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Reviews

Non reviews from non-critics!

Ep 109- Madhumati

Welcome to Episode 109 of Khandaan: A Bollywood Podcast where we continue our limited edition Other Khans series with the legendary Dilip Kumar. Born Yusuf Khan in Peshawar in present day Pakistan, Dilip Sahib is an icon for audiences and… Read More »Ep 109- Madhumati

Ep 104- Radhe

  Episode 104 of Khandaan: A Bollywood Podcast marks a brief return to the world of current releases with Salman Khan’s Eid release RADHE. This incoherent mishmash of Bhai’s most wanted movies (you define “wanted”) brought up a lot of… Read More »Ep 104- Radhe

Ep 1- Binging Bridgerton

BINGING BRIDGERTON is a deep dive into the eight episodes of the eponymous series on Netflix. Hosts Beth Watkins and Amrita Rajan discuss the events of the first episode, investigate the term “historical romance”, and question what sets this series… Read More »Ep 1- Binging Bridgerton

EP 80- Trimurti

Khandaan: A Bollywood Podcast is not superstitious, but if ever there was a cursed project, it would have to be 1995’s Shahrukh Khan starrer TRIMURTI. A Mukta Arts production directed by Mukul Anand, this movie should have been a slamdunk.… Read More »EP 80- Trimurti

Ep 74- Dil Chahta Hai

Khandaan: A Bollywood Podcast has taken its time, but we’ve finally arrived at the film that forever changed the Hindi film industry: 2001’s DIL CHAHTA HAI. Farhan Akhtar’s debut feature had a glitzy starcast: Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye… Read More »Ep 74- Dil Chahta Hai

Ep 69- Chak De! India

Episode 69 of Khandaan: A Bollywood Podcast brings you everyone’s favorite (or is it?) Bollywood sports movie: 2007’s CHAKE DE! INDIA. Directed by Shimit Amin, a less than prolific director of tremendous talent, this underdog Shahrukh Khan starrer surprised everyone… Read More »Ep 69- Chak De! India

Ep 67: Dabangg

Khandaan: A Bollywood Podcast is back for Episode 67 with Salman Khan’s DABANGG! Directed by Abhinav Kashyap, this 2010 movie co-starred Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Sonu Sood, Arbaaz Khan and introduced Sonakshi Sinha. For various unfortunate reasons, however, this movie… Read More »Ep 67: Dabangg

Bridge: review

The debut feature from Amit Ranjan Biswas, Bridge, draws together a lot of big questions, into a relatively small setting. In summary, a simple story; two strangers, both at the end of their tether, encounter each other on a bridge… Read More »Bridge: review

Newton Review LIFF 2017

In director Amit Masurkar’s second feature, we land into the ever so old tussle between idealism and reality. Set in the backdrop of the world’s largest democratic election in India, with an extremely volatile political air, we see our protagonist… Read More »Newton Review LIFF 2017

Mirzya Review Upodcast

Our best episodes are the ones where we see things completely differently. Rakesh Omprakash Mehra’s adaptation of the Mirza Sahiban folktale is one such movie. Mirzya stars Harshvardhan Kapoor, Saiyami Kher (Check out our interview with her by clicking here),… Read More »Mirzya Review Upodcast

Nirbashito Review LIFF 2015

Debutante director and lead actress Churni Ganguly’s semi-biographical take on controversial writer Taslima Nasrin is absolutely soul stirring. In Nirbashito (Banished), even though the protagonist has no name, and is always referred to as Lady, or Madam, the resemblance to… Read More »Nirbashito Review LIFF 2015

Ant Man Review

AntMan oh AntMan! Upodcasting has been looking forward to this one for so long now that the sense of anticlimax was a real and present danger.  It proved to be unfounded in the final analysis but the possible overexposure through… Read More »Ant Man Review

San Andreas: review

San Andreas is the new film starring Dwayne Johnson and imagines what would happen if the biggest earthquake ever recorded struck in California, devastating Los Angeles, before travelling along the San Andreas faultline to wreak destruction on San Francisco.  It… Read More »San Andreas: review

Black Sea: review

Warning, review contains mild spoilers Black Sea, is the latest from director Kevin MacDonald (Last King of Scotland). It features Jude Law (Sleuth, Dom Hemmingway) as    submarine captain Robinson, on the hunt for a submarine, lost somewhere in the… Read More »Black Sea: review

About Time: Review

About Time is the latest film from British director Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Notting Hill, Four Weddings). A great cast of Brits, plus of course Rachel McAdams and Margot Robbie (Neighbours and the ill-fated/rubbish Pan-Am). With the exception of those… Read More »About Time: Review

Madras Cafe Review

Director Shoojit Sircar’s latest – Madras Cafe, sees him teaming up again with actor/producer John Abraham after the successful Vicky Donor to bring a different story to life. This time, John takes matters in his own hands, as he takes centre-stage as the… Read More »Madras Cafe Review

The Heat

  The Heat is the latest movie from Paul Feig, director of the acclaimed and universally adored Bridesmaids. Starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy (also in Bridesmaids), The Heat is about an over-dedicated FBI agent teaming up with a no-nonsense… Read More »The Heat

Hangover 3 Review

The marketing collateral and trailers for the The Hangover III all promised that this final chapter would be “…the epic conclusion to an incomparable odyssey of mayhem and bad decisions…”  As adverts always say the truth my expectations were set… Read More »Hangover 3 Review

Beat Girl Review

Releasing this week is the movie adaptation of Beat Girl a novel by Jasmine Kallay, about young Heather Jennings (played by Louise Dylan known to some form BBC’s Jane Austin’s Emma) who after the passing of her mother has to move… Read More »Beat Girl Review

Psycho versus Psycho

…or Psycho x 5 as was last week’s reality, at the Leicester Square theatre; screened with www.cigaretteburnscinema.com.  Let me start with a brief description of the concept: 1 main screen showing Alfred Hitchcock’s original and 5 smaller screens showing the… Read More »Psycho versus Psycho

Remnants Review

Here is a review from our guest blogger Miss FooFantastic from FrightFest in London, she’ll be posting a couple of reviews here, so if you are a horror fan, keep your eye out for them. A movie such as Remnants… Read More »Remnants Review

Kuroneko

As July draws to a close, so does the small-scale marathon I’ve undertaken at the British Film Institute this month. I’ve already written about a classic Japanese horror, Onibaba but last week I had the fortune to watch Kuroneko, another Japanese… Read More »Kuroneko

Onibaba

Onibaba On a strong recommendation from a friend, I signed-up to watch this 1964 black and white Japanese movie. I didn’t know the director, the actors or the plot so this was the movie equivalent of a blind tasting. It’s… Read More »Onibaba

Some Like It Hot

Some Like it Hot.  Although in Britain this “summer” we seem to like it mild and a bit damp. A members exclusive screening at the BFI seems like the perfect kick-off to a month of intense viewing on London’s Southbank.… Read More »Some Like It Hot

Lego The Movie

Some interesting news greeted my inbox today and I’m not at all sure of where I stand on this one. In fact, even thinking of standing on Lego brings back painful childhood memories – especially when you step right on… Read More »Lego The Movie

The Artist

The Artist is the latest film from director Michel Hazanavicius.  Re-uniting Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo (also from Hazanavicius’ hilarious OSS117: Cairo, nest of spies) the Artist tells the story of the fall of a silent movie star, George Valentin… Read More »The Artist

Review Bodyguard

It’s Eid, a day of rejoicing after a pious month of fasting and introspection. And how do us Hindi Film fans celebrate? We go out to the movies of course! Since the past few years Eid has become synonymous with… Read More »Review Bodyguard

Review Aarakshan (Reservation)

After the unexpected box office success of last year’s Raajneeti, a political drama with a huge star cast taking influences from Indian Mythology and the Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather, director and auteur Prakash Jha is back with his intense brand of cinema with Aarakshan (Reservation) starring Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Manoj Bajpai and Deepika Padukone. This time he tackles the issue of reservation, the practice of setting jobs and positions aside for certain social classes who were left behind as a remnant of the old Indian Caste based society, a bit like affirmative action but not entirely. So is Prakash Jha able to entertain and educate us? Does the chemistry of Deepika and Saif Ali Khan work wonders again after Love Aaj Kal? Check out our review after the jump!Read More »Review Aarakshan (Reservation)

Review Kaakha Kaakha (and what should be fixed for its Hindi remake “Force”)

So this 2003 cop drama starring Surya, Jyotika and directed by Gautham Menon was available on Youtube (probably temporarily so check it out!) on some extremely shady channel but with some funtastic “paagal” subtitles. Having lamented the fact that there is no proper distribution system set up for South Indian movies, making it impossible to be completely up to date with new releases. I take any chance I get to catch up with this flamboyant film genre. Releasing in September in a Hindi remake directed by Nishikanth Kamat starring John Abraham and Genelia. We analyzed the trailer in an earlier post, but now check out our review of the original after the jump!Read More »Review Kaakha Kaakha (and what should be fixed for its Hindi remake “Force”)

Ready Review

  The promos have been playing night and day. The pocket pointy dance has become a fad. The public has been waiting for a time pass masala entertainer since January. Salman Khan is riding high after Dabanng and Wanted. Aneez… Read More »Ready Review

The Third Man

Continuing my theme of “old black and white films, good, new colour films, bad”, I hope the following proves inspirational enough that more people watch what has been voted the “best British film of the 20th century” by the British… Read More »The Third Man

Review: Due Date

Director Todd Philips follow-up to the unbelievably successful Hangover is a re-imagining of the Steve Martin– John Candy classic: Planes, Trains and Automobiles. But this time it’s Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galafanakis taking the main leads. Due Date is… Read More »Review: Due Date

Filmblog Review: Devil

From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan, Devil is the first part of “the Night Chronicles” , a trilogy of urban scary movies. The premise is simple. Five strangers get trapped in a high-rise elevator, one of them might be the Devil and he is killing them one by one whilst a cop tries to solve the riddle before everyone is killed in front of their eyes.  Check out our review after the jump!Read More »Filmblog Review: Devil

Frightfest 2010

For those unfamiliar souls, Frightfest is basically as it says on the tin – a festival of fright and now the leading horror and fantasy film festival in the UK if not Europe. The Film4 organised and sponsored Frightfest was… Read More »Frightfest 2010