After death, there’s outer space

Netflix’s Cargo is a fresh and promising attempt at the less explored sci-fi genre in Hindi cinema The recently released Netflix film Cargo has a unique plot. The story revolves around ‘post-death transition services’. The 113-minute film quenches one’s curiosity about the afterlife, blending myth with science — and takes its audience on a journey […]

Like mother, like daughter

Two reluctant actresses come together to create a Netflix series that is taking audiences by storm Masaba Masaba, as evident from the title — is based on the life of 31-year-old Masaba Gupta. The series has become the talking point in families for its touching portrayal of a modern mother-daughter relationship. The reluctance to make […]

The social dilemma

The curated content on various OTT platforms like Netflix will take decades to watch. The burden of choice is daunting Netflix came out with a documentary—The Social Dilemma—that highlights how various social networking sites manipulate we the human psychologically—are nothing more than merely a ‘products’—to further the business interests of their clients—the advertisers. Or simply, […]

Bollywood will survive

The vilification of the Hindi film industry is misplaced and destructive. Not only do movies earn enormous profit, they employ lakhs of people and give work to ancillary industry. On top of that, they are repositories of our syncretic culture Bollywood is in the doldrums and it is not just due to Covid-19. There is […]

Timely slap

Civic Studios conducted a study that analysed online conversations following the movie’s release and found greatly varying reactions of female social media users to Amrita’s decision in Thappad Anubhav Sinha’s Thappad, a story of patriarchal violence and a woman’s refusal to accept it, released at a time when domestic violence cases all over the world were […]

Duality of life and death

Before Dil Bechara and The Fault in our Stars, Mani Ratnam’s Idhayathai Thirudathey explored death both logically and lyrically The release of Dil Bechara, based on John Green’s 2012 novel The Fault in our Stars has left Indian viewers emotionally moved, primarily because of the unfortunate early demise of its lead actor Sushant Singh Rajput and how it […]

‘Without arts, there is no civilisation…’

Actor Joy Sengupta talks about theatre and his upcoming teleplay Best known for his debut feature, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1998) directed by Govind Nihalani, actor Joy Sengupta has carved a niche for himself as an actor. He has worked with some of the well-established people of Indian theatre such as Habib Tanvir, Safdar Hashmi, […]

Bold not beautiful?

The debate over where there should be censorship of content that is being aired on OTT platforms has gained momentum after an official letter to the PM by the Bihar CM The lockdown has changed things in all ways possible. Among some of the positive changes, the rise of over the top (OTT) platforms is […]