IFFLA 2009 – Roundup
IFFLA 2009 – Roundup
So here is my take on some of the movies that i liked in IFFLA 2009
1) Leaving Home – The Life and Music of Indian Ocean, Dir: Jaideep Varma
First time that I have heard about Indian ocean was after Black Friday and I was blown away by “Bandhe”, after that i have downloaded couple of their songs “kandisa and Maa rewa” and i started liking them very much. I was looking forward for this documentary as it’s being directed by our own jaideep varma. I really liked the structure of the documentary and i got to know more about the band and each persons individual take on life and other things. Its very very interesting to know about how the band was formed and how they go to the deal with various people in the music industry in early 90’s. I have few problems with the documentary There is too much music in the documentary, I wish there was little more detail about the individual members of the band, more impromptu jamming sessions (there was only one at the end of the doc). I’m sure there must have been lot of arguments b/w the band members and I wish Jaideep could have captured that and how they overcome those differences and agreed upon one thing. Overall I really liked it. After watching the doc I have become the fan of “Rahul Ram”.
2) Quick Gun Murugan: Dir: Shanshank Ghosh
The cult character from the mid ninties gets a full length role in this film. The action and special effects is simply superb but It was not engaging for 2hrs. I was hooked in bits and pieces. Rajendra Prasad is simply superb, I got to know that the hindi version is too funny and i hope that it is. It was an ok film, may be because i went in with too much expectations.
3) Shorts1:
Battle of the Album Covers: Its very very innovative short film that i have seen in a while. The background music is more of fast paced rock. Only complaint is too much blood in the animation.
Key Tumi: a very cute animation short film., its about a boy who is trying hard to overcome his stage fear. the background music used is an old bengali tune “key tumi” by Manna dey. The kid’s elder brother explains him how he came into this world and the love story for their parents is shown in flash back. Very nice short and nice song that’s used in the background i need to download it.
The Passion of cricket: This short has very very neatly and intelligently done animation. It captures the true passion of more than 1 billion people in India. The back ground music by Bappi-Tutul (Khosla ka Ghosla fame) elevates the short film to another level.
A Days Work: I missed this one, but every one was raving about this short.
4) Kanchivaram: I had high hopes with this film, lot of positive reviews were going on the internet. this movie stars one of my favourite actors Prakash Raj and i was suprised to see shriya reddy pull off a decent performance. The story is about a weaver who could not afford to buy a silk saree for daughter promises every one in the village the he will buy one on the day when she get married, so he starts stealing small threads of silk over the years and weaves for her daughter, unfortunately he gets caught and his daughter get paralyzed and every one leaves him.
The climax of this film is simply gut wrenching. I wish priyadarshan could make 1 movie like this for his 5 masala films. This is highly recommended.
5) Supermen of Malegaon: Now this is a pleasant suprise of the film festival. most of us would have seen the third grade films that are made in different regions of india, but none of us would have seen a documentary on making of those third grade film. Supermen of Malegaon is one such documentary. It’s funny, heart felt and touching. There is some thing great about movies no matter how good, bad or ugly they are but the effort that’s put into is some thing amazing. this documentary captures that struggle by one particular individual who makes movies to cater his friends and other people in this small city.
5) Shorts2:
Abridged: This has a love story that none of us could have expected in our dreams. Its between two poles of golden gate bridge. they fall in love with each other but they could not come closer because of the bridge that’s seperating them. very nice and cute short.
The Journey: This short is by our very own Ashish Shukla. Its a very very emotional one. The twist in the short is heart breaking. Good job ashish.
Kavi: Perhaps the best short of my 3 yrs in IFFLA. Simply superb. Its about a young boy kavi who works in brick industry and how his life changes after a particular incident. The child actor who played kavi is simply amazing. I didn’t expect that this film could be made by an American Student at USC. The direction and the dialogues are simply great. This is another highly recommended film from the festival.
Sukrit’s Sunday: This another emotional short. Its about a kid who visits his grand father every sunday and hang out with him. He watches him shaving his beard and hang out in the balcony and one sunday he grand father passes away then the kid realises what he is missing in his sunday.
6) 7 Days in slow motion: I was looking forward to this every since i read the synopsis about it. I think this was one of the first film that sold out very fast. After struggling hard for tickets i some how get in and I’m very glad that i saw this film. Its one of those feel good films that will make your day. Its about a kid who finds a filmmaker’s camera and he goes on with his attempt to make a film in 7 days and how he struggles to make this film. Here is a brief synopsis from the IFFLA webiste “The film, set in Hyderabad focuses on young Ravi, a boy ordinary in every way except for his extraordinary obsession with movies. When he finds a filmmaker’s lost camera, he sets out, along with his two friends, to make a film in a mere seven days. However, the demands of school and family interfere setting the film’s production behind schedule. Ravi soon realizes that the stories that most need to be told are not the fruit of his imagination, but the daily dramas that unfold all around him.” I wish very much that this movie deserves a mainstream release in US and India. Don’t miss this film if it releases in a theater near you.
7) Yes Madam, Sir: Kiran Bedi the most famous police officer of our times is the subject of this documentary. Megan Doneman’s struggle to make this documentary and a deep look at kiran’s personal and professional life make this documentary a great watch. The movie received a standing ovation from the whole crowd and deservedly so. Kiran bedi was present for Q/A and it was very very interesting on her prospective about various things in life and politics in India. I like this concept of vipasana that she introduced in thiar jail, may be I will give it a go to reflect upon what I did in past :-) Helen Mirren’s narration elevates this documentary to another level. It’s a must watch.
On a personal note I felt that this year’s Festival was not as much Interesting as it was from previous years. but last day of the festival made up for the disspointment that I had from previous two days. If you like to get more information on this year’s festival here is the link to the fest’s film program http://www.indianfilmfestival.org/filmguide.php
Tags: 7 Days in slow motion:, Abridged, Bappi-Tutul, Battle of the Album Covers, IFFLA 2009, Jaideep Varma, Kanchivaram, Key Tumi, Leaving Home - The Life and Music of Indian Ocean, Quick Gun Murugan, Shanshank Ghosh, Sukrit's Sunday, Supermen Of Malegaon, The Journey, The Passion of cricket, Yes Madam Sir
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
Nice roundup Varun. I loved Kancheevaram and Yes Madam, Sir!
This year at IFFLA it was very heartening to see them showcase so many documentaries..and think about it..they closed the Fest with a documentary…and what a docu it turned out to be..Kudos to IFFLA for pulling this off…
Good wrap, Varun. It is nice to see a coverage of the Shorts & Docu’s. The following sound appealing to me after reading this:
Battle of album covers
Kavi
Sukrit’s Sunday
I have seen The Journey, glad to know it reached IFFLA.
good one oye! thanks!!
Varun, I enjoyed your writeup. It makes me wish I could have spent more time there, particularly for Seven Days in Slow Motion. I missed one of the shorts programs because there were 13 traffic accidents at one time on the LA freeways.