Oscar Nominations 2022

 

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

JAVIER BARDEM

Being the Ricardos 

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

The Power of the Dog

ANDREW GARFIELD

tick, tick...BOOM!

WILL SMITH

King Richard

DENZEL WASHINGTON

The Tragedy of Macbeth

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

CIARÁN HINDS

Belfast

TROY KOTSUR

CODA

JESSE PLEMONS

The Power of the Dog

J.K. SIMMONS

Being the Ricardos

KODI SMIT-MCPHEE

The Power of the Dog

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

JESSICA CHASTAIN

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

OLIVIA COLMAN

The Lost Daughter

PENÉLOPE CRUZ

Parallel Mothers

NICOLE KIDMAN

Being the Ricardos

KRISTEN STEWART

Spencer

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

JESSIE BUCKLEY

The Lost Daughter

ARIANA DEBOSE

West Side Story

JUDI DENCH

Belfast

KIRSTEN DUNST

The Power of the Dog

AUNJANUE ELLIS

King Richard

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

NOMINEES

ENCANTO

Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer

FLEE

Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie

LUCA

Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren

THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES

Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht

RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON

Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho

CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES

DUNE

Greig Fraser

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Dan Laustsen

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Ari Wegner

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Bruno Delbonnel

WEST SIDE STORY

Janusz Kaminski

COSTUME DESIGN

NOMINEES

CRUELLA

Jenny Beavan

CYRANO

Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran

DUNE

Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Luis Sequeira

WEST SIDE STORY

Paul Tazewell

DIRECTING

NOMINEES

BELFAST

Kenneth Branagh

DRIVE MY CAR

Ryusuke Hamaguchi

LICORICE PIZZA

Paul Thomas Anderson

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Jane Campion

WEST SIDE STORY

Steven Spielberg

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

NOMINEES

ASCENSION

Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell

ATTICA

Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry

FLEE

Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie

SUMMER OF SOUL (...OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein

WRITING WITH FIRE

Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

NOMINEES

AUDIBLE

Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean

LEAD ME HOME

Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk

THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL

Ben Proudfoot

THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR

Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei

WHEN WE WERE BULLIES

Jay Rosenblatt

FILM EDITING

NOMINEES

DON'T LOOK UP

Hank Corwin

DUNE

Joe Walker

KING RICHARD

Pamela Martin

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Peter Sciberras

TICK, TICK...BOOM!

Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

NOMINEES

DRIVE MY CAR

Japan

FLEE

Denmark

THE HAND OF GOD

Italy

LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM

Bhutan

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Norway

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

NOMINEES

COMING 2 AMERICA

Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer

CRUELLA

Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon

DUNE

Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE

Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh

HOUSE OF GUCCI

Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

NOMINEES

DON'T LOOK UP

Nicholas Britell

DUNE

Hans Zimmer

ENCANTO

Germaine Franco

PARALLEL MOTHERS

Alberto Iglesias

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Jonny Greenwood

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

NOMINEES

BE ALIVE

from King Richard; Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

DOS ORUGUITAS

from Encanto; Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

DOWN TO JOY

from Belfast; Music and Lyric by Van Morrison

NO TIME TO DIE

from No Time to Die; Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell

SOMEHOW YOU DO

from Four Good Days; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

BEST PICTURE

NOMINEES

BelfAST

Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers

CODA

Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers

DON'T LOOK UP

Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers

DRIVE MY CAR

Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer

DUNE

Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers

KING RICHARD

Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers

LICORICE PIZZA

Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers

WEST SIDE STORY

Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINEES

DUNE

Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

WEST SIDE STORY

Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

NOMINEES

AFFAIRS OF THE ART

Joanna Quinn and Les Mills

BESTIA

Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz

BOXBALLET

Anton Dyakov

ROBIN ROBIN

Dan Ojari and Mikey Please

THE WINDSHIELD WIPER

Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

NOMINEES

ALA KACHUU - TAKE AND RUN

Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger

THE DRESS

Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki

THE LONG GOODBYE

Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed

ON MY MIND

Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson

PLEASE HOLD

K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse

SOUND

NOMINEES

BELFAST

Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri

DUNE

Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett

NO TIME TO DIE

Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb

WEST SIDE STORY

Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy

VISUAL EFFECTS

NOMINEES

DUNE

Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer

FREE GUY

Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick

NO TIME TO DIE

Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

CODA

Screenplay by Siân Heder

DRIVE MY CAR

Screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe

DUNE

Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth

THE LOST DAUGHTER

Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal

THE POWER OF THE DOG

Written by Jane Campion

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

BELFAST

Written by Kenneth Branagh

DON'T LOOK UP

Screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota

KING RICHARD

Written by Zach Baylin

LICORICE PIZZA

Written by Paul Thomas Anderson

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier

Legendary playback Singer Lata Mangeshkar is no more 🎵

Lata Mangeshkar, Queen of Melody , Nightingale of India, Bollywoods most legendary playback singer, with more than 30,000 songs to her name passes away at 92 years. May her Soul Rest In Peace  and her voice be remembered in all those innumerable songs.🎶🎵🎼

Lata Mangeshkar is the only legendary playback singer in Bollywood who has  been the voice of 6 decades of actresses in Bollywood with her 30,000+ songs to her name. Enjoy the journey through time in her voice… she will live on forever in each and every soulful number and melodious beats she has sung...  Meri Awaaz hi Pehchaan  hai…

Legendary  Lata Mangeshkar dies at 92 : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/lata-mangeshkar-passes-away-at-92/articleshow/89378127.cms

Pushpa- The Rise -A Film Review

 

 

• Director & Writer: Sukumar
• Producers: Naveen Yerneni, Y. Ravi Shankar
• Starring: Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil
• Cinematography: Mirosław Kuba Brożek
• Music: Devi Sri Prasad
• Release: Dec 17, 2021
• Rating: 3/5
• Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

 

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

 

Pushpa is a story of a gangster  who rises from an underdog daily wage laborer to head the Red Sanders-wood smuggling syndicate by outsmarting the police and overpowering his competitors with his street-smarts and don’t care attitude. Set in Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh, this Tollywood ( Telugu Film Industry) movie is a typical masala formula cinema with daring action, heroic stunts, melodrama, item songs and melodious music. But it comes with its set of gore, blood, over-clichéd predictable script, sexism, racism, stereotyping, sensationalizing violence, vulgarity and crudeness.

 

To justify the protagonist’s angry-young-man image like the old school Amitab Bachchan movies, they have sad story of the mother being scorned and he mocked for being illegitimate. His helplessness and vulnerability on this topic is shown as cause to his shoulder stupor and gait.

 

Allu Arjun as Pushpa, in spite of this characteristic gait of raised right shoulder and a light swagger, with his cool, non-chalant attitude and excellent acting strikes confidence and carries the movie on his shoulders single handedly.

 

The movie has been getting a lot of hype with innumerable memes which triggered many an intrigue including mine, to check it out when it came on Amazon prime. The movie has been dubbed in Hindi besides multiple languages but to get the soul of any movie, its best seen in the original language. I saw the movie in Telugu and could feel subtle regional nuances of  Telugu with Chittoor accent which has Tamil influence incorporated perfectly.

 

The other thing to appreciate is the music. All the songs in the movie have got very popular because of its pulsating music and characteristic dance moves on some. ‘Srivalli song’ is very melodious.  ‘O Antava Oo Antava item song’ is very sensual to hear, but the picturization needed better work in spite of actress Samantha Ruth’s sex appeal.

The rest of the movie is very stereotypical and clichéd. Except the protogonist Pushpa, the movie doesn’t bother to make an effort to build depth in the other characters. In this day and age, movies continue to have women characters in objectified roles only. Story and dialogs seem to have been just replayed from many other movies. The script is ridiculous and absurd at times-that in a matter of few scenes while the villain is sermonized for crude objectification of women, the hero gets away with paying for a kiss! The industry seriously needs better script writers and the society needs to grow up!

 

A good movie direction involves good script, cohesive characters, no loose ends, and  lasting impact, Pushpa doesn’t have any of that. Director Sukumar, besides casting a good lead, lost track of keeping it together and only obsessed with glorifying violence. (Where was the need to have blood on a grooms wedding clothes too?). The sequel of Pushpa, the Rise is to be followed by Pushpa- the Rule hence the introduction in last quarter of  the over animated  character of bad cop Shekhavat (Fahadh Faasil) against the protagonist.   If that’s the glimpse of what’s to come and director doesn’t know how to hold the reins to the story, there is little to expect from the next.

 

The oft repeated dialog in movie- Pushpa is not a flower, but fire. Except for Allu Arjun and the songs sizzling, rest was a fizzle.

 

Pushpa Songs:

Srivalli song

O Antava Oo Antava item song

Saami Saami 

Dako Dako Meka

Ey Bidda

 

 Pushpa Memes: 

Eternals

Quick Review :

Eternals-The latest movie from the Marvel universe is a star studded disappointment. 

The immortal super hero group made up of top of the line actors ( Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harrington)  together or individually fail to standout. 

Marvels long array of Eternal characters of all diversity, race, color, gender, sexuality with lack of individuality & depth built in (irrespective of 2 1/2 hrs long movie ) fail to make any super hero character memorable. 

To add to the absurdity of the script, there is also a horrendously choreographed silly Bollywood dance number with Kumail Nanjiani! 

Lastly have to say, Zhao, the Oscar winning director of Nomadlad may have been the wrong director for a superhero genre!

 

No Time to Die, a Bond farewell!

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Story & Screenplay: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Based on James Bond by Ian Fleming
Producers: Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli
Starring : Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes
Cinematography: Linus Sandgren
Music: Hans Zimmer
Release date: 30 September 2021 (United Kingdom); 8 October 2021 (United States)
Running time: 163 minutes
Rating : 3.5 ***.5/5
Movie Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed 

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

 

No time to Die is the 27^th James Bond Movie, and 5 and last of Daniel Craig as Bond. The story has all aspects of  Bond-esque highs with amazing action sequences, fast-paced cinematographic car chases, impressive transportation vehicles, fancy gadgets, femme fatales, martinis, one-liners, double entendres, defaced villains, and a tribute to many an old 007 film. But what you will also see is the Bollywood-esque family drama, romance, betrayal or misunderstanding of it, revenge, sacrifice, comedy, and tragedy….  
 

No time to Die, directed by Cory Joji Fukunago is the closing chapter of Daniel Craig’s Bond which started in 2006 with Casino Royale. Though there have been amazing James Bonds like Sean Connery and my personal favorite Pierce Brosnan over the years, Daniel Craig with his long tenure, authored more control over the Bond character, even deconstructing the previous format of Bond’s Persona, and  commanding a finale for himself!
 
The main plot has morbid looking Rami Malek playing the villain Lyutsifer Safin with an evil scheme   involving bioengineered weapons or nano bots, tailored and targeted to an individual’s DNA with plans to infect and wipe out different parts of the world!  The subplots have Bond retired from active MI6 duty and living new life with his love Madeline Swan, earlier introduced in ‘Spectre’ (2015) with a backstory of her own; After complications, misunderstandings and somber melodrama as captured by Billy Eilish’s theme song, Bond goes off grid; It takes his CIA friend Felix Leiter to convince him back to action to stop the impending destruction; there is a delightful interlude with Ana de Armas ( Knives Out co-star) as Paloma, who steals the show with her cameo action sequences, playing the three weeks trained CIA agent in Cuba; MI6 has a new 007, Lashana Lynch as agent Nomi. While Q  (Ben Whishaw) and MoneyPenny ( Naomi Harris) help Bond behind the scenes, he has trust issues with M (Ralph Fiennes) till he gets reinstated as 007!

Director Cory Joji Fukunago focuses on dynamic and vibrant visuals besides the plot. The movie moves from Norway to Italy to Jamaica to England and some fictitious island in Japan! The most striking location was in Matera, a town in Basilicata, Italy which was a town carved into the hillside with a car chase which flows through hills and towns of Gravina with the two tier Roman bridge…it was like we were watching Bond veering thru Godfather land;) Another remarkable scene was the wintery backdrop and frozen lake with the young Madeline in Norway. Plus the attention to detail showing a cricket match being played in Jamaica besides showcasing the clear blue waters of Port Antonio. Watching many such picturesque backdrops and beautiful shots on a big theatre screen after a hiatus added to the thrill of the movie.  

 After year and half of social distancing and avoiding theatres due to covid times, the movie is bringing many folks into theatres. We too after a long hiatus decided to venture to theatres, for the Bond movie. On closer examination I found most audience ages ranged around 28 to 60 plus. This awareness made me feel less sad about Craig’s finale, with the comprehension that Bond’s mythology which has been going on since my father’s time needed to change and get revived……  

The point not lost through ‘No time to Die’ is the move towards many strong woman characters in the movie,… maybe a hint of the future 007 !!  – Ana de Armas as Paloma in her small part left a large impact on audiences seeking more of her! Lashana Lynch as M16’s new 007 agent Nomi didn’t have story space to have her character developed, but seemed to have strong abilities. While Lea Saydoux with her teeth gap, sleepy cat like eyes and brooding emotions looks complicated, she gives Zeenath Aman vibes with her eyes and dialog delivery for the Bollywood familiar; and last but not the least there is  the blue eyed Mathilde Bond, this you have to see, to know more!
 

‘No time to Die’ may have been a poetic ending to the era, let’s look forward to how the Bond legacy reshapes!
 
 
 
 

Billy Eilish’s theme song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BboMpayJomw

Unfinished, Not a Memoir, Just a Marketing Tool and an Elaborate Thank you Letter!

 

Unfinished, Not a Memoir, Just a Marketing Tool and an Elaborate Thank you Letter!

Priyanka Chopra, can be classified as a successful global celebrity. Winning Miss World beauty pageant in 2000, became a successful Bollywood actress in next 15 years, briefly ventured into the music industry, movie production, entered the Hollywood scene, American television, and became much talked about celebrity marrying the pop singer Nick Jonas. She has been a go-getter, highflier, and overachiever. And you can read all about her inspirational success on her Wikipedia page! No, not in her Memoir;)

A Memoir is an honest reflection, genuine slice of life of the individual, walking the reader into their deepest thoughts, vulnerable times, exhilarating or roller coaster moments, in their journey, and how they made things possible, this makes memoirs inspirational. These kinds of memoirs you read and re-read and book-mark to inspire or motivate…… and Unfinished does not fall into this category.

 Being an avid reader, part of multiple book clubs, I am a big fan of the memoir genre, and have read many over the years.  Special recommends being Michele Obama’s ‘Becoming’ and Tara Westover’s ‘Educated’.  When our local library got the new book Unfinished, we picked it up. No, not a  PC  fan, but because I have written  many a  review for her Bollywood movies, Bollywood blah is in my line of interest,  for the love of memoirs,  and a general curiosity.

 But this book has nothing new which has not been written in the magazines or heard in interviews. I felt her Wikipedia page gave  more thorough detail of her life, while the memoir seems like a superficial and frivolously written tinted advertisement and marketing tool of herself for the western audiences who may not know her enough.  It comes out as a PR package to promote her as a brand to invest in her and her entrepreneurial ventures and goals she elaborates in her memoir!

 The book walks you through her childhood, her  Army doctor parents, posted in different parts of India, her  life with grandparents, her  boarding school life to discipline her, her  short move to live with relatives in USA due to parents priorities of establishing clinic, her high school in US, her win in the beauty pageants, her entry into  Bollywood movies, her father’s death, her big fat Indian wedding to Nick Jonas , her philanthropy and her future endeavors and plans, often going back and forth in flashback mode like Indian movies, even loosing the trail of thought at times…

 The book doesn’t flow like a story but sounds like a pitch to target audience when it includes passages and explanations of Indian family traditions, culture, language, wedding rituals….. it makes her sound like an infomercial  with attached  google consult.

The second thing which keeps popping up while you read this book is -it doesn’t read like her life story, but feels like an elaborate Thank You Letter to all the people who have entered in Priyankas life and done her some favors…. Either be her many aunts and uncles, cousins, colleagues or friends.

The only chapters in the book which show some depth in her story are the chapters –‘Like Water’,  and ‘Grief’ . In the ‘Like Water’ chapter, she shares her father’s wisdom to adapt to new places  “Be like water…find the best situation wherever you are and make it work” and her boarding school life as 8-9 year old. In ‘Grief’ she talks about her father’s illness, death and loss. Her parents seemed to have been her strongest support, campaigners and champions in her success.

 For whatever reasons the book was obviously written and published in a hurry. The book ‘Unfinished’ also seems ‘unedited’. Technically it’s not written, but it looks like audio narrated brain dumps using speech-to-text.  The advantage of this method is the story is conversational and it’s a time saver. But the disadvantage is if not well edited it shows in the script. The sentences show ill-formedness with syntactic errors. As an educator who has edited too many essays it blatantly glares when this technology is used for writing.

 

After reading memoirs over the years, I have connected, understood, related, felt empathetic, inspired, or been in awe of the author of the memoirs. Strangely, Unfinished didn’t give any feelings because of its superficial, controlled and unemotional narrative. Irrespective of Priyanka being a 38 year successful woman, she comes off as a giddy teenager and fell flat to my expectations.  But like she said, she is unfinished…. I am hoping she will have some better things ahead!

  

............

 

 

Side Discussions: 

My father sang in temples, mosques, sikh gurdwaras and churches….. This line in her book triggered a question by Oprah Winfrey in her interview with Priyanka Chopra.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRCSZVvq7VE

Oprah: Did you have a spiritual foundation growing up.

Priyanka:  Yes, due to to the swirling number of religions in India you are ….. I went to catholic school, I was aware of Christianity, my dad sang in mosques, I was aware of Islam, I grew up in a Hindu family I was aware of Hinduism......

 The controversial answer got trolled on twitter with major criticism for her frivolous answer in the interview and unresearched writing in the book..... How many people can say their understanding of religion, be it Christianity or Islam or Hinduism comes from such superficial scenarios! And to add to the controversy she said her father sang in mosques which doesn’t happen. The only singing which happens is in a dargah which is a Sufi shrine/cemetery of some saintly human.  People with limited knowledge gained from movies confuse a dargah for a mosque! (since dargahs and qawwali songs are often depicted in Bollywood movies). Where as a Mosque is a Muslim place of worship like a church or temple.

 

 

   

 

 

                                                                                                                                                         

 

 

The Last Color - A Review and conversation with the Chef and Film Maker

 The Last Color-

A Review and Conversation with the Chef and Film Maker

This review was first published after the movie was viewed in Indie Meme Film Festival in Austin,TX-  (April 26^th-28^th ) opening feature being The Last Color by Michelin Star Chef turned Filmmaker Vikas Khanna in attendance.(http://bollywoodfilmcritic.blogspot.com/2019/05/indie-meme-film-festival-2019-building_2.html)

Director: Vikas Khanna

Producers: Jitendra Mishra, Bindu Khanna, Poonam Kaul

Screenplay: Vibhav Srivastava

Story: Vikas Khanna

Starring: Neena Gupta, Aqsa Siddiqui, Rudrani Chettri

Music: Mahesh Bharti

Cinematography:Subhranshu Das

Genre: Drama

Language:Hindi

Duration: 1hr 30 mins

Rating: 4.5 (****.5 /5) stars

Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

What attracted me to the movie was the intrigue of how a celebrity chef with a Michelin star, a highest standard in food creation, fare in film making! Vikas Khanna is interestingly a simple man with a passion and works with his heart hence achieves success in all his endeavors.

The movie The Last Color is based on a book published earlier by the film maker. Last Color is a  story of three people on the fringe of society, who are marginalized, ostracized, and looked down upon by society, religious clerics, and unfortunately even by the government and judicial system of the country. The heartwarming narrative shows  the lives of an old Widow living life of colorlessness and abstinence; a rejected and mistreated Hijra- Eunuch; and a street dwelling low caste untouchable Orphan; giving  rays of hope, breaking taboos and showing a victory of human spirit.  

Excellently written, directed, acted and executed, the story sensitizes us to the harsh realities which prevailed and still exist in India which need to be questioned and stopped.

The naivety and natural talent of the orphan Chothi (Aqsa Siddiqui ) and Neena Gupta’s depth of acting experience with elevated performance as the widow Noor are the highlight of the movie.  Vikas Khanna’s  debut filmmaking is surprisingly excellent, bringing out the hostile truths balanced with innocence and spirited energy and color! Some of the scenes are well directed and choreographed

 especially the scene with Choti on tight rope across buildings  while Noor wrapped in white is passing under.

The movie was beautiful and sad, disturbing yet thought provoking and poignant. I give it  4.5 (****.5 /5) stars and recommend a watch.  

In the Q &A with filmmaker Vikas Khanna in attendance- he opened up his life and talked indepth  about how he got inspired to write the story, about the motivation behind the couple of characters,  the incidents of his own life which got adopted in the story,  his trips to Varanasi or his rides on the river Ganges which gave him food for thought!. 

When comparing the mis-en-place of cooking to the prep of film making he said he found it similar to orchestrate. On asking the actress Neena Gupta on skype about her experience working with a debut filmmaker, she felt it easy to work with Khanna because his fervor for the cause gave him clarity and vision for the movie.

We look forward to more such though provoking movies from chef Vikas Khanna.