Salik Shah

 

Salik Shah's Blog

  • 7
    Money Matters
    It’s quite a revolution in my life: the essential urge to learn the art of economics. The filmmaker I look up to is in huge debt. There is no room for romanticism in today’s cinema—not at least with others’ money. The cause of this revolution is my little sister’s illness which is only controllable, but not curable. A revolution doesn’t...
    by Salik Shah at October 29th, 2009 at 02:10 am
  • 8
    Story about struggle
    Gravity. The force that doesn’t want us to fly; which fears we might have a fatal fall if we do, so doesn’t permit the heavens to separate our feet from the clay. Kathmandu is that ground reality which beckons me night and day, and which I pretend to have already escaped. I thought I must first invent a pair of robust wings to defy gravity and deny that part of me....
    by Salik Shah at September 14th, 2009 at 06:09 am
  • 8
    Teach cinema to children
    “Who is the father of computer?” I asked my 9-year-old niece. “Charles Bab-bage,” she replied promptly. Then I asked her, “And who is the father of cinema?” “What is cinema?” the fourth grader asked me. “It’s the art of films.” The little girl, of course, was soon perplexed. We changed the topic and started...
    by Salik Shah at August 9th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
  • 14
    Harishchandra’s Factory
    A still from Harishchandrachi Factory. Everybody laughed. Everybody enjoyed the roller coaster ride. Harishchandra’s Factory was a great comedy. We had seen nearly fifty films during the Film Appreciation course, but the audiences were never as ecstatic as they were while watching this Marathi film. Paresh Mokashi came out of the FTII theater as a clear winner. Harishchandra’s...
    by Salik Shah at July 23rd, 2009 at 05:07 am
  • 3
    The Crime of Kaspar Hauser
    This is not a comparison that will please Werner Herzog. Kaspar Hauser’s story, Herzog says, is about what civilization does to us all, how it deforms us by bringing us into societal line. Kaspar was 16 when he was ‘set free’ from the dark dungeon where he spent all his life tied to the ground with a belt which he thought was a natural extension of his body. All...
    by Salik Shah at July 19th, 2009 at 03:07 am
  • 10
    Cheer the Idiot On!
    The Right Mentor “When I finally walked into their office I saw two men sitting behind this huge oak desk. I vividly remember the moment second by second. I stood there, totally humiliated as they looked beyond me, waiting, as if the father had come into town with his child. The first one shouted something so abusive that I wiped it from my memory while the other...
    by Salik Shah at July 13th, 2009 at 07:07 am
  • 16
    Aaja aaja Bombay
    First a packed train, then another crowded bus. There is an overstaffed workplace, but also one revered place — the set. When the city shuns you, the set becomes your refuge. The industry first humiliates you. You’re new and you don’t really know how it works. Every trivial task they assign you will come with too much pressure. You’re a headstrong guy. Here...
    by Salik Shah at July 9th, 2009 at 01:07 am
  • 3
    Tribute to Tyeb Mehta
    “Tyeb Mehta belongs to a quiet breed of artists who let the work speak for itself. He has been away from the public gaze. “I have always been a loner and a private person – each artist’s temperament is different,” he says. Mehta has an impressive resume to his credit – foreign fellowships and stints, numerous shows and participations –...
    by Salik Shah at July 3rd, 2009 at 03:07 am
  • 16
    A break from work
    After doing a month-long film appreciation course at FTII, Pune, I returned to Bombay on Sunday. I had not taken any break from my work in the last three years. If you’re a cinephile or someone interested in cinema by chance, go check it out for yourself. I’m sure you’ll love it. If you’re lucky and your passion for cinema is really strong, you’ll...
    by Salik Shah at June 22nd, 2009 at 07:06 am
  • 12
    Critics’ fight and fury
    [Thoughts, thoughts and thoughts on film criticism in India and elsewhere.] One of the first generation of American film critics, James Agee said, “There are a good many people who honestly enjoy movies, know the difference between good work and bad, and care a great deal about the difference.” But how many people, who are writing about films today, really understand...
    by Salik Shah at June 18th, 2009 at 01:06 am
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