Art & Culture

The Darkest Hour

The Darkest Hour

Film Review Gary Oldman won the best actor Oscar for « Darkest Hour « but the movie did not win the Best Movie Oscar. It would have taken a lot of flak if it had. While one can forever debate whether Oldman played Churchill in an unforgetableway meriting an oscar, or not;but one cannot debate whether certain historical facts are true or false. The film is rife with historical inaccuracies despite its not being listed as fiction. When the main character is Winston Churchill and the period depicted, the Darkest Hour (a term coined by Churchill himself) during the second…
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Uri and Accidental PM: Pure Co-incidence or Two Manifestos of the Same Gimmick?

Uri and Accidental PM: Pure Co-incidence or Two Manifestos of the Same Gimmick?

Written By : Simran Saini New Delhi, India The second decade of the 21st century saw the beginning of a new era of the Hindi film industry – a range of new age films based on social issues, historical events, biopics and the like. It is indeed a breath of fresh air from the classic face of Bollywood which has always been about music, over-hyped family drama/ romance and iconic dance moves. The new avatar of Bollywood is raw, (almost) liberal and quite daring. This second decade has also seen quite a few movies based on politics at the box…
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The Accidental Prime Minister: A flimsy excuse for a blinkered film

The Accidental Prime Minister: A flimsy excuse for a blinkered film

Written by: Shreya Seth Kolkata, India Photo: Official Facebook Page Film Review: The Accidental Prime Minister Country: India Director: Vijay Ratnakar Gutte Cast: Anupam Kher, Akshaye Khanna, Suzanne Bernert, Divya Seth Shah, Hansal Mehta, Vipin Sharma, Arjun Mathur, Aahana Kumra As India gears up for the 2019 general elections, the strategic move to release a potentially controversial film that seeks to target a prominent political family in India, did not just instill curiosity but was also expected to cause unrest, as is the norm today. However, as one sits through the one hour fifty minute film, it leaves you gawking…
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Village Rockstars: The film that gifts us blue skies and hope in abundance

Village Rockstars: The film that gifts us blue skies and hope in abundance

Written by: Shreya Seth Kolkata, India Film Review: Village Rockstars Country: India Director: Rima Das Cast: Bhanita Das, Basanti Das, Manabendra Das Seldom do we come across stories that can communicate to a wide range of audiences without trying too hard. Village Rockstars is one such organic and refreshing film that marks a departure from conventional forms of storytelling and consumes you if you allow yourself to succumb to the flow. Set in a remote village in Assam named Chayagaon, Village Rockstars is a coming of age story of a ten-year-old girl who dreams of owning a guitar and forming…
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Stan the Man

Stan the Man

Written By: Debkumar Mitra Kolkata, India Illustration: Sagar Mondal Stan Lee: Born: New York, December 28, 1922 Died: Los Angeles, November 12, 2018 Known for: Co-writing comic book superheroes Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and X-Men The man who claimed to have co-created Spider-Man with Jack Kirby is no more. ‘Stan the Man’ would not have liked his obituary to begin with this way. The man who created the superhero culture and gave comics the shine and the gloss of a Hollywood A movie, Marvel legend Stan Lee is dead. He left behind millions of Marvel…
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Ya omri: where memory meets life in a crossroad

Ya omri: where memory meets life in a crossroad

Written by: Somrita Bhattacharyya Paris, France Film Review: ‘Ya omri’ (104 wrinkles) Country: Lebanon Director: Hady Zaccak We are born. We are growing old, year after another. And every year is arriving with a new wrinkle, often hiding the old one that was a gift of the previous year. So, can we call this wrinkle the ‘time’ itself, or is it a layer of memory? And what does remain with us at the end after all, except our good, bitter memories? Look at Henriette, she has lived 104 wrinkles. All those wrinkles are passionately crafted with rich memoirs of her…
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British Raj Revealed

British Raj Revealed

Book Review by : Riaz Quadir Inglorious Empire – What the British did to India Written by : Dr. Shashi Tharoor Long before Winston Churchill had accurately observed that “History is written by the victors”, Hermann Göring had said something far more profound: “We will go down in history either as the world's greatest statesmen or its worst villains”. He had the foresight to know that fortune’s arrow can swing either way depending where on the totem pole you end up. Another way of looking at it is that victors may very well write history but their biased version stands…
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A Quarter Mile Country

A Quarter Mile Country

Film Review Written By Senex – Paris, France Have you ever experienced one of those fretful nights when you are drifting from deep sleep to hazy wakefulness, never knowing which is which; from horrific nightmares to brief glimpses of bygone sweetness of tender love; all in a jumbled, incoherent sequence that seems unending… Watching “A Quarter Mile Country” seemed like revisiting one of those nights. All that intensity tightly packed into a 34 minutes package. Noman Robin, the director, takes us to Conrad’s 21st century Heart of Darkness, in the refugee camp in Bangladesh where many hundreds of thousands of…
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