Pronoti Datta
Mumbai Boss
Mistress America
2015 · Nov 2015
Noah Baumbach returns to his favourite topic, American hipsters, in this funny, touching movie. Greta Gerwig shines as Brooke, a flaky yet warm-hearted thirty-year-old New Yorker who does several jobs but is too unfocused to stick to one profession. She describes herself perfectly when she tells her soon-to-be stepsister Tracy that some days she finds herself spending hours before the TV and internet and falling in love with everything. Tracy is a precociously smart 18-year-old freshman attempting to fit in at college in New York and not quite succeeding. She sees through Brooke's big talk and lofty ambitions. But that only makes her fonder of Brooke, who despite her pretentions possesses an infectious joie de vivre. The movie's succeeds thanks to these two complex, lovable characters as well the fantastic supporting cast of strongly-etched minor players.
When Hari Got Married
2013 · Mumbai Boss · Oct 2014
Among the most heartening parts of When Hari Got Married are the bits that show Hari's family's changing attitudes towards women. While they're not exactly progressive – Hari would have liked his first child to be a boy instead of a girl – they're getting there. This is most evident in Hari's loving relationship with Suman. In a touching moment, he tells Suman that he wants no dowry; he just wants her.
Finding Fanny
2014 · Mumbai Boss · Sep 2014
'Finding Fanny' Has Every Road Movie Cliche In The Trunk...Apart from Kapadia, and the competent Kapur, there's little to recommend in this bumpy ride of a film.
Katiyabaaz
2014 · Mumbai Boss · Aug 2014
Shot like a feature by filmmakers Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar, Katiyabaaz is a fine documentary. However, there are moments in which the film's cinematic quality works against it.
The World Before Her
2014 · Mumbai Boss · Jun 2014
The World Before Her also offers a rare window into the goings-on of the Durga Vahini. While the propaganda and physical training that take place in the widespread Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakhas are well documented, there's little in the popular domain on the Durga Vahini. It's unnerving to see the camp churn out rabid young girls who, while endearing as sprightly adolescents usually are, induce mild panic over the future of this country. Hopefully this is an aspect of the Hindu right that will be contained within a few camps during the reign of the BJP-dominated National Democratic Alliance.
Gulabi Gang
2014 · Mumbai Boss · Feb 2014
Jain largely focuses on the case of a teenaged woman whose in-laws and husband claim set herself on fire. But Pal, certain that the husband killed her, decides to poke around...Also, not all the women of the Gulabi Gang share Pal's emancipatory ideals. It's these contradictions that make the gang a fascinating, many layered phenomenon, one that a Bollywood movie would no doubt iron out into a flat piece of fiction.
Om-Dar-Ba-Dar
2014 · Mumbai Boss · Jan 2014
Kamal Swaroop's Om Dar-Ba-Dar was ready for release in 1988 but never made it to the cinemas. Over the last 26 years, it has been shown at festivals across the world and become a cult classic for being the antithesis of Indian cinema. The absence of a narrative, surreal montages, bizarre dialogue and a jarring soundtrack make Kamal Swaroop's Om Dar-Ba-Dar seem like the two-hour long hallucination of a drug-addled mind. But the chaotic jumble that makes up this film is entirely deliberate.