Cinema Cinema
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Its been a great year so far. Aamir turned out to be a success. Spotboy got it right. Having completed Dev.D and Gulaal, two seemingly impossible films to raise funds for, keeping in mind i delivered last years box office turkey in “No Smoking”. Finally got a clue , what and how, “Bombay Velvet” will look and flow like. Figured out how to approach Gurudutt’s life for screen, sorting through the endless research and interviews. Doga finding the right kind of backing, and my pet small films also getting ready to go. PFC going from strength to more strength. NDTV lumiere is releasing foreign language films in india, World movies is up and running, palador and ndtv lumiere again releasing great titles on dvd. Most of the independent films worked this year. There is light shining at the end of the tunnel, personal and professional. In my life and in indian cinema too. That is what I felt, till i saw what is happening in the world of cinema and why are we not there.
So, I took a break and went to London. Primarily to attend the “Slumdog” premiere, but watching a lot of new cinema, attending workshops , masterclass( charlie Kaufman), and bookhunting. From what i saw the coming year seems like the year of british cinema and the argentinians. I hope one day we can say that about us on a world platform. Will talk about the highs that i felt, the films i saw but before that let me say it here that this year we could possibly see an academy award for Best score for A. R. Rahman for Slumdog millionaire , definitely will see a nomination. What is sad is that it won’t be for an indian film. What is even sadder is that not just SlumDog is made by a british filmmaker, that too a celebrated one, but when it came to our indian studios for funding they turned it down. Both UTV and Reliance.
I arrived saturday 25th and immediately went on the net to see the film schedules and book my tickets. I knew i had already missed “the class’ and “il divo”. I did not want to miss “waltz with Bashir”. It was packed, tried my best but could not get in. so 26th i saw films running in the local theatres. Starting with ‘Burn after reading”. Not the best by Coen brothers , not Fargo or The big Lebowski by any measures but yet quirky and with one of the best taglines on a poster i ever read, which pretty much describes the film, “Intelligence is relative”. It begins with a woman wanting surgery and implants so she could find a date, but that costs too much, so throw in an ex CIA operative wanting to write an expose camouflaging it as a memoir, and leaving the manuscript on a gym floor, to be found by an idiot who thinks it’s the real shit, while a treasury officer who is also a sex addict is sleeping with the ex- CIA man’s wife. Everything that has to go wrong goes wrong in the coen brother’s universe, and it boils down to the tag line in end , intelligence is indeed relative.
I followed that with Rock’n'rolla. Guy Ritchie is back doing what he does best, but it reminds too much of Snatch and Lock stock, still watchable. The film that really made my trip was “gomorrah” , the rawest gangster film i have ever seen, better than the best, the film that we will talk about on PFC for years to come, it deserves a seperate post which i will write soon.
Che 1 & 2- Soderberg sticks to che’s two diaries to make this film. Unlike the other epics he does not go into the whole life story, he just tries to tell the story behind the poster. How a doctor becomes a revolutionary , and even after they take over Cuba, Che moves on to congo and Bolivia, to bring about a revolution through out latin America. The two films stay with him and his bunch of guerillas, fighting and surviving the war, diseases , hunger and defeat. Film dwells on him on a day to day basis, seeing what slowly forms his ideas about “what and who needs a revolution and how to bring it”, to him delivering that iconic speech in the UN. Part two sees him as a career revolutionary in Bolivia and the mistakes he makes that brings about his end. both the films fantastically shot on Red, slowly get into you and make you question everything that you stand for and are you doing enough or are you just being a couch critic of all that surrounds you.
The Market by ben hopkins. He the one who directed Simon Magus and Nine lives of Thomas Katz, makes his most accesible film in Turkish. He writes and directs this turkish film, for an iranian producer funded by german money. Set in a world where everything has a price, where the price is decided on the basis of demand and supply. Its the story of Mihram , who thinks it is right for a poor man to improve his lot even if it means a bit of risky double dealing on the side. Mihram is someone who can get anyone anything, so when he is given a lot of money by a doctor to get some vaccines from across the border, he sees it as a get rich quick opportunity , and what seemed like an opportunity turns into a personal odyssey. Funny , sad and poignant.
Leonera aka Lion’s den by Pablo Trapero. Shot on location in a buenos aires prison, using their staff and inmates as extras, its a film about a woman’s emotional journey over six years , where she is accused of a murder of a boyfriend that she did not commit, she gives birth to a child in the prison, who is taken away because the atmosphere is unfit for him , and her struggle to be together with him again. An entire film built around an incredibly edgy performance by Martina Gusman, at par with Sibel Kekilli in “Head on”. Outstanding.
Linha De Passe by Walter Salles, a brilliant story of four brothers and their rites of passage story set in the slums of rio but is not your regular crime or gangster story. Its a story about survival and dreams and trials and tribulations, the film ends with eachone on the verge of it, the moment that could be the very turning point of their lives and leaves you with it, pondering, do they take that chance or they don’t. Again a film that holds true to us, but can we ever make a film like that in India without the question being asked, so did he score that goal or not, did he meet his father or not, did he take the car or did he escape and God forbid, if you say I don’t know, how the audience and critics will kill you over it. The producer will in all probability not give a go ahead. most definitely not.
The Silence of Lorna by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Fantastic, the film shot from a distance, almost peeping into the life of Lorna , an albanian, who marries a belgian junkie for the passport, hoping for him to OD, but the junky falls in love with her and wants to deaddict, and she reciprocates , leading to further complications, because she is part of a scam to make money. Brilliant screenplay, that shocked me with leaps it took in story telling. All the films that i saw stay away from explaining anything, open ended personal pieces, that stay with you for long and that is what worries me about our cinema which is based on the need to explain and for it to be spoonfed and made completely comprihensible by the filmmaker and not to be comprehended by the viewer.
Revanche an austrian thriller by Gotz Spielmann, also the austrian entry for the foreign language oscar, extremely unpredictable and very non hollywoodian or non-european in approach. The Past is a foreign land, an italian thriller by daniel vicari were two other great films that are worth chasing for on DVD. Even in the past is a foreign land, you don’t really know what happens to the francesco character, why he suddenly starts beating and raping women. The filmmaker never shows any reason to why he starts to do that and then he reveals he has been doing it for a long time. well the films still holds you and you do not stop thinking of it or trying to find answers. And that is what cinema is doing worldwide. Throwing intelligent films at you, posing questions, for you to figure out, to answer, to ponder over unlike us who either has all the answers or wants all the answers and refuses to lend any time or thought to ponder over it. We are in too much of a hurry to declare our verdict, it works or it doesn’t. It emotionally connects or it doe not, it satisfies in the end or it doesn’t. Good or bad.
New Town Killers by Richard Jobson (16 years of alcohol) was a disappointment. Predictable and nothing compared to his debut film.
Synecdoche, New York by Charlie Kaufman. His best , and how he achieves it. It is more eccentric, more idiosyncratic, more imaginative than all his films that he wrote. A theatre director, given a grant to do his Grand piece decide to replicate his life on stage, his insecurities, his sickness, his women and in the process moves into a warehouse with his actors and by the end he has even replicated Manhattan inside the warehouse. Without wanting to reveal much about it, will write more about why and how he wanted to do it in a seperate post on him.
Slumdog is a film that most will definitely want to see so i will refrain from writing about it. In the end all i have to say is these were the best five days i spent in a long time, reminded me of IFFI 93,Delhi where i saw five films a day for ten days that changed my life. These five days on one level give me hope on the other they also say that, tell the story you want to tell, in the way that you want to say it, someday it’s right audience will discover it, at least have the pleasure of making your film.
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
“tell the story you want to tell, in the way that you want to say it, someday it’s right audience will discover it, at least have the pleasure of making your film”
these are line which should be framed and put up on the walls of every film student.
Glad to hear that Rahman’s score is that good. didn’t hear much about it in the reviews…..if he can manage an Oscar nom it would be really encouraging for Indian music, doesnt matter if he gets it for a foreign film or Indian (surely the smile would have been bigger if it was one of our desi production,but how many foreign film gets a music nom at the academy anyways)
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Anurag, nice to see your post up, and as usual some great thoughts from you. I am on lookout for Dev D and Gulal. Hoping to check out Burn After Reading, when i get the DVD. Interesting list there, though my first choice would be Slumdog Millionaire.
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Anurag sir…thanks 4 list…whenever possible will try to watch these movies…becos of u n PFC I have watched lots of foreign cinema + regional cinema…some of them are the chaser, one night in mongkok, shooting dogs, mongol, marebito, the tunnel, Vozvrashcheniye, NITAL, Kadachit, maatmaay (marathi)…surprise of all was Summer 2007…not a perfect movie…but what an attempt…hats off to the team…
Have u seen Summer 2007?
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Anyone who can read Telugu there is a detailed report of around 50 films from the London film festival here
http://navatarangam.com/tag/52nd-london-film-festival/
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You were in London specifically for SM but you couldn’t see that. Didn’t quite get this.
This apart, interesting line-up you’ve seen there.
Thanks for sharing.
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btw Anurag, now that you are back…..lets have the trailer of Dev D please
aur wait saha nahi jaata
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Even i want to see the trailer of Dev.D.. M waiting for it.. Movies with open ending in India.. Bad idea..
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Arthi: I guess Anurag wants the rest of us to see Slumdog ourselves. It is apparent (to me) that he loved the movie.
Anurag: Is my measure right? I will watch the movie this week. I read the book (Q&A, by Vikas Swarup, which inspired the movie) a few years ago and I want to see how Anil Kapoor’s character is shaped. In the book he is kind of marginal, though he has a major role in the plot which is not really obvious. The book had “movie script” written all over it (I think the manuscript had already been optioned for the movie, when Simon and Schuster released the book in ‘04), but I did not expect to see a non-desi producer pick it up. Been hearing a lot about it ever since Toronto happened a couple of months ago, so how was the reception in London? Hope you will write about it once the movie is out in the theaters.
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long time eh…. thanks for your recommendations, plz post more of your recommendations in future… can’t wait to watch DEV D…. between, loved your “must watch before die” on world movies….all the best for DEV D and Gulaal….
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I saw Slumdog and absolutely love it.. even have some minor issues with it.. but i want everyone to see it.
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Is Slumdog in english or hindi? Btw, waitin for DevD and Gulaal….
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WOW, WOW! Great post… eagerly awaiting the subsequent posts (on Kaufman, Synedoche, Slumdog, Gomorrah etc.)
.
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My 15 recommendations from London Film Festival
1)Touki Bouki-a 1973 film from Senegal.Digitally Restored by world cinema foundation-Martin Scorsesse.Mind blowing film.
2)Wlatz with Bashir-Best of the best from the festival.I havent seen anything like this before.
3)Hunger-Shocking. Power of cinema!
4)Slumdog Millionaire-When I read the book some few years back I knew it is a definite film material. I didnt like the novel(Q and A) so much. But it was superbly translated to screen by Boyle and Co. Yes I had some issues with the scripts here and there but on the whole its a paisa vasool.
5)Silence of Lorna-If you have likes 4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days you might like this too.
6)Christmas Tale-Very good film about relationships
7)Still Walking-Brings you the memories of Ozu’s Tokyo Story.Worth waltching
8)The Candidate-Intelligent and convincing thriller
9)Possibility of an Island-I know it was panned by many critics but I liked it.
10)24 City-Only of you like to watch documentaries
11)Tricks-Polish film. Heard that its Poland’s official entry for this year’s Oscars.
12)Laila’s Birthday-The look and feel of this Palestine is very Iranian. Not a great film but worth watching
13)Hooked-Romanian film. A confident booster for all the wannabe filmmakers. Reminded me of Polanski’s first film ‘A knife in the water’
14)Genova-Again not great film but this is a masterclass for those who wants use the place/location as a character in your film
15)Two Lovers-Interesting
Speacial mention: The Last thakur- A bangladeshi wetsern. It was good in terms of story/screennplay/acting and cinematography. But it failed very badly in establishing the space.
I was disappointed by
1)Three monkeys-heard lot about Nuri Bilge Ceylan. But this film was very slow.
2)The Good the bad and the wierd-korean Western. A tribute to Sergio Leone. I was very disappointed.
3)W-I dont know what I expected of this movie but I was neither entertained nor enlightened
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“academy award for Best score for A. R. Rahman for Slumdog millionaire “???? Do you think he can really be nominated?
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Sorry
I forgot to mention the Class and Il Divo. The Class is a class apart. Il Divo….oh my god…I dont think anybody can make so stylish a film about a politician….it was almost like a western.
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how does one get to speak to you?
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What about fantasy Horror,
Fairy tale Movies like “Guillremo Del Toro”
are you interested Anurag,.?
we have lot of stuff of Floklore in India,.
(deadly but delicate)
my research is going on
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@Anurag
1.heard the first tailor of “Dev.D” is out , could u please put up that on PFC also?
2.Is Bombay Velvet based on life of Guru Dutt , who i acknowledge as one of the finest directors in Indian cinema!! it would be awesome to see a genius with self-doubts and trapped in his affair.. am i right ? Please let us know , what are you capturing in your movie !
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Gurudutt is a film I am writing for Shivendra singh Dungarpur. Bombay velvet is what Gyan Prakash( a profeesor of history from Princeton is writing along with Thani and vasan bala from PFC)
Venkat you lucky bitch..
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Sorry that was anurag from Vasan’s account.
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Thanks for sharing all this…
Revanche
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKysNM1SoKA
The Silence of Lorna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th2bwu0cFns&feature=related
Linha De Passe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl4vrUutD90&feature=related
GOMORRAH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hky53gXyjX0
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Hi Anurag, nice post as always, writing a movie called Two ‘Greats’, didn’t submit in sankalan as i want to direct it myself but hope to show you the script as soon as it is done.
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hmmm…..all the best for ur forthcoming ventures anurag….
though Bombay velvet may invite some trouble courtesy Raj…
i remember a movie called Bombay Godfather was rechristened to Mumbai godfather at his behest…..
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ooh…wow so Doga is On…this will be on my list …When is gulaal going to relase and waiting eagerly for Devd Music..
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Gulaal releases march 13th and Dev.D on january 9th
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The trailer for ‘Dev.D’ look amazing! Another journey into the world of Anurag Kashyap… Will see ‘Slumdog’ this week in NYC and can’t wait!
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I saw the trailer of Dev.D yesterday and still am all exitement. Hate to wait for the DVD again.
And I have to you, it kind of reminds me of Fatih Akins “Gegen die Wand” and that is a compliment, of course.
Greetings from Germany!
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jan 9th suddenly looks so far…
when is the music of Dev d releasing ?
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saw dev.ds promo .sexy.wating for the film. n keep making the films u want to make anurag.because ur audience is set n always want to see more n more of ur work .
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I saw a lot of these films at TIFF this year…Synecdoche, Leonera, Slumdog, etc. and agree with your views. Slumdog Millioniare was OUTSTANDING and the lead actress of Leonera was fantastic as well, like you said.
I hope Rahman does get an Oscar for his music—it was wonderful. Indian film or not, he deserves it, what a genius!
Also, just saw the promo of DEV D and it was very, very creative. I’m interested to see how Indian audiences receive it but so far the general reaction has been great if you take a look at people’s comments on various Bollywood forums. Nicely done!
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Doga is the one with Kunal kapoor??
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seems like u had a helluva time….i would do too if i were in ur place…
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hi,
we are eagerly waiting for devd,gulaal,
all da best
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Anurag,
Thanks for another good movie list to watch out for. From the time (and before)that you came out with your ‘movies to check out’ last year, all your articles and movie mentions have been a lesson in cinema education.
Also good to know that things have turned a corner in your personal life too.
All the best, and waiting for your forthcoming releases.
Hitendra
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Ha! Watched the trailer of Dev D… (seemingly) picked me up from where “No Smoking’ left me! It promises me a good one. Anyway, best wishes for Doga, bro… may you kick balls the Tarantino style!
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Hi Anurag,.
I have a question for you,
Are you interested in making genre like Horror Fantasy?
Like “Pans Labyrinth” or something related to Folklore, (Mostly Indian)
Chudail (Witches) and adventures in parallel world ?
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It has been over twenty times I have watched the trailer of Dev D! Got hooked to ‘emosunol atyachaar’. By the way (nothing worth mentioning though!) the scene were Abhay Deol moves right out of a bar and then lies down on his bed, reminds me of ‘Requiem for a dream’ and a similar scene shot with Jennifer Connelly. Well, I can just hope it’s as good… well, may be better!
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hey anurag, its saurabh from jnu, new delhi.well its always inspiring to here u either on tv, web site or news paper. everyone has a story to tell but it needs courage to make it true.well i am most interested in ur doga project.discussed it with many frnds as well. its really tough to imagine kunal kapoor as doga, but here comes a challenge for u to make it possible. am reading indian comics on a regular basis and i think it has potential to grip u. today i was reading a book named maharaja by germany das and at the same time the idea of gulal caught me. all the best thats what i can say because i have still not finished my stories so will come to u after that only…regards
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Maybe it was a turkey in terms of box office success, but I for one, found ‘No Smoking’ to be one of the most fascinating pieces of cinema from India to have hit the U.K screens last year.
The friends I dragged along with me the 3rd time agree!
I hope ur sending ‘Dev.D’ to our screens in the U.K again Mr A.K
Cheerios!
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No Smoking will be a cult one day Anurag. One day.
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gomorra?
fantastic..
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Klass is class apart…amazing!…
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yes anurag..i’m happy for ur releases..dying to see dev d and gulaal..!!
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The mafia want Gomorra author Roberto Saviano to be killed by Christmas. In this BBC radio interview, he talks about how he’s sorry he made the movie because now he’s lost everything.
Here the BBC clip by right-clicking on this link and saving it to your desktop: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/today/today_20081119-1123a.mp3
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Dear Anurag Sir,
Trailer of Dev.D looks amazing. Requiem for a dream+Devdas+A.K. Doesn’t look like a real world. Someone pinch me hard. Amazing use of snorricam. My first day first show is booked.
From ur greatest fan eveeeeerrrrrrrrr. Good luck.
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maar diya anurag bhai requeim for a dream ka copy dev d… :-) are bhaiya trailer to hat ke bana dete…
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Few days bak i saw devd’s promo. . .lukin Damn promising. . . . Nd the soundtrack is totally TODU. . . Cnt wait to get my hands on it. . . Its lyk emosional atyachaar u knw. . lol
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Anurag,
How can I forget you You said it first here much much before SDM grew as the big fish..
“I hope one day we can say that about us on a world platform. Will talk about the highs that i felt, the films i saw but before that let me say it here that this year we could possibly see an academy award for Best score for A. R. Rahman for Slumdog millionaire , definitely will see a nomination.”
That was November 2 Last year…. and finally the moment Arrived..
Jai Ho!
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someday i would like to know why anurag liked slumdog. i know he’s indebted to danny boy and nothing takes away from that man’s skill. but, slumdog as movie? why?
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Anurag, What about the script on Guru Dutt’s life – directed by Shivendra Singh ?
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hi,
i would love to work on the doga project!
have some basic experience, i can feel the darkness in the character, plus transferring manu’s great artwork into the movie would be great!
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