Padmaja Thakore | PassionforCinema

Padmaja Thakore holds an MPhil in English Literature and is currently a lecturer at ARSD College, Delhi University. She's long had an interest in both popular Indian films and international cinema.

Padmaja Thakore's Blog

6
Jail: A Stiff Sentence
Madhur Bhandarkar has made a name for himself as a realist filmmaker (this and that he has won 3 national awards always precede a piece on him). His films like Page 3 and Fashion broke the art film-commercial film barrier for him. Bhandarkar has comfortably placed himself as a ‘mainstream-realist’ filmmaker. After documenting the lives of bar-girls, corporates, the...
by Padmaja Thakore at November 8th, 2009 at 08:11 am
6
London Dreams – Is the Better of Bollywood Reality
At the fag-end of a season of big-budget films (Aladin, Main aur Mrs Khanna, Blue, Acid Factory, Wanted) where you wondered at the smugness with which filmmakers insult the intelligent audience comes Vipul Shah’s London Dreams. I want to argue that London Dreams is different in that it tells an average story with a conviction and engages its “target” audience...
by Padmaja Thakore at November 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 pm
15
Kaminey – Kaminey indeed but not Kaminey Enough
Kaminey posterIt can be argued that the real test of talent of a good director lie not in his story but in its telling. In this sense, s/he would be like those classical bards who invented not the stories (and almost always borrowed from the existing mythologies) but the forms and styles to put them in. Indeed that’s how good and successful adaptations have earned a...
by Padmaja Thakore at August 19th, 2009 at 11:08 am
17
Love Aaj Kal: Idealist then, Juvenile today
‘Love Aaj versus Love Kal’ is the kind of discussion you might enter if you had a couple of hours to kill, and nothing else to discuss. This may appeal to 50+ ‘generation’ with nostalgic reference to the past and perhaps as a way of coming to terms with the ‘fast’ present. In pitting the values of the past against the present one takes on very large issues...
by Padmaja Thakore at August 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 am
4
Luck – A Review
Taking a chance on your own luck is passé, betting on other people’s luck is the next evolutionary level. Some people are unbreakable. While others keep dying around them they survive. Reminded me of a Manoj Shyamalan’s film where he narrowed his focus to the physical ‘indestructability’ of some people and gave it a supernatural tweak (others are being reminded...
by Padmaja Thakore at July 26th, 2009 at 12:07 am
32
Gulaal: Finding the Mole beneath the Mountain
Gulaal starts with a rabble-rousing speech from Dukey Bana (Kay Kay Menon). Bana complains of treachery at the hands of the post-Independence Indian governments. The Rajput kings gave up their estates and royalties in support of a united India and in the process lost both power and wealth. And now the same political class that took away their powers is mismanaging the...
by Padmaja Thakore at March 17th, 2009 at 03:03 am
6
Revolutionary Road: To Paris and Beyond
Revulutionary Road is the story of the Wheeler couple, Frank and April (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet), living in a Connecticut suburb during the 1950’s. Sam Mendes’ film based on Richard Yates cult, eponymous book, however, is also a story that goes beyond the specifications of time and place to unravel the disappointment and disillusionment of an entire...
by Padmaja Thakore at March 15th, 2009 at 03:03 am
5
Siddharth: You don’t need the World to tell a Story
The inflow of serious, experimental, low budget films although a trickle right now, could be portentous of a ‘meaningful’ shift in Bollywood film productions. They may not all be money spinners but they can surely show a broader picture to the trade pundits who limit Indian audience’s taste to big budget, song-n-dance capers. Prayas Gupta’s Siddharth:...
by Padmaja Thakore at February 28th, 2009 at 02:02 pm
10
Slumdog Millionaire: Today is Slumdog’s Day
The poster of Slumdog Millionaire reads: What does it take to find a lost love? Money? Luck? Smarts? Destiny? Now how the hell one distinguishes between Luck and Destiny. Come to think of it even ‘Money’ gets mixed up with these two options. And then you find yourself crying for a fifth option, ‘None of the above’. Oh! forget the details. Just...
by Padmaja Thakore at February 22nd, 2009 at 02:02 pm
9
Delhi 6: Postcode for Simple Nostalgia and Messages
Basking in the success of Rang De Basanti (RDB), Rakesh Omprakash Mehra decided to indulge in some nostalgia. Great films have come out of nostalgia, and Delhi with its old world charm (imagined and real), invites one to explore its narrow lanes that carry quaint names, to seek stories hiding behind high walls and close-set windows, and to regret the loss of a way of life...
by Padmaja Thakore at February 20th, 2009 at 03:02 pm
11
Dev D.: Sarat C. is Smiling
Anurag Kashyap’s new film is a mixed package for me. I had thoroughly enjoyed the sub-text in Kashyap’s ‘No Smoking’ (see review), and, I admit my preoccupation while watching Dev D. was again how Kashyap and Abhay Deol (who ideated the adaptation) have interpreted Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic novella Devdas. The setting in modern...
by Padmaja Thakore at February 8th, 2009 at 04:02 am
4
Luck by Chance: Someone has Made Good Use of it!
The moment that best explains the core of Luck by Chance comes from the Karan Johar character (played by Karan Johar!) – explaining how first timers get to have a go at a career and life in Bollywood. He counsels how when established stars-actors like Zafar (Hrithik Roshan) refuse a role they think goes against their popular ‘image’, the role travels...
by Padmaja Thakore at February 5th, 2009 at 02:02 pm
35
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY AND THE SHAMEFUL OF 2008
A very late list but nonetheless here is what I think of the films released in 2008. The GOOD ONES: No. 1. No film qualifies. 2. No film qualifies. 3. Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye!: With a daisy fresh treatment of urban working class people and city wannabes, Dibakar Banerjee’s Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye! tops my year’s list. The film packed with Delhi eccentricities and...
by Padmaja Thakore at February 1st, 2009 at 03:02 pm
4
Shoot on Sight: The Target being Your Own Premise
Shoot on Sight is ‘a work of fiction inspired by true events’. So I will refrain from any fact finding. The real problem that this film faces is ‘internal’ – it sets out to sympathetically portray the predicament of common or liberal muslims in UK, but ends up showing that there is actually some justification behind the discrimination they...
by Padmaja Thakore at October 18th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
8
A Wednesday: Forced Resilience or Apathy
We are resilient by force, says Naseeruddin Shah in the recently released ‘A Wednesday’. I had often read and heard Mumbai being congratulated for its resilience and wondered what this quality of ‘resilience’ is? I live in Delhi and had no way to observe the phenomenon first hand. Things changed two years back. A couple of days before Diwali there...
by Padmaja Thakore at September 24th, 2008 at 01:09 pm
9
Sarkar Raj: The Return of Ramu?
Those of us who have loved Ramu for Rangeela, Satya, and Company will recall our regret on how film after film the brand RGV’s coffin was getting nailed (Naach, James, Shiva-II, Nishabd, Darling, Aag). With Sarkar Raj he saves himself from certain destruction. But then with Ramu you can never be too sure; he might have this formula working for him: get to produce &...
by Padmaja Thakore at June 23rd, 2008 at 03:06 pm
20
Aamir: One of Our Own Million Stories?
Aamir is ‘different’ in the sense that it seems that after eons one sees the streets of Bombay in a film how one might find them in real life. Aamir has its namesake protagonist land in Mumbai from the UK and get trapped in a nightmare situation. As soon as he gets out of the airport, he is put on call with a demanding and menacing gangster who wants Aamir to execute...
by Padmaja Thakore at June 20th, 2008 at 02:06 pm
27
Shaurya: Courage is also being original
[Guys, I am on maternity leave, living in Bihar. Films come in late, often pirated on cable TV and DVDs. I will be trying to write in reviews when I can. For the next 2-3 months, they will be irregular, short and a bit out of focus. Do bear with me. Thank you, Padmaja]. For those few who have cared to follow the release of Shaurya, the end credits roll with ‘101’ definitions...
by Padmaja Thakore at June 19th, 2008 at 04:06 am
7
Jodhaa Akbar: Realizing Childhood Fantasies?
Up until Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodha Akbar was released, the defining film on the Mughals was K.Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam (1960) – the passionate tale of a lowly courtesan Anarkali (Madhubala) threatening to become the queen and a son (Dilip Kumar) rising in revolt against his emperor father, Jaluddin Mohammed Akbar (Prithviraj Kapoor in a towering performance). One suspects...
by Padmaja Thakore at February 27th, 2008 at 04:02 pm
7
Mithya
In one of his introductions to the film, Rajat Kapoor discussed his inspiration behind Mithya: his film was a take on the mythological story on how Vishnu lets Narad muni change his identity into a common householder and the latter starts believing in it. The experience was to teach him (and us) the difference between illusion and reality. In Mithya, an out of work actor...
by Padmaja Thakore at February 11th, 2008 at 07:02 am
4
Water: Water for Ganga
[While Ronins take a break from the Friday releases and review Dhrohkaal, I wish to post an ol’ review that PFC bloggers may like to read, Deepa Mehta’s Water.] Water is the third film in Deepa Mehta’s trilogy, after ‘Fire’ and ‘Earth’. The film has been reviewed extremely well internationally and also boasts of an Oscar nomination. It was initially planned...
by Padmaja Thakore at February 2nd, 2008 at 11:02 am
3
Sunday
Rohit Shetty’s Sunday has all the elements from his previous two films, there is action (Zameen), there is comedy (Golmaal) and there is his regular, Ajay Devgan. In many ways, Sunday is also in keeping with the recently born genre of big-budgeted and thinly-plotted comedies, only with bonus material thrown in – there is Arshad Warsi, one of our best comic actors and...
by Padmaja Thakore at January 27th, 2008 at 08:01 am
5
Bombay to Bangkok: An Economy Class Ride
With Iqbal and Dor it indeed looked like Nagesh Kukunoor was finally in form with medium-budget, script-based, performance-oriented cinema. Bombay to Bangkok is, however, not a first-rate start to a year that promises to be Kukunoor’s annus mirabilis (two of his other films are lined up for release in 2008). Bombay to Bangkok is Kukunoor’s second collaboration...
by Padmaja Thakore at January 19th, 2008 at 03:01 am
11
Halla Bol – Sure, but Some Other Way!
Rajkumar Santoshi has made several films that address social issues in a certain way. His celebrated films – Ghayal, Damini, Ghatak, Pukar, Lajja – carry strong messages, feisty characters and dialogues that get a good share of so called “front benchers’”claps and whistles. As we are no less eager to champion films with their ‘hearts in the right place’,...
by Padmaja Thakore at January 16th, 2008 at 01:01 pm
28
Taare Zameen Par: Pavlovian Conditioning Prevails
Aamir Khan’s directorial debut Taare Zameen Par is an important film in the sense that it refers to the combative environment in which the present generation of children are being prepared to succeed. The film also takes issue with the declining tolerance forfailure amongst both the parents and society in general. Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary), who is otherwise a...
by Padmaja Thakore at January 7th, 2008 at 02:01 am
20
Films 2007: The Alternative List
With year-ends, come lists. Films of 2007 that stick out for honorable and not-so-honorable mention are: Namesake Meera Nair’s feted adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s book was less than satisfying for me. Devoid of details in the book, the film was a plainer story stitching together the surface stereotypes that NRI families go through. I found Irrfan Khan and Tabu in super...
by Padmaja Thakore at December 31st, 2007 at 12:12 pm
5
A Mighty Heart: A Politically Correct Look into Pakistan
Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart can be an illuminating study of how a director can use his talent to project his worldview and create something subtly different from his source material, and, also how cinema today is dominated by commercial concerns and often gets beaten into flatter and sanitized versions from what was held as its potential. Michael Winterbottom...
by Padmaja Thakore at December 30th, 2007 at 08:12 am
15
Dharm
Dharm’s DVDs are out today and I can’t help but reiterate my disagreement with the many positive reviews that the film got. It’s incredible that this embarrassment of a film actually managed to argue its way also towards India’s nomination for an Oscar (not that Eklavya was any better, but that will be stepping away from the point). ‘Come, question your faith’...
by Padmaja Thakore at December 20th, 2007 at 10:12 am
6
Khoya Khoya Chaand
For all those who have watched and admired Dharavi, Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, or the more recent Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi…, Sudhir Mishra’s Khoya Khoya Chaand is bound to be a keenly awaited film. This is also his best-budgeted movie, and better-promoted than his earlier films. Khoya Khoya Chaand is set in the Indian film-making world of the 1950s and 1960s. Nikhat...
by Padmaja Thakore at December 9th, 2007 at 02:12 pm
1
Elizabeth: Shekhar Kapur
What has an Indian been doing in the 16th century English court? Directing the Queen, no less. In 1998, when Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth I: The Virgin Queen was released, it was touted as one of the two Oscar hopes for Britain – the other one was John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love, a soft romantic comedy that got much of the attention instead. Kapur did not get an Oscar...
by Padmaja Thakore at December 1st, 2007 at 05:12 pm