Pradeepda, call up your DOP Sushil Rajpal and ask him….
….how he got those small things right in his unreleased film Antardwand that u could not in Laga Chunari Me Daag (LCMD) ? And if u havent seen his film yet, do watch it.
Call up Vidhu Vinod Chopra and ask him if he knew the target audience of Lux when he made Parineeta ? Ask him if he still knows it ?
Call up the video lilbary Sarvoday, which is next door to ur office and ask them if they got these three dvds…Meghe Dhaka Tara, Chandni Bar and Maria Full of Grace ? English, hindi, bengali…whichever langugage u r most comfortable in.
Call up Aditya Chopra and ask him when would he like to go to Benaras or any non-metro town once ? just for vacation. Get him to travel by train, sleeper class strictly.
Call up Sudhir Mishra/Pritish Nandy and ask them how they got that beautiful track in Hazaroon Khwashein Aisi…merging Pritish’s poetry with Shubha Mudgal’s vocals ? And how you guys did something similar and messed it up completly. Neither can you hear Mita nor Shubha.
Call up your dress designer and ask him/her to have some gyaan on those cleavage popping dresses in small towns. How much and how far ?
Call up your art/set designer to ask him/her why its so lifeless and dead ? Second half Benaras is all sets, if m not wrong. And its such a big visual contrast. Because first half is all location. Anyone can tell you that.
Call up guys at YRF and ask them why they could not put one star and some text (like – *traditional lyrics re-worked) for ehi thaiyya and kacchi kaliyan tracks ? Becuase the trigger point for both the tracks are traditional lyrics.
Call up Shantanu/Swanand and figure out why LCMD’s songs dont have any repeat value ? Its the same team that did magic with Parineeta. Is it the interfering producer ? Loved the thumri and can hear it million times. Thats it. Hum to aise hain is catchy for sure but dont think would like to play it otherwise.
And after you are done with all these calls and dont feel like slapping me badly, do read on.
There are so many loopholes in the film and all that has been pointed many times in so many other posts here. So, am not going into all that. This must be 8/10/12th post on Laga Chunari Me Daag here. M little late on this. But since there were no other movies in the theatres and atleast one movie outing per week is must, so i went for LCMD. And here are some thoughts…….
This is Aditya Chopra’s second take on small townies. First time it was Bunty aur Babli. Second time its Badki and Chutki. But they are very much “bubbly” again. What kind of shit philosophy is this….jeb me hamri dui rupaiyya par hum to aise hain bhaiyya. Bunty aur Babli were also high on ambitions and dreams. But had no clue how to go about it. So went the wrong way and had fun. And i hated it.
This time the girls are pure dumb. They dont know anything but are still having fun. Now this doesnt happen in any middle class not so financially well family. Check out any Badki aur Chutki anyhwere. If the situation is something like this, they grow up faster than anyone can think of. They contribute to the family more than their mom or dad. And its real life experinece/stories that am talking about. Just the name Badki n Chutki doesnt make them look like small townies.
There is a difference between the spirit and the philosophy. Here there is no philosophy. “Hum to aise hain” is the spirit of Badki-Chutki which is shown as their philosophy. So, even when they know what the family is going through, they are dancing their way. And they are not kiddo, grown ups. I could not get it.
Would like to ask Rekha Nigam (who is credited for the screenplay and dialogues) if it was quiz contest to “spot the dumbest” character. Each character is bigger moron than other and you keep on wondering why ? Anupam Kher (Professor) thinks life would hav been so much better if he had son. Is least bothered about the family. Mother (Jaya Bachchan) doesnt even know how to talk what and where ? Confused as hell. Rani’s charcter…now this one makes me laugh. Konkona’s charcter….has to be the most idiotic MBA topper i have met in my life. Doesnt even bother to check how, why and where is her sister working and making so much money.
There is a typical psychology in small cities. When you move to big city and make good money. The first question that everyone wants to know is what is he/she upto ? How much money is he/she making and how ? But Konkona, the younger sister is from some other world. Similarly, if a younger sister gets married before elder one than it becomes the big buzz of the locality. why ? Now that doesnt figure here. I know these are not directly related to the film. But just to point out the differnce between how you guys see the small towns from Bandra/Andheri offices and how it is.
Also, it has changed drastically in the last few years. Computer courses, restaurants, fm stations,movie viewing experiences….from outside the non-metro/small towns have got big makeover. But some philsophy remains the same. To know that, you need to be there.
The worst reaction that one can get for his film is when u dont react to the film or its characters. LCMD falls into that category. You dont feel bad when Rani becomes Natasha. You dont feel happy when Abhishek accepts her. The film doesn even gives you sadistic pleasure. And what was that music video all of a sudden…viswasht kadhi hoon main. How can u put it suddenly in between ?
And if you saying its woman’s tale, its cheers to them, then also its a big disappointment because of the way it ends. Anupam Kher finally has two sons (or son-in-law) and they hug him after handling the crisis at chutki’s marriage. Kher has a big smile that says…yes!! finally i got two sons who will help me out with every kind of crisis. Nah!!!!
M not big fan of Bhandarkar’s way of exposing things, But hav to admit that his Chandni Bar was fantastic. Give credit to Tabu/writer/director but i felt for Mumtaz. Wanted to get her away from all that. Similarly with films like Megha Dhaka Tara and Maria Full of Grace. You want to help them out. But LCMD is all beautiful and glyceraine. You can see that. And the fake world doesnt evoke real emotions.
Just hope and pray that Aditya Chopra would not try to score a hattrick with one more small town middle class family story. Would be better if he sticks to his superhits like DDLJ or supershits like Mohabaatein.
And Pradeepda…..are you going back to your first home with your chunar me daag ? Ask VVC, who knows you two can score again together. As director, he officialy lost it with Eklavya but has become a great producer for sure.
As Konkona says in the film “dont try to control your target audience. Respect them”. Now if YRF starts doing so, that would be great. But “target audience” for films ? For good and great films, its everyone. For bad films, you can figure out your target audience. Like the marketing guys figured out for LCMD and Lux.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Wonderful post… cudn’t agree more… super dumb movie. imagine rani callin’ dat filmi (pink panty) in mumbai from benaras with a coin box wala phone… outright dumb. and the intern (koko)is sent to phoren to smooch kunal??? whaddafawk was dat… intern – phoren??? aisa nahin hota bhaiyya!!!
@Phoenixnu,
Man seems you bought most expensive ticket to watch the film;)hence big heart break !!!
Badki Chutki names remind us DDs down to earth TV serial Hum Log, which represented draems of lower middle class and presented the characters in such a way that they looked like part of our families, neighbourhood etc.
People then did not know there are logos like Mango, Zara, etc
Now time is of Ekta Kapoor and her kind of characters and many people know what Boss Hugo means, where reside Tomy H. etc.
Many many people watch Ekta Kapoor’s serials to look characters always covered with expensive clothes and decorated with expensive make up and jewellary.
So may be few Film makers are taking clue from that section of TV that people like it in films also.
on TV now its dresses and dresses. Who wore what. Shows are advertised with anchors new look. Like what AB wore during KBC 2. who designed SRK’s dresses in KBC 3.
Now its competition between these dress designers who make it happen that characters wear most appealing dresses, and appealing in style and not in sync with the demand of the character.
Sometimes its like preparing for market as customer will have a look and will like most shining person.
But its a phase and things will go normal again.
whats Lux?
Magik…I’m sorry but I didn’t understand your dismay over interns going abroad. What’s so surprising about it?
@RK…no ya. only 120 bucks. First week the tickets were rs 240-260 at fame/fun. after knowing that d film was so bad,was nt ready to spend so much 4 this this shit. ths week it was down to Rs120. went just for the sake of watching it as we all know that its terrible. LUX..is a big refrnce point in d film. U hav to c the film. or should i tell u here, if u not very much worried about d storyline.
@Phoenixnu:
Except msytery based films my mind does not understand whats SPOILER, so please go ahead.:)
It takes lot of pain to research on small town characters in order to develop them into as real livng beings…sitting in YRF studio… wining and dining…wont help. Enough of sterotyping (cleavage showing blouses and usual idiocy clinged to small towners)..its time to have a field day
Yesterday I was watching the making of a German animation movie ‘Lissi und der wilde Kaiser’ ,it was a treat to see the depth of understanding and creative vision of director Michael Herbig’s about his characters and his movies. He worked out smallest of detail prior he jumped to make this movie.
It would only be obviuos. if one wants to call himself as a filmmaker, to spend sometime soul searching and put genuine effort like Jaideep Mehta to write a simply great movie as Khosla ka Ghosla or S.Raghavan’s Johnny’s Gaddar…rather than imposing the YRF’s unneccasary and foolish grandeur on a plain, beautiful story and thus killing it.
@Phoenix…I dont agree with ur comment as regard to VVC…his movies are far superior than compared to any of his contemporaries….Parinda,Kareeb, Sazaye-maut…
@RK – after some naach gaana,Chutki gets MBA degree and gets job in mumbai as mgmnt trainee. during one of the discuiion on target audience in d company, konkona gives d gyan on target audience…respect them n all that. so she gets a chance to work one of d big clients of the agnecy – Lux. chutki and her boyfriend Kunal dissects n discuss who is the target audience of lux. they go out n meet people. today’s woman who does pooja path but is modern n blah blah. And finally in d presntation, kunal puts konkona’s pic n tells evryone that she is the target audince. konkona is surprised n is in love!! now someone who understand the target audince of lux and the psyche of all those woman but never bothers to check what is her sister upto. cud not stop laughing man. and lux guys must hav thought…wow what a in film branding. same target audience!!! same dumb character!!
@Prashant…agree about VVC. i also love that man n his madness. But with Eklavya and the way he reacted on oscar controversy, hav lost all my respect for him. thats why he said he has become great producer. i dont know of any producer who shares his profits with his cast n crew. but VVC does it. and thats simply superb thing.
@The Narcisist… bro, hv been in advtg for the past 5 years… never seen or heard of such a thing happening to anyone around me… may be i am plain jealous. :-?
@Phoenixnu,
Thanks for detailed scene.
Authoress of the film did not know, whoever is fan of Hindi cinema actreeses (From Devika Rani to Kareena Kapoor)and Shahrukh Khan, they all are target audience for LUX, soap. ;)
She should have used slogan,
“Shahrukh Jiske man ko lubhaye
wah Lux sabun se nahaye “.
—-
saw an interestind thread at Yahoo.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/071022/137/6m8o9.html
[Bollywood needs own sense of style, designers say]
@RK…ha ha ha. May be thatas why Chutki is big fan of SRK in d film!! 4-5 times she talks about SRk. they must have thought….wow, we cracked it!! its full circle.
@phoenix..
But u have to give him the credit…Even Eklavya was OK movie…and this is only fair of him to criticize these King Khan A** licker who are not iota of his talent….he was graceful when LRMB was not selected last year…Till the jury came out with oscar decision all was fine and acceptable…but soon it was biased…this kind of behaviour calls for VVC’s acrimony..Y wud u hold this against him..
Phoenix, guess u could also recommend him J.Om Prakash’s Aakhir Kyon? I am no big fan of Om Prakash’s movies, but this was one was pretty good, and i guess it never got it’d due, because it was more of a commercial product. Two things i loved in this movie, one at no stage does Smita Patil’s character compromise. Even after being abandoned by her husband, and suffering sexual harrasment, she sticks it out on her path. And second best thing i liked was that though Rajesh Khanna helps out Smita Patil, he strictly remains a friend to her, till the end. There is no forced romance here, no “so what if ur hubby left u, ur pure” kinda dialogues.
Yeah I would not call it a classic movie, it is as commercial and mainstream, but notches above LCMD. And thats what i emphasize, forget about a Subah or Meghe Dheke Tara or even Tapasya, we are not even close to making an Aakhir Kyon?
Cannot even think of watching this movie. It should smell of crap.So pretentious. There is a feeling i get before a release of any movie,if its is going to work for me or not..irrespective of the performance @ BO. I love my gut feeling…its does save my day a lot many times.:d
Maybe Pradeep needs to have a look at the DVD’s of some really good movies of the 70’s and 80’s dealing with women’s issues, before he starts to go to Meghe Dheke and Maria.
Hmm dont mind it Phoenix, but i find that treatment of small town millieu is much better in Southern cinema, than in recent times in Bollywood. In recent times, only very few movies like Dor, Manorama 6FU, Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh, Omkara, Apharan, Haasil have taken a realistic look at the small town scenario.
I spent close to 30 years of my life in a small town down South, and i can very much say that life in small towns, is a really complex mosaic. There are some wonderful stories out there waiting to be told.
Kiran Desai’s Hulabaloo in Guava Orchard is a wonderful novel on small town India, and is waiting to be told on screen. Trust me that can be made into a really entertaining movie, and i wonder why our movie makers dont take it up, instead of trying to copy every 3rd rate Hollywood flick.
For that matter i think even Lajja did a pretty good job of exploring women’s issues, even though some of the tracks were pretty cliched, like the Anil Kapoor-Mahima one, and Ajay Devgan’s dacoit with a heart of gold. The Madhuri-Manisha track was pretty good, and so was Rekha’s performance in the movie.
@Ratnakar…ya u r rite. but south…m compltly clueless. hav seen some mallu n tamil movies. thats it. dont knwo much. had a friend called raman subramnium. we all used to call him raman. one day had gone to his house and we were shouting raman raman n then his mom came out and asked us why r we looking for his daddy. so,its much like that.
@Phoenix
Well thats coz in Tamil Nadu, its like father’s name is surname, so venkat ramanan is like venkat son of Ramanan.
@Phoenix, But of hand i can recommend Paruthiveeran to u, its a pretty gritty and realistic look at life in rural TN, and the climax is a real shocker.
I guess the only time i was shocked by such a climax was in 7. Try watching this with sub titles.
Nanda is another good movie, i can recommend, though it has shades of Vaastav.
And do watch Cheran’s Autograph, its one of the best movies i have seen period. I mean he wonderfully explores life in interior India, through the heroe’s reminiscences.
Cheran is one director who brilliantly depicts the rural-small town millieu without overtly glamorizing it. DO try to get hold of the DVD’s with sub titles.
i second u ratnakar…but i think its broader …down south i feel the films are much better esp of the 70s-80s period…not only in treatment of smalltown stories but in general, women’s issues also…i somehow feel there was a kind of renaissance period during the 70s and 80s …tamil had balachander, bharathiraja, bhagyaraj, malayalam had bharathan, mt, k.g.george, adoor, padmarajan…
just see yavanika..by k.g.george…its something that highlighted the plight of woman in a male-dominated society…its just a murder suspense movie….feminist ideas are nowhere proclaimed…but we will empathise with the characters and the theme captures your mind silently…thats how i think people shud use cinematic language…to communicate without telling much…
@Anoop
ur right, that was indeed one of the best decades, even in my native language Telugu, we had excellent movies from Vishwanath, Vamsy, Bapu during that time. Viswanath’s Saptapadi was one of the boldest movies i have ever seen, it did not cop out during the climax, which is what happened in the Hindi version, where the ending turned into a big time mess.
To date i think Cheran and Bala are two movie makers who have been doing excellent work, and even Kaadal’s Sakthivel.
PHNX bhai, saw sarkar on IBN/NDTV. Hard numbers Sarkarji has huh? 25crs??? Wow!
Critics ka he was saying don’t say don’t watch LCMD. Does he know PFC?
nice review!
Read this in Screen written by Harneet Singh. Makes for interesting reading. Since this is about LCMD thought will share…
Blot It Out
I’m disturbed. Deeply disturbed. I saw Yash Raj Films’ Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (LCMD) on Friday afternoon and I must confess that I still haven’t managed to shake off the film from my consciousness.
I was really excited to see what Pradeep Sarkar has attempted in his second serve after Parineeta. Other than the howlarious-this-can’t-be-the-climax-Todh Do-sequence, I quite enjoyed the mood and the moments of the Vidya Balan starrer. Also with the pre release publicity blitz suggesting that Aditya Chopra had been nurturing the idea of LCMD for 11 years, I was totally sold on the film.
I pretty much expected the fare especially with a title like that and Rani Mukerji’s now famous ” Hi, I’m Natasha” line imprinted on my memory from too much music channels viewing. But I didn’t expect to come out feeling the way I did. I expected disappointment or (happy) surprise but I didn’t think I would be so deeply disturbed.
The tagline of the film suggests it’s “a journey of a woman.” There is also a mini lecture by Kunal Kapoor on what the modern Indian woman stands for with a direct view to enhance the in-film advertising of Lux beauty bar. Sadly the combined team of YRF and Pradeep Sarkar has got the definition of the modern Indian woman unforgivably wrong. And that is what is disturbing.
In one word LCMD is regressive. And it doesn’t even make an attempt to be anything but. It’s the oldest tale in a not so new bottle. It’s a kind of a film where you can predict the next dialogue and the plot progression as if you studied it by rote in school.
Think of all the stereotypes of the 60’s and you’ll find them in here. There is a bitter father coughing ominously in the background who rues the fact that his first-born is a daughter. There is the martyr mother with a perpetual frown who sews clothes to make two ends meet. There is a villainous uncle and his good for nothing son who have obviously devious designs on the crumbling haveli where the protagonist and her parents live.
To cut a long story short the protagonist decides to be the beta of the family and descends into Mumbai to earn a living. In the big bad Mumbai, her spotless chunari gets sullied when she sleeps with a man who promises to give her a job but later goes back on his word. What follows next is what makes LCMD the most disturbing watch. The protagonist actually listens to the advice of a “well meaning” friend who suggests she earn her living by turning into an exclusive high-class escort. What’s more, she even imparts make-up and styling tips to make her the best in the business. What message are the makers trying to send out to the young women? If that isn’t easy money then what is? Why didn’t the same friend help her get into modeling or enroll her in a web designing course or something so that she can earn a decent living?
Another thing that I could hardly stomach was the attitude of the parents in the film. They are so darn selfish. Forget the bitter dad, even the mother seems to have forgotten her responsibilities towards the eldest child. She is in the know of the “sacrifice” made by her daughter yet she tells her off and stops her from coming back home on the occasion of her younger sister’s wedding. With parents like these, who needs enemies? They’re even more caricaturish than in Ekta Kapoor’s K serials.
This is not a journey of a woman. And this is hardly what a modern Indian woman is all about. After watching the film, I wondered what was the need of making a film like this? And that is what is still disturbing me.
the film was so bad that i couldnt even bother to right a review..
i saw it day one.. and then just kept wondering…how much can somebody criticise??
and after making a film like parineeta… how can you make such a bad film ???
i guess YRF banner is a vampire that sucks talent out of good film makers and then compell them to make such plastic films!!
Phonix – nice revciew .. some honest questions to bring in the small town perspective … :-)
On a slight sidetrack – i read somewhere that Rituporno ghosh saw this film alone in a hall and was weeping throughout ….. :o
LUX – BINGO .. thats what the film is …
KK, Rituporno was weeping because probably he wasn’t allowed to leave the theater in the middle of the show and it was even sad that no one else was there is share his pain.
Instead of LUX, it should have advertised for Surf Excel. Imagine in the end Abhishek telling Rani “Agar kuchh accha karne me daag lag jate hain, to daag acche hain”.
BTW phoenixu sabse dumb kaun award should go to Konkona’s character. I wonder why wasn’t she sent to live with her mama/chacha/tau for her studies, if her character was to be shown unaware of the family situation.
One question is still unanswered, did Rani continued with her carrier as escort after marrying Abhishek.
Also, who would pay thousands/lacs to sleep with a zombie?
@Phoenix … Nice write-up !
But, honestly, …all the reviews, criticism,…comments,…… the movie aint worth it !
Save your words for the worthy
ratnakar..though i have not seen much telugu movies, what i have seen did impress me cos there is much similarity in narrative structure with malayalam movies …surpisingly abt kannada films not much is heard abt…
tamil we watch almost as much as we watch malayalam….and so are familiar with most of the movies, directors and actors..i think right now high quality talent is emerging mostly in tamilnadu…directors actors all…
there was a time when south used to borrow storylines from hindi then it became vice-versa and still continuing….i think hindi cinema is badly in need of a revival …i m not spking abt bollywood assemblyline productions…movies that hve a soul …that which will consider cinema as an art form…
Tod Phoenixnu Tod, Screen ko Tod…!!!
everybody join the chorus, puleeze
@Aditi…ha ha ha. Why d poor screen!! why not yrf!! and one beta cant do it. so the betas n the betis of the world unite!!!:d
@Playback…agree. But its just to let them know that we do exist who dont like lux!!
@smokerjoe…agree!!;)
@Rapvtor…u can guess that. when no one is talking about their figures, poor souls had to come out n do it themslves. Its Ripley’s Believe it or not!!! Check out boxofficeindia.com n u wil get d industry figures.
Wonderful Post……i dont think i need to add more on this
PradeepDa call up him,her,this and that:((
He might have made a sensational debut in soulful and oh-so-beautiful(for more reasons than one)Parineeta..and now its Laaga chunari mein daag a film with an outrightly ludicrous story..but backedby stellar peformances by the female lead cast and a film that is exceptionally pleasing to the eye in terms of visuals..perhaps more so than needed..
But at this supposedly passionate blog all we hear is that the film is pure trash.There have bee so many posts on this film now and each one has successfully managed to outrightly smash Pradeep Sarkar’s second outing but none has yet tried to look at how beautifully the director manages to bring out the emotions from his actors,at how beautiful he is capable of making each frame look.
The basic essence/the heart of a film is its story everything else might be an added bonus but whenyou have people time and again outrightly criticising this film and none manages to garner even a single word of appreciation and instead tell the director to learn by looking at the DVD”S of some other films it makes one wonder whether PFC is just a bunch of attention seekers..
:-?:-?:-?
and then the writer has the audacity to say that with Eklavya VVC officialy LOST IT as a director
It confirms it:-w
If you cannot even appreciate the importance of a film like Eklavya or a director like VVC then you must be ashamed of calling yourself a cinema fan.
Eklavya might have been a flawed product but you cannot take away from it the fact that it also managd to take Indian cinema to an entirely new level. A technically-sound preachy kinda-heavy non-conventional (for Hindi cinema at least) thriller with a lot of emotional drama (necessitating a workout for your brain cells..a first
Chopra used a lot of close-ups in the film (that reminded me of Ram Gopal Varma
abhinav,
u must be the only person who found ekalavya good
it was pure cinematic trash
i wonder what VVC wrote for 5 years.
ekalavya was the first time a 2 hours movie felt like a 4 hours movie.
i think vvc has been deteriorating with every movie of his.
i guess he burnt out after parinda itself.
Eklavya=cinematic trash
implies black friday..not even worth calling a film
@Abhinav,
Eklavya like any other film of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, indeed, has so many good things but so many bad things also.
Story on paper may look good when someone recites that modern story is clubed with mythological story of Eklavya. It looks very good.
But screen play does not look that convincing.Technically film is sound and acting part is good but then characterization and footage given to characters dont produce a coherent picture before us and anyone can feel with certain characters that what they are doing in such a story? Film has got no gripping power. It cant pushes audience to sit attentively through out the film. Suspense is not there.
Romance is not there. loyalty angle is superimposed, it does not look justified at times.
Abbas Mastan’s kind of thrillers may give more satisfaction of watching a mystery film than Eklavya.
Problems seem with VVC’s long term plans. He slowly prepared the film with keeping OSCAR in mind. and hence a khichari version. He kept OSCAR in mind but then could not leave greed to earn big package from the Box Office also.
He tried to invent a formula to win an OSCAR.
Hence film has doses of so many things. Shakesperean sonets /west will get it), Kings impotancy and manly weaknesses (west has seen that in many films so they will get it), mysetry, casteism (for which india is infamous- and OSCAR has been considering films like WATER),
Then he had clue from Shekhar Kapur’s Elisabeth so whole character of Saif Ali Khan was synthesised as Male Elisabeth, because he knew west has already seen this angle.
Many times small pieces can make a good picture when produce as a collective picture but many times they remain different parts of a big picture and this happens with Eklavya.
Film is made for OSCAR only.
Tears falling on railway track and vanishing, Jacky’s killing with a fast moving train and many other such scenes shout about technical competence of Vidhu Vinod Chopra and he has done hard work in making the film but still when see a film in totallity then it does not appeal.
Lets see if it goes to OSCAR and fulfils Mr Chopra’s desire for which he had made this film.
5 years in story writing and then great reviews in USA, comparison with David Lean’s kind of films etc all say a lot about his ambition and its not bad even. Everybody is doing that.
Film seriously lacks in binding the audience with its flow and one may have to work hard to concentrate on the film.
Thats the biggest weakness of a film. :-?
and Sharath..with that comment you just proved my assertion that PFC is a bunch of whiners
also what it shows is that people here only have a limited braket to put films in and then brand them as trash/shit and what not and then beat about the push trying to make a point which is pointless in my opinion
and all you see people do here is praise films like black friday, manorama,johnny gaddar and khosla ka ghosla
to be honest with the exception of johnny gaddar i was not impressed with any one of those films..neither are they entertaining enough for people to pay for
also,if you though eklavya was cinematic trash perhaps you should explain a cinema illiterate like me what cinema actually is:”>
i agree with the fact that the story is too short for a hindi film and the screenplay is not gripping enough but calling it cinematic trash is unwarranted..
the things he manages to achieve with a flawed product are still far greater than any of his peers has achieved or perhaps even will achieve
@ RK…with all due respect…not defending either you or Abhinav in this whole discussion…eventually at the end of the day…VVC’s film – eklavya – has been shortlisted for the Oscars…perhaps as was his original plan…ergo sum
@Abhinav,
“Trash” is here “Recycle Bin” of Computer from where things can be restored again to establish at proper place if someone has mistakenly deleted them:)
PFC is all for different opinions. Its true that different people see different things in same films. You find one thing good, others dont find it that good and at PFC both kind of opinion can find place.
Your views are permanently archived here. so those whoever would come here and if they have loved Eklavya, they would be supporting your views and those who disliked the film, would oppose your views. as you have done.
But its not necessary that while discussing a film one should bring other film out of blue and attack it.
PFC is to discuss the cinema and not to attack certain films.
Write without hitch what you like in a film and you will find many supporting you and many having disagreement with you. so pls. bear that possibility.
@Sophocles,
good, now VVC should do any effort to win OSCAR for his film.
Congratulations to him and best wishes also.
May his film wins the award.
Not every OSCAR winner film is great cinema so why he should feel diffident, he should push his film throughly now.
@Abhinav…agree with compltly. absoultly. U just missed one point…even Big B’s beard n make up was awesome. VVC spent a year on that.
And oh dear,feels nice to know that everyone is not our kind…the whiners. some people liked LCMD. hope YRf keeps on churning out films for ppl like that. no issue with that. just that u r the first one so far.
@Abhinav…On a serious note, eklavya is technically brillaint. thats it. great camera, sound, background,make up acting but story n the overall film…nah!! didnt work for me. i even hav the audio cd of d film. love few tracks there. jaanu na with sonu n swanand is very good. paranb’s vocals r brillaint. i luv n respect VVC a lot. but even then cud not like eklavya. N talking about LCMD…sarkar also has very storng visual sense. its better to watch out his videos then. but then all these things cant make a good film. at d end of it u judge the film,u dont judge d filmmaker’s effort. Bcz filmmaking itself is very very tedious job. by that logic everyone desrves a pat on d back for just being able to make n release a film!!
That is not the point..the point i am trying to make is that there will be good things about a bad film as well but all we see here is people picking the bones out of the wrongs and going on harping about it.
As for how many people pick good things out I havent seen many except for people sucking up to Anurag kashyap
and I DID NOT LIKE LAAGA AT ALL
@Abhinav…thats a differnt topic. U r mixing too many things together. dont defend LCMD for those reasons.
I loved Eklavya and I think so did at least 10% of the PFC readers because I think that was the result of the poll conducted here of those people who thought Eklavya was the right choice for the Oscars.
Eklayvya, in my opinion had a lot of things going for it, not just the visuals. The screenplay and the suspense was good enough for me. In fact there were a lot of similarities between Eklavya and the first half of MSFU (the half I preferred), in terms of treatment and pace though they may belong to different genres of cinema.
I don’t say that it was better than BF or anything like that. I just think it was the best choice among the other Hindi movies under consideration (haven’t watched Dharm though, I must admit)
My brother Abhinav…people of PFC….you are one of us now my man….you are commenting on PFC..so you are a part of PFC….stop discriminating yourself…now say
Hail Anurag..Anurag ki Jai….
Coz from your pov “we” the people of pfc do that…you are one of us now…
BTW we loved many other non-anurag movies too…get your facts right…and stop this idiotic chaos that you want to start..if you have a point to make..do it…talk about cinema…we will discuss..but dont come here with a uni-sided view…you will find many people of different sects and forms of life who have as varied tastes in movies as chalk and cheese…everyone is welcome here…so are you too, unless you just want to whine
when and where did i defend LCMD:-?:o:-?
I watched Eklavya a few weeks back, to try and understand why it was chosen. I failed. My expression at the end of his film was of utter incomprehension. I cannot think of a film which has less of a point than this (except, maybe JP Dutta’s Umrao Jaan)…or if there even WAS a point in the first place. Why the f did VVC make this film?!??! The whole cast seemed bored outta their brains. Good cure for imsomnia, though.
abhinav,
i am just a layman. i have no idea of world cinema and the film makers which guys in PFC speak abt. when i spend 200 rs, i just want entertainment.maybe i am disappointed with ekalavya cos of the hype which surrounded it. vvc said that he wrote the script for 5 years.when i saw the movie, i cudnt understand why he took 5 years to write the movie.maybe the movie had complex layers which cudnt be understood by the layman i.e me. so the movie failed for me. every scene in the movie screamed out, ” look at me, i am the greatest director in bollywood”. even the scene in the theatre where jimmy is killed was for effect, i guess. that isnt a bad thing but the movie didnt entertain which is every movie maker’s purpose.
btw, even i didnt like bheja fry too. i hated it.
me and my pal were the only two guys who werent laughing in the theatre. something must be wrong with my sense of humor.
i saw black friday so long back that i dont remember much abt the movie.
i havent seen manorama, so cant comment on it. i hated hey baby too. johnny gadar was time pass. the last movie which i liked was chak de india. it may not be great cinema but it was entertaining and i felt that it had a soul in it.
@dazedandconfused (48):
What “screenplay”? What “suspense”?? What “visuals”??? What utter crap!!!
(Enlighten me on what I missed?!)
@night
oops…you sound really pissed with me!
Well didn’t you notice how so much was said between the lines that the actors spoke every time? For eg- when Saif and AB converse in the beautiful moonlight after his mother’s funeral. Saif knows the truth now but AB doesn’t know that he knows but wonders at what Saif says…the scene sizzles because of what is not said…
visuals, well almost everybody even here agrees in superlative terms on that. Only one eg among many- did you notice Saif’s entry as he gets off at the helipad and then gets into an Amby (no Mercedes etc.) driven through potholed dirty village roads as the old dilapidated fort comes into view and the camera ushers us into its depths from a shot high above. Nothing extraordinary but 10 times more beautiful than SRK’s entry into his garish English castle in KKKG.
Suspense- well it worked for me. i didn’t guess that Saif would get his Dad killed in he movie. But more than the suspense what worked for me was how it was unravelled for the audience…
You didn’t miss all this. Just that you weren’t looking for this, that’s all, and so the movie doesn’t work for you.
Hilarious post buddy! Awesome!
chumma post….respect
Mujhe ye baat yaha samaj mai nahi aati hai that why everyone is so obsessed with YRF films and iam talkin abt ppl who dislike YRF.. Har TOPIC mai aaj kal YRF ka hi zikar hai.. Parineeta acchi thi to Director Hero.. LCMD bekar to YRF responsible..
When u talk abt BF and NS u talk abt Kashyap.. why not KUMAR MANGAT.. I havent seen his name anywhere on any blog.. when u talk abt LCMD, its all about YRF…Kyon mr. Author?
I havent watched LCMD and dont even intend to watch coz its not my type of film but i have noticed that everyone is now adapting to an extreme view over here..that view is not their view i believe but they have forced that view on themselves.
Like Pehle aya ek Blog talkin abt KJ etc, fir aya Suparm Verma ka blog talkin abt ZINDABAD.. Again this view was too much of extreme and i guess its not even what SUPARM thinks but then u take a stand..
its like this ” I KNOW THERE IS CORRUPTION IN MY COUNTRY BUT WHEN THE WHOLE WORLD STARTS SAYING THAT YOU GUYS ARE CORRUPT YOU GUYS ARE CORRUPT THAN ITS NATURAL FOR ME TO SAY WTF MY COUNTRY IS NOT CORRUPT AT ALL.. AGAIN AN EXTREME VIEW WHICH I MYSELF MAY NOT BELIEVE IN..
Ppl like Abhinav ( so called comm movie supporter) etc yehi reaction ka result hai..
Mr author too also has an extreme view at times and writes things like our cinema vs their cinema..Ae bhai our cinema kya hai.. i tght pfc is for everyone ye “our” cinema kaha se aa gaya..
Anurag bhai bolta hai he will be biased judgin their movie..atleast he is being honest.. but baki log ko dekhta hoon to ankh band karke 10-10 GAALI de rahe hai….
Jab We met by promo is a typical film that is generally made by YRF.. Agar yahi film produced by YRF hoti to kuch log yaha abhi tak 50-50 burai nikal chuke rehte movie ke baare mai..Burai nikalne mai koi harz nahi hai but sirf isliye mat nikalo kyonke woh YRF film hai..I knw someone will stnd up and say kya bakta hai.. we have praised chak de so much.. mai ek chadi (stick) se sab bhais nahi hank raha hoon.. I definitely dont mean that there are many ppl over here with that view.. I understand most of us over here just enjoy cinema thats it.. Iam not a YRF supp0rter and i guess my earlier post had indicated before but this kind of extreme view is just leading nowhere..
Ek jan aata hai progressive cinema ki bakhanta hai..producer log aaj kal nahi banate hai aisi picture.. kaisi picture??
waisi jo hum 4 log ko pasand ayee.. yea right.. woh aapke liye hi to baithe hai.. aapko personalized movie experience provide karne ke liye..Dhande ki Maiyaa..
Doosra aata hai he talks abt the so called commercial cinema… itna josh mai aa jaata hai ki 2-3 jo so called hatke ACCHI movies hai unko bhi bura bolta hai..Woh BF ko bekaar movie tabhi bolta hai jab koi kehta hai ki Eklavya is TRASH.. Read post above..Aee bhai idhar BF kaha se aa gaya.. u guys were talkin abt Eklavya… PFC ko gaali deta hai..aur fir roj PFC pe hi aata hai..
i believe PFC is for everyone so please dont say that PFC is bunch of whiners..Ab isse badi baat kya ho sakti hai ki woh tumko ghar mai aane dete hai aur gaali bhi dene dete hai.. Try doing this in any other office..
Lastly my point is agar BURAI BURAI KHELKE sabka Dil bhar gaya ho ( me included) to chalo thoda movies ki bhi baat karte hai
@Alone…click on my name and u will c my old posts. why yrf ? bcz they hav money, stars, power,dicatates terms to disrtributors, exhibitors…the way they want. the hav everything. the r the big bullies of d industry. and when they make shit, ofcourse atleast we do hav the rite to write a post. and its yrf(aditya)cz whoever knows a bit abt them knows how films r made there. from start to finish. just call up any distributor/exhibitor n find out how they dictate their terms n conditions. dont hav anything against them,just that dont like their cinema. cz its d biggies who can afford to take new steps. bt we all cheered for chak de. we all cheer for d old yash chopra movies. ok…enough of my lecture on yrf now. but think its d same with krrish n other dumb films.
about jab we met promo. oh dear, first plz go n search for my comment in anurag’s post to which he replied saying that if i dont like th film he will give me my money back.
and if i am still uanble to make u understand, then here is the big logic…m big time attention seeker. so plz look at me n my post!!
about jab we met promo. oh dear, first plz go n search for my comment in anurag
Also i dnt knw why we talk abt changing the face of indian cinema..
i like the face watver it is.. and globally also i dont see any face without flaws..
@Alone…since d comment was posted here, so i replied. ya no doubt m biased against yrf. admit that but only cz of the bad films that they have made and even after having so much. may be views wud hav been differnt if it wasnt yrf film. but a bad film is a bad film anyway.
Agreed and no one is saying u cant put forward your view..
My other point is that if Amin can make chak de with the same interference from YRF and we praise Amin and the movie, if LCMD has failed, we shld talk abt the entire team..
By the way without offending ppl who loved chakde, in my personal opinion the movie was good conceptually but its kind of over rated i wud say.Acchi hai lekin utni bhi nahi jitna log keh rahe hai.
Btw,do check today’s DNA supplement After Hours…1st page..right hand corner column. Sumitra Bhave,the director of Doghi on LCMD. in the credits of LCMD, it says inspired by Doghi.
link to sumitra bhave’s interview…
http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?edorsup=Sup&queryed=4&querypage=1&boxid=923&parentid=50504&eddate=10/24/2007
@Alone,
People like it or not but scene in Hindi cinema is taking shape where Producer/Studios are projecting themselve as bigger than Directors. It was perhaps in fashion in 40s and 50s and later Director’s names became bigger than Producers. Nobody pays attention to who produced Man Mohan Desai’s films or Prakash Mehra’s films or Yash Chopra’s films in 1970s and early 80s. These films were known because of names of these gentlemen. A film directed by Gulzar saab is always known as Gulzar’s film and not by his producers.
But now Producers are trying to be bigger than the directors because new directors are in the field and those who have bigger names and have opened production houses they market films as their films and not as director’s films.
Munna Bhai MBBS could have been Raju Hirani’s brain child but Mr Vidhu Vinod Chopra made it sure that he got equal or more credit for the film he produced. Same happened with Parineeta.
These may be the reasons that both Raju Hirani and Pradeep Sarkar started making films for other producers as well, as everybody wants due credit and everybody wants to be known for his films.
Kal Ho Na Ho, was seen as Karan Johar Production and less as Nikhil Advani film and perhaps this was the reason to spread his wings far and wide, Nikhil Advani came out of Dharma Production to start his own production and made Salam E Ishq.
Iqbal could have been same film whether Nagesh Kukunoor made it under YRF or Mukta Arts of PNC but Mr Ghai made sure he also got same credit as Nagesh was getting.
RGV gave chance to lots of new film makers but they were seen as RGV Factory products and if their directors got some recognition after the films were released then it was post release bonus for them. This may be the reason that RGV has reached to this pathetic state today because he is sitting on new and often first effort of many newcomers and errors are bound to happen with first efforts but abuses will go to RGV because its a perception about him that he controls everything in his production.
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Same is with YRF also. And its bit odd expectation also that audience should give same kind of respect to every new Director there, which they give to Mr Yash Chopra and his films. Audience have grown up with Yash Ji’s films and they have a connection with him but films made by new directors cant have Yash Chopra kind of touch in films produced by YRF and YRF is bigger name than Sidharth Anand, Shamit Amin, Shad Ali etc so big gets more and heavy criticism.
But one has to be objective that whether its personal criticism or frustration of audience. These days cost of ticket is enormously high so frustration is also big.
Moreover a less quality product Tara Rum Pum affects the bussines of little more entertaining film JBJ. so these strong reactions can be taken as market reactions and YRF can get benefits.
Are people demanding that YRF should be closed? No they are demanding that YRF touches the height of Mr Yash Chopra because YRF is using name of Mr Yash Chopra so they have to deliver the same quality product for which Mr Yash Chopra has been known over the years.
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you are right about many points but you have to understand one angle that if people are taken as against a brand then so many people become more biased because of self defense mechanism.
But is not it beautiful that anyone or someone like you may come forward to put up more balanced view and then we know that, “to err is human” and human being has capacity to correct himself.
PFC provides a platform where biased views can be countered then and there and a more balanced approach can be established.
People do correct themselves when they come across a better view.
We all do that.
Wasn’t Rekha Nigam also involved in writing Parineeta!! But what a a film