Bollywood Film Critic ™

Ba***ds of Bollywood-A Review.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 19:04:00 +0000

Ba***ds of Bollywood

Directed by Aryan Khan
Written by Aryan Khan, Bilal Siddiqi, Manav Chauhan
Starring: Bobby Deol, Lakshya Lalwani, Raghav Juyal, Sahher Bambba, Anya Singh
Rating: 3***/5

There was a lot of curiosity surrounding the 7-episode series on Netflix—"Baads of Bollywood”—due to it being the directorial debut of Aryan Khan, the son of Shah Rukh Khan. Surprisingly, his satirical take on Bollywood, which follows the journey of an outsider trying to break into the film industry, makes the series an interesting watch.

Although the first couple of episodes struggled to establish a clear tone and direction, the series picks up pace and ultimately delivers a true Bollywood masala experience in the final episode.

The show cynically explores the underbelly of the film industry, addressing issues such as hypocrisy, nepotism, the movie mafia, biased media, deceitfulness, and manipulative behaviors of Bollywood bigwigs, drugs, lecherous producers, underworld connections, intrusive paparazzi, celebrity privileges, and entitled attitudes. It also touches on perceptions of stardom and success, fleeting fame, glitz and glamour, and various other Bollywood shenanigans and blah.

Lakshya delivers an excellent performance as the lead character, Asmaan. Bobby Deol shines as a successful Bollywood actor, marking his significant return to the industry. Raghav Juyal, who plays the hero’s best friend, provides comic relief, especially with the hilarious Emraan Hashmi gag. The inclusion of Emraan Hashmi as the intimacy coach adds another layer of comedy. Anya Singh, as the actor's manager, and the nepo heroine Sahher Bambba show a promising start, too.

The series alternates genres from drama to comedy to satire, which is fine. However, there are some inconsistencies in the humor. Some Bollywood references are funny, and some puns hit the mark, while others, like the overused “Where is the pen?” feel like an inside joke lacking context. A couple of other flaws include the excessive appearance of the character Jaraj Saxena every 20 minutes, as well as the presence of the annoying film critic even during the shooting of a film!

The series is likely to feature a next season with different satirical takes on Bollywood. Hints towards the #MeToo movement, casting couch, were already sprinkled, creating anticipation for the next season of Baads! Aryan Khan appears to be honing his passion and talent, finding his own path to success in Bollywood, just like his father, Shah Rukh Khan.

Saiyaara- Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 02:03:00 +0000

Directed by Mohit Suri
Written by Sankalp Sadanah
Dialogues by Rohan Shankar
Produced by Akshaye Widhani
Starring: Ahaan Panday, Aneet Padda
Cinematography: Vikas Sivaraman
Edited by Rohit Makwana, Devendra Murdeshwar
Music by
Songs: Mithoon, Tanishk Bagchi,Sachet-Parampara, Rishabh Kant, Vishal Mishra, Faheem Abdullah, Arslan Nizami

Rating: ***

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie or show when seen. But minor details may have been divulged for a proper review!)

I checked out Saiyaara on Netflix this weekend, and was quite surprised that it fell short of my expectations, especially given its status as a box office hit with rave reviews!

Saiyaara is a romantic, heartbreaking drama featuring debutant actors. The idea of creating an emotional romance with fresh talent is excellent; however, the overall execution falls short due to inadequate character development, weak story building, and poor editing. The movie felt like a collection of disconnected and copy-paste scenes, lacking a realistic flow. Additionally, the numerous technical flaws, medical inaccuracies, and excessive melodrama detract from the emotional depth of the storyline.

The lead actor, Ahaan Pandey, delivers a good performance, channeling a Sanjay Dutt-like persona. However, his grunge look throughout the movie felt excessive. A cleaner appearance during the happier moments could have enhanced the narrative.

The heroine, Aneet Padda, resembles the cute Alicia Silverstone, but her character's script requirement was limited to looking pretty, vulnerable, and sad. While both actors are good-looking, neither of the lead characters was endearing enough, nor did they evoke the charm necessary for viewers to fall in love with them, an essential component in romantic films.

On a positive note, the soundtrack is enjoyable, with eloquent lyrics compared to many recent films. However, aside from one standout song, the tracks don't compare to the memorable ones from Mohit Suri's films like Aashiqui 2 etc. Overall, I would rate it 3 out of 5.

Pataal Lok- A Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 02:28:00 +0000

PAATAL LOK-A Review

Written by Sudip Sharma; Sagar Haveli; Hardik Mehta; Gunjit Chopra
Directed by Avinash Arun; Prosit Roy (season one);
Starring: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Gul Panag
Genre:Neo-noir; Crime thriller; Social Drama
Rating : **** /5

Paatal Lok, an Indian crime thriller and social drama well known for its realistic storytelling, direction, and extraordinary acting, recently released its second season on Amazon Prime.

The first season, which debuted in 2020, gained acclaim for its impactful dialogues: "The world is divided into three parts—Swarg (Heaven), where the gods and the wealthy live and can get away with anything; Dharti (Earth), where ordinary humans reside; and Paatal Lok (the underworld), inhabited by criminals and insects." It explored themes such as murder, corruption, dirty politics, media manipulation, oppression, Islamophobia, and caste discrimination.

While the first season was set in Delhi and its surrounding areas, the second season shifts the setting to the eastern Indian state of Nagaland. This season is equally bingeworthy, weaving a murder mystery through the complexities of politics, rebel insurgencies, drugs and narcotics, and family drama.

Jaideep Ahlawat shines as Inspector Haati Raam Chaudhary, delivering another outstanding performance. The Haryanvi cop, characterized by a thick mouche, a small paunch, and an untucked shirt, may not be a typical action hero, but surprisingly impressed with his numerous combat scenes, fist fights, chases, and sliding down roofs.

The partnership between Jaideep Ahlawat and Ishwak Singh as Imran Ansari, —Sub Inspector from the first season turned to IPS officer, is beautifully captured. Their respectful and friendly chemistry, which sometimes is awkward due to changed power dynamics, adds depth to the narrative.

An excellent binge-worthy show to watch. Highly recommend.

Angry Young Men - A Review.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 18:33:00 +0000

"Main aaj bhi feke hue paise nahi uthata"- Deewar

"Jab tak baithne ko na kaha jaaye sharafat se khade raho. Yeh police station hai tumhare baap ka ghar nahi."-Zanjeer

"Don ka intezar toh gyarah mulkon ki police kar rahi hai.Lekin….. ek baat samajh lo Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, namumkin hai"- Don

"Aaj mere paas paisa hai, bangla hai, gaadi hai, naukar hai, bank balance hai, aur tumhare paas kya hai?"-Deewar

These iconic dialogues with new storylines reinvented the Bollywood formula, which was romance-centric with a new kind of anti-hero, introducing the "Angry Young Man" in 70's Bollywood, revolutionizing Indian Cinema.

The legendary duo writers Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar single-handedly created this creative shift of popularizing the action-drama genre when they kickstarted the dawn of the "Angry Young Man" with Zanjeer.

Hence, appropriately, a documentary about these two writers and creators, Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, is called "Angry Young Men." I guess Amitabh Bachchan, who was the face of the "Angry Young Man" and immortalized it, will have to title his life series differently one day ;)

This three-part documentary series produced by the duo's kids, Bollywood actors Salman Khan, Farhan Akhtar, director Zoya Akhtar and others, is on Amazon Prime. Directed by Namrata Rao, it walks through the personal and professional journeys of screenplay writer Salim Khan and dialog writer Javed Akhtar while exploring their partnership as "Salim-Javed," who wrote 24 films together, 22 of which were blockbusters!

The series captures nostalgic memories of their early lives, their coming together as a team, their movies, and their iconic dialogues, which were engraved in the minds of Indian audiences and became common parlance. We hear them talking about their philosophies, vulnerabilities, and personal lives reflected in some of their characters; their angry angst mirrored in the "Angry Young Man" and such. Special mention is the amazing story of their confidence in themselves and the need to get screenplay writers deserving recognition and credits on movie posters with cast and crew; they graffitied their names on film posters of Zanjeer across town. Despite sharing some movie trivia and details, the series keeps the curious cine fan skeptical about what caused their split and why the duo stopped working together.

But in retrospect, while seeing the series, when we think of the "Angry Young Man" in Bollywood cinema, we see the rise in the pattern of male-centric movies with no turning back! In a conversation snippet, Jaya Bhaduri mentions she was initially uncomfortable and unsure of acting in a male-centric movie like Zanjeer but did it for Amitabh's sake.

But unknowingly, did the writers change Bollywood cinema, the audiences, and the culture towards male chauvinism and a patriarchal society? Though the conversation in the series talks about their screenplays having created strong female characters and not namby-pamby women, as Javed says, the persona-building process of the "Angry Young Man" left no space for women to have an equal share of space.

When you see the present-day ripple of the "Angry Young Man" characters in today's Indian film industry, they have left behind Salim- Javed's "little good and little bad anti-hero" to full-blown immoral misogynist heroes! By creating the "Angry Young Man" action genre, they may be uncomfortable for being partially responsible Frankenstein creators of today's monster heroes in Arjun Reddy/Kabir Singh and Animal!

Check out the series on Amazon Prime.

Legally Blonde -Zilker Summer Musical 2024 -A Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 20:11:00 +0000

Every summer, for so many years living in Austin, we have enjoyed watching high-quality Broadway-grade productions on the open-air Zilker Hillside Theatre for free! The Shakespeare in the Park or the Zilker Theatre Productions (ZTP).

This summer, we had a fantastic Saturday evening at the Zilker Hillside Theatre with the ZTP show Legally Blonde. Based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Motion Picture "Legally Blonde" starring Reese Witherspoon.

Legally Blonde is the empowering story about how Elle Woods, a fashion major sorority girl, enrolls in Harvard Law School to win over her ex-boyfriend. She tackles stereotypes and faces skepticism from her peers and professors, but with unwavering optimism and the support of her new friends Emmet Forrest and her hairdresser friend Paulette, she discovers her true potential, passion, and power of the law degree.

If you liked the movie Legally Blonde, you would love this theatre production with its lightweight and fun comedy, tongue-in-cheek dialogues and lyrics, high-energy songs and dance choreography, high-tempo music by Laurance O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, fabulous, eye-catching costumes and pink ambiance lighting.

Each of the actors has excellent performances, especially the lead actors Megan Hudson as Elle Woods and Will Mallick as Emmet Forrest, and Ashtyn Kahn as Paulette. Besides being pretty in pink, Megan brought out the ethos and spirit of Elle and Reese perfectly.

Elles's empowering journey of self-discovery, perseverance, staying true to oneself, optimism, and shattering stereotypes are excellent themes that need to be echoed and embraced by all for true success.

Dressed in pink, with picnic blankets, picnic baskets with tuna bagel sandwiches, chips and dips, pretzels, snacks, banana bread, drinks, water, precautionary dabs of lavender oils, and mosquito repellant, and a pack of uno for pre-show entertainment, our family was ready for the fun evening.

It was a hot evening, but the help desk gave out paper fans along with and the musical programs. I was also lucky to go backstage to meet a friend who supervises the costumes and wardrobe of the musical. At intermission, I even got an answer to my curious query of how Elle changed her costume on stage so fast when she was dress-shopping and prepping for her possible proposal. The astonishing answer is that magnets sewn on the dress snap together fast!

Zilker Theatre Productions Legally Blonde the Musical has been showing July 12 through August 18, 2024, Thursday to Sunday at 8.15 p.m. Blankets can be laid out starting at 6:00 p.m. to secure prime spots for the show. Arriving at 6:50 p.m., we found a slightly diagonal spot with a decent view.

Since it was a Saturday, it drew large crowds, and more than 1000 people were watching this entertaining musical. We saw some familiar faces but because of the large crowd we couldn't spot some of our friends who were there as well.

Zilker summer musicals have been an Austin Tradition since 1959, when Austin's Parks and Recreation Department created it as an annual project. Sustaining the legacy of serving the Austin community through the magic of performing, these theatre productions make the arts accessible, with Broadway-grade productions inspiring artists and audiences and celebrating the spirit of community. They welcome donations and during intermission, the cast comes out to the Hillside with buckets for donations, too. The program also has QR codes to donate electronically.

FYI, if you are a dog lover, with the help of the Austin Animal Center, you can adopt one of the animal stars of ZTP's Legally Blonde- The Musical.

So, get your friends and family together, pack a picnic and head to the Zilker Hillside Theatre- its and experience you won't want to miss. Last day of the show is August 17, 2024.

Jawan stands up!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 17:14:00 +0000

Jawan stands up!

Jawan-movie review

Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Deepika padukone, Sanjay dutt, Sanya Malhotra, Priyamani
Director: Atlee
Screenplay by Atlee, S. Ramanagirivasan
Story: Atlee
Dialogs: Sumit Arora
Producers: Gauri Khan, Gaurav Verma
Cinematography: G. K. Vishnu
Edited by Ruben
Music by Anirudh Ravichander
Rating: ***

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

Not many celebrities in India are brave enough to take a stand or take a mantle to raise awareness, denounce social and political injustices, or point fingers at a broken system. Shahrukh Khan, using his stardom and charisma in collaboration with Director Atlee, stands as the avenger and vigilante in Jawan for social and political justice and tries to shake the Indian audiences out of the lull to come together for the greater good.

While he is at it, he also makes a personal retaliatory statement about the persecution of his son with a dialog in the movie- “Bete ko haath lagane se pehle, baap se baat kar.”

Jawan is a soldier, a jailor, and a Robin Hood-style vigilante. His agenda is to expose the recent happenings with faulty systems and improve the lives of the common man. He tries to right the wrongs caused by - the Ministry of Agriculture with the sad plight of the suicidal farmers burdened by debt; - the Health Ministry and their insensitivity to provide government hospitals with infrastructure like simple oxygen cylinders and wrongful blaming the doctor for deaths instead of the real offenders; the faulty weapons in warfare due to underhand arms deals leading to loss of soldiers lives; political deals with billionaire businessmen; and such….All simultaneously with action adventures, high-speed chases, and hostage takeovers of the masked hero & his girl squad of avengers with guns and tech gadgets.

The big negative was the long list of wrongs to right sequenced to fit into one movie, cramming it a little. With the movie already stretched to 169 minutes, the transitions between each tragic flashback story and action-adventures to fix those wrongs were too quick that it lost out on making an emotional impact and meaningful connection.

But hopefully, if SRK’s fervent speech on democracy and the power of a single vote to help bring about a better tomorrow has influenced the audiences, it’s the biggest positive!

The director Atlee, did an excellent job of representing all Indian audiences, races, religions, and castes in his imagery from the north to the south to the east to west, showcasing the diversity of India. Though he is known for his blockbuster movies confronting social issues, in this agenda to expose the long list of events that have unfolded in India docu-drama style, he didn’t work his magic effectively in Jawan. Lacking the seamless blending of social messages, emotions, and action affected the movie’s entertainment value.

The South Indian Directors’ influence on the music and choreography is visible in the songs. ‘Challaya,’ ‘Not Ramaya Vastavaya,’ and ‘Zinda are good but not showstopping numbers.

While SRK in Jawan comes out sometimes as the vigilante Amitabh Bachchan of ‘Shehanshah,’ ‘Agneepath,’ and ‘Akhri Rashta,’ he pleases all audiences across the country by channeling even the South Indian superstar Rajnikanth and his iconic moves with cigar and stunts with motorcycles.

Shahrukh Khan proves himself as a feminist again in Jawan (besides in Pathan) when the women in the movie have an equal footing and show women empowerment. Deepika shines in the small role, while Nayantara also emerges as a strong character. However, Nayantara lacks the same romantic chemistry with SRK. His girl squad, like Charlie’s Angles with Sanya Malhotra, Priyamani, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Girija Oak, and Lehar Khan, are outstanding, but their characters were a little underwritten due to excessive story jamming.

Vijay Sethupathi is a well-known South Indian actor, but maybe due to difficulty in adapting to the language or whatever reason, he doesn't have a strong villainous impact.

SRK, as the soldier, was outstanding and outshined the younger CGI’ed jailor SRK. But what is remarkable is not talking about his acting prowess but his courage to get off beyond the screen and play a ‘true real-life hero,’ exposing the wrongs in today's India.

An Action Hero- Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 16:46:00 +0000

Directed by Anirudh Iyer
Written by Neeraj Yadav
Story by Anirudh Iyer
Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Aanand L. Rai
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Jaideep Ahlawat
Cinematography: Kaushal Shah
Edited by Ninad Khanolkar
Music by Parag Chhabra, Sunny M. R.
Release date:2 December 2022
Running time:130 minutes
Language: Hindi
Genre: Action Comedy, Satire
Rating:3/5
(The aim and intention of my review is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

Lights-camera-action. The action hero throws a punch, shoots bullets, kicks butt, and does his own stunts. This is because the actor is not just playing the part of an action hero, he is living it. When an incident occurs for the hero to escape reel life to real life he has not escaped the baddies chasing him.

An Action Hero is a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase between actor Manaav (Ayushman Khurana) and revenge-seeking small-town politician Bhoora Solanki (Jaideep Ahlawat). It has a well-written, fast-paced plot, comic wit, spunky dialog, punchy, sharp satire, and commentary.

Yes, there is commentary. Ayushman Khurana, with his mission and hope of improving the world, tackling social evil, and breaking societal norms through movies, imparts another underlining message.

The movie has incisive and acute observations about politics and politicians showing off power; the rich and affluent society’s expectations of Bollywood celebrities to dance to their tunes; obsession and entitlement of fans' beliefs that they are the makers of the actors’ celebrity status; underworld references; capriciousness of media who can make you from famous to infamous; satire of how media and TRP obsessed news channels and irritating TV anchors are weaponizing media, especially against Bollywood with the dig at the use of #BoycottBollywood for many recent movies.

Director Anirudh Iyer stages the Tom and Jerry kind of play between Khurana and Ahlawat. Where one is trying to kill his opponent, but also getting pally with him! Both the actors Khurana and Ahlawat have strong performances. Jaideep Ahlavat, with his fierce broody looks delivering comic dialogs or revealing unsureness of his revenge intent, was an excellent juxtaposition. Of the umpteen Bollywood action hero possibilities, Ayushman Khurana was perfectly chosen. He is buffed and fit, but importantly he is among the few actors who appear relatable and vulnerable, playing the part of an action hero very well in reel life and real life.

An interesting aspect you notice is this movie doesn’t have any females in the leading cast. Malika Arora is still her hot self in the reprised version of Nazia Hassan’s song Aap Jaisa Koi ….. Nora Fatehi features her sexy strut in Jehda Nasha as the numbers roll.

This action comedy is now on Netflix and is definitely worth a watch.

Pathaan -Movie review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 23:41:00 +0000

Directed by Siddharth Anand
Written by Shridhar Raghavan, Abbas Tyrewala
Story by Siddharth Anand
Produced by Aditya Chopra
Starring:
ShahRukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham
Cinematography Satchith Paulose
Edited by Aarif Sheikh
Music by Songs: Vishal–Shekhar
Score: Sanchit Balhara, Ankit Balhara
Production company: Yash Raj Films
Distributed by Yash Raj Films
Release date: 25 January 2023
Running time:146 minutes
Language: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil
Genre: Action/ Thriller
Trailer: https://youtu.be/vqu4z34wENw
Rating:3.5 /5

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

Pathaan is a high-octane Spy thriller, too true to the genre. It is an action-filled entertainer with adrenaline rush thrills, exhilarating adventure, and gravity-defying stunts in the air, land, snow, ice, and water! It practically check-marks all the action sequences possible in any movie of this genre! LOL, I am not kidding; I have listed it below and still feel I missed out a bunch from my memory…. You are promised a total visual treat from the action to the actors;)

It’s a movie where your favorite Bollywood hero of romance is reinvented as the action hero with chiseled six-pack abs, long locks of hair/a man bun, with suave daredevil moves but, of course, still packed with the SRK charm;)

This spy thriller is like James Bond meets Mission Impossible, Fast and Furious, and Captain America! With high doses of eye candy, action, thrills, drama, and patriotism! The story involves an Indian secret agent putting together a team of agents to fight international crime and terrorism, hopping across countries, and indulging in games of revenge and betrayal with rogue agents and spies of another country. Do we have a logical and rational plot? No, it’s best to ignore it and not take all that seriously. Just get visually entertained ;)

Listed are the ever-so-many Action Sequences:

þ Hand-to-hand combat
þ Guns, Knives, and Glass bottle Fights
þ Missiles & Rockets
þ Bombs & Explosions
þ Biowarfare
þ Waterboarding & Torture
þ Car Chase: Hummer vs. Dodge Charger
þ Fight Scene on top of SUVs & Trucks
þ Helicopter Chases, Fights, and Hanging from Helicopters
þ Zip Lining between Helicopters
þ Hanging from Glider Airplanes
þ Mid-Air Chase in self-propelled Flying Jet Wingsuits
þ Fight scene on Top of the Moving Train; Fight scene in Moving Train
þ Bridge with train tracks burning; running up the falling train bogies
þ High-security vault Heist
þ Motorbike Chase on Snow
þ Motorbiking on a Frozen Lake
þ Ice skating on a Frozen Lake
þ Underwater Rescue
þ Hologram technology
þ Cliff Jumping
þ Rappelling on high-rise glass skyscrapers

Director Siddharth Anand presents Pathaan like a Hollywoodesque superhero movie for the YashRaj Spy Universe Series. Some accolades go to the multiple stunt directors in the cast. At the same time, the writers Shridhar Raghavan and Abbas Tyrewala write into the movie some humor and dialog with a few old SRK movie references, which he smoothly glides in with his charm and wit.

Shahrukh Khan works well as the six-packed abs tough but vulnerable Superhero, not the indestructible kind. He is the type who gets beaten up but still comes out as the chivalrous hero who saves the day. It looks like he has carved new ways and roles to shine in Bollywood at 57. Despite SRK being the protagonist, the movie balances out prime time with John Abraham as the handsome villain with his own set of chiseled Abs, tattoos, strength, moves, and subtle humor (I love his joke about dating among spies) Adding to the battle of equals is Deepika who gives off sexy, sultry glam with kick-ass action moves. She proves she is not just some eye candy or love interest but another action hero!

The songs Jhoome JoPathaan and Besharam Rang (with the orange bikini, controversial for ridiculous non-reasons) are visually appealing in the cinematography and choreography, while the music by Vishal-Shekar and the lyrics are reflective of the action thriller.

Lastly, don’t miss the fun cameo of Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan discussing Bollywood after the numbers roll.

Recommend checking it out in theatres for the visual treat from the action to the actors;)

Oscar Nominations 2023

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 02:42:00 +0000

The Oscar nominations are listed below, time to start checking out the movies and start rating your favorites...

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

AUSTIN BUTLER-ELVIS
COLIN FARRELL-THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
BRENDAN FRASER-THE WHALE
PAUL MESCAL-AFTERSUN
BILL NIGHY-LIVING

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

BRENDAN GLEESON-THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
BRIAN TYREE HENRY-CAUSEWAY
JUDD HIRSCH-THE FABELMANS
BARRY KEOGHAN-THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
KE HUY QUAN-EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

CATE BLANCHETT-Tár
ANA DE ARMAS-Blonde
ANDREA RISEBOROUGH-To Leslie
MICHELLE WILLIAMS-The Fabelmans
MICHELLE YEOH-Everything Everywhere All at Once

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

ANGELA BASSETT
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
HONG CHAU
The Whale
KERRY CONDON
The Banshees of Inisherin
JAMIE LEE CURTIS
Everything Everywhere All at Once
STEPHANIE HSU
Everything Everywhere All at Once

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

NOMINEES

GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO
Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON
Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey
PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH
Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
THE SEA BEAST
Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
TURNING RED
Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins

CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
James Friend
BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS
Darius Khondji
ELVIS
Mandy Walker
EMPIRE OF LIGHT
Roger Deakins
TÁR
Florian Hoffmeister

COSTUME DESIGN

NOMINEES

BABYLON
Mary Zophres
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Ruth Carter
ELVIS
Catherine Martin
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Shirley Kurata
MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS
Jenny Beavan

DIRECTING

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Martin McDonagh
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
THE FABELMANS
Steven Spielberg
TÁR
Todd Field
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Ruben Östlund

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

ALL THAT BREATHES
Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED
Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
FIRE OF LOVE
Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS
Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
NAVALNY
Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS
Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
HAULOUT
Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
HOW DO YOU MEASURE A YEAR?
Jay Rosenblatt
THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT
Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
STRANGER AT THE GATE
Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

FILM EDITING

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
ELVIS
Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Paul Rogers
TÁR
Monika Willi
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Eddie Hamilton

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Germany
ARGENTINA, 1985
Argentina
CLOSE
Belgium
EO
Poland
THE QUIET GIRL
Ireland

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
THE BATMAN
Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
ELVIS
Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
THE WHALE
Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Volker Bertelmann
BABYLON
Justin Hurwitz
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Carter Burwell
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Son Lux
THE FABELMANS
John Williams

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

APPLAUSE
from Tell It like a Woman; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
HOLD MY HAND
from Top Gun: Maverick; Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
LIFT ME UP
from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler

NAATU NAATU
from RRR; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
THIS IS A LIFE
from Everything Everywhere All at Once; Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne

BEST PICTURE

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Malte Grunert, Producer
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers
ELVIS
Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, Producers
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers
THE FABELMANS
Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, Producers
TÁR
Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, Producers

TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers
WOMEN TALKING
Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
BABYLON
Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
ELVIS
Production Design: Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
THE FABELMANS
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

NOMINEES

THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE
Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
THE FLYING SAILOR
Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
ICE MERCHANTS
João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
MY YEAR OF DICKS
Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
AN OSTRICH TOLD ME THE WORLD IS FAKE AND I THINK I BELIEVE IT
Lachlan Pendragon

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

NOMINEES

AN IRISH GOODBYE
Tom Berkeley and Ross White
IVALU
Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
LE PUPILLE
Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
NIGHT RIDE
Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
THE RED SUITCASE
Cyrus Neshvad

SOUND

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges
THE BATMAN
Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
ELVIS
David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

VISUAL EFFECTS

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
THE BATMAN
Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Screenplay - Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell
GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
Written by Rian Johnson
LIVING
Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
WOMEN TALKING
Screenplay by Sarah Polley

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Written by Martin McDonagh
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
THE FABELMANS
Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
TÁR
Written by Todd Field
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Written by Ruben Östlund

Gangubai Kathiawadi – Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 18:15:00 +0000

Gangubai Kathiawadi – Review

Direction: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Screenplay: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Utkarshini Vashishtha
Dialogue: Prakash Kapadia, Utkarshini Vashishtha
Story: Hussain Zaidi (story is based on a chapter from the Book- “Mafia Queens of Mumbai: Stories of women from the ganglands” written by Hussain Zaidi & Jane Borges)
Producers: Jayantilal Gada, Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Shantanu Maheshwari, Vijay Raaz, Indira Tiwari, Seema Pahwa, Ajay Devgn (Guest Appearance)
Cinematography: Sudeep Chatterjee
Editing: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Music: Sanchit Balhara, Ankit Balhara
Movie Release: Feb 25, 2022
Genre: Drama; loosely based on real life story.
Length: 154 mins
Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed
Rating: **** (4/5)

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

White is the color of clouds, pearls, milk, snow, salt, paper, ice, swans…..it’s not just an illustrious dialogue of the movie, the color white is an unblemished marker for purity and I guess it can help illuminate the literal and figurative ills of society! Hence Sanjay Leela Bhansali may have chosen the color white to clad the queen of the red-light district in shades of pristine white in stark contradiction to dark views on prostitution and sex trade.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s artistry is not limited to the lead character of Gangubai, but reflected in the whole set and visual scenery. All the large scale scenes have the grandeur and aura of white and his whole movie has a white color scheme elevating the protagonist to a larger stature.

The movie is loosely based on the real life of Gangubai Kathiawadi. Based on the chapter The Matriarch of Kamathipura of the book Mafia Queens of Mumbai, written by S Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges. It chronicles the journey of a young, small town girl who gets conned with lure of Bollywood dreams to be sold in the lanes of Kamathipura, Bombay’s notorious red-light district. Staging through the shameful, sad, painful times, to the strong fight- for- her- life stage, to an activist and advocate for the rights of fellow sex workers, to the queen of Kamathipura, crusading for the sex worker community, and lobbying for legalization of prostitution. Her journey is loaded with challenges, vile brothel madams, conflicting opponents, social stigma, police and politics which builds her to stand up strong for basic rights to education, banking, equality and dignity, for the sex workers and their children.

The empowered and feminist Gangubai who supports her sisterhood is nicely reflected in the equally powerful, feminist Bollywood movie about her, with exceptionally fiery dialogs, getting mouthed out by the female lead protagonist. Such audacity of strength and power used to be reserved for angry young man roles, in Amitabh Bachchan like movies only….. Towering applause goes to the dialog writers Prakash Kapadia, Utkarshini Vashishtha for all the remarkable and outstanding dialogs. Interestingly the feministic part is reflected in paradox of how a sex worker like Gangubai shows importance of consent. Her love interest waits for her consent, the policeman is scared to touch her feet, and the goon is beaten up for trying to get violent with her.

And finally it’s time to applaud Alia Bhatt for her brilliant acting skills. She would not have been the first Bollywood actress one thinks of for a role of a sex worker. But she has matured and grown as an actress to depict such complex emotions from pain to joy, fear to strength, shining in every moment. Her paused and impactful dialog delivery, her sweet expressions and confident swagger in this movie show she has the acting chops perfected.

Ajay Devgn shows strength and power in his strut and gait in his brief role as the upright Pathan-don Rahim Lala. Jim Sarbh with his role as an encouraging journalist with his subtle performance adds interesting interludes. Seema Pahwa as the vile brothel madam, Vijay Raaz as the Trans Razia add some melodrama. Scenes with Indira Tiwari, Gangu’s friend, are full of pathos and pain, be it the letter writing one, in sickness, or the dead scene. Shantanu Maheswari as the shy love interest of Gangubai brings some old fashioned sweet and shy romance and cute moments to the movie to contrast the sad, bruised and tragic realities.

Bhansali who is known for his genius of visual production, adds glamour and grandeur and artfully downplays the painful details, suffering, sexual exploits and exploitations of sex workers.

Gangubai Kathiawadi is a well done movie and worth a watch. It’s in theatres now if you want to enjoy Bhansali’s visual artistry and Alia Bhatt’s larger than life role. It will be also released on Netflix later in the month.

Gangubai Kathiawadi Trailer:

Oscar Nominations 2022

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 04:48:00 +0000

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

JAVIER BARDEM

Being the Ricardos

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

The Power of the Dog

ANDREW GARFIELD

tick, tick...BOOM!

WILL SMITH

King Richard

DENZEL WASHINGTON

The Tragedy of Macbeth

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

CIARÁN HINDS

Belfast

TROY KOTSUR

CODA

JESSE PLEMONS

The Power of the Dog

J.K. SIMMONS

Being the Ricardos

KODI SMIT-MCPHEE

The Power of the Dog

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

JESSICA CHASTAIN

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

OLIVIA COLMAN

The Lost Daughter

PENÉLOPE CRUZ

Parallel Mothers

NICOLE KIDMAN

Being the Ricardos

KRISTEN STEWART

Spencer

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

JESSIE BUCKLEY

The Lost Daughter

ARIANA DEBOSE

West Side Story

JUDI DENCH

Belfast

KIRSTEN DUNST

The Power of the Dog

AUNJANUE ELLIS

King Richard

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

NOMINEES

ENCANTO

Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer

FLEE

Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie

LUCA

Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren

THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES

Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht

RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON

Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho

CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES

DUNE

Greig Fraser

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Dan Laustsen

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Ari Wegner

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Bruno Delbonnel

WEST SIDE STORY

Janusz Kaminski

COSTUME DESIGN

NOMINEES

CRUELLA

Jenny Beavan

CYRANO

Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran

DUNE

Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Luis Sequeira

WEST SIDE STORY

Paul Tazewell

DIRECTING

NOMINEES

BELFAST

Kenneth Branagh

DRIVE MY CAR

Ryusuke Hamaguchi

LICORICE PIZZA

Paul Thomas Anderson

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Jane Campion

WEST SIDE STORY

Steven Spielberg

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

NOMINEES

ASCENSION

Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell

ATTICA

Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry

FLEE

Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie

SUMMER OF SOUL (...OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein

WRITING WITH FIRE

Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

NOMINEES

AUDIBLE

Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean

LEAD ME HOME

Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk

THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL

Ben Proudfoot

THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR

Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei

WHEN WE WERE BULLIES

Jay Rosenblatt

FILM EDITING

NOMINEES

DON'T LOOK UP

Hank Corwin

DUNE

Joe Walker

KING RICHARD

Pamela Martin

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Peter Sciberras

TICK, TICK...BOOM!

Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

NOMINEES

DRIVE MY CAR

Japan

FLEE

Denmark

THE HAND OF GOD

Italy

LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM

Bhutan

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Norway

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

NOMINEES

COMING 2 AMERICA

Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer

CRUELLA

Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon

DUNE

Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE

Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh

HOUSE OF GUCCI

Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

NOMINEES

DON'T LOOK UP

Nicholas Britell

DUNE

Hans Zimmer

ENCANTO

Germaine Franco

PARALLEL MOTHERS

Alberto Iglesias

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Jonny Greenwood

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

NOMINEES

BE ALIVE

from King Richard; Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

DOS ORUGUITAS

from Encanto; Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

DOWN TO JOY

from Belfast; Music and Lyric by Van Morrison

NO TIME TO DIE

from No Time to Die; Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell

SOMEHOW YOU DO

from Four Good Days; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

BEST PICTURE

NOMINEES

BelfAST

Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers

CODA

Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers

DON'T LOOK UP

Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers

DRIVE MY CAR

Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer

DUNE

Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers

KING RICHARD

Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers

LICORICE PIZZA

Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers

WEST SIDE STORY

Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINEES

DUNE

Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

WEST SIDE STORY

Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

NOMINEES

AFFAIRS OF THE ART

Joanna Quinn and Les Mills

BESTIA

Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz

BOXBALLET

Anton Dyakov

ROBIN ROBIN

Dan Ojari and Mikey Please

THE WINDSHIELD WIPER

Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

NOMINEES

ALA KACHUU - TAKE AND RUN

Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger

THE DRESS

Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki

THE LONG GOODBYE

Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed

ON MY MIND

Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson

PLEASE HOLD

K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse

SOUND

NOMINEES

BELFAST

Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri

DUNE

Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett

NO TIME TO DIE

Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb

WEST SIDE STORY

Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy

VISUAL EFFECTS

NOMINEES

DUNE

Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer

FREE GUY

Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick

NO TIME TO DIE

Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

CODA

Screenplay by Siân Heder

DRIVE MY CAR

Screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe

DUNE

Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth

THE LOST DAUGHTER

Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Written by Jane Campion

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

BELFAST

Written by Kenneth Branagh

DON'T LOOK UP

Screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota

KING RICHARD

Written by Zach Baylin

LICORICE PIZZA

Written by Paul Thomas Anderson

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier

Legendary playback Singer Lata Mangeshkar is no more 🎵

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 05:53:00 +0000

Lata Mangeshkar, Queen of Melody , Nightingale of India, Bollywoods most legendary playback singer, with more than 30,000 songs to her name passes away at 92 years. May her Soul Rest In Peace and her voice be remembered in all those innumerable songs.🎶🎵🎼

Lata Mangeshkar is the only legendary playback singer in Bollywood who has been the voice of 6 decades of actresses in Bollywood with her 30,000+ songs to her name. Enjoy the journey through time in her voice… she will live on forever in each and every soulful number and melodious beats she has sung... Meri Awaaz hi Pehchaan hai…

Legendary Lata Mangeshkar dies at 92 : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/lata-mangeshkar-passes-away-at-92/articleshow/89378127.cms

Pushpa- The Rise -A Film Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Feb 2022 18:04:00 +0000

Director & Writer: Sukumar
Producers: Naveen Yerneni, Y. Ravi Shankar
Starring: Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil
Cinematography: Mirosław Kuba Brożek
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Release: Dec 17, 2021
Rating: 3/5
Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

Pushpa is a story of a gangster who rises from an underdog daily wage laborer to head the Red Sanders-wood smuggling syndicate by outsmarting the police and overpowering his competitors with his street-smarts and don’t care attitude. Set in Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh, this Tollywood ( Telugu Film Industry) movie is a typical masala formula cinema with daring action, heroic stunts, melodrama, item songs and melodious music. But it comes with its set of gore, blood, over-clichéd predictable script, sexism, racism, stereotyping, sensationalizing violence, vulgarity and crudeness.

To justify the protagonist’s angry-young-man image like the old school Amitab Bachchan movies, they have sad story of the mother being scorned and he mocked for being illegitimate. His helplessness and vulnerability on this topic is shown as cause to his shoulder stupor and gait.

Allu Arjun as Pushpa, in spite of this characteristic gait of raised right shoulder and a light swagger, with his cool, non-chalant attitude and excellent acting strikes confidence and carries the movie on his shoulders single handedly.

The movie has been getting a lot of hype with innumerable memes which triggered many an intrigue including mine, to check it out when it came on Amazon prime. The movie has been dubbed in Hindi besides multiple languages but to get the soul of any movie, its best seen in the original language. I saw the movie in Telugu and could feel subtle regional nuances of Telugu with Chittoor accent which has Tamil influence incorporated perfectly.

The other thing to appreciate is the music. All the songs in the movie have got very popular because of its pulsating music and characteristic dance moves on some. ‘Srivalli song’ is very melodious. ‘O Antava Oo Antava item song’ is very sensual to hear, but the picturization needed better work in spite of actress Samantha Ruth’s sex appeal.

The rest of the movie is very stereotypical and clichéd. Except the protogonist Pushpa, the movie doesn’t bother to make an effort to build depth in the other characters. In this day and age, movies continue to have women characters in objectified roles only. Story and dialogs seem to have been just replayed from many other movies. The script is ridiculous and absurd at times-that in a matter of few scenes while the villain is sermonized for crude objectification of women, the hero gets away with paying for a kiss! The industry seriously needs better script writers and the society needs to grow up!

A good movie direction involves good script, cohesive characters, no loose ends, and lasting impact, Pushpa doesn’t have any of that. Director Sukumar, besides casting a good lead, lost track of keeping it together and only obsessed with glorifying violence. (Where was the need to have blood on a grooms wedding clothes too?). The sequel of Pushpa, the Rise is to be followed by Pushpa- the Rule hence the introduction in last quarter of the over animated character of bad cop Shekhavat (Fahadh Faasil) against the protagonist. If that’s the glimpse of what’s to come and director doesn’t know how to hold the reins to the story, there is little to expect from the next.

The oft repeated dialog in movie- Pushpa is not a flower, but fire. Except for Allu Arjun and the songs sizzling, rest was a fizzle.

Pushpa Songs:

Srivalli song

O Antava Oo Antava item song

Saami Saami

Dako Dako Meka

Ey Bidda

Pushpa Memes:

Eternals

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 04:45:00 +0000

Quick Review :

Eternals-The latest movie from the Marvel universe is a star studded disappointment.

The immortal super hero group made up of top of the line actors ( Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harrington) together or individually fail to standout.

Marvels long array of Eternal characters of all diversity, race, color, gender, sexuality with lack of individuality & depth built in (irrespective of 2 1/2 hrs long movie ) fail to make any super hero character memorable.

To add to the absurdity of the script, there is also a horrendously choreographed silly Bollywood dance number with Kumail Nanjiani!

Lastly have to say, Zhao, the Oscar winning director of Nomadlad may have been the wrong director for a superhero genre!

No Time to Die, a Bond farewell!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 04:12:00 +0000

No Time to Die, a Bond farewell!

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Story & Screenplay: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Based on James Bond by Ian Fleming
Producers: Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli
Starring : Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes
Cinematography: Linus Sandgren
Music: Hans Zimmer
Release date: 30 September 2021 (United Kingdom); 8 October 2021 (United States)
Running time: 163 minutes
Rating : 3.5 ***.5/5
Movie Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

No time to Die is the 27^th James Bond Movie, and 5 and last of Daniel Craig as Bond. The story has all aspects of Bond-esque highs with amazing action sequences, fast-paced cinematographic car chases, impressive transportation vehicles, fancy gadgets, femme fatales, martinis, one-liners, double entendres, defaced villains, and a tribute to many an old 007 film. But what you will also see is the Bollywood-esque family drama, romance, betrayal or misunderstanding of it, revenge, sacrifice, comedy, and tragedy….

No time to Die, directed by Cory Joji Fukunago is the closing chapter of Daniel Craig’s Bond which started in 2006 with Casino Royale. Though there have been amazing James Bonds like Sean Connery and my personal favorite Pierce Brosnan over the years, Daniel Craig with his long tenure, authored more control over the Bond character, even deconstructing the previous format of Bond’s Persona, and commanding a finale for himself!

The main plot has morbid looking Rami Malek playing the villain Lyutsifer Safin with an evil scheme involving bioengineered weapons or nano bots, tailored and targeted to an individual’s DNA with plans to infect and wipe out different parts of the world! The subplots have Bond retired from active MI6 duty and living new life with his love Madeline Swan, earlier introduced in ‘Spectre’ (2015) with a backstory of her own; After complications, misunderstandings and somber melodrama as captured by Billy Eilish’s theme song, Bond goes off grid; It takes his CIA friend Felix Leiter to convince him back to action to stop the impending destruction; there is a delightful interlude with Ana de Armas ( Knives Out co-star) as Paloma, who steals the show with her cameo action sequences, playing the three weeks trained CIA agent in Cuba; MI6 has a new 007, Lashana Lynch as agent Nomi. While Q (Ben Whishaw) and MoneyPenny ( Naomi Harris) help Bond behind the scenes, he has trust issues with M (Ralph Fiennes) till he gets reinstated as 007!

Director Cory Joji Fukunago focuses on dynamic and vibrant visuals besides the plot. The movie moves from Norway to Italy to Jamaica to England and some fictitious island in Japan! The most striking location was in Matera, a town in Basilicata, Italy which was a town carved into the hillside with a car chase which flows through hills and towns of Gravina with the two tier Roman bridge…it was like we were watching Bond veering thru Godfather land;) Another remarkable scene was the wintery backdrop and frozen lake with the young Madeline in Norway. Plus the attention to detail showing a cricket match being played in Jamaica besides showcasing the clear blue waters of Port Antonio. Watching many such picturesque backdrops and beautiful shots on a big theatre screen after a hiatus added to the thrill of the movie.

After year and half of social distancing and avoiding theatres due to covid times, the movie is bringing many folks into theatres. We too after a long hiatus decided to venture to theatres, for the Bond movie. On closer examination I found most audience ages ranged around 28 to 60 plus. This awareness made me feel less sad about Craig’s finale, with the comprehension that Bond’s mythology which has been going on since my father’s time needed to change and get revived……

The point not lost through ‘No time to Die’ is the move towards many strong woman characters in the movie,… maybe a hint of the future 007 !! – Ana de Armas as Paloma in her small part left a large impact on audiences seeking more of her! Lashana Lynch as M16’s new 007 agent Nomi didn’t have story space to have her character developed, but seemed to have strong abilities. While Lea Saydoux with her teeth gap, sleepy cat like eyes and brooding emotions looks complicated, she gives Zeenath Aman vibes with her eyes and dialog delivery for the Bollywood familiar; and last but not the least there is the blue eyed Mathilde Bond, this you have to see, to know more!

‘No time to Die’ may have been a poetic ending to the era, let’s look forward to how the Bond legacy reshapes!

Billy Eilish’s theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BboMpayJomw

Unfinished, Not a Memoir, Just a Marketing Tool and an Elaborate Thank you Letter!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 00:21:00 +0000

Unfinished, Not a Memoir, Just a Marketing Tool and an Elaborate Thank you Letter!

Priyanka Chopra, can be classified as a successful global celebrity. Winning Miss World beauty pageant in 2000, became a successful Bollywood actress in next 15 years, briefly ventured into the music industry, movie production, entered the Hollywood scene, American television, and became much talked about celebrity marrying the pop singer Nick Jonas. She has been a go-getter, highflier, and overachiever. And you can read all about her inspirational success on her Wikipedia page! No, not in her Memoir;)

A Memoir is an honest reflection, genuine slice of life of the individual, walking the reader into their deepest thoughts, vulnerable times, exhilarating or roller coaster moments, in their journey, and how they made things possible, this makes memoirs inspirational. These kinds of memoirs you read and re-read and book-mark to inspire or motivate…… and Unfinished does not fall into this category.

Being an avid reader, part of multiple book clubs, I am a big fan of the memoir genre, and have read many over the years. Special recommends being Michele Obama’s ‘Becoming’ and Tara Westover’s ‘Educated’. When our local library got the new book Unfinished, we picked it up. No, not a PC fan, but because I have written many a review for her Bollywood movies, Bollywood blah is in my line of interest, for the love of memoirs, and a general curiosity.

But this book has nothing new which has not been written in the magazines or heard in interviews. I felt her Wikipedia page gave more thorough detail of her life, while the memoir seems like a superficial and frivolously written tinted advertisement and marketing tool of herself for the western audiences who may not know her enough. It comes out as a PR package to promote her as a brand to invest in her and her entrepreneurial ventures and goals she elaborates in her memoir!

The book walks you through her childhood, her Army doctor parents, posted in different parts of India, her life with grandparents, her boarding school life to discipline her, her short move to live with relatives in USA due to parents priorities of establishing clinic, her high school in US, her win in the beauty pageants, her entry into Bollywood movies, her father’s death, her big fat Indian wedding to Nick Jonas , her philanthropy and her future endeavors and plans, often going back and forth in flashback mode like Indian movies, even loosing the trail of thought at times…

The book doesn’t flow like a story but sounds like a pitch to target audience when it includes passages and explanations of Indian family traditions, culture, language, wedding rituals….. it makes her sound like an infomercial with attached google consult.

The second thing which keeps popping up while you read this book is -it doesn’t read like her life story, but feels like an elaborate Thank You Letter to all the people who have entered in Priyankas life and done her some favors…. Either be her many aunts and uncles, cousins, colleagues or friends.

The only chapters in the book which show some depth in her story are the chapters –‘Like Water’, and ‘Grief’ . In the ‘Like Water’ chapter, she shares her father’s wisdom to adapt to new places “Be like water…find the best situation wherever you are and make it work” and her boarding school life as 8-9 year old. In ‘Grief’ she talks about her father’s illness, death and loss. Her parents seemed to have been her strongest support, campaigners and champions in her success.

For whatever reasons the book was obviously written and published in a hurry. The book ‘Unfinished’ also seems ‘unedited’. Technically it’s not written, but it looks like audio narrated brain dumps using speech-to-text. The advantage of this method is the story is conversational and it’s a time saver. But the disadvantage is if not well edited it shows in the script. The sentences show ill-formedness with syntactic errors. As an educator who has edited too many essays it blatantly glares when this technology is used for writing.

After reading memoirs over the years, I have connected, understood, related, felt empathetic, inspired, or been in awe of the author of the memoirs. Strangely, Unfinished didn’t give any feelings because of its superficial, controlled and unemotional narrative. Irrespective of Priyanka being a 38 year successful woman, she comes off as a giddy teenager and fell flat to my expectations. But like she said, she is unfinished…. I am hoping she will have some better things ahead!

............

Side Discussions:

My father sang in temples, mosques, sikh gurdwaras and churches….. This line in her book triggered a question by Oprah Winfrey in her interview with Priyanka Chopra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRCSZVvq7VE

Oprah: Did you have a spiritual foundation growing up.

Priyanka: Yes, due to to the swirling number of religions in India you are ….. I went to catholic school, I was aware of Christianity, my dad sang in mosques, I was aware of Islam, I grew up in a Hindu family I was aware of Hinduism......

The controversial answer got trolled on twitter with major criticism for her frivolous answer in the interview and unresearched writing in the book..... How many people can say their understanding of religion, be it Christianity or Islam or Hinduism comes from such superficial scenarios! And to add to the controversy she said her father sang in mosques which doesn’t happen. The only singing which happens is in a dargah which is a Sufi shrine/cemetery of some saintly human. People with limited knowledge gained from movies confuse a dargah for a mosque! (since dargahs and qawwali songs are often depicted in Bollywood movies). Where as a Mosque is a Muslim place of worship like a church or temple.

The Last Color - A Review and conversation with the Chef and Film Maker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 06:49:00 +0000

The Last Color-

A Review and Conversation with the Chef and Film Maker

This review was first published after the movie was viewed in Indie Meme Film Festival in Austin,TX- (April 26^th-28^th ) opening feature being The Last Color by Michelin Star Chef turned Filmmaker Vikas Khanna in attendance.(http://bollywoodfilmcritic.blogspot.com/2019/05/indie-meme-film-festival-2019-building_2.html)

Director: Vikas Khanna

Producers: Jitendra Mishra, Bindu Khanna, Poonam Kaul

Screenplay: Vibhav Srivastava

Story: Vikas Khanna

Starring: Neena Gupta, Aqsa Siddiqui, Rudrani Chettri

Music: Mahesh Bharti

Cinematography:Subhranshu Das

Genre: Drama

Language:Hindi

Duration: 1hr 30 mins

Rating: 4.5 (****.5 /5) stars

Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

What attracted me to the movie was the intrigue of how a celebrity chef with a Michelin star, a highest standard in food creation, fare in film making! Vikas Khanna is interestingly a simple man with a passion and works with his heart hence achieves success in all his endeavors.

The movie The Last Color is based on a book published earlier by the film maker. Last Color is a story of three people on the fringe of society, who are marginalized, ostracized, and looked down upon by society, religious clerics, and unfortunately even by the government and judicial system of the country. The heartwarming narrative shows the lives of an old Widow living life of colorlessness and abstinence; a rejected and mistreated Hijra- Eunuch; and a street dwelling low caste untouchable Orphan; giving rays of hope, breaking taboos and showing a victory of human spirit.

Excellently written, directed, acted and executed, the story sensitizes us to the harsh realities which prevailed and still exist in India which need to be questioned and stopped.

The naivety and natural talent of the orphan Chothi (Aqsa Siddiqui ) and Neena Gupta’s depth of acting experience with elevated performance as the widow Noor are the highlight of the movie. Vikas Khanna’s debut filmmaking is surprisingly excellent, bringing out the hostile truths balanced with innocence and spirited energy and color! Some of the scenes are well directed and choreographed

especially the scene with Choti on tight rope across buildings while Noor wrapped in white is passing under.

The movie was beautiful and sad, disturbing yet thought provoking and poignant. I give it 4.5 (****.5 /5) stars and recommend a watch.

In the Q &A with filmmaker Vikas Khanna in attendance- he opened up his life and talked indepth about how he got inspired to write the story, about the motivation behind the couple of characters, the incidents of his own life which got adopted in the story, his trips to Varanasi or his rides on the river Ganges which gave him food for thought!.

When comparing the mis-en-place of cooking to the prep of film making he said he found it similar to orchestrate. On asking the actress Neena Gupta on skype about her experience working with a debut filmmaker, she felt it easy to work with Khanna because his fervor for the cause gave him clarity and vision for the movie.

We look forward to more such though provoking movies from chef Vikas Khanna.

Axone – Communication about discrimination, racism & prejudices through the language of Food!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 18:58:00 +0000

Directed by Nicholas Kharkongor

Cast : Sayani Gupta, Lin Laishram, Tenzin Dalha ,Vinay Pathak, Rohan Joshi, Dolly Ahluwalia

Producers : Siddharth Anand Kumar, Vikram Mehra,

Executive producers: Shoaib Lokhandwala, Nitin Nair, Gaurav Sharma, Sahil Sharma

Music by Tajdar Junaid

Cinematography by Parasher Baruah

Language: Hindi with mixed languages and subtitles.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/qjjSDKFPKvk

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

Food is a reflection of our culture, the basis of who we are and what we love. The celebration and sharing of food communicates, connects and unifies people. Director Nicholas Kharkongor artfully uses the culinary adventures with Axone, an important ingredient in Northeastern Cuisine for a wedding celebration as the conduit to present the allegory of discrimination, and racism in Indian society especially highlighting the prejudices against Northeast Indians.

Despite having a culinary understanding, I too was oblivious of what was Axone ( pronounced as Akhuni ). These are fermented soya beans, an important ingredient in northeastern regional cuisine, used to add an umami flavor to traditional recipes. The word with Sumi language origins, is a combination of two words Axo-ne, "Axo" meaning "aroma" or "smell" and "ne" or "nhe" meaning "deep" or "strong", combining to “strong smell". Cooking this fermented protein rich legume is quite a pungent process and not to everyone's taste, playing an appropriate metaphor of intolerance and racism in the country's capital.

In mainstream Bollywood, some movies have been made about multi cultural integration, prejudices, alienation and identity issues focusing on North Indians and South Indians, Axone, may be the first movie made focusing on Northeast Indians.

The Director Nicholas Kharkongor in the movie Axone walks you through the lives of migrant Northeastern Indians from Nagaland, Sikkim, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur,and Arunachal Pradesh, highlighting the discrimination, harassment and bigotry they face in North India. But keeping it balanced he exposes the biases amidst the North-easterners themselves, and their prejudices against the north Indians too. While showcasing these he also shows hope that society progresses to be tolerant and respectful of differences!

The movie revolves around a group of Northeast Indian friends Chanbi, Upasna and Zorem living in Delhi, who plan to cook their traditional dish with Axone for their friend Minham's wedding celebration. It's a day's journey of funny and sad misadventures involved in procuring Axone, to finding the right cooking space which will not bother the neighbors' noses to finally the wedding celebration. In its shadow the movie shows cultural stereotyping, racial discrimination, alienation, biases, insensitive behaviors, and intolerance. The movie also touches on identity conflicts, friendships, relationship issues, community spirit, goodwill and camaraderie. The celebration ends with glimmer of mutual respect and amity .

This kind of reflection is very relevant in today’s date and times when racial and religious discrimination is on the increase in India, yet there is hope because sisters and brothers of secularism with belief of ‘unity in diversity’ are standing together.

The movie has characteristics of drama or play, either because the director is himself a playwright turned director or because the movie is based on a short play “Not just Akhuni”! The cast has many first time northeastern actors doing an excellent job, Lin Laishram as Chanbi comes out strong, Tenzin Dalha as Zorem with his calm persona shows he always has a plan B to problems. Sayani Gupta a film institute grad built her character well as Upasana with the appropriate accent and quirks. Rohan Joshi as ‘hyper’ Shiv showed great comic enthusiasm and made a good impact to lighten a dense topic.

Check out this movie in theater tomorrow. Indie Meme which brings meaningful independent films from South Asia to Austin audiences, presents Axone in theaters on Wednesday, February 26^th at AFS cinema, Austin. To add to you experience, the Director Nicholas Kharkongor will be in attendance, who will also have a Q&A session after the movie screening.

IndieMeme in collaboration with BollywoodFilmCritic is having a giveaway today. Your comments and likes of the review may give you a chance to win a Movie ticket for tomorrows’ screening. Check out show times, links and address below.

https://www.indiememe.org/axone-akhuni

Date And Time

Wed, February 26, 2020

7:00 PM – 9:30 PM CST

Location

AFS Cinema

6259 Middle Fiskville Road

Austin, TX 78752

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/axone-akhuni-indie-meme-presents-a-bittersweet-comedy-exploring-racism-tickets-92112363559

Indie Meme Film Festival 2019 - Building Cross Cultural understanding through Cinema and Championing the Creative work of independent South Asian Filmmakers.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 May 2019 21:30:00 +0000

Austin, is a cultural hub of food, film and arts, hosting SXSW, film festivals, book festivals, foodie paloozas, and more each year. Indie Meme film festival, does its small part in bringing in socially relevant South Asian independent cinema to Austin audiences. A step towards creating cross-cultural understanding and awareness; encouraging and facilitating dialogue and building a globally conscious community!

The Indie meme festival in its 4^th year brought in this year, over 20 films from 7 countries in 9 languages with 5 International Filmmakers in attendance- The festival started with a soft launch on Sunday April 14 with a showing of some short films made by students in the Austin community, encouraging youth involvement, followed by a long-short film directed by Mohd Gani- Gubbare , and Priya Ramasubban’s inspirational movie- Chuskit. The official festival April 26^th-28^th started off Friday with its opening feature The Last Color by Michelin Star Chef turned filmmaker Vikas Khanna in attendance.

The event was sponsored by couple of Austin companies, one being Charles Maund Toyota- Having a belief that involvement with South Asian community is imperative because of South Asians brand loyalty towards Toyotas, they took this opportunity to give back to the community. I had the pleasure of seeing many of these films this weekend with Charles Maund Toyota.

Film Makers @ IMFF19

The extraordinary part about the film festival was the interactions with the film makers. Their inspiration and the motives broadened understanding of the film. Questions, observations and dialog between the maker and the audience gave an extra dimension and depth of perspective to each film.

Here are a few of the movies I checked out with my take and understanding and appreciation of each.

THE LAST COLOR (India/ Fiction/ Drama /1hr 30min /Hindi)

Review:

What attracted me to the movie was the intrigue of how a celebrity chef with a Michelin star, a highest standard in food creation fare in film making! Vikas Khanna is interestingly a simple man with a passion and works with his heart hence achieves success in all his endeavors.

The movie The Last Color is based on a book published earlier by the film maker. Last Color is a story of three people on the fringe of society, who are marginalized, ostracized, and looked down upon by society, religious clerics, and unfortunately even by the government and judicial system of the country. The heartwarming narrative shows the lives of an old widow living life of colorlessness and abstinence; a rejected and mistreated Hijra- Eunuch; and a street dwelling low caste untouchable orphan; giving rays of hope, breaking taboos and showing a victory of human spirit.

Excellently written, directed, acted and executed, the story sensitizes us to the harsh realities which prevailed and still exist in India which need to be questioned and stopped.

especially the scene with Choti on tight rope across buildings while Noor wrapped in white is passing under.

The movie was beautiful and sad, disturbing yet thought provoking and poignant. I give it 4.5 (****.5 /5) stars and recommend a watch.

We look forward to more such though provoking movies from chef Vikas Khanna.

Saturday Morning started off with an Indian short film followed by a documentary from Pakistan:

INDIAN CIRCUS (India/Short film/ 22min 15sec /Hindi)

A circus facing extinction due to competition with new modern forms of entertainment tries its luck with a new act.

INDUS BLUES (Pakistan/ Documentary/1hr 16min / Urdu)

Review:

Indus blues is a movie about the exploration of music traditions, the disappearance of the folk musical treasures and the fading art of music. Film Maker Jawad Sharif got triggered to make this movie after seeing a video clip where people in a remote southern town of Pakistan were burning musical instruments. He felt he had to talk about the dying heritage of music and declining craftsmanship of musical instruments in Pakistan before it disappeared.

In this documentary he travels across the large landscape of Pakistan from Northern Mountains to southern coastline, talking to artists, musicians and craftsmen of musical instruments. He captures the raw feeling of the Pakistani folk artists talking about their struggle to keep a fading art form alive while reminding the world what they are about to lose at the hands of the fundamentalist Taliban and their own lack of governmental support.

Spreading the word to keep the musical culture alive, Filmmaker Jawad Sharif showcases the dying instruments like the Boreenda, Alghoza, Murli Meen, and Raanti a unique Instrument which is strung together by horse hair. He walks you in to the life’s of a dying Saroz artist and the dying instrument; narrates how the last Sarinda player of Pakistan has a son who has moved on to playing western musical instruments like saxophone; The Sarangi player who narrates the art is dying since it takes 12 years to master playing this instrument and people are not inclined to learn this art when it’s not appreciated and lucrative. The film maker also focuses on folk artists and singers like talented Mai Dhai of Sindh who has even visited Austin for SXSW. The highlight of the movie was the melodious music played on these unique musical instruments.

The narratives of the musicians are sad with a lot of questions- “why artists are a free soul in the rest of the world, but curbed by social norms of society in Pakistan?” “Why are the extremists burning our musical instruments which are made from gods beautiful nature though music like god is invisible but has a presence?”. The director’s story telling style of direction made this documentary a beautiful and heart-rending watch. I recommend it to anyone who cares about music.( Rating: ****/5)

In the Q&A on skype Jawad Sharif narrated the many trials and tribulations he had to go through to make this film even his own family discouraging the process. The film maker encouraged the audience to connect with the artists and craftsman to buy their instruments or to support the artists in other ways through the website. https://indusbluesfilm.com/take-action/

The afternoon featured:

YASMINA (US/Short film /6min 41sec /English & Farsi)

A surprise encounter leads a daydreaming, young, line cook to discover that perhaps her heart’s desire may be found in the unlikeliest of places.

HALF WIDOW (India/ Fiction/Drama/ 1hr 31 min/ Kashmiri & Urdu)

Review:

The story set in the backdrop of the Kashmiri conflict is about the tragic life of half widows who are living in a state of limbo and suffering after the disappearance of the husbands, who were captured by armed forces for unknown reasons.

[In 1990, the Indian government established the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act which allows the Army to take over the running of the state and, until recently, allowed the Army complete immunity to carry on whatever operations it pleased, often at the cost of constitutional freedoms and rights. It was common to have curfews implemented by the Army, during which people of the Kashmir valley were randomly searched, asked to provide identification and, just as randomly, arrested on “suspected” anti-social affiliations. These arrests were often unofficial, and the arrested men often “disappeared” with no trace, often for good, leaving their wives and families behind. “Half widow” is the name given to the wives of the men who disappeared and remain missing through the years of conflict.]

Danish Renzu; the film maker felt there were too many half widows suffering in this state of unknown waiting….. And wanted to create a story of life after the loss, a life of healing.

The Story narrates the life of Nilofer (Neela) who had a blissful simple life, happily married to an artisan businessman Khalid with a baby on the way when tragedy strikes and her husband is take away. Constantly searching, inquiring prisons, police stations, getting involved in support groups and rallies and activism, Neela almost gives up one life, when she finds nothing working.

But finally over the years Neela embarks on her journey of self-discovery, her ability to live a fuller life instead of feeling half. Finding herself, a meaning to her life, and finally having the ability to tell her story and his story.

(Rating:***.5/5)

In conversation with the film maker in attendance- Danish Renzu, of Kashmiri origin- he felt he was doing a small part to help these women in their state of suffering by encouraging a path of healing with Neela’s story. And empowering women about the next step. Glad to see such humanitarian efforts like these by filmmakers to help communicate the suffering and troubles and help bring change.

LAYOVER (US/ Short Film/9min/English)

While on a business trip to London, Meera has a layover at LAX and agrees to meet with Vik. During the few precious hours that they have together, they decide to recreate an early date, reminding them of what drew them together in the first place and what ultimately broke them apart.

THE LAST LETTER (India/UK/Short Film /15 min 30 sec/Hindi)

Mohan was living a secret all his life, rife with inner conflict, but he starts to see things differently, after revisiting the reality from which he escaped years ago.

YOURS TRULY (India/Fiction/Romantic Drama/1hr 39 min/English & Hindi) US PREMIERE

Amidst the daily din of the local trains in Calcutta, a lonely working woman in her late fifties finds herself falling in love with the voice of the railway announcer.

Skype QA with filmmaker Sanjoy Nag

I caught up Sunday Movie from later afternoon with

THE BUBBLEMAN (US/Short Documentary/ 9min 3sec/ English)

A day in the life of a veteran who was deployed to Afghanistan as an electrician and now impacts students’ lives by blowing bubbles in the Texas State campus.

FADE (Iran/Short film/3min/Silent)

Seen through the eyes of a young boy, Fade is a walk down memory lane of life before the war.

JIRGA (Afghanistan/Australia /Fiction/Drama//1hr18 min / English & Pashto)

Review:

Jirga also a definition of an Afghani tribal council, is a movie about how a former Australian special forces soldier feels haunted and is repentant of the tragic accidental killing of a civilian in his hands and returns to Afghanistan to make amends and seek forgiveness of his actions.

In war many a soldier of both sides are killed but the guilt of killing an innocent leads many a mortal to drink, drugs, depression and even suicide. But the filmmaker’s portrayal of the soldier seeking forgiveness and redemption of his guilt from the family he destroyed may be one step closer to realization in many for the need of this for humanity to exist and bring more peace than war!

The soldier Mike (Sam Smith), unfamiliar with the local language yet persuades himself to get a passage to Kandahar through the touristy and scenically spectacular Bamyan. Rest of the movie is the arduous journey Mike takes through rugged mountains, including a capture by a Taliban group and living on the mercy of locals.

Mike’s captors surprisingly aid him upon knowing he has come in repentance and is seeking forgiveness from the bereaving family. They also advise him that his western materialistic reflection and intention of compensating the family with money will be seen negatively and upset the pride of the Afghani people.

The movie concludes with the council-Jirga sitting together to decide his fate when he puts his life in the hands of the village justice system. After deliberations the heavy burden of decision is put on the young son of the dead victim who is told to make the decision of revenge or forgive.

Overall the movie gives a true glimpse of war torn Afghanistan and the effect it has both on the people living and the uninvited guests and warriors who justified their horrible actions through their own lenses and then when the lens were removed, fell into despair.

The actor SamSmith does an excellent job in expressing the agony of soldier troubled with his actions while the Afghani support team does a great job of showing life of Afghani during the times of war. Brilliant movie by the filmmaker Benjamin Gilmour and huge applause for his efforts to bring about the faces and layers of war many never ponder about and show the sad price of war.

(Rating: ****.5 /5 )

In conversation with the filmmaker Benjamin Gilmour we get to know the inspiration and motivation behind the movie. He said that with Jirga he wanted to counter the Islamic terrorist stereotypes and modern military propaganda we face in the West, demonstrating the true human cost of conflict.

He said civilians trying to survive in their ravaged lands are not the only ones who believe that war is unjust. Many damaged and disillusioned soldiers have also come to share that view. And the motives for Mike’s return to Afganistan seeking forgiveness were inspired by the lingering sense of responsibility experienced by army veterans, from conflicts in Vietnam, Iraq and Timor-Leste.

He also mentions the difficulties, hindrances and many hoops he jumped through to make this movie including a rejection by Pakistani government to make the movie in the border towns close to Kandahar. But he persevered and was able to shoot it in Afghanistan itself.

On being asked about the absence of subtitles for few scenes he said, he wanted the audience to be in the same predisposition as Mike who was unfamiliar with the language yet despite the language barrier bonded with the old taxi driver over food and music; or the discomfort he felt when he was unaware of the conversations of his captors and their intentions.

Gilmour also hoped Jirga is seen as a film that doesn't attempt to neatly divide the good from the bad, but instead offers an insight into the character and motives of those we view as the enemy and the struggles of Afghans and the mercy found in their faith and traditions.

The closing film was

CLOSING NIGHT FILM

KAAMYAAB (India/Fiction/Comedy-Drama/1hr 53min/Hindi)

Review:

Hardik Mehta’s KAMYAAB was a tribute to all those side actors, character actors, and forgotten stars of Bollywood. It’s a story about a small time actor Sudheer, who has done many a tiny role in about 499 movies but had no track of all his roles till he gets reminded of it with his IMDB page. Following which it triggers his desire to get cast in one more substantial role and memorialize his life as an actor.

His search for a role and journey through many a casting process makes him feel inadequate, that he even forgets to appreciate the things and people which made him happy. Finally he stands up to become a role model to the people who love and appreciate him.

The movie was excellently directed and executed by Hardik Mehta making us feel emotional for this underdog, forgotten actors. The actor Sanjay Mishra and the other side actors who were so appropriately casted gave outstanding performances making it kamyaab! (Rating ****.5/5)

In conversation with Hardik Mehta and the lead actor Sanjay Mishra who has played many a clichéd side actor roles earlier- when asked about how reflective was this role to his own career and if parts of the script were real in anyway, he said the question answered itself since it was true in many ways to him and many actors like him in the Bollywood industry.

Hardik Mehta was hopeful that times were changing in Bollywood and India, where previously only the lead actors and actresses were glorified and idolized, unlike the western film industry where all actors are respected and celebrated.

On a question of what you consider as success posed to the actor and film maker they said success is not a mark or achievement but the happiness in what you have done with your life and people you love.

Incidentally, following up on the success question I felt the need to reiterate and echo to both film maker Hardik Mehta and especially Actor Sanjay Mishra that if success were to be measured in achievements, he as an actor has reached that ‘KAMYAABI’ or ‘Success’ by encapsulating the role of the forgotten star and memorializing it; and to the film maker for making such a brilliant and heartwarming debut feature film. So everyone came out ‘Kamyaab’ in the end.

Wishing the film maker more such kaamyabi….

End of Sunday night, the festival wrapped up with the awards ceremony where more congratulations were given to the movie-Kamyaab for winning the Audience choice award for the Indie Meme Film Festival 2019 .

Congratulations team Indiememe for a successful Indie Meme film festival 2019, till we meet again.....

Chuskit - Living with Disabilities Doesn’t Have To Mean Compromising to Limitations

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 00:25:00 +0000

Cast :Chuskit-Jigmet Dewa Lhamo; Dorje (Grandfather)-Morup Namgyal (Padma Shri);Tsering (Mother)Yanchen Dolma;Stobdan (Brother)-Padma Chospel;Sonam (Father)-SS Wangchuk; Norbu (Neighbour)-Tsetan Angchok; Angmo (Chuskit's friend);Stanzin Ngidon;Deskit -Chuskit's friend)Yanchen Dolma; Ahmad (Doctor)-Satyadeep Misra

Written and Directed by Priya Ramasubban

Produced by Priya Ramasubban

Director of Photography:Arvind Kannabiran

Production Design: Aradhana Seth

Costume Design: Deepali Kosta Kabi

Editor: Jabeen Merchant

Background Score: Mathias Duplessy

Sound Design:Satheesh PM

Chuskit is a heartwarming story of a young girl who with her feisty determination, along with the help of her family and community, breaks through the limitations imposed for people with disabilities.

Chuskit, who lives an idyllic life in this mountainous region of Ladakh, India, has a simple dream - of going to school with her friends, following in the footsteps of her older brother who is an exemplary student. But when an accident turns her into a paraplegic her dreams are cut short and she is confined at home.

Besides her frustrations with her physical impediments, Chuskit also faces the strict old world rules of her grandfather who believes in compromising to constraints and limitations, and restraining one’s dreams and aspirations.

But lucky for Chuskit, her inventive brother, her ever understanding parents, and her concerned therapist doctor, keep her spirits and hopes alive. She keeps fighting the restrained reality her grandfather wants her to accept, and continues to dream that an almost normal life in-spite of her disabilities will be possible one day.

The story provides an exhilarating and inspiring narrative. With the heartrending and the happy twists and turns of Chuskit's life and how she eventually makes it to school with the help of her family, community and the whole village,

The excellence of this touching movie is enhanced by stellar debutante performance of Jigmet Dewa Lhamo as Chuskit, and other actors like Morup Namgyal playing the grand father, and Padma Chospel playing the brother. The photography and cinematography deserve applause for capturing the beauty of idyllic Ladakh in the story.

Lastly, the Filmmaker Priya Ramasubban’s efforts inspire and create impact while bringing in the discussion of disabilities to mainstream attention in India. The film is inspired by heartwarming real-life events witnessed by Priya’s sister – Vidya, who worked with the differently-abled in Ladakh, and was instrumental in sending Sonam, a nine-year-old with cerebral palsy to school despite the arduous terrain in her remote Himalayan village. The film is based on the book written by Vidhya’s friend, Sujatha Padmanabhan — Chuskit Goes To School (2011).

In Conversation with the film maker Priya Ramsubban on Skype after the movie - When asked about - How life with disabilities is not easy in India. She gives a very encouraging answer, saying : “Accessibility and systems work well in the West, but in India and other Asian countries, people and communities make things work even where systems may not exist!” .

Hopefully movies like these motivate and influence the mindfulness of people in South Asian countries to empathize with the needs of disabilities and their desire for normal independent lives. And work to create better accessibility infrastructure which is very lacking compared to the western world and change the psyche and outlook towards people with disabilities.

The Indiememe Film festival of 2019 had a soft opening on Sunday April 14 with a showing of some short films made by students in the Austin community , a long short film directed by Mohd Gani- Gubbare , followed by Priya Ramasubban’s inspirational movie- Chuskit.

;

Sanju -A Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 21:34:00 +0000

Producer: Rajkumar Hirani, Vinod Chopra, Fox Star Studios

Director: Rajkumar Hirani

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Dia Mirza, Manisha Koirala, Anushka Sharma, Jim Sarbh, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Aditi Seiya

Story: Abhijat Joshi

Music Director: Rohan Rohan, Vikram Montrose

Lyrics: Puneet Sharma, Shekhar Astitwa

Genre: Biopic

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J76wN0TPI4

Rating 4****/5

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

Sanju, One man….Many lives; “Bad choices make interesting stories”; There is many such lines which can explain out this movie but it takes a genius like Raj Kumar Hirani with his creative artistry to make a movie of this complex a character like Sanjay Dutt, with a roller coaster of a life, and make it interesting and heartwarming to the audiences.

No man’s life can fit into a two hour movie and especially not Sanjay Dutt’s many shades of life…..hence Sanju covers only chapters of Dutt’s life- like his tryst with drugs and alcoholism, his arrest and tribulations in the Arms Act, his relationship with his father, his mistakes, falls, his emotional turmoil fighting his personal demons and recovery on the strength of his father’s motivation and shoulders of friendship.

Many a celebrity in both Hollywood and Bollywood has lived and even died because of insecurities, anxieties, mistakes and flaws they have made in their lives. Sanju shows the story of and how this celebrity son feels, his inability to measure up to his idealistic father and parent’s expectations, and his failure to handle emotional distress and pressure, led him to make poor decisions and fall for distractions like drugs and alcohol. It also shows how a compassionate father and a good friend were pivotal and helped him recover and rise back from that mistake of his life. But Sanju has made many bad decisions, errors in judgement including getting involved with shady people and gotten into situations without understanding the gravity of his actions. This of course led him to go through many trials and tribulations, arrests and years of jail time, besides defamation and condemnation for him and his family. The story reveals some truths and gives deep insight into his complicated life with a laugh here and a tear there.

The excellence of this movie is the extraordinary direction and craftsmanship of Raj Kumar Hirani with his ability to weave in emotional and sensitive drama of Dutt’s life with heartwarming narrative and humor.

The other merit of this movie is Ranbir Kapoor’s excellent acting. When we see the character as Sanjay Dutt and not as the actor who is portraying Sanjay Dutt, it shows the actor has carried out the role with finesse and brilliance. The acting, makeup and Sanjus’s characteristic details of drugged, blank, broken look, his confused and distressed persona, to the lanky swagger, awkward postures, body language and gait were all on point. The other performance which stood out was Vicky Kaushal’s endearing acting as Sanju’s friend who stands by him at all times. Paresh Rawal as Sunil Dutt and Manisha Koirala as Nargis, Dia Mirza as his wife Manyata, Jim Sarabh as the bad influence, all had excellent performances too. Anoushka Sharma’s acting and the fictionalized role written into this biopic were subpar and weak and could have been skipped.

The movie is absolutely worth watching with 4 stars for its brilliant execution of a biopic in a not sequential style with a balance of laughter and tears for a heartwrenching story of Sanjay Dutt. Whatever bad decisions the protagonist may have taken in the journey of life, they don’t equate to what life has dished out for him and the formidable forces which have tried to crush him. My personal hugs to Sanju and best wishes for life ahead.

Oscar Nominations 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 02:04:00 +0000

Oscar Nominations for the 90th academy awards

This year's Oscars will be awarded on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, airing at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET

Call Me by Your Name

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS

Phantom Thread

DANIEL KALUUYA

Get Out

GARY OLDMAN

Darkest Hour

DENZEL WASHINGTON

Roman J. Israel, Esq.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

WILLEM DAFOE

The Florida Project

WOODY HARRELSON

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

RICHARD JENKINS

The Shape of Water

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER

All the Money in the World

SAM ROCKWELL

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

SALLY HAWKINS

The Shape of Water

FRANCES MCDORMAND

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

MARGOT ROBBIE

I, Tonya

SAOIRSE RONAN

Lady Bird

MERYL STREEP

The Post

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

MARY J. BLIGE

Mudbound

ALLISON JANNEY

I, Tonya

LESLEY MANVILLE

Phantom Thread

LAURIE METCALF

Lady Bird

OCTAVIA SPENCER

The Shape of Water

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

NOMINEES

THE BOSS BABY

Tom McGrath and Ramsey Naito

THE BREADWINNER

Nora Twomey and Anthony Leo

COCO

Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson

FERDINAND

Carlos Saldanha

LOVING VINCENT

Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Ivan Mactaggart

CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES

BLADE RUNNER 2049

Roger A. Deakins

DARKEST HOUR

Bruno Delbonnel

DUNKIRK

Hoyte van Hoytema

MUDBOUND

Rachel Morrison

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Dan Laustsen

COSTUME DESIGN

NOMINEES

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Jacqueline Durran

DARKEST HOUR

Jacqueline Durran

PHANTOM THREAD

Mark Bridges

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Luis Sequeira

VICTORIA & ABDUL

Consolata Boyle

DIRECTING

NOMINEES

DUNKIRK

Christopher Nolan

GET OUT

Jordan Peele

LADY BIRD

Greta Gerwig

PHANTOM THREAD

Paul Thomas Anderson

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Guillermo del Toro

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

NOMINEES

ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL

Steve James, Mark Mitten and Julie Goldman

FACES PLACES

Agnès Varda, JR and Rosalie Varda

ICARUS

Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan

LAST MEN IN ALEPPO

Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed and Søren Steen Jespersen

STRONG ISLAND

Yance Ford and Joslyn Barnes

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

NOMINEES

EDITH+EDDIE

Laura Checkoway and Thomas Lee Wright

HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405

Frank Stiefel

HEROIN(E)

Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Kerrin Sheldon

KNIFE SKILLS

Thomas Lennon

TRAFFIC STOP

Kate Davis and David Heilbroner

FILM EDITING

NOMINEES

BABY DRIVER

Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos

DUNKIRK

Lee Smith

I, TONYA

Tatiana S. Riegel

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Sidney Wolinsky

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Jon Gregory

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

NOMINEES

A FANTASTIC WOMAN

Chile

THE INSULT

Lebanon

LOVELESS

Russia

ON BODY AND SOUL

Hungary

THE SQUARE

Sweden

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

NOMINEES

DARKEST HOUR

Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick

VICTORIA & ABDUL

Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard

WONDER

Arjen Tuiten

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

NOMINEES

DUNKIRK

Hans Zimmer

PHANTOM THREAD

Jonny Greenwood

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Alexandre Desplat

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

John Williams

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Carter Burwell

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

NOMINEES

MIGHTY RIVER

from Mudbound; Music and Lyric by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson

MYSTERY OF LOVE

from Call Me by Your Name; Music and Lyric by Sufjan Stevens

REMEMBER ME

from Coco; Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

STAND UP FOR SOMETHING

from Marshall; Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Lonnie R. Lynn and Diane Warren

THIS IS ME

from The Greatest Showman; Music and Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

BEST PICTURE

NOMINEES

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges and Marco Morabito, Producers

DARKEST HOUR

Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten and Douglas Urbanski, Producers

DUNKIRK

Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers

GET OUT

Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr. and Jordan Peele, Producers

LADY BIRD

Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O'Neill, Producers

PHANTOM THREAD

JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Megan Ellison and Daniel Lupi, Producers

THE POST

Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale, Producers

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers

PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINEES

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

BLADE RUNNER 2049

Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Alessandra Querzola

DARKEST HOUR

Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

DUNKIRK

Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

NOMINEES

DEAR BASKETBALL

Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant

GARDEN PARTY

Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon

LOU

Dave Mullins and Dana Murray

NEGATIVE SPACE

Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata

REVOLTING RHYMES

Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

NOMINEES

DEKALB ELEMENTARY

Reed Van Dyk

THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK

Derin Seale and Josh Lawson

MY NEPHEW EMMETT

Kevin Wilson, Jr.

THE SILENT CHILD

Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton

WATU WOTE/ALL OF US

Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen

SOUND EDITING

NOMINEES

BABY DRIVER

Julian Slater

BLADE RUNNER 2049

Mark Mangini and Theo Green

DUNKIRK

Richard King and Alex Gibson

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce

SOUND MIXING

NOMINEES

BABY DRIVER

Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H. Ellis

BLADE RUNNER 2049

Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill and Mac Ruth

DUNKIRK

Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS

NOMINEES

BLADE RUNNER 2049

John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick

KONG: SKULL ISLAND

Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon and Joel Whist

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

Screenplay by James Ivory

THE DISASTER ARTIST

Screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

LOGAN

Screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; Story by James Mangold

MOLLY'S GAME

Written for the screen by Aaron Sorkin

MUDBOUND

Screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

THE BIG SICK

Written by Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani

GET OUT

Written by Jordan Peele

LADY BIRD

Written by Greta Gerwig

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor; Story by Guillermo del Toro

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Written by Martin McDonagh

Newton: A Political Satire

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 13:10:00 +0000

Director and Writer: Amit V Masurkar

Producer: Manish Mundra

Screenplay: Amit V Masurkar. Mayank Tewari

Starring : Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Anjali Patil, Raghubir Yadav

Music: Naren Chandavarkar, Benedict Taylor, Rachita Arora

Running time: 106 minutes

Language: Hindi, Gondi

Rating: ***.5 (3.5/5)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU6zMPFd4UU

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

When a political satire or social commentary is doled out with comedy and humor instead of being preachy, it reaches larger audiences and the depth and poignancy of the realities are more palpable. Director Masurkar carries out this strategy with Newton while critically depicting the state of democratic process in Indian elections.

The story features a rule oriented, honest and idealistic, Newton Kumar who self-christened himself Newton, not happy with the name his was born with ;) . When sent on election duty in the Maoist-Naxallite controlled jungle of Chhattisgarh to conduct the electoral process, he is dogged and determined of conducting a fair voting process. In spite of his awareness of it being a conflict region, and despite being warned and dissuaded about the whole process being a charade, his faith in the system and sticking by the rules to conduct the electoral procedure for democratic process is resolute. His hope to make a difference slowly and steadily is meant to inspire every common man and citizen for a better future.

The movie subtly exposes neglect, poverty, ignorance, corruption, indifference of government officials, Naxalite insurgence, suppression of Adivasi’s, power and dominance of the armed and security forces and many such issues besides the critic of democratic electoral process.

Actor Raj Kumar Rao brings out the idealist Newton with his naïve stubbornness with all the quirks brilliantly. The other strong character and a starch contrast to the protagonist is of cynical skeptic and egotistical Aatma Singh played by Pankaj Tripathi who equally shines in the process. Anjali Patil as Malko and Raghuvir Yadav as Lokhnath all have strong roles portraying different ideologies and valid facet of the system.

The director Masurkar and writer Tewari have to be applauded for this dark comedy, and their hope to make a difference…..

This movie is India’s entry to the Best foreign language film to Oscar’s and hope it makes some impact on the larger level too.

If you want to check out the movie on screen and personally interact with the director check out the screening by Indie Meme-http://www.indiememe.org/newton

Showtimes in Austin and Dallas TX.

AUSTIN SCREENINGTuesday, December 5th 2017 | 7:00 - 9:00 PMAFS Cinema, 6406 N IH-35 Suite 3100, Austin, Texas 78752Director Amit Masurkar will be present for a post-screening Q&A

DFW SCREENINGThursday, December 7th 2017 | 7:15 - 9:15 PM Angelika Film Center & Café, Plano, TXPost screening Skype with filmmaker Amit Masurkar

Jab Harry Met Sejal – Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Aug 2017 17:51:00 +0000

Directed by Imtiaz Ali

Produced by Gauri Khan

Written by Imtiaz Ali

Starring Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sayani Gupta, Evelyn Sharma, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Aru Krishansh Verma. Paras Arora

Music by Songs: Pritam, Diplo

Background score: Hitesh Sonik

Release date: 4 August 2017

Running time: 144 minutes

Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

Rating: 2.5/5

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5MZevEH5Ns

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

Let me ward off all those under the assumption that it’s a take on the classic Hollywood movie “When Harry Met Sally” because of the name similarity. No it’s far away from that story, let alone has any story! Jab Harry Met Sejal is focused on two characters- Tour guide Harry- Shahrukh Khan, and newly engaged Gujrati girl Sejal – Anoushka, who lost her engagement ring, and the trivial pursuit around Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest and Lisbon, pointlessly searching…..

Though the heroine says dhundnay say bhagwan bhi miljaatay hain, It’s been sometime our search for a good movie is not answered!

Director Imtiaz Ali seems to have met with disorientation and blankness since the story and direction both fall short of his previous reputation and is plainly lost and undeveloped. The movie is fluffy with clichéd conversations and clueless ramblings about seeking something yet there is nothingness…maybe that is the point.

The first half of the movie is little cheery with some fun moments but the second half drags with dullness….. the ring search is an excuse for many alternatives- Sejals trying out her naïve idea of independence and seeking fun and freedom before she gets tied down to practical and boring married life! This fun and freedom obviously involves full scale flirting with the tour guide, irrespective of the Harrys vague efforts to warn her about his apparent brazen reputation with women; Sejals desire to be valued by a man who will romantically mesmerize the woman making her believe she is the only woman in the world, and of course Shahrukh Khan has a expertise in creating this magical moments just by the look in the eyes; The search for the ring is supposed to also relate to the characters search for oneself, what they are and what they are seeking in life but its in-explicit since the depth of characters is not very developed to go into the insight stage of their inner selves!

In this love story (not sure I can call it that, since it so under cooked) the relationship is muddled, Harrys perception of Sejal as naïve, sweet, sister type, to porcelain untouchable Chinese vase type, and Sejals blatantly flirtatious desire to be perceived as sexy, hot and layak enough to be his conquests, to ‘Tum us type ki ladki nahi ho’ to will you be the kind of bad, cheap, ghatiya girl who leaves her fiancée and runs away with her tour guide is erratically conflicting throughout and this romance doesn’t give definition of love either…..

There are too many songs and instances of unnecessary story written in to fit a song. The ‘Hawayein’ song was melodious and may be ‘Beech Beech mein’ is little catchy, the rest are pushing it.

Shahrukh khan of course is the king of Romance, he has his works on in the romantic moments but otherwise how much can he do when there is no story. But that aside, he is looking awfully old these days, I saw the movie up close from the second row in theatre on the first day and saw his skin pores, smoking stained yellow finger nails, discolored teeth, and enlarged veins, he better take care of his romantic king image.

The character of Sejal with the heavy Gujrati accent in this time and age for LLB grad was overdone. Her fashion sense needed help, her actions and dialog were contradictory and inconsistent, and I guess Anoushka may have been lost in the effort to showcase capricious, stereotyped Sejal.

I guess there is no hurry to rush to the theaters, one can relax and watch better made Shahrukh Khan movies at home.

Bollywood Movie Releases 2017 January- June

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 04:43:00 +0000

Tubelight

Release date: June 23

Genre: Action/Drama

Director: Kabir Khan

Cast: Salman Khan, Sohail Khan, Zhu Zhu, Matin Rey Tangu, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Om Puri, Yashpal Sharma, Shah Rukh Khan (cameo)

Half Girlfriend

Director: Mohit Suri

Producer: Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Mohit Suri, Chetan Bhagat

Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Rhea Chakraborty

Written by Ishita Moitra Udhwani (Dialogues)

Screenplay by Tushar Hiranandani

Based on Novel -Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat

Release Date: May 19

Genre: Romance/Drama

Sachin: A Billion Dreams

Director: James Erskine

Producers: Ravi Bhagchandka; Carnival Motion Pictures

Written by James Erskine; Sivakumar Ananth

Cast: Sachin Tendulkar Virender Sehwag, Mayuresh Pem

Music by A. R. Rahman

Release date: 26 May 2017

Genre: Biopic

Hindi Medium

Gnere: Drama/Romance

Director:Saket Chaudhary

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar, Deepak Dobriyal

Release date: May 18 2017

Meri Pyaari Bindu

Genre: Romance

Director: Akshay Roy

Producers: Aditya Chopra, Maneesh Sharma

Writer: Suprotim Sengupta

Music by Sachin–Jigar

Cast: Akshay Roy, Ayushmann Khurrana, Parineeti Chopra

Release date: May 12

Sarkar 3

Genre: Political Crime Thriller

Director:Ram Gopal Varma

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Manoj Bajpayee, Amit Sadh, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy

Release date: May 12

Begum Jaan

Genre: Period Drama

Cast: Vidya Balan, Gauhar Khan, Naseeruddin Shah

Release date: April 14

Director: Srijit Mukherji

Producers: Mukesh Bhatt, Vishesh Bhatt

Writer: Kausar Munir (Dialogue)

Screenplay by Srijit Mukherji, Kausar Munir

Story by Sumair Malik

Based on Bengali movie Rajkahini (2015)by Srijit Mukherji

Noor

Director: Sunhil Sippy

Producer: Raja Mishra , Krishan Kumar, Vikram Malhotra

Writer: Ishita Moitra Udhwani(Dialogues)

Screenplay:Althea Delmas-Kaushal,Shikhaa Sharma,Sunhil Sippy, Saba Imtiaz

Based on book: Karachi, You're Killing Me! by Saba Imtiaz

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Kanan Gill, Shibani Dandekar,Purab Kohli

Music - Songs:Amaal Mallik Background score: Naren Chandavarkar, Benedict Taylor

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

Release date: April 28

Genre: Epic/Action

Director: S. S. Rajamouli

Producer: Shobu Yarlagadda, Prasad Devineni

Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah, Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, Nassar, Tamannaah

Screenplay: K. V. Vijayendra Prasad,S. S. Rajamouli

Story: K. V. Vijayendra Prasad

Music: M. M. Keeravani

Language:Telugu/Tamil/Malayalam/Hindi

Badrinath Ki Dulhania

Release date: March 10

Genre: Romance/Comedy

Director: Shashank Khaitan

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt

Rangoon

Release date: February 24

Genre:Romance/Drama

Director: Vishal Bhardwaj

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Kangana Ranaut

Jolly LLB 2

Release: February 10

Genre:Drama

Director: Subhash Kapoor

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Huma Qureshi, Annu Kapoor

Kaabil

Release date: January 25

Genre: Action/Drama

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy, Rohit Roy Narendra Jha

Raees

Release date: January 25

Genre:Action/Thriller

Director: Rahul Dholakia

Cast; Shah Rukh Khan, Mahira Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

OK Jaanu

Release date: January 13

Genre: Romance/Drama

Director: Shaad Ali

Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Leela Samson

Bollywood Film Critic ™

Ba***ds of Bollywood-A Review.

Ba***ds of Bollywood

Saiyaara- Movie Review

Rating: ***

Pataal Lok- A Review

Angry Young Men - A Review.

Legally Blonde -Zilker Summer Musical 2024 -A Review

Jawan stands up!

An Action Hero- Movie Review

Pathaan -Movie review

Listed are the ever-so-many Action Sequences:

Oscar Nominations 2023

The Oscar nominations are listed below, time to start checking out the movies and start rating your favorites...

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

AUSTIN BUTLER-ELVISCOLIN FARRELL-THE BANSHEES OF INISHERINBRENDAN FRASER-THE WHALEPAUL MESCAL-AFTERSUNBILL NIGHY-LIVING

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

BRENDAN GLEESON-THE BANSHEES OF INISHERINBRIAN TYREE HENRY-CAUSEWAYJUDD HIRSCH-THE FABELMANSBARRY KEOGHAN-THE BANSHEES OF INISHERINKE HUY QUAN-EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

CATE BLANCHETT-TárANA DE ARMAS-BlondeANDREA RISEBOROUGH-To LeslieMICHELLE WILLIAMS-The FabelmansMICHELLE YEOH-Everything Everywhere All at Once

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

ANGELA BASSETTBlack Panther: Wakanda ForeverHONG CHAUThe WhaleKERRY CONDONThe Banshees of InisherinJAMIE LEE CURTISEverything Everywhere All at OnceSTEPHANIE HSUEverything Everywhere All at Once

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

CINEMATOGRAPHY

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONTJames FriendBARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHSDarius KhondjiELVISMandy WalkerEMPIRE OF LIGHTRoger DeakinsTÁRFlorian Hoffmeister

COSTUME DESIGN

BABYLONMary ZophresBLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVERRuth CarterELVISCatherine MartinEVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCEShirley KurataMRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARISJenny Beavan

DIRECTING

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERINMartin McDonaghEVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCEDaniel Kwan and Daniel ScheinertTHE FABELMANSSteven SpielbergTÁRTodd FieldTRIANGLE OF SADNESSRuben Östlund

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM

THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERSKartiki Gonsalves and Guneet MongaHAULOUTEvgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim ArbugaevHOW DO YOU MEASURE A YEAR?Jay RosenblattTHE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECTAnne Alvergue and Beth LevisonSTRANGER AT THE GATEJoshua Seftel and Conall Jones

FILM EDITING

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERINMikkel E.G. NielsenELVISMatt Villa and Jonathan RedmondEVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCEPaul RogersTÁRMonika WilliTOP GUN: MAVERICKEddie Hamilton

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONTGermanyARGENTINA, 1985ArgentinaCLOSEBelgiumEOPolandTHE QUIET GIRLIreland

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONTHeike Merker and Linda EisenhamerováTHE BATMANNaomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike FontaineBLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVERCamille Friend and Joel HarlowELVISMark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo SignorettiTHE WHALEAdrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONTVolker BertelmannBABYLONJustin HurwitzTHE BANSHEES OF INISHERINCarter BurwellEVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCESon LuxTHE FABELMANSJohn Williams

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

APPLAUSEfrom Tell It like a Woman; Music and Lyric by Diane WarrenHOLD MY HANDfrom Top Gun: Maverick; Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPopLIFT ME UPfrom Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler

NAATU NAATUfrom RRR; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by ChandraboseTHIS IS A LIFEfrom Everything Everywhere All at Once; Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne

BEST PICTURE

TOP GUN: MAVERICKTom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, ProducersTRIANGLE OF SADNESSErik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, ProducersWOMEN TALKINGDede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

PRODUCTION DESIGN

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSECharlie Mackesy and Matthew FreudTHE FLYING SAILORAmanda Forbis and Wendy TilbyICE MERCHANTSJoão Gonzalez and Bruno CaetanoMY YEAR OF DICKSSara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela RibonAN OSTRICH TOLD ME THE WORLD IS FAKE AND I THINK I BELIEVE ITLachlan Pendragon

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

AN IRISH GOODBYETom Berkeley and Ross WhiteIVALUAnders Walter and Rebecca PruzanLE PUPILLEAlice Rohrwacher and Alfonso CuarónNIGHT RIDEEirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid LarssenTHE RED SUITCASECyrus Neshvad

SOUND

VISUAL EFFECTS

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERINWritten by Martin McDonaghEVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCEWritten by Daniel Kwan & Daniel ScheinertTHE FABELMANSWritten by Steven Spielberg & Tony KushnerTÁRWritten by Todd FieldTRIANGLE OF SADNESSWritten by Ruben Östlund

Gangubai Kathiawadi – Review

Gangubai Kathiawadi – Review

Oscar Nominations 2022

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

JAVIER BARDEM

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

ANDREW GARFIELD

WILL SMITH

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

CIARÁN HINDS

TROY KOTSUR

JESSE PLEMONS

J.K. SIMMONS

KODI SMIT-MCPHEE

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

JESSICA CHASTAIN

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

OLIVIA COLMAN

PENÉLOPE CRUZ

NICOLE KIDMAN

KRISTEN STEWART

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

AUSTIN BUTLER-ELVIS
COLIN FARRELL-THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
BRENDAN FRASER-THE WHALE
PAUL MESCAL-AFTERSUN
BILL NIGHY-LIVING

BRENDAN GLEESON-THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
BRIAN TYREE HENRY-CAUSEWAY
JUDD HIRSCH-THE FABELMANS
BARRY KEOGHAN-THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
KE HUY QUAN-EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

CATE BLANCHETT-Tár
ANA DE ARMAS-Blonde
ANDREA RISEBOROUGH-To Leslie
MICHELLE WILLIAMS-The Fabelmans
MICHELLE YEOH-Everything Everywhere All at Once

ANGELA BASSETT
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
HONG CHAU
The Whale
KERRY CONDON
The Banshees of Inisherin
JAMIE LEE CURTIS
Everything Everywhere All at Once
STEPHANIE HSU
Everything Everywhere All at Once

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
James Friend
BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS
Darius Khondji
ELVIS
Mandy Walker
EMPIRE OF LIGHT
Roger Deakins
TÁR
Florian Hoffmeister

BABYLON
Mary Zophres
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Ruth Carter
ELVIS
Catherine Martin
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Shirley Kurata
MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS
Jenny Beavan

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Martin McDonagh
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
THE FABELMANS
Steven Spielberg
TÁR
Todd Field
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Ruben Östlund

THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS
Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
HAULOUT
Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
HOW DO YOU MEASURE A YEAR?
Jay Rosenblatt
THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT
Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
STRANGER AT THE GATE
Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
ELVIS
Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Paul Rogers
TÁR
Monika Willi
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Eddie Hamilton

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Germany
ARGENTINA, 1985
Argentina
CLOSE
Belgium
EO
Poland
THE QUIET GIRL
Ireland

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
THE BATMAN
Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
ELVIS
Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
THE WHALE
Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Volker Bertelmann
BABYLON
Justin Hurwitz
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Carter Burwell
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Son Lux
THE FABELMANS
John Williams

APPLAUSE
from Tell It like a Woman; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
HOLD MY HAND
from Top Gun: Maverick; Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
LIFT ME UP
from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler

NAATU NAATU
from RRR; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
THIS IS A LIFE
from Everything Everywhere All at Once; Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne

TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, Producers
WOMEN TALKING
Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, Producers

AN IRISH GOODBYE
Tom Berkeley and Ross White
IVALU
Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
LE PUPILLE
Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
NIGHT RIDE
Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
THE RED SUITCASE
Cyrus Neshvad

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN
Written by Martin McDonagh
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
THE FABELMANS
Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
TÁR
Written by Todd Field
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS
Written by Ruben Östlund