Vasan Bala | PassionforCinema

A typical Tam Bram house hold....when you enter you don't see much light. You can smell the rasam no matter what time of the day you enter my house. Dad got a VCR when I was 9 and there went the dreams of me becoming an engineer or a Doc.... Struggled with what I wanted to do with my life and now have moved on to another struggle. Have taken a Life long oath towards self destruction by trying my hands at film making....

Vasan Bala's Blog

32
Kaminey – one of the 100 films to watch before you Die!
“Ikeesvi sadi hogi Dariya se nikalenge neki Aur saar pe baji hogi….hogi…hogi… Dhan Ta Dhan…tana tana….tana tana…..” This was a song Vishal Bharadwaj had composed for his debut tele-serial “Dhan Ta Dhan”. Folklore now and hearsay then had it that it was a terrible film and apparently many advised him to stick to music and not make films. One decade...
by Vasan Bala at August 13th, 2009 at 01:08 pm
64
Maan Gaye Imtiyaz-E-Ali
Though Jab We Met had the electric Geet with the ‘main appni favorite hun’ dazzle, Imtiyaz Ali’s Aditi is the closest to my heart. When Geet was the toast of the nation I was yearning for Aditi. By the time I reached the venue to watch the film I had read enough negative reviews of the film. Mixed reactions. Oh! It’s not JWM. Oh hmmm…and...
by Vasan Bala at August 2nd, 2009 at 06:08 am
4
Wolverine Hangover Salvation
When one has a great line never take it for granted and mouth it at the most inappropriate moment. Even a “you talkin to me…” should be discreetly used for maximum impact cause it’s too popular and everyone has something to say to someone. And when you have a line like this. “I’m the best there is at what I do. But what I do best isn’t very nice.” You...
by Vasan Bala at June 26th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
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Angles and Demons
Angles and Demons REVIEW – BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH…………………………..blah blah blah!!!! 22 Responses to “Angles and Demons” Jadugar Goga : Wow!!! Wow great post Bala, keep them coming  Vasanbala : Thanks  Cliff...
by Vasan Bala at May 29th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
10
RANG MANANCHE – Marathi Film
Shibbu and Amit are like any other just out of college kids. Still visit their college. Hang out. Play cricket, talk about their college theatre days….joke around…meanwhile also wrote a film, shot it on a shoe string budget and got it released in Pune and other towns in Maharashtra. “Rang Mananche” is the first time effort of these two budding...
by Vasan Bala at March 24th, 2009 at 10:03 am
15
Charming Little Zizou
LITTLE ZIZOU Cast: Jahan Batiwala, Iyanah Batiwala, Imaad Shah, Sohrab Ardeshir, Boman Irani, Zenobia Shroff, Shenaz Patel. Director: Sooni Taraporewala. UPs – Very well-directed film. Downs – Very simplistic. Number of weeks: 1. BO VERDICT: FLOP. SOURCE – rediff.com A very simplistic approach to make a film is a downer or is it that they are trying to...
by Vasan Bala at March 23rd, 2009 at 03:03 pm
11
Thanks Maa – HEARTFELT – HARDCORE
“Itni badi gaand aur itna sa gu…..” DISCLAIMER – Don’t let the title fool you Soda exclaims when he checks the purse that Municipality and he had flicked from Mumbai Central station. 5 mins into Thanks Maa and you are transported to the Means Streets of Mumbai…be prepared to be bowled over…..or smashed. For all those who have...
by Vasan Bala at March 18th, 2009 at 01:03 pm
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Subramaniapuram – Devastating Cinema
“The crime rate for TN ranks it sixth on a national table of cognizable crime, but Chennai’s rate ensures that the metro is ranked a creditable 24th among 35 major cities in the country. Coimbatore stands at the 22nd position and Madurai at the 30th.” “MADURAI: A suspected case of ‘honour killing’ has been reported in the death of a...
by Vasan Bala at March 16th, 2009 at 01:03 pm
17
From Tea Estates to Bollywood Dreams
Raj Singh Chaudhary grew up in some most scenic locations in Darjeeling. His father owned a tea estate over there. Hindi movies did their metro rounds and would be played with a five month delay in the town. But his really first brush with filmdom was when he witnessed the Big B himself shoot for a film called “Barsat Ki Ek Raat” just 20 kms away from his tea...
by Vasan Bala at March 13th, 2009 at 02:03 am
28
LUCKBYCHANCE is HONESTBYGOD
DISCLAIMER – this is not a meta physical quantum analytical review of the film. It by no means wants to say how the director has made a socio-political or socio-economic comment in this film thru her characters. Nor does it say anything about the film…nor does it make any sense. I went for an audition last week. Yeh! audition for a role. By no means did I...
by Vasan Bala at January 29th, 2009 at 02:01 pm
31
My Dev.D Diary – 2
In my last post I went on and on as to how I was the Forest Gump of the sets. The only cue I needed was “RUN”. ADs should keep running someone told me before I left for war. As days went by that became my only resort. What if anyone asked “who’s job was this….and why is it not done…” RUN. We kept misplacing many props. I started...
by Vasan Bala at January 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 am
34
My Dev.D Diary
My DEV.D Genesis First heard of Dev.D on the last day of shoot of No Smoking @ Kamalistan. It was lunch time. KK and Smriti of PFC were there too. AK happened to mention he plans to make a modern version of Devdas. Paro would be rustic and a strong jatni and Chanda an escort in Delhi. Of course the way AK narrates one does get a little inquisitive. A little more than that...
by Vasan Bala at January 14th, 2009 at 07:01 am
10
Burn After Reading (not the film)
Thought that should be done to a script we (a dear friend and me) had worked on for the past few months. A lot had gone into it and the results were a disaster of Quantum proportions. Need to burn it down and throw it out of my system. Wanted a let out……watched a few films. Random. Some Back to back …. Body Of Lies – Whoever thought it was bad…..damn!!!!...
by Vasan Bala at November 8th, 2008 at 09:11 pm
23
Play School Rock !!
A scene out of “Malgudi Day” where Swami asks his wise grandmother “why is the sky blue……?” “why is papa like this……” “when will I have a kid sister…” (his mother is pregnant….he believes it will be a girl). Great moments from my childhood….then came the “Wonder Years”…hold...
by Vasan Bala at September 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
23
Gulaal Reprise
I had just quit whatever I was doing till then and had taken a solemn oath of eternal poverty and struggle. Cinema…..Was writing for someone those days…..donno what happened to that script. We were having a narration…..half way thru we had a sutta brake. The person whom we were narrating was a reputed editor…..he mentioned “Gulaal ruk gayee…..this was Anurag’s...
by Vasan Bala at June 28th, 2008 at 09:06 am
139
SANKALAN : Time for a script Lab in India
Had been to Cinemax Versova yesterday, Anupama Bose from Baiscope Entertainment had sent a very interesting invite. Let me share it with you all. The press conference was held at The Red Lounge -Cinemax Versova. The brochure which they have made is comprehensive enough for a person to know the whys? and hows? Of Sankalan. At the press conference there was some questions...
by Vasan Bala at May 19th, 2008 at 09:05 pm
24
Narrow Staircases, Shady Hotels and Lamb Chops @ 5.00am [set of Aamir]
The plot just seems to thicken as the shoot of Aamir progresses. From the vastness of the western express highway the film has moved to the dingy morbid lanes of Null Bazaar to narrow rickety staircases leading to shady hotels to watching dead-slashed-skinned goats hanging like dyed jeans on clothesline…at dhobighat….Aamir seems to have strayed into the dark morbid...
by Vasan Bala at November 13th, 2007 at 09:11 pm
34
Daud Daud Daud [Sets of Aamir]
A perfectly sunny day in the morning and by 12 it’s all cloudy and dark….the monsoons have left Bombay but this seemed so damn unlikely….this means that you are losing light even as you are just 2 hours into the shoot. A whole day to go….60 shots planned to be canned…..looks like a task ahead…Murphy’s ghost lurks only around movie shoots. It just seems to...
by Vasan Bala at October 31st, 2007 at 09:10 pm
34
Don
I get into this car…it’s an engineering marvel…a state of the art dream machine…it’s got every thing put into it… what an automobile should have…you get in and the engineer stands right besides me and says…. “go figure how to ride it…I gave you the best of what’s available but it’s up to the driver to figure out how you drive it…let me test...
by Vasan Bala at October 29th, 2007 at 05:10 am
74
On the sets of Aamir
Written and Directed by Rajkumar Gupta He must have been dreaming about this moment since long and it’s D-Day finally….ok agreed a long way to go before these credits appear on screen but the process has started the magical feeling of calling the shorts in ones own film….Rajkumar Gupta was living his dream on the 22nd of this month and it’s an awesome feeling… Could...
by Vasan Bala at October 25th, 2007 at 01:10 am
23
Dear Couch Critic and Smart A[ss]ce Producer,
Dear Couch Critic and Smart A[ss]ce Producer, It’s quite thrilling and you should be so happy to know that the recent past has been a field day for your esteemed clan. One with 100000 plus hours of cinema viewing experience and the other 1000000 plus hours of cinema marketing experience both have in a way put in your heart and soul to prevent or discourage or dismiss...
by Vasan Bala at October 5th, 2007 at 11:10 am
34
Loins of Punjab Presents
Have always had a biased opinion about the vedesi desi who makes a film on videsi desis and tells US [that is we Indians in India] this is how movies are to be made and how crappy Bollywood is…..how lousy we are etc…etc…geeks….but look at me I am the smart American Desi….but seriously I wish I was Just American…and not at all Desi….. They...
by Vasan Bala at September 19th, 2007 at 03:09 pm
25
The Last Of the Film Buffs.
This nostalgia maybe triggered when I saw the trailer of Jhonny Gaddar which starts with “naam kya hai tumhara… JOHNNYYYYYY” ————- “gaadi nahi chalenga!!!!!!engine kharab hai” “to dickey hai na…..hum dickey se chalayenge” “aapki birthday party ruk sakti hai dad…..marte hue aadmi ka bayan nahi…..happy birthday dad” “phle...
by Vasan Bala at September 6th, 2007 at 08:09 am
10
Gandhi My Father
“Gandhi se bada iss desh mein koi nahi hai…….” “main Gandhiji ka nalayak beta hun…” The promos did strike a chord and knowing the director was the director of the banned play in Mumbai…Watching this made it the top priority on the “to do list” this Friday. Came back rather unquenched. Feeling….what a potentially great story to say from the...
by Vasan Bala at August 4th, 2007 at 12:08 am
39
The Zing at Osian’s Cinefan : AK, Ayesha, Karthi & Alu Chat… – Part 1 (with 28 pics)
Never been a fan of the city….Delhi. They say big roads and big house…what’s the use if you cannot get out on it and of it unless you have a vehicle of your own. Hate the rick guys….got into fights this time too. The past ten days were split between abusing them in chaste Tamil, watching some path breaking cinema….meeting my HERO “Paruthiveeran” and meeting...
by Vasan Bala at July 30th, 2007 at 02:07 pm
9
Night out on the sets of Mumbai Meri Jaan
“I have not seen a single Guru Dutt film!!!!“. As Somen, Kartik and me heard these words we almost had a Zombi moment….I could hear Guru Dutt screaming loud and clear in my ears….. “jaladoo…issee…..phoonk dalo..yeh duniyaa….”. But then that’s how he is frank, chilled out …he is passionate about his film…he does admit Oliver Stone is like his “Khuda”...
by Vasan Bala at June 30th, 2007 at 06:06 am
27
Vasan Bhai Pizza Khilao Na!?
One 14 and the other is 12. Sunny and Ali. Ali does not even know his birthday. He introduces himself as Ali and that he is a Shiya. He wants to know who else in the crew is a Muslim and more importantly a Shiya. I did not know how to react. Ali and Sunny [Sanjay Kadam] are first cousins and they have a sister called Conan. No idea how that became a combination. Sunny...
by Vasan Bala at June 5th, 2007 at 08:06 am
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SATYA QUOTES
Satya Quotes I am just a sucker for dialogues. There are ones which become immoral like “rishtein mein to hum tumhare baap….”…. “kitne aadmi the…” …. “pushpa I hate tears”….[anything to do with Thakur and Gabbar ….my ears bleed now though] Some of the real gems I feel never get their due. Like for Instance RADIO and TV has abused DEEWAR, SHOLAY...
by Vasan Bala at May 15th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
4
Chadke Bothan Chirpichikad
“Chadke Bothan Chirpichikad… Chadke Bothan Chirpichikad….. dhanepe poti tana puskai… dhanepe poti tana puskai…. chirkitanakankarmuskai….. chirkitanakankarmuskai…. sabchalegay….. sabchalegay… chitngod…. chitingod…. cheriboskai…. chetiboskai….. kai….. kai… kai….” These specific words rang very vividly when I was in school and...
by Vasan Bala at May 7th, 2007 at 05:05 am
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CINEMA ON MS EXCEL, MS PPT AND Market Research
Chapter 1 It’s been some time since Dhoom [1 as we may now call it] and Hum Tum….and we are very well aware of a force called YRF. Whatever you want to call their cinema, many would give a hand or any other limb to be a part of it.[cannot question success…envy you can call it….guilty as charged] Have been to the premise once. I traveled back in time. I had just...
by Vasan Bala at May 3rd, 2007 at 11:05 am