Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (Dir. Karan Johar, 2016)

(Reviewed 3.5/5 on letterboxd.com in Feb 2018)


No Mr. Johar, not every Bollywood fan aspires to live out scenes and songs from Chopra and Johar films. Despite the self congratulatory tone of the film, it exceeds expectations mainly through the performances of Kapoor and Sharma. Also towards the end when I was almost certain Johar was getting into Kal Ho Na Ho territory , he surprised me once again with that ending. An extra half star just for that Channa Mereya song sequence at the wedding; no Kapoor has channeled his inner Chaplin better than in that scene.

Rajnigandha (Dir. Basu Chatterjee, 1974)

(Reviewed 4/5 on letterboxd.com in Feb 2018)


A film about the desires and fantasies of a young bourgeois woman, trying to decide between the two loves of her life. Quite ahead of its time, even though it tries its best not to appear completely blasphemous to the contemporary Indian society of the 70's. I think Vidya Sinha's conservative and dreamy (bordering on dumb) character definitely helps in that regard.