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Director: Basu Chatterji
Actors: Amol Palekar, Tina Munim, David Abhram, Pearl Padamsee
Music: Rajesh Roshan
Year: 1979
Run time:113 mins

Baton Baton Mein (Whilst Talking), a laid back romantic-comedy film, that makes you smile rather than provoke laughters. The movie is predictable - there is nothing surprising in the movie - the movie is not perfect and yet, the movies keeps you interested. The beauty of the movie lies in the direction - narration of the story, the believable characters and of course, the story. Oh and, how can I forget the beautiful music!

It is a 1979 movie and the budget was not that big, so you will notice a few scenes that were shot amateurish; it is not a great technical film. However, it should not affect you any way from watching the film; you would not get distracted, because each scenes are a moment of a life that you would have seen in …

“Dombivli Fast” was one of the most acclaimed films to come out of India in 2006. It has been shown in festivals around the world, and won a lot of praise for its debutant director Nishikant Kamat.

Following is the text of an interview with the director:

How did you come up with the screenplay of “Dombivli Fast”?

I am a Bombay boy and familiar with the problems of the city — water, garbage on the roads, traffic indiscipline like parking in a no-parking zone, corruption and the like. The script grew from these irritations. In the movie, the protagonist also exhibits a lot of angst about the city’s problems … very basic problems.

I was very inspired by Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” which I saw around 20 years ago. When I started writing “Dombivli Fast,” I realised that my protagonist is very similar to that portrayed by Robert De …

This is a small peice I wrote after watching Ijazat. I had a scene in mind which I wanted to add to the film just for the sake of Rekha’s charecter. Its about what naseer is thinking after Rekha sends her the divorce papers. Have many more of such peices mind, hope I ll key them down soon. 

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Happy World Theatre’s Day To All Of Us!

1. We are in 2007. Where Bollywood meets Hollywood meets Silicon Valley. Sillywood it can be called. And the one asset which is missing, is human imagination.

2. The theatre I grew up in, is having an identity crisis. What is it? Remember when we switched from extravaganzas to musical theatre to realism? Then to neo-realism. And then to expressionism and absurdism. Then to inter-culturalism and then to cross-culturalism. It was all so definable. It was a comedy, tragedy or murder mystery. Then there were designer plays. Then, nothing. Today, we can’t even make out a great play from a trashy one.

3. These days, they speak about theatre annexing the markets. For instance, Shakespeare is said to be a half trillion dollar market . . . plus or minus half a trillion dollars. No one can define a Shakespeare play which is …

Sympathy for Mr Filmaker – an Open Letter

There is a (kartik’s version) of a saying – “Hamburger and pork sausages – a day’s meal for a man, a lifetime for a pig”

The man is the audience.
And the pig, in bitter truth, is the filmmaker.

A filmmaker may believe in a value or an idea or a thought with his heart and soul. The thought needn’t be logically or politically correct. It could be abstract and irrational to many others, and even too fantastical/ridicoulous to some.

That thought may have taken days, months, may be even years of the filmmaker’s life; to acquire form….to make the transition from a vague intangible to a ‘No no that won’t work’ to a ‘hmmm Not on Bad !!’ and even perhaps to a ‘Eureka!!!’

That tangible idea (thankfully), is then written on paper and gains in proportion .. to a screenplay and eventually to …

After a breezy “Mounam Pesiyade” and the critically acclaimed “Raam” Ameer spooked me with the last half hour of Paruthi Veeran, Trust me people not a soul moved for the last half hour of the film. I atleast have never seen something like this in Tamil cinema. The images lingered long after the show got over.

Paruthi Veeran is what maybe Kamal Hasan set out to do in Virumandi previously named Shandiyar[the rouge,goon,ruffin] Maybe Kamal Hasan went about attempting to make a classic with a Rashomon hangover and Ameer went about it in the most earthy, guttural way it was supposed to be made.

Pruthi Veeran has nothing to offer as far as a story line but the way it is done….I bow to thee. The starting credit rolls take you deep in the rural heartland of Tamil Nadu. I felt it was a bit extended and was like almost watching a …

Here is a compilation of the Q&A session with K Balachander at Suchitra film society - exclusive to PFC.

Q) When Kannada filmmakers like Girish Kasaravelli and Malayalam Directors like Adoor Gopala Krishnan are making films with a conviction and seriousness towards film as an art form, why is it that most Tamil film makers, who are not less talented, are making films using a middle path to the so called safe formula of ‘not too commercial not too serious and artistic? What is your opinion about this being a director who followed the same path?

A) The answer for such a long question is actually very simple. It’s like that and if I have to add anything, unfortunately, it’s like that. But honestly I am quite happy that I am considered as one among those who took this middle path instead of being an extremist.

Q) Many of your films …

‘Minnale’, the 2001 Tamil blockbuster, launched the career of Gautham menon, who later went on to direct the films ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein’,(Hindi remake of ‘Minnale’), ‘Khaka Khaka’, ‘Gharshana’ (Telugu remake of ‘Khaka Khaka’), ‘Vettiyadu Veliyadu’, ‘Pachha Kili-Muthu Charam’.

Introduction:
Gautham, a computer engineer by profession worked his way in to the world of cinema, initially by assisting acclaimed filmmaker and cinematographer Rajeev Menon, later on by launching his own ad agency ‘Photo Fatcory’ and finally by making into the filmdom with ‘Minnale’.

Filmography:

Minnale: Old wine in brand new bottle with accompanied music track

‘Minnale’ was Gautham’s directorial debut and it worked wonders at the box office, thanks to the scintillating music track by, another debutant, Harris Jeyaraj. The music track of the film took the nation by storm, especially, the track ‘vaseeghara’ (‘manohara’ in Telugu and ‘zara zara’ in Hindi).

‘Minnale’ was not a masterpiece and the story itself was not unique. …

Machinist - someone who operates a machine, especially in a factory.

Fade in

A Brad Anderson film
A window – a man wrapping a dead body – hard breath – reflections of city lights – the man come into the camera – lights a cigarette – horrible skully face.
My experience to see this film was totally enthralling… protagonist… RAZNICK – very thin - no fats… seems to be premature baby of the time.
WHO R U
Written on the yellow chit pasted on the wall… i shocked ….i also use the same chits to revive my to do list… when something is similar to ur life u get associated with that quickly…..aDsorption becomes aBsorption.

Fade out

Fade in

…

Introduction: It is not exaggeration to say that films played a major role in the struggle for Poland’s independence. For many of the Polish film makers, Film was not just tool of entertainment, but a medium to express their opinions and views. In late 70s film makers like Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi started a movement known as the “Cinema of moral concern”. The movement’s aim was to undertake, in Frank Turaj’s words, a “moral examination of modern Polish life and modern Polish history,” and would become the most important movement in Polish cinema. Thematically, their films concentrated on the pathologies of ’real socialism’: widespread bureaucracy and corruption, materialism and greed, nepotism and ruthlessness in achieving career goals, as well as people’s double moral standards: one for home, one for work. The films often articulated the frustration of the younger generation, whose ambitions were thwarted by their seniors, who had …

Mani Ratnam finds him the most exciting of the new lot. He must be around 5 feet 3 inches. Frail figure almost like he might die of malnutrition. In his first interview to a television channel after his acclaimed Pithamagan he recounts his first encounter with Death. The death of his cow. The family on the verge of poverty had to sell the cow. This man claims the cow was found dead the very next say the deal was finalized. He claims the cow committed suicide by licking the “chuna” on the wall. He was sure it was not a natural death. The man in question…..Bala. The maker of “Sethu”, “Nanda” and “Pithamagan”.

Much like the interview….his films are full of such shocking, morbid….heart wrenching moments. Bala broke into the Tamil film Industry and shocked everyone and gave the Tamil Industry a new star…the almost forgotten and out of work Vikram. …

This is my 1st article for PFC. I must start with an ode to the man who created it. Yeah i’m licking his balls for letting me this opportunity ….but his balls are so cool right now. This article is a result of my 1st phone conversation with OZ last night. For those of you who don’t know the man just quit his job to pursue his dreams of film making. So all our good wishes to him. And the best thing about him is he doesn’t dream of directing(atleast not right now) like most of us. He wants to produce. And honestly man i was so happy to hear that.

Now one thing (of the many other problems) that is a big problem in Bollywood is lack of sensitive, creative & well read producers. Who wants to …

So there is this huge discussion going on amongst some of the authors about “quality” posts. Tons and tons of bytes being used to explain why “quality” posts are needed, PFC needs some standards, there have to be rules, guidelines et. all.

And since “I’m like that only”, I’ll break the rules and write the shittiest posts of all. Right from the heart. About my honest to motherfucking life’s enchantment with movies. Sorry for so many “fucks” in the same sentence… but then I warned you… I’m writing the shittiest one, but right from the heart post.

Why do you, dear reader love cinema? Inspite of the 99% bad junk… sorry… make it… really mother fucking bad junk thrown at you? In other words why the fuck do you and I spend 99% of our time in celluloid trash?

Simple. It’s passion. I don’t know where you got it from (do …

Apocalypto

It took me some time but I am glad that I watched this film. This is the stuff to be cherished in a DVD collection.
It has ORGANIC, INDIGENOUS & VISCERAL written all over it. Much has been said about the film. The film deserves more resounding applause because of the courage and non-attempt to be perfect.

I would like to add that it worked for me perfectly at the Eclipse scene. It is at that point that it becomes a classic. Just one scene. May be it is a combination of the brewing undercurrent of the basic human emotions that rise like a high tide, or it’s the underplay of mercy, in the film maker’s POV, something that refuses to sympathesize with all the visibly disturbing scenes of atrocity. The success of the film, and like no other in its genre (Powerful scenes, edited like a man, can be put …

In celebration of its fifth anniversary, IFFLA has added a day making it a 6-day long event that runs April 17-22, 2007 at ArcLight Hollywood, a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of Hollywood.
Tickets are now on sale online at www.arclightcinemas.com or at the ArcLight Hollywood box office. For more information on how to attend the festival, please visit www.indianfilmfestival.org.
Check out this year’s Film Program and our new Bollywood By Night series, late night 21+ screenings of extravagant, exuberant and energetic Bollywood blockbusters. Chill out, have a drink and enter a world that’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced!
We are proud to introduce IFFLA EcoVision, a program that aims to spread ecological awareness by showcasing films on sustainability, utilizing eco-friendly products and processes, working with eco-conscious non-profit organizations and celebrating Earth Day on Sunday April 22.
If you …

Last weekend I came across one of those books that one ends up reading start to finish, without taking a break right upto the wee hours of the morning. Sharon Waxman’s Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System (P.S.), will have the same effect on you.

Recently there has been a talk of a “Wave”, “Revolution”, “New Age Filmmakers” and even my own coined “Gen 21″ breed… what does it all mean?

In plain simple terms in my book, it means the group or different sets of people that bring about a change in the system every 10 - 20 years.

It seems to be happening in Indian movie industry… specially in Bollywood and to some extent perhaps in the Telugu movie industry. Ironically the Bollywood rebels seem to come - well most of them atleast - from the factory of Ram …

Few months back i was just talking to my friend about how Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction have affected independent cinema in hollywood and how people started accepting high rate voilence in movies. My friend mentioned about “Buffalo ‘66″ and he told me that its one of his favourite movie and started praising about vincent galo’s performance he told me that this movie is on par with one of my favourite movie “American History X” that made me desperate to watch this one. Some how i got to watch it over the past weekend and my first reaction was wow! People who like movies based on character oriented than story will definetly like this one. I never heard of “Vincent Galo” b4 this one and after finishing this movie i got to know more about him and he in real life is very much like the character …

Director Sai Paranjpe will always be known for making three films, Sparsh, Chasm-e-Baddur and Katha. Her three above mentioned films cover three different areas.

Katha: It’s a simply told visual story and yet it has universal appeal. All over the world, anywhere in any language, this film may appeal because it deals with the old age concept of “What looks good, is not always good in real sense”. Our desires and our dreams, which are yet to be fulfilled often make us blind and when something which we always desire, comes before us, we are easily swayed away. Women, anywhere in the world, basically are said to be having this desire to like and marry, attractive, smart, rich, talented, capable and an extrovert who can easily express not only his feelings but can manage anything by his efforts and introvert, shy, simple hearted and those who dont try to over power …

I came across Oz through his website desitrain by reading the most outrageous and hilarious public rape being performed, never before has a victim enjoyed the experience and I can say it with authority because it was me and my film which Oz had written about. I had tears in my eyes, I was holding the side of my stomach and wished so badly that what if Khalid Mohammed could go back to writing like this then my Sunday mornings reading TOI reviews would be the same again.

Sirjee and Betalal are two of Oz’s finest creations and I ended up meeting them last night. Sirjee was having beer with a nimbu floating in a bottle of Kingfisher as he couldn’t afford Corona and Betalal was having vodka was sugarcane juice dubbed Ganna Singh. (PS: Ganna Singh is not a sardar joke. To anyone from the sardar organization planning to approach …

Don’t understand where to start with. Where does this urge to learn everything involved in film making comes from? Can I control it? Will it really help me in becoming a better director? Why does it keep bothering me? Why the heck I am writing this article? Am I trying to show off my mediocre skills or stupidity? Why do I have to convince people close to me that everything in life is predetermined? Why do these people have tough time understanding it? Why can’t we have acceptance in life? May be I am in a mood to ask too many questions today? But to whom? Don’t know? Please take it light it’s a part of journey of a film student.
Lets start. Cinematography is one of the things which captures my imagination..Lot of questions keep coming to me..Why the hell it is like this and has remained like this …