Mumbai meri Jaan….again!!!
Mumbai Meri Jaan… I had to write after seeing the film. I am sure most of you have seen it already and that I am practically the last to watch it.
It melted my heart to see a film that was from the heart, things that we speak about and never get down to doing. I agree with anurag, I too felt “why the hell didn’t I think of making a film like this???”
Kudos to Nishikant Kamat.
What a thought!!! Characters that we see in every day life, lines we hear ourselves speaking at times but have never bothered to look at its deeper meaning, a pace that as far as I am concerned needs a lot of guts to incorporate in a film and cast that I am really envious about, but I am very happy to have seen the film. This is exactly the kind of films we are all talking about…films that say something, stir something inside people…!!!
I watched it in Satyam Theatre complex in Chennai and was happy to see that it was 70% full on a Thursday 10.30pm show. There were a handful who walked out(they really missed out something) but the remaining applauded at the end of the show, that brought a sense of pride for what ever reasons!!!
As I walked out a young man with a sleeping child in his arms overheard me saying that is was so good to see a film that is so real and he turned around and said,” oh so you too share our thoughts. I thought you people might only like loud commercial films where you get MORE to act.” I did not get what he meant so just smiled, only a little later did I realise what he was trying to say and I laughed to myself. So here it was… we had somewhere in the kind of films we do, make people feel that acting is good acting only when we are dramatic and loud. Now I wonder who is to blame! Most people consider acting to be something which has to have a style and some melodrama in it, anger, tears, sudden turns, dramatic pauses when rendering dialogue etc etc. Just behaving and reacting to a situation, as close to realism was always considered ‘art film acting’. I am talking about the opinion of the ‘aam jantha’(both audience and makers) when it comes to the commercial films. Now I realise why the actors who come for auditions do what they do… though I admit that there is a lot of change too. Am being a little diplomatic here!!!
So, coming back to the main topic…well I feel happy that there is a huge change in our films and it is great.
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
Thank you for supporting such films Revathy! and thank you for blogging about it!!!
We’re Indians ;) We need our daily dose of melodrama,trust me,without it,life could get a lil bland :P
its really nice to hear from people like you.
its encouraging to not only Nishikant but also people like us who want to tell their stories!!
Please continue such posts Revathy.Nice to listen to your opinion on current films.
hi revathy,
I really agree with u that, Indian cinema is changing.The only thing we have to realise is,Indian cinema is not only about bollywood or masala films.I think,we should encourage people like Anurag,nishikant who are trying to bring change in indian cinema.
Revathiiii, you should write more about the films you watch – good, bad, mediocre, ugly.
Always good to hear from a selected select few :-)
Revathy,”well I feel happy that there is a huge change in our films and it is great”..these words of hope indeed are required to counter the forces of big-time commercialisation and crass consumerism and build an alternative..thnx.
Hi Revathy, myself been a big time fan of you, especially after your performances in “Mouna Raagam”, “Anjali”, “Mugalir Muttam”, “Thevar Magan”, “Punnagai Mannan”, and Telugu movies like “Ankuram”, “Gaayam”. It feels great to respond for the first time on your post.
Knowing very well the type of movies you have acted in, your endorsement of Mumbai Meri Jaan, is really encouraging to movie makers to try out things, different from the standard formula. I would also love to see more movies from you as a director. Have not seen any after Phir Milenge and Mitr.
Hey Revathi,
Ever since I saw Mouna Ragam, the first thing I had always wanted to say was the way you hold your coffee cup when you sit with Karthik in that hotel was just awesome!!!
After you pour water on Karthik’s face after he tried to call your father(Mr. Chandramouli), the smile you’d give is just out of the world… That too with Ilayaraja’s bgm, that scene looks so lovely….
the movie is indeed international class…. even arriaga and inarritu would be proud of the characterisations….
I am a novice but I like cinema. But I do not understand when an artist does not “speak” their heart out. If purpose of art is to communicate (at least to communicate that I do not wish to communicate) then Mumbai Meri Jaan doesn’t do that.
I can understand “the sense of purpose/intention”, but that alone does not help a drowning man asking for help. A drowning man needs help from somebody who knows how to swim. And it takes honesty to tell the ignorant/misguided helper that he better don’t lend a hand if he doesn’t know to swim.
I didn’t like this movie. But that is a personal opinion. If any response is who cares then as it says in the movie – “One should only watch the movie. Should not participate in it…” Interesting :-) Sometimes I am led to believe that Oxymorons are The Real Truths in the world.
Hi Revathy,
I loved all your movies. And who else but you could know the marked difference between, an out and out bollywood movie and a reality movie.
Personally, I didn’t like the movie. I thought that the direction was made too bollywooish. I always say, that if the intent is nice, the content will follow. But I feel nishikant wanted to make a “bollywood” movie, his intent was not to make a hard hitting reality byte movie.
Anyways, the world is big enough to help both of us find a roof. Even if we have contrasting views. I respect your views. Just that my views on this are different.
Smiles :-)
Aham
Hi Revathy,
Nice to see you here. Thanks for your views. Didnt see the movie but will see soon. You are one of the greatest actresses Indian films has ever seen. Why arent you continuing direction? what are your plans?
Waiting to catch up with this movie and subramaniapuram soon…
Woow revathy,
im a gr8 fan of urs…. even though ivent watched many of ur tamil movies.. i feel u make the best romantic pair for my evergreen star mohanlal…
the chemistry u shared wit lal, in movies like kattathe kilikoodu, devasuram and kilikkum was just mesmerizing…
for me the stand out one has to be Mayamayooram… it was just sheer magic for me…
ur my fav actreses along with suhasini maniratnam, shobhana and geethu mohandas…
all best for all ur endavours
Watched it yesterday.Nice movie.According to me the moral of the movie is “Whatever happens it’s good to remain cool”.Love the most meaningful dialogue from Paresh Rawal that “See everything with out acting”.
Hi Revathy,
Did you get to chastise Kamal Hassan for making the LOUD Dasavatharam.. if not, please do so.
And keep making good movies.
MMJ totally rocks. I’d compare it to one of my all-time favourite films ‘Crash’. There is similarity in theme and structure. Crash is so beautifully written that it’s virtually impossible to adopt that structure without copying.
But Nishikant Kamat came close. And it isn’t about thinking about making the film, the key difficulty is in breaking the expectations of the audience without letting them know where they are going and avoiding being preachy and turning them off. It is so daunting and such a difficult thing to do.
And what an end! Nishikant Kamat is a craftsman, you must watch his Dombivali Fast on DVD (It’s a Marathi film), if you haven’t already seen it.
Hi,
Revathi ji,
This is sanjana please write back sukruthamyoga [at] yahoo.com.sg
would like to talk to you more please
Hi revathiji,
I suggest you also watch this movie ‘A wednesday’. Brilliant and relevant to the present condition (terrorism) in India. Excellent acting by Nasureddin Shah and Anupam Kher and others.
Can you blog more please, it has been more then 2.5 months since your last blog. Most movies specially bollywood ones are just song and dance films. Most have shallow stories. We need more realistic honest movies representative of what a common person experiences in daily every day life. That life which is very hard and which pays little for a hard day’s work. Otherwise it is the same escapist stuff. people dancing and celebrating all the time, meaningless and boring.
Also I am amzed at how some people can speak, read, understand so many languages, like you. What is the secret?
i am very happy to see you after many days.what about your telugu project
Hello Revathy,
Just happen to read abut your blog in Deccan Chroncile today which led me here,I have to say you were one of the best actor in South India eg your films Mouna Raagam Punnagai Mannan Maglir Mattum etc in tamil & in Malayalam your portarayal as Mohnalal lady love in the movie well I do not remember the name of the movie was superb because the movie had two other outstanding actors in Santhi Krishna & Shobhana in this movie where Mohanlal did a double role a typical Naadan charachter & a city bred tole in Banglaore actually yourself Santhi Krishna & Shobhna were simply outstanding in this movie.
Actually we miss such good cinema nowadays who can forget your role in Kilikkum, Varavelupu & Thevar Magan all these were Gems.
Revathy look foward to some decent good films from you in the near future keep going.
Regards
Ramesh
Hey Revathi!
I am from the Telugu circle.I really like the way u enacted that role in ANKURAM!!wat an amazing movie?That something really touched my heart and I agree MUMBAI MERI JAAN is such a gud film..I really like this actor KAY KAY MENON who more often appears in the small banners and realistic roles..I think U shud start makingmovies with such actors and I love to see you also in the films!!!!!!KUDOS REVATHY!
Hi Revathi…
This is from Saravanan. I am an average indian, who don’t like to be an average indian. I haven’t seen your films, which are under your direction. But I liked your works in “Magalir Mattum” and “Priyanka”, which were having two contrast characters. They were good performance. I have some story knots for short films about some sensitive subjects, and for entertainer films. If you wish to hear those I will give you. I don’t like that stories going to be useless, because i am not in cine field. ThanX…
Expecting,
Saravanan. A