Smita Shah

Anupama was a very good show which we were glued to for years. Why do the producers not know when to end a show properly ? Now they have jumped many years and fast forwarded it . Most of the characters have left the show and have been replaced . Yes the oldies are there who never grow old and are perpetual . The children have grown up and have turned horrible . Couldn’t they get better actors? Just like Pandya Store they have ruined this show . The week has not even ended and I have to say bye bye to one of my favourite shows.

Just seen the brilliant movie Sam Bahadur ! After a long time a movie has left a deep impact on the mind . Usually one sees movies and they are mostly forgettable , the very next day ! Meghna I like all your movies but you have out done yourself this time ! What a nice depiction of recent history and moments which oldies like us remember so well . Perfect performances from actors , Meghna has brought out the best out of each character. Earlier Indira Gandhi looked a little weak and fragile but later she came out in her true colours .Vicky Kaushal ofcourse lived his role to the tee ! The movie deserves to be the best film not only for this year but many years !

I watched the movie the very first day. I presumed it would be a kiddy movie and not for oldies like us. Yet I decided to go ahead as three star kids Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor and Agastya Nanda were being launched . Soon I started enjoying the movie. It transported me to my childhood. I lived in a neighbourhood with an Anglo-Indian community living close by . Most of them migrated to Australia afterwards. I used to enjoy their mom’s baking , cakes and cookies at home .( This was a rarity for Indian moms in those days )I enjoyed their Christmas celebrations with Santa Claus giving us gifts . Although I was not an Archie comic fan, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly as it was so refreshing. I relieved my earlier teenage growing up years. I loved musicals and Cliff Richard was my favourite. I loved all his movies. The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, It’s a Wonderful Life. I loved the reference to Cliff Richard being born in Lucknow. When his first movie came and Lucknow news came, every boy those days here in our town would claim, “He was in my class in La Martinere” .What a sheepish look they gave when the truth came out that he left without ever going to school in Lucknow when he was barely 2/3 years old. In this Hindi musical they have captured that era so well. The music is very good and the songs so relevant to every moment and occasion. Congratulations to Zoya Akhtar, the director, music writers, singers and performers. May all the kids rise up in their chosen profession and do very well. Above all the girls in the movie wore the clothes which we used to wear, nice skirt blouses, long dresses, then called frocks. We wore nice feminine clothes . Ladies wearing pants was a rarity, not the present day micro mini , backless and shoulderless clothes. Also now it’s become rare to find women in traditional sarees other than on celebrations and festivals. In fact I am reminded of the lines from a delightful song from an old TV show , All in the Family. It’s sung by the character Archie Bunker, actor and singer was Carol O’Connor’. “Those were the days - - - when girls were girls and men were men “. later on it was indeed found to be offensive . The town of Riverdale has been recreated so well. I repeated the movie to show my granddaughter and enjoyed it again. Overall a delightful movie and hours well spent, so rejuvenating at a time when any muck comes up on OTT . We have to switch over after 15/20 minutes. Hope you enjoy this .

A film dealing with a social cause pretty much in the same style as Toilet or Sanitary pad. This time it’s the girl child. In the quest for a male child, how much the poor female has to suffer right from the womb in the male dominated society ! Sometimes it becomes comical and invokes laughter. But it’s truly a serious subject. Haryana comes to rescue as they are the first state which realised that after committing so many murders of the female foetus, they actually have shortage of females ! Boman Irani and Ranbir Singh have carried off their roles. It might seem an exaggeration but probably in villages such things do happen. It’s definitely a must see film, maybe it may seem a trivial handling of a highly sensitive and serious issue.

Sardar Udham is a story of a man who had anger simmering in him and he takes his revenge after 21 years Shoojit Sircar has brought the angst out very well and kudos to Vicky Kaushal who has enacted it so well. But the movie is very very heavy and lengthy too. Just can’t see it in one go. Another problem is that the story has too many flashbacks that one loses continuity. One or two flashbacks are ok, but in this case there are too many . Gradually interest starts waning. It becomes a jigsaw puzzle and pieces get mixed up. It should have more viewer friendly.

I haven’t seen a stupider movie than this! It has no head or tail ! I marvel at myself for actually wasting time and seeing the whole thing. It is because of forced isolation these days thanks to Covid there is nothing to do! They call it in the genre of horror comedy, there is neither. Good actors totally wasted. We have reversed feet chudails, zombies, an actual wedding between a human and canine! To top it all a foreign video journalist filming this nonsense for foreign audiences ! What a portrayal of India. Totally skip-able, please dont waste your precious time over this.

I just chanced upon this show on Netflix and in a short period completed the entire series. I regretted not having seen it earlier. Actually since one had had quite a surfeit of these mythological shows, I had skipped this one more Mahabharata. I now realised this was refreshingly different from those extravaganzas of gaudy ostentatious sets, heavily decked up men and women in robes and jewellery, not forgetting those huge crowns or ‘mukuts’. It had one Spartan set all along and simple clothes. The flashbacks and war scenes were simplistic too. This is a totally new look at the events. For one, they are not on earth on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, but in purgatory, the in between stage between Heaven and Hell. It is the court or Durbar of Chitragupta, who keeps records of the deeds of all human beings. It is in the form of inquisition where all the important characters of Mahabharata are undergoing a trial in his court. It is in the style of Shastrarth, where they face charges, allegations and counter allegations and there are explanations. They are defensive as well as offensive. Everyone’s inner mind and thoughts are exposed. It is not all black and white but they all have shades of grey. Nobody yes nobody is infallible, in fact all the persona are flawed. In cruder words it can be said, “hamam mein sab nange hain.” The dialogue writers have to be praised and complimented for bringing out the best and worst in every character. They all have plausible explanations of their deeds done on earth at any given time. Based on this they are awarded their sentences, whether to enter the pearly gates of heaven or condemned to hell. This exposition is indeed amazing. It sets one thinking and as the Bard has said, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” We all have Godly strains in us and some Devilish streaks too ! This is a totally new look at Dharma and Adharma. This series is a must see for those who like mythological and historical shows but have a questioning mind and don’t believe that everything is gospel truth. I heartily congratulate the producer, director, writer and the entire team for making such an impactful show.

I am shocked to see this insult to Indian entrepreneurship! To the startups that spring up and grow . I am glad I did not read the book earlier. How could it be on best seller list? One would wonder this is how Indians do business and an Indian writer glorifies it! Doesn’t deserve your time at all. Just skip it

I had not heard about this film at all. Just decided to see it as it was made by India’s world renowned chef Vikas Khanna thinking it would be a film connected with culinary skills. Instead it has nothing to do with that but is all about the divine city Varanasi which I revere ! What a marvellous capture of the ghats, well picked locales and the story of an urchin, a widow and a transgender. It touches the heart and really captures the insides of Banaras. The acting of the street kid was so realistic. The characterization of each character was so true to life. Ofcourse the policemen were shown in gory colours. It is a remarkable story of an orphan achieving her dream. However it leaves you with wanting more. It doesn’t explain how that was possible. After all this transformation doesn’t happen magically. There has to be a benefactor who took Chutki under his wings. Similarly the other street urchin Chintu becomes a policeman something he dreamt of. Wish they had dwelt on this part too. Maybe they should make a sequel to show this aspect.

Normally I hate movies and shows with foul language and curse words and screwed up relationships and stop seeing them. This was different. I somehow pursued seeing it and I am glad I did. Tribhanga is a very sensitive portrayal of relationships between three generations, mother, daughter and grand daughter, specially between the writer Tanvi Azmi and the firebrand actress and dancer daughter Kajol. In between are thrown in men husbands, lovers. One is able to understand these screwed up relationships in the context of two very high strung women. Kudos to Renuka Shahane, the director for delineating these relationships with great sensitivity. You can’t hate them but understand them too, what made them what they were. They certainly are no model women to emulate . Yet Tribhanga is a must see for persons who appreciate good cinema.