#MeenakshiSundareshwar is one of those films which promises a lot but ends up floundering in delivery. Set in Madurai, the film borrows its lead characters’ names from the Meenakshi Sundareshwar temple while also drawing from the legend associated with it. In a nutshell, this temple is one of the few…

Asoka is a fictional but intensely humane take on the spiritual shift in one of ancient India’s most important rulers – Samrat Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty. We all know about Emperor Ashoka, from our middle school textbooks if nothing else, and how a bloody war in Kalinga transformed him…

At the outset let me say that I am not a huge fan of Hollywood musicals (with some exceptions of course, most recently La La Land). The Indian cinema fan in me finds them tiresome as maybe opposed to audiences for which they may be novel. This was the feeling…

There are certain films that leave an imprint on your mind beyond what one would usually expect from a piece of celluloid. One such film is Satyajit Ray’s debut as a film director – Pather Panchali. I am perhaps one of the few people who read the book by Bibhutibhushan…

If the Kargil war was a part of your conscious years, there is no way that you won’t recall Captain Vikram Batra (PVC). His interview with a leading news media, just after he had helped regain control over a strategic peak, has become the stuff of legends. …

The opening scene of Sherni sets the mood for the film. A man is enacting a tiger, crawling on all 4s – snarling & growling. For a few seconds he is looking straight at the audience as if drawing them in, before looking away, but by then you have become…

The title of the anthology Feels Like Ishq is the biggest hint to what one can expect from these short films. They all explore that warm feeling that envelopes you when something, someone feels like love…it may not necessarily turn out to be so but it sure feels like it. …

Toofaan reminded me of 70s Bollywood. An angry young man transformed cos of love. …

Mr & Mrs. 55, directed by Guru Dutt, tells the story of cartoonist Pritam (Guru Dutt) falling in love with rich heiress Anita (Madhubala). But Anita lives with her feminist aunt Seeta Devi (Lalita Pawar) who believes marriages are nothing but a way for society to shackle women. …