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RSIFF, 07: Competition Section films that I saw, and my opinions about them
THE TEACHER
Palestinian school-teacher Basem (Saleh Bakri) grapples with personal devastation, after a tragic incident involving his son, who dies in custody merely suspected of participation in a protest. His life takes an unexpected turn when he forms a deep connection with Adam, one of his traumatised students, who has suffered personal losses in the ongoing conflict. He also develops an unexpected b...
RSIFF, 03: Elusive interviews, while the stars emerge from the Red Sea
Some three weeks before the festival began, while still in Mumbai, I thought of doing an exclusive interview with Shivani Pandya Malhotra, and some 2-3 other curtain-raisers. Now this could only be done via video or audio or email. I was ready for any of the three modes. But I had no way of contacting these officials, and approached the PR agency to help me out, which said that organising interviews were st...
RSIFF: A Colourful Ocean of remarkable films at the Red Sea
A film festival named after the Red Sea? Where is the Red Sea? Let me see…it touches Eritrea, Djibouti, Egypt and Jeddah. A film festival in Jeddah? Ok, so Jeddah is by the sea, and a good location to hold a film festival. A film festival organised in Saudi Arabia? You will be surprised.
Incidentally, this was not the first edition, but the third. For me, though, it was the first.
Another surprise, to an Indian, was that a c...
Red Sea International Film Festival, 2023, 01: A royal pilgrimage for film-buffs
On the registration form, there was question, ‘Will you be going to the Medina pilgrimage?’ I wasn’t, so I typed, “No”. On the Saudi Airlines direct flight from Mumbai to Jeddah, the man seated behind me asked me the same question. “I could take you to Medina. It is only 480 kms from Jeddah, but at 180 kms per hour, we will take you there in no time.” Turned out th...
IFFILMS 54, 06: The Golden Peacock, and other birds of the same feather
On the 28th of November, when the award winners were being announced at IFFI 54, I was packing my bags to catch a flight the next morning, to Jeddah, where I was invited by the Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF). But it would be fitting to end my writings on IFFI 54 by listing the winners. So, here goes:
Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award: Michael Douglas &nb...
IFFI 54, 5: IFFILMS, In Retrospect, Part III
I continue my views and mini reviews, about films I saw at IFFI 54, held in Goa, during November 20-28, 2023.
Toxic
An odd love story, Toxic is based on a public swimming pool as its centre-piece. Coming from the Czech Republic, and directed by Stefan Vorzacek, it is the story of a lonely executive, Tomas, who visits the pool as a form of workout, and falls in love with its enticing attendant, Esther. But the affair goes awry with the intervent...
IFFI 54, 4: FILMIFFI, In Retrospect, Part II
Continuing my sharing of views and mini-reviews of films screened and seen at the 54th International Film Festival of India.
The Zone of Interest
We begin with The Zone of Interest, set in Auschwitz. Chronicling the life of a German Commandant, Rudolf Höss, his wife Hedwig, and five children, it shows how attached one can get to a house, garden, orchard and vegetable plot, after taking pain-staking efforts to nurture them make them really ...
IFFI 54, 03: IFFILMS, In retrospect
In my last post, I talked about the Competition Films that I saw. Didn’t catch many, but you can never have enough of them. Here, I will move on to the other sections, which, too, had a mix of the very good, the good and the fair. From these, I will begin with the opening film, Catching Dust, which was described in the catalogue as a slow burner thriller.
Catching Dust
Slow burner it sure was, but the thrills were few and far between. The first thi...
IFFI 54, 02: IFFILMS in Competition
When recalling the films you have seen, over a month ago, the 360-page catalogue is indispensable. I will refer to it, to recap the fare which I could manage to see in the seven days I spent there IFFI is usually held from November 20 to 28, in Panaji, Goa. I always arrive 1-2 days earlier, by train, and then begin watching from the inaugural film, which is the only film screened on the first day. My visit was curtailed because of the invitation from the Re...
International Film Festival of India 54, 01: Glitches galore
It was inevitable. Since I had to leave for Mumbai on the 27th of November, to catch my flight to Jeddah, to attend the Red Sea International Film Festival, I had to miss the last two days of IFFI. As if this was not enough, I was unfortunate to catch only the bad to mediocre films shown at the festival. Add to that the pain in the neck arrangements for the press, under the leadership of Ms. Monideepa Mukerjee, the Director General ...
Salaar, Part I-Cease Fire: Could cause a seizure
Salaar is an Urdu-Persian word, meaning commander or leader. According to the beginning voice over, a Muslim invader could rule over India, during the 12th century, largely, due to the resources, strength and acumen of his trusted lieutenant, Salaar. There is a Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad, India, which has a great collection of antiques, art and rare manuscripts. But I doubt if anything in the film is related to or valued by this prized anti...
Dunki: Shades of genius
Geniuses are not born every day. Not everybody is a genius. Geniuses are not perfect. Geniuses can make mistakes. Sometimes, they go wrong. Not all the time. Sometimes. And that too, by their own yardstick. There are things that they do which have shades of their genius, but do not add-up to expectations among their admirers. Rajkumar Hirani is a genius. A commerce graduate from Nagpur, he had humble beginnings in the 80s, as a video editor, and mock news reader in vid...
Sampat Singh Rathore and his Veda Venues: Spaces to build communities of film and theatre talent
He could easily get into acting, given the good looks and a fit physique, coupled with a Hindi language proficiency that has only that hint of Marwari. But Sampat Singh Rathore would rather produce and nurture talent, than act. “I am a Marwari and a Commerce Graduate. Money matters and finance are my specialty. Why should I enter another field?”
Sampat was born in a small village in R...
Rise of the Fallen-Book I, By Abhishek Krishnan: Man+Bhagwaan=Manwaan
Man is man and God is God, and never the twain shall meet! Wrong. Man and God (called Bhagwaan, usually spelt Bhagwan) fuse into one entity, in Abhishek Krishnan’s imagination, and become ManWaan, a mythological fantasy. The book was released on Sunday, 17 December, at the bookstore, creatively and punnily named Title Waves, situated within the St. Paul’s complex in Bandra, Mumbai. Famed film-maker Hansal Mehta ...
RSIFF: A Colourful Ocean of remarkable films at the Red Sea
A film festival named after the Red Sea? Where is the Red Sea? Let me see…it touches Eritrea, Djibouti, Egypt and Jeddah. A film festival in Jeddah? Ok, so Jeddah is by the sea, and a good location to hold a film festival. A film festival organised in Saudi Arabia? You will be surprised.
Incidentally, this was not the first edition, but the third. For me, though, it was the first.
Another surprise, to an Indian, was that a cer...
Red Sea International Film Festival, 2023: A royal pilgrimage for film-buffs
On the registration form, there was question, ‘Will you be going to the Medina pilgrimage?’ I wasn’t, so I typed, “No”. On the Saudi Airlines direct flight from Mumbai to Jeddah, the man seated behind me asked me the same question. “I could take you to Medina. It is only 480 kms from Jeddah, but at 180 kms per hour, we will take you there ...
MAMI’s Mumbai Film Festival: The chosen ones, the winning ones
It must have been January 1995. A group of film-makers and film-buffs were talking about Mumbai having its own film festival, since the International Film Festival of India was held in New Delhi, and Filmotsav was a travelling festival that had rarely come here. Although the hub of film activity and endowed with a world class infrastructure, the festival was held in Mumbai only four times in 43 years. The group included Shya...
Jagran Film Festival awakens us to some great cinema
Back after a three-year hiatus, prompted by the Coronavirus Covid 19, Jagran Film Festival (JFF) stuck to its base in Mumbai, the Cinépolis multiplex. It was held on four days, 12, 13, 14 and 15 October, 2023. JFF is one of the largest travelling film festivals in the world, and, probably, the only one of its kind in India. The International Film Festival of India, under the name Filmotsav, used to be held at different venues every a...
Mujib-The Making of a Nation, Review: How to fit three decades in three hours
Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman, the tall, towering personality who was the single most important leader of East Pakistan, and largely responsible for the creation of BanglaDesh, served as President of his free country during 25 January 1975-15 August 1975, a period of only eight months. In an unfortunate co-incidence, he died on the Independence Day of India. Indian producer-director-actor I.S. Johar made a film called Joi ...
Hara Vahi Jo Lada Nahi (only he who did not fight loses) is the tagline on the book, 12th Fail, written in Hindi by Anurag Pathak and translated into English by Gautam Choubey and Lalit Kumar. For the film version, the writing credits go to Vidhu Vinod Chopra (who has directed the movie), Jaskunwar Kohli (co-writer), Anurag Pathak (associate writer) and Aayush Saxena. A village student, Manoj Kumar Sharma, who failed his 12th exams, who does not know where his next meal is going to come from, ...
IPTA’s Inter Collegiate Drama Competition scores 50, marches on
Was it the first or was it the second? Was it 1972 or 1973? My introduction to the annual competition is nevertheless at least 49 years old. I had just finished college, and could not participate. How I wished I could! But I could watch the event, and, soon afterwards, write about it, extensively, in several publications, as a theatre critic. If memory serves me right, back then, it was called IPTA’s Inter Collegiate ...
Leo, Review: The hyena trapper’s identity crisis
When a film from the South is set in Himachal Pradesh, there must be a good reason. And when the same film has Sanjay Dutt in a pivotal role, you look forward to some exciting moments. There are indeed such moments in Leo. The problem is that it tries to roll three stories in one joint (a large chunk of the film deals with cigarette manufacturing). The film is redeemed by an inspired performance by ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay, his seco...
Ghost, Review: Jailhouse Rock
‘The Warden threw a party in the county jail, The prison band was there and they began to wail’ wrote Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, for the legendary Elvis Presley to sing, in the 1957 film, Jailhouse Rock, a jail film, as the title suggests. 66 years later, we have an Indian jail film that draws no inspiration from Jailhouse Rock. In fact, it is not clear at all where the inspiration, if any, for Ghost, came from. Could it have come from a ghost? A ...
Mission Raniganj-The Great Bharat Rescue, Review: The capsule that saved 65 lives
Few films have done as much disservice to their cause by having a misnomer as a title as Mission Raniganj. There is no Bharat Rescue, although the film is about a rescue. Over the last decade, there has been a spate of films with the Mission prefix, dealing either with operations against Pakistan or our scientific achievements. So, if the name of the film at hand been merely Mission Raniganj, it would have been ...
Thank You for Coming, Review: Desperately Seeking the Big O
Here’s a thumbs up for picking a taboo issue. And here’s a thumbs down for making a mess of it. Thank You for Coming deals with female sexuality in a society where it is the male who dominates a lot of things, including sexual relations. After going halfway down the foreplay, the film then turns into a whodunit, and, simultaneously, a whodidnotdunit. If you are not aware what the big O is, this film might be for you, whet...
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About Siraj Syed
 Syed Siraj
(Siraj Associates)
Siraj Syed is a film-critic since 1970 and a Former President of the Freelance Film Journalists' Combine of India.
He is the India Correspondent of FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the international Federation of Film Critics, Munich, Germany
Siraj Syed has contributed over 1,015 articles on cinema, international film festivals, conventions, exhibitions, etc., most recently, at IFFI (Goa), MIFF (Mumbai), MFF/MAMI (Mumbai) and CommunicAsia (Singapore). He often edits film festival daily bulletins.
He is also an actor and a dubbing artiste. Further, he has been teaching media, acting and dubbing at over 30 institutes in India and Singapore, since 1984.
Bandra West, Mumbai India View my profileSend me a message
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