Posts Tagged ‘Vidhu Vinod Chopra’

Every decade Sight and Sound magazine does this poll to find out the Greatest films of all time. Filmmakers, critics, festival programmers, academics, distributors, writers and other cinephiles are asked to vote for the poll. We are not sure about the criteria on the basis of which the people are asked to vote, but this year five Indian filmmakers are there in the voting list – Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Amit Dutta, Anurag Kashyap, Ashim Ahluwalia and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. And a strange thing caught our eyes – Raqs Media Collective has voted in Director’s category! Can anyone explain that?

Here’s the list of top 10 films that Indian directors voted for…

1. Adoor Gopalkrishnan

400 Blows, The – 1959 –  François Truffaut

Andrei Rublev – 1966 – Andrei Tarkovsky

Boy, The – 1969 – Oshima Nagisa

Pather Panchali – 1955 – Satyajit Ray

Pickpocket – 1959 – Robert Bresson

Puppetmaster, The – 1993 – Hsiao-hsien Hou

Rashomon – 1950 – Akira Kurosawa

Round-Up, The – 1966 – Miklos Jancso

strada, La – 1954 – Federico Fellini

Tokyo Story – 1953 – Ozu Yasujirô

2. Amit Dutta

Andrei Rublev – 1966 – Andrei Tarkovsky

Distant Thunder – 1973 – Satyajit Ray

Lancelot Du Lac – 1974 – Robert Bresson

Late Spring – 1949 – Ozu Yasujirô

My Ain Folk – 1973 – Bill Douglas

My American Uncle – 1980 – Alain Resnais

Arguments and a Story or Reason, Debate and a Tale – 1974 – Ritwik Ghatak

Rikyu – 1989 – Teshigahara Hiroshi

Saint Dnyaneshwar –     XXX – Vishnupant Govind Damle/Sheikh Fattelal

Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors – 1964 – Sergei Parajanov

3. Anurag Kashyap

Apocalypse Now – 1979 – Francis Ford Coppola

Bicycle Thieves, The – 1948 – Vittorio de Sica

Breathless – 1960 – Jean-Luc Godard

Fanny and Alexander – 1984 – Ingmar Bergman

Godfather: Part II, The – 1974 – Francis Ford Coppola

Head-On – 2003 – Fatih Akin

Peeping Tom – 1960 – Michael Powell

Pyaasa – 1957 – Guru Dutt

Taxi Driver – 1976 – Martin Scorsese

Trainspotting – 1995 – Danny Boyle

4. Ashim Ahluwalia

Adversary, The – 1971 – Satyajit Ray

Bogey-Man, The – 1980 – Govindan Aravindan

Close-Up – 1989 – Abbas Kiarostami

End of Summer, The – 1961 – Ozu Yasujirô

Golden Thread, The – 1965 – Ritwik Ghatak

Mirror – 1974 – Andrei Tarkovsky

Nanami: Inferno of First Love – 1968 – Hani Susumi

Pale Flower – 1964 – Shinoda Mashiro

Unsere Afrikareise – 1961 – Peter Kubelka

Veronika Voss – 1982 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder

5. Vidhu Vinod Chopra

8½ – 1963 – Federico Fellini

Breathless – 1960 – Jean-Luc Godard

Citizen Kane – 1941 – Orson Welles

Cloud-Capped Star, The – 1960 – Ritwik Ghatak

Emperor of the Mughals, The – 1960 – K. Asif

Lawrence of Arabia – 1962 – David Lean

Mother India – 1957 – Mehboob Khan

Pather Panchali – 1955 – Satyajit Ray

Pyaasa – 1957 – Guru Dutt

Rashomon – 1950 – Akira Kurosawa

– You can click on the filmmakers names to go their voting page and know more about the films.

– To know about the films that other Indian voters voted for, click here. You can go to the individual pages and scroll down to read their notes as well.

– To know more about the poll in details, click here and here.

To celebrate 30 years of making cinema, Vinod Chopra Films is having a retrospective of its films at PVR Cinemas. From 29th March to April 4th, VCF is showing almost all its films, from Sazaaye Maut to 3 idiots. Check out your local listing or you can check out PVR’s website.

– The films have also been digitally restored and their sound has been re-done in 5.1 Surround Sound.

– Screenings will be followed by discussions moderated by well-known filmmakers at PVR Juhu, Mumbai.

Here’s the schedule for the panel discussion –

1. 30th March – 5.30 – 6.30 pm : Discussion on Parinda.

Moderator – Anurag Kashyap and Sudhir Mishra.

Director : Vidhu vinod Chopra.

Cast – Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Nana Patekar, Anupam Kher, Suresh Oberoi

2. 30th March – 7 – 8 pm : Discussion on Parineeta.

Moderator – Sujoy Ghosh.

Director : Pradeep Sarkar.

Cast : Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Dia Mirza

3. 31st March – 7 – 8 pm : Discussion on Munna Bhai MBBS + Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

Moderator – Sriram Raghavan.

Director – RajKumar Hirani.

Cast – Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani, Dilip Prabhavalkar.

Screenwriter – Abhijat Joshi

4. 1st April – 7-8pm : Discussion on Khamosh.

Moderator – Rohan Sippy.

Director – Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Cast – Shabana Azmi, Amol Palekar, Sudhir Mishra

5. 2nd April – 7-8pm : Discussion on 1942 – A Love Story.

Moderator – Imtiaz Ali.

Director – Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Cast – Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Manisha Koirala, Danny Denzongpa

6. 4th April – 7-8pm : Discussion on 3 Idiots.

Moderator : Ram Madhavani.

Director – RajKumar Hirani.

Cast – Cast -Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi.

Screenwriter – Abhijat Joshi

And here’s a nice video feature on VVC films

The first look of Vidhu Vinod Chopra Prductions’ Ferrari Ki Sawaari is out. The film stars Sharman Joshi and has been directed by debutant Rajesh Mapuskar.

Though the teaser doesn’t say much but here’s my observation – a) why is the chroma looking so terrible? Why should tackiness be compensation for good content? It was the same with 3 Idiots. b) I may be completely wrong but it seems Boman Irani is playing a demented character again. I am bored of it. Can we give him a normal character to play? If am wrong, apologies in advance. Waiting for the trailer now.

Two news items from Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions. First, his much ambitious Hollywood debut Broken Horses is NOT happening.

He set up an office in LA, did recce for the film and even put out a video of it on his official website. But now it has been shelved. The main reason seems to be the problem in getting the cast onboard. Because in Hollywood, the rules aren’t the same. Though there was some buzz about Mickey Rourke and Nicholas Cage doing the film but it seems it all just buzz.

But an official release from Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions states that Broken Horses is very much alive, and presently in its pre-production stages.

And the second news – Sharman Joshi has finally bagged a big film. The next production of Vidhu Vinod Chopra – Ferrari Ki Sawaari in which Joshi will play the lead actor. The film will be directed by Rajesh Mapuskar, a long time associate of RajKumar Hirani. According to official release, its a heartwarming tale of how the pursuit of an Indian cricket legend’s Ferrari makes a young boy’s dreams of playing cricket at Lords a reality.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajesh Mapuskar have co-written the script and dialogues are by Rajkumar Hirani. The shooting will start in February and it will release next year.

Remember this post of ours  where we wrote about Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s new film. As always, seems we had the right news. VVC Films have released the official synopsis of the film – 50vi Saalgirah ( 50th Anniversary). According to the release, here’s the synopsis..

On the eve of their Golden Anniversary, Dinanath Dhar and his wife Shanti Devi reflect back on fifty years of joy and heartache in their magical homeland of Kashmir, as Dinanath treats his wife to an anniversary celebration she will never forget.

Its written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Supriya Kelkar and Abhijat Joshi and will be directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Currently he is busy in pre-production of Broken Horses.

Though Vidhu Vinod Chopra is busy with his s0 called hollywood film Broken Horses, work on his other productions is going on in full swing. One of them, Ferrari Ki Sawaari will be directed by Rajesh Mapuskar, associate of RajKumar Hirani. According to official release, its a heartwarming tale of how the pursuit of an Indian cricket legend’s Ferrari makes a young boy’s dreams of playing cricket at Lords a reality.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajesh Mapuskar have co-written the script and dialogues are by Rajkumar Hirani. Accoring to this news piece, Ranbir Kapoor is going to star in the film and the makers are now looking for a child actor to play the young lead.

We are scouting for our next film. Looking out for a boy in the age group of 8 to 10 years. All those who know of kids who would be interested, please email their profile and pictures to us on fks360@gmail.com

So, if you have a kid who wants to act, try your luck or if you know someone who might be interested, just pass it around.

Finally! After juggling boyfriends right, left and centre & how, (some we have witnessed too and thats for another day), Manisha Koirala (41) tied the knot with Samrat Dahal. And its back to her roots! Samrat (34) is also from Nepal. But who is this Samrat ? Click here to read more about him and his family. Check out the pics in the slide show. Wishing her all the best!

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Blame us for connecting the dots, but are we the only one to spot this strange coincidence –  Manisha Koirala gets married, Arvind Swamy getting divorced after sixteen years of marriage and Mani Ratnam is getting butchered by everyone. Aha, life! The trio who gave us that gorgeous Bombay. Those were the days, the days of raging hormones and then Mani gave us that famous “Bombay run” by Koirala! So, here it is…to good ol’ days…

Also, the way Vidhu Vinod Chopra shot her in 1942 – A Love Story, our heart skipped million beats! Its difficult to imagine what all she could have done with her career and what she did! Now, that deserves a lonnnng post. Till then…kuch na kaho

After lot of psycho-blabbering, Shekhar Kapoor finally making headlines for the right reasons. First, he made it to the Cannes Feature Film Jury and now the news is that Oscar winning actor Chritoph Waltz might be one of the leads of his long-in-the-making-magnum-opus Paani. Wow! This is what Shekhar Kapoor tweeted recently –

Christoph Waltz, who won the Oscar for his brilliant performance in Inglorious Bastards is very likely 1 of lead parts in Paani

And talking of Christoph Waltz, have you seen this brillant hump video featuring him. If not, do watch it!

Moving from SK to SRK. The news doing the rounds was that Shah Rukh Khan has patched up with Vidhu Vinod Chopra and will soon will be starring in VVC’s next production titled Ferrari Ki Sawaari.  To be directed by Rajesh Mapuskar, the script of the film has been ready for quite sometime. But recently Shah Rukh Khan denied the news on twitter. He tweeted…

have not been asked for ferari ki sawaari/mukesh mills havent shot there for a while/business decision only based on passion/

Yes, SRK’s tweets are always like MCQ’s, rather Answers. One tweet, multiple answer. So, focus only on the first answer – have not been asked for ferari ki sawaari.

And the third casting news is about Amitabh Bachchan & Mohanlal. Lots have been said about these two acting giants coming together in a film to be directed by Captain Ravi. But to spoil the part a  bit, it seems Bachchan’s role in the film is only guest appearace. Seems Bachchan is  Teen Patti’s Ben Kingsley this time. This is what Amitabh Bachchan blogged recently…

Its a small guest appearance and I had agreed. They had come over to officially sign me on and make payments etc.. Ha..!! Payments ? Fees ? Remuneration ? For a guest appearance of 3 days ? With MohanLal who has always had my greatest admiration ? No way !! I don’t charge money for such acts. And told them so.

I shall just gloat in the honor that I shall derive by working in a Malayalam film and that too with the exceptional MohanLal !! Respectfully declined their offer, gave them some home made tea, shook hands, embraced and saw them off. It will probably be shot in Ooty, the picturesque and quaint hill station in the beautiful Nilgiri Range of mountains down south.

We never expect Filmfare to recognise the real talent beyond the stars and the celebs. Because they are star-fuckers who sell stars, want to keep everyone happy and want them to show up at their annual award ceremony. Its a tv show after all. Needs trps, needs money! Its all about how Film-Un-fair they are. But this year it seems lil better than last few years. Here is the list of winners…

Popular Awards

Best Film: Vidhu Vinod Chopra for 3 Idiots

Best Director: Rajkumar Hirani for 3 Idiots

Best Actor in Leading Role (Male): Amitabh Bachchan for Paa

Best Actor in Leading Role (Female): Vidya Balan for Paa

Best Supporting Actor (Male): Boman Irani for 3 Idiots

Best Supporting Actor (Female): Kalki Koechlin for Dev D

Best Debutante Director (Male): Ayan Mukherjee for Wake Up Sid

Best Debutante Director (Female): Zoya Akhtar for Luck By Chance

Best Dialogue: Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra for 3 idiots

Best Screenplay: Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi for 3 Idiots

Best Story: Abhijat Joshi and Rajkumar Hirani for 3 Idiots

Filmfare Critics Award

Best Film: Firaaq

Best Actor (Female): Mahi Gill for Dev D

Best Actor (Male): Ranbir Kapoor for his consistently outstanding performances in 2009.

Filmfare Music Awards

Best Music: A R Rahman for Delhi 6

Best Lyrics: Irshad Kamil for ‘Aaj Din Chaddya’ (Love Aaj Kal)

Best Playback Singer (Female): Rekha Bharadwaj for Genda Phool (Delhi 6) and Kavita Seth for Iktara (Wake Up Sid)

Best Playback Singer (Male): Mohit Chauhan for Masakalli (Delhi 6)

RD Burman Music Award: Amit Trivedi

Filmfare Technical Awards:

Best Visual Effects: Kaminey

Best Choreography Award: Bosco-Ceasar, ‘Chor Bazaari’ from Love Aaj Kal

Best Production Design: Helen & Sukant for Dev D

Best Action: Vijayan Master for Wanted

Best Sound Design: Manas Chaudhury for Firaaq

Best Editing: Sreekar Prasad for Firaaq

Best Cinematographer: Rajeev Ravi for Dev D

Best Costume Design: Vaishali Menon for Firaaq

Best Background Score: Amit Trivedi for Dev D

Actor Shashi Kapoor and Music Director Khayyam were given the Lifetime Achievement Awards.

BTW, Bachchans didnt attend the Filmfare Award this year in protest against this story done by their sister publication Mumbai Mirror few days back. They have been demanding apology from Mirror. But so far, nothing.

PS – Here is goss of the day. It seems Riteish Deshmukh & Jacqueline Fernandez’s act was sponsored by the producer of their forthcoming film Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai. Remember last year Vashu Bhagnani paid a fat cheque to Filmfare for getting his son Jackie Bhagnani on stage for the promotion of his debut film. He happily informed all his family members, relatives and friends asking them to watch his son dance at the Filmfare Awards ceremony. Remote was kept aside and they waited and waited and waited for Jackie to show up on small screen. Surprise! There was no Jackie act when it was telecasted on Sony Tv. Why ? Because Filmfare never guaranteed them that the act will get tv play too. It was edited out. Aur bolo ?

In an interview to LA Times, Vidhu Vinod Chopra has revealed the plot of his new film Broken Horses. Its his first Hollywood film which he has been threatening to make for quite sometime. To quote from the feature…..

His English-language directorial debut about two brothers, one a violinist in New York, the other a hired gun, set against the drug war on the U.S.-Mexico border.

As Chopra points out, “there is nothing Indian about the movie except the director. The heart of the movie is the relationship between these two brothers, but within that is a story about how we destroy what we love. It’s about the choices we make in life.”

This sounds exactly like Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminey! Ok, not exactly but lot of similarities. Two brothers (Ok, not twins), there is gun, there is violin (not guitar), drug and war too! How we destroy what we love ? Its about the choices we make in life ? We might be reading too much between the lines and the words but doesnt it all sound like Guddu & Charlie’s world.

Ofourse everything else will be different. But we could not resist connecting the dots. Its written by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijaat Joshi and Jason Richman is the script consultant ( Swing Vote, Bangkok Dangerous). To give you the mood & feel of the film, VVC has already cut a trailer from the recce footage. Go to www.vinodchopra.com , click on the pic of Broken Horses and select trailer.

And to read the complete feature published in LA Times, click here. In a separate interview to Hindustan Times, he has clarified that 64 Squares and his ambitious project Talisman to be directed by Ram Madhvani is NOT happening. Other two projects, Ferrari Ki Sawaari to be directed by Rajesh Mapuskar and Paachisvi Saalgirah are in development. Click here to read the full interview.