Every movie industry goes through a sine curve wherein a period of saturation plagues the industry for some time and it’s resurgence depends on fresh ideas and even fresher execution to lure the audience back to the theatres with renewed vigour. Hollywood reinvented itself with 2001 : A Space Odyssey back in 1968 which is…
We are not ready for Stephen King’s brand of horror | It | Bill Skarsgård
It was the year 1997 and the immensely popular Zee Horror Show had just wrapped up after running successfully for four years, paving a formidable path for the horror genre which was definitively Indian in its story-telling. This was a time when Ramsay brothers, the Fathers of Horror in Indian Cinema, were bold, experimentative and…
BAADSHAHO and a look at the MASALA Movie genre
A brooding Ajay Devgn, breakneck action sequences and a gang of misfits trying to rampage their way to a royal treasure. Sounds like a great recipe for a ‘masala’ movie? Yes, if you are still stuck in the 90s. Masala movies are a staple genre in Bollywood which try to cram in every emotion fathomable,…
We need to talk about Petyr Baelish
And so, Winter has truly arrived in Westeros as reinforced by the menacing snow-flakes falling over King’s Landing. The enemy, whose mere glimpses had sent shivers down our spines, has now set foot into the land we had earlier associated only with political strife, bloody war-games and dark magic. The game of thrones has now…
Netflix’s Death Note (2017) | Adaptation done right
If you have ever had even the slightest exposure to Japanese anime, there’s absolutely no way you wouldn’t have heard about Death Note. Originally written as a manga series by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, Death Note achieved cult status among comic enthusiasts and then among anime-buffs when it was adapted to an…
Jack of all Trades to Master of None | Aziz Ansari
During my days as a Post-grad student, our indomitably witty Econ Prof would often prescribe essential reads to keep things interesting. Books like Freakonomics and Super-Freakonomics had instantly become our go-to reference in proving how cool Economics really was. It was only a matter of time that the discussion would turn toward the sub-prime crisis…
Creating a Horror Universe | Annabelle : Creation
In an industry where films are being fleshed out to inhabit their very own worlds, Marvel and DC are the obvious front-runners, what with their rich legacy of comics, graphic novels and the numerous buck-churning movies that have been able to firmly establish intricate universes. This model is now gaining so much momentum that Universal…
How to write a character : Inside the mind of Vince Gilligan
If you asked a writer what their favourite wet-dream was, they would almost invariably tell you that they would like their characters to be remembered long after they were dead. What they probably would not tell you is that writing a character isn’t something that they do willy-nilly on a spasmodic night regurgitating their ideas…
Jab Harry met a ‘MacGuffin’
When a Macguffin turns into a constant irritant even before the movie reaches the half way mark, you just know something is amiss with what is being served on the big screen. Since we are on the topic of Macguffins, let’s quickly recall a few classic ones over the years. ‘The Heart of the Ocean’…
Decoding Tarantino’s Interrogation scenes
Meet Col. Hans Landa, an Austrian SS officer assigned to the Sicherheitsdienst, the intelligence arm of the Nazi Party. He is unremarkably built, has a phlegmatic aura about him and walks with the poise of somebody who is singularly focused on the mission assigned to him . He takes pride in the epithet of the…
Why Daenerys Targaryen won’t survive Game of Thrones
As we approach the first half of Season 7 of Game of Thrones, we have had unexpected ginger-headed pop-star cameos, we have had bloody Pirates of the Caribbean styled sea-battles and we have even seen the much anticipated first rendezvous of ‘Ice’ and ‘Fire’. The plot establishment is in its final throes as the later half is…
Lipstick under my Burkha | Guest Review | Ankita Chaudhuri
Last year a small film with a humble budget launched its trailer on YouTube in October. It boasted of an interesting all female lead star cast, featuring two stalwarts of what is called India’s Parallel Cinema, and two relatively unknown faces. It was the second feature film of a relatively unheard female director. Its trailer…
