Latest News from Author Nikhil Taneja

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Nikhil Taneja

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Nikhil Taneja

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Nikhil Taneja is a Mumbai-based writer who swears by Aaron Sorkin, Chandler Bing and Brit cinema in general and thinks "Taneja main hoon, mark idhar hai" is a witty thing to say in a bio. He likes writing about foreign movies and TV shows (whenever he's not watching them). You can stalk him on Twitter (only) at: @tanejamainhoon

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Movie Review: Man of Steel has the best Superman ever, but is no fun

Jun 14, 2013

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s another dark Hollywood film that believes it can be super just by being dark. It’s getting annoying, boring, and quite frankly, old, to see movies that pretend to be noir, or in some sincere cases (like this one), try really hard #Henry Cavill #Hollywood #Man Of Steel #Movie review #Superman
Movie Review: ‘After Earth’ is not as bad as they’re all saying it is

Jun 12, 2013

Manoj Night Shyamalan’s new film, Will Smith and Jaden Smith starrer After Earth released in India a week after its international release. If you felt you’ve had a tough week, consider this: In the span of a single week, After Earth managed the infamy of being one of the worst reviewed #After Earth #Jaden Smith #MovieReview #Will Smith
Movie Review: The Hangover III is best watched when drunk

May 31, 2013

When the sequel to the awesome and fiercely original The Hangover released in 2011, only a certain kind of audience actually enjoyed watching it – those who hadn’t seen The Hangover. Since that’s basically no one, The Hangover Part II was a downer to fans. Someone should’ve told director Todd Phillip #Bradley Cooper #Hangover III #Movie review #Todd Phillip
Movie review: The Fast and the Furious goes crash, boom, bang in a good way

May 25, 2013

It’s probably easy to make a movie when it’s plot is a one-liner: “Cars go BOOM!” But to make six such movies requires not mere talent, but raw genius. And that is precisely why director Justin Lin is the Leonardo Di Vinci of the “Cars go BOOM!” genre of movies #MovieReview #Paul Walker #The Fast and the Furious #Vin Diesel
The Great Gatsby sells the Great American Dream with panache

May 20, 2013

Baz Luhrmann, the director of The Great Gatsby, sells the great American dream with panache not just to Americans, but to the entire world. The film is not just an adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel but it is an imaginative take of what dreaming and imagining the good
Movie Review: The Great Gatsby is the most Bollywood of Baz Luhrmann’s films

May 17, 2013

The great American dream is an integral part of America. It’s ‘great’ in that it symbolises not truth, but hope when the truth is disillusioning; it symbolises not facts, but ideals when facts are unnerving; it symbolises not likelihood, but promise when likelihood is all but bleak. The majestic city of #F. Scott Fitzgerald #Joel Edgerton #Leondardo Di Caprio #MovieReview #Nick Carraway #The Great Gatsby #Tobey Maguire
Dear Star Trek makers, stop aping Christopher Nolan

May 10, 2013

Why is every Hollywood superhero and spy movie trying so hard to be dark - almost foolishly aping Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. This attempt at portraying a villain that is larger than life and has a dark past does not work. Sadly, it ends up making
Star Trek Into Darkness is a perfectly adequate popcorn film

May 10, 2013

Oddly enough, after watching Star Trek Into Darkness, it’s not director JJ Abrams or even Benedict ‘Sherlock’ Cumberbatch you feel the urge to write about; but rather, Christopher Nolan. Star Trek Into Darkness is a perfectly adequate summer blockbuster film. It is impeccably tailored to please both the Trekkies and the #Benedict Cumberbatch #MovieReview #Star Trek #Star Trek Into Darkness
Movie review: Mud is a film with heart, a hunk and a lovable teenager

May 5, 2013

It’s easy to miss a film like Mud amidst the cacophony of trailers and posters promising that your world is ending and only their movie can save you. It’s even easier to miss a film like Mud since, having had a limited release in the USA (and without the power #Matthew McConaughey #MovieReview #Mud
Movie Review: Iron Man 3 is both a hit and a miss

Apr 29, 2013

Shane Black is that guy who wrote Lethal Weapon – the buddy cop movie that became the template for every cop movie to follow – when he was just 23, the exact age most Bollywood screenwriters start watching the movies they can copy later on. Black also wrote some of the #Gwyneth Paltrow #Iron Man 3 #Movie review #Robert Downey Jr. #The Avengers

The best from the blog

Need your self-esteem shredded? Come on a makeover show in India

Sep 6, 2012
We don’t have the stomach to watch Tendulkar fail

Sep 6, 2012
Why Mumbai’s prime office rates are rising in a depressed mkt

Sep 6, 2012
Does a disrupted Parliament mean electoral reforms are in the offing?

Sep 7, 2012
Was Arsenal’s win over Chelsea down to sheer luck?

Oct 31, 2011

New bloggers

Mid-wicket Tales

S. Giridhar is Registrar and also the Head of the University Resource Centre at Azim Premji University. V J Raghunath retired as CEO of Addison Paints and is now a senior training consultant. Both share a great love for test cricket. Both have combined to
- View blog
Sugandha Dubey

Sugandha Dubey has over 18 years of work experience in marketing, sales and brand management for iconic brands like Tanishq, Gillette, Group 4 and Getty Images. She turned entrepreneur in 2008 and launched SIBSA Digital Pvt Ltd, a total photography solut
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Editor's picks

Lok Sabha polls 2014: Back to basics for Congress and BJP

With the playing field level, from now on it will be a battle of strategies for the Congress and the BJP
Chidu's 'Ferrari' of reforms has an autorickshaw engine

A slew of economic reforms has been promised this month, but one should not expect anything more than fancy footwork from the FM.
From a fed-up, die-hard fan: An open letter to SRK

Forget all this surrogacy business. The reason we love Shah Rukh Khan is that he’s been one of Bollywood’s smarter actors. But of late, SRK’s been a bit disappointing, complains a fed-up, die-hard fan.
Dhoni has Ganguly's touch but with a difference

Rohit, Kohli, Raina, Jadeja, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Umesh – that’s the core of the Indian team today and perhaps it wouldn’t be wrong to say that they are Dhoni’s boys.

Vajpayee, Advani, Modi: Every leader has given Hindutva a twist

From Vajpayee to Advani to Modi –the Sangh Parivar has come a long way, presenting before India every few years a Hindutva face rendered presentable through a shrewd makeover
Why Nitish 'really' dumped the Modi-led BJP

While prima facie it might seem to be a clash of two strong personalities i.e. Modi and Kumar, there is much more to the split than that.
3 Indias at war: Sensex India, Maoist India, and Bharat

The current tensions in India can directly be traced to three visions of India – one of which will involve breaking the country
Last man standing: Why it's easy to feel sorry for Misbah

Sympathy for a Pakistani cricketer, especially a batsman, is a novel emotion for those of us coming from the 90s.

Fear of the unknown grips the BJP in Bihar

Although the party is maintaining a brave face, the eventuality of a split has left many leaders on tenterhooks.
In Mamata's Bengal: Zero tolerance for rape or protesting against rape?

Bengal tops the list in violence against women. There have been several reports of gang rape in the past few weeks. The Mamata government has taken quick and stern action – against the women protesting the rapes in front of the CM’s residence.
Food security: For poor’s sake, jholawalas must speak up

The subsidy to the rich accounts for more than 7 percent of the GDP while that for the poor, with the food security act, would account for 1.1 percent.
Patients get HIV in Assam hospital after blood transfusion, panic spreads

Many patients who were administered blood from the same blood bank fear the worst.

Why a BJP-JD(U) split will be good for India

Neither UPA nor NDA is an alliance. And the BJP and JD(U) were mere power-sharers, not allies. To grow, alliances have to be built around principles not just power-sharing
Chidu takes comfort in Fitch upgrade, but where are real reforms?

At a press conference, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, however, did not reveal any concrete steps but promised more reforms by August. He said the rupee’s decline is in line with that of the currencies of other countries with high current account deficit like India.
Why cutting interest rates will have little impact on industrial production

The index of industrial production (IIP), a measure of the industrial activity in the country, grew by a meagre 2% in April 2013, in comparison to the same period during 2012. The index was expected to grow by around 2.4% (source: India: Weak growth and sticky retail inflation. Sonal Varma and Aman Mohunta, Nomura). In [...]
Why 'Sir' Ravindra Jadeja is a people's genius

If one was simply to go by numbers, young and jolly Jadeja is on course to be a great. That’s not overrating him — it’s the simple logic of statistics one cannot argue against.

The Aurangzeb factor: 5 lessons from Modi-Advani tussle

Political parties need to have a process for electing leaders. This problem relates more to cadre-based parties such as BJP and CPM.
Why 55-60 to the dollar may be the new normal for rupee

A drop in the US dollar index does not seem to help the rupee; this shows that the Indian currency seems to be marching to its own gloomy beat.
Critics split on Apple iOS 7: Hideous, unoriginal or a thing of pure beauty?

The new design has sparked debates over whether Apple stole the design from Android or Windows 8 or just created an unholy union of the two. We take a look at what the critics are saying:
Is Putin the Salman Khan of international politics?

Is Vladimir Putin the Salman Khan of world politics? Our new columnist, stand-up comedian Gursimran Khamba pontificates.

Advani wins: No free hand for Narendra Modi just yet

What was the senior leader’s specific problem? Well, one is the indecent hurry in which Modi’s is being shoved down the throats of other leaders in the party.
Obama's second innings? As a junior engineer in govt service in India

Is Barack Obama about to sit for an exam for a junior level engineer in India? A man in Rajasthan says he’s got an admit card with Obama’s picture on it from the Staff Selection Commission. Actually on second thought that might not be such a bad second career for the President.
How US industries are trying to use 'treaties' to arm twist India

US companies are blatantly violating international agreements or purely lying, when they accuse India of using TRIPS flexibilities. Americans have spoken the same language against other countries such as Brazil and Thailand, but failed.