ChinmayC Blog

Why should any film director, let him/her be a seriously famous or crass commercial maker, make a movie like the ’12 O’ Clock’ (2021) while still in the right frame of mind? I’m saying so because the film, placed in the ‘horror’ genre, is ludicrously absurd, inadvertently funny and with superimposed superficial characters. The angst of the viewers is particularly aggravated if that filmmaker happens to be an era-defining and a prolific one for over three decades. I cannot restrain myself from quoting the Hindi teaser that goes like this, ‘ Tera barah baj gaya kya ?’ (Have you got done with it?) while avoiding the Sardar jokes associated with the ’12 o’ clock’ phenomenon. Mind you, I’m far from trying to be offensive or insulting in any possible manner for I’ve been a devout admirer of the filmmaker since the 90s. As the title suggests I’m just asking as to what may have been happening with him in the recent years. However, it’s a far cry as regards the remotest possibility of this piec...

An alien lands on planet earth in that roundish kind of spacecraft we are used to watching in Hollywood and to some extent in Bollywood movies too. First thing that happens to him on earth is that his round blipping tracking system hung on his neck gets stolen and the alien loses all contact with his planet. If you are geared up for a sci-fi movie it ends just there. After that he is like a stark naked new-born baby (not exactly!) about to discover the ways of life on earth—mind you, essentially the Indian way of life. His intensely focused eyes display the heart-rending innocence and insatiable curiosity. He is perplexed at every step—being astounded by the dresses and costumes people wear, being piqued by the languages people speak and thoroughly confused by the religious practices and rituals people believe and indulge in. His innocently meaningful and hard-hitting questions make the people around him laugh or mock or get intrigued or get angry or even get violent.   The divine...

As his forte Aamir Khan has made his blockbuster appearance after a gap of almost three years since the release of the super movie 3 Idiots in 2009, and his magic worked for the much awaited Talaash; The Answer Lies Within that released on November 30, 2012 all over. Talaash has grossed the sixth highest Box Office earnings of the year over the release weekend and is confirmed a hit. Aamir Khan, this time coming with a big mustache, plays a cop and gives a powerhouse performance for his loving admirers yet again. If you enjoy an absorbing suspense buildup to the extent that it makes the end irrelevant then Talaash is the right movie for you. We had said a similar thing in the review of Kahaani , but Kahaani was almost flawless and the intended power of the climax twist did not get diluted due to the ‘technicality’ whereas Talaash is not flawless and it ultimately does not stay loyal to the genre of suspense. The Talaash climax is kind of a state-of-the-mind affair—you like it or...

Normally we express our agitated emotions in multiples of ‘Oh shit!’ After watching Delhi Belly where we confront real shit we go to absurd limits of our shit expressions! This has been such an astounding reality of human existence that even Aamir Khan, the beloved clean hero of India, had to realize it at last! In addition to the shit the film also offends us in several other details which we prefer to keep under the blanket safely, untold. The civilized hypocrites that we always are, we tend to ignore the biological aspects of our lives. Delhi Belly scores heavily by presenting these details in an uninhibited explicit (call it realistic) way which throws vulgarity out of the window. Biological humor, abuses etc are not uncommon to Bollywood movies, but they are always loud crude and vulgar. Produced by Aamir Khan Productions, written by young newbie Akshat Verma and directed by Abhinay Deo, Delhi Belly is a very well made film with beautiful shot compositions, brilliant takings a...