Indian Cinema
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Open Thread: Bharat wins at Norway Chess, but something is off with Bollywood
Praggnanandhaa’s victory at Norway Chess is another reminder that India, and particularly the South, is producing world-class talent at a remarkable rate. That success prompted a broader reflection on another…
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Dhurandhar The Revenge – The Wrath of Bharat
Bombay Badshah gives a spoiler-free, enthusiastic review of Dhurandhar The Revenge, calling it looser than the first film but a better-choreographed action movie with strong music. He notes it shifts…
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SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi – The next phase of the Indian wave?
Bombay Badshah argues that Asian economies follow a pattern in which pop culture goes mainstream at high HDI, and that India is still early. He sees Rajamouli’s Varanasi, after RRR’s…
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Dhurandhar Review
Omar Ali gives Dhurandhar four stars out of five, reading it as an Inglorious Basterds-style revenge fantasy rather than history, praising Akshaye Khanna’s performance and the music, and noting that…
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Dhurandhar showcases Bollywood’s New Obsession: The Sexy Pakistani Villain
X.T.M calls Dhurandhar the best mass-market Bollywood film since Animal and argues it reflects Bollywood’s new formula of fetishising Pakistan as the sexy villain, familiar enough to feel intimate and…
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Homebound with Ishaan Khatter
Reviewing the film Homebound, India’s Oscar submission, the author asks whether casting privileged actors as a Dalit and a Muslim amounts to Dalit-washing, and whether Western praise rewards poverty as…
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Hindi Cinema As Visual Political Narrative
The author traces four phases of social change in post-independence India through Hindi films, beginning with the late 1950s to 1970s era of socialism, industrialisation and urbanisation, and arguing that,…
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Browncast: Subcontinent and Movies
Omar Ali and Maneesh Taneja talk with Gaurav about movies of the Indian subcontinent in the twentieth century, with recommendations ranging from Tamil and Marathi films to Hindi comedies and…
