Mind-blasting, Mind-blowing, Chaiwalla!!! (Pankaj Advani and Sankat City!)
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Saat intertainment aur miser buyer ki peshkash, Sankat City… Nirdeshak Sai Pankaj Advani, abhineta Kay kay Man, Anupam Fauzdar Kherfree, Yashpagal Sarma, Monkey Pandey, Remixed Sen, Prilip Dabhavalkar, Virubhai Sexena, Sanjay Misri, Manoj Power ityadi.
Vari Pankaj Advani kya pictude banaya sai… Ek aadmi ka achcha khaasa sabbatical khatm kar diya. Uski duniya palat di sai…
Don’t miss this farce for anything in the world. We don’t make films like this. Period. So many characters – all with a beginning, middle, end and their own ‘nonsensical’ story. For those who love the inglorious 80s of Indian cinema, here is Pankaj Advani’s madcap juxtaposition of the haemoglobin in the atmosphere into a world of bastards, pimps, robbers, opportunists and idiots. Take a bow, Pankaj Advani – you have succeeded in making people laugh out loud. Mind-blasting, Mind-blowing, Chaiwalla!!!
Is it a story of decadence? Is it a story of characterless characters? Is it a story of a city that reminds us that every piece of garbage here has his day? Is it a story of greed? Is it really as funny as it is being made out to be? Is it a landmark film?
Damn it… Go to the theatres… Find out for yourselves… DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME ON SHORT KUTS!!!
Watch this gem for a brilliant writer called Pankaj Advani and to re-discover Kay kay Menon and Anupam Kher. Superlative performances by the entire ensemble cast. Commendable work by all the technicians. I had a problem with the excessive use of background music but chhotey chhotey filmon main aisi chhoti chhoti baatein hoti hai. Nothing takes away from this strikingly original farce. Nothing takes away from the energy, the fun and the madness of Pankaj Advani’s vision. Take a bow Pankaj Advani. Mind-blowing. Mind-Blasting. Chaiwalla!
Aur likhna is paagal film ke saath bahut badi na-insaafi hogi. Aur aapke keemti waqt ke saath ussey bhi badi na-insaafi hogi. Isliye achcha yahi hoga ki aap Saeedbhai Ghalib, Kundanlal Shahgal, Anurag Cash-Yap ke reviews padhein aur Sankat City zaroor dekhein!
Mere bakwaas ko padhne ke liye shukriya. Sankat City dekhne ke liye advance mein bahut bahut shukriya. Aur dekhne ke baad hamaara shukriya adaa karna mat bhuliyega.
Aur Pankaj Advani ko hardik shubhkamnaayen. Mind-Blowing. Mind-Blasting. Chaiwalla!!!
Tags: Anupam Kher, Anurag Kashyap, hansal mehta, kay kay, Kay Kay Menon, Pankaj Advani, Sankat City
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
Hansal sir, You’ve hooked me onto watching this film now, and I’m going as soon as possible, and not taking any kind of shortkuts, pun intended!
With what I can see, Sankat City is the kind of comedy we all need. Nonsensical and Madcap, and still come across as intelligent and sensible!
Thanks for the post
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BANG on, Hansal…..! :-))))
Chai lijiye, sai! ;-p
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I’m mighty pissed..no not with the article…with the release of sankat city…for at leaset about a month i’ve been waiting for this film and now finally in entire bangalore it has released only in PVR that too just one show in the afternoon at 2:40. Who in hell will be able to watch a movie at that time except perhaps on the weekends and that too how many will choose this on the weekend over the other big releases.
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@sudip
Make an effort… Go to PVR. It will be worth all the SANKAT.
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@ Sudip its not just B’lore, the problem exists in Chennai and Hyderabad too.Chennai has 2 shows of the movie- 10.30 A.M on sat & sun @ Sathyam Cinemas and 7 P.M @ Mayajaal.In case of Hyderabad PVR has one show- 2.15 P.M & Cinemax has one show-
2.30 P.M.Only Sapna 35 MM has 4 shows of the movie.So that makes it just 9 shows in the whole of South India ( dont think the movie is releasing anywhere else apart from Chennai,B’lore,Hyd) – I would certainly like to have a word with the team which is handling the distribution.
Pankaj bhai- I’m watching it in Sathyam Cinemas-in Chennai on sunday.but please look into the distribution in South India,its pathetic.
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Looks like its not even released in US :(
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problem is due to some prior commitments i can’t watch it this weekend(I had actually planned to watch it today itself, who knoew there will be no evening shows ) and due to the odd time can’t watch it on weekdays(could have had it been some time in the evening) and I’m not sure if it will survive till next weekend. Can we blame piracy after this?
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Abhi Dekh ke aaya hu…junta sirf 20-30 hi the PVR bangalore me…but all enjoyed the “Sanket City” with applause…Really entertaining mad movie…Aupam,KK and rimi were too good…thanks Pankaj for this…
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completely agree with Sudip @3, i had all the plans to go to the movie today (friday) evening dragging my two other friends to give that a movie xperience treat [as they are not aware of it as of now]and in whole of bangalore only in PVR and that too 02:40 PM show and that also starts from tomarrow.. not today :(
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dude Bhuvan,i watch it on today only in PVR bangalore…plz recheck the date again…
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I assume this film has no US release given that it’s release in India is confined to shows at obscure times. Why so low-key?
Any DVD release planned for these markets?
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Read Kay kay’s blog… I agree with him. When a film like this does not work, its mostly the audience who is to blame… I remember the time when there were no plexes. I would travel by train to south mumbai to be able to catch a good film. I’m sure many others did the same, else there wouldn’t have been so many silver jubiless/hits and releases. It was always worth the effort. If cinema is your passion, then put some effort into your passion. Stop blaming producers, distributors. They have always been this way. Or else stop talking about passion.
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Hansal- people like you & me will always pursue our passion.Like I’m going for the movie on a sunday morning 10.30 show for lack of a better option.But then the aam junta wouldnt really do that right?its really sad that for a movie thats otheriwse being appreciated by everyone who has seen it is not getting a proper release and has hardly been promoted well.In this case I certainly will not blame the audience.If the product awareness and the product availability itself is an issue then you cannot blame the consumers for the fate of the product ( drawing a parralel with the FMCG/consumer durables sectors).
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I guess all said & done atleast PFC here is doing a great job of highlighting the movie, because SC really deserves it.Hope WOM proves to be a good way of bringing in the crowd.
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Sankat City has a limited release in Delhi too, but surprisingly there are more shows playing in the NCR region! It’s not playing anywhere near where I stay so I can’t watch it today as I intended to, but on Sunday I’ll drive down to wherever it’s playing.
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Sorry Hansal Sir(@12) I don’t agree…just 1 show in all of bangalore(which, mind you , is not some remote village) is plain unfair on the movie and on people like me who are just as passionate.
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@Hansal – I respectfully disagree with you and Kay Kay on the audience that is to blame. I lived in Bombay till the mid 90’s and like you, I made those treks to South Bombay for screenings of “smaller” films. That was then and given the economics, it was the best we could hope for…
But I hoped things are different now. Or hoped the folks within the system would make more efforts to better the system. If films like “Sankat City” still get slots for a 10:30 am show in Bombay then something is terribly wrong and to blame the audience for their lack of patronage is futile!
How does this encourage talented filmmakers, such as Pankaj and yourself, to continue in this medium? Sorry I don’t have a real solution to offer, just venting :(
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All of those who are complaining of show timins and locations remember this is nt kambakht ishq. . These guys dnt have d money and marketing hype to distribute d movie everywhere. . U have to travel to c it. .dnt bitch
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what a movie….! rediscover kay kay menon…. craving for a copy of urf professor now….
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Film-making is actually a fairly sound business model. You have a producer/investor who puts in all the money. Below him you have the distributor who invests in the films based on a regional/territorial basis. The distributor in turn sells it to an exhibitor. The exhibitor would either give it to one or more of the cinema halls under his control. The audience will then buy tickets from the cinema hall. If the audience was to visit the theatres revenues would trickle down to all the participants in the above chain. The audience is primarily investing in the film for their own escape, entertainment and engagement. The other people above them in the chain are merely making money. The reason I blame the audience is that they are the only ones who have reasons that are in conjunction with the reasons for a director/writer wanting to make cinema. The others are anyway money mongrels who couldn’t care less for cinema or entertainment for that matter. This places a responssibility on the film-maker to make a film that entertains and engages. It also places a responsibility on the audience to reciprocate a film-makers intent. Pankaj Advani has done his bit for the audience. Would you, the audience, want to be deprived because 7 or moser baer entertainment did not do their job well? That my friends is the question…
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Hansal..you have a point, but remember..a movie like Morning talk is getting much wider release and to me it looks more of producers and exhibitors problem. And also…since it is getting positive reviews, they should make an effort to push the movie in more halls soon, else it will go to oblivion.
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@Cherish
Unfortunately, having producers/distributors who are myopic puts the onus unfairly on audience. They call it word-of-mouth. These guys, whose business it is to make money out of films do not realize that it makes greater economic sense to make a small film, have a good release and to make many more such films. But what to do? When you have jokers with money, the audience has to rise to the ocassion. Because ultimately they are the biggest losers. Imagine being subjected to at least 52 Kambakht Ishqs in a year!
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I thought “Dev D” was the “sex, lies and videotape” that would put Indy films in serious contention in the marketplace. Looks like we still have a way to go there…
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Was looking forward to watching it this evening, but it has really odd timings in mumbai, mostly afternoons. Will have to plan in advance to get to see it.
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Well fortunately for me, I had a slight fever in the morning and decided to miss office. By 1pm I took a decision of watching sankat city @ 2:40 pm. Would you believe me, if I tell you this is the only show of sankat city running in the whole of Bangalore. Well bangalore has always been short of multiplexes, but still I haven’t seen such a marginal release in my last 3 years of stay in bangalore.
Anyways, coming to sankat city, I was captivated by the casting. Well that kind of casting, similar to the ones we have seen in Don, Jhonny G, has always been my favorite. So my expectations soared. I was thrilled with the performance of fauzdaar and guru. But then I didn’t have a great time either. For me it was brilliant in parts and ordinary otherwise. I had read some article by someone(I dont remember his name) that said “A film is composed of only 4-5 breath taking scenes. Rest of the movie goes in helping those scenes to build the desired effect.” For me there were some 4-5 scenes in sankat city that really captivated me, but according to me the rest of the movie did not help those 4-5 scenes in any manner. I would still watch out for the next release of Pankaj Advani. Perhaps next time, his movies will get a better treatment by the multiplexes
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Unfortunately, when you make such small films, while it makes economic sense, you alienate a large portion of the audience as well. A member of the audience is drawn more towards a Kambakkht Ishq than a Sankat City (this has nothing to do with how good or bad either movie is) because it’s about getting value for your money, and if someone is going to spend an x amount of money on going to the theater, are they more likely to spend it on something that cost 30 crore to make or something that cost 3 crore? I know people who will look at small films, hear that they are good, and say “I’ll check it out in DVD or TV, why should I waste 200 rupees on something that looks so cheap to make?” It’s almost like buying branded and generic. If both cost the same, people are bound to buy branded. I know it may not be the best of analogies, but you get the point. Also, box office figures do not reflect the opinion of the audience and it’s a shame that producers and makers both seem to think otherwise. Even if Sankat City doesn’t do well, the director will get the credit he deserves, Sriram Raghavan got the credit he deserved after Johnny Gaddaar flopped because it was a good film.
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@ Azad- check out my comment # 5, the issue of timings was taken up by Sudip & also discussed in detail later by me.
@ Cherish- Morning Walk ( not talk
) is produced and distributed by Inox.So automatically the movie gets released in all the Inox properties and also the other multiplex chains are accomodating it on a reciprocal basis.Who knows if tomorrow PVR or Fame makes a movie they would expect a similar treatment from the others.
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@ Hansal- agreed Pankaj Bhai & his team have done their bit for the audience.I also agree that producers & distributors are just money hungry.But tell me if they are money hungry shouldnt they know that a release like this – very poor presence across the country, very few shows & odd timings of the shows will not enable them to make any money?
While I dont know much about 7 entertainment, I do know about Moser Baer.They have already made movies like Shaurya in Hindi and Raman Thediya Seethai in Tamil.I dont think these films faced any such problem concerning their release.Of course Pankaj Bhai is the right person to know what the issue actually is.
But its very sad that for a movie thats winning accolades there’s nothing that the producers/distributors have done.I for one am looking forward to watching it tomorrow.Viva cinema!!!
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Sankat City seems to be one of the best reviwed movie of this year (indiafm, mumbai mirror, indiatimes, nowrunning, indian express etc etc) apart from getting endorsed by people like kaykay, anupam kher and anurag kashyap. Would be a shame if the distributors/exhibitors dont widen the release AND the promos. Else many people who actually know about the movie (most don’t) would have to miss out on it.
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Great Movie.
Saw the Saturday 2:40 show at PVR, Bangalore. House Full.
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yaar movie ok thi… itni bhi gr8 nahi jitni yahan batai ja rahi hai… kay kay aur anupam kher are at their best… but some dialouges are over the top… climax acha tha… but kahin scenes were boring…i didnt find it to be as exciting as it is made out to be here and in anurag’s blog…
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@Rahul
You are entitled to your opinion. I am neither paid nor obliged to give a good review (neither is anurag or any other writer on pfc). I write here to express my opinion and to respectfully accept yours. Fair enough if you did not like the film that much. I loved it!!!
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I loved it too.
Also, I am going to copy paste your reply whenever I face similar situation. Hope you don’t mind.
Cheers!
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I loved it too.
Also, I am going to copy paste your reply whenever I face similar situation. Hope you don’t mind.
Superb punning of the names :D
Cheers!
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I was looking forward for watching the film, with my friends, but was disappointed to know that it is not showing at any theaters in New bombay area, where a film like Dombivili fast ran for more than a month…Thats a serious mistake distributor has committed, given the fact, there are so many digital theaters and it costs nothing to make digital prints. Plan to watch it soon.
Got back memories of watching late night show at Sterling. We would often miss the last train:)
Hansal we can not blame the audiences totally. Films like Satya have proved it in the past, when there were no multiplexes. But the thing is how many films even come close to Satya?
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I kind of agree with Rahul. This didnt seem to be as great a movie as it was hyped and later reviewed to be (here on PFC)…which again is a matter of perception.
For a story like this where a lot of subplots evntually converge, it takes time for things to piece together and hence it is necessary that the initial subplots should be made as interesting as possible with good characterization(this is where lock, stock…and snatch scored)
Having said this…I am delighted that more and more movies are being made that are intelligent and do not take audience for granted…SC is anyday better than the mammoth shit of a movie that KI is.
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I loved this film and thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Its a pity that its not getting released widely enough in a city like Pune, though the tiny screen that we were in was packed and the audience was in splits.
The only sore point was Chunky Pandey who wasn’t as good as the rest of the cast. Or maybe everyone else just outshone him. Also the initial scenes between Kay-Kay’s character and his uncle showing their chemistry and tom-foolery felt a little weak but thats nit picking. Post the uncle’s accident, it really worked well.
A very well caricatured ensemble of characters and Anupam Kher too really amazed me. The garbage dump sequence was brilliant and the Guevara-style dump loon on his “sinhasan” was great! Who’s that actor?
I don’t know why some people found the characters or dialouges over the top but I thought they were meant to be over the top. Everything from the first frame onwards was that and fit the mad-cap wacky style and tone and purpose of the story well. Like I said, they were all caricatures of a typical Bombay-movie characters and good ones at that.
A very well made film with great characters and story, I truly hope this one spreads like wildfire. Cheers to everyone involved!
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@Hansal… in pvr bangalore..Sankat City tickets were priced at 200 Rs whereas other movies are priced around 160. Isn’t that a deterring factor? Small movie more price than a biggie?
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in pvr bangalore all hindi/english movies are priced 200 on weekend post 12:00 PM
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Saw the movie @ Sathyam cinemas- Chennai,Sunday morning 10.30 show.occupancy was 50 % ( being sunday morning ) but all those who saw it seemed to enjoy the movie.I in particular felt delighted watching the movie.Now someone please do something about getting more shows with better timings.
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Great! Hope the miser buyer guys are reading all this…
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the good word of mouth seems to have worked! The film has picked up over the weekend. My contention is that it will do steady business for quite a few weeks. Well done Pankaj and PFC!
http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2009/jul/13box.html
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ITS SUCH A HORRIBLE FILM
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any idea when is it coming to bay area?
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After all the good reviews why is it that the movie has been already taken off from Chennai,B’lore & Hyd?
What are the concerned people doing?
Pankaj bhai- yeh kya ho raha hai?
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Guess the producer does not want people to watch the film in theater, rather wants them to buy dvd:)
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@Hansal – bigul bajaane ke liye dhanyawaad. reminded me of my hometown where they would advertise films over a loudspeakers on a tonga with posters of the recently released films. Fun read sir.
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@Pankaj – pyaar ko pyaar hi rehne do…
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well done pankaj your strugle seems to have paid
off i was reminded of vijay anand and raj khosla
both navketan proteges keep up the good work
sundeep new delhi
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itni khaamoshi kyon hai bhaiii….
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