Frozen – A Beautifully Unique Looking Film That Deserves The Big Screen
I’m not sure where to start when talking about Shivajee Chandrabhushan’s Frozen. I’ve met him at a couple of PFC get-togethers and he’s a really nice guy, although he says he drove his crew pretty hard during the shoot. So there’s a little loss of objectivity about someone’s work when you know them and like or dislike them. I took along a friend who has nothing to do with the film and TV industry, and he liked Frozen a lot. By the way, so did I.
The screening, at Cinemax, Infinity Mall, was organized by Enlighten, and they need to be applauded for giving us a chance to see some of these movies on the big screen. Frozen, for one, deserves the big screen without a doubt.
For those hearing about Frozen for the first time, it’s a film that’s been to 30 international film festivals and has won a bucketload of awards. Its starcast is Danny Denzongpa, Yashpal Sharma, Raj Zutshi, Aamir Bashir and debutante Gauri Kulkarni, who’s won a couple of acting awards for this film.
Frozen is a black and white film shot in Ladakh, at 15,000 feet and temperatures as low as -25 degrees Celsius. I might have my figures wrong, but you can always read Shivajee’s wonderful blogs which detail the adventures of shooting in such extreme conditions. Since he’s a mountaineer himself, he let everyone in the crew have 48 hours to acclimatize themselves to the climate.
What’s the story, some might ask? Damn the story and blast the plot! A black and white film shot in snow snow snow everywhere in Ladakh with Danny Denzongpa, Yashpal Sharma and Raj Zutshi, that’s won many awards – hell, that’s enough to make me want to see it! People looking for item numbers with firang dancers in two piece skimpy little nothings in the background, you might be a little disappointed – I reckon Shivajee wouldn’t have found it easy to convince the dancers to wear bikini tops in -25 degree temperatures.
Danny Denzongpa plays Karma, the protagonist of the film. It was a real pleasure to see him on screen after such a long time – a great actor with tremendous screen presence – and one could see why he agreed to do this film by a first time director. Ms Bhavna Somaya, the editor of Screen, conducted the post-screening Q&A, and she said that Mr Denzongpa is very very choosy about his scripts and will only do work that he’s thoroughly convinced about.
Yashpal Sharma and Raj Zutshi have just two scenes each, but the scenes stay with you so much that you realise it only in hindsight. Raj Zutshi touched on this issue of doing only two scenes during the Q&A, and the things he said reinforced the adage ‘There are no small roles, only small actors.’ Incidentally, his character’s name was Dawa, which is the name I also had in a serial I acted in for Doordarshan North East.
Gauri was a complete natural. No inhibitions, none of that self-conscious awkwardness that a first-timer usually has. Who would say she’s not trained?
I’m no big expert on film-making, but one could almost accuse Shivajee of having done a one-year course on lying through his teeth when he mentions that Frozen is his first film and he hasn’t made anything before this – no documentaries, nothing. And he’s not even a trained film-maker, whereas Frozen looks like it’s been made by somebody who’s graduated from film school. The shots are exquisite. Shanker Raman, the cinematographer, is a name I’d definitely watch out for henceforth. He won the award for best cinematography at the Durban International Film Festival. The editor, Shan Mohammed, and the sound designer, Vivek Sachidanand, were also present at the screening here. Again, the only little experience I have with these crafts is while making my sub-zero budget Kung Fu short films, so when I weigh that against this, I can appreciate what a fabulous job they’ve done. And the film was in sync sound!
If it were up to me, I’d have tinkered a little more with the pace of the film, but then, it’s Shivajee’s film, not mine. Hopefully, Frozen will soon get a proper release and reach a wider audience. It’s very encouraging to see a unique script attracting such big-time actors and then succeeding the way it has.
Quite a few of Mr Danny Denzongpa’s family members were at the screening. On a personal note, the biggest kick I got was being mistaken on more than one occasion for his son. A very good thing for me, because I came to Mumbai with the thought that someday I might get a role as his on-screen son or his younger version. (But hell, as Shivajee’s video interview with Mr Denzongpa shows, he looks much fitter than me!)
Dialoguebaazi from the Q&A session:
Shivajee: I don’t believe in all these stars and reviews given by critics…
Bhavna Somaya (who happens to a former editor of Screen magazine, with a smile on her face): Sure?
(Laughter from everyone)
Shivajee (about Gauri): She’s not a trained actress…It’s great to work with untrained actors because they do just what you tell them to and, with all due respect to trained actors (Raj Zutshi was sitting beside him), untrained actors don’t ask stupid questions.
Tags: award winning films, Black and white films, Danny Denzongpa, frozen, Ladakh, Raj Zutshi, shivajee chandrabhushan, Yashpal Sharma
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
Ha ha ha…
Guys I have promised Kenny a role as Danny’s son…so that is why the sweetness.
Nahin! Bhaanda phod diya!
this article has whetted the apetite more than anything. too bad, i cudnt come over to mumbai on sunday to watch it…
Shivajee- once again congrats dude.its wonderful to read all this….
Wow, quite interested in this film. I read about it only now so I’ve already missed the Cinemax, Versova screening. Could you please give any clue where else can I catch it in Mumbai?
Thanks for this write up!
Kenny..what have you left me to write on..blast my business trip..koi baat nahin..you have encapsulated the experience beautiful..
And I told Kiran that the children playing reminded me of Pather Panchali..need I say more!
Cheers Shivajee.
I’ll make sure I watch this one in the theatres when it gets proper release.
i didnt like the film.sorry..
so maybe I can see this movie on dvd soon?
Hi Kenny,
Thanx for sharing the experience and am glad the film has touched many people…
-Gauri.
Indraneelda, you can write when it gets its theatrical release
Hopefully Mr Danny Denzongpa himself will be there then
@Gauri
Thanks for dropping by
Gauri..you were superb!! Love to see more of you on screen. Good Luck!
Sorry, don’t mean to hijack this post, but on a side note, how is sankalan coming along?
Rohan, I’ve been trying to forget that Sankalan existed because I’m having a slow heart attack waiting for the final results which are due any day now
Maybe I’m just venting my anxiety on the Delhi 6 impolite abusers
To all the people who missed the screening at Cinemax, watch this space for future screenings.
To all the people who took trouble to come for the screening and liked and disliked the film thank you very much for coming :-)
Really want to see Danny in more movies (the better/meatier ones and not like Big Brother and Karzzzzzz)! Would love to watch Frozen on the big screen (or some film fest :P) soon
. Heard so much…
Kenny, I take it that you made it to the top three and are now waiting for the winner of competition. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks
No, Rohan. It’s at the top 6 stage now. 3 will be picked as the winners, not 1
Thanx Om…:)