Shah Rukh Khan Interview

Posted: June 2, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, News
Tags: , , , , , , ,
22

Sinus is a great equaliser. That’s the first thought which came to my mind when i met Shah Rukh Khan. I thought it was for lesser mortals like us. A superstar with a sinus problem and no solution? Plus, pain in the knees. Blame it on the jumping, dancing and cartwheeling. And when my nose gets irritating, i have the luxury to shut everything and go to bed quietly. But SRK doesn’t have that luxury – meetings, back to back interviews, photo-ops. Black coffee is his source of energy. He picks another cup and settles down to talk.

I pointed to the other big cup in the room – IPL one, and asked if that’s the source of energy these days even when he has bad cold? Having faced all kind of criticism because of KKR’s performance in the last few years, he could see it as a pitch for another one. And so quickly clarified it with a smiling face –  It’s completely wrong for me to be sitting with this cup for two days because it actually deserves to be with Gautam and the boys. So I was just asking before I sat with you that this needs to be sent back otherwise they will think the owner has stolen the cup and run away.

Since Vishal Bhardwaj is one of my favourite filmmakers and there has been talks about him working with VB, i could not control myself from starting the conversation by asking if they are ever going to work together. He said, we were discussing Two States. And then i heard from few other actors and actresses that they are also doing Two States. I thought arre we all are doing Two States kya? Also, there was some issue with the copyright of the book. So that’s not happening. But we are going to meet soon and inshahallah, let’s see.

We also discussed his school of cinema and where he belongs now. So without wasting any more time, over to him for what he does best – conversation. And for his other talent – spreading those arms and let the love flow? He promises he will deliver that soon in Yash Chopra’s film.

Still Flying High?

I am always high during the process of things. Once the process has been ended or achieved, I move on to other things. But, yes, we are very thrilled for this set of boys and the whole team, Venky and Jay, everyone who has been working so hard for 4-5 years. I sometimes feel it is a little unfortunate that KKR is strongly associated with me by virtue of being a film star but actually what happens in KKR is extremely and tightly associated with the people who run it, which is the staff, the administration, the on-ground staff, the cricketers and these 20-24 boys of the team. But its alright, now that we have won it, it’s an extremely happy feeling. I feel like a proud father for all the youngster who played for the team.

Criticism because of me

See, I don’t play the game. So what was difficult is to accept the fact that here is a set of team like any other team, which will do well and do badly, like all teams do, but, yes, I do feel responsible, but unfortunately a lot of the criticism is due to me. A lot of things which should not be attributed to cricket or the boys who are playing it, got attributed to them because I happen to be one of the owners of the team. And there is no other way that I can turn around and tell them ever that i am really sorry guys, people talk more about them, it’s over-hyped for its victory, it’s over-hyped for its defeat.

My involvement?

A lot of time I have heard  people turn around and say that I involve myself in the cricket. I have never done that. But there’s no way to explain it when you are losing. Because nobody gives you a chance or believes that. The decisions that the team has taken, when anyone asks me, why was this decision taken? I say I didn’t take it. You know there’s a whole set of good minds who know their cricket and they take it and they are still with us from day one. There are boys like Andrew and Adrian and Joydeep and Joy and Mathew and the Coaches that have come in and of course, the team. They take all the decisions, they believe in certain things, they design the strategy, so don’t blame them if that strategy have gone wrong. Ya, it’s just gone wrong but don’t blame them more than they should be held responsible for it just because a movie star happens to own the team.

Criticism of Kolkata celebrations & Sports as a career

Now, i don’t know how to say, may be I get hurt with the little things and I remain unhurt by the big things sometimes. Being the focus of attention twenty four hours a day for all good things and some bad, it does start making you a different person. We went there to share happiness and I have said this often enough that it’s alright to be happy. It’s an important aspect for sports in our country that if there is celebration, there will be lot of parents and guardians who will say that it’s a good thing if my son also takes to sports. It makes you famous, it makes you sing, it makes you dance, people come out on the streets. They will believe that they will be in good hands if they play sports. And I am not taking away from any other profession but I am a big believer that sport should be, as a profession, available to youngsters. And they should have the choice . Not just cricket, football, hockey, chess, but everything. We have some great achievements in that and that greatness would be multiplied or will go multifold only if we give the impression to everyone that it’s a great job to do. So when people  say that, Oo there are only 4 or 5 Bengalis in the team, why should Bengal celebrate? Come on, it’s a part of India. Its an integral part of India. We are Indians! If there is a club or city which wins on that day let them celebrate.

Next year when they win, be it Chennai, Insaallah, they celebrate. And let me tell you if they win it in Mumbai, I will come for it. I will not stay away from it.

If the Chief Minister wants to come for it, they are most welcome. Let me just tell you if we start looking for propriety in happiness, it will not be as free flowing and as beautiful as happiness should be. You can question everything it from a cartwheel to a bus ride to anything. I remember when I was shooting for Chak De India, there was a scene when the team wins and I didn’t know how to play it. Then i saw a Japanese coach winning an Olympic gold and through out the game he was most animated and shouting and abusing in Japanese. I could not tell, I was seeing the documentary and suddenly they won the gold. When they won he just sat down quietly. So everybody has their own way of expressing happiness. If I was to keep on questioning individually and pass judgement on how in happiness some people jump, some people sit.

My son jumped on the bed, broke the bed. I didn’t reprimand him. I think its alright to jump on the bed and be happy. I jumped on the field, my kids have not yet reprimanded me. And people came out on the street in lakhs to celebrate the fact there is an attachment to KKR and Gautam Gambhir. I think its fantastic.

Daddy as embarrassment

I don’t know how true it is for other star children but I think star children go through a lot of embarrassment. But on the other hand a lot of children go through the fact that parents say, you know what, its alright to be an actor. And you know what, let me see, if my Dad behaved like that, then? (He thinks for a bit and smiles) I ask my children many times, are you embarrassed? They say, no, its ok, Papa. Sometimes they say, sometimes they just say ok just to keep my heart. They might be embarrassed. But its alright, you know, I turn around and say, you know what, there are times when you embarrassed me but I still love you as much. It’s love.

Me and Mamtadi

 Oh, i think she is just a wonderful lady. You know, I heard some criticism that why is she telling people to move away, we were her guests, she wanted there to be no crowd. I think she is very earthy, she is very normal. I think she is amazingly appealing because you know, you normally assume that we have been trained to believe that people in high posts and important areas should be of a certain manner. It’s alright if you don’t wear a tie.

I’ll tell you, I met the Premier of Malaysia once, Dr. Mahathir, one of the most respected names in the world. I went to see him near his parliament and he held my hand, walked out of the parliament without any police around him, and he started showing me the gardens. And there were people who were waving out and he looks at me and he says, you know Shah Rukh, I think I am really famous, people are waving at me. And whenever I go to Malaysia, he has got a small shop, which is a beautiful shop and he makes breads there. And he always takes me by the hand from the 80th floor of the Petronas Towers, where he sits. He takes me there and says, come, lets have some bread. So I find it amazingly charming. So all these ideologies and all, I don’t know. Sometimes I believe, may be, it is a throw-back from the times when we were not free, you know, behave in a certain manner. If you are an officer on duty, behave like this. If you are an official, then treat everyone as if they are inferior. You know, I think it’s a bit of the babu culture that is remaining. But I think its time we change that and leaders talking, being wonderful and warm, because we forget anyone, whether anybody, a king or a person, just about manages in life. First, they are normal human beings with normal emotions, and allow that freedom to everyone. Don’t sit on judgement, don’t sit on a high horse, don’t believe that you can undermine somebody’s emotions just because the person happens to be important and you can do so.

Video you didn’t see – It’s all about the family (Winning mantra)

You know,  for 5 years people tell me that do you talk to your boys, do you say something to them? No, I hardly say anything to them. Whenever you finish a match or begin a match, you know, sometimes a boy comes down. Yusuf will come and sit with me, Iqbal will come, Manoj Tiwary or Debabrata. A couple of times I have been called by the Coach when he sees me, he calls me and says, Shah Rukh, come here, you know what, sit down with Bisla and have a chat with him. He’ll feel confident and good because they are young boys.  They are going on a  very big arena and maybe because i have the experience of myself on big arenas, so they feel if I can chat with them and make them comfortable.

Gautam sometimes tells me,  Shah Rukh Bhaiyya, isse paanch minute baat kar lena, khud apne aap main jab aapka dil kare. So I do and I remember when Sunil Narine had come in, initially he was very quiet. He was a young boy, so Gautam told me, Shahrukh Bhai speak to him and make him feel comfortable. So I just speak to them at that level and then the last match was on, and I just felt that these guys have been away from their families for more than two months. If I am able to make sure that their whole families talk to them, and send a message, they must be missing them too. So we sent cameras all over the world. We are filmi people, so that is something that lies in our domain, so we sent cameras and got messages from their children, their sisters, their brothers, their mothers, their fathers  and the whole idea was that the team plays for the team, the team plays for the fans, this time just go and play for the people who love you inspite of winning or losing. So, it was very touching to see. We never get to see the people behind the scenes of these great achievers. So it was wonderful to see Pradeep Sangwan’s parents, it was fantastic to see Debabrata’s dad, lovely to see Bisla, it was nice to see McCullum’s family and Marchant De Lange’s aunt from somewhere and Sunil Narine’s mom and dad talking. It was beautiful, it was fantastic. It was very touching to me, so I am sure they felt that this team is like a family because their family was there to cheer them on for the finals.

Wankhede

I have no stand on it. I don’t know why people think it’s a stand. I said so that I do not in any which way mix two things together. Like if I am doing something good or bad, does not mean I represent everyone in Bollywood and they are like that. I don’t think so. They are wonderful people, here there are much better people than me. Really nice guys. If you misbehave with me, does not mean the whole of your community is like you. An individual’s action or reaction does not hold true for the whole association or the organization he or she works for and my reaction is to an individual, in no which way to any organization or association. And on the other hand, an organization or association, if it feels the right thing to do, if an individual from our team has been subjected to an abuse, which I did, and even if you did the same, but its alright to stand by them. I think its absolutely alright and its absolutely clean and its the way and the rules of the organisation. I don’t know, may be, I would do the same if somebody came and got angry.

Suppose there was a boy in my office and he said something to instigate you, and you got angry with him. I’ll still stand by that individual, so its absolutely right. So I don’t think individually I would never pick on that gentlemen and say, look its okay what you said. I don’t think so. I don’t think it was okay what he said. And I will stand by that. And I hope it gets resolved in a nice manner because personally my behavior in front of my own children and viewers is not good because that’s not what I stand for.

B-A-N

It’s the first time I have had a ban, so I don’t really know how to react to it. I don’t know, if I had a few more, maybe I’ll be able to gauge is five too much or three little or should it be a lifetime ban? I don’t know, I’m really completely ill at ease about discussing the fact that does it bother me, doesn’t it bother me. This is the second time I have been there in 10 years, so by that calculation it’s kinda be alright. But not by any other calculation. Just by respectability, it’s not a good thing to have. And I don’t know the legality of all this and I don’t want to get into it but if I can’t go to watch a match, I wont go. Maybe I’ll wear a disguise and go, and nobody finds out. No, I am just being naughty.

If an association has decided to respect the individuals, who perhaps, who according to them are not spoken rightly to, its their decision but I lovingly say that anyone from that Association to come and watch my films whenever they want.

Yash Chopra Film

Yashji’s film is untitled yet, it’s with Katrina and Anushka. Yeah, we are shooting it from day after tomorrow. 50% is over and Inshahallah, it should be out by Eid. Lovely songs by Gulzar Sahab and Rahman Sahab, really nice. I think it’s a good thing that I have worked with them for long, so it feels nice. I feel at home working with them. And you know, when you’re doing a romantic film, it’s a little easy on the joints. Its just easier on the joints and muscles, that’s all. So it’ll be nice. Hopefully I’ll be able to present romantic film in a different way as an actor and I think Yashji and Adi have taken care that I play something different and still the film has something new, some new romantic quality to it and just the fact that the two girls are new and I have hardly worked with them. With Anushka i have done just one film, and with Katrina, have never worked, and that itself will be a high point for me as an actor, plus for the film. It will be really fresh and nice. I am really glad to work with them. I learn a lot from them. It’s wonderful to work with them and I learn a lot from them. They are really kind and gentle and they are really sweet girls and really wonderful actors because when we sit down and discuss things, they come out straight forward with what they think of the scene and that helps me in interpreting. I myself may be jaded sometimes, having done similar scenes, so when they have an interpretation, I think not only it is youthful but it is also, Ohhh, you could do it like this. It is also a big challenge for me to get out of my what you said tricks of romance and say do it differently. And I think a couple of scenes have been really helped by Katrina and even with Anushka I have worked with her before. Even Rab ne Bana di Jodi, its honest, its direct and its great fun. So I am really looking forward to it and

Chennai Express starts, I think, we are still in process of casting and recc-eing the locations. So I’ll take a month off after shooting for Yashiji’s film and I’ll get to Chennai Express and a couple of months later we’ll get into Happy New Year.

Give me a quiet dinner

I don’t know wherever I am taken by life. I have never planned, I am very disorganized. I whatever I am doing at the moment in my life is the most important thing. I haven’t shot for a month for this film, I am back to shooting. I look forward to that. I have a few injuries and hurt, not because of my cartwheel but otherwise. I’ll repair that in London, I think. I’ll have to spend some time with my children, I think, which is important. They have holidays now, play a little football in Hyde park. Wait for the other two films to come, come back to Mumbai and uhh, now you remind me, get tensed again because in Sept-Oct we have to play Champions League. So that will be one another roller-coaster ride but InshahAllah, the team now must be feeling extremely confident and unpressurized. Normally if a team just wins, there is a chance of them getting over-confident. Our team, because it had been so negatively portrayed, I think they must have just come to now as being the starting players. So it’ll be nice to see them.

I really, really feel I have to leave for London but I wish I could just sit down with Gautam and his wife, and all the boys, Jacque, Bisla, Rajat, you know, sit down and just have a quiet dinner with them. So hopefully I’ll just try and call them to London if they are not too busy playing cricket somewhere, I’d like to call them. If they are busy, I wont call them lest that becomes a controversy. But I’d call them and say, come have dinner, and just sit down and talk with them of other things than cricket and winning or losing, other things things which are more important than winning and losing, that is, being happy. So I’d like to sit down and talk to them .

4am Tweets

I don’t tweet now so much because I got a little heart-broken. You know, I used to use the twitter as something I thought would be a personal messaging platform but then the media picks it up and puts it out of context and its like, I didn’t mean it. This is about this and why are you writing this about this? Some little things happening somewhere and somebody said something about my film release and suddenly I have a tweet and they just say, he’s just saying this because of that and I’m like, oh, not again. why would they do it? And I’d like to request everyone that Twitter is just to express yourself, which does not necessarily mean that you need to get abusive. Sorry (smiles), it seems that I am the wrong guy to be giving advice about abuses but I don’t think you need to do that and take out some kind of an angst on people that you don’t know. Expressing yourself is wonderful but sometimes I feel I have these wonderful people I am sending what I think is important, which maybe completely unimportant, but I think I have said my heart.  And then suddenly you get these retaliations which are not related to that message.

And a couple of times I have spoken about innocent children and somebody has retaliated and I’m like why? Why this man, I mean you don’t need to do this. I got a little, how do you say thwarted, I got a little taken aback that you know that even on a place where I thought I could share something personal without a mediator, without media between, somehow it is not working out the way I want and is it because I just come too close too fast, should I just refrain? So I have been away. Today I tweeted I think. And I’d like to request everyone on twitter, just respect it, like it, dislike it, don’t get personal. Because I am not getting personal with you and I have to request everyone to get personal, do it face to face. Its more honest. If you wanna say something to me, come meet me, we’ll sit down and chat over a cup of coffee and see where the conversation goes after that. And don’t do it without any reason just because it’s good to say, leave that to the socialites. Leave that to analysts, pop psychologists. Don’t make yourself that to lend yourself to the analysts. So I’ll tweet maybe once in a week.

Why i do it at night is because I finish work by 9pm normally on a shooting day. I come in and like to be with my kids till I put them to bed. Then I just sit with the family, hang out for some time and I sleep late. So everyone kinda desserts me by 2.30-3, so I say this is the time. I don’t use the telephone, the internet, I don’t use emails when I am in the house. Once I am in the house, I have no way that anyone can communicate with me, except for my kids, my wife and my sister shouting and screaming at me, nobody else can communicate with me. And that’s a rule I have had for 20 years. So when they are kind, if out of sight, than I say, its alright, its not on their time, so I tweet late. I sleep a little late, so I do it at that time. I don’t do it in the car and all unless its something that I want to do. So I do it late night because I don’t think I should encroach upon my family time.

And with this we came to the end of conversation as the time given to us was over. Hopefully next time we will get to talk about his school of cinema and more. As i packed up, he was ready to move to another meeting. Sinus? A smoke break. Another cup of black coffee. And he must be all set.

Miss Lovely and Gangs Of Wasseypur – Tracking all the Cannes buzz

Posted: May 28, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, film, Film Festival, Indie, Interview, movie reviews, News, reviews, video
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
13

Ashim Ahluwali’s Miss Lovely and Anurag Kashyap’s two-parter Gangs of Wasseypur premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard and Directors Fortnight section respectively.

This post is to track all the buzz from the Cannes – reviews, interviews, videos and more. For the Cannes buzz of Vasan Bala’s Peddlers, click here.

Starting with some generic news links.

– Edouard Waintrop, Artistic Director of the Directors’ Fortnight, talks about the new wave of Indian cinema. Click here.

– VIDEO : Tom Brooks’ Cannes edition of Talking Movies starts with Indian films. Click here.

MISS LOVELY

– Review published in the Screen International is here.

– The Hollywood Reporter’s review is here, which describes it as Bollywood meets Boogie Nights in stylized retro-sleazy thriller.

– Variety’s review is here. You need account to read it. But if you are too curious, go close to the screen, squint your eyes and you will be able to read through the black screen.

– A small review in Sight and Sound is here which says the film is mesmerising for the first hour or so, during which, the echoes of Boogie Nights aside, I found myself thinking of Wong Kar-Wai, Scorsese, Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah and even Irma Vep. Unfortunately the film then palls somewhat – director Ashim Ahluwalia can’t hold onto a story, or develop characters. But while it’s good it’s very good indeed, and had it been that touch better (and shorter) it could have been a game-changer for Indian cinema.

– A french review is here which is not too complimentary. Use Google Translate (GT).

– Ahluwalia makes ‘Lovely’ impact, says Saibal Chatterjee in The Sunday Indian. Click here.

– New York Times piece on the film is here.

– Ashim’s interview in Another mag is here.

– Ad Vitam has picked up the French rights of the film. News link is here.

– VIDEO : Anupama Chopra’s interview of Ashim Ahluwalia is here.

GANGS OF WASSEYPUR

– Review in Screen International is here which says, this Tarantino-tinged Bihari take on The Godfather has what it takes to cross over from the Indian domestic and Diaspora markets to reach out to action-loving, gore-tolerant theatrical and auxiliary genre audiences worldwide.

– The Hollywood Reporter review is here which calls it a dizzying explosion of an Indian gangster film, whose epic structure and colorful, immoral killers capture the imagination for over five hours..

– Review on desi site DearCinema is here.

– In Italian. click here. Use Google Translate (GT).

– Long piece in french edition of Huffington Post is here. Use GT.

– Coverage on BBC website.

– Saibal Chatterjee’s report in The Sunday Indian is here.

– VIDEO : Anupama Chopra’s interview with Kashyap and Bala is here.

– Click on the play button to watch the official video of the screening

If we have missed any links, do post it in the comments section. We will keep on updating the post with new links.

Sandeep Mohan’s Love, Wrinkle-free : Left brain VS Right brain

Posted: May 25, 2012 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, film, Indie, News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
4

Sandeep Mohan‘s directoral debut, an indie feature titled Love, Wrinkle-free is releasing this friday.  It stars Ash Chandler, Shernaz Patel, Seema Rahmani, Sohrab Ardeshir, Ashwin Mushran, Marianne Borgo, Arika Silaichia, Giju John and Theron Carmine.

Making an independent film is a difficult task for sure. But releasing it is almost impossible. Thanks to PVR Directors Rare section, the film is getting a limited release. But what is the director thinking? Will he survive? Over to a casual conversation between his Right Brain (RB) and Left Brain (LB).

LEFT RIGHT LOVE WRINKLE FREE…

Right Brain Sandeep (RB):

Hey bugger, heard that your movie Love, Wrinkle-free is releasing today or something?

Left Brain Sandeep(LB):

Yeah man, labour of love of 2 years…

RB:

…even I have a story….you wanna listen…see it is about racism, discrimination between white dogs and black dogs…

LB:

Not today ya…you know, I worked bloody hard on Love, Wrinkle-free for 2 years..do you even know what that means…two fucking years of my youth…

RB:

ok, now you are telling me that you are in your youth?!!

LB:

See, precisely why i wanted to make Love, Wrinkle-free…how can one stay young forever…why this obsession to photoshop every damn wrinkle out of your butt..i mean why…

RB:

but why blame Adobe Photoshop bugger…they are not like some Taliban…

LB:

love, wrinkle-free is for people like you…Seriously man, Love, Wrinkle-free is the Hyderabad Blues of this generation…

RB:

it is good to be an optimist, but don’t be stupid bugger…

LB:

What stupid…If a middle class guy like me could make a movie, things are changing in india and Indian films…

RB:

Yeah but the roads to the Love, Wrinkle-free theatres are full of craters…

LB:

Fuck roads ya…roads will soon be obsolete…helicopters will be the norm…people will go to watch movies in helicopters soon…

RB thinks about it…

RB:

Are you planning to make a Love, Wrinkle-free part 2

LB gives him a cold stare…

LB:

i hate sequels…the only sequel i liked was Waisa Bhi hota hai part 2! in any case, does life have a sequel?

RB:

deepak chopra thinks so…

LB (ignoring him):

…the reviews have just started coming in yaar…

RB:

Does it matter if they say good or bad…you still have to take care of your 2 year old daughter when your wife goes to work tomorrow no?

LB (ignoring it again):

The initial reviews have been pretty good…

RB:

Come bugger, don’t stress yourself, let’s go and have a fruit salad now

LB:

Here I am talking of my dreams, and you are thinking of Fruit Salad?!!!

RB:

…why can’t you dream of Angelica Jolie’s bee stung lips instead?!

LB:

Movies are my passion idiot…passion…you know what that word means?!!! Bee stung lips it seems?!

RB:

Eating fruit salad is my passion…what is wrong?!

LB:

…my movie, I am setting her free today to be judged by the world….i feel naked…

RB:

Put on some edible lingerie….

LB smacks RB on his head.

LB: i hope…Word of mouth is going to take Love, Wrinkle-free to a lot of people. It is a fun film man…and there have been so few fun films in the indie space…

RB(Moaning):

Who do you think you are…some kinda indie-saint to spread happiness all around…anyways, don’t worry, not many know about your movie? There is not even a bloody hoarding…even underwear companies have hoardings these days

LB:

Love, Wrinkle-free is not an underwear…it is my movie…my dream can’t be hung up there in some bloody hoarding for all and sundry to stare at…

RB:

You are losing it bugger, big time you are losing it…

LB:

I can feel it…lakhs of people are waiting for the Box Office to open tomorrow, and just like when the new version of the iPhone hits the stores, there will be a stampede to buy tickets…I can feel it…there is like a love, wrinkle-free wave out there…

RB(looks around):

Where?!

LB feels the air around him. Closes his eyes

LB:

Feel it…and you can feel it only when you stop talking…

RB closes his eyes and tries hard to feel it

RB:

..ok ok…now let’s go…even your bloody uncle Woody Allen never said that you can’t have feni or fruit salad on the day of the release..

LB:

Watch your words!!! And don’t get Woody Allen into this mess man…

RB:

…Everyone should pick their own nose….or Everyone should wear their own underwear

LB:

What is that?!

RB:

i have quotes too…like Allen

LB:

Allen is classy man…you are cheap…

RB:

Hey how are you guys related?!

LB gives him that look….and walks away hurt

RB:

Bugger, I was just kidding of course,…chill ..where are you going?

LB:

I am going home…I think I have some edible lingerie at home…i am starving…

RB:

Got some feny?

LB nods. RB runs after him and joins him…

RB:

…you did your best bugger…put your heart, soul, brain and groin into the film, now let’s have some feni and edible…whatever that thingy is…, dig into your next script, and soon you will be into your second film mode….c’mon man…this is the 21st century, you gotta be cool..

So who will have the last laugh – Sandeep Mohan’s Right Brain or Left Brain? It all depends entirely on you.

To know more about the film, you can click here for its FB page or click here for its website.

And here’s the list of theatres and the show timings for Love,Wrinkle-free:

City Theatre Show-Timings
Mumbai PVR Juhu 8:20 PM
Mumbai PVR Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel 8:30 PM
Mumbai PVR Goregaon 8:40 PM
Mumbai PVR Mulund 8:40 PM
Mumbai Cinemax Versova 5.00 PM
Mumbai Metro Big Cinemas 2.15 PM
Mumbai Fame Malad 4.05 PM
Delhi PVR Director’s Cut, Vasat Kunj 8.30 PM
Delhi PVR Select Citywalk 8.30 PM
Goa Inox  Old GMC, DB Road 9.30 AM
4.30 PM
Pune City Pride Kothrud 10.45 PM
City Pride Abhiruch 2.00 PM

Gangs Of Wasseypur music review – वूफेर फाड़ दिया भैय्या!

Posted: May 24, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, music, reviews, songs & videos
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
60

If you have been following this blog for sometime, you will know that music review means it’s time for Rohit to take over. So over to him. But before you read the review, you can check out all the songs here.

Also, click here to read our earlier post in which lyricist Varun Grover introduced the two hit songs of the album – jiya ho Bihar ke lala and I am a hunter, the foot-tapping and fun song, which i feel, is dying to have a music video. Mr Kashyap, do it. The song has great potential. You are sitting on a goldmine. Explore it!

The post also has lyrics of six songs – Jiya ho Bihar ke lala, I am a hunter, Ek bagal, Keh ke loonga, O Womania and Humne ke chhori ke.

Back to the music review.

Music – Sneha Khanwalkar

Lyrics – Varun Grover, Piyush Mishra

इतना दिन से इन्तेज़ार था. पूरा उत्तर प्रदेश और बिहार में लोग बाग कोई गाना नहीं सुन रहे थे. चलो ज़रा देखें ससुरा इन्तेज़ार के लायक था या नहीं?

1. Jiya ho Bihar – The song starts with faint ‘thaaps’ as if a traditional song but soon is joined by electric guitars and then the techno arrangement leads us to the very desi Manoj Tiwari. The song makes no bones, thanks to excellent Manoj Tiwari and some real catchy lyrics (Tani Taan kheech ke taansen kehlawo rey bhaiyya, for example). The backup vocals are excellent. Somewhere in the background you will hear shehnai as well. Yes. The marriage of techno sound with Manoj Tiwari is just brilliant. There is a constant ‘bhaiyya bhaiyya’ in the background! Just too good a touch!

There is always that song from which you associate a movie, This one will be the image of Gangs of Wasseypur).

If interested, you can get the lyrics here.

2. I am a hunter – (पापी लोग का नाम है – वेदेश सोकू, मुन्ना ओर रजनीश) The song starts with a ‘Heyllllo’(and TRUST ME!, you will repeat the ‘heylllo’ to hear if it is actually said the way it is said) and then something that we all have done while growing up! (Listen and tell me if you can find it, not telling it here). Special mention must be made for Sneha. This is a fun song and trust me, the song has 2 funny moments per second. Be it the laughter in the background, be it the interplay between vocals along with the constant Caribbean beats the song has ‘fun’ written all over it. Yes, it’s a tad naughty. Still, the words like ‘bhokali’ will ensure that this is played by guys (And girls, may be!) in bonfires. Yes. Up till now Patti rap was THE song that got guys (and sometimes girls together) in a gathering. Now, that place belongs, rightfully to ‘I am a hunter’. Best.Bakchod.Song.Ever.

You can check out the lyrics of the song here.

3. O Womaniya Live (Performed by – Khushboo Raj, Rekha Jha ओर उनकी सहेलिया) Singers start this song in a way that will remind the people who have grown up in north India, those ‘sangeet’ settings that happen during marriages wherein the ‘ladies’ (pronounced as – lay-deej) sing and poke fun at the new bride or may be her ‘in laws’ or may be her ‘bridegroom’. The words are pure ‘North’ and are laced with lot of fun (and naughty-ness). People who will have tough time trying to find the meaning of the songs will get the ‘fun quotient’ when the backup vocal singers will go ‘o o o ho ho ho’ Very naughty! The music setting is very ‘drawing room’ like and even when backup singers giggle you get the feel that they are sharing a joke! Singing is just incidental to the setting. Kudos Sneha! Kudos for reading this very rare, Very, very rare genre. The words of this song in particular have a flavor of north. Big time. Varun Grover, take a bow! Also the singer will remind you of that one character in such family settings who is the ‘leader’ and repeats certain words in order to poke fun at the bride, डबल अर्थ wala fun. (case in context – Patna and satna. ‘Satna’ means when someone sits uncomfortably close to someone else)

4. Keh ke loonga – Night. That’s what the ‘itchy’ start of this song reminds you of. Sneha gets behind the microphone and gets on with it. Accompanied by Amit Trivedi, the ‘graveyard’ feeling of the song gets scarier when the intentions are reflected in words. No matter where you are, I will dig you up and ‘teri keh ke loonga’. It has a very ‘Ghar mein ghus ke maroonga’ feel. Still, it’s not loud. The song just stares at you with the coldness of a dead body. We need Sneha Khanwalkar to sing more. Much more. Much, much more. She is THAT good in the song. Composed by Piyush Mishra and arranged by Sneha. Amit Trivedi is in his usual brilliant self! The resonating sound of howling might not be liked by all. Dark. Scary. This sums up the song.

5. Bhoos ke dher mein – Manish J. Tipu and Bhupesh start the song and will actually lead you into believing that it’s a sad song. Suddenly, an ‘all male’ group of backup singers (accompanied by harmonium and brass band), get into your ears shouting ‘Na milihey’ (you shall not get). This song has a message. More like the songs that you associate with the wanderers who gives out message about life in their songs. The difference? There are way too many singers (and at times a barking dog in the background if I heard it right!). Situational song. Has a very ‘chadhta suraj dheerey dheerey dhalta hai dhal jayega’ (A qawwali-sque song by Aziz Naza, very popular up North). Won’t be a chartbuster. May be that’s exactly what is needed. Let’s see.

6. Ek Bagal – Flute and Sitar talk between themselves and put you at ease immediately and then the strong bass creates a perfect platform for Piyush Mishra (PM) to start what is probably the most powerful song (in terms of effect that it will leave on you) of the film. The excellent use of electric flute deserves a repeat mention. It is THAT good. There is no doubt that this song is penned by PM himself and composed by him as well. The song has a little ‘jis raat sheher mein khoon ki baarish aayi thee’ feel in between. I suspect this song will find a place in the second part of the film as well. Minimalistic ‘arranged’ music. Authentic is the word. 2 thumbs up!

For lyrics, click here.

7. Bhaiyya – This track, performed by the musahars of Sundapur, is another avtaar of a folk song but is music heavy. My guess, this is a background song again. It ends too soon. Didn’t touch me. May be you will like it.

8. Tain Tain – A good harmonium along with at least 10 other sounds suddenly start this song. Then it all settles down. The beat continues and so does a siren! And then Sneha Khanwalkar goes ‘tey tey tey’. Before you figure out what’s happening, the brass band arrests your attention! Ok, too much happening at the same time! This has to be a background sound. This track is just a mix of a lot of sounds (whistles, vocal ‘ta ta ta chu chu ley ley lu li’ and so much more!). Remember the track ‘dol dol’ from ‘Yuva’? This track, in principal is the same, BUT is very DESI. This track grow on you and somehow satisfies the ‘constant casio synthesizer beats wali bhookh’ in me.

9. Suna kar ke Gharwa – performed by Sujeet (From Gaya ओर उनके दोस्त भाई लोग). The song uses a slow tabla and ‘manjeera’. Very folk. But too short. सब लोगों को नही समझ आएगा. It has a sound of a ‘folk singer’ closing his eyes as he connects with self and the powers that be via his singing.

10. Aey Jawanon – Yes, some shayari. Some ‘UP-Bihar’ style shayari about how people are selfish. The stop-and-go and stop-and-run music arrangement completely reminds a ‘northie’ like me of the roadside ‘nautanki’ music. To you, it might remind of ‘pintya gela’ (from shaitaan) in essence, because the instruments used are completely different but the linear tune is somewhat ‘pintya gela’ like.

11. Womaniya (Remix) – Starts exactly like the ‘live’ version but the bass and trance effects soon take over. Something that I haven’t heard ever. Something Desi…real wala desi mixed with ‘mehengai dayan’ like remix (from Peepli Live). The naughty feel of the song is retained. At times I felt some excessive instruments were used but I won’t be surprised if this is played in pubs and people go ‘OMG OMG’! There is a brief romantic exchange of words between shehnai and electric guitar…Just too damn good! मुहझौंसा and what not! This remix grew on me!

The pronunciation of ‘womaniya’ as ऊमनिया is just too adorable (in both the versions)

12. Mann Mauji – Probably one of the best romantic songs this year. Iktaara, algoza and so many other beautiful sounds along with the singer Usari Banerjee is a touch of pure genius. Even the singing style has a touch of vintage in it! ‘Khula hai bajuband phata hai kaaj sambhal ke chalna hoga’. Composed and penned by Piyush Mishra, arranged excellently by Sneha, this song has a sweet vintage feel. Hear it. The ‘secondary vocal’ (at times algoza, at times violin) that constantly accompanies the singer is so so so vintage. Brings back the days of कुएँ के किनारे गाना और नाचना.

13. Loonga loonga (Remix) – The roadside shayari about life (Along with constant beats and ‘loonga loonga’ in the background) starts the song. A faint ‘siren’ (The one that you associate with IPL when a bowler bowls a No-ball and free hit is about to be executed. This is a short version and thankfully so, because the music arrangement and the overall sound of this song is in contrast to the theme of the album. Passable.

14. Humni ki chhoree ke – (Sung by Deepak Kumar – मुजफ्फरपुर वाले) – With just the harmonium and very पक्का ओर रिसा हुआ गला the singer gives us a flavor of a very, very touching song. It’s a folk bhojpuri song and many a singers have sung it already. We could come across Pawan Singh and few others (Check them out on youtube) but this version, with minimalistic music arrangement, has everything that will make you very sad, lump in throat stuff. Even if you don’t understand the meaning of it. Magic of good music, isn’t it? Highly recommended!

Overall a fantastic album! The music stays true to the overalls of the film. Even though 2 remixes are included (to make the album appeal to the ‘non small town’ पब्लिक) फिर भी, This will go down as a फसाद मचाने वाला album by Sneha Khanwalkar and Piyush Mishra. Comparisons will be made with the OST of Omkara, Dev D, Gulaal and so on, but this album will stand it’s ground. Quite easily.

The backdrop is more or less same (in terms of geography), so the sound influences could overlap. Still, inclusion of some pure folk songs of the region is a superb idea and makes the album more relatable. The effort in terms of penning the right lyrics (Piyush Mishra, Varun Grover and Vikas (for hunter – english lyrics), arranging and composing music (Piyush Mishra and Sneha Khanwalkar), singers and the sheer research about it all is praiseworthy.

Rough around edges, raw and melodious in equal measure, here is an unputdownable power album that deserves a listen.

In the days of ch**** Studio (इंडिया) and all those wannabe ‘EXPERIMENTAL page 3 types’, here is an album that gives you a sound and taste of what the sound of those places is like. Those places are called ‘Chowk’ in small towns – an open market area in a city at the junction of two roads.

Chowk Studio. Anyone?

वूफेर फाड़ दिया भैय्या!

My Picks – Entire album.

माने की पूरा एल्बमवा सुनियेगा एक बार. चीन जायेंगे आप, की हम का कह रहे हैं.

(PS – You can order the album on Flipkart also. click here.)

Call For Entries : 12th Osian’s-Cinefan Festival of Indian, Asian and Arab Cinema

Posted: May 23, 2012 by moifightclub in Call For Entries, cinema, film, Film Festival, News
Tags: , ,
1

Osian’s Film House announces the return, after a sabbatical of two years, of the Osian’s-Cinefan Festival of Indian, Asian and Arab Cinema.

DATE/LOCATION : The 12th OCFF will be held in New Delhi between the July 27 and August 5 2012 with the Siri Fort complex serving as its main venue as in the past few years.

The fest will showcase the best of Asian, Arab and Indian Cinema, all within an all-embracing framework which focuses on freedom of creative expression and thought. First Features and Short films will be given special platforms. The art of creating Animation films will be intensively discussed and the ingenuous works will be presented for both the young and old. The new ‘7.4’ section on Environment films will be a precursor of a summit on natural and man-made heritage, which by 2013 will translate into a new film festival dedicated to this subject.

– Osian’s-Cinefan will this year salute the memory of Mani Kaul. Mani had been Creative Director at Osian’s since 2006 and was the Director General of OCFF 11 held in 2009. To mark the legacy of one of the most remarkable filmmakers of World Cinema, Cinefan will institute the Annual Mani Kaul Memorial Lecture. OCFF 12 will also hold a number of events that will celebrate not only his cinema but also his formidable contributions to music, literature and painting.

– Further, as part of the Festival a new annual CINEFAN FILM MEMORABILIA AUCTION will be held focusing on the finest and rarest artifacts and publicity material from Hollywood and World Cinema, to be held on 31 July at The Osianama.

– Also as part of the festival related events a major three-day Summit on ‘Delhi: The Next Film City’ will be organized. This summit is being held given the rapid developing interest of filming in Delhi. It is the right time to review the reasons underlying this rise of Delhi as a possible film city in all facets and to discuss the way ahead so as to consolidate the gains made and expand the possibilities of cinema in the city.

OCFF 12 PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS

FILM SECTIONS

In Competition:

1. Asian and Arab

2. Indian

3. First Features

4. Short Fictions

Out of Competition:

5. Frescoes – New films from Asian and Arab countries that showcase the richness and diversity of their cinemas

6. Short Fiction – A section consisting of packages of short films from all over the world and a competition for Asian and Arab shorts

7. The Freedom Of Creative Expression – A section dedicated to showing landmark films in cinema history that had at one time or the other been banned by authorities.

8. Sex & Religion in India: Silk Smitha, Sex Gurus and Indian Cinema – this section will screen films dealing with India’s version of the sexual revolution through the decades

9. Filmcraft: The Art of the Animation Film – This year Cinefan will begin its engagement with the history and contemporary practices of the animation film, a cinematic art that promises to become a major force in times to come

10. Launching of 7.4 – a Film Festival dedicated to films made about manmade and natural heritage along with short films and documentary cinema

11. Tributes & Retrospectives

More Than Films:

12. Infrastructure Building for Minds and Markets – IBM² Events – As usual Osian’s-Cinefan will organize talks, seminars, discussion panels, Q&As pertaining to the film program at the festival drawing in the best minds in the field from all over India and the world

13. The Osian’s archives the biggest of its kind in the world will mount a multimedia exhibition about the freedom of expression in all registers of human life – the political, the artistic, the magical and the spiritual.

14. Festival Summit: Delhi As India’s Next Cinema City – A three day summit will be organized that will bring together the governments of India and Delhi NCR, various cultural agencies, corporate organizations and the film industry to discuss the way forward towards making Delhi the next Film City of India

15. Cinefan @Osianama-Blue Frog – Daily events through the duration of the festival including Master classes, Panel discussions, film screenings and high-profile Q&As with festival guests. The evening will see festival guests converge at the site to converse and network at the ‘Cinefan Adda’. Especially curated musical and performance events will commence from 10 pm every night at the Blue Frog.

– Deepti DCunha is programming for the 12th Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival, 2012. The festival is to be held in New Delhi, India from 27th July to 5th August.

– DEADLINE for submission is 10th June 2012.

– For more details, visit the official website here.

– You can also email at cinefan@osians.com or deepti.dcunha@gmail.com.

Vasan Bala’s Peddlers – Tracking all the Cannes buzz

Posted: May 22, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, Indie, News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
11

Vasan Bala’s debut feature Peddlers premiered at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival in the International Critics’ Week section. This post is to track all the buzz from the Cannes – pics, videos, interviews, reviews and more.

PICS

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Latest REVIEWS

– An early review in French is here. Rated it 3.5/5 and to sum it up – I think this is a young director who can go very far if he continues this way.  (Thanks to Google Translate)

– Bikas Mishra of DearCinema.com has reviewed the film here. Bikas is also on the Critics Week jury this year. To quote the last line few lines, Sidharth Diwan’s restless camera adds amply in capturing the life in the megapolis. Prerna Saigal’s editing is worthy of a special mention.

Vasan Bala’s Peddlers marks a very promising debut. I would be looking forward to his next.

– Another French review is here. To quote from the review, Bombay shines here in all its ambiguous charms , angles sometimes hard, dry, and always flattering that one has rarely seen. ( Again, via Google Translate).

– The Hollywood Reporter’s review is here.

– Film critic Christain Jungen tweeted his rating 3.5 stars. And calls it an atmospheric gangster movie from Mumbai, half Hollywood halfway Bollywood.

– Saibal Chatterjee reviews the film for The Sunday Indian. Click here. To quote from the review, Vasan Bala is clearly a talent to watch. The way he handles the characters, paces the narrative, uses music and creates the dark and disturbing backdrop against which the film plays out reflect the kind of grasp that augurs well.

The deft touches that he brings to the table lift Peddlers well above the level of run-of-the-mill gangster flicks. It isn’t, to begin with, a gangster flick at all.

– Another French review is here. This one is mixed.

UPDATE – 23/05/2012

– New French review which rated it 15/20 and to quote, That said, the director shows a sense of rhythm and creativity in the staging that might interest the Jury of the Camera d’Or. Peddlers is an Indian film that has nothing in Bollywood and is the work of a director in search of gallons, but already talented.

– To quote another review, Peddlers is located in-between a relative novelty in Indian cinema, somewhere between the sweet and colorful to a Bollywood film and the roughness of a gangster movie. Efficiency is “quasi American,” but the exceptional photography and the use of music we bring in a definitely Indian.

Latest NEWS/FEATURES

– The Hollywood Reporter interview is here – on How ‘Peddlers’ Reflects the Indie Spirit (Q&A).

– In Variety’s Spotlight on India cinema. Click here.

– VIDEO – Excerpt from Rajeev Masand’s interview for CNN IBN. Click here.

– Another interview is here.

– Another report in Hollywood Reporter – Indian cinema moves beyond bollywood.

We will keep updating this post as more reviews and features come out.

Click the play button to see the video of the screening and presentation.

Pics Courtesy – Siddarth Diwan (Film’s DoP), TheLostFilmCritic, Rajeev Masand

Indie feature ‘Innuendo’ is looking for your support

Posted: May 22, 2012 by moifightclub in film, Indie
Tags: , ,
15

We haven’t seen the film. Don’t have much clue about the filmmaker also. So, over to Innuendo’s director Arvind Kamath for all the details. And if you are interested, you can help him and his film.

ABOUT ME – I always wanted to be a part of films as long as I can remember, but was stuck in an IT job and after 9 years of being in IT, I finally quit to get into filmmaking fulltime in Feb 2011. Couldn’t afford a fulltime Filmmaking course, so I started my filmmaking stint in 2008 where I started with attending workshops, (cinematography, writing, Editing etc) then graduated to making a few short films – one short was among the top ten films of 2010 PFC One film festival (here) & another one which I co-wrote won the 2nd place (here), which gave me the courage to do more. So I went on to organize the 2009 Bangalore Screenwriting Workshop which was a huge learning experience and then started making documentaries, corporate films etc.

In Feb 2011, when I quit my job, I setup a small edit suite and started taking post production orders which is my bread without butter today. So all these years while learning, I also wrote many concepts and scripts, some trash worthy, some forgettable and a very few that I was still excited about. I took up one such screenplay which took me 1.5 years to write and Innuendo was born. More of my self indulgent rant is here.

THE PROCESS – Initially I bounced this idea of making Innuendo to a couple of my close friends and they brushed it off thinking it’s just the initial excitement of a struggler. But I announced the project of FB and called for a script narration to people who would be interested to join me. Folks from the Bangalore Indie/aspiring film circle came down. My offer to them was “I can’t pay you any money & I want to make this film with the Rs 50,000 that I have, so join me only if you like the script or connect with my passion somewhere because it’s a lot of slogging for nothing in return really, and if at all the film makes any money in any form I shall share it with you all”. Some wonderful people started signing up, most of them were experienced. One of my closest friends & a very talented chap Bharath MC came aboard. You can see some of his work here.

He was to do the camera, background score, sound, VFX and co-edit the film with me. ADs with experience in few short films which have done the festival rounds, signed up as production controller, location Manager, art director, casting coordinator and sync sound recordist. Once the team was set, we called for an audition and got a decent response of 300 profiles on email and finally 60 people showed up at the auditions. We had our 20 actors selected from a pool of talented young TV/theatre actors active in Indie/short film circle.

ACTORS – Sanjeev & Sruthi went on to do a commercial Malayalam film called “Cinema Company” which will release this year and had done another Indie from Bangalore called “Kya Yaaron”, which will also release soon. Adithi too was a part of “Kya Yaaron” and is now in Mumbai working on a film with a very well-known and talented young director (I’m not supposed to divulge the details). Monish, Khuldeep, Naveen are some of the well known names in the Bangalore theatre circle. We had 2 days of acting workshop and 2 weeks of rehearsals along with a lot of pre-production work like location recce, art framework, shot breakdowns (3 versions of it), sourcing equipments or building them on our own, scheduling the shoot etc etc.

A team of 35 members started the shoot on September 9th and completed it in non-stop schedule of 25days with 3 more days scattered here and there. Then we started post production in the month of November and finished it in April. The film was screened on 21st & 22nd of April for a private audience on an invite only basis & a review by a Cinephile can be read here.

THE CHALLENGES – We too faced our fair share of challenges like every other Indie film. DOP calling in sick with typhoid just 2 days before the shoot, crucial locations which took time due to budget constraints, actors issues due to long hours of shoot, food issues when we were shooting in the middle of nowhere, cop issues during night shoots, health issues due to long schedules sometime 2days and nights continuously and all that jazz.

WHERE ARE WE NOW – We have completed the film and had 2 private screenings to get an initial feedback. Now aiming to send the film to a few festivals and see where it goes and also travel with the film to Chennai & Mumbai in the month of June to have a private screening for filmmakers, Bloggers, Cinephiles, Indie filmmakers circle, aspiring filmmakers and others.

WHAT SUPPORT ARE WE LOOKING FOR – I am looking for venues in Chennai & Mumbai which is cost effective so that I can bring my film there in the month of June. Anybody who could help us with venues which are cheap or free, that would be great. Also, I have created an online fund raising campaign on Indiegogo to raise money to help us send the film to festivals, which is our first benchmark and priority. If we make more money than necessary for festivals, I shall pay my cast & crew and settle the vendor bills.

DETAILS –
Synopsis: – A single mother wanting to rekindle her relationship with her teenage son, trying hard to bridge the gap times have created. A failed writer trying to revive his creativity amidst external and internal conflicts. A group of friends meeting up for a celebration and end up trying to revive an unexpected situation. And how these characters cross paths willingly or unwillingly forms the storyline of the film. This film is an introspective take on life the way it is. It’s about communication issues, creative obsession & self destructive motives.

Genre – Drama

Duration – 125 minutes (festival ready cut)

Language – English & Kannada with bits of(Tamil & Hindi)

Format – Digital (HD)

Budget – Rs 44,700 (spent on production mainly, without paying anybody)

Writer, Editor, Producer & Director – Arvind Kamath

Co-Editor, Sound Designer, vfx & DOP – Bharath MC

Background Music – Bharath MC & Aveer Thakur

Crew – Madan, Kiran, Vishwesh, Prince, Poojitha, Supritha & Kempraju

Principal cast – Sanjeev Nair, Adithi Kalkunte, Kenneth Sebastian, Anjana Ajith, Monish Nagaraj, Khuldeepak & Naveen Kumar J

On IMDB.  On Facebook.

Indiegogo fund raiser campaign page is here.

OTHER LINKS –

An experiment called Innuendo – Rediff

The Reel Mag interview is here.

Coverage on Madaboutmoviez, LongLiveCinema and Indieturf.

Department is a dud – RGV’s blame game!

Posted: May 22, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, News
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
12

Ram Gopal Varma’s Department released last friday and as expected, had a disastrous opening at the box office. Well, that’s not new. He wrote an open letter to clarify his stand. That’s also not new. And then started blaming Sanjay Dutt and Dharm Oberoi for the debacle. Now, that’s a smart pitch for the potential producers.

I strongly believe that what Amitabh Bachchan is for directors, Ramu is for producers. Everyone aspires to direct AB in at least one film and every producer wants to make at least one film with Ramu. Just for good old nostalgia. But most don’t realise or are blind to the fact that both don’t have any box office pull now. What else can be the explanation for still giving shitloads of money to RGV? What kind of blind faith is this? Even if you forget box office, in terms of intangible gain also, it gets you nothing. Not even a single decent review. Or may be, he knows some kind of black magic to woo the producers. That’s the only talent he still has.

It’s hard to digest that someone will give him 27 fucking crore (via HT Cafe) for getting AB, Sanjay Dutt and Rana Daggubatti. And opening weekend collection is just 7.25crore – the lowest opener of 2012. And please don’t even to call it an indulgence – crotch cam is just being stupid and banal. That doesn’t qualify as cinematic indulgence by any rulebook.

Interestingly, Ishaqzaade – a film with newcomers managed almost the same amount in its 2nd weekend which Department collected in its opening weekend.

Going back to HT Cafe again, here are the opening weekend figures of Ramu’s last few releases –

Not A Love Story – Rs 2.1 Crore

Rakht Charitra 2 – Rs 1.25 Crore

Rakht Charitra – Rs 3.85 Crore

Rann – Rs 4.45 Crore

The list is quite long. To say that the man has lost it, will be putting it very mildly. And i can bet that the man is going to deliver ten more duds. Reason – he thinks he is making cult classics (read the open letter). He is dismissive of everything good or bad – it just happens by chance. And he is surrounded by yes-men. There was a time when he used to attract the best talent. Now it’s the opposite – anyone who is good, leaves him.

And here’s the bait for potential dumbfcks who will put money in his next films – his open letter which he tweeted yesterday.

I LOVE YOU TOO

I am not surprised at the hatred of some towards “Department” for the reason that when you do anything completely different from a beaten path many tend to pounce upon you with claws and knives. When Oliver Stone made “Natural Born Killers” most reviewers said it’s a piece of visual crap, exhibitionistic, he lost his head etc., which then in the later years came to be recognized as a cult classic. When DW Griffith cut to a close up they said how can a man be shown cut in half and when the camera moved in a Georges Melies film they said how can a point of view suddenly move.

Anyways the norm of critics these days is to bury the baby even before its born and kill the mother for giving it birth. It’s incredible to see the sadistic glee they take in running the Director down on a personal level even more than they run down the Film.

They accuse me of chaotic self-indulgence. I don’t know what that is but a Film eventually is a self expression of a subject matter which I as a maker chose to tell in a certain style and in Department I chose a graphic pattern in terms of angles and movements which were intended to represent the mindsets of the characters the film is dealing with.

A photographic image is a combination of the look of the location, the lightning, the costume, the make-up, the look of the actor etc. and any camera will only record whatever is kept in front of it. Then ofcourse there are the features of lensing, angles, movement perspectives etc., which would be employed as per the intended effect. In Department it’s the rapid swish pans and some hitherto unseen movement perspectives, which bothered some people, but the same were also liked by lots of others.

Also the rogue method I employed for Department is an alternative method I proposed but not as a replacement to a conventional method. The conventional usage of the cameras used for Department have been already used in “Slumdog Millionaire”, “127 Hours” and many other films the world over. In Department it’s their unconventional rapid movements, which created problem for some.

In “Department” I just attempted to do a realistic story with characters that intrigue and make one think rather than spoon feed and I attempted to package that in a never before seen visual style and some people got it and some didn’t.

It goes without saying that at the end of the day a Film’s likeability is about its content and its narrative grip and the technical style employed doesn’t matter to the viewer.

But having said that a constantly evolving innovative usage of the medium does add and sometimes also gives an emotional tone to the content and film eventually in its purest form is an emotional experience.

– Ram Gopal Varma

It seems like Subhash K Jha has converted this open letter into Q and A for Rediff. Click here.

And if that wasn’t enough, he has now put the blame on Sanjay Dutt and his manager Dharam Oberoi. You can check Ramu’s twitter timeline here or the snapshots here.

Wow! Some points for being candid at least.

Well, over to Dutt and Oberoi now.

Ram Gopal Varma doesn’t surprise and shock me anymore. He is the only filmmaker whose zero budget film was also a flop! You can’t beat that!

What baffles me is the fact there are “morons with money” who wants to blow it away by giving it to him. And at a time when films like Paan Singh Tomar, Kahaani, Vicky Donor are re-writing the rules of the box office. If you have excess, just donate it. And if you don’t have a big heart, just burn them – That’s a better thing to do.

UPDATE (22nd May) – Sanjay Dutt and Dharam Oberoi have reacted to Ramu’s tweets. Click here to read Mirror’s report.

23rd May – Ramu drags Abhishek Bachchan into it and blames him for getting Dutt into the film. Click here to read.

VOTD : Online premiere of Aakra-Man

Posted: May 19, 2012 by moifightclub in film, Indie, short film, video, VOTD
Tags: , , , , , ,
34

We are premiering a short film on our blog for the first time. A short i saw during Mumbai Film Festival and liked it. It starts with an intro by its director Mihir Desai. Over to him.

It’s been a year, almost since our short film Aakra-Man first screened at Mumbai Film Festival in 2011. We’ve been dying to post it online but weren’t allowed due to its festival run. Here it is, finally the online premiere of our DIY superhero short, Aakra-Man.

I am never really keen on writing intros or ‘making – of’ posts before my film is watched. Anyone wanting to criticize my work should have the freedom to do so without thinking about how much I struggled to make a film, because frankly everyone goes through that struggle. Most importantly it’s always fun to let the film speak for itself and to see how the audience reacts and interprets my vision.  (Ed – and so i am stopping him right here. Watch the film and then read the rest.)

So I decided to write about something else. Let me jump right into it. (This may or may not be directly related to Aakra-Man so feel free to skip it)

‘Rogue methodology’ is a myth. As filmmakers we are constantly involved in the process of making films, we see our film over and over again. When I put a shot in my film, it’s there for a reason. It’s by choice I’ve added or removed something. You don’t shoot a film with multiple cameras just because you can. The format you shoot a film on is as important as the screenplay of your film. Aakra-Man is essentially a mockumentary. Shooting with a slightly faster shutter speed on digital SLRs helped me achieve what I wanted. It looks more “video” than “film” because ‘videos’ like this would usually come on television and not in theatres. From what I’ve seen, it seems like ‘rogue methodology’ has zero thought behind using a certain format or camera therefore shots end up looking like mistakes or ‘NG Takes.’ The first rule of DSLR filmmaking is, to understand the flaws of these cameras. Only then can you come up with innovative ways to adapt to this new technology. It’s really annoying when popular filmmakers make use of this technology without educating themselves. This is a big threat to smaller filmmakers because once a DSLR feature flops not a single investor will trust its potential. I’ve been working with video DSLRs for a long time and I know a lot of great independent filmmakers making such good use of these cameras. Unfortunately it’ll go unnoticed; DSLR filmmaking in India will continue to be discouraged.

Overwhelmed by the size of these cameras, followers of rogue methodology have probably forgotten that films are first and foremost an emotional experience. If the audience is only talking about how the film has been shot, the filmmaker has failed. Struggles and techniques should be invisible because all of that adds up to the story one is trying to say. That is of utmost importance. Although I agree with Mr. Rogue when he says the cameras should be invisible to the actors but in that process the director shouldn’t become invisible too!! There is only so much an actor can bring to the table. If he or she is a ‘good’ actor they’ll come prepared with the look, body language, research, back story, accent, etc but the rest is how the director moulds their performance. The “why” is the director’s job and the “how” is the actor’s job. Rogue method seems to completely disregard this fact.

If rogue methodology wasn’t enough we have studios trying to put a ban on Vimeo. The reason I make short films is because I get the freedom to experiment. I am aware that when I make a short film I’ll be distributing it online only. My investment is always very low because I won’t make any money after releasing my film online. However, what I will get instead is an audience. This audience of mine, will hopefully support me when I eventually make a feature in the future or make more shorts for the Internet. By banning a distribution site like Vimeo the studios are not only putting an end to creativity but destroying the niche we independent filmmakers have created for ourselves. I can confidently speak for a lot of my fellow indie filmmakers and say that our intent has never been to compete with studios. We just want to co-exist. Vimeo is not just a distribution website, we can use it to share footage and collaborate globally. With the consent of my filmmaker friends abroad I’ve used footage they’ve shot in my documentary Common Thread and they can do the same with mine. Collaboration without increasing production cost! Banning Vimeo is just taking all these privileges away from independent filmmakers. When I was re-cutting Aakra-Man I never thought it would end up becoming ‘just another YouTube video.’ Sadly that’ll be my primary source of distribution here. Social media is a really powerful tool, see what you can do by getting the hashtag #SaveVimeo to trend. It’s really important to the indie film community.

Aakra-Man is just a film about someone who is struggling to ‘fit in.’ Rahul Desai has written and acted this part. We hope this video is worth your time. Our plan for the future is to make a feature length version of this film so please help spread the word and share your thoughts, rate/review it on IMDb. For best quality, watch the film on Aakra-Man’s official website (this is a Vimeo embed, if your network allows it watch it here) Those in US or Canada can download a full HD version for free on iTunes. The rest can watch an embedded version below (please watch it in full HD)

Download Alex Marianyi’s soundtrack for free:

Lastly, please bookmark http://www.aakraman.com . It’s a work in progress website we will be allowing free download of the screenplay and if people are interested to know about the making of the film then a possible commentary by Rahul and me.

– Mihir Desai

Ishaqzaade – In defense of Zoya

Posted: May 18, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, film, movie reviews, reviews
Tags: , , , ,
15

Has SPOILERS. DON’T read if you haven’t seen the film.

We are running a week late on this one. A new film by Ramu has already released this week and as expected, it’s call-it-whatever-you-want-to-call. Because of Do Dooni Chaar and the way the first promos of Ishaqzaade played out, we were really looking forward to Habib Faisal’s film. I liked lot of things in the film but it had the same problem which most desi films suffer from – 2nd half. It was the same story with his Band Bajaa Baraat and Do Dooni Chaar. And then a thanda climax. If it had to end that way, i would have liked to see them jumping from the roof with guns blazing from every side on the beats of the romantic title song and freeze!   say Thelma and Louise kind. The other criticism that the film received was of being sexist. Habib tried to defend it here.

And we have someone who is on the same page – Neeraja. She is from one of the many Almodas of India. She loves to think and her priorities in life includes books, cinema, mathematics, philosophy, politics and arguing about the same, in no particular order.

Ishaqzaade is an interesting film because it throws up interesting questions and reactions. I wouldn’t call it a love story but then what one takes away from a film is very subjective. After all, there are people who enjoy bodyguard and wanted.

Ishaqzaade is a story of a girl born in a society where violence is a way of life. There is not a single character in the film that is averse to violence. It is shocking and from what I know pretty close to truth. Upper-caste gun-toting warring political families is a cliche in real life…and not only in these parts (UP/Bihar) but in most parts of the world. Modern Politics at grass-root level is bullet-ridden and blood soaked. Patriarchy is a common feature of politically influential families across the world. Power flows from the barrel of the gun. Everywhere. In india, it has its own flavour blended with caste, religion and feudalism.

The film is a “love story” set in the backdrop of warring political families (hindu and muslim) in a small town somehwhere in north India. The kind of families that perpetuate honour killings, where only women worth loving are either prostitues or mothers and domestic violence is culture. To have a female character that defies all this and comes out a winner at the end would have been awesome but very unreal. The film portrays an honest and ugly picture of patriarchy that exists in it’s most violent form in some parts of our country.

Zoya is a spirited girl. She owns a gun (which she buys by selling her jhumkas) and she can address a crowd like true blue small town sharp-tongued politician but she is also naive. What she doesn’t understand is that most of this freedom has been handed out to her for she is the youngest and the only girl in a moderately progressive family. Most of her strength is inherited. It comes from the fact that she was brought up in a politically influential family. A family where everyone carries a gun in their hands and a dhamki on their lips all the time. She gets to do things that perhaps other girls in the neighbourhood cannot and won’t even dream of doing. Her peers see her as a strong young woman who makes her way while her family just sees her as a spoilt little girl who wants to be like her father but will be married off to a nice muslim boy soon enough.

What’s a strong female character really? According to most of the reviews/opinions that I have been reading, it is someone who subscribes to feminist ideas of urban women. Zoya’s world however is very different from that of ours. She lives in a society where for young boys to visit prostitutes is coming of age (and is even encouraged by their fathers/grandfathers). Where a woman’s opinion is non-existant and her body is only for abuse. Where young adolescent girls do not learn about love by reading romantic novels. They watch crappy hindi movies where the hero is usually a stalker and a charmer. So, when they experience the hormonal rush of emotions when a boy touches them or claims to be in love with them – they are smitten and they get foolish. So, it is not a surprise that when Zoya falls in love, she falls hard. An outspoken, argumentative Zoya at home transforms into a blushing and smiling girl when she is with Parma. The boy, on the other hand, knows love, sex and manipulations all too well to succumb to any emotion.

Her values come from the society that she lives in and in some sense helps to perpetuate them (she tells her mother to shut up because she didn’t understand politics but she wouldn’t dare to talk to her father like that. It just shows how women are treated in the family and how this treatment is considered acceptable by other women members of the family). She wants to be a part of the very system that treats women like that. She wants to be an MLA like her father and agrees with the power hungry, violent politics that surrounds her. She just wants to be one of the boys but at some level she is aware of the fact that no matter how many shots she fires, she is a woman at the end of the day. She knows that being seen with Parma in college bathroom will bring dishonour to her and therefore to her family because she is a girl and a girl’s honour is attached to her family’s honour. She doesn’t however agree with the concept which is what makes her different from other women in her place. She is not angry at Parma for having sex with her under the pretext of a fake marriage (which is technically rape), she is mad at him for betraying her. She cannot stand the fact that she was stupid enough to fall for someone who betrayed her and made her look like a fool in front of the whole community which is why instead of attempting a suicide, she tries to kill him. The fact that in her mind her honour is not attached to her body makes her different. That is also why she is able to forgive him later on.

In the end, what do people really want to see? A khoon bhari maang like woman who wields a gun and seeks revenge? Is that liberated enough? Will that change the fact that no matter what she had done, she would have to die in the end because there is no place for a spirited independent woman in that society.

My biggest problem with the movie is that there is no emotional involvement. There are very few moments where you get to feel what the characters are feeling. None in case of Parma which is why the change in his attitude towards Zoya is unbelievable. There is a lot of running around, shooting and lost and found moments but you hardly ever get to feel what the characters are feeling. The Romeo-Juliet-esque death scene is hilarious and almost spoiled the film for me.

What makes it work is Parineeti Chopra’s Zoya and the small town ambience. Zoya’s character is so close to reality, it hurts to watch her. If you have lived in a small town, if you have met spunky, street-smart, sharp-tongued girls from conservative families, it would do you good to go back and check what happened to them. How and when they were tamed. It’s not always cruel. Most of the girls believe that it’s the right way…just like most of well educated independent girls believe that no man can dominate them but at the end of the day they must marry someone who is smarter or more educated or at least earns more than them. There traps after traps and you succumb somewhere and justify it to yourself using your brilliant analytic skills that you acquired through higher education. We have all fixed boundaries for ourselves according to the freedom and strength granted to us. There are few who venture beyond and try to break the status quo. Lets not judge them for not breaking your boundaries.

Just because a woman wields a gun and talks like a boy, doesn’t mean she is liberated and just because she fails to challenge the patriarchy on all fronts (in the way we want her to) doesn’t mean she is not strong.

Just for the sake of irony, I leave you with this poem by Meena Kandasamy

Paracetamol legends I know
For rising fevers, as pain-relievers—

Of my people—father’s father’s mother’s
Mother, dark lush hair caressing her ankles
Sometimes, sweeping earth, deep-honey skin,
Amber eyes—not beauty alone they say—she
Married a man who murdered thirteen men and one
Lonely summer afternoon her rice-white teeth tore
Through layers of khaki, and golden white skin to spill
The bloodied guts of a British soldier who tried to colonize her. . .
Of my land—uniform blue open skies,

Mad-artist palettes of green lands and lily-filled lakes that
Mirror all—not peace or tranquil alone, he shudders—some
Young woman near my father’s home, with a drunken husband
Who never changed; she bore his beatings everyday until on one
Stormy night, in fury, she killed him by stomping his seedbags. . .

 

We: their daughters.
We: the daughters of their soil.
We, mostly, write.
PS: I wonder if one can make the same film with a muslim boy and a hindu girl? Won’t that be a blasphemy in our shining secular nation!
Older Entries
Newer Entries