Archive for the ‘songs & videos’ Category

If Pritam is here, can plagiarism be far behind. And the latest track added to his long list of inspired/plagiarised songs is Dum Maaro Dum is Thay Thayn. And the original is Give it to me by Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake.

Nt sure ? Click on the play button, play both the songs back to back and decide it for yourself.

And the story doesn’t end here. Even the Jiyein Kaun track sounds similar to Coldplay’s Fix you. Click here and here to listen to both the tracks and do let us know what you thik.

Earlier it was just Shor and now it’s Shor In The City. Reason – No clue. And here is the first look of the film which is trying hard to project Tushar Kapoor as the new Dude in the town.

The film is written and directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK and produced by Balaji Telefilms’ ALT Entertainment. It stars Tusshar Kapoor, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Nikhil Dwivedi, Radhika Apte and Preeti Desai.

And here is the official synopsis….

When the noise is deafening, can you really hear yourself ? That is the underlying thought that runs through this gritty, grounded film that revolves around three loosely interconnected stories set in the midst of the noise and grime of Mumbai during the Ganpati festival.

Abhay, an outsider, is forced to come to terms with the fact that he is alone in an unwelcoming city, which he thought was home. Living in a comfortable shell, he soon discovers that he might not be different from the thousands that mill around the city.

Tilak, an honest bootlegger, who pulls scams with his unruly buddies, chances upon a rare loot on a local train, which opens up new, dangerous avenues for them. He is pulled into the unlikely adventure of findings an empty place in the overpopulated city where they can blast a bomb….. For kicks!

Young Sawan has one goal, and more importantly, the only option – to get into the Mumbai Junior Cricket team. In a city where corruption is a way of life, the goal comes at a price1 he needs to find the money first.

In the overcrowded urban landscape that forms the backdrop of this film, the right and wrong are blurred, giving way to the more basic need to survive and succeed. As the characters come to grips with the noise – from within and outside – you realize that in this city, which runs on its own ad hoc rules, you don’t need an excuse to be good or bad; especially bad!

Click on the play button to check out the trailer of the film. It was cut during the MIAAC Fest. They might release a new trailer now.

Blame it on Ides Of March ? When we are wishing desperately that when we grow up just make us  Bhagnani, any Bhagnani, and Karan Johar goes for the reverse take!

Think about it – you can be a FALTU Bhagnani and still have everything you want. And we never expected that the one who are born with Khan, Chopra and Johar surnames in Bollywood would openly want to be Kashyap or Bhardwaj. They belong to the two extremes, their cinema and sensibility is different. My Name Is Johar And I am Not Kashyap or Bhardwaj ?

On a serious note, is Karan Johar serious about it ? As in, seriously serious ? One of the most powerful brands in Bollywood, if he is admitting that there is a shift in our cinema, you got to listen. To say the cliche, love or hate him but you can’t ignore K JO.

Or is it the effect of Ishqiya + LSD + Udaan + Peepli Live + Do Dooni Chaar + Band Baaja Baarat + Phans Gaye Re Obama + Tanu Weds Manu ?

Also, you may HATE his films, but there is no doubt he is easily one of the smartest guys around. May be, just next to Shah Rukh Khan. Just that their smartness doesn’t show in the choice of their films, whatever is the reason for that. Lack of talent, conviction, fear of failure or just opting for the easy route.

And here are some more priceless gems from him….( From Anupama Chopra’s show Picture This on NDTV. The topic of discussion was Bollywood discovers its roots. Vikramaditya Motwane and Habib Faisal were also part of the discussion.)

The english speaking critics were watching Dabang like they were watching a Tarantino film.

You have Kashyap as your last name so its all validated. If he was Abhinav Sharma, it was what he is making ? Oh he is Kashyap guy, so definitely he is intelligent. He is making fun of the genrae. He is having fun.

I want to change my last name. It will help a lot.

There is very strong credibility factor that people are aspiring to acheive as well. I have made so many films but none of them have got the credibility of say 3 crore net box office Udaan. I know that for a fact. And that credibility is paramount for a production house. While you want to make the money, you also want the respect. The combination of those two is 3 idiots.

You cant beat them, join them.

(Scroll down and watch the full discussion in the embedded video. And if the video doesn’t work, click here to watch it.)

And if you were surprised about Johar, Kashyap and Motwane joining hands for Motwane’s next, then this video has all the answers. Credibility. Or may be The Unbearable Lightness Of Being.

If KJo is here, can SRK be far behind. Ok, bad one. Shah Rukh Khan was at the India Today conclave recently. To quote him…

–  Three essentials to make Bollywood films global – screenplay writing, technology and discipline.

– It disturbs me that all Indian filmmakers are chasing an elusive dream of crossover cinema…It is nothing at all – there is nothing known as crossover film.

Click here and here to read the full report.

We agree on the first point. And completely disagree on the second point. Because Kites is not crossover cinema.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Abhay Kumar – the name sounds familiar. Little bit of searching and i realised that it’s the same Abhay whose short Udaan was in the news when Dibakar Bannerjee’s LSD released. His short was suspiciously similar to one of the stories in LSD and we wrote about it earlier here.

Abhay is ready with his new film and it’s titled Just That Sort Of A Day. Well, when i first heard the title, it felt like just that sort of a title that doesn’t say anything. No emotions attached, no nothing attached. And then i read the official synopsis…

.. Just that sort of a day is a 14 minute short film which follows seemingly random characters as they go about their day to day activities, watching the dense cloud of nothingness which surrounds their lives…

Aha, nothingness again!

And the IMDB synopsis tells you little more or just say, little more about the objects in the film…to quote…

Peeps into the lives of random characters, with their doubts, quirks and misgivings. As these characters hang in a timeless space- they gaze at the universe through letters, galaxies, parapets, and fishbowls

Finally saw the film and it was love at first sight. Quickly wanted to watch it again because it’s just BRILLIANT.

No actors, no names, random characters, all moving around in that very familiar atmosphere with those very familiar emotions. Difficult to put a finger where exactly you connect with them and start flowing with their emotions because it moves fast and jumps from one character to another. Add to that, some biutiful images and you are easily lost in that maze called life.

Made over a period of 9 months and shot on a handycam with zero budget, the film is a Must-Watch for those who have been cribbing about the death of new ideas. Without explaining much, will just say that it also works as mixed art form installation, and i was grinning from ear to ear while watching it. Pure joy!

The film premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival, is also in competition at the IFFLA and has now been selected for the Tribeca Film Festival.Watch it, whenever you can.

Congrats Abhay. Way to go!
Click here to go to its Facebook Group.

Well, he can shout out Meri Marzi! Fair enough. But do watch the videos in this post. The first one is a trailer of his new film Memories in March. The film is directed by Sanjay Nag and stars Rituparno Ghosh, Deepti Naval and Raima Sen.

To quote from the official release, “Written by Rituparno, Memories in March unspools the story of a bereaved mother who comes to Kolkata to collect her son’s ashes. She is Arati Mishra, an art curator who lives in Delhi. Through his friends and colleagues, she discovers that they knew him in ways different from the way she knew him as his mother.”

Seems like Memories In March is Hazar Chaurasia Ki Maa, just replace Naxalism with sexuality. But from the trailer it feels like Rituparno Ghosh might have killed the film with his acting. Because he is just playing himself.

A filmmaker who knows how to explore that intimate space in a relationship so bloody well, and someone who has done it so many times, why this acting keeda suddenly ? Mr Ghosh, you can do better.

The second clip is from another bengali film titled Just Another Love Story (Arekti Premer Galpo). Directed by Kaushik Ganguly, it’s about a filmmaker Abhiroop Sen (played by Ghosh) who makes a documentary about Chapal Bhaduri, the legendary jatra (Bengali folk theatre) actor who spent his entire career playing female roles on stage, primarily as Goddess Shitala. Thus begins a journey where director and subject learn from one another – on the one hand is Bhaduri (playing himself) who was a closeted gay for fear of social ostracism but was openly accepted as a cross-dressing actor, and on the other is the modern urban filmmaker who is open about his sexuality but is still negotiating his gender identity.

The film stars Rituparno Ghosh, Raima Sen, Jishu Sengupta, Indraneil Sengupta and Chapal Bhaduri.

And click here to read Variety’s review of the film and more about Ghosh’s acting debut.

We haven’t seen either of the films and may be it’s completely wrong to judge his acting just on the basis on the trailers. But then,  if the reverse is true, we will write the apology post in big and bold font too.

Patang – The debut feature of Prashant Bhargava will have its North American premiere at the 10th Tribeca Film Festival. It will be shown in the World Narrative Feature Competition and will compete with 11 other films for the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, Best New Narrative Director, Best Actor and Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography.

The film was also shown at this year’s Berlin Film Festival in the International Forum of New Cinema. It stars Seema Biswas, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sugandha Garg and Aakash Mahayera, and has been shot by Shanker Raman.

Click on the play button to check out its goregous preview trailer…

To quote from Tribeca’s official release..

A family saga set against the colorful spectacle of the Uttarayan, India’s largest kite festival, The Kite is a kaleidoscopic whirlwind of energy, romance, and turmoil. A businessman arrives in Ahmedabad for a surprise visit to his once grand family home, bringing with him his daughter and some unexpected news for the family’s future. Amongst the flurry of preparations and the energy of the festival itself, the transformative and intersecting tales of six characters unfold.

To know more about the film, click here. To read more about the other films selected for Tribeca Fest, click here.

You can also watch Prashant Bhargava’s short film Sangam at www.mubi.com. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2004.

This is not going to end so soon. We started with this post, Varun wrote this one, and Subrat took the Mir route with this post.

And in this post we are putting out some of the interesting links that we read recently…VB, Ranjan Palit, 7KM, Ismat Chugtai, prosthetics and more.

 

Time Out’s Nandini Ramnath did an interview with 7 Khoon Maaf’s cinematographer Ranjan Palit. To quote…

In an interview with Time Out in 2009, Palit declared, “I wouldn’t do a Bollywood song and dance film even if I were paid a crore.” Famous last words, it seems.

Click here to read the interview.

Pratim Das Gupta of The Telegraph also interviewed Palit after the release, much longer and a better interview….what he shot, how he shot and why he shot it that way….To quote…

I had to try and make sure that the prosthetics couldn’t be seen. I think there were around seven-eight prosthetic parts stuck on her face in the aged avatar. She would be made up for four hours every day. So, I was asked to shoot in such a way that those parts were not seen. But you can do that in an interior night scene, what do you do during the daytime? We had decided that we would correct that with computer graphics but it’s hugely expensive and tough to spend so much money after the shooting is done….

…..You know what, I first saw a two-hour-45-minute version. It was then cut by 25 minutes for the final theatrical version. In that cutting, some of the finesse, some of the moments got lost. Maybe the rhythm has also slightly suffered. That director’s cut was beautifully paced….

….People in Mumbai have shown interest in working with me right from the time the 7 Khoon Maaf trailer came out. Boley na, jaatey uthey gechhi! But there’s no existing filmmaker apart from Vishal with whom I want to work. I am a snob that way. I appreciate what (Anurag) Kashyap does. bolley, hoyto korbo. I am not dying to work with anybody. I am dying to work with Vishal again.

Click here to read the full interview.

And if you are bored of the long and meandering reviews, then Nisha Susan of Tehelka has packed the Seven Course Meal in short  and sassy new way. To quote…

+7 FOR THE ISMAT CHUGHTAI moment when PC and Irrfan make an elephant under their lihaaf. 10 for naming the Russian Vronsky and Susanna reading Anna Karenina.

+8 TO NEIL NITIN MUKESH
for waving a phallic stump at Priyanka
. Minus 9 points to Neil for setting our teeth on edge a la Kangana whenever he speaks English.

The film scores 98 invaluable points and the point system follows no convention. Bring it on! Click here to read her piece, point-by-point.

If Tehelka is here, can Open be far behind ? Ajit Duara of Open has thrashed the film completely and rated it just 1 star. To quote…

What substitutes for motive is a dark lighting style;  as if to say that if you light a movie dimly enough, depth and hidden meaning will emerge. It never does, and 7 Khoon Maaf ends up as a hothouse of exotic spouses with names scratched off the catalogue at metronomic  intervals.

Click here to read the full review.

Open also has an interesting article titled – Inside the Mind of Vishal Bhardwaj.  His long time associate, co-writer, and the director of Ishqiya, Abhishek Chaubey describes the filmmaker, from his Makdee days to 7 Khoon Maaf. To quote..

After Makdee was made, Vishal called me to a theatre in Juhu. Gulzarsaab and his friend Shivam Nair were also there. Makdee had been made for the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI). They had rejected it outright, claiming all sorts of problems with it—“Badly directed, badly shot.” He wanted us to see if that was really the case. We all thought their reaction was extreme.

Then Vishal did something courageous, given that he was just a music director then, and not the sort with 20 songs in the bank that he could give producers when they’d come to him. He had worked on very few films. As a producer, he was nobody. And yet, he decided to take the CFSI head on. He told them, “If you don’t like the film, I will buy it off you.” He must have paid Rs 20–30 lakh. He put everything at risk. We completed Makdee and went around town selling it…..

….Vishal had the letter he got from the CFSI framed, and it is still on his wall. It’s right in front of where he sits. Not only was Makdee released, it also won an award at a children’s film festival in Chicago. ‘Courage’ is too goody-two-shoes a term for it. It takes balls.

Click here to read the full piece.

And the last link is a video. Click on the play button to hear Gulzar dissect his own words…the poetry in 7 Khoon Maaf.

Pic Courtesy – Time Out Mumbai

Yes, the video that we all have been waiting for, is finally out. And guess who has got the song ? Irrfan Khan. Again? First, Bekaran and now Tere Liye. Or may be the promos are misleading.

Tip – Pratyush Painuly

And as expected, the song has been picturised on John Abraham. Can someone please tell us which lucky man has got the  best song  of the film –  Tere Liye.

Header – From Raja Sen’s tweet

We know its the time to play the music of 7 Khoon Maaf in loop, but if you need a break, try it. Room In Rome – We haven’t seen the film but a friend posted this musical promo of the film. Gorgeous vocals, beautiful visuals, lots of nudity and lesbianism. NSFW and we are addicted!

The song is by Lourdes Hernandez aka Russian Red. To know more about her and for the lyrics of the song, click here.