KAUFMAN - "Or cramming in sex, or car chases, or guns. Or characters learning profound life lessons. Or characters growing or characters changing or characters learning to like each other or characters overcoming obstacles to succeed in the end. Y'know ? Movie shit."
Kaufman is sweating like crazy now. Valerie is quiet for a moment - from "Adaptation".
We are all about CINEMA. That movie shit.
NOTHING is sacred.
NOBODY is spared.
Because we talk about films, dammit.
Not your sex life.
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The first trailer of Mahesh Manjrekar’s new film City Of Gold is out. Check it out.
This one had lot of promise, till we saw the trailer. The premise, setting, time, incidents and an untold story. But from the trailer it looks too tacky! City Of Gold is set in Mumbai’s mills era. Here is the official synopsis of the film…
Today, there is hardly anyone who hasn’t visited the swanky shopping malls, nightclubs, lounge bars, clubs and other such lifestyle destinations that sprung up across the centre of Mumbai. However, very few know that buried deep below these glittering edifices to consumerism lies the dark, dirty and painful reality of many thousands of mill workers who once worked the cotton mills in this very same area. Rising and toiling to the wail of the mill sirens each and every day, seven days a week, these workers embodied the true unbridled zeal and unflagging spirit of the city and played a pivotal role in the evolution of Mumbai as the modern day business capital of India.
And then it suddenly was as if they never existed. Following the mill workers strike in the mid-80s, these mills began closing down rapidly and the mill-workers mysteriously disappeared. What happened to them, and where they went is one of the most shameful secrets that the city of Mumbai will have to bear for generations, one that until now has always been spoken about in hushed whispers.
City of Gold – the story of these long-forgotten masses – not only explores the apathy of these mill workers narrated through the story of one such family, but is also a take-no-prisoners account of the birth of the true underbelly of organized crime in Mumbai.
The film traces the birth of the politics of greed in Mumbai and exposes the unholy collusion between the triumvirate of big business, the political establishment and the trade union leaders who ostensibly were charged with protecting the rights of the mill workers. In the two decades that followed, the entire landscape of Central Mumbai was changed forever. Land became the currency of growth, and this began the systematic extinction of mills in Mumbai. In a matter of just a few years, hundreds of thousands of workers lost their means of livelihood. Having worked in these mills from generation to generation, this was the only vocation that they knew.
Many left Mumbai and went back to their ancestral homes, some others chose to stay back and fight what they soon realised was a losing battle, some took the extreme step of ending their miserable lives, and still some others took to a world of crime.
Truth… as is said, is stranger than fiction. But the truth that the film uncovers is not just stranger but darker and dirtier than any mind has ever imagined. Produced by DAR Motion Pictures and from the Director of dark and realistic films like Vaastav – Mr Mahesh Manjrekar, ‘City of Gold’ takes another trip down memory lane…. just that this time around the result is a much more heart wrenching, soul stirring and shocking film about human avarice and apathy.
The film doesn’t provide any direct solutions. Yet it shatters many a myth and raises many a question which only the passage of time will provide answers to.
To know more about the film, click here for the official website.
Ah, they have done it again! One more and its a hattrick. Last time it was the IPL Karmayudh video which was copied from the Yankees Ad. If you dont remember click here to see the original, the copied and filmmaker Prasoon Pandey’s reaction to plagiarism allegations.
And here is the new one from Indian Plagiarised League! Those who are following all the IPL buzz must have already seen the “red carpet” launch video of IPL 2010 on SetMax. If you havent, click on the play button.
And here is the original one. The Coke TV commercial for China Olympics.
In the desi one, they have just added saare jahan se accha, hindustan hamara. And believe it or not, but try this. Freeze the first video (IPL) at 01:03 and the second one (coke) at 01:37. Looks like they went out on recce looking for similar locations and shot in the same way. And how can they let go the great visual of snow-capped mountain? As Dhoni says, toh aur bolo ?
And can any enlightened soul tell us who is the culprit this time ? Is it Pandeyji again ?
When there is a new Pepsi/Coke campaign on air, you know that summer is near. Coke launched its new campaign with a new brand ambassador – Imran Khan. This is the first brand endorsement deal of Imran Khan. And he follows the footsteps of Mamujaan Aamir Khan who has been endorsing Coke since last few year.
Imran stars with Kalki Koechlin in the new Tv commercial. The new campaign “Open Happiness” has been conceptualised by the creative team of McCann Erickson that includes Prasoon Joshi, Ashish Chakravarty, Tirtha Ghosh and Nakul Sharma. And the film has been directed by Dibakar Banerjee. If you havent seen it yet, click the play button.
First it was Madhuri Dixit and now its Kartik Krishnan. Rarely do people manage to get a film title based on their name. No, we dont want to count Ramu here. Thats for another day.
The 70 min film has been directed by Srinivas Sunderrajan. The cast includes Kartik Krishnan, Vishwesh K, Swara Bhaskar and D Santosh. Its shot by Hashim Badani and is written by Srinivas Sunderrajan & Vijesh Rajan. While trying to pitch his feature, Srini has been told by few that tu toh bachcha dikhta hai (which he does. 26 ka hai bus!), abhi film kya direct karega. Well, now he can throw the dvd on their face.
So while we wrote blogs, spread goss, struggled with writing and did tweet-twat, the bachchas got together and shot this film in less than 70k. Its been shot on Sony HDV Z1 in 30 days over a period of one year. And there are more twists in its making than in the film. Read on.
Many of you must have already seen the trailer. If not, click on the play button.
Over to KK.
Flashback
The 1st draft of the script was ready and emailed to me on Feb 20th 2009 by the director and my friend Srinivas Sunderrajan with a instruction in CAPS saying ‘BANIYAN KHAREED” (helpful in attaching the lapel mike to the actor). We begin the actor rehearsals. The screenplay is in place but no dialogues. “Why?” I asked. “Because I want to improvise it”
Preparations
When the Locations would be available for say a Saturday, the actors would meet on a Wednesday for a reading and rehearse under Srinivas’ instructions. If some interesting lines came about in the reading, they would be kept. A framework would be developed with the actors being given a free hand to fill in the meat. No sticking to lines, but simply improvising, but being in the scene, being in character.
Shoot begins
All wide shots, long takes. Minimal cut-aways. Not necessarily adhering to traditional style shooting of covering a scene from all angles. Also this was done because we used to get the location for not more than 2 hours (read: Location). And there used to be at least 4 scenes (average) per location. The lapel mike works sometimes, and sometimes you have to keep the battery cover pressed down for it to work. So someone off-screen would do that (Mostly the director himself)!
Slowly it is falling into place.
Crew
Barring the actors, there used to be max. 3 people on the set – Srinivas (director), Hashim (Camera), and sometimes a friend to just help us out. But most of the time, it used to be just the two of them. Some locations, had one guy for lights.
We are our own costume designers, makeup men, location in-charge, food & catering. We lose our cool most of the times due to the high level of multi-tasking, but Srinivas’ level headedness kept us going. All actors/crew (except Srinivas) having day jobs and other assignments, postponing a day of shoot meant waiting at least for a week for the same location & all our dates to match.
Locations
There were 4 main locations in the film – KK’s flat, KK’s Office, Drinks Bar, Coffee shop. Coffee shop turned out to be an expensive affair so we had to settle in for a “sweet mart” which also had seating space for customers. With the help of Srinivas’ friend, we barged into one and finished two huge scenes in a span of 2 hours and before the owners could even realize what was happening – we vacated the premise.
For the drinks bar location, we had to visit the bar a couple of times, befriend the waiters, and then bribe them into letting us into the place to shoot early in the morning. So basically, 5am shifts wherein we used to enter the location via the backdoor, and then complete shoot before 9am because that’s when the main owner opens the front door shutter! We again had 3 long scenes at this venue and so we had to re-visit the location twice till Srinivas got everything he wanted.
KK’s flat was the cinematographer Hashim’s grandmother’s flat in Mohd.Ali road. Hashim had to basically trick the building people into saying that it was a student film and Srinivas’ ‘I’m still in college/school’ look came in handy! It was the most difficult location because the house was very near to the JJ Flyover and the sound pollution levels were maximum. To top it all, the house was on a slant so we had to basically balance ourselves while delivering our lines.
Intermission point
60% of the scenes are shot at this location in Mohd. Ali Road. The location is crucial because that’s the house of the protagonist, Kartik Krishnan.
Due to some major ‘postponements’ and ‘date issues’, we could not finish the 40% as pre-decided. Srinivas, by now, has spent half his year trying to get us all under one roof for a very crucial scene of the film – the ‘film shoot sequence’. Just when things try to brighten up, a call from Srinivas – “One section of the 3rd floor (our shooting floor) falls onto the 2nd floor. The building has been cordoned off by BMC and will be broken down in the next 6 days”.
We’re in a fix – Whether to risk our lives and finish the 40% in those 6 days or just figure out another location. Risking life seems stupid but the only “indie solution” here! Srinivas is in two minds about the whole film now since any other location would break the whole flow-chart.
Time lapse clouds
I don’t hear from Srinivas for quite sometime. I guess no one from the crew has any news about him or the film. What to do when you have completed close to 60% of the film and a location in continuity is unavailable and you have a completely absconding director? Drink booze? We do. Luckily our director is a tee-teetotaler (edit: And still is!)
Few months later
I’ve moved on to a new job. Also to a newer house. I get a call from Srinivas saying “I’ve cut a scene from the film – do you want to take a look?” Hell yeah!
Srinivas comes home and shows me the first interaction scene between Kartik Krishnan and Srinivas Sunderrajan. I like it. He seems positive of finishing the film – we talk about my dates etc. Things look bright.
A few days later, another phone call from him. “Dates clashing”, “Crew unavailable”, “Life moves on!”
Welcome 2010, bye 2009
Fresh look. Use the existing footage. Shoot something else. Build a new story around it. See if it works. It does. So it seems. But not all actors are available. REWRITE according to the available resources. Film becomes something else.
“I’ve got an idea to finish the film without involving everyone. I’ve already edited the film and written a rough script for the new version. You game?” – Srinivas
Shoot begins – again
Early morning 4am in local trains. 10 am versova beach. 11.30 local train to panvel. My house. Montage shots. Stock shots. B-rolls. Painful edit process.
Shoot complete
Post production which was simultaneously happening, now needs to be addressed single mindedly. Does it all fit? Does it hold attention? Does the new story work? Is the VFX looking tacky? Inhibitions and doubts.
Screening for the cast
I saw it twice the same night. Seemed to hold. Long Takes kind of work. Don’t know what the audience will say.
CUT TO – PRESENT Some talk about the festivals. Undecided. We are trying to spread the word. FB, twitter, mails. We’re hoping the film finds its own course.
As if one Shah Rukh Khan wasnt enough, now we have a doggie version too! Awwwww…wwwwful! Or is this the Aamir’s doggie who was named after King Khan ? Koochi Koochie Hota Hai is the animated (read doggie) version of Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota hai.
Its directed by Tarun Mansukhani and has voiceovers by Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, Simi Agarwal, Anupam Kher, Uday Chopra and Sajid Khan. Guess who is not here ? Salman Khan. Missing In Action. And you dont need to be genius to guess the reason.
And whoever thought about the “Koochie Koochie” title, needs to get into doggie avatar soon. Woof teri ada, woof tera badan, woof woof tera ya title! The trailer looks, sounds and feels terrible! And more so, because in a year when UP makes it to the Oscar nomination in the Best Film category, we are still rewinding back to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Spare us. We are not buying the tickets! Feels like its made for Under-5 category! Take a look.
After writing more than a dozen shitty films, Milap Zaveri has turned director with Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai. The film is produced by Nikhil Advani & Mukesh Talreja, presented by Warner Brothers and stars Ritesh Desmukh and Jacqueline Fernandez. Aladin again ? Ritesh looks, acts and talks the same! Straight from Aladin and his co-star is again the same. Baki kahani trailer me.
After the teasers and the song promos, the theatrical trailer of Farhan Akhtar-Deepika Padukone starrer Karthik Calling Karthik is out. Its directed by debutant Vijay Lalwani.
Such a long wait! All you Hrithik Roshan fans, enjoy! The theatrical trailer of the film Kites is finally out. So far we have seen only bits and pieces of the film footage which got leaked out from the Cannes market. But now here is the complete trailer. And this one seems to be different from the earlier one.
The film is directed by Anurag Basu, produced by Rakesh Roshan and stars Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori and Kangana Ranaut. It has been ready for quite sometime but nobody was willing to buy it because the price was damn high. But seems its ready to roll out soon.
The first few seconds of the trailer really scared us. It looks like Blue part 2. And then its Lost in Translation with sea, sun, sex, stunts, bikes, babes, barbara, action and more!
And if you want to know more about Kites, click here to read how it scored big zero at the Cannes Film Festival. For Kites synopsis/story/plot click here and for pics, clips, promo & website details, you can click here and here. And if you are looking for Barbara Mori & her kissing scenes click here.
Are we still selling Slumdogs ? Blame it on our over- desperation or something else, we make sure that we dig out some kind of connect with Oscar Nomination/Award every year. Its the same this year. A good friend figured this one and tweeted us the info.
Kavi, a short film in Hindi has been nominated for the Oscar Awards in the Short Film (Live Action) category. Its directed by Gregg Helvey. Kavi is about an Indian boy and his parents who are forced to work as slave labor in a brick kiln. Still selling poverty porn ?
The 15 mins short film was made on a budget of about $30,000 (Rs.1.4 million) and was shot in Wai in eight days. Click here to know more about the film. And click on the play button to check out the trailer of the film.
At 75, he is still going strong! After his last delightful small film Welcome To Sajjanpur, Shyam Benegal is ready with his new film titled Well Done Abba.
The film is produced by Reliance Big Picturs and stars Boman Irani in double role along with Minissha Lamba and Sammir Dattani. Its written by Ashok Mishra and is based on two short stories – ‘Narsaiyyan Ki Bavdi’ by Jeelani Bano and ‘Phulwa Ka Pul’ by Sanjeev. The first trailer of the film is out. Have a look. Seems like its in the same space as Sajjanpur.
And here is the official synopsis of the film…
Armaan Ali, played by comic hero Boman Irani, is a middle aged driver for a city executive. He takes a month’s leave and, when he arrives back at work three months later, his boss, understandably, threatens to sack him. To save his job, charming Armaan spins a fabulous story of why he was delayed in getting his daughter married.
Fable or truth, the boss isn’t quite sure, but the story revolves around a central question – how a well, once dug, can be stolen? Unearthed in Benegal’s part comedy, part political satire, is a hilarious and poignant depiction of the double dealing and corrupt middle men intrinsic to Indian rural politics. Meanwhile, at the heart of the story is a delightful romance between Armaan’s daughter and a young, honest mechanic who saves the day.
This one had lot of promise, till we saw the trailer. The premise, setting, time, incidents and an untold story. But from the trailer it looks too tacky! City Of Gold is set in Mumbai’s mills era. Here is the official synopsis of the film…
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 
