Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes: The Evolution Of Blockbuster Storytelling |
In an age of cash-grabbing spectacles and bloated superhero actioners, Planet of the Apes is a rare Hollywood franchise whose meaning is wired into its very existence. Rahul Desai reviews. |
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| THERE’S something innately profound about the Planet of the Apes reboot. In an age of cash-grabbing spectacles and bloated superhero actioners, this is a rare Hollywood franchise whose meaning is wired into its very existence. The continuity of the film series embodies the essence of its core theme. The narrative somehow lies at the intersection of a prehistoric past and an apocalyptic future. And the storytelling is defined by one simple question: What if civilisation — and the planet itself — is rebooted? The notion is new and familiar at once. (Stream top-rated movies and shows across platforms and languages, using the OTTplay Premium Jhakaas pack, for just Rs 249/month.) Initially conceived as a trilogy — Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and War of the Planet of the Apes (2017) — the franchise was eerily prescient in its idea of humankind being wiped out by a pandemic of their own making. The first three films opened in a pre-COVID world, yet it almost seemed biblical in its staging of a hard reset. It reimagined human extinction with a twist. The life of Caesar — his courage as an ape-leader, his empathy towards humans — unfolded like a mythological origin story. The motif of apes replacing humans as the dominant species has always been a rap on our knuckles. It’s meant to say: Now watch how they handle evolution. But the progression of this franchise is shaped by its confession that not even science-fiction can change the fact that evolution is a cyclical tragedy. |
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The Boy And The Heron: Hayao Miyazaki Bows Out With A Tour De Force (And Not A Footnote) |
A decade after The Wind Rises, the master animator arrives with The Boy and the Heron, a hallucinatory fable about closure, acceptance and legacy among other things. Prahlad Srihari writes. |
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A YOUNG BOY journeys into a magical realm where encounters with a talking heron, a wizardly great granduncle, flesh-eating parakeets and soul-eating pelicans challenge him to grapple with the trauma of losing his mother. Thank all the kami, all the Totoros, all the river, forest and radish spirits, that Hayao Miyazaki reversed his decision to retire for the second time. A decade after The Wind Rises, the master animator arrives with The Boy and the Heron, a hallucinatory fable about closure, acceptance and legacy among other things. If this latest from Studio Ghibli did turn out to be his final film (though we sure hope not), it would be in so many ways a fitting one. Because it draws its power as always from the compassionate details and spellbinding rhythms of his hand-drawn animation. Because it possesses a certain calm and clarity which allows him to draw a direct line from his fixations to us, his mesmerised viewers. Because it embodies the idea of hard-won optimism settling over a potentially last testament, making it all the more poignant. Above all because it is not so much a panoramic rehash of his life’s work as a supreme refraction of the elements he has pencilled, coloured and honed over the years — while pointing the medium towards a bolder future. |
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Srikanth: Rajkummar Rao-Starrer Is A Masterclass In How To Diminish An Incredible Story |
Srikanth retells the story of Srikanth Bolla, the 32-year-old entrepreneur who was born visually impaired and later went to fight against an orthodox system for dignity and basic rights. Ishita Sengupta reviews. |
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| Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Jyothika |
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TUSHAR HIRANANDANI’s Srikanth is a special kind of a bad biopic. On the one hand, it perpetuates the Hindi film problem with this genre where the central character is valourised with unreserved sincerity. On the other, it takes 30 steps where others have taken 10; Srikanth does not stop at simply elevating the man on whose life it is based on but does it to such an extent that an incredible factual story assumes the excess of a fictional lore. The outing burdens a flesh and blood person with its inordinate ambition, causing him to not walk but fly — even when the flight is just an illusion. Srikanth retells the story of Srikanth Bolla, the 32-year-old entrepreneur who was born visually impaired and later went to fight against an orthodox system for dignity and basic rights. It is a spectacular tale that lends itself to easy headlines. One of them being that he runs a successful business — Bollant Industries — that recycles paper to produce eco-friendly packaging solutions. Or, that he studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was the first international blind student to do so. Or, that he fought against the stringent education system in India to study science after his Class 10 board examinations at a time when it was not legally allowed. |
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8 AM Metro: Gulshan Devaiah, Saiyami Kher Film Should Have Been A Book |
You won’t walk away from 8AM Metro feeling much. Maybe only that Gulshan Devaiah needs to be given a variety of roles that test his acting prowess — because boy, can he deliver! Swetha Ramakrishnan writes. |
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| Cast: Gulshan Devaiah, Saiyami K |
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THE world is divided into two types of people. One, who loved Farhan Akhtar’s recitation of Javed Akhtar’s poetry in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (“toh zinda ho tum..” to refresh your memory); and two, who found it to be a glaring distraction from what was happening on screen. If you belong to the former category, you will have lots to love in Raj Rachakonda’s 8 AM Metro, which was released on ZEE5 this weekend. But if you belong to the latter category, get ready to be bored out of your wits, as even Gulshan Devaiah’s watchable face will not be able to save the film. Based on ‘Andamina Jeevitam’, a Telugu book by Malladi Venkata Krishna Murthy, the premise of 8 AM Metro is quite fascinating. Irawati (Saiyami Kher) is a homemaker living in Nanded with a fairly regular, domesticated life. She’s a closet poet, and can often be seen with a pen and a diary, writing down her thoughts pensively. When her sister Riya is advised bed rest in the eighth month of her pregnancy, she has to rush to Hyderabad to be by her side. |
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The one newsletter you need to decide what to watch on any given day. Our editors pick a show, movie, or theme for you from everything that’s streaming on OTT. |
| Each week, our editors pick one long-form, writerly piece that they think is worthy of your attention, and dice it into easily digestible bits for you to mull over. |
| In which we invite a scholar of cinema, devotee of the moving image, to write a prose poem dedicated to their poison of choice. Expect to spend an hour on this. |
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