Indian CInema
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KILLER SOUP (Dir. Abhishek Chaubey, 2023, India)
* * * Abhishek Chaubey has remained brilliantly consistent and his last film Sonchiriya (2019), a dacoit Western with an ensemble cast, was an exceptional genre work that was under appreciated on its release. In many ways, Killer Soup instinctively revisits the multi narrative format of Chaubey’s Udta Punjab (2016) and makes for a devilishly Continue reading
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DUNKI (Dir. Rajkumar Hirani, 2023, India) – Home & Away
* * Many contemporary mainstream Hindi films fall short in comparison to their big budget South Indian counterparts. While the latter exhibit technical prowess, such films have regrettably started to trade in a troubling blend of toxic hyper-masculinity and nationalist jingoism. It’s likely that you’re acquainted with the specific films I am alluding to. In Continue reading
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GODAM / WAREHOUSE (Dir. Dilip Chitre, 1983, India)
* * * A NFDC production and accomplished Marathi poet Dilip Chitre’s only directorial feature film, Godam opens with a ritual, the sacrifice of an animal, auspiciously preceding the marriage of Yesu (Trupti), a teenage bride to a mentally challenged boy. The boy’s father, a perverted manifestation of the patriarchal system in which Yesu finds Continue reading
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MAAGH / THE WINTER WITHIN (Dir. Aamir Bashir, 2022, India/France/Qatar)
Actor and director Aamir Bashir’s debut film Harud (Autumn) was released in 2010, thirteen years ago. Bashir’s latest film Maagh (The Winter Within) comes after a decade, and it is a very accomplished work. I’m not sure why it has taken Bashir this long to make another film, but I can imagine funding for seemingly Continue reading
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SHIVAMMA (Dir. Jaishankar Aryar, 2022, India)
Directed by newcomer Jaishankar Aryar, Shivamma is a Kannada village tale in which a naive middle-aged woman, Shivamma (Sharanamma Chetti), becomes seduced with a get-rich-quick scheme that involves flogging a dubious energy drink with perilous side effects. I’m not sure to what extent Aryar’s intentions were to pitch this as a darkly comical critique of Continue reading
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