DesertTalkies Film Reviews!

  SILSILA [1981] Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, Jaya Bachchan Direction by Yash Chopra, Music by Shiv-Hari Language: Hindi I was watching this new show on Netflix: ‘ The Romantics’  and it reminded me of two Hindi movies that I have watched but completely forgot to review: so here I will be reviewing Silsila.  Mein aur meri tanhai, axar yeh baatein kartein. Tum hoti toh kaisa hota? Tum yeh kehti, tum voh kehti. tum is baat mein hairan hoti, tum is baat mein kitnee hasti. Tum hoti toh aisa hota, tum hoti toh vaisa hota. Mein aur meri tanhai, axar yeh baatein kartein. Me and my loneliness often converse. If you were here, what would happen? You would say this, you would say that. You may have been astonished by this talk or you may have laughed. If you were here, this would happen, if you were here, that would happen. Me and my loneliness often converse.  Sorry! There are certain Hindi dialogues that I just remember and that’s one of them. My translation might not ...

  DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE [1995] Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Amrish Puri, Anupam Kher, Farida Jalal Direction by Aditya Chopra Language: Hindi I have recently had the pleasure of seeing two of the  most iconic movies in their respective industries in the cinema: Titanic from Hollywood and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) from Bollywood. DDLJ has been playing for over 20 years in cinemas in Bombay, and I was super excited to finally have the proper movie watching experience.  Let's start with my actual experience watching it in the cinema. Wow! The theatre was packed, and everyone there had definitely watched the movie beforehand: everyone sang along during the big songs, and everyone cheered and clapped whenever there was a romantic moment. Watching the movie in this environment was incredibly enjoyable, and it's difficult to understand whether it was the experience of the movie itself which made me like it so much.  Much like Leo DiCaprio in Titanic, this...

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness [2015] Direction by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Language: Urdu/Punjabi I was too young to watch this documentary when it was originally released in 2015: the documentary focuses around the subject of honour killings and community pride in lower income groups in rural areas of Pakistan. Not only are those wildly inappropriate topics for a child under the age of 15 to actually watch and listen to, but I think my parents were perhaps trying to shield me. For the longest time, when I heard of Pakistan, I thought of family and excellent food, but this documentary exposed the dark underbelly of a Pakistan that I was not used to seeing: a Pakistan that, whilst being a haven for culture, is a country rife with social challenges that have yet to be resolved.  I won't judge this documentary by the quality/clarity of the actual video (I did watch it on YouTube so I may be completely wrong), but by the impact that it left, by the messages conveyed throug...

  Where the Crawdads Sing [2022] Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson Direction by Olivia Newman, Original story by Delia Owens Language: English To be honest, I didn't really know what I was coming into when I went to watch this movie. The trailer didn't really give me any information and I hadn't read the original book. However, I watched the movie with someone who had read the original story and she really did not like the movie. As somebody with a pair of objective eyes, I can say that the movie was average at best, and I don't know whether it was because the original book was bad, or if it was just the fault of the movie. I feel like the storyline was super repetitive. It was just more of the same again and again. The same conflicts repeated several times, and the resolution was the same time and time again. I get that the movie was supposed to be a slow burn type of thing, and although I don't tend to enjoy movies like that much, so...

  What's Love Got To Do With It? [2023] Starring: Lily James, Shazad Latif, Emma Thompson & Sajal Ali Screenplay by Jemima Goldsmith & Direction by Shekhar Kapur Language: English (and short passages of Urdu) I was kind of dragged to this movie without really knowing what it was about: I was told that it was ‘right up my alley’. Well I can safely say that the person who said this was not wrong. Forget south Asian representation in film, but there’s finally a movie with positive Pakistani representation (that is not a Pakistani film). With all the recent stresses in my life, it felt really good to just watch a feel-good movie. And what is a better feel-good movie than a rom-com? When I found out that the movie was about arranged marriages, I felt an odd sense of pride: my cousin is in the process of getting an arranged marriage as I speak. I can’t really say much about the acting from the main characters: I can say that most performances were fairly run-of-the-mill. It’s saf...

  TITANIC [1997] Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet Screenplay & Direction by James Cameron Language: English Disclaimer: this is not the first time I've watched Titanic, I just recently re-watched it in the cinema as it was recently re-released. Nobody can call themself a movie critic until they have watched Titanic. It is definitely in the top 5 most iconic Hollywood films of all time.  Do you sometimes resent watching good movies? I do, because when I watch them I feel as if nothing can ever compare to how good the movie was. That is how I feel about Titanic.  I have seen Titanic before, but that was at an age where I was too young to comprehend the full meaning or significance behind it. There’s something about watching Titanic in a dark room, no distractions, no stimuli pulling you away. You are faced with no choice but to confront the harsh realities that nobody wants to deal with. Whenever I cry during a movie, it’s for a few brief seconds. This time, I ...