By Anita Iyer
I rang in the New Year with thousands of revellers who had gathered in Ras Al Khaimah for a 13-minute long fireworks display that would earn the emirate a couple of Guinness World Records ( the ‘longest chain of fireworks’ exceeded 4.6km and ‘longest straight line of fireworks’ was 13 km).
Continue reading Everywhere I go, Bollywood chat becomes the icebreaker
By Maán Jalal
I was running late to the cinema. Always a stressful situation. Not only do I love trailers, but I’ve been waiting to watch Bohemian Rhapsody ever since rumours of the biopic’s inception started circulating on the internet.
Continue reading Watch Bohemian Rhapsody for Freddie Mercury’s musical genius. Forget the politics
By Sushmita Bose
I watched Thugs of Hindostan last week, and one thing stood out like a lodestar. Amitabh Bachchan. By playing Khudabaksh — the septuagenarian action hero — he’s managed to set a new bar in ageism-ridden Bollywood.
Continue reading Amitabh as Khudabaksh still rocks as an action hero
By Keith Pereña
The first time you get a good look at her, she has a blaster in her hand,” my colleague’s face lights up as she recalls the opening scene of 1977’s Star Wars. In my head, the scene rewinds.
Continue reading Happy b’day, Ms Fisher, from a fan in a galaxy far, far away
By Nivriti Butalia
Here’s a confession: I sneak stuff into movie halls all the time — to eat, that is. Roasted foxnut (makhana) is my favourite. Either I roast it in the oven (I add kadi pata, ghee, salt or just zaatar and lemon olive oil), or I empty packets (bought from you-know-which-Indian-store) into the largest clean pan I can find. I then oversee the foxnut turn brown, but not too brown, because unwatched makhana burns fast, and the burn smell lingers, and then for 24 hours in the apartment you’re stuck with air that reeks of defeat.
Continue reading Why I sneak munchies into the movies all the time
By Anamika Chatterjee and Dhanusha Gokulan
“The gimmickery reminded me of Zee Horror Show”
Horror entered my life when I was 12 years old. Back then, it was a forbidden genre in our house. My grandmother felt watching ghosts could wreak havoc on my brain. There were many things wreaking havoc on my 12-year-old brain, and a ghost on television couldn’t possibly have made a difference. Or so I thought until one day my mother reluctantly agreed to watch Bees Saal Baad (the 1962 Bollywood thriller) with me. The black-and-white macabre film, coupled with Lata Mangeshkar’s haunting rendition of Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil was enough to send a chill down my spine. What the film instilled in me, however, was an appetite for horror. As I aged, the cinephile in me signed a pact with the virtual devil — bring on the horror and I’d deal with it.
Continue reading Does the horror show Ghoul live up to the hype?
By Sunil K. Vaidya
Did Anushka carry drinks for Virat Kohli during a Test match in England? Did she so much as attempt to pad up and join her cricketer husband on the 22-yards between the stumps? Did she banish Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane to third man so she could stand in slip cordon with Kohli? Obviously, that’s an emphatic no. Then what’s all this ruckus about a photograph that was tweeted this past fortnight? Continue reading Are trolls nastier when cricket and Bollywood meet?
