KAUFMAN - "Or cramming in sex, or car chases, or guns. Or characters learning profound life lessons. Or characters growing or characters changing or characters learning to like each other or characters overcoming obstacles to succeed in the end. Y'know ? Movie shit."
Kaufman is sweating like crazy now. Valerie is quiet for a moment - from "Adaptation".
We are all about CINEMA. That movie shit.
NOTHING is sacred.
NOBODY is spared.
Because we talk about films, dammit.
Not your sex life.
Films, fests, unsung, indies, undiscovered - all that and some fun. If you have dope on anything related to cinema or you would like to share something, do write to us at moifightclub@gmail.com.
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In short, if you have an issue with us or any post we've written, write to us at moifightclub@gmail.com
After our last post on National Film Awards went viral, there’s some new development. Filmmaker Gurvinder Singh has decided to refuse the National Award he has won for the Punjabi film, Chauthi Koot.
The film was adjudged Best Punjabi Film and the citation reads as follows – ‘Effectively captures the sense of fear psychosis and tension during the times of insurgency in Punjab’. The Rajat Kamal Award includes cash prize of Rs 1,00,000/- each to the Producer and Director.
In his Facebook post, Baahubali = Gajendra Chauhan, Gurvinder has commented the following – I haven’t got it yet! It means I’m not going to accept it. But since the award is shared between Director and Producer and the majority producer happens to be NFDC, I’m sure they are going to go receive it. Can’t decide for them.
Gurvinder has been quite vocal about the bad choices made by the jury this year. Click here to read his comment.
An alumni of FTII, Gurvinder Singh is one of the most promising and fearless young filmmaking talent in the current generation. Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction) premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2015. His debut feature film, Anhe Ghorey De Daan, was selected to premiere at Venice International Film Festival. And it bagged 3 National Film Awards – For Direction, Cinematography, and for Best Punjabi Film.
Aditya Vikram Sengupta made an impressive debut with his feature film, Asha Jaoor Majhe(Labour Of Love). And here’s some news about his next film titled Memories and my Mother.
The project have been selected for this year’s edition of Cannes Cinefondation. For L’Atelier’s 12th edition, 15 projects from 14 countries have been selected, from the new director to the well-known filmmaker.
The film is an Indo-French-German co-production which is currently in development and pre-production. It has been produced by For Films, which includes producers Jonaki Bhattacharya and Vikram Mohinta, and French producer Catherine Catherine Dussart who had produced Gurvinder Singh’s The Fourth Direction.
In an interview to HT, he had given more details about the film during Film Bazaar selection. And here we quote…
As Sengupta says in the course of a conversation the other day, his new film will be an “emotional response” to a city — Kolkata — where he grew up. The work is all about an ageing metropolis, where his story unfolds, a story that has been inspired by true events. Kolkata with its teeming millions and confusion confounded will present a study in contrast. Sengupta’s protagonist will be Manu, who lives in a crumbling old mansion, his ancestral home, and one night he gets on to the top of it to meet his deceased relatives. As the helmer quips, he plans to paint a picture where tradition and modernism will mix and mingle to create “magic realism”.
The Cinefondation’s Atelier hosts its 12th edition this year and will invite to the Festival de Cannes 16 directors whose projects have been considered particularly promising. Together with their producers, they will be able to meet potential partners, a necessary step to finish their project and start the making of their film. L’Atelier provides its participants access to international co-productions, thus accelerating the film’s completion.
The Cinefondation’s Atelier has been created in 2005 to stimulate creative filmmaking and encourage the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers. So far, out of 171 projects accompanied, 126 have been released in the theaters and 18 are currently in pre-production.
Some good news coming from the recently concluded Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival). Jayraj Rajasekharan’s Malyalam film Ottal (The Trap) has bagged the Crystal Bear for Best Film in the Generation KPlus category.
The award was given by the children’s jury, and here’s what the jury said about the film –
This exceptional movie touched us all with its irresistible images of nature, laid-back music and amazingly gifted actors. The unique way of filming certain details blew us away. We think it’s important that such a sad and serious topic be tackled in a movie, though the film also managed to capture the humour and joy of life.
And here’s the official synopsis of the film –
“Fireworks companies will take him … He’ll be paid well too.” · “Will they look after him well? I have taken such good care of him.”
In the paradisaical countryside of Southern India, Kuttappayi and his Grandfather raise flocks of ducks in vast flooded fields, they fish, tell each other stories and kid around. Ever since the eight-year-old lost his parents, his Grandfather has looked after him with great tenderness. The boy’s life seems easy and sheltered, that is until the old man falls ill and the boy’s future is suddenly uncertain. Based loosely on Chekhov’s short story Vanka, director Jayaraj’s film tells the timeless story of a boy who wishes for nothing more than to be able to go to school. Alas, his dreams are dashed when confronted with the cruel reality of a world marked by poverty and the total absence of equal opportunity. A fate shared by millions of children around the world.
The film stars Ashanth K Sha, Kumarakom Vasavan, Shine Tom Chacko, Sabitha Jayaraj, and Thomas J Kannampuzha.
With Ottaal’s win, it’s three in a row for Indian films at Berlinale in Generation KPlus category. Killa and Dhanak won in the same category in the last two years.
Here is the full list of winners in the Generation KPlus category.
Are you tired of Sanskari James Bond and Deadpool? Wanted to show the finger to the censor board but was afraid that the visual would be blurred out and your rants against it muted? Well then, lets do something about it.
The Shyam Benegal committee that has been setup to recommend changes to the censor board is asking for public comments at rajani@nfdcindia.com according to the guidelines given here.
We made our voices heard on net neutrality and showed that the common man can influence public policy. Let’s do the same for our right to watch what we want as adults. Go to this website http://saveourcinema.in/ and send an email to the committee. Please try and read the guidelines and send your own answers if you can. Otherwise, you can send the pre-drafted one on the site and edit it as required.
Thanks to the Save Our Cinema team, who came together yesterday and rolled this out in a day: /u/that_70_show_fan -our resident expert on censorship who drafted our response as well, and /u/avinassh who coded this website in time. Please let us know if you have any suggestions or feedback.
Save Our Cinema
he ‘Save Our Cinema’ coalition was set up to help the Indian movie watching public participate in the policy building process around censorship in the country. The Shyam Benegal committee is finalizing recommendations for a censor board revamp and is asking for public comments. We have created an easy to use tool that helps you send your responses quickly.
Why send an email?
Have you recently gone to a movie in India and scratched your head trying to understand what was going on because of all the muted dialogues? For example, in a recently released Hollywood movie which was given ‘Adult’ rating, all double meaning dialogues were ordered to be replaced with ‘Man and Woman’, and all instances of the words ‘asshole’ were ordered to be muted.
If you are tired of this ridiculous curtailment of the freedom of expression guaranteed in our constitution, there is a ray of hope. The Union Government has constituted a committee headed by Shyam Benegal, one of the most respected film makers in the country to recommend how to revamp the censor board. The committee is asking for views of film viewers on the certification process being followed by the CBFC and suggestions if any within the ambit of the existing Cinematograph Act, 1952, rules and guidelines which have withstood the scrutiny of various courts to help them finalize their recommendations. Submissions should be restricted to two pages and covering important aspects detailed here: NFDC Guidelines.
We encourage you to read the guidelines and then scroll down and click ‘Send Email’. You can edit the email before sending. You can also copy the email content to your clipboard to manually compose your email. Please keep us in BCC so that we can keep a track of emails sent. We will not use your email addresses for any other purpose. However, you can remove us from BCC if you would like.
You can copy-paste/edit the email content from here and send directly. If not, copy-paste/edit and send from your mailbox.
“Hello Jack, Thanks for saving our little girl.” says Joan Allen upon seeing her grandson Jacob Tremblay (who play Jack so astonishingly that you want to cleave through the screen and smother him with hugs and kisses) for the first time in a hospital. This line defines the heart of the film. How a 5 year old kid saves his mother’s life. That is what the film is about, not about their heroic escape from the clutches of a psychopath.
A kid that came into being 2 years after his mother became a sex slave, and had been held captive for two years. He talks to the inanimate objects in the room (Good morning ‘lamp’, Good morning ‘sink’, Good morning ‘chair’), talks to his imaginary dog, does stretches with his mother to keep his muscles agile, listens to the ‘Big Rock Candy Mountain’ that his mother sings for him, makes toys with egg shells, and celebrates his birthday with a cake without candles, and stares out of the skylight where aliens live. That is what he’s been doing for 5 years until one fine day his mother decides that its about time he escaped. The instructions are clear – “Wiggle out, jump, run, somebody.”
He is scared shitless coz he literally has not seen anything out of that room and he is 5 years old! His world was a small room with a bed, wardrobe (where he was supposed to hide when ‘Old Nick” visited Mom, the name aptly refers to the devil as I read somewhere), a bathtub, a chair-table and a TV with bad reception. He literally is not aware that there exists a world outside these four walls full of trees and dogs and people and oceans and endless earth, which is round, he later gets to know confounded by the fact that if it is, why we don’t fall off. So when Mom tries to tell him the truth, he screams. (a scene he had the most difficulty performing)
She was all of 17 when this happened, she tells him, when she was tricked to fall down down down this rabbit hole. She tells him of Grandma’s house with a backyard and a hammock. He understands her story, coz he is five (Jacob was actually 7 at the time of the shoot) now. He is a grown up boy capable of understanding complex things, is what she makes him believe so that he can escape. And the moment he does, your heart, along with Mom’s, skip a beat. You literally want to run and save that kid from this monster driving the truck. Jack’s eyes, the moment he comes out of the carpet, are going to haunt me for a long long time.
Ideally, this is where a conventional film would have ended. The kid escapes, saves his mother with the help of the police, and they live happily ever after, but that is where this film actually starts, and post their escape it is an intense emotional rollercoaster ride that leaves you gasping for air by the time it ends.
“You’re gonna love it.” She tells him.
“What?” he asks.
“The World” she says.
But what she didn’t know that will she be able to love it?
“I am supposed to be happy.” says Joy (Brie Larson, I would not mind you taking that trophy home, at all.) to her mother at the beginning of a heated argument. She doesn’t know how to deal with her freedom. Everything has changed, from her own family to the world around her. People moved on, life went on. Living for 7 years in a contained space with a crushing hope that one day you might be able to look as far as your eyes can see instead of an impenetrable steel wall four feet away can leave you with severe PTSD. Plus she is worried about her child. She wants him to play with toys and connect with people, of which he is not capable of, not yet. Her mother and step father (Tom McCamus, a brief but wonderful cameo) are patient. They know he will come around, but Joy is impatient, and her interview with a news channels doesn’t really help things.
This film, in terms of narrative, explored an unchartered territory. We are used to seeing the victorious (or sometimes failed) escape of our heroes and that’s when the credits starts to roll. We are not used to seeing these people getting assimilated in the world again, and that’s where the magic lies. Showing us the struggle of Joy and Jake getting used to ‘space’ is where Emma Donoghue’s screenplay shines bright. For Jake, it’s easier coz he is still ‘plastic’ (read moldable) as per the doctor (“I am not plastic” he opposes in Ma’ ear) but Ma is not plastic, and she has to deal with not only her own loneliness but Jake’s as well.
The world is too much for Jake. He can’t handle this vast expanse of nothingness around him at such a tender age (“There’s so much of place in the world. There’s less time because the time has to be spread extra thin over all the places, like butter.”). He, at multiple times, asks if they can go back to the room coz he misses it sometimes. They do visit it one last time before saying their final goodbyes. “Say Bye to the room, Ma” tells Jake to Ma, and Brie Larson lets out an almost silent “Bye Room” under her breath. This time they don’t see the Room as the world they inhabited for 5 years but as a cell stripped off of everything that could have reminded them of their past. The flush, Jack’s ocean with boats and ships is gone, and so is the bed and mattress on which they used to sleep. The door is ajar, and the kitchen is ruined. This cathartic visit ends their ordeal coz Room literally doesn’t exist anymore.
The film leaves you emotionally drained with wet eyes and a runny nose but happy. Happy to have witnessed such an incredibly moving parable of an inexplicably strong bond between parent and child. This film rests at top with “Mad Max” and “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” (another tear jerker) as my personal favorite from last year, and I don’t think any other film would be able to come close because I don’t think any other film will be able to have as much soul as these three.
Would like to leave you with this featurette that should tell you how amazing a chemistry these two share, even in real life
Go watch it for the kid, we don’t get to see such prodigies that often.
Q’s latest film Brahman Naman premiered at the recently concluded Sundance Festival. Here’s all the buzz that the film generated at the fest – The fridge, the fish, and the fan!
– For Twitch Interview of Q and the cast, click here.
– Guardian has given it a three-star rating. Review is here
राष्ट्रकवी प्रदीप के बारे में मैंने ज्यादा पढ़ा नहीं है, लेकिन माँ पापा की वजह से बचपन में इनके काफी गीत सुनें. मैं इनको ‘रुलाने वाले अंकल’ कहता था क्यूंकि इनके गाने सुनते वक़्त मुझ पर काफी अलग तरह का प्रभाव पड़ता था और एक निराशा सी होती थी. आज कवी प्रदीप का जन्मदिन है. सोचा कुछ यादें ताज़ा कर लू क्यूंकि कल मेरे पापा का जन्मदिन है और इसी बहाने पापा से नम्बर भी कमा लूँगा और शायद आप में से कुछ लोग प्रदीप को भी सुन लें. कवी प्रदीप का असली नाम रामचंद्र नारायणजी दिवेदी था. उनकी आवाज़ में वो ही खनक थी जो हम पुराने कवियों की आवाज़ में सुनते आये हैं. उन्होंने कुछ ऐसे हिंदी गाने लिखे हैं, जो हमारे ज़हन में घर कर चुके हैं, मगर शायद हम जानते नहीं है की वो प्रदीप की रचनायें हैं. उनके कुछ मशहूर गाने हैं
चल चल रे नौजवान
ए मेरे वतन के लोगों
दूर हटो ए दुनिया वालों हिंदुस्तान हमारा है
आओ बच्चों तुम्हें दिखाए
दे दी हमें आजादी
कितना बदल गया इंसान
उनकी लिखी हुई प्यार की गुहार को ही सुन लीजये. फिल्म थी ‘अमर रहे प्यार’, गाना है ‘आज के इस इंसान को’. हिंदू मुस्लिम एकता के लिए शायद इससे मज़बूत गुज़ारिश मैंने नहीं सुनी. एक फ़कीर की तरह गया हुआ प्रदीप का ये गीत आपको बिना रुलाये ख़त्म नहीं होगा ये बात पक्की समझिये.
कैसी ये मनहूस घडी है, भाइयों में है जंग छिड़ी है
रोती सलमा रोती है सीता ,
रोते है कुरान और गीता
प्रदीप जी को शायद कभी किसी से डर नहीं लगा क्यूंकि अपनी कविताओं या गीतों में वो सरकार या धर्म के ठेकेदारों को उनकी सही जगह दिखने से से चूकते नहीं थे. उस समय जब की हम सब धर्म के ठेकेदारों से घिरने ही लगे थे, प्रदीप ने उनको आड़े हाथों ही लिया था . अब उनके लिखे हुए गाने ‘कितना बदल गया इंसान को ही ले लीजये.
राम के भक्त, रहीम के बन्दे
रचते आज फरेब के धंधे
कितने ये मक्कार ये अंधे
देख लिए इनके भी धंधे
इन्ही की काली करतूतों से बना ये मुल्क मसान (शमशान)
कितना बदल गया इंसान
आज के माहौल में कोई ऐसा लिखे और किसी सियासी या धार्मिक दंड से बच जाये, ऐसा थोडा मुश्किल सा लगता है.
प्रदीप के गानों में, व्यक्ति को खुद से मिलाने की भी ज़बरदस्त कोशिश रहती थी. हम हमेशा बाहर की ताकतों को ही दोष देते हैं किसी भी बुरी बात के लिए, लेकिन खुद के अन्दर झाँकने से सब ही कतराते हैं. फिल्म दो बहनें के इस गाने को ही सुन कर देखिये..गाना था ‘मुखड़ा देख ले प्राणी, ज़रा दर्पण में’ गाने में मंजीरा इतनी ख़ूबसूरती से बजा है जिसकी तारीफ जितनी की जाए उतनी कम है और शायद इसीलिए ‘भजन’ के नाम से tag कर दिया जाता है ऐसे गानों को. अगर आप एस डी बर्मन के ‘वहां कौन है तेरा’ को पसंद करते हैं, तो इस गाने को भी सुन के देखिये, खुद ही समझ जायेंगे की मैं क्या कहना चाहता हूँ.
कभी तो पल भर सोच ले प्राणी क्या है तेरी करम कहानी
पता लगा ले पडे है कितने दाग तेरे दमन में…
मुखड़ा देख ले प्राणी ज़रा दर्पण में..
कुछ और समझ नहीं आ रहा तो प्रदीप की कविता ‘कभी कभी खुद से बात करो’ की कुछ पंक्तियों से ही इस पोस्ट को समाप्त करता हूँ.
ओ नभ में उड़ने वालो, जरा धरती पर आओ।
अपनी पुरानी सरल-सादगी फिर से अपनाओ।
तुम संतो की तपोभूमि पर मत अभिमान में डालो।
अपनी नजर में तुम क्या हो? ये मन की तराजू में तोलो।
कभी कभी खुद से बात करो।
कभी कभी खुद से बोलो।
जन्मदिन मुबारक हो प्रदीप जी, हम सब वही के वही हैं अब तक, लेकिन आपकी कविताओं और गीतों का साथ है, और उसके लिए – धन्यवाद
उनकी कविताओं में भी हर तरह के भाव मिल जाते थें. आप उनकी कुछ रचनाये यहाँ पढ़ सकते है.
उनके कुछ गीत यहाँ सुन सकते हैं और अगर पोस्ट में कुछ गलतियाँ हैं तो बताइए.
Q’s new film is soon going to have its world premiere at the ongoing Sundance Film Festival in World Cinema Dramatic Competition segment. It will compete with 11 other films in that segment.. And just before its screening, the makers have released the teaser of the film. Check it out.
And here’s the official synopsis –
It’s the 1980s and Naman (Shashank Arora, star of Cannes hit TITLI) is a know-it-all nerd driven by the whims of his raging hormones. Heading up Bangalore University’s team of bespectacled misfits (best friends Ajay and Ramu), the trio of lusty intellectuals spend the majority of their time on the quizzing circuit, using their winnings to buy nudie magazines, whiskey, and beer, fantasizing about the buxom neighborhood beauty all the while. When the boys qualify for the National Quiz Championships, they make a booze-fuelled train trip across the country determined to defeat their rivals in Calcutta and desperate to lose their virginities along the way.
Unfolding to the tune of the iconic anthem, “Whiskey Bar,” as Naman and his friends run amok against the colorful backdrop of the Indian landscape, his quest for sex and glory is complicated when he finds his intellectual superior in a stunning female quizzer. Directed by Indian filmmaker Q. (known for his controversial cult hit Gandu) Brahman Naman is a smart, raucous sex comedy that’s raunchy and endearing in equal measure— replete with innovative masturbation methods that put even Philip Roth’s Alexander Portnoy to shame.
Click here to read more about the lead characters of the film.
Umesh Kulkarni, the acclaimed Marathi filmmaker, is conducting a filmmaking workshop in Mumbai. He’s been doing similar workshop in Pune for the last 4 years.
Date : 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th January, 2016
Time : 9:30 am to 5pm
Venue : Sathaye College Auditorium, Dixit Road, Vile Parle East, Mumbai
Eligibility : Open to all
Fees : Rs 10,000 (includes Tea + Lunch)
For students, there’s 10% discount on the fees
– To register and for further details, call the numbers given in the embedded poster below.
Or can mail shootashort@gmail.com
This is Jamuura‘s intiative. And click here to read an interview of Umesh Kulkarni on shorts and filmmaking.
As we have done in the past, this year too we are trying to source the scripts of some of the best films of the year. As most of you know, the scripts of Hollywood films are easily available online, even the unreleased ones. But we don’t have any such database of Hindi or Indian films. So that has been the primary reason for this initiative. And it has been possible only because some of the screenwriters and filmmakers have been very supportive about it. It’s only for educational purpose and much like the spirit of the blog, is a complete non-commercial exercise.
Yashraj Films produced 2 kickass films this year – Kanu Behl’s Titli and Sharat Katariya’s Dum Laga Ke Haisha.
Titli was one of the best debuts of the year. Violent, brutal, of people on the fringes whom we hardly notice otherwise, and a family film unlike any, at least in bollywood. And still, at its core, there’s a beautiful love story about two doomed people who can’t escape their fate and are forced to be together. With some excellent performances by its ensemble cast, this is what an assured debut looks like.
Film : Titli
Director : Kanu Behl
Writer : Kanu Behl and Sharat Katariya
The other film is Sharat Katariya’s Dum Laga Ke Haisha. Interestingly, Sharat also co-wrote Titli. A over-weight lead actress is a strict no in bollywood. Sharat turned it into a novetly factor for his film. Dipped in Kumar Sanu’s 90s nostalgia and flavours of small town’s lazy life, it felt like riding a time machine while you kept smiling at the love story of the unlikely lead pair.
Film : Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Director : Sharat Katariya
Writer : Sharat Katariya
Here’s the script of Sharat Kataria’s Dum Laga Ke Haisha. Like other scripts we have shared, this one is also a pre-shooting draft. Some scenes here are missing from the film and a couple of scenes in the film are missing from this script. Especially one scene I loved while reading (the very first scene!) is not in the final-cut of the film. One of the most fun scripts to read this year, in my opinion – Varun Grover
Aditya Vikram Sengupta made an impressive debut with his feature film, 
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 