Poulomi Das, Author at Arré

Sui Dhaaga Review: A Fine Portrait of the Emotional Labour of Small-Town Women

Sharat Katariya’s Sui Dhaaga falters in several places, but it shines when the spotlight is on its women. In a film about dignity of labour, Katariya’s mastery is most evident in parts where the focus is on the immense emotional and domestic labour every married small-town woman inevitably shoulders.

Poulomi Das July 30, 2016

Modern Family

How My Parents Discovered Love After I Moved Out

Even years after their marriage, my parents remained complete strangers to each other. Their only common connection was their children. And then my sister and I moved out.

Poulomi Das July 29, 2016

Bollywood

Bharat Review: Did We Really Need Another Salman Khan Vanity Project?

Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bharat goes the extra mile to prove that anything can happen in a Salman Khan film. The film feels like a parody that reduces the horrors of Partition to a millennial MTV reality show and has Khan play a 70-year-old with the attitude of a 20-year old.

Poulomi Das July 29, 2016

Pop Culture

Criminal Justice Review: An Average Crime Drama that Says Nothing New About India’s Flawed Judicial System

Criminal Justice comes across more like a faithful remake than an adaptation of the eponymous BBC series, undone by its inability to contextualise the proceedings and Indianise them. The sluggish, over-explanatory pace of the initial episodes ruins the chance of a tense build-up.

Poulomi Das July 28, 2016

POV

The Great Bong Love Affair With Boroline

An indispensable asset of every Bengali, whether they are probashi, bheto, nyaka, or ghoti is their absolute dependency on the wide-ranging powers of the handy Boroline. For us, it’s not just an ointment, but a way of life; just like aloor chop on a Sunday evening or a KKR match at Eden Gardens.

Poulomi Das July 27, 2016

Pop Culture

Anushka Sharma: Never the Bridesmaid, Always the Bride

There is plenty to celebrate about Virushka. But we should probably clap loudest for Anushka Sharma’s pluckiness, a Bollywood outsider who does things her own way.

Poulomi Das July 26, 2016

Pop Culture

Jab Imtiaz Ali Should Have Killed Sejal

Imtiaz Ali’s Sejal sets off on a journey to achieve a socially acceptable level of fuckability and ultimately becomes an extremely worrying case of self-objectification.

Poulomi Das July 26, 2016

Bollywood

Marjaavaan Review: Bollywood Doesn’t Get More Stupid than This Two-Hour Long Headache

Milap Zaveri’s Marjaavaan is yet another pointless outing, based entirely on the idea of finding an excuse for two overgrown man-childs to glare at each other while threatening murder after every five minutes without actually doing anything.

Poulomi Das July 26, 2016

Bollywood

Raazi: A Deshbhakti Film that Shows the Ugly Side of Patriotism

For a film that has clouds of nationalism overpowering every frame, the implication that patriotism is a choice – one that the protagonists are not even offered – is a brave one to make. Yet it seamlessly fits in. For Meghna Gulzar has ensured Raazi isn’t a patriotic film. Instead, it’s a film about the aftermath of patriotism.

Poulomi Das July 26, 2016

Bollywood

Fanney Khan: Anil Kapoor’s On-Screen Ageing Deserves a Fan Club

Anil Kapoor single-handedly stops Fanney Khan from being a train-wreck. The 61-year-old sings, dances, and emotes with the electrifying energy and sincerity of a newcomer hell-bent on creating an impression. And this isn’t even the first time he’s has played an age-appropriate role.

Poulomi Das July 25, 2016