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The first look of Anurag Kashyap’s new film, Raman Raghav 2.0, is out. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vicky Kaushal and Sobhita Dhulipala in the lead.
The film will have its world premiere at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
Do check out the poster and the stills.
(click on any image to enlarge and start slide show)
UPDATE (24-04-16) – The teaser posters are just out. We have updated the post with 2 teaser posters of the film.
Anurag Kashyap is ready with his new film which is interestingly titled, Raman Raghav 2.0. And here is the good news – as expected, Anurag will be back to the Cannes with the premiere of the film in Directors Fortnight segment.
The films stars Nawazuddin and Vicky Kaushal in the lead roles. Not sure why, but the film is titled ‘Psycho Raman’ in press release.
To check out the complete list of 2016 selection, click here.
The Directors’ Fortnight (French: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festival as an act of solidarity with striking workers. (via wiki)
At the ongoing Cannes Film Festival, India has a much better presence this year compared to last few years. So we are back with our regular post to track all the Cannes buzz that the desi films are creating there.
Anurag Kashyap’s film Ugly had its screening in the Directors’ Fortnight section. Some of the early reviews are out.
– The Holly Reporter review is here
Kashyap’s nasty point is that, between violence, greed and corruption, just about no one is innocent in the end. Certainly all the characters are selfish beyond belief. This existential cynicism hits home in the horrific crime revealed in the last shot, But by that time, the emotions feel light years away.
– Translated text of French review on Telerama is here.
Heavy, unbearable. Surprising to the end, vitriolic portrait of contemporary India…
– Twitchfilm review is here
Really, the more divisive issue of the film will be the content itself, and audiences willingness to spend so much time watching greedy, ruthless and often idiotic people going from bad to bottom of the barrel. The ending may be a potential deal-breaker for some too, and while I can’t argue in detail without spoiling it, my sleep-deprived Cannes impression is that the haunting final shot effectively hammers home the moral center of the movie rather than functioning as the cheap, shock-value alternative. In fact, reflecting on the way Kashyap handled the rest of the film, specifically spurts of intentional violence, I do feel that there was a sympathetic voice in the film — it was just behind the camera instead of in front of it.
– The Hindu’s report on the film is here.
“The first 10 minutes of the film have to do with my own life when I depict the relations between the divorced father and his little girl. But the rest of the film came about after I read about the disappearance of children in India.
– Screendaily review is here.
After the five-and-a-bit-hour gangland epic Gangs Of Wasseypur, the godfather of the Indian commercial arthouse sector, Anurag Kashyap, serves up a slimline two-hour hard-boiled crime thriller with Ugly. But the running time is the only thing that’s restrained about this lazy kidnap caper, whose hints of Fargo, echoes of Old Boy and touches of Tarantino are compromised by the story’s sprawling lack of discipline.
Mubi’s short review is here.
The dissonance between the tone of the highly mobile plotting with its harsh and justified moral judgement of everyone in the film and the unconscious, conventionally acted characters break the film’s sinister, society-flailing vision. Thus Ugly‘s interest is more academic than actual—perhaps a failed experiment—and while its disappointing inconsistency instills dullness, it also provokes a strange and blistering series of events, each unfolding in shocking succession.
– Directors Fortnight videos
Interview of AK
Q & A after the screening
– The Hollywood Reporter on Kashyap getting the French honour Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et Lettres honour (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters)
– Cast and Credit list from THR
DAR Motion Pictures presents a Phantom Films production
Cast: Ronit Roy, Rahul Bhat, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Anshika Shrivastava, Vineet Kumar Singh, Girish Kulkarni, Surveen Chawla, Siddhant Kapoor
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Screenwriter: Anurag Kashyap
Producers: Madhu Mantena, Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane, Arun Rangachari, Vivek Rangachari
Co-producers: Vivek Agrawal, Shahnaab Alam
Director of photography: Nikos Andritsakis
Production designer: Mayur Sharma
Costumes: Divya Gambhir, Nidhi Gambhir
Editor: Aarti Bajaj
Music: Brian McOmber, G V Prakash Kumar
Sales Agent: DAR Motion Pictures, Mumbai
124 minutes.
(Pics – from social media/DF Facebook page)
The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section unveiled its official selection list today. And there’s one Indian film in the list – Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly. His two-parter Gangs Of Wasseypur was also screened in the same section last year.
An edge of the seat thriller, Ugly stars Rahul Bhatt, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Ronit Roy, Girish Kulkarni and Siddhant Kapoor.
Interestingly, five films which are going to Cannes this year has some kind of connect with Kashyap or his company, AKFPL. Ari Folman’s The Congress, Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout and Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox – these three films have been co-produced by AKFPL. And Kashyap has directed one of the shorts in Bombay Talkies which is going to have its Gala premiere at Cannes.
Click here to know more about The Directors’ Fortnight section.
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.
It’s raining good news and how! After Miss Lovely and Peddlers, the latest one to join the Cannes club is Anurag Kashyap’s two-parter Gangs of Wasseypur.
The film will be screened in the Directors’ Fortnight Section. Produced by Viacom18, it stars Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Richa Chaddha.
Interestingly, Peddlers is also produced by Anurag Kashyap Films. So Peddlers and two-parter Gangs of Wasseypur in the same year. That’s a hattrick! And if you count Udaan, then Un Certain Regard, Critics Week and Directors Fortnight has been cracked. Now AKFPL just need to crack the competition!
According to its official release, the Directors’ Fortnight is distinguished by its independent-mindedness, its non-competitive nature and its concern to cater to non-professional Cannes audiences. Striving to be eclectic and receptive to all forms of cinematic expression, the Directors’ Fortnight pays particular attention to the annual production of fiction features, short films and documentaries, to the emergence of independent fringe filmmaking, and even to contemporary popular genres, provided these films are the expression of an individual talent and an original directorial style.
Click here to read Kashyap interview on Gangs of Wasseypur.
(PS – To know more about the Directors’ Fortnight section and selection, click here.)
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 