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Anupama Chopra

Anupama Chopra is the editor and founder of Film Companion.

Articles by Anupama Chopra

Cannes 2015: Unequal pay is caveman stuff, says actor Charlize Theron

Speaking on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, Hollywood actor Theron discusses inequality of pay in the film business, choosing darker roles, and more.

Charlize-Theron-at-the-ongoing-Cannes-Film-Festival-She-stars-in-the-latest-Hollywood-release-Mad-Max-Fury-Road-AFP

entertainment

Updated on May 16, 2015 12:47 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, Cannes

Cannes 2015 diary: Day 2 was manic, but also magic (Hello, Katrina!)

HT’s film critic Anupama Chopra talks about the second day of the Cannes Film Festival

entertainment

Updated on May 15, 2015 08:25 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra

Cannes 2015 diary: Of red carpet selfies, Katrina debut and more

The 68th Cannes Film Festival kicked off on a glorious, sunny day. A galaxy of stars -- including Jake Gyllenhaal, Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy and Katrina Kaif -- directors, movie moguls and agents have descended on this tiny town in the French Riviera.

Katrina-Kaif-sported-a-monochrome-dress-on-the-first-day-of-Cannes-as-she-met-the-press-The-actor-made--her-debut-at-the-68th-Cannes-festival--Courtesy-Twitter

entertainment

Updated on May 15, 2015 02:01 PM IST

None | ByAnupama Chopra, Cannes

Senna: A rush of adrenaline and romance

Senna - Asif Kapadia's award winning documentary on the Brazilian racecar driver Ayrton Senna, a three-time Formula One World Champion, who died in a tragic accident at 34, is a moving tale.

Using-footage-from-Formula-One-archives-director-Asif-Kapadia-immerses-us-into-Senna-s-world

entertainment

Updated on May 11, 2015 11:01 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

Piku review by Anupama Chopra: Strong characters are its biggest draw

Piku speaks its truth with simplicity and heart. It made me laugh and cry. And I can get behind any Hindi film in which a father says of his single daughter: 'She's financially independent, sexually independent.' Bravo.

entertainment

Updated on May 09, 2015 04:11 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

Gabbar Is Back review by Anupama Chopra: Blasphemous rebranding

Gabbar is a selective murderer. He only goes after the corrupt. Aided by a determined team of his former students, Gabbar, who is otherwise a professor named Aditya, weeds out the rot in the system.

Akshay-Kumar-in-a-still-from-Gabbar-Is-Back

entertainment

Updated on May 04, 2015 01:30 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

Amol Palekar's Daayraa is a daring, original road movie

The love story between an out-of-work transvestite dancer and a woman who has been kidnapped, raped and now dresses like a man? Even today, this radical idea would send filmmakers scurrying out of the door. Incredibly, Amol Palekar made Daayraa 19 years ago.

Amol-Palekar-directed-Daayraa-challenges-gender-roles-and-traditional-ideas-of-love-through-witty-and-moving-performances

entertainment

Updated on Apr 25, 2015 08:23 PM IST

ByAnupama Chopra

Ratatouille gives something to chew on

Ratatouille, directed by Brad Bird, has a special place in my heart because it taught me a fundamental truth about my profession.

Ratatouille-is-a-lovely-underrated-film-Director-Brad-Bird-says-reams-about-taste-food-memory-and-experience-and-like-Ego-the-viewer-concludes-that-while-not-everyone-can-become-a-great-artist-a-great-artist-can-come-from-anywhere

entertainment

Updated on Apr 18, 2015 08:50 PM IST

ByAnupama Chopra

Ratatouille: The timeless importance of passion

What can an animated film about a rat named Remy who has a passion for cooking teach you about life? As it turns out, plenty. Ratatouille, directed by Brad Bird, has a special place in my heart because it taught me a fundamental truth about my profession.

entertainment

Updated on Apr 18, 2015 01:36 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

Margarita With A Straw review by Anupama Chopra: It'll make you cry

A differently-abled, bisexual Hindi film heroine. Did you ever imagine you would see those words in the same sentence? In Margarita with a Straw, writer-director Shonali Bose and actor Kalki Koechlin give us a woman we have never seen in our cinema before. At least I haven’t.

Sayani-Gupta-and-Kalki-Koechlin-in-a-still-from-Margarita-With-A-Straw

entertainment

Updated on Apr 17, 2015 08:01 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

Ek Paheli Leela review by Anupama Chopra: It's skimpy all around

In Ek Paheli Leela, Sunny Leone is attractive enough, but emoting is clearly difficult for her. And she has stiff competition in this department from Rajneesh Duggal and Jay Bhanushali.

entertainment

Updated on Apr 11, 2015 11:26 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra

Going Clear is a disturbing documentary on Scientology and the prison of belief

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright, is a meticulously researched, artfully designed, relentlessly jaw-dropping exposé of the Church of Scientology.

Going-Clear-Scientology-and-the-Prison-of-Belief-is-based-on-the-book-by-Pulitzer-Prize-winning-author-Lawrence-Wright

entertainment

Updated on Apr 11, 2015 10:16 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra

Marathi films row: Rule should have been self-imposed

I am very conflicted about this diktat. Any external imposition is always a slippery slope. In a perfect world, the product would find its own market and audience without legislation, writes Anupama Chopra.

cities

Updated on Apr 10, 2015 07:48 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAs told to Kanika Sharma by Anupama Chopra

Byomkesh Bakshy! review by Anupama Chopra: The film ends with a bang

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is a slow-cooked feast. It simmers and thickens and leisurely acquires a rich and long-lasting flavour. The film requires patience. You will have to indulge director Dibakar Banerjee as he indulges himself.

entertainment

Updated on Apr 05, 2015 10:59 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

The original film noir

The hottest thing in the movies this week is Dibakar Banerjee’s Detective Byomkesh Bakshy — which makes it the perfect time to revisit the original hard-boiled, arrogant, occasionally mean and perennially unsentimental sleuth — Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon.

entertainment

Updated on Apr 04, 2015 06:39 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra

Love Is Strange review: Of small strains of life in a big city

Love Is Strange begins with two elderly men waking up, getting dressed and then, in an affectionate and informal ceremony, getting married. I wondered if director Ira Sachs had watched Ravi Chopra's 2003 weepie in which Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini play a loving, elderly couple who are forced to live separately after he retires because their obnoxious children refuse to shoulder the burden of both parents. But Love Is Strange is so much more.

entertainment

Updated on Mar 28, 2015 10:08 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, Mumbai

Hunterrrr review by Anupama Chopra: Uncomfortable but in depth, solid

Hunterrr has layers and a depth that those films didn’t even aspire to. But ultimately Harshavardhan, fritters away the opportunity.

entertainment

Updated on Mar 21, 2015 04:03 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra

Gimme Shelter: A troubling nostalgia trip

What also comes through is the toxic cocktail of arrogance and horrific mismanagement that allowed the tragedy to occur. Gimme Shelter is, in equal parts, troubling and fascinating. Find time for this nostalgia trip.

entertainment

Updated on Mar 21, 2015 02:44 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

NH 10 review by Anupama Chopra: This is highway to hell

NH 10 is about a world in which feral men hunt in packs. Honour killings are so much a part of the social fabric that the police actively participate in them. And women are largely addressed with one epithet — a particularly nasty Hindi word for prostitute.

entertainment

Updated on Mar 14, 2015 05:01 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, Mumbai

India's Daughter is an Indian horror show you must watch

By now, you must be familiar with the trajectory of Leslee Udwin’s documentary on the rape and death of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi in 2012. Anupama Chopra's advice: disconnect the surround sound and seek out India’s Daughter. This is a uniquely Indian horror film.

Leslee-Udwin-the-director-of-the-documentary-India-s-Daughter-at-a-press-conference-in-New-Delhi-on-Tuesday-Imtiyaz-Khan-HT-Photo

entertainment

Updated on Mar 14, 2015 10:22 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, Mumbai

Reality check

Based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape case, the documentary reports perspectives of all the people involved, from the perpetrators to Nirbhaya’s parents and the lawyers who fought the case.

entertainment

Updated on Mar 13, 2015 10:36 PM IST

ByAnupama Chopra

Badlapur review by Anupama Chopra: Characters make it a memorable film

I’m going to start my review with an origins story.

entertainment

Updated on Feb 21, 2015 02:40 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

Roy review by Anupama Chopra: This is a failed fantasy

At the end of Roy, a famous film director named Kabir Grewal is heading to the success party of his latest release Guns III. He pauses and exclaims: Pata nahin yeh film kaise ban gayi? My sentiments exactly, writes Anupama Chopra.

Ranbir-Kapoor-plays-the-world-s-deadliest-conman-in-Roy

entertainment

Updated on Feb 14, 2015 08:32 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, Mumbai

Hawaizaada review by Anupama Chopra: It's flat and clumsy

I was impressed by how progressive India was in 1895 — at one point, Shivkar and Sitara start living together, and no one objects. Who knew?

entertainment

Updated on Jan 31, 2015 01:05 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

Baby review by Anupama Chopra: The film's filled with logical loopholes

It is a testament to Neeraj Pandey’s skill that despite a few loopholes, he’s created a film that has drama and moments in which you clap and cheer. I especially enjoyed watching Taapsee Pannu, who plays a female agent, kicking serious butt.

entertainment

Updated on Jan 24, 2015 10:30 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

There's something about Selma: The film vs the controversy

In an interview with The Atlantic, director Ava DuVernay says the following about Martin Luther King Jr: He’s a street name, and a statue, and a holiday, and a speech. But to have changed the world and to have no one know who you truly are is criminal, really.

entertainment

Updated on Jan 24, 2015 10:00 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, Mumbai

Tevar review by Anupama Chopra: It only shows intermittent flashes of talent

Tevar's director Amit Sharma, known for his Google commercial about two childhood friends who lose each other during Partition and are reunited by their Google-empowered grandchildren. But Tevar shows only intermittent flashes of his enormous talent.

entertainment

Updated on Jan 10, 2015 01:32 PM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra

Carnal Knowledge: This is a memorable portrait of curdled, cruel masculinity

Carnal Knowledge follows the lives of two friends over three decades. With the deep insecurities and men's twisted view of women well depicted in the movie, it still has the power to startle, writes Anupama Chopra.

entertainment

Updated on Dec 13, 2014 11:51 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

Sulemani Keeda review by Anupama Chopra: It's lovely but narrow

Sulemani Keeda means 'a bug so big that it’s a pain in the ass'. Or at least that’s how writer-director Amit V Masurkar describes his film’s title. The set-up and characters are promising but Sulemani Keeda never becomes more than the sum of its parts because it’s too thin.

Director-Amit-Masurkar-s-film-Sulemani-Keeda-is-about-two-people-Dulal-and-Mainak-who-want-to-be-top-class-screenplay-writers-in-Bollywood

entertainment

Updated on Dec 08, 2014 09:17 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra

Action Jackson review by Anupama Chopra: It's loud and regressive

Action Jackson is essentially an item number in search of a story. The first half of the film is disconnected sequences of action, comedy and romance randomly strung together.

Ajay-Devgn-in-a-still-from-Action-Jackson

entertainment

Updated on Dec 07, 2014 01:44 AM IST

Hindustan Times | ByAnupama Chopra, New Delhi

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Anupama Chopra

Anupama Chopra is the editor and founder of Film Companion.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, Hollywood actor Theron discusses inequality of pay in the film business, choosing darker roles, and more.

HT’s film critic Anupama Chopra talks about the ­second day of the Cannes Film Festival

The 68th Cannes Film Festival kicked off on a glorious, sunny day. A galaxy of stars -- including Jake Gyllenhaal, Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy and Katrina Kaif -- directors, movie moguls and agents have descended on this tiny town in the French Riviera.

Senna - Asif Kapadia's award winning documentary on the Brazilian racecar driver Ayrton Senna, a three-time Formula One World Champion, who died in a tragic accident at 34, is a moving tale.

Piku speaks its truth with simplicity and heart. It made me laugh and cry. And I can get behind any Hindi film in which a father says of his single daughter: 'She's financially independent, sexually independent.' Bravo.

Gabbar is a selective murderer. He only goes after the corrupt. Aided by a determined team of his former students, Gabbar, who is otherwise a professor named Aditya, weeds out the rot in the system.

The love story between an out-of-work transvestite dancer and a woman who has been kidnapped, raped and now dresses like a man? Even today, this radical idea would send filmmakers scurrying out of the door. Incredibly, Amol Palekar made Daayraa 19 years ago.

Ratatouille, directed by Brad Bird, has a special place in my heart because it taught me a fundamental truth about my profession.

What can an animated film about a rat named Remy who has a passion for cooking teach you about life? As it turns out, plenty. Ratatouille, directed by Brad Bird, has a special place in my heart because it taught me a fundamental truth about my profession.

A differently-abled, bisexual Hindi film heroine. Did you ever imagine you would see those words in the same sentence? In Margarita with a Straw, writer-director Shonali Bose and actor Kalki Koechlin give us a woman we have never seen in our cinema before. At least I haven’t.

In Ek Paheli Leela, Sunny Leone is attractive enough, but emoting is clearly difficult for her. And she has stiff competition in this department from Rajneesh Duggal and Jay Bhanushali.

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright, is a meticulously researched, artfully designed, relentlessly jaw-dropping exposé of the Church of Scientology.

I am very conflicted about this diktat. Any external imposition is always a slippery slope. In a perfect world, the product would find its own market and audience without legislation, writes Anupama Chopra.

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is a slow-cooked feast. It simmers and thickens and leisurely acquires a rich and long-lasting flavour. The film requires patience. You will have to indulge director Dibakar Banerjee as he indulges himself.

The hottest thing in the movies this week is Dibakar Banerjee’s Detective Byomkesh Bakshy — which makes it the perfect time to revisit the original hard-boiled, arrogant, occasionally mean and perennially unsentimental sleuth — Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon.

Hunterrr has layers and a depth that those films didn’t even aspire to. But ultimately Harshavardhan, fritters away the opportunity.

What also comes through is the toxic cocktail of arrogance and horrific mismanagement that allowed the tragedy to occur. Gimme Shelter is, in equal parts, troubling and fascinating. Find time for this nostalgia trip.

NH 10 is about a world in which feral men hunt in packs. Honour killings are so much a part of the social fabric that the police actively participate in them. And women are largely addressed with one epithet — a particularly nasty Hindi word for prostitute.

By now, you must be familiar with the trajectory of Leslee Udwin’s documentary on the rape and death of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi in 2012. Anupama Chopra's advice: disconnect the surround sound and seek out India’s Daughter. This is a uniquely Indian horror film.

Based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape case, the documentary reports perspectives of all the people involved, from the perpetrators to Nirbhaya’s parents and the lawyers who fought the case.

I’m going to start my review with an origins story.

At the end of Roy, a famous film director named Kabir Grewal is heading to the success party of his latest release Guns III. He pauses and exclaims: Pata nahin yeh film kaise ban gayi? My sentiments exactly, writes Anupama Chopra.

I was impressed by how progressive India was in 1895 — at one point, Shivkar and Sitara start living together, and no one objects. Who knew?

It is a testament to Neeraj Pandey’s skill that despite a few loopholes, he’s created a film that has drama and moments in which you clap and cheer. I especially enjoyed watching Taapsee Pannu, who plays a female agent, kicking serious butt.

In an interview with The Atlantic, director Ava DuVernay says the following about Martin Luther King Jr: He’s a street name, and a statue, and a holiday, and a speech. But to have changed the world and to have no one know who you truly are is criminal, really.

Tevar's director Amit Sharma, known for his Google commercial about two childhood friends who lose each other during Partition and are reunited by their Google-empowered grandchildren. But Tevar shows only intermittent flashes of his enormous talent.

Carnal Knowledge follows the lives of two friends over three decades. With the deep insecurities and men's twisted view of women well depicted in the movie, it still has the power to startle, writes Anupama Chopra.

Sulemani Keeda means 'a bug so big that it’s a pain in the ass'. Or at least that’s how writer-director Amit V Masurkar describes his film’s title. The set-up and characters are promising but Sulemani Keeda never becomes more than the sum of its parts because it’s too thin.

Action Jackson is essentially an item number in search of a story. The first half of the film is disconnected sequences of action, comedy and romance randomly strung together.

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HT’s film critic Anupama Chopra talks about the second day of the Cannes Film Festival