IFFI 21024, 10: Five Indian films to compete for newly instituted DEBeaUTiful film award With an aim to promote new and young talent in the country, the 55th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has instituted a new award category: Best Debut Director of Indian Feature Film, which will showcase five remarkable debut films that highlight new perspectives, diverse narratives, and innovative cinematic styles, from across India. IFFI, scheduled to be held from November 20-28...

Vijayanand, Review: All Vijay, No Anand You might be pardoned for mistaking the film to be a bio-pic on the genius Hindi film director, Vijay Anand (Guide, Jewel Thief, Johnny Mera Naam). But that can only arise out of ignorance, for if you have read anything about the film or seen a poster or video, you will be aware that this is nothing like a Vijay Anand bio-pic. It is, in fact, a docu-drama about a family in Karnataka that started with the printing industry and the next generation went in...

Bengaluru’s Suchitra Film Society celebrates 50 years, releases book by Aruna Rajé Patil Suchitra Film Society (SFS) organised a Film Festival in collaboration with the Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) and Surana College. The festival was formally inaugurated on 15 October, by watering a potted plant by the Principal of Surana College, D.N.S. Kumar, and Principal of PU College, Chandrashekharappa, in the presence of the President and Secretary of SFS, Suresha B. and D...

Vikrant Rona, Review: Ducking in 3D Exotic, lush green locales and serial killing do not go together, but here they do. Vikrant Rona is the name of the protagonist (or is it?), the second part of which, ‘rona’, means ‘crying’ in Hindustani. The ‘n’ is pronounced more harshly in the film, so it is not exactly ‘rona’ but roȠa (approximation). The makers decided to retain this name from the original Kannada, although it could have easily been chan...

Sounds of The Kashmir Files: “Pray for all the oppressed people in the world” Royal Opera House was a surprising choice for the event. Once a landmark for big-budget film releases, it remained shut for about two decades, before it was revived, with plays and other events being held there, but no film shows. Makers of the film The Kashmir Files decided to kill two birds with one stone: reinforce their theme of oppression, persecution, brutal murders and more of Kashmiri Pandits in ...

Jersey, Review: Down and out, yet 300 not out A loser making it big in sports is the stuff that many films have been made on. This one tries to be different. Imagine a cricketer who quit the game years ago, is dead broke, and his government job has landed him under suspension. You can bet that he will make a comeback and reach a new zenith, however, it does not quite happen the way you might anticipate. Yes, his return to the game is a major twist, but the giant of a twist is reserved for the...

Minnal Murali, Review: Two bolts from the blue Minnal Murali’s première at the Mumbai Film Festival, on 16 December, was a grand affair. The venue was the recently constructed Jio World Drive in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex, and drinks and snacks were waiting for those who arrived early. The cast and crew were present too. Viewing the film came with an embargo that no reviews should be posted before December the 24th, the day of its release directly through the streaming p...

Pushpa-The Rise – Part 1, Review: Cross your legs Having steadfastly kept away from the staple diet of Telugu dubbed in Hindi dished out on a few TV channels 24 x 7, one was not aware of what one was in for when one went to see the press preview of Pushpa at the invitation of a major, local PR agency, albeit with a notice of 11 hours. Firstly, an eponymous film, the title is an abbreviation of PushpaRaj. Pushpa, by itself, means a flower, and is feminine. You might be pardoned for recal...

IFFI 52, 022: Pregnant, harassed-to-hell woman, or suicide bomber? Governments exist to serve the people, but often, the common citizen has to struggle, knock one door after another, in order to avail of the services he or she rightfully deserves. ACT-1978, a 2020 Kannada film by Director Manjunatha S., brings into sharp relief this torturous and tormenting ordeal, an experience not too alien to many hapless ordinary citizens. “I want to dedicate my movie to every common man and woma...

IFFI 51, 16-24 January, 22: PCs of Shreedhar B.S., Prithvi Konanur, Gunjalamma “The way we live right now suggests there are two different worlds - of “them” and “us”, where “they” are misunderstood by “us”. Our film is that window to see a world which needs to be understood with love, in all its nonconformist ways, so that we can charter a path to assimilate them in one world, where we all co-exist with love and mutual respect.” Thi...

The Body, Review: No soul A murder mystery that moves slickly and logically is a rarity, and The Body initially engages you on both counts. You don’t mind the apparent red herrings that it throws along the way, as you wait with bated breath to see it all unravel. There is a terrible sense of disappointment, though, for the herrings are not herrings, and, moreover, only one of them is red. The film unravels some five of the twenty knots it ties, leaving the remaining fifteen knots not un...

Bala, Review: Haireditory and dark humour Two films in rapid succession about hair loss are about as rare as a new lock of hair sprouting on a bald pate. Whereas Ujda Chaman had the relatively unknown Sunny Singh Nijjar and Maanvi Gagroo playing the lead roles, Bala has National Award winning (shared) actor Ayushmann Khurrana, and by now well established actresses Bhumi Pednekar and Yami Gautam. Time has come when insider jokes, vulgar dialogue, mimicry and stand-up comedy are expected from K...

IFFI 50, XII: Rajinikanth to be Icon of Golden Jubilee Union (Central Government) Information & Broadcasting Minister, Prakash Javadekar, announced on November 02 that, “In recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema, during the past several decades, I am happy to announce that the award for the ‘Icon of the Golden Jubilee of IFFI 2019’ is being conferred on cine-star Shri. S. RajiniKanth”, said Javadekar. Carpenter-turned-porter-turned-bus conduc...

Badshaah Pahelwan, Review: There’s a brown wrestler in the boxing ring, tra la la la la When director of photography S. Krishna turned producer just over two years ago, vicariously, through his wife, Swapna, having directed two action genre films, he decided to make his third film in nine Indian languages. Down the line, he settled for five, with the original in his native Kannada, and dubbed versions in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Rather ambitious of Krishna, considering the fi...

Life in Metaphors-Portraits of Girish Kasaravalli, by O.P. Srivastava: Well framed! A banker with a passion of cinema, Om Prakash Srivastava hung up his ATM to pursue his dream. In 2012, he attended a course in Film Appreciation at Goa, organised by the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), where an ex alumnus and India’s most decorated film-maker, Girish Kasaravalli was taking a master class on film-making. OP was so impressed with the demeanour and erudition of his teacher an...

Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon, Review: Odd Kapils                                                                                        What is Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon (KKPK)? A remake of the Kannada film Nimbe Huli, produced by Subhash Ghai? A remake of some yet to be identified Eng...