ravptor | PassionforCinema

Semantic Analysis, someone once told me, leads to the most intriguing of perspectives on the subject at hand. Cinema, such is its aptness to be a medium to break the barriers of infinite opportunity to showcase the congruity and the in, I give you its study...

ravptor's Blog

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Indian Films at SF Intl Film Festival
Here we go again, another film festival. My second yr at the annual SF film festival has taken off to a slow start with just a couple of films this week thanks to all my savings and energy vaporizing at IFFLA ;). As always, I am told, this ground breaking festival has brought some really amazing films which have hardly been shown around. I have only heard of a few among...
by ravptor at May 1st, 2009 at 04:05 pm
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IFFLA ‘09: QUICK GUN MURUGAN!
Quick Gun Murugan Movie Review Sometimes mad cinema is the poison to end the eternal plague that has besieged Indian films in their quest to portray extreme reality or extreme fiction. Either 2 hrs of unnecessary communal preaching or 4 hrs of drought ending tearjerkers which have become a friday fare in some madness to quantify films for “aam junta”...
by ravptor at April 25th, 2009 at 11:04 am
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IFFLA: Day 1 – Live from Directors House!
As all the grand plans go, my first straight night at IFFLA’09 went for a toss. Instead of watching Shorts 1, I had a chance to catch Sikander, a film by Piyush Jha, that deals with conflicts in Kashmir. I will try to review the film tomorrow but let me use this post to talk about what happened after the screening. Walking out of the screening satisfied with the film,...
by ravptor at April 23rd, 2009 at 12:04 am
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IFFLA ’09: The show begins!
It’s a beautiful day in California and after a furious 5hrs drive from SFO, I am finally here – at Arclights Cinema, the venue for the 7th edition of Indian Film Festival of Los Angles (IFFLA). It’s quiet out here, the people are still gathering. A few familiar faces of volunteers here and there, some with a hint of recognition, some with indifference but the energy...
by ravptor at April 22nd, 2009 at 05:04 pm
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PFC Authors about their fav pastime!
…you guessed it! Watching movies. Here is a glimse of a regular employed PFC author’s cinema comsuption in a week: Tushar: Curious case of Benjamin Button – good stuff, had heard all kinds of things about it but I was surprised with Fincher’s confidence Zodiac – took me almost 2 days to watch with repeat of many scenes and the sp. feature...
by ravptor at March 3rd, 2009 at 11:03 pm
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Dev.D – The invisible trip.
Chanda: It’s good to talk when in Pain. Dev: What do you know about pain? The arrogance that is inclusive in all souls battered because of boredom and heightened state of desires manifests in this one form – PAIN. And the idea that pain is only caused to a chosen few and that the person who understands other’s pain is but a jerk. And what a jerk...
by ravptor at February 6th, 2009 at 09:02 pm
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BAFTA 2009 Nominations
After the glitz of Golden Globes, we are now getting to awards that are taken seriously for their quality rather than glitz and regional preferences alone. Note that the eligibility is Jan1st to Dec 31st in a calender year for all the films released in Britan. So Persipolis may be a carry over and just like This is England got nominated in the Globes this year. Already...
by ravptor at January 15th, 2009 at 04:01 pm
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Slumdog Millionaire WINS at Golden Globes
In the last 8years that I have been following the Globes and Oscars, this is one time I was up cheering for a film so hoarse. Every time Jai Ho was playing for a win for Slumdog, my aspirations of Indian Films being truly world-class are being realized. The debate may go-on and on and on about whether we need to really care for films made about India depicting its poverty...
by ravptor at January 11th, 2009 at 08:01 pm
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Aronofsky’s The Wrestler – Review
Passion, Pain and Loneliness – that’s the order that a man is driven when dedicating a life to an Endeavour. A passion grips you when you are young, when you are able and when you can conquer the world. Pain hits you when you realize it’s all but a gift that is cruelly snatched away from you time and again when the body & mind start slipping. And...
by ravptor at December 27th, 2008 at 01:12 am
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Frost/Nixon
2/5 Cinematic transcript of a true journalistic victory. More cosmetic than heartfelt.
by ravptor at December 25th, 2008 at 11:12 am
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Sasirekha Parinayam – Krishnavamsi BACKK!
Ok, I am a hard-core fan of Krishnavamsi. Ever since the day he made Ninne Pelladutha in ‘96 (That’s the time when I turned 12 & started understanding films and another of the first amazing film’s I remember released – Prema Desam) I have remained an ardent fan. I started taking a fancy ever since he made this movie about Seenu and Mahalakshmi....
by ravptor at December 24th, 2008 at 02:12 pm
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Synecdoche, New York – Review
People are boring. You, are boring. You get up with a foul smell in your mouth. You do stuff when people are not watching. You are confused in public and act macho in private. You are always thinking how it would be to be the guy with the girl. You sing the opera in the confines of your car. You steal glances at the price-tags and buy the unnecessary out-of-budget excess...
by ravptor at December 23rd, 2008 at 08:12 pm
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Moral Absolutes for a Proportional Response…
Aaron Sorkin, disturbed over 9/11 wrote an episode at the start of the second season of West Wing called Isaac and Ishmael, which basically was a 101 on what terrorism is all about and how it came to permeate all through the free world. It was an instant critique of the thoughts as to the reason and rhyme that people in millions who watched in horror the events that shaped...
by ravptor at November 28th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
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Slumdog Millionaire – Review
To what lengths would you go to get an autograph from a superstar actor? What all would you be willing to jump to get close, very close – in you face close – to a star that has sold you dream after dream after dream all your life? Jump from a chopper! Fly your family from Bay Area to Chicago and pay tons of money? Swim through a sewer??? Nah… the mentioned...
by ravptor at October 30th, 2008 at 02:10 am
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Dreams: Script Writing on the trip!
If you look back at cinema from its inception, one of the most workable justifications for playing out something totally outrageous and uncanny was to just make the protagonist DREAM. In the case of Indian Cinema, due to the lack of breath taking vista’s in the vicinity of the slums that our protagonist lives, and due to the inability of our maker’s to dream...
by ravptor at October 25th, 2008 at 11:10 am
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Interviewing Liz Mermin
At IFFLA this year, PFC finally got the chance to meet the director of two films that were highly appreciated by the critics and the audience alike. The films being OFFICE TIGERS & SHOT in BOMBAY and the director Liz Mermin. OFFICE TIGERS was featured in 2007 and it was shown to a packed house. A docu-feature about a call-center in Chennai, the challenges, the management...
by ravptor at June 25th, 2008 at 08:06 pm
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“Aduri” the Movie: Two Perspectives
[Editor Note] : George Mao, the producer of Aduri, which stars our very own Striker sent this post. The Producer Introduction In the Summer of 2006, I joined a project called “Aduri”. Chances are that you haven’t heard about Aduri, since it is an independently funded project, so I’ll start with a little background information. Aduri is a feature...
by ravptor at May 14th, 2008 at 11:05 am
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MUMBAI CUTTING – IFFLA Exclusive
Mumbai Cutting A city that tells thousands of stories each day, a city that weaves the magic for a million people everyday and a city that creates as much as it destroys each day – it was logical that something would pay tribute to its various layers and shades in typical Bollywood fashion but with a hint of betrayal – replace the glitz and the pseudonyms with gleams...
by ravptor at May 13th, 2008 at 06:05 pm
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Dasavataram: Finally a movie with ballz and the hindu narrowminds backlash
Just finished watching the trailer and it really pisses me of what a few idiotic fucks come up with? The whole nation goes ballistic over DaVinci Code being banned! National Treasure goes full houses in India and it is hardly talked about here in the US but when finally one guy with some ballz and creativity makes a movie that basis thousands of years of Hindu history...
by ravptor at May 7th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
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And the next CM of Andhra is…
Yes, if all goes according to plan, South India will see another CM from the film fraternity and this time too like in the last 50yrs, reel life is a bigger stage than the real life. For the last 6months, the buzz around Coastal Andhra, the traditional seat of money and power of Andhra politics, is steaming from one name. CHIRANJEEVI. The only actor to have the Mega Star...
by ravptor at April 13th, 2008 at 08:04 pm
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IFFLA 2008 – LineUp
Indian Film Festival of Los Angles(IFFLA) is a festival that probably comes closest to PFC’s own aspirations as platform to showcase movies par excellence without money, power and politics and only talent and creativity being the buzz words. Like 2007, PFC promises to give an indepth and close coverage of the entire event with very very exclusive updates, interviews...
by ravptor at April 9th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
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Heyy Sajid, wasn’t the movie enough to kill us???
God makes up for deficiencies in men in various ways. He makes some rich, some sensible, some compassionate and some physically strong. But on some particularly shitty days, god gives total morons something that he shud’nt – brainwaves. And based on the prior premise that the day is shitty, those brainwaves come only to destroy any left sane men after watching...
by ravptor at February 7th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
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Run Raj, Run! The Tiger Cometh…
Continuing yesterday’s story of Amitabh’s symbolization of dominating North Indian’s in Mumbai, Raj Thackeray was in for a dressing down from the original Sena Tiger, Mr. Bala Saheb who played the political game of backing the Big B. Just wondering here, if the tables were turned, what are the chances of Raj doing the same as his uncle. Duh! So predictable...
by ravptor at February 6th, 2008 at 04:02 pm
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Oldies, hold your undies!
Our very own Hoonhar Goonda, in a fit to take on the stalwarts of PFC’s Retro Hindi Cinema had a thought yesterday morning. Why don’t I take a very classy DK aka YK aka “Hold your pants till I finish my monologue and then my facial expressions” film, take a few lines of the ultra-meaningful lyrics and ask people, How the hell did I miss it for all...
by ravptor at February 6th, 2008 at 11:02 am
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Are you feeling left out Raj?
Ok, Amitabh is friends with Amar Singh! He travels often to UP, he starts a school there. But for god sake, pray tell me, how is he against Maharashtrians in all this? According to Rediff reports on Amitabh’s heart being in UP by Raj. “Though he has become a star in Mumbai, his interest is in Uttar Pradesh. That is why he was trying to be an ambassador of UP...
by ravptor at February 5th, 2008 at 11:02 am
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2007 Academy Award Nominations
Its Oscar time again and most of the usual suspects have gone through as expected. A few do raise eyebrows for their inclusions in some major categories while some big omissions in the best picture/screenplay categories will be up for debate. Here’s how the final list looks… Performance by an actor in a leading role George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner...
by ravptor at January 22nd, 2008 at 09:01 am
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Aaron Sorkin: The Master Screen-Writer.
“A film is a one night stand but television is a love affair”. That’s Aaron Sorkin when quizzed why he chose to make a television series after having written brilliant movies like A Few Good Men and The American president. This coming from a man who wrote the scene of poetic outburst of Michael J. Fox in the oval office when debating how it is important for a man...
by ravptor at December 15th, 2007 at 06:12 pm
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Evano Oruvan – An evening with Nishikant and Madhavan.
Driving as fast as I could in the treacherous NYC traffic last Thursday I was thinking as hard as I could as to what I would have done if I were to remake Dombivilli Fast, that too in a language of which I knew all but 2 words. How would I even start to write the change in characters or change the sensibility to suit my target audience? How would I even trust the characters...
by ravptor at October 29th, 2007 at 09:10 pm
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No-Smoking Poster Contest Party Video & Pics (Updated)
PFC was in attendence for the facilitation of the winners on of the poster contest for the Film No-Smoking. John was there to give away the cash prizes worth Rs. 25,000 each to the winners. Elvis where there in person. Zaheer and Manav were represented by their parents. Ms. Masooma Contractor was there on Zaheer’s behalf and Mr. and Mrs. Doshi were there for Manav....
by ravptor at October 20th, 2007 at 05:10 am
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The Hangman
During the 5-day NY guerrilla shoot of Nishikanth’s “Mumbai Meri Jaan” and the location hunt for Nishi’s next, our Guide/Project Manager/Production Incharge was a creative genius called Vishal Bhandari and like many reading this, I never ever have heard of him. A graduate of NY Film Academy, un-credited writer and production maverick of the NY shoot of Vettiyadu...
by ravptor at September 23rd, 2007 at 11:09 am