Gulf Times

Columns

Majid Majidi’s Beyond the Clouds floats listlessly…April 25 2018

‘Shakespearwalla’ Vishal Bharadwaj read to tickle…April 18 2018

Salman Khan: Privileged and pampered…April 11 2018

Long  John Silvers sing a new song of piracy…April 4 2018

A fairytale canvas of cliches…March 28 2018

Cannes set for exciting times…March 21 2018

Tamil cinema under the cosh…March 14 2018

Three cheers for Frances!...March 7 2018

Pulsating probables of Cannes…February 28 2018

Neeraj Pandey’s cinema: Does the means justify the end?…February 21 2018

Akshay Kumar  is falling into preaching scripts…February 14 2018

Madhavan sparkles in ongoing web series...February 7 2018

Much ado about a soulless film…January 31 2018

Suriya film classic example of how a remake may be marred…January 24 2018

Cannes Film Festival thinking of radical change this year…January 17 2018

Superstar Rajinikanth walks into politics, at last!…January 10 2018

Top ten foreign films of 2017…January 3 2018

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Five moving Indian movies of the year…December 27 2017

Irrfan Khan falters in Doob with weak Bengali language skills...December 20 2017

Stalking on screen must stop...December 13 2017

Tamil Manusangada deplores how downtrodden are treated…December 6 2017

Tamil actor Karthi shines, at last, in Theeran Adhigaram Ondru…November 29 2017

Controversies galore at film festival in Goa…November 22 2017

Qarib Qarib Single is a weak story with wasted talent…November 15 2017

Tokyo Film Fest offers fascinating variety…November 8 2017

At Tokyo Film Fest, women turn villains…November 1 2017

Tokyo Film Fest opens with Japanese movie…October 25 2017

Blinded by misdemeanours of movie men in a glitzy world...October 18 2017

Anurag Kashyap’s Mukkabaaz hits out at societal injustices…October 11 2017

John and tiger man Pandey to join hands for film on the big cat…October 4 2017

Tokyo Film Fest to honour Hollywood icon Steven Soderbergh…September 27 2017

Cary Grant, an acrobat who became a Hollywood legend…September 20 2017

Venice Fest presents a lovely wide canvas of life, sweet and sad...September 13 2017

George Clooney’s Suburbicon tells us all that is wrong with America…September 6 2017

Miniature men in Downsizing to herald Venice Film Festival...August 30 2017

Bareilly Ki Barfi offers sweetness of a small town…August 23 2017

The Song of Scorpions is both melodious and mysterious…August 16 2017

Indian movies talk of today’s terrible times…August 9 2017

Indu Sarkar, pain and pathos of a woman during Emergency…August 2 2017

Nawazuddin Siddiqui — myriad moods, fascinating faces…July 26 2017

Jagga Jasoos, blend of Tin Tin and Serbian auteur Kusturica...July 19 2017

Critic Barry Norman, beguiling and bold...July 12 2017

A blinkered Academy ignores southern cinema…July 5 2017

Will playing screen Samaritan help Salman Khan?…June 28 2017

Questionable logic for censorship…June 21 2017

Irrfan, still the best of the Khans…June 14 2017

After the viewer, can Rajinikanth woo the voter?…June 7 2017

Cannes troubled by Netflix, terror, jury misses…May 31 2017

A famine of good films at Cannes…May 24 2017

Ishmael’s Ghosts to open Cannes…May 17 2017

Demeaning women, glorifying war…May 10 2017

A cocktail of cops and terror…May 3 2017

Remembering Ray, 25 years on…April 26 2017

The Festival is now radically political, in tune with times…April 19 2017

Mani Ratnam’s Kaatru Veliyidai flies into turbulence…April 12 2017

Anaarkali of Aarah says NO, and it means NO…April 5 2017

Phillauri, the love story of a ghost…March 29 2017

‘Trapped’ in a shoddy script…March 22 2017

Films on Lankan war in stormy seas...March 15 2017

The Censor Board is prudishness personified…March 8 2017

Kangana: That gutsy star...March 1 2017

Santhanam is the new Server Sundaram…February 22 2017

Jolly LLB — Missing Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani...February 15 2017

Tamil cinema must innovate, really it must…February 8 2017

Indian director Bhansali faces mob ire in intolerant times…February 1 2017

Two Indian works at Dhaka Film Festival impress...January 25 2017

A tale of two films — the bad, the good…January 18 2017

Om Puri — A man wronged…January 11 2017

My 10 most favourite foreign films of 2016…January 4 2017

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My 10 favourite Indian films of 2016…December 28 2016

At Dubai Fest, some films tugged at the heart…December 21 2016

At Dubai Festival, The Worthy and Inversion are great watch…December 14 2016

At Dubai Fest, Lumiere show and honours for Rekha, Jackson…December 7 2016

Two films light up Film Bazaar…November 30 2016

Egyptian cinema at Cairo Festival explores society’s ills…November 23 2016

Adoor and Buddhadeb ignored at Goa Festival…November 16 2016

A tantalising buffet of films at Tokyo Fest…November 9 2016

Lipstick as a liberator at Tokyo Film Festival…November 2 2016

A tale of two cities — and two festivals…October 26 2016

Callousness creeping into film criticism...October 19 2016

Love in the time of war…October 12 2016

Runs and romances of Dhoni...October 5 2016

Visaaranai a great pick for Oscars…September 28 2016

Pink batters male arrogance…September 21 2016

Another view from Venice: Of love, war and the Pope…September 14 2016

View from Venice: Not happily-ever-after love stories...September 7 2016

Venice Film Festival promises to be gripping…August 31 2016

A new, crisper Ben-Hur  ’will score with the young’…August 24 2016

Rustom, a real murder story pushed into pretentiousness…August 17 2016

Manoj Bajpayee, the man behind myriad masks…August 10 2016

Indian cinema still a slave to stars...August 3 2016

Rajinikanth must reinvent himself to live on…July 27 2106

Kabali — Will Rajinikanth be an actor all over again?…July 20 2016

In film, in life Sultan Salman is infallible…July 13 2016

Venice Fest to hum La La Land on the opening night...July 6 2016

Too many Tamil films spoil the broth…June 29 2016

If you want entertainment, forget Udta Punjab…June 22 2016

The fall and rise of Udta Punjab...June 15 2016

Once again, Adoor is back with camera and action…June 8 2016

Spain ahoy for Iran’s Asghar Farhadi…June 1 2016

Those magic moments at Cannes...May 25 2016

Cannes comes alive with George Clooney and Ken Loach…May 18 2016

Yet again, a Woody Allen work opens Cannes today...May 11 2016

Manithan, a poor remake of Jolly LLB...May 4 2016

Sarbjit is now a Bollywood hero…April 27 2016

Fan, a novel idea scarred by a sloppy script…April 20 2016

Hills come alive with Irrfan Khan’s No Bed of Roses…April 13 2016

National Awards only for Bollywood and biggies...April 6 2016

After eight years, Adoor Gopalakrishnan set for his next outing...March 30 2016

Cannes entry for Jodie Foster’s Clooney-starrer Money Monster…March 23 2016

Korean gangster film inspires Tamil work…March 16 2016

Bollywood rolls into reality…March 9 2016

Wow! Tamil cinema is getting shorter...March 2 2016

48 Years on death row, a film tells it all...February 24 2016

At Berlin, Clooney loses cool…February 17 2016

Miller to head Cannes jury…February 10 2016

Berlin Festival to roll out with Coens’ Hail Caesar!…February 3 2016

Airlift flies on Akshay’s wings…January 27 2016

Will he finally cut the Oscar?…January 20 2016

Netflix can be a game-changer...January 13 2016

My favourite Indian films of 2015…January 6 2016

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My favourite foreign films of 2015…December 30 2105

Arab cinema gives Dubai Film Festival a sparkle…December 23 2015

At Dubai Fest, Arab cinema and Naseeruddin Shah…December 16 2015

Dubai Film Fest to open with deeply moving Room…December 9 2015

Scintillating scripts at Goa’s Film Bazaar…December 2 2015

Umrika and The Wednesday Child sparkle at Cairo Film Fest…November 25 2015

A clash of titans, Kamal and Ajith…November 18 2015

Taxing around with Thithi at Mumbai Film Festival...November 11 2014

Cinema of social relevance at Tokyo Film Fest…November 4 2015

Two vastly different Indian movies at Tokyo Film Festival…October 28 2015

Ratnam’s work leads Indian run at Tokyo Film Festival…October 21 2015

Manorama, a comedienne par excellence…October 14 2015

A sharp-edged quandary…October 7 2015

China’s Silk Road Film Festival focuses on India…September 30 2015

Island City, a disturbing study of Mumbai…September 23 2105

Two gems from Venice Film Fest…September 16 2105

Venice Fest takes on the clergy and the criminal…September 9 2015

Manoj Shyamalan’s upcoming The Visit may surprise us…September 2 2015

Nandita Das: Breaking barriers…August 26 2015

Venice Film Fest tribute to Orson Welles and Brian de Palma…August 19 2015

Filming water wars…August 12 2015

Come September, three Indian films will roll into Venice…August 5 2015

Man tames mountain for the love of his wife…July 29 2015

Bajrangi Bhaijaan: Is Salman Khan trying to win sympathy?…July 22 2015

Kasaravalli’s Face-To-Face with Adoor…July 15 2015

Kamal Haasan, the master actor, is back in Papanasam…July 8 2015

Parineeti Chopra has the guts to go for the kill…July 1 015

Cinema sells its soul to the BO…June 24 2015

Slums stimulate stories on screen...June 17 2015

Dil Dhadakne Do does not get the heart pounding…June 10 2015

At Cannes, Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock speak through documentaries…June 3 2015

Indian paparazzi at Cannes smitten by Bollywood...May 27 2015

Moody Woody gives Irrational Man to Cannes…May 20 2015

Cannes with many firsts opens today…May 13 2015

Mani Ratnam’s new film lacks courage…May 6 2015

Fig Fruit and the Wasps is pure cinema…April 29 2015

Thierry Fremaux shakes up Cannes…April 22 2015

Beijing Film Fest has impressive line-up…April 15 2015

Snowballing defiance against fettered cinema…April 8 2015

Frames of fiction from fact…April 1 2015

Pirates and censors test Indian cinema…March 25 2015

Catching up with Cannes…March 18 2105

Jeffrey Archer calls Bollywood a thief...March 11 2015

Cinema chained — and unchained…March 4 2015

The Song of Scorpions...February 25 2105

Panahi’s  Taxi drives away with Berlin Bear…February 18 2015

A rare chronicle…February 11 2015

The amazing Cannes…February 4 2015

Maria’s music to come alive at 50…January 28 2015

Mocking movie certification…January 21 2015

Sweet life, sour ending…January 14 2015

Memorable movies of 2014...January 7 2015

***

Memorable movies of 2014…December 31 2014

India out of the Oscars race…December 24 1952

Rajinikanth: Time to become an actor all over again…December 17 2014

Some stimulating cinema at Goa festival…December 10 2014

Goa film festival needs rethink…December 3 2014

Detective Byomkesh Bakshi to come alive on on screen, yet again…November 26 2014

Makhmalbaf’s The President to open Indian film fest…November 19 2014

Ketan Mehta captures Ravi Varma’s passions…November 12 2014

Abu Dhabi Film Fest offers a fine fare...November 5 2014

The multifaceted Irrfan Khan…October 29 2104

Abu Dhabi Film Fest has riveting themes…October 22 2014

Gone With The Wind turns 75…October 14 2014

From Hamlet to Haider…October 8 2014

Rebelling though poetry…October 1 2014

Finally, Goa for Indian film fest!…September 24 2014

Why Priyanka packs a punch as Mary Kom…September 17 2014

India presents ‘realistic silence’ at Venice Festival…September 10 2014

Birdman a big draw…September 3 2014

A Venetian Odyssey for Turkish cinema…August 27 2014

Suhasini’s long journey…August 20 2014

Boy’s ‘Tiger’ look inspires Tamil film…August 13 2014

The sound of silence…August 6 2014

India goes to Venice…July 30 2014

As Time Goes By in Rick’s Cafe…July 23 2014

Two masters and a camera…July 16 2014

The sleuth who slips…July 9 2014

A sham called film censorship…July 2 2014

Tamil cinema dares to be different…June 25 2014

A tale of two cinemas…June 18 2014

Shakespeare shakes Thailand…June 11 2014

More gems from Cannes, and an adieu…June 4 2014

The gems of Cannes…May 28 2014

Cinema and crime keep Cannes Fest on thrilling edge…May 21 2014

Welcome to Cannes…May 14 2014

Of adaptations and remakes…May 7 2014

Ray’s Mahanagar relevant to this day…April 30 2014

Cannes picks India’s Titli…April 23 2014

Tussle over Tenaliraman…April 16 2014

Let’s guess what Cannes will offer…April 9 2014

Rolling into trouble…April 2 2014

Will Von Trier be at it again?…March 26 2014

India’s polls paved with film stars…March 19 2014

Pink brigade: Clash of fact and fiction…March 12 2014

The age of biopics…March 5 2014

Trees and trains act too…February 26 2014

Gunday scares Bengal…February 19 2014

Decline of the documentary…February 12 2014

Will the fairy tale princess charm Cannes?…February 5 2014

Now, heroes fool the law…January 29 2014

The enigmatic Suchitra Sen…January 22 2014

In the Palm of her hand…January 15 2014

Evil of Gabbar lives on…January 8 2014

Sen, from Ray to Rashmoni…January 1 2014

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Revelling in mediocrity…December 25 2013

Hollywood a spoonful of sugar…December 18 2013

Simple Sheen, simpler stories…December 11 2013

Sparky Dubai Fest in offing…December 4 2013

Cannes chief loves Bollywood, defends Devdas ‘mistake‘…November 27 2013

Goa Film Fest promises sumptuous spread…November 20 2013

Running on exaggeration… November 13 2013

To India with love…November 6 2013

Indian autumn at Abu Dhabi Festival…October 30 2013

Costa Gavras’ window to the world…October 23 2013

The shine at  Mumbai Film Fest…October 16 2013

Figuring out the great Ramanujam — on film…October 9 2013

To Oscars on The Good Road…October 2 2013

A Kashmiri Hamlet waits in the wings…September 25 2013

Crowning glory for Kamal…September 18 2013

Middle Eastern moods at Venice…September 11 2013

M for mother, and Judi Dench she is…September 4 2013

Dark waters to flow by Venice…August 28 2013

Playing with the lion’s tail…August 21 2013

A film named idiocy… August 14 2013

Pans and tilts of Kolkata…August 7 2013

Verona to Varanasi…July 31 2013

Four spies and a don…July 24 2013

Teetering on the tracks…July 17 2013

Delectable scoundrels on screen…July 10 2013

The fallen heroes…July 3 2013

A story all too familiar…June 26 2013

Doctor invincible…June 19 2013

No country for documentaries…June 12 2013

The Lunchbox plays Cupid…June 5 2013

Cannes goofs up on India…May 29 2013

Cannes basks in The Past…May 22 2013

Gushing over Cannes...May 17 2013

Mumbai parade at Cannes…May 8 2013

Cannes makes a great choice in Vidya Balan…May 1 2013

The Indian connection…April 24 2013

The villain we loved to hate…April 17 2013

Critic with the soul of a poet…April 10 2013

Kids watch adult movies!…April 3 2013

Cannes opener not to be world premiere…March 27 2013

A Jolly good winner…March 20 2013

Tigmanshu’s tale of treachery...March 13 2013

Hollywood to the fore with Spielberg at Cannes…March 6 2013

The elusive Kamal…February 27 2013

Bigelow’s big expose…February 20 2013

From Midnight’s Children to Special 26…February 13 2013

The man who lost his magic…February 6 2013

Cinema that scares...January 30 2013

The pitch and roll of the Oscars…January 23 2013

Woes of Viswaroopam…January 17 2013

A ferocious cinema…January 9 2013

Love in the time of strife…January 2 2013

***

The Dubai Diaries 2…December 26 2012

It’s a small world…December 19 2012

Dubai Festival celebrates centenary of Indian cinema…December 12 2012

A good spread of Arab cinema-Talaash…December 5 2012

Pitfalls and picnics of Indian cinema…November 28 2012

Irrfan’s incredible journey…November 21 2012

Doha Film Fest’s opening film takes a fresh look at extremism…November 19 2012

A mix of Arab and Indian films at DTFF…November 14 2012

Naxalism rolls out of Prakash Jha’s film…November 7 2012

Abu Dhabi Film Fest gripping…October 31 2012

A dramatic patience…October 24 2012

Child is the father of man…October 17 2012

Abu Dhabi Festival sets stage for global films…October 10 2012

Barfi and the bitter truth of India’s Oscar entries…October 3 2012

A cut-and-paste Heroine…September 26 2012

Woody Allen’s Roman holiday…September 19 2012

Venetian violets…September 12 2012

Wheels of change…September 5 2012

The Golden Lion roars…August 29 2012

Vertigo: The pinnacle of Alfred Hitchcock’s art…August 22 2012

Baffling choice of films at 2012 Osian’s Cinefan…August 15 2012

Cashing in on celluloid artefacts…August 8 2012

Brush with Bollywood’s poster art…August 1 2012

An interesting take on Gandhi’s principles…July 25 2012

India’s first Mr Muscles…July 18 2012

The first Indian superstar…July 11 2012

Highlights from Venice 2012…July 4 2012

A perplexing mix of critical opinions…June 27 2012

The Road to Shanghai…June 20 2012

Gangs of India(II)…June 13 2012

Gangs of India (I)…June 6 2012

The cocktail at Cannes…May 23 2016

Maladies that movies make…May 16 2012

A worthwhile century?…May 9 2012 

Mr Critic, you are not wanted…May 2 2012

The Cannes collections…April 25 2012

Stardom under the scanner…April 18 2012

In the can? …April 11 2012

At the count of 3…April 4 2012

The many masks of Soumitra Chatterjee…March 28 2012

Is this fair?…March 21 2012 

Joy Mukherjee: A suave leading man…March 14 2012

The ways of the media…March 7 2012

Flying off the handle…February 29 2012

The school of hard knocks…February 22 2012

Crime and punishment…February 15 2012

Man behind murder…February 8 2012

The critical difference…February 1 2012

When the stars shine down…January 25 2012

Super Men sing, sway and slam…January 18 2012

A spirit called Smita Patil…January 11 2012

A Separation — ties that bind dilemmas…January 4 2012

***

India needs to learn some film fest lessons…December 29 2011

Truth or dare?…December 21 2011

Tempests in tinsel teacups…December 14 2011

The man who never knew winter…December 7 2011

IFFI all bright and shining this autumn…November 30 2011

Back to the tent…November 23 2011

A twisted view…November 16 2011

Plotting in a palace…November 9 2011

An Arab spring in autumn…November 2 2011

Cinema on the desert…October 26 2011

An anguishing voyage…October 19 2011

A classic revisited…October 12 2011

Season without reason…October 5 2011

What tangled webs they weave…September 28 2011

Scandal, shame and glory at Venice…September 21 2011

A beguiling cocktail of hits and misses…September 14 2011

Behind the greasepaint…September 7 2011

Stormy saga by the sea…August 31 2011

A love story written in blood…August 24 2011

Missing the point…August 17 2011

Taking off on wings of fire…August 10 2011

The news on the Rialto…August 3 2011 

Directors in need of a clear direction…July 27 2011

Naseeruddin Shah at his candid best…July 20 2011

Mani Kaul, the man the world forgot…July 13 2011

Getting the scissors out…July 6 2011

Pregnant pause…June 29 2011

Two different celluloid journeys…June 22 2011

Bengali films adapt to changing tastes…June 15 2011

Labouring over lunch…June 8 2011

Feasting on disinformation…June 1 2011

Different standards for different folks…May 25 2011

A criminal side to Cannes… May 18 2011

India is all over Cannes…May 11 2011

Filming the radical…May 4 2011

Going, going, gone…April 27 2011

Grinning and baring it…April 20 2011

Cannes spells out its charms…April 13 2011

Mani Ratnam’s next epic saga…April 6 2011

Wedded to quality films…March 30 2011

India’s celluloid heritage fades away…March 23 2011

Powerful slices of reality…March 16 2011

The man behind myriad faces…March 9 2011

Scripts make the movie…March 2 2011

Serial killer seductress trips up on her plots…February 23 2011

Censor board should cut out meaningless dogmatism…February 16 2011

Waiting for the PRO…February 9 2011

Not a rewarding experience…February 2 2011

Stories between the clothes lines…January 26 2011

The Black Tulip takes on the Taliban…January 19 2011

A hazy picture…January 12 2011

An actor named Kamal Hassan…January 5 2011

***

Hits and misses of the year…December 29 2010

Fearless tales to the fore…December 22 2010

DIFF spreads out a wide canvas…December 15 2010

Dubai Film Festival aims for diversity…December 8 2010

Too many cooks..Love found in boat wreck…December 1 2010

The travails of an Indian film festival…November 24 2010

The last-minute stumble…November 17 2010

Sen’s unfinished letter…November 10 2010

Mumbai Medley…November 3 2010

The brightest Khan…October 27 2010

The legend of Satyajit Ray haunts Abu Dhabi…October 20 2010

Abu Dhabi trailer…October 13 2010

The puzzle that is Rajnikanth…October 6 2010

The importance of being an Aamir Khan production…September 29 2010

Yellow Boots, but where’s the thrill?…September 22 2010

Films with a view…September 15 2010

Educating Frieda…September 8 2010

Venetian Vista…September 1 2010

Out of focus…August 25 2010

An idea of India…August 18 2010

Crumbling history…August 11 2010

Nothing official about it…August 4 2010

Big brother Bollywood…July 28 2010

Villains of the real kind…July 21 2010

Fact, fiction and a Raj romance…July 14 2010

Slaves to an idea of beauty…July 7 2010

The pen and the pal…June 30 2010

An epic disappointment…June 23 2010

The art of politics…June 16 2010

‘Lion’ stars wound Tamil cinema…June 9 2010

Drifting Kites, sinking hearts…June2 2010

Faltering in the festival circuit…May 26 2010

Repressing cinema…May 19 2010

Documenting India…May 12 2010

Benegal’s cocktail of comic and caustic…May 5 2010

From silver screen to political podium…April 28 2010

Hope soars with ‘Udaan’…April 21 2010

Reel visions of the real…April 14 2010

Piracy bane of film industry…April 7 2010