A chat with designer Narendra Kumar as he shifts focus from the ramp to films.

SHILPI MADAN
He is the latest designer to leap onto the Bollywood bandwagon. Former fashion editor of Elle and the current toast of the Indian and international fashion circuit, the slick, hat-sporting Narendra Kumar Ahmed has begun weaving his magic on filmi […]

Understanding the twists and turns of lovers’ lives as seen in films requires patience and a sense of humour.

Moving experience: Vivein Leigh in “Waterloo Bridge”.
ASHOKAMITRAN
All novelists resort to certain objective things to take forward their fiction and V.S. Naipaul uses Hollywood movies as points of reference. “Waterloo Bridge” occurs in In a Free Country, published […]

Anuj Kumar
He has lost it. Yes, the maverick film-maker who showed us that dark could be enlightening, that emotions could be crafted out of technique, has lost his hold on his forte. He has not been in the best of form for quite some time now, but even in the worst of times Ram Gopal […]

Anuj Kumar
Under-rated as a director and under-utilised as an actor, Satish Kaushik has picked on one of the problems of new-age India – teenage pregnancy – to demonstrate his mettle. Steering clear of the rhetoric and stopping just short of taking sides, Kaushik has given us the human angle to the problem.
Towards the end, his […]

Anuj Kumar
Yet another film which has its heart in the right place but fails to get the right body to take the message through. Like Kaushik, director Ujjwal Singh touches on the delicate issue of youngsters committing suicide because of parental pressure. He addresses all the possible angles involved — parents trying to fulfil their […]

Anuj Kumar
Sometimes the scenery sweeps your focus. At times an actor sweeps you off your feet. Celebrated director Michael Mann achieves both goals in style here as he documents the life of John Dillinger, the master of bank robbery who became a menace for the fledgling FBI during the days of the Great Depression.
However, he […]

Starring Balraj Sahni, Leela Naidu, Abhi Bhattacharya 

A poster of “Anuradha”
Anuj Kumar

Some stories hook you with their sheer simplicity. Some characters stay with you long after the credits roll. “Anuradha” is a trademark Hrishikesh Mukherjee film, a film which says a lot about our society without ever sounding preachy. Way ahead of its times, […]

As “Chal Chalein” makes it to theatres, Mithun Chakraborty walks down memory lane.  

Mithun Chakraborty says luck is his X-factor. Photo: Rajeev Bhatt
ANUJ KUMAR
‘I’m a showman. And there are three professions that suit a showman – cinema, aviation and hospitality. I am happy that I made it in two out of three.” Mithun Chakraborty is […]

Sharmila Tagore made her debut with “Apur Sansar”. Photo: K. Gopinathan
Rana Siddiqui Zaman
How did it happen
I was just 13, studying in Kolkata’s St. John’s Diocesan Bengali medium school. It was a time when Satyajit Ray was looking for a young girl to play the role of a pre-teen bride in his film ‘Apur […]

Kiran Bedi makes simple choices with great results 

Kiran Bedi at The Claridges. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
Anuj Kumar
‘I am not fit for this column. I hardly have any striking choices when it comes to food,” says Kiran Bedi, as she rests on a plush cushion at The Claridges after giving a series of interviews […]