Author: Madhuri Prabhu

Did you know this interesting trivia about Manmohan Desai’s 1977 blockbuster film, Amar Akbar Anthony? “Anhoni ko honi kar de honi ko anahoni, Ek jagah jab jama hon teenon amar akbar anthony.” More than four decades later, Manmohan Desai’s Amar Akbar Anthony still continues to make us laugh and even shed a tear or two! With an ambitious star cast headlined by Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Zeenat Aman, Neetu Kapoor and Shabana Azmi, the film revolves around three brothers who are separated in childhood and raised in different faiths. Speaking about the 1977 film, who can forget the…

Director Gunasekhar’s mythology for the millennials is a grand spectacle backed by an exquisite Samantha. Cast: Samantha, Dev Mohan, Sachin Khedekar, Mohan Babu, Kabir Bedi, Madhoo, Gautami, Kabir Duhan Singh, Allu Arha Director: Gunasekhar Writers: Gunasekhar, Sai Madhav Burra (dialogues), Naresh Namdev (Hindi dialogues) When a distressed Shakuntala (Samantha) expresses her fear of losing the love of her life after being abandoned by her parents as a baby, King Dushyant (Dev Mohan) tries to pacify her way and says, “Tum prem se vanchit nahi ho sakti Shakuntala, tum toh prem ki moorat ho.” Well, Dushyant’s words did ring true as even…

Actor Gashmeer Mahajani, in an exclusive tête-à-tête with Cutting Shots, talks about taking up broken characters, his learnings as an actor from Kamal Haasan and Fahadh Faasil and more. It’s a busy Saturday afternoon when I ring up Gashmeer Mahajani. “I have my small boy with me on the sets today,” he tells me and breaks into a laugh. The excitement in his voice is palpable. In the background, I can hear little Vyom’s animated chatter while his daddy dearest caters to him. It reminded me of the time when in the midst of one of our interviews with Shah…

Aditya Roy Kapur-Mrunal Thakur’s thriller lacks deft direction and ends up as a lukewarm spin on the double role trope. Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Mrunal Thakur, Ronit Roy, Vedika Pinto, Deepak Kalra Director: Vardhan Ketkar Writers: Original Story by Magizh Thirumeni, Screenplay by Aseem Arora “Kabhi kabhi lagta hain kuch jyaada overambitious toh nahin ho gayi,” says Janhvi (Vedika Pinto) to her beau Arjun (Aditya Roy Kapur) in a scene in Gumraah. Likewise, this Vardhan Ketkar directorial tries to make itself look like a clever thriller but achieves the desired result only in specks. What’s Yay: A few plot twists…

N.S Ponkumar’s period film, 16 August 1947 starring Gautham Karthik and Revathy, gets buried under a heap of erratic writing and melodramatic execution inspite of having a promising idea. Cast: Gautham Karthik, Revathy, Pugazh, Richard Ashton, Jason Sha, Bose Venkat Director: N.S Ponkumar Writer: N.S Ponkumar “To forget the pain, it’s not necessary to give them rest. It’s enough if we inflict more pain,” Robert, a barbaric British general tells his worker after lashing one of his injured slaves with a spiky whip. In another instance, he punishes a few villagers by putting them on a sawtooth column. Director N.S…

Despite some interesting ingredients on his platter, Pawan Kirpalani falls to cook an edge-of-the seat whodunit thriller in his latest directorial featuring Sara Ali Khan, Vikrant Massey and Chitrangda Singh. Cast: Sara Ali Khan, Vikrant Massey, Chitrangda Singh, Akshay Oberoi Director: Pawan Kirpalani Writers: Neha Sharma, Pawan Kirpalani Streaming Platform: Disney+ Hotstar In one of the scenes in Pawan Kirpalani’s Gaslight, Meesha (Sara Ali Khan) is seen scribbling circles on a few papers in her room. Her visual depiction is exactly how this whodunit thriller moves and soon, your patience wears thin. What’s Yay: Good concept What’s Nay: Meandering screenplay, banal twists Story Years…

Ajay Devgn’s nocturnal thriller, Bholaa meets your truck-load of expectations only in bits and pieces. Cast: Ajay Devgn, Deepak Dobriyal, Gajraj Rao, Amala Paul, Vineet Kumar Director: Ajay Devgn Writers: Original Story by Lokesh Kanagaraj, Screenplay and Dialogues by Aamil Keeyan Khan, Ankush Singh, Sandeep Kewlani and Sriidhar Rajyash Dubey “Yeh gym se aaya hain ke jail se?” a character asks another in one of the scenes in Bholaa. Likewise, Ajay Devgn pumps up the scale in his version of Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Tamil hit, Kaithi but fails to retain the essence of its source material. What’s Yay: The scale of…

Despite a formulaic story, Dasara achieves victory because of Nani’s solid act, Sathyan Sooryan’s rustic frames and Santhosh Narayan’s effective background score. Cast: Nani, Keerthy Suresh, Dheekshith Shetty, Shine Tom Chacko, Sai Kumar, Samuthirakani Director: Srikanth Odela Writers: Srikanth Odela, Jella Srinath, Arjuna Paturi, Vamsi Krishna. After witnessing a horrific event, Dharani (Nani) hides in a cowshed, cowering with fear. There’s chill in the air. The haunting imagery conjured by Nani, director Srikanth Odela and cinematographer Sathyan Sooryan lingers long. Dasara may consist of familiar tropes but it’s the way this trio adds their own flavours that makes this film…

Do you know Mumtaz was offered both the female lead roles in Dev Anand’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna? However, the actress refused the sister’s role and chose to romance Dev Anand in the film. When it comes to Dev Anand’s stellar body of work, one film which continues to receive a lot of love even today is his 1971 musical drama, Hare Rama Hare Krishna starring himself, Zeenat Aman and Mumtaz. While Zeenat essayed the role of Dev Anand’s sister in this cult classic, Mumtaz played his romantic interest. However, do you folks know that before signing Zeenat to play Jasbir aka…

Waheeda Rehman and Dilip Kumar worked together in a couple of films and one of them is Tapi Chanakya’s 1967 hit, Ram Aur Shyam. Waheeda Rehman, one of the finest actresses of the Hindi film industry, has shared screen space with some of the biggest male superstars of the country. One of them is thespian Dilip Kumar. The duo worked together in films like Dil Diya Dard Liya, Ram Aur Shyam, Aadmi and Mashaal. Today, we bring you an interesting anecdote from the sets of Ram Aur Shyam which featured Dilip Kumar in a double role as twin brothers. Waheeda…