By Anand Sinha A Telangana village is accustomed to exploitation by a feudal family until a final act provokes rebellion. Director: Shyam BenegalWriter: Vijay Tendulkar, Satyadev DubeyCast: Amrish Puri, Girish Karnad, Shabana Azmi, Anant Nag, Mohan Agashe, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Satyadev Dubey, Kulbhushan KharbandaLanguage: Hindi Veteran Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal (1934-2024), whose films enquired about […]

By Anand Sinha A joker invites the three women he once loved to watch his last show and reflects on the trials and tribulations of life. Director: Raj KapoorWriter: Khwaja Ahmad AbbasCast: Raj Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Simi Garewal, Padmini, Kseniya Ryabinkina, Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Achala SachdevLanguage: Hindi 2024 marked the centenary of Indian […]

The film is an easy watch, but it asks some difficult questions about making a relationship work. But there is no preaching, and there is no overt messaging. The rest of this review contains spoilers. Kadhalikka Neramillai is a rare kind of movie for Tamil cinema. It is delicate. The filmmaking, the acting, the dialogues, […]

The film can’t decide whether to be a hero-oriented action drama or an ensemble comedy. The latter portions work far better than the former. The rest of the review contains spoilers. In 2012, there was a news item that Madha Gaja Raja (MGR) would be a Pongal release the following year. This information has finally […]

Below are some notes from the eLearnEconomics site. For more information click on the link. A natural monopoly is when one firm has the ability to supply the entire market at lower prices than two or more firms. A natural… Continue reading →

The film has interesting characters and plot points. But they don’t come together as well as you’d hope. The rest of this review contains spoilers. The opening shot of Vanangaan has a man bringing out a statue of Lord Ganesha that has fallen into a well. He has “saved” God, in other words. The closing […]

The film does not have a single highlight, and the big budget does not translate into an interesting story or involving characters. The rest of this review contains spoilers. Sometimes, when you visit someone’s house, you see a wall with certificates and records of achievements. It’s as though the person is reminding us that these […]

The mega ship the Ever Given was a familiar name in the news when it got stuck in the Suez canal and thus preventing any marine traffic in both directions. The Ever Given is operated by the Taiwan-based firm Evergreen… Continue reading →

By Abhirup Mascharak Merry Christmas Sriram Raghavan has never made a film I disliked, and Merry Christmas, to my great joy, leaves that record unbroken. It contains the usual pleasures of a Raghavan film, such as his giddy littering of Easter eggs (the references range from Shakti Samanta to Raymond Chandler, Ernst Lubitsch to Rajesh […]

Michael Cameron’s blog ‘Sex, Drugs and Economics’ discussed a paper entitled “Equal Tax for Equal Alcohol? Beverage Types and Antisocial and Unlawful Behaviours” by Preety Srivastava, Ou Yang, Xueyan Zhao. The authors look at the negative externalities of consuming various alcoholic beverages… Continue reading →

Following on from the previous post on Mexico and the market for tequila, there has been an opposite reaction in the Guinness market – increased demand and reduced supply. The graph shows the significant increase in demand for Guinness (up… Continue reading →

Bharath Vijayakumar Before getting into my favourites of the year, here is a list of films that worked in parts for me or films that had something important to say or films that I don’t agree with but were well made (haven’t watched few notables films like Jama yet). Raayan Intense world building and some […]