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Random thoughts on “NAMKEEN” (1982)

Caution: Spoilers Ahead

This is not a review kind of article but describes my random feelings and thoughts while and after watching Namkeen. Kartik has written an article on Namkeen but I must share my thoughts about this gem, - you have to tolerate this. Pardon me if some lines match with kartik’s article but this would be genuine as we all have same feelings about cinema.

So Namkeen is a story about a truck driver and his relation with four women residing in a remote Himachal village. Truck driver Gerulal (Sanjeev Kumar) decides to rent a house in a village where house owner is a family consisting of an old woman (Waheeda Rehman) and her three daughters(Nimki-Sharmila Tagore, Mithu-Shaban Azmi, Chinki-Kiran Vairale). Then their relation develops and Gerulal is thinking to marry elder sister Nimki. But as his work contract expires he has to go …

The other day a friend of mine buttonholed me as he was itching to narrate his debut feature film script. Off drinks, off non-veg, he was a bit put off by my not adhering to Bollywood convention of listening to a script. Somehow he had always given some weightage to my opinions—perhaps that was the reason—as he agreed to go ahead with the narration in this non-Bollywood ambience sans drinks also.

Into five minutes of story telling, my vanity was punctured . He was narrating the script not to get my opinions but to show off his oratorial and directorial skills—whatever they were. More than the plot and characterization he was into camera angles—How the jimmy jib will move from low angle to up up in the sky!How the steadicam will capture the unsteady walk into the wild..Gauging a puzzled look on my face, he started adding …

1971- Simply Superb!

When I was a kid; I used to like watching Ramayan, Alif Laila, Krishna and all those stuff made by Sagar brothers. But at the same time; I did not like their terrible technical ignorance and over over over the top acting. Can you imagine a camel cart with rubber tyres in age of Alif Laila or that typical hindi filmy back ground music in Ramayan. In 60s and 70s, Ramanad Sagar made some good movies like Geet, Charas and Aankhein. But after that Sagar brothers made aweful movies and serials with pathetic technicalities, over the top dramatic performances and cheap budget. They made a film on Bhagat singh and the opening sequence was of a jail. And can u believe they show animated version of jail in a live action film.

But new generation of Sagar Family seems to be more knowledgeable than their previous. 1971 is …

10,000 B.C. - A Children Film

I did not expect anything great in 10,000 B.C. and the movie is exactly like that. It has good special effects and CGI but thin story line.

As we had seen in past; director Roland Emmerich is known to put his hero in larger than life unusual difficult situation (independence day, the day after tomorrow…)…here he puts his hero in the world before 10,000 years of Christ’s existence. But that is the only thing which makes us interested in the movie. Then there are special effects, fights and exotic locations. That’s all about 10,000 B.C.

The promos seemed to be quite interesting and I expected the life, the culture and the habits in 10,000 B.C. But the movie is not concentrated in those details. Hero is searching for his love; that has …

As per the wisdom of ancient Indian sages and scholars, desire to earn name has been among one of the four basic desires any human being follows in his/her life. One wants to see his/her name inscribed in history and if not for long then local history chapter also helps in boosting his/her ego. If its not international award then national will do and if that’s also not possible then state award will also help and even if that’s also difficult then city based awards are there to bring temporary pink colour on the cheeks of the people. If nothing works then recognition and appreciation by friends and family members become indispensable for him/her to continue the creative journey. Very few creators are there who go ahead without bothering too much what others have to say about their creations. They know value of their creations.

Being ordinary people, its …

For sometime now, Indian films are having regular commercial releases in Pakistan – as far as I understand, on a case-by-case consideration. And after the initial euphoria of at last getting to watch Indian films legally on the big screen after all these years of watching grainy, pirated DVDs, the Pakistanis, I am told by some of my Pakistani friends from the film world, are starting to treat Indian films with the respect or contempt that they deserve.

But all this time, there had not been a reciprocal release of Pakistani films commercially in India, barring the limited release of the Pakistani-French-German co-production Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) directed by Sabiha Sumar. Come March 28, things will finally change. That is the day when Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Kay Liye (In the Name of God) – a huge hit in Pakistan – is releasing in India. And there could not have been a …

HISTORICAL HEROES…WAITING TO BE ADOPTED ON SCREEN.

While watching Jodha Akbar; a thought came into mind- why all the time Indian film makers focuses on love story while adopting history characters. E.g. Ashoka- Santosh Shivan focused on love story between Ashoka and kaurvki. Sanjay leela bhansali planned to make historical film on love story of Baajirao and Mastani.

Latest Jodha Akbar also focused on love story. Many of us found that there was not enough masala/content in the film. There was thin storyline in the film.

India has produced lots of heroes in the history. Their personality and life can be great source for film. But nobody plans to adopt these big historical characters which are symbols of courage, spirit and patriotism. We can make our own Brave heart, or Gladiator. I think our past film makers were more ready to take challange to portray histroy on silver screen. I still …

iView Author:
Medha Dutt
(Kolkata, India)

E-mail:
primidutt [at] gmail [dot] com

“24 Truths per Second ”

The famous French New Wave director, Jean-Luc Godard, was very right when he said of Cinema, that it is “24 truths per second”. And nowhere do we find it more so than in the films of Ritwik Ghatak.

I know there are many others, like, Ray, Sen, Benegal, Nihalini, Mani Kaul, but maybe being a Ghatak fan, his name is the first to come to mind! No offense!

Ghatak’s filmography is deceptively small – in his lifetime, apart from short films …

Just saw Wes Anderson’s latest fratricidal fun-on-the-run The Darjeeling Limited! Totally loved it. Love the meandering (and seeking) nature of the narrative, which is similar in structure to the Coens’ comedy work but yet so different. And that’s got a lot to do with Anderson’s dialogues, which sound profound if put on paper but in the context of his films are completely redundant.

Like this scene towards the end of the film when Francis (Owen Wilson) unwraps his bandage to reveal the wounds he suffered in an accident (maybe attempted suicide). The three are all looking at the bathroom mirror, with brothers Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) checking out Francis’s bloody face reflected on the glass.
Francis: I guess I’ve still got a lot of healing to do.
Jack: Gettin’ there, though.
Peter: Anyway, it’s definitely going to add a lot of character to you.

It’s completely sumptuous but what makes …

54. That is the number of films that I and two of my co-jury members watched in just five days at the 10th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short & Animation films (MIFF). The festival was held over seven days, from February 3 to 9, but the films in the Indian competition section (in which I served on the critics jury chosen by the Indian chapter of the International Federation of Film Critics – FIPRESCI - along with Uma da Cunha from Mumbai and M K Raghabendra from Bangalore) were screened from the 4th to the 8th. Of these 40 were documentaries, nine short fiction films and five animation films. We had a tough task at hand, since we were mandated to give out only one award – I personally felt it was a great injustice to the films as we had to select the winner from among three …

As always I wasn’t really too pleased with the Oscar nominations this time around. 2007 was an awesome year for films but lot of great films which should have been there weren’t, including the best foreign picture category (”Lust, Caution”, “Persepolis” and “4 nights, 3 weeks and 2 days” missing). Hoffman being nominated for Charlie Wilson’s War and not for Savages or Before the devil knows you are dead. Into the Wild being treated a pariah. And so on and so forth. The same was true when the awards were announced today. A lot of unexpected winners. However just like last year the greatest redemption came in the best director category. Coen brothers who have been snubbed on more than one occasion in the past (imagine Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Barton Fink and Miller’s Crossing not even getting a nomination) winning the best directors statuette for “No country for Old …

NAYAK (2001)- SHANKAR AT HIS BEST

I like larger than life movies. I love movie with all commercial masala in it. But condition is that it should be well balanced. It should have fast pace, powerful dialogues, performances and excellent technique. Nayak-The Real Hero fulfills all those expectations. It is intense, emotional as well as humorous and fast paced.

Shankar has got grip in handling true commercial movies. I have seen his Hum se hai Muqabla, Gentleman, Hindustani and Aparichit. (All dubbed in hindi). Though all of his films have almost same story (a common man fighting against corrupt system by having special power); he treats the subject differently and make audience engaged in the film as well as enjoy the film.

As per my POV Nayak-The Real Hero is Shankar’s best work till date. The major difference and innovative …

bombay to bangkok ke asafal hone ka poora shreya nagesh kukunoor ke hi mathe hoga.woh akeley kasoorwar hain.is film ke liye subhash ghai ko doshi nahi thahraya ja sakta.iqbal aur dor jaisi filmon ke baad bomabay to bangkok jaisi kamjor film ke baare mein nahi socha ja sakta tha.kya ho gaya nagesh ko?kya unki pahle ki films fluke thin.

gaur karen to nagesh koi bade aur significant filmmaker nahin hain,unki hydearabad blues sadharan film thi.vastav mein yah aisi mediocrity ka daur hai ki koi thoda bhi behtar kaam kare to ham use sir par bitha lete hain aur umeed karte hain ki chalo,ek banda mila.ab yah achchhi films banayega.tarifon aur phir mil rahe paison se uska dimag aisa ghoomta hai ki woh nagesh kukunoor ho jata hai.kauaa chala hans kee chal,aakhir bhoola apni chal.dar lag raha hai ki nagesh ki agli film kaisi hogi?kya woh iqbal ya dor jaisi sarahna hasil …

HALLA BOL- Mr. Santoshi Delivers What Is Expected

Director: Rajkumar Santoshi
Writer: Rajkumar Santoshi

Overall Grading: B+

Halla Bol is a typical Rajkumar Santoshi film having witty and powerful dialogues, dramatic sequences, good performances and an item song.

Halla Bol is about a film star’s awakening of inner soul and fight against system (
as usual in santoshi’s films). Story is not innovative and it is predictable but it is santoshi’s treatment that makes you engaged tin the film. Film is stretched before interval and after interval director tries to complete film in hurry. There are some ridiculous things like – a girl selling her kidney for her sister’s case, minister with his goons giving warning to Sameer Khan in court campus etc etc but it is Rajkumar Santoshi’s capability to handle the subject that we take these ridiculous things for granted. May be that is the difference between Rajkumar Santoshi and Guddu Dhanoa. Also …

WELCOME -full of nonsense

Overall grading: B-
Director: Anees Bazmee

Pehaps after success of No Entry director Anees Bazmee thought “chalo No Entry hit hui hai to usi type ki ek aur comedy banate hai”. Let’s take love story of Gangster’s sister and an average boy. OK concept is good but then what? How to develop script? OK… add some songs picturised in Dubai, South Africa, Take big star cast Add illogical comedy sequences, poor jokes …. And most important constatnt TV campaning…. Ek baar public ne ticket kharid li to wapas to nahin karegi… aur.film dekhke medical store waalon (Asprin) ko bhi thodi kamaai ho jaaye to thoda bahot commission bhi pakka… So he made WELCOME.

Yes I know we should not try to find any logic in a comedy movie….but welcome is illogical as well as full of nonsense. Welcome has that kind of nonsense that can not be tolerated …

I was shooting at the Rhodesia House, a dormitory of St. Peters School, Panchgani. Rhodesia House fits approximately 40 boys under the charge of a matron….this house accommodates the youngest (7 to 8 years) students. Being a boarding school, the admission at St. Peters starts from 3rd Std.
Every time I watch TZP promo on tv, I get nostalgic with the first film(AV) which I made as a director….every frame of little, innocent students reminds me of similar shots taken by me, exploring various dorms of St. Peters.

Being known as European Boys’ School before independence, St. Peters has very glorious past and presence….apart from many governors and business tycoons, our legendary rock superstar Freddie Mercury, from band ‘Queen’ was one of the alumni from the 1958 batch. Bruce Murray (lead vocals)
Victory Rana
Farrokh Bulsara …

AANCH (2003) - CLOSE TO COUNTRY SIDE

Aanch (2003) is the story of two lovers caught between fake egos and cultural rules of villages. It is an unusual story and perhaps based on a true incident. The story takes place in two of the UP villages. A boy (played by Suchindra Bali-son of veteran actress Vaijayanti Mala) and a girl (played by Sharbani Mukerjee- who played Suniel shetty’s wife in Border) are engaged and their marriage is arranged. Suchindra is from the village where Paresh Rawal is leader while Nana Patekar is leader of Sharbani’s village. At wedding night people of both villages fight because of a past dispute. Some are killed and just married couple is forcefully separated. The interesting note is that both bride and groom have not seen each other’s face as it is usually happens in indian villages. Separately Suchindra and Sharbani go to city for study …

“Zafar made many films after that, but Khoya Khoya Chand is considered his best…”. May not be the exact words, as I did not note it down, but something more or less along these lines lit up the screen as an epilogue as Khoya Khoya Chand came to an end. I was at a Press screening of Sudhir’s latest film at New Delhi’s Films Division Auditorium this (Thursday, Dec 6) afternoon, a few hours before there were to be two Red Carpet premieres of the film at PVR Plaza and PVR Rivoli at Connaught Place. And I thought, the word “Zafar” could be replaced with “Sudhir Mishra”. Ok, ok, if not his best, it would be counted among his best – up there with Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi.

Sudhir, quite evidently backed to the hilt by producer Prakash Jha, invested a lot of sweat, pain and hard work in creating this …

JAAGO MOHAN PYAARE!

“It is very easy to criticise anyone’s work than doing the actual work”.

The old and experienced players of hindi cinema…started their career by redefining the rules of typical bollywood film making. But some how lost their golden touches, cinematic abilities, and trapped in their own success and intelligence. They are thinking they are making right stuff and are with new generation of film making. But they might don’t know there are many dark horses trying to make films in their own way and if so called genius film makers would not wake out from dreams,…. they might go for long sleep.

* J.P. DUTTA- started with bang- Ghulami. But confined in his own brilliance. Prisoned in desert, thakurs and revenges(Batwaara, Kshatriya). Somehow reborn in Border but again captured in the same prison of long songs, wars and cross border issues. Umrao Jaan was like doordarshan serial. Though his …

Movie making is not easy, man. Making the PFCOne movie is a big lesson to many armchair critics here including me who wax eloquently on where a movie worked, where it didn’t, blah blah blah…I made a couple of movies which are now listed among the entries. It was my first time that I ever attempted making a movie of any kind (excluding random home movies) and it was great fun.

Writing the script is the easy part. That is, once you have the idea or the inspiration for it. Otherwise it’s tough as hell. And writing a script is not something that you can will yourself to do, especially for me, even if it had to last only a minute. If it doesn’t come to you, you can’t help it. Agree?

But how does one write for a minute? I wrote a page of stuff and then tried to imagine all …