In 2008, the bustling city of Mumbai, India was attached in a coordinated effort by a group of Pakistani terrorists that hit 12 targets throughout the city, ultimately killing at least 174 people. Four of the gunmen went to the luxurious Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, and Hotel Mumbai is a claustrophobic, horrifically detailed reenactment of …
Saroo Brierley’s story is one of those that would be too astonishing to make up. As a child in India in the 1980s, he was out with his brother at night scavenging for money in railcars when he fell asleep at a train station a couple hours from home. When he woke up, he was …
Rather than picking up right where Season One left off, Season Two of Indian Summers jumps ahead a few years to 1935. This allows for some shakes ups to happen with old and new characters, and for political tensions to be explored, as things have been brewing since we last saw the Whelans, the Patels, …
Who doesn’t like to see an occupying empire crumble? I’m not sure why the era of the British occupation of India is so specifically fascinating, but it has all the elements that make for good drama: politics, race, classicism, religion, two vastly differing geographies and cultures, and plenty of corruption. Indian Summers focuses on the …
Many moons before binge-watching series on Netflix became a common practice, and before many series became readily available to rent on DVD, I sat down and watched the entire 14 hours of The Jewel in the Crown in two days in my parents’ basement after boomeranging back home in my 20s. My parents had taped …
The winner of the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival and ultimately the Oscar for Best Picture, director Danny Boyle’s latest offering combines his trademark frenetic style (see: Trainspotting) with a distinctly Hollywood-esque “little engine that could” type story, and the result is a colorful, enjoyable, occasionally harrowing and all-around entertaining drama with …
Let’s just say one thing right off: Bollywood this ain’t! After enjoying the delightful Straight From the Heart song-and-dance flick at SIFF last year, we rushed to pick an Indian film from the new schedule. Oy, vey. Straight From the Heart was eye-popping entertainment that kept your interest for three hours, whereas Vanaprastham: Last Dance …