Poulomi Das, Author at Arré

Meet Sanya Malhotra, No Longer “That Dangal Girl”

In the last three years, Sanya Malhotra has acted in films like Pataakha and Badhaai Ho, which offer a testament to her versatility. Now with her extraordinary performance in Ritesh Batra’s Photograph, the actress is finally ready to step out of Dangal’s shadow.

Poulomi Das March 8, 2016

Bollywood

Baazaar Review: This Saif Ali Khan Starrer is So Bad That It’s Not Even Good

Baazaar doesn’t have characters – just caricatures. Every plot point of the film is an extended open-mic joke that refuses to land. And you can tell a lot about a film where the lead – Rohan Mehra in his debut role – exists just to prove that Arjun Kapoor isn’t the most one-dimensional actor in Bollywood.

Poulomi Das March 8, 2016

Pop Culture

Diego Maradona Review: The Greatest Footballer of All Time Observed Like Never Before

Asif Kapadia’s Diego Maradona, a biopic documentary of the greatest footballer of all time, is an enthralling, explosive record of the time when Diego, born in an impoverished town outside Buenos Aires, became a prisoner of Maradona, the celebrity brand he created for himself.

Poulomi Das March 7, 2016

Pop Culture

Chintu Ka Birthday Review: A Touching Tale of a Different Kind of Migrant Crisis

Set in Baghdad a year after the US invasion of Iraq, Chintu Ka Birthday unfolds in the span of one day in the Tiwary household. Despite its fine touches, the film sets out to reveal the futility of war and propaganda through the eyes of children, but falls short of perspective.

Poulomi Das March 7, 2016

Pop Culture

Why You Should Be Binge-Watching Barry, the Profound Emmy-Winning Crime-Comedy

Bill Hader’s Barry isn’t refreshing because of how casually it reverses all the crime-thriller tropes but because of how cleverly it employs them. The show’s best laughs arise from the fact that many of its protagonists view the business of killing as just another job.

Poulomi Das March 7, 2016

Pop Culture

Is the Feisty Small-town Girl the New Manic Pixie Dream Girl?

Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana is the latest in a series of Bollywood capers featuring a girl from tier-II India, who lives and loves on her own terms. Small-town Bittis and Aartis are the new Geet.

Poulomi Das March 7, 2016

Bollywood

Lust Stories: What’s Stopping Indian Women From Demanding Sex?

In the Netflix anthology Lust Stories, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap, and Karan Johar do the delicate dance between emphasising how “lust” is a forbidden emotion for Indian women and how despite this conditioning, women seem to know exactly how to recognise it.

Poulomi Das March 6, 2016

Love and Sex

The Post-Break-Up Confession: Honesty is the Worst Policy

A break up is followed by a round of post-break-up confessions. What could be wrong with straightforward honesty from the person who deeply cared about us? But in this seemingly friendly break-up match, no one wins – and most importantly, you lose the hardest.

Poulomi Das March 6, 2016

Pop Culture

Toilet: Ek Bhakt Ki Katha

Instead of being a satire that could goad people into understanding the sanitation crisis in India, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is a dishonest, factually incorrect love letter to Narendra Modi.

Poulomi Das March 6, 2016

Pop Culture

Why Jack Ryan is the Action Hero We Need

A far cry from the standard alpha-male action hero, Jack Ryan is a mild-mannered protagonist who resembles an unassuming Everyman despite being entrusted with saving the world. In humanising its lead, the show conveys a pertinent idea: Not all spies are born with it.

Poulomi Das March 5, 2016