Passion for Cinema, Redefined…
iView Author:
PRASHANT KUMAR
(Hyderabad, India)
EMAIL:
zimbo77 [at] gmail.com
I don’t write reviews as I always get carried away by the awe of cinema whenever I watch a movie be it the critics’ favorites… Ramsay Brothers, TLV Prasad, David Dhawans or the maestros like Satyajit Ray, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Fedrico Fillini, Tarentino, Wong Kar Wai, Majid Majidi, Costa Gavras. Everybody has made the effort of making a cinema and presenting their love for art to us in their respective ways. I love all the movies I feel all the movies have something or the other to say or be part of our dreams called Cinema.
I was in Mumbai on 28th September when I saw this report regarding closure of Capitol cinema, there was a really well written report in Mumbai mirror by Vishwas Kulkarni he wrote ” The quality of films that Capitol invited had become a genre by themselves. From C-grade horror films produced by the Kanti Shah ‘factory’ to more recent Praveen Bobby, Capitol showcased a parallel universe within Mumbai’s movie-making industry. The films here are triumph of the ordinary. They proved that making a movie could be any entrepreneurs dream-that one didn’t have to be a carter Road-bred star kid or a Bharat Shah type to ‘produce’ a picture. Nor did one require a critic’s ponderous ‘thumbs up’ for a flick to matter. In this regard Capitol did pioneer in avant-grade, albeit not self-consciously and therein lay the cool-th”.I was so touched hmm… before I get lost… coming back to Johnny Gaddar.
Most of people “yo man’s” of current generation, laugh out at the old hindi movies, and they disassociate themselves from these. Most of them want to make a hindi film but they will be watching the Koreans, the Europians, alternative, experimental and they like Iranian not because its GREAT cinema but “you know its cool to be associated with it” . The very mention of Amar Akbar Anthony and Johnny Mera Naam they start making faces and puking all over. Well never THE mind.
We have a guy, here, who makes films for our generation and he takes pride in mentioning Vijay Anand and James Hadley chase in his movie. He also takes pride in paying tribute to Parwana and the other elements of forgotten cinema and the beauty is, he takes all the inspiration and uses all the elements whenever the script demands without a single element looking thopofy (imposed). They are integral part of the movie and get dissolved with the story not only it is soaked up, but it takes the beauty, the look and feel to a new level…Sky is not the limit mind you…so people stand up and clap for Sriram Raghvan.
Here are the noticeable ones:
Title roll…don’t you feel nostalgic when you see title rolling in 70’s style with great music…For wanna be’s …Huuuuah looks so sleek man, its so cool man…crazy man…
The Characterization- Vikram is a big fan of Amitabh and has seen all the movies including Parwana. Prakash’s wife also watches the same movie. While Mr Shesadri, is crazy about the old song apparently sung by his wife for him. The wardrobe of Shradul makes 70’s superstars envious of his possession, while Shiva watches James Hadley Chase adopted movies…so all the characters somehow or the other are part of nostalgia called CINEMA PARADISO.
Rimii sen reading Guide…
Vikram watching Parwana- What a tribute to forgotten films? Vikram deciding his modus operandi based out of Amitabh’s character in Parwana. I am also a great fan of Amitabh and has seen all the movies but was wondering where I missed Parwana, its not the talked about movies of Amitabh, a flop, a lost movie basically for our generation, I wonder from where Mr. Raghvan picked up the beauty. Brilliantly well executed by Mr. Raghvan.
Vikram reading James Hadley Chase’s The whiff of money in the Hotel…People talk about symbolism. James Hadley Chase has written more than 80 books, but selecting the book with this particular title I don’t think it was a co-incidence.
The way Vikram gets his name Johnny…That’s a gem of the scene.
The use of songs, particularly Dekha na hai re socha na hai re … so now Vikram is all set to carry out what he learned from Parwana …he enters the train the song in background is dekha na hai re socha na hai re… well made me feel something is going to go wrong…and Ghari ki suia…at Prakash’s club is another classic.
The background score…the very loud background score of 70’s cleverly used at some places was also very very nostalgic.
Vikram eating Burger before the climax…(I guess a tribute to Tarantino’s Kahuna Burgers in various films…).
And all this fits so well in the movie; nothing seemed thopofy…long live cinema…thanks Mr. Raghvan for making this gem of an art. I guess passion for cinema has been redefined by Johhny Gaddar.
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nice post buddy…..sriram is a gem of a director
~This is my tribute to Johnny Gaddaar~
^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^
Prashant, guess i have met my kindred soul here, me one big afficionado of the 70’s and early 80’s movies, and its not because of any retro nostalgia for my growing up years. But having watched those movies on scratchy video casettes or on DD, and even now on late night Zee/Sony/Star, i seriously feel that we have never given the right due to those movies.
We speak of Parwana, do u know a 70’s thriller called Dhund, directed by B.R.Chopra, i remember watching it as a 12 yr old kid on video, and seriously it scared the hell out of me. The eerie atmosphere, the suspense was excellent, as was the identity of the culprit. And some great acting by Danny and Navin Nischol.
How many know of Raj Sippy’s Inkaar, one of the best thrillers i have ever seen?
Or Kudrat, Chetan Anand, wonderfully mixed up reincarnation with Gothic ambience here.
And 36 Ghante, a fairly engaging remake of The Desperate Hours?
People speak about Kaun, what about Yash Chopra’s Ittefaq, which had the same kind of storyline.
Well Prashant, to date, i am one big fan of Manmohan Desai, i started to hate his movies from Coolie onwards, not coz they were commercial, but they seriously were not entertaining for me.
Hmm in fact i wonder how Sriram missed out on Vijay Anand’s Jewel Thief, seriously one of the finest thriller to be made.
And again these movies were not art house classics, all of them were as commercial as they come.
Yeah sure, they were technically tacky and maybe not glossy, but i repeat, many of the 70’s movies had some excellent scripts and story lines, much better than some of the current movies. And i think its high time we give our due to that period.
ZINDABAD… ZINDABAD… AYE RAGHAVAN ZINDABAD…
JAI “Shriram!!!”
Oh yeah,Dhund was an awesome movie man.The opening sequence with Navin Nischol was simply mind blowing.
2 truly under-rated thrillers that i liked were
Kanoon Kya Karega-Was a remake of Cape fear,but i swear Danny was simply frightening in the role of the stalker.
Aetbaar-Again a remake of Dial M For Murder.Excellent noir movie
Vikram, tu aur main kahi bichede hue bhai to nahin hai na. I mean most of the time our tastes seem to be same.
But i agree with u on KKK and Aetbaar. Aetbaar was just awesome. Raj Babbar was brilliant in that person. Mukul Anand, first big star venture, i think was Insaaf with Vinod Khanna, and that too was not a bad movie, quite watchable.
I did like Agneepath, though it was strongly inspired by Scarface, it was pretty well shot, but yeah that Mithun-Neelam romance sucked.
The opening shot of Khuda Gawah was just awesome, would do any Hollywood movie proud. But the second half onwards, the movie just went into a free fall. And dont even get me started on Trimurti.
Ratnakar, do you also have a …a…hmmm…
…a tattoo of lizard on your butt? My brother got it done along with me in KUMBH MELA…:((:(( cheers…Dhundh is a great movie so are the others you have mentioned i saw 36 Ghante on DD long…long…back its a good movie. Although i was a kid then… but i do remember few scenes.
And Danny in Dhundh was huuuh awesome to say the least.
I loved all the movies of Nasir Hussain. While i have some reservations about Mukul Anand wonder why he is discussed so much
I totally agree with you, its high time we give due to these movies. :- Asit sen is one guy who never got his due…i was watching Khamoshi again the other day, its a GREAT movie.
Prashant
Beats me why Asit Sen, never got his due at all. Another brilliant movie of his was Safar, the songs, great performances from Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore and surprise, surprise, Feroze Khan himself.
Vaise to agar aap ko apna bichda hua bhai, ko milna hai na, to saat samundar paar karke, Seoul aane padega, abhi to main wahan hi hoon.
Hey u from Hyderabad, ru a Gult by the way?
Ratnakar, well, there were two Asit Sens. Safar and Khamoshi were directed by two different Asit sen…
Asit sen who directed safar directed these movies:
Prashant
Sorry for that, honestly i really did not have a clue on that. I thought it was the same Asit Sen, thanks for correcting and enlightening me.
One thriller i liked was the old Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin by Nasir Hussain.That movie truly defines masala.Excellent story,excellent music and superb acting.
Vikram
HKKN a thriller am not sure, for me it was more of a masala entertainer, but yeah it had a good story, good music, and great acting. My only regret was that my fav Zeenie Baby, did not have enough screen time in that movie. :((
Oh btw the latter day HKKN by David Dhawan sucked for sure, a terrible rip off of Analyze This, and AB, Sanjay,Ajay generate enough ham to feed the entire city of New York.
Vikram
For me Nasir Hussain rocked as far as song picturization is concerned, Lekar Hum Diwana Dil in Yaadon Ki Baraat, still gets me groovy whenever i watch it. As also the dance competition in HKKN.
But post Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai, his movies were big time disappointments. And even the songs were not that memorable.
Nasir Hussain was the baap of thrillers and masala entertainers….I can never forget watching Teesri Manzil as a 12 yr old…and what a rush it was. In fact, all his movies with Shammi Kapoor was awesome entertainers. And so were his other movies till HKKN.
^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^Shat Shat Pranaam to Nasirsaab^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^
I think he lost interest in making movies after Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai and that kind of showed in his later movies
teesri manzil was directed by vijay anand and not nasir hussain
@Jwalant,Teesri Manzil was surely directed by Vijay Anand but it was Nasir Hussain’s baby as a writer and producer..i think that’s what The Narcisist had in mind..
@ Ratnakar#3..you somehow revived the thrill of simply remembering all these movies..thnx.
Actually while watching Johnny Gaddaar the 2nd time.. i was picking up more pop-culture refrences.. Here r few
1. “I am back” (T2) - Shardul says in the end when he enters Pub from back door
2. Rocky poster in Vikram’s Home.
3. ‘Black’ mentioned by Nurse Vaijanti (but i hope raghavan isnt fan of ‘black’)
4. Memento (This one i really wanna get clarified from Raghavan himself.. is it just coincidence OR)
Shiva’s Mum has disease same as the Main Lead’s character in Memento.. n the imaginary killers name in Memento is .. dhaaaaantadaaaaaaan.. John G.!!!
5. ‘The Cell’ DVD in Vikram’s home.. (this is too much i guess from my side)
@Parth: Hey never thot of the Memento Connection. Don’t know if it really is a reference to Memento. but everything u said kinda fits in.
U forgot to mention DharamJi mentioning Scarface.
@MyAlterEgo
OFCOURSE!!!!!!! i had a feeling im missing something… thanks