This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on January 14, 2014. Dadasaheb Phalke’s 1919 film Kaliya Mardan (“The Vanquishing of Kaliya”) was, like his previous film featuring the god Krishna, Shri Krishna Janma (“The Birth of Krishna”), by all accounts a smashing success. It’s a perfect example of Phalke’s use of cinema to support…
Leave a CommentTotally Filmi Posts
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on July 21, 2014. Good, Bad, and Ugly has a running time of about an hour and forty-five minutes. I think it’s important for me to mention that, because it took me about an hour of that (a spot well past the interval break)…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on August 1, 2014. On the busy day of a celebratory function in an apartment building, nine people end up stuck in the building’s elevator. All of them are, in some way, connected with a mysterious woman (Meghna Raj), who ends up dead…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on August 25, 2014 There was a moment, sitting in the theatre watching Mardaani, when I knew that I was going to be swimming upstream against opinion in my view of the film. I’ve walked out of precisely one film in my long film-watching…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on September 27, 2014. Ever wonder how to be popular with the ladies, and win over the girl of your dreams? Wonder no more. Kader Khan comes to your aid. Essentially, it boils down to three key items. Three things you must, must,…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on March 8, 2015. One of the things I love about my fascination with Indian movies is how I am constantly learning, constantly surprised by where they take me. The day the Russians in Film blogathon was announced I happened to be watching…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on November 9, 2015. In this wonderful and delightful version of Aladdin, a shaitani (demonic) magician, Hikmat (S. N. Tripathi), calls up a Light Vampire in order to discover the secret to fulfilling his dearest wish, i.e., being Emperor! Of! The! World! The Light Vampire…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on May 16, 2015. This post is part of the My Favorite Classic Movie Blogathon in celebration of National Classic Movie Day (May 16th). Click here to view the schedule listing all the great posts in this blogathon. There is a moment in Kamal’s 2013 film Celluloid when the noted film…
Leave a Comment
This post first appeared on Totally Filmi on June 10, 2015. I had a feeling watching the trailer for Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal (Swordfishes of Big Tides) that it would be my cup of tea. Starting with the cinematography by Abinandhan Ramanujam – I fell in love with his work in Lijo Jose…
Leave a Comment