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.
Films, fests, unsung, indies, undiscovered - all that and some fun. If you have dope on anything related to cinema or you would like to share something, do write to us at moifightclub@gmail.com.
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Two new teasers of Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s new film Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa (Sniffer) has released online. Both the teasers don’t say much about the film but there’s a great mood there. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Niharika Singh and Ananya Chatterjee. Have a look.
Official synopsis
Master Bengali filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta teams up with India’s hottest indie actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui in this richly textured black comedy, set against a magical, surreal tableaux of the Bengali city and countryside that’s typical of Dasgupta’s eye. Anwar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is a well meaning if clumsy private detective, or ‘sniffer’, who can’t help getting personally embroiled with the clients he is spying on. His only true companion is an old dog. His pet and his regular drunkenness put him at odds with the local orthodox Muslim housing block, who want him out. At the same time, Anwar increasingly struggles to cope with his small-time sleuth work that shows him that, in the modern world, even love is for sale. When a case takes Anwar back to his rural homeland, he’s forced to confront his own love tragedy. Siddiqui lights up the screen, displaying a talent for deft comic timing that makes Sniffer a joy to watch.
Duration :132 mins
The film premiered at London Film Festival last year and will be shown at New York Indian Film Festival this year.
Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla have documented one of the most exciting political turn of events in recent times – the making of AAP and the rise of Arvind Kejriwal. They have just released the first look of the documentary titled ‘Proposition For A Revolution’. They are also looking for post-production funds. So do check this out and if you like, do contribute.
– To contribute, you can go to their official site here.
As we have said before, it’s a great time for desi documentaries. And while this one is not an Indian production, it does have a desi connection. Amma & Appa is a personal documentary about the cross-cultural marriage of director Franziska Schoenenberger and her fiancé and co-director Jayakrishnan Subramaniam. It was warmly received when it showed recently at the Berlin Film Fest in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. Check out the trailer and synopsis below:
Franziska comes from Bavaria and is in love with Jayakrishnan from southern India. When the couple decide that their love should lead to marriage and a life in Germany, both sets of in-laws find that cultural customs they took for granted are now suddenly subjected to scrutiny.
Whilst Franziska’s parents chose to marry of their own free will, the marriage of Jayakrishnan’s parents was arranged within their own caste, as is customary in Caddalore in southern India. As far as they are concerned, their son’s intention not only to marry a foreigner but to marry for love represents a cruel act of revenge on the part of the gods, since the match calls into question their whole traditional way of life.
Hoping to overcome cultural barriers, the parents of the Bavarian bride-to-be decide to travel to India to visit their future son-in-law’s parents. Interspersed with delicate animation sequences, Amma & Appa is a personal documentary which tells the story of one intercultural union — and in doing so humorously explores the familiar in the unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar in the familiar.
For more info on the film, check out the FB page or the website.
Some of us had the privilege of watching Nisha Pahuja’s critically-acclaimed, controversial and undoubtedly brilliant documentary “The World Before Her” last year, and had nothing but praise for it. In fact, we even wrote about it at length and put it on our Must Watch film recco list. We’re now delighted to announce that after having a theatrical release in US and Canada, and winning accolades and top awards in the prestigious International film festivals, the film will get a release in India via PVR Director’s Rare in 6 cities — Bombay, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad and Bangalore — on April 25. More about the film below.
Synopsis
The World Before Her tells the story of girls competing in the Miss India Pageant and those taking part in the VHP’s Durga Vahini camps. It is a tale of two Indias. In one, Ruhi Singh is a small-town girl competing in Bombay to win the Miss India pageant—a ticket to stardom in a country wild about beauty contests. In the other India, Prachi Trivedi is the young, militant leader of a fundamentalist Hindu camp for girls run by Durga Vahini, where she preaches violent resistance to Western culture, Christianity, and Islam. Moving between these divergent realities, the film creates a lively, provocative portrait of the world’s largest democracy at a critical transitional moment—and of two women who hope to shape its future. The film also features former Miss India Pooja Chopra who was a near victim of female infanticide. Watch the trailer below:
The writer and the director of the film, Nisha Pahuja who is the first filmmaker to get inside a Durga Vahini camp says,
“I am thrilled to finally present the film to audiences in India! Although we’ve had a great run with it abroad, I’ve always felt that it needs to be seen in India because it is first and foremost an Indian story. And sharing it now is key since women’s rights has become an issue that is front and centre in the public consciousness.”
The award winning film is shot by the ace cinematographer and FTII graduate, Mrinal Desai and Derek Rogers.
Apart from the theatrical release, the film will be screened in various cities, villages, schools and colleges across the nation as a part of its ambitious nation-wide campaign. The film is being shown at the prestigious educational institutes including Symbiosis, IIT and IIM institutes across the country. Joining the campaign are women’s rights activist and some of the incredible women featured in the film including the former beauty queen Pooja Chopra.
Awards and Accolades
The award winning film which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2012 has been screened in more than 125 film festivals across the world and has won over 19 awards including best documentary feature at the Tribeca Film Festival 2012, best Canadian Feature, 2012 Hot Docs Film FestivaL, best Foreign Film, 2012 Traverse City Film FestivaL, best Canadian Documentary, 2012 Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards. It was recently featured in the ‘Film Forward’ program of the prestigious Sundance film festival and was part of Indiana University Cinema program where Pahuja was invited to present and speak about the film along with other speakers including Meryl Streep, Abbas Kirostami and Roger Corman.
About the director
Nisha Pahuja is a freelance filmmaker, writer, producer, and researcher who was born in India, but grew up in Toronto. Her third film, The World Before Her won the World Documentary Competition Award at Tribeca Film Festival, where it premiered. Though she grew up in Toronto, this is her second film focusing on India. She makes films that deal with social and political issues and are driven by character and narrative.
For further information on the film please log onto the website.
The trailer for ‘Jal’ came our way recently, and left us somewhat intrigued. Even if the prominent blurb by The Hollywood Reporter — “a breathtakingly photographed tragedy of Shakespearean proportions” — doesn’t catch your attention, the lavish photography will surely charm you. Water has been a contentious resource since ages — prompting anything from friendly neighbourhood quarrels to full-blown riots to inter-governmental conflicts. We hope this premise translates into a good film.
After having travelled the festival circuit last year — it was selected in the New Currents section at Busan International Film Festival 2013 and was screened in the Indian Panorama section at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) — ‘Jal’ releases on March 21 across India.
Here’s the trailer of the film, followed by the synopsis:
‘Jal’ is a high-octane, action-drama about a young water diviner, Bakka, who is gifted with a special ability to find water in the desert.With the backdrop of water scarcity, the film tells a complex and intriguing story of love, relationships, enmity, deceit and circumstances that bring about the dark side of human character. It is a high-octane, action- drama with a shocking climax. Shot on an epic scale, the film is a visual treat and has managed to capture ‘Rann Of Kutch’ like never before.
Cast and Crew
Produced by ‘One World Films Pvt. Ltd’ and ‘Clapstem Productions’, the film is directed by Girish Malik starring Purab Kohli, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Kirti Kulhari, Saidah Jules, Mukul Dev, Yashpal Sharma, Rahul Singh & Ravi Gosain.
Quite interestingly, the music is by Sonu Nigam and Bickram Ghosh.
For those who wish to learn more, here’s a short interview of Girish Malik in which he speaks about his inspiration for the film, the idea for which had been brewing in his mind for 15 years.
This one’s taken some coming (no pun intended). The first look of ‘Mastram’, based on the life of the mythical writer of Hindi erotica from the 90s, surfaced a few weeks before the 15th Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) last year, where it was an official entry. However, the first trailer has only arrived today.
Those who follow this blog closely will immediately recognise Akhilesh Jaiswal as one of the writers of ‘Gangs as Wasseypur’; while that’s a strong film to have on your resume, it remains to be seen how well he’s managed to adapt this particular story — given how often “bold” themes in our cinema warp into juvenilia — for the screen. The official Facebook page for ‘Mastram’ has been posting quite of bit of promotional material since the beginning of January: mostly posters that range from cheesy to raunchy.
The trailer itself, which was released earlier today, doesn’t say much about the film, except for putting together a mishmash of various steamy scenes and the angst of a writer. Nonetheless, a friend who watched the film at MAMI last year enjoyed the movie and believes it does well in bringing to light the sheer hypocrisy that oils the wheels of our society.
Here’s the trailer of the film, followed by the synopsis:
Rajaram, a bank clerk in a small town, dreams of traveling to Delhi and becoming a reputed writer. No one takes his aspirations seriously, least of all his uncle, who marries him off to the beautiful Renu. Although a simpleton, Renu wholeheartedly supports her husband’s ambition. Edged on by her encouragement, Rajaram starts stealing writing time from his humdrum work routine, and is eventually forced to leave his job. But being a stay-at-home writer doesn’t go down too well with prying neighbours. Rajaram becomes a butt of all jokes in the neighbourhood.
Turning a deaf ear to the all the snubs, Rajaram starts in earnest to show his work to several publishers. Each time he is rebuked. Finally, Rajaram encounters a fledgling publisher duo – Purohit and his brother-in-law, Bharti. They agree to publish Rajaram’s story about the plight of a small town girl. However, there is one hitch. Rajaram would have to add some necessary sensational elements to his dull tale – some `masala’, as they refer to euphemistically. Rajaram is initially miffed by this writing brief. He is not sure what it means to bring that to his writing – till he meets Chacha, an eccentric, old village Idiot. He introduces Rajaram to the salacious and secret world of soft pornography. It’s on everybody’s mind, but no one will admit it. Chacha does.
Rajaram, scandalized at first, accedes to the “compromise”, and thus starts discovering another facet of literature – erotica. He adopts the colorful pseudonym of `Mastram’ becomes the first author of the first pornographic novel series in Hindi. He churns out colourful stories about sex that his eager readers voraciously devour. Yet, Rajaram’s success still remains elusive to him, as all the glory is due to `Mastram’. Will the “real” Mastram finally be exposed? Will Rajaram’s sudden windfall arouse suspicion in his ever-supportive wife? How will Rajaram face the hypocrisy of a society that secretly enjoys reading porn, but otherwise treats such matters with disdain?
Produced By Ajay G Rai, Sanjeev Singh Pal
Director : Akhilesh Jaiswal
Casting : Mukesh Chhabra
Costume Designer : Subodh Srivastava
Music : Manan Bharadwaj
Background Music : Saurabh Kalsi
Digital Partner : One Digital Entertainment
Editor : Apurva Motiwale Ashish Mhatre
Production Designer : Dhananjoy Mondal
Director Of Photography : Gavemic Ary
Writer : Akhilesh Jaiswal Gunjan Saxena
Lab : Prime Focus
Co Producer : The Film Label &Ashoke Pandit
– For those who wish to read more, click here and here to read interviews with Akhilesh Jaiswal in which he talks about the real Mastram; the process of researching the film; and then some.
Gitanjali Rao’s new animation film ‘True Love Story’ bagged the Golden Conch Award for Best Animation Film at the recently concluded Mumbai International Film Festival. This 18 minute animation, set in the streets of Mumbai explores what happens when the ultimate Bollywood fantasy is applied in reality. It gives glimpse into the influence of Bollywood on real life in Mumbai, told through puppet animation.
Here’s the trailer of the film
More about the film from Scroll – It’s a frame by frame painted 19-minute film about love, told from the eyes of two migrants who come to Mumbai and fall in love with each other. The boy in the film is hugely influenced by Bollywood and he falls in love with the girl across the street. Who will teach him how to woo her? This is a boy-meets-girl story, from the perspective of people who find themselves adrift in the big city.
As we have said million times in the past, and still keep repeating ourselves, if you have not seen Rao’s work, you have not seen the best animation that this country has produced. So we are embedding one of her popular animation films here. Do watch.
From her official website –
‘Printed Rainbow’ describes the loneliness of an old woman and her cat, who escape into the fantastical world of match box covers.
Gitanjali painted the entire film frame by frame over three years as a labour of love dedicated to her mother and cat. The film went on to premier in Cannes in 2006 and won her the first set of laurels with three Awards for the Best Short film in Critic’s Week, Cannes 2006. Then followed 22 international awards and screenings in over a hundred international festivals.
– She also did the delicious opening credits of Stanley Ka Dabba. To know more about her work and films, click here.
We are a bit late on this one, but we still thought we ought to feature it nevertheless. The poster and trailer of Rajat Kapoor’s Ankhon Dekhi arrived online sometime back- and while we are not quite sure how well they sell the film or convey what it’s really about- they give us a feel of the world it’s set in.
Some of us happened to see the film a while back and the reactions were pretty good. It’s an oddball, quirky film that goes through some distinct shifts of tone but always remains interesting and thought provoking. It’s also powered by some good performances from a strong cast led by Sanjay Mishra.
Here’s the trailer of the film, followed by the synopsis:
‘Ankhon Dekhi’ is the story about ‘Bauji’, a 55 year old man, who lives a dreary but eventful life in a joint family, that shares a small house cramped with people and drama. One day Bauji has an epiphany and decides that from that point on he would only believe what he sees with his own eyes, nothing else can be certain. There are a quite a few challenges on his onward journey- but Bauji never loses sight of what is before his eyes.
Produced by Manish Mundra, the film has been written and directed by Rajat Kapoor, who also stars in the film. ‘Aankhon Dekhi’ also features Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Taranjeet, Maya Sarao, Namit Das, Brijendra Kala and Manu Rishi Chadha.
Varun Grover, lyricist and our editorial member, has written the songs for the film.
And here we have an interview of Rajat Kapoor where he speaks about Ankhon Dekhi and the challenges of making his brand of cinema.
Initially it was the title of the film that made us curious. And strangely, nobody knew the meaning because though it seems like a Marathi word, it isn’t. And then we saw the film at Mumbai Film Festival and loved it. It even featured in our best scenes of the year list.
The film has been written and directed by Nagraj Manjule. The makers have just released the official first trailer of the film. It perfectly captures the mood and the essence of the film. Have a look. And thankfully, it’s with English subtitles.
Official Synopsis
A mesmeric force pulls Jabya onto the other side. The rarest of rare Black Sparrow, he is told, is the cure to his problem. The hypnotic spell of the sparrow makes him wander relentlessly. Completely away from the magical world of Jabya, exists the callous reality of his parents who are working at the most oppressed level of the Indian Class Structure and assume him to do the same work which they have done all their life. The protagonist Jabya has to now struggle between his quest to find the magical sparrow and his parents’ expectations. Will Jabya be successful in his pursuit of the Black Sparrow? Will the magnetic power surpass the class differences between Jabya and Shalu created by centuries of customs.? Will Jabya break the fences and pass onto the other side?
Kamal Swaroop’s cult classic Om Dar B Dar has been restored and will have a release on 17th January, 2014. PVR Director’s Rare in association with NFDC is doing the release. Don’t miss this film. A new trailer of the film is just out.
Official Synopsis:
As Om rides a bicycle, scissor-legged, the landscape (Pushkar-Ajmer) resounds with distinctive voices: his father’s rebellions against the world, his ‘bold’ sister, her gentle suitor, the searching eyes of the runaway actress, the local businessman trying to protect the diamonds he has shat…the rebellion of the tadpoles. The filmmaker takes on the frightening, beautiful energy of adolescence – to joyfully shake open the landscapes of his own childhood, unearthing, and mixing politics with mythology and techno music with biology for Alchemy.
Director’s statement:
I was assistant on Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. The scale of production had made extras of large sections of the population of Delhi: the whole exercise had become an army operation, and we the big general’s lieutenants, the ring master’s sidekicks, arranging those masses on the sides of the roads so that the story of Gandhi could walk and blossom forth. The tear in the upholstery of my hotel room chair became a glad reminder of human life as I knew it. Inspired by the missing piece of cloth, I began spinning a parallel story about a town I grew up in and an adolescent who rode his bicycle scissor legged. The story grew and wanted to take on the larger production within which it was incubated. The boy therefore had to be called Om.
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 