To feed the pervert imaginations of a film crazy nation, it is a common and profitable phenomenon in India to serve a heady cocktail of spicy stories bisecting the personal lives of bollywood stars. Ethics and professionalism are slaughtered at the altar of sensationalism to skyrocket the readership. But here is a book exclusively dealing with bollywood but without any traits of such bugging malwares. Anna MM Vetticad has carved a space for herself in the bollywood genre with her debut book The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic. From the luxury of press preview to demanding journeys to suburban theatres, the author’s firm new year resolve made her watch all the 121  movies released in the NCR (National Capital Region) during the year 2011 which obviously becomes the focal point of  The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic.

Unbiased and articulate, lucid and profound, critical and constructive The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic consciously avoids the usual pitfalls of focusing on only those movies that have topped the charts. The book pans across all the movies in 2011 and brings to the fore those movies and actors which the mainstream media have swept under the rug.

The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic, while being appreciative of films starring children, also makes a case for better treatment of children. The author quotes Amole Gupta who states, ‘…a representative of the Animal Welfare Board mandatorily sits on shoots where animals are being used. But there is no one to supervise the way children are used in films.’ The author also gives a checklist of assurances which has to be insisted while doing films where children play the lead role.

With the wealth of experience as a journalist behind her, Anna Vetticad makes sharp observations and showcases promising stars in disappointing movies often singing along Bob Dylan, “But what’s a sweetheart like you doin’ in a dump like this?”  She does some plain talking against the hopeless cases frequenting the screen with the hope of replacing Shah Rukh Khan. The author neither forces her opinion nor imposes harsh judgment. But by publishing the interviews which she had with the person in focus, the readers cannot but agree with her.

In a situation where Critics are also being critiqued and their identity is challenged, Anna doesn’t run away from criticisms but takes it head on. Through the conversation with Rohit Shetty, who emotionally yells ‘to hell with reviews,’ she puts forward logical and reasonable arguments to make a case for the film critics. The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic brings before the readers a number of films which sank without trace for no reason for its own. The author convincingly identifies the reasons ranging from social stigma to marketing strategies.

The Adventures of an Intrepid Film Critic has the pace of a Salman Khan starrer and the depth of Aamir Khan productions. Giving rich insights to a student of Indian cinema and challenging the weekend movie goer to do a rethink on benchmarks set for watching a film, Anna MM Vetticad has set the ball rolling for a paradigm shift in Bollywood.

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