Cannes: Kya Karein Ki Naa Karein…..
This morning, I suddenly recalled the song “Kya Karein Ki Naa Karein Ye Kaisi Mushkil Bhai” from Rangeela. Man, this song could be the anthem of anyone visiting Cannes Film Fest, that too for the first time. What to take, and what to leave? – completely confusing. As a journalist, I am supposed to cover any possible India-angle stories apart from the main festival stories (which, of course, I am doing for my paper Deccan Herald). But then, do I watch movies, do I attend press conferences, do I explore the Market, do try to meet some people (meeting the big names is out of question because appointments are fixed up much in advance, through agents, a fact I discovered after landing up here)?
Take today for example: early morning, screening of Jane Campion’s Bright Star (missed, because was shifting hotel, to a place near the fest venue. Thanks to recession, this time a few hotel rooms are available even at short notice, something that is impossible in normal times during fest period), Jane Campion Press Conference (took a call on attending the Kites press conference with Hrithik, Rakesh Roshan and Barbara Mori attending….ok, ok, don’t berate me guys, to be fair, just wanted to check how hot Mori is…didn’t find it too exciting), Francis Ford Coppola PC (could not attend as got an exclusive – Fortissimo Films has bought its first Indian feature film, Dev Benegal’s Road, Movie – I am discounting Deepa Mehta’s Bollywood/Hollywood which was essentially a Canadian production, and Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay whose re-sell rights it had taken. Fortissimo has also bought global rights of Rajesh Jala’s documentary The Children of the Pyre), Martin Scorcese PC (avoided to watch my only film of the day..am going to watch it in a while….Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, which is in competition). And of course, have to attend a few Indian parties….Kites, ASSOCHAM’s S P Hinduja sponsored party at his villa (last night, there was a cocktail at Ashok Amritraj’s suite at Carlton Hotel, and he is going to be producing his 100th Hollywood film soon, but that is a different story).
Last night, watched a brilliant film, Bahman Ghobadi’s Kasi Az Gorbehayeh Irani Khabar Nadareh (No One Knows About Persian Cats), which opened the Un Certain Regard section. Please guys, watch this as soon as you can lay your hands on it. Brilliant acting, brilliant music and brilliant theme (because it is on an unknown aspect about Iran – the underground music scene in Tehran). The Kurdish director, whose girlfriend and American journalist Roxana Saberi has just been released from jail by the Iranian authorities (she was arrested for trying to buy alcohol in Iran – women are banned from doing so in the country), has come up with something completely different from his earlier films like Half Moon and Turtles Can Fly. Almost a docu-feature, it uses real underground musicians who sing their songs – Indie Rock, Headbangers rock, heavy metal, Rap, traditional – man, what talent and what variety. Why do not our filmmakers think of such themes (Anurag dealt with underground musicians in Paanch, but this one is completely different). Shot secretly because the authorities won’t give permission to make such a film (Half Moon too was banned by the Iran government), it is a rebellion against the system, and the spirit of rebellion in all thinking people. And the lyrics, simply heavenly (that is in the subtitles, I can imagine how great they will be in Persian)…
Tags: 62nd Cannes Film Festival, Bahman Ghobadi, Dev Benegal, Fortissimo Films, No One Knows, No One Knows About Persian Cats, Rajesh Jala, Road Movie, The Children of the Pyre, World Cinema
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Thanks again Utpal…but you shouldn’t be missing so many good PC’s and movies.. :-)
Utpal- great work, keep it going.Just wish I can swap places with you atleast for a day
Sir, i read ur cannes articls in dh and mostly they have been about indian connection. Today it was about indian short films. Your cannes articles here are better than in dh. My humble request please dont repeat stuff here. I know sir, you haven in futur plz don. Thanks
Utpal – many thanks for your reccos!!
thanks for the updates!
It’s fantastic to see someone mention ‘Half Moon’ here!
It was brilliant!
So was ‘Turtles…’ though.
I’ll DEFINITELY look out for that persian cats one.
Thanks.
hi guys. sorry have not been able to respond to any of the comments, because of the hectic pace of life at the fest….
@ dilipr: what I write in Deccan Herald is news stuff, and my mandate is to focus on India-angle stories first…that’s why….here at pfc, it’s about my experiences here, so it’s more fun writing…
Hi utpal,
barbari was not so exciting, but was the movie by any chance? i heard there was a screening of english version of kites at cannes, so any news on that?