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Starring Arjun Rampal, Aishwarya Rajesh, Nishikant Kamat, Farhan Akhtar

Directed by Aushim Ahluwalia

Ask any actor of some worth. It is not easy to play a known living character. Audiences and the character that you are playing, plus their close associates, judge the performance with scrutinized harshness and normally find it wanting.

Not this time. Not Arun Gawli. Not Arjun Rampal who has shaped into one of Hindi cinema’s most dependable actors who does his roles with such smooth efficiency and such noiseless excellence that we are liable to miss the point.

Don’t make the mistake of confusing Arjun’s laidback wisdom in portraying the gangster-philanthropist-parliamentarian-convict Arun Gawle, as a Devganesque laziness. This is a power-packed implosive performance. Rampal plays Gawli as a time bomb waiting to explode. There are no extra toppings, fringe benefits, perks or bonuses to this performance.

Rampal plays it straight. Auteur director Ashim Ahluwalia...

This year’s London Indian Film Festival boasts an incredible selection of film viewing over the next week. Not sure what to choose? Here are a few bite sized mini-reviews to whet your appetite.

The Cinema Travellers — directed by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya

Last year I had the pleasure of screening the Liff 2016 presentation of the Bengali film Cinemawala, which presented a fictional view of the decline of the traditional Indian cinema hall in the face of changing technology and an ever growing market in pirated films. This year, Liff 2017 presents the documentary The Cinema Travellers, directed by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya, which touches on a similar theme: the decline of travelling film projectors and their operators, again in face of a changing technological landscape.

The film made a stunning debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 and has gone on to screen to enthusiastic and appreciate audiences...

Europe’s Largest Indian Film Festival returns to Birmingham again this year for the third year in the row. Sister to the Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival, (Liff), Birmingham Indian Film Festival will run from Friday 23 June until Sunday 2 July 2017. This year’s festival promises to be one of the best showcasing 11 Independent Films, 2 Music Documentaries and a host of talent over 10 days in 3 cinemas!

Cary Rajinder Sawhney, Liff & Biff Director, says: “We are delighted to bring Birmingham audiences a carefully curated selection of the very best new Indian and South Asian independent cinema; all films are English subtitled, offering a rare window into over a billion South Asian lives. This year’s selection includes premieres of new comedies, gripping thrillers, shocking horror and insightful true-life documentaries as well as bringing together UK previews of major award-winning films from the world’s greatest film festivals.”

The festival opens on Friday 23 June at Cineworld Birmingham,...

Every once in a while, a film comes along and just socks you squarely in the gut, causing such a mix of emotions and leaving you utterly breathless. Shrihari Sathe’s 2014 Marathi-language film Ek Hazarachi Note (“Thousand Rupee Note”), which opens this Friday, September 23rd at New York’s Village East Cinema, is such a film.

Budhi is a widow who lives in a small village in Maharashtra. Her son, overcome by debts, committed suicide, and her daughter-in-law was taken back by her family, leaving Budhi completely alone. She works as a maid, cleaning and washing clothing, and each day starts with the quest to spend 2 rupees on milk and 2 more on sugar for tea, and then another 2 for rotis to eat with it.

Budhi has, however, adopted the family living in the shack next to her own – Sudama, a goat-herder who is like the son she lost, and his wife and children.