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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This one has come out of the blue. We had no clue about this film.
Official synosis
A quirky family entertainer for 8 to 80 years, pan India.
Ranvir’s fortune is in dumps and selling his ancestral land in Mumbai is the only way to survive & Kukreja who has put all on stake has to get this land to stay away from the wrath of a ‘bhai’ and also achieve his dream of becoming a builder eventually!
For both Ravir & Kukreja this plot of land means everything and has to be got any which way.
But the key to the land is Ranvir’s mama Madho Singh Rathore, in Mandawa. Since the will wasn’t made in Ranvir’s name, so Mama has to give the NOC. Ranvir has to get his Mama to Mumbai within a month & Kukreja has to stop him from reaching Mumbai.
We see the transformation of our protagonist Ranvir from a materialistic city youth to someone who is all for family & values & antagonist Kukreja from a ‘dalla’ to a gangster through this journey, which has some other real & funny characters as well.
In the 1st half the city goes to a village and in the 2nd the village comes to the city.
Little too much? Forget it, just watch the trailer.
Cast and crew
Cast : Vir Das, Deepak Dobriyal, Gulshan Grover, Kirti Kulhari & Yashpal Sharma
Director : Shekhar Ghosh
Music : Sonu Niigam & Bickram Ghosh
Creative Producer : Rajnish Lall
Release Date : 25th Oct 2013
UTV is on a roll this year. First, they gave a big platform to Ship Of Theseus, made it visible enough, and got screens for it even when Chennai Express was running. Second, repeat the same act with The Lunchbox. And now, they have picked up another terrific film – Hansal Mehta’s Shahid. The film has got a new trailer too. Have a look.
Some of us saw the film at Mumbai Film Festival last year, and can easily bet that it’s another “must watch”. It also has one of the year’s best and break out performance by Raj Kumar Yadav. The film rides entirely on his shoulder and he makes you believe that he is Shahid Azmi.
The film is scheduled to release on 18th October.
Official synopsis
“Shahid” traces the story of a slain human rights activist and lawyer Shahid Azmi. Set during the communal violence that was unleashed in the city of Mumbai since 1993. We see a remarkable tale unfold. From attempting to become a terrorist to being wrongly imprisoned under the anti-terrorism law to becoming a lawyer, a champion of human rights (particularly the Muslim minorities in India), “Shahid” traces the inspiring personal journey of a boy while following the rise of communal violence in India. The story of an impoverished Muslim struggling to come to terms with injustice, inequality and rising above his circumstances is an inspiring testament to the human spirit.
The cast includes 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 and Mukesh Chhabra.
Toronto International Film Festival has come to an end, and has announced the winners for this year.
Here’s the good news – An Indian co-production, Anup Singh’s Qissa has bagged the NETPAC Award at this year’s fest. The film stars Irrfan Khan, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal and Tisca Chopra. This Punjabi film is written by Anup Singh and Madhuja Mukherjee. And here’s what the official release says –
As selected by a jury from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, the NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere goes to Anup Singh’s Qissa. Jury members include Jay Jeon (Korea), Intishal Al Timimi (Abu Dhabi) and Freddie Wong (Hong Kong). The jury remarked: “The NETPAC Award for the best Asian film at Festival 2013 goes to Qissa, directed by Anup Singh, for its sensitive portrayal of the issues of identity and displacement that affect people not only in India, but in all parts of the world and for brilliance of cinematic craft and the choice of metaphor that has been employed to tell a moving story that is bound to provoke thoughts, spark debate and give its viewers an intense experience.
TRAILER
TIFF NOTE & SYNOPSIS
Set amidst the ethnic cleansing and general chaos that accompanied India’s partition in 1947, this sweeping drama stars Irrfan Khan — also appearing at the Festival in The Lunchbox — as a Sikh attempting to forge a new life for his family while keeping their true identities a secret from their community.
Beautiful, timeless, and touching the deepest of human impulses, Qissa carries the spirit of a great folk tale. Although it’s set in a particular time and place — the Punjab region that straddles India and Pakistan in the years immediately after partition — it is both deeper and broader than any one moment. As this eerie family drama progresses, it cuts to the heart of eternal desires for honour, empathy, and love.
One of India’s best actors, Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Festival premiere The Lunchbox, and a feature guest in this year’s Mavericks programme) plays Umber Singh, a Sikh uprooted by the religious violence that came with partition in 1947. He and his family move to a safer locale, and it is here that the story takes a remarkable turn. Having already fathered daughters, Singh now wants a son. When his next child is born he celebrates his wish come true, but there is one problem: the baby is in fact a girl.
“Qissa” is originally an Arabic word meaning folk tale. Both the word and the idea migrated from the Gulf into the Punjab, still connected by the ancient oral narratives handed down in communal settings. Working within this tradition, director Anup Singh gives his film both the grand themes and elemental emotions of classic storytelling. As Umber’s daughter is raised as a boy, the characters are propelled with greater and greater urgency towards their inevitable fates.
Part of a new generation of directors with feet firmly planted in India and far beyond, Singh has delivered a film immediately accessible to anyone sensitive to the conflicts that drive classic stories: fear versus hubris, individual need versus social codes. Qissa is a Punjabi story for the whole world.
DIRECTOR
Anup Singh was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He has written film reviews for Sight & Sound, directed Indian television, and consulted for BBC Two. His features as director are The Name of a River (02) and Qissa (13).
CAST & CREW
Director: Anup Singh
Countries: Germany / India / Netherlands / France
Year: 2013
Language: Punjabi
Runtime: 109 minutes
Rating: 14A
Producer: Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper
Production Co.: Heimatfilm, National Film Development Corporation of India, Augustus Film, Ciné-Sud Promotion
Principal Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal, Tisca Chopra
Produced by Dar Motion Pictures and Phantom Films, it has music by G V Prakash.
The film had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors Fortnight section.
Official Synopsis
Bose, an Additional Commissioner of Police, is an extremely straight-forward professional. However, these lines are a bit blurred in his relationship with his wife Shalini. Shalini is a clinically depressed person and an alcoholic. Shalini was first married to Rahul, a struggling actor and also has a daughter with him, called Kali. The story starts on a Saturday, which is the day when Rahul is allowed to meet Kali as per court custody arrangements. Rahul leaves her in the car as he goes to meet his friend, and Kali goes missing.
What follows is an endless series of blame game and one up-man ship. A dark psychological thriller on the surface, Ugly is an emotional drama within.
To know more about the film, you can follow its FB page here.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black was heavily inspired from The Miracle Worker. Some scenes were exactly the same, just with some more background music added to it. And now, it seems Karma’s cycle is complete as someone has made it in Turkish (Titled Benim Dünyam, which means My World). Interestingly, the lead actor of the film, Ugur Yucel, is also the director.
We are not sure if it’s official remake or just plagiarised. But from the trailer it’s easy to spot that it’s a frame by frame copy of Black. Though whatever little we could gather with the help of Google Translator, many Turkish articles do mention the film Black. So it might be official remake. Have a look.
Anup Singh’s Qissa will have its premiere at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival. The film stars Irrfan Khan, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal and Tisca Chopra. This Punjabi film is written by Anup Singh and Madhuja Mukherjee.
The first look trailer of the film is just out.
TIFF Note and Synopsis
Set amidst the ethnic cleansing and general chaos that accompanied India’s partition in 1947, this sweeping drama stars Irrfan Khan — also appearing at the Festival in The Lunchbox — as a Sikh attempting to forge a new life for his family while keeping their true identities a secret from their community.
Beautiful, timeless, and touching the deepest of human impulses, Qissa carries the spirit of a great folk tale. Although it’s set in a particular time and place — the Punjab region that straddles India and Pakistan in the years immediately after partition — it is both deeper and broader than any one moment. As this eerie family drama progresses, it cuts to the heart of eternal desires for honour, empathy, and love.
One of India’s best actors, Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Festival premiere The Lunchbox, and a feature guest in this year’s Mavericks programme) plays Umber Singh, a Sikh uprooted by the religious violence that came with partition in 1947. He and his family move to a safer locale, and it is here that the story takes a remarkable turn. Having already fathered daughters, Singh now wants a son. When his next child is born he celebrates his wish come true, but there is one problem: the baby is in fact a girl.
“Qissa” is originally an Arabic word meaning folk tale. Both the word and the idea migrated from the Gulf into the Punjab, still connected by the ancient oral narratives handed down in communal settings. Working within this tradition, director Anup Singh gives his film both the grand themes and elemental emotions of classic storytelling. As Umber’s daughter is raised as a boy, the characters are propelled with greater and greater urgency towards their inevitable fates.
Part of a new generation of directors with feet firmly planted in India and far beyond, Singh has delivered a film immediately accessible to anyone sensitive to the conflicts that drive classic stories: fear versus hubris, individual need versus social codes. Qissa is a Punjabi story for the whole world.
Director : Anup Singh
Anup Singh was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He has written film reviews for Sight & Sound, directed Indian television, and consulted for BBC Two. His features as director are The Name of a River (02) and Qissa (13).
Cast and Crew
Director: Anup Singh
Countries: Germany / India / Netherlands / France
Year: 2013
Language: Punjabi
Runtime: 109 minutes
Rating: 14A
Producer: Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper
Production Co.: Heimatfilm, National Film Development Corporation of India, Augustus Film, Ciné-Sud Promotion
Principal Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal, Tisca Chopra Screenplay: Anup Singh, Madhuja Mukherjee
Since crowd-funding is in vogue these days, it’s good to see the trend going beyond Hindi indies. If our friends are to believed, Lucia is the first Kannada film to be crowd funded. We don’t have much clue about this one but it surely looks interesting. It’s written and directed by Pawan Kumar and will release with English subtitles. The film is released by PVR Directors Rare.
Official Synopsis
From the director of smash hit Lifeu Ishtene, comes Lucia, heralding a new direction for Kannada cinema, being the industry’s first crowd funded film. An usher at a decrepit cinema suffers from insomnia. His life changes when he starts getting weird and wonderful dreams but with a caveat. Set in the teeming young metropolis that is Bangalore, the film is a turbulent ride where the lines between dreams and reality are blurred to delirious effect. Please don’t reveal the ending after you’ve watched the film. Prepare to be surprised, very surprised.
In the last few years, Bengali cinema has been trying and delivering some really out of the box gems. Films which don’t follow the conventional rules. If you follow the blog regularly, we try to put the spotlight on those films whenever we can.
A new film titled “Phoring” caught our attention. Have a look at its trailer. It has English subs.
Though the topic is not new but the setting and the detailing makes it really look good. Have never heard this description of Coca Cola. The film is directed by Indranil Roychowdhury and is releasing on September 27, 2013.
It was also in NFDC’s Film-In-Progress Lab and had won The Prasad Lab Award for DI and Colour correction.
Official Synopsis
Phoring is a story of adolescence that most adults deny they ever had. In fact, we all prefer to believe that we jumped straight from the flowery innocence of childhood to the informed maturity of adulthood. The mid-greys of awkwardness, lack of direction, gawkiness, lack of identity are the themes that we prefer not to associate with ourselves. Phoring is a sweet reminder of a film in that sense. It’s a children’s story for adults.
– To know more about the film, you can follow its FB page here. And can read a Business Standard piece on the film here.
Aha, finally the good news. Hansal Mehta’s Shahid has been acquired by UTV and they will soon announce the release date. Hopefully the film should be out in theatres in next few months. The film marks Hansal’s terrific comeback after a long time and Raj Kumar Yadav is so effortlessly good that he makes you believe that he is the real “Shahid Azmi”. The film has been doing the fest rounds for quite sometime now. Do watch it when it releases.
UTV really seems to be going in right direction with the perfect balance of masala and non-mainstream films. First, Ship Of Theseus, then The Lunchbox and now, Shahid. I would say i wouldn’t mind the assault of the big budget braindead star vehicles as long as they keep on balancing it with some sold small and good films. And hopefully other production houses will follow them.
Click here to read a post on Shahid written by Ad filmmaker Ravi Deshpande.
Official Synopsis
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.
Cast and crew
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
With UTV and Karan Johar on board as presenters, and with a release date (20th September), Ritesh Batra’s debut feature finally gets a trailer. Have a look.
As i keep repeating myself, don’t miss this one. It’s easily one of the best films of the year – simple and solid. And with two terrific performances – by Irrfan and Nimrat Kaur.
And here’s the official synopsis –
Middle class housewife Ila is trying once again to add some spice to her marriage, this time through her cooking. She desperately hopes that this new recipe will finally arouse some kind of reaction from her neglectful husband. Unknowing to her is that the special lunchbox she prepared has been mistakenly delivered to an office worker Saajan, a lonely man on the verge of retirement. Curious about the lack of reaction from her husband, Ila puts a little note in the following day’s lunchbox, in the hopes of getting to the bottom of the mystery.
This begins a series of lunchbox notes between Saajan and Ila, and the mere comfort of communicating with a stranger anonymously soon evolves into an unexpected friendship. Gradually, their notes become little confessions about their loneliness, memories, regrets, fears, and even small joys. They each discover a new sense of self and find an anchor to hold on to in the big city of Mumbai that so often crushes hopes and dreams. But since they’ve never met, Ila and Saajan become lost in a virtual relationship that could jeopardize both their realities.
Cast
Irrfan Khan as Saajan
Nimrat Kaur as Ila
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Shaikh (Saajan’s Colleague)
Denzil Smith as Mr. Shroff
Bharati Achrekar as Mrs. Krishnan
Nakul Vaid as Ila’s Husband
Yashvi Puneet Nagar as Yashvi
Lillete Dubey as Ila’s Mother
The film had its premiere at the Cannes Film festival in Critics Week section. To know more about the film, click here, here and here.
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 