

Exclusive Premium Content
Hridayam Is A Gem Of A Film!
Hridayam (Malayalam, Disney-Hotstar)
Rating: ****
Hridayam Movie Review: Look at the strange ways that irony works. Although there are at least 45 prominent and peripheral characters in writer-director Vineeth Sreenivasan’s 6th directorial venture, Hridayam is really about just three people and a messianic figure who changes their lives.
Selva played by a relatively unknown actor Kalesh Ramanand, is the centrifugal force that manoeuvres the plot and its protagonist to a equipoised closure. Selva is a young enthusiastic innocent reformist. He educates and feeds migrant students,coaches into the success zone in their classroom,and plays the role of a guardian angel.And yes, he in love with girl who irons clothes on the street. A pressing engagement, so to speak.
The light is partially extinguished from this brightly-lit sunny film after Selvi is gone. No wonder Arun(Pranav Mohanlal, son of the legendary Mohanlal) names his son Selvi at the end. This film is not about Selvi. It’s about Arun, a migrant from Kerala studying in an engineering college in Chennai, facing all the curves and dips,highs that lows, of a migrant student, giving nothing away of his inner self-doubts and questionings (this dead-pan-ness suits Pranav Mohanlal).
At one point in this rugged handsome love triangle (actually it is as irresponsible to call it a love triangle as to call Devdas a love triangle) Arun changes colours, becomes the college ruffian, a portable version of Arjun Reddy,so to ‘spit’. Happily,Arun soon tires of this aggressive phase and the screenplay brings Arun back on the rails without tomtomming its virtues from a high moral ground.
No one is a hero here. The film judges no one. Darshana’s jealous rage at her lifelong love Arun’s wedding venue(where a piping-hot clothes iron pops up as a potentially ruinous weapon) is one of the most vulnerable moments of lost-love I’ve seen in Indian cinema.
Indeed Hridayam follows the rhythm and idiom of the heart closely. But there is a pronounced intellectual faculty underlining the growth of Arun from bucolic to brash to honest and finally, perhaps a little wise too.
Outwardly this may seem to be yet another coming-of-age rom-com .But there is a lot more at work here than meets the eye. What lies underneath is what propels the film to the level of a greatness that many may think it hasn’t earned. But that’s only an illusion.Vineet Srineevasan uses personal intimate memories to underline Arun’s maturation. The mix of memories and moments from the here-and-now mesh in a pastiche of pain and release.
I specially liked the ‘Selva’ episode ; no offence to the actor who plays the messianic character. But it needed someone with an iconic image. Pranav Mohanlal in the lead gives a leashed performance .His limited range is never allowed to surface to challenge his dominance in the script . The two actresses who form his love interest Darshana Rajendran and Kalyani Priyadarshan are far more in control of their craft bringing to their lovelorn characters a refreshing individuality that scoffs at their stereotypical placement in the plot.
Come to think of it, that is true of the film as a whole. It seems like yet another film about growing up. But it is not only the curly haired hero who’s grown up at the end. From Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai to Hridayam, the coming-of-age genre in Indian cinema has also matured.
Exclusive Premium Content
Shabana Azmi Breaks Her Wrist, Flies To Budapest For Spielberg

Shabana Azmi’s commitment to getting it right, no matter what it takes, is by now beyond legendary. She is known to go to extreme lengths for her characters, the quick-reference what-Shabana-can-do-for-a-role film being Shyam Benegal’s Mandi where she had put on 30 kgs to look like a ‘Madame’ and convey her message in a brothel.
Now , Shabana flies to Budapest on the night of 8 February in spite of having broken her wrist.
“What to do, I have to.I’ve to shoot another schedule of my second season of Halo(the series produced by Steven Spielberg) . There is no way I can postpone it. I am very upset with myself. It was such an unnecessary accident. I was in Jindal . I took a jump and landed with a fractured wrist, ” says Shabana angrily.
This is not the first fracture that Shabana has suffered in recent times. Before the wrist that’s broken now, she had broken the other wrist. And prior to that she had broken her shoulder.
“I’m supposed to be shooting till the 28th of February. And it’s all very tough physically rigorous scenes. I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I am really annoyed with myself for being careless.” Shabana sighed before signing off.
Knowing her the way I do,I can only say, nothing is impossible for Shabana Azmi.
Exclusive Premium Content
Shobita Dhulipala On Her Close Aquatic Connection To Her Character In The Night Manager

Sobhita Dhulipala has constantly tried to make an impression with her intriguing performances and roles. In The Night Manager she slips into the mysterious role of Kaveri.
Talking about her character, Sobhita Dhulipala says , “There’s a certain intrigue to Kaveri. On better days, you feel like you get a sense of who she is, but you could never be too sure of what she is.”
Being a water person Sobhita enjoyed her character’s aqueous antecedents, “There is a very visible parallel that’s drawn between Kaveri and water throughout the show.They both can be so gentle, so nourishing, but also very tumultuous and deep. Kaveri seems like that. She has this tenderness as well as a current within her.”
Sobhita comes from an aquatic family and feels a deep affinity to water. “I have in the past been compared with water’s energy and I thought it was a tremendous compliment. So, to be able to give form to that feeling, that connection I feel with it..it’s great. My father is a sailor. And I spent many of my younger years at sea, also the home I grow up in was by the shore. I also love the name Kaveri and I always thought when I have my own child, I’d name him/her by a river! So, I think there’s, resonance, all of it really comes together for me.”
Exclusive Premium Content
The Romantics Adi Chopra’s Show All The Way

Netflix’s The Romantics profiling the legend Yash Chopra in four episodes , happened only because Netflix gave complete creative control to Yash Chopra’s son Aditya Chopra, the scion of the Yash Raj family.
A source very close to the project reveals, “If it wasn’t for Adi’s nod, the project wouldn’t have happened. He not only greenlighted the project, he also personally supervised every aspect of the project. Smriti Mundhra is on board as the director of The Romantics. But it is Adi who decided what goes, and what not.”
Apparently the thirty-five interviewees speaking on Yash Chopra in The Romantics were all personally approved by Adi Chopra who also agreed to do his first video interview ever for the docu-pic on his distinguished dad.
Adi Chopra’s one and only print interview was with film critic/editor Khalid Mohamed.
The Romantics starts streaming on Netflix on Valentine’s Day February 14.
Exclusive Premium Content
I’m very excited to be doing my OTT debut: Shahid Kapoor

As Shahid Kapoor Gets Ready To Make His Digital Debut, He Takes Time Off For A Q & A With Subhash K Jha
Farzi is your first foray into the OTT space. How would you describe the experience? Is it any different from doing the films for the big screen?
I’m very excited to be doing my OTT debut, as everybody calls it. I think I did it because I love the directors Raj and DK and their work, and I actually really really liked the idea and the concept behind Farzi, the world of counterfeiting . I felt Sunny was a character that was as challenging as some of my most challenging characters as I’ve done yet. So I immediately wanted to do it.
And was it any different shooting for an OTT series?
Of course, it’s different because you’re watching the character over five to six hours as opposed to maybe two to two and a half hours. So it’s a deeper, wider opportunity to bring a character to life, that’s it.
Farzi gave you the opportunity to work with the great Vijay Sethupathi and also the creators Raj and DK. So what was that experience like?
With Raj and DK, I’ve loved Family Man very much and we’ve met over time and always wanted to collaborate. So I was really looking forward to it. In fact, I asked them if they have a show because they were calling me for a movie because they didn’t really expect… they didn’t think after Kabir Singh, I’d like to do something like that , or whatever. But I actually asked them for it and probed for it, and then they actually told me about this concept which we had discussed as a movie earlier.
So why was the feature film converted into a digital series?
It was just too elaborate to turn into a movie, to fit into a movie. It was only extremely sensible of them to turn it into a show because it deserves that much screen time.
What was it like working with Vijay Sethupathi?
With Vijay sir, it’s been a pleasure. And I want to see how people receive the show. He’s a fantastic actor who has always rediscovered himself and given people completely different experiences when he has come on the big screen. So it’s a privilege to have him on the show. And I had a blast working with him.
Shahid, it’s been twenty years since you started as a leading man. How do you look back on your career so far?
I feel very fortunate to still be here. And I feel grateful that people find my work relevant. I feel there’s a lot more that I would like to do. And I think I am as charged as I was at the age of 21, giving my first shot, as I am today. And I think that’s the best part of the entire journey, that I still am as excited and as curious to get on that film floor and give my next shot. I think that’s what drives any artist.
Tell me about your forthcoming projects?
I’ve got Farzi coming out on 10 Feb. And then there’s a movie with Ali Abbas Zafar, which is an action thriller, a slick action fun film, which will come out in the middle of this year. And then there’s a high-concept quirky love story that I’m doing with Maddock Films, which is directed by a new director. His name is Amit Joshi. It has me and Kriti Sanon in it, and Dharam ji and Dimple ma’am and various other very talented people.
-
Exclusive Premium Content1 week ago
Why On Earth Is Sushmita Sen Smoking A Cigar In Aarya’s First Look?
-
Exclusive Premium Content1 week ago
Samantha Ruth Prabhu to Star Alongside Varun Dhawan in Prime Video’s Indian Original Series , Samantha Speaks
-
Exclusive Premium Content1 week ago
Aamir Khan’s Sister Plays Shah Rukh’s Mother In Pathaan
-
Exclusive Premium Content1 week ago
Shah Rukh, Deepika, John Will Meet The Media On Monday At 4 pm(But There’s A Catch)
-
Exclusive Premium Content1 week ago
Bollywood’s Achche Din Have Come
-
Exclusive Premium Content1 week ago
Anurag Kashyap’s New Film Is About Love Jihad
-
Exclusive Premium Content1 week ago
Preity Zinta’s 5 Finest On Her Birthday
-
Exclusive Premium Content1 week ago
Kartik Aaryan’s Shehzada Postponed By A Week, Producer Aman Gill Explains Why
-
Exclusive Premium Content1 week ago
Fake Projects of Pathaan Director Being Planted In Media
-
Exclusive Premium Content6 days ago
To Attend Siddharth-Kiara’s Destination Wedding, Karan Johar Preponed His Twins’s Birthday Bash
-
Exclusive Premium Content5 days ago
As His Latest Work Faraaz Releases Today, Hansal Mehta Speaks To Subhash K Jha On The Exciting Times Ahead
-
Exclusive Premium Content6 days ago
The Big Independence Day Clash To Be Averted?
-
Exclusive Premium Content3 days ago
Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat Is Anurag Kashyap’s Mellowest Most Meditative Movie In Many Years
-
Exclusive Premium Content5 days ago
Rakesh Roshan: “Everything I Know About Acting & Direction, I Learnt From K Vishwanathji”
-
Exclusive Premium Content5 days ago
Nutella India signs Bollywood Superstar Ranveer Singh to promote the brand across India
-
Exclusive Premium Content3 days ago
Abhishek Bachchan’s Must-Watch Films
-
Exclusive Premium Content3 days ago
Nawazuddin’s Dream House Turns Into A Nightmare
-
Exclusive Premium Content3 days ago
Faraaz : We Are The Champions
-
Exclusive Premium Content2 days ago
Bhupinder Singh The Popular Voice That Drawing Room Singers Were Drawn To
-
Exclusive Premium Content2 days ago
“Shah Rukh Khan Is A True Pathan” Kamal Haasan