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Bhidu (Buddy): Thank god it’s over! I had such high expectations from this film.

Apun (Me): Eh dimaag ka dahi mat kar. Subhe ka teen bajela hain. (Don’t make brain into yogurt. It is 3 in mornings)

Bhidu: It just went on and on.

Apun: More fillum. More timepass.

Bhidu: But I wasn’t feeling the punch.

Apun: Bak bak mat kar nahi tho Spiderman 4D mein parde ke baahar aake kaan ke neeche bajaayenga. Phir punch ka feeling aayenga tereko. (Dont talking too much. Spiderman coming in 4D out of screen and punchings. Then you feelings)

Bhidu: But they went on and on with the love story!

Apun: It is masala yaar. Like Hindi fillum. Love, emotion, jealousy, badla, and action! There has to be good mixings, otherwise no fun.

Bhidu: Well, I guess the action was quite cool.

Apun: Arre it was deadly yaar! Maar dhaad between moving trains with the Sandman, end climax fight in Venom ka …

An extraordinary visual ride.

Theo (Clive Owen) walks into a coffee shop flooded by people watching a breaking news of accidental death of a youngest human alive, 18 yr old ‘Baby Diego’. The year is 2027. Theo walks out of the coffee shop and waits outside a little far from the entrance to light his cigarette when suddenly there is a loud bang and we see the coffee shop blown apart. Though I saw this scene during Children of Men’s Best Cinematography nomination during 2006 Academy Awards, I still was shocked at second viewing and wanted to applaude for the directorial skill .

Children of Men is a dystopian story set in 2027 UK. While Government is on a ‘Holocaust’ like mission to hunt down illegal immigrants and deport them, a group of people called ‘Fishes’ is showing resistance. But above all the greatest problem the humanity is facing is …

Here’s an event for PFC-ites in Mumbai… a few months back I had given an introduction to Baiscope Entertainment, an NGO designed to benefit fledgling filmmakers and others interested in film and the industry. Now they’re back with an event in Juhu and the director of the upcoming Salaam-e-Ishq will be in attendance. Highly recommend those of you in Mumbai to check it out if possible and give a write-up on what transpires.

BAISCOPE ENTERTAINMENT

Presents

In Association with

PVR CINEMAS and IndieFocus

A workshop with Nikhil Advani

(Director - Kal Ho Na Ho, Salaam-e-Ishq)

“From the Other Side of the Fence”

The workshop will explore:
Salaam-e-Ishq: The making of the mother of all multi-starrers
Bridging the 2 worlds: Nikhil Advani’s journey from the realistic world of Sudhir Mishra to the kandyfloss of Karan Johar
Film Finance for Great Scripts in Indian Cinema: A myth or reality
Casting Blues: The Final Clincher
…And other Agonies …

I love short films. They’re perfect for when you’re in the mood to watch a film but don’t have the time. Hell, I even try to catch a couple here and there during the day at work. Sadly, the market for short films is just not there with the masses. Unless a Darna Mana Hai or Darna Zaroori Hai comes along with Ramu’s banner behind it, the audience won’t care much for it. But that’s just another reason I’m obsessed with Ramu :) I digress. This is not a post about Ramu.. calm down striker…

Short films can be just as challenging to make as a feature film, if not more. Feature films have a 2hr (or more) luxury time in which to captivate the audience. In some cases, even if the first half isn’t good, the second half can make up …

I wonder if Sirjee and Betelal have watched “Happy Feet” yet. I am pretty sure Sirjee would whack Betelal on his head for getting aroused and lusting for a bosomy female penguin after watching this movie. Knowing betelal he would be making suggestive pelvic thrusts and dancing provocatively for the next few days :-)

Seriously, what were the “Warner Brothers” thinking marketing this movie towards a target audience of mainly impressionable kids with all the promos and paraphernalia. As an adult,I would probably enjoy it- retro music, brilliant tap dancing and animation. But a weak story about Ocean pollution and preserving the environment for wild life specifically of the penguin kind in the southern hemisphere. This movie probably racked in millions of dollars and was a success. But if you ask me, it was a sheer waste of my hard earned $50.00 ( tickets …

Its 12:00 am in the morning. The wrap up was supposed to be at 9:00 pm. John is giving a shot, suddenly gets aggravated and goes,” Don’t you know how to clap.” He walks off the shot and tells Anurag,” You know I got into an accident, my knees are paining. What is that guy doing?” The clap AD is Sunil. He is in a state of shock. Can not believe what has happened. He follows John and politely apologizes. John is furious and goes,” How difficult is it to clap? Let me show you how you clap.” Takes the clap from Sunil’s hand and claps it in front of his face. Sunil is almost in tears. The next moment John hugs Sunil. Everyone bursts into laughter. Everybody, who knew the plan was finding it difficult to control the laughter. Anurag had his face covered with his hand and was …

Here’s another idea I suggested to oz, and he suggested I post it here and check out reader reactions.

2001 marked the debut year of the 48-Hour Film Project, “a crazy idea to try to make a film in 48 hours” brought up by Mark Ruppert and his filmmaking partner Liz Langston. Basically, the producers at the 48hr Film Project have a huge meeting on a friday evening around 7pm. In attendance are numerous teams which consists of filmmakers, actors, music dirs etc. Each team is assigned a genre, and they basically have to come up with a script WITH that genre in mind, cast it, shoot it, edit it, compose the music accordingly etc.. basically MAKE A FILM.. in ONLY 48hrs. From scratch to finish. And submit it by 7pm on sunday at the filmfest office. There are further catches to this…

- the …

Master of the Arts III - The Crazy Kamal Connection

“When I look back, sometimes, I wonder if I was pretentious trying to make all those message oriented movies. I have no such illusions today. I am here to entertain people and all I will do is just that!”

This is the essence of his career - chequered with fantasies and social satire, thrillers and screwball comedies, romance and science fiction - an enriching albeit long journey of 54 years that has been filled with excitement and disappointment, glimpses of abyss and heights of applause - an abstract origami of past, present and the future - a haiku of hard work, humor and experimentation unfolded.

Two is a team
Kamal Haasan has a peculiar pickiness when it comes to acting. His fetish of experimenting with his looks, his inflexibility towards some people, making them feel insecure, inadequate, or threatened - …

“Had I not been a film maker” said this man once, “I would have been a teacher and built a school on the lines of Shantiniketan”. No bout a doubt it, if we were to look at his extensive experimentation with cinematic work and his exhaustive toolbox of skills, including writing, music and painting.

After half a century of film making career - with an amazingly wide canvas of subjects ranging from family dramas to social satires to folklore to mythologies to 3D animation features that no other contemporary filmmaker has attempted - his passion for experimentation remains the same.

At 75, he still retains the youthful exuberance and goes about his forthcoming ventures with the enthusiasm of a debutante.

Dr.Raj Kumar, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, and Kamal Hassan, are some of the legends he has worked with.

Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, the eternal student of cinema enrolled in a course to learn …

for anyone in mumbai, i wanted to pass this out.. a friend of mine, manas malhotra, started up a nonprofit organization called baiscope entertainment. in essence, it’s similar to SAAFA. a little intro..

Baiscope Entertainment - a window of opportunities to the world of cinema.

Its Your Cinema Forum. Where you talk, breathe, feel, watch and grasp cinema. It’s a forum to perpetuate interaction between film technicians and cineastes. Its designed to be the world wide web for the cineaste to log on to for data, insight and information.

Baiscope opens up a spectrum of films and film related issues and offers you a forum to grasp them and to express yourself.

so far they’ve already conducted the following workshops…

Sessions already conducted by
Anurag Kashyap (The maker of Black Friday and Gulala and scriiptwriter of Satya)
Sudhir Mishra (Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, Hazaron Khwishein Aisi, Dharavi, Yeh Woh Manzil To Nahin)
Mehool Parikh …