Yes, the Garbo analogy is the easiest to draw from. It is the only easily available reference point to understand Suchitra Sen. The fact is we will never really know what made her withdraw from the public life that had created layers of myth, mystery and cinematic lore around her. She had had enough perhaps. […]
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Category: Cinema/ TV
Farooque Shaikh: The Humanist
We all knew of his talent as an actor, his passion for theatre and the dexterity with which he anchored enjoyable television programs. Many articles discussed these as we bid farewell to Farooque Shaikh. But his contribution to the world’s most successful public health programme is perhaps less well known. The polio eradication campaign in India, had roped in a […]
Kunal Karan Kapoor: Honestly Once More
Honesty..passion and connection are words that Kunal Karan Kapoor uses a lot in his conversation. Every sentence either begins or ends or draws from what these words stand for. After chatting to him today, I was watching a tribute to RD Burman and someone said about him, “he always believed that rhythm was within. […]
TV in 2013: Jeers And Cheers
Despite the rotten eggs we’ve been chucking at them year after year, television channels continued to bombard our bedrooms with unbearable nonsense in 2013 as well. The serials were absolute rubbish which is why we didn’t watch them at all. The reality shows were fake and scripted so we’re not wasting time reviewing those either. […]
Farooque Shaikh-Baat Phoolon Ki
** It was May, 2005. I stumbled late into a press conference with my seven- year- old and panic in tow. As the child of a working mother, my son was used to sitting quietly through interviews and media events. It was I who sometimes mismanaged time and this was one such occasion.Farooque Shaikh was […]
Peter O’ Toole: From Here To Eternity
”The script sits in front of you. The writer’s translated into ink what is in his spirit and his soul and his mind. I come along, I pick it up, and the ink goes into my eyes, into my mind, into my body, flows around and that part starts to inhabit me. And I know […]
Buildings On Film
Taj Mahal. A beautiful mausoleum that in popular culture, in poetry and in cinema, has come to embody deathless romance. Princess Diana on her much celebrated visit to India posed alone on a bench with the Taj as a backdrop just to rub her loneliness in and to make the absence of her spouse obvious . […]
Stifling The Rainbow
Whether you are waving trishuls, brooms, an imperious hand or a Supreme Court Verdict before the masses, it is all about control, isn’t it? How can we control minds, lives, body parts, power centres, vote banks? And control those we do not approve of, dislike, or cannot understand or do not give a damn about? […]
Ram Leela: Operatic Excess
Umm..passion. It is about to peak for Ram and Leela in a lodge called Madhu Chanda (literally translated..Honeymoon). In a room where everything is white and wispy, including the moonlight and there is a big mural or picture of goddess Lakshmi on one of the walls, there is a balcony overlooking the twinkling town the […]
Feeling Grave, Anyway
Sometimes I think I need to book myself a “Crazy, Table for One”. Everyone has been waxing eloquent about Sandra Bullock and George Clooney’s new movie Gravity. The only stunning planetary body you will find there is Sandra’s; she’s worked hard and each golden, toned muscle thanks her for it. I love space movies, from […]
Ulysses Goes Home
He was like an avenging angel. He answered all our prayers by punishing the guilty and uncaging the deserving. And when he left the world he was happy to go. He had shed his sins, paid his dues and was free. This was Walter White, no longer Breaking Bad. ** The series finale was, in […]
Manna Dey: A Seamless Note
Around 12 years ago, I travelled for hours to a lesser known neighbourhood in Bangalore to find and interview Manna Dey. He lived on the first floor of an independent home and it was probably a rented space.and there were really no flourishes of fame and legendary success anywhere. ** This was a middle-class home […]