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India is set up to be the most creative place on earth. The diversity of its people is now being accentuated by the variety of mindsets jostling with each other for some kind of supremacy. One of the key ingredients of evolution and creativity is cross-pollination, and India is better endowed for that to happen more than any other country in the world.

Our entertainment industry is sitting on a wishing well, if only it could see things that way. But given the mindset that runs it, that also makes it also one of the most frustrating places on earth.

The level of insecurity in our entertainment industry is surprising, given that it is supposed to be a business at the end of the day. It is the money that determines what projects get made, and the thinking behind the money that forms a working culture.

But aren’t business people …

There is a saying that goes as

“ Jab jana to ye jana ki na jana kuch bhi “

[When I got to know something then I realised that I knew nothing].

Nobody can ever know everything but can we start fearing that we can’t know much? We have to enjoy this journey of knowing. How much we know, it does not matter but we are able to continue our journey on knowledge, this brings satisfaction.

Wise people have said that mind also needs exercise like body.

Exercise does not rely on instrument as it depends more on the how to use that instrument. If one has no bar to hang then one can use branch of a tree for the same purpose.

We have to have fun while thinking and in end also we should have fun.

No Precautionary warning as weak or strong all can go through easy yoga …

Seems times are changing at last - for the better, and fast. After all these years of scouring the film festivals and pirated DVD shops (unless we have deep pockets to splurge on the highly-priced original DVDs of foreign films), it seems 2008 is bringing some happy tidings for us, the lovers of world cinema (that is, anything that comes from outside the country minus Hollywood).

Suddenly, Indian companies have started taking marketing rights for a large number of world cinema and at least two dedicated channels to telecast cinema of that kind are readying for launch. And, trust the French to do it - more and more French films are being screened, at least in Delhi and Mumbai, screened mostly free of cost through tie ups with multiplex chains, to introduce the casual moviegoer to the variety that rides with their cinema (hope other countries would also have as …

Life officially stinks. I really mean it. The day job I do is hardly an enriching experience and the only thing other than my passions for making movies that kept me getting up every working day was the fact that there used to be a sitcom line-up in the morning in Star World(English Channel in India and part of Murdoch’s empire). The thing I loved about this line-up was Simpsons coming on at 8:30 and I would always catch up some bits of it or all of it, depending on what shitty schedule I had. This used to make my day really good.

I do not know how many of you love the Simpsons but I have been a hard-core fan of the same for many many years now. Although I have watched almost all of the episodes that come in Star World now, it always used to give me a good start to see the same in the morning. Now Star World has gone and changed their program schedule and moved some Crappy talk shows & soaps into this slot. Do we not have enough soaps already coming out of our ears that they now need to be everywhere? Hence the bloody Withdrawals and the Morning Sickness are rampant in my body now. Do not be too surprised if the Stork visits me in a few months’ time :-)

SOMETHING GOOD ON TV

1. If you want to show your expensive glazed bathroom tiles without inviting anybody at your home; just get a dead cockroach in your bathroom & contact INDIA TV or any Indian news channel - I am sure that Mr. Sharma will cover your dead cockroach as “BREAKING NEWS”.

2. If you have capability to get tears without glycerin; just take part in any singing or dancing competition on any channel; I am sure you would be able to sustain for minimum 2 rounds.

3. If you are not bored with repeated watching of movies Garv-Pride & Honour, Hungamaa, Naayak, Gangaajal, Maalamal Weekly, No Entry, Sarkar….just go to Set Max, Sahara One or Zee cinema. You would get revision of your movies.

4. If you want …

Since Its that time of the year when everyone looks back & gives their list of things. I’m gonna do a do a series on them. I’ll start with the best things I discovered this year but which may not necessarily belong to this year. These are books i loved, movies I discovered, music I loved, youtube videos that entertained me.

Books -

1) Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone - Rajiv Chandrasekaran
http://tinyurl.com/2as35t
This is a must read for anyone who wants to know what & how things went wrong in the 1st 3 years of the war. Chandrasekaran was the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post. The reason this book tops my list is because its a very objective account of what happened. Its not a leftist journalists rants against the stupidity of this administration. Infact Paul Greengrass(Bourne Ultimatum, United 93) is going to make …

“A film is a one night stand but television is a love affair”. That’s Aaron Sorkin when quizzed why he chose to make a television series after having written brilliant movies like A Few Good Men and The American president. This coming from a man who wrote the scene of poetic outburst of Michael J. Fox in the oval office when debating how it is important for a man of immense power to do the right thing - political ramifications and international treaties be dammed!

In the last seven years, if there was one indulgence that I let on unhindered when facing a dilemma or being in a stupor over the morally correct, West Wing was a series that I turned to day in and day out. Books were a refuge but my time of growing up gave me access to much more visual form of ideological exchange that would impress …

iView Author:
K.J (New Delhi, India)

Email : jainkunal [at]mailcity.com

The last cult and the last rites of television

Before I begin, I suppose we will all agree on PFC that television programming as it is at present in India is dead. There is absolutely zero creative work done with the medium now. It’s all about money, marketing and regression now. But the world I grew up in used to be different. It was a world without ‘Balaji’ but much more holy.

Growing up in the late 80’s & 90’s, the trend in entertainment was much more different than the current scenario.

Those were the times when cinema was on the verge of death and the footfalls in cinemas were dwindling quickly. Bollywood was incurring huge losses till very recently. A lot of that is attributed to the poor quality of movies that were coming …

Hi Folks,

Details of the panel discussion that I am putting together in LA, next Thursday.

Panel Discussion on Casting Agents/Producers in LA (aka the folks
who can really, really) make all the difference in your creative life:

WHERE and WHEN: Thursday, Nov 1, 2007, in Los Angeles.
                Tanzore Restaurant / www.tanzore.com
                Gaylord Special Events / www.gaylordla.com
                50 North La Cienega Blvd
                Beverly Hills CA 90211 .

COST:           $12, Inclusive of Soft Drinks and 3 Appetizers, & OPEN
bar Drink Specials
                Hosted in Haveli room

PANELISTS:ROBERT BALLO, Producer & Cinematographer
Robert Ballo is an image-maker and storyteller.  He has established an
environment at Shadowland where interesting scripts can be developed
and made into even more interesting movies.  His role is guiding the
company artistically in finding, developing and creatively making
movies as well as ensuring the financial success of the company for
both its investors and its employees. 
 
In addition to supervising creation of the North American version of
Jackie Chan’s The Myth, …

Hi Folks,

Here is the irony of the situation. The medium which gave us SRK, the medium which recreated SRK (I would like to believe that being a host of KBC, was the precursor for his “new” avatar in Chak De), the medium which has thrown to us fine directors, the medium which gave a lease of life to AB, the medium which got more fame for Karan than his movies did, the medium that made Jeetu’s daughter more powerful than Jumping Jack in his prime….is called, rather unfairly, the IDIOT BOX..Idiotic are those who ignore the power and the reach of this medium.

The west is no different. The medium in which breaking in is so much easier for South Asians, the medium where a person merely cracks jokes and talks to people, yet which makes them a millionaire, the medium which has created superstars of a bunch of friends from …

The memorable lines of Indian TV Ads of 80s have been grossly underutilized in movie lore. This article pays homage to some of the greatest TV lines of our times.

Among the many pleasures of watching Manorama – SFU and Johnny Gaddaar were spotting the tributes to popular culture and influences of the respective film-makers. While it is open to debate, I have always felt that Indian film-makers have been relatively coy about using popular Indian culture as reference points in their movies. So, the bit about ‘zaraa si savdhaani, zindagi bhar aasani’ (I wish someone could do that flute bit at the end like it was in the original ad as well in the movie, Navdeep?) or about ‘Parwana’ in Johnny G were welcome relief. I feel a generation of film-makers in India is now upon us who have grown in, arguably, the most fertile of pulp culture decades of …

One look at it, and you will realize that it is a typical South Indian village.

The vista evokes nostalgia in every Anna, Chetta, Thambi and Thamma — the rusty red (Mangalore) terracotta tiled roofs on the cute little row of houses that are huddled together like one single cozy family; the dusty roads, all of them ending in unison near one chowk - the center of the village and a major landmark - where a grand colonial looking statue stands aloft ceremonially adorned by the crows and pigeon poop; a post office; a cinema theater - sinima hall - that plays old South Indian movies; a push cart ice cream seller; a huge Pipal tree under which sits a fortune teller, who has decorated the tree with his handmade hand charts that explain his expertise; a beggar clad like a sadhu; a sweetshop and the disillusioned owner …

Hi friends. One great news - Shyam Benegal has been chosen for the Dada Saheb Phalke Award. He truly deserves it for all the great films he has made, though personally I feel he has slowed down a lot bit in recent years. Here’s the official announcement:

Shri Shyam Benegal one of the pioneers of new Indian Cinema has been selected for the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2005. `The Award is given by the Government of India for outstanding contribution in the field of Indian Cinema. The award will be conferred on Shri Shyam Benegal by the Hon’ble President of India at a ceremony later this year. The award carries a cash prize of Rs.2,00,000/-, a Swarna Kamal and a shawl.

Shri Shyam Benegal is considered one of the leading filmmakers in the country with his first feature film Ankur, which broke new grounds from the cinematic trends of the …

iVIEW AUTHOR:
Dabba (New York, USA)

email: withheld

I loved B.R.Chopra’s Mahabharatha growing up (still do and own it) and
want to stake a claim that I have seen the entire series more times
than anyone else. Other than my mother. But really, 17 times when I
was growing up. The entire series. 12 times in hindi, and 5 times in 3
other languages. But now that I am 29, I have seen it several more
times since. Every time I watch it, I pick up another facet of the
tale, another character’s importance in the grand scheme of things and
most importantly how they relate to me from a tween to an adult. It is
also THE influence in my appreciation of stories, and growth now as a
filmmaker. You say La Dolce Vita, I say Mahabharatha. It’s all good
y’all.

I have always loved The Mahabharata from the Amar Chitra Katha days,
but this …

iVIEW AUTHOR:
Kumar Gautam (Bombay, India)

email:
writerdirectorgautam [at] gmail.com

The day TV serial Ravan was commissioned by ZEE TV; there was a huge buzz and murmur in industry. People with different mindset had different opinion; How can a leading channel commission a mythological serial in today’s era? Is there any story of Ravan? Isn’t Ravan’s story, Ram’s story? Haven’t we seen enough of Ravan’s story in Ramayana? Has the programming department of ZEE TV gone mad by repeating the cliché offbeat stuff again? Likewise, there were innumerable doubts and questions in the mind of content development department in the entire TV industry. Even when this writer was given a proposal to join Ravan’s writing team he was skeptical that how honest, justified and logical would be to write a mythology. Yet, everyone had words of praise for the concept writer of Ravan. …

On 07/07/2007 in Lisbon a new list of seven wonders of the world is going to be announced and our Taj Mahal is in the reckoning.The race is hotting up what with presence of Bipasha Basu amongst the hosts to announce the results! Suddenly everyone is having a rendevous with Taj–a bond, a relationship perhaps.

Its the same Taj that had been in news for all the wrong reasons in the recent past. …

This is an exclusive transcript of a short film that has already been selected for the award in one of just-for-the-heck-0f-it festivals even before the competition section films have been finalised.I know it sounds really paradoxical and contradictory as any Bollywood messed up masalas . But what to do. Thats how the world is. And thats how the script is:
…

Hi Folks,

This post is strictly business. But with more cross border film deals happening both in Bollywood and here in the US, some financial and fiscal guidelines to keep in mind. Firstly if there are any legal (actually this entire write up is on the premise that you are transacting the business legally) exchange of remmuneration i.e. monies paid to artist/crew/filmmaker by distributor, etc from India to the US or vice versa, it will be subject to witholding tax or what we in Mumbai call, TDS (tax deducted at source). However, since US and India have a dual tax treaty, this can be avoided, if you inform the remitting party that you will be responsible for the taxes and will claim the benefit of the Witholding law (this has to be given in writing), otherwise there will be the witholding, do expect less in hand than what was meant to …

This is probably the best video I’ve played with. Amazing stuff and extraordinary content. I’m talking about “Planet Earth” series. It’s among the best I’ve seen from BBC. “Space” is the other series that I liked. I’m currently watching “Long way round”, “Cosmos”, Adam Curtis’ collection (which includes “The Century of the Self” and “The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear”). I wish I had even more time. Talk about greed. I am addicted to the documentary mini-series because it is more comprehensive. And one of the addictions which I don’t mind. I can strongly say that documentaries are less time consuming than books, journals and wiki together but more ‘precise’, it’s the best informative source. You get to know different things from ‘Evolution of Universe’ to ‘roots of Consumerism’.

First, I had thoughts of making a fan video for the whole documentary Series. But …

A R Rahman does not stop surprising me. ‘Pray for Me, Brother’ is an exceptional composition. The modulations, especially towards the middle of the song when Rahman reaches a vocal crescendo are out of this world. Gave me goose bumps. Brilliant vocals, mind blowing music, and the presence of the genius make it one in a million. Amazing!

One goes deeper and discovers that the song as been composed under the aegis of the UN and who better to lend voice and music to an idea that germinates at the end of the road for floundering humanity than A R Rahman, the epitome of cultural amalgamation and religious unity. One of India’s greatest exports to the world of international music, he deserves every accolade that he gets. The song serenades, cajoles and forces you to think. The world’s getting smaller, but every one’s having problems making the distance. There’s death, destruction …