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After years have we seen such a smashing, wonderful, gripping, movie to grace the silver screen. Guru Ghantal Varma (aka GGV) the director has definitely redeemed himself after such beautiful but badly rejected films like GGV ki Aag, NoShabd and Bekar Raj.

After finishing the 90 odd minutes of Contract on a DVD, oztrac walks out for a breather. And VOILA! Across the street is the great Guru Ghantal Varma in beach shorts and ganji (no not a bald woman, but a vest), walking in surf sandals, gracing the streets of Newport Beach, Orange County with Bimbo and BiggerBimbo on his either side, whom one may guess have been offered GGV’s next projects - Thook and Chikoo Raj. Unfortunately his proposed project GGV ki Paani has been temporarily shelved.

ozTrac is a bit apprehensive approaching GGV, knowing his slap and walk away kind of conversations he generally has with the general public …

There have been many good female singers in the hindi cinema right from the days of Noorjahan and Suraiya. Geeta Dutt, Suman Kalyanpur and Sudha Malhotra all gave good and hit songs and their songs were able to compete with the songs of any good female singers active in those years. They all have many songs where question of comparison with other singers does not arise and listener is fully satisfied with their singing only. They have got many songs of their own.

Even it is hard to imagine that any other female singer could have sung Afsana Likh Rahee hoon dil e bekarar ka (Dard 1947), better than the Uma Devi, who later became famous in her new incarnation of Tun Tun-the famous female comedian.

Inspite of the fact that so many good female singers always remained active in …

I had just finished my Class VIII examinations and was enjoying a break - not entirely well deserved as it turned out later when the results were declared. While I was revelling in, what I would later look back to and refer to as, my salad days (as Shakespeare almost stole my lines and wrote “when I was green in judgment, cold in blood”), the nation was going through, what an average writer would call, tumultuous times.

Mandal, till then the surname of that girl living next block with allegedly malleable morals, suddenly came to mean more to us. That a lot of young men fought over Mandal remained common between the girl and the Report. Mandir was no longer where Amitabh went to vent his spleen at the end of the movie. It now had terms like shilanyas and kar seva tagged with it. All in all, the kind …

Govinda……… govinda…… govinda……… govinda………… goooooovindaaaaaaaa.

I have hearing problem. Left side is almost dead, some medical complication. And now I feel so lucky that after watching Contract, right side is still working. Or I would have no option but to sue the filmmaker.

Had a hard time convincing myself to watch Sarkar Raj. Recently saw it on the net and concluded that “the man has lost his craft”. And I can’t figure out how. I understand if your art doesn’t connect with your fans and audiences or fans and audiences are dumb enough not to understand your art but how do you lose your craft ? Like VVC’s Eklavya, SLB’s Saawariya or AK’s No Smoking. All these films are well crafted, brilliantly mounted. Anyway, being an old Ramu fan, I could not stop myself from watching Contract. Third film of his underworld triology.

Since it was a special screening, when we entered the …

It amazed me no end that someone would try a equivalent of professional hara-kiri by redoing any film of Tim Burton. But Nolan did and gave such a fresh breath to the franchise with Batman Begins that The Dark Knight was the most anticipated film of the year!! He began with elan, is making merry with the knight and the journey has just begun.

And I am being extremely balanced and fair here when i say its worth every fucking minute!!!

I have unashamedly professed a love for comics before. Once the red and blue cape fantasies wore thin, Batman has always been the most intriguing amongst them all. Whilst Burton made Batman in his own signature style and Schumacher tried his bit to resuscitate the comic (pun very much intended) bit, Nolan reinvented!! The character depth and detailing which he gave Bale’s crusader is what prompted me and so many like …

KL Saigal (KLS) also belong to the precious list of those rare people who did not need long life to prove their worth among Billions of people on earth. KLS did live only for 43 years but he has left behind such a great contribution to the field of music that till people, who understand music, will be coming on earth, his songs will remain immortal. Such a great voice, such a crystal clear pronunciation of the words and such a devotion and involvement to the music is seldom seen.

KLS sang around 100 songs in Hindi films and still he has been recognised as a legend of legends and not by the ordinary music listeners only but by the legends themselves.
For big and accomplished singers, musicians and audiences having refined taste in music, KLS has been their singer …

iView Author:Aditya Mani Jha
(Kharagpur, India)
EMAIL: amj91288[at] gmail [dot] com

Title: Bookworms and Movie Maniacs : Literary adaptations in cinema

Following are three out of the five nominees for the Best Film Academy Award: Atonement, No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood.(No Country For Old Men finally got the nod from the Academy sages.)

In case you are wondering what are the ties which bind the trio, the answer is they are all literary adaptations , based on novels by Ian McEwan, Cormac McCarthy and Upton Sinclair, respectively. Although adapted screenplays are not a new thing, the recent trend shows an upsurge like never before. So what is it that attracts writers and directors to bring out the reading glasses?

For one, one of the biggest hurdles of filmmaking is easily overcome when you have an engrossing story on hand. While some directors prefer …

Given the chance of writing about movies and movie experience here on PFC, I had been thinking about the experience of watching a movie that I wanted to share with you all. Until last week, I had no idea which one I’d choose. That’s when I chanced on the DVD of Nagarik/Nagorik. This movie is by Ritwick Ghatak whom I am getting to know slowly. He needs no introduction and I feel, I have not known him enough through his movies to give you an introduction.

I had been postponing watching his movies for some time. One major reason is that I am still new to Bangla and our Indian movie subtitles are absolutely HORRENDOUS. I had seen Meghe Dhaka Tara recently and the movie impressed me but I was trying to read the subtitles more than watch the movie in the first place. The second …

This isn’t a post on cinema though I have made some tenuous connections. This is a post on history, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, global trade and some personal observations.

September, 1833. As the Tuscany, that had set sail from Boston about four months ago, approached the Hooghly and made its way up into Calcutta, there was palpable excitement among the officers of the British Empire. The Tuscany carried a cargo so improbable that many thought it was a prank. It carried frozen water! Yes, Ice!

The improbability of ice ‘harvested’ from the many fresh water ponds of New England traveling over 15,000 miles to reach the greatest city, then, east of London makes for one of the more interesting anecdotes of global trade. Especially, when you consider mankind had not yet discovered industrial refrigeration. The Ice trade, one of the earliest instances of globalization, was pioneered by Frederic Tudor, a tenacious …

At times some dialogues have a weird sense of irony in them..In Love 2050 Harman Baweja is made to say at least four times “ I don’t need luck, I have love”..And to justify his conviction he goes into future to bring back his lady love Priyanka Chopra.

In Jane Tu Ya Jaane Na (JTYJN) Imran Khan and Genelia D’souza are not even sure what love is all about and whom to love etc.etc.

To be fair Harman Baweja in Love 2050 did a good job..He is is earnest, enthusiastic, camera friendly..Ditto for Imran Khan in JTYJN.. He is earnest, enthusiastic, camera friendly..Both are cute..Ok Imran Khan is more cute.

Harman Baweja is tom tommed as clone of Hrithik Roshan..Imran Khan of his illustrious uncle Aamir Khan..Harman Baweja is touted as next super-star..Imran Khan is brazenly written about as next super-star by many reviewers..

So what’s the problem man?

Have some …

Some genius mind has written/said

“ Shabd to shor hain tamasha hai,
Maun hee prem ki bhasha hai ”

[ Spoken words are nothing but exhibition of a noise,
Silence is the real language of love ]

A Poet has written

You smiled,
You did not talk to me,
But I felt that
I was waiting for long
for this moment only

Another brilliant and highly constructive mind has mentioned a beautiful thought

“ Where love exists, there silence seems very natural and joyous. When it is a matter
of loving someone silently then there is no comparison to this feeling of calmness.
Does there exist any desire to say something while looking lovingly at the lover ? ”

Love can not be explained in words. Recipie of love can not be published. When no language was here …

I’ve just been reading all the columns at wordplayer.com and if you are an aspiring screenwriter, suggest that you do the same. Invaluable advice, there. What I also did quite recently, was read the screenplay of ‘The Omen’. Remember the movie- Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner? Written by David Seltzer and directed by Richard Donner? It’s a fantastic screenplay which if you get past the first five pages, is unputdownable. If you are the kind who avoids horror movies, I strongly recommend reading the screenplays of the better ones and then seeing them. Reduces the thrill factor but it will get you introduced to the genre at least.

Ok, the reason I am writing this is because while I was reading and admiring the screenplay, I couldn’t but help relate to what Terry Russio had been saying in his columns about what makes a great screenplay and many …

iView Author:Bhavesh Purohit
(Mumbai, India)
EMAIL:b_star87 [at] hotmail [dot] com

Title: Searching Hrishikesh…

About me, I have been a very silent reader of PFC but I liked it throughout and was just searching time to write in it.

I have seen all kinds of discussion here on PFC about world cinema where people praise directors like kurosawa, kielowski and tarantino, lynch. Of course they are brilliant and I love few of them too. But somewhere I also noticed that a lot of great Indian directors are ignored and discussed mostly in comments section. I thought about one of my favourite directors Late. Hrishikesh Mukherjee and even here where people are so passionate about films forget this passionate director. Maybe he have been discussed but I am sure not much.

Infact Hrishida, don’t know why is always ignored when great directors from Indian cinema are counted. He made so …

Manik grew up influenced by writers, artists, musicians and even a “cameraman turned film maker” who comprised his maternal uncles extended family. It was here that he developed a fascination with western classical music and American movies… a fascination which would one day fructify into a film career and make him one of the most revered directors in the world … Satyajit Ray.

Just to remember Sanjeev Kumar and to celebrate his 70th birth anniversary.
——————–
Who does not know that Sanjeev Kumar was a very good actor? Who does not admit that he was a versatile actor?

He did many films which could be classified as mile stones in their respective genres. He played very tough roles with a competent ease. Nothing looked tough once he accepted a role. He made it so easy that role seemed tailor made for him. Exception can be his role of Maznu in Love and God but that film took almost ages in completion and it can/should not be taken as an example.

Films, where he has played deftly a strong character, are many and films, came out from his union with Gulzaar saab, are well known and praised alike both by critics and audiences but apart from these highly acclaimed films he has done many light and regular …

THE INDIAN COWBOYS
Can you remember those- horses, boots, hats, jeans, jackets, pistols and above all tall and dark guy with half shaved beard- the cowboy?
Recently No country for old men refreshed those memories associated with cowboys and their culture. While watching that flick; Indian (specilly hindi) movie cowboys came into my mind. Most of them existed in 70s and 80s and have not seen since long time.

They were basically inspired from Clint eastwood, Gregory pack and all other those once upon a time movie cowboys of hollywood. But our cowboys had qualities of those cowboys with essential benefits or qualities of Indian culture. Like western cowboys they used to ride on horses, wear boots, jeans and shooting bullets like playing with toys… but could also dance and sing very well, must fall in love with village girl etc etc. Most of our good cowboys had Daku or Thakur/zameendar …

It will not be suffice to say that Amrish Puri plays only a callous father of Anant Velankar (Om Puri) in the film, Ardha Satya or the film shows him as a cruel father only. It will not do a proper justice to this interesting character. Things are not so simple and straight with this character that we may define his character as a harsh father of AV. Its not possible for Vijay Tendulkar to write a simple character that has been given only one characteristic. His characters have to be completely complex in nature because they belong to real life. His characters are seen in real life. Its not possible for Govind Nihalani to show his characters seized under monotonous behaviour and his characters have to face the volatile conditions and behaviour because life is like that only and prototypes don’t work here. That’s the beauty of films directed …

9 july ko Guru Dutt ka janmadin hai.mumkin hai patra-patrikaon,news chaneels aur filmy channels par unke sambandh mein apne-apne anaz mein har koi kuchh na kuchh likhe,bole aur bataye.aaj unhen aur unki filmon ko yaad karte hue sabhi ek hi raag alap rahe honge.bagair unki films dekhe,samjhe aur niji taur par aatmasaat kiye hi har koi tarif kar raha hota hai.waqt aa gaya hai ki ham Guru Dutt ka sahi moolyankan karen aur aaj ke sandarbh mein dekhen ki woh kitne prasangik aur mahtvapoorn hain.

main yahan unka likha ek lekh post kar raha hoon.yah lekh unhonne Screen ke liye likha tha.yah lekh mujhe Shashikant Kinikar ki pustak ‘Guru Dutt 1925-1964′ mein mila.pustak mein koi tarikh nahin di gayi hai,lekin lekh mein aaye dev anand aur geeta bali ke zikra se lagta hai ki 1955-56 ke aaspaas likha gaya hoga.is pustak mein unke aur bhi do lekh hain.agar koi unhen yahan …

It is time to do a list. This time, I present to you The Top 10 One Scene Characters. Not really. Just a few of my favorite One Scene Hindi Film characters, that have sorta stuck in me mind. I was meant to write on this a very long time ago. But, you know, how it is. Anyway, a few weeks back I read RK’s article on Naseeruddin Shah’s 3.5 scene in Ardh Satya and that kinda prompt me to finally write about my favorite one scene characters; I just want to highlight those great actors.
In most of the films - those small characters/one scene characters are the most memorable/entertaining scenes. And I am going to start with RajPal Yadav because he has made a successful career out of playing one scene/small characters.
RajPal Yadav has done plenty of films with Ram Gopal Verma …

iView Author:Pranay Jha
(India)
EMAIL: pranay20485 [at] gmail [dot] com

Title: Songs in Hindi film:Cause and effect

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na,

Friday evening—
As “Pappu cant dance saala” starts barely 10 minutes after “Aditi” there are visible groans in the audience.”Phir se Gaana!”.

Love Story 2050,
Saturday evening—-
An incredulous second half has begun after a boring first.As Harman Baweja reaches a futuristic nightclub,a wave of anticipation sweeps through the audience.”Milo na Milo” has the people in rapt attention for the only time in the movie.

The two reactions shocked me due to the fact that Jtyjn has a music score not only better but also more popular.So were the groans directed at the placement of the songs rather than the songs themselves?Or was this simply an instance of different people reacting differentely?

The question that keeps coming back to my mind is why Hindi movies have songs in the first …