what we are reading – EightandHalf
WTF is this? Can you please explain. Thanks.
The first trailer of Vishal Bhardwaj’s new film Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is out. The film stars Imran Khan, Anushka Sharma, Pankaj Kapoor and Shabana Azmi.
Now, this looks like Entertainment, Entertianment, Entertainment. (Ok, blame that overdose on Vidya Balan) It surely looks like great fun – mad characters, rustic setting, colourful elements and dhinchak music.
But what is it about? It says almost nothing.
If it’s a Vishal Bhardwaj, it just can’t be boy-meets-girl, right? Some of us have read the script and the same two words comes to mind again – great fun. Only issue is the hotchpotch climax.
We can also tell you that there is a serious political issue in it but the trailer has masked it completely. Because they want your bums on the seats in the first weekend itself.
So see the trailer again. And see if can you connect the dots and guess the basic plot.
And it looks so damn good! Have a look.
The treatment and the mood reminds me of Johnny Gaddar meets Manorama Six Feet Under. Also, like the fact that the makers have realised that their films have the potential to go beyond Maharashtra and so have subtitles in the trailer. Hope from Marathi filmakers start doing the same.
And here’s the official synopsis…
In this engrossing thriller, Amar Apte is a private detective who gets his business from suspicious spouses out to catch their cheating partners in the act. When a femme fatale client enters his life, Apte snaps out of his uninspired domesticity-complete with a nagging wife and mounting bills-and finds himself in dangerous territory.
Set in Pune and against the backdrop of the financial reforms in 1992, Pune 52 juxtaposes the impact of globalization on a city with one man’s inner struggle. With a nod to Raymond Chandler and a hypnotic and ferocious performance by Girish Kulkarni, Mahajan’s debut fiction feature explores the aspirations and frustrations of a small man dreaming big.
The film will be screened at the Mumbai Film Festival where it will compete in India Gold category. It will have a theatrical release on 12th December.
Cast & Credit :
Starring: Girish Kulkarni, Sonali Kulkarni, Sai Tamhankar, Kiran Karmarkar
Editing: Abhijeet Deshpande
Sound Design: Baylon Fonseca
Director of Photography: Jeremy Reagan
Produced by: Abhay Gadgil, Shrirang Godbole, Girish Kulkarni, Umesh Kulkarni
Original Story, Screenplay and Directed by: Nikhil Mahajan
It’s produced by the makers of films such as Valu, Vihir, Deool and Harishchandrachi Factory and is the debut feature of writer/director Nikhil Mahajan.
To read the director’s note, click here for our previous post on the film.
After its premiere at the Telluride Film festival, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s documentary, Celluloid Man will soon be screened at the Mumbai Film Festival. Here’s the first teaser of the film.
Here’s more on the film from its official FB page…
Celluloid Man is a tribute to an extraordinary man called Mr. P.K. Nair, the founder of the National Film Archive of India, and the guardian of Indian cinema. He built the Archive can by can in a country where the archiving of cinema is considered unimportant.
The fact that the Archive still has nine precious silent films of the 1700 silent films made in India, and that Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema, has a place in history today is because of Mr. Nair. He influenced generations of Indian filmmakers and showed us new worlds through the prism of cinema.
As Mr. Nair speaks, we see the history of Indian cinema unfold. What emerges is a portrait of a man so in love with cinema that even his family had to take a backseat to his obsession. Mr. Nair is not just the founder of the National Film Archive, but a living, breathing museum of cinema. Even in retirement, he chooses to stay across the road from the Archive watching over his legacy. The fact that India has a cinematic heritage at all is the singlehanded achievement of this man.
He is truly India’s Celluloid Man. There will be no one like him again.
Cinematography: Santosh Thundiyil, K.U. Mohanan, Avik Mukhopadhyay, P.S. Vinod, H.M. Ramachandra, R.V. Ramani, Vikas Sivaraman, Mahesh Aney, Kiran Deohans, Ranjan Palit, V.Gopinath
Editor: Irene Dhar Malik
Sound Design: Mohandas
Music: Ram Sampath
Titles/Online: Huzefa Lokhandwala, Santosh Sabherwal
Associate Director & Research: Manju Parvathy Iyer
Post Production: Pixion, Prime Focus. Processing: Kodak, EFX Prasad
– 35mm; English with Subtitles; Duration: 163 mins
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1; Dolby 5.1; Colour / B&W
To know more about the film, click here for its Facebook page.
After its world premiere at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival, the first trailer of Hansal Mehta’s new film Shahid is out. Have a look.
Aha, welcome back, Mister Mehta. Seems like the film has got the right mood and tone for the subject. And if you missed the earlier post, here’s the official synopsis of the film..
Shahid is the remarkable true story of slain human rights activist and lawyer Shahid Azmi, who was killed in 2010 by unidentified assailants in his office. From attempting to become a terrorist, to being wrongly imprisoned under a draconian anti-terrorism law, to becoming a champion of human rights (particularly of the Muslim minorities in India), Shahid traces the inspiring personal journey of a boy who became an unlikely messiah for human rights, while following the rise of communal violence in India. This story of an impoverished Muslim struggling to come to terms with injustice and inequality, whilerising above his circumstances is an inspiring testament to the human spirit.
Cast and credit list :
Director: Hansal Mehta
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 123 minutes
Exec. Producer: Jai Mehta, Kunal Rohra
Producer: Sunil Bohra, Shailesh Singh, Guneet Monga and Anurag Kashyap
Production Co: Bohra Bros Pvt. Ltd. and Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt. Ltd.
Principal Cast: Raj Kumar, Prabhleen Sandhu, Baljinder Kaur, Tigmanshu Dhulia, K K Menon, Yusuf Husain, Prabal Panjabi, Vinod Rawat, Vipin Sharma, Shalini Vatsa, Paritosh Sand, Pavan Kumar, Vivek Ghamande, Akash Sinha, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Mukesh Chhabra
Screenplay: Sameer Gautam Singh, Apurva Asrani, Hansal Mehta
Cinematographer: Anuj Dhawan
Editor: Apurva Asrani
Sound: Mandar Kulkarni
Prod. Designer: Rabiul Sarkar
– To know more updates about the film, you can follow its FB page here.
We have been hearing a lot about Anand Gandhi’s debut feature Ship Of Theseus, and for a long time. Having seen his shorts, Right Here Right Now and Continuum, we can easily bet that he is an exciting talent to watch out for. The film is going to have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.
The poster, few stills and official synopsis of the film is out. Read it, have a look and you can decide if it looks/sounds exciting or not.
And here’s the official synopsis…
If the parts of a ship are replaced, bit-by-bit, is it still the same ship?
An unusual photographer, celebrated for her intuitive work, successfully captures the essence of her experience in her photography. However, she also struggles with insecurities over authorship in the context of larger questions about subjectivity and intent in art.
An erudite monk, who is an ideologue and practitioner of non-violence, and involved in animal rights activism, is forced to make a choice between death and medicine – medicine that is either derived from, or tested on animals. As death closes in, he re-questions all the ideas that he has always taken for granted.
A young stockbroker has a frictional relationship with his grandmother, whom he nurses in a hospital. When it is discovered that a neighbouring patient has had his kidney stolen, he starts out on a trail that leads him to a kidney tourism racket. Altruism and concern leads him to confront the recipient of the kidney, eventually making him discover how intricate morality could be.
Following the separate strands of their philosophical journeys, and their eventual convergence, Ship of Theseus explores questions of identity, justice, beauty, meaning and death.
The cast and the credit list…
Director: Anand Gandhi
Language: English, Hindi, Arabic
Runtime: 139 minutes
Exec. Producer: Mitesh Shah, Ruchi Bhimani
Producer: Mukesh Shah
Production Co.: Recyclewala Films
Principal Cast: Neeraj Kabi, Sohum Shah, Aida Elkashef, Faraz Khan, Vinay Shukla, Amba Sanyal
Screenplay: Anand Gandhi
Cinematographer: Pankaj Kumar
Editor: Adesh Prasad, Sanyukta Kaza, Satchit Puranik, Reka Lemhenyi
Sound: Gábor Erdélyi, Tamás Székely
Music: Rohit Sharma, Naren Chandavarkar, Benedict Taylor
Prod. Designer: Rakesh Yadav, Pooja Shetty
Int. Sales Agent: Fortissimo Films
Thanks to TIFF, few stills of Hansal Mehta‘s new film Shahid is finally online. Also, the official synopsis and the cast and crew list. The film is going to have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in its “City To City” programme where “Mumbai” is in focus this year.
The stills look stark and powerful and creates a deadly mood. And now the official synopsis of the film…
Shahid is the remarkable true story of slain human rights activist and lawyer Shahid Azmi, who was killed in 2010 by unidentified assailants in his office. From attempting to become a terrorist, to being wrongly imprisoned under a draconian anti-terrorism law, to becoming a champion of human rights (particularly of the Muslim minorities in India), Shahid traces the inspiring personal journey of a boy who became an unlikely messiah for human rights, while following the rise of communal violence in India. This story of an impoverished Muslim struggling to come to terms with injustice and inequality, whilerising above his circumstances is an inspiring testament to the human spirit. Starring Raj Kumar, Prabhleen Sandhu and Baljinder Kaur.
And here’s the cast and crew list…
Director: Hansal Mehta
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 123 minutes
Exec. Producer: Jai Mehta, Kunal Rohra
Producer: Sunil Bohra, Shailesh Singh, Guneet Monga and Anurag Kashyap
Production Co: Bohra Bros Pvt. Ltd. and Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt. Ltd.
Principal Cast: Raj Kumar, Prabhleen Sandhu, Baljinder Kaur, Tigmanshu Dhulia, K K Menon, Yusuf Husain, Prabal Panjabi, Vinod Rawat, Vipin Sharma, Shalini Vatsa, Paritosh Sand, Pavan Kumar, Vivek Ghamande, Akash Sinha, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Mukesh Chhabra
Screenplay: Sameer Gautam Singh, Apurva Asrani, Hansal Mehta
Cinematographer: Anuj Dhawan
Editor: Apurva Asrani
Sound: Mandar Kulkarni
Prod. Designer: Rabiul Sarkar
– To know more updates about the film, you can follow its FB page here.
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 