cinema

One Hundred Years of Akira Kurosawa

Saibal Chatterjee

Shakespeare, Tolstoy or American crime fiction, Akira Kurosawa fashioned them into his own unique brand of cinema. On his centenary, Open remembers the man whose films launched a thousand remakes.

‘In a Way I am Indebted to Farhan’

Sourav Majumdar

At his cosy apartment off Peddar Road in Mumbai, the director of India’s 1978 cult film Don is shaping his second innings in Hindi cinema. After a 31-year hiatus, Chandra Barot, 67, is raring to have one more shot at moviemaking.

Three Men in a Theatre

Shyam G. Menon

The astonishing story of three young men who got addicted to Hollywood in the late 1940s and could not give it up as they slowly became old men and the world around them changed.

Pan-Indian Ambition

Rahul Jayaram

Mammooty would have us refer to cinema made in India as ‘Indian cinema’. With his latest, Pazhaasi Raja, simultaneously releasing in five languages, he should certainly hope so.

Out of Thin Air

Open

This film offers many of the old-fashioned pleasures of the documentary: it takes us to an unfamiliar place and tells us an unknown story. In this case it’s also an unexpected story.

Sikandar

Rahul Jayaram

Into the valley of Kashmir rides another confused tale of lost childhood that offers no insight into real issues

The Making of Total Ten

Open

For weeks our photographer followed the production of a low-budget film inspired by the Mumbai terror attacks. An inside look at the insanely comic handling of a tragedy

No Country for Heroines

Rubina A. Khan

The Hindi film industry, for all its powdercaking and blockbusting, cannot disguise its utter disregard for lead female roles and the actresses that play them. It’s not just about the difference in pay, it’s about the industry’s attitude towards filmmaking