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All articles by Ankur Sharma
11 November 2009
Let me say it right away – if a new kid on the block such as Greasepaint could do justice to a play as rich as Chapter Two on their very first attempt, I am positive that we can expect some good entertainment coming our way from the talented bunch. The rib-tickling yet thought provoking play by one of America’s most successful comedy playwrights - Neil Simon - is by itself a work of art...
04 October 2009
Nuri Bilge Ceylan has made it a point to discuss the matters closest to his heart – estrangement and stagnancy of human lives, especially in cities - with a certain intimacy and panache. No wonder, most of his films have garnered awards at Cannes film festival, and the Oscars. An engineer by degree and a photographer by profession, Ceylan turned to filmmaking in mid 90s. His first two films...
21 May 2009
As you gaze at the cover of the book, you see a pair of eyes - intense, disjointed eyes that allude at a conflict of perspectives or emotions within an individual. Perspectives on love-and-hate-relationship with a country, on obsessive love, identity and belonging, and on perceived social standing. In The Reluctant Fundamentalist, that individual is Changez - the brilliant boy from Lahore, who...
04 May 2009
Welcome to a microcosm in the glamorous world of Mumbai, where there are dreams of stardom, the cravings of innocent love, and the struggle for power. A world right out of a set of a 70s Bollywood film, where the poor but good-natured hero has only one mission in life – to marry the beautiful, coy, and innocent heroine who pines for his love too. But of course, things can’t be that simple. There...
23 April 2009
The Reader is a complex film in many ways. Films of this genre often find it formidable to capture the essence of the story, characters and events in a manner that stay with you much after you’ve watched them. It is no surprise really that sensitive stories are hard to tell and sell. And it doesn’t help the case of The Reader, since the events it attempts to chronicle raise more...
27 February 2009
Paris Je t’aime is not your run-of-the-mill movie; it is more of a film version of a short stories book. And that’s perhaps the most alluring aspect of this film – watching not just one, but eighteen short brilliant vignettes from some of the most revered directors of the modern times – Gurinder Chadha, Coen brothers, Alfonso Cuaron, Gus Van Sant, Gerard Depardieu, Alexander Payne, to name a few...
28 January 2009
If there’s something to be loved or admired about Woody Allen - and I speak with respect to the film under discussion - his ability to make a tale sensible, inspiring, sexy, passionate - all at the same time, would arguably rank as the first, followed closely by his flair for infusing intellect, intelligence and conviction in a seemingly inane (or even sexual) subject matter. Of course, most of...
16 January 2009
As we move towards a more liberal society and towards modernization, we question established opinions, ideologies and beliefs on various subjects like the role of men and women in the society, the boundaries that interpersonal relationships must adhere to (especially between relatives and lovers), sexuality and love, distinction between the professional and personal, and the likes. As...
07 January 2009
We all know about Guillermo Del Toro’s obsession with the supernatural, surreal and fantastic – Perhaps many of us have watched the majestic Pan’s Labyrinth, or the Hellboy series, both generously suffused with special effects – an approach that has become his signature. However, this time around, he’s donned the producer’s hat, and put his old friend Juan Antonio Bayona in the director’s chair....
02 January 2009
According to the many estimates, there are about 7 million slum-dwellers in the city of Mumbai, of which a sizable chunk is formed by homeless children. Struggling to survive, these children resort to any sort of work – working in tea-shops, soliciting, drug-peddling or even stealing – and become a ubiquitous, but inconspicuous part of the underbelly of the so-called city of dreams. Coming to the...
23 December 2008
Warning: Major spoilers in this film review
When Forrest Gump innocently said, “Life is a box of chocolates, you never know which one you’re going to get”, he wasn’t aware of the depth of his own words, but in a way he was summing up life in a very apt fashion. As envious but ignorant human beings, we often wish for shares of others who seem to be getting all the sweeter ones, but little do we...
09 December 2008
If you’re an Indian, there are few revelations in The White Tiger that come as a surprise to you – remnants of a feudal system, the corruption, the politics, the desperation of the poor, life in a big city, et al. But it’s not in these small details that we find a story worthy of, let’s say the Booker Prize. The evolution of human nature, the psychological metamorphosis of an individual, the...
01 December 2008
In an age of instant gratification, watching film adaptations has become a more convenient alternative to reading books. However, most of such “adaptations” are so poorly scripted or executed, that they kill any chances for one to appreciate the original work even if it’s a real piece of art. However, there is a class of films such as The Godfather, To kill a mocking bird, A clockwork orange – to...
09 November 2008
Nada+ is “Cuba’s answer to Amelie”, commented Miami Herald, and that’s the best way to sum up the movie from a review point of view. So what’s common between Amelie and Nada+ – they are both stories about girls on a mission to straighten up people’s lives when their own lives are a bit chaotic. But to think of Nada+ as a replica of Amelie would be a mistake. Every film has its own soul, even...
25 October 2008
Warning: Major spoilers ahead. Read at your own discretion
There are some films that perhaps may not be of much value in terms of contribution to the evolution of cinema, but they are simply great because they make the writing on the wall more prominent than ever before. A Wednesday is one such thought provoking film that is bound to make the common man think – to purge ourselves of the habits of...
16 October 2008
“To reconstitute political life in a state presupposes a good man, where to have recourse to violence in order to make oneself prince in a republic supposes a bad man. Hence very rarely will there be found a good man ready to use bad methods in order to make himself prince, though with a good end in view. Nor will any reasonable man blame him for taking any action, however extraordinary, which...
27 September 2008
Home is where the heart is. But what if you don’t know where your heart is? Or what if the heart falls in love with a new place – Does it become home then? Caroline Link’s Nowhere in Africa is a journey of hearts as they first struggle to get over their homes, and later, fall in love with their adopted home - an alien country of semi-clad men and women, mystifying customs, different languages...
04 September 2008
To the uninitiated it must be impressed upon that Michel Gondry is obsessed with that intricate maze of thoughts and illusions that resides within the layer of subconscious or the unexplored part of the human psyche. His own mind is capable of concocting the most unimaginable tales, and presenting them in a potpourri of images where the real cannot be distinguished from the surreal. And honestly...
26 August 2008
Jazz can be described in many ways – a JAZZY musical extravaganza with sterling performances and mellifluous music, a musical paean to the unsung musicians in Bollywood who work behind the scenes to compose some of the most memorable songs, or simply, a musical journey of an old man taking a trip down the memory lane. Whatever the description may go like, it will certainly appeal to the...
23 August 2008
Unlike filmmakers, writers often cannot reproduce the brilliance they exhibit in their masterpieces that give them a demigod-like stature in the literary world. A perfect case in point would be J.D Salinger, who went though an unenviable phase after his most famous creation became a worldwide phenomenon. After a book as revolutionary as Catcher in the rye , he probably tried too hard with his...
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