IFFI 50: Meghna Gulzar is a very lazy writer Film-maker Meghna Gulzar, screenwriters Juhi Chaturvedi, Pooja Ladha Surti, cinematographer, Modhura Palit and columnist Sumedha Verma Ojha spoke on Nuances and Process of Filmmaking at the In-conversation session in the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa. The session was moderated by Indian film journalist and critic Madhureeta Mukherjee. Writer Juhi Chaturvedi, who has written films like Vicky Donor, Piku and October among others s...

IFFI Goa 2017, V: Majidi’s Made in India ‘Beyond the Clouds’ is opening film Oscar-nominated Iranian director Majid Majidi (Children of Heaven, The Colour of Paradise) a favourite among Indian cine-buffs, will show his Made in India film at the 48th. International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa. It will be the opening film, also marking its Indian première, on 20 November. Malavika Mohanan stars in the film, which marks the debut of Ishaan Khatter. This was confir...

by Siraj Syed It was through the thoughtfulness of a WhatsApp group member that I came to know about a Press Conference being organised on the 29th of September by Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) to announce the 18th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. MAMI is a trust that was formed 19 years ago, and the trustees included Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Shyam Benegal, Amol Palekar and Sudhir Mishra. The reins are now held by Kiran Rao, who is also Mrs. Aamir Khan and Anupama Chopra (journalist, a...

Talvar, Review: Whodunit? Doesn’t matter! Like the 1950 Japanese cult film Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa and often rated as one of the greatest films ever made, remade n number of times in India, Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar (sword) presents three contradictory accounts of a nation-rocking real life double murder, which variously portray the prime accused as guilty or innocent. It fictionalises names and dates, amalgamates some characters into a single entity and does not take a ...

Directors’ Diaries, by Rakesh Anand Bakshi, Book Review: A dozen journeys, a dozen destinations Aspiring director and son of India’s renowned film-lyricist, late Anand Bakhshi, Rakesh Bakshi has been aspiring to make his first film for a real long time. In the meanwhile, he has been writing, cycling and doing his bit for the under-privileged of local society. So far, the trail to his big break has proven to be elusive. How elusive? How frustrating? As frustrating as that some of h...

Drishyam, Review: Missing Corpse, Hissing Cops and Habeas Corpus What would drive producers to make and remake a film in five different Indian languages in a span of two years? Box-office success of preceding language versions and a potential remake goldmine at hand, or the merits of a script that tries to turn the killer v/s cops genre on its head, and could have viewers gasping for breath? In the case of Drishyam, whose Sanskritised title can be approximated as Drishya (scene/sight in Hindi...