World Cinema

By Jugu Abraham

Germany’s Christian Petzold belongs to the new breed of European directors that loves to make films layered with meaning for the astute viewer. Russia’s Andrei Zvyagintsev mesmerized serious film-goers with his multi-layered films that urge film-goers to approach cinema as one would approach a challenging and intelligent puzzle to derive maximum entertainment. Spain’s multi-talented Alejandro Amenabar has proved that a holistic mix of good screenplay, music and direction can result in films that recall the precocious brilliance of the young Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane made so many decades ago.

Bollywood

By Amit Om Sharma

What happens when dear papa happens to be the producer-director and story writer of the movie? The family makes sure that the entire talent of “BABA” comes out before the world.

Harry Baweja did wonders to prove what his son Harman can do with himself. Let us talk bit by bit.

Hollywood

By Hiral Sachde

Po the Panda , a noodle restaurant owner’s son dreams of being a Kung Fu fighter but does not have the body to go with it. By sheer quirk of fate he is chosen as the ” Dragon Warrior” to protect the dragon scroll. He is also supposed to protect the scroll from the evil and to do that he has to learn Kung Fu. A humongous task for Po but a hilarious one for the audience.

Po is fat or shall I say horizontally challenged and he remains so. It’s an irony of a sort to think of a superhero who goes huffing and puffing after climbing a few stairs.

Classics

By Mayur Doshi

In the history of cinema, Lawrence of Arabia is a landmark film by director David lean. This film popularized the story of T.E Lawrence who in the First World War led the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire (turkey) for the liberation of Arabia. Since the story is based on historic fact, what makes this film great is that it combines great acting by its cast along with stunning direction by Lean and cinematography by Freddie Young. This movie which has stood the test of time since its release in 1962 is a must watch and was made to be seen on the big screen.

Indian Cinema

By Satyaki Roy

You have an actor as great as Kamal Haasan. You have a budget of about 65 crores. And what do you do? You make an absolute mess of nearly everything. How can any thinking individual accept this from one of the greatest artists of Tamil cinema? I ask you, how? Because I need to know, before I lose faith in Tamil cinema.

The film has a beautifully unoriginal plot line. An Indian scientist in USA runs of with a dangerous biological weapon (or whatever it is they called it) for the fear of it falling into wrong hands, loses it, chases it. The villain chases him and the virus. In the end, the world is saved by the tsunami.

Interview

By Bikas Mishra

Despite having all the ingredient of a perfect thriller, why “Via Darjeeling” takes a different turn? Did the cop make it all up or was he narrating a real incident? And why didn’t he light his cigarettes before smoking them? If you have been looking for these answers after watching “Via Darjeeling”, director Arindam Nandy shares his thoughts on his film

Technology

By Savio

There is already a buzz in the industry that the war is over and that blu-ray is going to be the next format to rule the home entertainment market.

So where do you stand…. is it time to throw out all your DVDs and upgrade to blu-ray…

Great Director

By Rituparna Chatterjee

When Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage,” I’m sure he didn’t expect a man called Federico Fellini to interpret it four centuries later as “All the world’s a circus”. One of the greatest filmmakers of all times, Fellini pretty much saw the world as a circus, at least in his films. La Dolce Vita reveals the circus of the rich and the paparazzi, 8 ½ explores the circus of filmmaking, E La Nave Va shows the circus of opera, aristocracy and journalism, La Strada depicts the circus behind a circus while Fellini Satyricon is a circus in itself. And honestly, you can’t blame him. Isn’t life a circus full of impromptu performances anyway? Fellini’s greatest fascinations, since childhood, were the circus and vaudeville artists…

Opinion

By Smriti Mudgal

There are a whole lot of actors in Bollywood who have reached heights of fan-following yet they are unhappy people because adulation may not necessarily bring in admiration.

That is why there is a Salman Khan who has millions praying when he goes to court trials but no one speaks about his work. In his films he has been noticed for his rippling muscles that too nobody talks about now because there is competition from John Abrahm, Hritik Roshan, Upen Patel, Ranbir Kapoor and many many more.

There is Dharmendra who is adored by so many yet no awards till not one but two Lifetime Achievement Awards were showered on him.

Same with Rishi Kapoor who was quintessentially the first lover boy of Bollywood