By Sujata Assomull

The awards season is in full swing. The BAFTAs are done and the Oscars are up next (March 4). I never miss the broadcast as I adore the world of pomp and circumstance. You can escape for three and a half hours. The first Oscars telecast I watched was when I was nine years old. Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi won an overwhelming number of awards. That year, 1982, also marked India’s first win at the Oscars: Bhanu Athaiya for Costume Design in Gandhi shared her award with John Mollo. That moment is why the Oscars have become an annual habit for me.

Continue reading Bhanu Athaiya is the reason I watch the Oscars every year →

By Joshua Arnup

It’s not every day that a film pushes you to change the course of your life. The power of a great movie lies in its ability to transport you into another world, to make you experience life so vividly that it feels like you’re in a trance. I had a moment like this and it marked the day I felt independent.

Continue reading How a movie gave me a slap in the face and changed my life →

By Purva Grover

All of us like going to the movies, right? The combination of chilled cola, salted popcorn, and uninterrupted hours of entertainment is an ideal way to relax. But, would you say yes to an invite to watch a film with a bunch of strangers? Maybe, you would — after you hear all about the movie nights planned by a city-based Meetup group called Movie Buffs UAE.

Continue reading Would you watch a movie with a bunch of strangers? →

By Sushmita Bose

Recently, there was a double throwback to a couple of my favourite films — both of them murder mysteries: Murder on the Orient Express and Ittefaq. Mysteriously, both — retreads of movies that released in 1974 and 1969 respectively — released around the same time: a November weekend in 2017. Continue reading The gimmickry of this remake doesn’t cut it →

By Suresh Pattali

Once upon a time, I was Prakasan. You too. We all were. That was not hundreds of years ago. Just a couple of decades back when we lived in hamlets. Rustic and serene. We dived into flowing rivers and placid lakes. A big splash of freshness energised our souls. We bit into the Alphonso mangoes mama plucked from our own backyard. We deep-fried the giant danio dad fished from our own paddy fields. No one visited vegetable shops. We never had one. We ate the eggs that mama’s “Juliets” laid in the laundry basket. Their “Romeos” that dustbathed in the garden lay down their lives to satiate our guests. Life was a drop of nectar. As sweet as the juice that the palmyra trees brewed overnight. Continue reading Find the subtle message in this film about a bygone golden age →

By Sushmita Bose

For the longest time, people would react in shock and horror when they’d learn I’d not watched Sholay as a kid or even a teenager. “It’s the greatest Bollywood film ever made — everyone’s watched Sholay, how could you not have watched it?” they’d ask me. Continue reading The Godfather is in a league of its own, but… greatest film ever? →