Here’s what to watch this summer

March and April are usually the best season for anyone who loves the movies. It’s Oscar season. Which means that movie theatres end up screening all the award favourites as the date of the Oscar awards ceremony approaches.

When it comes to Hindi films though, there’s no such luck. We have to make do with whatever slim pickings are on offer. Also, suddenly even non-movie fans know a lot about Hollywood, thanks to half of Hollywood — okay I exaggerate, but only slightly — emerging as sexual harassers. Both the #MeToo campaign and the Time’s Up campaign have ensured that names such as Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, James Franco — and it now seems even the very dishy and talented Michael Fassbender are household names.

Women’s rights, equality, safety in the workplace, sexual freedom — all that should be our right as women, but aren’t — are in the spotlight. And I must say, the pick of the films hitting the big screen seem to be replicating the movement and the rise of women.

These are my picks of films you must watch over the next few weeks.

Heading the list is Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missourie which I saw this week, starring Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes, a middle-aged woman whose daughter has been raped and killed. And whose killers have still not been identified. It is her search for justice, but this is no rape-revenge hysterical drama a la the Sridevi-starrer Mom or the Raveena Tandon-starrer Maatr.

She rents the three billboards outside the small town she lives in and writes a message to the police chief played Woody Harrelson. It’s her fight against the police chief, his deputy played by Sam Rockwell and her attempt to spur the police into action. Peter Dinklage, who has single-handedly done more for the employment of dwarves, is spectacular in a supporting role.

What I loved was the grit of the character that McDormand plays and how unwavering she is in finding justice for her dead daughter. It gives new dimension to the phrase Time’s Up for sure. Also, it’s wonderful to see the gamut of roles that Hollywood presents for women actors of all ages. And how actresses on foreign shores are so comfortable looking the part. In India, even a grief-wracked mother is shown as having applied makeup and gotten a blow-dry before hunting down a rapist.

Then there’s Ladybird, for which the director, Greta Gerwig, might well become only the second woman director to win an Oscar for Best Director and the fourth youngest director to do so. Ladybird will hit theatres this Friday. It’s a delightful coming-of-age film and revolves around the fraught but affectionate relationship between a mother (Laurie Metcalf) and her daughter (Saoirse Ronan) — both of whom have been nominated for the Oscars.

Keeping with the avian theme, Red Sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence will be in movie halls over the weekend as well. It reminds me slightly of the Anglo-German mini-series on Netflix, The Same Sky. While that was set in East Berlin, this is a spy film where Lawrence plays a ballet dancer-turned-Russian spy who is supposed to contact and seduce a CIA agent, who may or not be a mole.

The name is derived from the Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains women and men to use their sexuality as well as their minds in spy operations. The film has a stunning cast with Charlotte Rampling, Joel Edgerton and Jeremy Irons in it. The trailer looks spectacular as does Lawrence, and the film is based on a book by the same name. Most promising.

There’s also A Wrinkle In Time starring Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. A casting coup if there ever was one. A Wrinkle In Time is a science fantasy adventure film directed by Ava DuVernay and is based on the novel by Madeleine L’Engle, which was written in 1962. It also stars Zach Galifianakis, whom most people know as a comic actor.

But the reason why I’m looking forward to this time travel sci-fantasy tale is because of the subtle message of gender equality. The main character’s travel companion, Calvin, is a teenager who has no problems letting a young girl take charge of the adventures at hand or the three witches played by Witherspoon, Winfrey and Kaling. It’s also a visual delight. Definitely a film to watch on the big screen.

The last film, which has a lead female character and is a reboot of a well-known franchise is the new Tomb Raider and the actress playing the lead Lara Croft is Alicia Vikander. While I’m not a fan of the films, Croft’s character is a delight for feminists. And how great to have a franchise which is hinged on a female character.

You would hope though, that with all this estrogen extravaganza in Hollywood, Bollywood would be following suit too. But there’s no such luck. Although I have managed to find three films which I’m looking forward to, all of which revolve around women. First up, is Pari which is produced by Anushka Sharma — who I must say makes very adventurous choices when it comes to the films she backs.

And it’s great to see her play characters which require her to not dance, romance or look pretty in every frame. Both NH10 and Phillauri were impressive. Pari is a horror film, and the trailer, while making Sharma look horrific, doesn’t do much else — think her past record as producer, means this one won’t be half bad. It currently looks like a cross between Exorcist and Child Possessed.

There’s also Veere Di Wedding which is Kareena Kapoor’s first film after her baby was born, and stars Sonam Kapoor as well. Sure, it won’t be particularly intellectual, but some well-choreographed dances and a storyline which doesn’t strain the brain too much, might be a welcome change from all that Hollywood is offering.

Rani Mukherji is back with a film on a teacher with Tourette’s Hichki. She’s a great actress; I don’t remember too many terrible films starring her and the trailer does look interesting. Of course, show me a public school teacher who is as trendily dressed as Mukherji is, and I’ll never say an unkind word about Hindi cinema again.

But don’t get too excited, because to balance out these three films, there’s also Hate Story 4. I cannot believe there is now a Hate Story franchise, and must say I worry about our nation and the people who seem to be flocking to watch these films. But hey, there’s no accounting for taste nowadays. In case you’re wondering what it’s about, all I know is that it’s an “upcoming 2018 Indian Bollywood erotic thriller film” starring Urvashi Rautela who represented India in the Miss Universe 2015 pageant.

My suggestion would be to watch Hate Story 4, because anything you watch after that will seem like a cinematic wonder. And just because I’ve named too many good films, I’d like to balance out the recommendations by ending with Baaghi 2 starring a shirtless Tiger Shroff with 22 packs and very little acting talent, playing a “battle-hardened army officer goes in search of his ex-lover’s child who is mysteriously kidnapped”.

Truly, the good, the bad and the ugly of what you can look forward to — or not — over the next few months.

This story was published in the Patriot.