Now is the time- All the cinema all at PFC has been waiting for…
is here.. patronise it.. From 13 B, to Little Zizou to Gulaal to Firaaq to Barah Aana to Straight . All the indie, low budget movies are here, the kind we want to make or watch and noone is going to the theatres. Ignore the reviews, make your opinions, love it , hate it, discuss it later but first go and watch it.
We can’t always be sitting here cribbing about our cinema, bitching out the producers and whatever if we ourselves are not going to patronise these films. People don’t talk crap when they say this site is an anurag kashyap site.. because that is what it looks like, umpteen reviews of Dev.D and gulaal and not one of Little Zizou, which is a fantastic little film.. where are the discussions on Firaaq and Barah aana, both of which i saw in an empty theatre today.. if none of these films work, then prepare yourself to go back to the cinema we have tried so hard to leave behind. Ignore the reviews, good or bad and go watch these films, make your own opinions, argue, debate or else nothing is going to improve and we will be fighting a lost cause. Words alone won’t change our films, actions would and it has to start from here or we should stop calling ourselves passion for cinema and make it passion for bakchodi..
For anykind to work, you have to first buy tickets, people who are actually doing it need to see money to take it further. Most of us here went and saw Rab ne .. just so they could bitch it out but i don’t see anyone going to see these. The number of people i see at PFC parties i don’t see at PFC screenings.. not even the official authors and members.. so i guess either we do it by doing it or just give up the pretensions of really wanting a change and acknowledge we are the bitches masquerading as cinema lovers. I am done here.
Bravo.
Agreed. Time to walk the talk.
Most of us NRI’s dont have that option. All we can do is support and show our solidarity by buyin the DVD when and if it becomes availale to us. But true.. everyone in India should definitely be goin for these indie movies irrespective of the reviews or reputation of ppl involved. If these movies do not make any money, the financers would soon go back to placing safe bets.
agreed but we also need to be careful not to become crusaders for medium/small budget films. we shouldn’t have a cause. we love good cinema and that’s the key word – good…not small or medium or big.
Well said Anurag!! I think the fixation with you is more profound than you think… hopefully the above post benefits others too!
When is Dev-D slated to be released on DVD this side of the Atlantic?
i completely agree… bakchodi won’t change anything… work, work, work- do what’s necessary
Anurag, let me tell my situation, i live in a place called Bhubaneshwar, which though being the capital city, is more like a small town. There are just 5 theaters, and all i get to see is the latest Oriya flicks, and even if Bollywood movies are released, they would be the standard mainstream fare. Dev D came here after 3 weeks, and Gulaal has not even released here. Only other option i have is to watch it online out here. Its not just here, its the same problem with the smaller towns and cities. So tell me what can people like me living in the smaller cities do about it, this is something i have been talking about from a long time.
There are many passionate movie lovers in the smaller cities and towns, and movies like Gulaal, Firaq should reach out to them also. Unfortunately, its not been happening. So tell me what do people like us in small towns and cities do. Accept that this is our Karma, and wait for the DVD to come out. Or watch it online.
anurga, barah anna any good?
I have seen most of the films mentioned by you.
While coming out of theater after watching Firaaq, I heard a boy telling his girlfriend ” Sorry yaar Mujhe pata nahi tha movie itni pakau hogi”.
An old couple left the theater after watching 15 min of movies. I don’t know the exact reason.
The problem is that after watching movies like 13B (Expecting much more) and Firaq people are getting disappointed. Personally I hated Firaq for many reasons. But 13B and Little Zizou are good movies. But we can’t blame the audience for not watching the movies. Its up to them to decide. As per as I am concerned I am going to watch as many movies I can.
ur rite anurag…….
but there has been a change……
consider this…a year back …i had to force my friends to watch manorama on dvd…and now they want to watch a movie like Gulaal or Luck By chance on friday itself..
i wish all these indie movies had released with some gap between them. i understand its a bit difficult logistics wise…..but then u have to admit…Little Zizou and Gulaal definitely ate into each other’s shares………especially since people watching these kind of films are the same…..
Anurag Sir, any indications as to what exactly was Piyush Mishra’s dialogue in Gulaal which got Beeped out in the theater? It was relating to Gandhiji and his gol chasme (round glasses). I am highly curious
Firts i liked to thank u for making Movie like “Dev.D” & “Gulaal”. After watching this absolutely terrfic movies there no other thoughts in my mind, but to meet u. i know that’s not gonna be possible. i was so high before the release of dev.d that i was not even conerntating on my work. friday came and i was ready to go for my work, but instead of doing that i gone staright to big cinemas and bought ticket for dev.d without second thought. & WHEN i came out of the theater i really wanted to go for another time, but i wouldn’t. but still i saw dev.d three times & gulaal one time. i am waiting for the dvds to come out. this is something personal i want to tell u AK. AT the time of NO SMOKING I WATCHED THAT MOVIE FIRST DAY FIRST SHOW, AND THE FEEL OF THE MOVIE WAS SO AMAZING THAT I CAN’T EVEN TELL U IN WORDS. MY FKING FRIENDS THEY WERE ABUSING NO SMOKING, BCOZ THERE MENTALITY IS SO SMALL THAT WE CAN’T ADJUST OURSELFS. BUT I ALWAYS STOOD BY YOUR SIDE, WHENEVER THEY CRITICISED NO SMOKING I’HD ALWAYS ABUSED THEM. BECOZ I KNOW WHAT U’VE MADE WAS A MASTERPIECE. I’VE ALWAYS BELIEVE IN U & I WILL!
REALLY WANTS TO THANK YOU FOR ENTERTAINING US BY SHOWING REAL WORLD.
I’m not a member of the PFC “official” club or anything of that sort…and sitting here in the US I don’t get a chance to watch any of these movies mentioned..but nonetheless…
I’m feeling sorry for ourselves!
yeh bhi to ho sakta hai ki cinema ka vaqt guzar chuka hai. I’m not overtly emotional about cinema – or a certain type of cinema – not doing well.
Andhere mein teer chalaane se kuchh haasil nahin. We cannot manufacture an artificial viewer. Or maybe cinema will have to be a lot better than it is.
A lot more impassioned; a lot more emotionally gripping. We are living through times when conventional sites of struggle are crumbling.
u r right Anurag…here is my view on some of these movies and i watched all of them in theatre with wife and friends. Loved DevD to the bits, watched it once with wife who just seems so enthralled by ‘matresses on cycle’ scene – women emancipation and all. Gulal was tough, good in bits, RannSa was awesome…..songs were good but went on for too long, breaking the flow. 13b was superb….watching it again today…..will dwell on it later. All in all interesting times……thx all u maverics, u non-conformists
Went and watched Barah Aana. Don’t know what to make of the film. The only thing I brought home was Vijay Raaz’s performance. Why was Naseer quiet. If there were certain things left for the audience to decipher on their own, I guess they were too subtle. The movie didn’t know where it was going or what it was trying to say.
One doesn’t have the kind of money to watch three films over a weekend. It’s better to wait for a moser baer VCD instead these days. At least a family of four can ‘legally’ watch the film at an affordable expense.
mohan.. there is a lot of passion but the unfortunate thing is commerce comes in the way of it and it comes so often that slowly an impassioned mind gets numbed. For it to survive the change has to be sought commercially and it can be done from within.. i am saying watch it and reject it, but make your own choice.
CBJK..Barah aana is really good, few reservations but a really good film about ordinary people..
amol.. we need more people like you
papaji yeah it is about good cinema.. a big budget good cinema with a star has got its patrons.. i m saying , people are just not going in.. due to recession and the industry strike.. no big films are coming out hence most of the small films that otherwise wouldn’t have found a release are coming out.. watch them and then the one that you like , propogate it..
vikas the dialogue was two names.. Gandhi, Ambedkar
@ Anurag: I read in some articles on Gulaal about the haphazard editing at places. Am sure this was due to mandatory ‘cuts’ that the censor board requested in order for the movie to be released. Will the DVD have all the deleted scenes or do the censor board have a say in what is released on DVD too?
And this was raised by ‘Tony mera naam’ in another post in relation to piracy – Is there a possibility that distributors may consider a simultaneous release of movies on DVD for ppl outside India where the hindi indie movies do not come on the big screen? This can curb piracy and create buzz.
I agree that Gulaal might not have a ‘huge’ audience outside India bcos of its theme but am sure movies like Dev D, OLLO, 13B, Lil Zizou, etc. would find its audience even outside. So why then are we underestimating the market that clearly exists outside India when it comes to Indie movies? Is feasibility (economic) the only reason?
I like watching good intelligent movies and am a fan of yours. I am not from the industry. I am a Chartered Accountant. Anyways, lastweek we had 4 releases. Do you expect everybody to watch all these movies? Each movie will cost me around Rs. 300/-(including Travel expenses and if i go alone) and 4 hours(from my house to coming back). If I watch all the movies than it will cost me Rs. 1,200/- and 16 hours of my life. I choose not to do that. So what do I do? I read some reviews (from Taran Adarsh to PFC), analyze it and than pick one and not care for the remaining and if I miss some good movies I gather some patience and than buy a DVD. But watching each and every movie is not feasible (monetarily or timewise). Aur bhi Gham hain zindagi mein movies ke siva.
anurag,
i have seen few movies out of the lot…gulaal, dev d, firaaq, 13b,barah aana… i wante to watch straight and little zizou…but dude…whrz the money…if corporates are hit by recession…so r our pockets…and the ticket prices for shit like 13b is also the same…i mean they are low budget experimental films…the pricing of the tickets also have to be reasonable…i agree with what you are saying but the truth is let them flop..let these exhibitors and producers learn a lesson…i have huge regards for the new wave directors but only regards dont fill my pockets…
I completely agree. If we don’t go out and watch these indies who the hell are we to talk about all the shit we do? Independent cinema can’t afford armchair supporters.
Glad you like the film Anurag. Will pick your brains in person soon.
Is it practically possible to watch 4-5 movies within a week(these kind of movies don’t usually survive to the next week) @ 200 bucks each for a common man?
Looking at it another way…in the last few months we have already had quite a few films based on terrorism or after effects of that…mumbai meri jaan, Aamir, A Wednesday…not to mention Parzania a little while ago which was based on similar backdrop as Firaq…so would a common man really want to spend money on that?
One may argue that when we do not get tired of one romantic move after another or one comedy after another then why should that be a problem with films dealing with serious subject…but please note that Cineme in India is still an entertainment medium and not a cerebral medium…people/families still look for entertainment or paisa-vasool factor. It is people like us who can appreicate/argue/debate on such films…but we, imo, are a minority…what about the common man who views cinema more as a “release management”, release from stress/tension etc..?
i saw baarah aana at an almost empty chandan theatre.saw firaaq with around 10 people around me. it pains to see the state of good cinema being wasted like this.
Anurag…
i hate you and i love you… i hate you for the kind of perception you have of life…Gory, ugly, dark…i respect your freedom of expression but i hate it…Try to find an UNIVERSAL EMOTION which suits your kind of story…thats what is lacking in your films…you are still acting like a philosopher…jump into spiritual zone…its a whole new journey…by taking stance as a philosopher we get N number of opportunities to DEFEND our work…dont do that…get to the bottom of EMOTIONAL WORLD of your character and make a statement without making it, through undercurrent…get the THOUGHT right and spread it as an undercurrent…this lacks in your films and hence i hate you…
i love you for better reason…you do what you say…and thats why you are most loved here or any where you go…
about rest of them i am fade up of ATTEMPTS…most of the indie films look like ATTEMPTS… considering all the hard ships if they finally make a film cant they understand they are making BORING films..most of them have NOTHING to say…
Where is today’s ARDHYA SATYA, MIRCH MASALA, NEW DELHI TIMES, SPARSHA?
i could sense ‘TRYING to please the audience by doing something or anything diferent’ approach in these indie films…i would be more than happy to sense ‘ i wanted to say this and i said it and i consciously tried to tell a story’ approach…
I could not agree with you more.
But Anurag, Many of us here have an option to watch Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, English,Bangla, any Foreign Language and Hindi. People here are for passion for cinema, and not passion for indie Hindi Cinema alone…We excercise our right to watch good films according to our choice in any or all of the above lanuguages.
I checked out ‘Yaavarum Nalam’, aka 13B, say 30 people, in the theatre with me, but need to say that even if ‘Dukey Bana’ and his men have shed their blood for ‘Rajputana’, it is a doomed cause from the word go. But ‘Dukey’ could not stop trying, just because of his passion. As long as we have ‘Dukey’’s, in both audience and Film makers good cinema will survive.
Midnight revolution is impossible. It will definitely get better in time. Today is better than ten years before. Atleast, these films are getting released and is played in good multiplexes all over.
I agree that we must give preference to these over and above RNBDJ type of nonsense.
Dear Anurag Kashyap,
Thank you for this article. Well said and succinctly written. Please forgive me for this elaborate response.
Carrying on from the comment that Ratnakar made above, I shall add a few more points. I live in a country where movies are released for NRI audiences. I don’t need to elaborate on what type of movies they are. But, even those do not release in my city. On top of it, I live on an island. To aisa bhi nahin ke drive kar ke jaa sakoon.
To kya karen, pirated dekhen? We have decided NOT to watch those. Stupid us, aasaani se mil jaata hai to dekh sakte hain na.
But, being a movie maker, you tell me, DVD banaane mein kitne saal lagte hain? Kaise koi pirated version banaane waala movie release hone ke pehle DVD banaa letaa hai, aur kaise movie ban ke ek saal hone par bhi legal DVD release nahin hoti.
To, aisa nahin kar sakte aap ke DVD release karo aur rent pe rakho Netflix ya aise koi website pe? Theatre mein hi dekhnaa chaahiye kya? Baaki saare viewers bhaadh mein jaayein? Or can’t you work with a website/company to show movies online? No need to download anything. Watch the movie online, pay for it as well.
To Quote you “The number of people i see at PFC parties i don’t see at PFC screenings.. not even the official authors and members” Unquote
I am sure you meant a specific location and set of people because, I do not have an inkling of an idea where these two events happen. Aapne itna bhi nahin sochaa ke aur bhi log hain yahaan PFC pe jinhein aap jaante ya pehchaante nahin.
So, when you say that you are done here. You basically reaffirm the talk that PFC is all about you. I am sorry but I totally disagree with it. There is a lot of articles about your movies here. Yes, but there are articles about other movies here too. Have you had the time to read those? May be not but people still write irrespective of the amount of viewership the article gets. That is something to think about. “Little Zizou” and “13B” in specific, may not have been written about, but many other films have been…. It is after we read about “Amal” (by Richie Mehta) on PFC, that we went to see it when the local museum theatre screened it during a Film Club (that we are part of) screening. We read about Partho Sengupta’s “Hawa Aane De” here and saw it at the same place when we had a chance…. But, the point is, we have to GET THAT ONE CHANCE.
Fed up honaa thaa to as audiences who do not have access to movies that they want to watch, we need to be fed up of YOU as a movie maker, but we don’t. We still hope to watch enjoy, dislike, argue and idolize movies and more……
Where I agree with Anurag is that these movies should be given a chance, at least by those who keep complaining that they are fed up of same old crap. But I also agree with the view that one cannot afford to shell out Rs300 apiece and watch 4 movies of uncertain merit in a week. We sure have to pick and choose. Agree with Anurag when he says, What if there is a possibility that the movie may not be truly great? We give Rab ne.. a chance, right? So even if we just like the premise we should go check it out for ourselves.
As for advice to the makes, I know they all are trying to their best, but please keep the audience in mind, and the fact that they are paying good money, driving thru traffic jams, taking time out from their busy schedule, so pl try and make it their worthwhile. If the subject is old , please invest in anew lingo, so that we find it interesting. Incorporate some exciting element ( a great song, a few dramatic moments, a new theme, anything); please don’t make a film just to fulfil your ambition of making a film.,
Guys watch what you can.. these films are not always running in multiplexes.. barah aana is at chandan ..its cheaper.. we pulled out gulaal from cheaper single screens because no audience there.. every film is available atleast in one cheap option..
talk about them.. my reaction was largely because except my films nothing was being discussed.. it is not only about hindi films.. i am talking about whats available in my city.. you patronise what’s available in yours.. choose one but choose it now..
Hi Anurag,
Gulal hasnt even released here in singapore. i am dying to see it. silly mainstream stuff runs here for weeks sometimes. its shocking. even maqbool want released here. i had a to get a vcd from india. talking about little sensible films the recent film JUGAAD wasnt bad either. great combo. Manoj bajpai and Vijay raaz.
whats your next venture going to be?
good day..
all we need is one out of these films to be profitable..
@Ram V
“Today is better than ten years before. Atleast, these films are getting released ”
THIS IS THE TRUTH !!!
GK
I totally agree with Anurag. Would just add that even if someone has seen for example x film, kindly talk about it here,so that we could have a discussion about it and create a buzz. Good,bad,ugly whatever lets have discussions about these films. We as filmmakers might not comment so much in the open but you as an audience can swear,abuse,clap etc here in this platform.Where else can you go and tell film maker what you felt about his/her film? And believe me filmmakers do read PFC.
As Anurag has put,because there is lack of Big Budget content in the market these films are getting a chance to come out with good show timings etc…Watch whatever you can and write about it.
hi there, can anyone pls tell me something more on screenings at PFC… been a film student, i m really mad about quality films. i see almost every film that is released in India (and that too in theatres). One important thing learnt from my faculty is – ALWAYS RESPECT THE HARD WORK THE CAST N CREW HAD PUT IN. i strongly agree to you that GO URSELF AND THE SEE THE MOVIE.. dont go by others opinion…. thnx for ur time.
Right all the way!!
Hi anurag,
Although I agree with you, I do believe the audience has the right to love or reject a film. Times are such that audiences will have to be drawn out of their homes and this I mean even for the big budget. Take for egs:- Dev D, it is not exactly a small film but not star studded affair. But what draws the audiences is the shock element in promos, the exuberant and outrageous promotion. It is merely a case of people having more options these days, you have to chase them even the small movies. The marketing has to bombard the audiences and like it or not reviews play a huge role. I am n the middle of exams, hence am unable to watch any of these movies. But I genuinely feel Indian cinema is changing and the “fear” element in your blog of us going back to the “regressive” cinema is not enough of a carrot.
I considered lucky to find some of the movies running in my locality so was able to see them during the weekends.
Saw & wrote on 13B on my blog.
Firaq was too slow & frankly, I saw it only it was debut of Nandita Das.
Barah Aana- was happy to see something different at last. Will post a review soon.
(Saw Aloo Chat, too)
Unfortunately they are still showing Gulaal in 3 shows, and thus other movies are not getting much crowd :-s
Cheers!
~uh~
Hi Anurag,
It absolutely righto when u say.. love it or hate it.. first watch it… but forcing junta to go theater also need certain pre work.. i agree commerce play in vital role in advertisement and marketing… still some movies could have been marketed well.. i challenge half of the junta dont know Little Zizou have mira nair in backing.. Ur Dev d was been marketed very nicely and even u had gone to the extent of gifting people Condoms and allowing them to call chanda on hot line..
Still.. i believe (rather want to believe) average intellectuality and acceptance of audience toward CINEMA is increasing.. else movies like DASVIDANIYA , MITHYA, GULAL, OYE LUCKY LUCKY OYE wouldn’t have worked !!
Don’t ask the people to go.. make/force the people to go
No more Gulaal in Bangalore…anywhere…I dont know why? Dev D still on, Barah Anna is on, Zizou is on….Any idea, Anurag??? Even if it plays it in 12 noon slot….
@Anurag
Yes I understand your sentiments…I try to catch most of such movies as soon as possible…
But cost is a factor…In recent weeks we have seen 2/3 small budget films releasing together….I gues you ppl should have some tacit understanding and form a cartel…
Also…You seem to have mastered the art of promotion & marketing…but same can’t be said about others…Stoneman Murders was a pretty good thriller which was released with amateurish trailers & promotion….I finally saw a pirated print & hated myself for not watching it on big screen…
Y not so called meaninful films-makers sell their products to corporate satelite channel and be released straight on.I am sure u can reach much more audience by this way and break even in terms of business and satisfaction atleast.
and coming to 13B, i hated watching on my local cable…lucky that i missed the painful exp if watched in a theatre.
Our indian films USP is universal selling point and if u cant work on it then..try documentaries or short movies…
becos we dont have GENRE’S for our films…we only boast that we r emerging with time..thas a holy crap.
Anurag! Just saw this… and I Love You for this post. Aap jiye hazaaron saal, aur saal ke din ho pachaas hazaar. *muah*
@Anurag
If you think people will watch movies because it is some sort of crusade “good vs bad” then you are wrong ,I and countless others watch movies because we either like the concept of the movie or are attracted by the promos and the starcast.
I am not going to spend my hard earned money simply because I need to resurrect Indian Cinema.
Audiences have the right to love or hate a movie ,as much as you have the right to make a “different” kind of cinema.
uh pl put the links of your reviews here and you can also sent it as iview i think..
vineet this is not about the audience.. this post is addressed to the authors, writers on PFC and all of us including me who keep screaming from the rooftop about the change that we want..
@Jitaditya
The release dates are decided not by the filmmaker(director) unless he is a producer too.
Unless the film is backed by a strong(moneyed) producer,distributor,exhibitor the only way of publicity these days is WOM(word of mouth)and a good prayer :-)…
ahh and how could I forget the “reviewers and ratings”…
@ Anurag
Right & Wrong-
Its a good point to point the hypocrasy, talking about good cinema but not actually watching it.But the whole point is why to force a small budget/different movie on anyone?
M sure most of the movies make their own fate. Being a Media Researcher i can safely say, the reasons for a Movie doing good business(without considering wether its a good/bad or small/big budget film) is all related to a film.
Here are some case studies:-
1) Gulaal – will do well compared to movies of the same genre because of your name, buzz in blogs across the web, word of mouth, SONGS!
2) Firaaq – will do good, too. good marketing+ critically acclaimed+Nandita Das+ Godhra
3) Barah Anna and Straight -Not big crowd pullers, no hype/buzz, no one wud put under “must watch”- poor returns
And now talking about change- after years of lobbying i have finally convinced my family, friends to miss movies like Rab Ne…( i didnt see it nor allowed my family 2 see it), made it a point to see Gulal and Firaaq.
But like in TV, good & mature cinema, will have few takers! u r targetting a small niche TG. It will take atleast 5-6 yrs for such movies to be crowd pullers!
As Anurag Kashyap suggested (wow!)-
My review on 13B – here
[also AK please have a look at the trivia in Gulaal- . There were too many reviews here, so....]
Normally, I refrain from posting the links here because some people term it as ‘Blog-whoring’.
Will sent the Barah Ana review on Projektiview.
~Cheers!
~uh~
The big budget movies very well know when to release the films and with which films they are clashing. Isn’t it responsibility of the marketeer of the film to take care of logistical issue? People can’t watch 3 films over a weekend with the kind of ticket rates there are (and don’t forget the 80Rs. popcorn)- and most of the times, because there are so many choices, perhaps won’t watch any.
BTW – My personal opition is – I think Dev D was overhyped. It was certainl good, but the answer to the question “did I look at the ristwatch while watching the movie in the second half?” is resounding YES. A simple yardstick of how I would rate a performance. If I forget eating the popcorn while holding on to it, fantastic. But if you like Dev D and don’t like Shahrukh’s movie, you are kind of pandit – you become intellectually different
But I guess I would call it ‘brahminization’ of cinema taste, especially on PFC. You can’t not like Anurag Kashyap’s movie on this forum.
@Pankaj,
If you like, leave alone, Any PFCian filmmaker, you may dislike films made by anyone, existing anywhere in the world and your disliking may get a place at PFC.
Main problem is, whether that disliking is coming from a CUSTOMER or an AUDIENCE of the CINEMA?. First disliking does not throw any light on the film and second always brings in a good discussion.
Many have been doing it here and you may also join the brigade.
For many, not everything in a film can be great and moreover good and weak things can be quoted separately.
try yourself and see what PFC can do.
Whats the matter? We all watch movies. I cant watch first day first show. I watch all of them on third day second show. Every sunday! Now if I dont watch movies, how can I come and comment on the movies! And no. I have not seen Rab ne. I immensely liked DDLJ, but gave up after Mohabbatein. BTW have you seen Billu (Barber). What a movie! In fact its the kind of movie, if you have liked Taare Zameen Par, you would like Billu. Just dont have any previous hang ups about it being a Priyadarshan movie. Dunno where he’s copied it from, but he’s made one hell of a movie in Billu. Though I did wish I had seen it on DVD, since I would have liked to fast forward the songs. Firaaq should have released much much earlier and is similar to Mumbai meri jaan. Havent seen Zizou at all nor do I intend to. But do watch Billu and let us know what you think.
‘if you have liked Taare Zameen Par, you would like Billu.’
Do I need medical attention if I don’t ?
To make things worse I liked ‘ Oh My God’ and ‘Main Meri PAtni Aur Woh/…….:(
@Pankaj…”Brahmanization’ of cinema taste’…I realize where you are coming from…I don’t know if there is something like ‘SCization’, ‘OBCization’ and ‘STization’…you can subscribe to that moron…Dont bring caste in here…
I think TZP was completely pretentious…if thats the benchmark for Billu then i think i would give it a miss… i too had loved ‘Oh My GoD’ and ‘Main Meri Patni Aur Woh’. Thought both were brilliant effort.
Dear Anurag, You came back to PFC after nearly two months, busy under the success and critical acclaim on DEV.D and GULAAL, I hope. I am searching for an official film critic who rated NO SMOKING high in the media. Could not find one.
I thought the best person to ask is you – you might know. I loved NO SMOKING, and could not understand – what was so difficult to ‘not’ understand the movie.
Are our Indian film critics so poor in appreciating experimental cinema? Have not they seen a bit of international cinema?
Anyways, if you know, I would like to get the name of the critics who rated NO SMOKING good. Just to know who are those few critics with some aptitude in India.
If you read this, do reply…
Regards,
Raj Doctor, Amsterdam
i saw all of them except for 13 B and straight…
yesterday, i saw Crime and Punishment(Finnish).. what a film?
before this one , i had seen another version of Crime and Punishment (old one in English)…
i had sent you a mail and i doubt, if u’ve read it…
anyhow, take care
y shd we watch every movie and decide ?..i dont get the point…atleast 5-6 small films are churnning out on monthly basis…and u have only multiplex playing them which cost arnd 150-250 for a ticket and u end up watching a shit most of the time….so even if i liked “me meri patni or wo”…”mixed doubles”…”mithya”…”bheja fry” ..i cant spend my money on every tom dick harry’s movie just on the name of low budget movies…i must take up my sat mumbai mirror and decide ok..that firraq is better then barah aana or straight….after we have discussed so much on PFC that we shdnt folllow starts blindly…now we are making anurag ..vinay pathak..and ranvir starts and blindly chasing them….i dont think DEVD is excellent movie and PFC has gone overboard in buttering AK…the second half draggs on and we see repeated seen from..drugs-booze-depression played in loop…he couldnt hold movie for 2+ hours and it was quite cut to short climax….i just hope we will follow good cinema and not ppl…bcoz thats wat PFC is all abt…
no offence….
regards
mars
sorry, i didn’t any review…i am working on my own writing stuff….but would have loved to write the reviews and share it with you…
4 movies were released this weekend.
Coming friday another movie is coming (EK: Power of one. Now how an average viewer will watch all these movies. I have seen 3 out of 4 movies and will watch ek: power of one next week.
The point is there are large number of small budget movies releasing. Even good movies will not work against big budget movies.
10 years back shool was released with Hum saath-saath hai (Hum pachas-saath hai). People were coming to see shool only when they were not getting tickets for the other movie. I myself saw Bheja Fry after not getting the tickets of spider-men-3.
The point is every body should atleast make some choice of his own without getting affected by reviews and other things.
Obviously as a director, Anurag would want us to see all the movies, one every day of the week. But thankfully reviewers warn us about them, in advance. See we all stick to a reviewer who, we feel, have similar sensibilities like us. After all, we would like to have a good movie going experience each time. Why would we spend our money (and time) first and then decide. My fav reviewer used to be Deepa Gehlot. Now I cant find her reviews at all anywhere.
Hi Anurag, can you tell me if Gulaal will be released in US and when? Dev D was released here but only in 1 theater in NJ. I was looking forward to watch both these movies but was sad not to see their names in theaters near me.
@Vinay
But we have different reviews by different reviewers. Taran aadarsh will never say anything against SRK, yash raj films.
It depends on person-to-person basis. Many fucking people liked RBJ even after getting bad reviews. Sometimes its upto a person. I can watch any movie of RGV (I know lately he is making shits only). You will not belive I have given money of 18 tickets of RGV’s Aag. The point is we can watch the movie first and that go through the review. Or in my case watch the movie irrespect to the review.
When you say that you are done here, is that because you have another blog on your Dev D website?
@ amol ..thats wat vinay is saying that we can find a critic who has same taste as we..i mean in my case its mayank shekhar (mumbai mirror) ..we have common taste so i go by his review so u can find urs…
and one more thing…u read lods of shit abt SRK but never google it…m not at all fan of mr taran adarsh(he gave musafir 4 star)…but the fact is he gave RBJ 2 star….n ur saying he never writes anything against SRK and yash raj…
do check this one…just googled it…
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/review/13824/index.html
..google it men..ur life will be more sensible..
regards
mars
I waited all opening weekend for a post about Little Zizou, and when I saw none (?!?!) I felt I really needed to fill the deafening void! But if anyone had a chance to look at the comments on the piece, 50% seemed to be coming from people who hadn’t seen the film, since their passionately violent reactions to it were inappropriate for such a charming and lovely film… I personally feel that a lot of the writing on PFC is by people who simply want to sound interesting by criticizing… By taking the opposing view, they feel important and different… And really, what good Indian cinema needs right now is the support of intelligent people, so that we don’t read only a bunch of articles about the flop of this and the flop of that, but the great SUCCESS of cinema coming out of the Desh.
@ nina…hahah…i think u have attached ur self too much to the film..its not great cinema by any means…and m in other half of ppl who have watched the movie….so take a chill pill dear….waise u havent rplied to my comment on ur post….
..”immad shah is splendid”…huh?!
regards
mars
Bigflix.com releases most of its ‘offbeat’ movies for download rent online and has started ‘rental services’ to folks in india. Looks like they want to produce offbeat movies and put them on a ‘Direct to DVD’ mode. Though the move can make an NRI like me glad that I can watch a quality movie online legally, but I fail to understand the reason why they wont publicize a good movie and release it widely and participate in upgrading the general taste. Is it so difficult?
p.s. I also have to be unpopular and find a bone to pick about filmmakers’ views in general of the media, or for a more personal view, me. There is a bit of a discrepancy when it comes to journalists, and a bit of a masochistic touch. Personally, I have been a huge promoter of Indian cinema in the US. But I have two things working against me, that I only write about films I like and that I am not writing for the NY Times, yet… Once a bad, wrong, misquoted and misdirected review comes out, some filmmakers jump all over themselves to disprove it or argue with it. But even in this post, my piece on LZ is completely ignored… It’s a weird dynamic and one that makes positive critics of Indian cinema think twice about writing the next great article. Think about it…
I for one don’t understand why smaller , zara hatke Indian movies don’t get released outside India.
A Manorama, OLLO, Little Zizou et all has an audience within the NRI community. Not everyone wants to watch the big-marriage, typical shaadi-naach gaana movie.
As evidence, watch the number of people downloading these movies from the various online forums ., the majority are resident outside India , the only reason they do this is cause such movies never get released where they live.
@ Venkatesh
i doubt it man. i live in the US and i don’t find anyone going to theaters for the ‘hatke’ movies. last i went to a theater was for OLLO and it was just my family and 5 more ppl. the other hall had dostana playing and everyone was watching that. ppl download all these movies because they can get ‘em for free. but even then, a RNBDJ gets way more downloads than a Gulaal. way more.
Anurag, do share here your slight reservations about Barah Ana.
You have a huge point when you say that it’s time to walk the talk…for which one has to move their ass, and open their wallets to reach the halls…I guess many prefer to sit in front of their PCs or Macs’ and enjoy seeing their opinions getting published rather than the hard task of watching to form an opinion. Also I have felt that many out there prefer to go with a borrowed opinion, and are unable to make up their mind whether they liked a film or not. That is kinda sad…
Watched “Barah Ana”, and “Straight” this week. Barah Ana I would say managed to hold my interest in the characters, but Straight felt like an opportunity lost. But Gul Panag was superb, I am kinda becoming a big Gul Panag fan – remember her Dor, Manorama 6 Feet under…wow, a fabulous looker and an understated performer….
I think two very well made points above were -
1) Ignore the reviews, make your opinions
2) PFC is having bias towards AK and certain filmmakers and other good works are ignored.
I totally agree here when AK says ignore the reviews. But again I don’t see the point that you’ve to buy tickets to watch every movie. Especially certain indies where experience of theater doesn’t add any value and you’ve to shell out at least 300 bucks to watch them. Movies like Little zizou is waste of money, if you are seein it on big screen and shelling out 300 bucks. This are DVD market movies and will be well appreciated there. This is strictly my personal opinion, and the opinion is based on what little I’ve seen and read on the web, about the movie (I’ve read in between d lines also). I think we should concentrate more on developing DVD markets for this kinda movies rather then filling theaters. Movie watching in theater is an experience and that’s why people pay to watch Rab ne in theater and a normal indie at home on TV or DVD. I’m talking here about people who love to see indies but still doesn’t go to theatre to watch all of them. I’ve seen quite a few movies (Firaaq and Dev d) from above in theatre, some are not released in Chennai (13B and Gulaal) and would not like to pay for some (little zizou or barah aana) to see it in theater, though I’ll surely love to catch it on DVDs.
Second issue. About the biasness of articles on PFC towards certain filmmakers is well known and I think it is now pointless to point out that (pun intended). What we need here is writers with more diverse tastes (I think project iview is sort of serving this purpose but not sufficiently). Even I think overall the quality of writing on the blog is going down and crappy posts are increasing such as posts about reviews of Taran adarsh (Again my personal opinion). I know above is sort of criticism which is out of context, but I wanted to mention it somewhere and thought this is the best place to do it.
Youth Change karta hai duniya ko Youth…..
Par Aisa change karna kya hai usko
Hi Tapan,
I’d really urge you to go see barah aana in the theatre with an audience. I honestly believe you lose a lot watching the film on DVD. It is playing in Satyam and has been running full since it opened. Would love to read your comments after.I don’t mean to make a blatant plug of my film but I felt I needed to write this when I read your post.
@mars
You haven’t seen the review that was posted on the first day of release by taran a.
The review was replaced on the 3rd day.
I am on the same plane with Ratnakar.
Dev.D came to my town(which too has single digit number of theatres like Bhubaneshwar) only because UTV temporarily had a no-deal with multiplexes(that’s what I heard from grapevine… OLLO came almost two months after its release… it is not due to local film industry’s strike/not allowing other language films for 5 weeks et al.).
Dev.D became a hit here, SO the theatre dude showed Gulaal, it failed to get audience.
We never got to see any of the movies you have mentioned above.
I have been borrowing all of the cool indian indy movies off the net. :(
anurag you are very right…we need one of these releases to be a hit…make money so that ten more will be made…great thought and post…
Hi Raja,
Thanks for the reco, I’ll surely watch it @ Sathyam. (u missed the Chennai specialty ‘h’ there)
. Just one point, you can plug your movie anytime and anywhere, as you deem fit. I think it is as much as movie maker’s birth right to do so as it is the responsibility and choice of the audience/viewers to comprehend and act on that plug. So no worries.
Just wanted to clear one more thing, which I sorta assumed above i.e. The choice between the DVD and theater comes when a person have constraints of resources and wanna optimally utilize it (according to person’s need and choice). So put the perspective in my context I would love to watch all the movies in theater but money never seems enough to do so.
Just to say, I’m not making any premature judgments about the movie that it is not good, it is just that I wanna make choices based on the amount of information available to me (which could be true, false, sufficient, insufficient – I don’t know and it differs according to movie also). No offense meant when I said Barah aana is ‘DVD’ category movie. 
About Barah Aana, I hope to watch it on big screen also here, due to the fact it’s an Indo-Italian production, and to the fact one of the characters is (has?) performed by an Italian actress, Violante Placido, daughter of a very famous Italian actor, Michele Placido. Unbelievable: EVEN ITALIAN PAPERS HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT THIS MOVIE!!!!
Mr. Kashyap, I read your old post about ‘No Smoking’ première at Rome Film Festival. I want to say I appreciated a lot the originality of NS, but (ahem… sorry) I didn’t like it so much. Anyway, more important: ALL THE REVIEWS I READ IN ITALIAN PAPERS WERE POSITIVE!!!! Italian critics were very impressed by NS!!!
Ciao!
Celeste
Anurag,
In your frustration, please don’t forget to keep atleast mentioning the names of the films that are worth a watch. I live outside India and the only window for me to even know which films are being made and released are the reviews published. I diligently note down all films you list, get a DVD and watch them. While the perceptible indication is watching a theare full, there is a long tail these internet forums enable, where the life of a film is not over as soon as it goes out of the theatre.
BTW, saw HULLA yesterday and loved it. Looking forward to other films DVD’s, especially 13B, as the story line seems to be like a telugu film “A FILM BY ARAVIND” which I loved (except for the climax).
Saw luck by chance during the weekend, you did a great job. Had a Rishi Kapoor week almost, saw BOBBY for the first time and was struck by his natural ease even in his first film, then saw Luck by Chance and Delhi-6, he was phenomenal in both and gave a superlative performance.
I am enjoying the lyrics of Gulaal these days and have not heard any other songs in past week except Duniya, Aarambh and Raanaji. Kudos to Piyush Mishra and Rekha Bharadwaj is some talent!
What is PFC parties and PFC screenings? Are some events organised for PFC members? Throw some light please.
Michel Placido is also the director of “Romanzo Criminale”..
One film I am desperately waiting to get a DVD is Tahaan! Unfortunately no-one here in UK seem to have even heard of the film.
Being interested in the craft, I am also interested in watching films for some specific features. Example: Anil Kapoor when promoting “Gandhi My Father” mentioned Resul Pookutty’s work on the sound during an interview, very prominently and I watched that film only with an intent to understand why that deserved special mention. So, while writing about films, even if the overall product is not good, it is important to highlight some specific features / aspects that have been done well (ultimately the people associated with film work very hard). Mostly, the music, lyrics or dance get some credit even if the film does not work, but not others.
Would urge people writing about films, also write about specific things that stand out in the film, even if the film does not work.
For example: I liked Delhi-6, because I did not watch it as a potential love story or a revolutionary cinema, but as a peek into the lives of various people and how they co-exist hanging on.
and Anurag Kashyap is also a director of Gulaal and a sidey in luck by chance. Thanks for such a intriguing info AK.
Any PFC screenings happening in Pune Let me know. I will be the first to come and also spread the word around to make sure pune folks attend. But PFC screenings only in Mumbai and NY not fair
No Kesavan, then we have to watch it closely and understand and appreciate what is there to understand and appreciate. We, here, see movie to point out what is wrong with Taran Adarsh’s review. If still we (PFC community) couldn’t fucking find anything then we just make it up.
@ Kesavan – Btw Tahaan is a beautiful movie, wonderful story. Torrents are available, dl it.
Anurag just like we have moved away from the cinema that we used to make once, we also need to move away of change the way we sale our cinema. The old way of going to theaters and buying a ticket to watch a movie needs to have few other options added to it as well. Give me Firaaq DVD quality for download and I will happily pay Rs 50 which directly goes to the producer to distributor no multiplex. We need to INNOVATE on the ways we sell our cinema Just creating great cinema is not enough. Innovations in cinema has to be coupled with innovations in selling our cinema.
Thank you Johny, being a person from the entertainment industry, I believe in a film’s experience also and hence I never saw a film on my computer till date. Hope I can hang on indefinitely!. Shall try till I get a DVD of Tahaan.
I could wait for a good 6-8 months to get a hold of Anuranan and I still cant get hold of a DVD of Raincoat also here.
So waiting for Tahaan and Raincoat. Someday, but surely I shall get hold of them. To not forget, I maintain a list of all films I want to watch and am always on the lookout. There is an endless list of Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films too in my list (lucky to understand all those languages).
Innovations in selling our cinema is full on…..Slumdog and Ghajini are the best example of it. When some actor shaves ur hair on street or all d employees get same haircut for a movie, isn’t it d one of d best ways of selling. Of course slumdog helped us to sell our crappy cinema to videshis, who’ll buy good Indian cinema like. So cinema_enthu we r innovating in selling our cinema but i hereby remain silent abt makin it more reachable and affordable.
Now thats a sane post after some weeks of posts dedicated to a handful of movies, with many worthy ones being forgotten. Added to those films u mentioned, there are such small films being released in regional languages like Tamil and Malayalam. I think the Indian industry as a whole is bringing out enough good films every year, but the lack of visibility and meaningful discussions have spelt doom for such classics.
TRUE…
lets not be the thekedaars of indian cinema. instead avid watchers of the same. we being passionate for cinema should not just speak about it but also enjoy the process of buying a ticket , some pop corn and watch a film on the big screen with friends, with families. lets have fun. lets enjoy cinema good or bad, corny or classic.
“lets go”
I agree, Anurag. As a student, I’ve never felt guilty about watching movies downloaded from the internet.
But after seeing the hard yards gone into Gulaal and Dev.D, I would feel guilty not supporting such work. Not only will I watch these in the big screen, but get my friends along as well.
- Varun
ABSOLUTELY TRUE…..
Lets all become friend of sahitya sahay. He enjoys the process of buying a ticket , some pop corn and watch a film, den let’s give him this enjoyment again & again by letting him pay for us.
With this he’ll also give you acumen and insights to enjoy bad cinema. “Let’s go”
@75
“certain indies where experience of theater doesn’t add any value and you’ve to shell out at least 300 bucks to watch them”
i.e $6 in India,in USA average ticket price ranges from $10-$14 but people dont crib they earn their weekly checks and support Independent cinema,the truth is no matter where the film is released,no matter how much the ticket is priced,no matter how much we spend on gas to reach, pay for the parking,pop-corn etc,we should ALL earn extra and take that extra effort to see the film on SCREEN because that extra effort is miniscule as compared to the EFFORT put in by the Filmmaker and we should stop cribbing on such petty things ONCE AND FOR ALL !!!
GK
johnny cinema is an expensive entertainment or art form, whichever way you want to look at it.. buying tickets is important for it to continue.. you have a problem with content , constructive criticism and actually doing something about it is always welcome.. cribbing about it is neither going to solve your problems nor cinema’s.. you like it on your computer pl continue to do so.. have fun doing it.. someone else likes the experience of it on screen let him .. if you can’t help then don’t, do not let your personal frustrations and inadequacies of performance lead you in a nowhere zone.. have a good wank and sleep well..
Anurag very true…B ut can you blame people if they have to deal with 4 films in a week? of course they have to ‘pick and choose’… Also the concept of “weekend entertainment” is a major reason people go for movies but some of these movies seem to “not fulfil” this criteria.. I loved 13B, Little Zizou and Firaaq; could not catch Barah Anna… of course i went bonkers after dev D and Gulaal but then why do these smaller films have to release almost at the same time? its like 4 in one week and none in the next week… I think the producers of the smaller filsm should try to sort out the releases that they dont force people to ‘pick and choose’
@GK – What a comment sirjee. But let me also comment
1) $6 in India $10-14 in US, what a comparison sirjee. Just to add prespective, I know it won’t suffice fully, per cpaita income of india is usd 2,753 and of US is usd 45,790. But still sirjee people in US are hard working and big hearted and payin more den Indians (in context only).
2) You mean to say that in USA people don’t crib and in India all the people crib. A perfect sample size of 1 to make judgment sirjee.
3) No matter how much the ticket price is – Sirjee then US should become holy grail for Indies. They will pay anything the film makers ask for even a 1000$ wld b a petty for dem.
4) “We should All earn extra” – Sirjee u’ve started deciding for evrybody. I think u’ve qualities to become a good dictator sirjee.
5) “Miniscule to effort put in by Filmmaker” – Sirjee efforts are also put in gutter cleaner and I think compared to some film maker they put more efforts. We should all earn extra to pay gutter cleaners extra. Sirjee u r right we should pay for all the efforts, whether we think those will be good efforts or not.
6) Stop cribbing on such petty things – Sirjee, absolutely right, paying 300 rs for a movie a such a petty thing, where average salary of movie goer is 10K (Just approximation) and in 300 you can buy a monthly pass. Yes you are right that we should not talk about finding solutions to make cinema more affordable but should curse ppl who crib on such petty things as high ticket prices.
Sirjee wonderful comment. You’ve opened my eyes.
Anurag,
I am not sure if you enjoy watching documentaries, especially on Nature. If you do, I highly recommend you to watch “Nature’s Great Events”. This is a 6 part TV series showed on BBC, which just ended last week. This has to be one of the best ever documentaries I saw, especially the second part called “The great salmon run”. Watch it if you get a chance and let me know how you liked it.
joyjit you are right about all of them coming together.. i don’t know why producers can’t time it.. it is actually all these films eating into each other… but i guess the pending strike was one of the major reasons for these.. no big releases. and the insecurity of competing with the big release..
we have to find out ways to get people in the theatre.. one of them has to be some kind of scheme these multiplexes should come with.. may be some kind of monthly pass.. or students discount.. i don’t know what..
kesavan has seen most of the bbc nature documentaries, planet earth to microcosmos.. love them and own them but never heard of nature’s great events.. is it out on dvd..
anurag,
Am from New Jersey. The one and only theatre closest to me showing hindi cinema is Regal at Commerce Center. I have been for some time now waiting for Dev D and its yet to come – this is a theatre where all new hindi films are screened and I understand why DevD is not here yet. I’ve made my friends promise me that they would come to watch it with me (am slowly but surely making them watch the good films on the big screen) but now they are losing their patience and I know that very soon they would watch a pirated DVD – so whats hapeening?
Anurag,
Yes, “Nature’s Great Events” is just out on DVD and it is a must watch.
It is the most spectacular show I saw on TV and in a 60 minute episode, they dedicate the last 15 minutes to “DIARIES” and describe how the film was shot and to what extent the cameraman and crew went to shoot the events, how they used their equipment etc. It is a heavenly experience watching it.
This series talks about migration of animals and how season changes cause animal migration like salmons who travel amost 3000 miles and how every animal, plant and nature are interlinked.
The 6 part series consists of
1. The great melt – Covers summar in Arctic and migration of animals.
2. The Salmon Run – Covers how salmon travel almost 3000 miles to go exactly to the same place where they were born, to breed and how the bears and other animals wait for their return to feed themselves.
3. The great migration – Covers the migration of animals in Serengeti National Park and this follows a lion pride..amazing
4. The great tide – Covers sardine migration and how the birds and dolphins follow them
5. The great flood – Covers kalahari desert. They actually cover the first trickle of water into the desert and how it all fills up the land and turns it green and migration of animals there.
6. The great feast – Covers the migration of humpback whales to Alaska to feed again amazing.
My favourites are The salmon run and the great flood.
Highly recommended.
Is it available in India or only UK.. i got all of them from UK.. if it is UK then i will have to wait..
Forgot mentioning, the Narration is by David Attenborough and he is outstanding.
Forgot to mention, watch the great feast, it shows why Whales are considered some of the most intillegent beings on earth (not including humans) and how they hunt using Bubbles as nets to cactch fish.
I am not sure about territories. I distinctly remember hitting the same point once almost 8 months back with you, when I recommended a few telugu films to you. I mentioned I can send them across to you if you want to watch it.
If you have the patience to wait till it is released in India or buy on one of your trips to UK, then upto you.
But, do note down the title in your list of “Must watch”.
Anurag, I really, badly want to know if you are putting Guru Dutt’s life on celluloid. I cant tell you in words how much I am excited about the news. Some friends told me its an incorrect news picked up by some misinformed journos. I am really wanting to know more about it. In fact I asked this same question in one of my posts on Pyaasa and existentialism :
http://passionforcinema.com/existentialism-the-absurd-and-pyaasa/
Kesavan- Attenborough has done the narration in all the bbc nature movies including Planet Earth amd Microcosmos.. see Microcosmos.. it’s something else..
will egt it from UK..
Neeraj the news is correct but i am just writing it.. it is to be directed by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who has nurtured it for four years, his first film and to be produced by UTV.
Since you are online, let me take my share of your attention:
1. Who did the choreography of Raanaji song in Gulaal? I just saw the trailer and the choreography is superb, simple, effective and very well done.
2. Do you watch TV series 24 and MADMEN?
3. Madmen is about the ad industry in 1960’s hence its a peek into the old world. I was there at a special one-off event at Las Vegas a couple of months back organised by Lionsgate, when all the stars of Madmen came on stage and performed a show, called Madmen Revue.
In this show, it was amazing to watch all the stars sing, and sing they can!. If you are fan of Madmen, it is a show not to miss. Should be on DVD again.
1. mansi agarwal- a first timer who i saw performing on stage, she also did dhol in dev.d
2. seen 24.. madmen was recommended just this morning
OMFG! I am thrilled. Would have loved to see you directing it but even if you’re writing it, I am thrilled. The reason why I think you’re the only one who can write/direct is because I have closely read about both of your lives ( from media).. In the whole industry you’re the only one who can probably understand him I think.
BTW That post of mine was a subtle prelude to Gulaal, if in case you have read it, you’ll realize that in the PS.
@ Anurag –
Just to say, I love your brand of cinema and m a great admirer of your work. But it has nothing to do with the topic here, following are some of my comments –
1) Cinema is expensive form of art form (I like this version better) – Yes totally, no doubt about that. But point here is that as a consumer of dis art form, doesn’t I’ve right to choose that what I want to consume and what I don’t want to. This consumption pattern will also depend on whether the satisfaction I’m deriving out of product is equal or more than the cost I’m paying. This satisfaction will also get affected by the other usage of that money. So yes, we should pay for the things we are consuming but by our own choices. I think nowadays price of watching a movie exorbitant, we should try to find affordable solutions. This is very pertinent in regards to indie movies. Low cost multiplexes and web could be used as creative medium to propogate and reach audiences. I never understood how come a single theatre wid a little less quality can deliver at such cheaper price den multiplexes. Efforts should be made in this regards. I’m not going to pay 300 bucks to see “straight”, which I consider a silly movie, and decide whether it is a good movie or not. Things should make sense.
2) “you have a problem with content , constructive criticism and actually doing something about it is always welcome” – I’m criticizing the movie by not watching it and not paying for it. And btw how will you come to know that content is good or not unless you go and watch the movie. If I’m not content will they refund the money to me. Though I’m not this much into chik-chik abt money, but things here has gone over my head. I’ll repeat again that everything should make sense. If I pay for 3 movies and out of that I like 1 movie then cost of that movie is 900 bucks. It’s not at all feasible and (I think desirable) to do so. So I’ll b choosy, will make perceptions about the movies before seeing it (from various sources, including reviews) and will see it only if it make sense.
3) “you like it on your computer pl continue to do so” – Who likes it on computer. Given a choice I think 99% wouldn’t like it on comps. Why do they watch it. Some have reach ability and some have affordability constraints. Like for Tahaan, it was not at all released in my city and DVD’s were not available for long time. The option for me is either to dl and see or wait. Some noble souls like Kesavan can wait but I can’t. But somehow I think I alone is not responsible for this, though major crime lies with me.
3)”someone else likes the experience of it on screen let him” – Who stopped anybody. If somebody wants to see let him, but he/she should not give gyan to others that what they should do. Just a note here that if I can stop anybody here, that wld b gr8, atleast I made a fool out of somebody.
4)”if you can’t help then don’t, do not let your personal frustrations and inadequacies of performance lead you in a nowhere zone” – I don’t know how come talk of help came here. Plz AK by talking abt help u r sorta takin urself down (no offense meant). You are producer, we’re consumers. Only thing is let both parties be honest and should not short change others. Sorry but I don’t know how come talk of personal frustrations and inadequacies come here. I think let’s stick to the topic.
5) “have a good wank and sleep well..” – I’ll and hope the same for you.
Btw please can you share the dialogue in Gulaal, which got censored. (in case you remember)
Johnny see what you say now makes a point.. but saying random things without making a point sometimes makes one upset.. apologies for my last line..
yes low cost multiplexes is an idea, when last time i gave the idea to one multiplex owner of having monthly passes, he said we could do that but problem is how do we divide revenues later, all the producers will make our lives hell over the shares.. which is true..
They are all looking for a way.. Moserbaer has already done the needful by bringing the dvd cost down but the quality suffers..
See gulaal on a digital screen and you won’t like it.. neither the transfer nor the sound works,colours are haywire.. but see it on film and it will work ten times more.. quality is not what exhibitors are concerned about.. we release our films too soon after we complete it..
bring forth the ideas to cut costs.. i will take them forward..
Neeraj.. i don’t think i can do it.. i would rather just write it.. I don’t want to fall into the trap of thinking or feeling “i know and understand Gurudutt because i think i am like that” .. have seen too many filmmakers finishing themselves off doing that.. I don’t and would not ever want to be called that.. i admire and love Pyaasa and Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam and Aarpar, Mr and Mrs 55.. i would leave it at that..
Johnny.. the first dialogue was the two names he takes of Gandhi and Ambedkar, the men with round glasses..
second was a discussion on the national anthem that ransa talks about , how it was written by tagore in 1911 to welcome King George the fifth and Queen Mary and we sing it as our anthem , where it clearly says for e.g. Bharat Bhagya Vidhaaata.. That is man who decides the fate of india, it talks about sindh which is not part of us anymoe.. Jan Gan Man adhinayak.. means Jan Gan Man jiske “Aadheen ho” means people who rule us.. we are still singin g to them.. there is a law that forbids any such discussion as it amounts to disrespect of the anthem hence punishable by law.. well if i was the producer and it was my money i would have fought it tooth and nail till the end.. mine or the law’s..
@Anurag Kashyap
Sorry to intrude in ongoing discussion. But your comment on Tagore and Jan Gan Man, has prompted me to do so.
It has been proved by historians that its not true that Tagore had written it to welcome George Pancham. He had written it much earlier and as one can see its more like a prayer to the God. as most of his poems are mystic in nature, so this also falls in the same category.
Political leaders wanted something from Tagore, which could be recited during welcome ceremony of George the fifth. Its mis reading and mis interpretation that Tagore wrote it in honour of George. There were many other ways to please the king if that was the motive, he could not have been pleased by a song in Indian language.
Yes some people have been following this route but this is nothing more than an attempt to degrade Tagore.
If today Obama comes to India and ARR is asked to present his song Jai Ho at the welcome ceremony, will that turn the history that Gulzar saab had written it to please Obama and Jai Ho is in reality Jai Ho of Obama?
Adhinayak in Jan gan man is God. It was a good song and it still is. As it was associated more with the cultural heritage and geographical description of Bharat Bhumi and not of India, so it does not matter if people still sing it. Its cultural history of Bharat.
Its not a fight like Naveen Jindal had fought for hoisting the national flag.
Yes its kind of ideological fight but if people see the song in right perspective then nothing is there to feel angry or to fight.
Flowers dont become good or bad if they are used by priests in the temple or demons in their harams or at evil places.
eye-opening sir…..
Hi Anurag,
None of the movies(except 13b) mentioned in your post have been released in California. Still waiting for Gulaal, Firaaq, Barah Aana.
And, I am sure watching those on a pirated DVD isnt a great idea either.
Thats all I have to say in my defense.
u r absolutely correct anurag.Audacious attempts in creativeness have to be welcomed and encouraged even if they miss the bull’s eye and the reason why such movies miss their mark will be coz of a very thin line but still would be a far better option than many other shits around them.I would like you to write abt ur experiences on TAMIL M.A(Kathradu Tamil),SUBRAMANIAPURAM,MIRUGAM if u have already watched them…..if not watch them and write on those also.
@Anurag,
The concept of a monthly pass at multiplex is a hit here in UK with CINEWORLD multiplexes. Would be a good case-study to understand how its working for them.
The other idea which became decently successful is called Orange Wednesdays. This is sponsored by Orange cell company, where every wednesday if you have a orange cell phone, you send a SMS (worth 40 pence) and you get a code, using that code you get 2 tickets for the price of one.
Finally, just one small point, if I watch 3 films by paying 300 each and one turns out good, its not 900 rs for one good film. Basically art form is such that if the film is really good, then its invaluable and infact 9000 rs also feels like Paisa Vasool. I am reminded of days when Rangeela was released, when people paid exhorbitant prices to watch that film and came out saying Paisa Vasool.
So, its not simple mathematics. I can send you some other ideas being used by people to attrack audiences for Indes and also to bring the cost of watching a film down for these people. Hopefully you will hear from me tomorrow with these ideas.
we have Vodfone tuesdays at fame..i don’t know how that works
Sorry I hijacked the topic for a bit but here’s my two depreciated cents on it.
Hazaaron kwaishien aaisi was a rage back in b-school. This film is a cult. We were once given 2k as part of a business-plan competition. So we played it off the DVD in our college auditorium. Our film production class teacher, who was the ex dean of FTII, talked about the film at the end of the film. We got 200 per person for this do. In most colleges there are theaters where the film can be shown. I mean the indie films are definitely welcomed and appreciated in colleges, why not tour in colleges. Like most IITs and IIMs have an ampitheatre kind of a setting. If your TG is not coming to theaters to watch these films, why not go to the TG.
If a film is shown at campus then you’re sure to have even the least interested guy watching it too, the herd thing picks up. Lends better ROI and effective Word of mouth, that is in case the movie is superb.
Besides this wont lead to profit sharing problems with the multiplexes ;-)
Anurag – your post is nice, heartfelt et al. But with all due respect, I doubt your asking people to go watch films in theatres would do it. I think the business aspect of film has not kept up with the creative burst of activity that we have seen in these past few years. I know multiplexes helped small budget films that are so rampant now. But the same multiplexes charge the same amount for the smaller films like they do for the big banners. And it costs less than 10% to produce the small one!
I know we don’t have any model in place that allows the cheap distribution of small budget films but to me that’s what needs to happen or else before long the system will crumble like the music industry here in the US has.
It’s a known truth that most studios here in the US are unable to sustain growing losses owing to free distribution of content over the internet and are shutting down their Independent arms that rely on subsidies from the big budget extravaganzas.
Do you think at some point, in the not so distant future, watching movies in theatres would be a thing of the past?? I mean look at the pace of technology that’s working to stream content to the consumer in every imaginable form – from your game console to your mobile phone! … and then think of the conventional form of film production and distribution and you wonder how long it would be before people get used to watching films in their own little spaces than in a movie theatre.
Don’t know if this is the right mail to reply to, but as a student of cinema and someone who during his trading days has invested in global media and a NRI , find it both thrilling (that such movies are being made) and frustrating (that NRI’s cant see it when released). I try not to see pirated stuff but with a movie like Gulal it becomes too much of a temptation to fall for seeing it on the web. Now according to me if the small film makers get under a common umbrella it does make financial sense to get it shown in UK / US and still make it be financially viable. There is so much demand for this and esp with the evolution of other regional cinema that there is foreign audience too looking at this.
Anurag, though a question on Gulal, what is the significance of the ramayan actors who both bhatti and jadhwal befriend is it to signify Indian politics ?
RK we did research it and there was concrete proof to what i had put in the film.. but would be grateful if you could may be pass a link to the historians proof or a book that talks about it..
rest the sequence in the film also came as a reaction to how it was made compulsory to sing the national anthem before the film..
And also the information that i have is written on a plaque at the gateway of India..
The only – I think – Italian review of ‘Dev D’.
Please, DON’T ASK ME TO TRANSLATE!!! My English is too poor. Anyway, rate ****, and it’s the second suggested 2009 Hindi film after ‘Luck By Chance’.
http://filmcinehindi.blogspot.com/2009/03/dev-d.html
(Time to learn Italian, my friend)
Celeste
About Michele Placido, yes: ‘Romanzo Criminale’ is his most famous directorial project, but in Italy he’s appreciated above all for his amazing performance in ‘La Piovra’, a TV serial directed by another famous director, Damiano Damiani, about mafia. When that serial was on TV, all Italians were sitting in front of the video forgetting anything else. I’m very impressed and delighted by your knowing about Placido – a national glory, here – and about Moravia.
Thanks soooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!
Celeste
Anurag, you could have gained an audience in the UK for Dev D not just among British Indian youth fed up of the moronic movies from India we usually get released here, but because the themes speak directly to them……and I honestly believe the movie could have gained attention in mainstream / arthouse cinemas. There is a real hunger for intelligent and original Indian cinema now amongst British people, post Slumdog, a curiousity that the usual formulaic ‘Bollywood’ movies that are dumped in multiplexes for one week at a time fail to satisfy because they are so stupid and laughable.
Good luck Anurag, you are the possessor of a unique, exciting and restless cinematic intelligence and eye, you deserve all the success I am sure the future will bring you.
@ Neeraj
I like your idea about screeing these small budget films with select appeal in college campuses. I’m not sure how much of it is practiced in India, but in the US it is a standard marketing practice to generate buzz, if you want to target young crowd.
I respect the in-your-face boldness of your characters and stories. I would like to know one tiny detail about Gulaal: Rannsa is clearly someone who sees through the farce of the system. Does he still contest the election just to get a kick out of it? Thanks for the clarification on the censored dialogue. I knew it couldn’t just be some gaali…. :D
I was sad not to be able to see Gulaal at a theatre, but the reality of living in middle U.S. is that the only option is to watch movies online or thru DVD. But to compensate I have been egging my friends and family in India to go watch the really good movies at theaters and I have gone to a theater to see everything from Watchmen to Wrestler to Knowing. Also, I’d like your comments on this article of mine.
http://passionforcinema.com/the-art-and-artistry-of-depravity/
Hey…anurag I hope you didn’t remember about Netaji Subhash Chandra bose when Piyush misra was talking about people with Gol chashme (round glasses)…totally agree on Gandhi and Ambedkar though.. :-).
true. gulaal didnt release in the US :( still dieing to watch it. Will send reviews thru iview for all the indies I watch here.
There is a tinge of irony here… I see a lot of my friends interested in good, independent cinema… However when it comes to watching the movie, they dont see it. I don’t know whether it is my perception, but I think there is not enough publicity of small budget films. I agree they do not have budgets to do that much publicity. But still, there are a lot of mediums nowadays (esp internet) where in one can promote the movies, I do not see that happening too. I never saw movies like Sehar or Oh My God being promoted well (There are others too, I know). Many people I know could not watch the movie because they simply did not know about the movie being released.
You know, a lot of low-budget films movie do not get any publicity in mid-size cities too (forget about smaller cities). People simply dont know about the movie.
Kesavan, not sure about ‘Tahaan’, but ‘Raincoat’ is definitely available here in the U.K.
And yes, ur so lucky to know all those languages!
I burn with envy!
Anurag,
Just an idea.
Most of the films we like and are discussing are not released worldwide. Even places with substantial desi population are not exposed to such films. Hence at times the only thing you can do is watch it online, which I dont like. As a viewer you dont get quality nor are you able to support the future of such movies in a material way. Is it by any chance possible to release it online with charge. It seems like a nice business model. Consumer gets quality and producer of movie the money. PFC seems to be an ideal site for such links. If the movie is releasing in theater the online release can be delayed.
This way myself and others who want to can help such endeavours.
Pranav
Sorry for being off topic, but here is some stuff related to jana gana mana
I dont know if these links can be trusted but we do have some rational info available over here
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_jana_gana_mana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jana_Gana_Mana
Going by Tagore’s track record, I believe he wouldn’t have obiliged to any such request from the empire. And why the hell would britishers want a welcome song in bengali for king George V.
What amazed me though was the new paper quotes from that time. have a look
“The Bengali poet Babu Rabindranath Tagore sang a song composed by him specially to welcome the Emperor.” (Statesman, Dec. 28, 1911)
“The proceedings began with the singing by Babu Rabindranath Tagore of a song specially composed by him in honour of the Emperor.” (Englishman, Dec. 28, 1911)
“When the proceedings of the Indian National Congress began on Wednesday 27th December 1911, a Bengali song in welcome of the Emperor was sung. A resolution welcoming the Emperor and Empress was also adopted unanimously.” (Indian, Dec. 29, 1911)
Guess, sensationalism in newspaper was rampant in those days too :-o
Azad ^ Few more links, re Tagore issue, FWIW:
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http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/asim_k_duttaroy/Genesis_of_Janagana.pdf
&
http://homepages.udayton.edu/~chattemr/janaganamana.html
&
http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-sengupta180706.htm
#
Rk, the historians haven’t proven that Tagore did not write Jana Gana Mana as a welcome song for George V. The proof, based on the facts that are recorded, is that he gave this song to be sung at the Congress meet to welcome King George V. It obviously had to be in an Indian language for it to be sing at the Indian congress session. My interpretation of the event is that Tagore, while writing it in praise of King George V, deliberately kept it ambiguous with an interpretation with God also a possibility.
Is that on open forum?My post got deleted cuz I didnt scond with the blogger and pointed out flaws in the movie.Thats it,may be its my last post here.
anurag do u watch takeshi miike’s movies?
monstermayank ^ comments are never deleted on PFC, unless the comment falls into one of these categories: verbal abuse, personal attacks, hate statements, spam, trolls, advertising, which is when the spam filter gets triggered.
*
i’ve checked the spam filter for your comment, but it’s not to be found.
*
suggest you repost it, if you believe the points you’ve made are valid and need to be discussed.
@Anurag Kashyap (129,130),
Sorry it will be quite long:
I have yet to see your film so I am not aware of the context in which you have used it. I had responded to your comment. Through trailers and songs and few snaps here and there I can imagine that if its given to Piyush Mishra then in a fiction, Toba Tek Singh type characters or a poet whose intelligence remains intact but who has lost balance over the sense of time and space, can say anything.
Its all fine as long as its related with a character in a story or in a film as then its within a context. If a character is shown as a follower of right wing politics in india then its completely justified because they are the people whose psyche has been carrying the wounds that Jana Mana Gana was given the preference over the Vande Matram while selecting national anthem and for them this false theory, that Tagore wrote it to please George Vth, is completely suitable.
In fiction many things can be presented as sayings belong to the characters in a particular situation.
Dr Rahi Masoom Raza’s characters in Katra B Arju, pass vulgar comments on Nargis Dutt and Kamini Kaushal but that was through the hindu and muslim villager characters fighting over petty issue – which male actor of their religion was enjoying the close proximity of female actor of other religion.
common sense says that if there were concrete proof for such things then why right wing politicians have not tried to make a public issue out of it or none of them carried it to supreme court or raised the issue inside the parliament so that a proper debate could take place and this could have worked in their favour. This way they could have polarised the people. Fact is they know it does not hold any water.
they will go on making noise tim to time, about such issues just to polarise the voters but will never follow constitutional path to bring a change in the status quo as Jindal N, has done in case of national flag.
And how there could be concrete proof behind this theory? Tagore’s poem was used in the welcome ceremony, its a fact, but how to prove it that Tagore wrote it to please the king?
Leaving apart any other thing, simple meaning of the song does not suggest that it can have any connection with George Vth.
This is little surprising that during research your team did not come across any single article, book, where historians have covered this issue.
There are many things:
First is reporting of the session where this song was sung. What the minutes of that session say?
History of congess sessions will shed light on this.
If you are very much interested then you may try to get information from history department of JNU. Rather history dept. of any good university will be helpful in quoting the right name of researchers, books and articles to you.
And we know that authentic reporting will be found in Bengali and other vernaculor print media of that time as English media was for british govt. and not to present India and Indian situations in right context.
What was the stand of Anand Bazar Patrika like publication?
It has never been an issue except for the people belonging to right wing politics and they are champions in raising false issues and they know the art to make everything controversial.
Few communists had called Neta Ji Bose as dog of Tojo,
Concrete proof is there that Communists called Neta ji in abusive terms but can there be concrete proof that they were speaking truth?
should I believe in their saying because they were contemporaries of Neta Ji? or I have to apply my own mind?
Why people did not raise this issue when it was sung? This issue perhaps came in to existence in late 20s or early 30s and without considering the politics behind raising this issue, nothing can be proved.
Intention of an artist is important. Your film has used Jaise door desh ke tower mein ghus jaye re aeroplane.
It’s a concrete solid fact that film has used this line but there will be some context within which this line has been used.
Some moodh magaz in America or pro American people may accuse you, your lyricist and your film, three of you have ridiculed such a tragic event (9/11) happened in the dawn of the new millennium.
10 years down, people will be divided in to two opinions. One group of people will be intelligent enough to see the right context and other group of people will be declaring that Anurag Kashyap and his film did not have civilized manners to give proper respect to a very sad event where many people lost their lives and families were broken and they made mockery out of this event.
Ofcourse in prose, right context can be produced and America’s policies can be questioned and back fire theory can be implemented but humorous poetic manners are bound to create controversy.
But knowing your sensitivity can we, who are living in this era when your film is released, question your integrity?
There can not be solid proof that Tagore wrote the song to please George Vth. We the people have to go by our instincts and faith in our creative ancestors, which has been developed because of ther body and nature of work.
In film, in fiction everyting is fine but in real life? Perhaps not, even if we say that every issue is subjective.
Theme has to be NOVEL!…Story has to be fresh…Plot has to be entertaining…and films would run…!… this is lacking in most of indie or even big commercial films of India…Big films have advantage of Big stars and Music…so they run any way…but indie films have have all the above things in right place irrespective of genre they are made in.
its like Be the change u want to see!
I understand what you say, but we found ample evidence for the fact that it was either written or tweaked to be sung for The King and the Queen.. we consulted one of the leading historians and he also said there is no proof that tagore wrote it b efore but there is enough proof he wrote it for them as a welcome song.. which is why i asked for the proof for tghe otherwise..
@Utkal Mohanty(143),
Historians have not proved either that he wrote it to please George Vth. They base their allegations on the Nobel Prize given to Tagore in 1913 and Knighthood in 1915.
This is very narrow approach and filled with inferiority complex.
Even more written proof are there in favour of Tagore and moreover, people have to apply their sensitivity and mind on such issue.
If you feel that he wrote it to please the king, its fine, neither Tagore is going to be affected nor my opinion about him and his creation. His creation never needed any support from any empire, it has easily transcended the time and its still pulsating with the heart beats of people and will continuously follow this journey
Kedar how would you know the theme is not novel till you see it.. as it is any novel theme is always rejected the first time around..
Yes it is rejected most of the times but then there is a story to express it…and PLOT to present it…
i strongly feel that Indie film makers are failing in the last aspect most of the times… PLOT… they do have SOMETHING to say ( if not Novel or Universally appealing all the time) but they are lacking in CRAFT of VISUAL STORY TELLING immensely… and i guess this is happening because THEY DONT HAVE CONTROL over what they want to say…they seem to be in too much hurry…they fail to emerge at a point where their stories become universally appealing ( this doesnt mean they please each and every living soul)…
are u getting what i am trying to say…this is about CORE thing…about art…Muzhaffar ali wrote an article in SUNDAY TIMES about it…it was in PUNE TIMES…i dont know when it came in Mumbai times…but he had to words to express what i am trying to say…. more or less…
its about INTENTION of the film maker…everything…everything about an artist and his relation with his art form…amm…
why NOVEL things have got repetitively rejected in the past…because they are NOVEL…they fail to please your existing moral social values…
hence i said SPIRITUALITY and not SOPHISTRY…philosophers keep fighting…spiritualists keep walking…keep exploring…does it mean they have understood better than those philosophers…no…definitely not…its just that they have accepted long ago that universe is all about contradictions…and hence they prefer to explore on their own…
now i got to see this approach in most of the modern foreign films…hence they appeal more…on top of this they also have mastered the CRAFT…
so even the most complex or subtlest layer of human emotions come across easily through their Stories backed with scintillating plots…
more later…i am sure i am making sense…
* i am NOT sure whether i am making any sense…
Anurag,
It was a very inspiring blog. I agree, that a lot of people who want to watch these independent films are put off by the reviews that float around in the Indian Media circles. Most of the reviewers are incompetent, and their analysis of the movie is so superficial. Some of them discuss the length of the movie, the absence of a “star” in the cast, what not…. I find it incomprehensible that, a reviewer should look at such trivialities… instead of trying to analyze a film by its actual components.. like Screenplay, direction, editing, cinematography. I believe, the reviewers do play a significant role in educating audiences… and sadly for us.. they are grossly incompetent.
@ dear anurag sir,
how are d multiplexes wrk..do they take fixed rent per show or per week wise or they share profits..some say, fixed rent, then y they r fighting for d ratios with d producer frm their birth or so?
n wht abt d single screen fixed rent or percentage?
Hi Tapan,
added the H immediately!! I understand the economics of watching a film adn the fact that it seems like too many films targetting a similar Tg release togetehr making it doubly difficult to pick. The problem we have as producers of indies is that our hands are tied in terms of the money we have for publicity which means we don’t generally get great openings. It is a catch 22 situation where we need word of mouth, but for that we need an opening. Going small in terms of screens is one option but piracy doesn’t allow for a platform release. Lots of issues but honestly I believe they can and will be sorted as long as the industry believes there is a real audience for this kind of cinema.
@Anurag
It was a very good blog. I think all of us must watch these movies in theater. I saw Gulaal in theater even after watching it on my computer first. I also went for Baarah Aana (and its a good movie by the way). For Baarah Aanaa there were some 20 odd people watching.
Rk: “His creation never needed any support from any empire, it has easily transcended the time and its still pulsating with the heart beats of people and will continuously follow this journey.” Absolutely. The fact that he wrote Jana Gana Mana in praise of the King dos not make him a lesser poet. The fact is that India was under British rule at that time. so praising the ruler , the king was nothing untoward. Didn’t the congress organize a session to welcome the king? In fact the poet himself has praised the British rulers on many occasions. That does not make him a lesser poet, or a lesser patriot. His patriotism was broader than some of his fans give him credit for.
As to the historians’ proof, no one can prove what was on his mind. What is proven however is that the organizers asked him fora song to be sung at the welcome function by Congress in 1911, for King Geroge V, and Tagore gave the this song, and it was sung. The newspapers reported that this song was sung in praise of King George V, and the poet never sent the papers any rebuttal.
@Utkal Mohanty,
Why congress should not have oragnised a session? They treated themselves as representative of the country and they were following a new pattern of creating a democratic India. King was a guest here. From congres side things were always followed in a civilized manner.
If King had come after 1947 then also he would have been given the welcome party, a grand reception as India has been giving even to other country chiefs like Gen. Musharaf, knowing very well his role behind Kargil. There may be a mushaira in the honour of General.
To sing a poem at/in that welcome party = to sing a song in praise of king?
Since you are in to journalism and if you live in Delhi then it should not be hard for you to visit JNU. Please visit and try to meet the professor who had done research on the topic.
and since its such a good topic, please try to get a hold on all the related papers, as said in earlier comment, reportings in vernaculor press.
Its not true that Tagore did not object. It might be posible that he did not release statements in press. It happens many time, a creative person does not feel to object such petty things as he finds it below his stature. But its also true that this point was discussed with his friends and well wishers. He should have better things to do than handing such a petty issue all the time.
Moreover, if people dont want to believe they will not believe in his honesty and will crucify him in this particular case.
You must visit the professor. See the paper which tells other side of the story and then take a decision.
Your last paragraph should present the essence. He was asked to write a poem. he gave one poem and it was sung at the occasion.
Rest you are quoting newspaper’s lines.
this Tagore topic may deviate the discussion devoted to good point of promoting the good cinema, so those who believe in the charges against Tagore should first try to see other side of literature also as its possible that they never came across such literature and there might come the possibility of some flexibility in the approach and then we can continue this discussion on some suitable post devoted to Gulaal, after all arguments, facts are produced from other side also before an authority announces the punishment. here focus from good indie films is getting a deviation.
Sir… I would like to know when and where do these PFC screenings take place, so that we can take an active part in them. As far as i am concerned i never per se got to know of any PFC screenings happening. Maybe our communication channels need to be more effective. As in do we actually have the PFC screenings? If so my humble apologies, i never knew about them or was not informed about…
(i) Why a countrywide release? Can’t a movie first release only where it’s audiece is. ‘Coz if the word of mouth is negative a countrywide release only spreads it faster and chances are because of that some people who were probably going to like it will not want to watch it anymore. We should face it that India is a country that believes in paisa vasool and if there is a reliable enough source telling them that the movie isn’t worth it, there are few people who’d still go ahead and watch it and that holds true for small budget indie films more than the big-budget ones.
Can there be something called ‘Test shows’ where the film-maker gathers ‘his’ audience (and not fellow film-fraternity people) but from the common junta and show them the film. Take their feedback and if possible (this might sound like I am pushing it) but can parts of the film that don’t go down well or don’t get the point across as the film-maker intended to, re-edited (by adding something from edited footage or editing something that isn’t required) for making it more effective?
(ii) ‘Expectation management’. Another truth is that our audience is conditioned in to expecting a set of things from a film which if they don’t get they dismiss it immediately. The most recent example that comes to mind is Delhi-6. The first half of the film was set-up and it (arguably) had the most timid intermission point ever. So much money goes into promotions. Can’t some money be spent in giving the audience some idea about the content and manage their expectations in some way.
(iii) Last and definitely not the least. The critics. They have all the right to give their point of view but cant they make it explicit that its only a single person’s opinion and comments to the effect of ‘waste of time and money’ are avoided. I’m sure they understand that there isn’t a single film-maker who decides to make a bad film. You may or may not agree with the film. That is it. Can some sort of an understanding be arrived at that they don’t publish reviews over the first weekend and the reviews only come out monday or tuesday. I dont’t know how many people go by the critics’ word but I have a lot of such people around me (both family and friends) and am sure all of you will have too. Now it is difficult to make them understand that one should form one’s own opinion after watching a film and then you may not watch another film by the same director if you don’t like one. But first the critics need to realize that a lot depends on any film. (It isnt just the big-budget ones) And the most recent example that comes to mind is Chandni chowk to china. It was a bad film but every other radio jockey in town who doesnt know shit about film-making commenting about it just sounds absurd. They should think of better ways to find content and fill slots.
Anurag I would like to know how feasible limited release and ‘Testing’ a film can be. And is it possible to make changes to the film based on feedback from the test shows?
Methods can be developed to select the audience for the test shows.
Every film cannot appeal to anyone and everyone. And it’s about time films got termed hits or flops based on their effect with the audience targetted.
For example DEV.D. I havent met one person who was the target audience (the fast food generation according to Anurag, please correct me if i am wrong) completely dismissing the film. Now that’s the core target. Anyone outside of this (I remember a post that said an elderly lady who I beleive was the author’s mother loved the film)who likes it is the fringe audience.
Can something be done on these lines?
I don’t know if you are aware of this but Torrent/BitLord downloads have completely destroyed the idea of community viewing. The big screen is out, loneliness in.
But what do you think when you see a pirated copy of the film Aamir with the UTV logo water-mark on the screen..? And this on the day of it’s release..
So piracy is as much an internal problem as it is external..
Apropos the Tagore controversy,
One good way to make amends would be for Gulzar or someone equally secular to write a better national anthem (in sanskrit ~ or some non-regional/original indian langauge) and then have it vetoed by Parliament to a tune set by A R Rahman.
By George! Given the oppurtunity,I’m sure that a country of a billion people can come up with something better than a Bengali song that speaks of Sind and is acutally a homage to a foreign king.
Till then, everyone should just learn to grin and
bear another burden of history.
Oye Raja Menon, are you the same guy who made Bas
Yun hi!
Anurag, we know that saare jahaan se achcha was to be the national anthem, but muslims back then (like today) applied their political and actual dadagiri to see to it that this was not chosen. Instead Jana Gana Mana was chosen. Pseudo secularism!
Good luck Anurag.
I am really heart broken with the response given to NDTV Films & LBC.
Esp NDTV ones I emailed atleast 50 people in Bombay delhi & Bangalore to go watch these films. Hardly anyone went. And these same people sit around & bitch about the state on your cinema. No one wants to get out of their comfort zone. And each person has a very good excuse.
Its like democracy. We will get the films we deserve. Sad but true.
@Mainak
Yes very true indeed ,people call me cynic when I say that we only get the kind of movies we get because we deserve it.
We also deserve the politics that we have in our country ,because the intellegensia that bitches about the state of affairs in our country are just a miniscule percentage of the population while the majority are uneducated , religious , racist ,hypocritic fools.
“It happens many time, a creative person does not feel to object such petty things as he finds it below his stature. But its also true that this point was discussed with his friends and well wishers. He should have better things to do than handing such a petty issue all the time.”
A poem written in praise of God is passed off as a poem written fora King..and it is a petty thing? Then I wonder what is sacred! And if you know the volumes of letters tat Tagore has written to countless people, on countless subjects, this won’t have been below his station to comment on. And even if he did not have the time, his friends to whom he is supposed to have confided, could have written to the paper, clearing the confusion. Did any friend do that? No. So based purely on facts, one can say quite fairly, that even if the poet did not write it for the king, he did not mind it being thought as written for the King. Or he thought it a ‘petty’ mater not worth his rebuttal. I think we can agree on that and end this debate here. If you ca give the email address of the professor at JNU I can correspond with him to check what additional fcats hehas access to.
@Utkal Mohanty,
I or anybody can not break your sleep if you dont want to do it.
You are believing in allegations which is based purely on speculations, you dont have any proof. I am telling you there is other side of truth also. I am giving you clue, if you want to know the other side, you have to do efforts. JNU is not Sahara desert where you wil be lost. It must be having only one history deptt. it must be having few professors.
This is quite funny that I should give you email address of JNU prof. and you sitting at your home, will do corresspondence with him, to check credibility of his research.
You are believing in allegations against a creator of very high standard, and in a way you are making allegations against the Tagore. you dont want to do efforts to opt a more justified approach.
It depends on what you want. If you are happy in still believing in what you have been believing, its your life, if you want to see material from other side also, please do the needful and walk that one extra mile.
@ Vinay, Deepa Gahlot writes for The Afternoon.
Hello Sir,
I have been trying to get in touch with you, but things are not working out. Infact got a number from frend of mine but its not wrking…
Sir I m looking forward to assist you, Desparatly need a film to assist…
Sir is there any way I can get touch with you, I am sure there must be for Cinema lovers.
I am a great fan of ur all films ..
I would apperciate if I would get an oppurtunity to prove my self..
Wish you the best..
From : Sachin Vinod Modi
Hi Anurag, I saw your both works- Dev D and Gulal day by day and still have in impression with those movies. I come to know that you are working with the character Doga. I have some written work on Doga, about the characterization, environment etc. I’d like to share with you. No need to post my comment. Please whenever you have time reply me, on shrinet@oneindia.in
Rony Thanks. Will google if AFternoon has an online version
@ Sonal: The multiplex owners are the exhibitors. Typically their revenues from their theatres are distributed as: 25% from eateries, 20% from advertisements and parking, 55% from ticket sales. From these ticket sales, they have a sharing pattern with the producers/distributors. The biggies have no problem to sell the film, as soon as it is made. So Yash Raj, UTV, TV9, Reliance would only distribute the movie. Meaning they buy the rights outright. So a Ghajini may be bought for Rs. 90 crores and distributed, all profits/losses made are distributor’s. However the smaller producers with lesser known actors dont have this luxury. They have to enter into a sharing agreement with distributors. In case where no distributor is willing to touch a film, the producer turns distributor himself. In case of Percept film’s Jumbo, this is what happened-Percept distributed the film itself.
Oye you people were right about monthly pass by multiplexes. Cineworld in UK offers a monthly pass costing 12 pounds for unlimited movie viewing. Those UK people are lucky. If introduced in India, these greedy multiplex owners would sell the passes, but put lots of restrictions about not “booking” the ticket onliner or on phone, etc or for select days or something making it unviable. I have heard that the total cost per seat in a multiplex is Rs. 13. Imagine the profits they make.
Why the hell should I spend 250 bucks on a ticket just so that SRK can build another building near the sea? Bring down multiplex ticket rates. WE wish to make sure that when we go with the family we need to have a good experience. So we read reviews, etc and then book tickets. It would be great if ticket prices of multiplexes are below Rs. 120 level.
hi anurag….
i hav a few question to ask regardin GULAL…….
1>why there a man coloured as ardh nari….what does it symbolise….
2>what was the use of mahi gill……..just for glamour….
3>2nd half was like half backed cake???
The best way is to push the multiplexes to loses, kinda boycotting them for their costs. I don’t remember going to a multiplex for over a year now. I just can’t afford multiplexes twice a week with my dad’s money
hmmm..i never knew i was suppossed to be part of a revolution just because i like some movies…
i’m gonna watch DevD, Gulaal, Firaaq, Little Zizou all before the strike…Little Zizou 2morrow itself…yes, obviously in a theatre…
Not sure about this entire Jana Gana Mana issue…
But the question that comes to my mind is why did he not oppose the use of that song at that moment if he din’t write it for that purpose?…
Anyway…unbiased history is difficult to find…Rightists might blow things out of proportion…at the same time JNU is known to be a leftist bastion…
multiplx owners sharing ratios say, 50:50 with d distributor..this is d only equation or multiplx hs got also d fixed rent thts must like 20 k per show..i mean multiplx gets fixed rent + 50% share both? thts huge man.. impossible to run d film there
Historiography is anything but unbiased.
One of the most famous historians of our time, once argued with a very knowledgeable acquaintance of mine. It was about something in Manu Smriti(my acquaintance is an atheist and abhors Manu Smriti), that historian told him to check a particular part(Page number to ) of a volume of Max Mueller’s Sacred Books of East, to which my acquaintance tried hard to explain to her that Mueller’s interpretation is wrong and every other historian writing about it have taken a contrary view, that’s including D.D. Kosambi, the celebrated Marxist Historian.
But she was steadfast in her belief even after she was shown other authorities about the subject.
Rabindranath Tagore was no atheist. His other song is still being sung as school prayers, as the opening song of theatres for more than six-seven decades — “Devi bhuwana manamohini,” here like the regular conception of Earth as our mother is used, nature is praised.
Why would he use the male gender in the anthem?
He was not averse to occidentalism, he did tour the west lecturing, even took hefty fees for doing that, he was never averse to western habits, dresses.
He also had difference of opinion with Gandhi about the civil disobedience movement.
It is not surprising if he had himself wrote/modified Jana mana gana for George V’s visit.
That would not make him any lesser patriot too.
@Ravi,
an individual can always be biased depending upon his/her limitations and opportunities. But then every kind of material is available and one has to read all possible, if making conclusions based on writings of others about a period, event, person, when he/she was not even existing.
If Romila Thapar provides one kind of facts, then one has to go beyond text books based history material and he/she will search Dr Ram Vilas Sharma’s writings on ancient India.
Plenty of literature is present and one has to see what he thinks seems right and justified. self knowledge matters.
I saw Gulaal twice in the theatre. The last Hindi film I had seen twice in the theatre was Kishen Kanhaiya, which should be discounted in all kindness. I hope there will be more films in this country I would want to pay for.
Hi Prashant,
We did a lot of the things you speak about. Thought about a platform release but thats not a possibility in India right now for 2 reasons 1) Piracy and 2) advertising spend. You are also forgetting the distributor and programmer. these are the guys who give you the show timings and in all probability if you aren’t going a certain size you will be relagated to the afternoon slot whcih pretty much means the film is sunk.
As for testing we did a lot of it. Middle class call centre workers to mid management multiplex viewers who make between 20 and 50k a month, to rickshow and taxi drivers. Did a small sample survey and it did teach us a lot, some of whihc we actually incorporated into the film. Some people have asked us why we call the film a real life comedy when in fact it is a dark comedy. This came out of the testing. 75% of the test audience called it things like comic capers etc etc and so we felt rela life comedy was the closest bridge.
I hope we are close to the day when a platform release is feasible in India as that is the right way for an Indie. Slumdog released int he US with 10 prints!!
As for critics we ahd a couple who wrote very nice things about the film and then ended the review saying that although they liked the film, they did not believe mass audiences would, while one was positively vindictive. Why this is the space for reviewers to take out their frustrations I have no idea but India definitely has the most vindictive critics in the world.I think they believe that is what sells. In the bargain many a decent film fall by the wayside. It is the universal judgements and
their belief that they know what the audience wants is one of the reasons that keep Indian cinema immobile. Not that the so called industry bosses and distributors want anything new.
Saw Barah Anna, and I must say, Indian cinema is going great. All hails
thanks Ronnie. Need more people like you to go buy tickets or else Indies won’t get made. cheers
Hi Anurag
Its was gr8 Pleasure to see you in guwahati. Perhaps one of the gr8 moment of my life is to meet you. I saw Gulal and fallen in love with it. though there are one point you have missed.I would like to bring you attention to it . Bhati while standing on the pan shop called Ranja and Dilip by mobile but when the Duki was shot he was looking for land line to get to Kiran. One more thing i could not get is though the movie is produce by ZEE its even not on thier cineplex FUN. I desperatly want to see this movie on big screen
congrats AK. I stay in Assam and recently u were here for an international film fes . i wanted to share a few ideas on cinema.however i don,t have ur email ID . please give me the ID . and as far as these low budget films are concerned they are here to stay. and we need to patronize them.yes we can.
Hi Raja,
Thanks for your reply. It’s sad that a platform/limited release isn’t yet a possibility. Like you pointed out, slumdog released with 10 prints and look at where the film is now. (Oscar worthiness debatable)
As far as Barah Aana goes, I think that the lighthearted comedy bit created certain expectations for me and I’m talking only about myself here. Like my first and only interaction with Barah Aana was the poster with Aamir Khan’s comment on it. The good thing that came out of it was that I decided there and then that i am watching it not because it was Aamir Khan saying it but the nature of the comment. Such a film hadn’t released this year and with the cast it looked like it’d deliver. Not that it didn’t completely but like i said expectations were wrongly created. It was more of a black comedy.
Anyway, there’s this one thing I’d like to ask you though. Actually two. First is why was Naseer’s character quiet for most of the film? I’m sure you have your reason for keeping it that way and to be honest I didn’t quite get it, (although I’ll also admit that maybe I felt this way because one always wants Naseer to be doing more than what he was doing here.)
Another thing was the ending.. Yadav gives up Shuklaji in the end, and it looks like all part of the plan in the last scene but as the police raided the spot I am assuming they confiscated the Rs.20 lakh and gave it back to Benjamin Gilani’s character.So these guys didn’t get the money right?
Did Yadav give up Shukla ji knowing that he will get acquitted because of his non-existence or was that something he also discovered later..?
Hi Raja,
Thanks for your reply. I’m happy that testing is already happening and shall hopefully become a norm with time. It’s sad that a platform/limited release isn’t yet a possibility. Like you pointed out, slumdog released with 10 prints and look at where the film is now. (Oscar worthiness debatable)
About piracy I beleive, at least internally it should/can be taken care of. And what’s the law on cable operators? That’s like the final nail in the coffin as people don’t even have to buy pirated copies to watch the film.
Advertising budgets can be optimized once a limited/platform release becomes a norm in our country as today there are enough and more cost effective/innovative methods of reaching out and I say this as an advertising professional. In fact I have been toying with the idea of approaching every film as an individual brand that has its unique set of target audience, positioning etc. It’s happening already but in a very haphazard and PR dependent way where random stories about a big budget film in production start appearing even before the movie goes into production. (recent one that comes to mind was for ‘Blue’ and especially the whole kylie minogue shor-sharaba that happened) Treating a film as a brand can make this more organized and goal oriented. Of course at what stage it begins and the scope and reach depend on the kind of budgets again but can be done.
Coming to Barah Aana, I think that the light-hearted comedy bit created certain expectations for me and I’m talking only about myself here. Like my first and only interaction with Barah Aana was the poster with Aamir Khan’s comment on it. The good thing that came out of it was that I decided there and then that i am watching it not because it was Aamir Khan saying it but the nature of the comment. Such a film hadn’t released this year and with the cast it looked like it’d deliver. Not that it didn’t completely but like i said expectations were wrongly created. It was more of a black/dark comedy.
Anyway, there’s this one thing I’d like to ask you though. Actually two. First is why was Naseer’s character quiet for m