Archive for August, 2010

National Film Awards Revamped! Plus some new awards!

Posted: August 12, 2010 by moifightclub in Awards, cinema, film, News, writing
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Aha, finally! After making headlines almost every year for all the wrong reasons, seems like GOI has finally decided to clean up the mess (like the one on the left). Plus some good news for screenwriters – instead of one, now there will be three awards. Scroll down to read it in more details.

– The selections for National Film Awards for 2009 will be implemented under the new system. The following are the new features of the re-vamped National Film Awards:

(A) 2-Tier Selection System

(i) 5 Regional Panels has been constituted for pre-selection of films

(a) North– English, Punjabi, Dogri, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani and Central Indian Languages

(b) West – Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati & Konkani

(c) South I – Tamil and Malayalam.   South II – Kannada, Telugu and Tulu

(d) East – Bengali, Assamese, Oriya and dialects spoken in Northeast

– Each Regional Panel would comprise a Chairperson and one member (both of whom would be from outside the region) and 3 other members from with the region.

– The screenings of the Regional panel as well as the Central jury would be held in Delhi.

(ii) The Central jury would comprise Chairperson plus 10 Members, of whom 5 would be the Chairpersons of the 5 regional juries

(B) New Award Categories

(i) Audiography – The following new awards have been introduced in this category  (a) Location Sound Recordist & Sound Designer

(ii) Music Direction – An award for background Score has been introduced, in addition to an existing award for Best Music Direction (Songs)

(iii) Best screenplay and Dialogues – 3 Awards have been instituted in place of the current award, namely, award for Adapted Screenplay award for Original Screenplay and award for Dialogues

– The cash prize for several award in both feature films and non-feature films categories have been increased.

– The sitting Fee of Jury Members have been hiked from Rs.1000/- per day to Rs.2500/- per day.

– The changes have been carried out following recommendations by an Expert Committee headed by eminent filmmaker Shri Shyam Benegal for up-gradation of the National Film Awards.

– The mandate given to the Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was to re-invent the National Film Awards with a view to making them more contemporary and acceptable.

Hopefully we will have a controversy free National Awards next year!

WTHolyF – Gandu Trailer & Bet you havent seen a desi trailer like this one!

Posted: August 11, 2010 by moifightclub in Bet You Didn't Know, cast & crew, cinema, first look, Regional, songs & videos, Tollywood, Trailer, WTF
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If the header seems to over-hype the trailer, quickly click on the play button!

UPDATE – The video has been removed by Youtube. And if you haven’t seen it yet, click here or here to watch it.

Its a bengali film directed by Q. Ok, thats Quashik Mukherjee. Call it porn or  whatever you want to but it looks killer! Porn, sex, masturbation, mommy, expletives, bengali rap and all in black & white – deadly combo! Gimme more ! Tell me more! Who got more dope ?

Thanks to Aseem Chhabra for the tip.

First Look : Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl In Yellow Boots (Trailer)

Posted: August 7, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, first look, News, songs & videos, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer, Xclusive
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Finally here it is! The official trailer of Anurag Kashyap’s new film That Girl In Yellow Boots is out.

It stars Kalki Koechlin (as Ruth) alongwith Naseeruddin Shah, Prashant Prakash, Gulshan Devaiya, Shivkumar Subramaniam, Divya Jagdale, Kumud Mishra and Kartik Krishnan amongst others.

The film is going to have it world premiere at Venice Film Festival and then North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. Its written by  Anurag Kashyap and Kalki Koechlin. Music of the film is by Naren Chandavarkar and Benedict Taylor, and the cinematography is by Rajeev Ravi.  Check it out.

And here is the official synopsis of the film….

That Girl in Yellow Boots is a thriller tracing Ruth’s (Kalki Koechlin) search for her father – a man she hardly knew but cannot forget. Desperation drives her to work without a permit, at a massage parlour. Torn between several schisms, Mumbai becomes the alien but yet strangely familiar backdrop for Ruth’s quest. She struggles to find her independence and space even as she is sucked deeper into the labyrinthine politics of the city’s underbelly. A city that feeds on her misery, a love that eludes her and above all, a devastating truth that she must encounter. And everyone wants a piece of her.

Do let us know what do you think about it.

WTF : Even the poster of Anjaana Anjaani is NOT original!

Posted: August 6, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, first look, News, pics, plagiarism, WTF
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We are not sure who designed the poster of Anjaana Anjaani but we are sure about one thing – its a straight lift from An Education. Just check out both the posters. Need we say more! Tip by @damoviemaniac. The film is directed by Siddharth Anand and stars Ranbir Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra.

And to check out its theatrical trailer and to know its original source from where it has taken the inspiration, click here. We have put a bet! The goss from crew of Anjanaa Anjaani is that they have take the basic story idea from The Girl On The Bridge and have Bollywoodised it by adding naach-gaana & Las Vegas!

And here is the poster of An Education….

First Look : Ranbir Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra starrer Anjaana Anjaani (trailer) & bet its a copy of The Girl On The Bridge!

Posted: August 5, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, film, first look, News, plagiarism, songs & videos, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer, video
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The first trailer of Ranbir Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra starrer Anjaana Anjaani is out. Its directed by Siddharth Raj Anand.

According to its wiki page, here is the synopsis of the film…

Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra are trying to find luck in their life after several failed attempts to be successful in their careers and in love. Fed up, they both decide to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. However, both land up on the same bridge at the same time.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

And here is our bet – though we dont know much about the film but from the synopsis and few scenes in the trailer its easy to predict that its plagiarised from The Girl On The Bridge (In French – La Fille Sur Le Pont ). And here is a scene from the original one. BTW, do watch it

VOTD : Kishore Kumar’s rare interview!

Posted: August 4, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, music, songs & videos, video, VOTD, Xclusive
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Its not exactly VOTD. But Audio Of The Day! Its a rare radio interview of Kishore Kumar where he talks to Ameen Sayani about his three friends – all in three different voices & style, his brother Ashok Kumar, his singing and acting debut and lot of other things…all in his inimitable style!

The magic, the madness, the maverick and the mimicry! Play on!

Mitch’s Alternative list of the Best-Shot films of the past decade

Posted: August 4, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, Hollywood, News
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But Mitch who ? Well, Mitch (born Mithun Gangopadhyay) is a proud black sheep born into a family of doctors who considers his life’s calling to have filmed in each of the seven continents. To his utter shame he has only managed two till now.

After cutting his teeth in Bolly-land, he’s doing his time in Holly where he’s been working in the Camera and Lighting Dept. The list of his credits belies his studly youthful looks (yes, even we can’t resist him). Gaffer, Cinematographer and his first love, Photographer (scroll down to check some of his super stuff) When he’s not fooling with smoke lenses, he’s either smoking the good stuff or fooling around. A taste for the finer things in life has almost killed him numerous times, but he managed to revive and write this post.

The bible of our business aka American Cinematographer recently published a list of the best 10 shot films of the decade.

Amélie: Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC (AC Sept. ’01)

Children of Men: Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (AC Dec. ’06)

Saving Private Ryan: Janusz Kaminski (AC Aug. ’98)

There Will Be Blood: Robert Elswit, ASC (AC Jan. ’08)

No Country for Old Men: Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (AC Oct. ’07)

Fight Club: Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (AC Nov. ’99)

The Dark Knight: Wally Pfister, ASC (AC July ’08)

Road to Perdition: Conrad L. Hall, ASC (AC Aug. ’02)

Cidade de Deus (City of God): César Charlone, ABC (AC Feb. ’03)

American Beauty: Conrad L. Hall, ASC (AC March & June ’00)

For the complete list, click here. It’s a pretty good list except for the fact that since the choice was by popular vote the winners tended to be those films which had gotten a lot of exposure. There were other films from around which I felt were equally as good but suffered from obscurity.

Hence, this is my list of the most visually striking films of the last decade, which includes narrative, documentary, animation as well as anime. With the exception of the LOTR trilogy, I have refrained from naming flicks which were CGI heavy. I totally see the contradiction that I name anime but not greenscreen but that’s just me.

I feel I also need to address the question of what is good cinematography ? A lot of people say that good cinematography should be invisible and the story should take precedence. I dunno if I agree with that. I mean what would Blade Runner, All that Jazz and Sunrise be without the virtuoso cinematography on display. I truly believe that stories in films are meant to be told with the camera and not with dialogue, which is why excessive classical Hollywood style coverage drives me crazy.

For what it’s worth my opinion is great cinematography is that which transports you to a place and makes you believe that what you are seeing is real. For me it’s gotta be visceral enough that I can imagine myself as a character in that movie. I need to taste and smell it and I think only the camera can do that until Smell O Vision makes a comeback like 3D.

A final note on my selection of films (2000-2010). The films are arranged randomly with no order of preference Some choices may leave scratching your heads while some omissions may make you furious. All I can say is that I might not have seen that film or not liked it enough. Since I don’t watch horror films their absence is particularly telling but that’s just the nature of the beast. Also I haven’t had a chance to watch much of regional Indian cinema so that category is also criminally neglected.

1) The Prestige (USA)

2) City of God (Brazil)

3) Amelie (France)

4) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (New Zealand)

5) Pan’s Labyrinth (Spain)

6) Wall-E (USA)

7) The Assassination of Jesse James (USA)

8) Into the Wild (USA)

9) The Motorcycle Diaries (Brazil)

10) Reprise (Norway)

11) The Lives of Others (Germany)

12) Requiem for a Dream (USA)

13) Children of Men (UK)

14) The New World (USA)

15) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (USA)

16) Gladiator (UK)

17) Black Hawk Down (USA)

18) Oldboy (South Korea)

19) A Bittersweet Life (South Korea)

20) District 9 (South Africa)

21) There Will be Blood (USA)

22) The Bourne Ultimatum (USA)

23) A Prophet (France)

24) Amores Perros (Mexico)

25) Tropa de Elite (Brazil)

26) Casa de Ariea (Brazil)

27) Hero (China)

28) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (China)

29) In the mood for Love (Hong Kong)

30) The Proposition (Australia)

31) Flame and Citron (Denmark)

32) Sunshine (UK)

33) Slumdog Millionaire (India)

34) Y tu mama tambien (Mexico)

35) The Dancer Upstairs (USA)

36) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (USA)

37) Eastern Promises (UK)

38) Carandiru (Brazil)

39) 5cm per second (Japan)

40) Paprika (Japan)

41) Exiled (Hong Kong)

42) Sex and Lucia (Spain)

43) Triad Election (Hong Kong)

44) Millennium Mambo (Taiwan)

45) The Devil’s Backbone (Spain)

46) Save the Green Planet (South Korea)

47) Bangkok Dangerous (Thailand)

48) Mysterious Skin (USA)

49) Invisible Waves (Thailand)

50) The Wind that shakes the Barley (UK)

51) Man on Fire (USA)

52) Control (UK)

53) Munich (USA)

54) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France)

55) Once (UK)

56) Vexille (Japan)

57) Spirited Away (Japan)

58) Silent Light (Mexico)

59) Reconstruction (Denmark)

60) Heima (Iceland)

61) Mongol (Mongolia)

62) The Dark Knight (USA)

63) Memories of Murder (South Korea)

64) Perfume (Germany)

65) Red Cliff (China)

66) The Good, The Bad and The Weird (South Korea)

67) The Hurt Locker (USA)

68) Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong)

69) Sin Nombre (Mexico)

70) Sugar (USA)

71) 2046 (Hong Kong)

72) Half Nelson (USA)

73) Intimate Stories (Argentina)

74) Into Great Silence (Germany)

75) Ghosts of Citi Soleil (Haiti)

76) Send a bullet (Brazil)

77) Coraline (USA)

78) The Fantastic Mr Fox (USA)

79) Mountain Patrol (China)

80) Encounters at the end of the World (Antartica)

81) Black Sun (USA)

82) District B13 (France)

83) Ghost in the Shell 2 (Japan)

84) Climates (Turkey)

85) The Headless Woman (Argentina)

86) Stranded (Argentina)

87) Read my Lips (France)

88) Antibodies (Germany)

89) Burnt Money (Argentina)

90) Paradise Now (Palestine)

91) Sin City (USA)

92) Ballast (USA)

93) The Libertine (UK)

94) Omkara (India)

95) 36 Quai des Orfevres (France)

96) Kaminey (India)

97) Dev D (India)

98) Uzak (Turkey)

99) Love me if you dare (France)

100) Daybreakers (Australia)

101) Marie Antoinette (USA)

102) A time for drunken horses (Iran)

103) Lebanon (Israel)

104) Restrepo (USA)

105) Road to Perdition (USA)

106) The man who wasn’t there (USA)

107) Far from Heaven (USA)

108) Girl with a Pearl Earring (Holland)

109) Frida (Mexico)

110) Three Times (Taiwan)

What else would you like to add to the list and why ? Do let us know.

PS – To catch Mitch’s work, click here. Have pasted some of the pics clicked by him in the slide show. The Sunrise poster is not by him ;-). The slideshow picked it up because its there in the post.

PPS – Strangely No. 8 is not showing in the post. You can see a smiley there. Not sure why and how! May be it knows how much we love the film!

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Aakrosh is Mississippi Burning & Hello Darling is Nine To Five ?

Posted: August 3, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, Hollywood, News, plagiarism, songs & videos, Trailer, WTF
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And fuck we care! Because one is Priyadarshan and the other is Subhash Ghai production. Damoviemaniac informed us about the first one. We checked with one of the crew members and bingo! It seems to be true. Only the “issue” has been changed. The second one doesn’t need any confirmation. Just check out the trailers.

And here is the next one…

Karisma Kapoor’s wedding video leaked online!

Posted: August 3, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, etc, News, songs & videos
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Who woke up so late ? And for what joy ? But if you are a Karisma Kapoor fan, check it out.  Its one big fat bollywood wedding…from mehendi to reception, it got all. And you can spot almost every Kapoor at one place with some priceless bollywood songs in the background. Who did the edit ? Please take your credit!

Do check out the last (7th ) video for some impromptu singing by Nitin Mukesh and others.

Udhaar Ki Aawaaz – When Kishore Kumar borrowed the voice of Mohd. Rafi (& more such gems)

Posted: August 2, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, music, songs & videos
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He is the final word on everything thats bollywood. (No, he is not some Trade Analyst )And specially so, if its hindi film music. At least for us, we don’t know anyone who knows hindi cinema and its music so well. Pavan Jha is our bolly-pedia! He recently uploaded a brilliant video on youtube (scroll down) and we asked him if he can write a post for us. Between his almost 24 hrs work schedule, he managed to take some time out. Go, enjoy and enlighten yourself.

Since the advent of playback singing in Indian films in late 30s, many playback singers have attained legendary stature for their singing and have connected with film buffs and music lovers through their voice. They became the voice of the On-screen characters in songs, yet created their own space and fan fare, and eventually the “Voice” became their identity.

Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Talat Mehmood, Manna Dey to name a few legendary playback singers, created a separate space for film music beyond the cinematic context. The Voice became “Them”. They created such a strong impact that the record companies, who earlier used to print On-screen characters’ names on the released records, instead of giving credit to the singer, had to make way for the singers’ name with the song instead of the character name.

The likes of Lata, Asha, Rafi, Kishore connected more strongly and had longer and stronger relationship with the fans through their voices than Dev, Dilip or Raj Kapur for that matter. The playback singers played a major success in establishing an actor through super hit songs and shared a special bond with the actors, and were sometimes considered as “The voice” for the actor.

But being a MayaNagari, the filmdom has seen many unusual happenings! Can you imagine Kishore Kumar, the on-screen actor, had to borrow someone else’s voice despite being a major Voice and leading singer!

The first part of following video presentation features a few of some unusual and interesting instances where the singer as on-screen actor has borrowed some other play back singer ‘s voice rather than singing them-self.

The second part of presentation features another interesting aspects of the singers, who were not actors but sometimes appeared on screen in songs. Check it out.

As you might have observed many of the featured instances are of actor Kishore Kumar, borrowing voices of other singers, namely Mohammad Rafi, Manna Dey and SD Batish in different songs. This can surely sprung a surprise in viewers mind……why so?

As far as the instances of Ameerbai Karnataki (Kaliyon me raam – Pavanputra Hanuman) and GM Durrani (Unke khayal aaye to – Laal Patthar) are concerned, it can be easily understood that when they were doing these respective roles, they had already left singing and started appearing as guest artist at an old age.

Still GM Durrani needs a very special mention.. When Rafi saab was struggling to make a mark and was not a known singer (early to mid 40s), GM Durrani was at peak of his career as a singer. It is documented that GM Durrani was Rafi saab’s idol at that time , and Rafi saab used to follow his style (as KL Saigal was Idol for Kishore and Mukesh in the beginning of their career). So this song (Unke Khayaal Aaye) becomes a significant one considering the fact, a legendary singer is giving playback for his own idol in singing.

Coming back to strange cases of Kishore Kumar, there are different stories with every instance. Like for Ragini’s Man Mora Baawara, OP Nayyar saab has said in one of the interviews that the song had classical flavor and he needed a voice with knowledge of classical singing, so he opted for Mohammad Rafi. Reportedly Kishoreda was not happy of this choice, but couldn’t do much about it due to professional commitments.

As far as Shararat songs are concerned, it is reported that initially Bharat Bhushan was suppose to have those songs picturised on him and the songs were already recorded when Kishore replaced him for the songs.

Karodpati also has an interesting anecdote…..Kishore had some issue of payments with the producers so he declared he wont record the songs for the film, just to create a panic. The director was really worried as he had to shoot that song in the ongoing schedule. The music directors intervened and suggested that they could get this song recorded by Manna Dey. The same day Manna dey received a phone call from Kishore da’s home. His mother requested that Shankar-Jaikishan would come with an offer to sing for Kishore,  so please do not accept the other offer. But Manna Dey had very good relations with Shankar-Jaikishan, so he could not say no and recorded the song.. Later Kishore’s issue was resolved with the producer but the song was retained.

Bhaagam Bhaag song (Aankho ko mila yaar se) where on screen Kishore was picturised with two different voices of Manna Dey and SD Batish was clearly an example of mis-direction during song picturisation.

Whatever may be the reasons, these instances have given us many unusual cinematic moments to cherish.. Lets enjoy!

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