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A few of my favourite JAZZY things
(with HUGE INPUTS by NARESH FERNANDES, Editor, TIME OUT, Mumbai and Denzil Smith, actor and producer of JAZZ)

Sorry for the lecture, but here goes!

If you’re in a hurry, please scroll to the bottom of this post, straight away!

When Hindi film music entered a period of rapid evolution during the Second World War, composers realised that the small groups they’d previously used could not effectively convey the drama unfolding on screen. So they formed large orchestras that ranged dholaks and sitars along with rows of violins, swathes of trumpets and a Hawaiian guitar or two.

Since not many musicians from teh Hindu / Muslim communities knew how to play saxophones or clarinets, Goans came to form the bulk of the orchestras.

But the Goans had another, rather more influential role. Until then, composers would rehearse their groups (which usually had fewer than 10 musicians) …

You know, there’s something that’s been on my mind for some time now, but I’ve managed to keep it to myself. Today, in the words of Popeye the Sailorman “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!” So now let me say this.

Who the hell gives a flying fuck about what Hollywood, or the rest of the world thinks about our cinema?! Seriously, who gives a damn what they think? Why should we care? Do the French, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Iranians, the Russians, Italians, Germans or Americans care about what Indians, or anyone else for that matter, think about the way they make films? Who are they to judge us? They makes films for they’re people, we make them for our people.

It’s about time we come to terms with a reality: Our films may not be 100% realistic, and they may not completely represent …

INT SATKAR BAR VIKHROLI, NIGHT

It was a nice get together with Surya whom I happened to meet after quite long time. He had been busy with the shooting of the latest film Horn Ok Please for which he is an associate director. Working in 9 to 9 schedules … Not even having the time/energy to FUEL himself up (For those who don’t know, FUEL is the brand of vodka we both prefer)

I was after his life urging him to kick start blogging about HOP. But he said in RGV style “I will talk you write!!! ”

I was like “Ok shoot!!!” (No Pun intended).

Over to Surya ….talking about Drinks .. Chicken .. films.. life… Horn Ok Please … and of course the most so called eccentric/loose cannon but supremely talented actor in bollywood called Nana Patekar

“
I’ve fallen in love with Nana. With the kind of ‘image’ that he has, …

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,

For those of you, especially from the Bay Area, but also from other
nearby geographies (just because it is easier logisitically) , who
wanted to be a part of the BOLLYWOOD ENSEMBLE, but never had the
opportunity to do so, here is your big chance!!!

A play to be held in San Jose, which will mark the DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
of Bollywood’s numero uno ART DIRECTOR, SHARMISHTA ROY!

Sharmishta has been the art director for ALL of KARAN JOHAR Films
(KANK, Kuch Kuch, Kabhie Khushie, etc) and a lot of the YASH RAJ
films. Subhash Ghai, MF Hussain, are the other people whose works she
has done Art Direction for.

Clearly, given the high standards of the director, we will be setting
high expectations in the auditions, cause this is about as big as it
gets. Currently auditioning for actors (including the male and female
lead) and dancers (all genre’s)

This play has been scripted by VIVEK KUMAR of SAAFA (the second one
after the successful …

iVIEW AUTHOR:
Kumar Gautam (Bombay, India)

email: writerdirectorgautam [at] gmail.com

The year 2007 sees 150th year of first war of Indian Independence and look there are no media players to cash on this occasion. And why will there be one? Nationalism is a feeling of past and it doesn’t sell. They say love for motherland is the most exaggerated form of love and only fools fall for exaggeration. Even the responsible channel of government has shut it shop because in 1857 there was no congress party. Sahed bhagat Singh (2007 celebrates his centenary too) in no way was associated to congress except for rebelling against their ideologies and defaming congress. But there is a saying, “Ek chirag se sau chirag jalte hain” (One lit candle can light hundred other unlit candles). To celebrate 150th year of the 1857 – war of Indian Independence, one flame …

Hi Folks,
Administering SAAFA for a few years now, have always had a fair share of folks wanting to collaborate or seek out assistance to make a film. In all this time, the honest truth be told, NOT ONE, project caught the attention of our trying to make a TRUE , “let’s go to the mainstream, as opposed to ghettoise” ourself film. The last one made in that genre was American Desi, but that was before we were organized. Bend it and Monsoon of course did not need our assitance, since they had solid backing and rightly so.

All that changes with a movie releasing two days from now- Friday, May 4, 2007.

We were involved with Americanizing Shelley, from day one and the concept because of the following reasons:

(a) Namrata Singh Gujral - Other than being a lead producer and actor in the film, she along with Nagesh Kukunoor have the best …

The Architect of Modern Theatre

What question would leading theatrewallahs put to Satyadev Dubey?

Satish Alekar, Vijay Tendulkar, Chetan Datar, Mahesh Elkunchwar asked questions. And then, Satyadev Dubey responded.

Rishi Mazumdar was entrusted with the onerous task of keeping pace with Dubey in his elements.

It’s with this background, that I (Ramu Ramanathan) accompanied Rishi for the interview.

Dubey is always a surprise. I’ve known him, on and off, for 20 years and have always been impressed by his infectious desire for a conversation. When I accompanied Rishi for this interview, he was waiting in his den for us. It was hot and humid, so he was suitably attired in a lungi. His house, as always, was an exasperating disarray. We sat on the floor, while Dubey drank a glass of unboiled milk and puffed at cigarettes. In between, one of us had to rush downstairs to procure a coffee …

Happy World Theatre’s Day To All Of Us!

1. We are in 2007. Where Bollywood meets Hollywood meets Silicon Valley. Sillywood it can be called. And the one asset which is missing, is human imagination.

2. The theatre I grew up in, is having an identity crisis. What is it? Remember when we switched from extravaganzas to musical theatre to realism? Then to neo-realism. And then to expressionism and absurdism. Then to inter-culturalism and then to cross-culturalism. It was all so definable. It was a comedy, tragedy or murder mystery. Then there were designer plays. Then, nothing. Today, we can’t even make out a great play from a trashy one.

3. These days, they speak about theatre annexing the markets. For instance, Shakespeare is said to be a half trillion dollar market . . . plus or minus half a trillion dollars. No one can define a Shakespeare play which is …

Theatre Interpretations to Pop Theories

- Plays come and go, but debts accumulate!

- In this day and age, mounting a play is like attempting the high jump. So, you’ve a team and you’ve to win the high jump. But the seven people in your team can jump one foot each. Either you quit the theatre or you must launch a fulsome tirade against the unfair rules in high jump!

- When you sack actors, the one you have sacked - will have a bonanza the next year. Big bucks, BMW, and a Bungalow!

- In your dealings with a private sector organisation for sponsorship there will always be one person who knows you’re fibbing. You must goad an MBA-grad in the organisation to get this person fired!

- Good ideas are a paucity. l But that does not mean one should be miserly. It’s just that you should know …

My Prithvi Story …

Like everyone I’ve got a solid piece of advise. After a particularly poor house of an “award winning” play of mine that nobody understood: COLLABORATORS, I was consoled by Tiwariji at Prithvi Theatre. He consoled me, by saying, look into the sky, sometimes even the sky is empty!

Since that day, I’ve always paid heed to Tiwariji, inasmuch as the other staff at Prithvi Theatre. From Baghubhai and Narayan who light up the stage and have the best insights into stage design. To Bhajani Bua who can play the Paya Petti (Foot Harmonium) - and is head of a troupe. To Ashok bhai who saw me struggle with an umbrella during a heavy down pour, and queried, do you know, why we use umbrellas?. I said, to prevent us from getting wet. Ashok bhai said, no, because in a Mumbai rain everyone gets wet. So, then for what, …

Nagpur. 23rd and 24th September. Three shows of the Hindi play COTTON 56, POLYESTER 84 were cancelled. The cancellation of the shows were on a technicality: improper licensing.

But if that was the case how does one explain, two armoured vans, plaincloth policemen, tearing down of banners of the plays, cutting off the power supply in the auditorium, messages hurtling through the airwaves via wireless, etc.

On the day of the show, the Commissioner of Police in Nagpur refused to meet the organisers. An informal police source informed the organisers that the decision to refuse permission to perform had been taken the night before after the group had performed in Rajura - five hours by road from Nagpur.

The presence of the Vidrohi Sanskritik Movement as a co-host, and individuals from the WCL union had created a scare among the police that this was a Naxalite backed programme. A few months ago, …

On 17th dec 06, i was at NCPA for my first performance in mumbai,thanx to Thespo8 and Quasar Padamsay. My theatre gang from IT BHU,varanasi had arrived to watch it,12 of them.one of my juniors,abhijeet before coming to mumbai, had a talk with Sir Vijay Tendulkar on phone and had asked for a meeting during his visit to which he had agreed. On 18th march,while all of them were getting ready to leave, abhijeet called him up at 9 AM and tendulkar sir asked to come on 19th as he wasnt well. But when abhijeet said he had a train tonight he asked him to call back at 4.At 4 he asked to come by 6, and abhijeet,vaibhav (one of my lead actors in my last play at campus) and I went to his house to meet him. A modest house in a very modest building. A care taker …

Last week Babul was released with widow re-marriage as its base subject.

The led me to seeking out more women issues that plagues India. My search took me to the dowry issue. I looked up the judiciary system and found Indian Penal Code 498a, the anti-dowry law. Following is an excerpt of the same

“Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine. The offence is Cognizable, non-compoundable and non-bailable.”

As per the law if a woman lodges a complaint against her husband or in-laws (or anyone else), there is now way in hell they can run away. They are presumed guilty till proven innocent.

Hundred of movies have been made denouncing dowry and are in favor of this law.

But no movie has questioned …

A recent post by HG on musicals reminded me of a project that I did few months back.
It was based on Exploration of the Song in the Hindi film. The project was called Are You Song For It/Whose Song Is It Anyway?

I plan to share some of the text from that project here in a series of articles.

Here I go again. Bollywood. Songs. Dreams. Exploration of thought. Tradeoff of dreams. Consumption of songs.

The vantage (I don’t know what it means, I just like the word) point of this project is my love-love relationship with Hindi film songs. There is no need to tell how much I have loved and lived these songs. If I was to calculate, I would have spent more time living these songs than the combined time put in sleeping, studying and fighting my entire life, well, whatever there has been till now.

A …

NO SMOKING - VISHAL - PIYUSH - GAJJU - MANISH - RANVIR - AYESHA

Ok this is a longish post … covering my interactions with the aforementioned people…. since what has happened has already been covered by anurag in his post here… I’m delving into a more personal one-on-one level discussion with these people. Additionally, sometimes the post ventures itself into hindi.

Wednesday evening - 7.30 pm
Eskay Resorts Club doubled up as the highway - resto-bar where Abbas(ranvir), K and Ayesha’s scenes were to be shot. Of course it had also the now famous Gajju - ala Gajraj Rao - ala Dhingra drunk scene.

Sumit and me arrived on the sets and we were treated to an ‘orgasmic delight’ when we saw Vishaal Bhardwaj and his wife Rekha(the singer)on the sets. I approached them with fear and trepidation. I informed Vishaal that I was there in FTII pune as well, …

Time and time again, Bollywood movie makers have been called copycats for lifting an idea, script or complete scenes from various global movies. This was all OK before the early 80’s as not many Hindi movie-goers were subjected to the global cinema, especially Hollywood.

There have been rumors of writers renting out 10 DVD’s, lifting a scene from here, a dialogue from there and making a masala film.

This is fine for the village masses that only watch Hindi movies. For them everything is new. But wait a second. With advent of satellite channels beaming latest global flicks and movies being dubbed in Hindi, even they might not like what they see on the silver screen.

Are our writers, directors, producers so deprived of grey matter that their brain does not function properly? Or taking this route is a better prospect as they don’t have to exercise their brain.

Sometimes, I wonder if …

Omkara,Maqbool and the Shakespearean connection - a post mortem

Hey everyone…I’m posting an intresting topic of discussion.. which i had posted in an online community …
This is also because i’ve read both the plays (Macbeth and Othello) and am a die hard Vishaal- Shakespeare fan !!

Additionally these are what I had discussed with my Mausi who happens to be a PHD in english literature and has probably read all of shakespeare’s plays …. and (now) is also a vishaal bhardwaj fan….

These are some of the common themes running through the two films (plays) ….

1.Both the plays/films have an underlying theme of a man in power not appointing his favoured subordinate and not being sensitive to the human tendencies of the subordinates.

EG: saif isnt appointed as bahubali. In maqbool, if everything went fine (if irfan hadnt killed abbaji), guddu (ajay gehl- kaka’s son and abbaji’s ’son in law’) wldve …

Akira kurosawa’s RAN : Waah-miyan- shake-sphere – his best

Warning: This is a looong review … Spoilers and dialogues galore!!!

There’s something about Shakespeare’s plays… his tragedies in particular which rivet you and grab your attention. Be it the two adaptations by Vishal bhardwaj (Omkara- Othello, Maqbool- Macbeth) or kurosawa’s Ran (King Lear) and Throne of Blood (adaptation of Macbeth).

For all the pain staking ‘thees’ and ‘thous’ and more talk/less action, Shakespeare’s tragic characters are driven by loyalty, ambition, trust/distrust and love/hatred. The most basic human emotions … which is why the screen is literally set on fire with drama (mostly) when his plays are adapted….

And when a Japanese film maker of international repute such as Kurosawa (this being my first tryst with Kurosawa) makes a film on Shakespeare famous tragedy King Lear it becomes a must see !!!

For …

What makes a master, Master?

“In Raj Kapoor’s Jis Des Mein Ganga Behti Hai, one guy plays an instrument and challenges Raj Kapoor. Raj Kapoor concedes to that guy and says you are really great, I don’t want to challenge you. I believe in that concept. As long as one thinks great of themselves, they do not achieve any thing.

Which is the reason I am always a learner. I have to update myself the new styles, new trends from the new guys. That is why I continue to bat. Though I am not hitting fours and sixes, I am not out either. One thing I am fortunate about is the time I entered. I got chance to work during the times of KV Reddy, Chakrapani, BN Reddy and other stalwarts. That is the golden age.”

Where does a master start?
Cinema has always been SSR’s object of passion. When approached …