Curious Case: By Radhika Bhirani

Radhika Bhirani rbhirani@gmail.com Sometimes, a crisis gives birth to new opportunities. It's a done-to-death cliche, but see it from the creative eye and mind, and you'll find that the number of new stories (read opportunities) will be plenty, and diverse. Take a dekko: Covid 19, Around Corona, Corona 2020, Corona Ka Ronaa, Dharavi v/s Corona 2020, Corona Lockdown, Go Corona Go, Haye Corona, Pyar Korona, Coronachya Aaicha Gho. These are just some of the film titles already registered in Maharashtra amid the ongoing pandemic, according to Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association (IMPPA) President T.P. Aggarwal. A batch of television shows, which have come up with new episodes, have already interspersed the Covid-19 narrative using masks, shields, sanitisers and more, in efforts to underline how precaution is the best cure in these times. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, whose films Article 15 -- about discrimination in the country's social fabric -- and Thappad -- about a w...

Radhika Bhirani rbhirani@gmail.com When Jimmy Sheirgill landed a small, but significant part as a terrorist in Gulzar's Maachis (1996) which marked his big screen debut, he used to visit a Gurudwara in Mumbai's Four Bungalows vicinity. He would bow down, touch his head on the floor, and say, "Itni meher kar lena ki koi ye naa bole ki yeh bura actor hai". Today, he's just a year short of 25 years since setting out on that journey. A journey he looks back at with pride, but doesn't dwell upon it. A journey where he allowed himself to be guided by his head and heart, rather than go by the rules. A journey where he chose to be a "good actor" than chase stardom. "He has given me so much that now people say I am underrated, I am a good actor, and so I feel He has given me more than what I asked for. I never asked Him for stardom," the 49-year-old actor tells me with a nonchalance that you'd rarely expect from an actor who has every ingredient...

Radhika Bhirani rbhirani@gmail.com "A dark comedy"; "Set in the backdrop of quaint dark jungles of Jharkhand"; "...engulfed into the universe of dark netherworld"; "The show's second season becomes far more grittier and darker than the first"; "The show sheds light on the dark realities of human nature", "It gives us a peek into a seemingly peaceful world that nurses a dormant, dark and dangerous underbelly".... It doesn't end. For weeks, my eyes are tired, as is my mind, looking at descriptors of shows and films that the world of digital streaming platforms have been or are serving up to an audience that is seemingly lapping it all up, in the middle of a mind-boggling pandemic. Not that I am not watching some of these shows myself with rapt attention. But really, sometimes I want to scream, "Arre bhai, kuch halka, kuch happy ho jaaye?" In a subtle appeal, which one assumes resonates with the "I'm ti...

Radhika Bhirani rbhirani@gmail.com "I can't wait for the world to watch it. It truly celebrates womanhood." In our chat ahead of the International Women's Day in March, before the lockdown changed life as we knew it altogether, Bhumi Pednekar gushed about Alankrita Shrivastava's Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, a story about women finding freedom, as you'd expect an actor of her footing to do. I say footing, because the foundation of her five-year-old career is rooted in a film with a hefty message at heart. Her maiden film Dum Laga Ke Haisha picked on how the society at large weighs an overweight woman on a scale of inadequacy. As part of essaying Sandhya Verma, an educated and progressive woman in a small town milieu, Bhumi was able to offset several perceptions, not just about being a 'Bollywood heroine', but about women. It's a path she has continued to be on with subsequent films. "Right after Dum Laga Ke Haisha, I was very fortunate ...

Radhika Bhirani rbhirani@gmail.com "Baap baap hota hai!" But even they have shades. Gajraj Rao has brought them alive distinctly and distinctively through such big screen outings as Badhaai Ho and Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan, and web offerings Bang Baaja Baaraat, F.A.T.H.E.R.S. and Tech Conversations With Dad, in the recent past. It won't be an exaggeration to say that he has emerged as new-age Bollywood's beloved 'baap'. But did you know he had his reservations about taking on a father's role initially? Rao has had a varied repertoire in the world of media and entertainment. If theatre and films gave him a chance to satiate the performer in him, his creative juices as a storyteller also found a vent through his advertising company Code Red Films. As an actor, he has dabbled in films ranging from Bandit Queen, Dil Se.. and Yahaan to Black Friday, Talvar and Blackmail, essaying myriad roles. But it was the 2018 entertainer Badhaai Ho, which became his big ...

Radhika Bhirani rbhirani@gmail.com "Badi garm hava hai... jo ukhda nahin toh sookh jayega.” The winds of change and time have neither withered MS Sathyu's spirit, nor the relevance, alas, of his iconic 1973 film Garm Hava. "I'm fine despite the deadly virus in the air," Sathyu, who turns 90 on July 6, tells me from his Bengaluru home, quipping that lockdown, has for one, "disciplined" him. Celebrations? "No, not this year, because of the virus. Usually friends just drop in, and we have a little dinner and drinks... If things are better, I may celebrate next year," says the theatre and filmmaking veteran. An early riser, Sathyu keeps himself occupied by watching some old classics and catching up on some new global cinema on a computer. One Tunisian film, A Son, has especially caught his fancy. "I'm not going out because I don't want to mix with the crowd around. It's not very safe," adds the Padma Shri honoree, worried abo...