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Independent Film Festival, Boston started in 2003 is an annually conducted film festival normally around the end of April.It showcases some of the best independent cinema (mainly the US independent film scene) and also some upcoming mainstream movies from US and other countries.

This year the festival had 96 independent films and in addition to 150 screenings, the festival will also featured more than 100 filmmaker Q&A sessions, panel discussions and appearances by filmmakers and stars.
Luckily I knew the guy who actually shortlisted these 96 movies from the thousands of entries which he received. So, he gave me a list of movies (which had a mix of independent cinema as well as mainstream cinema) to watch out for and saved me on the painful task of short listing the movies myself.
I watched around 8 movies spread over 3 days and here are couple of movies which …

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 a terrorist plot if he wants to rescue his family that the gangster has taken hostage. Through the film, our man Aamir is sent from pillar to post running errands, collecting information, note slips, money and the bomb. Will he be be able to take control of the situation and prevail (the somewhat puzzling tagline goes, Kaun kehata hai aadmi apni kismet khud likhta hai, or Who says man is master of his destiny)?

Aamir is played honorably by …

I have been at a strange phase of movie-watching since quite some time now. The natural curiosity to watch a story unfold is lost. I remember this began early this millennium when the Hindi film industry was at its all-time low in terms of stories and presentation. Not much of a Hollywood fan and back in the college days, access to world cinema was a thing almost unheard of and the Hindi movies around weren’t anything to perk up the slightest of interest. A cool time-pass was all that was expected but no, not happening.

I remember watching old movies with mum on Saturday evenings and random afternoons and relishing the experience like no other. And even today those (or select foreign movies) are the only one’s that can raise any kind of interest. Is this got to do with some kind of over-exposure? No. There is real long way to …

It’s been almost three months since I have been in Mumbai. I was called in by Sudhir Mishra to edit a 90 minute international version of his new film, Tera Kya Hoga Johnny! It was a very interesting experience to take a film and reconstruct it in a different way. The Indian version is about 130 minutes long and one could not just throw away 40 minutes of the film. So the narration had to change and the story had to be told in a different way. As the film was made up of multiple characters and their stories, I tried to find a situation in the original film which would become the pivotal point of the new narrative structure. Once I had found that, I reworked the different stories from that pivotal point in a non linear narration. It was quite fun. I dismantled the rough cut and …

Bollywood is changing..Being the largest single industry that is growing at an estimated rate of 15 percent per annum and India's economy with a sustained growth of 9-10 percent, is fuelling this growth whereby consumers have high purchasing power and more leisure time to unwind themselves in the armless reclining seats of the multiplexes where if you don't like the movie , instead of throwing your arms up in disgust you can put it around your partner and have paisa vasool magic moments regardless of the movie..

Indeed the things are changing in Bollywood..And the time tested 5 C's of cinematography ( a wonderful primer by Joseph V Masscelli, for anyone interested in learning the nitty gritty of filmmaking) has undergone a complete overhaul..The new age Bollywood has retained 5 C's but with its own twist and tadka..Now if you wanna be a filmmaker, apart from self study through …

There was an auto-rickshaw strike the other day. The government wants them to change their mechanical fare meters into fancy electronic ones. So the union decided to flex its muscles. Suddenly the streets were empty of thousands of noisy gnats. My car driving friends were very happy they said they should be a permanent ban on them. But the people (like me) who are dependent on them were in a real fix. I saw people on the streets jostling with each other for that rare taxi.
I had this meeting with a big corporate film company. I had to go some faraway place to meet them. I tired in vain to borrow some transport from my friends. So finally, I decided to get a radio Cab (they are quite efficient). I told the driver to take me there and to bring me back.
So I arrived at my meeting on …

AAJA NACHLE- Madhuri strikes back

Director: Anil Mehta

Overall Grading: B

“Madhuri Dixit” strikes back with Aaja Nachle. This is Madhuri’s come back film after interval of 5 years (Devdas-2002).

Aaja Nachle’s story is about a theatre called “Ajanta” and a dancer, her feelings about Ajanta and how she manages to stop Ajanta’s demolition. Story background is different but basic idea is same like team building, internal clash in team, and one goal for team etc etc. which were seen in Lagaan, Chek De India and recent Goal.

Madhuri is central character in the film and after long time a hard core commercial film having female lead has come; which is appreciable. Her presence in every scene is the main attraction. She manages her performance well but looks thin as compared to her earlier films like Tezaab, Beta…. in which she was healthy beauty. Others Kunal Kapoor, Jugal Hanshraj are …