Analysing films

Today we revisit the epic 1982 film Gandhi by Sir Richard Attenborough. The film till today stands as the most definitive work on the man and his works. It took several years in the making; initially as the brain child of Pandit Nehru and upon his demise the project was stalled for some time. However, with the support of the IB Ministry, Mrs. Gandhi and with Colombia Pictures the film was back on track and finally released in 1982. It took the vision of Sir Attenborough (what a paradox) on envisioning the life of the Mahatma. With such an illustrious and important character from Indian history and much of whose work shaped the path of the freedom movement, later even influencing global leaders it was indeed a herculean task to be putting together all of his life into a feature film which is just about 3 hours long. A lot of back stories on making of the film floats around with several characters talking of their experience in making of the film. In all the stories though the common thr

Unpaused is unique in its treatment and approach. It is an opportune film and of course timely. It showcases 5 stories about how humans are coping with the pandemic, lockdown and the fear of living with the virus all the time. Glitch, Apartment, Rat A Tat, Vishaanu and Chand Mubarak. Each story is unique and showcases 5 directors. It starts with Raj and Krishna DK's Glitch and ends with Nitya Mehra's Chand Mubarak. But the beauty is in the penultimate segment, directed by Avinash Arun Dhaware (Killa and Pataalok fame). This one titled Vishaanu focuses on the migrant labors and the challenges they faced. It is deep, dark and disturbing yet in its narration it gives us moments of hope and joy. It features my personal favorite Geetika Vidya Ohiyan (its a pity we see so little of her) who is a powerhouse of talent and delivers so well in the plot. One needs to keep seeing her for several times to understand why she is such a fantastic actress we have amongst us. It was a treat to w

Salaam Bombay is Mira Nair's most definitive film. It is unrivalled to me till today in explaining what Bombay (sorry it still is Bombay to me) and what the Bombay life on the street is all about. The film is not the usual feature film so to speak but an experiment and an extension of a workshop. It is unmatch-able in everything one can think in terms of film making. The location (it captured Bombay in a different context), the casting (nobody got so realistic), the music (the magic of L. Subramnaiam) and an ensemble foreign crew and yes finally, Raghubir Yadav's performance. It is a quite simply a potpourri of it all. Salaam Bombay starts with this little gem called Shafiq Sayed who literally captivates you with his subdued performance. At the end of the film when all is lost and he rests on a verandah and the camera pans to his face its a mix of hopelessness, emotions running high, the harangue he has been through and it is what the film is all about. My favourite Roger Ebert

Today we visit the epic from Ray, Nayak (The Hero). Personally, amongst all of Ray's work this is my personal favorite and today I want to talk about why is it so. Nayak premiered in 1966, a tumultuous time for Bengal and for Bengal cinema where the city and the state was going through transition. The politically charged environment where the Left was gradually making for the Right saw this gem releasing. It is touted as Uttam Kumar's (in Bengal he is the Mahanayak - Superstar in English) finest performance in a vast repository of work that he featured in. It is also now in folklore that when Ray had planned and written the film he had Uttam Kumar in mind to play the role and if he (Uttam Kumar) would not have agreed, Ray would have shelved the project. Now, Uttam Kumar has screen presence which is unrivalled till today. So a film comes in the way where practically he has to play the part he lives it was something that came naturally to him. And, Nayak is perhaps the finest per

Today we revisit the delightful 2017 gem from Amit Masrurkar, Newton. Upon it's release then, the film garnered a lot of critical acclaim and it was indeed a delight to watch this film then and now. The context was topical, an extremely well thought of casting (even characters with 2-3 lines had so much depth) and finally it falls into the genre of black comedy, that makes Newton so enjoyable to watch. Newton to me is an out and out Pankaj Tripathi film, followed by Raghubir Yadav and then Rajkumar Rao. A lot of people might rank it the other way round but to me its Pankaj right at the top. He is spot on and every bit of his moment and presence are gilt edged. Infact, he complements the sullenness of Rajkumar' character so well. His opening lines where he enquires the visiting entourage about their preference for eggs is awesome. There are several such moments in the film which are so well cut out. Raghubir Yadav being the genius and such an underrated character comes out with