what we are reading – EightandHalf
Felt this was the best photographic tribute I could pay to our erudite censor in chief. I fully understand why the entire film community couldn’t take a stronger public stand against the mindless SANSKARI cuts, fearful of further massacre/ wrath, being unleashed on their hapless underproduction films. Read the entire story on the censorship debate in this week’s India Today magazine.
– Rohit Chawla, Group Visual Director at India Today
(shared on his FB wall)
Honoured and so happy to receive the National Film Award yesterday. Here’s the picture for you to like!
This is the image that filmmaker Gurvinder Singh posted on his FB with a status update. A post with such black humour, we couldn’t resist the urge to share it with our readers.
Gurvinder’s film Chauthi Koot was awarded the National Award for Best Punjabi Film, and the citation reads as follows – ‘Effectively captures the sense of fear psychosis and tension during the times of insurgency in Punjab’. The Rajat Kamal Award includes cash prize of Rs 1,00,000/- each to the Producer and Director. He refused the award as a mark of protest for the choices the jury made, especially for Baahubali winning the Best Film Award. We had written about it earlier. Though he made it clear that his producer friend will accept the Producer’s award.
Recently, he shared another anecdote on his FB questioning the choice of National Film Awards jury.
Accosted by a young man dressed smartly in a black suit at the Kayseri bus station helping us book a bus to Ortahisar in Cappadocia, the land of magical landscapes and cave homes where Nuri Bilge Ceylan shot “The Winter Sleep”, we drink Turkish tea to kill time as he tries to communicate with us jovially in his bare knowledge of English, sometimes with the help of ‘Google Translate’ on his mobile. Once he knows we are from India, the topic veers towards Indian movies. He tells us that Indian movies are very popular in Turkey and they like the songs and dances. This after a woman in a shop in Istanbul had said she loves Paro, but cannot remember her name as its too difficult to pronounce. Aishwarya Rai, we told her. Yes yes, she nodded enthusiastically. And after a man in the same market had proudly proclaimed to us that he is Shah Rukh Khan’s father!
Now the young man at the Kayseri bus station asks us if we have seen ‘Baahubali’? My jaw drops. Sunayana laughs. We ask him whether he likes the movie? Then he goes on to type something on his mobile in Turkish on Google Translate. It gets translated into English as ‘nonsense’! We all laugh and I heave a sigh of relief. To reiterate, he says its crazy and stupid.
This ‘nonsense’ will be awarded the Best Indian Film of 2015 at the National Film Awards tomorrow. Hats off to the esteemed jury for this remarkable selection.
An alumni of FTII, Gurvinder is one of the most promising and fearless young filmmaking talent in the current generation. Chauthi Koot (The Fourth Direction) premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2015. His debut feature film, Anhe Ghorey De Daan, was selected to premiere at Venice International Film Festival. And it bagged 3 National Film Awards – For Direction, Cinematography, and for Best Punjabi Film.
And as long as Singh’s fearless sense of (black) humour is intact, we will always be cheering for him.
The picture was captured by film reviewer and fest programmer Aseem Chhabra. The still is from Raam Reddy’s directorial debut Thithi has been selected for this year’s edition of the prestigious New Directors/New Films. Aseem pointed in his FB post that they were playing the entire New Directors/New Films’ trailer in the loop, so he waited for the moment to capture the film’s image of ‘Century Gowda’.
Celebrating its 45th edition in 2016, New Directors/New Films introduces New York audiences to the work of emerging filmmakers from around the world. Throughout its rich history, New Directors has uncovered talents like Pedro Almódovar, Chantal Akerman, Hou Hsiao–hsien, Christopher Nolan, Laura Poitras, Spike Lee, and Kelly Reichardt.
Curated by Museum of the Modern Art and Film Society of Lincoln Center, it will show 27 features and 10 shorts this year.
The event happened in May. And somehow we missed it. But the pictures are so priceless, we thought it would be good to share with you all. All these pictures were part of the exhibition, “The Master & I”. The event was part of Ray’s 94th birth anniversary celebration. Click here to read more about the event.
Move your cursor on any pic to get the description. And click on any pic to start the slideshow.
Thanks to Debosmita Sarkar for the pics from the exhibition.
Here’s the half page ad that was published in today’s HT Cafe of Mumbai edition.
Are they done with the business of the film? No wonder it has done a great business so far and the claim in the advertisement is true too. And they are still making money. So why spoil the party for those who still haven’t seen? This is a rare thing.
For its latest box office numbers, check BOI here.
We tried to pretend for some time that it’s completely normal to stand next to Martin Scorsese and pose exactly like him. We even controlled the fanboy BP and heartbeats for as long as we could. And as we went breathless, we shouted out it’s M-A-R-T-I-N-F-U-C-K-I-N-G-S-C-O-R-S-E-S-E.
So spare our fanboyism and so called sycophancy for this post. This is the fucking school of cool (Yes, Varun, said that school-of-cool again). Men are here, only the mean machines are missing.
As Charlie said, Twenty dollars! Let’s go da movies!
Bet, AK must have repeated Stack Edwards – This drink is better than sex, baby.
(PS – If you have been living under some rock, this picture is from Marrakech International Film Festival where Anurag Kashyap was on the jury with Scorsese saab)
Is he Woody Allen’s agent of protest? What else can you make out from this picture. Have a look.
On the red carpet, with a cigarette in his hand, and a strange expression on his face. It can’t get better than this. While others are posing for the shutterbugs, Mister Carax is staring at the circus. This seems like a surreal scene straight out of his film Holy Motors.
At a time when Woody Allen refused to release his latest film Blue Jasmine in India because he didn’t want any anti-smoking messages on his film’s copy, and it made headlines worldwide, there can’t be a better pic to laugh at the weird scenario and guidelines set by the Health Ministry. I know we are reading too much into it, but what’s the harm. And at least this much fun is expected from the enfant terrible of French cinema.
Filmmaker Dev Benegal also spotted him at the fest party later on and tweeted another pic, which also seems to be strange. Read his embedded tweets.
And one more – Photobombing Mihir‘s pic with Asghar Farhadi by not giving any fuck.
Pic courtesy – Pinkvilla, Dev Benegal
Sunny Deol will soon be seen in a new film titled Bhaiyyaji Superhitt and will be essaying a double role for the first time in his career.
Bombay Times “Exclusively Unveiled” the first look of the film on Monday. Have a look at this picture.
All good, right? Well, now take a look at this picture of Johnny Depp. It’s from GQ cover.
If you are smart, then photoshop can do wonders. But you don’t commit blunders like this. Nobody expects any great journalism from Bombay Times but the least you can do is to verify the pics and the info. You just don’t put Deol’s head on Depp’s body. As the popular contest goes, now spot the 10 differences in the next picture.
Have fun.
Pics and info courtesy – The Daily Honey
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 