The Bollywood Elephant

 This year has been tough for the movies and everyone associated with cinema. In 2020, a total of 27 notable releases came out in theatres, and approximately 35 movies released on OTT platforms like  Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar, etc. Considering the dull and gloomy 2020 has been, the Bollywood Elephant has decided to only focus on the positives and the best films and series 2020 has offered!                                               First, we pick the best actors, music, dialogues, singers, story, screenplay, direction, and finally my Top 5 films of the year! FILMS: Best Actor (Male):  This year it was really tough to pick 1 when one is spoilt for choices. However solely based on this man's phenomenal performance as Aaloo and the entry scene in particular sealed the deal for me to pick him as the performer of the year (male). Rajkummar Rao yet again proved how effortlessly he transforms from Aaloo in Ludo to Montu sir in Chhalaang! I wish he gets his due at the box-office so

 2 years after the debacle of 'Jagga Jasoos', director Anurag Kashyap is back with his multi starer movie, 'Ludo'. The movie stars Rajkummar Rao, Abhishek Bachchan, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Sanya Malhotra, Asha Negi, Pearl Maane, Fatima Sana Sheikh, Shalini Vatsa. It is scripted, directed, and photographed by Basu himself who collabs with his companion, Pritam for music!                                                   What's Good:  Acting: This time RR walks away with the cake from Tripathiji's hand. He is terrific. Abhishek, Tripathiji, Aditya, Rohit, Pearl, Lata, and everyone else is absolutely PHENOMENAL. Fatima might be a hindrance however can be overlooked! Story:  Basuji's writing is absolutely phenomenal. No one could have made an anthology so nicely and connected the dots so beautifully. Music:  'Hardum Humdum', 'Abaad Barbaad', 'Dil Julaha' are absolute gems and Pritam gives us one of the few albums worth remembe

To begin with, I really had a tough time to gather myself and write a review for this Farhan-Priyanka starrer. Director Shonali Bose presents this real-life story of Aisha Chaudhary with her personal touch ( she has gone through a similar thing with her son) making this movie so balanced, positive, beautiful and deals with the subject that 'death is the ultimate truth' so well that it is hard to encapsulate it in words!                                             What's Good:  Performances:  PC, Zaira, Rohit perform so exponentially well but it is Farhan who makes the maximum impact. The vulnerability, the emotions, the longing couldn't be played any better. The movie is pitch-perfect here. Music: Pritam's music is just like the cherry on the cake. Message:  What it takes about is something very relevant about life. Direction, Writing, Dialogues, Editing:  The excellent voice-overs by Aisha (played by Zaira), bose's sensitive handling of the subject, Juh

'The Great Indian Escape' is a movie directed by Taranjiet Singh Namdhari and stars Asheesh Kapur, Raj Singh Arora and Raghav Rishi in the lead roles. It is a true story based on the aftermath of the 1971 Indo-Pak war and an escape made by 3 Indian Air Force officers after they were held as Prisoners of War. it is a story of motivation, bravery, courage, valour and love for our motherland.                                                 What's Good:   Story:  Needless to say, the story is one of the strongest points of the TGIE. Performances: The performances by Asheesh Kapur and Raj Singh are absolutely amazing which are ably supported by the rest of the cast. Direction and Editing:  Director and Editor Taranjiet Nambi masterfully edits and directs the movie. Dialogues:  The dialogues are well-written and do not go to the 'hyper-nationalism' way. Art Direction and Set Design:  The art direction and set design are absolutely spot on. They seem to be in syn

There have been various kinds of movies that have to be told but face problems when they have to do not find any producers willing to invest money. Such stories with a desire to be a feature film turn to crowdfund for raising capital for production.                                          As evident from its name, crowdfunding is a practice adopted by a lot of indie filmmakers to gather fund for their films. Not only provide funds, but crowdfunding also permits the public to be familiar with the film and its cast (one of the biggest positives when the box office is concerned). Not only that, as per an investor, " Many independent film producers view crowdfunding as an excellent way to raise funds to cover production costs. Film producers are able to start to accumulate an interesting audience for their movie while raising money to make it."   A few examples of crowd-funded movies is Rajat Kapoor's national award-winning movie 'Raghu Romeo', which wo