Runjhun Noopur, Author at Arré

30 Years of ChaalBaaz: The Sridevi Classic is Proof that Good Comedy Has Nothing to Do with Gender

ChaalBaaz is not a Rajinikant movie or a Sunny Deol movie. It’s instead a Sridevi movie. She is indeed the superstar, the good old “Michaeli Jacksoni”, who single-handedly drives the movie through her impeccable comic timing.

Runjhun Noopur April 16, 2016

Bollywood

Ijaazat: Bollywood’s Finest Take on Love, Marriage, and Adultery

Gulzar’s Ijaazat can tell you almost everything you need to know about love and marriage. It reminds you that falling in love is an instinct beyond our wilful control. And that an “extramarital affair” is often a reductive way to define what might be an inescapable maze of emotions and sense of responsibility.

Runjhun Noopur April 8, 2016

Bollywood

Rishi Kapoor: The Only Man Who Could Look Like a Rockstar in Shiny Pants and Oversized Sweaters

Rishi Kapoor did not need a larger-than-life character, as in Karz, to make it memorable. “Parda Hai Parda” is proof that Rishi could look like a rockstar in a sherwani and an ugly moustache, with nothing more than a few qawwals, some killer jumpy dance moves, and a rose in hand.

Runjhun Noopur April 7, 2016

Bollywood

How Rajnigandha and Choti Si Baat Gave Us Vidya Sinha, the Original Girl Next Door

As I mourned the passing of Vidya Sinha last Thursday, I couldn’t help but realise that Sinha was an Everyman’s heroine. As Deepa and Prabha in Rajnigandha and Choti Si Baat, two of Basu Chatterjee's classic outings, she oozed femininity that was distinctly Indian while embodying a sort of reckless abandon that was almost postmodern in its emancipation.

Runjhun Noopur April 5, 2016

Pop Culture

How to Win Friends & Influence People, Kumar Sanu-Style

Music from the ’90s has an uncanny ability to bring people together. From the veterans of the cool jamming in some abandoned garage in Mumbai to seasoned hippies grooving around a bonfire in the remote Himalayas, the ’90s is a theme that finds resonance in the unlikeliest of the settings and with the unlikeliest of people.

Runjhun Noopur March 29, 2016

Bollywood

Bollywood Mamas: A Little Less Farida Jalal, a Little More Ratna Pathak Shah Please

In between Nirupa Roy’s martyred mom and Farida Jalal’s laissez-faire approach to parenthood, very few Bollywood films have dared to narrate stories of motherhood with the nuance and sensitivity —and sometimes the humour — they deserve.

Runjhun Noopur March 27, 2016

Culture

Mumbai Meri Jaan: Kabhi Cushy, Kabhie Kaam

The first time I met Mumbai, I was looking at the city through keyholes that were actually the glassed domes of its fabled high-rises, tinted with expensive weekends. My second encounter with Mumbai was when I was between jobs. It was harsh and overwhelming – an eye-opening reality check into my privileges.

Runjhun Noopur March 17, 2016

Bollywood

30 Years of Chandni: Why Yash Chopra’s Love Letter to Sridevi is the Ultimate Male Fantasy

Chandni is the quintessential male fantasy in motion; except with Yash Chopra behind the camera, that fantasy translates as adoration and appreciation, instead of overt sexualisation. Every shot feels like a gentle caress, like the gaze of an admirer or a devotee.

Runjhun Noopur March 16, 2016