logo

Aaja ACTING kar le - says Surya
Warning - long post

and NO ..this is not a casting call.

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

As they say about comedy (it …

Recent watches & Brilliant films that CANNOT be seen again

Just so that this post doesn’t become embarassingly small (since the second topic isn’t tooo long to be talked about), I’m writing a little about some of the recent watches.

1. In the mood for love - nice uptill a point. visually superb. But found it boring after some time. Couldnt wait for the film to finish. The same was with chungking express. 2046 toh i couldn’t finish.

By the way - the california dreaming song from Chungking was lovely. Brilliant song that I’d not listen to again. (read below)

2. Hirak Rajar Deshe (satyajit ray) - superb !!! must watch. Bonus feature- Utpal Dutt !!!
Will be watching Gopi Gyne… tonight

3.The Eye (Pang brothers)- nice horror film.. but i had already seen Naina (ok ok types). Nevertheless The eye was rather enchanting watch. Scary for …

me wasan and phoenixNu saw singh is king …

I’m assuming u wld be still intrested to know what me and phonix think (after we were labelled %*&$%&&$@$#$ after we wrote about Jaane Tu and contract…

Hence this is a small post …
Some unanimous conclusions

- yashpal sharma (the imtiaz cop in ab tak 56) is just JAW DROPPINGLY funny embarassment in the title song …
- javed jaffry does an anil-kapoor-Tashan (mouths dialouges which no one seems to be understanding)
- the blind girl scene (aap God ho ya God ke messengers) is unintentional hilarity
- the shaadi in the end ..for a good 5 seconds..the Pandit (some random extra) is staring into the camera ..SUPERB !!!
-katrina kaif cannot speak hindi no matter what she does with salman khan ..may be she shld do with Salim khan wat she is doing with sallu ..so that she can learn hindi …

(warning..spoilers throughout …this is not a review …. this is a personal post ….my reactions to the film…THIS IS NOT A REVIEW…A PERSONAL RANT)
Before everything ..here’s some dope on south bombay
South bombay “is the richest urban precinct in India, and houses most of the city’s elite”

Now the post -
I saw abbas tyrewala’s jaane tu yesterday ..i reached to the following conclusions
which again reaffirms my faith in yash raj and others ….

1. only rich people have the right to fall in love …pyaar mohabbat sirf ra-eszaadon ke liye hai bana hai ..hum middle class waalon key liye nahi…

2. there’s no need for public transport … trains ..buses … cabs ??? wtf ???? everybody has a car

3. girls can walk marine lines wearing skirts that threaten to blow up at the fast breeze at night 2 am without any fear whatsoever ….there’s no sunil more anyway …

DEMOCRATIC NOIR CINEMA - RAJIV RAI !!!

Whenever we talk about Noir Cinema (I still have no idea what it means except that Manorama is a noir of sorts), i always used to think why not any other indian film which is noir ?

Then some days ago i chanced upon this classic video from the film Tridev titled Gali Gali mein phirta hai …

Pls pls pls pls pls pls watch this video to fully appreciate the post

I had a hard time explaining the concept of “democratic noir cinema” to a friend.

Why Democratic ? Whats democratic about this video ? Hows it noir ? Just a bunch of villans dancing to the tempting sangeeta bijlani..sangeeta seducing everyone.

In true noir sense, the song begins with the juxtaposition of the femme fetale’s lips (seduction) and the stoic expressions of Jackie Shroff …

ENDING DO, ENDING DO, ENDING DO !!!

Warning - Usual Personal Rambling post

The past one week has been tumultous.

Writing a script ..hoping it gets made …the premise is “out of the box” …but the 4 solutions that i had offered were not doing justice to the premise.

As Navdeep Singh, Machchar Kumar and PhonixNu say “A good idea isnt enough …it has to be a SCRIPT”

Making what they call in computer engg a Binary Tree..or a Decision Tree

Thinking..ideating..jotting down possibilities…a THRILLER HAS TO THRILL !!! and a THRILLER HAS TO HAVE A CONCLUSION!!!

Says who ?
Says my “Smarting Revenge”

Almost everything i am trying is coming down to a nolan-ish residue at its heart…but having my soul. Damn why do i love Memento so much ?
Where is christopher nolan ? What is he doing ? What is he doing right now ??? Don’t friggin say Dark …

Mysteries of Life Solved - Dhoop to Good Boy Bad Boy

One of the mysteries of my Life got solved today.

Was talking to one of the former worker of Mukta Arts. He solved the mystery for me ….
The mystery was how come the guy who made a “art” film like Dhoop got to make Good Boy Bad Boy ?

Guy = ashwini chaudhary
Art = Dhoop

Yes the same Dhoop which touched upon the death of Captain Anuj Nayyar , an army man who dies in Kargil War. In “compensation” his family gets a petrol pump. And the rest of the film the father tries to get the petrol pump - the symbol of his son’s sacrifice from the corrupt government officials.

Throw in Om Puri, Revathy and the HOT Gul Panag, and the film is an intresting watch. Based on a true story and poignantly highlighting the families …

Meeting Kundan Shah

Was evening when i got the call from him. He invited me over to his office in Bandra west. Reaching there, the area seemed straight out of the Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’s catholic goan setting.

I rang the bell and waited darte darte. Was expecting an old man resting on his arm chair …. probably bittered by the world etc etc…

His assistant opened the door and asked me to wait. I was made to sit and a cup of tea awaited me. Not bothering to drink it, i preferred to instead look at wall which was adorned with posters of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na, Kya Kehna, Hum to Mohabbat Karega, Teen Behanein (3 sisters, his yet unreleased film). There was somewhere a poster of Kaagaz Ke Phool..with a mesmerised Guru Dutt kissing an …

“Probably done this before” - Christopher Nolan - HOW DOES HE DO THAT ???

EVERY TIME ???

Every time he conjures up a brilliant,twisted,convoluted,serpentine script which doesn’t indulge itself, entertains, doesn’t take the EASY way out … doesn’t give u a deja-vu feel .. doesn’t give u a “i could see that coming” feeling…is novel everytime …dark .. MAD MAD screenwriting ..MAD MAD direction .. and absolute mad sense of editing.

FOLLOWING
How did he make this film spanned over a year ?
Was it really an “indi” film ? Doesn’t look like it…
Hopeless people put in awkward sometimes sympathetic situations…. often reaching a tragic conclusion …
Was really the budget of the film 5000 pounds ??
The use of VO .. documentary feel … eventually blending into fiction …. HOW the hell does he come up with that ?
Repeated close ups of hand movements … small …

Bura na mano holi hai .. holi hai bhai holi hai .. Bura na maano holi hai

The aforementioned used to be our (i.e me and my aawara delhi lodi colony waalas’) slogan during holi, while under this pretext we would apply colour to all the females of the locality who normally wouldn’t even bother to acknowledge us as human beings let alone Dudes/Guys/date-able etc etc ..

So we always used to do ghost-dating (HELLO !!! IF Ghost direction and Kamal Hassan can exist, why not GHOST DATING ??)

Why am i reminded of the same after reading this (and I must confess, after drinking two big glasses of BHAANG)???

“So what really went wrong between Aamir and Robert? “Why Robert is no longer part of the film, I would not know the back-story,” says Abhinay. He has just started casting for the film, which has been written by Los Angeles-based …

Loong Loong ago Martin Scorcese before he became the ‘rage’ that he did eventually became, he came to bollywood.

He had a terrible hand written script of what was to be called as Mumbai Taxi. It was a half decent script, and was based on the taxidrivers in mumbai..the haftawaalas, the traffic police constables, the prostitutes on the streets of mumbai, the eunuchs, the call center females and other “shift working people”…

He had it all story boarded with his equally bad drawing capabilities and had illustrated it with Crayons and Colour Pencils.

He took this script to Swastik Creations production office in andheri west, to meet the creative director.

The creative director didn’t read it … but wanted a narration.

Scorcese startled … but recovered and narrated the script in a span of 15 mins and 35 seconds.

“Brilliant effort” was the reaction ….

Scorcese seemed pleased. All the efforts …

Maa ki aankh Pseudos !!!

Snippets of conversation with a cinema literate person -

Me - Hey how was Manorama Six Feet Under ?
He - Felt really bad

WHY ???
There was too much time spent on the romantic angle between Abhay and Gul…

Are you kidding ? Mid life crisis and a normal “middle class married life” has not been depicted as well in a hindi film ever.At least not that I can remember … In any case that is not the point of the film…

May be …

MAY BE ??? hello what do you know about mid life crisis or middle class couple ?? I know a little … My mom and dad … middle class government officer …How would you know ?? You born with a silver spoon in your mouth and a golden nose ring in your lap …. How would you know how …

Dearest Geeta,

Have started becoming more and more like a protagonist of a ‘feel good’ film. Have mellowed down a little.

Cigarettes ? I know that will be your first question. They have gone down from 20@day to 15@day. You, the censor board of India and honorable Mr. Anbumani Ramadoss will be very happy to hear this.

It doesn’t look as good as we wanted it to be back then. May be I too am trying for a naxalite-parallel-cinematic-revolution. “That the audiences will rise up one day and grab all the ‘different’ and ‘well made’ films.”

I can hear you snigger.

One thing I’ve noticed is that CHANGE is very uncomfy. Any new idea is not discovered on its way, but only recognized when it’s gone. People want great ideas like Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par.

Ideas that everyone can relate to and say “Hey Ishaan …

Jab We Left - Movies and Memories
Warning - Random personal rambling post ….

Jab We Left…. left forever… Reminds me of the last scene of Sadma where Kamal hassan with a painful expression on his face does all the monkeying around in the hope that Sridevi will recognise him… But she’s lost all memory .. she won’t … She’s forgotten or may be she chose to forget … can’t blame her … As far as she is concerned Kamal’s chapter is closed. Kamal can’t understand why Sridevi can’t recognise him… After all … he was with her all this while … caring for her .. nursing her .. fighting with her .. enduring her eccentrities and madness… Kamal became mad with her long before she left him. Who with a sane mind would pretend to be a monkey with a bucket on his head and caryy water .. dance at …

Fair, fairer, fairest Renu (Kundan shah on Renu Saluja and JBDY)

I caught hold of this book while doing a google on renu saluja. It is easily available and at 50 rupees, quite a steal.
This book is highly recommended. Thanks to Graftii.com and comet media foundation.

Here’s a wikipedia on Renu Saluja and a very informative upperstall article.

Anyways, this post isn’t entirely about the book or Renu Saluja. This is an article written by Kundan Shah on Renu Saluja. They had worked together in the classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron.

Here’s a brief overview of the book (courtesy indianwriting.blogsome.com)

Over to Kundan shah who has written an article in the book, which I’m reproducing here for all the JBDY and Kundan shah fans -

”In my three years at FTII, I hardly exchanged a word with Renu Saluja. All I knew is that she was a sister of Radha …

Can’t write much, can’t talk much.

Just heard (or rather read) the news here

Tamil Writer Sujatha is dead

The key person behind the development of the Electronic Voting Machine and an eminent writer, S Rangarajan alias Sujatha, has died.

To be very honest, I have never read a single sujatha’s story (I cant read/write Tamil unfortunately). Although i do watch tamil films eagerly. And the films written by him …I’ve loved.

The article further adds on

Sujatha was a pioneer in the field of science fictions in Tamil. He also wrote short stories, novels, screenplays and columns in weeklies

Here’s some info from another site

His true name was Rangarajan, Sujatha being a pseudonym. He has written over 100 novels, 250 short stories, ten books on science, ten stage plays, and a slim volume of poems. His very first story featured in a magazine called Sivaji in 1953. His short …

AMOL GUPTE THE CHILD SPEAKS …. AT BAISCOPE EVENT

“BAISCOPE ENTERTAINMENT Presents In Association with PVR CINEMAS

Children in Cinema – Innocence & its Essence

A workshop with Amol Gupte & Deepa Bhatia
( Creative Director, Taare Zameen Per & Editor, Taare Zameen Per )

And NO…… This is NOT about the TZP controversies !!

An afternoon exploring the art and the process of working with children.

* The Orchestral Beauty of emotion
* Fake & Real Innocence – Its cinematic interpretation
* Guarding the Child

The workshop will also include an interactive session with Amol, Deepa and the audience (the film fraternity & the children accompanying them) .
It will be an organic process in working with children”

That was the event which immideately drew to our attention (mine and Phonix) and we landed up on the D day with our eyes and ears open and pen paper ready …. all set to listen to the man behind the …

[Sorry for the deliberately late post.]

Saw TZP alone on a saturday night. Everyone knows the film is about the relationship between a dyslexic child and his mentor/teacher.

No amount of praise is sufficient for the first half. Please take a bow Mr Khan/ Mr Gupte for the in depth research into the mind of a kid. The film instantly set its benchmarks (wrt kid’s understanding) right up with Anjali, Kannathil Muthamittal, Malli, Navrasa, Halo (Manirathnam and Santosh Sivan - two filmakers i know who are unparalleled in invoking performances from children). The film delves into the mind of Darsheel; the delightful distractions of a car tyre upsetting a puddled pot hole while class is going on, the cartoon while solving the maths questionpaper, the joys of digging your nose coolly, the pleasure in watching day to day life unfold in front of your eyes (a haunting Mera Jahaan by Adnan …

kyun art masterpiece ki talaash mein udaas hai nirash hai dil

I have written a short ode to KKC. This is not a review (meaning i will not justify myself)

KHO CHUKA CHAAND

kyun art masterpiece ki talash mein udaas hai nirash hai dil
kyun apne heroes sey khafa khafa zara zara sa naraaz hai dil

yeh audience bhi khud hi tay kare
yeh critics bhi khud hi tay kare

kyun achchi opportunity barbad kar chuka hai khama-kha hi yeh dil
kyun no smoking key zone main chala gaya bigad gaya be-imaan yeh dil

“I am really scared that they are going to kill a film that i think is an extremely accomplished work of art.” - Anurag kashyap

Anything that is dead cannot be killed. You cannot be expected to be called a martyr if the cause you are fighting for is dead inherently. Martyr is Mani sir in …

Warning - loong rambling drunken nonsensical post with general cribbings

Why the hell are there so many mosquitos in my room ? There isn’t much blood left in the body anyway. This city has sucked it up all and putin Vodka.

Why can’t the mosquitos leave me alone ? It’s 4 o clock in the morning. Why do they still bother me ? Why do they bite, hum and irritate ?

If they can’t contribute to the ecosystem positivly, why be a negative ? Why be therre ?

Mosquitos are Parasites or insects ?
What’s the difference ? Who cares ?

I do.

A Parasite is harmful. It feeds on whatever good you have.
Insects may or may not be harmful.

All parasites arre insects but all insects are not parasites.

Why buzz around and create nonsense ? And disturb my sleep at 4 am in the morning ?

The …