THE STORYTELLER

  By Avik Basak     When a regular movie-goer in India goes to the movie theatre, they expect a combination of substance and entertainment so that they can escape from the harsh reality they have to face each and every day. However, often comes along a film (Nowadays, that often is coming quite thick and fast) that instead of providing an escape route from reality, introduces the viewer to it. A reality that has been tactfully hidden from him or her by way of a political narrative. Sudipto Sen’s Bastar: The Naxal Story falls into this second category.   If you are expecting a commercial potboiler that is based against the backdrop of one of the biggest Naxal attacks in the history of our nation, then you might want to tweak your expectations a little bit. Because this film doesn’t merely take inspiration from this black day that took place in 2010 but it brings the entire event back to life and throws it at your face in a blunt, no-nonsense way. In the process,...

  By Avik Basak “Drama or nothing, we Indians are like that only,” Shakuntala Devi tells this to her Spanish associate to explain her eccentric personality. This statement is also a perfect clue to the audiences as to what to expect from this film. A biopic whose brilliance gets somewhat dampened by the overdose of melodrama. Maybe that is the way the genius mathematician’s life is supposed to be captured on the celluloid due to her own flair for drama but even with that condition in consideration, the film manages to exceed it by a fair notch. Based on the life of math genius Shakuntala Devi who was nicknamed “the human computer”, the film tells the story of Shakuntala, a little girl in the 1930’s Bangalore who is bestowed with genius-level intellect in maths and how she, without any formal education whatsoever, becomes the legendary mathematician we know. The events in Devi’s life and her journey have been interestingly woven in a narrative that keeps us invested until the end...

By Avik Basak I have always heard from the elders in my life how in the year 1992, ticket demands for Amitabh Bachchan’s then supposedly the last film Khuda Gawah skyrocketed due to the die-hard fans’ dire wish to bid their favourite superstar a grand farewell. Although perhaps not on the same level, more so due to COVID-19 forcing theatre owners to shut shop and wait, but Sushant Singh Rajput’s final film, Dil Bechara enjoyed a similar hype. The only difference, perhaps the most crucial one emotionally, is that Mr Bachchan made a comeback in 1997 with Mrityudata but we will not see this talented young actor, who announced himself in Bollywood through a rocking performance in Kai Po Che! , gracing the silver screen ever again with a fresh outing. Stakes for the film were high especially since the actor’s sad demise hit the entire nation with a thunderstorm with people from every nook and corner of the country demanding justice for him and calling for a war against nepotism. ...