Month: June 2017
Billi (“Na Maloom Afraad,” 2014)
To celebrate adopting two more cats, I wanted to write about an item song with “billi” in the name. This was the only one I could find. But that’s cool, I haven’t seen many movies from Pakistan. Most of what I know about Pakistan comes from Indian cinema, so that’s problematic at best. The song… Read More ›
Review: Shakespeare Wallah (1965)
Directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismael Merchant, and written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Shakespeare Wallah follows a family of white English actors who travel post-colonial India, performing Shakespeare’s plays to dwindling audiences. While the movie focuses on the white protagonists, the movie explores a multi-cultural India grappling with its past and future. How do… Read More ›
Run Lily!
A fan remake of Lola Rennt Lily (Kangana Ranaut) receive a frantic phone call from her boyfriend Mani (Rajkummar Rao). Mani, a small time criminal, needs one lakh in the next 20 minutes to give to his boss or he’s dead. Mani plans to rob a supermarket, but Lily says she will ask her banker… Read More ›
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Today is my wedding anniversary. Paheli remains the greatest movie about marriage.
Review: Haider (2014)
Full disclosure: I love Shakespeare, and Hamlet is my favorite play. I first read it soon after my father died. I was 18, heading off to college. And so I identified with Hamlet, unsure of how to interact with a world that had moved on. I identified with Ophelia. “I would give you some violets,… Read More ›
Fanfic Friday: Miss Braganza
Miss Braganza’s stockings never run Every skirt Miss Braganza wears is a mini-skirt. She’s tried long maxi-skirts and lenghas, but they turn into mini-skirts once she is finished zipping them up. She knows about the theme music. In her 20s, she experimented with having a wind machine always directed at her, but that messed up… Read More ›
“Ladna Jhagadna” (Duplicate, 1998)
“Keh Rahi Hai” is set in a nightclub and features a man dancing with a snake. Yet it’s a rather boring item number: the gangster’s girlfriend dances in skimpy clothes, and eventually he joins her on stage. They both wear a lot of black leather. But “Ladna Jhagadna.” Here is a showstopper. Duplicate has a… Read More ›
Review: Revolver Rani
The first half of Revolver Rani was awesome. Rani is a crime boss who doesn’t give a shit about what anyone thinks. She shoots guns and has sex and wears amazing outfits. The second half is an exercise in the disparity between narrative and audience expectations. What I want is a movie about a woman… Read More ›
