Tanul Thakur | PassionforCinema

Tanul Thakur will major in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign(UIUC) in 2010. Engineering rules the mind(and would/should control the wallet), while cinema, cricket and English Literature rules the heart. E-mail: thakurtanul@gmail.com

Tanul Thakur's Blog

13
Paranormal Activity – Goes way deep than some goosebumps on surface
Being fearful comes naturally to us. We need not be conditioned for it. However, bravery, courage and other virtues seek example. Fear stands on its own. Tall, unfettered bonded to our psyche naturally. All great horror movies revel in the fact that ‘it is not about what you show, but what you not show’. They exploit the human imagination and spur it on...
by Tanul Thakur at October 21st, 2009 at 10:10 pm
6
Viva Pedro: Talk to Her
There are people in this world who judge you. There are people in this world who understand you. In fact, let’s not attach any hues with either the former or the latter. These are just some of the few things that exist. You are free to take a seat on any side of the pan. Life is all about having a point of view. We can be conditioned to see different things, and...
by Tanul Thakur at September 6th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
63
Sankat City: What it could have been, what it is.
Let’s begin with Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. One of the few ‘Bollywood’ movies that dealt with a loser’s story. The movie made us sink into his shoes and helped revisit our vulnerabilities. It also commented intelligently on youth’s lack of choices, and only few clearly defined options of future that they gulped. Rather, forcefully. A loser who...
by Tanul Thakur at July 22nd, 2009 at 12:07 pm
30
Do Bigha Zameen, Umberto. D and the Bicycle Thieves: Where Do Bigha Zameen falters
Nirupa Roy, Parikshit Sahni, Balraj Sahni, Nana Palsikar in Do Bigha ZameenThe distinction is important. Amongst good, very good and great. Because, something which is merely good sometimes seeks to shelter and glow amidst the presence of myriad mediocre works, where it stands apart on a strictly relative plane, nudging mediocrity by an iota. And we often confuse and...
by Tanul Thakur at July 13th, 2009 at 05:07 pm
25
Chungking Express
There are some movies that numb you, some leave you awestruck by its novelty, some inspire you, some make you laugh your gut out, some make you cry. But, I had never fallen in love with a movie. Not until I saw Chungking Express. This is not a critique of the movie in any way. This is my love letter to Chungking Express. Very few things, let alone movies have given me...
by Tanul Thakur at June 13th, 2009 at 02:06 am
5
The times of Harvey Milk, the times we live in…
Have you ever tried speaking while someone clutched you mouth? Did you ever lie to anyone each day of your life so that you could survive? Did you ever cuss at yourself for being what you are? Did you ever wonder why you were not normal, but deep within the true answer betrayed the answer you wanted to listen? Were you met with the stifled giggles of your classmates...
by Tanul Thakur at May 13th, 2009 at 10:05 am
8
There is something about Delhi 6…
Why do we love Ramayan love so much? Of all the factors that people can possibly come forward with, I’ve a relatively simple answer. We love Ramayana because of Ravan. Because, he distinctly draws that line. He writes it on the wall and declares which side he is standing. Now, that makes our job much more simple of where do we want to position ourselves. We need...
by Tanul Thakur at February 20th, 2009 at 09:02 pm
51
Film-fair? Awards…
It is that time of the year again. When Filmfare announces its award for excellence( in movie making? well, that’s for you to figure out). You might want to scratch your head and wonder why this article is there in the first place, isn’t it PFC? The place where we don’t look beyond Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTAS and their likes. Where it is assumed(yes,...
by Tanul Thakur at February 14th, 2009 at 08:02 pm
16
Luck By Chance: Some thoughts.
When Anurag Kashayp first approached Shahrukh Khan for the role of K in No Smoking, SRK refused. He answers that circuitously in the movie Luck By Chance, when he advices Vikram that, in this industry it is very important what kind of choices you make. The first film chooses you, now, you are going to choose your films. Choose well. The answer could very well have been...
by Tanul Thakur at January 31st, 2009 at 10:01 pm
18
City of God: Depressing. Shocking. Brilliant.
Civilization. Sanity. Peace. Brotherhood. Throw these words out of the window. Because, with respect to the City of God, they are not only an aberration and theoretical, but also, fantastic. A city where every unarmed person is equivalent to a eunuch, a city where anarchy is the only form of order. A city where massacre is a rule, peace an exception. A city thriving...
by Tanul Thakur at January 2nd, 2009 at 01:01 pm
41
Why did the audience embrace Rang De and showed the door to Swades…?
I despise comparing films, and neither does this article compares Rang De and Swades in its entirety( it only does a wee bit towards the end!). But, it is my take on the two movies( mostly independent), though coupled with how Indian audience perceives patriotic movies. Rang De Basanti is the story of four youngsters, who are indifferent to the current state of affairs...
by Tanul Thakur at December 26th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
26
Bollywood in 2008: The movies I loved.
It is that time of the year again when we look back at the year and analyze the year’s movies we loved. I don’t watch many movies in a year(or let’s put it, not being able to), so this is the list of movies I loved amongst the lot I watched. Since I couldn’t watch some of the most talked about movies of the year like Aamir, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Welcome...
by Tanul Thakur at December 21st, 2008 at 09:12 pm
6
Indian Cinema is feeling Lucky.
Edit Post: I didn’t want to write on this movie, as a lot had already been said and discussed here. But, it was hard to resist myself. Yes. The times are surely changing. And for the better. Dibakar Banerjee’s new offering sweeps you off your feet. First of all, Oye Lucky.. is not a comedy in its entirety, it is a fantastic take on the present society, people’s hollowness,...
by Tanul Thakur at December 7th, 2008 at 11:12 am
47
Slumdog Millionaire – Questions/Glaring hole?
Disclaimer: Please avoid this post if you haven’t seen the movie. If you have, come and join in the fun. Quite a few questions came to my mind after watching the Slumdog millionaire. One thing followed to another and we(PFC authors) started debating on some of the things in the movie. The debate came to an interesting point and we thought of sharing it with everyone....
by Tanul Thakur at November 25th, 2008 at 09:11 pm
3
Ikiru
Ikiru Disclaimer: There is a spoiler in the second last paragraph(only a line), you may want to avoid it if you have not seen the movie. Watnabe knows he will die. Soon. But, it is not death that scares the wits out of him. It is life. His life. A lifetime of wasted opportunity. A life of failed expectations would have been still better. His was a life of no expectations....
by Tanul Thakur at November 22nd, 2008 at 07:11 pm
2
Lolita
The censor board stunted Kubrick’s brillance and prevented Lolita from becoming the film it could have. (3/5).IMDB.
by Tanul Thakur at November 12th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
17
Of middle class, insignificant things and growing up with Indian Cinema.
Cinema is still frowned upon in many of the middle class families; it is only logical when the first concern is fuelling the stomach, fuelling the heart comes at a much, much later stage. Though I grew up in a milder version of the aforementioned setting, I, like any other movie enthusiast watched movie after movie every Friday. Those were not the days of multiplexes,...
by Tanul Thakur at November 10th, 2008 at 10:11 pm