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Every morning I would double click the Vanish icon on my desktop. It’s a Final Draft file, a script I am writing, hoping to turn it into a film. If I look at the script five times, I look at the clock on the wall seven times. It’s time, I have to go to office and hunt for an interview, dig out a story and make the newspaper page on Quark Express software. I save the file and while doing so I realise I have hardly added two lines to the script.
Once in office, I would do my job with all sincerity or so I would like to believe. But what is the job? Writing about films, writing about film-makers making their first film, interviewing someone who gave up a 9-to-5 job to wield the megaphone. And as I hear them speak trying to think of the next question to …

Some really good reviews pouring in the first round. PFC author Pratim-da messaged us mentioning

“ROCK ON WILL BE AS BIG AS DIL CHAHTA HAI, IF NOT BIGGER… Have never felt so uplifted after watching a Hindi film… so well made… so well acted and the last half hour is just music…

Pratim-da’s message had us counting the time left for Rock On’s release here in California. Unfortunately so far it does not seem to be scheduled to release in Southern California.

It was then Sumit Bhattacharya’s review that caught our eye. Sensitively written and providing a balanced view, it was quite nice to see, Sumit sign off saying he loves the movie and he loves it “Because I am not a know-it-all movie guru, I will not hazard a guess about whether the movie will work at the box office, but as a failed musician… I would like to thank …

2.5/5. Strong premise. Weak Script. Yet can get one teary eyed over memories and a glass of scotch.
IMDB

Set against the backdrop of the dying secessionist movement in Punjab, Maachis undoubtedly has a powerful and potent story idea at its heart and Tabu’s and Om Puri’s excellent portrayal of their respective characters makes it difficult not to like this film. Not to forget the brilliant songs.
The villages of Punjab and snow covered landscapes of the small town/village in Himachal are beautifully shot. Some of the scenes just stay with you…like the moonlit blue background of the river and rocks behind Tabu and Chandrachur Singh when she tells him what she and her family had to go through after he left, also the scene where Om Puri is talking to Chandrachur Singh sitting next to the railway track just above a small bridge telling him why and how they ought to fight, the shot of their small abode in Himachal amidst snow and tall trees, the scene where …

We came to know about Sex Drive during Comic Con in San Diego. Last week the team of Sex Drive sent us some exclusive pics, hoping we would be able to make it to their screening in LA. Unfortunately we were tied up elsewhere. But here are the pics and the trailer of Sex Drive which releases on October 17th.

Aaja ACTING kar le - says Surya
Warning - long post

and NO ..this is not a casting call.

Had been pestering Surya for a short role in his debut film “Aaja Gunaah Kar le” since the Vikhroli Akarshan days (rather nights). The shoot got delayed by two months due to the fact that Surya met with an accident and slipped into a ’slip disk’. I wonder why all this slipdisk didn’t happen to him when he was struggling. Why when his first film was on floor, that he met with the accident, delaying his long cherished directorial debut ? Why not when the shooting was complete and when ’sedentary’ tasks of post production,editing etc were to be done ? or why not after the release of the film ? Why when the film was nearly 60% complete that his back had to cave in ?

As they say about comedy (it …

Hi Folks,

Caught a press screening of Rock On at the beautiful Saratoga area in Northern California. 60 minutes, oh 60 minutes seperates this movie from being a reasonable watch to being a classic watch. It was 60 minutes too long, if 60 minutes had been shaved off a super movie would have played out.

The two biggest strenghts of this movie are a) a strong story told via underplayed emotions and b) extraoridnary acting by the woman (don’t know her name), who plays Arjun Ramphal’s spouse in the film.

My one big, actually super big complaint wiht  RGV, his proteges and the other Bollywood filmmakers, more the current lot, is that most spousal conflicts, as depicted visaully in hindi movies, either ends in a slap or a glass being broken or something similar. To me this suggests a lack of understanding of real world emotions and how they play out and also …

Himesh Reshammiya has been doing a world of good to the Hindi film music scene for some time now. When I look at his films, more than anything, he has done immense contribution to bringing the unannounced bathroom singing genre back to the fore. His songs really made singing cool, irrespective of whether it sounds good or not, one can launch into an extempore crooning session at any time of the day, anywhere.
I heard his name first through TV serials, then in Salman Khan films, and I quickly put him in a slot – light melodic compositions with some cheap trick or the other. He kept delivering on the hit parameter year after year – kahin pyar ho na jaaye(Pardesi is still as fresh), Dulhan hum le jayenge, Hello Brother, Humraaz, Kurukshetra, Kyaa Dil ne kahaa…

If I see his career as a film composer, I can broadly divide it …

iView Author: Suprateek Chatterjee (Mumbai, India)

Email: supchats [at] gmail [dot] com

Christopher Nolan and Batman - The Phenomenon

Just finished watching Batman Begins, a film I’d seen a couple of years ago on the IMAX screen. Having arrived a little late for it, and also being overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the IMAX experience, it is of little surprise that I remembered very little of the movie (Anyone who has seen a commercial movie on the IMAX screen will agree – the experience is mind-boggling, but forgettable).

Anyway, that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. I saw The Dark Knight recently of course, like every other human being who hasn’t been living in a Bat-Cave. Of course, like everyone else, I was blown away by the …

Warning: Post contains strong language and sexual content.

Imagine, me entering my hitlerian Dad’s room. Imagine me asking for his permission to go out and see a movie called Bhavani Junction. Then imagine Pitashree’s right hand moving in slow motion, big tight palms connecting to my left cheek sending me flying out of his room in slo mo. Had that incident happened, I would never have dug deep into Bollywood films, never have the desire to blog and never would have reviewed any movie in my life.

All you new age Bollywood hating blogging punkers, just imagine that. HA! That incident never happened. I simply picked up my books to go to tution class and instead was standing in line to buy the ticket of Bhavani Junction at Mayur Cinema close to my house.

Now Mayur Cinema, and I’m not sure if it exists …

iView Author: Neeraj Ghaywan (New Delhi, India)

Email: neeraj.ghaywan [at] gmail [dot] com

Truth is getting stranger than fiction

A mystic location in the woods, a group of anorexic sadhus invoking cult.. cut.. a young couple being educated about dyslexia while a kid is painting his mind… cut… a star couple and their hickeys with animated figments of conversation.. cut .. a Kafkaesque atmosphere with metaphorical depiction of cigarettes and freedom of expression.. cut.. a besotted jungle, a lion dates a lioness with poetic lines exchanged.. cut… man in alienation plots bombs across the city for survival.. cut.. Graphic depiction of a teenager being murdered by a domestic help in a rage of vendetta.. cut.. a political warfare of power and power plants.. cut.. a mother weeping with dead …

iView Author: Josyula Srikant (Los Angeles, USA)

Email : jsrikant [at] gmail [dot] com

Sorry State of Affairs

I really don’t know what is happening to hindi movie industry. It literally makes me sick. Gone are the days when actors and directors could say that hindi movies caters to the masses (the rickshawallas, the front benchers) and that these people don’t want to see the day to day hardships on the screen. Now they all cater to a new breed “The NRIs” and it’s funny how the rhetoric hasn’t changed much. Sometimes I don’t know whom to blame the audience or the movie makers.

Hindi movies were not always great anyways but people who wanted to watch some sensible movies had a way out in actors and directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Amol Palekar, Om Puri, …

Picture this scenario. You are a director making your first appropriately budgeted professionally shot film which for the sake of argument is a short showcasing your storytelling skills and act as a calling card to bigger things like having your feature greenlit. It’s the last day of principal photography and it’s 5am in the morning. It’s been a gruelling all night shoot with the entire crew exhausted to the point of falling asleep on their feet. Mr Murphy and his thrice damned law has dogged you all the time on this shoot as is normally the case in all shoots.

Since you had chosen to shoot the film in sequence the to aid the performances the option of doing an axis breakdown of the shotlist in the interest of being more efficient wasn’t available. Ergo one entire scene which comprises of 10 diff setups still needs to be shot. Of course …

Second and concluding part of the excerpts from a conversation occurred between Director Raju Hirani(RH), and Ajay Brahmatmaj (AB), is presented here.

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[Following is the translation of the Hindi Interview and may not do full justice to the original interview so to read the exact sayings of Raju Hirani, one should go through the original interview. This is simply a trial to expose the interview to those readers who can not read Hindi at all]
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AB: How could you preserve your dream of directing the films? Advertising work was fetching you good money. Did this not distract you from your dream of filmmaking?

RH: I had not come from Nagpur with a thought that I would make documentaries or would do Ad films. I think nobody comes thinking this sort of things. I did not know about Ad films …

One of the few who knows the secret art of bridging art and commerce, the man who can get a dead man laughing (and even cry!) via the story he weaves… please extend a very warm welcome to Kundan Shah, who opens his diary on PFC and starts by writing about… what else… comedy :) Enjoy… and please do spread the word around.

  
Shivajee Chandrabhushan (FROZEN) is looking for a few good men and women for his next project, that is scheduled in November 2008 in Mumbai. Shoot schedule max 35 days (one stretch). Here are the requirements:

1. One First Assistant: Experience - Minimum One Feature Film in Mumbai, Age - 28-32

2. Two Assistant Directors ( 2nd and 3rd ): Experience - Minimum One year of work in the media, Experience in feature film would …

If I say Agreement 123 (Atomic Energy Agreement with the US) reflects the comedies made today in our country, you will call me mad. Where is the connection? But it has. Well, we are in the process of being Americanised. That’s a general term to signify consumerism apart from other serious repercussions depending upon your world view. However, the fundamental tenet of a consumerist culture is that everything is a product. And the function of any product (film) is to serve only its basic need – in today’s case it is entertainment. Now, there is nothing wrong with entertainment. There never has been. To entertain in itself is a great art. And yet “to entertain” in today’s times, there is a difference – there is no aesthetics involved. So, no qualms in making films based on videos, rip-offs, lift-offs, etc, etc. Aptly today’s films are called popcorn movies. Eat the …

1/5. One of the worst films I have seen in a long time. I will not watch Rachel Weisz for some time now. I wonder if Darren Aronofsky can make anything more painful to watch.

IMDB

Many of us must have experienced the deep ecstasies and depressions that music can induce. By depression I mean the immense sadness one can be moved to by soul-stirring music.

I have a habit of constantly singing. Whatever comes to my mind. The other day I was specially enjoying singing ‘Tu mera hero hain’ from Subhash Ghai’s Hero. Didn’t know all the words so smashits.com zindabad. Suddenly I was listening to everything from ‘Ding Dong’ to ‘Lambi Judaai’. All songs I had grown up with yet today was bringing me some other satisfaction. ‘Nindiya se jaagi bahaar’ was making me feel 17 and all dreamy all over again and ‘Lambi Judaai’ was driving me to tears and goosebumps again.

There is something about teen love songs. Listen to ‘Nindiya se jaagi bahaar’ for example. It’s not a love song as such but so evocative in its mood of a young, teen …

iView Author: Tanul Thakur (Urbana Champaign, USA)

Email : thakurtanul [at] gmail [dot] com

Fountainhead… the movie fails!

First things first. People differ over what Fountainhead represents and an endless debate is ensued over this fact, I don’t want to get into any of that. I intend to talk only about ‘Fountainhead the movie’.

What was strikingly different from the novel is the depth of characterization. In the novel’s beginning, you could feel for Roark’s frustration when he laughs sitting on the cliff or his indifference to everyone to the extent that he saw no one walking in the street so much so that he could have walked naked beyond concern. That is the relationship (love or loathe) one forms with Howard Roark in the first two pages of the novel. You can feel Roark’s frustration when he is …

In continuation of the series “Initial Steps“, excerpts from a conversation occurred between Director Raju Hirani(RH), and Ajay Brahmatmaj (AB), are presented here.

Ajay writes about Raju Hirani

First time I had met Raju Hirani in the office of Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Munna Bhai MBBS was not released yet. Most of the journalists were interviewing VVC. I saw that a shy man was silently sitting on a bench. Shining in his eyes pulled my attention and I approached him and got to know that he was the director of Munnabhai MBBS. I did a formal newspaper kind of interview with him and came back. Film was released and got a success. I met him again and this time it was a long meeting.
Coincidently I got to know bit earlier because of my sources that Munna Bhai MBBS was given the National award. I …