The journey from 99 to 100…
…is a damn long one!
Felt really good reading all the comments on the earlier article. Want to share more of my thoughts with all of you. So here goes…
It’s been a numbers game all the way! First the title 99. Now someone tells me it sounds like an English title! Well in my mind I also thought of it as Ninyanve, Thombai Thommidi (Telugu), Thonnuthi Ombadu (Tamil)… It’s a number after all, it’s supposed to cross language barriers! Oh well…
Honestly though the genesis of the name was a quite honest process – we did not find a catchy title (or a number) first and then try to fit it in. This once, it did come directly from the story, after the story was written. It actually becomes quite obvious when you set a film in the year 1999! The two most obvious choices are 99 or 1999.
1999 would have made it too documentary-ish, whereas 99 offered a few different layers to the film. Like the whole cricket reference, And the whole concept of the characters being stuck at 99 in life, waiting to make a century – which exactly reflects the situation of all of us involved in the making of the film…
Once the title was set, we all started seeing signs everywhere – a la Rahul in the film!
For my part I spent the last few months looking at cars with registration numbers ending in 99, 99-rupee deals, house number 99… If I was looking for signs, I was getting them by the dozen everyday!
There were the many other coincidental occurrences – the last shot of the film (shooting schedule-wise, just before wrap-up) took 9 takes. There are 9 recognized names in the star-cast, 9 songs in the soundtrack, it releases in the year 09… the list goes on.
Sachin Tendulkar got out 7 times in the 90s, and thrice on 99 in the year 2007.
It is amazing how a film can take up your entire life for a couple of years. You cease to exist in the outside world. All the while with the knowledge that this will translate into a 2 hour experience for everybody else – sometimes painful, sometimes enjoyable – but you always hope more enjoyable than painful.
It is very heartening to see all the wonderful reviews the film has been getting (both on PFC and in the wider world outside). The film seems to be doing well in the theaters. And thats in spite of IPL. They say “Let IPL be over, it’ll get even better.”
But the icing on the cake was when Anupam, Raj, Sita and I went on a tour of theaters last weekend and watched the film with various audiences. We went to multiplexes and single-screens all over the city. And the reactions everywhere was identical – the audience was enjoying the film – and very vocal about it, often laughing out loud. And we were laughing too.
That right there, felt like a century! :-)
A note about the author – just a few lines to help the reader understand the context of this article. Krishna DK, along with directing partner Raj Nidimoru, and writing partner Sita Menon, has written and directed 99. Anupam Mittal has produced 99, under the banner People Pictures. 99 released worldwide on May 15, 2009 (www.99thefilm.com). The previous film by this team was the Indo-American film FLAVORS (www.flavorsthemovie.com), which had a worldwide theatrical release in 2004.
Responding to some comments in the previous article:
@~uh~, Magik, Arthi V: Thanks for those awesome reviews! “I like it!” – as Kuber says.
@prashant: 99 was not shot on HD. Shot on super-35.
@nitin: It’s a medium-budget film.
@everyone else: Glad that you all loved FLAVORS, gladder that you loved 99! :-)
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
Thanks for the special mention. but i just spit truth. If you can, please do tell Amit aka Patrick aka Kuber that he has too huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fans. me & my bro. We hv already seen 99 – 5 times each! May be one more time tomorrow… wishing u the very best!
Just saw a bit of the film and found the film lacking flavor of the year ‘99. Need to see the complete film, tho’. The film hasn’t released in UK. Mahesh Manjrekar was awesome. Anyway, ‘Delhi Destiny’ could’ve been name of the film… it sort of defines your journey and the film, i suppose.
to each and every soul, that has asked me about this movie, i have told only 1 thing – go and watch it ….. its great. Though i havent watched it yet ….. or read many reviews ….. but i have faith in you ….. u inspire me ….. IT to BW journey …. is a damn long one. Salute to ur success.
More power to you guys..going for the second time soon this weekend.
Krishna, congratulations. You’ve made a genuinely funny film. We laughed a lot – thanks for that. Mahesh Manjrekar and Amit Mistry were the standouts. I feel much more could have been done with Cyrus – I’m a fan of his brand of wacky out-of-nowhere humour.
I just watched Rock N Rolla a couple of weeks ago. Thought that it was good, but maybe a shade below Snatch and Lock, Stock. Would you say you guys have been influenced by Guy Ritchie or would you attribute your influences elsewhere?
Hi Krishna- I just returned from watching the movie and had a good time!
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I wish the reviewers were more intelligent with their reviews! Your movie deserved better. I think Raja Sen is the only reviewer worth his salt in India today and he wasn’t going to review this one!
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Anyway, the comments that I had been reading about the movie here in PFC convinced me to go take a look and I didn’t regret it! The audience in the 10.30 PM show in a Hyderabad multiplex had a very good time with laughs and hoots throughout the movie.
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You had a strong script and that carried the film even though I felt the execution of a few scenes and the acting of a few could have been better.
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And Honhaar @2, I thought there was a good sense of the year 1999 with Bill Clinton and ‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’ hoardings…
Hi Krishna, I hope this movie to be superhit like any Rajni’s blockbuster movie. Just have one question. what was your inspiration behind character of Kuber? His ‘proficiency’ with english and dialouge delivery is making cult in viewers of this movie. And ,I still wonder why only 78 votes are given to it at IMDB even after 1 week of release.
Man, great to hear about your journey – loved the montage song you have with Cyrus and co.
Looks like I must watch your flavour movie – how about selling it to Star Movies or some such – they SHOULD be looking to acquire quirky English properties!
@kk: FLAVORS is on Star Movies, keeps playing every now and then.
@yayaver: There are no cinematic influences behind Kuber, more from real people we’ve met. We conceived him as a flashy, loud Delhi thug, with an inferiority complex (due to his small stature) who compensates for it by being extra mean and aggressive. In the final outcome he did retain most of the traits, except that the flashiness wasn’t in his appearance but in his language. He’s the opposite of AGM – who doesn’t crave fear and respect because he already gets it.
And Rajni – ah, he’s one of a kind!
@dazedandconfused: Thanks. I guess you can’t please everyone all the time. :-) The film did get a lot of great reviews, in fact the majority were good. But, yes, there were some very visible not-so-great ones. Check here http://d2rfilms.com/reviews/Reviews.html
@Kenny: There are influences of many American indie directors, though no one in particular. I’d call it more a school of filmmaking rather than attribute one name. Some names, in addition to Ritchie, are Coens, Tarantino, Soderbergh.. there are many more, but not evident in this film because of the genre.
@Magik, Sourav: Muchos gracias. :-)
@Shatik, Honhaar: Do watch the film soon.
Krishna- could you share the screenplay of ‘99′ with us here…? any draft will do…
I thought the detailing with respect to 99 and 2000 was good.I was being asshole trying to find out any conspicuous flaw.There were none.
Even I thought that the 1999 setting was extremely well done, be it the old-gen cell phones, the cars, the movie posters, the Bill Clinton thing, high speed internet 56kbps. My only grouse is that clothing and styling of actors was very today but maybe that is too much to ask.
Most bollywood, infact hollywood films for that matter would just mention the year at start of the movie not caring about what all you guys did with 99 to create 1999.
And yeah most Indian movie reviewers suck and a few good ones like Masand and Raja Sen didn’t review this one. Btw the NYtimes reviewer gave it gave it a great review on a subtitled version even though most of the humour was so desi.
@yayaver
Exactly, I hope this one grows on the positive word of mouth. I have recommended it to atleast 30 people.
@Krishna DK
What are you guys coming up with next?
This is truly one of the smartest, smartest films to come out of our stable in a long, long time. And the smartness of the movie to me lies in the way it has underplayed it’s own smartness. Even those moments of quiet desperation are besieged by such a careful attention to the peripheral details that dictates those scenes. I just saw the movie and I think it’s an amazingly well-made, inventive, and at times sensual movie experience.
Kunal Khemu knows a thing or two about performing that is so subcutaneous that it has to be seen to be believed. And this might come as a big surprise, but to me the character that Boman Irani plays is perhaps his toughest and yet most nuanced character of his life. Just watch out for those scenes where he calls up Simone Singh and talks about reformation. I cant recall an Indian movie that sustains such a winded sequence with such restrained energy. Amazing sequence that. Mahesh Manjrekar is awesome. And Amit Mistry is mind-blowing. I think the humor is so amazingly inventive for an Indian movie that u have to watch out for some of those gems keeping all your past experiences totally out of the frame.
Everyone should encourage this film….
Watched it today…highly recommended for anyone who likes to spend some quality time in the cinema hall…the best entertainer of the year till now..no doubt..
I have not enjoyed any other Hindi Film as much in a long time…sensible techniques of storytelling…
After a long time…I felt my ticket cost was mostly recovered from a Hindi film…
The actors need to be lauded for their crisp performance..no one was bad…
The technicians did a good job too…
The hard work you guys have put in it was visible on the screen…
Keep it up…guys…
I can envangelise more and perhaps wish for even better turnout in the cinema hall…It really hurts to see people missing out on such an enjoyable film because of lack of information…
Anyone reading this…and not yet seen it…go and watch…patronize good cinema
I saw 99 yday in Bombay. Afternoon show. Cinemax Red Lounge. More than half full. Everyone laughing. My fiance and me still on the seat only because red lounge has reallllly large seats, leaving no room to fall. I just loved AGM! And special mention to the dialogue writers! And yes, one of the best actor-voiceovers I have seen (heard) in a long time. Usually, they can get boring if the voice cannot hold you. Full marks to Kunal Khemu for that!
**
You guys should really take a bow. It is the nicest film I have seen in 2009, thus far.
Saw 99 yesterday. The humour was above average. We laughed mainly with AGM, Zaramud, Rahul and their situations. Kuber was a knock out. Where I tend to disagree with all other lovers of this film is the flow. It ebbed at a few places. The subtle touches of humour and happenings had to be wrapped up with a little bit more flourish and speed. But then, I grant that you needed to give space to the Indian viewer too as they sometimes don’t get all of it.
But just as a theory, if this movie could have been cut like a David Dhawan film..it would have made a huge difference. Few things:
1. You wanted to make Simone Singh that nice intelligent lady, could she had not been a high pitched harridan kinds, just asking!!
2. AGM could do with a bit more body language and quirks. Manjrekar would have done that gleefully if pressed. Here was a comic villain that you could have made possibly timeless!
3. A bit more actor direction for Khemu as he got a few things very right and yet that electricity between him and Cyrus was only passable, maybe what comes to Ritiesh effortlessly?
4. Cyrus..Cyrus…Cyrus…that actor (he is not an actor so much as he is a stand up comic) had to be let go a lot more. Y’ll have reined him so much. Understandable as you are making a movie here and not a Bakra show and I do not know your shooting script and how much was he supposed to do earlier..but the feel is he could have taken it to another level in many scenes, especially the confusion scenes!!!!
Good effort. You’ll are showing a way to intelligent comedy here in India.
I read a review of the movie at some site, where the critic was of the opinion that the Boman Irani-Simone Singh part dragged. I thought u need to understand the beauty of those sequences. I think they were all wonderfully done.
Just sample this. Boman calls ups Simone thrice and the third time in a fit of rage he throws the phone away. There’s nothing in the frame for about 30 seconds. We think the scene’s gonna end there. Boman comes back and calls up Simone again. Those are wonderful, wonderful moments. I can’t tell u exactly why. But it’s just so different from the kind of “Comedies” that we are conditioned to appreciate. There is an “artistic arrogance” that shines through the entire length of the movie. A kind of irreverence that is so refreshing.
There are so many places where I believe the writers and the directors would probably have had to choose between creativity and truth. And it’s to their credit that they went with the latter. There is a real “sense of truth” in the way some sequences are approached.
I don’t fuckin’ understand why people here want quirks, and one-liners to truly enjoy a movie. Why can’t we just enjoy a “moment of truth”. Why do we need things to be too witty?
I thought the AGM character worked so wonderfully because it was essentially a parody of all those “self-stylized”, mumbling characters that Manjrekar has played to date. This one for one doesn’t take his self-created “mumbles” too seriously. That is the beauty of it.
And yeah, I thought Cyrus Broacha represents everything that our “usual comedies” bring to the platter. He was probably the weakest link in the movie.
But the movie as a whole is such a joy. “Refreshing” is probably the word. Quite easily the best effort of the year.
I don’t belive the comments. 99 at best is a an attempt to make a Bgrade movie gone wrong.
Required…sensibilities differ…you have your word..I have mine…
I supported it with arguments..so did the others..everyone have written in detail why they like this film…
I would say 99 corrects every Agrade Bollywood movie..all the biggies have a thing or two to learn from this one..
a thing is subtlety…
or two is innovation…
I won’t go as far as to say that Cyrus was *bad*. The thing is, we have been so accustommed to Cyrus perform flawlessly on MTV,that obviously the expectations were high from him. But, people will have to understand the fact that the stuff he does on TV is essentially different what he did/or will do on celluloid. Although, he could ave been better, he wasn’t bad in my book.
But, the standout scene for me was this:
AGM was going fucking ballistic over Sachin and Zaramudh over money and everything. Typical Gangsta style. Controlling the situation, dictating terms and all that. Now, when he calls up one of the guys for the money, he is stumped by the technlology. There is a voice at the other end(answering machine),and what does he do now? The gangster attitude is stripped off, and out comes his broken english. As if his voice wouldn’t be recorded if spoken otherise. Amazing, amazing scene. Infact, this scene happened with one of my aunties in real life. She called her son in U.S. and recorded the message in toota-phoota english.(This happened in 2000). I was ROFL-ing man! You have to tell me who conceived the scene? I will catch your Flavors, Shaadi.com soon. You have a new fan in me!
Saw the movie recently… Absolutely loved it. Loved its clever sense of humour. Its sensitive portrayal in quite a few scenes (esp. b/w Boman and Simone) and the inner workings of Boman (the seeing of signs, being on the lookout for the slightest of signs like those etc). It might not be an exaggeration to compare it with Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!
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But about the setting, I thought the Clinton and ‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’ etc. was the more obvious and not so subtle a way of showing that you cared for the attention to the setting. What I did NOT like, though, was stuff like almost all the autos were Green (CNG/Green autos were introduced in Delhi in around 2000/01 – http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/04/13/stories/05132524.htm). Also I spotted a couple of more ‘modern’ cars like Alto (not very sure).
Normally I tend to overlook/not notice such things in movies, but I guess in this (like in OLLO) the good things were so good that I ended up having only these minor issues
KDK,
The feeble response on my review on PFC depressed me, as I though I may not have done justice to the movie.
Now I can proudly put your acknowledgment on my blog.
Please make more movies. We need them.
Btw- Which 5 star hotel was it- Le Meridian ?
Cheers!
congrats K Dk. After reading your article and review of 99. i just booked the tkt for sunday show in chennai. Good luck for the movie. It started with single show in chennai (satyam) and moved to 2 shows
. Thats a big promotion 
I second dazedandconfused’s opinion. I think it’d be really cool if you shared the screenplay of 99 with us. Any draft will do.
Except for Manorama Six feet under, and No smoking- i dont think there’s many screenplays in the public domain.
Hey, really good movie, fun to watch. Just wish there was more Cyrus. Anyway, the original DVD released in the US, and I was quite disappointed to find that you did not do a commentary feature on the DVD. It would have been really cool to hear behind the scenes what went into every shot and things like that.
I am kicking myself for not watching this movie when i was in India..
partly because I was travelling and partly because I was distracted with my wedding..and assumption that the strike meant that no good movies were releasing.
I cannot believe that we ended up watching KICK…when we could have seen 99 :(
Anyway, hopefuly I get to see it in US. BTw..I wish your poster said somewhere from the Makers of Flavours..I would have watched the movie regardless of the actors, story etc!
On a side note.. since I had not discovered this blog before let me tell you that.. some of the realistic streotypes you had in Flavors..which a lot of people in India dont realize exist was really good.
Congratulations on the new movie and enjoy the adulations
Krishna,
Firstly let me congratulate you, Raj and Anupam on making a delightful movie. 99 had a lot of heart warmingly funny moments.All the hard work you guys put into it really showed up in the final product. If I had to really critique it I would say I felt the movie dragging a bit in the middle and there were a few minutes when I felt the movie would move on faster. I also felt the interactions between Cyrus and Kunal seemed repetitive at times (they kept saying the same things to each other). On the positive side all the actors were great and there were a lot of funny dialogues so kudos to you guys and Sita in the writing department as well!
After reading a few articles about Raj and your journey I have been inspired to start working on a short film project with a few of my friends.I am based in Los Angeles and we just finished shooting our first short film.
Finally, wishing you , Raj and Anupam the best of success and looking forward to bigger,better and even more entertaining films from you!