We were always obsessed with Aishwarya’s weight
Ever since Aishwarya Rai-Bachan appeared in public having retained some of her pregnancy weight, the internet has been ablaze with unflattering and intrusive comments for the actress: Fit babe to fat aunty. Hot chick to mother hen. Beti-B flab. Aishwarya shocks us with her double chin. These are just some of the remarks floating around about the former Miss World. The web is inundated with such news about the extra pounds this glamour goddess has put on. For a quick preview of the sort of thing circulating on the web, watch the video below: Amongst all this criticism, ...
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Vicky Donor: Of fertility and revolutionary ideas
There was a time when an action sequence was all that was needed to capture the audience. Vengeance and thrill always succeeded at the box office. Add a little romance to the story, and you were sure to have yourself an award winner. Now, however, modern audiences have grown tired of the same old stories. Movies today have different plots, a lot of which address social issues and real life concerns. These would previously have been condemned by people at large which is why taking them to the big screen was never an option. Interestingly enough, the audience of the 21st ...
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Hate Story: Vengeance with vulgarity
We all know Vikram Bhatt as the infamous director who dares to be different. Remember Raaz, the horror movie starring Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu? Well this time Bhatt is back with a film that he penned himself. Hate Story brings to screen the same old Bhatt formula; the story of a scorned, wounded woman seeking vengeance. However, the very first promo of the movie makes quite an impact; with audacious and explicit scenes and lines, this film promises to be the “the most controversial film of the year“. Hate Story revolves around a journalist, Kavvya Krishnamorti (Paoli Dam) who conducts a sting operation and successfully defames a corporate house. ...
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Kahaani: Vidya Balan’s hit with a twist
Bollywood has evolved a lot in the last five years. Gone are the days when running around trees and dancing in the rain was the formula for success, even though actresses like Kajol did accomplish a lot that way. Kahaani is a product of the modern day Indian cinema, one that is willing to experiment, keep the output quality high and deliver more than it promises. As we know from his previous directorial and writing ventures like Jhankar Beats, Home Delivery and Aladdin, director Sujoy Ghosh is no Karan Johar. But ...
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Agent Vinod: Another sign of Pak-India tensions?
This post was originally published on the Wall Street Journal. To read more by Tom Wright, click here. ______________________________________________ Showing a Pakistani army general watching a courtesan dancing? Using shots of Karachi airport without permission? Or generally portraying Pakistan in a bad light? Whatever the reasons for Pakistan’s decision to ban Agent Vinod, the latest Khan-Kapoor offering, most of us will have to wait for Friday to see what the fuss is about. If earlier bans are anything to go by, it’s probably a storm in a teacup, more indicative of the parlous state of India-Pakistan relations than the content ...
Read Full PostThe perfect romantic comedy: London Paris New York
Love stories have been told again and again. Every now and then, a Jab We Met comes around – a film which that rises above the predictable. London Paris New York (LPNY) is one of those special films. Set in three lovely cities, this is story of Nikhil (Ali Zafar) a happy-go-lucky boy and Lalitha (Aditi Rao Hyderi) a simple, nerdy Madrasi girl, who fall in love with each other thrice in six years. And that’s it. That’s all the movie is. No impediments, no pretentiousness, no preaching, no ‘zaalim samaaj’ and not even a supporting cast. ...
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Cinema and class
Film as a revolutionary art form has for some time been at direct odds with the commercialisation of cinema, because it has put those on the margins in popular discourse. The decline of Pakistan’s local film industry has also coincided with changing economic structures in which the industry used to operate. Cinema has since long been associated with projection of national identity. With the advent of globalisation, film has been used to project various group identities and has also changed the paradigm in which culture functions. In the 1970s, Indian actor Amitabh Bachan had come to represent the quintessential anti-hero in ...
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Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu: Not everyone has to fall in love
If there’s one film that will immediately launch a heated debate between boys and girls, it is Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. Imran Khan plays the role of Rahul, a 25-year-old nice guy who has recently lost his job as an architect in Las Vegas and whose only real ambition in life is to please his parents. The parents, played by supremely-talented actors Boman Irani and Ratna Pathak-Shah, are a business couple who love their only son and have provided him a luxurious life. They are, however, perfectly comfortable with imposing their ...
Read Full PostAgneepath: Why remakes are worth it
They say you shouldn’t redo a role that Amitabh Bachchan has done before. And if the role is the character of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan in Agneepath, then the only thing you should be redoing is mulling over your decision to replay it. Hrithik Roshan went through that process of thinking and then rethinking some more, and as a Bollywood fan, I am grateful that he decided to take up the challenge. He did justice to the character of an angry young man whose sole purpose in life is to avenge the death of ...
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10 things I hate about Hindi soaps
I have always been impressed by how Bollywood has emerged as an internationally renowned entertainment industry. People from all backgrounds, even in Pakistan, keep a close watch on the happenings in Bollywood, despite the silly India-Pakistan strife. I love India and Indian people, and let me make clear before I begin that I do not intend to attack or offend anyone through this post. I am merely highlighting some aspects of Indian soaps which I find amusing. So without further ado, let me begin my list of the ten things I hate about Indian soaps: 1. They are endless: To put it simply, ...
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