‘Firaaq’: When the suppressed resort to terrorism
Since the year 2004, Pakistan has seen its North-West tribal agencies recurrently get bombed by American drones. After a total of around 300 drone strikes, about 3000 people have lost their lives. Though the United States proudly claims these attacks to be instrumental in eradicating the terrorist activities in the region, drone strikes still invite the debate as to whether they actually serve this purpose and this purpose only. More so, a wide majority of Pakistanis─ the tribal population included─ question the casual use of Pakistani air-space by the American military. Though people complain that these attacks ridicule the sovereignty of Pakistan, there ...
Read Full Post
Teri Meri Kahaani: A series of monotonous events
Fancy a romantic Hindi flick? Go watch the latest Bollywood movie Teri Meri Kahaani, where the dashing Shahid Kapoor and the gorgeous Priyanka Chopra enliven the characters penned by Kunal Kohli. There are no guarantees, however, that this film will provide you with much entertainment though. Kunal Kohli has handled both hits and flops in his career as a filmmaker. Hum Tum and Fanaa are examples of Kohli’s extraordinary work to date. His new film, however, fails to deliver the same extraordinary brilliance. The confusing first impression Initially, the majority of the audience presumes that the story of Teri Meri ...
Read Full Post
How can you possibly ignore Veena?
What do you get when you put two Veenas in one place? Well, I would say daal mein zaroor kuch kaala hai! Not one, but two Veena Maliks are going to star in the upcoming film, “Daal Mein Kuch Kaala Hai”. Veena has been working on this film since her appearance in the “Big Boss” series on Sony TV. Playing a double role, Veena is to portray a sharp and witty woman that we’re all familiar with as well as a softer side to the ‘always-in-news-for-every-wrong-reason’ diva. Spoiler alert: This comedy flick starts off when Dabu (Anand Balraj) ...
Read Full Post
Documentaries about Pakistan: A step in the right direction?
Pakistan is a land full of stories. Its culture, ideas, politics and landscapes are so vast and intriguing that it invites artists for exploration all the time. Ever since 9/11, Pakistan has been the center of media attention ─ be it nationally or internationally. The so-called ‘war on terror’ has given rise to a lot of interest in the foreign film market, encouraging people from all over the world to analyse its complexities surrounding fundamentalism and liberalism. But one question, I feel, is extremely important for us to explore is ‘why Pakistan?’. So, in the hopes to settle my query, I invited my ...
Read Full Post
Let’s hope your heart keeps going on and on
If you were Jack and I was Rose, you would have sacrificed your life to save mine, said a woman to a man sitting on my right at the cinema. Arif, you would have saved me, right? It’s a Friday and I’m watching Titanic in 3D. I’m slouched in my cinema seat, trying desperately to blend into the surroundings – anything — in order to avoid the romance unfolding on my right. Onscreen Jack is convincing Rose not to commit suicide, but all I could think, “Way to put Arif on the spot, woman.” Picture the same cinema an hour later. ...
Read Full Post
Going to the movies? Well, good luck!
I recently went to watch the movie The Hunger Games at a cinema located in Saddar. To say that I had wanted to watch this movie for a long time (since it is based on a novel that I had read and really enjoyed) is an understatement. I was truly looking forward to the experience of watching the characters come alive on screen and discover how closely the scenes matched the ones I had imagined while reading the novel. So, in short, I was really excited for what should have been an amazing experience. But amazing it was not, and ...
Read Full Post
The Hunger Games: Stimulate your mind
If the best games stimulate the mind and the body, then The Hunger Games belongs near the top of the pile. Adapted from a novel bearing the same name by Suzanne Collins, this first installment in a trilogy is a superb dramatic action film, which engages the grey matter on various levels, thanks to its rich depth in characterisation, as well as a subtle multi-layered narrative. Set in a dystopian future in North America, things start with 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), who feeds her little sister Primrose (Willow Shields), and her widowed mother (Paula Malcomson), ...
Read Full Post
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 ...
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. ...
Read Full Post
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 ...
Read Full Post
