That Indian cinema is largely built on a platform for primarily giving its stressed janta entertainment release of tension is well-known. “Leave your brains behind and watch the film” is something we hear often. Logic, depth, research, understanding pros and cons of issues discussed, putting them in proper context, writing sensible yet entertaining scripts, creating [...]

Shanghai might just be the last straw that broke this camel’s back. It is a sad but well-known fact that we are perfectly ok with mediocrity in this country at every level. An ‘Andhon Mein Kaana Raja’ gets away with being brilliant and repeatedly drives people into raptures simply because everything else is so bad. [...]

It is depressing to see that, this, my third consecutive blog piece, deals with my memories of meeting a stalwart of the Hindi Film Industry who is now no more - Music Director, Ravi. And to be honest, I didn’t even hope to get too much from that interview speaking to him mainly about his [...]

Of course, we are all mortal but if there’s one person whose passing away one is actually unable to take at all, it is Dev Anand. He was so full of living life to its fullest – the man was life itself.
Part of the famed Trimurti of heroes who ruled the Hindi film Industry through [...]

And so another personality from yesteryear Indian cinema goes over to the great beyond - one that I was fortunate to have met a couple of years ago in the midst of many meetings I’ve had with various stalwarts of the Hindi film Industry - Shammi Kapoor, the ‘Yahoo’ man or the ‘Rebel’ [...]

Exactly a month (January 3, 2011) after the release of Ram Gopal Varma’s tri-lingual Rakht Charitra - 2 (Hindi), Rakta Charitra - 2 (Telugu) and Rattha Charithram (Tamil) on December 3, 2010, Paritala Ravindra’s nemesis Maddelacheruvu Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri - the real life personality on whom Tamil superstar Suriya’s character was based - was [...]

With Wanted last year and now Dabangg, Salman Khan seems to have found his winning formula. There’s no one who can quite carry off a larger-than-life superhero of the so-called masala action films of the 1980s - a genre, the South, especially Tamil and Telugu, still does with a lot more flair [...]

Recently, there has been a flurry of articles all over on Southern cinema heroes, in particular, Vikram, Suriya and Rana Daggubati. Outlook, Hindustan Times, and Sunday Mid-day have all published similar features. It was but a matter of time that TV channels too got into the act and NDTV has done a special segment as [...]

As a filmmaker, when one is busy with one’s work, the last thing one actually manages to find time for is to watch films! (Yes, it’s true!) Still, combining duty with work, I do take out whatever time I can to view some of the current Hindi releases in order to review them for [...]

He’s 90 now and easily the greatest villain that Hindi cinema has even seen. Such was his impact as the baddie that a survey among Indian schools in the 1970s showed there were no children named Pran! One has been totally taken in by his performances in several films – Afsana (1951), Bahar (1951), Halaku [...]