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There are movies you walk out of, never to return back. And there are movies you just keep popping out, and flying in to catch a few scenes before ejecting right out.

And then, there are movies which hold you tight from the start to end. And keep bringing you back to it, and there you are… each re-watch of the movie brings to light new meanings, hidden in the corner subtlety, a new wow in the 46th minute you missed the first time.

In short, you’ve been enslaved by the movie. And in order of hypnotic impact - it begins with the story, visuals, performances, dialogue, music - all blanketed in the directors intelligent handling of his writer’s screenplay.

Inside Man is one such movie that keeps pounding me again and again.

Now to begin with it’s made by Spike Lee, who’s filmography as a director consisted of films that are quite political …

1987. After reading the article of a new Kamal Hasan movie that was making waves in the media, I had locked myself in the room and went through all the movie’s images that were printed in the article. There was an old Kamal Hasan in a never before seen getup and makeup that really made him look, “realistically” old. The young Kamal Hasan about to fold his handkerchief as he walked on the streets of Bombay. Another one where an old Kamal Hasan was involved in an intense scene with a younger actress. I was enchanted. Enthralled. I did not know yet what the story was. Just that it was a movie based on Vardarajan Mudaliar, a Mumbai based mafia cum smuggler, who I don’t remember if he was still alive at the time.

I slowly started imagining what the story might be and started acting Kamal’s part out in …

It’s impromptu… It’s crazy… It’s never gonna make sense… It’s always a roller coaster ride. And hence for the first time, those private, secret PFC author meets are being blown open to all of you.

The first PFC Meetup for all readers (yes all and that includes you Oh Shy One) is on

June 15th 5pm at Mumbai.

Venue: Juhu Mocha ( map )

That’s the place where some of the PFC Authors frequent to catch up on what each one is doing. Ooopsss… sorry I’ve let the secret hideout of the Mumbai authors… but they won’t mind.

And I’m jealous of the place. Juhu Mocha looks a swell place to meet and chat cinema over a few drinks (tea, coffee or anything else).

…

On reading the premise and then getting a glimpse of the trailer “Via Darjeeling” I went around looking for the director. Here was one of those rare stories that had piqued my interest no end. And then after a few days, Phoenixnu managed to get in touch with the director Arindam Nandy who’s sent in this post to PFC. Over to Arindam…

Ramblings before the release of ‘via darjeeling’

Arindam Nandy

In Bengal, stories are what I grew up with. ‘Grandmother’s Bagful of Tales’ or ‘Thakumar Jhuli’, a compilation of stories about princes, princesses and demons was the popular bedside book when grandmothers were away. At eight or nine years, the recurrent dreams every night were made of these. Ghost stories took centrestage after a while. Thanks to the Bengal famine of 1770 and 1943, stories of villages filled with ghosts were abundant. And there were stories that never ended…the Arabian Nights, The …

Friday. Sarkar Raj has released. 6pm. Ozhan knocks on Wife’s door. Asks for permission to go to see the movie. Permission given on the condition that Ozhan takes his marriage dowry with him to the movie.

Ozhan without uttering a word accepts the instructions, walks to the dowry, picks it up and drives to Shitz8 @ Artersia, California, the only place he finds peace and the welcome darkness where he can cry over the torture he receives at the hands of his wife and his marriage dowry.

Marriage Dowry = Momar, a jet black cat, who can speak the human toungue in 14 languages. The bastard cat has also shaken up and shocked the world of science and animal kingdom. You see the average age of a cat is supposed to be 7 years. By fate or Ozhan’s real bad luck, Mr. Momar is now 27 years old and by the …