Archive for the ‘News’ Category

FWA Seminar on the Uniqueness of Indian Script – All the details

Posted: August 22, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, News, writing
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Its an annual event organised by FWA (Film Writers Association). A forum that gets some of the best and well known filmmakers and writers to discuss and dissect Indian cinema and screenwriting. Read on to know all the details.

WHERE – National Film Archives of India (NFAI). Its on Law College Road, Pune. Close to FTII, which was the venue earlier.

DATES – 28th & 29th August (Sat & Sun)

ENTRY – Free. There is no registration fee.

REGISTRATION – Starts at 9am on 28th August at the venue.

SESSIONS -There will be six sessions. Three on 28th and three on 29th August. Rest follows.

28th August – Session 1 (11am-1pm)

How it all Began: Genesis of and Influences on the Early Indian Script

Chair:Adoor Gopalkrishnan

Speakers: Shama Zaidi, Kaushik Bhaumik

Panel: Virchand Dharamsey, Suresh Chhabria, Atul Tiwari

Session 2 ( 2-4pm )

Dramatic Highs: Melodrama and our Cinematic Form

Chair: Salim Khan

Speakers: Ira Bhaskar, K. Hariharan

Panel: Christine Gledhill, Ravi Vasudevan, Kamlesh Pandey

Session 3 ( 4:30-6:30pm )

A Song and Dance About Everything : Music, Song and Lyrics in the Script

Chair: Javed Akhtar

Speaker: Vinay Shukla

Panel: Madan Gopal Singh, Swanand Kirkire

29th Aug 2010

Session 4 ( 9:30-11:15am )

Anger and Rebellion : The New Wave Cinema (plus the Angry Young Man’s evolution)

Chair: Govind Nihalani

Speakers: Rashmi Doraiswamy and Ashish Rajadhyaksha

Panel: Kundan Shah, Saeed Mirza, Jahnu Baruah

Session 5 ( 11:30am-1:30pm )

Urban Foibles and a New Individualism : Current Trends in Indian Scriptwriting 1995-2010

Chair: Ashutosh Gowariker

Speaker: Ranjani Mazumdar

Panel: Rensil D’Silva, John Mathew Matthan, Bhawana Somaayaa

Session 6 ( 2:30- 4:30pm )

The Road Ahead : Globalism, the Digital Revolution and Other Attractions (Round Table)

Chair: Shekhar Kapur/ Kamal Hassan

Panel: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Paresh Mokashi, Anuvab Pal, Rohan Sippy, Navdeep Singh, Vivek Agnihotri

Speakers – Shekhar Kapur, Kamal Hassan and Shyam Benegal will confirm after 24th August. Shankar Mahadevan/Ehsaan may come for the music session- they are also yet to confirm.

If you are on Facebook, click here to join the group for all the details.

We are going. Who else is joining us ? We just hope that the speakers do come with some kind of preparations ( presentations or something exciting) and no just blabber their way to boredom. We will try to record and put video blogs of the same.

Gulzarsaab – as you have not seen or heard before!

Posted: August 18, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, News, songs & videos, Special, video, VOTD, Xclusive
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We struggled really hard to figure out what to write on this D-day, how to write a new post on the legend, and write something that has not been written or said before.  Or something that his fans haven’t seen before. Naah, everything has been discussed and dissected million times in trillion ways. 116 (chaand ki raatei) has turned into a magical number too, with everyone having their own theory about it.  From Bandini to Beera, Kinara to Kaminey, Dil Se to Dil toh baccha hai ji, he never fails to surprise. Will there ever be any Gulzar ? Well, we all know the answer.

Click on the play button to see if the video surprises you…if you have seen Gulzarsaab in this avatar before…

Got it ? If no, read on. The film is Jallianwala Bagh and was produced and directed by Balraj Tah. As the name suggests, its based on the historical Jallianwala Bagh incident. Gulzarsaab played an Indian student studying in England, and as a part of freedom movement, he delivered speeches in the campus. He played a friend to Parikshit Sahni, who was one of the main characters in the film. The music was by R D Burman.

As the story goes, most of the people were associated with this production because there were in good terms with the makers of the film. Hrishikesh Mukherjee was also involved with the film as a “friendly” director. In Gulzarsaab’s words..

“Kyonki production mein bahut saari cast ki zaroorat thi, isliye jitne bhi log film mein backstage pe bhi involved the un sabko in front of camera khada kar diya..(except Pancham) aur sabse kaha ki ek ek role kar lo.. meine jo specific character kiya wo sirf isliye kiya ki film Thand ke dino mein shoot huyee thi.. aur film mein kewal mera character ki dress pullover (fully covered) mein thi :)… isliye wo character meine maang liya.”

And now its time to test your GQ – Gulzar Quotient. Guess the names of  the films in which he has made onscreen appearance.   Clueless like us ? Well, check out this song from Basu Bhattacharya’s Griha Pravesh starring Sanjeev Kumar, Sharmila Tagore, Sarika and Dinesh Thakur.

Can you remember any other film where he has made onscreen appearance ? Do let us know in the comment section.

PS – And as always, thanks to Pavan Jha for everything!

First Look : Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat (new pics & official synopsis)

Posted: August 17, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, film, Film Festival, first look, News, pics, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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Kiran Rao’s directorial debut Dhobi Ghat is going to have its world premiere at  the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). It stars Aamir Khan, Prateik Babbar, Monica Dogra and Kriti Malhotra. Some new pics of the film are out…check it out…

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And here is the official synopsis of the film…

In the teeming metropolis of Mumbai, four people separated by class and language are drawn together in compelling relationships. Shai, an affluent investment banker on a sabbatical, strikes up an unusual friendship with Munna, a young and beautiful laundry boy with ambitions of being a Bollywood actor, and has a brief dalliance with Arun, a gifted painter. As they slip away from familiar moorings and drift closer together, the city finds its way into the crevices of their inner worlds.

And to read what Cameron Bailey, Co-director of TIFF, thinks about Dhobi Ghat, click here.

TIFF’s Cameron Bailey on Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl In Yellow Boots

Posted: August 14, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, Film Festival, News, pics, Thoughts
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We posted this one earlier….Cameron Bailey on Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat. And then got to know that he has written about Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl In Yellow Booots too. For those who are still wondering who is Cameron, well, he is the Co-director of Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

We should have put both his notes on a single post but since Dhobi Ghat is already out, this one is on That Girl In Yellow Boots. Read on…

As India’s independent film movement surges, Anurag Kashyap is at the forefront of the action. His Dev D. stripped away Bollywood’s commercial sheen to reveal a generation of urban Indians as they are today: ambitious, exciting and international. That Girl in Yellow Boots takes a hard look at those South Asians who live in between worlds. A portrait of a biracial woman trying to find her place in Bombay, it is exactly the brand of urgent, passionate filmmaking that is transforming how we think about Indian cinema.

Ruth has spent enough time in India to know how to work the system, including how to manipulate the sleazy bureaucrat at the immigration office. With her visa extended, she returns to “studying massage,” which is really a soul-squandering job servicing men at a backroom parlour. Her boyfriend, Prashant, offers no rescue from the dangers of her work. In fact, his drug use, money problems and brushes with violent criminals put her in the way of ever-present harm. But Ruth puts on a tough face and braves the risks of her challenging, urban life for one deeply personal reason: her estranged father lives somewhere in the city. As she searches for her last remaining link with her family, she falls deeper into Bombay’s underworld. But a part of Ruth seems to embrace the danger. That girl in yellow boots is a complex character: brash but sensitive, numbed to men but desperately needing to connect.

Kashyap shot the film in a mere thirteen days and it carries that anything-goes spirit. At the same time, it boasts sophisticated widescreen cinematography that pushes its characters together in the frame, compressing them against Bombay’s humid mass of concrete and people. This is an enormously stylish film, crafting intimate pockets within the city where layered performances can unfold. In both style and subject, Kashyap defines the pulse of today’s Hindi independent cinema – Hindie, if you like.

And click here for the link to the original piece.

TIFF’s Cameron Bailey on Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat

Posted: August 13, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, Film Festival, News, pics, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Thoughts
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This friday belongs to Producer Aamir Khan. Just back from the directorial debut of Anusha Rizvi’s Peepli Live. Wow! Goes straight up in our list of Top 5 films of the year. And its a tough competition there  for the films to release in the next four months. The rest four are LSD, Vihir, Udaan and Ishqiya.

Back to Kiran Rao’s directorial debut Dhobi Ghat. The film is having its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and here is a write up by Cameron Bailey, the Co-director of the TIFF. Read on..

The rains in Mumbai are a beautiful curse. Sheets of water fall over the city, drenching and cleansing and casting vast millions in the same grey, glistening hue. Kiran Rao sets her impressive debut feature during Mumbai’s monsoon season, using the sound and visuals of the rains to bridge the divides between her characters. This is a love letter to her city, most of all to the work and art that drives Mumbai, rain or shine.

Indian superstar Aamir Khan plays Arun, a brooding painter introduced at a gallery launch of his work. Uninterested in small talk, he strikes up a flirtation with Shai, an Indian American woman visiting her family in the city. The next morning, awkwardness descends and he practically shoves her out the door. But, in the way of the Maximum City, Shai and Arun find themselves inextricably linked. They share a laundry man, a dhobi, who picks up and delivers their clothes. One of the millions of workers who keep Mumbai humming, Zohaib maintains a friendly but formal relationship with Arun. Shai, however, becomes fascinated with Zohaib and wants to follow him to the dhobi ghat, the city’s sprawling laundry district, where she hopes to indulge her photography hobby by capturing him at work.

Informed by Wong Kar-wai and Tsai Ming Liang, but directing with her own intimate sensibility, Rao draws her three characters together against the backdrop of a city that gives and takes in equal measure. In a subplot that illuminates the film’s themes, Arun discovers a series of video diaries left by the previous tenant of his apartment. In them, a young woman recounts her impressions of the city and reveals a tragedy in brief glimpses.

It took years for American independent cinema to develop its own narrative voices in contrast to Hollywood storytelling. In India, the emergence of a contemporary indie style is happening right now. Dhobi Ghat marks a major step forward for Indian filmmaking. It’s exciting that Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao are taking that step together.

And click here for the link to the original piece.

PS – Tip by Umar.

National Film Awards Revamped! Plus some new awards!

Posted: August 12, 2010 by moifightclub in Awards, cinema, film, News, writing
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Aha, finally! After making headlines almost every year for all the wrong reasons, seems like GOI has finally decided to clean up the mess (like the one on the left). Plus some good news for screenwriters – instead of one, now there will be three awards. Scroll down to read it in more details.

– The selections for National Film Awards for 2009 will be implemented under the new system. The following are the new features of the re-vamped National Film Awards:

(A) 2-Tier Selection System

(i) 5 Regional Panels has been constituted for pre-selection of films

(a) North– English, Punjabi, Dogri, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani and Central Indian Languages

(b) West – Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati & Konkani

(c) South I – Tamil and Malayalam.   South II – Kannada, Telugu and Tulu

(d) East – Bengali, Assamese, Oriya and dialects spoken in Northeast

– Each Regional Panel would comprise a Chairperson and one member (both of whom would be from outside the region) and 3 other members from with the region.

– The screenings of the Regional panel as well as the Central jury would be held in Delhi.

(ii) The Central jury would comprise Chairperson plus 10 Members, of whom 5 would be the Chairpersons of the 5 regional juries

(B) New Award Categories

(i) Audiography – The following new awards have been introduced in this category  (a) Location Sound Recordist & Sound Designer

(ii) Music Direction – An award for background Score has been introduced, in addition to an existing award for Best Music Direction (Songs)

(iii) Best screenplay and Dialogues – 3 Awards have been instituted in place of the current award, namely, award for Adapted Screenplay award for Original Screenplay and award for Dialogues

– The cash prize for several award in both feature films and non-feature films categories have been increased.

– The sitting Fee of Jury Members have been hiked from Rs.1000/- per day to Rs.2500/- per day.

– The changes have been carried out following recommendations by an Expert Committee headed by eminent filmmaker Shri Shyam Benegal for up-gradation of the National Film Awards.

– The mandate given to the Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was to re-invent the National Film Awards with a view to making them more contemporary and acceptable.

Hopefully we will have a controversy free National Awards next year!

First Look : Anurag Kashyap’s That Girl In Yellow Boots (Trailer)

Posted: August 7, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, first look, News, songs & videos, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer, Xclusive
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Finally here it is! The official trailer of Anurag Kashyap’s new film That Girl In Yellow Boots is out.

It stars Kalki Koechlin (as Ruth) alongwith Naseeruddin Shah, Prashant Prakash, Gulshan Devaiya, Shivkumar Subramaniam, Divya Jagdale, Kumud Mishra and Kartik Krishnan amongst others.

The film is going to have it world premiere at Venice Film Festival and then North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. Its written by  Anurag Kashyap and Kalki Koechlin. Music of the film is by Naren Chandavarkar and Benedict Taylor, and the cinematography is by Rajeev Ravi.  Check it out.

And here is the official synopsis of the film….

That Girl in Yellow Boots is a thriller tracing Ruth’s (Kalki Koechlin) search for her father – a man she hardly knew but cannot forget. Desperation drives her to work without a permit, at a massage parlour. Torn between several schisms, Mumbai becomes the alien but yet strangely familiar backdrop for Ruth’s quest. She struggles to find her independence and space even as she is sucked deeper into the labyrinthine politics of the city’s underbelly. A city that feeds on her misery, a love that eludes her and above all, a devastating truth that she must encounter. And everyone wants a piece of her.

Do let us know what do you think about it.

WTF : Even the poster of Anjaana Anjaani is NOT original!

Posted: August 6, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, first look, News, pics, plagiarism, WTF
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We are not sure who designed the poster of Anjaana Anjaani but we are sure about one thing – its a straight lift from An Education. Just check out both the posters. Need we say more! Tip by @damoviemaniac. The film is directed by Siddharth Anand and stars Ranbir Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra.

And to check out its theatrical trailer and to know its original source from where it has taken the inspiration, click here. We have put a bet! The goss from crew of Anjanaa Anjaani is that they have take the basic story idea from The Girl On The Bridge and have Bollywoodised it by adding naach-gaana & Las Vegas!

And here is the poster of An Education….

First Look : Ranbir Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra starrer Anjaana Anjaani (trailer) & bet its a copy of The Girl On The Bridge!

Posted: August 5, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, film, first look, News, plagiarism, songs & videos, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer, video
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The first trailer of Ranbir Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra starrer Anjaana Anjaani is out. Its directed by Siddharth Raj Anand.

According to its wiki page, here is the synopsis of the film…

Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra are trying to find luck in their life after several failed attempts to be successful in their careers and in love. Fed up, they both decide to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. However, both land up on the same bridge at the same time.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

And here is our bet – though we dont know much about the film but from the synopsis and few scenes in the trailer its easy to predict that its plagiarised from The Girl On The Bridge (In French – La Fille Sur Le Pont ). And here is a scene from the original one. BTW, do watch it

Mitch’s Alternative list of the Best-Shot films of the past decade

Posted: August 4, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, Hollywood, News
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But Mitch who ? Well, Mitch (born Mithun Gangopadhyay) is a proud black sheep born into a family of doctors who considers his life’s calling to have filmed in each of the seven continents. To his utter shame he has only managed two till now.

After cutting his teeth in Bolly-land, he’s doing his time in Holly where he’s been working in the Camera and Lighting Dept. The list of his credits belies his studly youthful looks (yes, even we can’t resist him). Gaffer, Cinematographer and his first love, Photographer (scroll down to check some of his super stuff) When he’s not fooling with smoke lenses, he’s either smoking the good stuff or fooling around. A taste for the finer things in life has almost killed him numerous times, but he managed to revive and write this post.

The bible of our business aka American Cinematographer recently published a list of the best 10 shot films of the decade.

Amélie: Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC (AC Sept. ’01)

Children of Men: Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (AC Dec. ’06)

Saving Private Ryan: Janusz Kaminski (AC Aug. ’98)

There Will Be Blood: Robert Elswit, ASC (AC Jan. ’08)

No Country for Old Men: Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (AC Oct. ’07)

Fight Club: Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (AC Nov. ’99)

The Dark Knight: Wally Pfister, ASC (AC July ’08)

Road to Perdition: Conrad L. Hall, ASC (AC Aug. ’02)

Cidade de Deus (City of God): César Charlone, ABC (AC Feb. ’03)

American Beauty: Conrad L. Hall, ASC (AC March & June ’00)

For the complete list, click here. It’s a pretty good list except for the fact that since the choice was by popular vote the winners tended to be those films which had gotten a lot of exposure. There were other films from around which I felt were equally as good but suffered from obscurity.

Hence, this is my list of the most visually striking films of the last decade, which includes narrative, documentary, animation as well as anime. With the exception of the LOTR trilogy, I have refrained from naming flicks which were CGI heavy. I totally see the contradiction that I name anime but not greenscreen but that’s just me.

I feel I also need to address the question of what is good cinematography ? A lot of people say that good cinematography should be invisible and the story should take precedence. I dunno if I agree with that. I mean what would Blade Runner, All that Jazz and Sunrise be without the virtuoso cinematography on display. I truly believe that stories in films are meant to be told with the camera and not with dialogue, which is why excessive classical Hollywood style coverage drives me crazy.

For what it’s worth my opinion is great cinematography is that which transports you to a place and makes you believe that what you are seeing is real. For me it’s gotta be visceral enough that I can imagine myself as a character in that movie. I need to taste and smell it and I think only the camera can do that until Smell O Vision makes a comeback like 3D.

A final note on my selection of films (2000-2010). The films are arranged randomly with no order of preference Some choices may leave scratching your heads while some omissions may make you furious. All I can say is that I might not have seen that film or not liked it enough. Since I don’t watch horror films their absence is particularly telling but that’s just the nature of the beast. Also I haven’t had a chance to watch much of regional Indian cinema so that category is also criminally neglected.

1) The Prestige (USA)

2) City of God (Brazil)

3) Amelie (France)

4) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (New Zealand)

5) Pan’s Labyrinth (Spain)

6) Wall-E (USA)

7) The Assassination of Jesse James (USA)

8) Into the Wild (USA)

9) The Motorcycle Diaries (Brazil)

10) Reprise (Norway)

11) The Lives of Others (Germany)

12) Requiem for a Dream (USA)

13) Children of Men (UK)

14) The New World (USA)

15) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (USA)

16) Gladiator (UK)

17) Black Hawk Down (USA)

18) Oldboy (South Korea)

19) A Bittersweet Life (South Korea)

20) District 9 (South Africa)

21) There Will be Blood (USA)

22) The Bourne Ultimatum (USA)

23) A Prophet (France)

24) Amores Perros (Mexico)

25) Tropa de Elite (Brazil)

26) Casa de Ariea (Brazil)

27) Hero (China)

28) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (China)

29) In the mood for Love (Hong Kong)

30) The Proposition (Australia)

31) Flame and Citron (Denmark)

32) Sunshine (UK)

33) Slumdog Millionaire (India)

34) Y tu mama tambien (Mexico)

35) The Dancer Upstairs (USA)

36) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (USA)

37) Eastern Promises (UK)

38) Carandiru (Brazil)

39) 5cm per second (Japan)

40) Paprika (Japan)

41) Exiled (Hong Kong)

42) Sex and Lucia (Spain)

43) Triad Election (Hong Kong)

44) Millennium Mambo (Taiwan)

45) The Devil’s Backbone (Spain)

46) Save the Green Planet (South Korea)

47) Bangkok Dangerous (Thailand)

48) Mysterious Skin (USA)

49) Invisible Waves (Thailand)

50) The Wind that shakes the Barley (UK)

51) Man on Fire (USA)

52) Control (UK)

53) Munich (USA)

54) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France)

55) Once (UK)

56) Vexille (Japan)

57) Spirited Away (Japan)

58) Silent Light (Mexico)

59) Reconstruction (Denmark)

60) Heima (Iceland)

61) Mongol (Mongolia)

62) The Dark Knight (USA)

63) Memories of Murder (South Korea)

64) Perfume (Germany)

65) Red Cliff (China)

66) The Good, The Bad and The Weird (South Korea)

67) The Hurt Locker (USA)

68) Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong)

69) Sin Nombre (Mexico)

70) Sugar (USA)

71) 2046 (Hong Kong)

72) Half Nelson (USA)

73) Intimate Stories (Argentina)

74) Into Great Silence (Germany)

75) Ghosts of Citi Soleil (Haiti)

76) Send a bullet (Brazil)

77) Coraline (USA)

78) The Fantastic Mr Fox (USA)

79) Mountain Patrol (China)

80) Encounters at the end of the World (Antartica)

81) Black Sun (USA)

82) District B13 (France)

83) Ghost in the Shell 2 (Japan)

84) Climates (Turkey)

85) The Headless Woman (Argentina)

86) Stranded (Argentina)

87) Read my Lips (France)

88) Antibodies (Germany)

89) Burnt Money (Argentina)

90) Paradise Now (Palestine)

91) Sin City (USA)

92) Ballast (USA)

93) The Libertine (UK)

94) Omkara (India)

95) 36 Quai des Orfevres (France)

96) Kaminey (India)

97) Dev D (India)

98) Uzak (Turkey)

99) Love me if you dare (France)

100) Daybreakers (Australia)

101) Marie Antoinette (USA)

102) A time for drunken horses (Iran)

103) Lebanon (Israel)

104) Restrepo (USA)

105) Road to Perdition (USA)

106) The man who wasn’t there (USA)

107) Far from Heaven (USA)

108) Girl with a Pearl Earring (Holland)

109) Frida (Mexico)

110) Three Times (Taiwan)

What else would you like to add to the list and why ? Do let us know.

PS – To catch Mitch’s work, click here. Have pasted some of the pics clicked by him in the slide show. The Sunrise poster is not by him ;-). The slideshow picked it up because its there in the post.

PPS – Strangely No. 8 is not showing in the post. You can see a smiley there. Not sure why and how! May be it knows how much we love the film!

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