what we are reading – EightandHalf
Who said monologues are boring ? May be not, when its George Clooney! The first look of George Clooney’s new film Up In The Air is out. Check it out!
Also posting a clip from the film and an early review by popular blogging site slashfilm. The film is directed by Jason Reitman ( Juno & Thank You For Smoking).
And click here for review.
If you like Chetan Bhagat or if you think he is the best thing to happen to desi writing or if you are desperately waiting for his next book Two States, then this place is injurious to you health. Kindly move on to next blog!
In Bollywood and Mumbai’s first class train compartements, people read only two authors. Chetan Bhagat and Paulo Coehlo. People have only two favourite books – The Alchemist and Five Point Someone. And I hate the smell of both the books! Chetan Bhagat is the shittiest thing to happen in desi writing in recent time. He is, what i call, potty writer! You read it while doing potty, finish it by the time your potty is over and then use it as tissue paper! Pure junk like McDonald’s and priced also at the same range! If someone is willing to sign my cousin who is in 5th standard, do let me know, he can also write the same.
No imagination, no thought, bad writing. Period. But too much of publicity! The three books by him are three mistakes of his life! And according to news reports, Raj Kumari Hirani’s Three Idiots is based on Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone. WTF!! How is that possible ? I could not digest the news. Spent sleepless nights. How could Hirani do it ?
Its official! Vidhu Vinod Chopra bought the rights of the book. Bus aur kya! Chetan Bhagat went on promotional over drive. Some million interviews on how the next Aamir Khan film is based on his book and blah blah blah. Pics in some million poses and more!
I was surprsied, confiirmed it and found that its just the setting and nothing beyond that. But on one side it was me and the other side it was Chetan Bhagat and his million interviews. Nobody was willing to believe me that VVC and Hirani bought the rights only to be safe, so that nobody can question them later on.
Finally, Raj Kumar Hirani has clarified in this interview (read the second last question. hav copy pasted it here also) to Mumbai Mirror that the film and the book is only 5% similar! Yes, just five percent!
Q. How true are you keeping 3 Idiots to the book by Chetan Bhagat Five Point Someone?
A. 3 Idiots is inspired from the book but it is completely different. I would say just five per cent of it is the same. Books and films are different. So the moment you decide to pick up a book and make a film as it is, it will be a disaster. It’s a nice book, but it’s anecdotal and films can’t be anecdotal. It has to have a story. The reason I mention this is because people should not go to the theatre thinking, we are going to watch Five Point Someone and later find out that it’s a completely different film.
Game over, Mr Bhagat! Am much relieved. Now can that potty writer Chetan Bhagat just shut the fuck up! Enough of him and his mistakes!
UPDATE (1st Jan 2010) – Click here to read all the details and the dope about the credit controversy of 3 Idiots. Vidhu Vinod Chopra VS Chetan Bhagat.
Here is the first look of Ken Ghosh’s new film Chance Pe Dance. It stars Shahid Kapoor and Genelia D’Souza. Its produced by UTV.
Its Level 2 of Khatroon Ke Khiladi. Akshay Kumar is back on tv. And Nikhil Advani is back with Akshay Kumar again.
According to Indiafm, their new film is titled Patiala House and will star Anushka Sharma and Rishi Kapoor alongwith Akshay Kumar. The name Patiala House sounds like a sequel to Singh Is King but it seems its a father-son story set in Southall, UK.
The son gives up his dream to save his father’s reputation, until he meets a girl who gives him the strength to stand up for what he believes. It’s about second chances.
Second chances ?? Yeah, pun intended ? LOL!! Nikhil really must be praying for this second chance! Only if he can reduce his snob value a bit!
Warna we will sing again…
from chandni chowk to chai-na,
mujh-ko kuch samajh aai-na!
WTF!!! Yes, that was our first reaction when we heard about it! We know that Ashutosh Gowariker cant make films less than 3 hours and he got it right in his last three films – Jodha Akbar, Swades and Lagaan. All three films were longer than 3 hours.
But, Harman Baweja is not Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan! Also, there is no A R Rahman this time! The songs are fuckall, atleast we didnt like a single song in the What’s Your Raashee album. And this must be the longest romcom in the history of cinema! We are praying and how!
If gossipmongers are to be believed Ashutosh Gowariker is not happy with 3hrs 20 mins, he wants to keep it at 3hrs 40mins! Is he planning a filmy version of Mujhe Iss Film Se Bachao!
The promos look bad, the songs suck, Harman is horrible but we still want to see the film. Because we trust the director and 12 avtaars of Priyanka seems interesting idea! Very few actors get to do something like this! Sincerly hoping that Gowariker hasnt lost it like many others!
Yes, its confirmed. The rumours have been floating around for since last few hours. And its all true.
Prakash Raj has bagged the National Award for Best Actor for his performance in Priyadarshan’s film Kanchivaram. Atleast this one should be non controversial. Its a truly deserving one. I remember watching it at the Mumbai premeire of the film. And since then, I cant remember anything so powerful and so moving. Its just stunning!
In the film, Prakash Raj plays the role of a weaver who dreams about a silk saree for his daughter’s marriage. What looks like a simple dream is much more complex than one can imagine. Money, politics, unions, the problems never end.
The acting is so powerful that the young and the old Prakash Raj seem to be two different actors. If you havent seen it yet, do watch. If for nothing else, just for the acting! Happy to hear this news about Prakash Raj, his third National Award! More power to actors like him!
BTW, rumours doing the round suggests that Priyadarshan has also bagged the National Award for Best Director and the film Kanchivaram will get it for Best Film.
Update : Gandhi My Father has also bagged three awars. Best Film ( Prdoucer – Anil Kapoor. Am guessing this one is the hindi language category), Feroze Abbas Khan ( Best Screenplay) and Darshan Zariwalla (Best Supporting Actor).
Its filmy friday! And this week again there are some half dozen releases. Aage Se Right, Fox, Bachelor Party, Mohandas, Three – Love Lies Betrayal and some more. Our pick of the week is Rishi Kapoor starrer Chintu ji, directed by Ranjit Kapoor. We earlier wrote a post on Chintuji here (A riddle called Chintuji and bollywood’s oldest debutant). And here are some early reviews.
Anupama Chopra (NDTV) – Chintu ji is an unassuming and delightful film that will keep you smiling long after you’ve left the theatre – 3.5/5
Taran Adarsh (Indiafm) – Here’s a request to all cine lovers and also multiplexes, from this writer. Give this film a chance. Let’s nurture it well, so that genuine efforts like CHINTUJI don’t go unnoticed – 3.5/5
Anand Vaishnav (Buzz18) – Despite some inconsistencies, Chintuji brings a huge smile on your face. It’s a heart warming, feel good film – 3/5
Avijit Ghosh (TOI) – Hats off to Rishi Kapoor, though, for agreeing to play Chintuji, a self-seeking, egoistic and unscrupulous character with his own pet name. The star may have faded away but the actor is blooming in early autumn – 2/5
Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN) – Despite its flaws however, it’s warm and engaging in the end, and far superior to the similarly themed Billu Barber. Watch it because good films are hard to come by – 3/5
Shubhra Gupta ( Indian Express) – Keeping Rishi company are co-stars Priyanshu and the bright-eyed Kulraj, and Sophiya, shaking her stuff in one of the most hilariously inventive item numbers we’ve seen : worth, on its own, the price of an admission ticket – 3/5
Will update when more reviews are out.
LSD ? Yes, thats Love Sex Aur Dhokha. Dibakar Banerjee’s new film. In an industry where a filmmaker’s success is measured by the budget he can manage, Dibakar is in reverse gear. After Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Dibakar is going digital, low budget and Adult! Just 2 crore film. We caught up with Dibakar to know more. Read on.
Peep show : The film is about voyeurism. This film is essentially about how we have become a generation of voyeurs and flashers simulatenously. This film is about keyhole. On one side of the keyhole is a guy who is peeping in and on other side, there is a person who is hoping that someone io peeping in, and then its us, who are seeing all this. And it is adding bizzare subtext to our society. On television, newspapers, other media, we are obsessed with the most meaningless trivia of what other people are doing about their life. Thats one part of the film.
Loveology : The other part of the film is how we see love. I fall in love with a person. And I fall in love with a person in contempoprary India. Those two situations are completely different. Because today when I fall in love with somebody I have a history of 80 years of cinematic love to tell me what love should be, how a person in love behaves, what is the outcome of love, what happens when you are in love and how love conquers all. But when we try and take that route in real life, we realise that what the film shows and what life shows us are two differnt things. And am very excited about that difference.
Mera-Camera : These are the issues that this film is trying to deal with. And the reason to take completely new people is that voyeurism is specially effective when it is not constructed, when it is not fictional, when the camera is really candid. Even when I fake the camera into movement so that it looks like candid, but if you see someone like Abhay Deol or any other actor, you will know that its not really candid.
Kamre me Camera : This film cant be done if I dont go digital. If we shoot it in film ,this film wont be there. What we are trying to do with this film is actually totally new kind of filmmaking. We are trying to change the rules. We are making the film with real people. The people are given situations in which they are free to interpret and go forward with just a symbolic guideline from me. And people will be shooting the film themsleves often. And they will be shooting each other. And we will see a film which is not seen through my eyes, we will see a film which is seen through the eyes of people who are within that frame. That is essentially what voyeurism is all about. Thats what we are trying to do. The whole cast is made of people that we have not seen before. Trying to address the issue of reality show. I find this term very interesting – reality show. This is the oxymoron of oxymoron. This is the film all about. Its about reality, its about show, its about showing and peeping.
Imran-Abhay : The kind of subjects that I tackle and the kind of liberty that I want to take with my filmmaking, its fine with me to exist in the smaller bylanes of great big industry that bollywood is. I think huge biggie would kind of take it all away all and subvert me from what I am trying to do. So the next one is definitely not a biggie, its middly or smalley compare to other people’s budget. We are trying to address a very hard hitting social and politicallly issue that we face in our country. We are trying to bring together two actors whom we have not seen in a film yett. Its not done, we are trying. If it happens, people will see actors in that kind of role which we have not seen before.
And if you missed it last time, here is Dibakar Banerjee on love, life and cinema. Published in Outlook.
No, dont get us wrong. To be an actress in bollywood, you dont need great IQ. Actually what you need, nobody still knows. You can play any role you want. But…
…Read this news story in today’s Mumbai Mirror about Mani Shankar’s new film starring Sanjay Dutt and Irfan Khan. Kangna Ranaut have been signed to play the role of a tv journalist in a prominent tv channel. Her character is similar to Barkha Dutt ( read character = hair style). Remember Preity Zinta in Lakshaya ?
Now, everything is fine. But Kangna as a tv journalist in a top notch tv channel ? With a diction like hers, that make us love her for the way she shouts out “Baastaard” in almost every film, we wonder which tv journalist can be so bad on air!
After watching Anurag Basu’s Life in a Metro, filmmkaer Anurag Kashyap also could not control himself and gave some tips to the actress..
Kangana, work with Dubeyji ( Satyendra Dubey) to control your lisp, practice your dialogues while biting down on a pencil.. it helps.. she grew on me slowly.. first few scenes, that voice bothered me..
That lisp still continues! We are ROFL wondering how she will report/anchor news. Wish someone could honestly tell her about it. Otherwise, we think she is one gutsy actor who has great potential. The expressions are always right. The problem begins only when she opens her mouth!
After the success of Dev D, Abhay Deol has finally moved on to his new film Aisha, co-starring Sonam Kapoor. Its directed by Rajshri Ojha and produced by Anil Kapoor. The film is based on Jane Austen’s novel Emma and the first shooting schedule is going on in Delhi.
Sonam plays the lead role Aisha Kapoor in the film, a typical south Delhi girl with a Modern School background and belonging to a rich family. And if the gossipmongers are to be believed, the only reason why Abhay Deol signed this film is because of the whopping Rs 2.5 crore fees that he was offereed!
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 