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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The first look of Anu Menon’s new film, Waiting, is out. Do check out the trailer.
The film stars Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin in the lead, and it also has Rajat Kapoor, Sushasini Maniratnam, and Arjun Mathur.
Going by official release – WAITING is a film about the special relationship between Shiv (Naseeruddin Shah) and Tara (Kalki Koechlin), who befriend each other unexpectedly in a hospital while nursing their individual spouses in coma. It is a film about grief, yes, but it is also about confronting it with optimism and learning to live with courage, love with faith and laugh with hope.
Minor grouse – the way the song is laid out in the background of the trailer, with dialogues coming on top of words (of the song), its difficult to hear either. Wish it was just music, and not words, when there are dialogues on top. One really has to strain hard to get everything
After having its premiere at the last edition of Mumbai Film Festival, Manu Warrier’s indie feature Coffee Bloom is all set to hit the screens on 6th March, 2015.
Directed by Manu and produced by Harish Amin, the film will now be receiving a major international release as it releases simultaneously in India, USA and Toronto.
Here’s the official synopsis of the film –
Coffee Bloom’ is the story of Dev Anand (Arjun Mathur), who is a self proclaimed wise man and has given up on life as a result of a love gone wrong. A life changing event takes him on a journey to a coffee plantation. There he meets Anika (Sugandha Ram), his long lost love, currently his boss. Love blooms in an idyllic setting, bringing Dev out of his self imposed funk and Dev finds a new reason to live. Coffee Bloom also stars veteran actor Mohan Kapoor and Bengali actress Ishwari Bose in supporting roles.
Starring Arjun Mathur, Sugandha Ram, Mohan Kapoor and Ishwari Bose, Coffee Bloom is all set to hit theatres in India (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur), US(San Francisco, LA, Seattle, New Jersey, Chicago) and Canada(Toronto).
Manu Warrier’s debut feature Coffee Bloom is having its India premiere at the Mumbai Film Festival 2014 in the ‘New Faces of Indian Cinema’ section. Coffee Bloom stars Arjun Mathur, Sugandha Garg and Mohan Kapoor among others. We have the debut trailer for the film right here, take a look:
Here is the synopsis of the film, along with information on the cast and crew:
SYNOPSIS:
Dev sells his family coffee estate as a statement underlining his renunciation of the world. When his mother dies heartbroken, he vows to prove worthy of her before scattering her ashes, little realizing that that involves confronting the world he shunned and his turbulent past.
Co-Producers: Sharath Parvathavani, Rajeev Acharya, Nitin Chandrachud, Tess Joseph
Music and BG score: Prasad Ruparel
Cinematography: Yogesh Jaan
Editor: Anand Subaya
Casting By: Tess Joseph
Sound Design: David Stevens
If you are attending MFF 2014, you can catch the film at 3:30 pm on Monday, October 20th at Cinemax Infiniti Mall, Versova and 10 am on Tuesday, October 21st at PVR Citi Mall, Andheri.
Most probably you haven’t heard about any of these titles mentioned in the header of the post. But they seem to be interesting films, and hopefully we will get to hear more about them in the coming months. So here’s the official synopsis of all these films.
DEKH TAMASHA DEKH
Away from any media attention, Feroze Abbas Khan has completed his next film titled Dekh Tamasha Dekh. He had earlier directed Gandhi, My Father.
Synopsis : The story revolves around the search for the religious identity of a poor man crushed under the weight of a politican’s hoarding. A social and political satire, the film explores the impossible India, where bizarre is normal.
Directed by Feroze Abbas Khan.
India 2012, 108 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast: Satish Kaushik, Tanvi Azmi, Vinay Jain, Sharad Ponkshe, Ganesh Yadav, Apoorva Arora, Alok Rajwade
CHENU
Manjeet Singh’s directorial debut Mumbai Cha Raja did a good round of film fests and now he is working on his next film titled Chenu. It has been selected for the 9th edition of L’Atelier organized by the Cinéfondation of the Cannes Film Festival.
Synopsis : Chenu, a low caste Dalit boy living in rural North India, is drawn into an ongoing war between the extremely violent leftist “Naxal” militia and the fascist landlords’ gang. One day his younger sister Chano’s fingers are chopped off by landlord Teer Singh for plucking mustard leaves from his farm. When Chenu’s family is denied justice, the Naxals come to their rescue. They huntdown Teer Singh forcing him to take refuge under the protection of Bhagwan Sing, the leader of a landlord gang who has just cremated a cart full of dead relatives killed by the Naxals. The Naxals then involve Chenu in their operations and he comes to know where their weapons are hidden. When physically beaten by the rich village kids for playing on their turf, Chenu learns to fire a handgun himself. Meanwhile Bhagwan Singh, in thirst of revenge, consolidates other landlord gangs to form a powerful private army. A bloody cycle of violence unleashes, engulfing Chenu’s innocence while setting him on the cours of his own journey.
OONGA
I have been hearing about Devashish Makhija for a long time. Good to know that he is ready with his debut feature.
Synopsis : Little Oonga missed his village school trip to the faraway big city Lohabad to see a play called ‘Ramayan’. Unable to handle the pressure of being the only kid around who has not seen the fantastic warrior-king ‘Rama’, Oonga runs away. He goes on a perilous journey across forest, river, mountains and roads – bigger than any he’s ever seen, and valleys lain to waste by the mining industry… until he reaches the large, cold, chaotic, blinding city. When he emerges from the play he believes he has become Rama! But he is now returning not to the warm confines of his little village, but to a battlefield where the ‘company’ will do anything to take the adivasi’s land away from them. Only, Oonga doesn’t know it yet.
Directed by Devashish Makhija.
India, 2012, Feature Film, 98 Minutes, Hindi and Oriya with English subtitles.
Cast – Alyy Khan, Anand Tiwari, Nandita Das, Priyanka Bose, Salim Kumar, Seema Biswas, Vipin Sharma
FILMISTAAN
2012 was a good year for Bollywood. But beating all those films, Nitin Kakkar’s debut feature Filmistaan bagged the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Hindi Language. And if you read the synopsis, you might know why. It sounds delicious.
Synopsis : This National Award winning movie is set in Mumbai where, affable Bollywood buff and wanna-be-actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes on becoming a heart-throb star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown out. Undeterred, he goes with an American crew to remote areas in Rajasthan to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group kidnaps him for the American crew-member. Sunny finds himself on enemy border amidst guns and pathani-clad guards, who decide to keep him hostage until they locate their original target. The house in which he is confined belongs to a Pakistani, whose trade stems from pirated Hindi films, which he brings back every time he crosses the border. Soon, the two factions realize that they share a human and cultural bond. The film shows how cinema can be the universal panacea for co-existence.
Directed by Nitin Kakkar.
India 2012, 117 Minutes, Hindi with English subtitles.
Cast – Sharib Hashmi, Kumud Mishra, Gopal Datt, Inaamulhaq
FIREFLIES
Synopsis : ‘Fireflies’ is the story of two estranged brothers – Shiv and Rana. Shiv, a successful banker, lives in the superficial glitter of corporate Bombay. The younger brother, Rana, is a law school dropout who lives by the day. Though worldly experiences and illusions briefly illuminate the brothers’ journeys, a tragedy that befell them fifteen years earlier seems destined to repeat itself, just in new incarnations. Flames suddenly extinguish again, in an eerie heartbeat. The journey ahead echoing with voices and visions from the past, and the magic realism of the years gone by, beckons the brothers to find each other again. And the picture in the puzzle that was scattered so long ago. Fireflies come out in the night, just to light up the darkness. They live as long as the glow lasts. Even if it is a lifetime, being lived in a day.
Directed by Sabal Singh Shekhawat.
India, 2012, 102 Minutes, Hindi & English.
Cast – Arjun Mathur, Monica Dogra, Rahul Khanna, Shivani Ghai, Aadya Bedi
Anurag Kashyap’s next release That Girl In Yellow Boots finally gets an official poster. Not sure if it’s the same agency which has designed the posters of Dev D, Shaitan and now TGIYB but some design hangover seems to be there…similar elements, colours and that garish touch.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali is also ready with his next production, My Friend Pinto. Directed by debutant Raaghav Dar, it stars Prateik, Kalki Koechlin, Arjun Mathur, Divya Dutta, Raj Zutshi and Shruti Seth.
And the third one is Malegaon Ka Superman. This one comes from the cottage film industry of Malegaon. Do check out its tagline.
The trailer of Sanjey Leela Bhansali’s production My Friend Pinto is finally out. It’s directed by debutant Raaghav Dar, and stars Prateik, Kalki Koechlin, Arjun Mathur, Divya Dutta, Raj Zutshi and Shruti Seth. Raaghav and Arun Sukumar have written the story and screenplay, it has music by Ajay and Atul and Amitabh Bhattacharya is the lyricist.
Also, this is the first Bhansali production which is not directed by him. Instead of melancholic blue, Bhansali going for complete madness. Have a look.
The first trailer of Onir’s I Am is out. It stars Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Nandita Das, Rahul Bose, Sanjay Suri, Purab Kohli, Abhimanyu Singh, Arjun Mathur, Shernaz Patel, Radhika Apte, Anurag Basu and Anurag Kashyap.
To quote from the official release, I AM is about people with fractured lives held together by unbroken dreams.
Click on the play button to watch the trailer..
And here is the official synopsis…
I AM is about issues and dilemmas that bruise the modern Indian society. Unraveling and exploring these tribulations, the film unfolds many a tale of individuals struggling to find their identity, and uphold their dignity in a world that is callous, cold and unsympathetic.
Shot in four different cities across India, I AM is a fusion of stories where the protagonists share a common dream – a desire to regain their lives, to regain an identity which has been taken away from them.
I AM AFIA is the story of a single woman who feels her identity will be made whole through the singularly feminine experience of motherhood. Unable to trust or even wait for a man, she is frustrated by a society that demands a “husband” to have a child. Thus her search is defined – does motherhood necessarily require the burden of a man?
I AM MEGHA is a story of two friends – a Kashmiri Pandit woman and a Muslim woman – separated by conflict. Against the backdrop of the ethnic cleansing in Kashmir in early 90’s, this story tells of loss of home and identity. If your own home rejects you, where do you go and where are you “from”?
I AM ABHIMANYU is the story of a broken man, with a proud mask. Abhimanyu is trapped by the demons of his past, a past of sexual abuse. To move forward he must first go back, into a world where hi childhood was stolen from him.
I AM OMAR is a horrific tale of sexual discrimination; blackmail and prejudice is part of the torrid fabric. It reveals how the police use Article 377 (law under Indian Penal code which criminalizes homosexuality) to harass and blackmail gay men. In the current climate of media sensationalism, perhaps this story gains even more poignancy.
And having seen the film, we definitely recco this one. Our favourites – Afia and Megha. You don’t need a Lamhaa to know the Kashmir story, you can do it in a much simpler and better way, and without all the dhoom-dhaam-dhadaap. Megha proves that.
Afia is a story about unique friendship between two strangers. Nandita Das and Purab Kohli bring such a natural charm to it, and bet you never knew that Anurag Basu can act too. Do watch.
The film stars Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin in the lead, and it also has Rajat Kapoor, Sushasini Maniratnam, and Arjun Mathur.
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 