Tag Archives: Mumbai

Bollywood in 2014: The Women Have it

What does the quintessential Bollywood heroine do? Other than wear skimpy clothes, dance to crazy songs with cheap lyrics and play the damsel in distress perpetually waiting for her knight in shining armor you mean? Pretty much nothing. This fact has not changed for the last 100 years of Hindi cinema’s existence.

Barring the stray “Mother India” or a Kahaani, women have very little to do in our films. They play the docile wife, the obedient daughter, the chirpy lover or the evil scheming vamp- all characters cut out in 2D with very little resemblance to anyone living or dead.Continue reading “Bollywood in 2014: The Women Have it”

The Pros of a Film Festival

Come October and there is only one thing on most movie buffs mind in the city of dreams : MAMI. Re-christened Mumbai Film Festival a few years back it is easily the top film festival in Mumbai and among the best in the country. For me personally, it has played a major role in shaping my tastes in cinema. It was the first ever film festival I had attended in 2009 and I have tried my best to attend it every year since. But due to academic compulsions I have had to give this year’s event a miss.

After spending hours spewing venom on my fate and cursing fellow MAM authors and others who attended the film festival, I started making a mental note of the features of film festivals like MAMI that I missed the most. But then I haven’t written a for a very long time, so I thought why not jot down what I love about film festivals as it could make for a nice little post.

So here we go :-Continue reading “The Pros of a Film Festival”

Pyaar Vali Love Story (2014): Marathi Movie Review

Marathi cinema is experiencing interesting times, on the one hand we have directors like Sujay Dahake, Nagraj Manjule pushing envelope of Marathi cinema, while on the other hand we have directors like Sanjay Jadhav sticking to formula films inspired by Bollywood.

Pyaar Vali Love story is set in 1992, informs the title card of the film. Though the film is set in Bombay, you never find Bombay in the film. So we have two chawls, one in which we have Hindus staying and the other Chawl in which Muslims stay, but the bond between these two chawls is of love and brotherhood. They watch cricket together, beat up Hindu Right wingers together etc. We have Pashya (Sameer DharamAdhikari) and terribly miscast Kader (Upendra Limaye) who are like Dharam Veer. Enter Amar (Swapnil Joshi) the younger brother of Pashya who falls in love with Aaliya (Sai Tamhankar). The rest of the film is about how these two lovers unite.Continue reading “Pyaar Vali Love Story (2014): Marathi Movie Review”

The 5th Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai opened with glitz & glamour

The Mumbai launch of the 5th edition of the Jagran Film Festival opened with much aplomb, excitement and curiosity. The star-studded affair took place last evening at Taj Lands End, Bandra, and saw a red carpet dotted with the who’s-who of the Indian film fraternity. Superstars Anil Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Rakesh Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Vidya Balan, Siddharth Roy Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Vivek Oberoi, Sushmita Sen, Divya Dutta, Dalip Tahil, Anuradha Paudwal, Abbas Mustan, Jackie Shroff, Tiger Shroff,  Zarine Khan, Sonal Chauhan, Tisca Chopra, Rashmi Desai, Shekhar Ravjiani, Sharman Joshi, Subhash Ghai, Chitrangada Singh, Neha Dhupia, Sophie Choudry, Onir, Tusshar Kapoor, Manish Paul, Arjan Bajwa, Goldie Behl, Adnan Sami, Meiyang Chang, Mika Singh came dressed to the nines, and showed support for this annually held and revered film event.Continue reading “The 5th Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai opened with glitz & glamour”

Get a FIFA high by watching the free screening of ‘Escape to Victory’.

The Movie Club, a movie screening initiative by Sony DADC, adds to the football frenzy by screening its third film‘Escape to Victory’’ on 6th July, 2014 at O15’s Cafe, Andheri (West). This Sylvester Stallone starrer is about Allied prisoners of war who are held captive in a German prison camp and their plan to escape during a football match with the German team. Fans can also catch the reel life action of football players like Pelé, Bobby Moore, John Wark and the likes.

Movie lovers can revel munching on their favourite delicacies and beverages, watch unseen footage of the movie and avail Flat 40% discount on DVDs. Movie buffs who sport their football jerseys at the screening also stand a chance to win exciting movie merchandise.Continue reading “Get a FIFA high by watching the free screening of ‘Escape to Victory’.”

June Film Screenings (Mumbai)

Here’s a list of the film screenings for the month of June in Mumbai. All the below mentioned screenings have free entry and seating is on first-come-first-serve basis. All screenings are with English subtitles.

12th June

Oh Willy,  Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels (17’)
Edmond était un âne, by Franck Dion (15’)
Le silence sous l’écorce,  by Joanna Lurie (11’)

Time: 6:30pm
Location: Sakshi Gallery


13th June

Ugly Swans by Konstantin Lopushansky.

Time: 6:00pm
Location: Russian Centre
Ankhon Dekhi by Rajat Kapoor

Time: 6:30pm
Location: NCPA

 

14th June

Kids Are All Right by Lisa Cholodenko

Time: 2:00pm
Location: US Consulate

 

16th June

Alexandra by Aleksandr Sokurov

Time: 6:00pm
Location: Russian Centre

Coûte que coûte,  by Claire Simon (95’)

Time: 6:30pm
Location: Alliance Française Auditorium

 

18th June

Jean de la lune, by Stephan Schesch (95’)

Time: 6:30pm
Location: Prithvi Theatre, Juhu

20th June

Elena by Andrey Zvyaginstsev

Time: 6:00pm
Location: Russian Centre

 

23rd June

Viy by Alexander Pshutko

Time: 6:00pm
Location: Russian Centre

Illegal, by Olivier Masset-Depasse (90’)

Location: Alliance Française Auditorium
Time: 6:30pm

 

27th June

White Dew by Igor Debrolubov

Time: 6:00pm
Location: Russian Centre

Mapa, by León Siminiani (85’)

Location: Alliance Française Auditorium
Time: 6:30pm


28th June

Brokeback Mountain by Ang Lee.

Time: 2:00pm
Location: US Consulate

 

30th June

Two Captains by Sergei Deijev

Time: 6:00pm
Location: Russian Centre

 

If you think we have missed any screening, feel free to let us and other movie buffs know about it.

The Movie Club’ by Sony DADC to screen ‘Man of Steel’ at O15’s Cafe on 8th June 2014

Movie enthusiasts can now be a part of ‘The Movie Club’, a Blu-ray movie screening initiative by Sony DADC. As a part of the club, fans can enjoy a free screening of Man of Steel this Sunday at O15’s Cafe, Andheri West. Superman fans can also catch the exciting unseen footage of the movie in high definition.Continue reading “The Movie Club’ by Sony DADC to screen ‘Man of Steel’ at O15’s Cafe on 8th June 2014”

5th Jagran Film Festival to open on 10th July in New Delhi

The festival that created a furore with its vast span and a wide spectrum of never before presented cinema is back with a bang. This time, the Jagran Film Festival presents an even wider range of cinemas of the world. The 5thJagran will unveil its collection in New Delhi between 10th July, 2014 to 15 July, 2014 and in Mumbai between 23 rd September, 2014 to 28 September, 2014. Post its conclusion in Delhi, the festival will travel to 14 cities of India and present Cinema that hardly reaches these regions.Continue reading “5th Jagran Film Festival to open on 10th July in New Delhi”

Punch-Drunk Love : Character arc of Barry Egan

This is not a review of Punch-Drunk Love, but an articulation of the character arc of Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) in the film. This write-up also became a quest to understand the character more truly, deeply and clearly.None of the reviews that I read fully understood the premise and the character of Adam Sandler in the film Punch-Drunk Love. So I just felt like articulating what’s the whole thing actually about. So here it goes. (Major Spoilers ahead. If you haven’t seen Punch-Drunk Love, refrain from reading further. But please be sure to watch it, and then read the following)Continue reading “Punch-Drunk Love : Character arc of Barry Egan”