TRENDS
Avatar 2 film review: ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is an epic spectacle of technical bravura
The screenplay is weak, the politics are a rehash of the original, and the film has the feel of a mammoth eye-popping, heart-racing videogame. But it takes the theatrical experience up to a new level of sensory pleasure.
ENTERTAINMENT
Review | Netflix docuseries ‘Harry & Meghan’ is yet another royal rehash
The new Netflix docuseries ‘Harry & Meghan’ has absolutely nothing new to offer on the split-away royal couple.
ENTERTAINMENT
'Shadow Assassins': A rare Hindi film which gets the Northeast right, and other filmmakers from the region
Set in Assam, Nilaanjan Reeta Datta's ‘Shadow Assassins’, which released today across theatres, is one of the very few Hindi films to get the region’s social and historical specifics right, including insurgency.
ENTERTAINMENT
'Freddy' Review | Kartik Aaryan in a Parsi anti-hero story that could match the pain of a root canal
Kartik Aaryan gets Dr Freddy's physicality pat, but that's where the character's appeal ends.
ENTERTAINMENT
Review | 'Qala' delivers well on performance anxiety
Anvitaa Dutt’s new Netflix film is about a tormented artist — and the gripping psychodrama about fear, love, abuse and generational trauma that unfolds through her journey
TRENDS
International Film Festival of India 2022: Winners of Golden Peacock and Silver Peacock
The two films, one from Costa Rica and the other from Iran, won the top prizes at the International Film Festival of India. Here’s the lowdown on these two films.
TRENDS
The White Lotus 2 review: The art of comic dysfunctionality
At 61, Jennifer Coolidge’s rise as an actor at ease and resplendent in playing middle-aged women with quirks and neurosis represents much that is alright with Hollywood.
TRENDS
‘Kantara’ is finally on OTT. Here's why it resonates from the first Woooooaaaaavvvvv
Our appetite for nature’s divinity and the classic man-versus-nature conflict is high after the pandemic. Despite its over-simplifications, Rishab Shetty’s blockbuster film appeals to a basic emotion of reverence for nature.
TRENDS
The ghastly Christmas movie factory
And why the best Christmas movie of all time continues to be Richard Curtis’ 20-year-old British romcom ‘Love Actually’
TRENDS
Delhi High Court interim order | Amitabh Bachchan’s voice is his alone
The Delhi High Court’s interim order restraining anyone from infringing the superstar’s personality, voice and publicity rights is a breakthrough for Indian celebrity IPR.
ENTERTAINMENT
Friday Release | Varun Dhawan's 'Bhediya' is a werewolf hotchpotch
Snappy comedy, man versus nature cautionary tale, a romance and a shape-shifting horror film — Amar Kaushik’s 'creature feature' is too many things to be entirely centred. The comedy stands out.
TRENDS
Van Gogh 360° India preview: Inside Vincent’s rooms
Mumbai will host India’s first immersive Van Gogh experience with a travelling AI-augmented show for all ages. What makes the Dutch painter’s appeal so timeless?
TRENDS
Siddhartha Mukherjee's 'The Song of The Cell' book review: What connects all life forms
Siddhartha Mukherjee's new book, a deep-dive into the mysteries and marvels of the tiny biological cell, is a monumental addition to the small but solid genre of medical non-fiction.
LIFESTYLE-TRENDS
How Bengaluru artist Pushpamala N weaves cultural memory into her art
At a Mumbai exhibition, Pushpamala N, known for her performative photography works, returns to a form she began her artistic journey with — the result is a series of painstakingly-made, quietly-political artworks; and two other art exhibits in Mumbai this week
TRENDS
Hidden gem | Minx review: When the dildo was a political statement
A sharp feminist comedy series, Minx recreates how the first ever erotic magazine for women came about. It is also effective as a nostalgic ode to the nitty-gritties of print journalism.
ENTERTAINMENT
Review | The Hindi 'Drishyam 2' rests on OG Jeethu Joseph’s heavy plot-meistering
Mostly faithful to the original Malayalam, and a few notches tighter than it, ‘Drishyam 2’ rests entirely on its clever plotting. As in the first film, Ajay Devgn is no comparison to Mohanlal
HEALTH-TRENDS
5 wellness books by women tell us how to future-proof our body and mind
Five books this year, including Mallika Sarabhai’s ‘In Free Fall’, show how a combination of science as well as ancient belief systems can unlock post-pandemic healing.
ENTERTAINMENT
30 years of ‘Roja’ and the Tamil and India of Mani Ratnam's cinema
Director Mani Ratnam, the original crossover artiste from south, arrived in other parts of India with Roja in 1992, and brought with it an Indian-ness and Tamil-ness which continues to define his works, including his latest. Roja also launched another genius
TRENDS
Ram Setu review: Mounted on a sprawling scale, the film casts Akshay Kumar in the role of an Indian Indiana Jones
Akshay Kumar's new film, the Diwali release ‘Ram Setu’, is a giant ad film to promote a Ram-centric view of ancient Indian history.
TRENDS
Four More Shots Please! Season 3: The difficult and annoying FMSP girls
In Season 3 of the hit Amazon Prime Video series, which dropped this weekend, the four women are adult-ing a lot. Here’s why the FMSP girls changed the narrative about urban women on Indian TV.
TRENDS
Shantaram review: In 2022, Linbaba’s stoner vibe Bombay is jarring
The journey of ‘Shantaram’—from an Australasian bestseller with philosophical platitudes to laboriously-shot and densely populated frames of an Apple TV original.
ENTERTAINMENT
Doctor G review | Bollywood's gynaecology lesson is banal
Anubhuti Kashyap’s medical drama with Ayushmann Khurrana in the lead is a disastrous message film.
TRENDS
World mental health day: Address broken family and social systems, not the individual
World Mental Health Day reminds us why there’s a need to change the way we think of and use therapy — to go beyond the individual and acknowledge our broken systems of family and society, to be the balm for the un-belonged, and to make it affordable
ENTERTAINMENT
Maja Ma review | The Madhuri Dixit starrer has a whiff of subversion but lacks drama
A mundane Gujarati kitchen sink drama with Madhuri Dixit as the protagonist facing a familiar and daunting moral police force
