Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Expressive Cinematography at its finest

There are two films in the Harry Potter franchise that I have a bi-polar appreciation for. Previously, I have said why I think Prisoner of Azkaban is the best one of the lot, because of the brilliant direction of Alfonso Cuaron, even though I don’t like that some of the important plot points from the […]

Curtains down on the Golden Era of Bengali Cinema

You were cinema’s young man who showed us what it means to lose really everything in life and yet have the courage to start over. You were the jovial yet heart-breaking brother-in-law; and the proud, angry Rajput taxi driver set on an expedition to find his place in the world. You gave life to our […]

1917: A Visual Masterpiece

April 1917, the Western Front. A young soldier, Lance-Corporal Blake, is given a perilous mission. He has to carry a message through a “No Man’s Land” to a battalion of the Devonshires, revoking an attack planned for the next day. The Germans have put just retreated to the Hindenburg Line – but aerial reconnaissance has […]

Kedara: A Symphony of Silence

“Less is more.” That’s the art of minimalism – to speak less and say more. Indraadip Dasgupta has been a celebrated music director in the Bengali film industry for two decades and has scored some of the best-known songs over the years. But it was the call of the spot behind the camera that he […]

Why should Films be Taught in School?

Okay, hold your horses! Calm down and listen to me before you get all riled up about the futility of this. Now instead of jumping into it directly, let’s take a step back. Let’s talk about that form of art that is already being taught in schools around the globe – literature. So why do […]

Feluda Phirbe Abar!

As an ode to the maestro and to celebrate the start of the centenary of Satyajit Ray, the title song of Feluda Pherot was launched today. Written by Srijato, composed by Joy Sarkar and sung by Rupankar, Rupam Islam and Anupam Roy, the song is a fantastic treat to all Feluda-lovers (i.e. all Bengalis all over […]

The Hidden Gem in Ray’s Creative Crown

Satyajit Ray – a man who had the deepest impact on me when it comes to cinema, a man who taught me to understand cinema as a form of art and fall in love with this medium. Amidst these gloomy days that we are in right now, could there be any other auspicious day for […]

Subrata Mitra: The Forgotten Master of Light

“We Indians do not celebrate our genius, that’s why we need a Richard Attenborough to present our Gandhi to the world. And, we do not appreciate technology as an art, that’s why Subrata Mitra’s retrospective is celebrated in Italy, not here” Ashok Mehta, National award-winning cinematographer of films like Bandit Queen, Moksha and 36 Chowringhee Lane […]