logo

1991. I had just made my way back from a particularly horrendous job experience in Guwahati, had put myself into a new and not-so-much horrendous job at a downtown hotel in Kolkata (then ‘Cal’) and was just starting to get a drift of the changing times in Indian Cinema after a very bad time in the 80s. A poster at the entrance to Shakespeare Sarani stares down at me. Saugandh. Hero – Akshay Kumar. Having been a regular buyer of Filmfare then, I had been introduced to his mug and could tell all about him to colleagues who still had not got over Salman Khan from Maine Pyar Kiya. I made it to Orient, a particularly nasty place, if you know what I mean, touts outside (who usually gave me an accurate picture of the hero’s or movie’s future, mind you, …

This year has seen some abysmal productions, some “just there” kinds and a smattering of good ones. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, as the case may be), reviews and blogs have torn into some of the movies that have done well. Some horrible ones have just been put aside, dismissed, if that is the right word. I foresee some more in this category starting with “C Kkompany” or whatever the numerologically inane name is!!
Frankly, cinema, as we know it, and all of us discuss very energetically here, is going through one of its most difficult transitions in its history of 80 odd years in India. Let me put up some unpalatable facts here:
Arthouse or alternative cinema is not doing well in India and this is …