By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Noor”; Director: Sunhil Sippy; Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Purab Kohli, MK Raina, Kanan Gill, Shibani Dandekar, Smita Tambe, Rating: ***1/2 Adapted from Saba Imtiaz’s novel, “Karachi, you are killing me”, Sunhil Sippy’s…
By Subhash K Jha Film: ‘Maatr’; Director: Ashtar Sayed; Starring: Raveena Tandon, Madhur Mittal, Anurag Arora; Rating: **** A raucous raga on the aftermath of rape, much of “Maatr” unfolds in a stern humourless no-nonsense…
By Subhash K Jha Film: ‘Noor’; Director: Suhnil Sippy; Starring: Sonakshi Sinha, Purab Kohli, Kannan Gill, M.K. Raina, Smita Tambe; Rating: **** Though I couldn’t relate to her endless boozing and snoozing, Noor Roy Choudhary…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “The Zookeeper’s Wife”; Director: Niki Caro; Cast: Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Daniel Bruhl, Timothy Radford, Efrat Dor, Iddo Goldberg, Shira Haas, Michael McElhatton, Vad Maloku; Rating: *** Experiencing a war is…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Maatr”; Director: Ashtar Sayed; Cast: Raveena Tandon, Rushad Rana, Madhur Mittal, Alisha Khan, Divya Jagdale, Anurag Arora, Saheem Khan; Rating: *** Designed as a pulpy thriller, “Maatr” is an astutely plotted,…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Sonata”; Director: Aparna Sen; Cast: Shabana Azmi, Aparna Sen, Lillete Dubey, Rating: ** Based on a play by Mahesh Elkunchwar, “Sonata” celebrates womanhood and explores the friendship among three single middle-aged…
By Subhash K Jha Film: ‘Sonata’; Director: Aparna Sen; Starring: Shabana Azmi, Aparna Sen, Lilette Dubey; Rating: ***1/2 Except for one of the women landing up with a black eye and another making a shocking…
By Subhash K. Jha Film: “Begum Jaan”; Writer-Director: Srijit Mukherji; Cast: Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Gauahar Khan, Mishti, Pallavi Sharda, Pritobash Tripathy and Chunky Pandey; Rating: ***1/2 This is no “Mandi”. Damn, it is not…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Begum Jaan”; Director: Srijit Mukherji; Cast: Vidya Balan, Ila Arun, Gauhar Khan, Pallavi Sharda, Priyanka Setia, Ridheema Tiwari, Raviza Chauhan, Mishti, Gracy Goswami, Pitobash Tripathy, Sumit Nijhawan, Ashish Vidyarthi, Rajit Kapoor,…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Fate of the Furious”; Director: F. Gary Gray; Cast: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Ludacris’ Bridges, Kurt Russell, Charlize Theron, Hellen Mirren; Rating: *** Also…
By Haricharan Pudipeddi Film: “Power Paandi”; Director: Dhanush; Cast: Raj Kiran, Revathi, Prasanna, Chaya Singh, Madonna Sebastian and Dhanush; Rating: ***1/2 “Power Paandi” marks the directorial debut of Dhanush, and the most fascinating aspect of…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Aftermath”; Director: Elliott Lester; Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Scoot McNairy, Maggie Grace, Martin Donovan, Hannah Ware, Kevin Zegers; Rating: **1/2 “Aftermath” is a slow-moving, grim drama inspired from true events. It follows…
By Subhash K Jha Film: ‘Fast & Furious 8’ Director: F. Gary Gray Starring: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Stratham, Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren Rating: ***1/2 I have a confession to make. Charlize Theron’s villainy…
By Subhash K Jha Film: ‘Aftermath’ Director: Elliott Lester Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Scoot McNairy Rating: **1/2 “Aftermath” could have been a profoundly moving treatise on bereavement and reconciliation. In fact, at a few key points…
By Subhash K. Jha Film: “Kaatru Veliyidai” Language: Tamil Director: Mani Ratnam Cast: Karthi, Aditi Rao Hydari, Delhi Ganesh, RJ Balaji, Shraddha Srinath and Rukmini Vijay Kumar Rating: ***1/2 When it’s Mani Ratnam, our expectations…
 By Haricharan Pudipeddi Film: “Kaatru Veliyidai” Language: Tamil Director: Mani Ratnam Cast: Karthi, Aditi Rao Hydari, Delhi Ganesh, RJ Balaji, Shraddha Srinath and Rukmini Vijay Kumar Rating: ** Every frame in Mani Ratnam’s “Kaatru Veliyidai”,…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Blue Mountains”; Director: Suman Ganguli; Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Gracy Singh, Rajpal Yadav, Arif Zakaria, Yatharth Ratnum, Simran Sharma, Vaibhav Hanshu, Rishabh Sharma, Mahesh Thakur; Rating: ** The title in the film…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Going in Style”; Director: Zach Braff; Cast: Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin, Ann-Margret, John Ortiz, Peter Serafinowicz, Joey King, Kenan Thompson, Matt Dillon, Christopher Lloyd, Josh Pais, Maria Dizzia, Anthony…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Laddoo Deewana”; Director: Vivaan Shah; Cast: Akshara Hassan, Gurmeet Chowdhury, Darshan Jariwala, Sanjay Mishra, Saurabh Shukla, Suhasini Mulay, Navni Parihar and Ravi Kishen, Rating: ** In keeping…
By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Mirza Juuliet”; Director: Rajesh Ram Singh; Cast: Darshan Kumar, Pia Bajpai, Chandan Roy Sanyal and Priyanshu Chatterjee, Rating: **1/2 “Mirza Juuliet” is Romeo Juliet in a rustic avatar, as it is…