Once Upon A Cinema

Once Upon a Cinema: The paranormal encounters of Ashok Kumar

Bimal Roy and his team had been invited to Bombay Talkies to make a film. The studio was haunted by Himanshu Rai’s ghost, they were told. They didn’t believe in ghosts, they said. But one evening with Dadamoni Ashok Kumar changed all that

Once Upon A Cinema: When Amjad Khan sang Thumris for Satyajit Ray

Time has been kind to Gabbar but exceptionally cruel to Amjad Khan. Despite being a gifted actor and playing a plethora of unique roles, his mainstream movie career is filled with pale shadows of Gabbar Singh. But there was one role where he surpassed even Gabbar.

Once Upon A Cinema: Why we secretly love the 80s

The 80s gets a bad rap when it comes to the cinematic output associated with the period. It's the worst era for Hindi cinema, film buffs often declare. But the truth is very different.

Once Upon a Cinema: Beyond the Trinity with Ajoy Kar

Beyond the Trinity is an attempt to shift the focus to the unsung filmmakers of Bengali cinema, because the world seems to think Bengali films begin and end on the trinity of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak. Today we talk about Ajoy Kar.

Once upon a cinema: The “viral” music director we don’t hear about so often

Much before the world lost its marbles jumping from one viral video to the next, there was one music director whose music was constantly being “viral”. Even today, 40 years after his passing, his songs still achieve virality on the Internet, of all places.

Once upon a cinema: One of India's earliest feminist films, and it remains unmatched

V. Shantaram’s 1937 film foreshadowed the narrative around marital rape and raised uncomfortable questions about women’s place in a social structure which allows men to profess their dominance. It’s been more than 80 years since then, and a lot has changed. Or has it?

Once Upon a Cinema: Who was Satyadev Dubey?

Who really was Satyadev Dubey? Alongside his trailblazing work on stage, Dubey also had strong ties with Hindi and Marathi cinema. Amborish writes. Vijay Anand, Dev Ananddd

Once Upon a Cinema: The other Manik Da, who completes a centenary this year

Like Satyajit Ray, Asit Sen also had the daak naam (nickname) “Manik”. Like Ray, he was also briefly associated with the ad agency D.J. Keymer, and he also completes a centenary this year. But precious little is known about this sensitive artist, who made iconic movies across three different film industries. Amborish Roychoudhury revisits the early years of Asit Sen.

On Satyajit Ray's birth anniversary, revisiting the magical world of legendary filmmaker's Kheror Khata

To mark Satyajit Ray's 101st birth anniversary, let's take a sneak peek into the legendary filmmaker's magical world of Kheror Khata