Chup Chup Ke: Far from parfait

  My Mom’s signature dessert is trifle.   Not too hard to make.   Some small pieces of ladyfingers (the yellow cake, not the vegetable) covered in a thin swipe of raspberry jam, spread in one layer across the bottom of the dish, then douse in sherry.   As the  Harveys Bristol Creme soaks in, […]

Kaagaz ke Phool

Black and white, and visually precious.   This 1959 film is often cited as an example of the golden age of Hindi cinema. Directed by and starring Guru Dutt, who committed suicide  in 1964 at the age of 39, the film is considered by many to be at least partially autobiographical. The movie opens with […]

Shakti – The Power. What a stinker!

I’ve no one to blame but myself.   I took this 2002 Sridevi Productions movie home because I like Nana Patekar, one of the three lead actors, and had  read, several times over, back when the movie was first released that, surprisingly,  Karisma Kapoor had done a good turn in it.   What a sorry […]

Deewar

  Even 30 years since its release, Yash Chopra’s  Deewar still has a lot going for it:  classic Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay, leggy and brooding, in full angry-young-man mode, the breathy voice and soft eyes of  Shashi Kapoor as Ravi, the Dudley Doright brother of the family, compelled to pursue his bad boy brother. The […]