Browsing: Cinema

We’ve all known and loved her – Meena Kumari, the tragic beauty who brought so many wonderful films to life. Many of us have seen her films in crowded theaters in India while another generation has experienced the power of her work via videos, catching on to her life after it was already over.

Most of us don’t know that she was a poet too, writing in Urdu. Now her words have been lovingly gathered into a book, ‘Meena Kumari, the Poet – A Life beyond Cinema’, and fans, poetry lovers and the merely curious will be able to see what made her tick, what were her innermost thoughts

Yes, it’s that time of the year when New Yorkers get wrapped up in intriguing cinema from the Indian sub-continent, wonderful stories of the diaspora and varied lives – thanks to the New York Indian Film Festival  (NYIFF) which has been a gift of the Indo-American Arts Council and Aroon Shivdasani to New York City

In the 60’s this bitter-sweet story about changing times and a changing India became a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and was made into ‘Shakespearewallah’ – a winsome little gem of a film by the intrepid team of James Ivory and Ismail Merchant – just their second venture after ‘The Householder’.

The New York Indian Film Festival, organized by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC)  has always prided itself on being about real people, ordinary people, and at the cinematic table there’s room for stories from every kind of independent film maker, in every format and in every regional language.

Ten ticking minutes which won’t ever come back are a valuable commodity.
You could spend them waiting for the subway train to arrive or watching your chicken biryani cook on the stove.
Or you could spend ten minutes having a most happening conversation with the very happening Kumail Nanjiani! Well, that’s what I was lucky enough to do – and I tried to squeeze an hour’s conversation into those ten minutes – and we really talked fast!

Remembering legendary actor Omar Sharif on his 86th birthday through a Google Doodle, some video interviews and one’s own memories of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and ‘Dr. Zhivago’ and other films.

NYIFF 2018 promises tributes to Sridevi, Shashi Kapoor and a Merchant-Ivory Retrospective besides independent films, documentaries, shorts and regional films. A film buff’s dream!

Celebrities may wear the armor of success but as Anupam Kher shows they all have human failings and frailties and he shares ways to deal with everything from stress to fear to failure. And that is why readers will catch glimpses of themselves in the pages of his new book, find strength for the days they lose confidence or feel useless. Says Kher, “They need to discover that the best thing about them is them. It is the truth, it is not just a catchy title. I believe in it.”

you know that there’s another showman named Raj Kapoor – a young Indian-American in Hollywood who’s on the Oscars production team? His company, Raj Kapoor Productions, designed the screen content and performances for the big night.

Superstar Rekha shares pictures of her friend the late great Sridevi

PadMan has landed in New York City, and the do-gooder while doing good for society is also bringing in the big bucks at the box-office! A review

It is a pleasure to have a bit of respite and see ‘Pad Man’ – a film which is a true story about a very different kind of man, a man who respects all women and wants to make their lives easier, better and full of dignity.

Can you be a film buff and not see ‘Padmaavat’? Like thousands, I too wound my way to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s saga starring the luminaries Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. I donned 3-D glasses and entered into the surreal, far-off world of medieval India which has been brought kicking and shouting into the 2018 conflicted world of Karni Sena and today’s India.

What can $1.99 buy you?
In today’s day and age – not much. Not even a slice of pizza, not even a burger, not even a Metrocard!
But $1.99 can buy you romance, drama, comedy and magic, happiness and laughter, a trip to foreign lands for a full 30 days.
The secret is BigFlix.

Lavina’s Picks – Stories from Around the Web. Tributes to Shashi Kapoor are pouring in – here’s an endearing one which showed his generous, down-to-heart nature.

Wouldn’t you want to have a seat at the U.S. premiere of The Brawler (Mukkabaaz) by acclaimed director Anurag Kashyap? How about Pahuna, a film produced by actress Priyanka Chopra? These are two of the eight films at the India Kaleidoscope Film Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York

ow does a 21st century, modern Indian transform himself into a 19th century British Raj clerk, a servant of Queen Victoria?

In ‘Victoria and Abdul’ the story of an unusual friendship between Queen Victoria and her Indian servant Abdul Karim, this was the challenge for Ali Fazal, boy from Lucknow, Bollywood actor from Mumbai who had done a cameo in ‘Fast and Furious’.

Well, this nice middle-class girl from Bombay did follow the road less traveled. It led her all the way to New York City, the school of hard knocks, the elusive hunt for success and happiness. Did she find what she was looking for?

f you’re a woman, ‘Lipstick Under my Burkha’ will certainly speak to you, no matter whether you’re a big city girl or a small town woman. After all, we all may not have worn physical burkhas, but nearly every woman has had to wear a mental burkha – a metaphorical confinement, a cover to who she really is.

Once in a blue moon, these stars descend to earth and actually come and mingle – somewhat – with the common man, the diehard fan. This happened in the hot month of July, when IIFA came to New York and New Jersey with a whole gaggle of stars from Salman Khan to Katrina Kaif to Alia Bhatt.