Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3: Grotesque? Yes. Burlesque: Yes. Statuesque? Yes. Humouresque: No. Maze: Yes. Amazing: No Bhool Bhulaiya literally means a maze or labyrinth, in Hindustani language. This one refers to the Adventures of a Fake Ghostbuster and his Pygmy Partner, who collapses at the slightest sign of danger. They are as fake as the royal family they are summoned to, to perform the task of busting the ghost of a princess, who was imprisoned in a large room, with heavy padlocks, 200 years ago. ...

Lunch With My Friend’s Wife, Review: Not with his friend’s wife That is a dilemma and a conundrum. Firstly, the lunch takes just a few seconds of the 15 minute 13 second film. Secondly, it is not with the central character’s friend’s wife, as the title suggests. That means taking huge liberties with the narrative genre. Lunch With My Friends Wife plots two intertwined story lines, one being the apparently straight narrative, while the other a blend of flashback and the...

With its lead players putting up pretences throughout the film, it is easy to label the film pretentious. To be fair, it is not pretentious. There is an element of sincerity in the making. My Client’s Wife is potentially full of sexual encounters, only the makers have been careful to keep it ‘clean’. But as is the problem with psychological thrillers, there are too many red herrings and deviations from the plot just to cause shock and awe. Is it based on a true story? The mak...

Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW), Review: Uncooked meal, raw deal Espionage, as a film genre, is more than 84 years old. A master, no less than Alfred Hitchcock himself, made The 39 Steps in 1935. So it is baffling that a spy thriller, made in 2017-18, is oblivious of the rudimentary ingredients entailed to engross audiences. Ennui and crawling pace are anathema to a spy story. When the yard-sticks are James Bond and even John Le Carré, a shoddy script, amateurishly executed, stands no chance ...

Missing, Review: You aren’t missing anything It’s a confessional title and admission of guilt, for there is a lot that is missing in this film, a credible plot to begin with. Crisp editing and some good performances cannot rescue Missing, a psychological thriller that isn’t. Like one character in the film, who takes everybody for a huge ride, the makers have decided to inflict the same punishment on the audience. The fact that persons of the calibre of Neeraj Pandey (directo...

Actor Martin Landau, Oscar-winner at 66, dies, aged 89 Martin Landau, who landed his first and only Oscar in 1994, at age 66, playing Bela Lugosi in the Ed Wood biopic, has died, aged 89. He is also well-remembered as the star of the Mission: Impossible TV series (1966-69). Starting his career in 1959, he had been nominated for the Academy Award twice before, for Tucker: The Man and His Dream (Francis Ford Coppola, 1988) and Crimes and Misdemeanours (Woody Allen, 1989). Brooklyn-born Landau ...

Walk-in, run-in, let-in, give-in, turn-in, move-in, sit-in...now comes shut-in. “A shut-in is a person who, due to physical, mental and/or emotional reasons, is not able to leave his or her home. These conditions can cause a person to feel lonely, isolated, sad and cut off from the rest of the world. Sometimes, they do not have family and friends available to visit and spend time with them. They often lack any kind of companionship.” Shut In, the movie, is a generic psychological t...

1915 was an especially auspicious year in terms of celebrity births, and 2015 is shaping up to be quite the year for centennial celebrations. Frank Sinatra, Edith Piaf, Billy Holiday, Arthur Miller and Orson Welles are all having a resurgence in popularity this year, due at least in part to the flood of articles, books, films and conferences taking place around the world to commemorate their talent and achievements, and remind us of the complex and often controversial lives they led, in betwee...