Archive for the ‘cinema’ Category

After much countdown, the first theatrical trailer of Aisha is out. Its directed by Rajshree Ojha, produced by Anil Kapoor and PVR Pictures. Music Director is Amit Trivedi and stars Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Ira Dubey, Arunoday Singh, Cyrus Shahukar, Lisa Haydon and Amrita Puri. Written by Devika Bhagat, its based on Jane Austen’s novel Emma. Have a look and don’t forget to leave your comments.

And here is the official synopsis of the film…

Aisha is a girl with a simple diktat – everyone’s business is her business. Arjun is a boy with even a simpler set of beliefs – Aisha should mind her own business. Caught in the Delhi upper class world with its own set of social rules, Aisha navigates her world with a great sense of style and even greater optimism. Caught in her web are her best friend Pinky, the small town girl Shefali, the west Delhi boy Randhir and the hunk Dhruv. Aisha will make sure everyone dances to her tune. And all Arjun wants to do is disentangle that web and get Aisha out of an impending sticky mess. Who will succeed and who will succumb? Welcome to Aisha’s fabulous world where playing cupid is as easy as 123…if only that Arjun would stay out of her way!

PJ – As a reviewer wrote, ” Perhaps Prakash Jha is just punning on his initials, and laughing at us all”. We thought its priceless and deserves to be QOTD! But who knew that PJ would really get down to play dirty and stupid politics. First story is our conspiracy theory and second, our sources say, is cent percent true. And if second story is true, then we are sure about the first one too.

Here is the conspiracy theory. Padmaja Thakore posted a review of Fart-neeti on PFC, and in not so kind words. Two days later, the post vanished. No reason was given, where and how. And if you have been following Padmaja Thakore’s posts, then its not difficult to figure out how strongly she defends her reviews. Suddenly withdrawl symptoms! Why ?

We were curious and tried to put two plus two together. We found out that she is married to filmmaker Manish Tiwari who made his debut with Dil Dosti Etc. The film was produced by Prakash Jha. According to our theory, PJ must have got to know about the review and didn’t take it lightly. Ghar ka bhedi Bivishan, ok, Bivishan’s wife ( Yes, if they can take Mahabharata route, we are going Ramayan way). And thats why, without any reason Padamaja Thakore removed her Raajneeti post from PFC. If you are still interested in reading it, click here to read the post. Courtesy – Google cache!

Now, the fact. We have got to know that PJ has been calling the big bosses of one of the popular websites and has threatened to sue them and their reviewer. Reason ? Their Fart-neeti review and the reviewer’s hilarious pricesless quotes on him and his Fart-neeti film. It seems PJ, unlike his intials, doesnt have a funny bone. And our sources say that this news is cent percent true. If this is true, we are sure that our conspiracy theory is correct too.

Whats more, this is not the first time that PJ is doing it. When his film Apaharan released, something similar had happened. The film had a tie-up with one of the major hindi news channels. But when the channel gave a bad review to the film, PJ called up the person concerned and got into an altercation, on how they can give bad review to the film when they are channel partner! Since then, the two have not been on talking terms!

Someone need to tell Mr PJ that any kind of partnership doesnt mean that you own the editorial right over any kind of content! Unless, its Khat-Ni LajMi ! And yes Mr PJ, now we know why you lost the elections, not once but twice. Think big, play politics at bigger level, not dirty & petty ones!

PS – And after all this, we read a profile of PJ in the latest issue of Tehelka that portrays him as a man born with instinctive love for risk! Yawwwwnnn…..we have happily moved to Open!

PPS – Dont get us wrong, we also used to love his films. But then, his “films” used to deal with politics and not “him”! Now its all just a PJ!

Bollywood – its still a strange place. We still dont have any concept of “script readers” and giving feedback to a filmmaker means “you are supposed to say only good things” about his film. And everyone has become so protective about the first look of their film, that passing on the script for feedback is an impossible dream.

We decided to check if the other way can work out. One of us wrote a script for a short film (3-4 mins) and we are putting the script here. Good, bad, fugly, whatever – do let us know in the comment section. Help us decide – should we make it, throw it in the dustbin or better, use it as toilet paper. And its just 3 pages, so please read on.

See if this makes any sense because we have been told it didn’t made so, to many.

BUM-CHUM

INT. XXX – DAY

ECU of a man’s face. He is lying on a bed.

Initially little nervous, he tries to bend his head little backward, turns back to starting position. Closes his eyes, mumbles few prayers. Suddenly he smiles, opens his eyes as if something unexpected happening to him, then again closes his eyes and giving an orgasmic expression. He seems to enjoy it. The expression keeps on changing from one extreme to other.

With a loud noise, the screen goes black out.

INT. HOUSE – DAY

A lean, thin man with receding hairline is busy playing a game on his mobile. Seems he just lost it. With a sigh, he looks up. Into the camera.

MAN (looks up – into camera)

……aur kya, bijli gul. Pehli baar ushey aise hi mila tha. Uska chehra bhi nahi dekha.

INT. HOUSE – DAY

WOMAN (into the camera)

Par maine dekhi thi…..picche se. Bilkul paas se (smiles). Bachpan ki bimaari hai…..(breaks into a hysterical laugh )

INT. HOUSE – DAY

A fat kid (girl – 9-10 years) on a dining table by herself and eating cornflakes.

WOMAN (VO)

Jo bhi khati, wahin atak jaati. Na pet me pachti, na bahar nikalti.

EXT. ROAD – MORNING

We see the fat kid from the back, going to school, with a heavy bag on her back and her big bum.  A water bottle hanging on her right side.

A young guy riding a cycle crosses her, tries to hit her bum with his waterbottle and shouts out.

GUY

Oye Bum–per…kuch pump—kar!

The handle of the bottle breaks, falls down. The girl smiles, sits on it suddenly, the bottle breaks with a loud sound.

The guy looks back at her. The girl seems very happy.

GIRL

Pump kiya…teri bottle ko.

The guy shakes his head and leaves on his cycle.

INT. HOUSE – DAY

Another kid, 9-10 years old boy, is trying to buckle up the school belt. Standing in front of the mirror, he is dressed up in school uniform. Only trying to fix up the belt. He moves his back towards the mirror and looks at his bum. There is almost nothing. It’s all flat. The pant hangs loosely and looks bad. He pulls the pant from both sides with his hand to make it look tighter to his bum.

MAN (VO)

Aur mere ko Chamcha bulate they. Kisi ki chaati nahi kabhi, bus gaand me dum nahi tha, matlab dum to tha bus gaand hi nahi thi. Chamach jaisa. Short me Chum!

The kid put his left hand on his bum and tries to figure out the curve of his bum…he moves the hand, still  in that small curve form, to the front and places it in a position that covers Pamela Anderson’s bum. He is comparing the size.

A pic of Pamela Anderson in swimsuit, still from Baywatch, is placed in one corner of the mirror.

INT. HOUSE  – DAY

MAN (into the camera)

Jab isse doorsi baar milne gaya. Tab bhi chehra nahi dekh paya. Waise hi…aao let jao, bhagwan ka naam lo aur intezaar karo….ki is baar Bijli corporation ki meherbani rahe….

INT. XXXX – DAY

ECU of a man’s face

He is lying on a bed. Closes his eyes, mumbles few prayers. Suddenly he smiles, opens his eyes as if something unexpected happening to him, then again closes his eyes and giving an orgasmic expression. He seems to enjoy it. The expression keeps on changing from one extreme to other.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

WOMAN (VO)

Aur mere pe tabhi jadoo sa hua.

The woman smells something in the air. Takes a deep breath in. Almost bliss. She takes a Man’s pant, which is hanging in one corner of the room, slyly puts her hand in one of the pockets, and finds something, smiles, tries to cover up her expression. Gets out of the room with a packet in hand.

CUT TO

INT. CLASSROOM – DAY

All 9-10 year olds in the classroom. A man sitting on a chair, talking to the students.

TEACHER

Simple sa sawaal hai. Yeh batana ki tumko kaun sa khusboo sabse pasand hai aur kyun ?

We see the same fat girl (with big bum) sitting on the right hand side of the teacher. The teacher points his hand in the right direction.

TEACHER

Idhar se chaloo karo.

GIRL1

Gulaab. Kyunki bahut acchi khusboo hai.

She sits down.

GIRL2

Chameli ka….

She also sits down after saying the answer.

The fat girl, Bum, is next. She has a disgusted look at her face. Hesitatingly, she stands up.

FAT KID/GIRL

Rollies…

TEACHER (shouts out)

…Rollies….

FAT KID/GIRL

jo Papa roll karte hain na….usko roll karne ke pehle…..

INT. HOUSE – DAY

We see a middle-aged man rolling tobacco into tabacco paper. The fat kid/girl peeping through one corner and inhaling it.

CUT TO

INT. HOUSE – DAY

WOMAN

Phir kya ? Bum pe bum bum padi. Aur us din maine isko baad me phone kiya…sorry bolne ko….

INT. HOUSE – DAY

Close up of the man’s face – He is nodding his head to some music and enjoying it. Twitching his lips with a blissful/orgasmic feeling.

WOMAN(VO)

Ek baar call kiya…..do baar call kiya…..phir last baar…

The Woman is making call through her mobile.

We hear the sound of mobile vibration. The camera tilts down to show that the guy has kept his mobile just under his crotch, it’s in silent vibration mode and as it vibrates, giving a ticklish feeling and he is enjoying it. He pulls out the mobile from under the crotch and takes the call.

INT. HOUSE – DAY

MAN

Maza aata hai. Try karke dekho (winks). Ma kasam. Par us raat main phir so nahi paaya…..

We see the man mixing a bottle of some liquid with lemonade. Gulps it down. And then sitting on the shit pot.

MAN (VO)

Ab tak uska chehra nahi dekha tha. Par usne le li meri…teen baar…hattrick…woh bhi picche se….virgin tha main…….ma kasam…picche se….

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

We see that the man is lying on a bed. The Woman is taking a thin pipe and is putting it inside him, from behind. She is in doctor/nurse’s uniform.

CUT TO

CU of the tv screen – The camera shows his intestine on the screen. She is doing colonoscopy. She is staring blankly at the screen. Is very happy at the result on the screen.

WOMAN (VO)

Gulabi. Bilkul gulabi. Aisa pehle nahi dekha tha. It was love at first sight…

INT. HOUSE – DAY

We realise that the man and the woman are sitting next to each other.

MAN

….sight nahi…at first pipe…..woh gaana iska favourite hai…gulaabi aantein jo teri dekhi…deewana mera dil….He laughs out singing.

WOMAN

Tab jaake pehli bar usko dekha. Samne se . Picche tha bhi nahi kuch dekhne ko….

(she laughs out hysterically)

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY

The woman comes to the front, looks at him. They stare each other for few seconds. The man still on the bed.

MAN (VO)

Kehte hai na, opposites attract.

CUT TO

We see the back of the man with no bum and the woman with big bum, walking closely next to each other. The screen forms a heart shape and zooms into their bums.

The end.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Synopsis – Its a story about two people, their weird nature, how they meet thrice and finally fall for each other. She is a doctor. And he needs to get his colonscopy done. She does it right, only at the third time. And they are narrating their experiences. The hospital setting, colonoscopy factor is not revealed from the start. So, its mostly in close ups and location is marked as XXX in the script.

Also, he could not sleep the night before because one is suppose to drink a liquid mixed with any lemonade that cleans your system completely. You almost remain on the shitpot every few minutes.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

The first trailer of Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan is out. And its pitch perfect. The trailer exactly tells what the movie is all about.

And now the problem! Why is the text in the trailer straight lift from one of our favourite trailers of last year – Where The Wild Things Are! If you dont believe us, just play the video. Inside all of us is HOPE. Inside all of us is Fear. Even the way it comes on screen, is the same. After Cannes, we had to see this ? Can any soul enlighten us ? Who cut this trailer ? Someone surely is Un-certain of few things! Beware!

For our review of Udaan, poster, pics, synopsis and all the jazz from Cannes, click on this post and follow the links given in the post.

What ? When ? Where ? How much ? And why ?

Its an age-old debate. And things are changing now. In west, the new rule is “Forget the critics, Fear Twitter”! Plus, there are many popular bloggers now whom viewers trust more than many critics because they know that there cant be any hidden agenda there. And may be thats why many publications are in the process of doing away with critics.

Ok, enough of our review gyaan. Since we are putting it as VOTD, do check it out. Taran Adarsh, popularly known as Trash Adarsh for his movie and film reviews, discusses the issue with Minty Tejpal (Mumbai Mirror), Meena Iyer (Mumbai Mirror/TOI) and Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN).

Some candid confessions, some strong opinions, west versus east, do producers/directors try to influence them and why do they write/say, the way they do. And they even discuss Nikhat Kazmi!

(PS – Mumbai Mirror belongs to TOI group)

Aha, this seems like the perfect pitch for its theatrical release in India. We love it, except the title font and its colour, which looks little bland in the middle of all that chaos. For us, its “days of being wild & pains of growing up” and the poster seems to have captured that.

The lead actor is Rajat Barmecha, who looks a lot like Imran Khan and acts million times better than him. For our review of Udaan click here, for Vikramaditya Motwane & Anurag Kashyap’s video interviews here, for earlier poster/pics/synopsis of the film here and for all the Cannes jazz here.

Our heart skipped few beats. Sar pe wig aur haath me sitaar, kaisa hai yeh tera emosanal atyachaar! Wah wah! And it rhymes too.

Amar Singh goes for a complete makeover and is playing the role of a hindustani classical singer in a Malyalam film titled Bombay Mittayi (Or has it been changed to Mumbai Mittayi? Whatever) And sitting next to him is Dimple Kapadia who plays his wife in the film. What a jugalbandi!

Jaya Bachchan, Jaya Prada, and now Dimple Kapadia! Surely bald & pot-bellied men can also have some charm. BTW, we have one more query – are they gonna just sit like that and fake it all, or dance too? Imagine Amar Singh doing the Rishi Kapoor act in the song Jaane Do Na. Bet we will book our tickets now!

(Pic courtesy – http://twitter.com/sai_iyerzz )

Ok, 50K might not be huge prize money. But there is  the “plus”  factor. So, here it is all – A well known production house and a well respected filmmaker  are looking for 3 mins short films. Plus your film will reach the audience and will be presented by the production house/filmmaker.

What kind of film ? Any genre will do. A film that you will love to watch and will force your friends to watch too! A film that you think people will download! Yes, “download” is the key word. Language – Hindi (thoda bahut angrezi bhi chalega the way we speak).

The official announcement will be made by June end. And there is a bigger plan too. But we are looking for few shorts even before the official announcement.

So, if you have made a short film that you would like to submit, do put it online, mail us the online link plus your contact details to moifightclub@gmail.com . Who knows, the official announcement might be done with the release of your  short! And though we are just the messenger, will make sure that we post every possible info about it!  So, run lola run! We are waiting and how! And yes, do spread the word!

Some of us were lucky enough to catch a screening of Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan. I came back, sat down with my laptop on the writing table, wrote the header for my post – Days Of Being Wild & the Pains of Growing Up. Looked up. The poster of Persepolis, newly framed, was in front of me. I put on the same thinking pose and in my thought bubble went back to the days of that small industrial town where I grew up. Same state, different town. Udaan is  set in Jamshedpur.

The post remains unwritten and is saved as a draft with only the header . Cinema that connects  strongly, has this effect on me. Either I go silent or feel like pouring my heart out. After Vihir, Udaan is the second film of 2010 that I fell in love with. And the best part is, its uncompromised. Who would cast Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor and  a bunch of new kids to make a film! Producer Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Singh did. And Vikramaditya delivered. More power to people who dare to make such films! A script which was rejected by almost every producer in Bollylalaland, got made, and made it to Cannes’ official selection. Aur bolo?!

Finally, good friend Fatema Kagalwala came to our rescue. Yes, same Fatema, the girl on the bike (She doesn’t like the description but we feel it sounds cool like the title The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)! And she drives smoothly even after four pegs! Anyway, back to Udaan. Read on.

There is moment of breaking-free in every teenager’s life. From barriers within or without. And this is a journey that defines the rest of life’s journey. The moment when one takes wing. And flies away to find one’s feet in a world where the present is free from the past and the future a freedom to dream and build.

It is said that the things that we cannot change, in this flux of constantly changing life, are the things that end up changing us the most. But it is also the things we break ourselves to change that end up keeping us together. Rohan finds that out as he sets out to find himself among the pieces of life thrown to him by fate. Thrown out of hostel and college for a breach of (archaic) rules he finds himself in his home with an over-bearing, uncaring, violent father and a step-brother he has no knowledge of. The odds are stacked against him and larger because of his nature.

Rohan is a poet, a sensitive soul…fully well personifed in Rajat Barmecha’s soulful eyes and tender expression. And the poetry he writes is equally touching. He writes of his innermost quests, his need to find his path, his feet in a confusing world of do’s and don’ts that don’t make sense to his simple desires and simple individuality.

Rohan’s dilemma is as special as it is common. A semi-neurotic father with demons of his own to battle clamping down hard on the gentle boy and his harmless dreams forms the core of his life that is now reduced to an empty carton much like the cold, spaceless walls that adorn his house. The only sense of belonging he ever felt is far away in Mumbai, the city of dreams, his bunch of pot-pourri friends that are seemingly very happy and carefree, a life Rohan craves for. A shadow of a loving yet unattainable family in his chachu’s person and marriage gives Rohan the much needed respite from the tyranny and cruelty of his circumstances…

But Udaan needs to be experienced not explained. It’s a simple story, simply told. And like a friend said, a ‘difficult’ simple film to make. As it goes in simple stories what you don’t do is more important than what you do. It is the pitfalls that are avoided that make the subtle milestones achievements. Writers Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap pick and choose moments, shear them of over-emphasis, indulgence and sentimentality and present a coming-of-age story that is as universal as unique.

Of course, there are also moments of glorification that seem out of place…a bit of clichéd representation of conventional thinking…a bit of over-doing of the ‘feel-good’ factor…they make for a few wincing moments…taking away from the absorbing true-ness of the film…somewhere indicating a lack of real depth…but they do not take away from the soul of the film, which is clean and sincere, much like it’s protagonist and his dreams.

The film is Rohan’s story but the other characters complete his picture well. The balance in characterization, a rare treat, is a genuine pleasure to experience, especially the father’s. A brutish tyrant who could have been painted black and explained away, is handled with a touch of grey never justifying his behaviour but by just putting a germ of reason as to why he must have turned out like this. A back story would have killed it. Especially with the diversity of perspective that is brought in by how Rohan looks at him, how his brother looks at him and how the audience looks at him. It clearly makes us take sides but with an understanding. And that understanding is fraught with the knowledge that life is like that. Imperfect and full of tough choices. And it takes the theme (as it may be defined) that either you let your past dictate your present or you dissociate and build a new present for yourself. Beautiful contrasting life choices in the personification of the father-son.

The step-brother (a perfect cute-heart casting) brings out more of this of balancing out of the human-ness of its characters. His fears are matched well with his simple dignity and his silence used perfectly to show his place and role in the scheme of things. His small and limited presence looms large, very telling of the family dynamics and Rohan’s decisions.

Generically, the film is very European in its film-making sensibilities. The use of sound and silence is stark, contrasting. The cinematography captures without drawing attention to itself (the denial of over-weening cine-artistry is actually a pleasure in these times of technology obsessed film-making). The dialogues are conversational, everyday life but never pedestrian. The power of realism rests in every creative choice the director makes to tell his story in the most earthy fashion. And the power of realism shines through a well-told story that speaks from the heart and goes right through the heart. An extremely heart-warming debut by director Vikramaditya Motwane, one that shoots our expectations of his second feature sky-high 🙂

The first trailer of Milan Luthria’s new film Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai is out. Have a look. The video quality is not very good.

Its produced by Ektaa Kapoor and stars Ajay Devgan, Emraan Hashmi, Kangna Ranaut and Prachi Desai. Its based on Mumbai’s underworld of 70′s. Ajay’s character is based on Haji Mastan and Emraan will play Dawood Ibrahim.