Ankur: Shyam Benegal's + Shabana Azmi's manifesto

Here’s another beginner – after Aag – Shyam Benegal’s first long feature film shot in 1973, after he had finally got enough appraisal for his work shooting advertisements (apparently more than...

Aag (1948): Raj Kapoor's burning idealism

Aag: fire. In this Early Raj Kapoor Movie, fire is a symbol of love, naturally, but also creation and destruction. It is fit that this film stands at the beginning of Raj Kapoor’s career (his...

Tabu, the dark queen on the Bollywoodian chessboard

I’d seen other films with her before, but I really discovered Tabu thanks to Cheeni kum. “Cheeni Kum” means “less sugar”. And that’s what Bollywood has to offer with Tabu: a less sugary actress!...

Pakeezah, Meena Kumari's romantic Swan Song

Of all the commentaries I have read about Kamal Amrohi’s 1972 movie Pakeezah, this one (Upperstall.Com) corresponds most to what I thought of it : “Pakeezah is a stylized, larger than life...

Fire on the Mountain

Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, 1977. Nanda Kaul, an old solitary lady lives in her house on the mountainside. Something depressing about her presence there, as if she was hiding away from some family...

Charulata, Satyajit Ray's masterpiece

It’s become a recurrent syndrome: I need a second viewing or reading to appreciate some of India’s prominent masterpieces! (For it has been recognised as such, see this link, or this one for...

The inheritance of loss

It took me a long time to finish The Inheritance of Loss. Not only because there has been so many things to do in the past months, but also because somehow the novel didn’t correspond to what I am...

Calcutta Mail, or why Sudhir Mishra's films have urban settings

I watched Calcutta Mail on Jaman (Jaman.Com) because of Sudhir Mishra and the good memories I had of Dharavi, Main zinda hoon and Chameli. All three movies are urban movies, and deal with the...

Awara's dream sequence: a metaphor of life

Hi everyone… Here’s that detailed observation of the dream-sequence in Raj Kapoor’s Awara which I had promised you! I’m in fact quite pleased I had set that aside, because there is so much in it,...

Manisha Koirala: the fallen angel?

Like perhaps a number of you, I discovered Manisha Koirala in Dil se, by Mani Ratnam, and was attracted by that irritating mousy character of the terrorised terrorist, who with her distant but...