Blog Posts by Rummana Ahmed

Ek Thi Daayan spooks youCasting: Emraan Hashmi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Huma Qureshi, Kalki Koechlin

Direction: Kannan Iyer

Rating: ****

To be honest, I was a bit weary when walking in for ‘Ek Thi Daayan’, another Bollywood horror flick and the director Kannan Iyer among his other noticeable work had co-written RGV’s ‘Daud’. However, what lured me to watch the film was the fact that it boasted of some awesome collaboration; Konkona Sen Sharma playing the female lead, music by Vishal Bharadwaj, lyrics by Gulzar and the original short story had been written by Mukul Sharma (Konkona’s father).

Konkona is back on the big screen after a brief hiatus and she has just got better. She had said in her interview that she had enjoyed playing a dark, twisted character and it is quite obvious. The way her character evolves from the kindly governess, it is like watching each layer peel away to reveal a completely new layer of the talented actress. Konkona is a dusky seductress – gentle and vicious at the same time, essaying

Huma QureshiBANGALORE: In the city for her forthcoming film ‘Ek Thi Daayan’, Huma Qureshi is full of optimism. Not only is she soaking in her new-found stardom after the phenomenal success of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, her enthusiasm and positive approach is infectious.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q. Some would say you had a dream debut with ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’. How does it feel to get critical acclaim for your very first role?

A. It’s very strange, before ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ released everyone was telling me that it’s not a dream debut because you are there with three other actors and it’s not a typical hero-heroine film. Would you rather have a debut like that? And today, it’s very nice and it’s very gratifying that you are asking me that it does seem like a dream debut now. These things you cannot really plan or say, you just go with an instinct.

When I came to Mumbai, I just knew one thing that there were certain people who I looked up to and wanted to work with. Right on top of that list was

Ayushmann and Kunaal in 'Nautanki Saala'Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Pooja Salvi

Direction: Rohan Sippy

Rating: ***

While walking in for ‘Nautanki Saala’ I was wondering what was Rohan Sippy’s claim to fame; ‘Bluffmaster’ is the only movie on his filmography that had some recall value. The film essentially worked because the film’s male leads (Abhishek Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh) shared awesome comic timing. Unfortunately, Ayushmann Khurrana and Kunaal Roy Kapur have no such chemistry in ‘Nautanki Saala’.

Mandar Lele (Kunaal Roy Kapur) is a bumbling idiot - abandoned by the love of his life, declared a ‘loser’ by his doting grandmother with nothing more than a few failed suicide attempts to boast of. The thing is even to play a successful dimwit, you need some kind of character – imagine Govinda in ‘Partner’. Kunal Roy Kapur is regrettably inept at playing this role with either style or zest.

Ram Parmar aka RP (Ayushmann Khurrana), the protagonist is a compulsive do-gooder who is the director and the main