Anger gets a lot done, they say. The impotent, helpless kind, especially. When it reaches its threshold, it is supposed to overthrow the status quo, burn the corruption to a crisp and roll out a fiery red carpet for all that is just and sane. But one cannot depend on supposed to’s as much as the olden days. These days, helpless rage is just sound and fury signifying nothing. At its worst, it breeds despair. At its best, it gives birth to a film like Gulaal. Never before a film born out of white-hot anger of a director so successfully..

Empathy, according to the dictionary, is the identification with and understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and motives. It is neither a common occurrence in life nor in films. Definitely much rarer than apathy. The emotion or the lack of it that make us look the other way most of the times. That is why your heart both shrinks in shame and swells up in warmth to see it in such abundance in a movie. Barah Aana by Raja Menon is a tragic-comedy about three migrants from Uttar Pradesh who share a kholi in Dharavi.

“How can you say it’s good ? It’s an adult movie!” - A twenty four year old boy, commenting on Dev.D.

“ A welcome movie, refreshing and thought provoking without being obscene or imposing.” - A fifty eight year old mother, after watching Dev.D.

Aptly, Dev.D is about the hypocrisy of today’s youth. And unfortunately, it is for today’s hypocritical youth. Allow me to explain.

Adapted from Vikas Swarup’s novel Q&A, and directed by Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire is a movie that is easy to rave about but difficult to avoid. With a fairy tale storyline concerning the triumph of an underdog against all odds, that viewers are bound to find inspirational, the movie is never didactic in its approach, and manages to pack a strong punch. What sets the movie truly apart is the searing and uncompromising honesty of the director. The movie is full of hope and life despite the graphic and unsettling physical poverty depicted on screen.

According to the many estimates, there are about 7 million slum-dwellers in the city of Mumbai, of which a sizable chunk is formed by homeless children. Struggling to survive, these children resort to any sort of work – working in tea-shops, soliciting, drug-peddling or even stealing – and become a ubiquitous, but inconspicuous part of the underbelly of the so-called city of dreams. Coming to the big city with an intent to make some money, most of these children don’t even know what’s going to happen to their own aspirations and desires…

The year was 1984, when following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the anti Sikh riots were started in the capital of the Indian country. Twenty three years after the massacre, Shonali Bose’s critically acclaimed film Amu, was released to retell the ghastly story of the Sikh community. The “engineered” carnage, that the bureaucracy, the authorities, the dignitaries, the politicians, the police - the entire state was a part of, had killed more than 5000 people from the community. The story opens with Kaju (Konkana Sen), a twenty one year old Indian-American

The third installment of Deepa Mehta’s Trilogy, after Fire and Earth, was her conflict ridden film Water. The film begins with an absurd belief quoted from the Sacred Hindu Texts – “A widow should be long suffering until death, self restrained and chaste. A virtuous wife, who remains chaste when her husband has died, goes to heaven. A woman who is unfaithful to her husband is reborn in the womb of a jackal.” You read the quote in the first few seconds of the film and know for certain that you’re in for a few hours of powerful voicing…

Vanaja (2006) is a quiet little film that has conquered its own domain, won its own set of hearts with its sheer brilliance in thematic and visual execution and perhaps gained an entry to the list of best films of that year. Mamatha Bhukya’s stellar performance elevates the film to extraordinary levels and it is evident that she can teach any so-called-veteran mainstream actresses a thing or two. The film carefully avoids all clichés and shows us that one need not treat independent films condescendingly.

It’s monsoon season in Delhi and the extended Verma family reunites from around the world to celebrate the arranged marriage of one of their daughters – This vibrant wedding turned out to be one that the world of cinema eagerly watched and joyously celebrated. After the universal success of Salaam Bombay and Kamasutra: A Tale of Love, Mira Nair came up with the glamorous Monsoon Wedding and struck a cord with Indian and Western audiences alike. The film shows four days and nights leading to an upper class Punjabi Wedding…

There are some films that perhaps may not be of much value in terms of contribution to the evolution of cinema, but they are simply great because they make the writing on the wall more prominent than ever before. A Wednesday is one such thought provoking film that is bound to make the common man think – to purge ourselves of the habits of making compromises, surrendering to our fates and giving up on ourselves as the initiators or drivers of a change badly needed.