The 23rd Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) has many first timers this year round. For the first time, there will be a rare language Indian films category where eight films will be screened from different languages and communities that are almost on the path of
Calcutta of 1960s to 1980s. The sight of tall well-built Pathans in baggy suits waiting outside a building or office apartment was a common sight. They were the Kabuliwalas of Kolkata, who either acted as moneylenders or sold dry fruits and spices they brought from
‘What is great in the realm of art might not be equally acceptable in the realm of morality; similarly, what morality finds laudable might fail to satisfy artistic thirst’ – this observation, articulated in the course of Annada Shankar Ray’s essay collection on Tolstoy, reflects
Debapriya Adhikary and Samanwaya Sarkar, two young film-makers from Bengal shot to fame in 2016, with their docu-film Girija. The film that explores the life of Girija Devi, right from her years in Banaras to her unique contribution to Indian classical music, won the best
Films have portrayed love, affection and bonding between families in the most beautiful way. Though we find bonding between mother-son or brother-sister,tales of father-sons are rare. There are exceptions though,three cult films of this genre were Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece, The Kid (1921), Vittorio De Sica’s
British film institute’s National Archive has restored the 1928 silent movie Shiraz, based on the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan, his queen Mumtaz and construction of Taj Mahal. But this movie had a Kolkata connect. Himanshu Rai who plays Shiraz and follows his childhood sweetheart when
How do we define Kishore Kumar? His larger-than-life entity cannot be fitted in a single frame. He was a genius, a man of myriad moods, an enigmatic, crazy, romantic, brilliant singer/actor nay, a total packaged performer -- in short, God’s precious gift to mankind. He
He was a student of Don Bosco Park Circus. And then went on to study at St Xavier’s College. Today, his feature film Ajji, will be competing in the New Currents Section of Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. The films in that section
That deep baritone as he sang Ekla Cholo Re for the movie Kahaani, had attracted many a wow from the audience for the megastar of Bollywood. People asked who taught Amitabh Bachchan to sing and got to know his Bengali skills were honed up by
Tollywood is currently inundated with bright sparks and ideas with directors willing to take risk and venture into areas not treaded so far. They are opening new vistas and the audience is definitely not complaining. The latest one to join this fray is Premangshu Roy’s 'Chilekotha'. 'Chilekotha'