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When India gained independence in 1947, the generation of the 50’s were imbued with a spirit of optimism, hope inspired by Pandit Nehru’s call for a tryst with destiny. For the most part the 50’s was a decade of peace and optimism in India. We were not a rich nation, but the optimism was there in every Indian that we would soon take achieve our tryst. But the defeat in the 1962 War to China, shattered the Indian morale. There was a sense of disquiet whether the lofty ideals propounded by Nehru, would have any relevance in the modern world. Nehru’s death was followed by Lal Bahadur Shastri, who managed to rally the people with his clarion call of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”. And victory in the 1965 war, with Pakistan, somewhat restored the national spirit. But it …

Partition, 1947-  An event that is  destined to go down in utter infamy,   as  one  of  the darkest  periods   in  Indian history.  It  was a time,  when  humanity  touched  its  lowest  depths.  A  nation  was divided,   families  torn apart,  and  a horiffying  dance of death and destruction,  rained  on  the people.   It  was an age  when your religion   became  your  only means of  survival.  Where  Hindus,  Muslims  and  Sikhs,  had  earlier  lived  as neighbours  for centuries,  they  now  turned  against  each  other.   Neighbours  became enemies,   while  friends fell  upon  each other.  It  was  the  time  when  humanity  had  lost its meaning  in the  vicious throes  of  hatred.    There  have been many outstanding movies  and  novels  on Partition,    A  Train to Pakistan,  Garam Hawa,  Tamas  to name a few.   One  such  movie  is  Chandraprakash  Dwivedi’s   2003  movie   Pinjar,  based on  Amrita  Pritam’s  …

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When the title credits of Vertigo roll on screen, the title itself, comes from the pupils of a woman’s eyes. And then we have animated designs, spiralling in different directions, and the eye fading away, and then finally the woman’s eye comes back to screen, and we have the final credit. Even if we take the overall promos for Vertigo, we have a man in the center of many loops, and spirals. In a way that itself is an indicator of the movie’s central premise. On surface a thriller like most of Alfred …

 The  best  thing  to happen to me in 2008,  was becomming a  full flegded  author  of  PFC.   And in the course making  some wonderful  friends out here.  This  would be my  last  post  for 2008,  and am hoping that in 2009,  i would still  contribute to PFC  in  whatever way i can.   Telugu movie  industry  saw some significant   events  happening,  Chiranjeevi   getting into politics,  small movies doing well,  big blockbusters  crashing at  box office,  and usual  quota  of  scandals,  backbiting and  gossip.  So here  is  a brief   overview.

For  over close to 25  years,  he  has been  the    darling  of  the  Telugu  audiences,  distributors  and  movie producers.  Even  his  flop movies  were  assured  of a decent return.  Chiru  has  been to Andhra,   what  Rajnikanth  has been to Tamil Nadu, an  actor  with a wide ranging appeal.  For   years  his  movies  have entertained  the  Telugu audiences,  and  he has starred in some of  …

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In  my  second on  the    David  Fincher  series  i  would  be taking a look  at  one  of  Fincher’s   more underrated movie  The Game, a kind of  abstract  thriller.

The  Game  is the story  of   Nicholas Van Orton(Michael Douglas),  a multi  millionaire in  San Francisco,  but  leading a lonely life,  divorced  from his wife.  On  his  40th  birthday, his  more  bohemian,  free spirited  brother  Conrad( Sean Penn),  presents him with  an unusual  gift.    It  is a  game  offered  by a mysterious organization,  Consumer  Recreation Services,  of  which not much is known.  Not  much is really  known about The Game,  except  that it  seems to be  a  kind  of  live action role playing game,  where the person is a live participant.

Nicholas  is rejected by  CRS,  after  a lengthy  pyschological  test involving  filling up all kinds of  questionaries.  However  the real “Game”   begins  right  now  for Nicholas,  as he  …

 When  i saw his initial  movies, my  opinion  was just another star kid  trying  his luck in Tamil movies.  Nandha made me notice him for the first time as a good actor,  Kaakha Kaakha  increased my admiration for him,  and the way he managed to hold his own against Vikram’s  fiery  brilliance in Pithamagan made me like him even more.  Movies  like Aayitha Ezhuthu,  Perazhagan made me like his acting even more,  but  with  Vaaranam  Ayiram, i have become  his  total  hard core fan.

The actor I am referring to is  Surya Sivakumar aka  Surya, son of  popular  actor  ,  and the person who played the lead in the Tamil  original  of  Aamir’s  Ghajini.  And yes by the way, he also played   Ajay  Devgan’s  role  in Aayitha Ezhuthu,  the Tamil version of  Yuva.  Surya  does not  have the  rugged masculinity of  an …

Spending the Christmas weekend at my home town Vizag, i had not many options at the movies. Among the Telugu movies there was Kotha Bangaru Lokam, Nacchavule which were supposed to be good, but i had enough of teen flicks, and honestly i did not want to spend time at another teen movie. And there was Aamir’s Ghajini, but i was not in the least bit interested in it. I had already seen the Tamil version, and while not a great movie, was good masala time pass stuff. Honestly speaking the promos did not make me feel, that i would be watching something radically different in Hindi, and i was not going to brave those crowds to watch it. And …

A bit  of a movie trivia,  what connects  the music videos,   Vogue(Madonna),  Cradle of Love( Billy Idol),  Straight Up(Paula Abdul),  Who Is It(Michael Jackson), Jamie’s  Got a Gun( Aerosmith)?

The  answer  is a certain  David Leo Fincher, one of my  favorite directors.

David  has been the director  for movies like  Se7en,  Fight Club, Zodiac, Panic Room and  his latest release The Curious Case of  Benjamin Button, will be hitting the  market soon.

David  initially started his career  with Spielberg’s  Industrial Light and Magic where he worked on blockbusters like Indiana Jones and Temple  of Doom and Return of the Jedi. His  experiences with ILM  actually cultivated a respect for big budget movie making in him.  After  ILM,  David branched out into music videos and commercials.  David  directed most of the music videos for Propaganda Films,  which in fact was a sort of  launching pad for  many other directors  like  Michael Bay, Spike Jonze,  …

Basically  over the past couple of weeks,  ever since RNBDJ  has been released,  I have been watching the endless debates between the small and big cinema.  Some kind of perception has been floating around  that  PFC is obsessed with  small, medium and indie house art cinema, and is too critical  of  big cinema.   I just want  to state one thing,  PFC  has no official policy,  regarding  movies, and what kind of movies to promote.  None of us here are obliged to promote a certain kind of movie or  banners.   Anyway this post is basically for my views on  small and medium budget movies  and why i felt we need to back those movies more than big budget ones.

Now  if   we  take  movies as a whole,  with regards to  Indian cinema, i  feel we can  divide into 3 groups.

Group A- The prestigious  big  banner productions,  Yash Raj,  Dharma.

Group  B- The  Vishesh Films  …

 When  Ed Norton took on the role of  Bruce Banner, who becomes the Incredible  Hulk,  in effect he was essaying a superhero,  whose main characteristic has been  a defining point of his career.  A man within another man, or what we call as split personality.  Be it Aaron Stampler in Primal  Fear  or  the nameless narrator in Fight Club,  Norton  seems to excel in roles  where a person is split between two identities.   Even in a dramatic movie like  American History X,  Norton had 2 phases,  one of  a racist Neo Nazi skinhead, and the other as the repentant convict, trying to stop his brother from becomming what he was.   Most of  his career, has seen Norton playing the role of  troubled conflicted individuals.

But then considering  Norton’s  first major role was of a conflicted individual,  i guess that set the tone …

One of my  favorite actors,  turns  45  today, and this is just a very humble  tribute to him.  William Bradley Pitt,  aka better known as  Brad Pitt,  one of  Hollywood’s  superstars and a  great actor.  Yeah i know  he is a great looker,  but   that is for the females to go ooh aah over.  And as  far as Brangelina  or his previous  marriage with Jennifer Aniston is concerned,  that is for the tabloids.   Basically this is a look at  Brad’s  movies over the years  and  his career.  I had earlier written about  some of my other  favorites  at   My Blog,  where  interested persons can check out. For some one  like me  growing up in the 90’s  and exploring  movies,  Brad Pitt like Ed Norton, Matt Damon  was a part of my movie going experience. 

Brad  …

Its been a long time since i did my last  feature on  Tim Burton,  and  so am back  again.  This time looking at the other  Tim Burton animated featue,  Corpse Bride.   I had already reviewed  Burton’s  animated feature  The Nightmare  Before Christmas  before.   Both Nightmare and  Corpse Bride,  were stop motion animation flicks  but  Corpse Bride,  used still cameras for the first time in a stop motion animation flick. I would be discussing the technique later.

The Plot

Based on  an old 19th century,  Jewish Russian folktale,  Corpse Bride is set in Victorian era England.  Victor Van Dort( voice of Johnny Depp),  is a shy, nervous young man, whose parents  Nell( Tracey Ullman)  and William( Paul Whitehouse)  are nouveau rich fishmongers.  Victor’s   marriage is arranged with Victoria Everglot( Emily Watson), daughter of   Maudeline and Finnis Everglot( Albert Finney),  an aristocratic British family, who are now bankrupt. Victor …

Disclaimer:  This  is my personal view point of  Bollywood in 2008,  of the movies  i have seen.  As far as Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is concerned, my take is  not  great, not bad,  just plain average, but considering that  lot has been said, nothing really of value from my side.   And  lastly  i  feel  absolutely stupid putting up this disclaimer, but  considering some  comments i have been getting off late, i am putting it up just in case.

Well its that time of the year when every one starts to take stock of what has happened, and comes up with the Best, Worst list. Some years are quite crazy, they just leave you dumb founded and dumb struck. 2008 was such a year.

Wall Street went bust, thanks to some dodgy business theories, floated by overpaid B-School Grads, who took Michael Douglas words on “Greed is Good” too seriously, and tried …

Totally underrated Marty movie. One of the best black comedies you get to watch. (4/5) IMDB

There are some actors whom you admire,  you love their acting, you love  watching them on screen.  But for some actors, it goes a bit further  more,  you dont just admire them, you hero worship them. You  watch every movie of  theirs, even the most rotten one, just to see your hero on screen.  You  love whatever your hero does, you  want to be like him, you  somewhere begin to imitate his style.  You wanna  woo your girl, the way he does.  You take great pride in delivering his  dialogues verbatim on screen.  You  feel bad, when people  talk bad about him.  In short  you become a total fan of  that actor.

There are  a few actors who made me feel that way,  Amitabh Bachan, Kamal  Hassan,  Robert De Niro, Al  Pacino, Jim Carrey, Clint Eastwood.  As a kid,  it was Amitabh Bachan and Clint Eastwood for me all the way,  …

Among the older generation of music directors, for me Madan Mohan, remains one of my favorites.  He created some of the most melodious songs, and yet some how he could never really achieve the success of his contemporaries.  Well i guess many reasons for it.  For starters Madan was not backed by either the big stars or big banners,   like Shankar Jaikishan was a perennial  Raj Kapoor favorite,   Naushad was the first choice for  any Dilip Kumar movie,  and  for Dev Anand it was Dada Burman most of the times.  Even directors like  Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy quite often  alternated between  Dada or Salil Choudhury.   Madan was generally left  with movies of  either second rung stars or mostly B stuff.  Even a director like Raj Khosla for whom Madan Mohan  gave those unparalleled masterpieces  in Mera Saaya and Woh Kaun Thi, did not use him for his later movies.

Another  issue …

We have been seeing many discussions online and in PFC, about how smaller and more meaningful cinema like Aamir or Hulla or Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi could be made to reach out to a more wider audience. While the multiplexes have made it possible for movies like Page 3, A Wednesday, Bheja Fry, Aamir to be succesful, there are limitations with this.
Limitations of the Multiplex Model
Multiplexes cater to one segment of the population. The elite yuppie crowd, or those who are loaded. There has been an assumption that people who are yuppie, having lots of money, well educated( read IIT-IIM) are the only ones who can appreciate a Bheja Fry or No Smoking. The fact is like all marketing generalizations this just falls flat on its face. Having been in the marketing profession for some time, i can say for sure, the best way to do marketing is to get your …

And then  there is Daniel Day Lewis.  Watch it just for his mesmerizing performance. ( 3.5/5) IMDB

One of my favorite genre of movies is those based on real life events or biopics dealing with lives of famous persons. I guess maybe my interest in politics, and current affairs, makes me biased towards those movies. Actually making a biopic or a movie based on a real life person, is some what a walk on the edge. You have to strike a balance between being factual and being dramatic. Too much emphasis on facts and accuracy, neglecting the drama part, could make it a History Channel documentary, and playing around with facts, and trying to force fit into some kind of drama, could make it end up as a caricature, Pearl Harbor being the best example. Unlike in the West, where movies based on real life events are popular, that …

The best teacher in life has been Hollywood movies for me. No university on earth, could possibly equip me with the vast knowledge and information i got from Hollywood. It is not possible for me to put all the knowledge out here, but just sharing some tidbits. You are welcome to contribute your knowledge also.
So here are some of my lessons.
Never get too horny or too steamy, with your girl. Your moments of pleasure, could be disturbed by either a bomb blast in the adjacent room( Munich), or by snakes( Snakes on a Plane). Also in case of a chase, the guys somehow manage to crash into your room, disturbing your moments of bliss, or you could have aliens peeping inside( Mars Attacks). Also if there is a disaster or some animals attack, you could end up one of the first victims. …

Deft handling of emotional scenes, good acting,music makes it a must watch, though it could have been better(3/5)IMDB

Good Americans beat Bad Arabs and save the day for humanity.IMDB

The last one week, I have not been really watching movies.  I have been just tracking the news, or watching the news channels, as i was first shocked and then outraged.  In fact i have not yet watched OLLO  or Sorry Bhai, maybe some time later this weekend.  Anyway as i was looking for some DVD’s, just glanced at Munich and happened to watch it again.  Well watching a movie on terrorism, that too during a time like this, might seem a bit odd. But maybe i felt it was topical, or the fact that it happens to be one of my favorites, made me watch it.Also, it happens to be one of my favorite Spielberg movies along with Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan.
Couple of reasons too.  I have this interest in …

As the horror of what happened on Nov 26, 2008, still resides in our mind,refusing to go away, and it should not at all, the outrage has begun. We had citizen’s marches, candlelight vigils, online petitions, angry blogs et all, targeting the politicians and officials, justifiably.
We have two options here, one is take the usual chalta hai attitude, and get along with our lives, our cricket matches, our Bollywood gossip and forget what happened.
The other is still to go on with our daily life as before, but not to forget what happened on Nov 26,2008, and keep the anger going. It is a tough balance, but as i had said earlier, if we still persist with our “Business as Usual” attitude, we are in for disaster.
Now even if Nov 26,2008, had not occured, and we were going along with our daily lives, there is something …

What we have faced  for 60 hours is not just another terror attack.  It is something called  WAR.

What is shocking is not that the attack has taken place, but  in  fact it was well known that we were going to face something of that sort, and we were sleeping.

Sleeping in our own dream world,  and covering it up with cliches like “Spirit” and “Resilence”. Sure we have been let down  by a totally inept political leadership, but its not just their failure, it is our collective failure. We are as much accountable  as the politicians we blame.

There is no question of “We will do it” and ” We can do it”, it is now “We have to do it”, there is no other option. Because what is at stake is  our survival, not just ours but our children, our future generations.

Now if  your looking for a Rang De Basanti kinda …

It was night around 10:30, i had finished watching the cricket match, and was just switching channels, and then i saw the news item. At first it was like a shootout at Taj Heritage, and then as the reports started to filter in, the magnitude of the terror became more apparent to me. I simply could not say “Oh no, not again” and then just switch channels. Because what was happening was not just another terror attack, it was a literal war. As i saw coverage of cops firing, people running, some people being evacuated, and dead bodies, it seemed straight out of some Warner Bros flick. Except that this was not movies, this was real life. And we did not have a John McLane like super hero, gunning down terrorists. What we had were cops and armed forces, fighting a battle against a bunch …

One of the best in Hong Kong action genre, John Woo rocks.(4/5) IMDB

Slam, Bang, Crash, Thud. Car chases, shootouts, cloak and dagger stuff, femme fatales, bad ass guys and kick ass action. As a movie lover i may have somewhat evolved and gone to some what more esoteric stuff like Euro cinema or the Iranian classics or Japanese art house movies. Much the same way a hard core pub goer, who loves his draft beer graduates to wine drinking in a posh atmosphere.

But like the very same pub goer, who just loves to chill out with a beer, i guess at the end of the day, i still get my thrills from a good old action movie. My love for actioners has been from childhood, when i would revel in the slam bang stuff. Even in Tolly, Bolly masala, i would still prefer the maar dhaad stuff over more sentimental dramas. While i love watching a Shawshank or Cast Away, …

Al Pacino a name that immediately brings into mind intense roles and a crackling screen presence that can chew up the scenery. Ask Keanu Reeves, who ended up as a glorified extra in The Devil’s Advocate. And yes those wonderful monologues, which basically comes from Pacino’s penchant for Shakespearan Theater.

In his long career, Pacino has portrayed crooks, gangsters, cops, lawyers, football coaches, blind colonels, crusading journalists, city mayors and even the Devil himself. But a common thread in most of the roles is that Pacino has made a career out of playing neurotic, edgy, restless characters. Even as a cop either he is an outcaste hated by his colleagues( Serpico), or a workaholic with a messed up family life(Heat) or an insomniac( Insomnia).

While doing some work on my article about Scarface, i was basically trying to do a run down on some …

1983

India won the World Cup in Cricket converting yours truly into a total cricket fan.

The Star Wars series continued its success with Return of the Jedi topping the charts.

Michael Jackson’s Thriller becomes a rage.

And in the same year on Dec 9, was released a movie that would polarize the movie lovers community into 2 camps, those who hated it and those who loved it.

Many hated the movie on release, it was torn apart by critics, but there were a few who loved it for its edgy style. 25 years later, the movie still continues to be fiercely debated and discussed. But a growing legion of admirers, have conferred it a cult classic status. And yours truly is one in that group.

The movie i am referring to of course is Scarface, the Al Pacino movie , about the rise and fall of Tony Montana, a Cuban gangster. This is not …