‘Joyland’ has numerous grounds to win the Academy Award on January 3, 2023The film opens with Haider playing with his nieces and suddenly he gets a call from hospital – his sister in law is about to give birth. The tragedy struck when again they witness the birth of a girl. Haider is only member of his family whose existence is ignored – he is ghost- mainly […]
Guru Dutt and ‘Chup’ on December 6, 2022When you ask a film critic that, whose film was highly denounced by critics, the name Guru Dutt and his Kaagaz ke Phool spring to mind. Guru Dutt’s final film, Kaagaz Ke Phool, was released in 1959. It was his most personal film since it contains semi-autobiographical glances into his life. His personal narrative was […]
The Legend of Maula Jatt on November 7, 2022The best way to demonstrate a hero’s true bravery is to pit him against a wicked adversary. The villain always outweighs the hero in power. The villain is the hero’s partner in carrying forward the film’s narrative and provides the reasons for a good old punch-up. The rivalry between Maula Jatt and Noori Natt is […]
‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ is the answer to Pakistani film industry’s malaise on November 5, 2022The best way to demonstrate a hero’s true bravery is to pit him against a wicked adversary. The villain always outweighs the hero in power. Villain is hero’s partner in carrying forward the film’s narrative and provides the reasons for good old punch-up. The rivalry of Maula Jatt and Noori Natt is notorious not only […]
‘Crimes of the Future’ — a horrifying twist to a possible future on July 25, 2022Have you ever considered that in the far future, rather than competing for our exterior beauty, we would be an oriented beauty pageant that focuses on our inner beauty or our inner bodily parts, such as our lungs, liver, and other organs, and tattoo them? Or consider the possibility of our evolved generation ingesting plastics […]
‘Kamli’ to elevate Pakistani cinema to new heights on June 5, 2022In his candid-talk, filmmaker Satyajit Ray said, “We have a fairly backward audience I must say, in spite of the film society movement. If you consider the larger audience in India, it’s a backward audience.” The criticism is also directed at Pakistani viewers, who are unable to think outside the box and the blame is […]
Cinemas in Hyderabad and downfall of the industry on October 5, 2021Every detail written in this article was narrated to me by my father Basharat Ali Soomro. It’s the pre Zia era; Camel carts are carrying huge posters of movies to be embellished at 20 different cinemas of Hyderabad. Along with a cart can be seen a 6ft person known as Badamani, pretending and attired as […]
‘Cry Macho’ has many glimpses of ‘A Perfect World’ also directed by Clint Eastwood on September 20, 2021In 2018, Clint Eastwood, then 88, directed a movie ‘The Mule’ in which he played a lead of horticulturist based on the story of World War II veteran Leo Sharp. In 2021, at the age of 91, Eastwood came up with Cry Macho, where again he played the lead role and directed it. This shows […]
‘Malignant’ is opposite to supernatural horror genre with violence and gruesome images on September 13, 2021Mark Twain once said, “Everyone is a Moon and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” A Cherokee story resembling to these lines were read by me recently in the book Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. An old man says to his grandson: ‘There’s a fight going on inside me. […]
History defines heroes on July 12, 2020A slightly mistake in making a judgment will be reason to deaths and execution of millions. So is the case with four German judges and prosecutors, accused of crime, sterilization and atrocities against humanity during Nazi regime depicted in Judgment at Nuremberg directed by Stanley Kramer. Court room geopolitical drama, Judgment at Nuremberg, though, is […]