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Showing posts from May, 2013

Dibakar Banerjee is the “Star” of Bombay Talkies.

I don’t understand why “Bombay Talkies” is hailed as a celebration of 100 years of Indian cinema when it strictly has short stories by Bollywood directors. How great it would have been to see regional short films with subtitles and truly celebrate the diversity that exists even within Indian Cinema? Perhaps the producers didn’t want to completely risk the film’s commercial potential – an innately “bollywood” trait. Sigh. Having said that, the films do not pay “tribute” to 100 years of Bollywood either, but present the new face of bollywood with a subtle reference to cinema (or its influence) in each story. Take this - Karan Johar’s direction come “out of the closet” – Now that's a first for bollywood and a A-list director. For me Johar’s “Ajeeb Daastan..” and Zoya Akhtar’s “Sheila ki Jawani” are equal as the third best films of the lot; lead closely by Anurag Kashyap’s “Murabba”. While each of these films achieve a standard above the Bollywood  median, it is Dibakar Ba