Recent Reviews by Poulomi Das
The Federal
Poulomi Das is an independent film journalist, critic, editor, and programmer. Her writing on film has appeared in national and international publications including NY Mag, MUBI Notebook, Film Comment, India Today, Firstpost, The Swaddle, The Wire, Film Companion, The Federal, Mint Lounge, and GQ among others.
Films reviewed on this Page
Mrs
What Arati Kadav gets right in the Hindi remake of The Great Indian Kitchen
Arati Kadav’s Hindi remake of The Great Indian Kitchen trades simmering rage for a language of female loneliness; it exposes how domestic servitude is romanticised as tradition
In the opening moments of Arati Kadav’s Mrs, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the film as a gentle love story borne out of the great Indian arranged marriage. In Delhi, Richa (a standout Sanya Malhotra), a dancer, meets Diwakar (Nishant Dahiya), an educated gynaecologist and her prospective match for the first time. They exchange glances and share smiles and then end up holding hands on a date at a neighbourhood restaurant. She lets him know that she’s crazy about cassata and he tells her that he’s a fan of “simple, home-cooked food.” Two cuts later, they’re married. It’s as happy as happiness can get.
All 12 reviews of Mrs here
Against the Tide (written for HyperAllergic)
A Tale of Two Indigenous Fishermen in Mumbai
Against the Tide examines Mumbai’s Koli community’s drift between tradition and progress.
The story of Mumbai, India’s largest city, is linked inextricably with the story of the Kolis, the lower-caste, Indigenous fisherfolk community whose koliwadas (villages) dot the coastline. Until the 1800s, what we know as Mumbai today used to be an archipelago of seven islands, harmoniously inhabited by Koli communities. These islands turned into a city due to human intervention — a product of several land reclamation projects that also enabled the displacement of Mumbai’s original inhabitants.