Chapter One: “Introduction”
“I wasn’t feeling too well this time around. Maybe it was the California sun or the moisturizer that I applied to get away from it – but this time I wasn’t feeling too well. Being housed up in a small room at the “Orchid house” (aka Directors’ house), I was the youngest among the other legends that I shared the space with.”
It is not apparent as to what the author is saying here, so we read further -
“So I wake up on one of the mornings – mind you we used to sleep at 4 am , while the others finally used to vacate at around 6am; and I hear sounds in the kitchen. As I make my way to the dining table, Sriram Raghavan is heating ‘parathas’ on the pan. Opposite to me, Shivajee Chandrabhushan is trying to work his skype on his laptop while Sanjay Routray offers me a cup of ‘chai’. I sit ‘frozen’ (no pun intended) as Sriram Raghavan places a hot paratha in my plate and offers me pickles. Manish Acharya walks in and out, busy on a phone call, but all ears for the talks that are happening between us. Conversation veers from ‘what places to visit while in LA’ to ‘why frozen parathas are unhygenic’ etc. No one would even believe that these people are actually “highly esteemed film-makers”, just having a “non film-talk related” conversation. The “Orchid house” would witness parties that would start at 10pm (or whenever someone got their earlier) and end at 6am with the last man standing (almost) either leaving or falling down asleep on the couch in the hall.”
In case you’re wondering the ‘almost’ surrealistic situation that the author is in – “IFFLA this year was a rather surreal experience” the author puts it across subtly . For starters, there were no film-makers, or actors – they were just people who shared a common love – Cinema. While the names mentioned above have been talked about a lot in cyberspace, print and electronic media of late, some names have gone unnoticed – but the author writes about them in his next paragraph -
“As I walk out of the kitchen with my cup of ‘home made chai’, I meet Sarah Singh & Shyamaprasad having a small chat. There is a south indian family (from Kerala) who have just opened up a restaurant somewhere in LA, and Shyamaprasad was a guest there. And he was describing the various dishes that they offered and that they were really true to the food he has back home in Kerala. Sarah Singh was mentioning about her New York’s chaotic lifestyle. I am sitting there, slowly my fever seems to subside. A car pulls up to pick up the inhabitants to Arclight, where films are being shown. The “kitchen crew” kind of scurry up and down and then head out towards the car. I also tag along with them.”
Arclight Cinemas have been an integral part of IFFLA right from year one. The atmosphere there is quite homely during the festival. Something that makes you forget you are in US. So when the author reached Arclight, he got nostalgic as is mentioned in the next paragraph -
“It was like homecoming. I was here last year, and again this year. This year was the same format, but different packing. I met a lot of friends (who are part of the staff/volunteers etc.) I had made last year. Overwhelming is not the word. Nostalgic is quit like it, I feel. A lot more films this year, lot more people, even more friends. Felt like home. I sorely regret missing the opening night, but I am sure it went better than expected”. There was a surprise in store when someone, whom I last met in Mumbai, just walked in as though he was there from the first day. An integral part of the festival, Vijay, couldn’t bear ‘not being’ a part this year. So he arrived 2 days in advance and showed up 2 days later! As far as you’re there, nothing else matters I guess. I walked into the IFFLA lounge and I remembered how excited I was last year, to be there and to meet so many people. I looked at the bar where I met a famous personality…”
At this point the author doesn’t want to name the personality for fear of copyright breach, but we all know who he was. We all know the names that the author has mentioned so blatantly without any respect, no titles attached (read: SIR, MR. etc). The author, who might be a film-maker since he has not mentioned anything about it, is giving his account, as is evident, of his stay with the highly esteemed film-makers and of his experience at the film festival. The author proceeds to talk about the films that he went to watch.
(To be continued)
Tags: Cinema, IFFLA, oz, sanjay routray, shivajee chandrabhushan, sriram raghavan
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
pray continue…
now thats the way to go Srinivas..
more more………
hahah Srinivass…awesome…as we were the ones to leave at 6 am each morning..we dont have a clus as to wat was happening after that..and you being one of the non- drinking guys..might be able to give more account of wat “really” was happening at the orchid house…
so glad to see you again man…time for you to make a feature…
how was wisconsin?
now I know who was the plant…and I was the one who used my charm on Felicia to get Srini in “The House”…
srinivas, jaldi to part 2! and i must say, whoever thought of making maggi at 3am after a night of drinking deserves a lot of gold stars…
OM.. you may have been leaving at 6am, but you certainly weren’t standing.. i remember you, and one other person whose name i shall not name (yet), entangled in the sweetest of sleeping embraces, reminiscent of batman’s siamese human knot:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zwft9CWXOaw
Maggi? Plus Pulao,plus Rajma,plus clearing the empty beer bottles…etc…etc…and it was definitely not “Loins”….
@DPac – Thanks buddy, more coming soon
@OM – I think somethings are better left unsaid about the “orchid house” nightouts :P
@Shivajee – Sirjee, you forgot the cigarette butts all around the porch. Beer bottles, chips, leftover food to door ki baat hain
Hmmm…
Man you were not there in the first get together…One particular gang…ate pistas…and left the chilkas on top of speakers,TV and of course dining table…imagine my state when I started thinking about the report going to Christina about these gawaanr guys coming from India and left the house upside down…and these guys were “Gadaar” with “Frozen” “Loins”…so to save our balls I went through the house cleaning all this at 4am and then the Loins informed me that there is another party in the night and guess who were the guests?I can’t take the names even if they are pseudonyms…:-))
Holy shit..were we that bad? ;-) i just hope the pseudonym isnt OM..hehe
Did I take any names? Or am I losing my subtle touch?Or have I pointed my finger at someone so blatantly? Srini yaar tuh likh,jaldi…naam daal ke likh…
i just hope the owner of the house never gets to read all this! i kept closing my ears every time there was an orchid house story…FYI: it’s been booked for IFFLA 2009…and we will be expanding to a 2nd house, next door or a few blocks away…Srinivas: this time you will have a big room, from the very beginning…no need for Shivajee’s sweat talk to Felicia…Shivajee: i owe you one for the clean up…the report from the owner was very positive…many thanks to felicia and rani for spending some time there on monday, post fest…
Christina,Rani,Felicia…Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.Kudos for the swell idea.I can assure you that from next time onwards there will be advance booking from the fellow filmmakes.And I sincerely hope that the “Alumani” will be given some consideration.@Srinivas you have all the incentive to make films or learn some incidental skills.There could be an award like permanent residency at the house for the “best cook/cleaner/dish washer/washing machine operator filmmaker”! :-)
we are looking for a hospitality person to be in charge of the house, and stay in the apt….anyone interested?
:-) Christina lets get someone from Saloniki…
that saloniki trip and those shoes really made an impression on you! will add this to our wrap report and work on making it happen…but you have to come…
@christina,
how about a designer with hospitality experience? :-)
i smell an agenda here…this is my area of expertise…
Great post, Srinivas. It’s good to read the post and then the comments. My Own Private Rashomon.
@christina
Come where…Saloniki or LA?
And I trust your expertise…I will believe blindly…
LA..
@ christina, you pray that I make my next film fast enough and I will pray that you like it and once again you invite me for IFFLA 2008.
that’s a constant pray for me…however, film or no film, the invitation is open…
:-) you are cool C…Thats why I am enamored by Greeks…
you have to visit CRETE my friend…the epitome of hospitality…and food…i’ll be there july 7-august 13..come!
I am in Spain that time…and then coming back to Mumbai and then to Munich and then to South Africa :(
come from spain…it’s close…skip mumbai…
Boss I have two kids at home Cassandra and Megan…can’t leave them with friends for long…But I have Greece in my itinerary you know it…Am trying to write a script around it…
hey you guys…
a lot of you might not know me at all or better yet know me as the wife of your beloved friend Vijay…
@ Srinivas .. hows it going? he sure as hell surprised ya all…
@ Christina .. put vijay responsible for that house…for 2009…beer, cooking and filmmakers..vijay will be there…hehehe…
I’ve just not had my share of luck with IFFLA. Been trying to attend the festival every year since 2005..havent managed yet…may be 2009…
just jealous waiting to experience iffla…and these comments from srinivas and the rest isnt really helping…
@ shivajee –
when u in munich? i’m going for oktoberfest around sept 20.
@dabba-
I am in Munich between 20th to 28th june…I haven’t got the screening details of Frozen as of yet…Guys I am off to Granada for Cine Del Sur festival…Frozen is in competition…http://www.cinesdelsur.com/peliculas.php…