The Bollywood Elephant

The Blue Dragon Film Awards of Korea, The Filmfare Awards of India, the BAFTAs of the UK, the AACTA Awards of Australia, the Canadian Guild Awards, the European Film Awards are all sort-after awards across the world but the award season is always incomplete without the awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture and Sciences, or commonly as we know, the Oscars. The Academy Awards are due for the 25th of April and here is the Bollywood Elephant predicting the winners of the 93rd Academy Awards after inferring the results from 18 Award Shows. The Bollywood Elephant presents 2 categories of "Should Win" vs "Likely to Win" for all major categories.                                                                Best Production Design: Should Win: Mank Likely to Win: Mank Costume Design: Should Win: Emma Likely to Win: Ma Rainey'...

 This week Netflix gifted us with Ashutosh Rana and Sanya Malhotra starrer,' Pagglait'. Pagglait boasts about a spectacular cast that includes names like Sheeba Chadha, Ashutosh Rana, Raghubir Yadav, Shruti Sharma, Meghana Malik, Rajesh Tailang among others. Oscar Winner Guneet Monga produces this heartwarming, moody, and moving piece of visual art directed by the first-time director, Umesh Bisht.                                                             Sanya Malhotra is in absolute top form but it is the haunting performance of Ashutosh Rana as the grieving father that stayed with me long after the movie ended. The rest of the cast is ever-dependable with the credentials involved. The story by Umesh Bisht keeps story organic and very grounded. Arijit's debut as a composer is great just that at times, reduces the impact of som...

  As previously mentioned in my post on the movie 'Tribhanga', Netflix is continuously churning out some phenomenal body of work, and this week it is 'The White Tiger' based on the Booker Prize-winning book of the same name written by Aravind Adiga. The movie stars Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jones, Adarsh Gourav, and Vijay Maurya in prominent roles! It is written and directed for the screen by Ramin Bahrani.                                               There is so much to speak about the amazing work the actors have done on this film. Adarsh Gourav and his filmography have always been fascinating to me when he started off his career in a Manoj Bajpayee film called 'Rukh', he was destined for staying in cinema. He owns each and every frame he is in(except the ones with RR) and commands your attention. In particular, when he confronts a beggar. His consideration amo...

2021 has begun on an extremely interesting and amazing note for our entertainment industry. In a span of 15 days the entertainment industry has gifted us with some great content like Nailpolish (Zee5), Ram Prasad ki Tehrvi, Gullak Season 2 (Sony Liv), and now the streak continues with Tribhanga (Netflix). The movie stars Kajol, Tanvi Azmi, Mithila Palkar in the lead roles, and the men Kunal Roy Kapoor, Manav Gohil, Vivek Tattwaadi, Kanwaljit Singh among others. It is directed by Renuka Shahane who is better known as Madhuri Dixit's elder sister in Hum Aapke Hain Koun! \                                              Whats's Good:  Acting:  The performances by each and every actor is phenomenal. They embrace their characters with so much conviction that one cannot distinguish between the reel and real characters. Story and Direction:  The story is beautiful and ...

 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 aga...