This is no do or die effort: after all, it is actor Saqib Saleem’s as well as co-producer Nachiket Samant’s debut production. But their ambition should have been loftier, and …
Rajiv Vijayakar
Rajiv Vijayakar
Rajiv Vijayakar is the Entertainment Editor at South Asian Herald. He has been a journalist and critic for over 25 years and was part of the National Film Awards Jury in India in 2011 and 2015. He has authored four books, the latest of which, “Music by Laxmikant Pyarelal,” won the National Award for Best Book on Cinema in 2021. He also was on the 2025 jury for choosing the Indian entry for the Oscars.
-
Pankaj Parashar Announces Pan-Indian Actress Sheena Chohan as the Negative Lead
by Rajiv Vijayakar 3 minutes readOn her birthday, July 3, Sheena Chohan received a memorable gift—a career milestone as filmmaker Pankaj Parashar officially announced her as the negative lead in his upcoming OTT series. The …
-
Film Review: “Nagabandham” The Secret Treasure Makes Up in Scale and Dedication for its Overlong Length
by Rajiv Vijayakar 5 minutes readSuch movies are rare, and most of these emerge from the South. This 180-minute marathon succeeds in making up for its overlong length with its amazing visuals and VFX. For …
-
Web Review: Brown is a Layered Thriller that Drags for the Wrong Reasons
by Rajiv Vijayakar 4 minutes readA thriller with a base in deep psychosis. Like many such dark stories, this one could have been laced with grip and the excitement of “What will happen next?” But …
-
Trailer of Sunny Deol and Akshaye Khanna’s First Netflix Collaboration, Ikka, Unveiled
by Rajiv Vijayakar 4 minutes readSome battles are fought in court. Others are fought within. Netflix unveiled the trailer of Ikka, offering audiences a deeper look into a gripping courtroom drama where justice, family and conviction …
-
In the last two installments of this extended feature, I chose to spotlight what is going or has gone wrong with film music today in lyrics and music. The third …
-
Web Review: Gullak 5 Emerges as Best Season of All
by Rajiv Vijayakar 4 minutes readIn the non-crime genre, Gullak has been the market leader of sorts. Its feel-good ambience has often been appreciated by viewers despite the low-key laughs and the often-tepid level of humor like …
-
Film Review: Welcome to the Jungle—But Only if You Want Entertainment
by Rajiv Vijayakar 6 minutes readIt’s the craziest romp you will ever go on. The film’s kooky ads spell it out correctly: ‘Fake Film; Real Jungle; Real Danger; Real Idiots.’ The plot is loony: an …
-
What is Wrong with Hindi Film Music Today: Part 2
by Rajiv Vijayakar 6 minutes readIn the last part of this story, posted with deliberate intentional irony on World Music Day, an attempt was made to show how and why regressive and retrograde changes had …
-
If Dil Chahta Hai was revolutionarily modern urban for its time a quarter of a century ago, Cocktail 2 in mainstream Hindi cinema, is as avant-garde today as that film then. From conventional to …