News and Views

Written and directed by Nagraj Manjule, Jhund is based on the life of Vijay Barse. A retired sports teacher, Barse founded an NGO called Slum Soccer to rehabilitate street kids and keep them off drugs and crime.

The setting is Nagpur and Manjule doesn’t waste much time throwing us into the lives of the “jhund” straight off. We see a bunch of scrawny teenagers bustling around. Their reedy voices making the atmosphere throb.

Tune in for the full review!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Sanjay Leela Bhansali canvas and a complete Alia Bhatt show! Based on the 2011 book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai' written by Hussain S Zaidi with Jane Borges, Gangubai Kathiwadi documents the fascinating personality of Gangubai Kathiawadi and her tragic life.

It’s a compelling story to turn into a film. One can expect a documentary-style detailing of the life and times of Gangubai or the other extreme opposite of the spectrum fuelled by the Bhansali-esque verve and stirring visuals.

Tune in for the full review!

VO: RJ Stutee

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr Mallika Sarabhai, famed dancer and the daughter of the space scientist Dr Vikram Sarabhai and the legendary dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, spoke to The Quint about the real stories behind the recently released show 'Rocket Boys,' based on the lives of the Indian science pioneers Dr Homi Bhabha and Dr Vikram Sarabhai. 

In this special podcast, she recounts the memories of her parents and how Dr Bhabha introduced them. She also shares anecdotes from her childhood and the day India launched its first rocket.

Reflecting on the influences of her parents, she talks about how they came to shape her own worldview. She also gives a sneak-peek into the upcoming season of the show, while describing the collaborative process that went into its making. 

Tune in to the podcast to know more!

Voiceover and interview: Raunaq Saraswat

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The duration is a little over two hours and once we are done watching it, Gehraiyaan leaves us feeling absolutely… nothing. We feel precious little for all that transpired on screen, the characters their motivations, probably just a little sad that Anaita Shroff Adjania isn’t your stylist because it is goddamn hard to take one's eyes off Deepika Padukone. But that’s about it and this is Gehraiyaan’sbiggest undoing. It tries to show us a lot but makes us feel very little. While the title literally means “depth” that’s precisely what the approach lacks. Tune in!

VO: Stutee Ghosh

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bollywood steadfastly continues on its mission to set “things straight” as far as depicting the LGBTQIA community is concerned. It has almost become a genre of sorts - a strong social message cushioned with desi humour, a terrifically put together ensemble that entertains and then educates. We know the drill all too well by now. Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against films with a social message, but I wish the day arrives soon when the depiction of queer love doesn’t have to be “brave” or with some self-conscious additions, like even getting an actor from the North East to play a significant role. High time then that this kind of diversity be so mainstream that the story gets to flow like any other, without being subsumed by the overarching theme of having to deliver a message.

Badhaai Do, however, does its job by giving us a couple stuck in a Lavender marriage. There is a reason for fatigue to set in, and it’s primarily the trailer. So much information has already been revealed that it almost seems like a synopsis of the whole film in three minutes. We know the main conflict - the gay man marries a lesbian woman. It's an arrangement they agree to in order to escape their parents and the gazillion taunts and questions. The film is set in Dehradun, he is a police officer; she a Physical Education teacher, living like roommates and leading separate lives.  Tune in!

VO: RJ Stutee

The film starts with a message flashing on a mobile screen. “Good decisions come from experience, experience comes from making bad decisions,” it reads. But what is it that pushes us to take a certain decision? Is it free will, is it all predestined? Can a single moment really change the course of our entire life?

The way the story is structured we would be tempted to look for a deeper philosophical meaning and ruminate on the role of chance and the thematic exploration of free will. But to truly enjoy Looop Lapeta I’d suggest you surrender to the eclectic energy and vibe that the film throbs with.

Never mind how baffling or absurd a premise might seem, sometimes the success of a love story depends on how much it makes us care for its characters and root for their union. Atrangi Re, weirdly enough, never trusts us with being up, close and personal with its protagonists. Director Aanand L Rai and writer Himanshu Sharma always keep us at a safe distance, feeding us basic details and nudging us to respond accordingly.

VO: RJ Stutee

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one took Team India seriously when they arrived for the 1983 Cricket World Cup. In fact the dazzling 175 not out by Kapil Dev against Zimbabwe in the group stage match which helped India stay on in the tournament wasn’t even deemed important enough to be covered by the BBC.

Kabir Khan’s 83 brings alive on screen many such splendid moments from India’s miraculous rise and eventual ascent as cricket world champions.

Tune in for the full review!

VO: RJ Stutee

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ayushmann Khurrana started his career in Hindi films by playing a sperm donor in Vicky Donor. Over the years he has been part of projects where he has gone bald, played a gay protagonist and has essayed the role of a man with erectile dysfunction. Challenging notions of 'masculinity' and striving to do what we like to call something 'hatke'.

VO: RJ Stutee

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Biswas, the poker-faced insurance agent from Sujoy Ghosh’s 2012 cult classic Kahaani gets a spin off. This one is written by Sujoy and directed by his daughter Diya Annapurna Ghosh. Here Bob Biswas, we are told, wakes up from a coma after years and has lost his memory. But the deal is that we remember everything.

In fact, Bob Biswas (pronounced Bob Bishash in Bengali) isn’t the kind one can forget easily. His deadpan face and steely cold psychotic stare can send a chill down the spine even now.

Played by Saswata Chatterjee in the original, it’s now Abhishek Bachchan on whose nose rest Bob’s signature square frames. Carrying the cross-body sling bag, heavy footed Abhishek’s Bob trudges along but it isn’t easy to erase the memory of Saswata Chatterjee who breathed life into this character.

Bob Biswas the film, one soon realizes is an attempt to humanize a deadly assassin. Bob might not have a bank of memory for easy access but he has a pretty wife (played by Chitrangada Singh), a young son and a daughter. Also, since his reputation holds him in good stead, he soon gets to wield a gun too.

Tune in to the podcast!

VO: RJ Stutee

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices