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.
The views, opinions, reviews, articles, or positions, expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions or strategies of ANY OF THE EMPLOYERS, FRIENDS, RELATIVES, PR agencies, Production houses, Media group and such third parties associated with the authors. The latter make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use.
In short, if you have an issue with us or any post we've written, write to us at moifightclub@gmail.com
This came in our mailbox. We don’t know anyone connected with this film, but it looks damn interesting – the poster and the trailer. So we are featuring the first look of this 50min long feature Guide Gufraan here. Directed by Ayushman Mitra, a graduate from Calcutta’s St Xavier’s College. It’s made with the help of his friends from Xavier’s who have formed a group called Backgate Studio. Have a look.
Synopsis:
Raas, the cosmic meeting of opposite energies, is the cornerstone of all creation. Raas is widely illustrated as a celebration of love with an important involvement of dance and music. A few stories of love live beyond the boundaries of time and society; Krishna’s ‘raas’ is a timeless tale of erotica and passion. For most, he is more human than god. What is amazing is the acceptance that he receives from a conservative society like ours.
Guide Gufraan is Pasha’s journey from repression to acceptance of his own self. As he enters the city of Calcutta to retrace his past and seek spiritual asylum, where questions are asked and many are left unanswered, he begins an exploration of the self, the self he is desperately running away from, challenging his quest for peace. Finally, a city guide acts as the catalyst and pushes him to the limits till he embraces his true self. It is a celebration of acceptance, as people choose to live liberated lives shunning the social stigmas on love, sex and relationships. People come together and tear apart, some are fondly remembered, while some disappear into the chaotic rhythm of the ‘raas’. It is only natural that Krishna in the Mahabharata essays the role of a ‘sarathi’, in other words, a guide.
Ever since Sashwata Chatterjee made his mark on national radar as Bob Biswas in Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani, suddenly we have been seeing more of him. Or maybe he is getting interesting roles since then. Recently he was in Aparna Sen’s hilarious film Goynor Baksho, and now he is playing the lead role of Ritwik Ghatak in Kamaleswar Mukherjee’s Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star).
When i heard about the title of the film, the first thought in my head was blasphemy, blasphemy! But thankfully, the black and white trailer looks interesting. And seems like Sashwata is going to steal the show again, especially towards the end, when he portrays the madness.
Have a look. It’s with English subs. Hope more producers learn from this and realise that they have a market beyond their state. It’s a slow process but that’s how you build your audience. So do release your trailer, promos, songs with subs.
Official synopsis
Kamaleswar Mukherjee’s Meghe Dhaka Tara is inspired in every way possible from the legendary director Ritwik Ghatak’s life. From putting together bits and pieces of his eventful life to using the title of one of his most famous movies, and to naming the characters from his last film Jukti Tokko Goppo, Kamaleswar’s movie is an apt tribute to the great director.
Although inspired from Ghatak’s life, Meghe Dhaka Tara is neither a biopic on him, nor a remake of his famous film. To Kamaleswar, Ritwik is a true star, a legend, with immense contributions to the world of cinema. And yet he is still quite the unsung hero. Hence, he is the “Meghe Dhaka Tara”.
Credits
Starring : Saswata Chatterjee, Ananya Chatterjee, Abir Chatterjee & others
Producer : Shree Venkatesh Films
Presenter : Shrikant Mohta & Mahendra Soni
Direction : Kamleswar Mukherjee
Screenplay : Kamaleswar Mukherjee
DOP: Soumik Halder
Music : Debojyoti Mishra
At the ongoing Cannes Film Festival, India has a much better presence this year compared to last few years. So we are back with our regular post to track all the Cannes buzz that the desi films are creating there.
Anurag Kashyap’s film Ugly had its screening in the Directors’ Fortnight section. Some of the early reviews are out.
Kashyap’s nasty point is that, between violence, greed and corruption, just about no one is innocent in the end. Certainly all the characters are selfish beyond belief. This existential cynicism hits home in the horrific crime revealed in the last shot, But by that time, the emotions feel light years away.
– Translated text of French review on Telerama is here.
Heavy, unbearable. Surprising to the end, vitriolic portrait of contemporary India…
Really, the more divisive issue of the film will be the content itself, and audiences willingness to spend so much time watching greedy, ruthless and often idiotic people going from bad to bottom of the barrel. The ending may be a potential deal-breaker for some too, and while I can’t argue in detail without spoiling it, my sleep-deprived Cannes impression is that the haunting final shot effectively hammers home the moral center of the movie rather than functioning as the cheap, shock-value alternative. In fact, reflecting on the way Kashyap handled the rest of the film, specifically spurts of intentional violence, I do feel that there was a sympathetic voice in the film — it was just behind the camera instead of in front of it.
“The first 10 minutes of the film have to do with my own life when I depict the relations between the divorced father and his little girl. But the rest of the film came about after I read about the disappearance of children in India.
After the five-and-a-bit-hour gangland epic Gangs Of Wasseypur, the godfather of the Indian commercial arthouse sector, Anurag Kashyap, serves up a slimline two-hour hard-boiled crime thriller with Ugly. But the running time is the only thing that’s restrained about this lazy kidnap caper, whose hints of Fargo, echoes of Old Boy and touches of Tarantino are compromised by the story’s sprawling lack of discipline.
The dissonance between the tone of the highly mobile plotting with its harsh and justified moral judgement of everyone in the film and the unconscious, conventionally acted characters break the film’s sinister, society-flailing vision. Thus Ugly‘s interest is more academic than actual—perhaps a failed experiment—and while its disappointing inconsistency instills dullness, it also provokes a strange and blistering series of events, each unfolding in shocking succession.
– Directors Fortnight videos
Interview of AK
Q & A after the screening
– The Hollywood Reporter on Kashyap getting the French honour Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et Lettres honour (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters)
– Cast and Credit list from THR
DAR Motion Pictures presents a Phantom Films production
Remember Pan Nalin? Samsara, Valley Of Flowers? He is ready with a new documentary titled Faith Connections. And its trailer has come online. Have a look.
And here’s a note on the film –
“Faith isn’t faith until it’s all you’re holding onto.”
Filmmaker Pan Nalin travels to Kumbh Mela, one of the world’s most extraordinary religious events. There, he encounters remarkable men of mind and meditation, some facing an inextricable dilemma; to embrace the world or to renounce it. FAITH CONNECTIONS explores such diverse and deeply moving stories as a young runaway kid, a Sadhu, a mother desperately looking for her lost son, a yogi who is raising an abandoned baby, and an ascetic who keeps his calm by smoking cannabis — all connected by one faith against the spectacular display of devotion.
If you have not seen the “making of” Udaan, you have missed the best “making of” (film) made in recent years. Quickly go here and here and watch it. It’s as good as Udaan and is a film in itself.
Cut to
Lootera.
Again. Hope no controversies this time 🙂
Since they started teasing about it, we have been keenly waiting for Lootera making. Good news is it’s out. Bad news is it’s just 5 minutes. But it looks good – unlike others it gives a real sense of “making a film”. We hope they soon release the full making of the film.
The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section unveiled its official selection list today. And there’s one Indian film in the list – Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly. His two-parter Gangs Of Wasseypur was also screened in the same section last year.
An edge of the seat thriller, Ugly stars Rahul Bhatt, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Ronit Roy, Girish Kulkarni and Siddhant Kapoor.
Interestingly, five films which are going to Cannes this year has some kind of connect with Kashyap or his company, AKFPL. Ari Folman’s The Congress, Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout and Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox – these three films have been co-produced by AKFPL. And Kashyap has directed one of the shorts in Bombay Talkies which is going to have its Gala premiere at Cannes.
Click here to know more about The Directors’ Fortnight section.
Cannes Film Festival has just announced its official selection list. And as expected not too many Indian films at fest this year.
As part of tribute to 100 years of Indian Cinema, Bombay Talkies will have its Gala premiere at the fest. It’s a collection of four short films directed by Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar.
Another selection is Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout which is in Midnight Screenings section. It stars Vijay Varma, Nawazuddin Siddiqi, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Neeraj Kabi, Geetanjali Thapa.
And here’s the official synopsis – A rookie cop faces a suspected gangster in a dead-end alley and has to decide whether to shoot or not to shoot. Three separate scenarios explore the impact of his decision on other people’s lives.
Amit had earlier directed a terrific short called Bypass which won many awards. Click here and here to watch the film in two parts.
Also, Indian actor and director Nandita Das is part of the CineFoundation and Short Film Jury.
We don’t have a culture of documenting our history.
We don’t have a history of making great documentaries.
We don’t have documentaries on our “real heroes”.
And this is why Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s Celluloid Man is such an important film, which stands tall on those three parameters. It’s about a real hero who has documented our cinematic history, and it’s a documentary on his life and passion.
I had missed the screening few times in the past and finally managed to catch it recently. The name is P.K.Nair. His designation sounds even boring – Archivist. Sounds almost clerical – someone who archives stuff. What separates Mister Nair from his designation and the rest is just one thing – passion. And this film does complete justice to that man and his undying passion for cinema.
Chances are you might not have heard his name if you have not been to FTII or not friends with FTII graduates. He is the man responsible for National Film Archive Of India, popularly known as NFAI. Starting literally from scratch, P K Nair built it up slowly – reel by reel, can by can, film by film. No wonder that you ask him about a scene and he can tell you which reel and which can has it. Celluloid Man is his story – how he built NFAI, the way he travelled to various places in search of those rare films which most didn’t care about.
The film runs on two tracks. One traces Nair’s personal story – starting from Nair’s childhood in Kerala to how he wanted to become filmmaker and how he landed up at FTII and started NFAI. Some of the well known faces from FTII recount their younger days at the Institute and talk about Nair saab. And then you realise that his contribution is much more than just being an archivist. It’s about shaping up those young bright minds.
The other one is about building NFAI – this has intersecting anecdotes about collecting those precious films by travelling to remote places, and sometimes even opting for illegal routes for a greater cause. Dungarpur balances it well by scratching the uncomfortable surface too – was it one-upmanship, why NFAI is hostile to Nair now and such.
It feels bit long at the running duration of more than 2 hours (2:24 exactly i think, not sure which version is releasing), and the director’s sudden voice-over feels odd which doesn’t gel well with the film as the rest of it is through Nair saab’s words. But those are just minor issues in this mammoth task of documenting this important part of our cultural history so beautifully. If you are film lover, WATCH IT. If you are not, watch it just to know how to define Passion and Commitment.
The initial portions of the film is shot gorgeously, almost like a dream, feels some kind of daze. And then there’s a heartbreaking surreal sequence of silver being extracted from film reels by those who understand only commerce. The horror! Horror! i shouted in my head.
And this film could not have come at a better time. If there’s one person who needs to be celebrated at the occasion of 100 years of cinema, it’s Nair saab. If nothing else, at least this documentary serves that purpose. Thanks, Shivendra.
– The film is being released by PVR Directors Rare on May 3rd. Don’t Miss this one.
First, the good news – Derek Cianfrance’s new film The Place Beyond The Pines is releasing in theatres this Friday. His last release was the heartbreaking drama, Blue Valentine. If you still haven’t seen it, DO WATCH. Click here to read a terrific recco post by Subrat.
Starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper an Eva Mendes, it’s released by PVR Pictures. Also, we have been informed that there are no Censor cuts in the film. And do check out the embedded document where director Derek Cianfrance gives an introduction to his film.
Most probably you haven’t heard about any of these titles mentioned in the header of the post. But they seem to be interesting films, and hopefully we will get to hear more about them in the coming months. So here’s the official synopsis of all these films.
DEKH TAMASHA DEKH
Away from any media attention, Feroze Abbas Khan has completed his next film titled Dekh Tamasha Dekh. He had earlier directed Gandhi, My Father.
Synopsis : The story revolves around the search for the religious identity of a poor man crushed under the weight of a politican’s hoarding. A social and political satire, the film explores the impossible India, where bizarre is normal.
Directed by Feroze Abbas Khan.
India 2012, 108 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast: Satish Kaushik, Tanvi Azmi, Vinay Jain, Sharad Ponkshe, Ganesh Yadav, Apoorva Arora, Alok Rajwade
CHENU
Manjeet Singh’s directorial debut Mumbai Cha Raja did a good round of film fests and now he is working on his next film titled Chenu. It has been selected for the 9th edition of L’Atelier organized by the Cinéfondation of the Cannes Film Festival.
Synopsis : Chenu, a low caste Dalit boy living in rural North India, is drawn into an ongoing war between the extremely violent leftist “Naxal” militia and the fascist landlords’ gang. One day his younger sister Chano’s fingers are chopped off by landlord Teer Singh for plucking mustard leaves from his farm. When Chenu’s family is denied justice, the Naxals come to their rescue. They huntdown Teer Singh forcing him to take refuge under the protection of Bhagwan Sing, the leader of a landlord gang who has just cremated a cart full of dead relatives killed by the Naxals. The Naxals then involve Chenu in their operations and he comes to know where their weapons are hidden. When physically beaten by the rich village kids for playing on their turf, Chenu learns to fire a handgun himself. Meanwhile Bhagwan Singh, in thirst of revenge, consolidates other landlord gangs to form a powerful private army. A bloody cycle of violence unleashes, engulfing Chenu’s innocence while setting him on the cours of his own journey.
OONGA
I have been hearing about Devashish Makhija for a long time. Good to know that he is ready with his debut feature.
Synopsis : Little Oonga missed his village school trip to the faraway big city Lohabad to see a play called ‘Ramayan’. Unable to handle the pressure of being the only kid around who has not seen the fantastic warrior-king ‘Rama’, Oonga runs away. He goes on a perilous journey across forest, river, mountains and roads – bigger than any he’s ever seen, and valleys lain to waste by the mining industry… until he reaches the large, cold, chaotic, blinding city. When he emerges from the play he believes he has become Rama! But he is now returning not to the warm confines of his little village, but to a battlefield where the ‘company’ will do anything to take the adivasi’s land away from them. Only, Oonga doesn’t know it yet.
Directed by Devashish Makhija.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 98 Minutes, Hindi and Oriya with English subtitles.
Cast – Alyy Khan, Anand Tiwari, Nandita Das, Priyanka Bose, Salim Kumar, Seema Biswas, Vipin Sharma
FILMISTAAN
2012 was a good year for Bollywood. But beating all those films, Nitin Kakkar’s debut feature Filmistaan bagged the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Hindi Language. And if you read the synopsis, you might know why. It sounds delicious.
Synopsis : This National Award winning movie is set in Mumbai where, affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes on becoming a heart-throb star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown out. Undeterred, he goes with an American crew to remote areas in Rajasthan to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group kidnaps him for the American crew-member. Sunny finds himself on enemy border amidst guns and pathani-clad guards, who decide to keep him hostage until they locate their original target. The house in which he is confined belongs to a Pakistani, whose trade stems from pirated Hindi films, which he brings back every time he crosses the border. Soon, the two factions realize that they share a human and cultural bond. The film shows how cinema can be the universal panacea for co-existence.
Directed by Nitin Kakkar.
India 2012, 117 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast – Sharib Hashmi, Kumud Mishra, Gopal Datt, Inaamulhaq
FIREFLIES
Synopsis : ‘Fireflies’ is the story of two estranged brothers – Shiv and Rana. Shiv, a successful banker, lives in the superficial glitter of corporate Bombay. The younger brother, Rana, is a law school dropout who lives by the day. Though worldly experiences and illusions briefly illuminate the brothers’ journeys, a tragedy that befell them fifteen years earlier seems destined to repeat itself, just in new incarnations. Flames suddenly extinguish again, in an eerie heartbeat. The journey ahead echoing with voices and visions from the past, and the magic realism of the years gone by, beckons the brothers to find each other again. And the picture in the puzzle that was scattered so long ago. Fireflies come out in the night, just to light up the darkness. They live as long as the glow lasts. Even if it is a lifetime, being lived in a day.
Directed by Sabal Singh Shekhawat.
India, 2012, 102 Minutes, Hindi & English.
Cast – Arjun Mathur, Monica Dogra, Rahul Khanna, Shivani Ghai, Aadya Bedi
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 