Archive for the ‘cast & crew’ Category

First Look : Vasan Bala’s Peddlers (Trailer)

Posted: May 12, 2012 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, film, first look, Indie, songs & videos, Trailer, video
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Finally, the official trailer of Vasan Bala‘s debut feature Peddlers is out. The film is all set to premiere at Cannes International Critics’ Week.

So what works and what doesn’t? Since he is a good friend, i might be biased. But let me try. The visuals look gorgeous, there is a sudden tension in the mood but it all looks calm on the surface. Great! And the ‘ud jayega‘ raw vocals adds to the creepiness. But the text seems to be too vague. Actually it’s the same as that cryptic synopsis of the film. Why? Who does that? Also, font is dull and boring. And it comes on the visuals. Found it too be distracting.

What do you guys think? Do leave your comments.

To quote the official synopsis,

Peddlers – A ghost town, Mumbai, inhabited by millions. A lady on a mission, a man living a lie, an aimless drifter. They collide. Some collisions are of consequence, some not, either ways the city moves on.

And here’s the cast and credit list..

Director : Vasan Bala
Screenplay : Vasan Bala
Cinematography : Siddharth Diwan
Editing : Prerna Saigal
Sound : Anthony B.J. Ruban
Music : Karan Kulkarni

Cast: Gulshan Devaiah, Siddharth Mennon, Kriti Malhotra, Nimrat Kaur, Murari Kumar, Sagai Raj, Megh Pant, Nishikant Kamat, Neeraj Ghaywan and Anubhuti Kashyap.

First Look : Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs Of Wasseypur (Poster, Trailer & Synopsis)

Posted: May 3, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, film, first look, News, pics, Poster, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer, video
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Ah, finally. The way Viacom18, the producer of Gangs of Wasseypur, was reluctant to share even on location images of the film after the Cannes announcement, we were thinking if they were going to lay some golden eggs.

The trailer, poster and the official synopsis of the film is finally out. Let’s go one by one. First, the trailer.

Loot, coal mines, volatile people in volatile land, zindagi ka ek-e maksad – badla, jail, chop shop, Tishu, Bihar ke lala, cuss words, Richa attacking the same man who has been killing everyone, sex, goggles-wala-pyaar, dhoom-dhaam, more cuss words, more earthy and punchy dialogues, more abuses and some more dhaam-dhaam. And everything is inherited! E toh poora ka poora dabang hai – abki badke Kashyap ki baari.

But why is the text font so bland? Bad font always bores me.

As far as the trailer goes, this is as mainstream as it can be. But i think the trailer serves more masala than the film will offer. Might be wrong. But Kashyap without his indulgences? Jiyo o Bihar ke lala. The trailer doesn’t tell you much about the film but it gives the ambiance and the mood of the film and tells you what to expect – you connect the dots. And if you can’t, scroll down for the synopsis.

My fav bit – Pankaj Tripathy. Bahut-e kamaal ke actor hai. Agle Yashpal Sharma hai jo hame bahut-ey pasand hai.

Now, the poster.

Superb art work. Like the colours and the treatment. But why such a bad finish? The film posters on the right and left hand side looks so weird. As if at the last moment they asked some intern to put two posters. Just doesn’t gel with the rest.

And now the official synopsis…

Towards the end of colonial India, Shahid Khan loots the British trains, impersonating the legendary Sultana Daku. Now outcast, Shahid becomes a worker at Ramadhir Singh’s colliery, only to spur a revenge battle that passes on to generations. At the turn of the decade, Shahid’s son, the philandering Sardar Khan vows to get his father’s honor back, becoming the most feared man of Wasseypur. In contemporary times, the weed addicted grandson, Faizal Khan, wakes up to this vengeance that his family has inherited. Staying true to its real life influences, the film explores this revenge saga through the socio-political dynamic in erstwhile Bihar (North India), in the coal and scrap trade mafia of Wasseypur, through the imprudence of a place obsessed with mainstream ‘Bollywood’ cinema.

The film stars Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Jaideep Ahlawat, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Aditya Kumar, Reemma Sen, Richa Chadda, Huma Qureshi, Piyush Mishra and Syed Zeeshan Qadri.

Film Recco : Sandesh Kulkarni’s Masala – The Adventures of Revan-man

Posted: April 25, 2012 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, film, film review, Movie Recco, movie reviews, Regional, reviews
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After working in the television industry for about 15 years in various capacities, Rony D’Costa decided to quit it all and pursue happiness. He generally finds it in dark theatres or under the open sky and write about those adventures here and here. Here’s Rony’s recco post on the marathi film Masala.

“Do you do this for your own happiness?”, when this question is asked to the character played by Dilip Prabhvalkar, a scientist experimenting to create bio fuel, he says, “mi anadasaati kaahich karat naahi. Ananddaani karto”. Loosely translated as, “I don’t do things for happiness. I do it with happiness”. Sandesh Kulkarni’s Masala is filled with such gems of wisdom and is casually thrown in scene after scene by characters straight out of Malgudi Days. It almost works like a self-help movie for entrepreneurs without any high-handed preaching. No wonder then that it reminded me of ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’.

Revan(Girish Kulkarni) and his wife Sarika(Amruta Subhash) keep shuttling from one village to another hiding away from creditors. Not because they are dishonest people but, as it’s shown in one scene, they are more worried about the problems of the people who owe them money. From one failed business to another one quietly supported by his wife, Revan reaches Solapur where he meets Sarika’s long lost cousin (Hrishikesh Joshi) and his wife (Sneha Majgaonkar). Thus begins Revan’s encounters with some crazy, quirky and eccentric characters who ultimately become his family.

The film is not in a hurry to reach its destination. It doesn’t even care about the plot much and to go by traditional rule book, it’s devoid of any conflict too. Debutant director Sandesh Kulkarni invests all the screen time in his characters and their bittersweet life. It works like a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film as Girish Kulkarni’s writing is simple and effective and never resorts to melodrama to make a point. Like RajKumar Hirani’s films, this one also chooses to look at the goodness in human beings, so none of the characters have any shades of black.

I strongly feel that Masala should be made compulsory viewing in business schools and can work as an anti-depressant for people who have given up on their dreams. It also reminded me of ‘The Alchemist’ in the way it talks about finding the treasure within you. Add to that the lilting background score which makes its presence felt only if you choose to focus on it. On acting front, Girish Kulkarni plays the role of Revan with the right amount of innocence and Amruta Subhash ably supports him with the silent portrayal of her character. Hrishikesh Joshi’s character is one of my favorites in the film and Sneha Majgaonkar, who makes her debut with this film, has an infectious smile. I loved the scene in which she tells Sarika about her husband’s problems with a smile on her face as if she is praising him.

It also has one of the most romantic scenes I have seen on the big screen in recent times. The scene when Sarika has to take her husband’s name in the form of an Ukhane (a Marathi custom in which the wife takes her husband’s name in the form of couplets).

The film is loosely based on the life story of Hukmichand Chordia of Pravin Masalewale fame. It looks at their struggle in a lighter vein and with the rose-tinted glasses. The next time I look at a packet of Pravin Masala, scenes from this film will start floating in my head.

Vasan Bala’s Peddlers selected for Cannes Critics’ Week 2012

Posted: April 24, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, film, Film Festival, first look, Indie, News, pics
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I am not sure how and where to start this post. Still too excited about the news. But let’s get the news first. Vasan Balan‘s debut feature Peddlers has been selected to premiere at Cannes International Critics’ Week. Yay! And since this is his first feature, it’s also going to compete for Camera D’Or. Every year only seven films are selected for Critics’ week and this year Peddlers is one of them.

To quote the official synopsis, Peddlers – A ghost town, Mumbai, inhabited by millions. A lady on a mission, a man living a lie, an aimless drifter. They collide. Some collisions are of consequence, some not, either ways the city moves on.

And here’s the cast and credit list..

Director : Vasan Bala
Screenplay : Vasan Bala
Cinematography : Siddharth Diwan
Editing : Prerna Saigal
Sound : Anthony B.J. Ruban
Music : Karan Kulkarni

Cast: Gulshan Devaiah, Siddharth Mennon, Kriti Malhotra, Nimrat Kaur, Murari Kumar, Sagai Raj, Megh Pant, Nishikant Kamat, Neeraj Ghaywan and Anubhuti Kashyap.

And here are some stills from the film..

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And now the news bit is over, i am going to write and behave like Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

It seems like yesterday. Vasan pinged me on gmail and then shared some pics. I said, wow, this guy looks like Andrew Garfield. Vasan – fuck, you got it so bang on.  I have been telling all about the Garfield thing. When it comes to cinema, this wasn’t the first time we were on the same page instantly. May be that’s why we bonded so well since we first bumped into each other at a blogging site called passionforcinema. Now it’s dead. Me, him and Kartik Krishnan – it’s been quite a love-hate equation between the three of us since last few years. Except participating in an orgy, i guess we have shared everything else.

And as i sit down to write this post and look back now, i know why i feel so bloody happy for him. Not sure when was the last time i was so happy for someone else. May be because i know how his sweat smells.

By bollywood rule book, Peddlers wasn’t a dream launch. There was no fancy announcement, no articles in newspapers, no big stars to talk about. No posters were designed and no title was thought about. He had assisted Anurag Kashyap for long and was back after  assisting Michael Winterbottom on Trishna. He was getting restless to make his movie but Kashyap wasn’t exactly sure about the script. One script out, another came in, that also went out and he wrote a third one. This went on for some time and then he decided to go ahead and prove it to himself. Whatever happens, he was going to direct. It was going to be a true “indie”. On behalf of Kashyap, Guneet Monga produced it by raising funds from everyone possible. Low budget, low on resources, cast friends and family members, everything on “jugaad“. Come what may, he had to make this film. To prove it to himself, to Kashyap, to us and to people around him.

I went to meet him the day before he was starting his shoot. He looked tired, almost dead. I hugged him, and prayed that he doesn’t fall sick during the shoot. He has a record of falling sick while ADing on films and we always used to joke about it. I had read the script and really liked it too. Was confident about his direction after seeing the two shorts he had directed. Not saying this because he is dear friend. Harsh truth has never been a barrier between our friendship. We have ripped apart each others work many a times in the past. As always, me and KK argued with Kashyap too. Why can’t he see what we are seeing? As always, he also argued, gave his reasons and it was a dead end.

The shooting got over and we saw the rough cut. I wasn’t expecting something like this. This was a new language – minimal approach to filmmaking, if i can call it so. Hadn’t seen something like this in any desi debut film. Everything was pitch perfect except his jeera rice indulgence. I thought if nothing happens, at least this is a great CV to have. Kashyap saw the film and he loved it. And to give credit where it’s due – he publicly announced on twitter that Vasan has proved him wrong. We were relieved. As the inside joke goes, Rahul aur Anjali me phir dosti ho gayee.

By that time we all were getting too excited about it – what can be done to this, where should he send it, the usual gyaan gurus that we all are. Kashyap assured everyone that he really loved it, he means it and he is hoping for the best for this one. He told us to wait, the best will happen soon.

And then, it did happen.

CANNES!

For so much blood, sweat and tears, what else does a filmmaker want?

And once you look at the names in the Critics’ Weeks archives, you realise what it means. Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean Eustache, Otar Iosseliani, Ken Loach, Wong Kar Wai, Jacques Audiard and Arnaud Desplechin to name a few. Or just look at some of the features selected last year – Las Acacias, The Slut, Snowtown, Take Shelter.

Add Vasan Bala and Peddlers to the list now. It can’t get bigger than this for a film where money and resources hardly mattered. Passion and sweat was all that counted – of his and people around him. Because without expecting anything, there are many (cast & crew) who made this film happen as their only motivation was “this is Vasan’s film, this has to be done”. Blame it on his friendship and good will.

And google cache is going to mark it. Because it’s history now.

Cheers, Vasan. ( It’s time to return the favour – don’t you forget to get me a Cannes T-shirt :-))

( PS – And as i have said always, here’s the best film school in this country ——-> @ankash1009)

(PS1 – For more info about Critics week selection, click here.)

(PS2 – Click here to read an interview of Vasan Bala on DearCinema and click here for an interview by Mihir Fadnavis.)

First Look : Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai (Trailer)

Posted: April 5, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, film, first look, News, songs & videos, Trailer, video
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The much anticipated trailer of Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai is finally out. Have a look.

So far Dibakar’s record has been cent percent – 3/3. Will he deliver once again? Going by the trailer, it surely seems so. But then, political films are a different beast.

SEZ, activism, murder, accident, conspiracy theories and the mess and madness kicks in. And then a ball drops in – yeh khelne ki jagah hai kya? Aha, that Dibakar touch. So refreshing to see Emraan Hashmi getting out of his comfort factor and doing it without anything remotely sufiyana. Wouldn’t be surprised if he overshadows Abhay Deol. And Kalki looks perfectly vulnerable.

Strangely, the text doesn’t mention Khosla Ka Ghosla. It says “from the director of Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and Love Sex Aur Dhoka”. Why would you not mention KKG?

Kasam khoon ki khayee hai….yeh shahar nahi Shanghai hai – Ok, am sold. Now bring it on.

Writing credits include Urmi Juvekar and Dibakar Banerjee and unlike others it mentions the book Z by Vassilis Vassilikos.

At the end of it the only thing that doesn’t sound convincing is the title – Shanghai.

Bedabrata Pain’s Chittagong gets a new poster

Posted: April 4, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, News, Posters, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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Bedabrata Pain’s directorial debut Chittagong is finally ready for release. The film will have its world premier at IFFLA fest. The makers have just released a new poster of the film. And it looks good.

And here’s the synopsis according to the official release…

To say that 14-year-old Jhunka Roy’s life was about to change would be an understatement. Set against the beautiful forests and villages of Chittagong, a youth movement was underway, leading up to a drastic revolution. Based on true events in British occupied India of the 1930s, a group of untrained school youth handed the British their first military defeat. Led by a schoolteacher, local villagers and school children showed the power of mass resistance over colonial oppression.

Bedabrata Pain’s directorial debut is a coming-of-age tale of triumph, sacrifice and love, as a young boy’s determination sets the course for an entire nation’s freedom. This progression is what would later spark the first mass peasant movement in India, with the help of Jhunka Roy.

Credits include –

Director: Bedabrata Pain. Producer: Bedabrata Pain
Screenwriter: Bedabrata Pain, Shonali Bose
Cinematographer: Eric Zimmerman
Editor: Aldo Velasco
Music Composer: Shankar Mahadevan, Eshaan Noorani, Loy Mendoza
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Vega Tamotia, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Barry John and Dibyendu Bhattacharya.

First Look : Yashraj Films’ Ishaqzaade (Trailer)

Posted: March 15, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, film, first look, Trailer, video
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The theatrical trailer of Habib Faisal’s new film Ishaqzaade is out. It stars debutant Arjun Kapoor (Boney and Mona Kapoor’s son) and Parineeti Chopra. The credits include Hemant Chaturvedi (DoP), Amit Trivedi (Music), Kausar Munir (lyrics) and Aarti Bajaj (editor).

Aha, who would have thought that one day even Yashraj Films would step into such dusty terrain. And not chiffon-ed too like they did with Bunty Aur Babli. That’s a refreshing change. Plus the distinct sights and sounds of the land. The guy looks confident and the girl scored big in a small role in Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl. Now bring it on!

There’s no official synopsis yet but here’s what the official release says…

Rising from the ashes of hooliganism and small town clan wars, comes the love story of a passion ignited by hatred.

Of two people. Born to hate. Destined to love.

One kingdom. One throne. Two wild animals… unpredictable Parma… ferocious Zoya. A battle… deafened by sounds of hate, revenge, bullets and deceit.

A story… about two fiery bloods played by Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra, and their fight for power and supremacy.

A story about love brewing in a small town burning with hatred.

A story called ISHAQZAADE.

First Look : Sumit Purohit’s indie feature 12073

Posted: February 11, 2012 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, first look, Indie, pics, Trailer
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“घर को ढूंढें पागल सा, मूर्ख दीवाना है
जहाँ रुके वहीँ घर हो जावे, ठौर-ठिकाना है
नाथ तुंग के कभी प्रयाग-ऐ-रूद्र होइयां
अन्दर झाँका, बुद्ध होइयां”

It all started with the idea to see what Canon 7D was capable of. I could have tested it in Mumbai but when you are from a place like Uttarakhand, what better than to explore your own home.

Thereafter started the ideation, scribblings and conversations. And all through the shooting, that is how we worked. There was no bound script and no story in a traditional sense. There were notes I jotten down, every now and then on my phone. There were fairly clear character sketches in our minds. And there was the idea to explore, much like the characters do – two friends, one revisiting the hills he belongs to and other experiencing a whole new world.

I had been following Mihir’s DSLR work for a while. He is one of the few people doing a great job with it, at least in India, so he was quite an obvious choice for cinematographer. Our friend and my co-writer on many projects, Puneet Krishna, decided to co-produce. Because most of the film relied on improvising, I cast trained actors from FTII – Gaurav Dwivedi and Shubham.

A small crew of five, we took off from Mumbai, with a seven-day plan in hand. Little did we anticipate a glitch, that too right in the beginning; an unexpected train delay made us lose one whole day. The schedule had to be worked around to shoot as much as possible all through, right from the banks of Ganga to up in the Himalayas. What we overlooked this time was that trekking up the steep four kilometre Himalayan strech, to reach Tunganath – the final destination of our road movie, wouldn’t be a piece of cake (had it been so, we wouldn’t have enjoyed as much!). Shooting on low budget, with limited time-frame and that too while traveling, can lead to innumerable permutations and combinations of situations which have to be incorporated in the film, no matter what. Sometimes the actors can surprise you for good and on some occasions one has to live with whatever has been captured. Limitation can be a beauty.

This film, as and when it gets made, is the idea we began with – exploration.

I wish I could edit the film sooner, but in between jobs that get the daily bread and a whole lot of footage essentially shot without a screenplay, editing is a long process.

(p.s. If this teaser interests you, do get in touch with us. We are still looking for people to help us with music, sound design, vfx etc. The final cut would be around 60-70 minutes. The following teaser has been edited on Tibetan bowl music)

(ps 1 – The first four lines in Hindi are by Puneet Krishna)

For production stills click here.

All feedback is welcome!

– Sumit Purohit

First Look : Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Paan Singh Tomar (Trailer + Synopsis)

Posted: February 10, 2012 by moifightclub in cast & crew, film, first look, News, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer
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Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Paan Singh Tomar has been ready for quite sometime. And UTV has been sitting on it with no clue what to do with it. All kinds of reports were floating since a year or so. They sent it to few festivals abroad, intial reviews weren’t good, there was a plan to shelve it and then a direct-to-tv telecast. But with Saheb Biwi Ghulam’s success, it seems the film has got a new lease of life.

The problem is Tigmanshu Dhulia seems to be a completely unreliable filmmaker who can go any extreme – from a brilliant Haasil to a crapfest called Shagird and a SBG which is somewhere in between. If PST gets him back in the groove, we will be happy to be proved wrong.

The first look of Paan Singh Tomar is finally out. It stars Irrfan Khan and Mahie Gill. Have a look.

What’s wrong with the background music? There seems to be no sync between the visuals and the sound. What you don’t have in the visuals, you can’t compensate it with dhoom-dhaam-dhadaap. It looks tacky and nothing stays with you. Once over, you don’t feel like watching it again. Quite a disappointing trailer. If we still want to watch it, there’s only one reason – Irrfan Khan.

And here’s the official synopsis

Paan Singh Tomar is an untold true story of a simple farmer, a loyal soldier and a champion athlete who became one of India’s most dreaded dacoits!

Paan Singh was a small town lad who went on to win the steeplechase at the Indian National Games for 7 consecutive years! He broke the national record, a feat that was unsurpassed for 10 years! A series of life changing events however forced Paan Singh to give up athletics, pick up the gun and become the scourge of the infamous Chambal valley in central India. Filled with deep emotions and fateful twists, Paan Singh Tomar is a gritty, no holds barred action adventure set in the heart of India’s gangland, Chambal.

First Look : Rajan Khosa’s Gattu (Trailer & official synopsis)

Posted: February 9, 2012 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, Film Festival, first look, News, songs & videos, Trailer, video
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India doesn’t have anything to boast about at the ongoing Berlin Film Festival. Like any other cinema snob, if you don’t count Don2, Rajan Khosa’s Gattu is the only film in the official selection of Berlin. The film will be screened in the Generation section of the festival.

Since 1978, the Berlinale has devoted a section to children and young people: Generation. In two competitions, Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus, discoveries from state of the art world-cinema and on a par with young people are presented and the most outstanding of these are awarded the Crystal Bears. (from official release)

Gattu is produced by CFSI and the cast includes Mohammad Samad, Naresh Kumar and Bhura.

And here’s the official synopsis….

‘Truth with triumph in the end’ is the motto of the local school in the part of town where Gattu lives. But Gattu is too poor to go to school and he’s not always that truthful either. Gattu lives and works very hard at a scrap yard belonging to a man he simply calls ‘uncle’. Uncle bought him years ago from his sick father. Gattu is particularly inventive when it comes to thinking up excuses so he can slip away and indulge his passion for kite-flying. Day after day the children love to compete against each other with their kites. They’ve given the name Kali to one mysterious black kite that dominates the sky; strangely, nobody seems to know who owns it. If Gattu wants to win the next competition he’ll have to climb to the highest place in town. This is the school roof, of all places. Gattu manages to creep inside where he assumes command of a small but determined group of pupils. A dramatic battle of the skies ensues during which Gattu uses every trick in the book to claim the lead. But his greatest achievement is when, encouraged by his friendship with his new-found comrades, he decides to tell the truth.

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