The Cheeky Guide to Instant Art-House Success
The Cheeky Guide to Instant Art-House Success
Prologue
“All Artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn how to Draw?”
– Banksy
This essay is long.
It’s highly opinioned.
It even has opinions about itself.
It’s arrogant, irreverent and generally sarcastic.
It aims to be an academic essay, but can’t be, because of the cheek.
So it aims to be cheeky.
It also aims to reason, but sometimes just runs out of patience and infers.
The sentences are much shorter and lesser complex than Baudrillard’s, so don’t complaint.
This prologue falls a little short of being a disclaimer – it’s too unapologetic.
The article is alternatively named – The Clichés of What We Know as World Cinema and of Scholarly Film Criticism and Look, I’m So Cool.
Chapter One – The Art House Cliché
“Where are the snake charmers? Where are the elephants?”
“In the zoos. Where do you keep them in London?”
- Bombay Boys
Every niche has its own cliché – it’s the stereotype that keeps the niche alive and commercially viable for artistes to cater to. So whether you are into filmmaking or film studies, you do need to acknowledge the existence of this stereotype and choose whether or not cater to it at some level. That is not to say fresh grounds cannot be broken – but to accept that it’s a phenomenon that meets any success much rarer than we’d like to imagine.
After all, how many Iranian films have you seen that are about the urban Tehranian elite and their problems – as against films about vulnerable, poor and golden hearted villagers, small-towners, and people of the working class and those living on the brink of or below the poverty line? How many Mexican or Brazilian films have you seen that are not about poor kids, repressed youth, and suppression induced crime and are not entirely or partly based in favelas? How many African films have you seen that are not about labour exploitation, AIDS, drug abuse, riots, crime, repressed tribes and are not entirely or partly based in Kibera? How many Eastern European films can you remember that are not about political or religious ideology or the fragmented / alienated lives of low income groups in a conspicuously war-ridden / post-war / communist / post-communist society?
The answer, with a few groundbreaking exceptions is generally, NONE. If there was ever a world cinema match-the-column it won’t take any self respecting cinema lover longer than it takes to say mise-en-scène to connect Palestine and Israel with the subject of Suicide Bombers and Religious / Political Introspection.
That’s not to say that other classes, types of people, cultures and their issues do not exist in these societies, nor does it mean that good films exploring these “other” subjects are not made. What it means is that Western Europe and the US are not very interested in them (an alliance that pretty much rules our imagination). All pragmatic observation clearly points to one plain fact – when it comes to the “rest-of-the-developing-world”, the West is more than mostly interested in its poor – not a real-life interest as much as the curious interest in an amusing hunger artist (an interest, it invariably and ironically, manages to rub off on the rest-of-the-world). The reason behind this fascination is an entirely separate branch of philosophical anthropology or world history (the latter largely concerns itself with invasion, imperialism, guilt and lot of QT-style blood and gore).
We’d rather limit our examination to the recipe of instant international recognition and arthouse success. You’ll find in the following chapters the right ingredients and tried and tested readymixes with straightforward microwave usage instructions.
Chapter Two – The Art of Flattery
“Sir, we have a Broken Arrow situation”…
“I don’t know what’s scarier, losing a nuclear weapon or that it happens so often there’s actually a term for it.”
- Broken Arrow
Human condition, generational conflict, minimalism, anti-plot, loss of innocence, doppelganger and identity, non-linear narrative, multi-perspective, alternative realities, collective amnesia, social schizophrenia – the very fact that these terms exist, bears witness to the fact that these themes and forms have been observed so often in films that there is a need to categorically define them.
Every time an academician invents a new term, a new phenomenon comes to existence, the same way a disease taking lives for generations only comes into existence only upon laboratory classification. Multiple observation and definition thereby makes the world of unknown suddenly accessible, understandable and therefore, manageable and no longer scary. Corollarilly, it implies that the more lexis you flex (themes, categories, genres, imagery, memes, theories, phenomena, allusions and generally interesting sounding adjectives in English language), the easier it is for you to pass off as a serious film scholar, without having to spend thousands of dollars at NYU or change your last name to Bazin.
After noticing an obvious lack of anything remotely interesting in a clearly over-celebrated film (IMDB > 7.5 / Rottentomatoes meter > 80% / Top 100 Lists / Golden Palm, Lion, Ape / Film School cult / Master Director’s new work / Acclaimed masterpiece – in its ascending order of peer pressure), you might sometimes find the honesty and instant enlightenment to see through the film’s bluff and call it so.
Sometimes, however, you might just be too scared to be honest or too unsure or both, and left with only one option – to lie – for all you know, you are just a part of the emperor’s vast audience and they’ve all sung songs about his new invisible-to-others clothes. So you won’t be able to get away by just lying and calling it “awesome”, oh no. You’ll have to talk about its visual poetry; hunt for three shot sets of sequences to call them haikus or compare its broken imagery to the poetry of T S Elliot, look up the net to find if the acting style is Noh or Kabuki, neo-realist or if it has roots in the French revolution. Is the form Brechtian? Goethian? Kafkaesque? Self-reflexive? Is it structured like a fugue? Or simply go for extremely generic and cool sounding infallible terms like “meditative” and “introspective”. You might want to talk about the myopia induced by social alienation in a post-war / post-industrialisation urban setup.
You’ll have to intimidate your readers / friends into believing that what they saw as illogical, stupid, regressive, pointless, or out rightly boring is actually the deeply self analytical nature of this redemptive deconstructive examination of the human condition.
Here’s a cookbook of some readymade phrases that you can freely plagiarise in your critiques, using a little common sense and a little Wikipedia –
Urban dystopia, social collective memory versus individual perception and the fickleness of both, loss of innocence and alienation, toll of war and isolation, poetic imagery, human frailty, soulful examination, moral code, ethereal atmosphere, eviscerating intensity, understated beauty, profound insight, impossible to describe with words, intimate, intensely personal film on the process of healing and catharsis, dark comedy about obsession, revenge, redemptive drama, replete with subtle irony, cerebral and not corporal, poignant and heartbreaking portrait, haunting exploration of, paradoxical, self-reflexive, profoundly moving testament, allegorical, metaphorical, momentary abstraction, hyperbolic character study, chiaroscuro, mise-en-scene, montage, catharsis, doppelganger, dénouement, intelligent, comprehensive, deconstructive, postmodern, idiosyncratic, magical realism, collective amnesia, articulate, fluid, lucent, illuminating critical evaluation, contemplative introspection of the subversive, transgressive, confrontational, and provocative…
You won’t be surprised when people will start noticing things that even the makers failed to.
Chapter Three – The Choices
“There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they have never happened before.”
- Willa Cather
And so do camera angles, montage techniques, narrative forms, acting styles, etc. Innovation is the most abused term in the English language after love. Conformation is often mistaken as innovation – conformation to the norms of alternative, independent or high art so that the elite audiences of these arts can easily decode it and appreciate it and pride themselves for being among the very few connoisseurs with the ability to do so.
Yet every once in a while a filmmaker writes in a handwriting so refreshing that it feels like a new language that we can immediately speak. Yes, reinvention is always possible. The same overused themes are revisited with such brilliance of craft and mastery of art that your temporary suspension of disbelief threatens to take over your permanent world view – and sometimes it does! Unfortunately, genius is an item number played not to often. Found often is a code of symbols taught by artistes over years, till the audiences no longer require the babel fish of an analyst in their ear for comprehension. Code becomes language and a pattern emerges…
Themes
Repression, suppression, exploitation, poverty, violence, handicap, the human condition; loss of innocence, the toll of war, the holocaust, the apartheid, communist censorship; memory, perception, illusion v/s reality, amnesia, schizophrenia; alienation, isolation, ennui; generational conflict, renewal, fate, chance, co-incidence, redemption and religious fundamentalism.
Subjects
Terrorists with histories, the spirited otherly abled, incest, child abuse, dysfunctional families, racism, immigrants, displaced peoples, depression, lots of pointless sex shot extremely naturally and casually, criminals produced by social forces, suppressed poor with golden hearts and nowhere to escape, the alienated, urban dystopias, the choice of one’s sexuality, schizophrenia, amnesia, dreams, an artiste’s introspection, identity and identity crisis, teenage confusion, teenage angst, Nazism and the holocaust, aprtheid, riots, the two world wars, wars, tryst with death, the chaos theory, generational conflict, religious motifs, religious allusions and imperialism.
The Script
No or very little dialogue, Non-linear narrative, Multi-plots, Multi-narrator narratives, Flashbacks and flashforwards, Self-reflexivity, Ambiguous endings, Extremely cynical endings, Multiple / alternative endings, Obvious irony, Parallels – characters and stories, Stream of consciousness, Uninhibited use of expletives, Film within film, Delusions – dreams, hallucinations and lies, Pretentious poetry, Ponderous absurd dialogue, Random conversation, Alternative possibilities…
Cinematography & Editing
Shot in black and white; high contrasts; obvious colour tints; story specific colour tints in case of multi-plots, low key lighting, long deliberately boring shots with nothing happening for a long time; tracking shots of the character just walking, long pans / POV revolving pans encompassing all elements of the environment in the shot – the wilderness, the empty spaces, the concrete jungles, etc. – sometimes, before finally making the character enter his / her own POV; long mildly smoky close-ups; jump cuts, montage sequences, time lapse sequences, visual metaphors…
Acting
Deliberately underplayed poignant expressions; Lots of pregnant pauses; Exchanges of meaningful looks between characters; Meaningful looks used as a device to get rid of dialogue; Exaggerated theatre forms with roots in exotic regional cultures; Bad acting covered up by calling it a deliberate experiment…
Casting and make-up
Weirdly handsome men; Unconventionally beautiful women; High cheekbones; A mild stubble; Deliberate uglyfying of otherwise beautiful people with make-up.
One can go on and find many such repeated motifs in other aspects of films as well – for example, the other day when I was watching a film about suicide bombers with my friends, we unanimously predicted that the blast in the end will be depicted with an abrupt silence and a blank screen – and eureka! It did!
Chapter Four – The Four Varnas
“Mera naam Phoolan hai, #^@%! (My name is Phoolan, #^@%!)”
– Bandit Queen
There are four broad subject categories (The Divided, The Downtrodden, the Divine and Bollywood) for Indian films that will definitely receive a Western nod:
The Downtrodden: The mother of all clichés – the Holy Grail of the Indian arthouse export – the staple diet of world cinema – infallible, if politically correct and emotionally manipulative enough, its success resting in the extremely perverted human need to feel sorry! Social repression, abject poverty, drug abuse, exploitation, reaction, low income groups, the handicapped, slum dwellers, orphans, sex workers, child labour, child abuse victims, people living below the poverty line, criminals produced by social forces, repressed castes, repressed sexualities, eunuchs, rape victims, the marginalized, the under privileged, the suppressed, the ultimate underdog. – some examples – Salaam Bombay, Bandit Queen, Water, Fire, Dharavi, Meghe Dhaka Taara, Bhavni Bhavai, Ankur.
The Divided: Religious fundamentalism, social division, partition, riots, class politics, terrorism, racism, casteism, victims of the state, social reform activism, religious orthodoxy v/s spiritual renewal. A sub-category of this genre works very well among the Indian arthouse audiences, but not as much abroad – Political divisions –Corruption v/s integrity, idealism v/s reality, communism v/s state supported capitalist forces, labour v/s factory owners, etc. – some examples – Khamosh Paani (Pakistan), Train to Pakistan, Drohkaal, The Terrorist, Parzania, Fire, Black Friday.
The Divine: Spiritual exotica (and erotica) and cultural Exotica – Kamasutra, Khajuraho, Himalayas, Dharmashala, Ladakh, yoga, kumbh melas, colourful melas, karma, reincarnation, Krishna, Buddha, Shiva, ritualistic theatre, the old order, mythological renderings, kitsch art (truck art, firecracker package art, matchbox art), folk music, rajasthani deserts, benares, the Ganges, spiritual journeys – Siddhartha, Kamasutra, The Warrior (UK), Samsara, Utsav, Himalayas, Ayurveda.
Bollywood: Bollywood as we understand it and as the West perceives it are two different things. It’s the amusement from the entirely brainless and the novelty of the entirely pointless, out right stupid and yet, so uninhibited and celebrative, that fascinates them. Smart Indians have cashed on the kitschy fad and made the song and dance routine more accessible to the West – either by spoofing or quoting. Eg. Monsoon Wedding, Bollywood Hollywood, Bend it Like Bekham, Bride and Prejudice, Bombay Boys, Bollywood Calling.
Dénouement
“Everything in this book could be wrong.”
– Richard Bach
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
Hmm amusing, but I hope you don’t feel compelled to carry the weight of all this cheekiness to every film screening.
5 stars to you kind sir, this was fun
:d 10Q
Thats a brilliant observation, expressed beautifully!
Made me think, is there any film made in the history of Cinema, which do not fit in the above mentioned ,categories. Seriously I wud like to know the films which you think do not belong to what you have said above.
Talking about Indian films, would like to know, what would be your pick for a subject given a choice to direct a feature.
You’re missing the point or maybe I am :-? I thought this article was about our sickly, reverential n derivative assimilation of films and not the films themselves; anyway i’ll leave it to the author to answer this question, nevermind what I said.
>-
Hi Anand, Welcome to PFC!
A cleverly and cheekily written piece indeed, with its self-indulgence and intellectual mischief in place. Astounding amounts of observational alacrity coalesce with in-your-face dexterous literary usage to create an enchantment worth an attention.
I have no intentions to be derivative, or for the lack of a better word, imitative, and it is a thrilling piece of writing and film commentary indeed. However, it leaves me a little perplexed in my head as to what are you trying to say here. I know its cheeky, and non-disclaimer fun, encyclopedic while claiming to be the opposite, reverse-contradictory hypothesis, but still, I would love to know what exactly is the point here.
Though having not had the pleasure and abundance of covering such a vast anthology of films, I would still cringe from making generalisation like art-house or commercial. As for the verbiage, its for the fun of critiquing, it
Love how you started the article with Bombay Boys, one of my fav movies.
There are four broad subject categories (The Divided, The Downtrodden, the Divine and Bollywood) for Indian films that will definitely receive a Western nod.
So freaking true.
I loved your article. I agree with most of it. And I also sometimes argue with my european film snob friends from that perspective.
You gotta write some more cheeky articles.
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LAst Film – SOPRANOS Season 5 DVD1
Last song – Koi Hota Jisko from the movie MERE APNE
Reading – Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey by V S Naipaul
WOW!
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Urban dystopia, social collective memory versus individual perception and the fickleness of both, loss of innocence and alienation, toll of war and isolation, poetic imagery, human frailty, soulful examination, moral code, ethereal atmosphere, eviscerating intensity, understated beauty, profound insight, impossible to describe with words, intimate, intensely personal film on the process of healing and catharsis, dark comedy about obsession, revenge, redemptive drama, replete with subtle irony, cerebral and not corporal, poignant and heartbreaking portrait, haunting exploration of, paradoxical, self-reflexive, profoundly moving testament, allegorical, metaphorical, momentary abstraction, hyperbolic character study, chiaroscuro, mise-en-scene, montage, catharsis, doppelganger, d
Thank you so much Mainak and Jahan. That’s very encouraging indeed.
Thanks a lot Manjeet and Tushar and thanks again, Iggypop – I’m trying to answer your questions in the least possible words now, coz i wish the point i was trying to make was more clear within the article itself, let me try and revisit the parts I have failed to communicate well enough…
But I sincerely thank all of you for your kind words on my first post here!
Well now, first things first – I am truly, madly, deeply in love with cinema, my cynicism is not against cinema as a whole.
Tushar, I am making the distinction because it exists – turning a blind eye won’t make it go away – it’s the potential markets and market forces that determine how a film will be produced – will it be made for mass consumption or for specific niches – the audiences of alternative, independent, and high arts? Of course both sides are free to wish that their piece of art will cross over to the other side.
I am saying that like often dumbed down cinema produced for mass consumption, even the meaningful, intellectually stimulating, soul searching high arts have their set stereotypes. Their niche audiences who pride themselves for their evolved tastes are sometimes too busy celebrating their taking the road less traveled to go any further. Western European and American film festivals and critics make it worse with their reverence, intimidating new artistes into imitation (eg., every new filmmaker from Iran knows that if he/she wants to go to Cannes, one is expected to make an emotionally moving tale of hope and humanity in the face of abject poverty.) The West easily pushes its taste and expectation on the rest of the world and we can’t be happier to abide. Succumbing to the stereotypes of the West guarantees a market, truly breaking new grounds doesn’t. It’s reflected in our litereature as well – just look at every prize-winning Indian English novel – don’t you see a pattern there?
“If you could summarise a film to the tee, what good would a film be? If cinema were to take the reductionist route, where would the
Manjeet and Iggypop, I’ve tried to answer Manjeet’s question as well in the comment above. I agree with both of you, though, but it’s true that the essay is mostly against mindless repetetive reverence for repetetive cinema.
Manjeet, you can find out more about my films on my website. Thanks for the interest.
aaah, anand, you make it all sound so depressing :(
and all that, when i am just beginning to actually making my dreams true…
“I am saying that like often dumbed down cinema produced for mass consumption, even the meaningful, intellectually stimulating, soul searching high arts have their set stereotypes. Their niche audiences who pride themselves for their evolved tastes are sometimes too busy celebrating their taking the road less traveled to go any further. ”
i would love it if this was not true…
or may be I should have trust in what friend of mine says,
“watch less films, it will all be better soon”
Hi Anand
Just back from your website. Have heard a lot about your Right Here RIght Now. Your work looks very impressive. I hope you get to make afeature very soon. We need learned, clear voices like yours.
But there is one thing that stuck with me. And it stuck for the sole reason that you impressed me a lot. Otherwise I would not bother. Let me quote you.
”
He wrote dialogues for the first 75 episodes of the popular Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and screenplay for the first 45 episodes of Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki.
Anand
But better late than never. I commend you for quitting as soon as you did. And keeping your integrity & conscious intact. Not many people have the balls to do that.
BTW check out this band Fujiya & Miyagi. Its awesome british electro pop.
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Last Film – SOPRANOS Season 5 DVD1
Last song – Ankle Injuries by Fujiya & Miyagi
Reading – Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey by V S Naipaul
Hey Tushar, sorry for making you depressed…. didn’t mean to
Please don’t let anything stop you from making what you want to make… all the best, dude!
Hey Mainak. Thanks again, yaara, for all the interest and encouragement.
I was 19 when I wrote the works of evil and I was naive enough to think what I was doing was creative. It was around the same time, I came across some very important infuences that shaped my entire youth and brought a true paradigm shift in my life.
I honestly left for ideological reasons and never went back even in times of absolute financial crunches (though I did some other not-so-good work in other media as well for the money in the last few years). I made that statement in my bio just to set the records straight, but I know it sounds a little boastful.
Am now checking out Fujiya & Miyagi… will let you know what I think. I strongly reccommend a film I saw today – Kusturica’s Underground. I’ll soon be doing a write-up on it. Cheers!
Well
In that case its fine I think. Anything done before the age of 23 is excusable.
I will check out Kusturica
Way to go, Anand!
Kusturica is my favorite Director!
Underground, do you remember dolly bell, when my father was away on business, arizona dreaming…
Tushar & Anand
Something interesting for you guys to read about Kusturica
http://www.barnsdle.demon.co.uk/bosnia/caned.html
He is making a movie on Maradona. I can’t wait to see it.
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Last Film – SOPRANOS Season 5 DVD1
Last song – Ankle Injuries by Fujiya & Miyagi
Reading – Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey by V S Naipaul
Thanks for that, Mainak!
Last film: Eklavya
welcome aboard anand. failed to make the connection between recyclewala and cyclewala.
(had been around ur production house website quite a while back…. i think it was ur link page which lead me there)
oh b4 i forget, bindaaas post. cheers!!:)
whoa whoa whoa!! have no idea who kusturica is, and this is the first time i’ve heard of him, but DAMN my ears perked up when mainak, you mentioned he’s making a film on maradona, and couldn’t help but look him up.. here’s his official site: www.kustu.com
and the link to the maradona film:
http://www.dhennin.com/kusturica/v2/_maradona_en.html
first day first show for this, if it ever releases in theaters!!
gonna check out underground and the good thief now too.. thanks folks
last film: the apartment (or as mainak calls it repeatedly, THE APPARTMENT)
next: silsila
Wow, that deserved a series, not a single post…
Hey Anand…I would like to see your film. Where can I buy the DVD of RHRN…I have my office opposite Vidyvihar Stn.-west…kindly let me know if meeting is possible!
Mainak, thanks, the link you have posted reflects the same idea that I’ve discussed in my essay here – “Even journalists who liked Emir Kusturica’s Politics in the Underground agreed that he won the prize not because the film was good, but because it was about war.”
You can mail me details on..
mailashishshukla@gmail.com
Thanks DPac and thank you so much randramble – your encouragement might just lead me to follow this one up with a series! :d
Ashish, that sounds great – a cinama comrade living just 2 minutes away from me! We HAVE to meet! Cheers!
Mainak, thanks again for the article link… it’s brilliant… it’ll help me make my piece on Underground more holistic.
cheers man!….feel free to call me on – 982 0385 982
Hey Anand, I glanced through some of the write ups on your website regarding RHRN and was struck by the idea of using lengthy tracking shots to tell your story because this is a style that i’ve become quite fascinated with recently. I recommend that if you wish to watch unmatched virtuosity when it comes to lengthy tracking shots try and get hold if the works of “Miklos Jancso” a hungarian director. Especially “The Red and the White” which is the story of an afternoon in a civil war – the characters have only political status no personal identity and the lengthy arabesques described by the camera captures their endless cycle of gain and loss with icy detatchment. Needless to say it’s a stunning document of the ambivalence of two sides in a war.
If you don’t already have it, it might be hard to find so here’s a hint – “freakyflicks”. ;)
Yeah, Iggypop. I’ve seen Jancso’s “Jesus Christ’s Horoscope”, which too had long tracking shots. It was very impressive. The opening shot of Hitchcock’s Touch of Evil is also very well done. My favourite lengthy tracking shots are from Bela Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies.
With Right Here… it was imperative for me to create the magic of a drama unfolding right here right now in front of you, so the camera covers a wide area – houses, offices, streets, cars and crosses some seventeen characters within two 14 minute long shots. The concept needed that treatment.
With Bela Tarr I sometimes feel that the visual abstractions are an end in themselves, it seems like an empty bluff to me, but that’s just my opinion.
I’ve not seen “Jesus..” but in Jancso’s earlier films his technique does reinforce those recurring themes of spiritual desolation and existential limbo ( couple more ready made wikiphrases ;) ) without being pretentious or glib.
I’d really like to watch your film but clicking the link to buy it leads to some spiritual cinema gobbledygook wtf?
Anyway if you do watch “The Red and …” would luv to hear what you think.
Blasphemy.
Touch of Evil is by Orson Welles(…poor soul).
Here is the scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW1bKefX7QU
Vinayak, sorry to hurt your religious sentiments ;) I had seen Touch of Evil and Rope back to back after some NY critic had compared the two with my first film… both have lengthy tracking shots… honest mistake
>-
recylewala, whats your movie?
Can we see it?
oh..never mind
Recyclewala.
Yesterday I went to the link to buy your DVD & it took me to some spiritual movies website. I have to become a member there so I quit. Butafter thearticle you have written I find it IRONIC that your movie would be selling in a spiritual sitewhich has quotesfom Deepak CHopra on the main page.
How do you watch all these foriegn movies living in bombay?
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Last Film – SOPRANOS Season 5 DVD2
Last song – Ankle Injuries by Fujiya & Miyagi
Reading – Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey by V S Naipaul
I don’t see any irony there, Mainak – I don’t subscribe to the SCC, nor to Deepak Chopra – their views don’t reflect mine and mine have nothing to do with theirs… it’s a very simple business deal… i make a product, somebody sells it and gives me my share… RHRN is also streamed on Rajshree – doesn’t imply that I am a closet Barjatia fan, does it? It is screened by Jain, Jew, Christian and Buddhist spiritual leaders all over the world – I don’t solicit any of these belief systems, nor their interpretations of my film.
There’s a great DVD library in Mumbai called Sarvodaya. Besides, all my friends are super movie buffs – two of them, Chaitanya Tamhane and Siddhartha Meer have great DVD collections.
It was a joke Anand. Sell your DVD in a porn site if that works for you man. Business is business.
Did you check out the music?
cheers
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Last Film – SOPRANOS Season 5 DVD2
Last song – Ankle Injuries by Fujiya & Miyagi
Reading – Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey by V S Naipaul
:d
Fujiya & Miyagi was very cool – My girlfriend tells me that Brighton has a supercool underground art scene.
I’ll checkout the other 2 bands you reco’d as well now.
THNX OZ for the link (4 right here right now i mean)
aur anand bhai cheeky guide gaya bhaad mein…
we demand a detailed dekho into the making of this..
(yeah i know u got some stuff on the site but not enouuuuuuuuuuuuugh)
i saw it 5 minutes back (815am Aus time)… i am still smiling as i write this
Hey DPac! I am glad you liked the film. I’ll be soon putting up a post sharing my experiences of producing the two films – and ways of getting around and getting through while making a near zero budget film.
And Oz, thanks for putting up the link to RHRN on the homepage.
For those interested, here’s a link to the trailer of Continuum, codirected by Khushboo Ranka (the film rights belong to the producer, but I’ll soon discuss with him the possibility of putting the film up online for free viewing.)
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2034215463
Awaiting eagerly my bro
Guys, also checkout our other articles and artworks on the ideas page of our site. Plz let me know what you thought of the trailer (link in the earlier comment) and the other articles.
anand –
Was blown away by the trailer of Continum. Havent heard such fantastic background score in ages. i just hope it is there in the film.
My fav scene in the trailer is where the kid hugs the security guard on instinct.
also the little girl with her sea shells at the shop. Her expression says it all.
Two Qs (actually 3)
Q1 – ur forte seems to be in multiple stories conncecting together. right here right now, and continum, Chaitanya was telling me abt ur feature film script idea too (multiple stories woven together) and i was friggin blown away by the simplicity of that too. Is that deliberate/conscious or inherent ??
Q2 – how do u handle kids .. i mean how do u get good performances out of them??? i saw there were a lot of kids in RHRN too
Q3- when the hell ru making a full length feature film ?????
After all, how many Iranian films have you seen that are about the urban Tehranian elite and their problems
Thanks, Kartik. Sachin will be glad to hear that u liked the music.
…Multiple stories just happen because there are just so many stories that we want to tell and we end up telling them all at once. RHRN, I think, is just one plot with lots of characters, though.
I think the multi-plot narrative is a mould we (me and my co-writers) soon need to break out of.
…Handling kids is quite easy, in fact. We’ve been fortunate to have worked with some very talented and sensitive kids.
…Will start rolling my feature as soon as I find enough money to make it!
Thanks for the interest and encouragement, Kartik.
One thing I quite liked about you Anand that you are fighting in the battlefield without caring about budget or producer or banner…which is far better than sitting at home and planning or criticizing films what most of people do in this age…that makes you a filmmaker.
Long back I had read the making of Salaam Bombay by Mira Nair. Even she was going through the same constrains you are in. But the only thing which made her Mira Nair was written by herself as “no guts, no glory”
Main akela he chala tha manzil ki onr,
kaafile judte gaye karwaan banta gaya
meet me whenever you get some time mate…I hope I can solve your finance problem aswel..
recyclewala, Your site looks great…same influences as mine in the partners section..
Tell you want..show us the film for free and we will pay the $ if we like it.
what u say?
anand..
the trailer is JUST friggin mindblowingly right. special kudos to the music.
par immediate reaction to buy the dvd was thwarted at the spiritual cinema circle website.
any other way around it?
Mainak, my girlfriend had reminded me of these films when she too had read the article…. i am too sleepy rgt now to elaborate, but i’ll soon get back to you, here. i’m having real fun talking to you, honestly.
Ashish, thanks for the kind words. You’ve filled me up with hope with the possibility of seeing my next film made. Will call you, thanks.
Taxidriver, I am all for this deal. I’ll give you exclusive download links to my films… you can choose to donate (if you like my films) on the donations page of my site. does that work for you?
DPac, thanks again. As the financial rights of Continuum belong to the distributor, we still haven’t streamed it for free. I’ll soon find a solution, and in most probability, send you a link sometime soon.
Those films are exception to the rule though. What you said in your article holds true for most films.
A lot of Iranian films are either about how hard it is for a woman in a Islamic Society or off course poor people. But Kiarostami is brilliant. I have not seen much of Iranian cinema. But I love his work. I’m a Digital warrior & he has converted to Digital too like David Lynch. In the Special Features of TEN he talks about shooting in Digital. Its fantastic. He is driving around the locations of TASTE OF CHERRY. If you missed it I recommend it highly to you.
Ye Tu Mama Tambien is my fav Mexican film. I have a hard time explaining to people why I find it better than Ameros Peros, which is a brilliant film itself. I love how the narrator talks about very random unrelated stuff. Esp 2 occasions -
When they are stuck in a traffic jam in Mexico City because of a death under a flyover.
When they are travelling in the countryside, passing by the village of the maid of the rich kid. The narrator starts talking about the village. It was beautiful.
Bombay Boys is my fav Indian Indie movie for these very reasons. Roshan Seth says all those things in some of the scenes too. I am trying to get a copy of that film for my girlfriend for months.
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Last film – Grumpier Old Men (5/10)
Song –
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Absolutely brilliant! Some really profound insights in this piece.
Also wanted to tell you that Right Here Right Now is probably the best short film I’ve ever seen and the Continuum trailer rocks! PLease tell me where can I see it.
Can’t wait for you to make your feature film!
thats cool..man
I just saw 13 Tzameti and just couldn’t understand why it was celebrated so much – it ran every cliche in the arthouse book – black white high contrast cinematography, poor algerian immigrant labour in a first world country, forced into a situation of life and death, striking gold and an extremely forced pessimistic existential end, topped with amateurish acting and naive character studies. I put in the words “poor immigrant black and white arthouse cliches” into google and was led to your post, which I completely agree to. It’s extremely comprehensive. I’ll like to add – revolution and civil war backdrops and uninhibited sexuality are cliches of South American Cinema as well (and not just European cinema as you’ve pointed out.)
Reading the comments, I also realized that u have also co-directed Continuum alongwith Khushboo Ranka. I saw the film at Foresight Film Festival and it has had the longest effect on me any short film has had ever – I’ve probably thought about it everyday. It’s undoubtedly a great film, and I would love to see it again along with your first film.
But now a question pops up in my head – wouldn’t you agree that a film as moving as Continuum too succumbs to quite a few cliches you have mentioned here in your article? – Poverty, multi-plot, non-linearity, exotic music, etc.
That is not in any way trying to criticise it, coz I still completely love it, but just to understand if there’s something more to the cliches…
you can also reply to me at shridhar.ir@gmail.com
I saw a mention of a link to your first film somewhere in the comments, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Can somebody please help me with the link – I’m dying to see the film!
Thanks, Shridhar. Really glad that you enjoyed Continuum. Will respond to your question later. For now, here’s the link http://www.rajshri.com/shortfilms/nowplaying.asp?type=hindi&band=low&fileID=shortfilmsDrama8
Whoa!! Thank you so much for the link, just saw the film. That was way beyond my expectations! TRULY AWESOME! Loved everything about Right Here Right Now – the story, the pace, the craft, the camera, the actors, the music, even the glitches! So much that “how did you do it” won’t be a question enough. “Can I be a part of your next one” will be more like it.
I think it’s great how you have managed to make two great films already. Wish you the very best for your next film. (Will you again be co-directing it with Khushboo Ranka?)
Nothing worse could
happen to one than to be
completely understood
C.G. Jung
Well.. really good article..
Thanks Binal, Arvind and Shridhar.
Yesterday, I attended the Indian New Wave fest held by Katha, and saw one of the funniest films I’ve seen after the masterly Goonda. It’s called 27 Down – CT and I couldn’t just stop laughing through the film – if Kanti Shah ever took up to arthouse, he too, it seems will win a national award in this country!
Some unintentionally funny gems from the film:
“Meri patni bhens jaisi ho gayi hai, meri zindagi doodh ki dairy.”
Protagonist, cuddling his wife, “Tum baal mein kaunsa tel daalti ho?”
The girlfriend has just told him how difficult it’s going to be for her to marry him and he wants to ask her why she came so close to him when she knew that. This is how he challenges her predicament – “Tumhe yeh pata tha toh tum mere saath itni FRENK kyun hui?”
hahahaha
Maybe, Chaitanya will add a few more…
Hey Anand,
A great use of topics to kickstart the site, loved the piece, especially the Art of Flattery section
Thanks, Bhairavi. Glad you liked it.
Hi Anand,
Had rented your film RHRN from our local DVD Library. ..You are SUPERB!!
I would want to own a copy. Where could i buy one?
Regards,
Rajesh
aviaance@yahoo.com
HI anand, saw your RHRN was great! good work.I shall keep checking your stuff now on.
bests
Thanks Rajesh and KK. That’s very encouraging. You can also checkout the trailer of Continuum on http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2034215463
It’ll be soon available for purchase on my site.
Rajesh, which DVD library did you rent RHRN from?
Screening alert!
Continuum and Right Here Right Now
11th Sept, 2007. 11 AM
SIES, Sion
Contact me if you need any more info.
New Screening alert!
Continuum and Right Here Right Now
27th July, 2008. 10 AM
Cinemax, Versova.
Contact me @97693-99912 if you need any more info.