Bollywood
The Fundamental Quandry
The events of 9-11 have changed cinema. These changes have been far ranging, from narrative construction and movement to the aesthetics of urgency.
Once Upon a Time: The Lunch Houses of Bollywood
The ideas of many great Hindi movies germinated in these lunch homes, the stomping grounds of the greatest film-wallahs.
Chumma Chumma De De
Indian society, post-globalisation may be wanting to make that critical, new-age, paradigm shift regarding morality, but still feel distinctly uncomfortable while discussing anything to do with sex.
Classic Hindi Melodies Make a Comeback
Be it in the film world or ad world, old melodies from the 1990s, 1980s and even earlier are striking the right chords with young music enthusiasts, who are loving and lapping up the snazzier and contemporary remixed versions of the tracks.
Celluloid Man: Past Without History
For Nair, the very existence of the past, even in its residual form was more important than constructing a discriminating history of cinema.
Pati Patni Aur Woh
Perhaps more than any other film-maker, Yash Raj Chopra (Dhool Ka Phool to Daag, Kabhie Kabhie, Silsila and his last Jab Tak Hai
The Dumbos of Bollywood
Is Bollywood dumb, lazy or plain indifferent to physical or psychological differences and uses them as a convenient soft target for laughs or tears?
Till Marriage Do Us Part
Happy everafter in holy matrimony, maybe. But sexy starlets divorce their fans when they hitch up.
Bollywood Comes of Age
Suddenly the traditional boy-meets-girl formula, accompanied by the attendant melodramatic hi-jinx, has given way to some semblance of realism in subject, story-telling and performance.
Mofussil India Sizzles
Are these films really the new cinema, worthy of the hype and celebration and the new directors really the new stars and trail-blazers offering pulsating, exciting, no-holds-barred, creative chutzpah that separates the real from the fluff?
Bollywood’s Hollywood Fixation
Sure, Bollywood is on the rise, but as a global force that instantly demands and gets respect, awe, admiration and attention, sorry folks, Hollywood is the real thing.
To Hell With Bollywood
Even megastars like Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan are rebelling against Bollywood— the word that is.
Desi Ghee Incarnate
The star wrestler-actor Dara Singh embodied all that Indian-style clarified butter or “desi ghee” stands for — not least its potential for good honest home-grown strength and tenacity.
Romance Lost
Frankly, India of the late 1960s was totally unprepared for Rajesh Khanna. The film industry, blown out of its mind, christened him Superstar. Stardust, the new iconoclastic, irreverent and deliciously chatpata new film magazine on the block, baptized him the Phenomenon and sold out its maiden issue within days just via banners enquiring whether Rajesh will/has married his girlfriend (at that time) Anju Mahendru?
Tuning In to Tune Out
Music is the essential stressbuster for many Bollywood stars, trying to cope with erratic shooting schedules, hectic travel and long hours under the arclights, not to mention the unrelenting paparazzi gaze.
