Uday Bhatia

1 week ago | livemint.com | Uday Bhatia

“Are we in the right film?” a girl in the row behind me asked her friend. You could see why she'd be confused. They'd turned up for a New York romance with Pedro Pascal and here was an unkempt man wearing animal hide handing a bouquet to a woman in front of a cave. He puts a ring fashioned out of single flower on her finger. The title drops and then we’re in New York, watching Lucy (Dakota Johnson) get ready for another day as an in-demand matchmaker.

1 week ago | htsyndication.com | Uday Bhatia

Posted On: 2025-06-17 Posted By: Uday Bhatia Business & Finance Health & Lifestyle Technology Cities MINT New Delhi, June 17 -- "Are we in the right film?" a girl in the row behind me asked her friend. You could see why she'd be confused.

2 weeks ago | livemint.com | Uday Bhatia

There are times we look for complexity and depth in cinema, and times when a few simple pleasures will do. Small joys, like arcane assassin guild rituals. Or Keanu Reeves hitting every syllable in “consequences.” Or Ana de Armas with a flamethrower. After four films that remapped Hollywood action, the John Wick franchise has its first feature spinoff. Ballerina is the first film in this universe not directed by Chad Stahelski, with Len Wiseman of the Underworld films in charge.

3 weeks ago | livemint.com | Uday Bhatia

What a wonderful world it would be if Tamil and Telugu commercial directors could apply their considerable talents to telling concise, coherent stories. The bloat is out of control. I’m not just talking about the dozen retrofitted plots of Kalki 2898 AD or the maddening detours of Pushpa 2. Even smart, funny films like Jigarthanda DoubleX stretch their material unduly. I admit this isn’t a widely held opinion. Audiences today clearly like the mess.

3 weeks ago | livemint.com | Uday Bhatia

Lynching is thought to have originated as a term sometime in the 1700s. The word conjures up an evil of the past, barbaric and unthinkable in a modern civilised society. It is, therefore, especially alarming that the term, and practice, has seen a resurgence in India over the past decade or so. This is tied to a related problem, the proliferation of fake news, willful and otherwise, through WhatsApp and other media in the country.