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Tapan Sinha, the man who has given some beautifully-crafted films like Kabuliwalla, Khudito Pashan, Sagina Mahato and Ek Doctor Ki Maut, is the Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner for the year 2006.

A committee comprising Shyam Benegal , Gautam Ghosh, A Nageshwar Rao, Sharmila Tagore and Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia recommended Sinha’s name for the top cinematic honour of the country to the Government. The award comes at a time when Sinha has been bedridden for quite some time due to old-age ailments.

The government announced that Sinha will receive a cash price of Rs ten lakh (one million), a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) and a shawl. The award will be given away at the function, likely to be latter this month, in which the National Awards for 2006 (announced earlier) will be given to the winners.

Another highly-deserving stalwart from Bengal, Saumitra Chatterjee, was also in the running for the honour …

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 …

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 …

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 …

A sultry July evening.

Major General Surinder Pal Singh stands outside the Military cemetery in Delhi cantonment.  A car pulls over, the young man driving it opens the front door.  Gen. Singh quickly gets in, relieved to get away from the oppressive heat.

” Hi, Dad. You look awfully exhausted. What made you venture out in such weather?” 

“Mandy, I’ve experienced worse conditions during my Army days. O.K, I know I was younger then. But this was one prayer meeting I couldn’t miss. I hope you remember Sam Bahudar?”

“Ofcourse, I do. Fauji ka beta hoon, yaar. Who hasn’t heard of Sam Bahadur, otherwise known as Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the General who led the nation to victory in the 1971 war”

Mandy glances at his Father. ” I know he passed away recently”

” Mandy, Old soldiers don’t pass away, they just fade away. He was my boss once upon a time. We served in the same regiment, the …

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 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 …

TV is a bitch. It seriousy is. For anyone wanting to get into media, it’s the first choice. Firstly, because it offers easy money. And secondly, because there are so many idiots around that you get to make your mark easily. That is if you can inspire yourself enough to give the best in an atmosphere which has loads of sleaze and internal politics. Yes, it’s a big magnetic field. It does attract a lot of good talent but immense amount of junk too. For me, i always wanted to make movies and saw television as a stepping stone towards that. Extremely stupid. Now, this could hold true in the west where a lot of the content created for television is top notch. There is
loads of creativity. The crew works as a professional unit. Moreover, a lot of stuff still is shot on 16/35mm so graduating to films is not …

Love Story 2050 ya Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na ? Me and KK were not confused about making the choice. Its Harry Baweja vs Abbas Tyrewala. But KK had some other reason. At Love Story 2050 screening, booze would be there. May be we can sit through the film then. No, lets vote for the writer. Afterall he co-wrote one of our all time favourite film, Maqbool. We compromised on the booze factor.

Mummy I want panipuri. A squeaky voice from the row behind us.
Must be kid.
Beta panipuri bahar jaake khayenge.
Ahhhh…naaaaiiiii…papa….panipuriiiiii…mummy.
Ok, we are fucked.
Beta, dekho papu cant dance aayega…abhi jaldi aayega.
KK looked around…Koi aur seat khali bhi to nahi hai.
In theatres, the message on the screen should be changed – switch off your mobiles and KIDS!! OR please go and watch thoda pyaar thoda magic with your kids.

Kk – the credit roll looks nice.
Me – ya, love all around …

The school days are so vivid in our memory. Apart from the masti n fun, some nerdy questions. What did I like in school days? Hmm…Drawing, painting and science. What did I hate the most? Languages! Did not really enjoy mathematics that much as it required little bit of practice.
May be the instinct for visual art, got me closer to cinema. Once I tasted more of it in a short film making courses, it has being a hangover.Which grows everyday. The intoxication I am enjoying ever since. No complaints about not drinking or not smoking as I have an alternative :)
The poor flair for languages makes me a poor reader. It is a struggle to read fiction. I have tried many a times, but it is tough. Non fiction on other hand is fun. Newspaper articles, which interest me. Or even a thick book based on subject of interest. …

To continue the series “Initial Steps”, excerpts from an interview of Director Prakash Jha,
taken by Ajay Brahmatmaj , are presented here.

Ajay writes

I had started my interview series with the interview of Prakash Jha. He is my elder and to some extent my guide also. Perhaps it is difficult, at present, to evaluate the contribution of Prakash Jha to Hindi cinema but he has brought a new language to the Hindi cinema.

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[Following is the translation of the Hindi Interview and may not do full justice to the original interview so to read the exact sayings of Prakash Jha, one should go through the original interview. This is simply a trial to expose the interview to those readers who can not read Hindi at all]
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From now onwards Ajay Bramatmaj will be represented by AB and Prakash Jha …

iView Author: Hemant G.
(New Delhi, India)
EMAIL: withheld

4 BOYS FROM DELHI
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It’s been almost 2 years that I stumbled upon PFC one fine morning in New York and it has continued to inspire me ever since.

My love for filmmaking started when i ran into a book - Rebel Without A Crew by Robert Rodriguez … I can admit i didn’t understand all the technical jargon then… but the seed was sown . ..There has been no looking back since then.. As I immersed myself into cinema of all kind I kept coming across inspiring stories. ..How people have since forever and against all odds gambled everything that they have and directed some mind blowing stuff.

And then I decided that it was time for me as well …

Adoor Gopalakrishnan has resolutely been following a style of storytelling on the big screen that has a definite vision and sincerity of approach, never compromising with his ideals as a creative persona. For him, filmmaking is more than an art form – it is also a social statement and documentation. His sincerity to his craft is unquestionable, and his integrity towards it comes to the fore in his resolute decision not to make a film outside the immediate environs of Kerala as self-admittedly, he would fail to capture the societal nuances of places whose social history he does not know. Gopalakrishnan is in the process of completing his new film, which like his previous film “Naalu Pennungal” (Four Women), is also based on short stories of legendary Malayalam author Thakazhi Shiva Sankara Pillai. Here Gopalakrishnan responds to a range of questions on cinema as he sees it:

Q: The “Naalu Pennungal” …

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 last hope…”…Did not know him then…and never imagined I would ever be writing this…..

There are many films you wished you were a part of. Like I always wished I was a part of Dil Se.. donno why…the feeling for Gulaal was the same….when it was launched…..when it was stalled….always wished…I wanted to be a part of it. June 28, 2008 am in Jaipur, already into the 4th day of shoot.

Gulaal for me was the beginning of the most exciting Director-DOP combo in the industry…maybe after Guru Dutt – …

Better late than never. Capturing R.D. Burman’s life in a documentary. And when it finally came out, what a way to do it! Brahmanand Singh does complete justice to the boss. We saw Pancham Unmixed at IFFLA 2007 and were blown away. Its the simplicity with which Brahmanand unfolds the flow of the documentary.

Following are two videos. The first is a 4 minute trailer of the documentary. The second is a 25 minute discussion we had with Brahmanand after watching the doc.

We’ve got to see one of highly engrossing and moving documentary in such a long time. Now if only you could… the rest of the world doesn’t know what it’s missing.

PANCHAM UNMIXED : The Promo

 
PFC talks to …

At IFFLA this year, PFC finally got the chance to meet the director of two films that were highly appreciated by the critics and the audience alike. The films being OFFICE TIGERS & SHOT in BOMBAY and the director Liz Mermin.

OFFICE TIGERS was featured in 2007 and it was shown to a packed house. A docu-feature about a call-center in Chennai, the challenges, the management and people evoked very sharp and enthusiastic response so much so that the CEO of OFFICE TIGER invited for the QnA became an instant celebrity.

Mainak already did a through analysis of Shot in Bombay here and to add to it, the movie makes an instant reaction impossible to curtail through lucid story telling and attractive tit-bits into the unglamorous world behind the camera.

The following interview was conducted by TEAM PFC at the Portico of Arch Lights, LA. A big THANKS to Saurabh Dixit, the cameraman …

The wonder that was that Victory.

Victory and defeat, both are the parts of the life of any human being. One goes to surmount the whole world and he may be defeated by a small and simple thing produced before him by the nature. It is said that most difficult task in the world is to win the hearts of the people. It can only be done by the love and love is a phenomenon which happens on its own. Love can not be forced.

Victory and Defeat
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Every moment
Life plays the
game of check and mate,

But
By having a mate
one becomes a looser for a few moments only,
Life …

I arrived at the location a full 37 minutes after the witching hour, figuring I’ll still be the first. IST and all. But no, Badmash and Evelyn were standing outside the bar. From their unbridled disappointment at seeing me, I figured they were PFC.

We air kissed our hellos (Not), got a round of drinks and headed to the patio, It was Evelyn’s wedding anniversary, yet she said husband can wait. A PFC Meetup is more important, and hung out with us for most of the evening, while waiting on her husband to pick her up.

It was a small and intimate group and PFC author Shripriya put in a cameo.

I would be lying if I said that I was disappointed with the turn out. Not the folks that came(they were fun, and charming) …

Leaving in two hours for Jaipur to finally complete Gulaal. The film I have been trying to do for last six years. All these years before ZEE motion pictures came in , no body wanted to do Gulaal because of lack of star cast. Finally I meet producers who insist on seeing the product than asking for who is starring in it.

Am I happy, or am I ecstatic. I don’t know. This is the film that has meant the most to me. It’s personal, it’s universal, it’s political and it is real. Finally it is happening. I have been away from PFC because of various reasons. I had nothing to write about, i wanted to stay away, I just wanted to work.

No Smoking was the film closest to me that i made. I never got over the way it was rejected. I still feel bitter about it. The success of …

DEMOCRATIC NOIR CINEMA - RAJIV RAI !!!

Whenever we talk about Noir Cinema (I still have no idea what it means except that Manorama is a noir of sorts), i always used to think why not any other indian film which is noir ?

Then some days ago i chanced upon this classic video from the film Tridev titled Gali Gali mein phirta hai …

Pls pls pls pls pls pls watch this video to fully appreciate the post

I had a hard time explaining the concept of “democratic noir cinema” to a friend.

Why Democratic ? Whats democratic about this video ? Hows it noir ? Just a bunch of villans dancing to the tempting sangeeta bijlani..sangeeta seducing everyone.

In true noir sense, the song begins with the juxtaposition of the femme fetale’s lips (seduction) and the stoic expressions of Jackie Shroff …