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.
Advertisement
The female-centric films ruled until the early 1960s and then again received a boost from the millennium. Madhuri Dixit Nene, Vidya Balan, Tabu, Dimple Kapadia, Vidya Balan, Priyanka Chopra, Taapsee…
Hindi cinema has now been in a crisis for years. But for sporadic hits, box-office income has been severely depleted, and critical appreciation even more so. “Experts” across spectrum, usually…
The recent Netflix release, Dhoom Dhaam, has been enjoyed by everyone since it’s release on Valentine’s Day as a new twist to romance. In a frank and informal tete-a-tete, I interacted…
Crime and comedy always make for a heady mix. So do romance and humor. So do romantic thrillers. When one amalgamates in a sensible and entertaining way all three genres,…
Stories with messages that are not thrust in our faces but are subtly incorporated into a saga that is completely fresh, riveting and entertaining are not very common. This film…
As we have seen a few days ago (The Travails of Hindi Cinema: Part 1), the Hindi film, as we have known it for decades, is sinking. In a morass…
While reams have been filed on Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar’s works with composers like Shankar-Jaikishan, Madan Mohan, Naushad, Salil Chowdhury and others, there is precious little on the truly voluminous…
One hopes that this film is the last in the seemingly never-ending parade of South remakes. That such a contingency, post-Covid and post-OTT in particular, spells bad luck for even…
Shahid Kapoor has spent over two decades in the film industry, evolving from a romantic hero to taking on complex, layered roles. From Udta Punjab to Kabir Singh, he has consistently chosen characters with…
He is basking in the applause and appreciation for The Mehta Boys, with which he starts out as writer, director and (co-)producer. Among the most grounded human beings in showbiz, Boman…
An extraordinary artiste needs an extraordinary presentation for his life-story. Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia has no equal in the field of flute virtuosos and it is not for nothing that he…
Emergency a 2025 movie co-produced by Kangana Ranaut. She is BJP MP and always a BJP supporter, decides to helm as well as act in Emergency
This is a film with one illustrious title predecessor (Azaad in the 1950s with Dilip Kumar in the title-role) and one quite successful 1978 film with Dharmendra. But this time, the…
G5A’s Cinema House unveils a retrospective that honors the legendary Mani Ratnam. This meticulously curated celebration marks Mani Ratnam’s four extraordinary decades of storytelling that has redefined the boundaries of…
Woe and betide! This is the first Hindi release of the year, and it’s a pathetic cinematic exercise on all counts. Fateh means ‘victory’ but the film not only ‘defeats’ the audience sensibilities but…
The tradition goes back over centuries and an eminent member of this elite league was Sangeet Maanapmaan, a triangular love story
