NEW WORK: For
@newlinesmag
, reported and wrote
on the current landscape of Hindi cinema and how a portion has been in active compliance with the government, leaving the rest to work in a culture of self-censorship. No better day than 15th August to share
BAWAAL is what happens when the filmmaker's research for a world war film only comprised listening to that one podcast where the host asked: “Hitler was evil, but who isn’t?”
Will never forget that DIL TO PAGAL HAI was the first film my parents took me to watch in theatres and somehow my father thought it was an acceptable idea to convince a 5-year-old that Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit were siblings to justify their playful intimacy
Sandeep Reddy Vanga's ANIMAL is sewage (i am assuming he was aiming for savage). It is all kinds of bad but at this point i am convinced he is enjoying the calling out.
Spent last week rewatching Varun Dhawan's films and making note of his portrayals. Dhawan has forever inhabited the role of a conservative, entitled man. Except, he is learning to unlearn. For my column
#SheSaidSheSaid
wrote on his malleable masculinity
Sriram Raghavan refusing to give Varun Dhawan Badlapur’s script and retorting with “if you get the script what will you do, you think you’ll be better?” is everything I expected from him
NEW WORK: Profiled my fav composer Sneha Khanwalkar for
@TheFederal_News
. I have been wanting to talk to her for a long, long time. Remember going to watch Dibakar Banerjee's Love Sex and Dhoka in 2010 and coming back haunted by the score.
no one worse than that early 30s guy who founded a start-up, has a tricolour flag on his Twitter bio and spends all his time defending India like the only two films he ever watched in his life are lagaan and gadar
I loved a lot of things in Merry Christmas but this moment refuses to leave my mind mostly bcs how dense the ambiguity is. Is she kissing him as an apology or to distract? We can have our theories (I know I do)
Also I’ll say this: there’s a scene in the film where SRK stands hands-tied while Deepika fights the goons. His face glows with admiration, like he knows he’s in safe hands. The moment approximates the reason behind his stardom: a rare male actor unthreatened by female colleagues
New work: Spent the entirety of Jan, reading up on the history of Bangladesh and marvelling at its music. For
@newlinesmag
I had the most fulfilling time writing about the uniqueness of Coke Studio Bangla, the Bangladeshi edition of the music franchise.
NEW WORK: For
@frontline_india
I wrote an essay on the actor of the decade: Alia Bhatt. Delved deep into career and argued that her contribution to the way roles are being written for women of late is immense.
NEW WORK: For
@IDAorg
I wrote a long form piece on Vinay Shukla's While We Watched and other Indian documentaries which have won big at International film festivals but are receiving no distribution offers back at home.
On this note, find yourself editors who not just give you a free rein to write 1300 words on your one true love but even find ways to sustain it.
@swethar__
@nadsatspeak
designed this insane creative and gifted me my new phone wallpaper ♥️
You can like or dislike Luv Ranjan’s films but how can you defend his misogyny with the absurd logic that the one time he didn’t depict women as absolute trash, the film didn’t work so now the onus is on us to suffer his stilted growth as a filmmaker
finally got around to writing about Gehraiyaan, a film i liked a lot. say what you will but Shakun Batra's recent outing alters the discourse around infidelity by treating it as a moral issue and not ethical failing.
some professional update: my short, year-long stint at News9 has come to an end. After months of contemplating, I have decided to start freelancing and not work full-time anymore. That I quit without a plan is the most adult thing I have done.
Earlier this year I had this crazy, and a little nutty, opportunity to speak to Wim Wenders. It’s all a blur now but I remember him being v kind even when I overshot my time. We spoke about his new film, PERFECT DAYS streaming on
@mubiindia
Nishtha Jain’s terrific Farming The Revolution, documenting the 2020-2021 farmers’ protest, premiered at the ongoing Hot Docs recently and won the top prize-Best International Feature Documentary Award. For
@IDAorg
i spoke with the filmmaker
NEW WORK: for
@newlinesmag
I wrote on on the stupendous work that is currently being done in Bangladesh. A young crop of filmmakers are telling rooted stories, evoking interest about Bangladeshi cinema in the global scale and bringing home awards.
2022 has been a conflicting, comforting year. Changed jobs and then plunged into the uncertain world of freelancing. Wrote some pieces in the year that I am happy with despite the soul-sucking process that is writing. A thread:
Last month my parents and I tested positive for Covid-19. What followed was a difficult, exacting month. For
@ieopinion
I wrote on caregiving and why it is a heartbreaking prospect irrespective of the result.
When i started the She Said She Said podcast, my sole objective was to have an accessible platform for female writers to talk about films and themselves. For the last seven months i approached colleagues who gladly agreed spending their time and energy talking to me.
VERY excited to have started a fortnightly podcast
#SheSaidSheSaid
where i will talk to female writers about films, shows and everything pop culture. For the first ep, i chatted with
@PouloCruelo
about Mai and had a ball
You can listen to it here:
What makes the scene for me is Sethupathi’s eyes and the way his character crumbles every so lightly after being kissed. Like he can exhale after holding his breath for too long
Watching hindi shows every week deadens your senses. They look and feel the same. Which is why I am really glad something like BARZAKH exists. It might not be perfect but it's ambition is something else. Enjoyed writing this for
@TheFederal_News
Asim Abbasi’s Churails is a rare series that does not view patriarchy as a problem. Instead, it acknowledges it as a reality, one that we have to live with. Here retribution is futile and resistance is the way forward. Wrote on it.
I write on films, music, books and relationships. Did I say personal essays?? Please do consider commissioning me work. My DMs are open and my mail id is- isengupta1
@gmail
.com. TIA!
happy to report I will be reviewing Hindi films and shows for
@ottplayapp
(and reuniting with my all-round fav editor
@nadsatspeak
)
First up wrote on Zakir Khan’s new comedy special Tathastu. It has been a while but I haven’t recovered still. What a set.
Enjoyed Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani a hell lot. Ranveer Singh is a riot (show me another Hindi film actor who does the Delhi-boy nonchalance better than him) but was mostly moved by Karan Johar’s willingness to look back so that he can truly look ahead
my favourite literary trope is two young people deeply in love and unable to convey it to each other and even if they do, they are unable to be together
i was not a fan growing up. back then it was difficult to see what SRK stood for given all actors spoke in a homogenous politically correct way. I admire him now for continuing to stand up for who he is even when the idea of politics has changed, leaving no space for correctness
Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun is all kinds of sublime and tragic. I watched it twice and rarely has a film refused to make sense and then opened itself up in such quick succession. It is streaming on
@mubiindia
. Reviewed it for
@TheFederal_in
Growing up, I have always seen Baba, sometimes tangibly, often endearingly, struggling to articulate words that needed to be whispered rather than screamed.
For Father's Day, wrote on my (al)most favourite person, and on his this struggle.
Stop everything and watch Lukas Dhont's heartbreak-shaped CLOSE, streaming currently on
@mubiindia
. Even the trailer breaks me. Had written about the film earlier this year
Your politics or worldview cannot depend on commerce (I mean they can but shouldn’t). That’s like saying I tried being a decent person, it didn’t deem favourable results so now I am a jerk.