Archive for the ‘Story / Plot / Synopsis’ Category

Meghe Dhaka Tara (Trailer) – Bob Biswas is Ritwik Ghatak!

Posted: May 20, 2013 by moifightclub in Bengali, cast & crew, film, first look, News, Regional, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Tollywood, Trailer, video
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meghe

Ever since Sashwata Chatterjee made his mark on national radar as Bob Biswas in Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani, suddenly we have been seeing more of him. Or maybe he is getting interesting roles since then. Recently he was in Aparna Sen’s hilarious film Goynor Baksho, and now he is playing the lead role of Ritwik Ghatak in Kamaleswar Mukherjee’s Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star).

When i heard about the title of the film, the first thought in my head was blasphemy, blasphemy! But thankfully, the black and white trailer looks interesting. And seems like Sashwata is going to steal the show again, especially towards the end, when he portrays the madness.

Have a look. It’s with English subs. Hope more producers learn from this and realise that they have a market beyond their state. It’s a slow process but that’s how you build your audience. So do release your trailer, promos, songs with subs.

Official synopsis

Kamaleswar Mukherjee’s Meghe Dhaka Tara is inspired in every way possible from the legendary director Ritwik Ghatak’s life. From putting together bits and pieces of his eventful life to using the title of one of his most famous movies, and to naming the characters from his last film Jukti Tokko Goppo, Kamaleswar’s movie is an apt tribute to the great director.

Although inspired from Ghatak’s life, Meghe Dhaka Tara is neither a biopic on him, nor a remake of his famous film. To Kamaleswar, Ritwik is a true star, a legend, with immense contributions to the world of cinema. And yet he is still quite the unsung hero. Hence, he is the “Meghe Dhaka Tara”.

Credits

Starring : Saswata Chatterjee, Ananya Chatterjee, Abir Chatterjee & others
Producer : Shree Venkatesh Films
Presenter : Shrikant Mohta & Mahendra Soni
Direction : Kamleswar Mukherjee
Screenplay : Kamaleswar Mukherjee
DOP: Soumik Halder
Music : Debojyoti Mishra

– For more updates, it’s Facebook page is here.

READ : Satyajit Ray’s Patol Babu Filmstar (the story adapted by Dibakar Banerjee)

Posted: May 4, 2013 by moifightclub in Adaptation, Bengali, bollywood, Gods of Cinema, short film, Short story, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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DB StarBombay Talkies has released in the theatres. And so far the unanimous verdict is that Dibakar Banerjee’s short Star is easily the best out of the lot. Click here to read what we thought about the other short films and do vote for your favourites.

Back to Dibakar’s. It’s based on a short story by Satyajit Ray titled Patol Babu Filmstar. Though the basic idea is the same Dibakar has added many new elements to it and given it a new setting too. Do read.

Tip – Pavan Jha

First Look : Ritesh Batra’s Dabba (The Lunchbox – stills & official synopsis)

Posted: April 27, 2013 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, Film Festival, first look, Indie, News, pics, Stills, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Xclusive
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For those who have been curious about Ritesh Batra’s Dabba, we have got the first look of the film. Here are some of the stills from the film which look really impressive. We do also have all the cast, credit and official synopsis details.

The film will have its international premiere at Cannes Festival in International Critics Week section.

(Click on any image to start the slide show in hi-res)

Though Nawaz was also in Paan Singh Tomar, but it looks like this film finally brings together two of the finest actors of our generation in full fledged roles. And is Irrfan Khan in Namesake avatar again? Bring it on!

Official Synopsis

A mistaken delivery in Mumbai’s famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an old man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox. Gradually, this fantasy threatens to overwhelm their reality.

Mumbai, a city of miracles.

One of Mumbai’s miracles is Mumbai’s Dabbawallahs – a community of 5000 dabba (lunchbox) deliverymen. It is a hereditary profession. Every morning the Dabbawallahs deliver hot meals from the kitchens of housewives to the offices of their husbands, and then return the empty lunchboxes back to the homes in the afternoon. For 120 years they have provided Mumbaikars with a taste of home in the office. They navigate through the overcrowded local trains and chaotic streets – that often have a namesake or more than one name. The Dabbahwallahs are illiterate, and instead rely on a complex coding system of colors and symbols to deliver dabbas in the labyrinth that is Mumbai. Harvard University analyzed their delivery system, concluding that just 1 in 8 million lunchboxes is ever delivered to the wrong address. Dabba is the story of that one lunchbox.

A mistakenly delivered lunchbox connects a housewife, Ila Singh, to Saajan Thomas, a lonely man in the dusk of his life. Ila lives in Dadar, the conservative middle class Hindu enclave. And Saajan lives in Ranwar village, Bandra, an old Christian neighborhood that is threatened by the new high rises in Mumbai. Very soon Saajan will retire and bid goodbye to a Mumbai that has crushed his dreams, took away his loved ones one by one, and turned his hair white. Just then Ila comes into his life. In the big city, that crushes dreams and recycles them every day, both find a dream to hold on to. Ila begins a fantastical affair with a mystery suitor, pouring her heart into cooking meals for him. And Saajan looks forward to lunch box deliveries from a mystery woman every day. They exchange notes via the lunchbox and create a fantasy life. As the lunchbox goes back and forth, this fantasy becomes so elaborate that it threatens to overwhelm their reality. The characters of The Lunchbox exist on the line between the Mumbai of reality and the Mumbai of fantasy.

The Lunchbox is the story of the life we dream of versus the life we live in, and of the courage it takes to turn out fantasies into reality.

Credits

director: Ritesh Batra
screenplay: Ritesh Batra
cinematography: Michael Simmonds
editing: John Lyons
sound: Michael Kaczmarek
production design: Shruti Gupte
music: Max Richter

Cast:
Irrfan Khan
Nimrat Kaur
Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Denzil Smith
Bharati Achrekar
Nakul Vaid
Yashvi Puneet Nagar
Lillete Dubey
Sada (Dabbawala)

The film is produced by Sikhya Entertainment (India), Dar Motion Pictures (India), and co-produced by National Film Development Corporation (India), ASAP Films (France) and Roh Films (Germany).

Btw, Michael Simmonds? The DoP of Ramin Bahrani’s films? Chop Shop, Man Push Cart, Goodbye Solo and Plastic Bag. That’s a great talent to have on board.

To know more about the film and the filmmaker, click here to read his interview on DearCinema.

Director

Ritesh Batra is a writer/director based in Mumbai and New York. In 2009, Batra was selected for the Sundance Writers and Directors labs for his feature project “The Story of Ram”. He was also named the Sundance Time Warner Storytelling Fellow and an Annenburg Fellow. He was part of the Graduate Film Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, from which he dropped out in 2010. His short films have been presented in many international film festivals and fine arts venues. His recent short “Café Regular, Cairo” was featured in the 2012 Inter- national Film Festival of Rotterdam and 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. His upcoming short ‘The State of Siege’ is currently in post-production.

His feature screenplay THE LUNCHBOX was part of the 2011 Binger-NFDC Screenwriting Lab, it won an Honorable Mention from the Jury at the 2012 edition of the Cinemart at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam and was part of the Berlinale Talent Project Market.

(Cast/credit/synopsis/Director’s bio taken from various co-producers’ site)

Ritesh Batra’s “Dabba” selected for Cannes International Critics Week

Posted: April 22, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, News, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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Dabba 2

The 52nd Cannes International Critics Week unveiled its lineup today.

Among the 11 features screening in the sidebar, which showcases first and second films, there’s one film from India – debutant director Ritesh Batra’s Dabba (The Lunchbox). The film stars Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Nimrat Kaur.

And here’s the official synopsis from the site of one of the co-producers, Cine Mosaic

A mistaken delivery in Mumbai’s famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an old man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox. Gradually, this fantasy threatens to overwhelm their reality.

The Lunchbox is the story of the life we dream of versus the life we live in, and of the courage it takes to turn out fantasies into reality.

Apart from Dabba, Cannes will also screen Bombay Talkies and Monsoon Shootout.

Pizza – should filmmakers “cheat” us?

Posted: April 7, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, film review, movie reviews, reviews, Spoiler, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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pizza

S-P-O-I-L-E-R—-A-L-E-R-T

i finally saw the film that i have been reading and hearing about for a long time. A Tamil film called Pizza which became a surprise hit and its remake right has been sold in many other languages including Hindi. That made me more curious. I knew that it’s a horror film. If you are told otherwise, it will be a spoiler. And that’s sad in a way because then you wonder if the film is so weak that if you tell the real genre to which it belongs, it wont work? Imagine if you always knew that it’s a thriller, and not a horror film. Would the film still work? Am not so sure now. Take Talaash, i think it works best when you know the spoiler. (Post here) And as a friend said it here – A movie is never about its twist, and if it is, it’s not worth it. Pizza is badly handicapped on that front.

Directed by Karthik Subbaraj, the film starts on quite a thrilling note. Almost like one of those found footage films. A bunch of guys trying to trace ghosts in an old building and everything is recorded on a handy cam. As it gets more exciting, as the so called ghosts are about to appear, you realise that this is not the real film. It’s a film inside the film which is playing on tv and the lead characters are watching it. You can brand this as cheating, or, you might overlook it because of the thrill that it provides. I guess the director set the tone of his film with this sequence. The way you react to it, my guess is you are going to react to the film in a similar way once it ends.

I was thoroughly enjoying the film till the interval. And i kept wondering how are they going to close it because it looked like a difficult task. Well, it turned out to be KLPD. Because the director cheats us not once, but twice actually. First time when we are hearing the ghost story. It’s in one flashback. Almost the first half. And second time when the lead character is trying to act scared, pretending to be spooked – breathing problem, blood on his back, someone in the loo. Even if you are willing to take the first instance as film making tool, what about the second one? The second one makes you completely believe in the first story and kills all your doubts.

So you enjoy the thrill so much that you don’t call it cheating, or maybe you even call it so but overlook the fact once you know the reality. Why? Because it was worth it. Or you brand it as pure KLPD, cheating and childish. There’s nothing right or wrong, it’s just the way you react. And so the question in the post because i felt it was cheating. You might be completely fine with it. Do let us know in the comments section.

I am guessing you are still with me and are reading this post because you have seen the film already. Otherwise it won’t make sense as am not explaining everything in detail. And remember Kahaani? Lot of us criticised Sujoy Ghosh for that one scene where Vidya is talks about her husband and we get to see her “fake” story in flashback. Unlike others Sujoy was honest enough to participate in a discussion with us after its release and gave us his version. You can check the entire discussion here.

I still believe that the character might be talking about his/her story but it’s the filmmakers choice how he is showing it to us. We are not peeping into the character’s head like Being John Malkovich. Now, if we criticised Sujoy for that one scene, imagine an entire film based on such a scenario. Pizza is exactly that.

Once you are inside the theatre, one completely trusts the filmmaker. Saying and showing things with the help of a character and making us believe in it is the simplest thing inside that dark room. And then you turn around and say that it was all false, well, those were my favourite games in kindergarten. Not anymore.

Interestingly, when i asked people on twitter to rate the film on a scale of 1 to 5, most people rated it between 2.5 to 5. So clearly am in minority. Or, maybe am growing old. I prefer human stories more than thrill pills now.

Or i can try a better one. Since i was talking about his closing lines in the last post, and most probably someone will soon say “The Usual Suspects” while discussing this post, so here’s a quote from his review of the same film – I prefer to be amazed by motivation, not manipulation.

– @CilemaSnob

Dissecting Kahaani – Script vs Film (plot and time)

Posted: April 4, 2013 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, Screenwriting, Scripts, Story / Plot / Synopsis, writing
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Thanks to filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh, we had put out the script of Kahaani here. And here’s an interesting post by one of our readers Deepanjali B Sarkar where she compares the script with the film. And also keeps a check on the timeline – what happens where, at what time, and for how long. Over to her.

Kahaani2

KAHAANI

I’ve now seen Kahaani several times, the last time with the script in hand, provided by this blog. Here are some rapid notes I made – mainly on the pacing and plot points (which is what makes it such a gripping film). Sharing it – in case others find it useful. Have listed the run time at which each plot point takes place.

So here goes

  • Hook – introduced within 10  mins: taxi driver says it’s for the first time that he has driven someone to the police station straight from the airport. Add to that – that she is pregnant.
  • Dramatic premise – husband missing: approx. 15.45 mins. Vidya files missing complaint in Kalighat police station. This sequence is packed with information (set up/clues) that will come into critical use as the thriller unfolds (pay off):
    • Husband worked in National Data Centre. Later we get to know the main suspect Milan Damji is an employee of National Data Centre, as is Shridhar, the IT head who assigns Bob Biswas, the hired assassin, his targets.
    • Vidya is a firewall expert. Crucial in her gaining access to IT head’s system, which leads them to IB head, Bhaskaran.
    • Vidya has a dizzy spell when asked to sign the missing person report. Pay off – she never left behind any fingerprints.
  • First red herring: Mona Lisa Hotel. Approx 20 mins.

By the way – had a question here. Did her husband actually stay here? Or how did she know of the decorative piece, the peacock? If he didn’t why this hotel in particular? Because it didn’t keep any records of its guests?

  • Second red herring: Arnav’s uncle’s house. 31 mins
  • Third red herring: Arnav’s school. 31.30 mins
  • Fourth red herring: Kolkata immigration
  • First clue! Milan Damji; Second clue – Bombay blood group. When Vidya meets Agnes Demelo in Mocambo. 35 mins
  • Bob the Killer introduced. 35.58 mins
  • First murder – Agnes Demelo. 37.29 mins
  • Khan – crucial link in plot – introduced. Being from the IB, he will lead Vidya to _____. 38.24 mins. 40 mins
  • Capt. Bajpayee introduced. The Kahaani actually starts with him training three agents. Introduced at 40.07 mins
  • Plot thickens! Vidya remembers that Khan refers to Damji by first name. So he must be familiar with him though he claims not to know him. 44.22 mins
  • Khan inducts Rana into the case (audience doesn’t know of it as yet)
  • Bob’s 2nd assignment: Retrieve Milan Damji’s file. 49.52 mins
  • Third clue! Identity of Milan Damji – from old records of National Data Centre. 50.23 mins
  • Pre-interval climax! Vidya pushed into metro tracks. 55.55 mins
  • NOW – Backstory. 57.38 mins

But why will Bhaskaran approach Bajpayee when he himself is the kingpin of the entire operation?

  • Vidya voices audience’s doubts. Missing from script. (1) Arnab has deserted her (2) Arnab and Milan are one and the same (3) Arnab has been targeted because he looks like Milan Damji.
  • Turning point: Jis din Milan mil jayega, us din, Arnab mil jayega. So hunt on for Milan Damji. No longer for Arnab.  59.07
  • Transition scene: Missing in script. Lovely touch of the playful side of Vidya. The two are travelling in a tram, she accidentally kicks Rana. He touches his forehead (pranam). She is intrigued and playfully kicks him again…and again!
  • Fourth clue! Milan Damji’s house – tea glasses from tea stall outside. Boy at tea stall remembers man with brass corners briefcase. This is the FINAL LINK to Bhaskaran. 1.03 hrs
  • Clue – follow up- Bombay blood required by Milan Damji when he was admitted in Ekbalpur Nursing Home.
  • No records of Milan Damji in Ekbalpur Nursing Home. Next —> Police Informer
  • Kumartuli – locate police informer. Nice touch – Vidya slips, Rana holds her hand. 1.06 mins
  • Police informer – Pal asked to locate who needed Bombay Blood in Ekbalpur Nursing home and why. Pal refuses to help. Vidya pleads, appealing on behalf of her unborn child. Vital leads acquired only because she is a helpless pregnant woman. Police wouldn’t have been able to extract the information. 1.07 hrs
  • Police informer Pal talks of shoot-out. Next clue – doctor who treated Milan Damji. Bob receives next job – kill Doctor Ganguli. 1.09 hrs
  • Vidya finds details about the shoot-out from Kalighat police station computer records

Rana’s attraction to Vidya grows (proximity as she bends over him to look at computer records)

  • Scene 142: Set up that will lead to the Denouement —> Vidya cleans table. Cleans it off her finger prints
  • Scene 143 – 145: Shoot out explanation by Rana. National Data Centre provides IB agents with cover/double identities
  • Scene 146 – 147: Poltu points out man with Briefcase -> Shridhar. 1.14 hrs
  • Scene 148: Bob’s next job -> Vidya. Shridhar, the Chief Technology Officer of Data Centre scans Vidya’s photo and MMS’ it to Bob
  • Scene 149: Nice touch. Bob is shining his nails when he gets his next job. He looks exasperated and the way he says to rickshaw valla – turn around, it looks as if he’s been given an errand to run to the fish market before leaving for office!
  • Scene 150 – 151: Dramatic scene. Chase! Bob chases Vidya. Kills innocent passerby. Rana chases Bob. Bob is run over by a truck. 1.16 hrs
  • Scene 154: Track Sridhar, handler of Bob/CTO of Data Centre. 1.19 hrs
  • Scene 155:   IP address of sender of MMS to Bob
  • Scene 158:  Sridhar signs out. Set up: peon carries three glasses; visitor’s book is out
  • Scene 162: Sridhar figures out his computer is being hacked. 1.23 hrs
  • Scene 163 – 166: Sridhar runs to his chamber. 1.25 hrs
  • Scene 167 – 168: Shridhar chases Vidya. Fight between Rana and Shridhar. Vidya kills Shridhar.
  • Scene 169: Khan arrives on scene. Says he wanted Shridhar alive to lead them onto Damji.
  • Scene 170: False denouement: Khan tells Vidya she had been used as bait to lead them onto Damji because no one suspects a pregnant woman. TURNING POINT: Khan asks Vidya to hack into Sridhar’s computer to find out who is the kingpin of the entire plot. 1.28 hrs
  • Scene 171: Not present in script. Panchami-idols come at night. Vidya watches a Durga idol. Charulata shot: from window to next window she follows the idol atop a truck. Ekla chalo re song plays in the background. She is readying herself for the final slaying of the demon – Milan Damji. Scene ends with close up of Durga’s lion on beheaded head of Asura Mahishasura and Goddess being bedecked with jewellery. She is being empowered.
  • Montage: not present in script. Vidya trying to hack into Sridhar’s computer to get info about kingpin; sashthi, the first day of Durga puja; women in white and red saris; Vidya cleaning her room meticulously; Vidya calling Bishnu for hot water; Puja in full swing – aarti in evening, dhunuchi dance; Vidya looking at parents with their kids at puja pandals; 1.32 hrs
  • FINAL CLUE! Vidya finds a code in Sridhar’s computer she can’t decipher. Rana realises it might be a phone number. Turns out to be Bhaskaran’s old number. Khan asks Vidya to call Bhaskaran – rest in script.
  • Scene ends with call from Milan Damji. Final link in the chain. (Nice touch – Khan forced to plead with Vidya “please help me”)
  • Pal, the informer warns Rana that Damji is back in the city and will kill Vidya. (didn’t see the point of this bit of information. Audience knows Vidya is in mortal danger). 1.38 hrs
  • “Upping the ante” as they say! Rana begs Khan to call off operation as Vidya’s life is in danger. Khan locks him up. Mocks him – don’t love the wrong person. 1.39 hrs.
  • Pre-climax: Vidya wears red-white sari. She breaks down. 1.40 hrs. Bishu quietly leaves his transistor behind for Vidya
  • Countdown to denouement: Rana escapes (OC helps him). Rushes to Mona Lisa hotel. Told Vidya has checked out. Notices something about Bishu (we still don’t know what)
  • Montage of Durga Puja at Triangular Park. POV of Vidya as she looks at the sea of faces around her trying to guess who might be Milan Damji
  • Shindoor khela: set up for Vidya’s final escape – climax
  • Scene 183 – 185: Milan Damji – jo ab take k kahaani tha. CLIMAX – Milan is killed by Vidya

•    Scene 187: 3 mins –    Denouement 1.50 hrs: Arnab’s school is actually Bishnu’s school; she used to regularly dust her room; She never signed – first time at police station when she was asked to sign missing report, she fainted; at Mona Lisa hotel she refused to sign because register was tattered; She killed Sriharan before IB could get to him; She knew as Khan himself would say, no one would suspect a pregnant woman searching for her missing husband

• Scene 190: Flashbacks. Pyrrhic victory: Vidya realises she had truly started believing she was pregnant and that she would find her husband. 1.53 hrs

• Scenes 191 – 193: Bhaskaran arrested. 1.56 hrs

  • Voice over – Goddess Durga comes to vanquish evil and then leaves; Candlelight remembrances

Notes:

•  Scenes 84 – 87: Deleted

– Vidya meets Rana at his home. This scene is replaced by a scene in front of Kalighat Police station. Vidya sees women in red border sarees going to Kalighat temple and remembers her conversation with Arnab.

– The change of location works – more colour. Also, home would have been too intimate. Would have struck a wrong note – why should Vidya visit him at his home?

IMPORTANT: missing from script – Rana says Milan Damji does not exist. He is just a kahaani

And some additional notes I made

  1. The plot moves because Vidya is pregnant – leading to disclosures. OC says husband got her pregnant and is absconding. IB – Khan reiterates the same. Emphasis on her as a victim of a domestic case. No one takes her missing file report seriously. Rana is of course chivalrous and concerned.
  2. Fun side of Vidya, making her endearing. Our empathy increases: Teases Bishnu about his radio; Gentle with Poltu; Mocks Rana. About his name. Mocks him when she makes him pick locks, twice (Data Centre Office; Damji’s house); Kicks him in tram.
  3. Rana’s growing attraction towards Vidya. Very economically dealt with. No dialogues: Concerned. Caring. Always worried she might hurt herself as she bends down, climbs stairs. Holds her hand. Intrigued, charmed by her playful side when she deliberately kicks him in the tram. Admires her tenacity. Admires her knack with children. Glowingly praises her maternal instinct.  When Vidya bends over him as she checks computer records – he is acutely conscious of his attraction towards her. When Vidya gets to know from Khan that she is being used as a bait she is appalled. Asks – her life, her child’s life was at threat. Immediately Rana says nothing would have happened to her – because he had taken up the case solely to ensure she was safe. Khan gives an amused, meaningful glance at Rana. He knows Rana has fallen for Vidya. Gifts her a sari, on behalf of Arnab. Genuinely cares for her.
  4. Detailing in sets:  (a) Calender of Sri Ramkrishna in Kalighat Police station (b) Trinamool Congress emblems on walls of North Kolkata when Vidya goes to locate Milan Damji’s house (c) Aalna or clothes stand typical of a Bengali house in hotel room
  5. RD Burman influence: Songs being played on radio in several street sequences; Song played on car radio when Sridhar realises his computer is being backed is Lekar hum deewana dil.

(For more posts by Deepanjali, you can check her blog here)

Official synopsis of Dekh Tamasha Dekh, Chenu, Oonga, Filmistaan, Fireflies

Posted: April 4, 2013 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, film, Indie, News, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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Most probably you haven’t heard about any of these titles mentioned in the header of the post. But they seem to be interesting films, and hopefully we will get to hear more about them in the coming months. So here’s the official synopsis of all these films.

DEKH TAMASHA DEKH

Away from any media attention, Feroze Abbas Khan has completed his next film titled Dekh Tamasha Dekh. He had earlier directed Gandhi, My Father.

Synopsis : The story revolves around the search for the religious identity of a poor man crushed under the weight of a politican’s hoarding. A social and political satire, the film explores the impossible India, where bizarre is normal.

Directed by Feroze Abbas Khan.
India 2012, 108 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast: Satish Kaushik, Tanvi Azmi, Vinay Jain, Sharad Ponkshe, Ganesh Yadav, Apoorva Arora, Alok Rajwade

CHENU

Manjeet Singh’s directorial debut Mumbai Cha Raja did a good round of film fests and now he is working on his next film titled Chenu. It has been selected for the 9th edition of L’Atelier organized by the Cinéfondation of the Cannes Film Festival.

Synopsis : Chenu, a low caste Dalit boy living in rural North India, is drawn into an ongoing war between the extremely violent leftist “Naxal” militia and the fascist landlords’ gang. One day his younger sister Chano’s fingers are chopped off by landlord Teer Singh for plucking mustard leaves from his farm. When Chenu’s family is denied justice, the Naxals come to their rescue. They huntdown Teer Singh forcing him to take refuge under the protection of Bhagwan Sing, the leader of a landlord gang who has just cremated a cart full of dead relatives killed by the Naxals. The Naxals then involve Chenu in their operations and he comes to know where their weapons are hidden. When physically beaten by the rich village kids for playing on their turf, Chenu learns to fire a handgun himself. Meanwhile Bhagwan Singh, in thirst of revenge, consolidates other landlord gangs to form a powerful private army. A bloody cycle of violence unleashes, engulfing Chenu’s innocence while setting him on the cours of his own journey.

OONGA

I have been hearing about Devashish Makhija for a long time. Good to know that he is ready with his debut feature.

Synopsis : Little Oonga missed his village school trip to the faraway big city Lohabad to see a play called ‘Ramayan’. Unable to handle the pressure of being the only kid around who has not seen the fantastic warrior-king ‘Rama’, Oonga runs away. He goes on a perilous journey across forest, river, mountains and roads – bigger than any he’s ever seen, and valleys lain to waste by the mining industry… until he reaches the large, cold, chaotic, blinding city. When he emerges from the play he believes he has become Rama! But he is now returning not to the warm confines of his little village, but to a battlefield where the ‘company’ will do anything to take the adivasi’s land away from them. Only, Oonga doesn’t know it yet.

Directed by Devashish Makhija.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 98 Minutes, Hindi and Oriya with English subtitles.
Cast – Alyy Khan, Anand Tiwari, Nandita Das, Priyanka Bose, Salim Kumar, Seema Biswas, Vipin Sharma

FILMISTAAN

Filmistaan22012 was a good year for Bollywood. But beating all those films, Nitin Kakkar’s debut feature Filmistaan bagged the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Hindi Language. And if you read the synopsis, you might know why. It sounds delicious.

Synopsis : This National Award winning movie is set in Mumbai where, affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes on becoming a heart-throb star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown out. Undeterred, he goes with an American crew to remote areas in Rajasthan to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group kidnaps him for the American crew-member. Sunny finds himself on enemy border amidst guns and pathani-clad guards, who decide to keep him hostage until they locate their original target. The house in which he is confined belongs to a Pakistani, whose trade stems from pirated Hindi films, which he brings back every time he crosses the border. Soon, the two factions realize that they share a human and cultural bond. The film shows how cinema can be the universal panacea for co-existence.

Directed by Nitin Kakkar.
India 2012, 117 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast – Sharib Hashmi, Kumud Mishra, Gopal Datt, Inaamulhaq

FIREFLIES

Synopsis : ‘Fireflies’ is the story of two estranged brothers – Shiv and Rana. Shiv, a successful banker, lives in the superficial glitter of corporate Bombay. The younger brother, Rana, is a law school dropout who lives by the day. Though worldly experiences and illusions briefly illuminate the brothers’ journeys, a tragedy that befell them fifteen years earlier seems destined to repeat itself, just in new incarnations. Flames suddenly extinguish again, in an eerie heartbeat. The journey ahead echoing with voices and visions from the past, and the magic realism of the years gone by, beckons the brothers to find each other again. And the picture in the puzzle that was scattered so long ago. Fireflies come out in the night, just to light up the darkness. They live as long as the glow lasts. Even if it is a lifetime, being lived in a day.

Directed by Sabal Singh Shekhawat.
India, 2012, 102 Minutes, Hindi & English.
Cast – Arjun Mathur, Monica Dogra, Rahul Khanna, Shivani Ghai, Aadya Bedi

WATCH : Trailer of Ajay Bahl’s film “BA Pass”. READ : “The Railway Aunty” (story on which it’s based)

Posted: April 3, 2013 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, film, Film Festival, first look, News, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer
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An interesting trailer of Ajay Bahl’s debut film “BA Pass” came out online recently. If you still haven’t seen it, click on the play button.

The cast includes Shilpa Shukla, Shadab Kamal, Rajesh Sharma, Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Geeta Agarwal.

And here’s the official synopsis of the film –

A young small town boy moves to Delhi to stay with his aunt and finish his college. Soon a mysterious married woman seduces him known to him as Sarika ‘Aunty’. Set amidst the neon-lit by lanes of Delhi’s Paharganj unfolds an erotic human drama between the two. A relationship based on lust, lies and deceit is forged. As the young boy gets more and more entrenched into his surroundings he discovers a city that thrives on corrupting even the most naive and innocent.

– The film is based on Mohan Sikka’s story “The Railway Aunty”, which was part of the anthology “Delhi Noir”. The story is available online. If you haven’t read it yet, click here.

– Click here to read an interview of the director on DearCinema.com.

– The film will have its next screening at New York Indian Film Festival which is scheduled from April 30th to May4th, 2013.

– To know more about the film, you can follow its Facebook page.

Eight scripts selected for Mahindra-Sundance Screenwriters Lab – all the details

Posted: March 11, 2013 by moifightclub in cinema, News, Screenwriting, Scripts, Story / Plot / Synopsis, writing
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screenwriting-215x300Mumbai Mantra, the media and entertainment division of the Mahindra Group, in collaboration with Sundance Institute, has selected eight Indian Screenwriters and their feature film projects for the second annual Mumbai Mantra | Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab scheduled from March 10-15.

– This year’s Screenwriting Fellows are: Sarthak Dasgupta (The Music Teacher); Pratim D. Gupta (Ink); Nitin Kakkar (Black Freedom); Abhijit Mazumdar (Delirium); Terrie Samundra (Betamax); Renuka Shahane (Tribhanga); Kavanjit Singh (Television); and Neha Sinha (Forgiven).

– Creative Advisors include: Bill Wheeler (The Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Hoax), Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace), Asif Kapadia (The Warrior, Senna), Habib Faisal (Do Dooni Chaar, Ishaqzaade – Born to Hate… Destined to Love), Sabrina Dhawan (Monsoon Wedding), Anjum Rajabali (Rajneeti, Aaraakshan), Marti Noxon (Mad Men, Glee), Carlos Cuaron (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Rudo Y Cursi), and Malia Scotch-Marmo (Hook, Once Around).

– Mumbai Mantra received over 500 applications for the Lab from Indian screenwriters across the globe. After intense debate and deliberation and consultation with the Sundance Institute, the final 8 projects were decided.

– The Selection Advisory Committee included Dev Benegal, Ira Bhaskar, Pubali Chaudhuri, Uma Da Cunha, Rashmi Doraiswamy, Habib Faisal, K. Hariharan, Deven Khote, Prakash Kovelamudi, Ram Madhvani, Neeru Nanda, Sriram Raghavan, Anjum Rajabali, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Mahesh Samat, Meenakshi Shedde, and Anahita Uberoi.

PROJECTS AND SCREENWRITERS SELECTED

The Music Teacher / India

LOGLINE
The life of a small town music teacher takes a sharp turn when one of his ex-students, now estranged, a big celebrity in the far-away city today, is slated to visit the town after many years. The teacher, now lovelorn, prepares to meet her not knowing if she still bears the same feelings about him as she did those many years back.

Writer/director: Sarthak Dasgupta
With a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, a Master’s degree in Business Management, and five years in the corporate world of Mumbai, Sarthak Dasgupta realized life needed a different definition than the one he was living. Sarthak left his cushy job and set out to become a filmmaker. His debut feature The Great Indian Butterfly has screened at various international film festivals.

Ink / India
LOGLINE
A struggling journalist chances upon a scandalous story which has the potential to rock the world of showbiz.

Writer/director: Pratim D. Gupta
Pratim D. Gupta has been the resident film critic for The Telegraph newspaper in Kolkata, the largest selling English daily in east India, for eight years. His screenplay The Deaths of Ray was selected from India for the Binger Script Lab at the 2009 Locarno International Film Festival. Paanch Adhyay (Afterglow) was Pratim’s first feature film as writer-director.The 2012 romantic drama was selected as the Centrepiece Premiere at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York and was picked as the New Voice in Indian Cinema at the Mumbai International Film Festival. It also won the Best Film Award at Kalakar Awards, one of the oldest and most prestigious award ceremonies in India.

Black Freedom / India
LOGLINE
Black Freedom is a collection of five short stories woven in one film. It is dedicated to the memory of Saadat Hasan Manto. It’s about his dream of a sub-continent where people will still live as people, irrespective of religion, caste or color, where hatred shall stand abolished, where religion shall only ennoble those who follow it, not divide them into warring tribes. Sixty-five years after independence, Manto’s dream remains a dream…
The 5 short stories of Manto  that the film is  inspired from are Toba Tek Singh, Khol Do, Tetwaal Ka Kutta, Sharifan and The  Last Salute.

Writer-director: Nitin Kakkar
After gaining experience as an assistant director for various Hindi movies, Nitin Kakkar made his directorial debut with the award-winning short film, Black Freedom (2004). Since then, he has worked on a number of television projects including Prayaschit, Jersey No 10, and CID. Nitin’s debut feature film Filmistaan received a Special Jury Mention during its World Premiere at the Busan International Film Festival. Thefilm also won Nitin the Best Debut Director at the International Film Festival of Kerala and Jaipur film Festival

Delirium / India
LOGLINE
A story about six people and their manic missions…six specs of dust crisscross paths, ready to raise a storm in the endless city of Mumbai.

Writer/director: Abhijit Mazumdar
Abhijit Mazumdar is a Direction graduate from Film & Television Institute of India, Pune. He has made a number of short films, documentaries and commercials. His films have received both national and international awards. His latest medium-length film Vanishing Point is an official selection in Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2013, Glasgow Short Film Festival (Competition Section “Adrift”) 2013, International Film Festival of India (Indian Panorama) 2012, International Documentary & Short Film Festival, Kerala (Focus Section) 2012.

Betamax / India-US
LOGLINE
With the release of the first home video camcorder, a teenage Sikh boy and a squatter Punk girl become unlikely friends and filmmaking collaborators as London sits on the brink of race riots and a youth uprising in the summer of 1976.

Writer/director: Terrie Samundra
Terrie Samundra grew up between a rural village in India, a small farming town in Missouri, and the California coast. She is the director of the award-winning short films Kunjo and A Short Tale of Xuanand is co-writer of Pooja’s Honor, the first screenplay in The Ballad of Pooja trilogy. She is a Princess Grace Award recipient, a National Geographic All Roads Seed Grant recipient, and is currently the Head Programmer at the 2013 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.

Tribhanga / India
LOGLINE
The film Tribhanga is a story of three women, from the same family, of three different generations. The lives of these three women overlap each other’s like concentric circles… each determining the shape of the other… each contributing to the other’s life in a very deep manner… each becoming the other’s strength in key times in their life. Their lives are like ‘Tribhanga’, the Odissi dance pose that is so disjointed, yet so beautiful, magical and mesmerising.

Writer/director: Renuka Shahane
Renuka Shahane has been an actress in Indian theatre, television and film for the past 25 years. Her work in television includes Lifeline, Surabhi, Circus, Imtihaan, Sailaab, Close-up Antakshari, Kora Kaagaz and the celebrity dance competition Jhalak Dikhla Jaa. In her film work, she is best known for the Bollywood blockbuster Hum Aapke Hain Kaun? Her first feature as director was the critically acclaimed Rita for which she won Best director for a Marathi film at the 16th Nokia Star-Screen Awards 2010. She also received the Best Screenplay Award in Marathi Films competitive section of the 8th Pune International Film Festival.

Television / India

LOGLINE
Television is a story about three men – Vijay, who is about to get married and start a new life; Ravi, who wants best for his 3-year old son and must decide between his principals and the ways of world; and Malik, who is now retired and wants to live a peaceful life.
Unforeseen circumstances have put these three men at crossroads. They must decide what path to choose.

Writer/director: Kavanjit Singh
Kavanjit Singh is a screenwriter and director from Pune, India. Kavan started his film career at Whistling Woods, graduating in Film Direction. A former Infosys Project Manager with an undergraduate degree in electronics engineering, Kavan is pursuing his passion for cinema.
His short film Jagjeet has won nine Best Short Film Awards across the world.

Forgiven / India

LOGLINE
Amidst the socio political unrest of 1987 in Kerala, a rebellious daughter from an upper caste family and her impressionable young niece set into motion a series of events that lead to betrayal and a dramatic death. 16 years on, with the patriarch on his deathbed, the disintegrated family is forced to come together, re-visit their past and find forgiveness.

Writer-director: Neha Sinha
After studying Philosophy at Lady Shri Ram College and film at the National Institute of Design, Neha Sinha has worked as a documentary filmmaker and as art director at the advertising firm JWT. She has also been a creative assistant to adman Ram Madhvani on various commercials, including the Cannes Lions 2007-winning ‘Palace’ for Happydent White, and assisted Abhinay Deo on Aamir Khan Production’s acclaimed film Delhi Belly. Currently, she works with Siddharth Basu in Big Synergy where she develops content and fiction based TV shows. Forgiven is her first original screenplay.

 (via official press release)

Is “Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola” adapted from “Mr Puntila and his Man Matti”?

Posted: January 9, 2013 by moifightclub in Aao guess karein, Adaptation, bollywood, cinema, film, News, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola

This is weird. Don’t remember Vishal Bhardwaj mentioning about the Brecht’s play, Mr Puntila and his Man Matti, in any of his interviews. But the basic plot seems to be quite similar.

To quote from wiki page of the play…

The story describes the aristocratic land-owner Puntila’s relationship to his servant, Matti, as well as his daughter, Eva, who he wants to marry off to an Attaché. Eva herself loves Matti and so Puntila has to decide whether to marry his daughter to his driver or to an Attaché, while he also deals with a drinking problem.

 In his essay “Notes on the Folk Play” (written in 1940), Brecht warns that “naturalistic acting is not enough in this case” and recommends an approach to staging that draws on the Commedia dell’Arte. The central relationship between Mr Puntila and Matti—in which Puntila is warm, friendly and loving when drunk, but cold, cynical and penny-pinching when sober—echoes the relationship between the Tramp and the Millionaire in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931).

Now, if you have seen the trailers of MKBKM, it’s easy to guess the basic plot. To quote from its IMDB page…

Harry is an industrialist who loves his daughter Bijlee, and the bond they share with Harry’s man friday, Matru. Bijlee’s plan to wed the son of a politician, however, brings twists and turns in the lives of Matru, Bijlee and Mandola.

Though the IMDB synopsis might not be accurate but one thing we are sure about – Pankaj Kapur’s character trait is the same as Puntila in the play. And as mentioned in the wiki page, City Lights is on similar tangent.

Also, if you see the title of the play and the film, both swings the same way. And as a friend mentioned on twitter, VB’s love for giving subtle hat-tips in names/titles is not really new – Iago/Tyagi, Desdemona/Dolly etc.

So what’s the real deal?

If the film is an adaptation of the play or even the basic idea is the same, why is Vishal hiding it? Especially when he is known for doing great adaptations. If not, what are we missing? Enlighten us please! Otherwise friday is not really far.

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