Mujib-The Making of a Nation, Review: How to fit three decades in three hours Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman, the tall, towering personality who was the single most important leader of East Pakistan, and largely responsible for the creation of BanglaDesh, served as President of his free country during 25 January 1975-15 August 1975, a period of only eight months. In an unfortunate co-incidence, he died on the Independence Day of India. Indian producer-director-actor I.S. Johar made a film called Joi ...

MIFF returns, with a budget of 4-5 crores; will be organised and held at Films Division Biennial since its inception in 1990, the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) of documentaries, short fiction and animation films, will be held this year from 29 May to 04 June at the Films Division (FD)’s premises on Peddar Road (Gopalrao Deshmukh Marg). A total of 300+ films have been selected by the selection committees and the budget of the entire festival is estimated at Rs. 4-5 crore. It ...

Parveen Babi, A Life--by Karishma Upadhyay: Break-ups and break-downs Appearing out of nowhere, Parveen Babi made her screen debut with the film Charitra, acting opposite cricketer Salim Durani, in 1973. That was not the first film she had signed, which credit goes to Dhuen Ki Lakeer, released the following year. Her career really took off with Majboor (1974, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan) and she was seen in some 58 films totally, the last one releasing in 1991, years after she had given up a...

IFFI 52, 032: Heart-rending depiction of floods in No Ground Beneath Her Feet Ravaged by the torrent of flood-waters, a man’s family is torn to pieces by the soul-crushing agony of having to scramble for a piece of land to bury his dead father. Even as he is oblivious of the deluge of their inner trauma, he is having to venture a bone-tiring journey of moral decay, murder, deception and social bashing, just to reach his flood-affected village. No Ground Beneath the Feet, a Bangladesh...

IFFI 52, 021: Sainbari massacres missing from history books Why is the battle of Sainbari not in our history books, where 15,000 people were killed in just one night, was the question posed by the director of IFFI 52 Indian Panorama Non Feature Film Sainbari to Sandeshkhali. “If Jallianwala Bagh, Battle of Panipat and Battle of Buxar appear in our history books, why not Battle of Sainbari?” This is the rather incontestable question raised by Sanghamitra Chaudhuri, director of th...

IFFI 51, 16-24 January, 2021, 17: Inaugural speeches and performances The 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) got off with enthralling cultural performances amidst a dazzling ceremony celebrating the joy of cinema. The indoor Indoor Stadium at Panaji in Goa reverberated with the passion of a few film-stars, few film-makers and many film-lovers from around the world. The Opening Ceremony of Asia’s oldest and India’s biggest film festival was competently...

IFFI 51, Goa, 16-24 January 2021, 04: Pablo Cesar to Chair International Jury The 51st edition of International Film Festival of India announced its five-member International Jury today, with eminent film-makers from across the world. The Jury will comprise Pablo Céésar (Argentina) as Chairman, Prasanna Vithanage (Sri Lanka), Abu Bakr Shawky (Austria), Priyadarshan (India) and Ms. Rubaiyat Hossain (Bangladesh). Pablo César is an Argentinian film-maker. He has the critica...

Ahaa Re (The Two Lovers/Oh, Look at You), Review: Castle of love on bedrock of food When you want to make a film about love, lost and found, romance, sublime and selfless, it is a good idea not to include components like villains, fights, item songs, crude comedy, sexual overtones and foul language. So what do you fill your screenplay with? How about conflicts and disparities, of many hues and various proportions? And food? Yes, food. Well if you are a foodie, and a romantic foodie, then why ...

Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW), Review: Uncooked meal, raw deal Espionage, as a film genre, is more than 84 years old. A master, no less than Alfred Hitchcock himself, made The 39 Steps in 1935. So it is baffling that a spy thriller, made in 2017-18, is oblivious of the rudimentary ingredients entailed to engross audiences. Ennui and crawling pace are anathema to a spy story. When the yard-sticks are James Bond and even John Le Carré, a shoddy script, amateurishly executed, stands no chance ...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: XI Sixteen years is a long time in the life of a film festival. It seems an even bigger achievement when you consider the upheavals that the Third Eye Asian Film Festival has undergone during its tenure. In fact, it is a miracle that it has continued, against all odds. Asian Film Foundation, headed by Kiran Shantaram, son of late V. Shantaram, remains the driving force, as does Sudhir Nandgaonkar, journalist and a bunch of teenage students pool in their res...

Today the IEFTA hosted the Dhaka to Cannes initiative at Plage Royal. Through this initiative three Bangladeshi filmmakers have been chosen to participate in the Producers Workshop of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. "The Emerging International Film Talent Association (IEFTA) is a Monaco-based, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation that develops, finances and promotes film-related festivals, exhibitions and educational projects. IEFTA's mission is to promote cultutral diversity...

Bangistan, Review: Citizen Wong Kar-Wai meets Raging Bull at FcDonald’s If references, allusions and name-dropping could make a film watchable, Bangistan would have arrived with a bang. Sadly for debutant director Karan Anshuman, that récipé fails to tickle the taste-buds, and the film turns out be a dish that is half un-cooked and half over-cooked. Why he chose to use crutches like parodying the title of Orson Welles’ all-time masterpiece, Citizen Kane, poking fun a...

So, what are you wearing? For anyone who has ever flirted using this line, the new documentary The True Cost  will explain how to get a really hot conversation going. As we see, the question aroused global citizens are asking is, Baby, what did it take to make what you're wearing? Directed by Andrew Morgan (After the End, Here for Now), the film pulls the panties off the fashion industry, exposing its disastrous human and environment impact around the world. Unsurprisingly, the p...

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Synopsis: Mawla, a young man from Bangladesh living in Madrid (Spain), dreams of having a family. After seven years he decides to go back to his country for the first time in order to find a bride and get married. English title: MAWLA’S WEDDING Original title: LA BODA DE MAWLA Original format: HDV (Color, Stereo, 16:9) Lenght: 52’42’’ Year: 2009 Original language: Spanish, Bengali and English Subtitl...

[Photo, venue of the SAFF at Goa, housed in an old colonial palatial mansion. Photo FN] Eight diverse countries, very differing historical and political traditions, unmatched cinematographic backgrounds, and over 45 films. Mixed together, the result is a South Asian Film Festival, the latest version of which is underway in Goa.This four-day festival, which ends on Monday, is seeing films from eight South Asian Countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepa...