Guild Reviews
My Melbourne
Comedy, Drama, Romance (English)
An anthology of four diverse stories about identity and belonging through prism of love and loss, sexuality, marriage and wish to fulfill dreams.
Cast:
Arka Das, Arushi Sharma, Kat Stewart, Ryanna Skye Lawson, Jackson Gallagher, Mikhaela Ebony, Jake Ryan, Nikolai Egel, Nathan Borg, Caitlyn Dickson
Director:
Kabir Khan, Arif Ali, Rima Das, Rahul Vohra, Onir
Writer:
Arif Ali, Nazifa Amir, William Duan, Samira Cox, Monique Nair, Gregory Francis, Shivangi Bhowmick
(Writing for Bhawana Somaaya)
One more anthology
Fri, March 21 2025
There was a time, a little before Covid, when all filmmakers were making anthologies. These films were usually about common subjects like love and loss. Last week, I watched an unusual anthology titled My Melbourne. Four directors come together to tell you real stories. Shot in Melbourne and featuring women, the stories address gender, sexuality, nationality and disability. The film opens with Nandini directed by Onir and introduces you to Indraneel/ Arks Das and Chris/Jackson Gallagher who live in Australi. Indraneel’s father is visiting them from India because Indraneel and he have to collectively immerse the ashes of Nandini, Indraneel’s mother. It is a difficult time for the father and son but they make an effort to let bygones be bygone.
‘Setara’ shines in this otherwise insipid multigrain recipe
Mon, March 17 2025
Celebrating the cultural ethos of a city through an anthology is not a new cinematic concept. Over the years, we have watched films etching the spirit of Paris, Tokyo, and Mumbai on celluloid. This week, we have some distinguished names from the Indian film industry collaborating with Australian talent to mark the cultural diversity of Melbourne. Known for their distinct idiom, Onir, Imtiaz Ali, Rima Das, and Kabir Khan map the themes of sexuality, disability, gender, and race, gently emphasising the inclusive nature of the city. Based on real-life stories, the protagonists’ truth touches the emotional buttons without necessarily triggering a wave of reaction. Perhaps the format limits the creative souls from taking leaps of faith and deepening the conflict as in the short form, sometimes the goal becomes more important than the means. The denouement starts knocking at the door before the journey is fully realised.
Chhaad (The Terrace)
Drama (Bengali)
Perturbed with her married responsibilities, a writer and a school teacher’s identity issues trigger when she is denied access to the terrace - her open space. A story of longing, resilience, and the quiet strength of a woman
Cast:
Paoli Dam, Rahul Banerjee, Rajnandini Paul, Anuradha Ray
Director:
Indrani Chakraborty
(Writing for bhawanasomaaya.com)
Chhaad is a story of most women struggling to break free.
Thu, March 20 2025
Sometimes a certain space defines your identity and you don’t know it until that space is taken away from you. Indrani directed Bengali film Chhaad tells you about a school teacher, a dormant artist Mitra/ Paoli Dam, who loves to spend her evenings on her building terrace. It is here she befriends her niece and a few kids who come up to fly kites. She attends school in the morning post her daily chores as a daughter-in-law of a joint family, Mitra looks forward to watering the plants on the terrace of their dilapidated building.
Victoria
Drama (Malayalam)
Victoria, a young beautician in a suburban beauty parlour, decides to elope with her Hindu boyfriend after a fierce clash with her conservative Catholic parents. Amidst the turmoil, a neighbour asks her to temporarily house an offering rooster destined for a festival at St. George church inside the parlour. Juggling the rooster's antics, unexpected clients, and her boyfriend's uncertainty, Victoria grapples with conflicting emotions leading to a day of intense personal and spiritual revelations.
Cast:
Meenakshi Jayan, Sreeshma Chandran, Jolly Chirayath, Darsana Vikas, Steeja Mary, Jeena Rajeev
Director:
Sivaranjini
Writer:
Sivaranjini
(Writing for The Polis Project)
Feminichi Fathima and Victoria Interrogate the Interiority of Women’s Lives and Celebrate Seemingly Small Victoriesvictoria-2
Thu, March 20 2025
Two Malayalam films that world premiered at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala in December 2024 share DNA despite employing different milieu and techniques. Fasil Muhammed’s Feminichi Fathima (also screened at the 14th Indian Film Festival of Bhubaneswar) is about the eponymous Muslim housewife in Ponnani in Malappuram and possesses a day-in-the-life narrative. Sivaranjini’s Victoria designs a single day as a series of single takes in the life of Victoria, a beautician at a parlor in Angamaly who is juggling a characteristically busy day at the office and a tenuous period in her personal life. The two films have little in common in terms of setting and visual grammar, but they share philosophies and wrestle with the politics of survival and existence. They focus on women’s labor, the physical strain on their bodies, and the casually developing solidarity with the women around them.
A crafty portrayal of a woman’s inner turmoil
Tue, December 17 2024
The spark that initiates a work of art can come from anywhere. For Sivaranjini J., it came from the unusual sight of a rooster sitting inside a beauty parlour near her home in Angamaly. Victoria, her debut film which was screened at the Malayalam Cinema Today section at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala on Saturday, is set almost entirely a beauty parlour.
The Electric State
Science Fiction, Adventure, Drama (English)
An orphaned teen hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick.
Cast:
Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Woody Harrelson, Ke Huy Quan, Giancarlo Esposito, Stanley Tucci, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Woody Norman
Director:
Joe Russo, Anthony Russo
A Spotify Review
Tue, March 18 2025
The United Nations should probably intervene and impose sanctions on streamers for wasting over $300 million on movies like The Electric State. Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo—the guys behind Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War—the film somehow lowers the bar for them even further, after the one-two punch of The Gray Man and Citadel.
What happens to Michelle’s brother?
Sat, March 15 2025
In the grand tradition of Hollywood throwing mountains of cash at sci-fi epics, The Electric State arrives with a budget so colossal it could fund a small nation — or at least a few more seasons of Stranger Things. Directed by the dynamic duo of Anthony and Joe Russo, the film is based (loosely, because of course it is) on Simon Stålenhag’s hauntingly beautiful 2018 illustrated novel of the same name. It has a cast packed with well-regarded names. But does the star power mean the movie works? Let’s dive into everything we know about The Electric State, including its plot, ending, cast, trailer, and a brief movie review. We mentioned Stranger Things above because this film stars Millie Bobby Brown in the lead. If you are waiting eagerly for the fifth and final (sob) season, this might serve as an amuse-bouche if you are a fan.
The Russo Brothers deliver the worst film of their career; even The Gray Man wasn’t this grim
Fri, March 14 2025
Someone on social media the other day posted that each of the last 15 Best Picture winners at the Oscars could’ve been funded for the amount that Netflix spent on The Electric State, the astronomically expensive new movie from directors Joe and Anthony Russo. We’re talking about films like Oppenheimer, which itself would’ve taken up $100 million of this cash pool, leaving the remaining $220 million to be spent on landmark films such as Parasite, 12 Years a Slave, and this year’s Anora. Starring Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown, The Electric State is the kind of movie that seems to get longer while you’re watching it. No matter how deep into it you are — it could be the end of the first act or the second — it always feels like there’s an hour still left. On the face of it, The Electric State isn’t a particularly long movie. It taps out at around 120 minutes, which is positively merciful of the Russos, whose first gig after the global success of the three-hour-long Avengers: Endgame was Cherry, a 141-minute drama about a drug addict who robs banks to fund his habit.
Feminichi Fathima
Drama (Malayalam)
Fathima, a housewife in the coastal town of Ponnani, lives under the strict control of her orthodox husband, Ashraf. When her son wets their old mattress, Fathima’s attempt to replace it sparks conflict. Ashraf blocks her at every turn, despite her back pain and growing frustration. Eventually, Fathima realizes the mattress represents more than just comfort it’s her chance to reclaim her independence. By finally buying it, she takes a bold stand
Cast:
Shamla Hamza, Kumar Sunil, Viji Viswanath, Pushpa, Praseedha, Raji Menon
Director:
Fasil Muhammed
Writer:
Fasil Muhammed
(Writing for The Polis Project)
Feminichi Fathima and Victoria Interrogate the Interiority of Women’s Lives and Celebrate Seemingly Small Victories
Mon, March 17 2025
Two Malayalam films that world premiered at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala in December 2024 share DNA despite employing different milieu and techniques. Fasil Muhammed’s Feminichi Fathima (also screened at the 14th Indian Film Festival of Bhubaneswar) is about the eponymous Muslim housewife in Ponnani in Malappuram and possesses a day-in-the-life narrative. Sivaranjini’s Victoria designs a single day as a series of single takes in the life of Victoria, a beautician at a parlor in Angamaly who is juggling a characteristically busy day at the office and a tenuous period in her personal life.
Dragon
Romance, Comedy, Drama (Tamil)
Ragavan, infamous for his reckless ways and academic struggles, turns to fraud after a heartbreaking breakup, chasing wealth and power. However, his deceit leads him into perilous territory. Can he find a way out, or will his choices seal his fate?
Cast:
Pradeep Ranganathan, Anupama Parameswaran, Kayadu Lohar, Mysskin, Gautham Vasudev Menon, K. S. Ravikumar, VJ Sidhu, Harshath Khan, Avinash P, Gopika Ramesh
Director:
Ashwath Marimuthu
Writer:
Ashwath Marimuthu
A heartwarming story about ordinary struggles rather than a testosterone-fueled saga.
Sat, March 15 2025
Pradeep Ranganathan's coming-of-age film takes flight post-interval
Sat, February 22 2025
What happens when a mistake you commit uproots the life of an already struggling person? How do you overcome this? Does it make you realise your mistake or does it push you into the depths of depression? Director Ashwath Marimuthu’s ‘Dragon’ is a film that provides definite answers to these questions. D Ragavan (Pradeep Ranganathan), a archetypal ‘good boy’, is a gold medallist in school. He confesses his love to a girl after he gets awarded the gold medal. However, she rejects him, stating that she sometimes prefers ‘bad boys’, who are unruly and roam around the school with gethu (swag). Cut to his college days, D Ragavan becomes Dragon because of the rejection and has 48 standing arrears. What he earned in college was the love of Keerthi (Anupama Parameswaran).
Pradeep Ranganathan And Mysskin Deliver A Brilliant Entertainer Of Morals
Sat, February 22 2025
Dragon has a protagonist who is insufferable for most of its runtime, which, more often than not, doesn’t work in the favour of movies. Pradeep Ranganathan as D Raghavan aka Dragon is one of those bullies in the engineering colleges, who believes being macho makes him a hero. He is an instantly off-putting personality. His college attendance is 2 per cent. He is notorious for his on-campus violence. He has several ‘cases’ against him in college. You get the drift. On top of it all, he has 48 backlogs, nearly all of the subjects in the course. He was not always like this. In school, he was the naive D Raghavan with a glorious progress report. He becomes Dragon when his school crush tells him that bad boys are the thing. Once Dragon gets out of his den, which is his college, he ends up becoming a nuisance to his friends, a failure to his girlfriend, and a fraud to his parents. When the girl breaks up with him, he takes a shortcut to become a successful person, but his mistake comes back biting when everything looks up.
Be Happy
Drama, Music (Hindi)
A dance-drama film that follows a single father and his witty, wise-beyond-her-years daughter. When his daughter's dream of performing in the country's biggest dance reality show collides with a life-altering crisis, the father is driven to do the unthinkable, showcasing the extraordinary lengths he will go to fulfill her wishes and find happiness.
Cast:
Abhishek Bachchan, Inayat Verma, Nora Fatehi, Amitabh Bachchan, Nassar, Johnny Lever, Sonali Bendre, Remo D'Souza, Elli Avram, Prabhu Deva
Director:
Remo D'Souza
Writer:
Chirag Garg, Kanishka Singh Deo, Tushar Hiranandani, Remo D'Souza
डोन्ट वॉच एंड ‘बी हैप्पी’
Sat, March 15 2025
धारा नाम की एक बच्ची ऊटी में अपने पापा और नाना के साथ रहती है। कमाल का डांस करती है सो ‘इंडियाज़ सुपरस्टार डांसर’ नामक शो में भाग लेने के लिए मुंबई जाना चाहती है। पापा मना करते हैं तो डांस-टीचर उन्हें समझाती है कि पेरेंट्स दो तरह के होते हैं-एक वो जिनके बच्चे उनके ड्रीम्स जीते हैं और दूसरे वो जो अपने बच्चों के ड्रीम्स जीते हैं। बात पापा को लग जाती है और ये लोग पहुंच जाते हैं मुंबई। लेकिन यहां कुछ ऐसा होता है कि सारे ड्रीम्स एक तरफ हो जाते हैं। तब पापा कहता है कि मैंने धारा को कभी गिरने नहीं दिया है, आज भी गिरने नहीं दूंगा। कहानी बढ़िया है। एक बच्ची, उसका ड्रीम, कभी आड़े आया पिता जो आज उसके साथ है। यह धुकधुकी कि अब उसका सपना सच होगा या नहीं…! लेकिन यह कहानी एक पैराग्राफ में ही बढ़िया लगती है क्योंकि फिल्म कहानी पर नहीं, उस पर फैलाई गई स्क्रिप्ट पर बनती है और इस फिल्म की स्क्रिप्ट न सिर्फ ढीली व कमज़ोर है बल्कि इसमें से वह भावनाओं और संवेदनाओं की खुशबू भी लापता है जो इस किस्म की फिल्मों की जान होती है। वह खुशबू, जो दर्शकों के नथुनों से भीतर जाकर उसके ज़ेहन में जगह बनाती है, उसे उद्वेलित करती है और अंत में भावुक करते हुए उसे भिगो जाती है। इस फिल्म में यह खुशबू बस कहने भर को है जो एक-आध दफा महसूस होती है और फिर हवा हो जाती है।
Dads, daughters and dance
Sat, March 15 2025
After playing the chronically ill father of a young girl in I Want to Talk, Abhishek Bachchan plays a different kind of dad in Be Happy. In this dance-drama, streaming on Amazon Prime, the actor plays a widower raising a daughter who has an unshakable passion and talent for dance. Helmed by choreographer-director Remo D’Souza, Be Happy, written by D’Souza, Kanishka Singh Deo, Chirag Garg and Tushar Hirandanani, is built on the foundations of a father-daughter relationship and dance.
Emotional Dance Drama Headlined By Abhishek Bachchan, Inayat Verma Hits All Predictable Beats
Sat, March 15 2025
Remo D’Souza’s latest dance film Be Happy revolves around the relationship between a straitlaced single father and his imaginative daughter. Together, through the medium of dance, they learn to live life to its fullest. While much of the Hindi film is focused on young Dhara wanting to achieve her dream of appearing on the dance reality show India’s Superstar Dancer, Be Happy is much stronger when it rests on the father-daughter bond. The dance portions of the film are unnecessarily stretched. Dhara (Inayat Varma) lives with her father Shiv Rastogi (Abhishek Bachchan) and grandfather Mr Nandar (Nasser) in Ooty. But her real dream is to join Maggie Teacher’s (Nora Fatehi) top dance academy in Mumbai and appear on India’s Superstar Dancer. The musical drama follows how she manages to fulfill her wishes against all odds. Along the way, Shiv also learns to be a little less rigid and protective as a single father after the death of his wife Rohin (Harleen Sethi).
Dilruba
Romance, Action (Telugu)
A hot-headed college student with a troubled past navigates conflict, love and loss.
Cast:
Kiran Abbavaram, Nazia Davison, John Vijay, Rukshar Dhillon
Director:
Viswa Karun
Writer:
Viswa Karun
Kiran Abbavaram’s film is confusing than heartfelt
Sat, March 15 2025
Dilruba, the romance-action drama starring Kiran Abbavaram, Rukshar Dhillon and Kathryn Davison, has a fairly intriguing premise. To make amends for a misstep from the past, an ex returns to her former boyfriend’s turf and helps him reconcile with a current lover. Yet, debut director Viswa Karun’s film struggles to develop this idea into a cohesive narrative and stuffs it with subplots that feel unnecessary, across genres. The film opens with a pompous quote that valourises the protagonist Siddu’s (Kiran Abbavaram) character — ‘strong men have a character, never an attitude’. Siddu is an archetypal good-for-nothing hero one would find in a Telugu film. Having been dumped by his childhood sweetheart Meghana (Kathryn Davison) over a misunderstanding, he gives up on his graduation midway. Upon his mother’s insistence, he resumes the course, only to be chased by another girl, Anjali (Rukshar Dhillon).
Perusu
Comedy (Tamil)
After Finding Their Father Dead, and to Their Dismay, His Two Sons Discover That Something in Him is Still Alive. What Should Have Been a Day of Somber Mourning Breaks Into a Complete Bedlam as the Two Sons Try, as Discreetly as Possible to Do the Funeral. In Their Quest to Accomplish the Funeral the Two Brothers Are Forced to Confront Their Own Troubled Relationship and Deal With Their Dead Father.
Cast:
Vaibhav, Niharika NM, Sunil, Balasaravanan, Chandhini Tamilarasan, Munishkanth
Director:
Ilango Ram
Writer:
Ilango Ram
‘Stand-up comedy’ gets a new definition in Vaibhav’s wacky entertainer
Sat, March 15 2025
A bit of googling tells how terminal erection or death erection is an actual condition that’s very much as shocking as it sounds. It is also the core idea behind director Ilango Ram’s Perusu, the remake of the director’s Sinhala-language comedy-drama Tentigo, which bagged multiple accolades. In Perusu, Halasyam, a much-revered elderly person, dies unexpectedly. But his sons Samikannu (Sunil) and Duraikannu (Vaibhav) barely have the time or space to mourn as their father’s corpse, instead of developing rigor mortis where the muscles stiffen, gets a rigor erectus, causing the dead person to have an erection — or priapism as it’s technically called in which a penis remains erect for hours. As the family — which includes the heirs’ wives Shanthi (Niharika) and Nila (Chandini Tamilarasan), Halasyam’s wife (Nakkalites Dhanam) and her sister (Deepa Shankar) — believes this to be a travesty that the villagers and relatives cannot get a whiff of, they try everything in their power to um… bring things under control.
A Decent Adult Comedy That Struggles Beyond Its Double Entendre Jokes
Fri, March 14 2025
In a sense, Perusu is one of the rare Tamil films that fit the adult comedy genre, as the premise of the story, directed by Ilango Ram, is as wacky as it can get. Halasayam, a respected man from a rural town, is fondly known as Perusu, a term used for an elder or a patriarch of a family or a village. He is one of those notable people of any town who have a say in its affairs. When we meet Perusu, he lands a slap on a youngster for allegedly peeping at women taking a bath in the community pond. Along with his elderly friends, Perusu orders the young chap to behave. Before leaving the place, he doesn’t miss to grin at the ladies himself. The lad resolves to have his revenge, but Perusu doesn’t give him any chance as he dies after returning home from watching TV. But the catch is that Perusu dies with an erect penis, which lands the whole family in trouble. His two sons–Saamikannu (Sunil Kumar) and Durai (Vaibhav)–try their best to ‘de-escalate’ the problem but it won’t die down. If you frown upon my double entendres, then imagine watching a film with such incessant phallic dialogues and words.
Picture This
Romance, Comedy (English)
Single and without a man on the horizon, Pia runs a failing photography studio in London with her best friend Jay. As her sister Sonal prepares for marriage and her mother Laxmi urges her to partner up, a spiritual guru predicts Pia will meet the love of her life among her next five dates. With her family intervening, Pia embarks on a hilarious yet heartfelt quest for love.
Cast:
Simone Ashley, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Sindhu Vee, Luke Fetherston, Nikesh Patel, Adil Ray, Anoushka Chadha, Eben Figueiredo, Kulvinder Ghir, Asim Chaudhry
Director:
Prarthana Mohan
Writer:
Nikita Lalwani
NRIs get a nasty deal in Simone Ashley’s Prime Video rom-com
Fri, March 14 2025
College kids of a certain age would be familiar with the practice of filtering assignments through a very rudimentary anti-plagiarism software, mainly to avoid being caught cheating by professors. So worthless were the results of this scam that a kid might even be shamed into putting in the actual effort and writing their assignment themselves. Not only were they submitting something unoriginal, it was also impossible to read. Essentially the same route is now being taken by filmmakers. This week’s new romantic comedy, Picture This, isn’t merely a remake; it’s a remake that is happy to be released in the same week as the Oscars and actively aim for a 2/5.
Simone Ashley Is Charming In Delightful Rom-Com Set Around Big Fat Indian Wedding
Fri, March 7 2025
Picture This, led by Simone Ashley, is a remake of the Australian rom-com Five Blind Dates from star Shuang Hu. Relocated to London, director Prarthana Mohan’s film takes the same elements but places it within a dysfunctional but loving British Asian family. Amidst wedding planning, blind dating, and reconnecting with an old love, Ashley’s Pia finds herself again in this funny and enjoyable romantic comedy. The Amazon Prime Video feature is fast-paced and colourful, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. Ashley is Pia Jaswani, a talented photographer who owns her own photography studio, The Ninth Mandala, and runs it with her best friend Jay (Luke Fetherston). Her younger sister Sonal (Anoushka Chadha) announces she’s getting married with a month-long series of events. Their mother Laxmi (Sindhu Vee) calls an astrologer (Kulwinder Dhir) to check the groom and bride’s janampatris (birthcharts), when he suddenly predicts Pia will meet her soulmate after going on five dates. Her meddling family gets to work with unsuitable suitors, while her first love Charlie (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) walks back in her life.
Superboys of Malegaon
Comedy, Drama (Hindi)
The residents of Malegaon look to Bollywood cinema for a much-needed escape from daily drudgery. Amateur filmmaker Nasir Shaikh gets inspired to make a film for the people of Malegaon, by the people of Malegaon. He bands together his ragtag group of friends to bring his vision to life, thereby bringing a fresh lease of life into the town.
Cast:
Adarsh Gourav, Shashank Arora, Vineet Kumar Singh, Anuj Singh Duhan, Saqib Ayub, Pallav Singgh, Manjiri Pupala, Muskkaan Jaferi, Anmol Kajani, Gyanendra Tripathi
Director:
Reema Kagti
Writer:
Varun Grover
Piracy can’t be condoned, but Reema Kagti’s film believes it’s essential to the survival of theatres
Fri, March 14 2025
“Jackie Chan could come to Malegaon,” says a young man who has had the misfortune of being born there. “But his films won’t.” The young man is Nasir, the protagonist of director Reema Kagti’s new film, Superboys of Malegaon. Played by Adarsh Gourav, Nasir is the sort of cinephile who would have been logging at least three movies a day on Letterboxd had he been born a decade later, perhaps in a metropolitan city. And as hyperbolic as his words are, there is an element of truth to them. As we speak, the German auteur Wim Wenders is touring the length and breadth of India, taking selfies with Madhabi Mukherjee and reclining on Satyajit Ray’s favourite armchair. But you could be forgiven for not remembering the last time one of his films received a theatrical release here.
A despondent tale wrapped in a feel-good package.
Tue, March 11 2025
The Film Is An All-Round Delight
Mon, March 10 2025
Their incredible true story has been in the public domain for well over a decade and a half but the deeds of the moviemakers of Malegaon have never ceased to fascinate. Inherent in the tale is the drama of improbable dreams of nondescript individuals clashing with daunting societal and economic constraints and, in the bargain, engendering phenomenal acts of self-belief. Director Reema Kagti captures it all in Superboys of Malegaon, a matter-of-fact fictionalized retelling. Her film is a classic rollercoaster in which dizzying and sobering, flighty and probing, roll into and out of each other. Superboys of Malegaon, produced by Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby, is about unremarkable lives made noteworthy by trajectories less ordinary. But, operating firmly within the realms of the real and the relatable, the film steers well clear of the cliches of the genre.
Mrs
Drama (Hindi)
A newly wed finds herself in an overcooked and tasteless happily ever-after laced with patriarchal traditions.
Cast:
Sanya Malhotra, Nishant Dahiya, Kanwaljit Singh, Aparna Ghoshal, Mrinal Kulkarni, Loveleen Mishra, Nitya Moyal, Girish Dhamija, Varun Badola, Gulista Alija
Director:
Arati Kadav
Writer:
Arati Kadav, Anu Singh Choudhary, Harman Baweja
Mrs: Sanya Malhotra is Bollywood’s posterchild for smash-the-patriarchy cinema, and her Neglected Housewife trilogy is one for the ages
Fri, March 14 2025
A few years ago, the global cinephile community — the sort of people who compose their Letterboxd reviews even before a film has ended — was thrown headfirst into a heated debate. As far as these folks were concerned, this was a debate of presidential magnitude — the kind of debate that could make a disagreement about Marvel movies seem like a ‘kavi sammelan’ in Lucknow. The British magazine Sight & Sound, which compiles a list of the greatest films of all time every decade, had published its latest rankings. And for the first time ever, the Belgian film Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles — previously viewed as a favourite only in niche circles — had claimed the top spot, sneaking past perennial favourites such as Citizen Kane, Tokyo Story, and Vertigo.
What Arati Kadav gets right in the Hindi remake of The Great Indian Kitchen
Mon, February 17 2025
In the opening moments of Arati Kadav’s Mrs, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the film as a gentle love story borne out of the great Indian arranged marriage. In Delhi, Richa (a standout Sanya Malhotra), a dancer, meets Diwakar (Nishant Dahiya), an educated gynaecologist and her prospective match for the first time. They exchange glances and share smiles and then end up holding hands on a date at a neighbourhood restaurant. She lets him know that she’s crazy about cassata and he tells her that he’s a fan of “simple, home-cooked food.” Two cuts later, they’re married. It’s as happy as happiness can get.
Arati Kadav’s 'Mrs.' Can’t Replicate 'The Great Indian Kitchen’s' Viscerality
Sun, February 16 2025
Arati Kadav’s Mrs. – an official remake of Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen (2021) – is a technically sound film. It opens with a montage of delicacies being cooked in an average Indian kitchen. Editor Prerna Saigal cuts the meticulous preparation of each dish with a carefully choreographed piece, drawing our attention to the ‘dance’ most women have to endure inside a household, to keep it on its axis. Scored by Sagar Desai featuring sounds from everyday life (like squeaky, rusted gate offering rhythm to the track), the montage works well. But it can’t quite conjure the rhythm of Baby’s original film, which editor Francis Louis establishes in the never-ending loop of domestic labour thrust upon women. Especially inside a kitchen. Kadav, who broke out with imaginative Sci-Fi films (The Astronaut and His Parrot) using wide-eyed imagination to compensate for oppressive budgets, also constructs her latest venture with a similar amount of distance. The food photography is immaculate, the kitchen and the home look like they were built on a soundstage. Unlike Baby’s film, where both the kitchen as well as the home felt lived-in. When Richa (Sanya Malhotra) has to immerse her hand into a clogged sink to weed out the sediments at its bottom, it doesn’t feel as viscerally icky as Nimisha Vijayan’s character having to hand-pick the chewed-out bones thrown by her father-in-law and the husband, in the original film.