Archive for the ‘Movie Recco’ Category

Mumbai Film Festival, 2012 – what to watch (competition for debut features)

Posted: October 15, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Film Festival, Movie Recco
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This is our second recco list in the series. This post covers the films in the “International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors” segment.  It seems like a terrific bunch of films in one category which covers a wide range of subjects and all by debutants.

Beasts of the Southern Wild – This one can be termed as this year’s A Separation. Because the way it has been getting unanimous accolades from everyone, few films manage to do that. Plus, a bunch of awards at Cannes including the Golden Cam and FIPRESCI Award & Sundance’s Grand Jury Award. Must Watch.

Here and There (Aquí y allá) – The winner of Cannes Critics Week where Vasan Bala’s Peddlers was also in competition. Indiewire review is here which describes it as incredibly uneventful and devastating all at once. We suggest you go with little patience.

From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes) – a review here which calls it one of the best Latin American Films of 2012. A man in the middle of prejudices, ambitions, morality, dreams, good and evil. Click here for the trailer which looks good too.

The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis) – Have you ever wanted to be somebody else? Story of a Buenos Aires Elvis impersonator who believes that he is the reincarnation of the King struggles to shake free from reality and live his musical dream. A terrific trailer and a performance which has been described as heartfelt. Was nominated for Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film festival.

The Wall (Die Wand) – This seems to be the one if you are looking for moody, meditative, soul-searching stuff in the jungle of peace and beauty. “Observing the changing of seasons with a dog and some stray animals to keep her company, she wonders aloud how she will maintain her humanity. Scary in parts and unsettling in the extreme, it’s one that stays with the viewer” – from preview. And trailer here (without subs).

Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis) – Mads Matthiesen bagged the Directing Award in the World Cinema (Dramatic) category at Sundance. A real-life body builder (That’s a Hulk!) who stays with his domineering mother and is looking for love in the land of flesh. The trailer looks interesting.

Augustine – The Hollywood Reporter calls it an absorbingly sensuous period drama from an exciting new French writing/directing talent. TIFF desribes it on similar tangent – sensual, fiercely intelligent tale of female sexual awakening.

L – Something potently mind-altering and dangerously brain damaging says this review. If you have been following the latest Greece cinema trend, its fits in perfectly with Dogtooth, Attenberg and Alps. Absurd is the keywod. Go for it if you like the taste.

Ship Of Thesues – If you have been following this blog regularly, you don’t need introduction to the debut feature of Anand Gandhi. If not, start here. Going by the synopsis and trailer, book your seat.

Valley Of Saints – Another film with Indian connect which is set in Kashmir and has been doing the festival rounds since quite sometime. Also, bagged 2 awards at Sundance fest. Trailer is here.

Kauwboy – story of Jojo, a lively 10-year-old with a difficult home life marked by a volatile father and an absent mother, finds solace in an unexpected friendship with an abandoned baby jackdaw. Bagged the Best First Feature Award at Berlin Fest. The trailer is good enough to sell the film.

Click here to read our previous recco post on the Wold Cinema segment. Click here for the complete schedule and click here for the day/date wise schedule for NCPA/INOX.

Mumbai Film Festival, 2012 – Kartik Krishnan’s recco list

Posted: October 14, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Film Festival, Movie Recco
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If you have been following this blog regularly, you surely do know Kartik Krishnan. If not, you must google him. Because not many people in this world have the distinction of playing the lead character in a film and having the film’s title with their name in it.

Back to the post. This post is to make your life simpler if you are going to attend Mumbai Film Festival at Jamshed Bhabha Theater (NCPA) and INOX. Also, this is day/date wise schedule which is much better than the official schedule. If you are planning to go to Cinemax (Versova/Sion), then it’s of no use.

The document has the screening schedule with the film’s titles highlighted in yellow for easy navigation and planning. Take a print out, plan your day and say thanks to KK.

For our previous recco post on World Cinema section, click here. And for the complete screening schedule, click here.

Mumbai Film Festival, 2012 : what to watch (world cinema)

Posted: October 8, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Film Festival, Movie Recco, News
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Mumbai Film Festival has unveiled its complete line-up. This is where the confusion starts – what to watch and what to skip. And so here we are going to help you out. This is the first post in this film recco series where we look at the films in the World Cinema section.

WORLD CINEMA

1) Love (Amour) – First reason : Michael Haneke. 2nd reason : Cannes Palme d’Or Winner. 3rd Reason – 5 star review by Peter Bradshaw.

2) Stories We Tell – Filmmaker Sarah Polley puts the camera on her family members as they look back in this documentary film and family secrets come out of the closet. Venice, Telluride, Toronto. Another 5 star  review by Peter Bradshaw. Do read.

3) Reality – By Matteo Garrone, the director of Gomorrah. Eough? Was in Cannes competition where it won the Grand Prix. Though the opinion was divided on this one, Indiewire called it a horrific spin on ‘Big Brother’ obsessions.

4) Beyond The Hills – 1st reason : From Cristian Mungiu, the director of 4 Months, 3Weeks, 2 Days. 2nd/3rd Reason : Premiered at Cannes where Mungiu won the award for Best Screenplay, and Flutur and Stratan shared the award for Best Actress. And 4 stars by Bradshaw. (Have we quoted too much of PB? Oh, we love him)

5) Gebo And The Shadow (Gebo et l’ombre) – At 103, Manoel de Oliveira is still making films. He is the oldest living and working filmmaker of our time. Doesn’t it count as rarest of rare case? More about the film here.

6) On The Road – Walter Salles’ film based on the Jack Kerouac cult classic novel of the same name.  The story is based on the years Kerouac spent travelling the United States in the 1940s with his friend Neal Cassady and several other figures who would go on to fame in their own right, including William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. (from wiki) Though the reviews have been mixed, it was in competition at Cannes.

7) Snow White (Blancanieves) – The film is intended to be an homage to 1920s European silent films and seems quite delicious. Read more about it here.

8) 7 Days In Havana – One week in Cuban capital Havana. 7 segments. By 7 filmmakers – Julio Médem, Laurent Cantet, Juan Carlos Tabío, Benicio del Toro, Gaspar Noé, Pablo Trapero and Elia Suleiman. Not great reviews so far but wouldn’t you want to watch Emir Kusturica on screen? See the trailer here.

9) Children Of Sarajevo (Djeca) – It competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes where it won the Special Distinction award. Selected as the Bosnian entry for the Best Foreign Language at Oscar. Bradshaw described it as “strange, haunting film, the Bosnian war keeps bubbling up from where it has been buried”. More info on TIFF page.

10) After Lucia (Después de Lucía) – Competed in the Cannes Un Certain Regard section where it won the top prize. Also selected as the Mexican entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. More about it here (wiki).

11) Robot & Frank – sounds like a delicious plot – Set in the near future, it focuses on Frank, an aging jewel thief played by Frank Langella, whose son buys him a caretaker robot. Resistant at first, Frank warms up to the robot when he realizes he can use it to restart his career as a cat burglar. It won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Trailer is here.

12) The Angels’ Share – Competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and Loach won the Jury Prize. Also, Bradshaw’s 4 star review where he calls it “whisky Galore!-influenced comedy”.

13) Antiviral – Brandon Croneberg’s debut film which competed in the Cannes Un Certain Regard section and gives a complete new twist to both its subject – of celebrity obsessed society, and its genre – horror, in which a company harvests diseases from celebrities and injects them into paying clients

14) Cannes Catalogue – Apart from these films, there’s an entire catalogue from Cannes. So if you can’t go to Cannes, the films are all here.

– Like Someone in Love : Abbas Kiarostami’s latest film which was Cannes competition

– Night Across the Street (La noche de enfrente) : screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section. Read more about it here.

– Mystery : From Un certain Regard section. Peter Bradshaw’s 3 star review here

– The Hunt (Jagten) : Cannes competition. 4 star review by PB.

– A Royal Affair (En Kongelig Affære) : Was in Cannes competition

– Renoir  : In Cannes Un certain regard. A review here

– Three Worlds (Trois Mondes) : from Cannes Un Certain

– You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet! (Vous n’avez encore rien vu) – Alain Resnais’ film which was in Cannes Competition. Indiewire review is here.

If we have missed anything that you have seen and you would like to recco, please do let us know in the comments section. For the complete list of films which are being screened at the festival, click here.

50 reasons to watch Supermen Of Malegaon

Posted: July 3, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, Indie, Movie Recco, movie reviews, reviews
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Indian cinema turns 100 this year. And there’s a great film currently playing in the theatres which celebrates this magic of cinema. It’s a small film which you might not have heard about because it has no ads on tv, no chartbuster songs on radio and no hoardings to boast about. The film is Supermen Of Malegaon (SoM). And indian cinema can’t get a better homage than this documentary made by Faiza Ahmad Khan.

The film has been doing the festival rounds since last few years. But good or bad, we don’t watch docus in theatres. We don’t even release them to give it a chance. Thanks to PVR Directors Rare, SoM has got a limited release across few PVR properties. Make sure you watch it. And if you have any doubts, we are giving you not one or two, but 50 reasons to watch it. And since “crowd-funding” for indie films is in vogue these days, we crowd-funded this post to go with the same spirit.

Do watch and do contribute your reason in the comments section. Will start with mine.

1. Because Vijay and Ravi can finally move on. Mere paas ma nahi, cinema hai! It has one of the best, unrehearsed and unscripted scene between two brothers – one consumed by the addiction called cinema and the other……well, watch it. Poignant.

2. If you watch or love or make cinema and you miss SoM in theatres, you’d miss the cinema equivalent of finding the G-spot – @varungrover

3. Because 1hr of supermen of malegaon is more fun than 2hrs of Spiderman – @ronyd

4. Because even Brando would be appreciative of Jor-El and the ‘method’ here – @krnx

5. Because it blurs the line between fiction & docu. It was more entertaining than a commercial Hindi feature –  @ghaywan

6. Because SoM doesn’t sell itself on sympathy like the recent “indie” filmmaking fad – @auteurmark

7. Because these people have not collaborated on the film : Samir, Sajid, Bhansali, Shetty, Bellary, Ekta, RGV, Bhatts, Kohlis, Kapoors – @mihirfadnavis

8. Because it’s a better (hate the term but…) Love Letter to Cinema than ‘The Artist’ or ‘Hugo’ could ever be… @jahanbakshi

9. You’ll laugh a lot, being fully aware that there’s a lot of grimness in the tale as well. Its a unique feeling   @RangbadluGirgit

10. ‘Pairon ki bediyaa khwabo ko bandhe nahi re..’ Madhyam ki garibi sabse badi prerna kaise banti hai @koripaati

11. See Pic

12. Why else do we watch films ? To get entertained ! And entertained you shall be !! – @z_maahir

13. Location is not Switzerland and the lead would not look like a million bucks even with plastic surgeries STILL SoM is Beautiful – @humHeroine

14. Superman with a 24″ waist. A costume that involves rubber chappals. A film that is inspired and inspiring – @ashish_mehta_

15. Because it celebrates the simple human notion that if you are passionate about something then no one can stop you. There is always a way around. Always. Equipments, technology, know-how, resources etc just don’t matter. As long as you want it badly enough – @ghantaguy

16. You should watch SOM because it will make you pick up a camera and shoot – @varunvarghese

17. Bolchaal mein itne achhey Urdu shabd bahut dinon baad sun-ne ko miley – Rakhi (on FB)

18. That cinema by all other names would still be magical! – Suhel Banerjee (on FB)

19. Kyuki bhai ise ‘naa dekhne ka’ ek bhi reason nahi hai ! Puneet Sharma (on FB)

20. Which was the last film you saw that you wished you could see more of? – @gyandeep4a

21. For one poem Chand. Just that is worth the ticket money – @shubhas

22. Because it gets over in about an hour and you won’t get bored. Forget all the irony and the film about a film business blah blah – Swati Trivedi

23. Kyuki aisi filme dekhkar khud se ye sawaal poochhne ka man karta hai…. Ab to bahana banaane chhod de, ja aur kuch man ka bana !!!! Puneet Sharma (on FB)

24. It makes us feel that good filmmakers still exist. Faisal Numan (FB)

25. See pic

26. The one reason that counts – it is paisaa vasool – Vinay Jain (FB)

27. Simple. Because its one of the best films you will see this year –  Anant Raina (FB)

28. Because it makes you smile. The passion for Cinema in India is equivalent to religion. This 60 minute beauty inspires everyone to do something even if you cannot afford it – Abhinav Bhatt (on FB)

29. kyonki yehi Cine-Maa hai!! – Nitin Baid (FB)

30. “Life is full of sorrow, so it is very important to dream. No one should ever stop dreaming,” says the narrator of #Supermen of Malegaon, the funniest, sweetest movie I have seen in a long time. The writer in the movie says things like “Most of the films you see is only 20% output. Imagine being a writer and having to live with 80% of the angst. It’s hard. But it doesn’t stop you.” In an age of multi-crore promotion budgets for glitz, here is an honest movie with a soul, a story of dreams and passion, a movie that you won’t see ads and promos of, as they have no money for them. It’s playing at PVR Juhu at 6.20 pm. I am going back for the lines. Who is coming? – Lalita Iyer (FB)

31. Because tragedy brings out the best comedy – @ronyd 

32. Because it completes the Unique distinction of having watched Superman, Spiderman and Batman in the same year – @nitinnair81

33. Because its a RICH film made by POOR people which you get to see in a POSH theater for CHEAP price. Rs 110. Pvr Juhu. 6.20pm – @navjotalive

34. Because despite it being a documentary avoids all the docu cliches and still becomes accessible for just about every man jack who likes movies – @mihirfadnavis

35. See pic

36. Have you ever seen a superman wearing naadewala kachha and slippers, and ppl wiping their face with his red cape? @thepuccacritic

37. Because, in fact more than Hazanavicius’ film, Supermen Of Malegaon could actually be called ‘The Artist’ and *earn* that title – @jahanbakshi

38. As a filmmaker, it made me want to get out and start shooting my first. Thoroughly inspiring! @ghaywan

39. Not everyday you see a film where the hero is flying on one hand and paddling on a float in the river the next min @HumHeroine

40. FUN ke beyond, sach aur jhoot se pare , ek khula maidan hai.. Superman Of Malegaon tumhe waha milega @AmritaThavrani

41. Well, one reason is definitely that writer, Farokh. He had more personality than half the film industry combined –  @pradeep_smenon

42. Because it really does take supermen only to make films – Malhar Salil (on FB)

43. Because if you believe in your dreams, it can happen. Passion for cinema = SoM = Simply Superb!!  – Himanshu Vora

44. Without a VO, the film is spoken from the residents’ pov which makes it experiential than being a hawk eyed narrative – @ghaywan

45. Because some guy in a small town made his film Undaunted by BO, ratings, festivals,100crs or twitter trends. And that’s rare – Vasan Bala

46. Because it’s the best rated film of the year. See pic

47. The writter in Supermen ka Malegaon, Hamid Faroghi – Kya bhaari awaaz aur kya personality, jab bhi koi baat kehte the toh har baat me ek gehri baat hoti thi! – Yogesh Dube (on FB)

48. It just made me extremely happy and uplifted. Not even hint of manipulation, morality or design. They just let it be..the protagonists just do their thing only because they love doing it, not to prove anything. Only complain was it ended too soon – Apan Singhal

49. Because it celebrates that aspect of a film which most of the people have just a surface-level idea of – filmmaking itself. – Gyandeep Pattnayak (on FB)

And here’s the most important reason…

50. To support PVR director’s Rare so that it can continue to bring more such quality cinema to you – @ShiladityaBora

So what’s your reason for not watching it?

Film Recco : Kshay because as the very poetic title suggests it Corrodes the being.

Posted: June 21, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Indie, Movie Recco, movie reviews
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In her twitter bio, Svetlana Naudiyal describes herself as Murphy’s favourite child. So over to the child who is just back from a country where there is almost no cinema culture and she was trying to make them understand what is the point of a film festival. Back to India and here’s her recco of the film Kshay, which has been doing the rounds of film festivals since quite sometime.

There is no local popular cinema in the theaters. The only theaters are the ones in the malls. From malls to pirated dvd stores – all you’d prominently see is Hollywood. I’ve just returned from Cebu City, so to say, the second largest city in Philippines. The townesque city is burgeoning with Malls, Multiplexes, BPOs and all possible American Chains. The city glistens, roads are well done, cab drivers never say no and their peso is better placed against dollar than the rupee. In this seemingly ‘developing’ state of affairs, local cinema has no ground beneath its feet. I get to meet a few Cebuano Filmmakers and see their films. Great work and talented, no doubt! But what do they do?

Cut to – my country, my crazy cinephile country.

Here back home, I see Kshay on the big screen, and I am moved by the mere thought that here someone can not only make the film they want to but also hope that it would see the light of theatrical release someday.

But is that why you should support it? Just because someone really struggled to make an Indie film and then eventually managed to get it to the box office?

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Kshay, as the very poetic title suggests, corrodes.

Corrodes the being.

Chhaya, a simple housewife, becomes strangely obsessed with an unfinished idol of Goddess Lakshmi. Her husband, Arvind, works for a reckless building contractor and struggles to make ends meet while reeling under the guilt of not being able to give Chhaya the life he promised to. Their lives are thrown in a downwards spiral as Chhaya slowly becomes oblivious of their circumstance and succumbs to faith turned into obsession.

It is not often that the frames and sequences of a film hover in your mind for long after you see it. They corrode the mind, resonate with life and create a surreal-real world of obsession, hopelessness and love. It’s beautiful how the textures, lights and score accentuate the psychological corrosion of Chhaya. Together with Arvind’s frustrations and the hopelessness a viewer sees in their situation, the film builds a strange tempo as it progresses; it might not be evident in the pace but most certainly so in the feeling it leaves one with.

Shot in black and white, the cinematography by Abhinay Khoparzi, is highlight of the film. The eerie absurdity of dreams, delusions, reality and the textures, all stand out in black & white frames. The background score is by director Karan Gour himself is the perfect companion to it. Rasika is unbelievably real as Chhaya and beautifully brings out her pain, coldness, obsession; Alekh complements her as much in portraying Arvind’s frustrations, hope and hopelessness. Even the small roles of building contractor and neighbour lady, are marked by really fine performances.

To me, story apart, Kshay also questions – questions faith, questions reason and questions the merciless set up we live in. It’s a world where WTC crash becomes table-top merchandise.. Exploiters continue to have their cake and eat it too.. Exploited barely find a way.. It’s a world of faith becoming obsession and obsession ending only in….

Coming back to the question – Don’t watch it because it’s another oh-so-poor-striving-for-support indie film, watch it because it’s good cinema, that totally deserves your time and money.

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– Here’s a preview of Kshay’s hauntingly gorgeous music –

Kshay OST – Home

Kshay OST – Everywhere

– And the trailer

– To know more about the film click here. And click here for the FB page of the film.

– PVR JUHU (Mumbai) will have one show running in the next week at 6:35PM. Don’t miss this one!

– And if our recco isn’t enough to convince you, here are some more reviews – Namrata Joshi of Outlook rates it 3.5/4, Karan Anshuman (Mumbai Mirror) has rated it 3.5/5 and Aseem Chhabra (Rediff) has also given it 3.5/5.

Film Recco : Bhooter Bhobishyot – when ghosts become endangered!

Posted: April 27, 2012 by moifightclub in Bengali, cinema, film, Movie Recco, movie reviews, Must Watch, Regional, reviews
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For small and regional films, social networking platforms can be quite a boon. If anything is good, one doesn’t need to worry about its audience. When people become your ambassador, you don’t need advertising or pr. I discovered the wonderful trailer of Bhooter Bhobishyot on FB and was instantly hooked. Have been following it since then and it’s finally getting a limited release in Mumbai today. So here’s a recco post on the film by Aniruddha Chatterjee. But first watch the trailer. Wish they had released it with subtitles.

Imagine this. Two ghosts, one a zamindar who got killed by the dacaits, and the other, a British officer who served in pre-independent India, are auditioning other ghosts to fill the zamindar’s abandoned mansion. This is because most old mansions and houses are demolished and turned to shopping malls and multiplexes by money hungry promoters and are ruining the culture and heritage of the city. So the ghosts all over the world, especially in Kolkata, are finding it very difficult to find a place to live in. Interestingly, even the ghosts are worried about their food, entertainment and security. The selections in the audition are made accordingly. This is the crux of debutant director Anik Dutta’s delicious bengali film Bhooter Bhobishyot.

Siraj-ud-Daulah’s trusted cook who gave his life in the Battle of Plassey, an Indian army officer who got killed during the Kargil war, an actress cum singing Kanan Devi-isque sensation of the 1940s who committed suicide after her producer boyfriend ditched her and married someone else, a Bangla rock band member who overdosed himself to death, a Bihari rickshaw puller who was killed due to reckless driving by a rich brat, a Hindu refugee from Bangladesh who was killed during partition, and a modern day city girl who jumped from her apartment terrace when her industrialist father refused to let her marry a Muslim boy – all of them get selected after the audition. The thread connecting all the ghosts is that they all died unusual deaths.

The ghosts sing, dance, romance, go to picnic, argue over hilsa and prawn, and when endangered, unite to fight against a promoter who wants to destroy Choudhury mansion and build a mall.

The script is unique and original, and is one of the most satisfying satirical comedies of late. The filmmaker takes a dig at everything that is Bengali – the intellectual filmmakers who only prefer Godard, Fellini and Ray, the pseudo communist rebel who thinks wearing Che Guevara t-shirt proves everything, the Dada and Didi of Bengali politics including the Rizwanur Rahman incident, and the everlasting fight between ghoti and bangal. It is refreshing to see usage of Spookbook, Facebook for ghosts, to find a suitable match for an item number.

Interestingly, the narrative is a tribute to Ray’s Hirak Rajar Deshe, as almost every character in the film speaks by rhyming their lines. The humour is subtle and situational. Literal and political references are plenty, and so it needs to be seen whether non-Bengalis find the humour appealing or not.

Another aspect that must be mentioned is the music. Raja Narayan Deb has created one of a kind soundtrack with influences from every genre possible – rock, pop, rabindra sangeet, jazz, folk or qawwali, and also from the different eras the characters belong to. (Click here to watch a terrific song medley from the film)

Also, it has excellent performances by the entire ensemble cast, but Sumit Samaddar as the Bangladeshi refugee and Swastika Mukherjee as Kadalibala, the actress cum singer of the black and white era, are the scene stealers.

Anik Dutta, the writer-director of the film is a renowned ad-filmmaker. This is his first feature film and for that he deserves every bit of accolade he is receiving for creating such an entertaining film.

Currently, the film is playing in theaters all over West Bengal. It’s getting a limited release in Mumbai on 27th April. Don’t miss it!

For more details, film’s Facebook page is here. For Bombay’s theatre listing, click here.

Film Recco : Sandesh Kulkarni’s Masala – The Adventures of Revan-man

Posted: April 25, 2012 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, film, film review, Movie Recco, movie reviews, Regional, reviews
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After working in the television industry for about 15 years in various capacities, Rony D’Costa decided to quit it all and pursue happiness. He generally finds it in dark theatres or under the open sky and write about those adventures here and here. Here’s Rony’s recco post on the marathi film Masala.

“Do you do this for your own happiness?”, when this question is asked to the character played by Dilip Prabhvalkar, a scientist experimenting to create bio fuel, he says, “mi anadasaati kaahich karat naahi. Ananddaani karto”. Loosely translated as, “I don’t do things for happiness. I do it with happiness”. Sandesh Kulkarni’s Masala is filled with such gems of wisdom and is casually thrown in scene after scene by characters straight out of Malgudi Days. It almost works like a self-help movie for entrepreneurs without any high-handed preaching. No wonder then that it reminded me of ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’.

Revan(Girish Kulkarni) and his wife Sarika(Amruta Subhash) keep shuttling from one village to another hiding away from creditors. Not because they are dishonest people but, as it’s shown in one scene, they are more worried about the problems of the people who owe them money. From one failed business to another one quietly supported by his wife, Revan reaches Solapur where he meets Sarika’s long lost cousin (Hrishikesh Joshi) and his wife (Sneha Majgaonkar). Thus begins Revan’s encounters with some crazy, quirky and eccentric characters who ultimately become his family.

The film is not in a hurry to reach its destination. It doesn’t even care about the plot much and to go by traditional rule book, it’s devoid of any conflict too. Debutant director Sandesh Kulkarni invests all the screen time in his characters and their bittersweet life. It works like a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film as Girish Kulkarni’s writing is simple and effective and never resorts to melodrama to make a point. Like RajKumar Hirani’s films, this one also chooses to look at the goodness in human beings, so none of the characters have any shades of black.

I strongly feel that Masala should be made compulsory viewing in business schools and can work as an anti-depressant for people who have given up on their dreams. It also reminded me of ‘The Alchemist’ in the way it talks about finding the treasure within you. Add to that the lilting background score which makes its presence felt only if you choose to focus on it. On acting front, Girish Kulkarni plays the role of Revan with the right amount of innocence and Amruta Subhash ably supports him with the silent portrayal of her character. Hrishikesh Joshi’s character is one of my favorites in the film and Sneha Majgaonkar, who makes her debut with this film, has an infectious smile. I loved the scene in which she tells Sarika about her husband’s problems with a smile on her face as if she is praising him.

It also has one of the most romantic scenes I have seen on the big screen in recent times. The scene when Sarika has to take her husband’s name in the form of an Ukhane (a Marathi custom in which the wife takes her husband’s name in the form of couplets).

The film is loosely based on the life story of Hukmichand Chordia of Pravin Masalewale fame. It looks at their struggle in a lighter vein and with the rose-tinted glasses. The next time I look at a packet of Pravin Masala, scenes from this film will start floating in my head.

Baboo Band Baaja – Poetic and poignant portrayal of an impossible life

Posted: April 18, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, film review, Movie Recco, movie reviews, Regional, reviews
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We first heard about Baboo Band Baaja when it bagged three national awards – for Best First Film of a Director, Best Actress and Best Child Artist. The film has been ready for quite sometime and it finally released last friday. Some of the theatres are screening the film with  subtitles. Here’s Mohit Patil‘s recco post for the film.

This is Mohit‘s first post here. When he isn’t busy attending engineering college, he worships Kaufman, Bhardwaj and Scorsese.In the very first scene in director Rajesh Pinjani’s Baboo Band Baaja, we are given a glimpse of the life led by Baboo (played brilliantly by Vivek Chabukswar) – that his family must bank on the deaths/births happening in their village in order to make a living. His father Jaggya (Milind Shinde) is a band player. Once a band party owner, he now earns a (rather lumpish) living by playing at modest wedding processions and cortegès. His mother Shirmi (Mitali Jagtap) works as a Bohareen – selling utensils in exchange for old, used garments. The story begins as Baboo finds his rucksack missing, and so does an endless struggle of this family to change things.

Jaggya wants Baboo to become a band member like him. The reason for this call isn’t a father wanting to see his son to be like him, but his presumption that there is no other way out. “We villagers are in no way helped by the technological advancements,” he argues, “All that has changed is the number of airplanes flying above our heads”. Throughout the film, we see his mother as a heterodox in a comparatively orthodoxical society. She wants to educate her son and goes to great lengths to earn money to buy books for Baboo, whose school master won’t allow him in without books and uniform. She’s elated when she gets a pair of khaki shorts in exchange for a larger vessel, which can be used as her son’s school uniform. And she is enraged when she discovers that the reason for her husband’s anger is the fact that Baboo has lost his rattle and not that he has lost his school bag.

One of the film’s biggest triumphs is that it sticks to its business and tells the story of the family’s endeavor with great simplicity and without diverting its focus towards “shocking the viewer with the appalling reality…” etc. I did find the emotions exaggerated at places with the lurid low angle shots of the school master punishing Baboo or the histrionics of the wily politician, and wished it weren’t as overstated, but it all works nevertheless.

Another very impressive thing about Baboo Band Baaja is that it has a very keen eye for detail. Not a single thing here seems unauthentic or out-of-place. Especially, the language used here, is pure gold. If you couldn’t buy the Hindi speaking characters in some of our recent urban rom-coms, or the characters not referring to Mumbai as Bombay or Bambai in Dhobi Ghat, you are bound to be more than satisfied with the language and the actors’ inch perfect dialect here. The instruments that the bandwallahs play in the film, the songs that they play, selecting the dress code for the grand wedding they are appointed for, the astute observations about the local life in Vidarbha… Discovering these rural life vignettes first hand is pure joy, so I’d rather not spoil it for you.

The characters are very well written, and the actors who play them are terrific for the most part, save for the school teacher who is baselessly portrayed as an evil baddie, as opposed to someone who is just doing his job. Watch Mitali Jagtap and Vivek Chabukswar speak through their eyes in one of the best moments in the film; the scene which has hardly any dialogue, in which Shirmi readies Baboo for school.

<Mild spoilers>

The film uses all its subplots, which rather smartly towards the culmination. There is metrical dichotomy in the way things fall back into place towards the end. The beautiful symmetry between the first and the last scene of the film more than made up for my feeling of redundancy after the final blow.

<Spoilers end>

Baboo Band Baaja is a simple, heartfelt story of what appears to be parents’ struggle to make things better, and turns into something so painful, it takes a piece of your heart.

Shame and The Swell Season : Stark nude portraits

Posted: April 9, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Indie, Movie Recco
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Shame and The Swell Season – like many other film buffs, I have been waiting for these two films for a long time. It’s finally out #YouKnowWhere (twitter code) or the place-that-shall-not-be-named.

Shame is Steven McQueen’s film with Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan in the lead. It premiered at the Venice Film festival where Fassbender bagged the top actors award and also the Fass-boner jokes started because of the explicit display of his monster in the sex scenes. The film made headlines for obvious reasons and most of us have been tracking the film since then.

The Swell Season (TSS) has no connect with Shame. It’s a documentary on the lives of indie musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, stars of the musical indie film, “Once”. It was a tiny film made on a shoestring budget and was shot in just 17 days where the lead stars were non-actors. But the sound was all soul and that thing called chemistry was in abundance between these two unassuming and talented artists . The film got rave reviews and the song “Falling slowly”went on to win the Oscar Award for the Best Original song. And their worlds changed forever.

She was just 18. He was 36. They fell in love. They made some great music and went on musical tours. But their worlds were different. And that bitch called age – love always doesn’t conquer it like they show in films and say in fiction. The Swell Season is the story from the other side of the camera. It captures their post-Oscar journey. Music bought them together, fame separated them – that would be too simplistic way to define their relationship. But a man, a woman and an Oscar makes a difficult threesome.

I saw both the films (Shame & TSS) back to back. And i felt they had lots in common in the way the characters gorgeously bared themselves in both the films – one real, another reel. Nothing dramatic happens in both, but with powerful visuals and ever lasting sound, they sketch stark nude portraits of the leads – both physically and emotionally.

Interestingly, when you watch Shame you will realise how asexual those sex scenes are, in their impact. I am not sure how to dissect it. Is it the sound? Is it the acting? The set-up or the guilt? It never gives you that vicarious pleasure which happens with other films, which is a great achievement in direction. I was underwhelmed with the film but director Steve McQueen is an artist to watch out for (Do watch his previous film Hunger too). The man doesn’t need words, he can do everything with visuals and music. There is a long sequence in a subway  – watch it to know what i mean. Aesthetics should be McQueen’s middle name.

Similarly, in The Swell Season, in one scene both Glen and Marketa undress and run naked into the sea. If you have seen Once, you would desperately want the couple to be together. And that feels like a great moment of joy – the couple whom you want to be together, they happily shed all their inhibitions in that moment and you are part of it. Physical inhibition is always the first barrier and the most visible one too. May be that’s why the first time when you see both the lead characters of Shame, they are completely naked. There is nothing left to imagination. And again, it’s not the nudity of pleasure but nudity that gives you intimacy.

I remember reading a great quote by a filmmaker who hates sex scenes in films. I don’t remember his name now but i vaguely remember the quote – in a film when you see two people getting nude and indulging in sex, as an audience, at that moment you forget that they are characters but you see them as actors. Agree. But these two films stands out in this context and proves that it’s possible otherwise too.

Directed by Chris Dapkins, Nick August-Perna and Carlo Mirabella, TSS has a completely non-intrusive approach and is shot in black and white. That automatically adds a bit of romanticism, right? Once and The Swell Season are companion pieces like Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. As one of their fans told them after a show, hope you two can make it to the end.

And there’s no “the end”in Shame. In contrast to the B&W, colour has never looked so dark, grey and grim as in Shame.

Both Shame and The Swell Season are honest and brave nude portraits of its characters. Where there is no inhibition and nothing is sacred, that’s a rare cinema genre. Watch it.

Paan Singh Tomar – Dear Tigmanshu, welcome back!

Posted: March 3, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, film review, Movie Recco, movie reviews, reviews
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We are desperate for comebacks. And we are quick to dismiss too. All it takes is just a status update or 140 characters.

When Tigamanshu Dhulia’s last film, Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster released, it was the usual hype on the social networking platforms. As if friends, family and colleagues were dying to put that “comeback” tag on him. The film had it’s charm but it was nowhere close to what it was made out to be. The usual suspects tried the same with Ramu and his Not A Love Story. To put it mildly, that was unadulterated garbage in every way.

But, this is what a comeback looks like – Paan Singh Tomar. Ironic that the producers (UTV) had to sell the film as “from the director of Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster”. May be it wouldn’t have got a theatrical release even if it wasn’t for SBAG’s success. The film has been ready for quite sometime (about two years). They sent it to few desi festivals in USA where the general feedback was “Irrfan is good, film is bad”. News started doing the rounds that UTV was planning to dump it on tv along with some half a dozen other films. Then SBAG happened. Some strings were pulled, a release date was quickly announced and without much pubilcity or promotions, the film was released.

Those who have seen both the versions of the film, they said that music has surely been changed. But how much can just the “background music” change the film? No clue, not sure.

I went to see the film FDFS. Just because of that actor called Irrfan Khan. Or just Irrfan. Seems he has dropped his surname. Good, we have too many of them in this industry anyway. When i entered the auditorium, it felt like it was going to be a private screening only for me – the luxury that makers provide to few critics to give a bloated sense of being important and score some brownie points. Slowly some dozen people turned up including a director whose film has recently released.

The film opens with Brijendra Kala, an actor who is a delight to watch – the desi Bill Murray who knows his deadpan too well. As Irrfan narrates his story to Kala, it goes into flashback and we get to see the story of Paan Singh Tomar. I have been often told that narrating a story to a character to get into flashback is the worst device in a film. But with two terrific actors in the frame, they make everything mundane look so interesting. There are just counted few scenes between the two, but that thing called chemistry, well, it’s found in strange places between stranger people.

I have always felt that the mark of a good director is in the casting of those actors who have just one or two lines to deliver. You go to watch a film because of the lead actors but you come back home with those “character actors” who steal the show. This is where Paan Singh Tomar scores again. Even Zakir Hussain and Mahie Gill are so impressive in such small roles. Though it seems Nawazuddin had more to do in the film and it was edited out later on.

Paan Singh Tomar is the Tigamanshu we knew, the one we wanted to see again after Haasil. The director who could take us to a new place, away from bollywood where he knows the terrain, its politics and dialect well. Written by Sanjay Chouhan with dialogues by Dhulia, it captures the sound and soul of that barren land with a dose of black humour – a rarity in this industry. So when i saw his other film Shagird, i could not believe it was the same director. From one extreme to other – how could one go so far? As a screenwriter who saw the film with us  said, this is Race for intellectuals.

Welcome back, Tigmanshu. It’s been long.

And Irrfan? Well, he can do anything. Just anything. No wonder he is the only Khan they know in the west. It’s our bad luck that he is born in a country and at a time when we are obsessed with the weekend numbers and 100-crore mark, and we don’t make films that can’t justify his talent. Forget films, we don’t even dare to put him on magazine covers. I hope and pray that in your next birth you get a better place which knows how to respect talent.

The actor doesn’t need lines, his glances pack a punch. In the scene where he comes to meet his son and asks him not to touch him, when his son leaves and he looks around, that glance stays with you long after you have left the theater. Much like that awkward hug with his son’s girlfriend in one of my favourite films of all time, Namesake. He is about to hug her, she is about to kiss, and then that slight bend, slow movement and a strange look on his face. He can play young, can play old and even a father of a young man in the same film. He can run and romance with equal ease.

Only weird thing about the film is that it leaves you with a strange vacuous feeling – Not sure how you react to the character in the end. It keeps you engaged through the film but doesn’t hit the spot in the end which you desperately want it to.The emotional hook? Or may be just a bit of empathy.

As for Paan Singh Tomar, in other part of the world the most famous runner’s mom told him that life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. This side, we are sure about one thing – there’s no box, there are no chocolates and life is just a race which you must complete.

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