<p>She likes to describe her life as an assortment of circumstances. If it hadn’t been for such circumstances, she wouldn’t have become a radio jockey in Delhi at 19, then moved to Mumbai to pursue higher studies and become a much more popular RJ there, and finally switched over to the digital world as a film reviewer. Sucharita Tyagi is also well-known as an emcee, voice-over artiste, writer and feminist. </p>.<p>Her LinkedIn profile says “her favourite things in the world are watching films and educating YouTube trolls in gender equality (among other lessons)”. She reviews at least a couple of movies every week on Film Companion’s YouTube channel called ‘Not A Movie Review’. </p>.<p>“That’s my thing; I love stories. I like talking to people just because I love hearing stories. I moved to Mumbai a decade ago, when I was 21, and understood how ruthless this city is. I learnt to adapt and make my way through everything. I worked as a radio jockey for six years and understood the entertainment industry before I decided that I wanted to do something independent in 2015,” she told <em>Showtime</em>.</p>.<p>Sucharita took to film reviewing in a video format without thinking too much. “I didn’t dive into this with a plan. All I knew was that I love films and I have an opinion. I realised the power video has over everything else, and since I wasn’t shy to be in front of the camera, I took the opportunity,” she explains.</p>.<p>The way she created a brand for herself was simple: “I know how to talk on the spot, thanks to my radio background. I love peeling each layer of the film and understanding it, finding a conversation around it. I merge those two. And because talking to the camera is a strength, it all just comes together. Plus, it is part of my unfulfilled dream of being a superstar,” she says, laughing. </p>.<p><strong>Not a piece of cake</strong><br />Being a female content creator who has an opinion comes with challenges. For Sucharita, one was the wrath of South Indian actors’ fans she wasn’t prepared for. </p>.<p>“I largely review Hindi, Bollywood and Hollywood films, but when Telugu film ‘Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy’ released last year, I thought I’d talk about it as Amitabh Bachchan is also part of the film. It was a terrible film and I spoke about why I didn’t enjoy it. I was aware that Chiranjeevi was a megastar in the south but I didn’t realise how big his fanbase was. Not only were the comments from fans ruthless, but everything that followed was intense. This also happened with Prabhas’s ‘Saaho’,” she says.</p>.<p>Fans of male actors aren’t polite to critics, she observes. But she is fine with the online hate she gets, and doesn’t plan to stop having an opinion. “Why should I? I’m just doing my job. Even though the popular belief is that a critic watches a film only to criticise it, I go into the theatre to like a film and not to bash it,” she says. </p>.<p><strong>Women’s stories </strong><br />Whenever Sucharita reviews a movie where a woman is telling women’s stories, she starts her video with a little dance. She is passionate about such stories. </p>.<p>“Storytellers are powerful people because there are people like me seeking out stories. Stories are influencing people and their decisions, behaviour and mannerisms. Many leaders in the world, whether they are democratically elected or dictators, have used cinema to their advantage. They know it’s the strongest form of mass communication. And more often than not, in our country, cinema has the gaze of a man because writing and creating cinema are mostly done by men,” she says.</p>.<p>When women get up and take that power, she says, they are claiming the power a storyteller has. “Mind you, it’s not taking it away from men but sharing the space with them. I think that should be celebrated because women telling women’s stories is the most authentic form of emotion in my heart,” she says. </p>.<p><strong>Advice to Bollywood </strong><br />She would like Bollywood to know the extent of its sway. “It should understand its power and be responsible… you communicate with millions of people following you and clinging on to every word,” she says. </p>.<p>As for her upcoming work, she’s taking it easy. “Thanks to the lockdown, I’ve been doing ‘Ghar Se Movie Review’ and talking about movies I’ve missed in the last few years. And once this is over, I am telling you, I am open to doing so many different things,” she says.</p>.<p><strong>Kabir Singh row was a ‘crap fest’</strong><br />She was one of the critics who stood out as a feminist voice in the wake of Sandeep Vanga’s Telugu film ‘Kabir Singh.’ “It was a crap fest and a strange period in my life,” she exclaims.</p>
<p>She likes to describe her life as an assortment of circumstances. If it hadn’t been for such circumstances, she wouldn’t have become a radio jockey in Delhi at 19, then moved to Mumbai to pursue higher studies and become a much more popular RJ there, and finally switched over to the digital world as a film reviewer. Sucharita Tyagi is also well-known as an emcee, voice-over artiste, writer and feminist. </p>.<p>Her LinkedIn profile says “her favourite things in the world are watching films and educating YouTube trolls in gender equality (among other lessons)”. She reviews at least a couple of movies every week on Film Companion’s YouTube channel called ‘Not A Movie Review’. </p>.<p>“That’s my thing; I love stories. I like talking to people just because I love hearing stories. I moved to Mumbai a decade ago, when I was 21, and understood how ruthless this city is. I learnt to adapt and make my way through everything. I worked as a radio jockey for six years and understood the entertainment industry before I decided that I wanted to do something independent in 2015,” she told <em>Showtime</em>.</p>.<p>Sucharita took to film reviewing in a video format without thinking too much. “I didn’t dive into this with a plan. All I knew was that I love films and I have an opinion. I realised the power video has over everything else, and since I wasn’t shy to be in front of the camera, I took the opportunity,” she explains.</p>.<p>The way she created a brand for herself was simple: “I know how to talk on the spot, thanks to my radio background. I love peeling each layer of the film and understanding it, finding a conversation around it. I merge those two. And because talking to the camera is a strength, it all just comes together. Plus, it is part of my unfulfilled dream of being a superstar,” she says, laughing. </p>.<p><strong>Not a piece of cake</strong><br />Being a female content creator who has an opinion comes with challenges. For Sucharita, one was the wrath of South Indian actors’ fans she wasn’t prepared for. </p>.<p>“I largely review Hindi, Bollywood and Hollywood films, but when Telugu film ‘Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy’ released last year, I thought I’d talk about it as Amitabh Bachchan is also part of the film. It was a terrible film and I spoke about why I didn’t enjoy it. I was aware that Chiranjeevi was a megastar in the south but I didn’t realise how big his fanbase was. Not only were the comments from fans ruthless, but everything that followed was intense. This also happened with Prabhas’s ‘Saaho’,” she says.</p>.<p>Fans of male actors aren’t polite to critics, she observes. But she is fine with the online hate she gets, and doesn’t plan to stop having an opinion. “Why should I? I’m just doing my job. Even though the popular belief is that a critic watches a film only to criticise it, I go into the theatre to like a film and not to bash it,” she says. </p>.<p><strong>Women’s stories </strong><br />Whenever Sucharita reviews a movie where a woman is telling women’s stories, she starts her video with a little dance. She is passionate about such stories. </p>.<p>“Storytellers are powerful people because there are people like me seeking out stories. Stories are influencing people and their decisions, behaviour and mannerisms. Many leaders in the world, whether they are democratically elected or dictators, have used cinema to their advantage. They know it’s the strongest form of mass communication. And more often than not, in our country, cinema has the gaze of a man because writing and creating cinema are mostly done by men,” she says.</p>.<p>When women get up and take that power, she says, they are claiming the power a storyteller has. “Mind you, it’s not taking it away from men but sharing the space with them. I think that should be celebrated because women telling women’s stories is the most authentic form of emotion in my heart,” she says. </p>.<p><strong>Advice to Bollywood </strong><br />She would like Bollywood to know the extent of its sway. “It should understand its power and be responsible… you communicate with millions of people following you and clinging on to every word,” she says. </p>.<p>As for her upcoming work, she’s taking it easy. “Thanks to the lockdown, I’ve been doing ‘Ghar Se Movie Review’ and talking about movies I’ve missed in the last few years. And once this is over, I am telling you, I am open to doing so many different things,” she says.</p>.<p><strong>Kabir Singh row was a ‘crap fest’</strong><br />She was one of the critics who stood out as a feminist voice in the wake of Sandeep Vanga’s Telugu film ‘Kabir Singh.’ “It was a crap fest and a strange period in my life,” she exclaims.</p>