Shubhra Gupta is film critic and senior columnist with the Indian Express. She watches world cinema for delectation, Hollywood for fun, and Bollywood for work. She has a huge capacity to sit through terrible Bollywood movies, but no patience at all with bad Hollywood. And world cinema has to be really cutting edge to grab her attention, and keep it. When she began reviewing, over 20 years ago, people would commiserate and say, “oh, you poor thing, you have to watch Hindi cinema”. But soon, Bollywood became cool, cool, cool. So now she hears this more often “oh my god, you watch Bollyood films, can you introduce me to Shah Rukh Khan”? No, she can’t, sorry, though she can vouch for the fact that he is really sharp and good fun in conversation. But what she can do, and has done week after week, month after month, year after year, without a break, is to lead you into the magical world of movies, and share her experiences of watching all those hundreds of films over the years. In her reviews and columns, she lets you into what she likes, and doesn’t, and invites you to be bewitched. And to know how to choose between the good ones and the turkeys, and how you can take away something from even the really ghastly ones. Because life is a movie, isn’t it? Bahut picture baaki hain, mere dost.
May 31, 2025 08:07 IST
Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan on capturing the voice of the marginalised in Homebound, the nine-minute standing ovation it received at the Cannes Film Festival, navigating his identity and how empathy and kindness are what the world needs right now.
Sun, Jun 01, 2025May 30, 2025 16:38 IST
Sister Midnight movie review: The film is a strong indictment of mismatched people yoked into marriages not of their making. And a big shout-out to finding your tribe.
Fri, May 30, 2025May 30, 2025 12:59 IST
Kankhajura review: While the show is filled with good performances -- everyone does their job well -- the writing doesn’t surprise as much as it could have. There’s also the standard difficulty of everything becoming a stretch.
Fri, May 30, 2025May 30, 2025 12:32 IST
Criminal Justice A Family Matter review: Pankaj Tripathi’s everyman-ness is his most endearing trait, but it can also become a much of muchness.
Fri, May 30, 2025May 24, 2025 14:30 IST
Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind can be described as a heist-gone-wrong, but it is not as interested in the act of stealing itself, as it is in the robber.
Sat, May 24, 2025May 22, 2025 20:28 IST
Homebound’s buddy film elements are placed on the highly volatile intersection of caste, class and gender, with religion added to the mix.
Thu, May 22, 2025May 22, 2025 09:00 IST
Jafar Pahani’s It Was Just An Accident, his second foray into Cannes competition, is about what happens when an unexpected incident rolls over into wholly unexpected territory. Destiny and chance are play, as is, we discover, righteous vengeance.
Thu, May 22, 2025May 20, 2025 14:49 IST
Satyajit Ray's classic Aranyer Din Ratri was screened at the Cannes classic section in a glowing restored version in the presence of Sharmila Tagore and Simi Garewal.
Tue, May 20, 2025May 20, 2025 07:00 IST
The Phoenician Scheme movie review: Even the non-stop array of Hollywood A-listers, who will show up for just the privilege of hanging around the set, don’t make us stop and gawp.
Fri, Jun 20, 2025May 19, 2025 07:00 IST
Very few filmmakers dig as deep into the ties that bind us in happiness and in sorrow as Lynne Ramsay does. Her Die, My Love was showcased at Cannes Film Festival.
Mon, May 19, 2025May 18, 2025 03:57 IST
Linklater’s film will make those who adore Breathless nostalgic. Set in 1969, it is black and white, but it’s not the luscious-lambent period black-and-white which could have distanced us; the matter-of-fact palette makes it all very life-like.
Sun, May 18, 2025May 16, 2025 23:54 IST
Loznitsa is in familiar territory, having given us glimpses into the labyrinthine workings of Russia and his native Ukraine in his earlier work
Fri, May 16, 2025May 16, 2025 20:48 IST
Two Prosectors doesn’t deviate from bleakness, but is possibly Sergei Lozintsa’s most accessible film in the manner in which he depicts a system, locked and loaded, against the less powerful.
Fri, May 16, 2025May 15, 2025 18:44 IST
With Sound Of Falling, we may have already seen the best film of the Cannes film festival, which has just begun.
Thu, May 15, 2025May 15, 2025 07:00 IST
Express at Cannes: One of the most anticipated events at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival was a centre-piece conversation with Robert De Niro.
Thu, May 15, 2025May 14, 2025 01:42 IST
Express at Cannes: French actor Juliette Binoche heads jury; Payal Kapadia, Halle Berry, French-Moroccan journalist Leila Slimani, and Italian actor Alba Rohrwacher are other women members
Thu, May 15, 2025May 09, 2025 14:09 IST
The Royals review: Ishaan Khatter had more bite in his small part in the Nicole Kidman starrer ‘The Perfect Couple’. All that coupling with Bhumi Pednekar doesn’t really get as steamy as it should have.
Fri, May 09, 2025May 09, 2025 11:16 IST
Gram Chikitsalay review: The TVF stamp is clear, and the mandate appears to be the same -- give the viewers yet another slice of ruralcore where the clash between city and village is laid out in slow-paced easily digestible chunks.
Fri, May 09, 2025May 02, 2025 16:37 IST
Black, White and Gray Love Kills review: Patriarchy, parental opposition, class differences, power structures, are all present in this crime drama, reminding you of several others that have come before.
Fri, May 02, 2025May 01, 2025 17:13 IST
The Bhootnii movie review: Sanjay Dutt-Mouni Roy 'film' proudly and flagrantly stands apart from any vestiges of plot and production values, forget about sense and sensibility.
Thu, May 01, 2025May 01, 2025 14:53 IST
Costao movie review: Only if the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer had been executed with more verve, this would have been a film to remember for all the right reasons. Instead, the telling lets down both actors and story.
Thu, May 01, 2025May 01, 2025 09:28 IST
Raid 2 Movie Review & Rating: The Ajay Devgn-starrer is wrapped in such a strong whiff of sameness that the first half comes off entirely superfluous. After a string of eye-glaze scenes in which Devgn and Riteish Deshmukh go at each other, you are left clutching at straws.
Fri, May 02, 2025April 25, 2025 14:19 IST
Ground Zero movie review: Emraan Hashmi does a good job of playing a BSF officer on the hunt for dreaded terrorist Ghazi Baba. He tones down the dialoguing and makes it sound conversational. But tighter would have been better.
Fri, Apr 25, 2025April 25, 2025 12:42 IST
Saif Ali Khan Jewel Thief Movie Review: Borrowing its title from one of Hindi cinema’s most iconic heist movies, this Saif Ali Khan-Jaideep Ahlawat-starrer cobbles together a plot in which every scene and sequence has been done to death, and you can see twists coming before they even start.
Fri, Apr 25, 2025April 25, 2025 11:07 IST
Phule movie review: Both Pratik Gandhi and Patralekha as Jyotiba and Savitribai do justice to their characters, the latter given more fiery oratorial chances in her pushback against oppression.
Fri, Apr 25, 2025