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Well  at  last  the  Delhi  HC,  has  struck  down  the  archaic, antiquated   Raj era   Article 377,  which  treated  homo sexuality as a criminal  offence.  As  usual  the  judgement  has  been  received  with  mixed  reactions,   with  quite  a large number  opposing it.  My  personal  take   is   simple,  i  support  the  judgement.  No  i  am not  Gay,  nor  do i believe  that  Gays  are the next  best  thing  to  happen  to mankind,  nor  would  i  get  out  and  wave  banners  at  a  Gay  Pride  rally.   My  take  is  simple,  why  should  a  person  be  treated  like a  criminal   for  their  own  personal  beliefs.  If  a  guy  wants  to  make  it  out  with  another  guy, in  his  own  bedroom,  or  some where  else,  that  is  his  own  personal   life.  As  long  as   what  he ( or  for  that  matter she)  does  in their  own closet,  does …

Film Trust India & Russian Center of Science and culture
cordially invite you to ” Memory of the Great War “..
Russian film festival dedicated to the 64th anniversary of the
victory over fascism in the great patriotic war ( 1941 -1945 )

JULY 6 -10, 2009 ,6.30 PM
at the Russian center of science and culture,
24, Ferozshah Road ,
New Delhi
Venue Cinema Hall
RSVP.23329100 & 23329101

Schedule:

July 6: Ballad of a Soldier, 1959, dir G Chuhrai
July 7: Destiny of a Man, 1959, dir S Bondarchuk
July 8: They Fought for Their Fatherland, 1975, dir S Bondarchuk
July 9: Torpedo Bombers, 1983, dir S Aranovich
July 10: The Star, 2002, dir N Lebedev

Strange are the ways of Bollywood. Fair enough. Argument taken. It doesn’t take a genius to guess it’s been a bad year. Post Delhi-6/Gulaal/Dev D that is. And the thing about bad times is that it kills one’s senses to acknowledge something minutely good that comes on the way further. I do not remember which was the last hindi film I saw and enjoyed. I guess 13B or CC2C (had written a review on it but now even I can’t find it). Both were wholesome experiences, with their fair share of music and moods to munch on. There is some fun in exploring a tune lesser heard, and embracing it and gracing it with your own Grammy(s).

CC2C had Tere Naina, one of the most soothing tracks heard in the better parts of this year. Shankar sounded fresh as ever, and the song had a ‘khanak’ rarely heard off late. …

In the supremely gifted world of playback singers, Sukhwinder Singh’s success remains a delightful mystery. He has always been someone who could deliver the high octane, rush of adrenalin numbers like his first major hit ‘Chaiya Chaiya’ (Dil Se). Yet in ‘Hauley Hauley’ (Rab ne bana di jodi) he holds himself back remarkably well (hear him end one of the stanzas in the song with ‘doob ke jaana’) to convey the essence of the character. But the reason I use the word mystery to describe Sukhwinder’s success is because in an industry where play back singers have traditionally been used to provide the perfect fit for their onscreen counterparts, Sukhwinder is not a study in convention.

From the initial days of the evolution of the film song, when KL Saigal effortlessly walked the dual role of playback singer and actor …

21 grams

“They say 21 grams is the exact amount of weight which comes out from a person’s body when he dies. Now how much is lost when a person dies and more importantly how much is gained. How much does that 21 grams weigh?”

Scene -1. A man sitting by a sleeping woman, smoking, guilty, satisfied.

Scene-2. Another man having lunch with two girls (his daughters)

Scene-3. The same sleeping woman talking in a therapy group about her family.

Scene-4. A third man (an ex-mobster probably) giving a lesson on Christ to a teenager.                           “God even knows when you loose a hair from your head”.

Scene-5. The man from scene 1 lying in a hospital, all caged with tubes and needles, introspecting.

Scene-6. The sleeping woman taking drugs in her bathroom, unhappily …

I spent the last two Fridays watching two films on the day of their release: ‘Muthirai’ (which loosely means ‘mark’) and ‘Nadodigal’ (nomads). Though different as chalk and cheese, both films were on the common and universal theme of friendship, and show how far one can go for a friend. And ironically, I found that both of them could have been named ‘Nadodigal’, but at the end of the day only one gave me enough bang for the buck.

‘Muthirai’ is produced by Vikram Bhatt (his first venture in Tamil cinema, I think) and the late director-cinematographer …

Hello everybody, let me start by confessing a significant hometruth. I am computer illiterate, so much so, that I can’t even type. So lo and behold, how am I posting this blog? Simple, poor Pankaj Advani, the writer and director of Sankat City is typing my verbal diarrhea verbatim. I’ve read each of your responses and been overwhelmed by it. So much as I would have loved to respond to each of you personally, the constraints of time and my work load wouldn’t allow me to do so.

Thank you very much for your responses. I’ve tried to summarize a few poignant points you have raised in all the responses put together. Will try my best to address them.

Two aspects that struck me from …

I am angry. Like, really angry. Week after week, I read the Saturday morning newspaper and turn up in a foul mood at work. No, I am not here to teach any film critic what his job is. I am not here to say XYZ is good and XYZ is bad. I am confused. Genuinely. What is the job of a film critic supposed to be, anyway?

Last year, when I was at the FTII doing my Film Appreciation course, we had a class on Film Criticism. And this was the very question that I asked. The answer I got was “It is to inform”.. Alright. Whom? What? “It is to inform the audience about how to see the film” Really now. Is it?

OK. I would like to grant it to the critic who was my teacher …

Results of the 1st Ahmedabad International Film Festival (www.aifilmfest.com):

Harishchandrachi Factory by Paresh Mokashi has won the Best feature film award of $2500 . In the Short Film Competitive Category, 88 keys to heartbreak, a film by Nishit Mohan Singh went to win best short film (fiction) and best cinematography award along with $2500.

The award citations are as follows:

International Short films competitive category(Jury: Govind Nihalani – chair, Russian actor-producer Alina Rizvanova from Russia, Manisha Koirala, writer Kajal Oza & artist Naresh Kapuria)

Best Short Film(Fiction): 88 keys to heartbreak.(Nishit Mohan Singh, Mumbai) – The best short film for its artistic realization of the complex dimensions of an intense emotional situation. The film achieves this by an economy of expression, a stylistic cinematic discipline and an understanding of human nature.

Best Cinematography: 88 keys to heartbreak (Nishit Mohan Singh, Mumbai) For …

Manthan was second in the series of rural trilogy of Shyam Benegal, the other two being Ankur and Nishant. With the most unconventional idea and the most unconventional sources of fund at hand, Shyam Benegal made this rural drama showcasing the success of cooperative dairies in Gujarat.

Inspired from the life of Varghese Kurien, Manthan talks of the life of Dr. Rao, a vet, who visits a village as a member of National Dairy Federation to popularise the growth of dairy cooperatives in India. The village poses many hurdles along his path. The mukhiya, or village headman (Khulbhushan Kharbanda) who is insecure about losing his clout with the arrival of the cooperative, Ganga Ram Mishra (Amrish Puri), a dairy owner who exploits the villagers with a …

I redeemed some of my credit card points for some Hitchcock CDs at i-mint to watch over the weekend. I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy them as many famous movies don’t age so well, imho. But thankfully, my apprehensions were unfounded as I had a thoroughly good time. What surprised me the most was how original the movies seemed even today! That, if nothing else must be the surest sign of a classic. Here is a short note on one of them.

Rear Window (1954)

James Stewart plays a wheelchair bound photographer who is biding his recovery time by spying on his neighbors through his rear window. He is visited regularly by Thelma Ritter who plays a nurse, and by his lover, the ravishing Grace Kelly. The strange disappearance of one his neighbors leads James to believe that she …

Description of four movies which I have seen long time back and could never see again.

Midway into life, Dante wandered off into a dark thicket of woods, which turned out to be the doorway to hell. He later on meets Pia in Purgatorio, where all the sins are cleansed, and the souls packed off to Paradiso, the heaven.

ricorditi di me, che son la Pia;
Siena mi fé, disfecemi Maremma:
salsi colui che ‘nnanellata pria
disposando m’avea con la sua gemma

- Purgatorio, Canto V.

Pia, who was suspected of adultery, was left to die in the obnoxious dungeons of Maremma by her husband. She asks Dante and Virgil, ‘Do you remember me, who am Pia’. The rememberances of a crime and its aftermath, is the basic theme of Bhramaram and a Dantesque ride across various terrains, both physical and emotional form the structure of Blessy’s latest.

With a thin plot, Bhramaram retains its strength from three sources, Mohanlal, Lal and Lalettan. When actors try different gimmicks to prove their …

New York
Director: Kabir Khan
Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Irrfan

As the first major big banner release after the resolution of producer- multiplex owner dispute, New York was supposed to woo the audiences back into the theatres. But after watching it on the big screen, I am not sure that the film would manage that feat! Earlier director Kabir Khan’s Kabul Express had rather interestingly brought the war-ravaged Afghanistan and its Taliban- story in focus. In New York, he attempts to step up the ladder and portray the Post- 9-11 proliferation of Jihadism in US. Weaving any such burning sociopolitical issue into the script of commercial cinema requires a lot of finesse. Because in such a script the characters, the events and their progressive evolution are not only supposed to explain the history and the ideology but they are also supposed to connect to the audiences at a human …

I looked at my script again. A bracket here. Maybe the comma should be removed. Ok. Shit .I am fed up. These characters have aged in these five years. They look old and haggard after waiting in these files for so long. The online computer copy might just decide to commit hara-kiri. The CD disk copy will spawn a virus. Anything can happen. Everybody loves the story. Great! Wonderful! Such a film will be the first yaar. Sure hit. Keep your champagne bottle ready. Have you prepared your award speech yet? Any damn actor will give his right hand to do this role. Don’t blame me if they stand in line at your door. You will be an overnight celebrity after this –don’t forget us promise?

A gnawing pain attacked my insides again. I had been …

I am bored of my posts. Verbosity, forced philosophical innuendos, too much reading into things and the same dour themes. Hell, I needed a break. So I went back in time and read those dog-eared cinema diaries from my childhood. Back in those days, I had no choice but to sit with my family and watch those films of the 70s/80s and the early 90s. It’s only now that I am this pseudo-intellectual avant-garde cinema snob. Anyway, in this post I thought I’d write about the clichés of yore that are not much talked about, that we all probably grew up watching. We all know about the flowers that cover up the kisses, the kaali mata ka mandir-howling-ghantis or the rich heroine and poor hero clichés. So I thought I’ll write …

The team that gave super-hit music for “Jab We Met” is back again and this time they have a huge monkey on their back which would certainly result in comparisons . The music of “Love Aaj Kal” is out and I must say I was looking forward to this album with lot of anticipation . The film has an all new cast for director Imtiaz Ali who has never worked with them before and as a result expectations are running high . Pritam’s recent work , New York , is already on the charts and has got positive feedback .The lyrics which are done by Irshad Kamil , last worked on Jab We Met where he did a great job . This album has a total of 10 tracks with 3 remixes and 7 originals.

The …

Without wasting much time of yours,I will straight away get down to the movies I watched in the past few days.I was itching to discuss these films with a
larger audience.Without wasting much time of yours,I will straight away get down to the movies I watched in the past few days.I was itching to discuss these films with a
larger audience.
Without wasting much time of yours,I will straight away get down to the movies I watched in the past few days.I was itching to discuss these films with a larger audience.

Angels and Demons-Ron Howard

It has been discussed already by authors and readers at PFC.Apart from great camera work,the …

Tarang
Year: 1984
Writer/Director: Kumar Shahani
Cast: Amol Palekar, Smita Patil, Shreeram Lagoo, Rohini Hattangadi, Om Puri, Kawal Gandhiok

If you want to know why the so-called Parallel Cinema movement in Hindi cinema died down in the 1980s, then go and watch this movie- at your peril of course! The only reason I saw it was to listen to Lata Mangeshkar’s superb rendition of ‘Sang so jaao’- a complex Vanraj Bhatia composition that appears almost at the end of the film!

Looking at the stalwarts featuring in the film’s cast, is it too much to expect a decent fare? But all we come across is just a rambling, incoherent and at times incomprehensible narrative that fails to hold interest.

Story-line: An aging industrialist (Shreeram Lagoo) is trying to run his troubled company by maintaining a delicate power balance. Views of his son-in-law (Amol Palekar), who …

Dan Brown’s novels possess tremendous intrinsic speed. The narrative is so fast that the reader is always hooked and his books are always a one go start to finish affair. His books may not have anything profound to convey but there’s a formula to his writing which makes his books such bestsellers. There’s a ticking time bomb in the back ground and there’s a mystery that unfolds at break neck pace. Add to it the tremendous research that he carries out which inter twines science, Christianity and the unfolding compelling mystery, as a consequence, his books are tremendous material for intelligent and stimulating thrillers.

Post “A Beautiful Mind”, expectations from Ron Howard’s work has been sky high. Add to that Tom Hanks and Dan Brown. Some might say it’s quite expected, but to me it has been little disappointing that with “Da Vinci Code” and now “Angels and Demons”, they’ve had …

A Wild Night out with the boys! It’s just what the doctor ordered when you’ve been having a rough time at work. But what if this boys night out ends up with you lying face down on the floor, A baby in the closet, A tiger in the bathroom and one of your best friends missing just a few hours away from his marriage!

Yesterday, After I’d just landed in Mangalore after 2 successive flights, I wanted to go out and watch a movie to shake off the exhaustion from all the travel. My choices were New York, The Hangover and Terminator: Salvation. New York didn’t sound too appealing, Terminator would be too damn noisy, So pretty much settled for The Hangover and was joined by some of my drinking buddies. And i gotta admit, The …

First things first. Today is Pancham Da’s 70th Birth Anniversary. Despite my limited knowledge of his spellbinding music, I still am a fan in my own humble way. So to not cause hurt to millions of real hardcore fans of His, I refrain from writing about the musical genius – RDB aka Pancham Da aka Boss. I thought I would rather write about something that actually introduced me to the His genius. A film very close to my heart, a film that I wanted to blog about eversince I chanced upon PFC. Jhankaar Beats. The reason (almost) why I gave up BPO to join advertising. Thank you Sujoy!

It was long back, when I was a BPO staffer, I used to work nights & watch films during the day, till my eyes gave up fighting the sleep & fatigue. That was in the pre-recession era, when BPO was at its …

Kalavaramaye Madilo – Audio Review

Kalavaramaaye Madilo (Anguish In The Heart) is Satish Kasetty’s second feature. His first movie Hope got him a national award (which tells us that Satish is a good director), and even though it had no songs, it’s got some amazing BGM by none other than Isaignani Ilaiyaraja (which tells us that Satish has an ear for good music).

And that’s reason enough for the PFC (the passionate for cinema, us all) to eagerly await his second movie’s OST, the fact that Satish blogs for the PFC (Passion For Cinema, this site) notwithstanding.

Without further ado, let’s proceed with what Satish and his team has to offer to his fans this time around.

His first movie had no songs and, as if to compensate for that, his second movie has eight… out of which, four are female solo songs, three are traditional classicals — needless …

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 don’t screw this line for anything. But then the moment Logan mouths this to the love of his life in a very unlikely domestic moment in the film, It was all downhill from there for me….A great line wasted, an opportunity lost and that’s exactly what happened to this ambitious attempt to dig into the Origins of this great X-Man.

Likewise another great line was screwed up in another very successful franchise sans the Governor this time. The Terminator after …

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

We’ve to admit the fact that life runs parallel to a misty unknown which has been quest of many great individuals who have tried time and again to unravel its mysteries.
Why do people fall in love? What is love and how it became a reason for wars? Who is God and why has there been so much bloodshed in His name? Why we are here on this planet and what makes us decide as to which path we are going to tread? What is that force which puts a gun in someone’s hand and makes him take a life of an unknown whom he couldn’t have possibly known? Are all my reasons as good as they sound in my head or there is some loophole? What drives a person to bitch about someone …

Acclaimed French director Éric Rohmer once again explores the notion of love and fidelity in his epic romantic drama, The Romance Of Astrea And Celadon.

Catch the movie that was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2007 Venice International Film Festival, on NDTV Lumiere TV Channel on 28th June at 10.00 pm

Below is an interview with the director, Eric Rohmer

Adapting Honoré d’Urfé (1568-1625)
For once, I wasn’t the one who came up with the idea for the subject matter; it was filmmaker Pierre Zucca (1943-95). He had originally proposed an adaptation of Honoré d’Urfé’s novel “L’Astrée” to our production company, Les Films du Losange, many years ago. But Margaret Menegoz felt the film would be too expensive and Zucca was forced to abandon the project. I, for one, consider Pierre Zucca and Jean Eustache to be …

This post is in response to KK’s guest blog post and to some extent Anurag Kashyap’s earlier cry for help to everyone on PFC to go out and support a number of small films releasing around the same time. I completely understand the sincerity and passion for good cinema that these two posts represented. While, I admire both KK and AK and a fan of their work, I disagree with some of their fundamental points. Both Anurag and KK seem to blame the audience for failure of alternate cinema. That’s where I would like to disagree, respectfully.

And, I would like to claim that I represent the entire audience community, from villages to cities of various sizes and NRIs when I make this case. I have been part of different segments of the audience community at different points in my life. I grew up in a village where my only window …

It was like a normal day for an I.T. guy chaos, pressure and unhappy ever demanding Management, friend of mine whom I had mentioned about New York, although he is not a film freak (as he addresses me) like me but he has developed a good taste of movie, what will happen when you make them aware with classics like Junoon, Naram Garam, Garam Hawa, lekin, Ijaazat, ek doctor ki maut and ek ruka hua faisla, Satya, Gulaal , Black Friday, and many of my foreign movie collections.

For me I religiously watch at least one unwatched foreign movie in a week which is the bare minimum count normally its more then that. So coming back to my friend I had told him about Kabir khan, his debut feature – Kabul Express- and his forthcoming …

Finally I did it, yes I watched Me Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy, the move which was in news for being one of the Marathi’s big budget. The one which overtook Hit Machine Akshay Kumar’s film Tasveer 8 by 10.

Me Shiavji Raje Bhosale Boltoy (I Shivaji Speaking), with Mahesh Manjerkar acting as  Shiavji. I do not know who whether they had casting director, but casting an overweight Mahesh as Shivaji.was one of the biggest mistake.

Anyway the theme of movie has been there since time innumerable, a man against system. No matter how much Mahesh may deny that it is not inspired. The movie is Lage Raho Munnabhai meets Rang De Basanti. But it does not have simplicity of LRM or the appeal of RDB.

The story begins with Sachin Khedkar …

one very late review on Dev D and Devdas in general

On the lines of Khosla ka Ghosla and A Wednesday, comes a film directed by Pankaj Advani, called Sankat City. Having an acting school of mine and getting opportunities to work outside India I get to be in touch with today’s generation. In that sense I will never feel outdated. Sankat city is my belief in the modern day Indian cinema and that how money plays very minimum role in the germ of a thought that enters into the mind of a director or writer.

I clearly remember the first time I met Pankaj. He had come to visit me on the set of a film I was shooting, around one and half years ago. We sat and had …

I am a mess in my life, at times so much so that I feel that all I am doing is walking in a dark tunnel, walking and walking, hoping for the “light at the end of it”, but always killing this hope with the thought that whatever brightness I see is and will always be a mirage. In all probability, I may be wrong, but I will never ever question this. Instead I focus on the darkness; make it part of me, part of my identity. Then, I make my journey less torturous by trying to escape it. So that I can feel more numb and less pain. But then, all of a sudden, in my journey, I bump into someone – or rather the person is just meant to come into my life – who may be in a deeper mess than I am, less experienced to handle …

It didn’t surprise me when I read that Neda Agha-Soltan, the woman shot dead in the protests on the streets of Tehran last week, was dressed in a pair of jeans and sneakers under the black cloak. It summed up the contradiction that is Iran. A contradiction that flummoxes the most astute observers of the Persian state. And, maybe, a contradiction that helps explain that old bogey that we raise about quality cinema in India – “how can the Iranians do it with such limited means and the apparent restrictions on their freedom?” After all, what’s great storytelling if not a play between the perceived and the real.

Logan: Do I look like a man who exaggerates?

Wolverine has been one of my recent addictions. The comic book. I never saw X-Men films. Neither did I pick up their comic books earlier. “Too complex”, I said to both. Much later, quite recently, when the streets were done with all the Batman and Spiderman that they could think of, did I turn towards them. “This guy looks OK”, I murmured to myself, and picked up few Wolverine comic books, mostly because of their inspired artwork and versions.

Soon I was inducted into the cult adamantium planet, going through the agonies of the well-haired and well-adrenalined superhero. The books kept revealing one dimension after the other, as Loganman moved from oriental orbs to citystreet gangsters to jungle jamborees. I always thought of him as a superhero who would take to his destiny reluctant and lazy, and then weighing things as …

I cannot write reviews – I am constitutionally incapable of writing them. We have a very visceral approach to movies, both me and Kamayani. We like them on a very human level, irrespective of technique and craft, and we are extremely hard to please. Most of the blockbusters and biggies from Bollywood and Hollywood as well as ‘world cinema’ in the recent few years have left us cold and unimpressed.
I think the last hindi film we both instantly and viscerally liked was ‘Oye Lucky…’ – that’s a film I have recommended highly to everyone I know.
Now I can add one more to that list.
One line review of ‘Sankat City’ – WATCH IT PEOPLE!
Drop everything you are doing, gag your friends who want to go watch a YRF or Dharma or whatever movie instead, kidnap your loved one if they are put off by the …

Regional cinema in India have always received second hand treatment.Thankfully due to internet growing media, regional cinema has been getting it share under limelight .Even though focus has been blockbuster, with advent of 24 news channel one can not forgot how Sivaji and Dashavataram occupied prime time spots in news channel.But it is also limited and channels do not review regional movies unless it is a huge film or star some from Bollywood.

In this site also I think Sethu,Ram and Vasan have introduced and Shared with us the beauty of southern cinema and sometimes what ails southern cinema.

It was in this site, I read about jharkand Film industry. I would like to share my views on marathi cinema, how it has evolved in recent years.

It is indeed irony looking at …

I HAVE TO CONFESS.
I’ve finally been infected. I was dreading it would happen to me someday.  There’s a disease which  strikes us writer’s once in a while, or may be more than just once in a while.  It’s happened to a few people I’ve known.  I also now know that it’s happened to so many people I’ve never known, but still somehow know,  because they were famous writers.

Well, someone like Shakespeare!  Yes, I believe he too was infected by this strange disease.  He got cured pretty soon, and continued doing what he’s best known for. They even made a movie about this. It was called Shakespeare in love. And what’s the disease he suffered from called?  It’s called Writer’s Block.

Ah, you’ve had it once, na.
Never had it? Beware, it’ll strike you someday.

My literary skills are not even one percent of what Shakespeare’s were, but then diseases don’t give a damm …

A friend of mine who loves watching Telugu movies had been recommending Godavari to me for a year. I’d heard quite a bit about this movie. It got a pretty good review on Rediff and I remember there having been a good buzz about this movie on PFC back then in 2006. Unfortunately for me though, My Telugu is barely functional at the most and it helps me sit through the usual Masala flicks starring my usual favourite Mahesh Babu, But for a talk-heavy (or so i figured) movie like Godavari, I didn’t want to risk watching it without subtitles. And out here in Mangalore, Telugu movies release pretty rarely, and if they do, It’s in this super-stuffy single screen the other side of town, So i figured, Might as well wait for the original …

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 get selected. [Out of around 2,500 applications, only 70+ were selected this year, they said.]

I’ve not found time to write about the whole experience. These are some of the real gyaan that I got there and which I think are worth quoting:

THE BUG

“What if cinema is ‘truth’ 24 frames per second?” I asked.

“I’m not obsessed about truth . . . anymore.
I watch dirtier, lousier films these days.”

— Sandeep Chatterjee

Does film analysis exhausts the pleasure?

“No, it enriches the experience. …

I haven’t had the time these days to watch much films. Got caught up in work and liquor. Didn’t even see 99 or the toast of the season – Sankat City. May be will watch them soon. Just a couple of movie updates that I managed to see in the past few days

The killing –
Quite possibly one of the inspirations for reservoir dogs. Multiple characters, multiple povs,multiple timelines, going here there everywhere, this film is a must watch crime caper gone wrong. The end dog sequence might be slightly co-incidental but guess that’s ok. Guess at the end of the crime caper, one has to give the message saying –Crime doesn’t pay. And for all those who like me might have had a bias against black and white Hollywood films, will be surprised.
High point of the film for me – All the sequences of the …

‘…because they’re spot.’

It was said nonchalantly, almost with a laugh. Which the kid had directed at someone who didn’t even know something as simple as that. As if.

Well, I’m a bit old-fashioned for this I realised. When I got home that evening and narrated the same incident and the words to my wife Kamayani, she almost popped a vein. We both decided to not just IQ test our ADs when we make our films – we would EQ test them too.

But this got me thinking about why it affected me like this. (You’ll get to know the context of the comment and it’s portent really soon, just bear with me). And I remembered 2 names: Ayhan Ghanim, and Sameer Singh. And I thought back to the day, almost 8 years ago…

I land up at their office, bristling with ideas and the urge to be a cinematographer, and later, a director. …

1941: World War II was raging on in Europe and, back home in India, Tagore passed away. The year also saw the first trilingual production of an Indian film—Wadia Movietone’s The Court Dancer or Raj Nartaki, directed by Modhu Bose (1900-1969), which was released in English, Hindi, and Bengali. According to the film credits, The Court Dancer was “the first Indian film with dialogue in English to be entirely produced in India with an all-Indian personnel”.

Once, in the late 1980s, Doordarshan broadcast the English version of The Court Dancer in the late-night slot. (Unfortunately, old classics are typically relegated to the hours of slumber.) After finishing my school homework well in advance, I was up that night with my video recorder to capture this momentous piece of Indian film history. I was very …

There has been so much utter garbage in the name of Hindi music coming out this year, that when I found out Kailasa (Kailash Kher, Naresh Kamath, Paresh Kamath) have come out with their fourth album, Kailasa Chaandan Mein, I was ecstatic! Songs from Aawargi, Kailasa and Kailasa Jhoomo Re still rank very high on my play list and so do Kailasa’s compositions from Dasvidanya and Pranali. Kailash’s soulful voice, absolutely gorgeous thought-provoking lyrics, music drenched in the ambiance of a village/folk setting…truly their previous albums really do transport you to a magical realm…pure heaven…it’s Kailasa…

While Kailasa came out with an album each year (Aawargi in 2005, Kailasa in 2006, and Kailasa Jhoomo Re in 2007), it is after two years that Kailasa has blessed audiences with another album—Kailasa Chaandan Mein. Granted that they had two years to put the album together, my expectations for the way the …

Recently there was a discussion. I wouldn’t say it was pleasant. I was at the receiving end for most part of it.
It centred on what credentials or knowledge I possess to write articles in an esteemed forum like PFC?
Sure I was no struggling AD in the streets of mumbai or chennai trying to make movies, not now – probably I never will be.
Sure I was not a guy who has poured over books on cinema and I surely do not get the meaning of Seventh Seal and I havent seen Pather Panchali in my life – not till now, atleast.
Neither I am a fan of ‘Black Friday’ or ‘No Smoking’, the second being way above my understanding – probably that is why it is too good a movie for me.
By the same token I am not much impressed by Yash chopra factories movies too – except Chak De.
While the accusations …

Remember the music of Woh Kaun Thi? Or of Haqeeqat? Or of Mera Saaya? Or of Aashiana, Adalat, Anpadh, Bhai Bhai, Manmauji, Sanjog, Dekh Kabira Roya, Sharabi, Ghazal, Jahanara, Heer Ranjha, Hanste Zakhm, Chirag, Dastak, Mausam And Laila Majnu?

The man behind all this, the legendary Madan Mohan, passed away 34 years ago, on July 14, 1975. And this June 25 will be his 85th birth anniversary. Mark this date, because that is the day when his son, Sanjeev Kohli (long associated with Yashraj Films), will bring to us “Tere Bagair”, an album of 15 of Madan Mohan’s ‘new’ songs, five of them never heard before, and the remaining ten probably part of “A Treasure Revealed”, an album meant for very limited circulation immediately after his death.

Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara had used some of Madan Mohan’s music, but that was ‘recreated’ to suit today’s times. What Tere Bagain (YRF Music) contains is …

As a hard core movie- music buff, it is but natural to be curious about a man who not only happens to be legendary composer Madan Mohan’s eldest son but who has also played an important role in shaping the corporate identities of India’s biggest entertainment banners- RPG Music and Yashraj Films.

Kalakaar – Ek kala ko aakar dene wale ko kalakaar kehte hain, waise yeh bhi kehte hain ke ek ‘akaar’ bhagwan ka roop hota hai. Bhagwan roop Cinema ko aakar dene wala bas ek ‘Kalakaar’ hi ho saktha hai. Pesh hai Kalakaar – Kay Kay Menon.

He debut in the award winning film ‘Naseem’ directed by Saeed Mirza in 1995 and almost five years later got to work in ‘Bhopal Express’ which won accolades all over. He has also worked in serials, but I am sure he had planned a road-map almost two decades back on where he wants to be and what he wanted to achieve. Born in Kerala and brought up in Mumbai, Kay Kay graduated in Marketing with focus in advertising. Its the theatre world which brought him to cinema. Apparently, he met his better half while doing theatre. I think the most notable performance initially is in …

“Benegal has put up a model of committed film-making in a thoroughly professional manner that could be eminently useful for both the mainstream, with its recklessly expensive habits, and art cinema, with its holier-than-thou attitude and amateurism.”

It is ironical that talking about Shyam Benegal is extremely easy as well as quite difficult at the same time.

Considering the repertoire of films that he has given us over a period of last 35 years or so, it is easy to slot him as the “art-house” director. However, look closer, and the diverse topics that he has addressed over the years, talking about secularism, pluralism, democracy, equality of opportunity, human rights, women’s rights, study of human psyche, superstitious myths embedded in our culture, satire, etc humbles us to the extent that it becomes impossible to gauge the …

The great comic genius Charlie Chaplin was asked to define what exactly is comedy and how it differs from tragedy..And he gave an example of a man walking by leisurely and slipping on a banana peel..To the onlookers it is a source of comedy but to the person just fallen and humbled it is a tragedy..and bigger the ego that is humbled the mirth and merry making for others is more and the humiliation for the fallen one is proportionately higher..

Similarly the great master Alfred Hitchcock was asked the difference between suspense and surprise..And he explained it with a wonderful example of an ice-cream seller riding his bike with his ice-cream box on the back of his bicycle carrier..He feels an urge to pee..Stops the bike..Puts it on a stand..And goes across to the bushes to take a leak..Meanwhile a guy comes surreptitiously and puts a time bomb in the …

A Museum for Cinema in New York

The Museum of Moving Images was high on this writer’s priority list on a visit to New York this spring. After savouring the glass and metal super structures across the city, and hoping for a fantastic Hollywood experience, the museum was disappointing. It is located in the down-market area Astoria, Queens, making it a long trip from Manhattan .The building is an old fashioned heritage structure and sports an unimpressive façade. A far cry indeed from the imposing Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) and a spectacular Museum of Modern art (MOMA). Comparatively little known in a city of many museums, not many tourists put this one on their must-see list. A minimum of $5 is demanded as ‘donation’. Most Museums are public institutions and cannot charge for entry …