[shattereddteacup]

The Namesake (2006)

Dir. Mira Nair

Languages: Bengali, English

[rodrickheffeley]

The Namesake (2006)

[preyasi]

Don't drag Michael into this. He's a total wacko.

LOKAH CHAPTER 1: CHANDRA dir. Dominic Arun

[preyasi]

We're throwing a small party at our place. I've always seen you alone. That's why I asked. // Thank you for having me. It's been a while. I had fun.

LOKAH CHAPTER 1: CHANDRA dir. Dominic Arun

[thedawnlist]

Omkara (2006) dir. Vishal Bhardwaj

"When the scriptures themselves have sullied women, who can blame mere mortals like you. We renounce our homes and families and walk into your lives with bare empty hands. But even after the holy fires approve us, we're regarded disloyal sooner than loyal."

In this bloodstained rendition, Othello is translated into the dust, caste-relations and politics of rural India. Set against a backdrop of gang warfare and local elections, the Shakespearean tragedy is stripped of its Britishness and draped with khadi and khol, brutality and lyricism.

Bhardwaj doesn't try to sanitise Shakespeare for Bollywood, instead he lets the moral decay rot right through the surface, as jealousy - of love and power - is a byproduct of centuries of entrenched social hierarchy rather than just a personal flaw.

Dolly (Kareena Kapoor) in Omkara portrays the wiltng Desdemona as a perfect combination of laughter, love and naivety. But perhaps Dolly was always doomed in a system that rarely lets women speak without suspicion, where their loyalty is both demanded and distrusted. Her love was never enough to clear her name because the trial was never fair to begin with. Her tragedy is that she doesn't just fall (like Omkara/Othello himself), but she is pushed, cruelly, by the very hands she tried to hold. Konkona Sen Sharma's Indu (Emilia) becomes the personification of this point - the memory and prophecy of what happens when women are not believed.

Omkara reclaims the Shakespearean tragedy, proving the universality of its themes of power, love, caste and betrayal but also its very real local manifestations. One thing is clear - in every story, innocence never stands a chance.

[raazdari]

Andhadhun | Sriram Raghavan

[raazdari]

blind or not blind?

Andhadhun - Sriram Raghavan

[raazdari]

Andhadun (2018) | Dir. Sriram Raghavan

[spider-mann]

"Do you guys wanna, I don't know, check out my boner?"

[screenpalettes]

Her (2013)

[moonlightsdream]

FILMS IN 2023: → Qala (2022) — dir. anvita dutt

[tumkaunho]

The Curse of being an Obedient Daughter

Never enough, never seen, never loved, never heard. Sacrificed to the devil. Free labor. No mental peace, no sense of self. Selfish if spoke up. Third parent. Forgotten.

I won't regret this, right? Mom?

Screaming internally just to be heard.

Too tied up in thinking what society would term as "right" than to ever listen to what I truly want.

[desicinema]

QALA (2022), dir. Anvita Dutt Guptan

[earningbournvilles]

Me in episode 1 of paatal lok: if anything happens to Ansari I will riot.

Me in the 8th episode: IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ANSARI OR HATHI RAM I WILL FUCKING RIOT.

[starshine-pdf]

anand (1971) || masaan (2015)

[raazdari]

Shikara (2020) - Vidhu Vinod Chopra

[raazdari]

Like mother, like daughter I guess