Besan Ka Halwa

A Spectrum in Black-and-White At the outset I would like to declare that after winning global accolades including the Golden Lion last year, the lion's share of the 91st Academy Awards belongs to 'Roma'- Alfonso Cuaron's magnum opus. The film beats other nominees squarely in major categories- direction, screenplay, cinematography, production design et al. When you have a clearly superior piece of work getting the most nominations the competition doesn't seem to be too tough this year.  Roma is a roman-a-clef. Derived heavily from Cuaron's own childhood, the film is a repository of near-perfect images of imperfect lives spent by the Mexican upper middle class in early 1970s. At the centre of it all is Cleo- the serene, observant, gentle yet sure-footed housemaid who grapples with 'personal', 'professional', 'political' matters, dogshit, betrayals, bad omens and a devastating foetal rupture. The character is played by Yalitza Apari...