A Bychance meeting with Danis Tanovic
PrintWas at Mariott this evening and guess who i walk into..danis tanovic looking for a black stone in the jewellery shop..he is casting for his next film..we talked for a while and came out inspired..the guy has some strong opinions..
he liked water and i told him i wrote dialogues so he congratulated me..i told him i hated the movie..he said you should be proud of it..loveleen tandon who is helping him cast agreed with me.. and he said atleast the film says something..i don’t care what you indians think of it but it shows a problem..well he is really agressive..i told him my introduction to Bosnia was “welcome to sarajevo”,was it a correct representation of his country..
not exactly, what you guys think of water i think of welcome to sarajevo..
we were even..he then told me how he has been a documentary filmmaker, and how he would rather make an unreleased film that said something than a blockbuster that said nothing..the way he said it was kind of inspiring..which is why i am writing this..he said he is only a few years older to me and i was wondering he must be my age or less when he made NO MANS LAND..i was ashamed..he wanted to see black friday and he is coming for the premiere..he said he will scream for me..i don’t know what will he think of it..
but i have not stopped thinking of him..more than six feet tall..an aggressive, outspoken man..who is also his own musician and composer..walking around in knee length shorts..not a care for the world..speaks loudly..not at all conscious of anyone..and extremely inspiring..i felt small..
“I still think michael winterbottom is a great filmmaker..i like and respect what he is trying to do..”
“Departed is a shit film..little miss sunshine is a puke..Apocalypto was the greatest film of the year..but one drunken outburst from mel gibson and no one said anything great about the film ..you know why..hollywood is controlled by the jews..”
“Thank you for smoking was better than little miss sunshine”
some of the things that he shared..you almost get convinced the way he says it if you did not have a bias for scorcese..
just been thinking of it so i thought should share it..
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Varma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Wowwww!!!!! Must be really intimidating….
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hi anurag,chance encounters makes for interesting conversation. my opinion about water is also not that great.it was a decent film but that’s about it. it was not a film to stand a chance at the oscar’s. par aisa toh hamari industry mein hota rehta hai.
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gosh! the departed shit!!!!! hmmm…
and rony…humari industry?????? water was not an Indian entry I guess…..
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bala i know it wasn’t par kaafi log toh apni industry ke thhe na. like anurag,john,seema biswas etc etc
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Anurag, do you think The Departed was better than Infernal Affairs?
Ok, not comparing… but if you had to recommend only one of these films to someone, then which one would you?
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infernal affairs 1& 2
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= It is quite an interesting journey for me to hear the views of Non Indians on India films. And now that you prove the vice-versa is true to on how an alien’s refracted view of a movie.
Haven’t watched Welcome to Sarajevo… putting it on my Netflix queue…
The guy looks highly motivated, focussed and isn’t afraid to voice his opinions on things. WOW… Departed is shit! Sunshine is puke!!! I would love to see the kind of films released in the last few years that he has enjoyed. It shows a very distinct trait of a man that can be traced to the kind of movies he enjoys.
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recently i saw his movie “The Hell”…well it was not my kinda movie ( Women oriented)..but it was still fine…
It is sometimes shameful as to how the whole world looks at a certain country after watching just one movie…and we talk about globalization( Me Included)….Cinema is a very powerful medium..we need to use it to its fullest..
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AK – thanks for sharing. The Hell, if I am not wrong, is part of the trilogy – heaven, hell, and purgatory.
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I don’t know who I am in awe of more, Mr. Tanovic for being able to share his opinions (almost all of which I share, but not here as I don’t need an online spanking), or Anurag for once again showing his passion for cinema – in this case taking a simple thought and making it into an interesting post.
I think it is a bigger shame that the world looks at a country in a certain way after watching just one movie – because that movie deals with war, sexism, communism, mistreatment of women, etc.
Usually in a historical context.
But the simple love stories and comedies that reflect how a society/country really live are the ones that don’t make the festival circuit or get wide release or award recognition…
Trying to keep the sentences short so you can read them!!
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hi anurag,
just curious to know whether danis tanovic had anything to say about his contender ‘lagaan’ at the oscar..i’m sure he must have met aamir and ashutosh at the awards ceremony..but had he seen ‘lagaan’? what were his views about the film if he did watch it?
by the way ‘thank you for smoking’ is one of the best films i watched last year..smart and witty!
the best part to notice in this film is that no character is shown puffing a cigarette!!
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anurag kashyap,
i may not wrong u worked for “guru”why ur name is not mentioned in credits
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Anurag bhai… my ques is in no way related to this particular blog but wanted to ask this for a long time…During that ‘khatttarnaak’ chase in Black Friday, there was this dialogue on TV (“bhagna mat varna goli maar dunga”)heard from one of the houses.
you wrote that while writing dialogues or you thought of it while filming it?? (either way it was brilliant!!! gr8 creativity & humour)
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Naren:
“Amar Akbar Anthony” on TV in background
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Hmmm, someone who didn’t like Departed? … Interesting … Have heard a lot about his movies, especially No Man’s Land. Been wanting to watch it for some time.
Thank You for Smoking is indeed one of the best satires I’ve seen in recent times. Highly recommended. (saahil, I never realized nobody puffs a cigarette in the movie)
On a separate note altogether, AK, do you know in which US cities Black Friday is releasing? I live in Cleveland, OH and would love to watch it on the big screen.
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latest anurag interview with rediff..
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/feb/07anurag.htm
didn’t know you were writing for vik motwane, anurag.. what’s “last leaf” about?
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Lokendra Verma: Watch carefully. Anurag is credited under “Additional Dialogues”, if I am right.
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btw Anurag was also credited for “additional dialog” writer for Guru if you notice the scroller in the end.
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Dear Anurag,
Right now its two o clock in the morning
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Departed ..shit film ? ok its hard for me to digest that {i am scorcese fan } but i still prefer watching internal affairs 1 and 2.
now something for Anurag ..
1- good job on black friday.
2- was thr any need of adding an item number in No smoking ? (i am not questioning ur script or ur decisions )
3- lemme be honest if black friday works..and if your next film clicks..don’t be surprised if the media calls u the next big thing or stars greet you with a wide smile .
4- next time someone calls u a jinxed director or sumthng like tht…kick his A$$.
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RK
thanx buddy.. what i also wanted to say was that if AK visualised it while sitting in his room & writing dialogues… then its brilliant!!! its really difficult to imagine such minute happenings when you write…
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[Admin Note:] Dude, this is the thrid time you are posting the same message and flooding the comment bar..please restrain from it
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oh!
i wanted to wordwrap those thought(Suvonker Banerjee).
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suvonkar just chill.
don”t treat hiim like a messiah. u know what’l happen.Then ‘they’ll nail him to the cross’. one black friday is enough to shut the lollypops of bollywood.let all the bhanaslis of the world pull their tongue and run. lets celebrate!
chrs!
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Recently watched “All the King’s Men”, starring Sean Pean, Jude Law& Anthony Hopkins which reminded me of “New Delhi Times” by Gulzaar saab. The characterisation of politics was same. Nothing is full black or white. New Delhi Times was ahead of it’s time. Same thing I witnessed in Traffic where Michael Douglas breaks down with his daughter in his arms, Kamal Hassan does it in Mahanadi. Well if any of the foreigner had watched these movies is a question for me, but sometimes we do produce indegenious movies is a point of satisfaction.Be it Ek Ruka Hua Faisla by Basu Chatterjee or Tamas by Govind Nihlani we do have few good films to be proud of.
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“All the King’s Men” was a remake of an American classic from the 1940’s. I wish that we (America) could still make the types of biting political films that we did back then. “A Face in the Crowd” is another political classic that all film fans should see.
I disagree that India has a “few good films to be proud of”. If India only produced a “few”, I wouldn’t be such a fan of Indian cinema.
The only reason I don’t go on a rant right now about how Indian films get beat up on PFC is because if this were “Passion for Hollywood”, I would be the first person in line with a brickbat.
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Hey Anurag chk this website out http://www.desichai.com, go to movie index and then the section for alph.B. U will find ur movie their, black friday (full length), i had seen it in Oct 2006. Just thought u might want to take some actions against them.
http://www.desichai.com/movieindex/
There are other websites too, but they r barely watchable!!
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@Heir of a dying day:I just checked out the site u mentioned..WTF! This is illegal man!Criminal!
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Its even on youtube…in 8/9 parts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUioJDsnwyY&mode=related&search=. Producer/director just needs to put a complain and they will withdraw it.
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Sambhav, check out Govind Nihlani’s Drohkaal as well, if u liked Departed. Its one of my all time favourite.
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ANURAG .
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PUBLISHING UR SCRIPTS ;
BLACK FRIDAY,PAANCH,GULAL,NO SMOKING…….
ATLEAST IN PFC,,,,,,,,,,
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finally….saw black friday in a theatre…thought i had seen it b4, i enjoyed the experience of going thru the gruesome past again…. the direction- up to the mark, casting- superb, dialogues – too good…
and the audience too seemed to enjoye all of the above…. sitting in the stall area at gaiety, my ears were wide open for the audience reaction….. and yes, they applauded at the right time, the right dialogue….. at some scenes, i could feel the tension upto the neck, but the ice was broken by just one comment, and then, everbody burst out laughing….
thought its a movie which plays with the emotions of the people, and people might not even take it seriously considering its just a movie, there is one thing for sure….there was a feel of awkwardness everywhere….
me along with my hindu friend had decided to chck out the movie…out gruesome past was being played before us….only this time on a large screen….but one thought kept hitting my head again and again…
y do i have to see this again?…this was all left behind, wasn’t it?….the hindu-muslim divide and all that shit….i mean, there was no dividing line between anymore…but i guess ur movie, indirectly help draw an imaginary line in the minds of the people…. after all these years of bloodshed, we look for a positive future….and not to crib and fight over our past…
oke, i totally agree as a filmmaker, as a filmmakers right to explore a subject…and to show it from all possible sides….and i totally agree with the message ur film portrays…it is absolutely correct…its just that everything that was buried and long forgotten is brought back and is made to stare at us….
do you think its necessary to bring forth an issue like communalism in our country and that too in such a raw fashion….i feel our audience is not yet ready for such material….not all are educated….not all are wise….if it would not have been for those bunch of rowdys who kept passing comments and made people laugh, people would have left the cinema hall with an altogether different feeling….
again, i dont doubt ur filmmaking skills at all…it was excellent..its just that these things are best left forgotten or brought forth in a different manner…not in such a raw and true style….
another thing is, the film ends with a wrong note (personal opinion)…we see tiger bhai so confidently masterminding the bombay blast with all the appropriate reasons…and then we again see the blast happenings…..a burnt man lying ona piece of car tyre, a man drenched in blood lying motionless….but the fact is that the reason for the blast overrides the aftereffects…..after watching the movie, it seems tiger memon was right in doing all this….i dont think that was ur intention….the audience doesn’t have the time to read the last super when the lights are already on and most are headed towards the door….the message of the film is lying loose to be kicked freely…i guess ur responsibility as a filmmaker was to end it with the plight that badshah khan undegoes…that would have been the ideal end…as per my view..
or is it anurag that you wanted to play with a controversial subject to show your filmmaking skills?…plz enlighten me…
now the audience report:
- people just loved the chase sequence when the police are running behind across the road and slums (forgot the guys name)
- when kay kay says, ” Allah ab hamare saath hai…”, they just cudn’t stop clapping
- when tiger says not to kill thackery, one comment was, “usko kya marega, woh toh aada mar chuka hai “….lovely breather…laughter…
- during the police brutality scenes, when one cop says he wants to rest as there is no work, one shouted, “yehi toh aata hai tumlog ko…”..laughter..
hope ive not offended anyone…just my view..
thnks.
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ali..your concerns are sincere so don’t be afraid to offend..if someone gets offended its there problem..let me try to answer your questions..I made the film because the book moved me..i wasn’t in bombay when all this happened..i think audience is semi ready and won’t be completely till they are not confonted with it..yes there are people who comment like that in the movie but they are coward people,who to quash their own uncomfortability make people laugh..such people run at the first sign of trouble..yes it does make you uncomfortable and makes you ask questions and that is the intention..it should start a healthy debate..its not to show my skills as a filmmaker..its the film that dictates the form and not otherwise..i am of the belief that when it is raw and unflinching that is when you will take it seriously otherwise they always treat it like a film..and yes it is a matter of concern that theatre lights comeon much before the message is displayed..will look into it..pl keep asking questions..in trying to answer them i might also find my own answers..
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hey anurag, i agreee with ali tat the ending messages are not read as ppl r on their way back. but i think the upside narrative as in the book is a refreshing change from the usual movie treatment
Plzz make a video for Bandeh…i am sure it’ll help the movie as well
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hi anurag,congratulationss! were you expecting claps & whistles for dawood’s entry scene? i saw it as glorification of the evil.your comments please.
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@ Rony.. according to me the claps and whistles that D-man’s entry got was not for the glorification but for the striking resemblance…crowd was blown away with the picture perfectness of Vijay Maurya to Dawood…
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om i dont agree with your view.i saw it at mami and the response was what shahrukh gets on his entry.infact i thin the scene was designed like one bollywood entry scene.this does not mean that i dont like the scene.i love the scene.especially just before d’s entry a woman comes and opens the door.it look liked a choreographed scene.
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Ali,
Just wanted to say this – when films started to come out on the 9/11 topic here in the US, there was this discussion of whether it is too early to dig up those wounds again before they are totally healed. The filmmakers side argued that the wounds won’t properly heal if you ignore them or bury them under the carpet. Proper healing will only happen if they are brought into the open and people have a chance to bring out their pent up feelings.
As a community in general we are very uncomfortable talking about real issues. We have to confront them – that is painful but not confronting them will be worse in the long run.
My two cents.
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“i am of the belief that when it is raw and unflinching that is when you will take it seriously otherwise they always treat it like a film” @ anurag …but when it is raw and unflicnhing it has a very limited appeal(and i m not refering to black friday) , an dit only reaches people who are already much evolved in their thinking …it would never reach the masses…and i m not trying to say its the masses who are gullible and who have an escapist way of looking at things ..but because they probably do not have much vested interests(they are mere victims) …but i m juts talking abt the outlook towrads the world (its not evolved)..i m not game for romanticising issues of such grave consequences either (infact i wud not wnat that)…but is their a middle path??
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Hello Anurag,
Hats off to you. You have done a really wonderful job with the subject at hand. Curious to know, how you shot the scenes especially in the slums? Didn’t you have to deal with the crowd interference, which almost every director has to put up with in India?
Would love to know how you dealt with it.
This is in response to comments by ali. It is Anurag’s vision that has come to the fore on screen. After all, it is a fact that the perpretators are safe elsewhere. The scars will always remain.Lastly, the rowdys that you speak of, who kept passing comments, they would do the same even during the escapist fare normally dished out. Can’t expect them to be enlightened about cinema in particular.
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Hi Anurag,
I am big fan of your blog. I like your blatant honesty. Most of the bollywood (90% of it I guess)
is filled with illiterate idiots who have zero idea of what art is… I am looking forward to great work from guys like you, vishal, gulzar, rajkumar hirani, etc… After seeing the work by you people I feel glad to say that bollywood movies come from India..
Warm Regards
Amit
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hey everyone…
vasu, great of u to point out about the 9/11 films in US released shortly after the attack….makes me wanna dig deeper into the issue…
Communalism is to India what Terrorism is to US…though communalism has given birth to its cousin terrorism in India too, but the root cause here i guess is communalism…
about the 9/11 films in US…wel, if you notice…before 9/11, there never has been any terrorist attack in the US…like such a massive one…so this was the first time the americans were exposed to real world…before that, it was only in some obscure corner of the newspapers and few hollywood movie where the american triumphs over everthing….still, after the attack, in around 3-4 yrs of time, they were out with their films…
some things we need to keep in mind are the counter-terrorism policies and operations they have there…theirs is obviously thousand times better than ours as they value each and every life….so by the time the movie came out, they had almost gotten over it….most of them in the rest of US…..
also, even the studios wanted to make some quick bucks out of it and were looking for as early a release as possible before the memories of the terrorist attack fade away from their memories…
whereas, in India, the problem of communalism is with us for generations….born during the times of Aurangzeb, being used, abused and handed over as inheritance by the British, and then treated by the same fashion by our sick politicans…it has been coming down thru ages…in short, as far i can remember, 92 riots, 93 blasts, Gujarat riots, local railway blasts…..i mean its never ending….and above all, we dont even have a counter method to treat all our people….
and then, suddenly comes black friday – the movie (hats off to anurag)….the film is so bold, so true, so un-biased… whereas the 9/11 films they made…..so cheesy…..i feel they just wanted to brag about themselves and wanted their people to feel good….and keep them away from the harsh realities of the world, like it was done before…
here lies the difference…the film they made and the film anurag made…its such a bold step that sometimes i fear it shudnt hit back….like incite people to do it again…..
i dont know how correct and how much incorrect iam at this….but the ending of the film still bothers me….why did anurag decided to end it with tiger memon and the blasts?….was tiger memon victorious?…..the message at the end of the film is fine…but in india, visual are more powerful than words…and im not talking about indians like u and me..im talking about indians like those rowdies and bunch of other gullible people….the majority of indians…
somehow, somewhere i feel, some thing is dicey with the ending….
i know it anurags film and it is his vision…but there is also a thing as social responsibility….who’s to be blamed for that?….
it would be great if more people could discuss about this havin seen black friday…
cheers…
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Hi Anurag,
I think after a couple of months of theatre release you should put a digital copy of your movie Black Friday on the internet ( say youtube…) Dont put it for free. But thats the best way it will reach to lot of people…
I totally agree we all are in some way responsible for what happened
Amit
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Hi All,
This is my first comment ever written on a blog…By coincidence I saw Dor and Water around the same time and by default I made comparision between two…Dor has most easy language understanding..where as Water has gone way off to basically show the 1938…Dor is more cenematic..where as Water is more documentry style..if Water gets any +ves then It will be due to the one strong line from Bapuji “Earlier I thought the God is the truth but then I realised the truth is God” (not the exact words) and the way the “line” is linked to the whole story…three cheers on that to Anurag + Director and their RND…
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Dear Anurag,
Have you ever heard of the phrase “Do not cast pearls before swine”?
You’vemade the most brilliant movie that has ever come out of the film industry in a long, long, time. But i won’t dwell on what i liked , didn’t like, etc. It was the audience reaction in the darkened halls that got my attention.
I went to watch the second show of the film, at PVR Priya, late night. Most of the crowd was made of young people. The kind who’ve come to watch a maar-dhaad film. The rest were the posh, globalized crop, the IIT-types, which is supposedly taking India to new heights, the kind whose head go dizzy with the pop patriotism of Rang De Basanti. The kind who’d break into loud applause at the macho Amir Khan protecting his Muslim Freinds from self-proclaimed architects of the Hindu rashtra, to borrow a phrase from newstrack. Throw in some from JNU.
I can’t quite tell who it was, but people kept giggling throughout. As if something very funny was going on. Each time the film showed a terrorist being beaten, slapped, they clapped, whistled, laughed. When Badshah Khan gets arrested, and shouts his agony to the police officer, there came a confident shout from the back, “Gaandu, Toh phir Pakistan kyun nahin chaley jaatey?” More applause. By this time, my brain felt like there was a copy of Munch’s ‘Scream’, turning to life and shreiking inside my head. I was watching the film with two more people — both men — one a Muslim and the other, a Hindu, left wing, NRI. Our faces had been taut throughout the film, and how else should it be watching the cold precise scenes, whizzing in front of our eyes like glinting butcher knives. Now we were taut with anger. The tittering continued. The Young and the Brazen, played with their cell phones, changed ringtones, flashed cellphone screens at each other across the hall, spoke loudly. I’ve never seen such activity in films from Hum aapke Hain Kaun to Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.
All of this continued till you made the policeoffice say ” all of you who don’t have work become chutiyas” and included Hindus in it. Just before the interval. By now, you were using more Newstrack footage. When you got to the chilling insert showing Kar Sevaks, i was shocked out of my senses again. I’d seen them as a kid, when newstrack and DD were the only way to get news. People shut up by then. There was something leaden, sombre in that dark hall. I don’ think they who were laughing liked you very much then for shoving this in their faces. When i was leaving Priya, i didn’t hear any of those “Badi sahi film hai yaars”. The three of us were the only ones grinning, the only one who came off satisfied.
I took my parenst to watch the movie the next day. This time, there people who’d read the first reviews came in.. expecting gawd knows what. And the tittering continued. This was the Shining India crowd. It’s is so benumbed, so drunk on the heady wines of the luxuries they can buy, that their nervous systems and brain sensors fail to register pain, and when it finally does, the brain contains mechanism to issue immediate and final denial. Who’s psychotic?
You’re ripped apart the fabric of society and shown what lurks underneath. The audience reaction says it all. Secularism is bullshit. I hate to live in Dumbed down India, your film made me hate it with shocking clarity. I don’t hate my country no, but i hate what i saw in Shining India, where Individual Atoms believe, to borrow a phrase from Arundhati Roy, Independent Mibile Republics, answering to no law but their own. In the past 5000 years that out civilization existed, we have never been more callous, more decadent. It reminds me of the Roman Empire, those decadent orgies beautifully depicted in Asterix, which could be pass off as an impression of any decadent, megalomaniac empire of the world. Even the empires of Shining India Individual Mobile Republics.
Regards
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I totally agree with Danis.
DEPARTED was shit. is SHIT!
But i disagree with him on Little Miss Sunshine. It got a bit pretentious & boring in the middle but the ending i one of the best i have seen in long long time. It was hilarious. He probably saw it in Serbia. I saw it in LA in a packed theater. That makes lot of diff in how u take that film.
I think CHILDREN of MEN was the best film of last year. (the music was little melodramatic for my taste but its fine).
Little CHildren & HALF NELSON would be next with Little miss Sunshine.
So would the german film THE LIFE OF OTHERs.
Anurag try to get hold of STEEL CITY. its awesome
so is MAN PUSH CART.
has anyone heard of this? its about a pakistani guy in NY who sells coffee & bagel in the morning.
But good answer to Danis on WATER.
cheers
i gotta to to my friends set in hollywood. nilanjan lahiri. he is direction a film on the book ODE TO LATA. its produced by BHARAT SHAH. GK was part of it (Madhur’s Accountant i think)
have u heard of it?
cHEERS
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I hung out with GK today…. he produced TRAFFIC SIGNAL …& produces Madhur’s film.
The man is the biggest encyclopidea of films…he doesnt sleep…watches 5 movies a day…
has seen more films than Anurag & thats no mean achievement. We discussed Anurag(GK calls him AK) & indian cinema & our fav films & shit like that ….it was cool…
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I haven’t seen Water but what you said caught my attention, why do you hate it?
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Hi Mr. Kashyap, I am a journalism and mass communication student, last year I read about you and your experiences – both as a filmmaker and before that – in Tehelka. Must say I was moved. Your experiences with BF are well documented but can you please also tell me about your experiences (and frustrations) with Paanch and Gulaal.
Thanks
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Hi Anurag,
I saw your film, was spellbound. Just feeling a bit curious about the role of the guy called as Rajeshwar Khurana. Would like to know a bit more about him. Hope you would reply to my query.
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PLEASE PLEASE MAKE SURE that the DVD of BF comes out with all the deleted footage and edited scenes. And yeah…a video on Bandeh will be great! Behind the scenes…documentary footage, production notes..throw that in too. Sorry, I know I’m being a greedy bastard. Sadly (coz there were 5 people in the theatre where I went)…but no less heroically
, my friend and I went to watch Black Friday yesterday. We traveled about 5 hours to get there. Train, bus, bus, train, walk, walk, walk..and walk! It was endless. Plus the temp. outside ws -15 degrees Celcius, and the snow was grinding up our feet. The wind-chill was killing us. We were 2 among about 5 people in a theatre, on a weeknight, that couldve seated 200. So..it was dead silent most of the time..which kinda made it more chilling. Would we do it again. For a movie like Black Friday…fuck yeah.
.
Most people (to our chagrin), come into theatres looking for dhamaal, which is not wrong on its own. But they then miss the point completely with a movie like Black Friday. I read a few post up above, and this seemed to be the case with Black Friday. It’s extreeeemly annoying to say the least when stuff like that happens in a theatre. It’s not Bhagam-Bhaag we’re watching are we??
And why do we need to have images and movies such as this staring into our faces? Coz there is NO communal harmony in our country. It’s a delicate-delicate wire-trigger boundary we tread on. Each day. No one has gone into the house of different people and heard what they talk about at each dinner conversation, about that Hindu, or that Muslim, or that Low caste guy. We are divided. Even now, there places in great cities like Pune or even Mumbai where if you’re a Muslim or of a certain caste, you don’t get a place to live..and you’re not invited. On the other hand, there are several people in the Muslim community, who feel betrayed, cheated, and would rather be part of a greater institution (street, colony, city, state, country?), where they’re not marginalized. A Hindu somewhere in Ghaziabad gets slain by a mob, and we all tend to get pissed. Is that a typical reaction. Yes..is that an informed reaction. Heck no. If a bunch of Muslims, get chopped up, burnt, there’s people willing to let a city burn. Is that a reasonable course of action. Of course not. An eye for an eye, does indeed make everyone blind. We’re so divided that the term ‘national integration’ sounds like a joke sometimes. We were fucked up, are fucked up..and India Shining IS indeed a farce. People tell me I’m too cynical. There are people who are more hopeful. They may not be slipping things under a rug. But, theyre better off looking at the brighter side, if there is any. People are better off eating cotton candy than grinding stones with their teeth. Inspiring movie..eye-opening. I can go on..but why bore everyone…This is my first big post..and I’ve been itching to take off..so just showing off a bit, and letting some pent up steam out
Until next time.
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“No man’s land” was easily the best political satire made after Kubrick’s “Strangelove” . I do believe that Tanovic has mastered the art of satire-implicit criticism, with a well thought out script and some brilliant and powerful screen images …. I find it extremely pleasing to know that you met him. I find it extremely annoying that when people talk about best films of the year they invariably start looking at hollywood films……. Best of the year? how about Jafar Panahi’s “Offside”, another cutting and brilliant satire , Ken loach’s “the wind that shakes the barley” ,Almodovar’s “Volver”, Glasner’s “the free will” or kaurismaki’s “Lights in the dusk”?
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I agree with every word of Subhandeep.
No Man’s Land was an amazing film.
The reason people think of hollywood film is ‘coz thats what people get to see.
There are a lot of independent films here which are not made in Hollywood. Just becuse they are made in America doesnt mean they r hollywood.
cheers
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Hi
I also didnt like Water.What really hurt me most was the tourist attitude of the director.And didnt like it for many other reasons. Would prefer reading Pratham Pratishruti and Aadha Lekha Dastabej then watching it again on 70 mm screen.
Btw I liked the dialogues in the film as they neatly express the nuances.Especially the way the grand old lady of the ashram describes her ……. to raghuveer yadav’s character……. cathartic expression of the character. That was just superb.U were so apt in dealing with her aingst…Those Radheshyami women talk exactly in the same manner.
But I am curious to know that why an insider doesnt like this film (of Oscar fame).
And one more thing, u always talk about mediocrity that u hate most.Why is it exactly that?I am asking u just because u r a thinking person.Black Friday (the book) presents a wonderful ethnography and its all about mediocrity .Tiger Memon se poochhna tha … yaar tu Sachin nahi to Srikanth to zaroor ban sakta tha….zara intelligently sochna tha ….. smuggler to nahi bante.But before I get into the arguement, must know ur views on this much hated topic ‘mediocrity’.Because mediocrity has a very close relation with ordinariness .Its not the same but ……. Anyways… do respond if possible.
Regards
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Hello Mainak, Hope you enjoyed being on the set. We just wrapped the film. By the way, the film is based on my novel “Ode to Lata” but it’s simply titled “ODE.”
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What kind of discussion forum is this!! It seems as is Anurag Kashyap is behaving as a dictator of this forum and the people who post the messages are behaving like bootlikkers.
What ever Mr Kashyap says, becomes word of god for the people out here. If he says Departed is shit, nobody questions him. When he wrote Apocalypto is the best movie, a blogger when ahead and praised the movie like anything.
If he says that he hated Water, everybody except for one single exception agrees. Nobody even dares to question him. What kind of forum is this?? Mr Kashyap has become the god of pseudo
atheists. people have started worshiping him. He is being reagarded as the messiah of
intellectuals(read pseudo intellectuals). Most of people whom I know seem to like Black Friday, but if you ask them what did they like in the movie, they fail to come up with a logical explanation.It has become a fashion today to praise Black Friday.
Mr kahsyap is being regarded as the ultimate promoter of free speech, but just have a look around this forum and you will find messages being deleted with a warning that the author may be banned from posting further messages.
is this what you call freedom of speech and expression, mr Kashyap??whatever be your reason for deleting the message, it can never be justified.
A few days ago, I was going through the article which he had written on RGV. Nowhere in the article did he mention about RGV’s though process related to his movies. All that he had learnt from RGV was how to pose when you face a
naxalite or perhaps how to go about naming your characters. And add to this the people out there discussing the article were very thrilled to know such things about RGV. Why dont you discuss
about his fav colour and fav food in his next blog. It would be great fun reading that.
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BK: Man, If you personally dont like Anurag Kashyap, even then please talk about his films here and his works related to cinema. Perhaps you dont visit PFC regularly, thats why you can write such things. PFC is the only place atleast on internet where his film, has been discussed for the weaknesses otherwise anywhere else you will find only praises.
If you think Anurag Kashyap controls PFC then you are not right. Do you think he will be having time for this time consuming thing? How a film maker can devote time to control a site like PFC. when he will make films then?
There is no strange thing in this if few people become impressed by the films which he likes or dislikes. its very natural. When one has this impression, that ok this person knows better than me about cinema and films than its quite a natural way to be impressed. But knowledge can not be borrowed and ultimately its self knowledge about anything which works.
This is not true that comments are deleted, seveal of us make comments which dont go in favour of film stars, film makers but they are not deleted as you are complaining. Surely if you or anyone uses the forum to throw out personal disliking and enmity than administrators have to come in to the action. Can you guess why your comment is here? If its here than you cant complain that comments are deleted which goes against Anurag Kashyap or any other film maker.
If you like films than please enjoy here. Its more joy to discuss abt cinema than to settle the personal score. For that real life is before you.
Hope when you come without any grudge towards anyone, you will find the site more joyable in future.
Have fun:)
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