what we are reading – EightandHalf
And fuck we care! Because one is Priyadarshan and the other is Subhash Ghai production. Damoviemaniac informed us about the first one. We checked with one of the crew members and bingo! It seems to be true. Only the “issue” has been changed. The second one doesn’t need any confirmation. Just check out the trailers.
And here is the next one…
Wondering what we are we talking ? Just play these two videos back to back and you will get to know.
Got it! When everyone is raving about the background score of Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, well, its time to know the culprit too. And hopefully we are not wrong! Its Sandeep Shirodkar.
He has done the background music for the film. And one of the theme tracks sounds exactly like Black Strobe’s I m a man. Strangely, it was used in other gangster film, Guy Ritchie’s Rock N Rolla. Too many coincidences! Well, its Bollylalalaland!
(PS – Pritam has composed the songs for the film. Has he passed the baton ? )
OMG! OMFG! Its finally here! Rajini Saar! And Aishwarya Madame! And director is Shankar Saar! Need we say more! ( Just count the number of non-stop exclamation marks we have put) Three trailers of Endhiran – The Robot is finally out. A R Rahman has done the music for the film. Check it out.
Our favourite – from 0:49 to 0:52 – He is unbelievable! He is like a super hero!
Our favourite bit – Neutron. Electron & I am yours!
To know more about the film, click here for its wiki page.
We are not sure where he vanishes and from where he resurfaces again and again. Amol Palekar is back with a new film titled …And Once Again. The first look of the film is out. It stars Rajat Kapoor, Rituparna Sengupta and Antara Mali and is written by Sandhya Gokhale. Check it out.
And here is the official synopsis of the film…
And Once Again movie subtly talks about repercussions of violence on human life: its lingering shadow on all of us with its startling shades! Somehow we manage to draw a line between our past and present.
The Rotating prayer bells, the fluttering holy flags encircling the majestic monasteries, the overwhelming peace filled in the valleys, the rhythmic chanting piercing the silence of the snow peaks. All was being devoured by Manuvela and Rishi during their stay in Sikkim, India. Manuvela is an architect who is on her official visit. On her insistence, her husband, Rishikesh Nag joins her. The serenity of the gorgeous hills keeps both of them oblivious to the events dictated by their future!
Rishi is trying to cope with the reality since he had lost his wife and son in a violent attack when he was posted in Yugoslavia. While he was undergoing therapy in order to overcome his trauma, Rishi met Manuvela – his psychiatrist’s daughter! She fell in love with him. Their marriage helped him to get back to life.
While returning from a monastery in Sikkim, Rishi sees a female monk who resembled his first wife Savitri. He gets restless with his doubt: he tries to identify her – unfortunately, his suspicion gets confirmed. Subsequently he confides in Manu about this accidental revelation: she also gets shaken.
The film unfolds their complex situation while tracing the roots of this incredible coincidence. Had Savitri not died? How did she end up being a monk in Sikkim? Does Savitri recognize Rishi? How does Manu react? What is end of this awkard dilemma?
Or how else do you explain this poster of Endhiran starring Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Rai. Have a look and comment if you can. We are speechless!
BTW, the Twitter team of Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey have been desperately doing some countdown to release one more still from the film. Yes, we are blessed with one more still! If you are interested take a look at this drab pic. Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Sikandar Kher and others! So, it seems both are in Time Machine. One goes futuristic and the other rewind! Badhiya hai!
PS – Thnx to Chintan Shah for the Robot pic alert.
Will Udaan survive ? Will it manage to fly ? Cannes is great, and that too after so many years, but, can We, The (Dumb) People, give the film its due ? Will the bitch called box office be on our side for a change ? And how many bums does it require to get that elusive “hit” tag ? Do we count ? And if we do, how much ? Since the time we saw the film, all of us had the same questions and doubts but nobody knew the answers. Only one thing was common – we all LOVED the film.
By now, am sure lot many have seen Udaan. Its easily one of the best rated films of the year so far. So, it seems some people out there are writing good scripts, making uncompromised films too, though far and few in between, but have we been able to crack the “budget” ? And even after doing so, how will the film reach the theatre ? And if it does so, will it manage to get those valuable bums who turn “shit” into “hit” ? Aah life. Ooh cinema! So, here it is all……after the art & craft of cinema…the arithematics of Udaan….. by someone who has been there, done that and seen it all. Anurag Kashyap. Am sure, he doesnt need any introduction. And if he does, you are on the wrong page. Read on….
Udaan has finally been declared a success. It was the only film amongst others in the week which garnered the same box-office on Monday to Thursday, as it did on the first weekend.
Faith, in the end, has won.
There was no-way a film like Udaan could have got this kind of a release. Amidst the speculations and accusations on Twitter and Facebook that the marketing of Udaan was bad, it has survived.
Well, Udaan was not an easy film to sell. We racked our brains on it, Shikha and her team at UTV, Vikram, all of us tried coming up with every idea we could to sell it. Most of them had nothing to do with the film, so were rejected. The pressure on the team was so much, because of what they did with Dev.D. But the idea was not to do anything that would give the wrong perception of Udaan.
We also wanted to release the film the way it was cut. For once we had a film that everyone thought was poetic and had its own pace. All those decisions became a big no no for exhibitors. No one wanted to give many shows to Udaan, because the film smelled strange.
Hard negotiations followed. Gaurav from UTV armed with biggies like “Thank You” and “Tees Maar Khan” negotiated with theatre owners, got us two to three shows.
UTV similarily negotiated the TV rights. Who knew the fate of Udaan, but we had faith on good old word of mouth. In the second week, our number of shows have reduced to one or two shows but on Friday night in some theatres, it was packed yesterday.
Here is hoping it continues its silent march through the theatres. For all the people screaming bad marketing, the truth is we just did’nt have the budget, we had to make do with what we had.
The fact is Udaan could very well have been “Firaaq“. A good film that got lost. But it isn’t. Today we sold our TV rights for 3.5 crores, film is released on Warner’s VOD , which has access to 20 million homes in the US. The same site where most of the indies and international arthouse films are releasing in the US today. Disney has got the homevideo rights for around 75lakhs (Plus T-Series has the music rights). And our first week net is 2.5 cr. It makes us profitable by around 25% of the investment and makes a film like Udaan a viability in the future.
If the film continues like this and just the box office starts to show us that so far elusive ‘Profit Margin”.. we are here to stay.
Today, I can say, after seeing him struggle with the industry, the market, himself and fate.. that Vikramaditya Motwane has truly arrived, and thank you Sanjay Singh and UTV for that.
Pic Courtesy – Making Of Udaan
PS – If you can read hindi, click here and read the post by Mihir Pandya…a different perspective and one of the best pieces on Udaan.
When he speaks, we just listen. He is one of our all time favourite actor and the baap of acting – Naseeruddin Shah. And what a delight – unlike the rest of bollylalaland, he is honest and candid. And qualified too.
So, here it is…Naseeruddin Shah criticising Amitabh Bachchan’s choice of films (loving it! finally someone with whom we agree completely), on Sholay and talks about his role in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Saat Khoon Maaf. Click the play button. Now!
And there is more…now in sequence…Naseeruddin Shah on everything that’s cinema, with some priceless quotes on Farah Khan, Dev Anand, Mithun Chakraborty, Bollywood, Shammi Kapoor and Dara Singh!
The show is called ‘In Conversation’ and is hosted by Saeed Naqvi on NewsX.
Thnx for the tip Rishabhpande .
And the names are – Naseeruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Russian actor Alexander Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor and Vivaan Shah (Naseeruddin Shah’s son). We were sure about the other five, but had no clue about Annu Kapoor and the name of the Russian Actor. Hindustan Times finally got the list. Aha, relieved!
And our Twitter Khabri Svetlana Naudiyal passed on some exclusive dope too, though we are not sure about it. It seems Ruskin Bond is also doing a cameo in the film. Wooho! The name is Bond, Ruskin Bond! And here is her tweet..
as told so by his (Ruskin Bond) bookshop owner friend in mussorie.. a shop that Ruskin Bond visits every saturday.. he said that Ruskin Bond didn’t come for last two saturdays since he is busy with Saat Khoon Maaf and that he’s doing a small role too in it.. probably of a father or something.. though i don’t remember any such character in the story..
There is more to her (Svetlana’s) story. She even met Mr Bond after her khabri dope but admits that she was too starstruck to ask him anything. Aha, Svetlana…..Kuch Kuch Hota Hai…hum samajhte hai!
Back to Saat Khoon Maaf – its based on a short story by Ruskin Bond titled Susanna’s Seven Husbands. To know more about the story/plot/synopsis, click here to read our previous post on the film.
BTW, Jahan Bakshi has got a damn cool idea to trend Saat Khaan Maaf on Twitter. How about #7KM ? Is anyone listening ?
Mommy asked – what is Twitter ? Moi – Its a lazy man’s tool, must be invented by the laziest person on this earth. Mommy – How so ? Moi – You say everything in just 140 characters. Mommy – Wow! Me, your dad and Granny desperately need one Mr Twitter between! Moi – #JGrin.
And when lazy men like us are dragged to watch a film that they have no intention of watching, what do they do ? Tweet. Tweet. Fom the promos and the publicity material of Lamhaa, we felt like its going to be Kaante 2. Kashmir Ke Kaante! Don’t get us wrong, we are all for political films but not bollywoodized versions!
So, here goes our compiled list of all the live-tweets from Lame-ha ? (plagiarised from Varun’s tweet ). Plus, the key words in BOLD.
Sm1 dragged me to the theatres for #Lamhaa. BEWARE! If am getting bored, will flood d timeline. Ths seems 2 b d worst this week.
In #Lamhaa Sanjubaba is Gul DUDE Jehangir. Nt sure fm which angle he is Gul OR Jehangir bt DUDE fm every angle. Sudnly a song n he is Munabhai 2
It hs mor information than Inception bt nothing new RT @KausPD: @moifightclub jst 1 tweet in 35 mins, looks like you are enjoying lamha 😉
#Lamhaa Interval – it promised to tell the ‘untold story of kashmir‘. So far, nothing that i dont know/havent read/seen/heard
#Lamhaa – ok, m convinced. Kashmir just needs few Sanjay SLO-MO Dutts. And every problem will be solved. Am serious.
#Lamhaa is also subtitled. Every 5mins. Tells u d location. At one point, it read …village of half widows. Am i missing something ?
#Lamhaa – every 5mins, someone reminds you – yeh kashmir hai janaab n then blahblah. Yeh kashmir hai bhaijaan n then blahblah. more blah!
RT @jahanbakshi: @moifightclub: If you’re too bored, try and spot if Bips is sporting Reebok Easytone sneakers. #classicproductplacements
#Lamhaa – Bet Rahul Dholakia can write a gr8 thesis paper on Cash-mir. But not sure how many thesis paper can translate into decent script.
#Lamhaa – ok, now m LOST. Its more complicated thn #Inception. I swear. If u dont believe, try it.
#Lamhaa – d zee news reporter is suddenly reporting in english. When did they launch english news channel ? pls enlighten.
#Lamhaa – Kunal Kapoor’s azaadi and then ‘vapas aa jao’ speeches r hilarious. On dais u nid furniture but not wid a mike in front of them!
#Lamhaa -like Kashmir, boils dwn 2 nothing. Our films genraly lack resarch bt this one is surely over-researchd n still offrs nothing new
#Lamhaa – strts n ends wid so many info plates. Someone just nid to push d delete button for d film in between to go away. U dont nid a bomb!
RT @singh_dr so @moifightclub havin Lazy Lamhe in Lamha ?
RT @DannyBoy84 @moifightclub “Serious political” Hindi movies are good at telling you what you already know. Haven’t seen Lamhaa yet but same symptoms i c
RT @mriganayanika Don’t watch Lamhaa for anything. Its cherry was popped by a very haggard Dutt.
Conclusion – Dholakia is a far better Gujrati filmmaker (Parzania) than a J&K reporter (Lamhaa). Brave effort, noble intention, bad casting, hilarious acting and over-researched mish-mash leading to nowhere! Atleast, it connects with the Kashmir problem on the last point.
In Bollylalaland, there is no word called shame! As they say, jiyega..marega…publicity ke liye par kuch bhi karega! Remember Aamir Activist Khan during Rang De Basanti. Well, its that time of the year again.
A new film of Aamir Khan Productions is up for release and wonder whom he is remembering – Asheem Chakravarty. Why ? Because it makes news. Because Indian Ocean has composed one song for Peepli Live and another old song of theirs is included in the album of the film. But where was Aamir when Asheem Chakravarty passed away ? Why we didnt hear anything from him ? And where was he when the documentary on Indian Ocean – Leaving Home released ? That was the best tribute to Asheem. Aamir doesn’t need to put one more tribute show! If only he had supported the film, that would have been enough. But strange are the ways of the world, so bear it.
The other one is about Akshay Moron Kumar. Guess where he went to ? Breach Candy Hospital to meet cartoonist R K Laxman. Why ? Because he has a new film coming up called Khatta Meetha, directed by another moron called Priyadarshan. So, the marketing guys must have hit upon a great idea – lets get Akki the common man to meet the cartoonist who created the great indian common man. Because according to the Bombay Times report, Laxman’s common man was the inspiration for Akshay’s character. Bloody liars! Its a remake of malyalam film Vellanakalude Nadu.
Just take a look at the pic, see both the faces and you don’t need any words to describe the scene. You can read the full article here (select Monday- 12th July, 2010 and then Bombay Times tab – its on left corner) or check out the first page of Bombay Times (epaper).
And thats why we have been requesting Robert Pattinson (though we hate the vampire craze) again and again to just bite us once. We desperately wanna suck some bolly blood!
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 