Radhe Shyam, Review: Goodness gracious, how flirtatious! At its core, Radhe Shyam rakes-up an interesting debate, between destiny and those exceptions who surmount their pre-ordained destiny, and, in some cases, defy it. For destiny, read ‘predictions based on palmistry’. And yet, it tilts the balance strongly in favour of destiny, putting forth emphatically the theory that 99% of us cannot escape what has been written on our palms. Had this been the track that the screenplay deve...

Photograph, Review: Ode dear If only vignettes and mosaics could add up to a good script, Photograph would look refreshingly different. If improvised dialogue and incomplete scenes could substitute for a coherent narrative, Photograph would find its place in the album of memorable cinema. Forlornly, though, Ritesh Batra’s Photograph unpeels itself like the layers of an onion, offering emptiness at the end of the exercise, instead of discovery and resonance. Arriving with a sumptuous tr...

Prof. Waman Kendre and Nawazuddin Siddiqui Curtain falls on NSD’s historic Theatre Olympics after 16-day Mumbai marathon Staggered across 17 cities, National School of Drama’s 8th Theatre Olympics came to an end after 16 continuous days of performances, seminars, master classes, interactions and street theatre shows. A glittering closing ceremony was held at the Kamgar Maidan, Elphinstone Road, Central Mumbai, not very far from the venues of the Olympics themselves. Among the lu...

Bose Dead or Alive: Rajkummar Rao in thriller take on Indian freedom fighter If you were a patriot and freedom seeker in the British colonial India of the 1920s-1940s, you either believed in non-violent struggle, a movement led by ‘Mahatma’ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or the increasingly violent approach of ‘Netaji’ Subhas Chandra Bose. Mahatma means great soul and Netaji translates as leader. Both belonged to the Congress party, but when Bose called for armed struggle,...

Poster Boys, Review by Siraj Syed: The Half Monty Actor Shreyas Talpade’s directorial debut vehicle Poster Boys is a remake of his Marathi hit, Poshter Boyz. It also carries an elaborate scene towards the climax which reminds you of the British cult movie, The Full Monty (1997), wherein three unemployed men decide to strip on stage to earn some much needed money. Well, an Indian movie has a chance and a half of pulling off such show of skin on screen, either sex, so they decided to meet...

Bezubaan Ishq, Review: Very little to say This silent, tongue-less (literal translation of the word Bezubaan; ishq means love) tale revolves around three middle-aged friends and their families. Mansukh Patel (Sachin Khedekar) is an NRI toy manufacturer residing with his British wife, Lisa (Alexandra Ashman) and daughter Rumjhum (Sneha Ullal) in London, UK. Though the Patels live in London, they haven't forgotten their Indian traditions and values. Mansukh's younger brother, Rashmikant...