Posts Tagged ‘Neeraj Ghaywan’

Our ‘Masaan’ Boys Won National Award, Will Donate The Cash Award To Charity

Posted: May 3, 2016 by moifightclub in Awards, cinema, News, pics
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There is a nice little picture of Roger Ebert (or Ebert saab, as we call him) which keeps getting featured. He is looking into the camera with his head turned, smiling, holding the Sun-Times newspaper in his hand. It has the headline, Our Ebert Won Pultizer. It’s one of those images that stays with your for eternity. That “Our” in the headline puts such a strong sense of pride and belonging. If you haven’t seen the image, click here. And that’s the inspiration for our header too.

Masaan has been doing the festival rounds since its premiere at Cannes. And it has also been bagging a lot of awards, again starting from Cannes. But National Awards has its own charm and it feels like a perfect homecoming. Neeraj Ghaywan won the Swarna Kamal for Best Debut Film Of A Director. And Varun Grover won the award for Best Lyrics, for Dum Laga Ke Haisha’s Moh moh ke dhaage. Here are some pics from the D-day.

(click on any pic to enlarge and  start the slide show)

UPDATE – Here’s some more update from our Masaan boys. Both Neeraj Ghaywan and Varun Grover have decided to donate their cash prize towards relief work for farmers. All in their tweets.

 

Busan To Open With ‘Zubaan’, TIFF Adds ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’

Posted: August 26, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema
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A bunch of festival news about Indian films from across the world.

Busan International Film Festival will open with Mozez Singh’s debut feature, Zubaan this year. The film has Vicky Kaushal, Sarah Jane Dias, Manish Chaudhary, Meghna Malik and Raaghav Chanana in lead roles. For more details about the film, click here.

Aprt from Zubaan, Busan will also have a bunch of Indian films in various categories. In its ‘A Window On Asian Cinema’ section, there is Meghna Gulzar’s Guilty (Talvar), Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh, Bhaskar Hazarika’s Kothanodi, Biju Viswanath’s Orange Candy, Mani Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani, Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan, and Suman Ghosh’s Peace Heaven.

The “New Currents” section has Hari Viswanath’s Radio Set and the “Cinekids’ section will screen Nagesh Kukunoor’s Rainbow (Dhanak). The fest also has few Indian films in docu and shorts categories. The festival will run from 1-10th October, 2015.

Also, Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is on the Jury for “New Currents” section of the fest.

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Toronto International Film Festival has few more Indian titles to their 2015 edition. Apart from Meghna Gulzar’s Guilty (Talvar) and Leena Yadav’s Parched, it also has Pan Nalin’s Angry Indian Goddesses in the same ‘Special Presentations’ section. The film stars Tannishtha Chatterjee, Sandhya Mridul, Sarah Jane Dias, Pavleen Gujral, Anushka Manchanda, Rajshri Deshpande and Amrit Maghera

Here’s a short description of the film from the fest site – On the eve of their friend’s wedding in Goa, a group of women discuss everything under the sun — from their careers, sex lives, and secrets to nosy neighbours and street harassment — in this largely improvised and refreshingly frank depiction of contemporary Indian society from award-winning director Pan Nalin.

TIFF will also screen Shambhavi Kaul’s Fallen Objects, Shai Heredia & Shumona Goel’s An Old Dog’s Diary in “Wavelenths” section, and Megha Ramaswamy’s Bunny in “Short Cut” section.

वो, जो सब शाश्वत है – ’मसान’

Posted: August 8, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema, film, Indie, Movie Recco, movie reviews
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Jeev-jantu.

SPOILER  ALERT

’मसान’ के बारे में बहुत कुछ लिखा जा चुका है, लिखा जा रहा है, सोचा कि लिखने के लिए कुछ बचा नहीं है, लेकिन इस फ़िल्म ने इतनी सहजता से दिल को छू लिया कि लिखे बिना नहीं रह सकता. लगभग दस दिन हो गए हैं फ़िल्म देखे हुए, लेकिन ना तो ज़हन से उतरी है, ना दिल से. एक अच्छी फ़िल्म, नज़्म, कहानी या किताब की शायद सबसे बड़ी ख़ासियत ही ये होती है कि वो देर तक आप के साथ बनी रहती है. दिनों तक, महीनों तक, सालों तक और कभी-कभी सदियों तक. और ’मसान’ भी इस में कोई अपवाद नहीं है. और यूं भी जिन जज़्बात और मुद्दों को ’मसान’ में दर्शाया गया है, वे सब शाश्वत हैं और आज के संदर्भ में, आज के परिप्रेक्ष्य में रचे गए हैं. और यही बात, इस फ़िल्म को, इस कहानी को, उन किरदारों को और अधिक ख़ास बना देती है. और जिस तरीके से लेखक वरूण ग्रोवर ने हिन्दी-उर्दू के कवियों, शायरों को इस फ़िल्म में याद किया है, वो इस शाश्वतता के पहलू को और अधिक प्रबल करता है.

चार अहम पहलुओं, शाश्वत पहलुओं से बख़ूबी रू–ब-रू करवाती है फ़िल्म. जिज्ञासा, प्रेम, मृत्यु और उम्मीद. ये सभी वो शाश्वत पहलू या जज़्बात हैं ज़िंदगी के, जिनके बिना जीवन लगभग असंभव है. कुछ-कुछ वैसे ही जैसे शाश्वत समय के बिना.

फ़िल्म शुरू ही देवी (रिचा चड्ढा) की जिज्ञासा से, या यूं कहें कि जिज्ञासा शांत करने की कोशिश से होती है. ठीक एक बालिग होते बच्चे की तरह, जिसे बहुत कुछ जानना है और इस जानने की प्रक्रिया में वो समाज के बनाए सही-ग़लत के पैमानों पर ज़्यादा ध्यान नहीं देता है. ये जिज्ञासा बिल्कुल वैसी है, जैसी कभी आदम और हव्वा को हुई होगी, जिस के चलते उन्होंने वो प्रतिबंधित फल चखा था, जिसे चखने का अंजाम हम सब जानते हैं. अब वो सच भी हो सकता है और मिथक भी, लेकिन है एक शाश्वत तथ्य. सदियों से इस और इसी तरह की अनेकानेक जिज्ञासाओं ने इंसान को उत्सुक बनाए रखा है और एक तरह की तरक्की के लिए प्रेरित भी किया है. आज हम जितना भी आगे बढ़ पाए हैं, उस में जिज्ञासा का बहुत बड़ा हाथ है. कुछ ऎसी ही तरक्की देवी भी करना चाहती है. और उस की ये तरक्की किसी भी तरह से भौतिकता से प्रेरित नहीं है. वो बस आगे बढ़ना चाहती है, शारिरिक तौर पर, मानसिक तौर पर, खुले दिमाग से. एक जगह वो अपने पिता विद्याधर पाठक (संजय मिश्रा) को जवाब भी देती है, “जितनी छोटी जगह, उतनी छोटी सोच”. वो इस छोटी सोच से तरक्की चाहती है. अपनी जिज्ञासा को शांत करने के सहारे, अपनी शाश्वत जिज्ञासा को शांत करने के सहारे.

दूसरा शाश्वत जज़्बात, प्रेम, जिसे ’मसान’ ना केवल छूती है, बल्कि उस में सराबोर होकर नाचती है, उत्सव मनाती है. प्रेम, जो जितना जिस्मानी है, दुनियावी है, उतना ही ईमानदार भी है, सच्चा भी है. कहीं कोई छल-कपट नहीं है. खालिस है. और यही खालिस प्रेम, आम तौर पर परिभाषित और दर्शित प्रेम से अलग है. इसीलिए पहुँच पाता है, और छू पाता है, अंतर्मन की उन गहराईयों तक जहाँ तक का रास्ता केवल असल प्रेम को मालूम है. वही असल में केंद्र है, हर एक इंसान का, और प्रेम का यही दृष्टिकोण, दीपक (विक्की कौशल) और शालू (श्वेता त्रिपाठी) का एक-दूसरे के प्रति (दुनिया के एतराज़ को ध्यान में रखते हुए भी), उस प्रेम को दर्शाता है, जो सुबह की ओस की बूंद की तरह साफ़ है, यही साफ़-पाक प्रेम है, जो असल में शाश्वत है.

अगर एक चीज़ है, समय के परे, जो उतनी ही शाश्वत है, और रहेगी तो वो है मृत्यु. और मृत्यु को इतने अलग-अलग दृष्टिकोण से देखा-दिखाया गया है, एक ही फ़िल्म में कि ताज्जुब होता है. एक ओर पियूष (सौरभ चौधरी) आत्महत्या करता है, सिर्फ़ डर के मारे, शर्म के मारे और अनजाने में ही देवी और पाठक की ज़िंदगियाँ दाँव पे लगा जाता है, दूसरी ओर नियति का हस्तक्षेप शालू को इतनी ख़ामोशी से मृत्यु के आग़ोश में ले लेता है कि एक झटका लगता है. गहरा झटका. तीसरा रूप है मृत्यु का, दिन-रात जलती चिताओं का, गंगा के घाट पे. जहाँ मृत्यु सिर्फ़ एक काम है, एक व्यवसाय है और है एक ’पारी’ का खेल. वो खेल जो दिन-रात के हर पहर में खेला जाता है, ठीक एक ज़िंदा आदमी की चलती सांसों की तरह. जब आख़िरी बंधन को खोपड़ी पर बांस मार कर आज़ाद किया जाता है, (जिसे कर्म कांड की भाषा में ’कपाल क्रिया’ कहते हैं), तो मृत्यु बस एक कर्म बन कर रह जाती है. और इसी मृत्यु का चौथा रूप दिखाई देता है, जब झोंटा (निखिल साहनी) एक लम्बा गोता लगा कर वापिस नहीं आता है देर तक. मृत्यु नहीं है उन क्षणों में लेकिन उस की मौजूदगी का एहसास इतना प्रबल है कि पल भर में मृत्यु के शाश्वत होने का एहसास हो जाता है.

महाभारत में जब यक्ष ने युधिष्ठिर से ये प्रश्न किया था कि क्या है जो सबसे हैरत-अंगेज़ है, तो उस ने जवाब दिया था कि सदियों से सब मृत्यु को प्राप्त होते आए हैं, लेकिन फिर भी जब तक जीते हैं, इस तरह से जीते हैं, जैसे अमर हों. मानव-जाति की यही बात सबसे हैरत-अंगेज़ है. और यहीं पर आकर हम अगले शाश्वत जज़्बात से मिलते हैं, उम्मीद, आशा. जिस के सहारे दुनिया तब से चल रही है, जब से ये असल में चल रही है. सब तरह की उम्मीदें, चाहे वो अपनी जन्म-जाति के बंधनों को शिक्षा के ज़रिए तोड़ कर, अपने मनपसंद जीवन-साथी के साथ एक अच्छा जीवन निर्वाह करने की दीपक की उम्मीद हो, या अपना सच्चा प्यार किसी भी तरीके से (घर से भाग कर भी) पा लेने की शालू की उम्मीद हो या फिर सब कुछ बिखर जाने के बाद भी एक नए साथ के साथ एक नया सफ़र शुरू करने की देवी की उम्मीद हो, जिसे अंत में एक नई भोर की तरह की दर्शाया गया है. वो भोर, जो ज़िंदगी, जिज्ञासा, प्रेम, मृत्यु और उम्मीद की ही तरह शाश्वत है.

और भी बहुत से शाश्वत जज़्बात हैं, जिन्हें फ़िल्म बहुत सहजता से पेश करती है. प्रेम के बिछोह से उपजा दर्द, सदियों से हिन्दुस्तान में प्रचलित जाति व्यवस्था, और बंधनों में जीने की देवी की छ्टपटाहट. और वो सब भी यूं घुले-मिले हैं पूरी कहानी में, जैसे आँसुओं में नमक. जो है भी, तक़लीफ़ भी देता है, लेकिन अलग से दिखाई नहीं देता है. इतनी ख़ूबसूरत और ख़ूबसीरत फ़िल्म लिखने और बनाने के लिए लेखक वरूण ग्रोवर, निर्देशक नीरज घायवान और डी.ओ.पी. अविनाश अरूण को गले लगा कर शुक्रिया देने का मन करता है. लेकिन वो फिर कभी सही.

फिलहाल ये एक ही गुज़ारिश है, अगर आपने अभी तक ये फ़िल्म नहीं देखी है, तो कोशिश कर के देखिए. ऎसी फ़िल्में बार-बार नहीं बनती.

 – मोहित कटारिया

(Mohit Kataria is an IT engineer by profession, writer & poet by passion, and a Gulzar fan by heart. He is based in Bangalore and can be reached at [kataria dot mohit at gmail dot com] or @hitm0 on twitter)

उल्टा कर के देख सके तो, अम्बर भी है गहरी खाई….

Posted: July 26, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema
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If you are a regular follower of the blog, by now you must be aware of our association with this week’s release, Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan. That’s why it’s bit difficult for us to be impartial about it and so we haven’t reviewed the film.

Our friend Avinash Verma has come to our rescue, and hopefully, impartial too. Here’s his post on the film. (Mild SPOILERS)

Out now cover

How do you cope with someone’s unexpected loss who you imagined spending the rest of your life with? All those dreams come crashing down, tears pouring through your eyes incessantly for days and months. How hard is it to move on, to Fly Away Solo (which is the English Title of Masaan)

Whose moral is it anyway? Why is sex still a four letter word? Is ‘Jigyaasa mitaana’ (Curbing the curiosity) a sin even when you are a consenting adult? Is the people making love inside a rented hotel room less moral than the ones necking in a public park?

These are some of the questions that this film tries to grapple with. The title ‘Masaan’ means a crematorium, a place where life ends but this ‘Babel-ish’ film is about hopeful happenstances from which life reemerges.

Vidyadhar Pathak is an ex Sanskrit Professor scraping the bottom (of Ganga, quite literally here) to pay off the ransom to a corrupt police officer to prevent his daughter from becoming a YouTube ‘viral sensation’.

The daughter, Devi (Richa Chadha), is a computer teacher who is now looking for an escape from the narrow streets and the equally narrow mindsets of the citizens of Kashi, once the glorious abode of the omniscient sages, now a pit of greedy police inspectors and judgmental, vulgar MCPs.

Deepak, the guy who wants to get out of the rut of crushing dead bodies’ skulls at Harishchandra Ghat falls in love with poetry loving Shaalu (the cherubic debutante, Shweta Tripathi), the youngest one of the upper caste Gupta family who leave no chance to take pride in their family name, even if it is at a random Dhaba on the highway which has absolutely nothing to do with their clan. It might as well be someone way below their caste cooking the food inside the kitchen, but for them, the food is delicious coz the joint is owned by ‘Guptas’ (albeit ‘Salad baasi tha’ coz cribbing is our national pastime)

I wish the Guptas knew this before the tragedy.

 First love is special, for everyone, no matter how long or short does it last & to capture that innocence, charm and hormonal curiosity is what Masaan does exceedingly well. The heart shaped balloons, the glances exchanged in stealth mode, the endless conversations on CDMA phones, the insistence on calling each other ‘Tum’ & not ‘Aap’, the surprise bike/boat rides, the awkward, confusing yet celestial first kiss, the ingenuous gifts, the fights, patch ups and the determination to conquer the world coz she is not afraid to elope with you and you got to be prepared if it ever comes to that.

मैं हूँ पानी के बुलबुले जैसा, तुझे सोचूँ तोह फूट जाता हूँ … That’s exactly how fragile you are when cupid strikes you for the first time.

In ‘As good as it gets’, Jack Nicolson’s character pays a compliment to Helen Hunt’s saying “You make me want to be a better man”. Aren’t all love stories essentially that? The struggle to become a better person because deep down you know that the one who loves you deserves a way better version of you. Deepak’s struggle to become the better man before and after his personal apocalypse is what left me emotionally consumed.

It would have been very interesting the see what would have happened if Deepak-Shalu’s story had moved forward the way we were expecting it to but… well.

The grief is real. Deepak, Devi & Vidyadhar, all three are going through hell & it’s beautifully portrayed by Vicky Kaushal (Whatte brilliant debut!), Richa Chadha & Sanjay Mishra (I felt that Vidyadhar is just an extension of the good natured Babuji from Ankho Dekhi, and that is, IMO, perfect casting). The crying, the silences, the empty gazes into space imagining the various ‘What ifs’, sitting like a zombie in front of a TV that asks you to recognize an actor’s badly morphed face to win a lottery, the yearning for closure, the desperation that lets you risk a child’s life for money, the frustration that makes you smack your daughter and the helplessness that makes you cry in her lap, the uncontrollable wailing in the arms of friends who are clueless how to console you coz they simply don’t know how to and throwing away the things that doesn’t let you let go of the memories of your loved one and then immersing yourself into deep waters to find them back again.

The conflicts are real. The tears are real.

And that’s precisely why you should see Banaras & its four residents via Masaan’s lens. The silences speak volumes and some frames are more eloquent than some films could ever be in their entirety.

Except the oddly convenient intersection of both the narratives at the end, this film, rich with character, atmosphere and superb situational humor, is an extremely self-assured debut (of the director Neeraj Ghaywan, the screenwriter Varun Grover, and the editor Nitin Baid) and has so much to offer that the climax don’t bother you that much.

‘Bhor’ engulfs you by the time the lights come back in the theatre and all you want to do is to fly away, solo.

PS: Loved the fact that Inspector Mishra had a daughter. Wished that Sadhya ji got more screen time.

(Avinash is an Ex-MICAn. His full time job is to watch movies and in his free time he pretends to be a Digital Marketeer. He loves indie films and likes to be comfortably numb whenever he can. Also, hates all the ads Ranbir Kapoor is in. His earlier post is here.)

बस इतना ही कहना है…

Posted: July 24, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema, Indie, Poster
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बस इतना ही कहना है कि आज पिंजरा खुल रहा है। 3 साल की चप्पल घिसाई, घुड़सवारी, हवाबाज़ी, खुद को बहलाना, आपस में लड़ना, ट्रेनों के दरवाजों पर बैठे गुज़रते हुए गाँवों को देखते हुए किसी उलझे सीन को सुलझाना और ये भी सोचना कौनसा साला ये फिल्म बनने ही वाली है, बार बार बनारस के चक्कर और हर चक्कर में कम लौंगलता खाना ये सोच के कि बनारस तो अभी फिर आना है – के बाद आज सबका कुल जमा देश भर में फैली 240 स्क्रीनों पर टूटते तारों सा बिखर जायेगा।

बस इतना कहना है कि कुछ खास नहीं है कि इस फ़िल्म में अनेकों लोग शुरू से ही जुड़े हैं (मैं, रिचा, अविनाश, नितिन) – नाबालिग़ उमर के आशिकों की तरह – कई फ़िल्मों में जुड़े होते हैं। लेकिन ये खास है कि उनमें से बहुतों की ये पहली फ़िल्म है – नीरज घायवान, नितिन बैद, श्रुति कपूर, विक्की कौशल, श्वेता त्रिपाठी, और एक तरह से मेरी और अविनाश अरुण की भी। पहली फ़िल्म का नशा एक ही बार होता है, यही नियति है। पहले चुम्बन की तरह। ठीक से समझ भी नहीं आता कि हो क्या रहा है पर बहुत डिवाइन लगता है।

पूरी याद्दाश्त और पूरी कायनात मिटा के फिर शुरू करनी पड़ेगी अगर पहली फ़िल्म का कष्ट-रूपी आनंद दोबारा लेना है तो।

और जाते जाते बस इतना ही कहना है जो एक बार संजय मिश्रा जी ने कहा था – उम्मीद तो अपने बच्चों से भी नहीं करनी चाहिए, तो फ़िल्म से क्यों करें। रिव्यूज़ सुंदर आ गए हैं, कुछ शहरों में लग गयी है शिवजी की कृपा से, मार्केटिंग का खेला अपनी गति और दशा से चल रहा है, और ले-देकर फ़िल्म अब हमारे हाथ से गैस से टंच भरे गुब्बारे की तरह छूट चुकी है।

बचपन में जितना मज़ा गुब्बारे को हाथ में धागे से लपेटे रहने पर आता था, उतना ही उसे छोड़ देने पर भी। एक बार दुःख होता था – बिदाई हमेशा कठिन होती है – लेकिन एक अजीब सी खुशी भी ये देखकर कि वो उड़ा जा रहा है दूर किसी ऐसे आसमान जहाँ हम कभी नहीं जा सकते।

आँख से ओझल होता हुआ… बड़ा सा गुब्बारा जो हमारे हाथ में था अब एक बिन्दु से भी छोटा। आँख बस एक बार हटाई और ग़ायब!

– वरुण ग्रोवर

(“Our Roger Ebert wins Pulitzer” – Remember that image of Ebert holding the newspaper with this headline? No? Here.  I always thought what immense pride that one word “our” must have added. Similarly, it’s time for us to say Masaan is by “OUR” Neeraj Ghaywan and Varun Grover. Do watch it in theatres. It’s limited release but if you try, you can manage for that odd show timing too. This one deserves that little effort. Also, we are posting here 4 beautiful posters sketched in Madhubani style by Grover’s better half, Raj Kumari.)

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Banaras – Through The Lens Of ‘Masaan’ DoP Avinash Arun

Posted: July 23, 2015 by moifightclub in Photo Gallery
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Avinash Arun, the DoP of Neeraj Ghaywan’s ‘MASAAN’ and the Director/DoP of much acclaimed (and super-hit) Marathi film ‘Killa’ is a hardcore instagrammer, always clicking whatever catches his attention. Most of the times, it’s the nature or the mundane that makes a city.

And when that city is Banaras – even the mundane becomes stunning!  Check out these 22 shots by Avinash Arun, clicked during the months of October and November 2014, while shooting ‘Masaan’ in Banaras and Allahabad.

(Click on any image to start the slide-show. Move your cursor on the pics to get details)

A wrinkle in time.
Green that hurts.
Shadows bridging the Rajghat Bridge.
Crossing the infinity.
Allahabad
The most haraami birds, river-gulls.
Ek santusht aadmi
Dosti
The last gathering
Bairi coal train.
Light breaks in.
Banaras Sci-Fi.
Mann kasturi, shaam sindoori.
Director in a blur.
This 100-year old water tank, somebody told us, is soon going to be demolished. Or turned into a restaurant.
The shepherd.
Jeev-jantu.
Mother.
Lahar aur Nauka.
Cricketers.
Sangam.
Last-day shoot’s madness.
Avinash Arun (centre) with Neeraj Ghaywan (Director) and Vicky Kaushal (Actor).

Music and Lyrics of “Masaan”

Posted: July 16, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema, Indie, Lyrics, music, songs & videos
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Masaan Music

Neeraj Ghaywan‘s FIPRESCI winner at Cannes 2015, MASAAN releases in India on 24th July. Here, film’s screenplay writer and lyricist Varun Grover talks about the music of the film.

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Masaan  is the most difficult music album I have worked on till now. It has just 3 songs, out of which one (‘Bhor‘) is written by Sanjeev Sharma, and still the amount of distress and self-doubt I went through figuring out the lyrics for the other two was more than me and Sneha Khanwalkar felt on the mammoth ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ album.

Prime reason was the burden of being the writer of the film as well and hence this feeling that lyrics in this film should be ‘extra-special’. As I said elsewhere, “Jab halwaayi ke ghar mein hi shaadi ho toh mithaayi se expectations unreal ho jaati hain aur halwaayi ki zindagi haraam ho jaati hai.’

This self-doubt also made the choice of a music director for the film difficult and after meeting some really worthy composers, we decided to request Indian Ocean to come on board.

1. Tu Kisi Rail Si

As I was low on confidence and the film has an element of poetry (Shweta Tripathi’s character is a shaayari-fan), we thought of using some existing Hindi poetry for the love song. One poem by Uday Prakash saab (Kuchh bann jaate hain) I loved in particular and we shared it with Indian Ocean who gave us strange looks as it’s in Mukd Chhand and nearly impossible to compose.

Then suddenly, these lines by Dushyant Kumar saab came back to me and I knew we have a starting point. I had heard these lines first many years ago at an informal kavi sammelan at a friend’s wedding in Lucknow. (Haan ji, Lucknow mein shaadiyon mein bhi kavi-sammelan hota hai.)

I wrote the rest of the lyrics, taking the first two lines from Dushyant Kumar’s ghazal ‘Main jise oadhta bichhaata hoon‘. After many tunes by Indian Ocean, we finally arrived at a consensus on one based on the footage, tempo, tone, and rhythm of the song. Since the footage was already shot and it had to be a celebratory number, these criteria were necessary to be fullilled.

We also got to meet Dushyant saab’s wife (Rajeshwari ji) and his son Aalok Tyagi ji who by a huge stroke of luck happened to live right across our editing studio in Versova! They gave us permissions and blessings for the song.

Dushyant Kumar ji

Swanand Kirkire recorded it in his grainy voice and we had our song ready.

Lyrics: 

Mukhda
Tu kisi rail si guzarti hai
Main kisi pull sa thartharaata hoon
Tu bhaley ratti bhar na sunti hai,
Main tera naam budbudaata hoon.
Kisi lambe safar ki raaton mein,

tujhe alaav sa jalaata hoon.

Antara

Kaath ke taaley hain,
aankh pe daale hain,
unmein ishaaron ki chaabiyaan laga.
Raat jo baaqi hai,
shaam se taaki hai,
neeyat mein thodi kharaabiyaan laga.
Main hoon paani ke bulbuley jaisa,

tujhko sochoon toh, phoot jaata hoon.

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2. Mann Kasturi Re

If the first song killed us, the second one did it twice over. This song is supposed to be the soul of the film, the theme that connects all the stories and characters which meant ‘Anthem jaisa kuchh chaahiye‘. Another problem was that the reference track on the footage was ‘Aik Alif‘ from Coke Studio Pakistan and it was too overwhelming a track to compete with.
For this one too, my first instinct was to run away and leave the job to some great. So we chose Nazir Akbarabaadi’s ‘Banjaranama‘ and Indian Ocean did a fantastic job of composing it into a stunning anthem. The only problem – the tempo of the footage was on another level. Marta kya na karta, I had to step in and attempt writing new words.

Like it happens most of the times, difficult to tell how/when this phrase ‘Mann Kasturi‘ popped in my head but the rest of the song became easy after that. Kabir and Banaras were constant in my head while writing it.

Lyrics

Mukhda

Mann kasturi re,
jag dasturi re,
baat huyi naa poori re!
Khoje apni gandh naa paave,
chaadar ka paiband naa paave,
bikhre bikhre chhand sa tahale,
dohon mein ye bandh na paave.
Naache ho ke phirki lattu,
khoje apni dhoori re,

Mann kasturi re!

Antara

Umar ki ginti haath naa aayi,
purkhon ne ye baat bataayi,
Ulta kar ke dekh sake toh,
Ambar bhi hai gehri khaayi.
Rekhaaon ke paar nazar ko,
Jisne phenka andhe mann se,
Satrangi bazaar ka khola,
Darwaaza phir bina jatan ke!
Phir toh jhooma baawal ho ke,
Sar pe daal fitoori re

Mann kasturi re!

For lyrics in Devnagari, click here.

Full album here:

Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan Bags 2 Top Awards at Cannes – FIPRESCI & Un Certain Regard

Posted: May 24, 2015 by moifightclub in Awards, cinema, Film Festival, Indie, News, World Cinema
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Neeraj receiving FIPRESCI
FIPRESCI citation
Neeraj receiving Un Certain regard jury prize
Un certain regard citation
Neeraj receiving Un Certain regard jury prize
Neeraj with film’s producers
Masaan writer Varun Grover says cheers from Venice
Neeraj with Jury & other winners

(click on any pic to start the slide show)

Aha. It feels so good to write this post. And since Indian media is still busy covering gowns at Cannes, we feel like shouting out from rooftop that our Neeraj Ghaywan has bagged not one, but two-fucking-awards at Cannes! The first one is the FIPRESCI Award, which is given by the International Federation Of Film Critics. For other winners, click here.

The next win is in the Un Certain Regard section in which Masaan premiered and was in competition. The film won the Special Jury prize for Debut films/Promising Future (Prix de l’avenir). It shared the award with Ida Panahandeh’s Nahid. Click here for the video. For complete list of winners, click here.

Earlier, the film had received a standing ovation after its first screening. Click here for the video and all the pics. To check out film’s trailer and premiere pics, click here. And to know more about the film, its synopsis, cast & crew, click here.

(PS – whatever you think of Bombay Velvet, Anurag Kashyap still remains the best film school in India. Here is one more proof)

VIDEO : Standing ovation for “Masaan” at Cannes 2015

Posted: May 20, 2015 by moifightclub in cinema
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Finally! You have read about it, and now here is the video of that moment of glory – the long standing ovation for Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan, at its premiere on 19th May, 2015 at Cannes Film Festival. The claps continued long after the film got over. Cheers to the entire team of Masaan!

 

And click here to read an early and glowing review of the film by Screen Daily.

UPDATE : And we have got a small video of the presentation ceremony too. Do watch it.

Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan & Gurvinder Singh’s Chauthi Koot selected for Cannes Film Festival, 2015

Posted: April 16, 2015 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cinema, Film Festival, Indie, News
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It seems like another good year for desi indies at Cannes. Two films have been selected in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival this year, and interestingly, both the films are Indo-French productions. Masaan (Fly Away Solo) is directed by our own Neeraj Ghaywan and written by Varun Grover. Both are editors and contributors at moiFightClub.

The second film is Gurvinder Singh’s Chauthi Koot.

Here are the details –

MASAAN (Fly Away Solo)

Synopsis

Four lives intersect along the Ganges – a lower-caste boy in hopeless love, a daughter ridden with guilt of a sexual encounter ending in a tragedy, a hapless father with a fading morality, and a spirited child yearning for a family, long to escape the moral constructs of a small-town.

Neeraj Ghaywan had won the Global Filmmaker Award at Mahindra Sundance 2014 for Masaan, and was also part of the prestigious Mahindra Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab (Now Dhrishyam Sundance Lab).

The film is an Indo-French co-production produced by Manish Mundra, Macassar Productions, Phantom Films, Sikhya Entertainment, Arte France Cinema and Pathé productions.

Cast

Richa Chadda, Sanjay Mishra, Vicky Kaushal, Shweta Tripathi, Vineet Kumar, Pankaj Tripathi, Bhupesh Singh, Bhagwan Tiwari, Satya Kam Anand and Nikhil Sahani.

Crew

Director : Neeraj Ghaywan

Writer : Varun Grover

Editor : Nitin Baid
DoP: Avinash Arun Dhaware
Songs composed by: Indian Ocean
Background score: Bruno Coulais
Sound: Sanjay Maurya, Allwin Rego & Gilles Benardeau
Casting Director: Mukesh Chhabra
Costume: Shruti Kapoor
Production Design: Ranjit Singh
First Assistant Director: Karuna Dutt
Co-produced by: Dipa De Motwane

Associate Producers: Ranjan Singh and Rati Shankar Tripathi.

Chauthi Koot

Chauthi Koot (Fourth Direction), Gurvinder Singh’s second movie after Anhe Ghore Da Daan, is based on two short stories by Punjabi writer Waryam Singh Sandhu. Chauthi Koot has been co-produced by Kartikeya Singh and Sunil Doshi in India, and Catherine Dussart in France. The film is about the state-sponsored crimes of the 1980s and the resistance movement it spawned.

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