A Day On The Grand Canal

Director Philip Haas (Angels and Insects and Up at the Villa), and artist David Hockney invite you to join them on a magical journey through China via a marvelous 72-foot long 17th-century Chinese scroll entitled The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour (1691-1698), scroll seven. As Hockney unrolls the beautiful and minutely detailed work of art, he traces the Emperor Kangxi’s second tour of his southern empire in 1689.

Painted by Wang Hui (1632-1717) and assistants, it was executed before Western perspective was introduced into Chinese art. Hockney contrasts the more fluid spatial depictions of this scroll with a later scroll painted by Xu Yang and assistants, The Qianlong Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour (1764-1770), scroll four. It illustrates the same tour, but now taken by the Qianlong emperor, grandson of the Kangxi emperor. Influenced by Western perspective, the Qianlong scroll presents the emperor in a single tableau, whereas the Kangxi scroll depicts a continuous travel narrative filled with details of daily life in the towns and countryside along the route. Reference is also made to the use of perspective in Capriccio: Plaza San Marco Looking South and West (1763) by Italian painter Canaletto (1697-1768).

Hockney’s charming and fascinating narration helps bring the bustling streets and waterfronts of three hundred years ago to life. Hockney spins a dazzling discourse on eastern and western perceptive and their relationship to his own artistic vision. His trip through one of China’s most magnificent artworks is a joyous adventure for all!
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Siddhartha

Conrad Rooks' Siddhartha is the English-language classic based on the best-selling novel by the Nobel Prize winner Herman Hesse featuring astonishing cinematography by the great Sven Nykvist. Siddhartha was filmed entirely on location in Northern India, the holy city of Rishikesh, and the private estates as well as in the palaces of His Highness the Maharajah of Bharatpur. The film is absolutely a ravashing visual experience!

Siddhartha is the disarmingly simple story of a young Brahmin, and his search for a meaningful way of life. This search takes him through periods of harsh asceticism, sensual pleasures, material wealth, then self-revulsion and eventually to the oneness and harmony with himself that he had been seeking. Siddhartha learns that the secret of life cannot be passed on from one person to another, but must be achieved through inner experience.

The famed Shashi Kapoor plays Siddhartha. Kapoor is a member of India's most famous show business family, and starred in three James Ivory films, Bombay Talkie, The Householder, and Shakespeare Wallah as well as the films of Satyajit Ray.

Simi Garewal (Kamala), by the time of the film and at the age of 25, had already appeared in 22 films with such directors as Satyajit Ray and Raj Kapoor. Her appearance in the film is legendary, for she was the first Indian actress to perform a nude scene in a country where before that, even kissing was banned from the screen.
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My Borther's Wedding

In 1983, after many long months of shooting, Charles Burnett sent his rough-cut of My Brother's Wedding to his producers. Ignoring his request to finish the editing of the film, the producers rushed it to a New York festival screening, where it received a mixed review from the New York Times. With distributors scared off, My Brother's Wedding was tragically never released. Film critic Armond White called this “a catastrophic blow to the development of American popular culture.”

When Milestone first acquired the rights to My Brother's Wedding, Charles Burnett's one request was a chance to complete his film the way he wanted to almost 25 years ago.

Now, following a beautiful restoration by the Pacific Film Archive and a beautifully-accomplished digital re-edit by the director, My Brother's Wedding is an eye-opening revelation—it is wise, funny, heartbreaking and timeless.

Pierce Mundy works at his parents' South Central dry cleaners with no prospects for the future and his childhood buddies in prison or dead. With his best friend just getting out of jail and his brother busy planning a wedding to a snooty upper-middle-class black woman, Pierce navigates his conflicting obligations while trying to figure out what he really wants in life.

“My Brother's Wedding is a tragic comedy that takes place in South Central Los Angeles. The story focuses on a young man who hasn't made much of his life as of yet, and at a crucial point in his life, he is unable to make the proper decision, a sober decision, a moral decision. This is a consequence of his not having developed beyond the embryonic stage, socially. He has a distinct romantic notion about life in the ghetto and yet, in spite of his naive sensitivity, he is given the task of being his brother's keeper; he feels rather than sees, and as a consequence his capacity for judging things off in the distance is limited. This brings about circumstances that weave themselves into a set of complexities which Pierce Mundy (Everett Silas), the main character, desperately tries to avoid.” —Charles Burnett 
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Araya

The restoration of Margot Benacerraf's brilliant film Araya is a landmark in cinema history. The film was hailed as a masterpiece of poetic cinema and a forerunner of feminist Latina cinema on it's re-release by Milestone.

The peninsula of Araya in northeastern Venezuela, is one of the most arid places on earth. For five hundred years, since its discovery by the Spanish, the region’s salt has been exploited manually.

A 17th-century fortress built to protect against pirate raids stands as a reminder of the days when salt was worth almost as much as gold and great fortunes were made. Benacerraf captures the life of the salineros and their back-breaking work in breathtaking images.

The Peredas family works at night in the salt marshes, the Ortiz are fishermen and the Salaz collect salt. The three stories underline the harsh life of this region — all of which vanished with the arrival of industrial exploitation.

Araya was originally compared to Flaherty’s Man of Aran, Visconti’s La Terra Trema (1947) and Rossellini’s India (1957). Margot Benacerraf has described the film as “a cinematic narration based on script writing rather than a spontaneous action, a feature documentary, the opposite of Italian neorealism.” A film of such lasting beauty that Jean Renoir told Benacerraf after seeing the film: “Above all … don’t cut a single image!”
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Killer of Sheep

Milestone, Steven Soderbergh and Turner Classic Movies present one of the most famous and acclaimed films by an African-American filmmaker. Charles Burnett's KILLER OF SHEEP was one of the first 50 films to be selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry and was chosen by the National Society of Film Critics as one of the 100 Essential Films. But, due to music licensing problems, the film was rarely screened, and then only in ragged 16mm prints. UCLA Film & Television Archives' dazzling 35mm restoration of this landmark film opened the world's eyes to one of the great films of cinema.

Charles Burnett’s films focus on everyday life in black communities in a manner unseen in American cinema, combining incredibly lyrical elements with a starkly neo-realist, documentary-style approach that chronicles the unfolding story with depth and riveting simplicity.

In KILLER OF SHEEP, the protagonist, employed at the slaughterhouse, is suffering from the emotional side effects of his bloody occupation to such a degree that his entire life unhinges. His refusal to become involved in the similarly destructive, but human-focused occupations of his more affluent friends and acquaintances becomes the odd obstacle to the family’s well being. Burnett once said of the film, “[Stan’s] real problems lie within the family, trying to make that work and be a human being. You don’t necessarily win battles; you survive.”
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I'm Going Home

With I'm Going Home, the legendary Manoel de Oliveira, at the age of 93, created his masterpiece. The critics have already acclaimed it as one of the finest films of the decade. Warm, funny, humane and ultimately heartrending, the film is a remarkable and supremely eloquent statement by a magnificent director.

Gilbert Valence (Michel Piccoli) is a successful theater actor appearing in Eugene Ionesco's Exit the King, when he learns that his wife, daughter and son-in-law have been killed in a car accident. Over time, Valence's life regains a semblance of normalcy - he takes care of his orphaned grandson, strolls the streets of Paris, frequents his favorite cafe and returns to the theater as Prospero in The Tempest. But when an American film director (John Malkovich) offers him a role in an English-language production of James Joyce's Ulysses, Valence struggles to master the dialogue and the rigors of playing a younger man. On the set, suddenly aware of his age and overwhelmed by grief, he quietly says "I'm going home." Michel Piccoli is majestic in the role of Valence - he is proud, self-assured, and amused by the world, while still vulnerable to life's tragedies.
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Ganges

Ganges is a nature documentary series for television on the natural history of the River Ganges in India and Bangladesh. As well as the variety of animals and habitats that are to be found along the river’s 2,510 km (1,557 mi) reach, the programmes also feature the cultures, traditions and religions of the very large human population that it supports. For Hindus, the Ganges is a sacred river and a place of pilgrimage, a deep influence on their religion and culture as well as being their lifeblood. Over the course of three episodes, the series is presented as a journey from the source of the river in the high Himalaya to its delta at the Bay of Bengal. Ganges is narrated by actor/playwright Sudha Bhuchar and produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, in association with the Travel Channel and France 3. The series producer is Ian Gray. It was first broadcast on BBC Two in August 2007 and formed part of the BBC’s “India and Pakistan ‘07” season, marking the 60th anniversary of independence from British rule and the partitioning of India and Pakistan. The format was previously used by the BBC for earlier documentary series on the world's major river systems, including Congo (2001) and Nile (2004).
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Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola

Without warning, there is an accident.

Then, a flashback: to ten minutes earlier. A flashback which explains, nearly in realtime, how the accident comes to be. Why, then, did we not directly start from the flashback? Because Vishal said so.

Vishal Bhardwaj's latest film delights in its own impish, impromptu absurdity. There is much daftness in this oddly titled Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, a cock-and-pink-buffalo story that stays surreal even at its most satirical.

It's theatrical, insightful, wickedly clever and, often, too funny to even laugh at, if you know what I mean. It is also, as may be apparent, an utterly random movie, sometimes jarringly uneven and frequently meandering. And yet it works, because it is, at every single step, unexpected and surprising.

Even the most seemingly slapdash of scenes appears magical when the work of a master is evident. This film swings with two sultans, each spurring the other on toward a sillier spectacle, a sight of grand lunacy.

Bhardwaj more than handles his end -- heaping on wordplay and quirk and texture -- but the Quixote in the other corner is even wilder: Pankaj Kapur, who carries the film with smiles and slurs. Together, this jesting juggalbandi provides a rare treat: a legendary actor rolling up his sleeves and a director giving him miles of room in which to conjure. Forget Matru and Bijlee, in Mandola lies the magic.
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Gattu

Gattu, directed by Rajan Khosa, is an effortlessly charming, bittersweet film about a little boy obsessed with kite-flying. Nine-year-old Gattu lives in Roorkee, Uttarakhand. He is an orphan. He works in his uncle's garbage-recycling business. At one point, his uncle tells Gattu that he bought him just like he buys kabaad (scrap).

Gattu's days are spent amidst trash and flies, but the film's beauty is that it doesn't ask us to pity him. Instead Khosa celebrates his chutzpah and ambition. Like the kites he loves, Gattu soars.

Much of this is accomplished because Mohammad Samad, who plays Gattu, is simply irresistible. There isn't a false or straining-for-cute note in his portrayal of a boy who relies on the only thing he has - street smarts. Gattu lies and steals to get his way. He sneaks in as a student at the local school only because it has the highest terrace in town and he want to fly a kite there. There's a lovely, comical moment when the students break into 'Saare jahaan se achcha' and Gattu looks bewildered because he's never heard the song before.
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Trishagni

Trishagni (English title:The Sand Storm) was a 1988 Hindi film directed by Nabendu Ghosh, this was directorial debut of noted screenwriter of Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee classics. The film was based on Buddhist historical short story, Moru O Sangho written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, and inspired by Buddha's Fire Sermon, and starred Nana Patekar, Pallavi Joshi and Alok Nath in lead roles. The film received critical acclaim, and was awarded the 1988 National Film Award for Best First Film of a Director, 'For excellent exploration of complex philosophical theme for the first time in Indian cinema.
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Chitrangada

Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish is a 2012 Bengali-language film written and directed by Rituparno Ghosh. The film premiered on 25 May 2012 at the New York Indian Film Festival. The film is based on the story of Chitrāngadā from the Mahābhārata. It tells the story of a choreographer who is struggling with his gender identity.

Rudra Chatterjee has spent his life going against social convention. As a young man he defied his father's wishes, and became a choreographer instead of an engineer. As he prepares with his team to stage Tagore's Chitrangada, he meets Partho, Jishu Sengupta who is a drug-addict percussionist introduced to the team by the main dancer Kasturi Raima Sen. Soon, Rudra develops a chemistry with Partho and they are deep into a passionate love affair. During the course of their relationship, they decide to adopt a child. But there is one problem: same-sex couples are not permitted to adopt children. So Rudra decides to go through a gender change treatment to embrace the womanhood he longs for. But will this surgery change his life and fulfill all his long-cherished dreams? The story ends with the line'Be What You Wish To Be'. The movie comes out with the message that it's your wish to choose your gender. The movie was a great success with the first class acting of Rituparno Ghosh and other casting crew. The movie exhibits the struggles and day to day life of a gay choreographer and his father and mother. It becomes an inspiration to a million for the acceptance of all people in the society and it also becomes an inspiration to the people who can relate themselves with Rudra. Hence the tagline of the film 'The Crowning Wish' is justified with this message. It is a must watch specially for the adult and young adults.
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Talented Bengali actor and director Rituparno Ghosh should have been celebrating his 50th birthday next week after viewing his extraordinary second-to-last feature film, Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish, at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. But the multiple winner of India's National Film Award was tragically struck down by a heart attack in Kolkata in May.

The magnitude of the loss to Indian cinema is abundantly clear to anyone who watches Chitraganda: The Crowning Wish, a lusciously lit and deeply personal drama about a choreographer considering gender-reassignment surgery. The film opens with Rudra Chatterjee (played by Ghosh), a dynamic and decisive choreographer, preparing to stage Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore's dance drama Chitrangada.

Loosely based on the the epic Mahabharata, Tagore's 1892 version portrays Chitrangada as an Amazon who only discovers her feminine side after falling in love with the princely warrior Arjuna.

In a case of life imitating art, Rudra's life is similarly transformed after meeting the much younger Partho (played by Bengali actor and cricketer Jisshu Sengupta), a heroin-addicted and highly irresponsible drummer.
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Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana

The title is precariously double-edged. It could suggest a dash of dry drollness. It might equally signal a surfeit of drossy, over-the-top flippancy. Happily, Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana errs, if at all, on the side of the former. Simply put, this film is a little gem. A well-written and neatly crafted comedy woven around the life and times of a dhaba-owning family in a real Punjab hamlet, it is redolent as much of the smells and sounds of the soil as it is of the aroma of the delicious dish referred to in the title.

On one level, the film belongs to the flourishing genre of idiosyncratic slice-of-life narratives and character-driven dramas set in the north Indian heartland of Delhi and its environs (Khosla Ka Ghosla, Dev D., Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Do Dooni Chaar, Rockstar and Vicky Donor). On another, it harks back fondly to the era of innocence represented by the middle-of-the-road comedies that the likes of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee once made with great distinction and flair.

But that is not to say that Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, directed by first-timer Sameer Sharma, is either old-fashioned or derivative. For one, it is probably the first-ever food-themed Hindi film. Despite its steadfast avoidance of formulaic plot devices and its deliberate pacing, it holds the attention of the audience, thanks to the tangibility of its gallery of grounded and rounded characters.

It has the rhythm of a slow food feast – it is languid, growing on the senses as it unfolds as gently as a seven-course meal. Barring one or two avoidable false strokes, especially in the climactic moments, the film remains firmly rooted in its simple, uncluttered essence.
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Chakravyuh

Chakravyuh maintains an aggressive cinematic tone with sufficient stock of blood and action to dole, but is nothing more than an average action flick in the garb of relevant cinema, writes Sukanya Verma:

A dramatised account of real events is effective so long it is both expressive and informative in a sensible measure. But Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh, which builds its nucleus around the Naxalite activities in East of India, employs familiar ploys and plot points to credibly work as either.

Unlike Lal Salaam or Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, (human stories set against the same milieu) Chakravyuh maintains an aggressive cinematic tone with sufficient stock of blood and action to dole.

Explosive shoot-out sequences supplemented with a dose of filmi fury -- bleeding faces, snarling noses, gnashing teeth, grunting sounds, threatening looks and a bombastic background score, Chakravyuh has it all.

Sure, a couple of motivational speeches are offered in the stoic baritone of Arjun Rampal and articulate resolve of Manoj Bajpai [ Images ] to ascertain the ideology of both the inconsistent protectors of law as well as the voice of unreasonable revolution respectively.

But Jha, while undoubtedly well-informed about the troubles that plague these parts, fails to fashion a script that would truly document the complexity of the Naxal principles or their everyday struggle, the anxieties of a feeble law and order or the hardships of the tribal population caught in the conflict.

Except for skimming past this intense mass of difficulties against believable scenery, the director of Gangaajal, Apaharan, Raajneti and Aarakshan [ Images ] crams the film with foreseeable stereotypes of power hungry politicians, greedy industrialists, rapist cops and some insignificant characters such as Esha Gupta.
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Balak Palak

We have all been talking about Marathi cinema racing into newer, uncharted territories, but no film, has ventured into the territory that Balak Palak has, and no film has handled the subject at hand so delicately, and with a touch of humour.

A father (Bhave) discovers porn in his young son's room, and considers the situation before going back in time. Back in the 90s, we are introduced to Dolly (Shankpal), Chiu (Pimplikar), Avya (Phalke) and Bhagya (Deodhar) -- four best friends, who are spending their Diwali vacations together. A neighbourhood event tickles their curiosity and they get about the business of finding “Shen khaane mhanje nakki kaay.” (What does eating cow dung stand for?)

Aided by the school underdog Vishu (Parab), the kids gain access to porn first through the written word and then the adventure is all about the visual medium. They go about this in an innocent, funny manner but as the blue film reaches its climax (no pun intended), their innocence and their friendships are strained. Will this curiosity destroy their friendship? Will their parents ever talk to them about the birds and bees? That's the premise of Balak Palak.

The subject is relevant, especially now that all TV channels and newspapers seem to talk about rape. As the mother in present-day Mumbai (Subhash) puts it aptly, “Today's kids carry their Vishu around with with them 24/7.”

Ravi Jadhav, who's made the vibrant Natarang and the rich, yet underwhelming, Balagandharva, enters a brand new genre with BP and succeeds. It isn't easy to make a humourous film on a subject this bold and serious, while extracting terrific performances from the child actors. The actors, on their part are immensely talented.
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Khel Mandala

Viju Mane's melodramatic film Khel Mandala is based on a highly objectionable premise which the filmmaker doesn't bother to clarify beyond its sensational value. A deaf-dumb-mute baby is abandoned by her parents and found by a lonely puppeteer who lives in a slum. He adopts the girl and teaches her how to communicate by tying strings around her wrists and by writing on her forearm. But he also uses her as a 'live' puppet in his show and the tiny tot dances to his tune. The film goes to great length to show how much this man loves the little girl, but the idea of using her thus to earn a living is questionable and the scope of this film is too shallow to examine the exploitative nature of the situation.

In the vein of bad tear-jerkers (think Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black), the entire purpose of the girl's disability seems to be to use it as a convenient plot element. Her character is of no importance to the narrative -- notice how the protagonist Daasu (Mangesh Desai) has long-drawn scenes where he talks to her, while she sits there motionless not showing any sign of life or communicating with him in any way. Further, the writer (Mane himself) also throws in her biological parents who have been unable to conceive thereafter and are conveniently at hand to service the screenplay.
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The silhouette of a little girl moving her hands rhythmically as strings tied to her wrists exert a light pressure makes for a heartrending visual. When this silhouette melts to take the form of a colourful puppet doll, with a real heart, the visual turns awe-inspiring.

Destitute puppeteer Dasu (Mangesh Desai) lives in a makeshift tent in a Mumbai slum. When a communal riot breaks out, Dasu finds an abandoned baby in the slum. He calls the girl Bahuli (doll) as that is all he knows about life, strings, dolls and puppets. The only issue (which is of course a non-issue for Dasu) is that Bahuli is visually-challenged and speech- and hearing- impaired. What follows is a beautiful journey where Dasu holds the strings to Bahuli’s life as she grows up to perform as a living puppet on the streets of Mumbai.

When TV journalist Anushka (Urmila Kanetkar) does a feature story on Dasu and his muse, they become a household name. A sudden twist in the tale comes when a childless couple Mr and Mrs Raje (Prasad Oak and Mansi Salvi) discover that Bahuli is the same infant Mr Raje threw away at birth because of disability.

Writer-director Viju Mane (who made the action-packed Sharyat) tackles a sensitive subject in Khel Mandala. Very subtly layers of human relationships, disability, and manipulative nature of the media, apparently selfish city dwellers and equally selfless villagers, the designs of destiny are all touched upon. The director employs analogies like a puppet narrator to suggest the sea change Dasu’s life goes through after his father’s death and finding of Bahuli. The symbolism of strings that bind Dasu and Bahuli and the shocking climax brings to fore Mane’s belief in a higher power, one that controls the strings of life. The twists are too good to be true, so is the outcome. But that can be overlooked. Among other things, Khel Mandala is beautifully shot.
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Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Aseem Chhabra who reviewed Jab Tak Hai Jaan in New York says, "The film belongs to Shah Rukh Khan who is charming and mischievous, displaying his dimples with each smile. And he is even more watchable when he is bitter and heartbroken."

There is a reality, as we know it, our mundane daily lives peppered with some joys. There is good cinema with its play on the reality as we know it. And we accept those stories, as unique commentaries on the state of our lives.

And then there is an alternate reality of Bollywood, where couples fall in love, with loud souring soundtracks in foreign locations, but fate keeps them apart and they make unreasonable promises and sacrifices to save their loved ones. The late Yash Chopra excelled in presenting us with that unreal reality, where human beings were principled people, essentially good souls, and for them love was everything. And they would give up all for that love, make sacrifices that made the audience tear up.

Chopra's swan song Jab Tak Hai Jaan plays in that arena, even though it is a relatively weak example of that alternate reality. But all his romantic musicals - films like Daag, Kabhi Kabhie, Chandini and Veer Zaara [ Images ] suffered with that same liberal dose of optimism, a reflection of unreal life, made to look appealing by good looking actors, songs, and a lot of tears and melodrama. Today those films remind us of our youth, when we got odd lessons of romance from songs like Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein, Mere Dil Mein Aaj Kya Hai, Janam Dekh Lo Mit Gayee Dooriyan. We are kind to those films, call them classics, although none of those films were really landmark cinema.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan has flaws – a long convoluted plot, that takes its time to unfold, with implausible twists, and characters whose motivations and behaviors can only be justified if we believe in the statement: This is Yash Chopra's brand of cinema.
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He yanks off his cool shades and gets going with the job of diffusing a bomb. He has done it 97 times before - the veritable Hurt Locker who has dared God to take his life, but that just doesn't happen. He survives every time.

Shah Rukh Khan's bomb expert Major in Jab Tak Hai Jaan works wonders on a very different sort of bombs too. He is quite the Heart Locker, excuse the pun, who doesn't need much of an effort to woo the richie rich Barbie he spots floating across picture poster London scape, so what if he is just a snow shoveller (in an early scene when he is yet to become the Army hero). "Paree (fairy)", he sighs and, never mind that she owns an empire and is engaged, you know she will madly be in love with him within the hour.

You ease into Yash Chopra terrain watching SRK play the field in his best romantic avatar yet, ready for the mush crackers.

The girl is straight out of Planet Chopra, too. Stunning as only Katrina Kaif can be, and an obvious emotional wreck who habitually strikes divine deals in churches with the Almighty for anything and everything she wants. So much so, at a pivotal point she is actually telling God that she is willing to forget her lover forever if He saves his life.

That's Jab Tak Hai Jaan for you, bringing back all the sweeping love, sacrifice and melodrama quotient that has ever defined the cinema of Bollywood's King of Romance. Watching formula at play all over again, it somehow feels all right as a mainstream maestro plays out his swansong.

Few masala films become larger than they set out to be, possibly deserve to be. You sense as much could happen someday to this film as it plays out an exhaustive three hours of love triangle plus some twists. Yash Chopra's final feature is not just about itself or the story it narrates. It is about celebrating a fancy's flight that set the template for filmy romance over the decades (minus the heroine's chiffon-sari sway in the Swiss Alps, which was not to be). Jab Tak Hai Jaan becomes a final bow for mush in a way it may never come alive on the Bollywood screen again.
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Tiding over the logical incongruity of an ageing superstar playing a twenty-something lover boy who matches steps with a vivacious actress half his age might take some doing. But once you manage to get that mental holdup out the way, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Yash Chopra’s last film, is a perfectly fitting finale to an eventful life and career.

The screenplay by Aditya Chopra and Devika Bhagat is by no means flawless but, for the most part, Jab Tak Hai Jaan is watchable, if somewhat emotionally manipulative.

Beautifully shot in easy-on-the-eye parts of London and Ladakh, the film, in the best traditions of a Yash Chopra romance, sees the world primarily through a tried-and-tested “love is life” aperture. The view that it provides is generally likable, if not always completely persuasive.

The mushy moments at the heart of the love story might feel a tad pulpy at times. ButJab Tak Hai Jaan leaves a soothing afterglow.

You have seen it all before, notably in Dil To Pagal Hai and Veer-Zaara. Yet, Jab Tak Hai Jaan exudes a surprising degree of freshness. It stems from the quirky new-age twists that the screenplay throws into the mix.

One half of the film is a variation on the legend of Mirabai – the heroine, a prim and propah London girl, is caught between her unshakable faith in Jesus Christ (who she believes will never let her down) and her temporal love for a charming street musician who sweeps her off her feet and tempts her to “cross the line”.
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As once told by Lao Tzu, "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength and courage." But, this isn't a story of courage, nor miracle. It is indeed a simple love story of a man, who died everyday, every moment for his love. And, say what, even God was left with no other option at the end, except to gift him his ladylove one day. Yes, I'm talking about the late legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra last directorial offering, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, featuring Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma in the leads. If love and romance needs a proper definition, it will be such "JAB TAK HAI JAAN", this piece of romance will be remembered forever. Here's a story of a strong, hard-hearted army officer Samar Anand (Shahrukh Khan), who loves to play with his life by undertaking risks everyday. Reason given, his never ending fight with the almighty, who had snatched away his ladylove Meera Thapar (Katrina Kaif) 10 years back.
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Firstly, people... the movie isn't so bad as others are saying; secondly, it cannot be compared to epic love story and neither can be termed as a master piece by Yash Chopra. The movie definitely fails to create the usual Yash Chopra Magic. The movie starts off with Samar Anand (Shahrukh Khan), a major from the Indian Army, defusing a bomb. Samar saves Akira Rai's (Anushka Sharma) life, a Discovery Channel intern. She gets to read his dairy and the movie goes to a flash back. Samar is a struggling immigrant in London and meets Meera Thappar (Katrina Kaif) in the hotel during her reception. Later Meera asks Samar to teach her Punjabi (song), in turn Samar asks her to teach him English, and during this course Samar falls in love with Meera. Meera had a strange superstitious belief. Samar meets with an accident, and Meera to save Samar's life, prays that she would never meet Samar again if God saves his life. Hurt by Meera's promise, Samar joins the most risky job...bomb diffuser, in Kashmir. Then he meets Akira who joins Samar's team, to make a documentary about the bomb disposal squad of the Indian Army. The rest should be seen on screen. The story is interesting, yet boring since many people in this generation won't understand the relation between the God and Man. They can't digest too much of superstitious beliefs, which is shown between Kat and her God. And the length of the movie is the major drawback.
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English Vinglish

Raja Sen thinks Sridevi excels in her comeback film.

In India, our post-Colonial hangover includes a peculiar English-language elitism, where those even halfway in control of the language thumb their nose at those unable to speak it.

Where folk routinely, and with unforgivable curtness, cut folk off mid-sentence to snappily correct pronunciation. Which is why a scene in Gauri Shinde's new film -- where a simple Maharashtrian woman is castigated by her family for calling jazz "jhaaz" (even as they proudly call it "jhazz" themselves) -- rings so true.

They don't intentionally mean to humiliate the woman with their constant use of English, but appear befuddled by her lack of what they imagine to be the most basic of linguistic skills.

Shashi, the devastatingly unassuming heroine of English Vinglish, is a homemaker and crafter of much-adored laddoos, a fledgling entrepreneur doing what she does because its the only thing she's applauded for. Not knowing English, however, cripples her at nearly every turn, till the fact that she can't speak the language becomes her not-so-secret shame, not unlike Kate Winslet's illiteracy in The Reader. And here's the thing: Sridevi does far better.

It helps, of course, that the script services her at every turn. Shinde, making her directorial debut, concentrates not on the overarching drama or the narrative arc, but instead labours hard on creating a heroine so flawless, so grounded, so perfectly lovely that we can't help but be swayed by her. She is a heroine so exaggeratedly Good that she, contrasted against her cartoonishly callous family, appears a superwoman.

This could very well have been another case of script servicing star except, as said, the star really did deserve a script this slavish.

Sridevi's been away nearly fifteen years, and Hindi cinema has changed significantly, a fact perhaps most amusingly encapsulated by the way the actress gasps in this film on seeing a couple kiss in a coffee shop, something unimaginable (on-screen, anyway) in her time.

Yet here she is, better than ever. Yes, ever. English Vinglish sees the veteran heroine trade in glamour for primness and chiffon for cotton, and reining in her wondrously exaggerated acting instincts: even her inimitably shaky-shrill voice works here as a facet of her character's fragility, her constant insecurity.
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Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai

Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai (Assamese: হালধীয়া চৰায়ে বাওধান খায়, English subtitle: The Catastrophe) is a 1987 Assamese film of social genre made by director Jahnu Barua. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1988 and multiple awards at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1988. It was the third full-length feature film made by Barua.
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Xagoroloi Bohudoor

Xagoroloi Bohudoor (Assamese: সাগৰলৈ বহুদূৰ, English: It's a Long Way to the Sea) is an Assamese language film directed by Jahnu Barua. The film was released in 1995.
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This drama from India chronicles the tumultuous life of a simple rural ferryman who has lived all his life on the banks of a rushing river. Like his father and his grandfather before him, old Puwal makes his meager living by rowing people across the river in his ramshackle boat. He loses his livelihood when the government constructs a little bridge across the stream. Puwal becomes even more depressed when his eldest son Hemanta, who lives with his upper-class wife and her snooty children, tries to swindle his father out of prime acreage. Though it could bring the old man a great profit from the developers who want the land, Puwal wants to keep it and pass it on to his orphaned grandson, Hkuman (a flood took the lives of his parents). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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Jahnu Barua (Assamese: জাহ্নু বৰুৱা, Hindi: जाहनू बरूवा) (1952- ) is a multiple national and international award-winning Indian film director from Assam.[1] He has directed a number of Assamese and Hindi films, and along with Bhabendra Nath Saikia was one of the pioneers of Assamese Art cinema. He is best known outside Assam for his Hindi film Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara, a drama which utilizes the principles of Gandhism for its thematic backstory.
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Gangs of वासेपुर

Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 (stylised as Gangs of वासेपुर) is an Indian crime film co-written, produced and directed by Anurag Kashyap.[9] Centered around the coal mafia of Dhanbad, Jharkhand, and the underlying power struggles, politics and vengeance between three crime families, the Part 1 features an ensemble cast with Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Richa Chadda, Tigmanshu Dhulia in the major roles and its story spans from the early 1940s to mid-1990s.

Both Parts were originally shot as a single film measuring a total of 319 minutes and screened at the 2012 Cannes Directors' Fortnight but since no Indian theatre would volunteer to screen a five plus hour movie, it was divided into two parts (160 mins and 159 mins respectively) for the Indian Market.

The film received an A certification from the Indian Censor Board but is still unusually explicit for Indian standards as it contained authentic lingo and violence generally suppressed by mainstream Indian cinema. The films soundtrack is heavily influenced by traditional Indian folk songs.

Part 1 was released on 22 June 2012 in more than 1000 theatre screens across India. It was released on 25 July in France and on 28 June in the Middle East but was banned in Kuwait and Qatar. Gangs of Wasseypur was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. Gangs of Wasseypur has bagged four nominations, including best film and best director, at the 55th Asia-Pacific Film Festival.

The combined film won the Best Audiography, Re-recordist's of the Final Mixed Track (Alok De, Sinoy Joseph and Shreejesh Nair) and Special Mention for acting (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) at the 60th National Film Awards. The film bagged four Filmfare Awards, including Best Film (Critics) and Best Actress (Critics), at the 58th Filmfare Awards.

Although not a huge hit by any financial standard, the meagre combined budget of ₹18.5cr] allowed the 2 films to be commercially successful, with net domestic earnings of ₹50.81cr (of the 2 parts combined) . It is regarded by many as a modern cult film.

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भारत एक खोज

Bharat Ek Khoj (Hindi: भारत एक खोज, Urdu: بھارت ایک کھوج‎, English: The Discovery of India) is a 53-episode Indian historical drama based on the book The Discovery of India (1946) by Jawaharlal Nehru, [1] that dramatically unfolds the 5000-year history of India from its beginnings to the coming of independence in 1947. The drama was directed, written and produced by Shyam Benegal with cinematographer V. K. Murthy in 1988 for state-owned Doordarshan. Benegal's regular script collaborator Shama Zaidi also co-wrote the script.[2]

The series dramatically unfolds and explores the five-thousand year history of India from its beginnings to the coming of the independence in 1947. Its cast include Om Puri, Roshan Seth, Tom Alter and Sadashiv Amrapurkar. Jawaharlal Nehru was portrayed by Roshan Seth, who had previously portrayed Nehru in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982).[3] While Seth enacted the part of Nehru as the story-teller at key points in every episode, Om Puri provided the narration.
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