Anahita’s Law, Review: Parsee patriarchy, woes of women and law of the land Discrimination against women, and children of mixed religion marriages, are not phenomena that stare us in the face, like some of the basic needs of mankind: food, clothing and shelter. It is not even a second tier priority, like electricity, roads and water are. In a country struggling to provide these amenities to its population of 1.6 bn, implementing the fundamental right to practice the religion of your cho...

The Redrum-A Love Story, Review: Tell-tale heart has no tale, no heart and little story Did you notice? Edgar Allan Poe just turned in his grave. And what might have caused that change of posture, you might ask. Valid question. He learnt from his underground network of informants that a short story he wrote 175 years ago called Tell-Tale Heart has been made into a film. Not just any film, a ‘psychological thriller’ called The Redrum. Curiosity aroused? For those without a murdero...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: X Besides features and docu-features, the 16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival (TEAFF) had a competitive section for shorts. As many as 25 films competed. Countries represented included India, Iran, Myanmar, Turkey, Tajikistan and South Korea. They were packaged into two screening slots, one of which I managed to attend. Audience Award, Short Film: Taghdir (Fate)/Iran/13 min/Azar Faramarzi Actress, producer and director Azar Faramarzi graduated in Film and ...

The Path of Zarathustra, Review: The temperature of departure To say that Parsees are a minority community in India, or, for that matter, anywhere in the world, might be an understatement. Official figures put their entire population as 80,000, most of them being Indians. Followers of the prophet Zarathustra (Zoraster) and natives of Iran, they fled an oppressive regime in their parent country to seek refuge in India, and were granted asylum in what is present day Gujarat, along the western c...

Bangistan, Review: Citizen Wong Kar-Wai meets Raging Bull at FcDonald’s If references, allusions and name-dropping could make a film watchable, Bangistan would have arrived with a bang. Sadly for debutant director Karan Anshuman, that récipé fails to tickle the taste-buds, and the film turns out be a dish that is half un-cooked and half over-cooked. Why he chose to use crutches like parodying the title of Orson Welles’ all-time masterpiece, Citizen Kane, poking fun a...