Month: September 2020

ZEE5 brings to you Forbidden Love, a series of four enthralling stories of modern-day relationships that explore issues frowned upon by society. We got a chance to catch the first two stories of this anthology and absolutely fell in love with them! Read our review.

This September, brace up for four unconventional tales of finding love and acceptance from award-winning directors in ZEE5’s latest series, Forbidden Love. In an era, where love has become complicated and the idea of a ‘perfect marriage’ is often nothing more than a societal cliché; these thrilling love sagas aim straight for the heartstrings as they highlight issues that are often brushed under the carpet.

Each of the four poignant films, deal with subjects that are still frowned upon by mainstream cinema and are helmed by stalwarts like Priyadarshan, Pradeep Sarkar, Mahesh Manjrekar and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury. The films are an obvious sign that Indian cinema has come-of-age with its portrayal of unconventional love with maturity and how audiences are ready to deal with new-age love in the way that it should be.

The first two movies – Arranged Marriage and Anamika – explore the tradition of marriage and how it jostles with modern love and aspirations revealing many dark secrets and disturbing lives. These stories delve into themes of same-sex relationships and a middle-aged married woman finding love outside wedlock. They premiere on the OTT platform on September 9.

Dune is a 1984 American epic science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch and based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name. The film stars Kyle MacLachlan (in his film debut) as young nobleman Paul Atreides, and includes an ensemble of well-known American and European actors in supporting roles. It was filmed at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City and included a soundtrack by the rock band Toto, as well as Brian Eno.

Set in the distant future, the film chronicles the conflict between rival noble families as they battle for control of the extremely harsh desert planet Arrakis, also known as “Dune”. The planet is the only source of the drug melange—also called “the spice”—which allows prescience and is vital to space travel, making it the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe. Paul Atreides is the scion and heir of a powerful noble family, whose inheritance of control over Arrakis brings them into conflict with its former overlords, House Harkonnen. Paul is also a candidate for the Kwisatz Haderach, a messianic figure in the Bene Gesserit religion. Besides MacLachlan, the film features a large ensemble cast of supporting actors, including Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen, José Ferrer, Sting, Linda Hunt, and Max von Sydow, among others.

After the novel’s initial success, attempts to adapt Dune as a film began in 1971. A lengthy process of development followed throughout the 1970s, during which Arthur P. Jacobs, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Ridley Scott unsuccessfully tried to bring their visions to the screen. In 1981, executive producer Dino De Laurentiis hired Lynch as director.

The film was a box office bomb, grossing $30.9 million from a $40 million budget, and was negatively reviewed by critics, who heavily criticized the screenwriting, lack of faith to the source material, pacing, direction, and editing, although the visual effects, musical score, acting, and action sequences were praised. Upon release, Lynch disowned the final film, stating that pressure from both producers and financiers restrained his artistic control and denied him final cut privilege. At least three versions have been released worldwide. In some cuts, Lynch’s name is replaced in the credits with the name Alan Smithee, a pseudonym used by directors who wish not to be associated with a film for which they would normally be credited. The extended and television versions additionally credit writer Lynch as Judas Booth. The film has developed a cult following over time, but opinion varies among fans of the novel and fans of Lynch’s films.

A new adaptation directed by Denis Villeneuve is scheduled for release in 2020.

Gulabo Sitabo is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Shoojit Sircar, produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar, and written by Juhi Chaturvedi. Set in Lucknow, it stars Farrukh Jaffar, Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana.^[ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was not released theatrically, but on Prime Video worldwide on 12 June 2020.

Cargo is a Australian post-apocalyptic horror drama film directed by Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke with a screenplay by Ramke based on their 2013 short film of the same name. The film stars Martin Freeman, Simone Landers, Anthony Hayes, Susie Porter, and Caren Pistorius. It premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival on 6 October 2017 and was released in cinemas in Australia on 17 May 2018, worldwide except for Australia on 18 May 2018 by Netflix and on Netflix in Australia on 16 November 2018.

War is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action–thriller drama film directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Aditya Chopra under his banner Yash Raj Films. Starring Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff and Vaani Kapoor, the film follows an Indian soldier assigned to eliminate his former mentor who has gone rogue. Principal photography for the film began in the second week of September 2018 and concluded in March 2019. Initially titled Fighters, the title was changed after the release of the official teaser in July 2019. Its music was composed by Vishal–Shekhar, with lyrics written by Kumaar, and released under the banner Yash Raj Films Music.

Made on a budget of ?170 crore (US$24 million), War was released worldwide in conventional, 4DX and MX4D cinemas on 2 October 2019, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti. Released simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu languages, the film received mostly positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances of Roshan and Shroff as well as the action sequences, but criticism for the writing. War set the record for the highest-opening day collection made by a Bollywood film in India.^[ With a worldwide gross of over ?475.5 crore (US$67 million), the film emerged as a huge box office success, and the highest-grossing Indian film of 2019.