Totally Filmi

Taj. You Tell Taj: Valentine's Day Edition

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:15:48 PST

It's somehow fitting to mark Valentine's Day with a new entry into this Taj Mahal series, the Taj being viewed as the ultimate symbol of love. But I'm a little cyncical about Valentine's Day, and for me, probably the best film that represents a slightly more cynical side to the Taj Mahal -- and a film that probably contains my favorite use of the Taj Mahal -- is Shaad Ali's 2005 film Bunty Aur Babli, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherji. The film tells the story of Rakesh Trivedi (Bachchan), a small town guy with big dreams who wants a...

Agneepath (dir. Karan Malhotra, 2012)

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:15:51 PST

It’s no secret that films from Dharma Productions are generally not my cup of tea – and that’s especially true of the films of Karan Johar, producer of this remake of Mukul S. Anand’s 1990 cult version. My main problem with Karan Johar’s films is their overblown melodrama, and,well, the fact that I often find them emotionally manipulative. And to be honest, that’s probably my main problem with the Karan Malhotra directed/ Karan Johar produced version of Agneepath. Although I’m not one of the legion of fans of Anand’s original – partly because revenge drama doesn’t readily appeal to me,...

Malayalam Films 2012: February 10th

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:26:07 PST

So, it seems I got my dates mixed up, and Unnam opens this week, not last week. Instead of posting the trailer again, why not check out a couple of songs from the film? First: "Oru Nal": Next, "Kulirai Nanavai": Looking forward to the film! There are three other releases this week. First, S. Kishore's Kochi: Verdict based only on the trailer? Probably not my cup of tea. Second, J. Sujith's Themmadikoottam: Verdict based on the trailer? Also probably not my cup of tea. Finally, Kumar Nanda's Mullassery Madhavan Kutty Nemom P. O.: This looks more like my cup of...

Malayalam Films 2012: February 4th

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:53:04 PST

This one just slipped totally under my radar (which, to be honest, is occasionally a warning sign, but I'm open to being proved wrong): Njanum Ente Familyum starring Jayaram and Mamta Mohandas. The film's Wikipedia page is mostly unenlightening. It's a first film from K. K. Rajeev, mostly known for direction television serials. There is a trailer: I think what I can say without question is that I love the film's title card, as I so often do with Malayalam films, they are often incredibly pretty and inventive. As for the film, I get nothing, no vibe, not a thing,...

Teri Rehmatein

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:53:35 PST

"Teri Rehmatein" is a new album of Sufi music from Sony Music, featuring 8 original tracks composed by Harpreet and written by Rajiv Pal Singh 'Rana', and performed by singers including Salim Merchant, Sanam Marwi, Tochi Raina, Javed Ali, Richa Sharma, Meenal Jain, I P Singh and Jaswinder Singh. And this is the video for the title track, "Teri Rehmatein", performed by the terrific Salim Merchant, with cinematography by one of my favorite up and coming cinematographers (and friend) Santosh Vasandi: Is that not the loveliest thing you've experienced today? That just made my Friday!

Malayalam Films 2012: February 3rd

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:55:57 PST

I know very little about the two films opening this first week of February. First there's Unnam: What I do know, though, is if the film is directed by Sibi Malayil and stars Lal, Asif Ali, Nedumudi Venu, Swetha Menon, Rima Kallingal, and Sreenivasan? I totally want to see it. There's a rumour out there that it's a remake of Johnny Gaddaar. That makes me even more curious. The other film releasing this week, debut director Srinath Rajendran's Second Show, has also piqued my curiousity, mainly because it's also the debut film of Mammootty's son Dulquer Salmaan: I can't decide....

Thank You (dir. Anees Bazmee, 2011)

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:53:48 PST

In Thank You, three womanzing friends -- Raj (Bobby Deol), Yogi (Suniel Shetty) and Vikram (Irrfan Khan) -- cheat on their long-suffering wives, Sanjana (Sonam Kapoor), Mala (Celina Jaitley), and Shivani (Rimi Sen). The wives, having had enough of the lies, decide to hire Kishan (Akshay Kumar), a flute-playing private detective, to teach their husbands a lesson. And quite honestly, normally a film like Thank You wouldn't rate space here on my blog. I think, with a very few exceptions, I've decided that Anees Bazmee's films are really not my cup of tea. For the record, the exceptions are the...

Adam's Rib: a celebration of women in Indian cinema

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:39:30 PST

After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her. from "Extracts from Adam's Diary" by Mark Twain When I first came up with the idea of devoting the month of March to women in Indian cinema I had no idea, really, what to call it, and I sort of half-jokingly toyed with the idea of calling it Adam's Rib after the 1949 film directed by George Kukor, starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (and which bore the tag line:...

Malayalam Films 2012: January 26th

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:45:39 PST

January 26th sees the return of The Complete Actor, Mohanlal, to the screen in the film Casanovva. Directed by Rosshan Andrrews (who also directed Totally Filmi favorite Udayananu Tharam), it's the story of Casanovva (Mohanlal), owner of an international chain of flower shops called "Casanovva's Eternal Spring" (which to my ear sounds more like a name for a funeral parlour, but perhaps that's the dour side of me coming out). And for some reason, the fact that he's supposed to be surrounded by woman (staff, ex-girlfriends, friends) who are willing to support him or help him out made me think...

Malamaal Weekly?

katherine@totallyfilmi.com (Katherine Matthews) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:16:17 PST

Well. Rumour is that Shafi's 2010 hit film Marykkundoru Kunjadu ("Mary Had a Lamb") is set for a remake at the hands of Priyadarshan, and, according to IndiaGlitz, it's going to star Ranbir Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, and be titled Malamaal Weekly. That Bollywood would go looking for yet another Malayalam hit film is no surprise, but I'm skeptical, about the title at the very least -- because, of course, Priyadarshan has already made a film called Malamaal Weekly (apparently loosely based on Waking Ned Devine, and about the attempt to find the winning ticket holder in the local lottery --...