Archive for the ‘cinema’ Category

Call for Entries – Mumbai Mantra I Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab 2013

Posted: April 5, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, News, Screenwriting, Workshop, writing
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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 2013
Mumbai Mantra Media Ltd.,
Mahindra Towers, 5th Floor, Worli, Mumbai-400018.

DATE : Last Date for Open Submission: June 2, 2012.

– 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 2013, you can contact them at labqueries@mumbaimantra.com

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

First Look : Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai (Poster)

Posted: April 4, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, first look, Poster
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The first poster of the much anticipated film of Dibakar Banerjee, Shanghai, is out.

The film stars Emraan Hashmi, Abhay Deol, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Kalki Koechlin.

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.

Screenwriting workshop by Anjum Rajabali

Posted: April 2, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, News, Workshop, writing
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Bit bored and tired today, so just copy pasting the release.

Unlike a few years ago, filmmakers today readily and repeatedly admit that without a good script, a good film is impossible. In fact, talent hunts and script contests are announced every other month. Every producer and studio is on the lookout for good scripts and competent writers.

While writing well is hard work, a sound knowledge of basic storytelling principles combined with an understanding of the form & rhythms of the screenplay help free up the writer’s imagination. This gives him the confidence to follow his intuition, helping him uncover interesting aspects of the characters, which in turn make the screenplay more nuanced, fresh and engrossing.

The Workshop will tackle all aspects that go into the construction of a script, starting with the basic central idea that drives the story.

Five intensive days of six hours each will cover the entire journey of the script from theme, premise, character, and plot, to structure, scene construction, and dialogue, and the use of music and song in Indian script. Plus, there will be a substantial session on mythology, with particular reference to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata which have had such a lasting influence on Indian cinema. The final session will deal with writers’ rights, model contract, copyright matters, and other professional issues.

Questions like

  • What makes for a compelling idea?
  • How does one know if a story could make a good script?
  • Can a great story turn into a weak screenplay?
  • How does one figure out the appropriate structure for a script?
  • What makes for an interesting character?
  • How can one write scenes that are crisp, compact and yet dramatically meaty?
  • Is there a technique to writing good dialogue?
  • What is the difference between Hollywood style of screenwriting and what we have here in India?
  • How relevant is the navras theory to modern Indian screenwriting?
  • What is the relevance of songs in modern Indian script?

and other relevant concerns of the Indian screenwriter will be discussed in depth.

About the Workshop Instructor : Anjum Rajabali has been a professional screenwriter for 20 years with films like Drohkaal, Ghulam, The Legend of Bhagat Singh and Raajneeti to his credit. He is the Head of Screenwriting at Whistling Woods, as well as Honorary Head of Screenplay Writing at FTII, a course that he began in 2004. Apart from being a script consultant on several films, he also conducts workshops and seminars on screenwriting in India and abroad.

According to him, “Screenwriting is an exceedingly interesting and rewarding craft. Learning it should be an enjoyable process. It is with that aim that I conduct screenwriting workshops.”

Three Guest Faculty will be invited from among Vishal Bhardwaj, Jaideep Sahni, Sriram Raghavan, Shridhar Raghavan, Saket Chaudhury.

Venue :  Whistling Woods International, Film City, Goregaon (E), Mumbai.

Dates :  April 25-29 (both days inclusive)

Timings : 10 AM – 1 PM and 2-5 PM

(Film viewing : 5.30-8 PM, April 25, 26, 27)

Fee : Rs. 6000/- (inclusive of lunch and tea/coffee on all days)

– The workshop is open to all.

– To Register for the workshop, please call 30916003 or e-mail: kanchi.parikh@whistlingwoods.net

Vidhu Vinod Chopra Retrospective at PVR Cinemas

Posted: March 30, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, Film Festival, News, Q & A
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To celebrate 30 years of making cinema, Vinod Chopra Films is having a retrospective of its films at PVR Cinemas. From 29th March to April 4th, VCF is showing almost all its films, from Sazaaye Maut to 3 idiots. Check out your local listing or you can check out PVR’s website.

– The films have also been digitally restored and their sound has been re-done in 5.1 Surround Sound.

– Screenings will be followed by discussions moderated by well-known filmmakers at PVR Juhu, Mumbai.

Here’s the schedule for the panel discussion –

1. 30th March – 5.30 – 6.30 pm : Discussion on Parinda.

Moderator – Anurag Kashyap and Sudhir Mishra.

Director : Vidhu vinod Chopra.

Cast – Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Nana Patekar, Anupam Kher, Suresh Oberoi

2. 30th March – 7 – 8 pm : Discussion on Parineeta.

Moderator – Sujoy Ghosh.

Director : Pradeep Sarkar.

Cast : Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Dia Mirza

3. 31st March – 7 – 8 pm : Discussion on Munna Bhai MBBS + Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

Moderator – Sriram Raghavan.

Director – RajKumar Hirani.

Cast – Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani, Dilip Prabhavalkar.

Screenwriter – Abhijat Joshi

4. 1st April – 7-8pm : Discussion on Khamosh.

Moderator – Rohan Sippy.

Director – Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Cast – Shabana Azmi, Amol Palekar, Sudhir Mishra

5. 2nd April – 7-8pm : Discussion on 1942 – A Love Story.

Moderator – Imtiaz Ali.

Director – Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Cast – Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Manisha Koirala, Danny Denzongpa

6. 4th April – 7-8pm : Discussion on 3 Idiots.

Moderator : Ram Madhavani.

Director – RajKumar Hirani.

Cast – Cast -Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi.

Screenwriter – Abhijat Joshi

And here’s a nice video feature on VVC films

Screenwriting & filmmaking workshop at IIT-Madras

Posted: March 30, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, News, Workshop
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WHAT: IMAGING CINEMA 2012: An International Screenwriting and Filmmaking Course

DATES:  1-10 JUNE  2012

VENUE: IIT Madras

Resource people :

▪    Atul Tiwari (Mission Kashmir, Dasavataram, Viswarupam, forthcoming with Kamal Haasan)

▪    K Hariharan (Director, LV Prasad Institute of Film & Television Chennai)

▪    Rohan Sippy (Dum Maro Dum, Bluffmaster,  Taxi NO 9211, Kuch naa  kaho, The President is Coming)

▪     Shridhar Raghavan ( Screenwriter: Khakee, Dum Maro Dum, Apaharan)

▪     Sriram Raghavan (Director: Agent Vinod, Johnny Gaddar, Ek Haseena Thi)

▪     Anurag Kashyap (Dev D, No Smoking, Gulaal, That Girl in Yellow Boots, Shaitan)

▪     Patricia Gruben (Director, Praxis Screenwriting Programme, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver)

 COURSE :

Hands on training with experts in screenwriting and discussion of mechanics of screenwriting and direction with major industry figures.

– The course will be divided in four parts-

1. THE MAGIC OF CINEMA – This capsule in the first 3 days will introduce the participants to the magical world of Cinema, by making them go through a FILM-APPRECIATION module. How to read a film is the basic theme of this section.

2. THE MECHANICS OF CINEMA – This section for next two days will introduce the participants with the mechanics that goes into making a film including Camera, Lighting, Sound, Sets, Editing, Special Effects etc- to demystify and tell how the magic is created.

3. THE METHOD OF CINEMA– This section will introduce the participants to the most basic & important aspect of any film – the Blueprint, the Map, the Method behind the madness – THE SCRIPT. This will go on for next 4 to 5 days and the emphasis will be to make the students WRITE scripts and to dissect and discuss their work in class. It will be a group exercise where a group of 4-5 students will work together on mini-scripts to understand the process of film-script construction. At the end of this the groups will be ready with one short 3-5 minute executable script.

4. THE MAKING OF CINEMA – For Next 2 days – this will be very interesting hands on exercise with the students,  where they will have to shoot, act, record sound, edit, do post-production and be ready with their films within 48 hours. Candidates can bring their video cameras or use cell phone cameras.

5. THE MAJESTY OF CINEMA – The last day will be a ‘red carpet’ event where the films made by the student groups will be seen by all. A jury will then rate them and announce the AWARDS to the films – with
analysis – so that this too is a time to learn. The certificates will be given to all at the end of the event.

– An IIT-M CERTIFICATE OF PARTICIPATION WILL BE GIVEN AT THE END OF THE COURSE

Fee structure:

▪  Rs 10,000/ for professionals

▪  Rs 9000/ for attendees of 2009 & 2010 events

▪  Rs 8000/ students with valid ID and documents

$250 for NRI’s and International Students/professionals.

– Last date of application : April 30

– Application Forms can be dowloaded from Application form IIT Madras Screenwriting Filmmaking Course

– Limited rooms available in IITM guest house (AC), based on the date of applying.

– Few rooms available in hostels (Non ac).

– The course fee does not include accommodation payment.

– Application form duly filled in can be mailed to : draysha@iitm.ac.in

– For daily updates, visit www.imagingcinema.wordpress.com

Agent Vinod : “we-got-a-great-title-now-what-to-do” Project

Posted: March 24, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, film review, movie reviews, reviews
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Agent Vinod was one of the most anticipated films of the year. Those who know the filmmaker and love Ek Haseea Thi and Johnny Gaddar, they know what #JaiSriram means. So did he score a hattrick? The Matunga Fanboy is disappointed for sure.

“Hey! Johnny, matlab hi hai aasli yaar…”

Greed, vengeance, love, doom, betrayal, survival.

With little budget and a story to tell, it was all packed in awesomely in his earlier attempts. With more resources to film, more chases and explosions, and a lead actor/producer with adequate passion to “make-it-large”, there was little to tell and a lot to show in quick cuts.

Agent Vinod dangerously fell into the “we-got-a-Great-Title-now-what-to-do” films/PROJECTS. With everything sounding great at the onset – Title, Concept, Cast, Budget, it seems a kick-ass script was the only thing that was left. Probably keeping that as the last thing to do without any other worry puts too much pressure on the one most important thing to begin a film with…and that being kept last, with everything being taken care off, “shayad joote pasand nahi aaye” – One might not be able to pin point what exactly is going right as the support and resource is right there. Tough task and especially for a super self-critical person, that must have been one exhaustive task. It shows. It’s complicated and ironic how one manages with little resource and more imagination and…

A mild mannered middle-class Matunga boy with loads of pulp movies and literature consumed, and some-corner-room-twisted perspectives could add his mild humble magic to anything he touches with his “not so sure” demeanor beneath a killer observer. RABTA being just one Single Shot example of that. The simplicity of those couple of minutes completely overshadows the rest of the Millions spent on the quick cut Peter Hein action.

60% of the times I was either looking at a Peter Hein shot or a second unit exotic pick up shoot. I sorely missed my Desi Jim Gordon’s smooth humble touch to it. There were glimpses of it. But far and few, or maybe when it’s someone who grants some access inside his “Hard-Case” Adventureland gates only once in 5 years, it better be all him – A 100% Sriram Raghavan affair.

Plus, when you have a great title, why not exploit it? Casino Royal played it quite well with “Bond James Bond” coming just about when the End Credits began to roll but then that was the 21st Bond film. Why not use Agent Vinod to full effect throughout the film? It’s anyways a kickass name, why guise it, guard it and hold it and not let it breath? As Vinod says, he wants to go back for those 8 minutes on the cable, I too just wanted that feel of those 8 minutes and not the entire film to be about those 8 minutes. What makes Bond and Bourne is that they push me precariously close to those 8 minutes but then get me out and show me more of what happened before and after. Where we cherish those 8 minutes and treasure them, we wanted Sriram to give me those 8 minutes (Rabta give me a couple for sure) not Peter Hein.

Waiting for the next.

– MatungaFanboy

VOTD : Kamal Swaroop on “Cinema & Me”

Posted: March 23, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, Indie, Interview, video, VOTD
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If you haven’t seen Kamal Swaroop’s cult classic Om dar badar, you still haven’t seen the best of Indian cinema. And if you are friends with him on FB, his wall is like a pandora’s box for visual art.

Tehelka Tv has been doing an interesting series called “Cinema & Me” where they talk to filmmakers of life, cinema and philosophy. The new video features Kamal Swaroop. Must Watch.

Ashvin Kumar’s ‘The Forest’ gets a release date & a new poster

Posted: March 23, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, first look, News, pics, Poster
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Finally! It’s been a long wait for Ashvin Kumar’s film, The Forest. It stars Jaaved Jaffery, Nandana Sen and Ankur Vikal and is all set to release on 4th May under PVR Directors’ Rare. The makers have just released a new poster for the film which is quite striking.

VOTD : Kahaani discussion with Sujoy Ghosh + Origin of Bob Biswas

Posted: March 21, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, Interview, Q & A, Scripts, songs & videos, video, VOTD
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Continuing with our initiative to get directors to open up about their films after the film has released, this time we decided to stalk Kahaani’s director Sujoy Ghosh. And he was happy to accommodate us. In twitter language, our intention was to #AttackSujoyG, but everything changed when we reached his office.

Sujoy had fever, looked almost dead and there were tablets and syrup on his table. How can you attack a man in such a state? Plus, Hangla’s biryani and rolls make us go soft. But we decided that let’s record the conversation. And then just after first few minutes of recording, a filmy twist happened – Sujoy’s non-stop hiccups. We paused and re-started again after some 20-25mins. And by that time Sujoy was getting late for another meeting, so we quickly squeezed in whatever we could.

In the video, we discuss reviews, origin of the film, audience ko kya chahiye, dhokabaaz flashback, promo vs film, Bengali characters talking in Hindi, six writers – how does it work, spontaneous school of acting, Aditya Chopra and making it commercial (YRF was suppose to produce it), another cheating – text on screen & Darshan Zariwala’s designation, life versus cinema, cinematography & shooting style, working with a new team, binito Bob, IB so blind, why the informer, Ray’s cinema – running hot water and other homage, life after big flops, copying from films including Chura Liya Hai Tumne, what’s next – Aranyer Din Ratri and Jhankaar Beats, life at 46 and his love for “Sir” Amitabh Bachchan.

Have fun. But DON’T WATCH it if you still haven’t seen it – has SPOILERS.

If you didn’t like the discussion, the culprits are – @Navjotalive, @Damoviemaniac, @SumitPurohit, @MihirMakesMovies and @CilemaSnob.

Video and edit – Sumit Purohit.

Thanks to Sujoy for his time. And now that Bob Biswas has become such a famous character inspiring some great art work (here & here, and funny observation) here’s something more – the origin of Bob Biswas.

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