Indraneel | PassionforCinema

Started life as a chef, moved on to management of hotels, then to malls, amusement parks and now to community destinations and mega developments, the bread..as they say! Passion is Cinema, theatre, writing, books and any other art form that strikes as worthwhile at the moment!

Indraneel's Blog

8
Dosar – Ode to the Companions!
Why is it that we look for a companion? Why is it that we do not understand loneliness? Why is marriage a very unpretentious relationship? Why does this relationship not brook any space for lies, self-seeking, myopia or alternate love, if there was any such term for extra marital relationships? Dosar (2006, Bengali, Planman Pictures, Rituparno Ghosh) decides to delve...
by Indraneel at October 24th, 2009 at 04:10 am
18
Shob Charitro Kalponik – Poetry and Introspection
The decadent Indian male with a heart of gold was best personified by ‘Devdas’. Over the years, Devdas came to us in different forms. Personally, Bimal Ray’s creation was by far the best. Prakash Mehra did his own version of ‘Devdas’ with Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Muqaddar ka Sikandar’ and on hindsight, that was very engrossing. They...
by Indraneel at September 21st, 2009 at 04:09 am
8
August Rush – and my dinner went completely cold..
I had heard about August Rush during the 2008 Oscars for its Music and the super talented Mark Mancina helming the score. Of course, my music knowledge is RDB, ARR and at best Boney M. But due to the explosion of media all around me, I had heard these names and that was it. One does not get these DVDs so easily in India, that too in Kharghar rental stores where if they...
by Indraneel at August 29th, 2009 at 08:08 pm
13
Naah..no way Imtiaz!
Why did you have to keep Jab We Met at the back of your fertile mind? Why did you have to squeeze in another Punjabi milieu? So much sameness, so much deja vu! The opening titles, by the time they came up set up a very interesting premise, even a nice little question mark with a haggard Saif on a flight to somewhere? Whoa, I thought…good and this kept me going for...
by Indraneel at August 1st, 2009 at 11:08 pm
9
Telefilms – Category undone?
I am a huge fan of good telefilms. But, Indian television is just not able to wake up to the magic that can be provided by a good and tightly done one hour telefilm. Yes, most of you would hark back to the era of ”Star Bestsellers” , but that was more than 10 years ago and Harsh Chaya had a lot more hair on his dome than now. In fact, I am hard put to remember...
by Indraneel at June 16th, 2009 at 12:06 am
13
Satyendra achieves the impossible!
Satyendra Jha, fellow author on PFC, has gone and put his hand up for good cinema in the most unorthodox manner possible! He has organised the Pune Premiere of FROZEN by buying out a show today (4.30 pm at Inox) and inviting the Director over to be a part of the screening. Shivajee, in turn, has mobilised Yashpal Sharma, Shankar Raman, Gauri and many others and is on...
by Indraneel at May 29th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
10
Of Time, Emotions and Frozen Desires
I have not been able to see films of late. Some office disasters, some other affairs of state, self and selves have also deterred me from the film watching rituals. IPL and its tentacles took away the lutf ka time too. A hardcore Bengali bhadralok has to also read something, even if that induces seismic snores, so I have been plodding along with a biography of Sarvepalli...
by Indraneel at May 13th, 2009 at 09:05 pm
23
Of Remake Follies and successes – Arjun/ Sathya!
Normally, Hindi cinema copies when it does not want to be original. It does not inform the original maker about its intent. Of course, there has been some change on this front but far and between. But, there have been some notable instances when the remaker has taken rights and done the job. In 1989, Dayavan was released. It was remade after the rights were acquired from...
by Indraneel at April 27th, 2009 at 01:04 am
4
Deviji unplugged..heroes of today hold no water..
TV Studio. Channel 69. Host in an audacious get up remniscient of a yesteryear Sajid Khan. He barks: Welcome to the latest issue of “Wipe out” that captures the best of the entertainment industry of Mumbai. As it happens we have been successful in getting to the studio, the one and only Deviji who has the style, the substance and the all seeing eye of a tigress....
by Indraneel at March 29th, 2009 at 10:03 am
10
Move over gents, the ladies are here
A dark room. A guy gets thrown into that room naked. We here the noise of the door being locked up. They guy cries out. But, we do not see him but instead we see a lady curled up in a corner. Upright. Naked and ashamed. But, the eyes! They do not convey the shame. They instead convey the spite, the angst, the fruitless rage and above all, the mystery!! Another near dark...
by Indraneel at March 16th, 2009 at 04:03 am
24
Long before Ghajini..there was Jalwa!
1987. Those days I was doing Hotel Management in Hyderabad. The Vidyanagar campus used to be a sweatshop then. Literally! So, the escape was to Kachiguda where Maheshwari, Padmavati, Venkatramana and other such notable cinema places used to welcome yours truly with open arms, A/C splendour and only Rs. 20 features. Even the braindead will have deciphered by now that I...
by Indraneel at March 4th, 2009 at 09:03 pm
39
Delhi 6: Billu: Dev D, A study in Strategy
Let me draw your attention to a very prudent Marketing principle: “THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MARKETERS NURTURE THE STRONGEST RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR MOST PROFITABLE CUSTOMERS” Delhi 6 is releasing this Friday. The net is agog with good news out of New York about the movie. Good to hear. UTV, again, as usual has done a tremendous job of getting the film to its required...
by Indraneel at February 17th, 2009 at 02:02 am
7
Farhan and Abhay herald the return of the character actor hero?
So, most of us are going to see Luck by Chance this weekend. Some of us are sure to gloat about the movie’s prospects and some of us shall remain dissatisfied. Then, we shall have other stellar cinema coming our way in the next few weeks. Delhi 6, Dev D, Billo Barber, etc. It is surely going to be quite exciting. Slum Dog Millionaire has set the ball rolling. Raaz...
by Indraneel at January 30th, 2009 at 02:01 am
18
Ghajini Strategy or Kangaali
Holy cow! Is it about the movie anymore? Cannot blame Aamir as he does what should be done, so he grows muscles, makes those lovely intriguing posters, talks about his diet, his trainer (we know his name too, “Satya”) also talks about his diet, we are also told that Kiran Rao, the missus told somewhere during the training “Bas Karo, Maar daaloge kya??”,...
by Indraneel at January 5th, 2009 at 06:01 am
10
0312. I shall remember.
The shouts. The cries. Vande Mataram! I trained my eyes onto an oncoming group of people. Dressed in chaste white Shalvar Kameezes, donning white skull caps, flowing beards, they were devout Muslims. Then I noticed the placards. “Pakistan is a Terrorist State”. Indian Flags aloft. The Group was highly animated. Pretty Large number by any standards. Raza Academy,...
by Indraneel at December 3rd, 2008 at 10:12 pm
24
Pal Bhar Ke Liye..stuff you thought, but Shashant had other things in mind..
All right, I am not going to do review here and neither am I going to pontificate on the box office prospects of Dasvidaniya. But did you guys see the different ways an “ordinary” story has been presented to us via film? It is a classic approach of the “silent spectator”, always putting across the intimate world of Amar in simple view points. 1. ...
by Indraneel at November 19th, 2008 at 02:11 am
35
How do the masses lap up these movies and so they become big hits?!
Golmaal Returns is no masterpiece. The cinefans are up in arms against such litter thrown their way. The producer of “Aaj ki Taaza Khabar” suddenly realises that this movie is a LaserJet copy of his 1973 epic! Last heard, she was consulting lawyers. Arshad Warsi has publicly expressed his anger at his length of role. Rohit Shetty is happy for all the publicity....
by Indraneel at November 14th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
30
Kitna Talent Hai Re Kaalia!
The past weeks have proved to us that the Indian people are no longer willing to take crap in the name of cinema and music. The windmills of change have spun its own magic on the mind of the nation. At passionforcinema.com, we have been blogging and commenting about this oncoming change in taste for some time now. It has happened. Drona, Love Story 2050, Kidnap, Karzzz,...
by Indraneel at October 27th, 2008 at 04:10 am
84
Kis Kone Se Vidya M La Lamba Ki Momma Dikhti Hai??
Why do we need casting directors? Vidya Malavade as Minissha’s Mom has provoked this write up. We need Casting Directors to translate the characters in a script to a plausible person behind the character. They should be instrumental in bringing on an actor who brings the character to substantial life with a correct...
by Indraneel at October 4th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
33
Suraj Ka Satavaan Ghoda, Fallen Angels or Shiva – Takeaways Infinite..
At the end of the movie “A Wednesday” a few weeks ago, I suddenly found a few people in the upmarket audience of Globus, Bandra standing up and clapping. Gladdened my heart for the maker, his movie and the response. That also set me thinking about what would be the right response to a movie. Then, today morning I read RGV’s blog in which he has mentioned...
by Indraneel at September 25th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
7
Kaisa Hai Yeh Bandhan Anjaana!
1981. I am in 8th standard. Amitabh Bachchan is the god of tinseldom. Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Mithun C, Shashi K, Dharmendra are the other he-men. Rekha, Hema, Reena, Parveen and a very sexy “Qurbani” avatar of Zeenat has hit the country like a RDX laden truck into the Marriott. My government issue wooden cupboard (in the government quarters of a government...
by Indraneel at September 22nd, 2008 at 06:09 am
11
Madhumati – A Tale of Two Generations
“suhana safar aur ye mausam haseen..hamein dar hain hum kho na jaaye kahin” There is a Magnet Hypermarket in Mahim near the station on the western side where I buy some of my stuff. Today was another good day to stop by and buy some stuff that one continually needs. Beside it, in a hole in the wall space a “paan bidi ka dukaan” is there with an...
by Indraneel at August 20th, 2008 at 02:08 pm
14
The Evolution of Akshay Kumar!
1991. I had just made my way back from a particularly horrendous job experience in Guwahati, had put myself into a new and not-so-much horrendous job at a downtown hotel in Kolkata (then ‘Cal’) and was just starting to get a drift of the changing times in Indian Cinema after a very bad time in the 80s. A poster at the entrance to Shakespeare Sarani stares down...
by Indraneel at August 8th, 2008 at 05:08 am
28
Where does Hindi Cinema go from here!!
This year has seen some abysmal productions, some “just there” kinds and a smattering of good ones. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, as the case may be), reviews and blogs have torn into some of the movies that have done well. Some horrible ones have just been put aside, dismissed, if that is the right word. I foresee some more in this category starting with...
by Indraneel at August 5th, 2008 at 08:08 am