ScreenArt

Movie Reviews, Commentary & More


The Long Goodbye

For all practical purposes this is my last post in ScreenArt. A strong movie-bug may bite me and I may resume active blogging here, but I don't see that happening. I like movies, I've just lost the motivation to write about them. In fact, there is a ton of half-reviews in my drafts folder that will never see the light of the day. And in the recent past I've had to fight my inertia to finish a decent post about a movie. It shouldn't be like this, and I think it's best for me channelize my writing energy in one place, ScreenAct, my other blog.

I've been reading, seeing, listening and talking a lot about culture, religion, society, daily chores, economy, business, politics, international relations.... I'm by no means an expert on anything but I have my opinions and what other means to express them other than blogging. I'll write about movies too in ScreenAct, but instead of confining my thoughts to the world of cinema, I'll take off tangentially and try to explore how a scene or a dialogue or a theme complements or collides with the society. I'm going to try hard to make ScreenAct work, which means at least one post in 10 days and not just a filler post or a personal ramble but a solid collection of my thoughts on something happening right now. If you're interested you can follow me there by clicking here.

When I look back I'm neither proud nor embarrassed of my posts here. My reaction would be indifference if a tsunami washed up ScreenArt. Thanks to all those who've traveled with me. So long.

Slumdog Millionaire

One of the hardest things for me to digest in Indian movies catered to international audience is the English-speaking cast. From the man who pulls rickshaw to the boy who collects garbage speak, not Indianized, but a grammatically right version of the language. Although that added to the annoyance, the chief of the cinema's problems is it aims celebrate a Bollywood dream - this comes from a man who gave us 'Trainspotting' and '28 Days Later'; Danny Boyle has swung from one end of the spectrum to... a different monolith of mind-numbing drama with no shades - a shameless exercise in an overnight rags-to-riches story demonstrating a ludicrous love story.

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