by Madhumati Chowdhury Picture this, you spend your whole life playing this elaborate game of chance and challenges with another person, from the time you were kids to the time when you’re now teenagers inching towards adulthood. It gets to a point where everything one asks of the other can be fulfilled with a simple phrase - “Cap ou Pas Cap?” (Are you game/capable?). There is the possibility of love and realizations, and rejection too but you always know that those three magical words could erase that trajectory or all of these simultaneously. “Love me” you say. “Game” says the other. Do you play? Is the game love or the love game? When you haven’t known anything but games all your life, does reality manage to smack you straight in the face, forcing you to wake up or only to devise a new way to integrate the reality into your games?
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by Harsh Vardhan When it comes to our film industry, we are all aware of the kind of lacklustre 150 minute experience we are generally served with, in the name of cinema. One of the major issues that is deep-rooted within Indian film makers is, I feel, their reliance on superstars for the success of their film. Unlike Hollywood, which is considered to be the biggest film-making industry in the world, directors and scriptwriters in our industry have to take the back seat and let the major superstars decide the fate of the movie. Their face value is purported to be the real value of a film. Seldom do we hear about movies that have done exceptionally well but didn’t have a superstar (male or female) in it. Masaan, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, is a special film considering all the aspects mentioned above. It has been almost a year now since Masaan released, and it's certainly carved its own niche among the audience by now. by Vanya Lochan The concept of bhadralok, as opposed to the chottolok, is of great significance in the social history of colonial Bengal. Bhadralok in Bengali stands for the ‘respectable’, the cultured and educated, i.e., the middle and upper classes, whereas in contrast, the chhotolok make for the “small people” or the poorer, lower classes. Bhadramahila are the women of the bhadralok. The concept of bhadralok played an important role in the 19th century cultural renaissance in Bengal and the social reform movements there. What should be further mentioned is the bifurcation that came into the picture in relation to the social and political spheres, and in that sense, there came up a dichotomy of the world into two domains - ghar and bahir, the home and the world. The dichotomy of ghar and bahir did not, however, imply a clear chasm between what was European and ‘material’ and what was ‘inner’, distinctive and spiritually superior. With the emergence of several reformist movements aimed at undoing various oppressive structures of patriarchy such as Sati and efforts at enabling women to attain liberty by means of providing education and equal opportunities, the dynamics created by the confrontation between this ingrained dichotomy and an attempt at renewal of Bengali social structure resulted in the formation of a new kind of patriarchy - something where attempts to construct a ‘new woman’ who was apparently liberated were being made but at the same time, the innate nature of control over the female sexuality could not be overpowered. Ace film-maker Satyajit Ray’s ‘Charulata’ (The Lonely Wife) (1964) can also be understood in a similar light. by Anuja Pal As an indie buff who is always on the lookout for the best independent films made in the last few years, it was inevitable that I would find my way to the magic that is Frances Ha. A friend had told me once, "Nothing can go wrong when it's Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig together," and I realized the reality of the remark after watching this simplistic comedy-drama. Directed and written by Noah Baumbach, the film follows the (mis)adventures of 27-year-old Frances Halladay, (played by Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script) a free-spirited dancer in Brooklyn who shares an apartment with her best friend, Sophie. by Tarique Ejaz and Luv Mehta Tarique: Captain America: Civil War is the third installment in the Captain America franchise and one of the most awaited superhero-comicbook movie of 2016. So let’s start with the simplest of things. How did you like the movie? Luv: Captain America is my favourite hero from the MCU, essentially being the modern Superman of the movie landscape. I’ve made my love for the first movie known before, and the second movie is the only instalment in the series to feel completely unpredictable. So, with my heightened expectations, I’m happy to say, the answer is yes! by Luv Mehta The Marvel Cinematic Universe has probably been the most successful experiment by a movie studio, ever - we have thirteen movies in a single franchise in the span of 8 years, each part of an epic, interconnected universe with consistent continuity, and each guaranteed to make bank at the box office.
A huge part of that is because nearly every movie feels different and unique from the other, so you never feel like it's falling into a rut, even with some of the standard franchising tropes it keeps using. We can have a swashbuckling rogue defeating terrorists, a bunch of a-holes going on an intergalactic adventure, a heist movie with a shrinking gimmick, and a conspiracy movie where the government isn't all it seems to be. And then there's Captain America: The First Avenger, that seems like the most traditional superhero movie out of the roster, but which, I promise to try and convince you, is the most unconventional - and one of the best. Let's back up a bit. by Luv Mehta Kung Fury is a movie written and directed by David Sandberg, funded via Kickstarter and released for free to the world. Envisioned as an ode to the 80s, it features all the gloriously great, silly, weird, epic and goofy tropes of the era you can think of.
I'm not kidding, you guys, Kung Fury is so 80s. Totally, radically 80s. (Kung Fury will be shown in the Heritage Film Festival on the 27th of April, and that's tomorrow - so come on over!) by Tarique Ejaz and Luv Mehta Tarique: To start off with the discussion, let it be read on record that this will definitely not be a spoiler-free discussion as we go ahead and analyze the entire movie (including the Easter Eggs) and their likely implications in the DCEU.
Luv: Also, because I don’t want to be pestered by Illumianti-conspriracists who believe we might have been bought over by Marvel, none of the MCU films will be referred to. T: Accepted. So let us start the take by discussing about what works for the movie. This is going to be a rather lengthy discussion though. This post is sponsored by the Heritage Quiz Festival, coming up on the 31st of March and lasting for three days, and including a MELA (Music, Entertainment, Literature, Arts) quiz. If you're in Calcutta, do come on over! |
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