Cinema News - Frontline

FRONTLINE CONVERSATIONS

It’s all about power and the entitlement to misuse it: actor Sreelekha Mitra

Actor speaks about rampant sexual harassment in Indian cinema, its normalisation across regional industries, and her personal encounters with abuse.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Bina Paul in Thiruvananthapuram in December 2016. Paul says that with the Hema Committee report, the sense that women exist in the film industry’s labour force and have to be acknowledged has become very important.

It cannot get dirtier, it can only get cleaner: Bina Paul

The National Award-winning editor believes that the feudal mindset existing in certain sections of the Malayalam film industry must go.

R.K. Radhakrishnan

It’s all about power and the entitlement to misuse it: Sreelekha Mitra

Actor speaks about rampant sexual harassment in Indian cinema, its normalisation across regional industries, and her personal encounters with abuse.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Is Deepika Padukone losing her edge?

Her recent roles in big-budget films have brought enormous commercial success, but the nuanced characters that made her a star are missing.

The actor and director says that there is a need to form a legal framework as the industry is a combination of many professions.

The Hema Committee Report will make the Malayalam film industry safer: Revathi

The actor speaks about the WCC, the revelations made in the report, its fallouts, and potential solutions to ensure safety of women in cinema.

R.K. Radhakrishnan

FRONTLINE CONVERSATIONS

The Hema Committee Report will make the Malayalam film industry safer: actor Revathi

The actor speaks about the WCC, the revelations made in the report, its fallouts, and potential solutions to ensure safety of women in cinema.

R.K. Radhakrishnan

‘The Dystopian Times’ by Appupen

More stories from Cinema

The latest edition of the Dystopian Times depicts Kangana Ranaut in her role of former PM India Gandhi during the Emergency of 1975

‘The Dystopian Times’ by Appupen

A section of the Kerala film industry is under scrutiny following revelations of sexual misconduct and discrimination against women made by the Hema Committee report.

Hema Committee report shows Kerala’s lauded film industry harbours a sinister underbelly

The truncated report, released by the State government after a glacial delay, exposes widespread sexual misconduct and gender-based discrimination.

M.G. Radhakrishnan

The much-awaited report of the Justice Hema Committee, the government-appointed panel in 2019 that studied issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, comprises explosive accounts of harassment, exploitation, and ill-treatment being faced by women.

Female actors face harassment in Malayalam film industry: Justice Hema Committee report

The commission says it was “shocked to hear the sexual harassment stories” revealed to it by women working in the industry.

Frontline News Desk

A still from Slaves of the Empire directed by Rajesh James.

Anger as the constant

At the International Documentary and Short Film Festival held in Kerala every year, the audience is hammered down for a week by raw courage.

Prathyush Parasuraman

Fawad Khan in a still from the teaser of Barzakh.

The pathetic man is rewriting the macho script

How filmmakers are redefining masculinity on screen by embracing vulnerability.

Prathyush Parasuraman

Smita Patil and Girish Karnad in Manthan, one of the first Hindi films to showcase a newly independent India struggling to engage with modern ideas of economic development and social reform.

50 years of Manthan: A Benegal masterpiece that stirred India’s social conscience

The 1976 classic offers a nuanced take on caste dynamics, patriarchy, and rural development, showcasing Dalit characters as agents of change.

Harish S. Wankhede

Director Payal Kapadia poses after she won the Grand Prix for the film All We Imagine as Light during the Closing Ceremony at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 25, 2024.

‘All We Imagine as Light’ by Payal Kapadia scripts history with groundbreaking Grand Prix win at Cannes 2024

The film becomes first Indian film in 30 years to win the award; Kapadia the first Indian female director to compete in Cannes main competition.

Frontline News Desk

Sergej Tschachotin the scientist, circa 1907.

Sergej Tschachotin: Anti-fascist scientist who used ‘Pavlovian Reflex’ to understand propaganda

German documentary Sergej in the Urn by Boris Hars-Tschachotin explores Sergej’s scientific contributions and his courageous political activism.

In 2024, Manoj Bajpayee is really everywhere, appearing in OTT offerings, in theatres, and in film festivals.

Manoj Bajpayee: ‘Hindi filmmakers should go back to the drawing board’

After COVID, Hindi mainstream cinema is confused, and there is a “desperate attempt to entertain” that was not there before, says the actor.

Editor’s Note: When cinema becomes a tool for propaganda

A poster of the movie Swatantra Veer Savarkar outside a cinema hall in Mumbai.

Rise of ‘Hindutva’ cinema

Indian cinema hardly yields space to Dalit, Adivasi, or Bahujan protagonists. It continues to be an elitist, casteist project.

Harish S. Wankhede

Folk Artists perform at Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu’s election campaign at Vuyyuru in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh on April 8, 2024. TDP, founded by N.T. Rama Rao, makes extensive use of spectacles, including song, dance and cinema, in its election campaigns.

Viral fever: The curious spectacle of campaign films

Potent tools for disseminating political ideologies and pushing stereotypes, these films offer insights into elections as well as everyday realities.

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