When I first came to Bombay in 1989, many facets of the city fascinated me. One among them was ‘Dalal Street’. There was a family friend working in the Bombay Stock Exchange and I went to meet him. One of the 1st things I told him was that I wanted to see the “trading ring”.... Continue Reading →
Crackdown (Web Series) – My Flash Review!
Crackdown is an espionage thriller about a covert team on a mission to save the country. I should have said, “Yet another”. This genre has been crowded of late with OTT offerings in India - The Family Man, Bard of Blood, Special Ops to name a few. In Crackdown, a covert team named “Direct Operations”... Continue Reading →
Class of 83 – My Flash Review!
The trailer and the promos announced that this film is loosely based on Hussain Zaidi’s book with the same title on the emergence of encounter specialists in Mumbai. Films based on Mumbai gangsters and underworld have been a plenty in Bollywood, some very well made. If this is going to be another addition to this... Continue Reading →
Bandish Bandits (Web series) – My Review
“Bandish Bandits” – To start with, the title itself was quite intriguing as I was trying to guess the link between the two words. As I started watching the web series, now streaming on Amazon Prime, the mystery unraveled. The entire concept of this is about conflicts. Conflicts at multiple levels. Classical Music Vs Contemporary... Continue Reading →
Gunjan Saxena The Kargil girl – My Flash Review
Before watching, the first apprehension I had was, that this could be another template biopic film which depicts the journey of a winner after starting as an underdog or underprivileged or deprived. I mean films like Mary Kom, Pangaa, Dhoni etc, a trend which is now getting a bit repetitive these days and hence predictable.... Continue Reading →
Shakuntala Devi – My Flash Review
We all knew that Shakuntala Devi (SD) was a Maths genius and brought fame to India abroad with her maths wizardry. What we didn’t know of course, were the trials and tribulations she went through as a mother in the process. This biopic directed by Anu Menon attempts to fill in that gap. If you... Continue Reading →
Avrodh (web series) – My Flash Review
Any sequel or a remake cannot escape comparisons with the original version. Avrodh is again a long form version of the 2019 super hit Hindi film – Uri - The Surgical Strike and hence comparisons with the film cannot be avoided. Based on one chapter of the book titled India’s Most Fearless authored by journalists... Continue Reading →
Gulabo Sitabo – My Flash Review!
For a while it seems like a redux of Ayyapanum Koshyum in a different setting, in a different context. Just that the animosity here is not because of bloated egos but due to greed for one and survival instincts for the other. Director Shoojit Sarkar, the director of Gulabo Sitabo (GS) must be commended for... Continue Reading →
A battle of choices – OTT VS Theatres!
(This article was written for the news website thenewsminute.com and was first published on the 28th May, 2020 and can be read here: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/adapt-or-perish-why-theatres-must-not-stall-film-releases-online-platforms-125439) On Friday, Ponmagal Vandhal, a Tamil film with Jyotika in the lead and accomplished actors like Parthiban and Bhagyaraj in the cast, will be premiering on Amazon Prime Video. And soon Gulabo Sitabo, a... Continue Reading →
Paatal Lok (Web series) – My Flash Review
Paatal Lok, the recently added web series streaming on Amazon Prime belongs to what I call as the “Anurag Kashyap” genre of cinema. Dark, dense, deep, disturbing and at times depressing but gripping. Created by Sudip Sharma, the team of writers (Sudip Sharma, Sagar Haveli, Gunjit Chopra and Hardik Mehta) bring the nexus between Hindi... Continue Reading →
