND COSMOS Review : A Humane, Affectionate & Delicate Gaze At Life”
Listen to the much awaited Kalank Title Track here. Arijit Singh definitely adds a zing to the song, but may be more of dard was expected. Also there seems to be some rehash from earlier Pritam compositions. Plus 1940s? Really?
The picturization is somewhat better than the previous released songs, but still does not create a wow! There is a lack of authenticity in the entire setup. Aditya Roy Kapoor is the only show stealer with his few seconds in the song.
Hope it grows somewhat with time – more than the first impression created!
Kalank releases on April 17th
Recently with a few films trying to explore a rare genre of female bonding in Hindi cinema, it got me excited to explore how has this genre shaped up in the past years through cinema.. Come to think of it, forget cinema centered around female bonding, even good and impactful female duets have been few and far in between, although Bollywood is blessed with the two of the most enchanting voices ever in the two legendary sisters!
So given that it is a relatively rare genre, here are my favorite picks of the best female duets and in no particular order… (And I did not want the space to get crowded with the likes of relatively mediocre ‘Hastaa huya noorani chehra‘, ‘Mere mehboob me kya nahi‘, ‘Reshmi shalwar‘ or the more recent ‘Dola re‘, ‘Pinga‘ and their likes, which may be popular but not impactful to my musical sensibilities!)
“This crime is not just heinous, its insanity!” – That is how DCP South Delhi Vartika Chaturvedi expresses her shock and agony over one of the most gruesome and inhuman acts of violence of this decade, and one where she is now in charge to nab the criminals before they go untraceable. Delhi Crime is the retelling of the infamous Delhi gang rape case of 2012 that had scarred the nation permanently, this time through the lens of case files of the Delhi Police, and trying to fit itself in the broader genre of a police procedural. Scratch the surface, and it aspires to unearth a lot more.
Continue reading “DELHI CRIME Review : When Humanity Fights Insanity”
If there is one festival that has been celebrated in its full glory in Hindi Cinema, it is the festival of colors – Holi! And why not – the vibrant colors, the energy of the festival, the smiling faces, the mischievous gestures, the sensuous overtones – they all provide the rich and colorful cinematic tropes for the screen! No wonder, Holi Songs are extremely popular too – they almost form a separate genre for Hindi Film Music! We think of Holi songs, and typically there is always a Rang Barse, Holi Khele Raghuveera, Ang Se Ang Lagana, Lets Play Holi, Holi ke Din, Balam Pichkari and many other extremely popular and overplayed Holi songs that always come to mind first. But Hindi Cinema has also composed some other beautiful holi songs in this very millennium that possibly don’t get as much love as they should, and they are equally vibrant in orchestrating a sensory treat, if not more, as the more popular ones.
Continue reading “Holi hai! Load a Fresh, Vibrant Playlist!”
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – the name itself has such a zing to it! And then its a Quentin Tarantino film! And then it stars Leonardo Di Caprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie amongst others! And then it pays its tribute to the golden age of Hollywood!
Can it get bigger than this? Yes! The teaser trailer indicates that the sum is going to be bigger than the parts! July 2019 is going to be massive!
Soumitro Chattopadhyay – Aparna Sen – Lily Chakraborty – Saswata Chattopadhyay – Rituparna Sengupta – Kausik Sen – Sudipta Chakraborty – Jisshu Sengupta – Sreenanda Shankar – Paran Bandopadhyay – Subhashish Mukherjee – Tapan Chakraborty – & Others…
That is Basu Paribaar – Suman Ghosh‘s new film releasing on April 5th. The trailer hints towards a sentimental high pitch drama, a bit too much to create an immediate connect. But may be the stellar cast will get things right in entirety too. We will have to see.
Kia and Cosmos trailer has something beautiful going in it, that really gets one intrigued and watch more. Directed by Sudipto Roy, the film stars Ritwika Pal, Swastika Mukherjee and Joy Sengupta in key roles, and traces the journey of a 15 year old special girl in search of her cat. The music by Neel Adhikary, camera work by Aditya Varma and editing cuts by Anirban Maity also significantly impress within the crisp trailer.
Kia and Cosmos releases on March 29, and we hope to see a good film.
If one has studied the filmography of Ritesh Batra over the past decade, one would know what to expect out of Photograph. Like The Lunchbox as well as his two other previous films, Batra is interested in telling his story through a minimalistic plot, and rather find magic in moments framed in eternity. He is constantly in search of poetry – in evocative city landscapes, in internal moments of truth of his characters, in the calmness of the unstated, and in suddenly found connections between the most unlikely individuals. With Photograph, he has challenged his own template to extreme ends, taking his most sketchy plot to date – of an uneducated, struggling, aging, Muslim photographer trying to please his grandmother with a story that he is in a committed relationship with a brilliant, middle-class, pretty, young, Hindu girl from another world – and then creating an album sprinkled with moments of warmth, tenderness and understated charm between two strikingly different worlds.
Continue reading “PHOTOGRAPH Review : Capturing Poetry in Moments”
Kalank – the new film by Abhishek Varman, launched its teaser today, and boy it promises a lavish and rich canvas! The film has been scoring a lot of points by its intriguing first looks for a few days now, and the teaser is another solid step towards it.
The scale looks huge and the inspiration from Bhansali kind of canvas is apparent. But more importantly, the characters are looking interesting and the women especially steal the show, Sonakshi Sinha and Alia Bhatt to be more precise. So miss Sridevi today, as she was supposed to be in this film before and then Madhuri Dixit stepped in after her. Sridevi would have added so many layers to her character.
