Game of Thrones, Season 7

The Hindu on Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s background scores

LINK

“What these instances have in common with similar scenes from other Mukherjee films is that they are all accompanied by the same background score—a beautiful strain that is poignant but never plaintive, and appears to hold within its cadences conflict and resolution, and a measure of that priceless stoicism that the denizens of Mukherjee’s cinematic universe had in spades. The 1970s represented the most prolific phase of his career, and Mukherjee had acquired an arsenal of signature riffs that provided his films with a unique soundscape.”

Salim’s Viewing! (updated)

Wives and Daughters (Novel)
This is the first Elizabeth Gaskell novel I’ve read and I loved it. Some really complex characters that she explores beautifully, but combined with great wit. Looking forward to checking out the TV adaptations and more of Gaskell’s work.

Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya
Alia and Varun lift this rom-com and make it moderately fun to watch.

An Jo on Sarkar 3

Spoilers ahead…
That Ramu is in love with Amitabh’s angry young man portrayals is hardly debatable. What is debatable, however, is whether this love with a man’s cinematic history is able to take the artist-muse-dynamic a notch higher; at least with Ramu.

Naveen on Baahubali 2

Baahubali is the greatest Hindu Epic on screen!!!

Very rarely you see religious symbols being used so effectively to build characters and connect with the audience. While Baahubali showed love for Shiva, Shivling….Baahibali 2 extends it to Ganesh and Krishna apart from several other Hindu Symbols which appeals to the viewers in a Huge Huge way. The main reason for me sticking this out is the effect it has on audience when shown with the compelling story line and grandeur sets.

Salim on Kaatru Veliyidai

Going to see a new Mani Rathnam movie, one feels unusually assured that they will be treated to a few hours of high-quality cinema. Given that we no longer live in the 1950s when Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt led a pack of highly esteemed film-makers regularly delivering decent cinema even in their weakest creations, Mani Sir stands relatively alone. Kaatru Veliyidai however is not easy viewing and both the characters as well as the world in which they lived are worlds apart from the director’s last offering, the delightful OK Kanmani. Staple Rathnam features such as Rahman in top-form and gasp-inducing cinematography by Ravi Varman however never let us forget that we are in the hands of a master who is able to optimally use these aspects of cinema regardless of the genre.

Scattered thoughts on Kaatru Veliyidai..

[this will sound like a perverse joke but what follows actually originated as a set of thoughts on twitter..!]

Kaatru Veliyidai affirms once more what ought to be beyond debate by now. There isn’t anyone quite like Mani Ratnam in Indian commercial cinema even after all these years. I am not doing a review of any sort here, just offering scattered thoughts. Ratnam as a craftsman is still at the height of his powers. Barring Raavan(an) this might be his best film in that formalist sense in at least fifteen years or so. In some of the film’s best montages he even exhibits a kind of Kurosawa-like spontaneity, which is to say a whole series of dazzling shots ranging across different registers. Visually this film is a feast (though I wish Ratnam would not use FX even to the limited extent he does, much as in Raavan it shows and in a work of such stylistic finesse it jumps out even more). This includes of course his song videos. The Tango (also my favorite track on the album) is quite simply one of his masterpieces.