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Steven Soderbergh’s next digital odyssey is hitting the screens pretty soon. Starring real life porn star Sasha Grey, this one seemed to have tickled quite a few bones at Tribeca if you go by this snippet from their festival program.

NYTimes covers the Mike Nichols retrospective at MOMA. Luminous words from the man himself

“The greatest thrill is that moment when a thousand people are sitting in the dark, looking at the same scene, and they are all apprehending something that has not been spoken. That’s the thrill of it, the miracle — that’s what holds us to movies forever. It’s what we wish we could do in real life. We all see something and understand it together, and nobody has to say a word. There’s a good reason that the very best sound an audience can make — in both the theater and the movies — is no sound at all, just absolute silence.”

Perhaps the only Deepa Mehta film which failed to engage me was the “oscar nominated” Water, helped no doubt by its best looking wooden leading pair. But then again, with the safron brigade raising its aggireved voice trembling at the very thought of another Mehta film tarnishing their age old moral code, the cast itself and the location was her second choice.

The lady most often than not, be it Fire or Earth, sets the pulse right. (Disclaimer: I am not talking all of her ‘illustrious’ filmgraphy here.) Not for her the masala grandeur or the new urban chic of the mainstream fare nor the subdued structure or ambiguities of the ‘art film’. How much ever one can question the setting of her films, the emotional thread is well oiled and properly cultured. And where she treads, she treads sure footed.

Well, at least thats what i thought. Videsh – Heaven …

Dazed & Confused ———-

Action and Dialogue. That’s what a screenplay should contain. You don’t have the luxury to write what you want, only what the audience can see or hear. That makes a screenplay less readable than your average novel. But to do otherwise, would be cheating or a great challenge cinematically.

See below, an extract from ‘Inglorious Bastards’. Is Tarantino cheating or can he actually execute the words onto the screen?
———–
He looks at her in the face, and filled with tremendous guilt, because if he’s succesful tonight, he’s going to blow this cute French girl to smithereens, he says:

HIRSCHEBERG
Grazie

The cute French girl looks back at the goofy looking Italian boy wih slicked black hair, that makes him look kind of Jewish, with tremendous guilt, knowing if she’s succesful tonight, she’s going to burn him alive,and says;

SHOSANNA
Prego.
————–

So is he cheating, or not? If you were directing, how would convey the words …

Rediff comes up with nice character sketches and sound bytes from the main actors in Gulaal.

Anurag Kashyap’s long-awaited Gulaal looks very promising, thanks to its ensemble cast and intense political story.Before it releases in theatres on March 13, we introduce you to the main characters, and the actors who play them.

Mahi Gill
Role: I play Madhuri, the mistress of Dukey Bana (played by Kay Kay Menon). She is a struggling actress and runs a beauty parlour. Since she loves acting and dancing, she does a mujra when Kay Kay tell us her. She is a bit eccentric.

Thanks to Vasan for the tip.

Full Economic Times Review

Excerpts

Gulaal follows a multidimensional narrative and Kashyup adopts a dark, brooding and relentless storytelling pattern that doesn’t simplify the dense plot

Kashyup’s treatment is such that none of the characters are distinctively defined, introduced or established. As a keen viewer, you are expected to acclimatize to each of them on your own and learn their conflicts, as the story progresses promptly. Further with the story’s setting in untried terrains, at times, it becomes a little difficult to relate to the characters or their immediate concerns. But then you enjoy the exercise.

Rest assured, performances from an Anurag Kashyap film are always promising.

Tips: Crazyrals

An Israeli creator of the Oscar-nominated “Waltz with Bashir” released a short film Wednesday about the effects of his country’s Gaza blockade on Palestinians.

Resul becomes the third Indian to win an Oscar as Slumdog Millionaire sweeps the Oscars as per script!!
Yayyy IT IS WRITTEN!!!!

and RAHMAN becomes the fourth!!
and HE WINS AGAIN!!! with Gulzaar saab this time!!! for JAI HO!!!

Boyle wins
Kate Winslet & MILK Sean Penn Wins
SLUMDOG WINS YAaaaYY!!!

Is it soo Difficult to say A R Rahman??
All this needs more is a couple of elephants and snake charmers!!!! Grrr

Absolutely Luv the lyrics!!!!
Piyush Mishra Rocks!!

Lyrics (Thanks to pavan)
गीतकार : पीयुष मिश्रा
संगीतकार : पीयुष मिश्रा
गायिका : रेखा भारद्वाज
फ़िल्म : गुलाल

राणा जी म्हारे गुस्से में आये
ऐसो बल खाये
अगिया बरसाये
घबराये म्हारो चैन

जैसे दूर देस के टावर में घुस जाये रे एरोप्लेन
जैसे दूर देस के टावर में घुस जाये रे एरोप्लेन

राणा जी म्हारे ऐसो गुर्राये, ऐसो थर्राये
भर आये म्हारे नैन

जैसे हरेक बात पे डैमोक्रसी मे लगने लग गयो बैन

जैसे दूर देस के टावर में घुस जाये रे एरोप्लेन
जैसे सरेआम इराक़ में जाके जम गये अंकल सैम
जैसे बिना बात अफ़गानिस्तां का बज गया भय्या बैण्ड
जैसे दूर देस के टावर में घुस जाये रे एरोप्लेन
राणा जी म्हारे……

Lyrics/MD iyush Mishra
Singer : Rekha Bhardwaj
Film :Gulal

Raana ji mhaare gusse me aaye
aiso bal khaaye
agiyaa barasaaye
bhabaraaye mhaaro cahin

jaise door des ke tower me ghus jaaye re aeroplane

Raana ji mhaare aise gurraye, …

SlumDog Script

Rajeev Masand chats with the Flava of the Season Da Akhtars
Watch it here

I am gonna keep this concise and precise. I have no ‘ichcha’ to spoil your fun and as Anurag and Vasan before me, I too will give you a juSHT a reaction rather than a ‘review’. (come to think of it i dont do ‘reviews’)

About 2 months ago on a pretty cloudy day, I took a 1 hour bus ride to the outskirts of Melbourne to see Excel Entertainments then ‘masterpiece’ Rock ON!!. I really should have taken the cloudy skies as a SIGN! Then and there I coined a phrase for Excel Entertainment – the Kings of Sanitised Chick Flicks in Bollywood!!!
I was purely and unashamedly happy at my literary prowess (pls guys oblige me it happens once in a blue moon). UNtil NOW!!!

The otha Akhtar sibling had news for me. In one stroke of her hand, she has wiped the slate clean! Farhan has competition and that …

Musicindiaonline gives us the good news!!

Rahman and singer Sukhwinder Singh have been invited to open the eighty first Annual Academy Awards night, scheduled for Feb 21 at Los Angeles. The duo will perform their super-hit number ‘Jai ho’.
Inside sources reveal that Rahman had called up Sukhwinder, telling him that the authorities of the Academy Awards had asked him to open the ceremony. Rahman asked Sukhwinder to prepare himself for another live performance.

How F#@$%^&* CoooooooooL is that!!!!!!!

JAI HO it is!!!

A Khazaana!! Check out geetadutt.com for songs, trivia and all kinds of info about the legend!!

Thanks Neeraja for the tip

Sure sounds like it!

Read this bit from Philly.com
One of the city’s biggest casting directors, the owner of a car-rental company, the Teamsters health-and-welfare fund, the Greater Philadelphia Film Office and more than 1,000 crew members and extras who worked on a recent Philly-shot Bollywood film are crying foul.
They say their final paychecks and payments — well over $100,000 worth — have bounced.

Dharma Productions, one of the biggest film studios in Mumbai, contracted with Australia’s Swish Group to produce the romantic thriller starring real-life couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Swish’s Mitu Bhowmick Lange — who praised Philadelphia to the heavens in an interview three months ago — is not answering her phone.

is this recession or just normal desi mismanagement?
Thanks to Evelyn Tu for da news

Extremely interesting slideshow of the aging process of Benjamin Button courtesy the NYTimes.

Scott Tobias from the AV Club interviews Steven Soderbergh on his biopic Che.

With the biopic Che, about the iconic revolutionary Che Guavara, Soderbergh has gone out on a limb again. Presenting what could generously be called a distribution challenge, the four-hour-plus film has been divided into two parts: The first, “The Argentine,” follows Che (Benicio Del Toro) as he foments a successful revolutionary movement in Cuba’s rural southwest, and the second, “Guerrilla,” looks at his last days in Bolivia, when he tried and failed to repeat the same script.

3/5. After a while, a heist movie which is fun to watch.
IMDB

2/5 This could so be the template for Dhoom 3. AArrrrgh!!!! Escape!
ADB

Hell make that the year or even the last few years if you want and it still holds true!

If you are like me, confused about why the state which (add arguably here if u r keen on political correctness) boasts of the best brains, the best storytellers, the best technicians and the best musicians etc etc continually produce the most regressive, cliche cinema,

If you are like me waiting for that one movie which you can brag about to the world as your own and the BEST at that, boy are you in for a treat!!!!!!!

Believe me its not often that I can stand up and proclaim to the world (yep u read that write DA WORLD), that WE have a WINNER!! nor is it common place for me to put my hands up when someone asks for an answer to the best movie of the year and …

4.5/5. It feels nice to say, this is the best film to hit any shores in a while now!
No IMDB link yet

Musings from The Melbourne International Film Festival 2008.

For those who went ‘Oh! not another diss at the critics!!’ – Surprise!!! It aint!

This was the tag line for this years bonanza. In MIFF Exec. Director Richard Moore’s own words “it’s an acknowledgement of the collecive spirit that MIFF engenders in this great southern city”.

Can’t refute that!
But this is not just a Melbournite character these days. A simple google of the term film reviews will prove my point. But that’s besides the point.

I, normally, love the festival ID spot. It sets the tone before every movie apart from its usual advertising role . I would also like to believe that as we settle into the hall packed with strangers eager to watch the movie, the festival short kinda brings us all to a common plateau of empathy. If you are an avid festival goer, you will understand what i …

4/5
Intense. Dark. Spectacular. Awesome! Add your superlatives here…
IMDB

It amazed me no end that someone would try a equivalent of professional hara-kiri by redoing any film of Tim Burton. But Nolan did and gave such a fresh breath to the franchise with Batman Begins that The Dark Knight was the most anticipated film of the year!! He began with elan, is making merry with the knight and the journey has just begun.

And I am being extremely balanced and fair here when i say its worth every fucking minute!!!

I have unashamedly professed a love for comics before. Once the red and blue cape fantasies wore thin, Batman has always been the most intriguing amongst them all. Whilst Burton made Batman in his own signature style and Schumacher tried his bit to resuscitate the comic (pun very much intended) bit, Nolan reinvented!! The character depth and detailing which he gave Bale’s crusader is what prompted me and so many like …

3.5/5
Genre bending take on the action movie. Rocky with a drop of Mamet.
IMDB

3/5. A pleasant crowd pleaser from foreplay to orgasm.
IMDB

3/5. Predictable and a bit taxing but worth a watch.
IMDB

2/5. Impeccably done up nothingness.
IMDB

3/5. Slick but with a confused soul.
IMDB

2.5/5. More spiced up than the Ang Lee version, still searching for the elusive formula though
IMDB

2.5/5. Caught between a comedy and a drama, it fails to be either.
IMDB

He is friggin 34!!!!
Christian Bale is just 34!!!!

Another thing I didnt know about.. (well not just the fact that it involves the resurrected Batman) that theres a Golden Trailer Awards!!!

and guess who won it ?? no prizes for guessing.

After a long, hard-fought battle, the second official trailer for The Dark Knight took home top honors at this year’s Golden Trailer Awards (with a margin of victory of 44%). The contest, held over at USA Today, tallied votes on films from several different categories — all of which were chosen as this year’s Golden Trailer winners earlier in the month. Among the top trailers users had a chance to vote on were Enchanted (Best Animation/Family), Tropic Thunder (Best Comedy), Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? (Best Documentary), No Country for Old Men (Best Drama), I am Legend (Best Horror) and Iron Man (Summer 2008 Blockbuster), among …

The Trailer is out!
I caught it along during Indy and it looks EPIC (kindly overlook the malnourished, pale Kidman if u wish)
its Baz’s AUSTRALIA. Enough said! Take a look

AUSTRALIA is an epic and romantic action adventure, set in that country on the explosive brink of World War II. In it, an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) travels to the faraway continent, where she meets a rough-hewn local (Hugh Jackman) and reluctantly agrees to join forces with him to save the land she inherited. Together, they embark upon a transforming journey across hundreds of miles of the world’s most beautiful yet unforgiving terrain, only to still face the bombing of the city of Darwin by the Japanese forces that attacked Pearl Harbor. With his new film, Luhrmann is painting on …

Well I hope so!! LaBeouf’s rather innocuous line in the movie, appears significantly prophetic in the end.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Unless you are in some weird parallel universe with no media or internet, you already know – the whip cracking archaeologist is back! And the premise is we are supposed to be happy and lap it all up. I was all for it, lapping up the whole platter about an hour back. I am however left with an uneasiness. I don’t feel like retching after the meal, but i just don’t have the fulfillment of a tasty one either. Part nauseous and part filling, my quandary is topped up by the incessant raves I hear about this sumptuously bland installment.

I heard the Spielberg-Lucas-Ford triumvirate say over and over again that Indy wont be back unless they come up with that perfect gem of …

1/5. CG killed the Kunfu Kings
IMDB

4/5. James C. Strouse pulls all the right strings at the right time even getting Clint Eastwood to do the score.
IMDB

This post has no political or ideological aspirations. It is simple and evocative, that is this hopes to evoke a smile in you. BAS! Thats it!

As the drum rolls are revving up for a historic clash come November (one could argue that the historic clash is already over but still), we will be hit multiple times by messages, arguments, vilifications and so on. I would like to share, a few really nice and KIcKAss 30 sec shorts of the obama campaign which i discovered over the course of this campaign. Please feel free to add to this list, with better ones, good ones, republican ones or even lame ones if you really need to, but make it something worth your effort though.

Obama in 30…

0.5/5 Dont even bother. Fans of Meg and Banderas ? Run faaaar faaar away!!!
IMDB

2.5/5 Tender and somewhat touching, but gripping it aint.
IMDB

-1/5 yeah!! thats for killing a good concept and i don’t take kindly to caper thrillers getting fucked over.
IMDB

3.5/5 A half bred Johnny Tu but exhilarating to say the least.
IMDB

2/5 Fultu timepass! A bit lame a bit fab….
IMDB

There has been discussions here before on Movies, their marketing and challenges we face in dealing with piracy – i say ‘we’ here for convenience sake (devlish-eheh). India Today organised a conclave with different entrepreneurs and main speakers Aamir Khan, Shekhar Kapur (moderator) and Ashok Amritraj recently (i believe they do it ever year) and aamirkhan.org has put up videos of the event on Youtube for all of us to see.

Aamir had this to say in an interview at the Conclave

Q: Taare Zameen Par touched many hearts. Do you think you have been successful in integrating commercial and art cinema?
Firstly, I don’t believe in the concept of art and commercial cinema. I have never distinguished them. For me, the main aim is make popular films which cater to the popular market, to the masses. To me, the audience is the one that decides. Cinema is an art form in itself. …

Its not everyday that a bunch of filmmakers I like, get together and converse on the medium. For such occasions I always had to depend on film festivals or even take a trip back in time during those glory days of DD. Most such occasion are fruitful when the moderator/interviewer is as well versed or at least someone who can hold his/her own amongst such august company.

Imagine, the thrill when Sudhir, presented the link to this gup-shup between Anurag, Navdeep, Rajat conducted by none other than Bharadwaj Rangan.

All about Old vs New Parallel Cinema – a lovely read this.

Excerpts

Nearly two decades after the demise of what was called Parallel Cinema, three filmmakers from a new age of non-mainstream cinema open up about then and now.

B Rangan: What is your personal opinion of the Parallel Cinema movement of the 1970s/80s?

Rajat Kapoor: I think great beginnings were made. There …

at least one of the parties….

After quite a few months solemn silence from both Aamir and Amol, the latter lets it rip in an interview posted on
AllBollywood

Thus spoketh Amol

It’s misreported that I didn’t like the edited version of TZP. There was no question of not liking the edited version because my wife Deepa was editing the material in Panchgani as we were shooting. We were all very proud of the film. Then we had a wrap-up party. And that’s when Aamir announced he was the director of the film. That’s when I got to know of his intentions.

I’m trying to put it behind me… Let me just say, right from choosing all the kids for the parts to the final editing, I was right there on board… I wanted to preserve the kids’ natural innocence. So I never auditioned them. I used to engage them in discussions and …

Theres no way I can remotely hope to recount the effect of watching “The Killing Fields”, no amount of words can effectively portray the heart wrenching effect the movie had on me and millions who saw it. Regardless of ‘when’ you watch it, it still resonates within you, the emotional aspect of the story as much as the craft of narrating this true story visually.

This comment on IMDB says it all,

“Based on the Khmer Rouge revolution in Cambodia, this is an excellent tale of hardship and friendship. Basically director Roland Joffe` did an wonderful job in exposing the detailed facts so simply in the film that you believe that you are in that time in person. The two actors, Sam Waterson and Haing Ngor both displayed godlike pieces of acting. It’s unfortunate Waterson couldn’t join Ngor in Academy Awards. In addition, the director’s credit is to highlight both the …

Its Calender time again for the YRF folks. I remember seeing last years calender which had oodles of attitude and chic look to it. The posters of Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom was an instant hit and packed up the curiosity factor for the movie. Unfortunately that was the best and only part of the that movie and most of the YRF releases last year.

Remember these?

…

There You go….
Admist all the cacophony of blockbuster movies swashbuckling thrillers etc etc etc, ‘the sleeper hit’ HITS!!!!
Scratching your head over what the #$%^& a sleeper hit is?
The Times of India to the rescue.

In American showbiz, “sleeper hit” is a term used to refer to a film (and sometimes even a book or an album) that gains unexpected success or recognition.

This post aint a ‘tell me why’ session on Sleeper HIts, rather it is about Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day featuring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams and which has an Indian helming it – Bharat Nalluri

IBNLive carries this story

The American box office saw biggies like 10,000 BC and The Bank Job hit screens but what’s really got film-goers and critics interested is a simple small film titled Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.Directed by Indian-born Bharat Nalluri, this directorial debut has been declared …