Films

A Brahminical Youtube?

IN Media Freedom | 2018-09-06

Patwardhan expressed concern that the decision was an attempt to impose YouTube’s sovereignty over the law of the land.


Actor strips, industry acts

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |13/04/2018

Actor Sri Reddy’s stripping protest on April 6 against the sexual exploitation of aspiring actresses in the Telugu film industry has led to  the institution of a Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) in the industry, announced on April 12…

 

Two blows against censorship

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |11/04/2018

A Supreme Court ruling and the debut of a film on Netflix together signify a push back for censorship by society and the state. On April 10 the SC criticised the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee for imposing restrictions on the film "Nanak Shah Fakir" and cleared its release on April..

 

Rajinikanth steps into TN’s reel- to-real life politics

BY BP SANJAY| IN OPINION |02/01/2018

The film star’s promise of a new ‘’spiritual politics’ may sit uneasily in a state where rationalism and atheism have held sway for 50 years.

 

IFFI begins, minus Nude and S Durga

BY MANJULAA| IN CENSORSHIP |19/11/2017

The directors are indignant at their films being dropped but the reasons are somewhat more complicated than simple ‘censorship’..

 

Film tribunal’s rulings: good, bad and arbitrary

BY PRASHANT REDDY THIKKAVARAPU| IN CENSORSHIP |16/11/2017

The FCAT is doing a good job of overruling the CBFC’s bizarre diktats but it could be less arbitrary about its own orders?

 

MIB drops films, jury head resigns

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |14/11/2017

NDTV reports that Director Sujoy Ghosh, head of the  jury for the Indian Panorama section at the 48th International Film Festival of India, has resigned. Last week the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting reportedly removed two films from a list picked by the jury to be screened at the festival.  Missing from the..

 

 Good sense returns to the CBFC

BY MANJULAA| IN CENSORSHIP |09/09/2017

Under Prasoon Joshi, the CBFC is trying to handle film certification without cuts and make life easier for filmmakers..

 

Taste the Misery

BY GEETA SESHU| IN MEDIA FREEDOM |22/08/2017

Film maker seeks an early verdict on documentary showing the impact on farmers and water supplies of Coca Cola bottling plants.

 

Lipstick… Should it have made it to the screens at all?

BY MANJULAA| IN OPINION |29/07/2017

Do filmmakers like Alankrita Shrivastava have the maturity to decide what their audiences will watch as Shabana Azmi contends..

 

Why short films have begun to make it big

BY MANJULAA| IN SPECIAL REPORTS |27/07/2017

Short films have taken time to get to centrestage in India but looks like they are here to stay..

 

Taking quality cinema to smaller cities

BY MANJULAA| IN REGIONAL MEDIA |30/06/2017

There has always been a disconnect between good cinema and B towns. The Jagran Film Festival which begins in Delhi on July 1 aims to end that.

 

Visual tales born out of conflict

BY SEVANTI NINAN| IN MEDIA FREEDOM |18/06/2017

All three films not permitted to be shown at the short film festival in Kerala which is currently under way, are now on YouTube. Did the GOI really feel threatened by these?

 

Truth telling from the frontlines

BY NUPUR BASU| IN MEDIA FREEDOM |11/03/2017

“Velvet Revolution” is a 57-minute international documentary which profiles women journalists who have paid a high price for speaking truth to power.

 

 

CBFC's U/A binge

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |04/10/2017

Under its new head the CBFC has been handing out U/A certificates to films which you would expect to be certified 'U'. Newton, which is  about a polling officer's efforts to conduct elections in a Chhattisgarh village, has got U/A certification. So has Chef, starring Saif Ali Khan, because the..

 

Newton and Maoism: mass media finally gets it right

BY SHUMA RAHA| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |24/09/2017

Newton is a quiet film which delivers a ringing satire on the nature of state intervention in Naxal areas and the sham elections that are held there.

 

Karan Johar’s capitulation

BY GEETA SESHU| IN MEDIA FREEDOM |25/10/2016

It all comes round again - political thugs dictating what film, play, or concert can go ahead. Karan Johar is just the latest to surrender to threats.

 

Film ‘31 October’ battles opposition to release

BY PALLAVI BHATTACHARYA| IN MEDIA FREEDOM |15/10/2016

The PIL is only the most recent hurdle for a film which revisits the 1984 riots and its aftermath in a commercial release.

 

India’s Pink Revolution?

BY PALLAVI BHATTACHARYA| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |27/09/2016

The film with a strong feminist message has sparked off multiple debates. But what kind of impact can it have on men and behaviour?

 

Baahubali critics, get a grip, please

BY ARUNODAY MAJUMDER| IN OPINION |25/05/2017

Critics who have got their knickers in a twist over the film betray their ignorance and expose the poverty of cinema commentary,

 

‘Snowden,’ a picture of the cybersecurity state

BY SANJAY GOEL| IN PRIVACY |20/09/2016

The extent and scope of intelligence agencies’ ability to intercept communications and collect information is mind-boggling.

 

Does social media chatter help a film succeed?

BY PALLAVI BHATTACHARYA| IN DIGITAL MEDIA |10/09/2016

Both controversies and a marketing push lead to a buzz on social media for a film. But should such manipulated discussions influence movie goers on what to watch

 

Is a film with no PR destined to be a flop?

BY PALLAVI BHATTACHARYA| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |30/08/2016

The answer is usually yes because so many films are vying for attention. But sometimes, a film can make it on its own steam.

 

The Odisha casting couch smears the ruling BJD

BY PRADEEP MAHAPATRA| IN REGIONAL MEDIA |01/07/2016

Allegations of trading sex for roles in the film industry and shady business practices cast a shadow over Odisha’s Ollywood.

 

Whose choice is it anyway?

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |16/04/2015

The Vogue My Choice video starring Deepika Padukone makes gender equality look

deceptively easy.

 

No crime, no ban surely? ?

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |07/03/2015 ?

The ban on 'India's Daughter' is unjustified. It breaks no law and is a criticism of India rather than a defamation, ??

 

Leslee Udwin no, Honey Singh yes

IN OPINION |05/03/2015

Since there is so much outrage over a film which is documenting reality, why is there none over the entertainment industry's contribution to misogyny,

 

Film-maker challenges film certification rules

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |02/02/2015

Documentary film-maker Pankaj Butalia's The Textures of Loss provokes an SC judge to comment on balanced portrayal.

 

PK Doublespeak

IN CENSORSHIP |01/01/2015

Vigilante Hindutva groups have perfected the art of violent protests

 

News, lies, and more lies...

BY TERESA REHMAN| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |28/11/2014

The scramble for TRPs distorts the truth and hinders justice.

 

Haider: to depict or not to depict...

BY SANJAY PULIPAKA| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |10/11/2014

...that is the question posed by Vishal Bhardwaj's film. Why is it that women are portrayed as marginal and Kashmiri Pandits have been neglected by film makers,

 

City life on celluloid

BY VIKRAM JOHRI| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |04/10/2014

The second Urban Lens film festival in Bangalore dwelt on how the poor create space for themselves, and offered insights into urban development.

 

Gulabi Gang: Truth tales re-told

BY Geeta Seshu| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |07/03/2014

While Bollywood appropriates the story and releases it as a feminist film for March 8, other film makers feel it does the original Gulabi Gang a disservice.

 

 

Resisting Censorship: Kolkata screening of 'Musalmaner Katha'

IN MEDIA FREEDOM |08/10/2013

The struggle to protect the right to show and speak about truths uncomfortable for the State is an ongoing one,

 

What's stalling Thalaiva's release??

BY MAYA RANGANATHAN| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |17/08/2013 ?

In a state known for its media-politics nexus, the struggles that Thalaiva is facing for release, points to yet another dimension, ??

 

Filmdom's Friday 'take offence' game?

BY Geeta Seshu| IN CENSORSHIP |13/08/2013 ?

Come Friday and a big release and there will be another actor lurking in the shadows: the offence-taker. At least four films in the last two weeks have run into some trouble or the other, over dialogues or song lyrics.

 

A landmark departure

BY ANAND VARDHAN| IN OPINION |05/07/2012

Reviewers in the Hindi press have exposed the lack of reality in the"realistic" Gangs of Wasseypur.

 

The fuss over Aarakshan

BY hoot| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |15/08/2011

The problem with Arakshan is not that it is needlessly provocative,but that it is such a disappointing film. .Free speech battles should be fought over more deserving material.

 

 

Mocking a harsh reality

BY Nishant Upadhyay| IN OPINION |31/08/2010

Peepli [Live] has ended up trivializing a very grave issue and fails to highlight the real plight of the farmers or the dimensions of the agrarian crisis.

 

Media vultures, live

BY sevanti ninan| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |15/08/2010

A farmer is about to commit suicide! TV reporters, politicians from the bottom to the top, and finally the agriculture ministry in Delhi all become caught up in the rip-roaring chase that follows.

 

Paa lampoons TV activism

BY Ajitha Menon| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |11/12/2009 

Journalists often have a tendency to the sweep legal aspects of the situation totally under the carpet, and a sub plot in 'Paa' satirises this point.

 

The R Factor and the media

BY B.P. Sanjay| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |17/06/2007

Rajni has had a love hate relationship with the media including a unilateral media boycott in the late 1980s to protest his so-called arrogance.

 

A mighty letdown

BY sevanti ninan| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |12/11/2007

How did they take a story as dramatic and unforgettable as that of reporter Daniel Pearl, and reduce it to a story about his pretty wife?

 

A documentary on Daniel Pearl

BY IANS| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |27/11/2006

It is a story not just about Pearl and Omar Sheikh but also about the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Pakistani spy agency.

 

Eleven years later

BY sevanti ninan| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |10/10/2006

Between them, Doordarshan`s dutiful telecast and Patwardhan cinematic style shattered Sunday morning`s peace.

 

The smoking Don – does it matter?

BY gulati| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |04/09/2006

If entertaiment is used to promote a negative behaviour, it has much stronger influence and catches on real fast.

 

Women, disability and films in India

BY Rema Sundar| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |26/06/2005

Mainstream Indian cinema rarely addresses the issue of disability, and it is rarer still to find a film on the plight of the disabled woman.

 

Hangman’s minute of glory

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |21/01/2005

National award-winning filmmaker Joshy Joseph questions the media’s tendency to sensationalize in his film ‘A Day from the Life of a Hangman’

 

Alternatives to mass market escapism

BY Frederick Noronha| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |05/12/2004

Stories from the real India jump out of the cine-reel at the 35th International Film Festival of India, held at Goa

 

Screening documentaries in Rajasthan

BY Sanjay Maharishi | IN MEDIA PRACTICE |16/06/2004

A film maker takes to the road with films disqualified from the Mumbai International Film Festival.

 

A "bring your own film" festival at Puri

BY byoff team| IN REGIONAL MEDIA |31/01/2004 

This is to take place on the beach at Puri. No entry formalities, no selection process, no hassles. Just land up with your films. Documentary. Fiction. Animation. Rushes. Rough cuts....

 

Aishwarya Rai: Media Maid?

BY Subhash Jha| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |30/05/2003

No matter how conveniently the arc lights have deflected her way Aishwarya Rai hasn’t sought the limelight. She is in fact enormously wary of being written about.

 

India: At last some strong screen women

BY shahla raza| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |22/12/2003

After a long gap, viewers are feasting on films that have handled women characters sensitively and boldly.

 

Mani Ratnams problematic take on adoption

BY Lalita Sridhar| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |03/05/2002

The noted filmmaker has taken up the subject of adoption only to orphan it at the altar of commercial concerns.  

 

Film roles that pave the way for politics

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |09/09/2002

Tamil cinema produces a rash of movies where the male lead is a roughneck who cares about the poor. Such roles are a stepping stone for a career in politics. 

 

 

 

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The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.                   

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.                 

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