Reel Review
Reel Review – Revolutionary Road
To their neighbours, as to themselves, Frank and April Wheeler are ‘special’.
By Asilata Karandikar
April 1, 2014
Qandeel: The Story Of A Small Town Girl With Big Dreams
Fouzia Azeem, more popularly known as Qandeel Baloch,was called Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian. Madiha Tahir, a journalist and filmmaker who is interviewed in the documentary,questions this comparison. To quote her: “She (Qandeel) is not Kim Kardashian at all. She is not famous for being rich. An upper-class woman would have her class protection and it’s unlikely that an upper-class woman would be supporting her family from these social media videos.”
By Zulfiya Hamzaki
Paromitar Ek Din: Recalling Memories of Sexual Solidarity
Paromitar Ek Din is a study in female subjectivity – it is essentially a woman telling the story (or rather, recollecting the story) of another woman, and reflecting upon themes of sexuality, oppression, and gender-based discrimination.
By Rohini Banerjee
Not Just A Portrait Of A Lady On Fire…
As the fire rages on and licks of flames get higher and higher, the burning desire, tension and sexual chemistry between the two rises to a crescendo. Heloise gets so consumed that a part of her dress catches fire, but it is quickly put out by the other women present there.
By Anubha Sarkar
December 2, 2019
Movie Review: Delta of Venus
Lawrence may have given Elena a world and a voice. But it was she who chose to delve into the unknown world of sexuality. It was she who chose to see the beauty and the richness of pleasure within communities of sex workers, soldiers, the elite, all alike. She alone chose to discern as well as reconcile love, as we commonly seem to know it, with a life in which she is capable of many loves.
By Asmi
February 3, 2020
Men hijack women’s happiness and sexuality even in their freest moments: Review of five films released in 2015-17
The women in Parched (2015) are sitting and chatting, seemingly free from their daily oppression for once, when a cell…
By Shaifali Agrawal
Man, His Madness, and the Mad Woman
Mad adj. crazy, nuts, loony, mental, insane. adj. angry, frustrated, raging. No one is a better drama queen than William…
By Shweta Krishnan
April 1, 2015
Invisible Women
I recently watched North Country on Netflix, a movie based on a true story of a woman’s fight for equality at the workplace. It is based on the case, Jenson vs Eveleth Mines, in the United States in which Lois Jenson, fought for the right to work as a miner, and the right to work free of sexual harassment. She won the landmark 1984 lawsuit, which was the first class-action lawsuit on sexual harassment at the workplace in the United States and resulted in companies/organisations having to introduce sexual harassment policies at the workplace.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
May 15, 2021
Gerald’s Game – A Story Of Resilience In The Face Of Metaphorical And Emotional Bondage
This movie had instantly called out to me because the book had made a huge impression many years ago when I was going through a Stephen King phase and consuming as many of his novels as I could. It is a story of resilience where a woman had to rescue herself from a dangerous situation of metaphorical and emotional bondage as well as the physical and sexual kind.
By ElsaMarie D'Silva
Films of Desire/Bodies of Desire
The Church says: the body is a sin Science says: the body is a machine Advertising says: the body is…
By Geetanjali Misra
June 1, 2015
FILMS OF DESIRE/BODIES OF DESIRE
The Church says: the body is a sin Science says: the body is a machine Advertising says: the body is…
By Geetanjali Misra
November 15, 2017
Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish: A platonic togetherness
The movie was criticised for its stereotypical portrayal of Debu as a gay man. But, the beauty is that it also highlights the reversal of gender roles. The smiles, and the laughter sounding throughout the house, create a cheery note in the movie.
By Dr Swarupa N Kshirsagar
November 2, 2020
Churails: The Revolution Within Us All
Their inimitable personalities showcase their varied conceptions of insaaf (justice), enriching and intensifying the plot and, at the same time, reaffirming their solidarity and strengthening their unity.
By Nupur Paliwal and Saloni Mishra
December 1, 2020
Being a friend does not make him better than a stalker: Glorification of men who can’t take no for an answer in Hindi cinema
The very last lines of a film are the voice-over by the hero, “Someday I will convince her to… marry me”….
By Shaifali Agrawal
Aruvi: Questioning home and ‘innocence’
Over time, I realised that ‘home’ meant not just the physical and emotional space occupied by my parents, but also a set of practices or strictures, mostly dictated by parents, related to gender roles, religion, sex, marriage, friendships and ‘appropriate’ behaviour.
By Vani Viswanathan
March 5, 2018