Section: Movies

Nine Things We Hate-watched This Year

BY Ananya Shankar On

The year 2020 brought forth an abundance of content on streaming apps. However, it is still hard to ignore the problematic, cliche and cringe-worthy shows and movies that bombarded our screens this year. 

Despite their questionable content, some shows like Indian Matchmaking and Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives could be seen as light-hearted shows. 

However, movies like ‘horror-comedy’ Laxmii were unbearable, with no redeeming elements. What could go possibly wrong in a film where a cishet man plays a transwoman and takes over their narrative? 

Nevertheless, audiences tuned in to watch shows and films that were high on the cringe quotient, to either poke fun at them, judge their questionable content or watch it out of plain curiosity. Silverscreen India brings you a list of nine movies and television series that audiences hate-watched this year.

  1. Laxmii (Disney+Hotstar)

A remake of 2011 hit Tamil horror-comedy film Kanchana, this Diwali release faced a barrage of criticism for its problematic content. Lead actor Akshay Kumar was accused of commodifying and reinforcing negative stereotypes about the transgender community. It has a rating of 2.3 on IMDB.

While it is hard to overlook the problematic aspects of the film, the content is very mediocre. Kumar plays Asif, a skeptic who becomes possessed by the ghost of a trans woman Laxmii, who uses him as a medium to avenge her wrongful death. Scenes, such as the entire family huddling around a bathroom to take turns to see Asif applying turmeric, are supposed to be funny but it is just problematic.

Despite staying faithful to the original, Laxmii offers no comedy and the horror elements are not explored well. Audiences sat through the film only to see it get more ridiculous with every passing scene.

(Read the Silverscreen India review of Laxmii here)

  1. Holidate (Netflix)

It is officially that time of the year when Netflix decides to release over-the-top same old, bland, romantic comedy movies in time for Christmas. Every year, audiences find a barrage of holiday films where nothing except the cast is new. This year, Netflix decided to up its game and introduced a film that repurposes the plot by adding all the possible holidays on the Gregorian calendar.  

Holidate, starring Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey is about two strangers who decide that they are tired of being alone on holidays and make a pact to be each other’s platonic plus-one for the holidays only to fall in love.  

Holidate employs all the clichés that you can find in a romantic comedy film- two attractive people who are obviously meant to be together but minor (and avoidable) obstacles prevent them from getting together till the end. Riddled with clichés and zany storylines, this movie will baffle viewers till the end. A scene where a single Roberts runs into her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend and lies about how she is seeing someone or the scene where the female lead apologises to get the male lead to get back together is a reminder that the film offers absolutely nothing new and there is a desperate need to reinvent romantic comedies.

  1. Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives (Netflix)
Credits: Netflix

In late November, Netflix released its latest reality show Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, which is not just out of touch with reality but also showcases the most ridiculous problems that the titular Bollywood wives go through. While a reality show is supposed to be dramatised, Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives takes it to a new level with their debates on the pronunciation of Le Bal and an obviously staged stalker following them while they vacation in Doha. The excessive number of scenes depicting Doha serves as a free MakeMyTrip ad to visit Qatar.

A combination of Keeping up with the Kardashians and Real Housewives, this show traces the ‘glamourous’ lives of four women- Bhavna Panday, Neelam Kothari, Seema Khan, and Maheep Kapoor. Showcasing their problems, parties, and friendships, it did not take long for this show to reach the top spot on Netflix India. The show comes at a time when the Hindi film industry is being criticised for being nepotistic and favouring only the privileged. Showcasing upcoming stars like Ananya Panday (actor Chunkey Panday’s daughter) and star kids like Shanaya Kapoor and Ahaan Panday, this show has provided fodder for Instagram influencers to make parody videos and memes on it.

  1. The Kissing Booth 2 (Netflix)

The sequel to the 2018 movie The Kissing Booth, this film retains the original cast (Joey King, Jacob Elordi, and Joel Courtney) with a few new additional cast members, such as Taylor Zakhar Perez. As if one movie was not enough, Netflix released Kissing Booth 2 and there is also a third film that is coming out in 2021. 

The story is about Elle and Noah facing problems in their long-distance relationship and Elle soon becomes attracted to her classmate Marco. The predictable love triangle, coupled with cookie-cutter characters and easily resolvable conflicts makes it hard for the audience to watch with a straight face. The Kissing Booth 2 is a grim reminder about the consequences of adapting Wattpad stories to the big screen. All the problems that the couples face could have been sorted out through a mature conversation. But, hey, how else could the creators drag the movie for two hours if the lead characters acted in a calm and mature manner? 

To top it off, this year has already seen To All the Boys 2, which had the exact same plot and ending as this film as does every other teen love triangle flick. The Kissing Booth 2 has nothing new to offer, apart from a lesson on how not to make a teen romantic comedy and reinforce sexist and harmful relationships.

  1. Never Have I Ever (Netflix)
Credits: Netflix

Created by actor-producer Mindy Kaling, Never Have I Ever got Indians and the diaspora excited for all the right reasons. The show was about an Indian-American girl and it had an authentic and diverse cast. It also promised to showcase problems that were actually relatable to teenagers and young adults.

However, when the show came out, Indian audiences could not help but get confused by their “representation.” The show has a still of Durga Puja while talking about Ganesh Chathurthi and has a divorcee reaffirming the fact that arranged marriages are “better”. As if things were not bad enough, the divorcee’s story is the typical and downright regressive “I am a Hindu but I married a Muslim, so I am ostracised” trope. 

By depicting South Asians as nerdy with overprotective parents, who fall in love with dumb jocks, the show cements the stereotypes that it had originally set out to break. In conclusion, never have I ever seen a show where it was this hard to not recoil and shudder at the South-Asian stereotypes that were in place.

  1. Indian Matchmaking (Netflix)

Indian Matchmaking was a reality/documentary series that showed an Indian matchmaker Sima Taparia shuttle between India and the US to find suitable matches for her clients. This spawned off a whole set of memes and even Instagram filters. 

While one cannot expect much from reality television, this show had a couple of colourful characters in Aparna and Akshay (Taparia’s clients), whose demands were both infuriating and entertaining. Memes about Aparna’s accent, her dislike for comedy, and her specific demand that her partner should know that Bolivia has salt flats took the internet by storm. 

Delving into the world of arranged marriages, viewers were horrified to see people still talking about caste, class, and social status. The deep-rooted misogyny and regressive ideas put them off. However, what people failed to realise is that the show was simply a mirror of Indian society where very often, marriages are fixed this way.

  1. Emily in Paris (Netflix)

Starring Lily Collins in the titular role, Emily in Paris debuted on Netflix on October 2. The story follows Emily, a social media executive, who goes to Paris to open up newer markets for her high-end marketing firm. Once in Paris, she is downright uninterested in learning or respecting French.  

As reported by Hollywood Reporter in its review, Emily in Paris is “strikingly watchable, an escapist confection brimming with easily digestible plots, costumes, and characters. Turn off your brain and crank up Candy Crush.”

While a lot of viewers loved the Emily’s costumes, the show’s setting, and its breezy storyline, Parisians were less than thrilled with creator Darren Star’s latest show. The romantisation of Paris, as a place only focused on fashion and high-end food, was not well-received by Parisians, who felt that it portrayed them as lazy and shallow. The show has a painfully unlikeable lead character, which makes it difficult to take the show seriously. 

  1. Four More Shots Please! ( Amazon Prime Video)

Amazon Prime Video has given us some feminist gems like Made in Heaven and The Marvelous Ms. Maisel. Four More Shots Please!, however, manages to negate every single stride that the platform has made with their choice of content. 

It follows the life of four women Anjana, Damini, Siddhi, and Umang navigating relationships, work, friendships, and sexuality. It sets out to be a Sex and the City-esque show but ends up giving viewers the perfect content to cringe-watch. The show has very little to offer in the feminism area and it ends up doing more damage as it reinforces stereotypes, like the fat girl finding it hard to find love in season one. 

There are scenes where the characters scream ‘vagina’ in public to show it as achieving feminism and embracing sexuality. With its poorly written script and stereotypical tropes about women who are ’empowered’, Four More Shots Please! is hardly the flag bearer of women’s empowerment. 

  1. Putham Pudhu Kaalai (Amazon Prime Video)

This Tamil language anthology has been directed by acclaimed directors Rajiv Menon, Sudha Kongara, Karthik Subbaraj, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, and Gautham Vasudev Menon. The five-film anthology is focused on the Covid-19 lockdown and its impact on people. While the theme and idea are relatable, the stories were far from it. Even though stalwarts like Jayaram, Shruti Haasan, Andrea Jeremiah, Leela Samson featured in the series, the bland and underwhelming storylines were a major letdown. 

A borderline snoozefest, some of the films such as Coffee Anyone? and Reunion were predictable and filled with privilege. Coffee Anyone? tried to string together a story with coma, autism, and late pregnancy to try to get audiences to experience intense emotions. 

Jeremiah’s portrayal as a drug addict in Reunion was laughable as the tropes seemed far too stereotypical. C Gurucharan, the male lead, decided that he would woo her with a poem that started with the line “I stare starry-eyed at the star-filled sky”. Good luck with that. 

Most of the stories were focused on affluent and privileged people whose issues are not necessarily concerned with the pandemic itself. With most storylines being drab and dramatic, the series has very few captivating moments. Despite its star-studded cast and focus on family, relationships, and have happy endings, this anthology could not be saved from the audience’s hate-watching it.

(Read Silverscreen India’s review of Putham Pudhu Kaalai here)

Rajinikanth’s ‘Annaatthe’ Shoot Halted As Four Test Positive For Covid-19

BY Namrata Ganguly On

Rajinikanth‘s upcoming Tamil action-drama film Annaatthe‘s shooting in Hyderabad was suspended on Wednesday after four crew members tested positive for Covid-19. The actor and other crew members have tested negative. Besides Rajinikanth, the film also stars Nayanthara, Keerthy Suresh, Prakash Raj, Soori, Meena, and Khushbu.

Sun Pictures, producers of the film, said on social media that during “routine testing” on the set, four crew members tested positive for Covid-19 while Rajinikanth and other crew members have tested negative. The shooting for the film has been postponed as “utmost safety” measures are being followed, the production banner said on social media.

Rajinikanth’s publicity manager has confirmed with Silverscreen India that the shoot has been suspended and that actor would be returning to Chennai.

This is the second time that shooting for the film has been halted this year. Shooting for Annaatthe was stopped because of the pandemic earlier this year. On December 12, Rajinikanth’s birthday, the film’s director Siva had tweeted a video announcing that the film’s shooting would resume on December 15.

Rajinikanth had left for Hyderabad in a chartered flight 10 days ago on December 13 to resume shooting for the film.

On December 3, while speaking to the media regarding the launch of his political party, Rajinikanth had said that he would complete the remaining 40 per cent shooting for Annaatthe and that his political work would not hinder the shooting for the film, as it was his “duty to complete it”. Rajinikanth, at the time, had announced that he was going to launch his own political party in January 2021 and that he would announce the date of the launch on December 31, 2020.

Annaatthe is produced by Kalanithi Maran under his banner, Sun Pictures. Earlier this year, the makers of Annaatthe had announced that the film would release in theatres in 2021 during Pongal.

9 Films That Perfectly Capture the Essence of 2020

BY Ananya Shankar On

2020 got off to a bad start. The US and Iran were flexing muscles and #WW3 was trending on social media. Meanwhile, Australia was besieged with apocalyptic fires and East Africa was being infested with swarms of locusts. Was the end of the world nigh, wondered the Biblical types. And if that were not enough, basketball star Kobe Bryant died in a tragic helicopter crash. All this still in January.

And then Covid-19 happened, and the world screeched to a halt. Pandemics tend to have that effect. Cut to December, and here we are in India with people still dying of the deadly virus, a farmer protest that is getting more serious by the day, and as if this were not enough, we were also hit with Sadak 2 and just for good measure, the trailer for Coolie No. 1. Haven’t we suffered enough?

Turns out this year is also a first in many ways. From social distancing, anti-mask protests and quirky coffee recipes, the world has seen it all. As the year draws to a close, we cannot help but wonder how 2020 also reminded us of films that showcased the horrors of disease and other uncertainties that we have experienced this year. And so we bring you a list of nine films that perfectly capture the essence of the inexplicable year that was.

1. Virus (2019)

A Malayalam medical thriller, Virus is based on the real-life Nipah virus outbreak that plagued Kerala in 2018. Starring Tovino Thomas, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Revathy, this film depicts how a team of medical professionals go out of their way to contain the spread of this new virus. In today’s scenario, Virus becomes relevant to remind the audience of the courage and initiative that medical practitioners and workers take to save patients from a deadly and unknown disease.

(Read the Silverscreen India of Virus here)

2. World War Z (2013)

In this film, starring Brad Pitt as a former United Nations investigator, a deadly zombie virus is unleashed, and it is up to Pitt to find the source of the outbreak and prevent its spread. As he and his family are taken to a US Navy vessel, he is instructed to find clues to understand the reason behind the epidemic. The movie is an apocalyptic horror film that shows scientists and governments racing against time to save humanity from a deadly zombie virus. Based on a 2006 book of the same name, World War Z shows insight into authorities trying to learn about newer strains of the virus and scrambling to find a vaccine to cure it.

3. Contagion (2011)

This year’s events have caused people to revisit this 2011 film about the daunting realities of going through a pandemic. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, this film starts on a grim note where Beth (Gwenyth Paltrow) dies of a mysterious illness. The new disease is transmitted through respiratory droplets and government and medical authorities must figure out how to handle the outbreak. As more and more people get infected, they stare at what seems like the end of humanity. Contagion has become the second most-watched film during this pandemic, according to Buzzfeed, showcasing how the events are a literal mirror of today’s situation.

4. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Mad-Max-Fury-Road-movie

A post-apocalyptic action movie, Mad Max: Fury Road stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in lead roles. Set in a desert wasteland with dwindling resources, a lone drifter Max (Hardy) is taken hostage by the workers of an evil dictator Immortan Joe, who decide to use him as a blood bag. At the same time, lieutenant Imperator Furiosa (Theron) goes rogue and inadvertently pulls Max into the dangerous journey that she embarks on with Immortan Joe’s wives to reach the “green place.” Mad Max: Fury Road is a terrifying look into a world of chaos where women are seen as breeders and water is extremely scarce.  While the world might not be this scary just yet, this movie definitely reminds people about the true dangers of living in such a world. Apart from this, the film that is based on a desert with barely any dialogues resonates in today’s world where having minimal contact is the new normal.

5. Outbreak (1995)

Credits: Warner Brothers/ courtesy of Everett Collection

Another classic film about dealing with deadly viruses, this film takes a look into how an Ebola-like virus transmits from a monkey and starts to spread like wildfire. Starring Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman, this film is based on the novel The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston. Sam (Hoffman) is a military virologist who gets behind the task of curbing the spread of the virus. Soon, it is realised that some military officials may be having ulterior motives to find the cure. Despite Outbreak being an action film that does not necessarily stay true to the pandemic film genre, it gets a lot of elements right. From people trying to escape quarantine and officials focusing on personal gain rather than helping their citizens encapsulate some of the major events related to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Interestingly, there was an Ebola outbreak in the African country of Zaire at the time of the film’s release.

6. Carriers (2011)

Credits: Paramount Vantage

Carriers stars Chris Pine, Emily VanCamp, and Lou Taylor Pucci in lead roles and revolves around two brothers and their friends decide to escape to an isolated beach when an unknown virus starts affecting people in the USA. This movie has been praised for its realistic portrayal of a pandemic as the friends’ goal is to isolate themselves and try to not get infected. In the film, one of the friends, Bobby, gets infected by the virus and tried her best to hide it mirroring a recurrent concern in today’s world. The movie also deals with the question of selfish survivalism, a topic that has become very relevant today as seen with people’s anti-vaccination and anti-mask stance.

7. Wild (2014)

Wild is a biographical drama film starring Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed. In 1995, after her divorce, Cheryl decided to hike 1,100 miles in the famous Pacific Crest Trail. Despite having no experience in hiking, she is resolute to go through with it. This film about self-discovery and isolation received two Academy Award nominations in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress category. Much like most of us this year, this film is about a person’s determination to stay positive even during the most trying times. This movie focuses on Cheryl’s journey to achieve redemption and self-love by isolating herself from the world. This is something that echoes with today’s audience as more and more people in self-isolation are trying to discover new hobbies and learn to love themselves.

8. Her (2013)

Hailed as one of the greatest films of this century by a BBC poll, Her is a romantic comedy and drama film starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, and Amy Adams. The story is about Theodore, who falls in love with his operating system’s artificial intelligence (AI) called Samantha while going through a difficult divorce. Samantha also reciprocates, and the two strike a relationship. At a time when the world is making strides in the development of AI, this movie offers perspective into the real possibility of human beings becoming dependent on technology. The film inadvertently captures the essence of being in a relationship in 2020, where everything is virtual and where people are isolated from each other.

9. 7aum Arivu ( 2011)

Red Giant Movies

This 2011 historical-drama film stars Suriya, Shruti Haasan, and Johnny Tri Nguyen. As a way to wage biological war against India, a Chinese hypnotist decides to utilise an ancient virus to infect Chennai in a mission termed Operation Red. At the same time, a genetics student discovers that the descendant of the 6th century saint Bodhidharma is a circus artist in Chennai. Bodhidharma was a martial arts and medical expert, who travelled to China to stop the spread of a similar virus there. In the present, the student and the artist team up to stop Operation Red from spreading and wrecking havoc. 7aum Arivu is a film that is supposedly a disaster film but ends up being a typical action movie that focuses on bizarre genetic tests and lengthy action sequences to showcase the male lead’s talent and strength. At the time of its release, the film was criticised by followers of Bodhidharma, who felt that it had many inaccuracies and misrepresented the historical figure. However, this film does bear a certain amount of relevance to difficulties in the Ind0-Chinese relationship in recent years. As both countries try to engage in dialogue to resolve issues, Bodhidharma’s attempts to foster peace and harmony in China make the movie slightly more realistic and grounded.

 

Kathir, Anandhi to Team Up for Drama Thriller With a Message

BY Anusha Sundar On

Actors Kathir and Anandhi will team up for a Tamil film directed by debutant director Zac Hariss, announced AAR Productions on Wednesday.

The film, which has no title as yet, will mark the second collaboration between Kathir and Anandhi, after the 2018 Tamil drama film Pariyerum Perumal helmed by Mari Selvaraj.

Speaking to Silverscreen India, Kathir said, “[My role] is based on a common man. The story is relatable to any part of the world. It is an interesting, realistic emotion thriller.” Kathir said that shooting for the film would begin in March and April, 2021.

Zac Harriss, who has previously worked as an Assistant Director in the Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu industries,  told Silverscreen India that the film was a drama thriller. He said, “It is a multi-starrer movie. It’s not a crime thriller. It is drama-based and will touch the emotions of the viewers, make people think, and give a message to society.”

He said that the film would feature two main protagonists whose characters would complement each other. “We have two more female leads in the cast and we are casting established artists. We are in talks for it,” Zac Harriss said.

Actor Narein, who last played a football coach in the 2019 Tamil sports drama Champion, has already joined the team. The rest of the cast and crew members would be announced soon, said Harriss.

According to Harriss, the story was created before the lockdown and pre-production was carried out during the lockdown period.

Harris also said that the title would be announced in January next year.

The production company backing the film, AAAR Productions said in a press note that the film would be their maiden venture in the Tamil film industry. It said it was looking forward to producing “content-driven films”.

AAR Productions also said that filming would begin early in 2021 in various locations in Chennai and Kerala. Further, the film is planned for release during the summer of next year.

Naranipuzha Shanavas, Director of Sufiyum Sujatayum, On Ventilator But Declared Brain Dead

BY Ramya Ashok Kumar On

Naranipuzha Shanavas, the Malayalam filmmaker who directed Sufiyum Sujatayum, was declared brain dead on Wednesday by doctors at the KG Hospital in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The director had gone into cardiogenic shock on December 19 and was being treated in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Speaking to Silverscreen India, KG Hospital’s PRO, Gandhirajan, said that Shanavas’ family now has to decide if they want to keep him on ventilator support in the hospital or if they want to take him home.

Sufiyum Sujatayum‘s producer, Vijay Babu, announced on social media that Shanavas was still on ventilator support and that his heart was still beating. Babu posted, “We are still hoping for a miracle,” and asked people to not share misleading information.

Shanavas is still on ventilator support . His heart is still beating …. request all to pls pray for him .
We are still hoping for a miracle .
Shall update accordingly …
Pls do not post wrong information .🙏

Posted by Vijay Babu on Tuesday, December 22, 2020

On Tuesday, Gandhirajan had said that Shanavas was under observation. “He is still in the hospital. He has been admitted to the ICU and is undergoing treatment. He is on ventilator support,” he said.

Cardiogenic shock is a condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to the brain, kidneys, and other vital organs. One of the most common causes of cardiogenic shock is heart attack. Treatment usually aims to restore blood flow and protect organs from damage.

Shanavas most recently directed the Malayalam film Sufiyum Sujatayum, starring Jayasurya, Aditi Rao Hydari and Dev Mohan.

The director continues to be on ventilator support at the time of writing.

‘Andhadhun’ Tamil Remake Title to be Announced on January 1, 2021, Says Film’s Producer Thiagarajan

BY Ramya Ashok Kumar On

The title of the Tamil remake of the hit 2018 Hindi thriller Andhadhun will be released on January 1, 2021, said the Tamil film’s producer Thiagarajan.

Speaking to Silverscreen India, Thiagarajan said that they were yet to finalise the actor who will play the female lead but will announce the name on January 1, 2021.

It was recently announced that actors Simran and Karthik will be joining the cast of the Tamil remake. The film, helmed by director JJ Fredrick of Ponmagal Vandhal fame, will star Thiagarajan’s son Prashanth as the protagonist, which was played by Ayushmann Khurrana in the Hindi version. According to Thiagarajan, Simran will play the role of Tabu (the antagonist), and Karthik will play the role of Simran’s husband.

Last week, Santhosh Narayanan was announced as the film’s music director. Talking about the film’s music, Thiagarajan told Silverscreen India: “To compose music for this movie is a challenge. Since it is a different kind of genre, Santhosh Narayanan who has been doing music in a different style, was chosen.”

The film was supposed to go on floors earlier this year but it was stalled due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown. Talking about when shooting will commence, Thiagarajan said: “We will probably decide that in the next two to three weeks. Covid is still spreading rampantly everywhere.”

A majority of the shooting is expected to be shot in Chennai. Some portions will be shot in Pondicherry and the climax sequence is supposed to be shot in London.

Directed by Sriram Raghavan, Andhadhun starred Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhavan and Manav Vij in lead roles. The story revolves around a pianist who pretends to be visually impaired and ends up witnessing a murder, entangling himself in a web of lies and ensuing problems. The film won the National Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi in 2019.

The White Tiger: Netflix Releases Trailer, Film to Release on January 22, 2021

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Netflix released the trailer of The White Tiger, the upcoming film starring Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, on Monday.

Directed by American director Ramin Bahrani, the film is based on Aravind Adiga’s book by the same name. The novel, which released in 2008, earned Adiga the Man Booker Prize the same year.

The film will premiere on the streaming giant on January 22, 2021.

The English-language film also stars Mahesh Manjrekar and Nalneesh Neel. The trailer implies that the film is based on class-based discrimination, where servants are made to bear the brunt of their employer’s deeds.

As per the synopsis given by Netflix, Gourav’s character “uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and become an entrepreneur”.

Ava DuVernay and Chopra Jonas are the film’s executive producers, while Italian cinematographer Paolo Carnera is the cinematographer. Tim Streeto is in charge of editing and music has been composed by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans.

The three leading actors of the film- Gourav, Chopra Jonas and Rao- shared the trailer on social media.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Adarsh Gourav (@gouravadarsh)

Gourav has earlier worked in several supporting roles in advertisements and films like Sridevi-starrer Mom (2017), where he played the role of one of the antagonists. He was also seen in web series like Die Trying (2018), and Leila (2019). The White Tiger will be the first film where plays the lead role.

Rao was last seen in the Amazon Prime Video original film, Chhalaang, which released earlier this year. His upcoming projects include the comedy-horror film Roohi Afzana, opposite Janhvi Kapoor.

The White Tiger will be Chopra Jonas’ first release in 2021. She was last seen in the 2019 film The Sky is Pink, opposite Farhan Akhtar. Her upcoming works include We Can Be Heroes, The Matrix 4, and Citadel, among others.

Best of Tamil Cinema 2020: High Flying Bird, Funerals and a Day in the Life of a Muslim

BY Aditya Shrikrishna On

Theatres are still shut in Kerala and the footfall in Tamil Nadu theatres has been underwhelming since reopening in November. None of this is surprising, after the first countrywide lockdown in March, the Covid-19 pandemic has only raged across the country bringing with it its own set of crises and political apathy. Cinema took a backseat and industries turned towards OTTs to make a quick profit. It could be endlessly argued if OTTs became a dumping ground for films that were expected to fail at box office (especially in Tamil as they the trend began with Ponmagal Vandhal and Penguin, both forgettable) or it is a legitimate future route for cinema to take, especially a particular kind of cinema. Nobody can define that kind, right now it is a wait and watch scenario as more OTT releases are on the cards with no updates on the previously marquee films of 2020 – Lokesh Kanagaraj‘s Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi starrer Master, Karthik Subbaraj‘s Jagame Thandhiram with Dhanush and Ajith fans still waiting on Boney Kapoor to know what is up with Valimai.

More importantly, the big films are waiting for theatres to go back to 100% occupancy and for the distributors to find a way to cover all the major regions. A watershed moment was of course Suriya‘s decision to release his film with Sudha Kongara, Soorarai Pottru, on Amazon Prime Video. Its long-term effects are anybody’s guess.

With the pandemic on one side and the OTT debate on the other, 2020 was stretched thin. After a string of films where the subaltern asserted their place in Tamil cinema, a trend began to develop where other producers and filmmakers wanted to get on the train as well, the marginalised subjects that could be mined for telling stories hitherto never attempted in Tamil cinema. If done well, it’s a welcome move. It’s not so welcome when the message supersedes the medium of cinema, as Tamizh Prabha observed, in the cases of Gypsy, Ettuthikkum Para and Kanni Madam. But this trend – that began a decade ago and gained new vigour with the arrival of Pa Ranjith – brought with it films that also push back, that reaffirm caste pride and hegemony – in the cases of films like Devarattam (2019) and Draupathi (2020). And to close off 2020, we got Netflix’s long-awaited anthology Paava Kadhaigal, with four top filmmakers basing their films on caste-based killings, gender, sin and pride.

On that note, here are the five films that piqued my interest from 2020, not ranked in any order.

1. Dharala Prabhu

Krishna Marimuthu‘s remake of Shoojit Sircar‘s Vicky Donor is a faithful one, even managing a touch of authenticity of its own with some minor, effective changes. It is in large parts thanks to Vivek, who brings with him his long-lost siblings – sarcasm and wit – as Dr Kannadasan to the role played desperate and funny by Annu Kapoor in the original. It is impressive that Krishna retains all the complexities of the source, not mincing the harsh truths, a choice that would have made the Tamil version a straight shooter by simply adapting the plot line. Instead, we get a dignified love story, some great buddy comedy between Harish Kalyan, Vivek and RS Sivaji, along with some interesting ruminations on adoption or same-sex couples looking to start a family, all purely through visuals rarely seen before.

(Read the Silverscreen India review of Dharala Prabhu here)

2. Sethum Aayiram Pon

For a film around death, Anand Ravichandran‘s Sethum Aayiram Pon is always mobile. It played at festivals in 2019 but released on OTT in April 2020. The film revolves around a city-bred Meera aka Kunjamma (Nivedhithaa Sathish) – a make-up artist in the film industry – returning to her village for the first time as an adult to meet her grandmother Krishnaveni (Srilekha Rajendran), an oppari singer. The film possesses beautiful mise-en-scène, long takes garlanding a funeral and Anand’s roving camera catches all of it in constant motion. The conversations filmed in wide angles gradually panning closer as the characters share personal moments, in turn becoming intimate are particularly memorable. Sethum Aayiram Pon also has a musicality about it, almost every character has a job associated with rituals following death, their language turns lyrical without so much as a warning and it only accentuates our experience of getting to know them better. The whole film is like watching the evolution of something like Makka Kalanguthappa, as if death has come to life in celebration of itself.

(Read the Silverscreen India review of Sethum Aayiram Pon here)

3. Soorarai Pottru

Sudha Kongara gave an alternate history of Air Deccan founder GR Gopinath, but she made it so kinetic and immersive that nothing else seemed to matter. Her characters raced along with the screenplay, be it Suriya’s Nedumaaran or Aparna Balamurali‘s Bommi. What was expected to be romance turned into a duopoly where two characters with high flying dreams and similar, restless energies raced against each other to pip the other to the post. It gave us a buoyant relationship drama along with a story of another assertive character who is an ally of the marginalised, using his dreams and capitalist acumen to uplift a whole demographic. Sudha’s film could be politically fragile but the filmmaking and performances more than make up for it, turning Soorarai Pottru into one of the best joyrides in a mass movie in recent memory.

(Read the Silverscreen India review of Soorarai Pottru here)

4. Oor Iravu

Vetri Maaran‘s contribution to the Netflix anthology Paava Kadhaigal is an illustration of why he is current Tamil cinema’s foremost mainstream auteur. Oor Iravu might be a story of a father and a daughter, played by Prakash Raj and Sai Pallavi respectively, but there is a lot happening around them. Its denouement might be predictable (even by design if you go by Netflix’s recommended order of viewing the anthology) but it captures in essence the other side of a caste-based killing. This is the point where most narratives of similar nature end. What happens when a couple momentarily elope and escape to freedom? How do people in her family perceive this development? We hear snatches of those conversations and reaction at Sumathi’s claustrophobic house teeming with men and women who claim their lives were run awash by her. Their misplaced fight for supremacy is now reinforced with a fight for survival. And using a mix of tracking shots, high angle (as much as that house would give him) shots, light play and ambient sound, Vetri manages to build tension and depravity into a closed chapter.

(Read the Silverscreen India review of Paava Kadhaigal here)

5. Nasir

Arun Karthick‘s Nasir did not get a permanent release, but it played as part of Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival’s Year-Round Programme for everyone in Asia to watch and once again as part of the line-up in the global ‘We Are One’ film festival when the world’s top tier festivals joined hands in the time of the pandemic. Nasir‘s super 16mm 4:3 footage gives a glimpse of the narrow confines that an Indian Muslim lives through in present day India, a quasi-Hindu rashtra. Nasir is a mood piece that might be uneventful, which is a feature – what’s a day for Nasir like from dawn to dusk? Arun paints the grim reality of a Muslim man’s struggle in a place where the Hindu far right claims its authority over all things India. Koumarane Valavane plays the protagonist with a dispassionate zeal for survival, his concerns only around his family – his wife, his work, his debts. The brilliance of Nasir is in its muted documentation of all forms of violence – verbal, physical, mental – and how the surrounding atmosphere enables it, what people really think deep in their hearts, their contradictions and hypocrisies in a supposedly pluralistic society.

(Read the Silverscreen India review of Nasir here)

Honourable Mentions: V Vignarajan’s Andhaghaaram & RDM’s Kavalthurai Ungal Nanban

Female Malayalam Actor Harassed at Kochi Mall, Police Arrest Two

BY Ramya Ashok Kumar On

The Kerala police on Sunday arrested two men accused of harassing a female Malayalam actor at a mall in Kochi last week. The actor had shared the incident on social media on December 17, and wrote that the two men had inappropriately touched her at Kochi’s Lulu Mall. The incident was shared widely on media, following which the Kerala Women’s Commission took up the case suo moto.

Speaking to Silverscreen India, Ashraf A, the station house officer of Kalamssery Police Station, said, “The two accused were arrested yesterday near Aluva in Kochi around 9 pm. They were produced before the court and have been remanded to 14 days of judicial custody. We found that they had come to Kochi, reportedly to apologise to the actor and her family and gain their sympathy.”

The two accused had grazed the actor’s back in a “not so accidental” manner while walking past her in a “generously spaced aisle” at the mall, the actor wrote on social media. The accused, who had been absconding after the police took up the case, told the media on Sunday that they were innocent but willing to apologise. In response to the duo’s willingness to apologise, the actor wrote on social media that she was willing to accept their apologies.

“I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the police and media who acted with immediate effect. I would also like to thank my family, friends and everyone who reached out to me with kind words of support. Your words gave me and my family strength through this and I’m acknowledging that there are two other families going through a tough time as well. To all the people who shared their personal experiences with me I empathise with you and I hope you find strength,” she wrote.

Sharing the incident on social media last week, the actor had written, “I wanted to give them the benefit of a doubt but you know when something is just not right, you feel it.” She explained that she was blank as she was processing what had happened and when she did try approaching them, they ignored her.

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The two men had later followed the actor and her sister as they joined their mother and brother at another aisle. “These men came to us again and this time that guy had the audacity to talk to me and my sister. Trying to get closer as he spoke. He wanted to know the names of the movies I have been a part of,” she wrote. However, the actor’s sister ignored them and the two soon left after the actor’s mother approached them.

The police took suo moto cognisance of the crime and began an investigation after the actor shared the incident on social media. Upon checking the CCTV footage from the mall, the police confirmed that the two had inappropriately touched the actor. The police also released visuals of the two on December 19.

Rana Daggubati Joins Pawan Kalyan’s Next; Shooting Will Begin In January 2021

BY Ramya Ashok Kumar On

Rana Daggubati, Telugu actor, will star alongside Pawan Kalyan in the upcoming Telugu film directed by Saagar K Chandra. While the film was officially launched on Monday, shooting will begin in January, 2021.

The film, which has no title as yet, is produced by Suryadevara Naga Vamsi under the Sithara Entertainments banner. Although Suryadevara Naga Vamsi bought the Telugu remake rights of the hit Malayalam film Ayyappanum Koshiyum (starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Biju Menon) in March, there has been no confirmation as yet that this film will be a remake of Ayyappanum Koshiyum.

On Monday, Sithara Entertainments announced that Rana Daggubati would join the cast. Daggubati also shared the announcement on his social media channel.

The pooja ceremony for the film was, however, attended only by Kalyan.

In October, Sithara Entertainments had announced that Pawan Kalyan would play a cop in the film. They had announced, “favourite cop of Telugu cinema is back in a high voltage role.”

The music for the film will be composed by SS Thaman and Prasad Murella has been roped in as the cinematographer. Editing will be handled by Navin Nooli, while Prasad Murella will be the art director of the film.

Saagar K Chandra has previously directed Appatlo Okadundevadu, a 2016 Telugu-language action crime film. Ayyappanum Koshiyum is on course for a Tamil and Hindi remake. 5 Star Kathiresan has acquired the Tamil remake rights of Ayyappanum Koshiyum, and Bollywood actor-producer  John Abraham had acquired the Hindi remake rights of the film under his JA Entertainment banner.

Golden Globe Awards 2021: Dhanush’s ‘Asuran’ and Suriya’s ‘Soorarai Pottru’ to be Screened at Los Angeles

BY Ananya Shankar On

Asuran, the Tamil film starring actors Dhanush, Manju Warrier, Ken Karunas, and Pasupathy, will be screened at the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

The film is one among the 139 foreign language films from 77 countries that have been submitted for the Foreign Film category. The screenings will take place in the greater Los Angeles area. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing protocols, the Foreign Film committee will coordinate and most films will be screened via digital links.

Every year the Hollywood Press Association (HPA) awards the Golden Globe in the Best Foreign Film category. In order to qualify, 51% of a film’s dialogues must be spoken in a non-English language.

Unlike the Academy Awards, the HPA allows a country to make multiple submissions. According to the revised rules of the organisation, a film will qualify if its release date falls between October 1, 2019, and February 28, 2021.

Directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Vetri Maaran, Asuran is about a family that is on the run after their son kills an upper-caste and sadist landlord. An action and revenge drama, the film was adapted from the book Vekkai and incorporates many real-life events, such as the 1968 Kilvenmani massacre in Tamil Nadu.

Another Tamil film that made it to the list is Sudha Kongara’s Soorarai Pottru. Starring Suriya, Aparna Balamurali, and Urvashi, the film is a biographical drama about pilot GR Gopinath, who started India’s first affordable airline Air Deccan. The movie charts the trials and tribulations that he went through before becoming a successful entrepreneur. The film was released in November on Amazon Prime Video.

Films from other Indian languages in the list include Ludo, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, Eeb Allay Ooo!, The Disciple, Trees Under the Sun, and Just Like That have also made it to the list.

Dhanush recently announced that Asuran will be screened at the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India, which will be held in Goa. A total of 23 films have been chosen for the section and the festival will take place between January 16, 2021, to January 24, 2021.

Filmfare OTT Awards 2020: ‘Paatal Lok’, ‘The Family Man’ Win Top Honours

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Web series Paatal Lok and The Family Man walked away with several awards at Flyx Filmfare OTT Awards, the first edition of the Filmfare OTT Awards.

While Paatal Lok was adjudged the Best Series, its directors Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy won the Best Director Award.

The Family Man won the Critics’ Award for both Best Series and Best Director (Krishna DK and Raj Nidimoru).

Actor Jaideep Ahlawat, who played Hathiram Chaudhary in Paatal Lok was adjudged the Best Actor in a Drama Series (male) for his role. Sushmita Sen won the award in the female category for Aarya.

Actors Manoj Bajpayee and Priyamani earned the Critics’ Award in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, respectively, for The Family Man.

Filmfare Awards launched the Flyx Filmfare OTT Awards this year to honour content available on OTT platforms. With web content being consumed more than ever in the country through streaming apps, “this new venture is going to honour creators, artistes and technicians from 33 categories” Filmfare India said. The award ceremony was streamed on Flux on Saturday.

Most of the awards were won by content from streaming platform Amazon Prime Video.

With the OTT delving into films and web series, there were 33 categories that cut across genres. Here’s a list of winners from other categories:

Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Male)
Jitendra Kumar (Panchayat)


Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Female)

Mithila Palkar (Little Things- Season 3)


Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Critics) 

Dhruv Sehgal (Little Things- Season 3)


Best Actress in a Comedy Series (Critics)
Sumukhi Suresh (Pushpavalli – Season 2)


Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series (Male)

Amit Sadh (Breathe: Into The Shadows)

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Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series (Female)
Divya Dutta (Special OPS)


Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series (Male)

Raghubir Yadav (Panchayat)

 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series (Female)

Neena Gupta (Panchayat)


Best Non-fiction Original (Series/Special)

Times of Music


Best Comedy (Series/Specials)

Panchayat


Best Film (Web Original)
Raat Akeli Hai


Best Actor in a Web Original Film (Male)

Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Raat Akeli Hai)


Best Actor in a Web Original Film (Female)

Tripti Dimri (Bulbbul)

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Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Web Original Film (Male)

Rahul Bose (Bulbbul)


Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Web Original Film (Female)
Seema Pahwa (Chintu Ka Birthday)

Best Original Story (Series)

Sudip Sharma, Sagar Haveli, Hardik Mehta and Gunjit Chopra (Paatal Lok)


Best Screenplay (Series)

Sudip Sharma (Paatal Lok)


Best Dialogue

Sumit Arora, Suman Kumar, Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK (The Family Man)


Best Cinematography (Series)

Sylvester Fonseca and Swapnil Sonavane (Sacred Games Season 2)


Best Production Design (Series)

Rajneesh Hedao (The Forgotten Army – Azaadi Ke Liye)


Best Editing (Series)

Praveen Kathikuloth (Special OPS)


Best Costume Design (Series)

Ayesha Khanna (The Forgotten Army: Azaadi Ke Liye)

 

Best Background Music (Series)

Alokananda Dasgupta (Sacred Games Season 2)


Best Original Soundtrack (Series)

Advait Nemlekar (Special OPS)

Paattu: Nayanthara to Star Opposite Fahadh Faasil in Alphonse Puthren’s Film

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Nayanthara, the Tamil actor, has been cast as the female lead in director Alphonse Puthren‘s next film, Paattu. The director took to social media to make the announcement.

The film will have actor Fahadh Faasil playing the lead.

“Happy to announce that Lady Superstar Nayanthara is joining our feature film ‘Paattu’. The hero is Fahadh Faasil and the heroine is Nayanthara. Will announce further updates about cast and crew soon,” Alphonse’s post read.

The usage of cassettes in the poster implies that the film might revolve around music.

Apart from writing, directing and editing the film, Alphonse will also turn music composer. This will be the first time the Premam director will be composing music. The film marks the director’s first collaboration with Fahadh. So far, his films have mostly had actor Nivin Pauly playing the lead.

Paattu is produced by Zacharia Thomas and Alwin Antony of UGM Entertainments. Anend C Chandran is the cinematographer of the film.

Announcing the film in a Facebook post in September, Alphonse had written: “My next feature film’s name is Paattu (song). Fahadh Faasil is the Hero of the feature. Produced by UGM Entertainments (Zacharia Thomas and Alwin Antony). This time I’ll be doing music too. It will be in Malayalam language. Will update rest of the Crew and Cast members while the feature film progresses.”

Paattu will be Alphonse’s third directorial venture after the 2015 film Premam.

Apart from Paattu, Nayanthara will be seen in the Malayalam film Nizhal, opposite Kunchacko Boban. She is currently shooting for Vignesh Shivan‘s Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kaathal. She has been joined by Vijay Sethupathi and Samantha Akkineni on the sets.

Fahadh, who was last seen in the Malayalam thriller C U Soon, has completed the shooting of Irul with C U Soon co-star Darshana Rajendran. He is currently filming Dileesh Pothan’s Joji, a story which is said to have been inspired by William Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Actor Chadwick Boseman Posthumously Wins Best Supporting Actor at New York Film Critics Circle Awards

BY Ananya Shankar On

Chadwick Boseman,the Black Panther actor, posthumously won the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in Da 5 Bloods at the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Awards. The results were announced on Twitter.

Da 5 Bloods won big at the awards. Critics gave the film’s director, Spike Lee, a special award for “inspiring the New York community with his short film “New York New York” and for advocating for a better society through cinema.”

Delroy Lindo, who plays the role of Paul in the film, also won the Best Actor award.

Meanwhile, First Cow won the award for Best Film. The movie released in March but it had to eventually opt for a video-on-demand release due to theatres shutting down as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always‘s screenwriter Eliza Hittman won Best Screenplay and debutant Sidney Flanigan won Best Actress for the same film. She played the role of a teenager who travels to New York to get an abortion.

Maria Bakalova won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Borat Subsequent Movie Film, while Chloe Zao won Best Director for Nomadland.

The NYFCC awards are one of the first awards of the season. This year, award shows like the Oscars and the Golden Globes have been postponed by two months due to the ongoing pandemic. The Academy Awards will be telecast on April 25, 2021 as opposed to the original date, February 28, 2021.

The NYFCC comprises over 50 critics and journalists from Time, Variety, and IndieWire. According to Variety, the decisions taken by them has a direct effect on the Academy Award nominations.

“Since 1935, the NYFCC winner for the best film has never failed to receive at least one Oscar nomination. More importantly, every film that has won the top prize from NYFCC has been nominated in a major Oscar category including picture, director, acting and screenplay,” the magazine reported.

Bengali Cinema in 2020: A Year of Disappointing Films Amid a Few Hidden Gems

BY Kathakali Nandi On

2020 has not been a kind year for the film industry. With cinema halls remaining shut and film shoots coming to a grinding halt for almost seven months due to the raging Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent nationwide lockdown, the Bengali film industry has been counting losses since March. When the lockdown was imposed, Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti and The Parcel were running across cinema halls and multiplexes in West Bengal. Overnight, all shows were cancelled for an indefinite period.

The state, however, saw a window of opportunity to reopen and recover some of the damages when the Centre permitted theatres to reopen in October. In West Bengal, it was the ideal time to welcome movie goers as Bengali’s most eagerly awaited festival, Durga Puja, was around the corner. Puja releases are a big deal for the Bengali film industry, with producers and actors lining up their best works for the festive season. In a bid to woo audiences and premiere pending releases, producers lined up 10 new films to be released on October 21, just a day before Durga Puja festivities were to begin. But the picture in all the halls across the state was the same- empty, desolate halls with barely any audiences.

The low turnout of audiences has naturally upset producers. Abir Chatterjee and Rukmini Maitra-starrer Switzerland was the only film to release between October and December.

Apart from the far and few releases, this year has been a tragic one for Bengali cinema, with the death of veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee. The year began with the release of his film Borunbabur Bondhu (directed by Anik Dutta) in January. Movie goers were eagerly awaiting the release of Bela Shuru, the sequel to the hit film Belaseshe (2015) this year. It was scheduled to release this summer but film makers are yet to announce a new release date.

Owing to the prolonged lockdown, not many films have been able to greet audiences at the theatres. Among the crop of films to have been released this year, most have been disappointing. Here’s a list of the films that left movie goers disappointed:

Warning: Spoilers ahead

  1. Love Aaj Kal Porshu

Starring Arjun Chakrabarty and Madhumita Sarkar, this Pratim D Gupta directorial promised audiences a love story spanning several time periods. The lead pair seemed destined to fall in love, even as they meet across several days, in different situations and as completely different individuals. The strange twist of watching the lead pair being unwitting amnesiac participants of an absurd reality television show, for which they are hypnotised overnight and made to get under the skin of their make-believe characters was a tad bit unrealistic.

 

  1. Asur

This film, directed by Pavel, held a lot of promise. The film is based on the true incident of a stampede at at the tallest (88ft long) Durga Pandal in Kolkata in 2015, which injured 11 persons and forced the police to close the pandal in the middle of the festivities. The film, starring Jeet, Abir Chatterjee and Nusrat Jahan, revolves around eccentric genius artist Kigan Mandi (Jeet), who designs and constructs the tallest ever Durga idol with the help and encouragement of his college friend Aditi (Nusrat), much to the chagrin of her estranged, industrialist husband Bodhi (Abir). The film blames corporate rivalries and personal revenge as the reason for the unique pandal to be closed for viewers.

 

  1. Dwitiyo Purush

This film was touted to be a much-awaited sequel to Srijit Mukherji’s Baishe Srabon (2011), the slick crime thriller which saw renowned actor Prosenjit Chatterjee play a convincing role of a disgraced cop, who turns killer to restore his reputation as an able police officer after he was dismissed from service. Coupled with the faultless performances of Parambrata Chatterjee as Abhijit Pakrashi, the investigating officer probing a string of cold-blooded murders across Kolkata, Raima Sen as his on-and-off journalist girlfriend and Abir Chatterjee as the friendzoned colleague of Pakrashi’s girlfriend, the film was immensely successful and saw both critical and popular acclaim. Dwitiyo Purush, however, has a very weak link to its predecessor and could well be a standalone film. In the sequel, Kolkata’s China Town suddenly sees murders coinciding with the release of a dreaded criminal and former gang lord Khoka (played by Anirban Bhattacharya). The film is mostly a case of mistaken identities. The angle of Khoka and Pakrashi as gay lovers who reunite after 25 years also looked forced and unnecessary.

 

  1. Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti

This film was perhaps the biggest let down this year. Said to be based on well-known Bengali priestess Nandini Bhowmik, the film revolves around Shabari (played by Ritabhari Chatterjee), a young college professor who challenges patriarchal and social taboos and becomes a priestess. She gets married into a traditional, conservative family who has no idea about her second profession. All hell breaks loose when her MLA mother-in-law discovers Shabari officiating a wedding. The film had great potential to shed light on the conservative and patriarchal world of Hindu priests and how women are shattering the glass ceiling by carving a niche of their own in that field. What the film ends up doing is stereotyping women as another woman’s worst enemy, stereotyping men as either benevolent characters who want women to be empowered or vicious beings who want to trample on Shabari’s knowledge of Hindu religious texts and pull her down. Filled with loud, hammy performances and silly jokes, the film was a sad reminder of how not to make pretentious films on strong female characters.

 

  1. Dracula Sir

Painfully slow and boring, Dracula Sir had a stellar cast of Anirban Bhattacharya and Mimi Chakraborty and an interesting plot. School teacher Raktim (Anirban Bhattacharya) believes he is the reincarnation of martyred Naxalite Amol Shom and is haunted by Amol’s girlfriend Manjari (played by Mimi Chakraborty). Raktim is ridiculed by all for his sharp, protruding pair of teeth that resemble fangs and lets himself be bullied as ‘Dracula Sir’ by everyone. Heavily drawing inspiration from Todd Philip’s Joker (2019), down to some of the scenes, the film brings in a story of 1970s Naxalite movement in Bengal, only to add confusion. Director Debaloy Bhattacharya leaves the climax open ended, inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), but it probably adds more confusion to the already messy plot.

(Read Silverscreen India’s review of Dracula Sir here)

Promising few

The year wasn’t entirely bad, though, as some films stood out for their commendable performances and engaging plots.

1. Borunbabur Bondhu

Anik Dutta’s directorial Borunbabur Bondhu (starring Soumitra Chatterjee in the lead), had a stellar cast and was a telling tale of relationships and how they unfurl when a family discovers that their lonesome, idealist head of the family was once a childhood friend of the country’s president.

2. Saheber Cutlet

Anjan Dutt‘s Saheber Cutlet, one of the many Durga Puja releases, was a breezy entertainer that saw flavours of a musical and a delightful performance by Arjun Chakrabarty– as the hot-headed chef resolved to leave to Paris but has a change of heart when he tries to throw out the illegal occupants of his ancestral home- and others.

(Read the Silverscreen India review of Saheber Cutlet here)

3. Shironam

Indranil Ghosh’s Shironam gave an insight into the world of television journalism and how news is made and reported. Backed by commendable performances by Anjan Dutt, Saswata Chatterjee, Jisshu U Sengupta, and Swastika Mukherjee; the film sheds light on the blind chase for TRPs, sensationalising news and compromised ethics.

Unpaused Review: This Lockdown Anthology Wears Rose-tinted Glasses

BY Aswathy Gopalakrishnan On

Directors: Avinash Arun, Raj & DK, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Nikkhil Advani, Nitya Mehra

Cast: Abhishek Banerjee, Geetikya Vaidya Ohlyan, Gulshan Devaiah, Saiyami Kher, Rinku Rajguru, Lilette Dubey, Richa Chadha, Sumeet Vyas, Ishwak Singh, Shardul Bhardwaj, Ratna Pathak Shah

All the five segments of Unpaused, India’s second lockdown-themed anthology movie, feature plush residences. A state-of-the-art apartment, fully-equipped to serve as a lifelong quarantine facility, safely cut-off from the city’s squalor and its everyday miseries. A sprawling vintage bungalow. An empty but elegantly furnished highrise apartment.

People crossing their personal or class boundaries to find companionship is the prominent theme of the anthology. But this display of luxury remains as a constant in the shorts, like a metaphor for the self-contained worldview of the filmmakers who airbrush the filthiest part of the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown out to narrate easy, multiplex-friendly stories that end on a positive note.

The sole exception is Vishaanu, directed by Avinash Arun, where the characters’ relationship with an upper-class apartment they have illegally sought refuge in during the lockdown is central to the story. The government has offered no solution to the migrant labourers’ crisis during the pandemic. A working-class family from Rajasthan, homeless and unable to hitch a ride to their native village, finds an empty posh apartment to hide in. As food starts running out, the husband (Abhishek Banerjee) frantically looks for ways to get out of the city. Meanwhile, the wife (Geetika Vaidya Ohlyan) finds a strange sense of contentment in the new space. Arun delicately weaves in two narratives into this short ﹣one, of systemic apathy, India’s class divide and the hypocrisy of charity, and another, on the chasm between the young couple’s desire for a life where they could be a normal family cooped up in a house and their reality. Performances are topnotch. The camera (cinematographer Navagat Prakash) glides through the rooms of the apartment, quietly watching or spying on the couple as they squat on the floor cooking and dining, and nervously discover the privileges of life in a class where they are treated only as parasites. Arun doesn’t try to give the couple’s story a touch of a fairytale.  In the end, the camera is on the road, at the beginning of a long walk to an uncertain future.

The first of the five segments, Glitch, directed by Raj and DK, imagines a future where vaccines have failed and as a result, humanity is living with the Covid virus. Centred on a rich software engineer who suffers from hypochondria (Gulshan Devaiah) and a doctor (Saiyami Kher)﹣a Covid warrior, the film narrates a lighthearted story that states that even in a new world designed and run by the virus, the demands and crises of human relationships remain the same. The absurdly lavish production design and the cinematography that uses a lot of pop colours partly redeem the film’s predictable pattern.

Tannishtha Chatterjee’s Rat-a-Tat features two interesting performances, by Rinku Rajguru and Lilette Dubey. But the film has the weight of a brand commercial that uses the pandemic to sell tea. Two women, neighbours in a vintage bungalow, who belong to contrasting social backgrounds and age groups bond over loneliness. They listen to classical music and watch the rain, engage in long conversations about life and men, giggle, cook and dine together. It is a moving film but pointless for its refusal to deal with the common theme in a more adventurous fashion.

Nikkhil Advani and writer Samyukta Chawla Shaikh ask a pertinent question in his short Apartment, starring Richa Chadha, Sumeet Vyas and Ishwak Singh. The world is going through a crisis that requires all the attention but does that mean cases of human rights violation and sexual abuse should be left unattended? The short begins well, frequently cutting to flashback scenes that detail the collapse of the marriage of a high-profile couple who own and run a top media house. The husband has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, all of them junior journalists in their office. He gaslights the wife when she confronts him, pushing her to contemplate suicide. This is the weakest and the least cinematic segment in the anthology. One of the main plot points bears an uncanny resemblance with a scene from a recent Korean thriller. Unable to tie the ends together, Advani recreates a Kal Ho Naa Ho scenario where an upbeat spiel makes the hardest problem vanish.

Rafiq (Shardul Bhardwaj), an auto-driver, and Uma (Ratna Pathak Shah), an anxious passenger, have few things in common. But, over the course of a few days, they sense and acknowledge the warmth and scars in each other. Nitya Mehra’s Chaand Mubarak is a well-written and smartly executed short-film that uses the same setting as the other shorts but achieves superior results because it doesn’t seek to paint the world in rose tint. There is a great sense of restrain in both, performances by the lead actors as well as Mehra’s direction. Shah helps the audience see the vulnerability in Uma’s frigidness. Shardul’s performance as an untrained, heartfelt quality. The characters (and the film) do not pretend that class differences and prejudices can be erased in a moment. For the most part of the film, he is on the driver’s seat of his autorickshaw and she, on the passenger’s, leaving a respectful distance between them. When they reach out to each other, it doesn’t appear like an act of benevolence but an organic act that arises out of the basic human need to make a connection with a fellow being.

****

Unpaused in streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

****

The Unpaused review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreenindia.com and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.

Peter Lamont, James Bond and Titanic Production Designer, Dies at 91

BY Ramya Ashok Kumar On

Peter Lamont, the Oscar-winning production designer, art director and set decorator who worked on several James Bond films and Titanic, died on Friday. He was 91.

Producers of the James Bond franchise Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said, “Peter Lamont was a much beloved member of the Bond family and a giant in the industry. Inextricably linked with the design and aesthetic of James Bond since Goldfinger (1964).”

Lamont was born in London on November 12, 1929. He began his work as a runner at Pinewood Studios, and left to serve the Royal Air Force. He then joined the studio again as a draughtsman in the art department and worked on films like The Importance of Being Earnest, A Day To Remember, and Miracle In Soho.

His first big break came in 1964 when he worked on the James Bond film, Goldfinger. He was recruited by the then producer Ken Adam and asked to design the exterior of Fort Knox. Fort Knox would later be built in the back lot at Pinewood Studios.

Recalling his work on Goldfinger, Lamont had said in one interview with Mi6, “I almost fell through the roof because the estimate was for £56,000 which was the most expensive set that had ever been built at that time. I thought ‘oh God, I’m going to get fired for this..’” However, the producers agreed and the cost of the set design was later brought down to £40,000.

Lamont worked on 18 of the 21 James Bond films that were released. He was the set decorator on Thunderball, the visual effects art director on Moonraker (1979), and the production designer for For Your Eyes Only. His final Bond film was the 2006 Casino Royale.

The only Bond film Lamont could not work on was the 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies. He said, “I was on the sinking ship at that time.” He was working on Titanic at that time with Steven Spielberg, and went on to win an Oscar for the Best Art Direction for the film.

Lamont’s autobiography, The Man With the Golden Eye: Designing the James Bond Films, was published in 2016. The book covers his experience working behind the scenes on 18 James Bond films.

Roger Moore, who played secret agent James Bond in seven films, including Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only, paid tribute to Lamont on social media. He said that “[Lamont] was a tremendously talented master of his craft”.

Lamont is survived by his son Neil Lamont and daughter Madeline.

Chiyangal Trailer Starring Karikalan, Risha

Starring : Karikalan, Risha, Nalinikanth, ‘Ratsasan’ Pasupathi
Written & Directed By : Vaigarai Balan
Produced by : G.Karikalan
Co-Produced by : Lilly Karikalan
Executive Producer : ‘Imai’ Raj Kumar
Music by : Muthamil
DOP : Babu Kumar.I.E
Editor : Mabbu Jyothi Prakash
Lyrics : Muthamil & Vaigarai Balan
Sound Mix by : G.Tharanipathy
Art Director : Ravees
Stunt : Prabhu
Costume Design : Kathiravan
Publicity Design : Shabeer
Colorist : Yugendran
VFX : Visual Max Media
Production Executive : Petchimuthu
PRO : Suresh Chandra
Music label : Lahari Music

Paava Kadhaigal Review: Three Compelling Stories Out of Four

BY Aditya Shrikrishna On

Directors: Sudha Kongara, Vignesh Shivan, Gautham Vasudev Menon and Vetri Maaran

Cast: Kalidas Jayaram, Shantanu Bhagyaraj, Kalki Koechlin, Angelina Abraham, Simran, Sai Pallavi, Hari

Paava Kadhaigal, the Tamil anthology film Netflix announced long before pandemic struck in 2020 is finally out and gives us four tales of sins from four filmmakers – Sudha Kongara, Vignesh Shivan, Gautham Vasudev Menon and Vetri Maaran. While the thematic elements are apparent, the filmmakers also bring their distinct personality to the mix, their pet stylistic choices and characters that attract them in the stories they’ve chosen to tell.

There also seems a uniformity in the aesthetics of the four films. For example, in almost every story, we see interiors of homes with pictures of ancestors from immediate generations and beyond. Its title design features a Hindu temple, and the opening credits is a flipbook of a Hindu girl’s life from foetus to adult life, alternating between a village upbringing and a city upbringing. The film has its target locked and marked, and rightly so.

Thangam: If it is Sudha Kongara, there must be an underdog. In Thangam, Sathaar (Kalidas Jayaram) is an underdog among underdogs, a trans woman who has made peace with the transition while the village thinks him as more than a menace to the society. A village in Kovai district, the film is set in 1981. We hear Ilaiyaraaja out of a creaky radio with a tuner dial, something that establishes the time period better than the year and place text on screen. As SPB goes Azhago Azhagu from Johnny, the village’s laughing stock and frivolous rabble rouser Sathaar cozies up to her childhood friend Saravanan (Shantanu Bhagyaraj) whom she refers to lovingly as Thangam. They share a special bond, Thangam the odd one out in the entire village to never demonise Sathaar and Sathaar having feelings for Thangam that indicate more than just friendship. But Sathaar is one to follow the adage that if you love someone, let them go. Thangam confesses his love for Sathaar’s sister Sahira and while this breaks her heart a little, Sathaar moves on to help their romance bloom. There are lighter moments, like Sathaar referring to her own sister as a witch and the very next instance, complementing her beauty. The choice of song isn’t random either. Like Johnny, here are two figures at odds with their desire, one is privileged to an extent while the other is shunned by society. In the end, it is no surprise that the latter is one who must bear the burden of sacrifice. Thangam is made of blues and sunlit whites, the Muslim demographic of the town sparkling in several portions. The film deals with multiple fault lines as there is a caste Hindu and Muslim romance and a trans woman and cis-het man romance, both at odds with the larger society.

Love Panna Uttranum: If it is Vignesh Shivan, there must be something campy. How do you make something campy when your core issue is caste-based killings? Kalki Koechlin chewing and spitting Thirukural could be a start. With a film for Netflix, Vignesh Shivan is like a kid in a candy store. He has a lesbian couple in the centre, a politician-right hand man duo of Veerasimman and Narikutty – that reminds you of Pulikutty and Poonakutty Senthil comedy – for laughs. And there is a hurried foreplay of swear words unleashed without the pleasure of a money shot. We can see it coming from so far away that when it does, we are glad it is over. The film is harmless except for the empathetic angle it takes in its latter half. Suddenly, we hear a father-daughter song that is attempting to tug at our heartstrings. Seriously? We are asked to feel sorry for this father? The Gothic, horror interiors of his house in red and orange is a nice touch but beyond that, the endnote is a complete let down. This is not the flavour of redemption one is looking for.

Vaanmagal: If it is Gautham Vasudev Menon, there must be a muse, a soul towards whom all the visual affection is directed. In Vaanmagal, it is Ponnuthaayi (Angelina Abraham), Satya (Menon) and Mathi’s (Simran) second daughter and youngest of three. Menon’s film is carefully constructed, it begins with Mathi washing herself clean, getting ready in the morning – a symbol of purity. The theme of purity and virginity haunts the entire film, which again negotiates several fault lines. A harmless quip about not shaving the beard becomes the symbol of strength and vigour of a man later. Their home is painted green throughout, green for vitality and freshness, green for a greenhorn seeing the murkiness of the world all too soon. One of the fresher aspects of Menon’s film is that it doesn’t soften its only adult woman. Mathi, as good a mother as she is, holds all the regressive views that a society that routinely blames women, would encourage. The first shot of her washing herself turns into her obsessively washing and cleaning Ponnuthaayi, as if what she can see with her eyes, the physical signs of the experience can wash off the mental ones too. Vaanmagal is complex in the way that it is structured, like a tug of war between a woman reconciling her daughter’s experience with her prejudice and men’s obsession with saviour complex and the resulting emasculation. Menon’s film deals with the thoughts that could get into any agitated mind and that what we do with those thoughts determine not only who we are but also how we perceive the world around us.

Oor Iravu: If it is Vetri Maaran, there must be a father (who is only referred to as appa or mama, we don’t get a name). For a change, it is a daughter here and not a son. And because it is Vetri Maaran, it must also have tracking shots. It begins with one, a pregnant Sumathi (Sai Pallavi) pacing around a tiny house in her village, everyone preparing for her baby shower as she goes around the house looking for her father. It cuts immediately to her home in the city, as the father knocks her door after years. The moment is silent, but Vetri Maaran builds an aesthetic that corners the woman in her own home, a visual of Sumathi sitting at the edge of her bed shot from the outside with the main door to the left and the wallpaper with butterflies flying away outside. A call to escape this home too, perhaps? Later, he blocks a scene with Sumathi’s husband (Hari) and his father-in-law sitting across from each other and facing away from each other. The father gazes into the outside world in a city and Hari gazes inside where the love of his life and another life on its way reside. A father who cares only for the outside world and a couple who has built a world for themself away from it all – a home that is all white – peace is what they are waving and what they want. We see the father’s back when Hari is talking and Hari’s back when the father is talking. Vetri’s film follows the double narratives cutting seamlessly from one another, the city dwelling of the couple and the father’s rambunctious house in the village, with each of Sumathi’s siblings having suffered in some way or the other – in the eyes of the “society” – thanks to her elopement. The last 15 minutes is classic Vetri, building the horrific mood in gradual motions without background score, the camera never rushes, the father at his most stoic and us wishing the characters could just accelerate a tiny bit to end the suffering.

This is relentless cinema.

****

The Paava Kadhaigal review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreenindia.com and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.

Shadow and Bones: Teaser Out For Netflix’s Leigh Burdugo-Inspired Fantasy Series

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Netflix released the teaser of Shadow and Bones, its upcoming fantasy web series, on Thursday. The series is an adaptation of two books by Leigh Bardugo, Shadow of Bones and Six Of Crows. While the former is a part of Burdugo’s Grisha trilogy, the latter is the first of a two-book series.

The first season of Shadow and Bones will begin streaming on Netflix in April 2021.

Directed by Eric Heisserer, the first season will star Jessica Mei Li as Alina Starkov, Ben Barnes as General Kirigan aka The Darkling, Freddy Carter as Kaz Brekker, Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa, Kit Young as Jesper Fahey, and Archie Renaux as Malyen “Mal” Oretsev.

The storyline, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, will merge elements from both books.

“The books are all set chronologically, so we technically don’t get to events in the Six of Crows books until after the Shadow and Bone books have ended,” Heisserer said in a statement. “So what Leigh and I had to do was essentially invent prequel stories for the key Six of Crows characters this season — Kaz, Inej, and Jesper — to fit alongside what is happening in the Shadow and Bone storyline.”

In Shadow and Bones, the protagonist is a teenage orphan, Alina Starkov, who grows up in Ravka (a land inspired by Russia) and finds she has unexpected powers. The story revolves around her fight to set her country free.

Shadows and Bones is the first book in the Grisha series, followed by Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising.

Six of Crows revolves around the character of Kaz Brekker, who also features in Shadows and Bones. Brekker is a thief in the economically bustling hub of Ketterdam, inspired by Amsterdam. The spin-off follows Brekker’s journey, as he tries to pull off a big heist.

Leigh Burdoga is also the author of Wonder Woman: Warbringer, the first book in the DC Icons Series.

Netflix had announced the series in 2019 and filming was completed in 2020.