Ketan Mehta’s film 'The Rising', a tribute to the great martyr Mangal Pandey responsible for the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 is reminiscient of an athlete who almost makes it to the finish line to win, but loses out by a few seconds.

Like many other HOT foreign names in Hollywood in the past, Aishwarya Rai seems to be everywhere, from appearances at Cannes “declaring the festival open” to having the latest “Asian” Barbie dolls modeled after her.

There are two types of women in classic Bollywood films: the Good Girl and the Bad Girl. The Good Girl is virtuous and chaste and is happily married off to Handsome Hero. On the other hand, the Bad Girl is outspoken, often smokes and drinks and dances like her hips are on fire.

Asif Kapadia's first feature film is the heroic tale of a man turning from a life of violence to face solitude in the wilderness. The film is a marvelous adventure that possesses what every good film does: cinematic images that are symbols of how we live when we finally accept our true nature.

Sunil Dutt personified the kind of Bollywood star who handled his celebrity with immense grace, and who rose above his stardom to embrace his country and his ideals. Sunil Dutt was soft spoken, amicable and approachable, and went on to become one of India's most loved actors.

Does sex sell most things in most places? No, sex sells everything, everywhere. What is surprising is seeing who succumbs to its pressures. In the new Bollywood cinema, almost every heroine has to do some amount of disrobing to win herself a decent fan base.

My Brother Nikhil, filmmaker Onir’s directorial debut, is a simple yet groundbreaking movie. It's groundbreaking for mainstream Hindi cinema because its main character, Nikhil (Sanjay Suri), is a gay man diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

If Amol Palekar’s Paheli is your first acquaintance with the tale of a woman who fell in love with a ghost, you might be kinder towards it than me. The Rajasthan Palekar creates is vibrant and lush, but the movie is at best “a simple, lovable film.”

Typically I’ll play a new CD several times over the course of a week, but by the end of the week I find I am a bit tired of the songs, and take the CD out for a little break to my ears. Not true with Dus;I haven’t been able to stop playing this CD all month.

Bindiewood: a whole new movement in Indian cinema. The films of this movement would marry the majesty and traditions of Bollywood with modern and authentic situations happening to real people in both India and NRIs in the States and elsewhere.