Filmy Illusions

  PC: IMDB Important Note: This is an edited review of the movie after a second watch. Following the first watch, I had fruitful discussions over many aspects that I clearly missed out on, during first watch of this movie. As an aspiring writer about movies, it felt like it was important that I rework this piece including aspects I felt strongly about later. I rewatched, Zakariya's both the directorial ventures and was indeed amused by how creatively few things could be overlooked by the creator and thus very easily manage the audience to do the same. Zakariya Muhammed became one of those filmmakers I really like, with his first venture Sudani from Nigeria itself, although I overlooked how in the movie,  the director ignored the inherent racism of our people in the quest to create a too good positive narrative.  Halal Love Story is another such beautiful slice-of-life story, which had the potential to be a feel-good yet thought-provoking tale of a group of people from th...

  To all the mothers, fathers (yes, I don’t think parenthood is any genders’ single responsibility) and their children out there, Enola Holmes is a movie, you all must watch. If you need further reasons to substantiate my claim, do read further. “Then why did she abandon you?” is the question used by many to silence Enola Holmes played by Millie Bobby Brown - “Stranger Things” fame who is a delight throughout the movie, seeing her constant conquest to find her mother, Eudoria Holmes. Not just for an American audience, but for a typical Indian society too, an unconventional mother like Eudoria bringing up a girl child like Enola alone, is a recipe for disaster. Goodness forbid if the parents especially mother leaves the child for whatsoever reason except for death, then when fathers will be termed irresponsible, mothers will be termed as everything bad the universe has to offer.   Our idea of parenting is never complete without parents especially mothers being overbearing on ...

  PC@ Pakaoo Watching Dolly Kitty Aur Who Chamakte Sitare was like a reality check on how much, I, as a woman have crossed over almost 30 years and how much life and its experiences have changed my values and perspectives. To put it very simply I was a full-blown Dolly (played by the spectacular Konkona Sen Sharma in the movie), trying to do everything perfect for everyone around her hoping that will bring in the happiness and content she is looking for. Complicated relationships with parents early on which never gets addressed, blatantly wrong social conditionings about norms, body, gender, and almost everything, somehow becomes a fault or limitation of ourselves which our family and partners never cease to exploit amongst many others.   Worst is, you accept it, you abide by it, you change yourselves and do stuff which are against the very moral fabric trapped deep inside yourself. Yet you do it, for appreciation, for love, for validation, and in the hope that someday you rig...

  Off late I have been trying my best to shed my attachments to material tags especially related to religion, caste, and places of origin, but with regards to the food and creative sector, I am proud to be born to my homeland, Kerala. The amount of quality creative artwork that the land produces is beyond comparison, especially in the current scenario. We are all torn between the desire for privacy and the fear of loneliness. We need each other and we need to get away from each other. We need proximity and distance, conversation, and silence. We almost always get more of each than we want at any one time. - Andy Rooney I read this quote while researching online privacy controversies surrounding Facebook started surfacing years back. After watching the Amazon Prime release of the Malayalam movie, C U Soon, this quote came to my mind again. The dichotomy of new-age connectivity can become tricky to an extend that can be mind-numbing.  It's been a year since I wrote a movie revie...

First, let me start by saying that this is not a review of the movie, Dil Bechara. Honestly, I haven’t even written a review since last year, as the hard to reconcile relationship between my heart and body and thus between my life and happiness kept increasing.   I won’t be able to do that also since I could hardly watch the movie properly, in between pausing to look at Sushant and crying and repeat. And most of the dialogues which took a whole meaning after he left us, didn’t help either. But ever since his death and the circus that followed, it was like the already heavy feeling inside my heart almost started to become unbearable. I desperately sought a way to let it out and all I could do was write; so here I am, trying. So why am I so bothered? Who was Sushant for me? Honestly, I was just another normal audience of Sushant, and I was not even a die-hard fan or didn’t even know about him much, until his death. I am a sucker for people who smile beautifully and...