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Siraj Syed is the India Correspondent for FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. He is a Film Festival Correspondent since 1976, Film-critic since 1969 and a Feature-writer since 1970. He is also an acting and dialogue coach. @SirajHSyed
Magnum Opus Padmavati adds a, drops i, eyes release on 25th January
It will now be called and spelt Padmaavat, from its original moniker of Padmavati. The deletion of the i is in deference to the wishes of many Indians who hold the folklore of Rani Padmavati very dear, and would not allow a film that shows the actor playing her dancing, midriff exposed, to be released. Protests led to a delay of eight weeks in rescheduling the release, and even now, entire states, like Rajasthan (where the st...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: X
Besides features and docu-features, the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival (TEAFF) had a competitive section for shorts. As many as 25 films competed. Countries represented included India, Iran, Myanmar, Turkey, Tajikistan and South Korea. They were packaged into two screening slots, one of which I managed to attend.
Audience Award, Short Film: Taghdir (Fate)/Iran/13 min/Azar Faramarzi
Actress, producer and director Azar Faramarzi graduated in Film and ...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: IX
Biler Diary, Cyanide and Jana Aranya. A Bengali film about a boarding school based on Hindu religious values, an Iranian political thriller about the period immediately preceding the Islamic revolution and a raved work of the master, Satyajit Ray—these were the last feature films I saw at the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival, Mumbai.
The festival was organised in December 2017 by the Asian Film Foundation and P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Acad...
MIFF 2018, III
Films in the National Competition section of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentary, Short and Animation films have been categorised into Long Documentaries (above 60 minutes), Short Documentaries (up to 45 minutes), Short Fiction (up to 45 minutes) and Animation. Altogether, 43 films will be shown, varying in length from 6 minutes to 112 minutes.
LIST OF FILMS SELECTED FOR NATIONAL COMPETITION SECTION IN MIFF-2018
...
Paddington 2, review: Bear maximum
Imagine a London where bears are accepted as persons and move about freely; a London where Aunt Lucy and her nephew Paddington board a bus and buy tickets for “One-and-a-half bears.” Imagine a bear named Paddington, so called because his adoptive human family find him at Paddington railway station. And imagine a bear that has the highest moral standards and sets the benchmark for ethics and courtesy, not only among regular humans, but even jailbi...
Downsizing, review: Mini We
Once in a while, a movie comes along that renews our faith in creative writing and the ability of cinema to rise above its own decadence. Maybe it took a dozen ‘shrink’, ‘little’ and ‘antman’ films, from 1957 to 2015, to inspire the writers of Downsizing, the title itself a pun, but the resulting effort has a fresh new feel about it. After setting up a very interesting premise and some smooth as silk spellbinding VFX, the film th...
MIFF 2018, II
Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentary, Short and Animation Films, which begins on 28 January, 2018 in Mumbai, has released the list of films to be screened in four sections. Here is the list of films selected for the International Competition section, in the two duration-based categories, 45 or less and no specified duration. The shortest of the lot runs for 15 minutes while the longest is a marathon 183 minutes long. Films come from India, Canada, Australia,...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: VIII
Besides Marathi, Bengali language films saw fair representation at TEAFF. There were two Assamese films as well. Internationally, of course, we had a strong Iranian contingent. The festival was organised in December 2017 by the Asian Film Foundation and P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, and co-organised by Prabhat Chitra Mandal and Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal. An annual event, it is supported by Department of Culture, Government...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: VII
TEAFF was organised by the Asian Film Foundation and P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, and co-organised by Prabhat Chitra Mandal and Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal. An annual event, it is supported by Department of Culture, Government of Maharashtra. Screenings were held at Ravindra Natya Mandir Mini Auditorium, Mumbai, which has been the venue for the last few years.
In my last instalment, I covered two Marathi films. Today, we wi...
Insidious 4-The Last Key, review: Spectral Sightings by Psychic and her side-kicks
Was a time when unfriendly ghosts used to have a motive for their haunting, and usually, it was revenge. Then, they began to exist for existence’s sake, in an alternate world, or the beyond, paranormal realm, crossing over accidentally into mother earth. Over time, they have inherited one most condemnable human trait--sadism. Once we stipulate that ghosts can exist solely with the motive of torturing hum...
Pitch Perfect 3, review: Fat Amy’s tall father and DJ Khaled’s Bella a capella
Wrapping-up the three-part series, the third instalment queers the pitch and is not perfect by a long mile. Some tweens have enjoyed their 93 minutes at the cinema-house, judging by the box-office collections, and so be it. More discerning cine-goers might have a flippant time at best, watching some caustic exchanges, routine choreography and songs that don’t stay with you too long.
Three years ...
All the Money in the World, Review: Ear today, gone tomorrow
Cinquanta to Gail: “Who is this so-called grandfather? How can he leave his own flesh and blood in the plight that your poor son is in? Here is the richest man in America, and you tell me he refuses to find just 10 miliardi for his grandson’s safety. Signora, you take me for a fool.”
Two Ridley Scott releases in the same year? Alien Covenant and All the Money in the World mark the repeat of a phenomenon that occur...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: VI
Three Marathi films are the focus of today’s post: Nati Khel, Nadi Vahate and Copy. They were shown as part of a package at that consisted of as many as eight films, the maximum in any language from any Indian language. TEAFF is organised by the Asian Film Foundation and P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, and co-organised by Prabhat Chitra Mandal and Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal. It is supported by Department of Culture, Gover...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: V
Open Forum, a festival tradition, was held at the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival too, on six of the eight days. It was thoughtfully scheduled between 2 and 3 pm, December 22-27, a slot when no films were being screened. Santosh Pathare of Prabhat Film Society moderated. Compared to the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Open Forum here was confined to an interaction with the cast/directors/producers of films screened on earlier day(s). Santo...
New Year Greetings, 2018: Let’s begin with a few laughs from films & comedians
Dialogue
֍ "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."
-Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
֍ "Don't you find it a little bit (of a) coincidence that the body fell perfectly within the chalk
outline on the floor?"
- "I think...
The Greatest Showman, Review: Also fraudster, huckster and the King of humbug!
Hollywood’s great showman Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) was a grandiose, over-the-big-top tribute to circuses, and won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Story. It was the story of the Ringling Circus and not about Phineas Taylor Barnum, who has inspired the film at hand. The Greatest Showman is about P.T. Barnum, and the reference to the film of 65 years ago is made becau...
Jumanji-Welcome to the Jungle, Review: You only live thrice
If you happen to get your hands on a board-game called Jumanji, you and all within range will be transported to a virtual jungle, where virtually all imaginable forms of carnivorous animals will vie with each other to gobble you up. But even if they do, do not worry, you will still live, to die another day, by falling off a cliff, perhaps. Now that you have used up two of your allotted three lives (nine are for cats only), you better...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: IV
Screenings continued on Day 4, 5 and 6, and two films were memorable. One was a blast from 1956, made by an all-time great, and the other a laudable 2011 effort, shot in his home country, guerrilla style, by a returning prodigy, without permission
I managed to attend nine shows out of the 15, which is a reasonable score. But here I will speak of just two films, since there is much to say.
Return to Burma, 2011, 84 min
So now we know that Ice Poison ...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: III
Of the 10 feature films screened at the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival (TEAFF) during the first three days, I caught four and opted out of a fifth because I had seen it, albeit decades ago. Two of these were Indian, one Egyptian and one from Taiwan-Myanmar.
Ziprya, based on the Arun Sadhu novel and chosen as the inaugural film, was big let-down. Made in amateurish style, full of tropes and stock screenplay, it did great disservice to the memory of ...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: II
Prominent writer-journalist, late Arun Sadhu, winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award, was honoured posthumously at the inaugural function of the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival (TEAFF), on 21 December, at the Ravindra Natya Mandir Mini Auditorium. Sadhu, who wrote mainly in Marathi but also penned works in English and Hindi, passed away in Mumbai three months ago, aged 76. At the ceremony, he was represented by his wife Aruna and daughter Shefali. Kiran ...
16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival opens in Mumbai on 21 December
Prabhat Chitra Mandal, one of India’s oldest and most active film societies that is celebrating its golden jubilee this year, in collaboration with P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, is holding its 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival in Mumbai, supported by the Department of Culture, Government of Maharashtra. The festival will be inaugurated on Thursday, the 21st of December, 2117. The inauguration will be followed ...
Newton, Review: Gravity of the situation
Had he been alive in the modern period, the British scientist would have bagged multiple Nobel prizes for his pioneering work in Physics. As it happens, the film of the same name, not a biopic of Sir Isaac, rather about an idealist in the Indian bureaucracy, has been eliminated from the race for the Oscars.
A million or more Newtonians are feeling heart-broken that a film that they considered a breakthrough, and the best film made in India in recent t...
Star Wars-The Last Jedi, Review: The Lost Jedi
George Lucas maintains that his Star Wars films were for kids. Back in the late 70s, when the trade-mark skewed angle intro rolling text greeted us as the film began, I was not a kid. Maybe the sensibilities of an Indian film-goer at 25 were akin to the school-kids in the West, but I loved what I saw. Since, I have seen most, if not all, the core movies and the spin-offs/anthologies, most of them likeable, but the 40th anniversary release saw me ...
Shashi Kapoors don’t die: Part I
Showbiz is often cruel, usually ruthless. It takes so many factors to make it as an actor, luck or lineage included. Then, you need to stay on, weather flops and hits, and keep grabbing opportunities, in the hope that the next one will do it for you. Son of Prithviraj Kapoor, Balbir (Shashi) Raj Kapoor had done his bit of drama at his Papajee’s Prithvi Theatre, like his two older brothers (Ranbir) Raj Kapoor and Shamsher (Shammi) Raj Kapoor. They h...
Mark Felt--The Man Who Brought Down the White House, Review: Clearing Deep Throat
After John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, at age 46, which remains an unresolved conspiracy 53 years later, there was another political event that pinned dirty political tricks on President Richard Nixon around the time of his re-election, and he had to resign soon after being re-elected, in 1974. The Watergate exposé was published by two journalists of the Washington Post and one from Time Mag...
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About Siraj Syed
 Syed Siraj
(Siraj Associates)
Siraj Syed is a film-critic since 1970 and a Former President of the Freelance Film Journalists' Combine of India.
He is the India Correspondent of FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the international Federation of Film Critics, Munich, Germany
Siraj Syed has contributed over 1,015 articles on cinema, international film festivals, conventions, exhibitions, etc., most recently, at IFFI (Goa), MIFF (Mumbai), MFF/MAMI (Mumbai) and CommunicAsia (Singapore). He often edits film festival daily bulletins.
He is also an actor and a dubbing artiste. Further, he has been teaching media, acting and dubbing at over 30 institutes in India and Singapore, since 1984.
Bandra West, Mumbai India View my profileSend me a message
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