A noble film
Dus Kahaniyaan is due for release on the 7th December 2007. Hectic post-production activity and promotional strategies are in motion. All of us keenly awaiting the release of a collection of 10 short films that have been made with passion, love and conviction. With a corporate responsibility my job requires me to dispassionately ensure that deadlines are met, that promotional strategies are executed on time and that we approach the release without a hitch. As a film-maker it is difficult to be dispassionate. It is difficult to separate passion from business. Perhaps that is why I have the job. To maintain equilibrium. To maintain a balance between the creative process and commercial reality.
Thank God for Safeena, my wife. She helps me maintain my sanity in this insane world. As a global educationist she runs a plethora of experiential learning programs. I am happy to be involved with one of them – the film and media program. Bright minds from all over the globe come to Mumbai to understand, dissect and unravel the enigma of Bollywood. My contribution to the program is setting up shoot visits, post-production workshops, film screenings and one on one interaction with film professionals.
As part of their studies our students got an opportunity to interact with a cinematographer friend of mine, Chirantan Das or Chiru as he is referred to by friends and co-workers. Chiru has been part of my career right from its inception – he began as an assistant cameraman and moved on to shoot three of my films. Our most recent collaboration has been the short film I have directed in Dus Kahaniyaan. I wanted the students to watch Chiru’s work, particularly the work that he has done with directors other than me. I asked the students to watch 1971, a film that Chiru had shot for a film-maker called Amrit Sagar. After much difficulty I found a DVD of the film. I was guilty of not being able to watch the film despite Chiru’s repeated requests. While my students had a wonderful interaction with this unassuming, humble and honest cinematographer I was privileged to watch a film called 1971.
What always draws me towards a film is the honesty with which it is made. 1971 has honesty in abundance. A film about Indian POWs (prisoners of war) languishing in Pakistani jails since 1971 – neglected, forgotten and now perhaps dead. Unlike the many extremely stupid war films that have been made in India here is a realistic account that compels you to dwell on the plight of these people. The emphasis on the human story is undeniable. The camera covers their story and their brave, often foolhardy exploits in a most unobtrusive manner. My friend Chiru excels in bringing the young directors elegant vision to life. A special mention must be made of the way the night exteriors have been shot. It is always difficult to maintain a balance between bright and dark while shooting nights. If it is too dark it gets unnerving when the visual persists for long. Excessive brightness without logic or sources suddenly detaches you from reality. Chiru has managed to balance this very well.
There is no attempt from the young, debutante director to show off his technique or to launch into populist rhetoric. The writing by Piyush Mishra is first-rate. The performances by the ensemble cast are impeccable. Manoj Bajpai, Deepak Dobriyal, Ravi Kissen, Manav Kaul , Kumud Mishra – it is delightful to watch all these brilliant actors bringing the poignant tale to life. The dignified background score and the minimalist songs are so well entwined in the narrative. 1971 is a tale of irony and tragedy that is narrated with rare compassion and economy. The approach is minimalist, the focus is on the human angle. There are no jarring camera movements, no distorted wide-anlge shots nor are there any silly high-speed sequences.
The film does have its share of imperfectionsthough. Particularly in some of the action sequences, in its running length and in the form of Piyush Mishra’s indulgent performance. But Piyushbhai can be forgiven. His writing makes up for his indulgence. And the overall film makes up for most of its minor flaws.
Amrit Sagar is a third generation Sagar. He is the grandson of Ramanand Sagar (a film-maker whose popularity grew more because of the television series on Ramayan). It was very easy for this young man to make a popular film and join the ranks of his counterparts Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Farhan Akhtar et al. Yet he chose to tread the unconventional path. A film without stars, without popular music and without excessive melodrama. Commendable.
Unfortunately, the film met a dismal fate at the box-office. I hope the film’s fate has not disheartened this brave film-maker and that he is not languishing in some studio in Gujarat making an illogical mythological for his family. We need many more like you Amrit. Do not give up.
Disclaimer : Maybe this post is a bit too late. But I do not think writing it earlier would have made much of a difference. I do not know Amrit Sagar personally. The above post is just a passionate outpouring from somebody who has been genuinely touched by this wonderful film.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
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
- I liked most of 1971 though I would say that I still couldn’t digest the sudden turn from depicting a “realism” concept, it suddenly turned to a very stylish leaning at the end (specially the Manoj Bajpai crossing the line, the shot fired, the dropping down) to create a heroic exit for the character… not sure… And I love “happys ending”… nevertheless yes it was a good film coming from a first time director…
Is Dus Kahaniyaan getting a simultaneous release in the US?
Bang on target Hansal Bhai
Welcome Back Hansal. Missed You for all these days. Please write more often.
oz, DK will have a simultaneous release in the US too… december 7!
The movie also has one of the better songs I heard in recent times…Sah Lenge Hum by Shibani Kashyap.
Good movie…a lot different from the regular war movies in India.
The title track of Dus Kahaniyan has a distinct “Modern Talking” flavour. Could relate as I had prepared for my final engg exams listening to MT numbers.
Well, I saw 1971 on cable. I was just flicking through channels when one movie with Ravi Kissen and Manoj Bajpai in it began and I was hooked on to it.
I like happy endings too and having seen all this effort these people put in to escape and everything going waste, I was disappointed. I was too much connected with the characters which did not happen watching Deewar Let’s Bring the Heroes back home shit.
Only if 1971 had a happy ending, I would have bought a DVD and watched in 3-4 times more.
Why is it necessary to have an happy ending? i think it was perfectly fine..happy ending isnt required. what could have been avoided in the movie was the barrage of bullets which bajpai dodges in the end. the last scene in the movie was quite heart rending!good dialogues.
A happy ending would have killed the poignant tale of these hapless men trapped in no man’s land. the film draws your attention towards a tragic issue of neglect and feigned ignorance by two countries and their respective governments. for a happy ending watch Lakshya instead;)
So true..it bothers me the way good movies are not appreciated.Viewers watch it on TV and appreciate it…but no one goes to the theatre to watch the same.The canera work was brilliant..and shot on actual locales i believe.
Glad to see you writing after long, Hansal. I am looking forward to sex on the beach,lovedale, gubbare, rice plate(I am sure this has the highest buzz), zahir and high on the highway. Gulzar sa’ab’s verses have pulled me to the film now. Love Naseer sa’ab’s(Khuda, der aayad), Nana’s(Tere utaare hue din), Anupam Kher’s(bauchhaar) and Manoj Bajpai’s(mujhe talaash nahi, khaali samandar) renditions. Would love to know how this idea came up. Very intriguing.
Haven’t seen 1971 yet, its on my rental queue.
I too loved the movie 1971. Watched it on the first day itself, at INOX Bangy with less than 30 people beside me. In fact, its the best war movie to have come out of India. Though its no where near to the war movies from rest of the world, it still is a valiant effort.
yes azad it is a brave effort. sad to see that most people havent watched it. only if we keep making such films will we be able to raise the bar of our films. otherwise we will always be bombarded with trash and then have to select the best trash available… we will have to contend with self-proclaimed ‘masters’ and ‘entertainers’ for the rest of our lives!
Saw 1971 quite recently myself when I bought the DVD and liked it a lot.
I think part of the problem was the sudden barrage of ‘war’ films a few years ago. When 1971 arrived a sort of fatigue had set in.
erm, there were only
threetwo ‘war’ films in lasta couple offive years:Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, LOC and Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo.The film was not marketed. It came and it went. Apparently, the 1971 DVD did a good business.
Hansal,welcm back n sad to notice that like many u r also lil late on 1971. remember telling atleast 50 friends to watch d film. 5 of them saw it n liked it. i absoltly loved d film. but i think it was badly promoted. the promos made it look like war film. n its human drama. ppl r now bore of those idiotic war films. wish it was promoted in rite direction. m old manoj bajapyee film. so had to go when it looked exciting. wasnt disppointed at all. everyone was good except piyush mishra. but then piyush wrote d film. so chalta hai i guess.
btw, its not all tht bad…some gud news abt 1971…
http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/07/apr/28_adaz_apna_apana_1971.asp
n something that kk wrote when d film releasd…n i complty agree. for 2 hours, i was compltly hooked…
http://passionforcinema.com/1971-among-the-best-of-the-year/
also,if possible plz do write abt d films that u hav directed in dus kahaniyaan. eagerly waiting for that.
Well, 1971 actually got me connected to the characters in it. All played by natural actors and even Ravi Kissen was subdued! I felt for those characters and never felt I was watching a movie. Can’t say which recent Hindi movie got me so involved with the characters that much than 1971…Yes…there was Hazaaron Kwaishein Aisi….
That is the reason when I see this guy limping back in the jail, my stomach felt tight….I immediately switched off the TV, disappointed at the whole journey…I was angry…angry at the Indian Army standing at the border looking at them shoot at these two men…Angry at a lot of things…
I felt the same way when Shiney becomes a vegetable in Hazaroon Kwaishein Aisi…Wonderful movie, but won’t have the balls to watch it second time…For these movies to succeed in India, where people get too involved like it…It is sometimes important to look at the bigger picture…when you have a brilliant product, why screw it up commercially by giving a “classic” ending? I mean…1971 was shot brilliantly…was gripping…not a boring scene….for me, the ending screwed it up and caused a loss of 200 bucks for the makers of the movie as I decided against buying the DVD….If it was a happy ending, who knows the BO results might be astounding…
Coming to Lakshya…I don’t want happy endings just for the sake of they being happy endings…If a story gets me so connected and involved with the characters, I definitely want to go home happy…In Lakshya, I would not have cared if Hrithik died on Tiger hill, the film was junk….the makers should take lessons from Amrit Sagar.
huh-le-lo. Lakshya is- was not a War film. It was sort of a drama – a personal journey with backdrop of the Kargil War.
1971, is a War Film, to be precise, a PoWs film. Yes, it is to do with Human Dramas, but aren’t all films?!
Anyway, the lack of war films in Hindi Films history, is showing now, that we are comparing Lakshay with 1971!
That is my understanding.
i think there is huge differnce between border,loc n other war films n 1971. as far as indian films r concerned, war films r all about the war n d characters there. but 1971 is only about these characters…its thier journye…its a road film in a way. its drama. dont think its war film at all. war is just d past. the present is their struggle.
but why happy endings ? agree that the ending was bit filmy n all. but i liked it. dont know if happy ending wud hav made me feel better. thought that was realistic. everytime its “the heroes will rise”. if for once, the heroes failed to rise, let it be. m ok with them. they gt me engaged thruout their journey. made me feel that m with them,with their problems. n this was somone’s debut film, m all ready to stand up n cheer again!! amrit sagar…more power to u man!!
sad but true… i am guilty of being late on this film… guess its better late than never!
Not saying it was a war film per se (that’s why the quotes) but involved soldiers, let’s say. In any case, agree that the promotions were probably misleading and the film deserved much better. In fact, even the music was quite good though I don’t recall it spinning any hits on the radio.
Honhaar, there were a bunch of other films involving soldiers (let’s not call them war films); Hero, Maa tujhe salaam, etc.
Machchar, given your general comments, am surprised that you ONLY like happy endings. Not baiting here but Romeo & Juliet with a happy ending wouldn’t cut it, would it?
Navdeep, I loved Sadma. It doesn’t have a happy ending. But the point is, if someone makes a great movie where we actually don’t see the movie but live it, I don’t think like a film wallah and get immersed in it completely like a common man. 1971 I felt for the characters…that’s what I wanted to say…when the film maker so brilliantly manages to get the viewer bonded with his characters, it is kind of becomes tough to digest their failure.
You gotta understand that I liked the film so much that I am not seeing it as a film, I still feel those are real characters….that’s why I am asking for a happy ending.
When I disconnect and look at the movie, the ending was great and as a writer, I would want something similar too….
P.S: There was this Pakistani Major who was doing over acting…that’s the only problem with the movie…Who was he?
log unhe piyushbhai ya piyush mishra ke naam se jante hai, one who has written d film!
Yes yes yes… 1971 was a well made film. Fuck the box office, a good film is a good film IS a good film.
1971 was different. gud camera gud story but actors were not gud. last 20-30 minutes reduced da film’s impact. same filmi drama:)
@Surya..how would you say..F…the BO..Movies are a business..1971 flopped at the BO coz people were having bad war films hangover, The Sagars needed to have promoed the movie more extensively in the North India. The army and war does not hold much appeal in many Indian pockets. Teasers of the characters in language publications would have have also done some good!!
Ravi kissen needed to do some more appearances for thsi movie. He was the only mass level famous one!!
hi hansal,
i’m waiting to watch ‘dus kahaniyaan’…i really love short stories…will you guys also be making ‘dus aur kahaniyaan’? if yes then how does one submit his story at your office?
by the way is any of your stories been inspired by krzystof kieslowski’s ‘decalogue’? just curious to know…
someone had mentioned to me that the sanjay-sunil story is inspired by a korean film about two best friends who become the worst of enemies…is it true?
I watched 1971 on the very 3rd day of release but the whole hall was almost empty…Its sad that people crying out ‘we need hatke films’ but when they are served with one they seem to be out of appetite…
Hansal sir similar was the fate of your Chchal which i went to see on the 2nd day and it was quite ahead of its time.Infact that time lack of multiplex (in kolkata) made the film in accessible to many thinking audience…
Like 1971…ek challis ki last local,manorama six feet under,no smoking,gandhi my father were nice films that bombed that the BO where utter foolish people goes to see much greater foolish films like Om Shanti Om (yawn!!!)..
On saturday I saw a movie ‘The great Indian Butterfly’ at the kolkata film festival.This film will be releasing early next year…Hope atleast it works at the multiplex..
arnab, except 1971, people were bored of the other movies. People found ek chaalis too long and boring and only the “ass” scene was the saving grace.
same thing with MSFU, it dragged a bit. No Smoking…too much said about it already. Gandhi My Father was pointless and people actually hated the protagonist so….
See, I admire the people who chose the above good subjects but they should have not just stopped there, they should have done their home work, worked more harder on the screenplay and should have “seen” the movie before they shot it.
There is some particular saying in Hindi…Let me try to roughly translate it in English…”A crow will finds it baby always beautiful” or something like this….
For every film maker his/her film is great and perfect. Why don’t they disconnect for a second and see the movie from a normal audience view? You got to be ruthless…I know it pains to snip off the negative that you worked so hard to shoot. Look at the bigger picture….
Get a story board artist and couple of dubbing artists or DIY. Make drawings of each scene and get it animated with the dialogs and watch it on screen. If you are not bored with this, you won’t be bored with the real movie.
Well according to me MSFU was not that boring movie and more than that the films which I mentioned were all done by debutant with different set of minds completely alien to the stereo-typed idea…and more than that audience are not exposed to this kind of films…
I agree the mentioned films have been a boring experience for most of the audiences but I feel (may be I am wrong) more films of this type should be made to elevate the taste of Indian audience…Moreover i didnot feel them boring (except Gandhi my father because of its docu-drama narrative)and probably neither did the makers felt the films boring..Look OSO n hey baby types will always be there even if a certain section stays away from it but that shouldn
hi hansal,
i agree that 1971 is a remarkable film and did not get the right coverage which it deserved. but why is that everything that is good is always recognised in retrospect. why can’t the good scripts, bold films, new concepts be given a chance by all the producers at first sight. why does it have to be one out hundred producers who takes that risky step..?? … i know business is essential but if only business is given importance on the first instance then there will be only few out of the box films in decades to come. the choice is to make short term business profits or to make a film that does business for next hundred years like
mughl-e-azam, sholay, don, kagaz ke phool etc … you know what i mean … i hope atleast one film from the current lot is remembered and seen when we are gone … please get the passion for films back in action rather in money … i wish DK a very good luck and great success so that your production house can induce some good cinema and i am sure that it will.
1971 was good. Hopefully Dus kahaniyan is not -”all gloss and no substance” like most sanjay Gupta’s films except musafir.
Well dont mind Dhirendra Tiwari but Musafir was also a bad film…rather a bad copy (like all sanjay Gupta films) of a even bad hollywood film U-turn…
But i feel Positive about Dus kahaniyan as its not a directorial venture of Sanjay Gupta alone…I believe that the films by other directors will be good…recently at Kolkata film festival I show a film produced by Sanjay Gupta named ‘the great Indian Butterfly’ directed by debutant Sarthak DasGupta…that is a nice niche film thats going roung diffrent International film festivals and will probably commercially release early next year in India
The first look of the film ‘the great indian butterfly’ is already out in the indiafm website …
Indraneel,
I agree with you on the promotional part of the film, and movies are business, but a good movie with bad business does’t make it a bad film, right???
It is heartening to see 1971 being mentioned on PFC. Great movie…a few lines from a blog I had written in May 2007.
“The story is based on true facts and had to be told. Mira Nair once said, we indians should learn to tell our stories. Director Amrit Sagar has done full justice in telling this story that every Indian should know about. I would recommend all my friends to watch this movie on a warm sunny afternoon when they have all the time to think.”
i saw 1971 on some channel sometime back without expectations .. and found it to be v.good .. liked all the actors
sometimes feel sorry that good films meet with a bad fate ..
i cant understand the seemingly unnecessary stylised cinematography in dus kahaniyan
Dear Hansal, I am a great fan of yours.Can you mail me your email id and contact number,please.I want to meet you once.
Regards,
Soumya De
Mob – 9892032460