5-23 October 2020, FTIIONLINE, Film and Television Institute of India, KARAN BALI The most popular course by the stalwart coordinator on FTII platform turned out to be the a tribute to ‘The Indian Cinema Phenomena’. The OTTs had been surging as an alternate movie watching experience, albeit never a substitute for the theater going experience. … Read moreAppreciation of Indian Cinema By KARAN BALI
2020, Hindi, Netflix, 7.3/10 IMBD, Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane A Cinema Vérité kind realistic film without much embellishments, disappoints when it yields to the template of ‘The Hero’s Journey’. Yogita Bihani with her camera, shadowing the director 24X7, feels more like a virtual extension of the Netflix’s ‘Creative Indian’ series, that featured Anurag Kashyap in … Read moreAK Vs AK
2020, Tamil, Anthology, Netflix, 8.3/10 IMBD Directed by Sudha Konkara, Vignesh Sivan, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Vetrrimaran An Anthology on ‘honor killing’, that houses extreme emotions ranging from humor (yes) to sending some chills down the spine. A northern girl in her 20s, asked me, “How can honor killing happen in the south with such high … Read morePaava Kadhaigal
2020, Tamil, Netflix, 7.9/10 IMDB, Directed by V. Vignarajam A technically mesmerizing suspense thriller that masters parallel editing and extends a surreal experience, that overrides the mundane supernatural phenomena, through its convincing ‘willful suspension of disbelief’. The supernatural phenomena of the dead communicating through an interesting medium is the theme. The audience are sucked in … Read moreAndhaghaaram
2019, Marathi, 5.1/10 IMDB, Netflix, Directed by Aruna Raje A beautifully choregraphed film, that claims love and sex are two different things by adorning feminism and redefining chauvinism while at it. A seemingly simple story of a feminist lawyer, Sunandha played by Usha Jadhav, has many layers to it. She is a dalit rape victim … Read moreFirebrand
2020, Tamil, Disney Hotstar, 8.1/10 IMDB, Directed by RJ Balaji, N.J . Saravanan A ‘cautiously’ made satire film, that ends up a tad preachy and not as fun as the director’s previous outing in spite of ‘Goddess’ Nayantara. The much hyped trailer, dulls the first half hour of the film. As expectation had soared high … Read moreMookuthi Amman
2020, Tamil, Amazon Prime, 9.3/10 IMDB, Directed by Sudha Kongara An ambitious fictional version of a revolutionary biopic, showcasing some intense acting. A worthy attempt, but for the tiresome monotone, that irks a disconnect. The story credits it’s inspiration to the book, ‘Simply fly’ A Deccan Odyssey, by G.R.Gopinath. Its partly a dramatized version like … Read moreSoorarai Pottru
2020, Hindi, YouTube, First Prize at Cannes 2020, Directed by Ashmita Guha Neogi -2013 Student Diploma Film of FTII (Film and Television Institute of India, Pune). A shocking revelation of the evilness in unattended children and whose emotional needs are not catered promptly. The core plot revolves around children unleashing their duality similar to adults, … Read moreCatdog
2008, English, Netflix, 7.3/10 IMBD, Directed by Sam Mendes An edgy intricate drama, detailing the conflicts of an unhappy marriage of a couple that inflict heartache in them both. Apart from being emotionally draining, it urges to look within. Adapted from a 1961 novel by Richard Yates, this period film set in the 1950’s. It … Read moreRevolutionary Road
1957, Hindi, YouTube (Tommydan55 Channel), 8.5/10 IMDB, Directed by Guru Dutt A tale of a poet in a wistful society. A society that pretends in making the dead immortal, rather than acclaiming the talents of the living. Pyaasa (Thirst), is about a remorseful poet Vijay (Guru Dutt), who tries to publish his Urdu poems. None, … Read morePyaasa
2020, Tamil, Amazon Prime, 7.6/10 IMDB, Anthology Directed by Sudha Kongara, Gautham Menon, Suhashini Manirathnam, Rajiv Menon, Karthik Subbaraj. An anthology with a common backdrop of COVID lockdown, falls short in creativity. It seemingly strikes parallels to our ‘lockdown mood swings’ in testing our patience at many instances. Pooling across an anthology, during testing times … Read morePutham Pudhu Kaalai
2018, Hindi, Netflix, 7.5/1 IMDB, Directed by Onir An unassuming film that caress you with the subtlety in its making and the warmth in its poetic recitals. Its been a while, since a romantic drama with no noise and pomp turns up your way. Its a rare coincidence when its backed by a decent script … Read moreKuchh Bheege Alfaaz
2020, Tamil, Zee5 pay per movie, IMDB 7.9/10, Directed by Virumandi A protracted documentation of the ordeal of the villagers, whose menfolk are forced to go aboard on menial works, would have otherwise glisten, had it been subjected to precise editing and concise writing. From the ancient story of Sathyavan Savithri to that of Manirathnam’s … Read moreKa. Pae. Ranasingam
27th September 2020, Book A Workshop face-to-face A brief workshop that focused on appreciation of two iconic feature films and a short film- 1960 Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, the French classic thriller, 1955 ‘Les Diaboliques’ and Short Film Maya by Vikas Chandra. The workshop threw light on how to read two films of similar genre that … Read moreFilm Appreciation with Namrata Joshi
2020, Docudrama, English, Netflix, 7.8/10 IMDB, Directed by Jeff Orlowski Social network addiction, decoded using a new lens, that incites silent shock waves and urges the need for weaning off from one’s own addiction however minimal one may manifest it to be. Evils of social media, documented with a parallel drama of a family’s addiction. Even … Read moreThe Social Dilemma
English Documentary, 2013, You Tube, IMDB 9/10, Directed by Shabnam Sukhdev An emotional tale of a daughter’s quest to fill the missing pieces in her relationship with her ‘Padmasri’ awardee father, only to realize he wasn’t the terrible father that her memory recalled and he was trying to influence her life all along without her knowledge. … Read moreThe Last Adieu
A crisp course comprising essential video lectures of professional film critics that aid you to assimilate the phenomena of criticism in its entirety. With the best film critics from the industry, Anupama Chopra , Baradwaj Rangan , Rahul Desai and Sucharita Tyagi, the course covers a total of 10 topics under Film Criticism. The course lessons addresses some significant pointers that assist … Read moreFilm Companion Class in Session- “Writing About Films”
3-28 August 2020, FTIIONLINE, Film and Television Institute of India, Course Coordinator- Prof. Rajula Shah, Associate Prof. Mukul Haloi My first step towards endorsing my passion for the movies in an attempt to equip myself through a formal training platform. Amidst the ferocity lashed out by the Pandemic, it did bring a nanoscopic goodness with … Read moreAlocana: Cinema and the Role of Critics By RAJULA SHAH
1966, Hindi, YouTube, 7.9/10 IMDB, Directed by Basu Bhattacharya A sincere depiction of the life of a female theater artist, who boldly demonstrates her passion for the art over her love for a naïve and honest man. A theatre artist Hirabai (Waheeda Rehman) falls for the innocence of the bullock cart driver Hiraman (Raj Kapoor), … Read moreTeesri Kasam
2018, Malayalam, Vimeo.com, Documentary, Directed by Jaya Jose Raj A simple documentation of an elderly responsible citizen, to protect her environment in the God’s own country, from the devilish clutches of the pollution mongering industries. The short documentary- Kumudini, which translates, ‘pond of water lilies’, has an apt tag line – ‘A water lily chronicle’. … Read moreKumudini