The past decade saw a significant shift in the national box office, with dubbed films and remakes featuring unknown South Indian actors achieving massive success, often overshadowing original Bollywood productions banking on its leading stars. This trend is among the...
Indian OTT Cinema is the ‘Third Big Bang’ in History of Indian Cinema: A Comparative Analysis of OTT Hindi Cinema versus Hindi Cinema Tradition Abstract: Watching films like The Archies (Akhter, 2023), Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (Singh, 2023) and Jane Jaan (Ghosh, 2023) makes...
Sitaare Zameen Par is original, progressive and empowering. How is Sitaare Zameen Par an original film? Since this is an adapted film, the obvious burning question needs to be addressed first. The answer depends on how one defines originality for a film. The...
The 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), held in December 2024, witnessed a record-breaking attendance of 13,000 delegates—arguably the highest for any film festival in India. The book by V. K. Cherian, “Noon Films & Magical Renaissance of Malayalam...
The intense feeling of longing that we call nostalgia puts us in a homely, familiar space, where we tend to feel safe and secure. Nostalgia always elicits happy, positive feelings. Often, festivals bring with them a wave of nostalgia. The Durga Puja, owing to its...
Taking Stock of Seven Decades of Fostering Film Culture: Musings on V. K. Cherian’s book “Celluloid to Digital — India’s Film Society Movement” India’s film society movement mirrors the nation’s own journey, as captured in V. K. Cherian’s comprehensive 2016 book,...
Aattam: Astonishingly tense chamber drama that rises above its influences to deliver an incisive, intricate, and nuanced story The choice to focus the lens on a theatrical troupe feels very intentional: it provides a crucible wherein an assortment of characters from...
At the perspective pith of Photo (Kannada, 2023) is an evocative parable of humanism and human foibles. Set in the time of, and shot during, the sudden and unexpected imposition of the nationwide lockdown, it is an ironic, touching tale of a boy in a village who...
12th Fail: A done to death template elevated such that the cream rises from the crop, due to a distinctive directorial voice and a fantastic lead performance. 12th Fail belongs to a genre of films dealing with the underdog narrative. In a country as populated as ours,...
“Nostalgia is meant to give rise to an emotional connection between artist and consumer. The art itself being the canvas on which this connection can be heightened and explored. Sometimes, an artist will use traditional motifs and themes, as opposed to...
