When one has been talking and writing about cinema for so long, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of what one primarily looks for out of a film, especially on the large screen. In journalist and film critic Anupama Chopra’s A Place in My Heart, there are individual chapters devoted to a wildly miscellaneous range of Indian films: from 1960s classics like Mughal-e-Azam to early 2000s trendsetters like Dil Chahta Hai to the much more recent, unorthodox fare like the short film Tungrus. And they’re so beautifully shot! I could taste all that food in Angamaly Diaries - and I’m vegetarian, so I wouldn’t even eat most of it!” The storytelling grips you without the seduction of glamour or fantasy.
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There’s no veneer the people in these movies look and behave like real people. I think some of the most exciting work in India is being done there right now. “What I love about new-age Malayalam cinema is that it is unvarnished storytelling. In the book, too, Chopra writes fondly about films like Kumbalangi Nights (2019) and Angamaly Diaries (2017). “I have started watching a lot more movies from the Malayalam and Tamil industries, in particular,” she says. Appetite for Malayalam cinemaĬhopra also spoke about how running a specialist films publication ( Film Companion) has expanded her horizons, cinematically speaking. Even as his films have yielded diminishing returns over the last decade, this aspect of his stardom remains undimmed. A lot of Shah Rukh Khan films through the 90s can be considered regressive by contemporary standards that a lot of discerning viewers like Chopra still remember them fondly is down to Khan’s enduring charm, his unimpeachable likeability. Retrospective criticism is a tough balancing act at the best of times, but I feel Chopra gets it exactly right here, especially considering the actor in question. It’s sharply written and makes some fine observations about the director Shimit Amin’s narrative style, but what I found particularly noteworthy was a paragraph towards the end, one that addresses how the film has aged, thereby acknowledging its weaknesses. For instance, there’s an early chapter about the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Chak De ! India (2007) that will resonate with a lot of readers. Throughout A Place in My Heart, there are chapters breaking down Chopra’s favourite films in a simple, elegant manner. Moving forward, the prospect of showing films uncensored at festivals will be a huge plus, too.” Chak De India, a favourite And also, when you’re at a festival, you’re completely immersed in that world of cinema for a few days. But the truth is that festivals are about watching films on the largest screen possible. Talking about their future, she says, “It’s wonderful that there’s a hybrid model now, so I can watch films out of Toronto, for example. (L-R) Film director Ari Aster, MAMI artistic director Smriti Kiran, Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, and festival director Anupama Chopra