Anupama Chopra is the editor and founder of Film Companion.
Articles by Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi
The first hour is bumpy but fun. Farhad’s bachelor plight, his longing for Shirin (whose bra size he identifies as soon as she walks into the shop) and their hesitant courtship is charming. But then the screenplay, co-written by director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, nose-dives.
Updated on Aug 25, 2012 02:27 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Ek Tha Tiger
Director and co-writer Kabir Khan takes the larger-than-life Salman Khan persona and wraps it in an engaging story that services it. Of course it’s played out like a comic book but if you’re willing to suspend disbelief there’s fun to be had. Anupama Chopra writes.VOTE NOW: Is Salman the biggest star in Bollywood?
Updated on Aug 16, 2012 11:27 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Jism 2
We've become blasé about sex in Bollywood, but back then, this felt edgy and dangerous. One year before the game-changing Murder, Jism coloured Bollywood's traditional, chaste plots, with unapologetic lust. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Aug 04, 2012 11:10 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum
I enjoy vulgarity, cheap lines and jokes with double meanings as much as the next person, but really, is this the best we can do? Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Jul 28, 2012 03:47 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Gattu
Gattu, directed by Rajan Khosa, is an effortlessly charming, bittersweet film about a little boy obsessed with kite-flying. Nine-year-old Gattu lives in Roorkee, Uttarakhand. He is an orphan. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Jul 21, 2012 11:50 AM IST
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Anupama Chopra's review: Cocktail
In Cocktail, Imtiaz Ali as a co-writer creates a love triangle that references Archie's comics, the 1980s television show Three's Company and the oeuvre of Aditya Chopra-Karan Johar (foreign locales, decadent Western lifestyle, superior Indian values) and yet feels new. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Jul 14, 2012 11:27 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Bol Bachchan
Bol Bachchan, like most of Rohit Shetty’s earlier films, including the Golmaal series and All the Best: Fun Begins, isn't so much a film as a series of gags strung together with songs and the requisite car-bashing action. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Jul 07, 2012 01:41 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra, Mumbai
Anupama Chopra's review: Maximum
Can we all agree that Bollywood has squeezed as much cinema as is humanly possible out of Mumbai’s infamous encounter cops, their weasel-faced informers and the police-politician-builder-underworld nexus?
Updated on Jun 30, 2012 11:48 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Poster boy of Hindie
Anurag Kashyap is redefining Indian cinema. By mentoring others, he’s also making sure it isn’t a one-man movement, writes Anupama Chopra.
Updated on Jul 08, 2012 11:31 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Teri Meri Kahaani
Teri Meri Kahaani is a banal romance that wants to cover all bases — so in the colonial Indian love story we get a lot of sher-shayari and in contemporary times, Facebook, Twitter and text messages play a key role. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Jun 23, 2012 11:42 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Gangs of Wasseypur
Gangs of Wasseypur is an ambitious, sprawling saga about the coal mining mafia in Bihar. Wasseypur, at least in director Anurag Kashyap's version, brims with such fascinating characters. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Jun 23, 2012 11:43 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Shanghai
The Shanghai in the title isn't a city. It's a state of being, a metaphor, an aspirational fantasy. The story, adapted from Vassilis Vassilikos's novel Z, is set in an unnamed town in India. Anupama Chopra reviews.
Updated on Jun 09, 2012 12:04 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Rowdy Rathore
The film is one more in the line of movies that value masala above all else. But Dabangg and even Wanted, were far more cohesive and compelling. Rowdy Rathore is pure noise. Anupama Chopra reviews.
Updated on Jun 02, 2012 11:39 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Arjun, The Warrior Prince
The Warrior Prince has some of the most gorgeous images I’ve seen in an Indian animation film in years. Director Arnab Chaudhari, referencing Japanese anime and manga, has created a visually rich film with an epic sweep. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on May 26, 2012 03:14 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Love, Wrinkle-free
Love, Wrinkle-Free is one of those films that mix charm and tedium in equal doses. Debutant director and writer Sandeep Mohan creates a clutch of quirky, permanently perplexed characters who are all struggling. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on May 26, 2012 03:19 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Indian contingent at Cannes
The big-ticket movie on day four was John Hillcoat’s Lawless, which features Shia LeBeouf and Tom Hardy as Prohibition-era bootleggers and also stars Guy Pearce and Jessica Chastain.
Updated on May 21, 2012 01:32 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra, New Delhi
Anupama Chopra's review: Department
Department, about a special task force of encounter specialists, begins with this adage: Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. After that, Ram Gopal Varma retreads old ground: crooked cops, underworld dons, political leaders who function like underworld dons.
Updated on May 19, 2012 11:31 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra, Mumbai
Return of the Dependable star
The Men in Black are back. After a hiatus of four years, Hollywood’s most dependable star Will Smith is back on screen as Agent J in the third installment of the blockbuster Men in Black franchise that releases worldwide on May 25.
Updated on May 19, 2012 01:17 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra, New Delhi
The red carpet walk
The two-minute red carpet walk is serious business at Cannes. With a galaxy of A-list film talent, the Cannes red carpet is a worthy rival to the Oscars. Which is why walking it is a frightening prospect — at least for those of us who are not professionals at posing.
Updated on May 19, 2012 03:45 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra, New Delhi
Moon rise tale from Cannes
The 65th Cannes International Film Festival got off to a glittering start on Wednesday. For the first time in many years, the opening film was also in competition. American director Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, a tale of two 12-year-olds in love, got a thumbs up from the critics who matter.
Updated on May 18, 2012 12:05 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra, New Delhi
Anupama Chopra's review: Dangerous Ishhq
It's easy to understand why Karisma Kapoor chose Dangerous Ishhq as her comeback film after a hiatus of six years and two children. She's the hero. She sets the plot in motion. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on May 12, 2012 11:12 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Ishaqzaade
I wonder if the Indian film ritual of intermission also functions as a creative road-block. Because so many fine films derail exactly there; I call it the curse of the second half. Ishaqzaade is one of these. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on May 12, 2012 11:11 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Jannat 2
Jannat 2 begins with a bang. In the narrow gullies of Old Delhi (point to ponder: when did ‘Dilli’ become Bollywood’s main muse?), a man is holding a gun to the head of Sonu Dilli KKC, short for kutti kameeni cheez. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on May 05, 2012 05:14 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra's review: Tezz
Tezz is an unapologetic, unacknowledged copy of the 1975 Japanese film The Bullet Train. Director Priyadarshan and writer Robin Bhatt liberally lift the plot and entire sequences from the film, writes Anupama Chopra.
Updated on Apr 28, 2012 12:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
Our heroes are already superheroes, minus capes: Ranbir Kapoor
The mother of superhero movies, The Avengers, opens today, but Ranbir Kapoor is unimpressed. Talking to Anupama Chopra in the first episode of her new show, The Front Row with Anupama Chopra, the actor says he’s rarely liked a superhero film. be a fan of caped crusaders, but actor Ranbir Kapoor is not.
Updated on Apr 27, 2012 07:57 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra, Mumbai
Anupama Chopra's review: Vicky Donor
Vicky Donor is one of those rare Hindi films that work purely on the strength of writing and performances. There are no crutches here of stars, sets, styling or foreign locations. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Apr 21, 2012 12:55 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
A high concept to woo the young
This week my column isn’t a film review. Instead, I’m exploring a somewhat new and intriguing trend in Bollywood — the high concept movie. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Apr 14, 2012 02:04 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra, Mumbai
Anupama Chopra's review: Housefull 2
Years ago, Karan Johar had joked that the credits in his films could be somewhat altered - instead of saying 'A film by Karan Johar,' it could say 'The same film by Karan Johar.' I think this would work well for Sajid Khan. Anupama Chopra writes.
Updated on Apr 07, 2012 11:52 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra, Mumbai
Romancing the stars
The viewers are the jury, the stars are self-deprecating, the politics is totally absent. This is what award ceremonies should be like, says Anupama Chopra.
Updated on Apr 01, 2012 01:39 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
India’s tryst with empire
India makes its debut at the most democratic cinema awards, which are hosted by the largest selling film magazine in the world. Anupama Chopra reports. The Award goes to..
Updated on Apr 01, 2012 02:06 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Anupama Chopra
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