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MISSED CALL - Mixed Feelings
I must start this article with what Anurag said in behalf of the filmmakers before the screening. He said that the movie was made with “just” 38 Lacs. That they kept running out of money while making this film. Now why did they need 38 lakhs? When your protagonist is shooting everything on DV isn’t that the greatest excuse to shoot the movie in DV. Now I know that if you shoot Digital it costs a bomb to print it in film. But that is after you have shot the film. If your film is good like Lets Talk it will be picked up. And doesn’t a lot of Indian theaters gone Digital? What bothered me was that the essence of Missed Call was Digital. It was a personal film. I believe that some films must be shot on Digital & some on Films irrespective of how much money you have. The look is almost like the films soul sometimes. And if there was ever any film crying out to be shot on DV, Missed Call was it. Go see CAVITE & find out the story about how they made the film.
Maybe it was made 5 years back when DV wasn’t happening in India at all( thats what Srinivas told me). And I can understand that. People with money don’t understand Digital in India yet. So I might be talking out of my ass.
No doubt the movie had some nice scenes. And I was glad that the movie was made in the first place. It was refreshing that they got so much money to make a movie like that. So for me it was another step forward for indian cinema. And it should be supported by Film festivals. Esp. Indian festivals like IFFLA. So thanks to Vijay & OZ for supporting it. Trust me guys this will help us one day.
Coming back to the movie… Now I know why Ankur does not get roles in films. I have seen him in plays & he completely blew me….esp with his hold over language of hindi & urdu. But theater & film are different medium & sometimes some people work only in one of them. The plays I saw him in was mostly monologues. He didn’t interact with other actor much( Acting is reacting isn’t it?). In Missed Call he came across as stiff to me. I really had a lot of expectations from him. And I hope he will improve with time.
I also did not feel for his character much. I felt more sorry for his father than him. His father was right… he was a irresponsible spoilt brat who walked around like a zombie all the time. Just because he wants to become a filmmaker I’m not gonna root for him. For me that was the main problem with the film. If I can’t feel for the protoganist then whats the point. And I think it was more a problem with the actor than the writing. The writing was pretty good in the film. I think a better actor could have really taken the film a step higher.
Like our striker rightly said - ” he was acting like a loser, and his dad called him out on it.. what did he want his dad to do?
shower him with a garland of flowers?”
Now the things that was good in the film. I liked both his friends. They looked real. They acted well. I liked the how the concept of seeing through his camera allowed Mridul for some funky framing. I love when we can’t see the characters on screen while something is happening. This film had plenty of them. The dialogues were real( something rare) throughout the film.
Sheeba Shah( Naseer Bhai’s daughter) was as good as she was in those plays.
Most people I met after the screening loved the film. So i’m a minority here with only Striker & OM on my side. Vijay, Oz, Varun…everyone loved the film. And I feel the movie is not as bad as i make it out to be:). The Digital Vs Film is a strong thing for me.
I think we need more films like these(good or bad). I hope Mridul goes on to make more experimental films. In the end I would still recommend watching MISSED CALL. To learn from it. To keep taking Indie Indian Cinema Higher. Missed Call is a truly Indie Cinema.
P.S - I must tell you I’m a Digital Warrior. I’m known for my love for anything Digital. Hence all that rant about DIGITAL!
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I thought Missed call was essentially what Mahesh Bhatt does…” its my personal story”. Missed call definitely had its moments like when he does the interview for a corporate and his camera captures Tinnu Anand and the HR. It was refreshing to see Salim Ghouse after a long time. He truly is an amazing actor, but i thought the movie’s flow did not look very natural, felt the scenes were forced to show normality….
Its a definite watch coz of the unique plot.
yeah, agree with you about the DV part.. i didn’t realize until you mentioned it that it was shot on film.. i knew something was bothering me about the movie, but couldn’t quite place my finger on it.
i loved the framework.. there was this long one-shot take where the camera follows the protagonist all over the room while he delves into this huge monologue about the perfect pitch for a “commercial” script that he plans on narrating to a producer. i loved the way this shot was taken. another one during his first date with the girl, where you only see their feet while they’re dancing. and also the way the last scene was taken…
but good techniques don’t make a good movie, and for that reason alone, i can’t praise the film to the skies. i will, however, give points to the filmmaker for a brave film. the film was good in parts, but overall, average at best.
I haven’t seen the film yet but thank you for the post that it is making me a little more curious about the film. Also from your post I leaned that what not to expect so I might end up liking the film coz I will not expect the required look etc.
Again thank you for not telling me too much about the film unlike many do and that just kills the curiosity one might have.
The idea on making the Indie Indian films industry stronger will just help everyone getting the massage across on time so it can be experienced and appreciated with contemporary frame of mind. An Indie filmmaker loses the impact with his film when an idea is born in 2002 and gets across with all the troubles (if he is lucky) in 2007.
Yeah Anshul.
I felt that strongly too. The idea was concieved on April 2003. So it was quite a fresh concept for anywhere in the world for 2003. By 2007 when we saw it the overflow of personal DV films have almost saturated this kind of films…atleast for us here in US. This film could have been made anywhere in the world.
And Striker.
I loved that whole commercial pitch scene. I even liked their commercial idea. I think Mridul should make that film as a spoof on Bollywood. :)
i know man.. that pitch totally worked for me.. almost made me want to contact mridul to get rights for that idea and make a spoof out of it :) i was impressed with ankur’s dialogue delivery in that scene.. and i can see that his theater background helped him in that because it required him to be so “big” and expressive.
Guys!! Some great news…Missed Call is going to Cannes!!!!!!!!!
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1092116
Gautam
Don’t get too excited.
link
Its in company of GURU & MUNNABHAI!
It’s screening in the Cinema Du Monde section out of competition.
I dnt think yu need to feel strongly about digital or film.. you first need to feel strongly of a Story that you NEED to tell. That NEED is greater than the format..A true film maker will do so with any material… the rest are all fads..
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Siddhartha Chopra!
Did you understand what i said? I said that the story should dictate what medium its shot on. Even if someone had million dollar with them but the story needs to be shot on DV they should do that instead of shooting it on film just because they can afford it & its grand.
Have you seen Missed Call?
@Mainak bhai…
Shaant Gadadhaari Bheem Shaant ;)
( Cool Mace carrying bulldozer( err bheem)…cool) the wink remains the same in English ;)
Your english is horrible! try to get ot proofread by a good editor.
How about proofreading your own comment to begin with?
dipayan-:
i think that’s not the point here…