Archive for April, 2013

Searching for Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Posted: April 20, 2013 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, Clips, Indie
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The Cannes Film Festival recently announced its 2013 official list, and it features two Indian films – Bombay Talkies and Monsoon Shootout. Guess what’s common between the two? Nazauddin Siddiqui. It was the same scenario last year, he was at Cannes for Gangs Of Wasseypur and Miss Lovely. That’s quite an achievement – to have four films at Cannes in two years. And that’s not all. If our sources are to be believed, there’s more. Keep watching this space.

So we thought it’s a good time to look back and search for Mister Siddiqui. It started on Twitter, as a cheap thrill – to spot him in all those blink and miss roles that he has done over the years. Thanks to internet and youtube, it’s all just “click and play” game now. Try it. You will be surprised, and it’s great fun. Also, it defines what “perseverance” really means. Over to @SilverlightGal who went searching for Siddiqui and wrote this post.

Nawazuddin

In 1999, he was featured in a scene, that of a waiter, sharing screen space for a few seconds with Manoj Bajpayee. That 13 years later, he would feature as a leading man in a movie, playing Manoj Bajpaee’s son, and dominate the screen space was perhaps something that no one had envisioned. Not even the guy himself. That’s Nawazuddin Siddiqui for you.

It was on this blog, MFC (moifightclub), that I first heard of his name.  Nawazuddin Siddiqui? Sure didn’t sound like the names we’d been used to hearing in Bollywood in recent times.  Year after year it was either a Kumar or a Khan that made news in Bollywood. But this new guy was being written about with awe and respect. Curious, I read up as much as I could about him and that’s when I understood why he was being awed, despite not having a single release at that time. With unbridled excitement, I looked forward to seeing him on the silver screen, in Gangs of Wasseypur. And he didn’t disappoint. Gow-I, Gow-II, Kahaani, Talaash, it was just one powerhouse performance after another.

By now, reams have been written in media about his struggle from the days he worked as a watchman to now when he is acting alongside the likes of Aamir Khan and Vidya Balan. So, this post will not cover any of that.  For those unfamiliar with his back story or his long struggle or his various media interviews, there is a bunch of links at the bottom of this post.

This article instead attempts to list all his work from 1999 to the present.  (Note,  at Wikipedia, there are just 23 listings. At MFC, we have discovered 46, collated from various sources on the Net) And you can spot him in some of the clips listed here.

VIDEOS

Sarfarosh

He played a criminal named Nawazuddin and was featured in a police lock-up scene that lasted for approximately 130-140 seconds. That was the first time he shared screen space with Aamir Khan. 12 years later, he played the second lead in an Aamir Khan movie, Taalash. Notice how scrawny and nervous he looks back then. But, far more than that, notice the way he gets under the skin of the character. It may have been a miniscule role but one that he can still be proud of.

Jungle

He played one of the dacoits in Sushant Singh’s gang. This again was a very short role, lasting a few seconds.

Black Friday

He played the role of Asgar Muqadam, Tiger Memon’s  manager. In the movie, he is arrested shortly after the bomb blasts and is beaten in the lockup until he provides whatever information he has about the bomb blasts, which then leads to a police inquiry. Again, despite the extremely short time he got on screen, Nawazuddin managed to put in his best and make a mark for himself. Legend has it (okay, I just couldn’t resist this starter) that Anurag Kashyap saw his Sarfarosh scene and also a few of his plays and then signed him up for Black Friday.

Munnabhai MBBS

Remember, the thief who stole Sunil Dutt’s wallet and was good-naturedly hauled to beta Sanjay Dutt’s “clinic”? That was Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He was very lean back then and his face still looked young and fresh.

“OP” Stop Smelling Your Socks (short)

In this little-known short film, he plays one of the production guys.

The Bypass

In this award-winning 2003 short film, he played the role of a desert robber, who in conjunction with another guy, killed and looted people travelling on the bypass route.

Summer of 2007

(Trailer, between 1:59 to 2.00)

Again a blink and miss role, that of a villager in the village the protagonists go to fulfill their internships. The movie was a box office disaster.

Firaaq

He played the role of Hanif, a young Muslim man who finds his home looted and burned in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots and wants to retaliate against the violence.

********************

If you are interested to know more about him, here’s the list of some of the news reports and features.

– His biography

– “A journey from a watchman to Bollywood” DNA article is here.

– “Tryst with Roger Ebert” HT report is here.

– “It must be boring to be a star.” DearCinema interview is here

– “An Unlikely Hero” GQ India feature is here

– “Now Starring NS : The life and struggle of an unlikely hero” Open magazine feature is here

– “The late but unstoppable rise of Nawazuddin Siddiqui” Caravan magazine’s feature is here

And these listings are not in exact order of his appearances, they are just sorted by year

  1. Sarfarosh 1999
  2. Shool 1999
  3. Jungle 2000
  4. Bindiya Mange Bandook 2000
  5. The Bypass 2003
  6. Mudda 2003
  7. Munnabhai MBBS  2003
  8. Black Friday 2004
  9. Elephant Boy 2005 (short)
  10. Adharm 2006
  11. Family – Ties of Blood 2006
  12. Manorama Six Feet Under 2007
  13. EK Chaalis ki last local 2007
  14. Salt N Pepper 2007
  15. Recycle Mind 2007
  16. Aaja Nachle 2007
  17. Safar 2008
  18. Black and White 2008
  19. Summer 2007  2008
  20. Dev D 2008
  21. Meridian Lines 2009
  22. New York 2009
  23. Firaaq 2009
  24. New York 2009
  25. OP Stop Smelling Your Socks (short) 2010
  26. Peepli live 2010
  27. Mehfuz (short) 2011
  28. Dekh Indian Circus 2011
  29. Kahaani 2011
  30. Paan Singh Tomar 2012
  31. Miss Lovely 2012
  32. The Owner 2012
  33. Talaash 2012
  34. Chittagong 2012
  35. Patang 2012
  36. Gangs of Wasseypur 2012
  37. Liar Dice 2012
  38. Gangs of Gardulley 2013
  39. Black Currency 2013
  40. Monsoon Shootout 2013
  41. Mountain Man 2013
  42. Dabba 2013
  43. Aatma 2013
  44. HaraamKhor 2013
  45. Bombay Talkies 2013
  46. Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa Filming

If we have missed anything interesting or if you managed to spot him in some film, do let us know in comment section.

(@SilverlightGal is passionate about cinema and is always eager for any discussions pertaining to cinema.)

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VOTD : Amit Kumar’s short The Bypass (Irrfan Khan & Nawazuddin Siddiqui)

Posted: April 18, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, short film, video, VOTD
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Amit Kumar’s debut feature Monsoon Shootout has been selected to have its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Apart from Bombay Talkies, which is part of tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema, Amit’s film is the only Indian film to be in the official list so far.

We thought it’s a good time to look back at his work. So here’s a terrific short film by him – The Bypass. It stars Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Made in 2003, it did quite a bit of fests round then when both the actors were really not so big on films radar.

(PS – To make life bit simpler, now you don’t need to fill in all the details to post comments. If you are already logged into Facebook or Twitter, just log in with your FB/T account. Click on comment box, you can see the small (FB/T) icon below the comment box, click on FB/T, a pop up will appear, authorize the app and you are done)

Indian films at Cannes 2013

Posted: April 18, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Film Festival, News
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Cannes

Cannes Film Festival has just announced its official selection list. And as expected not too many Indian films at fest this year.

As part of tribute to 100 years of Indian Cinema, Bombay Talkies will have its Gala premiere at the fest. It’s a collection of four short films directed by Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar.

Another selection is Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout which is in Midnight Screenings section. It stars Vijay Varma, Nawazuddin Siddiqi, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Neeraj Kabi, Geetanjali Thapa.

And here’s the official synopsis – A rookie cop faces a suspected gangster in a dead-end alley and has to decide whether to shoot or not to shoot. Three separate scenarios explore the impact of his decision on other people’s lives.

Amit had earlier directed a terrific short called Bypass which won many awards. Click here and here to watch the film in two parts.

Also, Indian actor and director Nandita Das is part of the CineFoundation and Short Film Jury.

To read the complete list, click here.

Film Recco : Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s Celluloid Man

Posted: April 16, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Indie, Movie Recco
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ApprovedCelluloudMan

We don’t have a culture of documenting our history.

We don’t have a history of making great documentaries.

We don’t have documentaries on our “real heroes”.

And this is why Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s Celluloid Man is such an important film, which stands tall on those three parameters. It’s about a real hero who has documented our cinematic history, and it’s a documentary on his life and passion.

I had missed the screening few times in the past and finally managed to catch it recently. The name is P.K.Nair. His designation sounds even boring – Archivist. Sounds almost clerical – someone who archives stuff. What separates Mister Nair from his designation and the rest is just one thing – passion. And this film does complete justice to that man and his undying passion for cinema.

Chances are you might not have heard his name if you have not been to FTII or not friends with FTII graduates. He is the man responsible for National Film Archive Of India, popularly known as NFAI. Starting literally from scratch, P K Nair built it up slowly – reel by reel, can by can, film by film. No wonder that you ask him about a scene and he can tell you which reel and which can has it. Celluloid Man is his story – how he built NFAI, the way he travelled to various places in search of those rare films which most didn’t care about.

The film runs on two tracks. One traces Nair’s personal story – starting from Nair’s childhood in Kerala to how he wanted to become filmmaker and how he landed up at FTII and started NFAI. Some of the well known faces from FTII recount their younger days at the Institute and talk about Nair saab. And then you realise that his contribution is much more than just being an archivist. It’s about shaping up those young bright minds.

The other one is about building NFAI – this has intersecting anecdotes about collecting those precious films by travelling to remote places, and sometimes even opting for illegal routes for a greater cause. Dungarpur balances it well by scratching the uncomfortable surface too – was it one-upmanship, why NFAI is hostile to Nair now and such.

It feels bit long at the running duration of more than 2 hours (2:24 exactly i think, not sure which version is releasing), and the director’s sudden voice-over feels odd which doesn’t gel well with the film as the rest of it is through Nair saab’s words. But those are just minor issues in this mammoth task of documenting this important part of our cultural history so beautifully. If you are film lover, WATCH IT. If you are not, watch it just to know how to define Passion and Commitment.

The initial portions of the film is shot gorgeously, almost like a dream, feels some kind of daze. And then there’s a heartbreaking surreal sequence of silver being extracted from film reels by those who understand only commerce. The horror! Horror! i shouted in my head.

And this film could not have come at a better time. If there’s one person who needs to be celebrated at the occasion of 100 years of cinema, it’s Nair saab. If nothing else, at least this documentary serves that purpose. Thanks, Shivendra.

– The film is being released by PVR Directors Rare on May 3rd. Don’t Miss this one.

– To know more about the film, click here.

– DearCinema has a detailed review of the film from IFFLA. Click here to read.

(PS – My fav quote is about gym in FTII. I guess that says a lot about our current cinema too)

– @CilemaSnob

Call for Entries – Mumbai Mantra I Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab 2014

Posted: April 14, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, Screenwriting, Workshop, writing
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Mahindra Sundance1

WHAT:  Following the template of the world renowned Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab, that is held at Park City, USA, the Indian Screenwriters Lab is a five-day writer’s workshop that gives independent screenwriters the opportunity to work intensively on their feature film screenplays with the support of established screenwriters. Mumbai Mantra has collaborated with the Sundance Institute and established India’s annual Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab.

Project Selection :

—> 6-8 projects shall be selected for the Screenwriters Lab. All Indian nationals as well as Indians living overseas, people of Indian origin and mixed Indian parentage are eligible to apply.

– Only those who are working on their first or second feature film project shall be eligible. However, they may have worked on documentaries, shorts, advertising films in the past

– The screenplay can be for a film in any Indian language including English. However, the application must be in English, as it is the medium of communication at the Lab.

– Incase there are two writers working on a a screenplay, or a writer-diretor working together on a project, both would be invited to the Lab if selected.

HOW : All you need is 1. A synopsis 2. First five pages of your screenplay 3. An artistic statement 4. A cover letter for the first round.

ADDRESS :   You have to send your submission via post. Materials will NOT be accepted electronically.
Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institute
Screenwriters Lab Application March 2014
Mumbai Mantra Media Ltd.,
Mahindra Towers, 5th Floor, Worli, Mumbai-400018.

DATE : Last Date for Open Submission: June 1, 2013

– Date for submission of Complete Draft of Screenplay (next round) shall be informed later to selected candidates.

CONTACT :  If you have any more queries related to Mumbai Mantra| Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab 2014, you can contact them at labqueries@mumbaimantra.com

– For more info on the lab, selection process and all other details, click here.

– If you are wondering what exactly happens at the lab and if at all it’s helpful or not, click here to read Renuka Shahane’s blog where she has written 5 posts on her experiences. Her script was in the lab this year.

– You can also click here to read Vikas Chandra insightful post. His script was in last year’s lab.

VOTD : Pankaj Tripathi’s interview

Posted: April 13, 2013 by moifightclub in Interview, VOTD
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PT

At some point most cinema discussion always move towards that rather simple question – who’s your favourite actor in the current lot? And to answer that question, my current favourite is Pankaj Tripathi. But the tragedy is sometimes i do have to explain who this actor is. It was the same for my other favourite – Yashpal Sharma. All these actors are always good, in any bad film or bad role.

A graduate of National School Of Drama, Pankaj has been acting for quite a few years. He got his much deserved visibility with YRF’s tv show Powder in which he played Naved Ansari. And then got recognition with his portrayal of Sultan in Gangs Of Wasseypur. Since we hardly care about actors who play character roles, so it’s rare to see them in mainstream media. Much thanks to Komal Nahta who he did this long interview with Tripathi where he talks about his theatre days, village, parents’ aspirations, struggling days and much more. And it’s quite an honest interview. DO WATCH.

Tip – Aniruddh Chatterjee

– @cilemasnob

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हाँ हाँ मैं क्रेज़ी हूँ – 1 jingle, 5 composers, 5 versions. VOTE!

Posted: April 10, 2013 by moifightclub in music
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If you are also are in love with the latest Coca Cola jingle, here’s something just for fun. That crazy jingle has five different versions composed and sung by five different composers. Click play and enjoy.

Amit Trivedi

Hitesh Sonik

Clinton Cerejo

Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy

Papon

And once you have heard all the five versions, do vote for your favourite one. You can vote for more than one.

Tip – @beastOftrall

The Place Beyond The Pines releases this friday. Director Derek Cianfrance introduces his film

Posted: April 10, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Hollywood, News
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First, the good news – Derek Cianfrance’s new film The Place Beyond The Pines is releasing in theatres this Friday. His last release was the heartbreaking drama, Blue Valentine. If you still haven’t seen it, DO WATCH. Click here to read a terrific recco post by Subrat.

Starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper an Eva Mendes, it’s released by PVR Pictures. Also, we have been informed that there are no Censor cuts in the film. And do check out the embedded document where director Derek Cianfrance gives an introduction to his film.

You can read the same document on Scrib here.

And here’s the opening scene of the film

Just A Page : from Mrinal Sen’s Always Being Born

Posted: April 10, 2013 by moifightclub in Awards, Bengali, cinema, Film Festival, Just A Page
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always-being-born-recipient-of-dadasaheb-phalke-award-mrinal-sen-a-memoir-275x275-imad96etkbdskjezRecently I watched a documentary film where Mrinal Sen is quoted. Mrinal Sen? It left me wondering when was the last time I heard his name. Honestly, not sure. In which discussion? Well, really not sure. We talk so much about world cinema, but we rarely get to hear the desi names beyond the few obvious ones.

People like us, who could easily be branded as the fest-fuckers, are bigger culprits. Even before fests became kind of cool for kids here, Sen had been there, done that. Apart from many other international awards, his Kharij was in Cannes Official Competition and bagged the Jury Prize in 1983. His another film Akaler Shandhaney (In Search Of A Famine) was in cometition at Berlin Fest where it bagged the Silver Bear in 1981, and at Venice Film Festival, Ek Din Achanak got an Honourable Mention. Do watch the films if you haven’t.

Back to Sen, and we have a new segment – Just A Page. The film reminded me of his memoir, Always Being Born. I had read it long back. As soon as i came back home, i took out the book and read few pages. Ironically, even at the risk of it being used to poke fun at me for obvious reasons (by friends and well-wishers mostly), am going to quote a page from this book. Quite a terrific one. Do read.

Suddenly, from behind a boulder on which I was seated, appeared a boy, hardly ten, the external anatomy giving the appearance of a beggar. He stood before me, but unlike a hungry beggar, his eyes were bright. I smiled and he smiled back. I pulled out a ten-rupee note, quite a fat amount in those days, and gave it to him. He could not believe that the amount was meant for him. I drew him close, patted him on the shoulder and gave him the push with a smile. The boy ran away with the money, looked back from a distance, his eyes beaming, and disappeared. Instantly, I felt I was a different man altogether. I sprang to my feet and, with nobody around, i shouted at the top of my voice and in ecstasy uttered a few Bengali words, Dekh-re Shala’ra, Kemon Aami Nirbaashan’e Aachhi! (Look bastards, I’m an exile here!) And there was nobody around. Bengali, for the first time in last three days, because it was Greek in Jhansi. Could there be a streak of madness in me? Or, to quote Jacques Tati or getting a kick from Chaplin, Inspired Nonsense?

I, then, returned to my hotel, shut myself up in my small room and moved towards the tall mirror. Standing before the mirror, I could see myself from top to toe, head to foot. Watching me, I enjoyed looking at “it”. As I looked deep into the eyes of my ‘double’, I wanted to see more of ‘it’, the whole of ‘it’. Without caring to behave myself, I made a violent move to strip myself.

There stood my ‘double’, stark naked, face to face with me. Was the look menancing? The double’s? Or mine? I did not remember. I remembered the ‘talk’ I had with ‘him’. I said, hugely intrigued:

There you are, Mr Mrinal Sen, one who read a lot on cinema, wrote substantially on its aesthetics and made frantic efforts to impress others! Now, here you are, Mr Sen, a dawai-walla (medicine-seller), who once wanted to be a filmmaker! Didn’t you, Mr Sen, manage to hook a money-backer and finally backed out for fear of making  lousy film? Oh, no! Serve your bosses well, rot here and try to get an increment. To feel bored is not your business, you cannot afford it, can you?

So saying, I made faces, muttered words in languages I know, then giggled and laughed and made all kinds of absurd gestures and finally, unable to control myself, I cried. Cried like a child. All alone in a hotel room in Jhansi!

After three days, I sent a long telegram to the management in Bombay and I resigned.

You can order the book from Flipkart here.

(PS – To make life bit simpler, now you don’t need to fill in all the details to post comments. If you are already logged into Facebook or Twitter, just log in with your FB/T account. Click on the small (FB/T) icon below the comment box, a pop up will appear, authorize the app and you are done)

– @NotSoSnob

Pizza – should filmmakers “cheat” us?

Posted: April 7, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, film review, movie reviews, reviews, Spoiler, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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pizza

S-P-O-I-L-E-R—-A-L-E-R-T

i finally saw the film that i have been reading and hearing about for a long time. A Tamil film called Pizza which became a surprise hit and its remake right has been sold in many other languages including Hindi. That made me more curious. I knew that it’s a horror film. If you are told otherwise, it will be a spoiler. And that’s sad in a way because then you wonder if the film is so weak that if you tell the real genre to which it belongs, it wont work? Imagine if you always knew that it’s a thriller, and not a horror film. Would the film still work? Am not so sure now. Take Talaash, i think it works best when you know the spoiler. (Post here) And as a friend said it here – A movie is never about its twist, and if it is, it’s not worth it. Pizza is badly handicapped on that front.

Directed by Karthik Subbaraj, the film starts on quite a thrilling note. Almost like one of those found footage films. A bunch of guys trying to trace ghosts in an old building and everything is recorded on a handy cam. As it gets more exciting, as the so called ghosts are about to appear, you realise that this is not the real film. It’s a film inside the film which is playing on tv and the lead characters are watching it. You can brand this as cheating, or, you might overlook it because of the thrill that it provides. I guess the director set the tone of his film with this sequence. The way you react to it, my guess is you are going to react to the film in a similar way once it ends.

I was thoroughly enjoying the film till the interval. And i kept wondering how are they going to close it because it looked like a difficult task. Well, it turned out to be KLPD. Because the director cheats us not once, but twice actually. First time when we are hearing the ghost story. It’s in one flashback. Almost the first half. And second time when the lead character is trying to act scared, pretending to be spooked – breathing problem, blood on his back, someone in the loo. Even if you are willing to take the first instance as film making tool, what about the second one? The second one makes you completely believe in the first story and kills all your doubts.

So you enjoy the thrill so much that you don’t call it cheating, or maybe you even call it so but overlook the fact once you know the reality. Why? Because it was worth it. Or you brand it as pure KLPD, cheating and childish. There’s nothing right or wrong, it’s just the way you react. And so the question in the post because i felt it was cheating. You might be completely fine with it. Do let us know in the comments section.

I am guessing you are still with me and are reading this post because you have seen the film already. Otherwise it won’t make sense as am not explaining everything in detail. And remember Kahaani? Lot of us criticised Sujoy Ghosh for that one scene where Vidya is talks about her husband and we get to see her “fake” story in flashback. Unlike others Sujoy was honest enough to participate in a discussion with us after its release and gave us his version. You can check the entire discussion here.

I still believe that the character might be talking about his/her story but it’s the filmmakers choice how he is showing it to us. We are not peeping into the character’s head like Being John Malkovich. Now, if we criticised Sujoy for that one scene, imagine an entire film based on such a scenario. Pizza is exactly that.

Once you are inside the theatre, one completely trusts the filmmaker. Saying and showing things with the help of a character and making us believe in it is the simplest thing inside that dark room. And then you turn around and say that it was all false, well, those were my favourite games in kindergarten. Not anymore.

Interestingly, when i asked people on twitter to rate the film on a scale of 1 to 5, most people rated it between 2.5 to 5. So clearly am in minority. Or, maybe am growing old. I prefer human stories more than thrill pills now.

Or i can try a better one. Since i was talking about his closing lines in the last post, and most probably someone will soon say “The Usual Suspects” while discussing this post, so here’s a quote from his review of the same film – I prefer to be amazed by motivation, not manipulation.

– @CilemaSnob

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