The Alchemy of Loss Ideas come to us as the successors to griefs, and griefs, at the moment when they change into ideas, lose some of their power to injure our heart — Marcel Proust There is an overwhelming presence of nature in Hamnet—nature in both its raw and pristine glory, certainly, but also the … Continue reading
How Late-Stage Capitalism Killed the Chef in The Menu Do you ever feel guilty about eating food at an expensive five-star hotel or fine dining restaurant? If not, you will after you watch chef Slowik (an intensely terrifying Ralph Fiennes) serve you a five-course meal in The Menu. Celebrity chef Julian Slowik invites a group … Continue reading
Once Upon a Time in Kollywood… & Hollywood (or) Vikram and Top Gun Have More in Common Than Meets the Eye Back in the day, 1986 to be precise, Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) took the world’s collective breath away when he flew his F14A Tomcat. Back home in Madras, Commander Arun Kumar Vikram … Continue reading
How Language Can Make or Break a Film Language (or the absence of it) is a very crucial element for storytelling. During the silent era, masters like Charlie Chaplin communicated with their acting, body language, and screenplay. But once Talkies (movies with dialogues) entered the fray everything changed and there was no looking back. Apart … Continue reading
A Not So Suitable ‘Suitable Boy’ Vikram Seth’s magnum opus novel, A Suitable Boy, opens with a dedication in verse, followed briskly by the contents page, again in a rhyming couplet for each chapter. No such luck with the mini-series of the same novel. It opens with a lame placard: When India became independent in … Continue reading
talking talkies 