Cinema Imposter

Notes on films I've seen, mostly Indian cinema. I watch and enjoy Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam films, commercial and art house and everything inbetween. You will not see the B word here.

[stormycastles]

The Women in Cinema Collective introduce themselves

[stormycastles]

A reminder of what this is all for….

[valarmorghulisforeva]

Move bitch get out the way

[weeguttersnipe]

Fahadh in Dhoore Dhoore from Carbon (Malayalam, 2018)

[cinemaimposter]

Carbon was a weird and wonderful film. Malayam cinema is amazing.

[cinemaimposter]

Lift Off Film Festival

http://www.lift-off-festivals.com/amsterdam-lift-off-film-festival-2017/

Love and Saucers. Last night we watched an absolutely riveting film about a 70 year-old man who had been having alien abductions and encounters since he was a child. He records all his experiences in a series of very detailed paintings.

http://www.bradabrahams.net/love-and-saucers/

[vintageindianclothing]

While doing posts on contemporary regional Indian period movies, I made a rough list of Indian period films. These are listed below. Some are historicals but the bulk fall into the 19th and 20th century.  The list is fairly rough so feel free to add more, especially if they are in languages other than Hindi.  Pic 1: Vidyapati (1937), Pic 2: Jeevan Smriti (2013)

Pre-Mauryan

Amrapali (1966)

Maurya Empire/Buddhist/Post Buddhist

Vidyapati (Bengali?/Hindi, 1937) Ashok Kumar (Tamil, 1941) Veer Kunal  (Hindi, 1945) Ashad Ka Ek Din (Hindi, 1971) Siddhartha (English, 1972) Utsav (Hindi, 1984) Trishagni (Hindi, 1988) The Cloud Door (Hindi, 1994) Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (English, 1996) Asoka (Hindi, 2001) Anahat (Marathi, 2003) Mirch (Hindi, 2010) (in part) Rudhramadevi (Telugu, 2015) See also wikipedia.  Mughal Period/Post Mughal  Pukar (Hindi 1939) Anarkali (1935, 1953, 1955, 1966, various languages) Meera (Tamil/Hindi, 1945) Mughal-e-Azam (Hindi, 1960) Taj Mahal (Hindi, 1963) Ghashiram Kotwal (Marathi, 1976) Jodhaa Akbar (Hindi, 2008) Urumi (Malayalam, 2011) Aravaan (Tamil, 2012) Bajirao Mastani (Hindi, 2015) Rama Madhav (Marathi, 2014)

See also wikipedia. 

Colonial India/Early 20th century/Pre-independence

Devdas (various languages, 1928-2013) Pioli Phukan (Assamese, 1955) Charulata (Bengali, 1964) Chameli Memsaab (Assamese, 1975) Shatranj ke Khilari (Hindi, 1977) Junoon (Hindi, 1977) Umrao Jaan (Hindi, 1981, 2006) Massey Sahib (Hindi, 1985) Mogamul (Tamil, 1995) Vanaprastham (Malayalam, 1999) Hey Ram (Tamil/Hindi, 2000) Pinjar (Hindi, 2003) Noukadubi, Bengali, 2011) Makaramanju (Malayalam, 2011) Bal Gandharva (Marathi, 2011) Paradesi (Tamil, 2013) Rang Rasiya (Hindi, 2014)  Kaaviya Thalaivan (Tamil, 2014) Taptapadi (Marathi, 2014) Rajkahini (Bengali, 2015)

1950s

Lootera (Hindi, 2013) 1960s

Shadows of Time (Bengali, 2004) Parineeta (Hindi, 2005) Vaagai Sooda Vaa, (Tamil, 2011) Bombay Velvet (Hindi, 2015) 1970s

Border (Hindi, 1997) Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (Hindi, 1998) Om Shanti Om (Hindi, 2007) Kaalbela (Bengali, 2009) Natarang (Marathi, 2010) Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (Hindi, 2010) Shala (Marathi, 2011) Barfi! (Hindi, 2012) Dutta vs Dutta (Bengali, 2012)

1980s Subramaniapuram (Tamil, 2008) The Dirty Picture (Hindi, 2011) Manjadikuru (Malayalam, 2012) Dwaar (Assamese, 2013)   Amara Kaaviyam (Tamil, 2014)

1990s

Timepass (Marathi, 2014) David (Tamil, 2013) Haider (Hindi, 2014) Dum Laga ke Haisha (Hindi, 2015)

Also see short wiki list. 

[cinemaimposter]

Remember Urumi 2011 film starring Priviraj by Santosh Shivan. Also starring Nithya, Vidya Balan and Genelia. 70 years of independence from the Portuguese and Dutch as well as the British.

[midukki]

As we celebrate 70 years of India’s Independence we salute a country with one of the richest, culturally and linguistically diverse history’s in the world. We salute the many freedom fighters that gave us our independence. We salute all the individuals that keep fighting for freedom and equality. And with that being said, one can’t help but wonder what the great people who built the nation would think of it today:

King Akbar and Bahadur Shah Zafar now have to worry whether their legacy too will be ripped out from the pages of Maharashtra’s history textbooks. Sandar Vallabhbhai Patel, the great unifier, would scroll his twitter feed and be disappointed to find how frequently #Dravidanadu, sickular, and communalism now trend. B R Ambedkar may have to tearfully apologise to those like Rohit Vemula: for the failure of a constitution he once created to bridge the gaps of caste and creed. Abul Kalam Azad and Zakir Husain Khan now hang their heads in shame when Mohammad Akhlaq and Junaid Khan ask why they had to die in the name of meat. Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam wonders how, even as we have reached Mars with Mangalyaan, those who farm our Earth can barely reach the bank Justices Anna Chandy and Fathima Beevi may not be able to fathom how convoluted the laws on female agency, autonomy, and consent have become. Rani Laxmi Bai and Accamma Cherian, who once raged against colonial forces with raised arms and swords, would today be too scared to walk down Delhi and Chandigarh alone. And Bhagat Singh…poor Bhagat Singh, must find out that the Independent India he dreamt of whilst he hung, gasping for air, would be the India that let the same happen to 60 innocent children in Gorakhpur.

And for everything these people have done for us, for our freedom, our country, it would be a damn shame to let them think that, wouldn’t it? 🇮🇳

[poppinelle]

The Expanse - Chrisjen Avasarala

[cinemaimposter]

This is some serious sari wearing. The series itself is well, just some actors ploughing through a convoluted plot.

[love-indian-actress]

Jomonte Suvisheshangal (2017)

[cinemaimposter]

Loved the characters of Jomon and his dad! Compared to Jacobinte Swargarajyam, it was so entertaining. (same story told in the most boring way possible)

[queenofmahishmati]

Dulquer Salmaan as ❛ Kaadhal Mannan ❜  Gemini Ganesan

First Look from Mahanati { Savitri Biopic }

— HAPPY BIRTHDAY DQ ❣

[pyotra]

a history of the indian film industry, and its audience: “people must watch it – that is their fate!” in kadhalikka neramillai (1964)

[idly-sambhar-cinema]

3 out of the several wonderful & inspiring ladies in Malayalam Cinema who are part of the ‘Women in Cinema Collective’ ❤️ I was a little too excited when I saw the second picture because 3 of my absolute favourites in one frame? God is being toooooo kind to me. Really hope one day someone decides to cast them in a movie together. (Preferably Rani Padmini-ish) 😛

For more info about the ‘Women in Cinema Collective’ : http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/enough-enough-women-malayalam-film-industry-form-collective-end-gender-disparity-62260

[stormycastles]

The Women in Cinema Collective will be producing their own film, per Anjali Menon.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/malayalam/movies/news/women-in-cinema-collective-to-produce-a-film/articleshow/59234599.cms

[cinemaimposter]

Hunterrr, 2015 movie written and directed by Harshavardhan Kulkarni

Hate/love reaction. This overlong film, needlessly complicated with meandering timelines is, however, engaging enough to spend an evening with. Also it’s now out on Netflix. What to say? It is yet another movie in which the shamelessly bad behaviour of the male lead goes unpunished. He learns a gentle lesson, and is the undeserving recipient of the glorious Radhika Apte’s attentions to boot. Aargh. Having said that, it has its not overly quirky indie moments and a sense of humour. It’s main strength is that it feels very real and that’s also the scary part. All this leads to a flip/flop, back/forth reaction for 2.5 hours.

Watch this film for an extremely honest exploration of the psyche of an average Indian small town male. It is terrifying and enraging but despite the casually horrible way women are treated in the film, (Hero gives his married girlfriend’s phone number to his friends to call and harrass her!) it’s the women actors that keep you watching. They are three very sexy women and they get with this average looking, borderline creep because he can actually walk up to a woman and talk to her in the guise of a good human being. This really speaks to the poverty of what’s available to women in India. What really shocked me is learning that this was written and directed by the writer of the truly sweet and determinedly unmisogynstic Hasee Toh Phasee!

By the way, this movie is not about sex addiction, who came up with that marketing ploy? If this was a western rom-com it might be your usual Vince Vaughn asshole type playing the lead.

[cinemaimposter]

Aiyyaa!

What an amazing movie this was! Completely wacky and over the top in all the best possible ways. Rani is even more charming than ever, she is innocence one moment and oozing desire the next, what a character this girl is. Prithiviraj and she are both totally hot and sensual and I just don’t have words to express how much I loved everything about this film. Overjoyed that the suitable nice guy did not win her over, I was so afraid of that happening. Of course it was an Anuyrag Kashyap production; you can see his signature all over it. 

[ideallaedi]

Wise words

[cinemaimposter]

Ha ha wise words. There were many good moments in this film but I had mixed feelings about it. Mohanlal’s character as usual gets away with all kinds of smug behaviour and then there is casual colour predjudice.

[dildaar]

Do you know why God makes beautiful women stupid?

[cinemaimposter]

Rangoon 2017

Watched on Netflix late last night. I loved it! I am so glad this was not as bad as I was led to believe. The dynamic between the main 3 actors was what made it work for me and I was certainly not looking for historical verisimilitude in the war scenes. So there was uneven acting and clownish Hindi from the British general and some powerpoint type exposition starting it off, but still many moving moments. Maybe it was the late hour but the national anthem made me blub. There were really funny moments too, even in the romantic scenes. I felt the complexity of Rusi’s (Saif) relationship with Julia (Kangana) was believable, but her chemistry with Nawab (Shahid Kapoor) was what made the movie work for me, ultimately. Much of the story was based on history, but the world of the movie is a self-sustaining fantasy world and it is quite an escapist one which I felt draws you in, which is what movies are supposed to do. Why was this not a hit? 

Another thing, Kangana says the words “I am an untouchable.” How many times has that been heard in a mainstream Indian movie?

[cinemaimposter]

Movies can either endorse or call out prejudice depending on which character is delivering these lines. Action Hero Biju had some even more questionable dialogues coming out of the hero’s mouth ... but such a fun movie! These lines reflect how people still think. They could still have the realism without making the hero say these lines. The one about drinking from brother's glass does not necessarily endorse casteism but calls it out.