Archive for December, 2007

  • 20
    Films 2007: The Alternative List
    With year-ends, come lists. Films of 2007 that stick out for honorable and not-so-honorable mention are: Namesake Meera Nair’s feted adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s book was less than satisfying for me. Devoid of details in the book, the film was a plainer story stitching together the surface stereotypes that NRI families go through. I found Irrfan Khan and Tabu in super...
    by Padmaja Thakore at December 31st, 2007 at 12:12 pm
  • 33
    2007, Indian Cinema in the Year of Anurag Kashyap
    Jean-Pierre Melville was there. A full decade before the ‘there’ would be christened La Nouvelle Vague [French New Wave Cinema]. Though released on April 22nd 1949, Melville was filming his debut feature Le Silence de la Mer in 1947 in methods that he himself later enthusiastically acceded as the New Wave aesthetics – “…natural location, non-synchronized...
    by thani at December 31st, 2007 at 09:12 am
  • 5
    Must See: Pina Bausch in India
    Pina Bausch in India German choreographer Pina Bausch has dubbed her new, Asian-inspired dance to be performed next month in India the “Bamboo Blues,”. The Wuppertal Dance Theatre is set to visit India January 7-19, playing in New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. New Delhi: 7.01.07 Mumbai: 12.01.07 Kolkata: 18.01.07 & 19.01.07 Please nb: both in Delhi and...
    by Ramu Ramanathan at December 31st, 2007 at 08:12 am
  • 2
    A Chapter From Life
    iView Author: SimplySami (Toronto, Canada) Email: simply.sami [at] gmail [dot] com A Chapter From Life Taare Zameen Par: Stars found on earth. Stars! Stars found on earth? A normal individual walking down the street would find this idea absurd!! Would call the person crazy? How can stars be found on earth? If for once we step back and realize not objectively but through...
    by PROJEKT iVIEW at December 31st, 2007 at 06:12 am
  • 24
    WHAT IS CINEMA?
    A story, some questions and a lot of Home Work for 2008! Once upon a time in the Washington DC Area… I was in Thai Corner Bethesda having a quick lunch, before catching a film at the Landmark Theatre and in my hand was “The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide”. I was yet to make a foray into films, even my shorts or documentaries were a long ways off but that did...
    by Krsn Kavita Kasturi at December 30th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
  • 7
    Year We Go Again!
      “The reels roll. Colors of yesteryears bloom again!” It’s that time of the year again! Bidding adios to the old while you usher the new year in — sure, we’ve stopped having new year’s and have been having recycled years instead, but that’s a different post though — and getting reminiscent about the best of the movies during...
    by wb at December 30th, 2007 at 08:12 pm
  • 146
    Why “Return of Hanuman” should be a Blockbuster
    Simply because it has to pave the way for bigger better animation movies that can compete on the international level. Return Of Hanuman can’t, because it falls way below the mark. It has got great reviews but largely because the way it unfolds, it entertains , but when you talk quality, it’s lacking. Whose fault is it other than mine? What does it take to make...
    by Anurag Kashyap at December 30th, 2007 at 04:12 pm
  • 5
    A Mighty Heart: A Politically Correct Look into Pakistan
    Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart can be an illuminating study of how a director can use his talent to project his worldview and create something subtly different from his source material, and, also how cinema today is dominated by commercial concerns and often gets beaten into flatter and sanitized versions from what was held as its potential. Michael Winterbottom...
    by Padmaja Thakore at December 30th, 2007 at 08:12 am
  • 36
    So said Seinfeld..
    The greatest virtue that creative individuals ought to be endowed with is this belief …..”I was a stupid kid two years back…. I think I have grown”.. If you divide your life-span into sectors of two years each and if you believe that every new segment instills in you the belief that your preceding life-segment was lived in inferior taste you are...
    by Sreehari. at December 30th, 2007 at 03:12 am
  • 76
    Return of Hanuman – An Animated Stance
    iView Author: P(L)AYBACK (Mumbai, India) Email: playback2007 [at] gmail [dot] com Return of Hanuman – An Animated Stance A cauldron full of fun ! A light hearted, breezy yarn which demystifies and delights ! Sitting in an audience full of restless children, I couldnt help but notice how Anurag directly connected with them. They relished the irreverence and guffawed...
    by PROJEKT iVIEW at December 29th, 2007 at 07:12 pm
  • 17
    Taare Zameen Par (2007)
    A tale of an Artist. Starring: Darsheel Safary, Amir Khan. Screenplay by: Amol Gupte. Directed by: Amir Khan. A drop of a red paint falls on a canvas. Then a finger comes and adds some yellow color to that drop. The drop shows some light turbulent mixing of smaller pigments of yellow and red, then that same finger starts mixing those colors. Then appears a creation of...
    by Jateen at December 29th, 2007 at 02:12 am
  • 35
    Bollywood Top 10 2007
    It’s kind of a ritual for critics in the West to pick the Top 10 films of the year gone by and even here in Bollywood newspapers and news channels are pouncing on the habit. But sadly, most of the papers and channels pick the Top 10 based on box office collections. While that to me is a great barometer to judge the quality of the film, it is not necessarily the best...
    by Pratim D. Gupta at December 28th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
  • 22
    WELCOME -full of nonsense
    WELCOME -full of nonsense Overall grading: B- Director: Anees Bazmee Pehaps after success of No Entry director Anees Bazmee thought “chalo No Entry hit hui hai to usi type ki ek aur comedy banate hai”. Let’s take love story of Gangster’s sister and an average boy. OK concept is good but then what? How to develop script? OK… add some songs picturised in Dubai,...
    by Shailesh Limbachiya at December 28th, 2007 at 09:12 pm
  • 7
    A Cine-fan’s Journey from Bollywood to Hollywood and Back
    iView Author:Wise Desi (Fremont, USA) Email:withheld A Cine-fan’s Journey from Bollywood to Hollywood and Back I consider myself a cine-buff in an average cine goer way, the one who enjoys all kind of movies. As I have stated earlier I don’t like the term Bollywood, but using it anyway for this post it fits the title. Being born in a small conservative town of...
    by PROJEKT iVIEW at December 28th, 2007 at 09:12 am
  • 186
    Discoveries of 2007
    Since Its that time of the year when everyone looks back & gives their list of things. I’m gonna do a do a series on them. I’ll start with the best things I discovered this year but which may not necessarily belong to this year. These are books i loved, movies I discovered, music I loved, youtube videos that entertained me. Books - 1) Imperial Life in...
    by Mainak at December 27th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
  • 87
    Ten most underrated songs of the year
    We all know the hit numbers and the shit numbers. But with so many music channels and fm stations playing music all the time, the hit numbers starts hammering after a point. The only reason why i could never enjoy chal chaiyaa chaiyya (dil Se) and kajrare kajrare ( Bunty aur Babli). Overplay always does this for me. It kills the song. This year it was bahut-zyada-dard-e-disco...
    by Phoenixnu at December 27th, 2007 at 08:12 am
  • 6
    Spoorloos: What A Disappearing Act!
    One fine day I noticed that I have around 20-odd films lying with me that I am yet to watch. So, I rummaged through them and randomly started selecting. Hence, over the past three days, I have watched “Turistas’ (USA), followed by ‘Wolf Creek’ (Australia), and “Spoorloos” (Netherlands/France). Films watched in such a random order almost...
    by Rupak Ghosh at December 26th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
  • 47
    Creativity at Its Best – 2007
    iView Author: Srinivas N(Mumbai , India) Email: Withheld Creativity at Its Best – 2007 Another year goes by and we are left wondering if we were any better than the last. In terms of fresh ideas and unique concepts, we seem to be totally bankrupt. Our Hindi film industry seems to look no further than love, comedy and action. Most of these ideas are anyway copied...
    by PROJEKT iVIEW at December 26th, 2007 at 04:12 am
  • 29
    PFCites: Please come for MEDHA & ZOOMBISH II
    2nd plug in a row. Sincere apologies to do this. But in desperate times, one resorts to desperate means. The thing is, we had a show of MEDHA & ZOOMBISH II, today, 26th December @ Prithvi House. AND we had a poor house. So please HELP the cause. Those of you who have the time (and inclination), to see a fun play, PLEASE drop in tomorrow for: MEDHA & ZOOMBISH...
    by Ramu Ramanathan at December 26th, 2007 at 01:12 am
  • 49
    Tribute (and a kick) to Oz
    iView Author:Wise Desi (Fremont, USA) Email:withheld Tribute (and a kick) to Oz I consider myself a cine-buff, not in a cine-snob way but more in the ways of an average fan who likes and enjoys all sorts of movies. I love Yashraj or Karan Johar films, at the same time also loved RGV and his brilliance in Satya and Company. I also watch lot of Hollywood movies in a similar...
    by PROJEKT iVIEW at December 25th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
  • 14
    JAZZ in Bollywood
    JAZZ in Bollywood Please excuse the “plug” for a play of mine – JAZZ. There are two reasons to do it. REASON ONE. To entice an audience into the auditoirum (my plays never have more than five persons in the auditorium). REASON TWO: JAZZ may interest some of you. The best things in life are a fluke. I was attending a sombre session between Girish Karnad...
    by Ramu Ramanathan at December 25th, 2007 at 04:12 am
  • 74
    Taare Zameen Par – A Tale of Two Ditties
    iView Author: P(l)ayback (Mumbai, India) Email: playback2007 [at] gmail [dot] com Taare Zameen Par – A Tale of Two Ditties I usually have a cautious approach to films where the roles of Director, Producer and Actor are attributed to the same person. The “heightened reality” clip at the very onset caught me off guard. Why was it there ? To set the tone...
    by PROJEKT iVIEW at December 24th, 2007 at 09:12 am
  • 22
    A bagful of stars
    Some of the most memorable moments of Taare Zameen Par are the ones that just flash you by, they will never be shown on those award screens, they will die a silent death… A sulking Ishaan in the blue bed of the dark night, making images in the dark, his rabbit eyes piercing through the darkness, while another morning comes and brings in new stories, both in the narrative...
    by Tushar at December 23rd, 2007 at 03:12 pm
  • 23
    Taare Zameen Par
    This year so many good movies were released but I could not watch any of those movies in cinema, for different reasons. I still have not seen those movies. That reminds me I have to order the DVDs. And I was afraid that ‘Taare Zameen Par’ would become one of those movies which I could not watch in the cinema. But fortunately, I watched the movie on Saturday....
    by Honhaar Goonda at December 23rd, 2007 at 10:12 am
  • 59
    Taare Zameen Par review: NGO filmmaking
    Every human life, in the way it’s lived, holds, & makes for, at least one feature-length film. While Brando popularized Method Acting, Tarantino the Method Writing, Novelists/Filmmakers living their book/film (much before it becomes the final work) has been in vogue through the entire course of both the disciplines. In that sense could we term this phenomenon Method...
    by thani at December 23rd, 2007 at 05:12 am
  • 8
    To Bhabhiji Or Not To Bhabhiji?
    This could only happen in Bollywood..Song & Dance is not the only unique feature of our Hindi Film Industry..There is this very unusual and peculiar syndrome prevalent in the industry that I think has no parallel anywhere in the world.. You join a director to assist..A hot shot one or a shot-down version..You are all excited and full of enthusiasm to learn, to get...
    by krysh at December 23rd, 2007 at 01:12 am
  • 58
    “Cinema, the cannibal…it consumes you” Amole Gupte
    Aamir Khan is everywhere. You switch any channel and he is there. Good for him and great for the film. But its like what they do in theatre. The spotlight effect. One person gets the spotlight and everything else is dark. We thought about putting the spotlight somewhere else. As Taare Zameen Par released this week, Amole Gupte pens down his first thoughts…do read...
    by Phoenixnu at December 22nd, 2007 at 03:12 am
  • 37
    Hanuman Returns: Preview
    Hanuman Returns, hopefully, to end the year 2007 with a bang and make sure that the year 2008 is going to be Ravan-free. The expectations on this film are very high – even though it is not a sequel of Hanuman. Well, I am really excited about this film. I am no’ little kid, but I like animation films. Will the film meet my expectations/excitement? Why aren’t...
    by Honhaar Goonda at December 21st, 2007 at 01:12 pm
  • 22
    Taare Zameen Par…this christmas dont buy anything for your kid…
    …..but gift yourself something. Book two tickets for Taare Zameen Par. A simple and straight story told simply. Have little patience and sit through it. That will be the best gift your kids can have. And you will cherish too, something that you would wish somebody should have gifted your parents when you were a kid. You would have been somebody else. My roomie has...
    by Phoenixnu at December 21st, 2007 at 09:12 am
  • 8
    The Darjeeling Limited : Film Review
    Francis: [spotting some children crossing a river] Look at these assholes. Wes Anderson’s beautifully flawed The Darjeeling Limited is an ode to his own cinema, a wronged melody, swaying in its ignominious existence. It is some sort of a sequel to the perfect portrayal of an imperfect family that The Royal Tennenbaums was. I would also include The Squid and the whale,...
    by Tushar at December 20th, 2007 at 07:12 pm
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