Where Aamir went wrong – Autopsy of a thriller screenplay
Print
When it comes to cinema, everyone has an opinion. Not me. This is Gospel.
What credentials have I, you say?
A one time script analyst and self taught Ph.D in thrillers (Dr.Dabba), and currently, writer of a single location/real time thriller. I have watched several quintessential Hollywood thrillers multiple times, well made and those that fucked up, studied them beat by beat, and deconstructed the genre to inform my writing. The films that I’ll be calling upon – Collateral, North by North West (NNW), Phone Booth, Arlington Road, Enemy of the State (EotS), Three Days of the Condor (3), Nick of Time (NoT), Red Eye, and Flight Plan – have been chosen to illustrate various structural issues in Aamir.
I was disappointed in Aamir because there was so much in there to work with, to build tension, raise the stakes and make it a tight gripping thriller. Instead we have a 90 minute film that feels padded due to poor development and sluggish pacing. Pacing does not mean having a couple of chase sequences. Pacing requires a lot of events/actions to take place in rapid succession. Aamir is flabby in the middle because not much happens.
I have not read the screenplay of Aamir, but since the Writer is also the Director, I am going to assume that what we see on screen is pretty close to what was on the page. If the script of Aamir had come to me, I would have suggested a few re-writes with the following notes.
SPOILER ALERT – I will not tell you how to spend your money, but if you have chosen to watch this movie then READ NO FURTHER as I am giving away the movie in the first line. If not, read on, and you may want to watch the movie to discuss.
A thriller must be precise. There can be no ambiguity about events, although the outcome of such actions can be left open to interpretation. There are several different types of thrillers, and Aamir falls into the first kind.
An Everyman finds himself under extra-ordinary circumstances and is forced to solve a problem.
The story/movie exists because of the Antagonist. If Badman doesn’t want something from Hero, or if Hero is not in the way of Badman getting something, there’s no movie. Life would be aapoos. The first thing to nail is the Villain’s motivation.
There are 2 types of villains in these movies. Some evil guy wants something specific (world domination, political assasination, some McGuffin etc.,) like in NNW, NoT, and EotS or the righteous Seven type bad guy who feels a certain section of mankind have done wrong and he wants to teach them a lesson like in Phone Booth. The more vague, the weaker the film. So, Phone Booth gets knocked down a few notches ‘cos Kiefer wants to teach bad humans a lesson, and is not very goal specific.
Aamir also falls in the latter, because the villain wants to bomb civilians that have wronged Islam, and more importantly, convert to the cause of his Jihad, a professional and secular muslim (kuffar), perhaps as inspiration to others he will recruit.
I have no beef with Aamir’s villain’s motivations but the non-specificity of what he wants weakens the film, and weakens the choice of protagonist.
The choice of protagonist is the next key element in making a gripping thriller in this sub-genre. Again, the more specific, the stronger the film. Only Red Eye (Rachel McAdams is the Manager of the Hotel where the target is staying, and Cilian Murphy needs her to switch rooms) and Collateral (Cruise needs a cabbie to drive him around, he is not a part of his plan) gets this right.
The others rely on mistaken identity (EotS, NNW), chance (in NoT, they wait till the day of the assasination to pick a random stranger with emotional vulnerability at a train station), or a seemingly random protagonist (Phone Booth). Choices that make the film weak. It is to the screenwriter’s credit that inspite of weaknesses in two key areas, Phone Booth is gripping.
The other element to keep in mind regarding choice of protagonist is he/she must have some internal problem. The thriller plot is a vehicle for them to explore and overcome their fears, and thereby resolve the extra-ordinary situation they find themselves in.
Aamir has a story ripped straight from the headlines, yet they don’t capitalize on it. Going back to the villain’s motivations, if all he wanted was to find a patsy to plant a bomb on the bus, it would have been far more effective to use someone from the gang or anyone else, since there is no element of getting caught. He just has to place a suitcase in a bus and get off.
In NoT, the random protagonist works somewhat because they are looking for that. A Nobody to commit the murder, get caught and have no ties to the orchestrators.
We have to conclude that the villain wants Aamir because he wants to indoctrinate him into the Jihad, and perhaps use him as an example for future recruiting. At one point, he asks Aamir, why he didn’t do anything in London, or Madrid along with his Qaum’s brothers, implying that they tried to involve him in those terror plots and didn’t succeed.
This is juicy stuff, and straight out of the headlines. In the London attacks, the culprits were found to be educated middle class muslims of Pakistani (and Indian?) descent, and the question that was on everyone’s mind was “Why are muslims that are professionals joining the Jihad?”
The choice of Aamir, a doctor, is great as a sort of explanation behind what may have actually happened. Perhaps those terrorists were threatened (their family kidnapped) into blowing shit up. If this is the case, none of it is elaborated upon in the film, making it seem random and thereby weak.
Phone Booth overcomes the random protagonist element when Kiefer tells Farrell (and shown visually) how he did the same with other debauched individuals.
Aamir should have done the same by having another doctor/engineer muslim in the villain’s gang who would have had some interaction with Aamir, or budget permitting, show how the London/Madrid blast was done by people similar to Aamir in Smash-Cut Flashes.
Since none of the above is elaborated in a dramatic fashion, it seems random and leaves a big hole in the middle of the film.
A thriller plot without character transformation will ring hollow.
In Phone Booth, Colin is a lying manipulator and doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions, and Kiefer Sutherland forces him to face this truth about himself and change.
In Collateral, Foxx is a dreamer/talker who hides in the security of his blase existence, and the film forces him to take action. In NoT, Johnny Depp does not have any internal transformation; he just wants to save his daughter.
In Aamir, there is no transformation. There is only a final decision. We don’t see what his fear/beliefs are before the movie starts and where he ends up. This is what I would do.
There is debate among various circles about the role of educated muslims in contributing to the education, welfare and development of their religious kinfolk, to offer opportunities to muslims so that there is a force to balance the influence of the Wahabis and other madrassas.
I would make Aamir a professionally successful muslim (which he is), who distances himself from other muslims, because he doesn’t think he is one of them, and doesn’t want the negative image of Islam to affect his life. He would still be a practising muslim though as that adds depth, and dilemma instead of just having an atheist.
I would demonstrate this in the first scene, either on the plane or at the airport. I would have a muslim with visible markers (headcap, beard) ask Aamir for help in filling the Customs/Disembarkation form, and have Aamir either refuse to help or ignore it altogether.
In the next scene, when the customs officer questions him, and checks his bag over and over again, it will reinforce this. You may try and hide from it or run as much as you can, but the world sees you as a muslim. It is your responsibility to speak up and take interest in the welfare of your brethren. This would be my character arc for the film, and every scene will question him, and force him to undergo the transformation. Is Aamir his brother’s keeper?
Now that we have the hero and villain’s motivations down, let’s get to the nuts and bolts.
A premise or idea does not make a film. To sustain drama for 90-100 minutes, we need several ideas. Ideas that build on the original, and serve to thicken the plot, and make things worse for the hero. And, we have to see the hero be pro-active. A reactive protagonist gets boring after a while. We want to see someone take charge and see the choices he makes under pressure, and relentlessly turn the screws on him.
Aamir loses his bags, his family has disappeared, and a voice on the mobile takes responsibility and sends him on a wild goose chase, instructs him to plant a suitcase or his family dies, reveals suitcase is bomb, Aamir makes a decision. The End.
If you look closely at the synopsis above, the most interesting part of the film happens in the end, and very quickly (or slowly because of the slo-mo). This is the fatal flaw that killed the film. The juice of the film is the dilemma, and how the protagonist chooses.
Arlington Road had the same problem. Jeff Bridges thinks his neighbour Tim Robbins is a terrorist. The whole movie has him trying to verify that Tim is a terrorist, and guess what? Robbins is a terrorist, and Bridges can’t stop him and inadvertently helps carry out the attack.
You have to stay ahead of the audience. The writer knew that people would guess the suitcase has a bomb. Since the whole film depends on this so-called twist, he had to stall and delay the reveal for about 60 minutes after getting the suitcase. He does so by opening the suitcase and showing money, so now the audience is like, where is this going?
This also causes a problem of flatlining. You start with high stakes. Family in danger, unless he does something. Suitcase. Oh God, even more danger. Must be a bomb, stakes have been raised. But wait, it’s only money. Danger reduced. It’s not so bad after all. He is back where he was half hour ago, when he found out about the family. And, so it goes till finally, hey it’s a bomb after all. You have about 65 minutes of the movie where the stakes remain exactly the same, with the exception of a havaldar chasing him.
This plot point creates several other problems also. The villain is counting on Aamir to open the suitcase, thereby betting on the unpredictability of human behaviour. Then, he steals the suitcase, and creates situations that he is certain will cause Aamir to chase and find the suitcase (and demonstrate that everyone fights when something of theirs is stolen), and hoping that this time Aamir won’t open the retrieved suitcase.
One element of chance or predicting human behaviour may be tolerated, but a sequence of events orchestrated on multiple chance occurences is quite implausible. That makes the plot very weak. Oldboy has a similar problem. The twist in the film is left to chance, but they have a line of dialogue around hypnotism and how they did it to offer mildly plausible reasoning.
Aamir does not do the same. Even if it did, I would still have problems with the film, because your protagonist does nothing but react to orders throughout the movie and finally undergoes a transformation. Instead of showing a gradual transformation through the choices the hero makes, the Director resorts to a slow motion montage that implies he is thinking about his predicament, then arriving at the decision. This is lazy, unconvincing, and not visual. We can not see characters’ thought processes.
The writer and antagonist seem to be saying that given a choice between blowing up a bus with innocent STRANGERS and having your family killed, any decent person would choose the latter to save a busload of strangers. Really? No fucking way.
This is the most interesting part of the film, and I would have moved this reveal to about the halfway mark, and have the rest of the film be about how Aamir deals with this situation. Does he choose to save his family, or strangers, or both.
This is my first stab at structuring it. Roughly, 1 page = 1 minute.
1-10: Denial that there is a problem
10-20: Denial that it is my problem
21-55: Recognizing the gravity of the situation, and dilemma on how to solve the problem
56-90: Decision on how to solve the problem, and consequences
I would do away with the first chase when Aamir runs after the taxi, because it dilutes the impact of the Md. Ali road chase when the havaldar is after him. Btw, what happened to the cop character? He just disappears from the film.
I would also focus more on the indoctrination by the villain. They would show a video of Aamir’s family, and show them doing well. The villain can remain on the phone, but I would increase contact with his henchmen and others that would do the brainwashing.
Start the villain off menacing, then sympathetic and a true demagogue. There would have to be a scene in the mosque. There would be a scene with a muslim victim of riots. There would be a person similar to Aamir, an educated professional who has joined the cause. He or She? Imagine the possibilities. It changes the dynamic, and makes it interesting, and shows them as rational and progressive which would appeal to someone like Aamir. This person would appeal to Aamir’s reasoning and logical faculties. Only the crying baby gets milk etc. Our voices are muzzled. How can we fight for our rights when the winners make the rules and we have nothing to fight with. We get searched extra at airports etc.
Aamir has experienced that. He will start to realize what it is like. I would show Aamir as receptive to this propaganda. But, not wanting to do anything about it. It is not my battle. Leave me alone.
Then, the threat. Your family will be killed if you don’t cooperate. Aamir tries to give them the slip. No luck. He’s cornered, and they break something of his (non-fatal; elbow, one finger, etc.) These guys mean business.
Cooperate? Cooperate how? That’s exactly what I have been doing. Enough is enough. Where’s my family.
I can tell you but it will be of no use. They’ll be dead by the time you get there.
Fear.
What do you want?
For you to cooperate.
How?
Pick up a suitcase, and follow the instructions on the mobile.
What’s in the suitcase?
Are you concerned about the safety of your family, or the suitcase. We just need you to…
…I get it. Cooperate.
And so on. Somewhere along the way, he opens the suitcase. It’s a bomb. He’s in shit. Karachi call, and cop starts chasing. The cop character is important because he represents authority.
When shit happens, the Everyman thinks the authorities will take care of it. The cop will start off suspicious of Aamir for the call to Pakistan (how did the cop know he had called Karachi when he was just standing there and not tapping the call? Or was the cop also a set up by the villain?), or for whatever reason.
How can a movie that relies on cell phone communication not use “signal nahin lag raha hai” as a plot point. We all know it happens. But, don’t let it be an accident. Show the hero’s resourcefulness and being pro-active. Make him fake it. Make some background noise (pick up a piece of paper from the ground and crush it near the mouthpiece to create the sound of static), say hello, hello, hello, etc., and hang up. Use the time he has bought to slip in to the lane, and talk to the cop that’s following him. Aamir will convince him of his predicament without telling the cop about the bomb in the suitcase.
The cop will become an ally, but realize that there’s something fishy. What’s up with the red suitcase. Aamir’s not telling him everything.
Their relationship will develop. All this will take place from pages 30-60. Now the audience and Aamir think they can overcome the situation. There’s help.
The cell phone is the primary means of communication. Aamir will continue to use that to his advantage. I would have Aamir drop his cell phone in the water/gutter. That would buy him some time before he can be tracked. More time to communicate with the cop etc. Tell him about the bomb. Need help, and time.
Bad guys wise up, warn Aamir that if he loses the phone, or has static one more time, his family will die. They would also kill the cop since he knows about the bomb.
No one’s going to help you Aamir. You have to do it yourself. Become the Aamir.
Then he can either somehow track the villain (he hears namaz and something in the background; villain is near the mosque where he went early on, or the video he saw of his family offers a clue). Or give him some help now. Maybe the female brainwasher that is similar to him has a change of heart and he knows where his family is. Ticking bomb situation, needs to save the family and somehow get the bomb to a safe place. That is the happy ending version.
Or, he can become shaheed, since he tried to escape, save the day, and there’s no other way to save his family and innocents. The logic behind this is that the villain has no reason to harm his family after he’s gone.
There are other solutions that I am saving for my film.
Like all matters of faith, discuss, debate, and challenge the Gospel, and take from it only what works for you.
See you in the comments.
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
to start off, lemme add a simple alternative ending which could have salvaged the movie a bit. la hollyywood shtyle but it hardly does anything to redeem the pace problems)
after the slow mo thought process and the susequent realisation of construction site proximity, why o why doesnt aamir chuck the suitcase into the foundation pit (keeping in mind that ‘what pit it is’ is entirely a writers prerogative)
theres absolutely nothing here whatsoever to suggest that he has to die!! so why doesnt he do tht even after having the remarkable common sense to see the site and rush out with the suitcase?!!!
loading...
another question which crops up is whether aamir was indeed a thriller.
coming from the anurag kashyap school of existential realism, with enough in the plot to go ‘the arlington road’ way, why choose to go the middle road (consequently getting off the road )
loading...
i thought about that while watching the movie. the only explanation i could think of was — even if the bomb is gone, and innocents are saved, the bad guy still has his family and the film does not end
loading...
aamir is without doubt a thriller. there is no such genre as existential realism. any claims of aamir b eing anything else would be pretentious.
loading...
:-) i was hoping theres something more than that.
its a pity that the level of detail pumped into each scene set pieces does not translate to the screenplay.
oru vada maala effect!!
loading...
Excellent writeup.
DPac and dabba,
The first time I saw the film I didn’t get the ending either.
Aamir is about to throw the suitcase in the pit, then stops, turns around, looks at his tormentors, the sky, and then at the bomb. Within a span of several seconds, his expression changes from fear to loathing to stoic resolve.
The film opens with this line:
“Kaun kehta hai aadmi apni kismat khud likhta hai, sab bakwaas hai”
Thirty minutes into the film, Aamir states his belief that a man writes his destiny himself. The villain retorts “Sab bakwaas hai”, and I think something along the lines of “Who’s writing your destiny now?”
I disagree with the assertion that “The logic behind this is that the villain has no reason to harm his family after he’s gone.”
I think, Aamir, chose to take control, albeit at a very late stage. Whatever leverage he has, he uses it to write his own destiny. And so becomes the leader.
loading...
Oops. I just realized that the assertion was for a suggesteed ending.
Please read
” I disagree with the assertion that “The logic behind this is that the villain has no reason to harm his family after he’s gone.” ”
as
“As for the question “why o why doesnt aamir chuck the suitcase into the foundation pit”"…
loading...
Hey Dabba
Th film was definitely a thriller no doubt buy from your article I get a feeling that somewhere down the line you were expecting elements of film noir or neo noir in it.
Correct if i am wrong that one page one minute theory you are talking about is in context of screenplay writing. I think thats a mere hollywood convention and nothing else. The greatest of screenplay writers in world doesn’t follow it.
“The cell phone is the primary means of communication. Aamir will continue to use that to his advantage. I would have Aamir drop his cell phone in the water/gutter. That would buy him some time before he can be tracked. More time to communicate with the cop etc. Tell him about the bomb. Need help, and time”
Why would he drop his phone, he lost it for once in the phone and it came to him automatically when a hell lot of a gang is watching your each and every step. Time to be tracked – Well it was out of question man, i think you need to watch it again man, every movement of his is being tracked how could he expect to have time by throwing it in gutter.
See weather it is Tarantino or Sriram Raghvan or your so called Collateral, every director and every film seems to have its share of cinematic liberties and so does have Aamir. Unnecessary screwing bolts of a broken macine will fetch you nothing. Every piece of art including film has its set zone of denotation and connotation, you are going beyond that and doing forced criticism.
loading...
@ shashank,
No expectation of noir/neo-noir at all. what part of my analysis led you to this conclusion?
1 pg = 1 min is a Hollywood convention, and a very specific one at that. It requires the font to be 12 pt Courier with 1 inch margin top, right and bottom, and 1.5 inch margin on left. This is the only convention I’m aware of, and follow.
If there’s a convention for Indian films I will be more than happy to be made aware of the same. This convention helps in judging how long a script actually is, how long the film will turn out to be, and how many shooting days you need to plan.
Formatted in the above convention, the script of Aamir that was filmed will turn out at about 75 pages, and the film is 90 minutes. It shows that there is n’t that much happening, and there’s at least an extra 15 minutes worth of dramatic action that should have been written and filmed. This is why the film is sluggishly paced. Not enough happening.
You are right that I missed the fact that he lost his phone once. I was bored.
The whole tracking every minute, losing the phone and having a new phone being thrust at him is also a flaw. A case of the writer painting himself into a corner. When you do that, you better have a way out. The writer doesn’t.
That’s why Aamir doesn’t do anything throughout the movie and just takes orders. Relaxing this constraint would have made for a more dynamic film where the protagonist could actually start taking action.
Now, one may argue that this is what the filmmaker wants to say. A helpless Everyman protagonist led around like a dog, until he finally snaps/takes matters in his own hand. That is not a film, and that is most certainly not a thriller. Not a good one at least.
Why is it “my so called Collateral?” If you are implying that I have some involvement or ownership of that film, that is truly flattering. I wish I did. The films I chose to compare with are all Hollywood films. This is a uniquely Hollywood (started by Hitchcock i think ) sub-genre. No other country has a history of making a bunch of similar films consistently.
The film as it stands is a “broken machine” as you acknowledge. I would start with a smooth running machine, and tighten the screws on that.
I don’t understand your last statement about denotation and connotation, but rest assured that no one including myself is forcing me to criticize.
loading...
Liked the autopsy…and the choice of references.
Though my opinion of film is completely different from what u’ve stated (I loved the film!) and explaining the reasons would take a complete post. But just a couple of reflections:
1. I don’t think the film had anything to do with ‘existentialism’. Though I did find dream-like portions and references at many places…I wud call it a “mid-summer night’s nightmare of a moderate muslim.” The screenplay structure did suggest a fantasy lurking around, with wrong-spellings, the chase-by-hawaldar (the fear of unknown), an omni-present voice, and the Ending. The only way bad dreams end, are when u either jump from a high-mountain or do something drastic.
Aamir realizes the bad dream won’t end even if he just drops the bag in the pit and runs away…for it to end, he MUST end too.
2. Another layer which made the film special for me was the feeling of ‘the city is watching’. The faces, hundreds of them, nonchalant, engrossed in their routines….That was a brilliant comment on the idea of civilization, the structure of our cities, and how hopelessly alone we actually are in this bee-nest.
And I think u’ve not counted the ‘city’ as a character in ur review or re-frame. City is a dubious character which sometimes adds to the villain’s power and sometimes to Aamir’s transformation.
loading...
I am one who was excited to see this film before it came out… i was quite disappointed at the results. The beginning was grasping… i was intrigued and wondering what is happening, a bit engrossed… Then the lights came on and the screen said interval… the engrossment didnt last after… the placement of the interval 30 mins into the film had an effect on me as it i simply fell of the beat and graph of the film… the second half become sluggish to me. I think a big failure here was the script. Over all, you could cut out the middle 60 minutes of the film… add a minute of patchwork material, and you have the exact same story!!! The middle did not carry the story anywhere, it just moved the character to another location… also little things as the answering the phone, if you family is in peril and you know the kidnappers are calling why wait 15 rings to answer!!! if it was dramatic effect, i dont think it worked, it got annoying and made the film more sluggish each subsequent time. Also, a point to be noted, as the issue a typical movie going crowd and distributors would have with the ending is the “hero” killing himself. Usually, neither of the formers prefer that ending. ***I went to see this film with my friend. He said when Aamir was on the bus in the end he sees his family free outside of the bus, like the villain had released them. I totally did not see that, nor would it make any sense… did anyone else notice this or did i subtly missed it???… and if this were true then him blowing himself up also makes no sense.
loading...
@Dr. Dabba
Sir the format you told me is absolutely correct with all that calculations going in there. The fact being go by this format or don’t go by this until and unless you don’t have the sense to write for a film format will do nothing. That is the case with most of the films today. But to be honest I loved your article and reply but at the same time i get a feeling of you getting overcritical. Its a debut film of a new filmmaker on the block and we can always expect developments over the time. And I am sorry if you felt bad about me linking you with collateral. Dr. Dabba hope to see you some more lectures from you soon.
Keep Rockin…….Waise just watched the trailer of Rock On’ looks promising (Eagles meet Dil Chahtha Hai”
loading...
the climax worked for me……it was emotionally very engaging….i felt like i was aamir and i had to take the decision…and that for me is the biggest triumph of the director….and why aamir didn’t throw the red suitcase in the pit ? if he had …
1] his family would be killed or
2] he would be arrested as a terrorist(which he is declared as even after his death)…and even if he would be released from the charges, the stigma of once convicted as terrorist would ruin his career and life…
And mind you he has to take this decision in nick of time…..
Also the choice of the protagonist didn’t bother me…coz it brought in the randomness and the feeling that it could happen to anyone…it could happen to me or you…and that is scary
loading...
Dabba… I liked the way you analyzed Aamir. I haven’t watched the film so cannot say how justified it was in the context but it was certainly a good learning material. I can now see the lapses in my own short film PICNIC very clearly. If you agree to spare 30 min. for me, pl give me your address at gshrotriya[at]yahoo.com to mail the DVD at.
loading...
@shashank
‘Every piece of art including film has its set zone of denotation and connotation, you are going beyond that and doing forced criticism.’?!!!
please elucidate shashank.. im all ears…
@varun,
that comment on city dwellers and the city alike is something Rajkumar does well, i would have been happy if that close detailing was put in for the screenplay as well…
it felt like a myriad of wel crafted set pieces strug together by a overstretched and flabby pyjama string
@anand
he still no control over what happens to his family even till that point whether he dies or lives but one would think being alive must surely offer a better prospects in some way. ‘nic of time’ argument works ok for the character but not for the scritwriter/director. and going by what u said about the idea being ‘make it more scary for u and me’ even then it was shoddily done..
my gut feeling is that Rajkumar was trying to balance an emotionally charged drama with some existential baggage with a well crafted thriller with a poignant ending which tries really really hard to say something about an individual’s ability to make a choice to alter his ‘kismat’
but u know it still doesnt explain why he couldnt have thrown the suitcase :-)
loading...
Me and my friends had a lot of discussion on why he didnt throw the suitcase in the pit. One reason, as mentioned above, could be that he thought his family would be spared. Then, one of my friends said,”I would rather die than watch my family die.” So maybe, Aamir didn’t want to see his family getting killed. That logic seems convincing to me.
loading...
@ Ameya
There was no pint in discussing as he doesn’t wanted to reveal hi identity as a terrorist which could further have lead to his family humiliation. So he thought despite living a humilative and a life of a terrorist let me die.
It was very clear. Also it justified the name of the protagonist with work he did. Aamir means leader and he lead himself through hell to make the world live.
loading...
Dabba,…Bravo !
loading...
So you reckon they should have developed Atul Kulkarni’s introduction in Khakee into Aamir – a hero – a Neta!?
loading...
I agree with Dabba that there was very little fightback from the main protagonist until the very end. Even his fight to reclaim the suitcase was orchestrated.
At one point though, a small fighback via a verbal exchange happens making the scene sizzle. This is when the bad guy is talking about how their community has been left behind and Aamir retorts ‘Who’s stopping them?’ He talks about how he worked hard and studied through government schools and colleges and reached where he is now. The bad guy is taken aback, although just for an instant. We needed more moments like these.
I also wish just before the end when his phone was ringing, he had picked up the phone and said something….I think absolutely anything would have been much better than the small smile he gave to himself…Even if had said ‘Khuda Haafiz’ as the voice on the phone goes mad breaking furniture in his room in exasperation and anger on his failed plan…
But overall definitely, one of the better bolly movies in the year…
loading...
Hi Dabba
Is your script already sold? If it’s half as good as your essay i would love to read it and more. Unless of course you are planning to do it yourself. Have not yet read all the comments but shall do so….but your analysis was super.
How i wish our industry had a magazine on screenwriting. Maybe PFC can start an Ezine. Your essay would read so much better if it’s formatted with stills and highlights.
loading...
Hi Sriram,
A big thanks for the comment. I met you at IFFLA. I was the guy with the hat talking to you about the fight sequence with Saif in Ek hasina Thi.
I will try and format for an easier read with highlights, etc.
Will email you about the rest.
loading...
‘apni tho nikal padi…’
loading...
Ragahvan Sir……………………….. Your post was a perfect example of being sarcastic
loading...
@dabba…its rocking! though sometimes felt like its a new edition of syd field with a chapter on aamir.
i liked d film but had some issues. like many hav pointed out 1) why him ? what i was told that lot many times sleeper cells works this way to misguide the security. someone completly disconnected will do the job and will the investigation in other direction to get some time for them for other major operation. but then as pointed by u, i would love to see that in the film. may be push the ending to interval point with some other guy who is trapped in the same manner and there aamir is suppose to help him out. post-interval (next day) it will be aamir’s d-day. then pre-interval blast where the other guy decides to kill himself can be a trigger point for aamir to be pro-active. one needs a very strong push to get urself into it. and then follow it up with either versions. the girl who helps him out in finding the suitcase can also help him in other way. OR may be the director n producers had the fear of turning it into gadar! so they chose to go single track.
dabba, hav u seen chak de india n goal (vivek agnihotri)? would b great if u can can do a compartive autopsy of d films. both the films r quite similar (like many other sports films) one works and the other doesnt. i hav been thinking where they went wrong. and more so when they say football is much more intersting than hockey.
loading...
and yes, the london-madird blasts with doctor/engineer muslims headlines were screaming out to be included in the film.
loading...
@ PnU –
haven’t read Syd Field, only McKee. I was trying to re-write Aamir while keeping the core of the story the same. your angle of aamir helping out another bomber etc., is also quite possible.
i have seen chak de, not goal. Sports films is another genre (and the subgenre sports comedy) i deconstructed and wrote 1 screenplay, and another treatment.
when i find the time, i’ll watch goal, and compare with lagaan and chak de. Lagaan is the ultimate sports film. A case of bollywood showing hollywood how it is done without losing the bolly flavor.
I will go out on a limb and say that Lagaan is the best sports film ever made in the world.
loading...
Chak de India is hardly a sports film.Hockey is merely an excuse for being an embodiment of all things “team” and a representation of good old Indian values in the film,not the central ploy around which the film revolves.There is an adaptation of the Hollywood spirit of individual ambition(and a rather bland critique of it),an inversion of communal logic and its juxtaposition within this format which are far more important to the film than hockey.
loading...
@ French –
I have been watching your comments for a while and it may be safe for me to assume that you are familiar with the French theories of De-construction that are widely discredited and lampooned in academic circles today. Perhaps that explains the choice of your handle.
One can find deeper meaning, and interpretation in anything. a piece of doggie doodoo is sometimes just that, and not some meta statement on the wastefulness of human existence.
When Subrat does the same, it is with tongue firmly in cheek, whereas you do it with stick firmly up some place.
Let me get this straight. “Hockey is merely an embodiment of all things “team” and a representation of good ol’ indian values in the film, not the central ploy around which film revolves.”
That’s rich. is that why the climax is a hockey final and not a comparison of cultural mores between the aussies and indians. Please explain why there’s a hockey element in every damn scene if it is not a hockey film.
Must you try and interpret everything so that you feel like you are part of the creation process, or that you are not like the rest of the riffraff and you truly get what the filmmakers are trying to say?
What next? Amar Akbar Anthony is not a masala entertainer of brothers separated at birth. It’s merely a ploy to meditate on the pseudo-secularism of India. While theoretically, they are brothers and equal, Hindus have all the power and authority (amar’s a cop), christians are jokers and drunkards (amitab’s gonzalves) and muslims should be benign, non-threatening and sing qawwalis and play second fiddle (rishi’s akbar and whatever it is he does in the film). Wait a sec, may be you’re on to something.
loading...
@#30
What a thigh-slapper of a comment!
loading...
“is that why the climax is a hockey final and not a comparison of cultural mores between the aussies and indians. Please explain why there’s a hockey element in every damn scene if it is not a hockey film”
Why should there be a comparison between Aussie and Indian cultural mores?Or you mean to say the Aussies are bad bad (wo)men?But since you ask why is there a hockey final..I’ll tell ya why-Shimit Amin and his writer (the over-rated)Jaideep Sahni essentially peddle an urban friendly,even lazy form of nationalism in which a marginalized minority(Kabir Khan) finds restitution and redemption by proving his patriotism.So,the writers give us a Muslim who in an inversion of the tropes of communal logic(as seen by them) in which a Muslim divides the country oppositionally as its other,dissolves the otherwise chaotic rabble of Indian players into a performing and achieving “whole”.And how else does one show he succeeds in his mission?By winning the final ofcourse,not by discrediting and lampooning Aussie cultural mores.Ofcourse this being a Yashraj film the stakes are never serious and performance of all things is linked to patriotism!
Now lets see,perhaps(since you are high on the Sriram Raghavan dope) you could tell me why Hockey was the chosen sport and not Cricket?Perhaps you could tell me why did the makers throw in a chauvinist cricketer?Perhaps you could tell me why a dialog like “Hockey mein chakke nahin hote” finds its way into the film?
loading...
As for “Must you try and interpret everything so that you feel like you are part of the creation process, or that you are not like the rest of the riffraff and you truly get what the filmmakers are trying to say?”
I do realise there is a (wholly undeserved)smug and condescending tone to my posts.I admit I am a moron.But then not being super witty like yourself and Subrat,I can’t help but write whatever way I know best.
loading...
long boring bashing of well made film, Aamir..
Nik
loading...
Its a climax which makes this great film.. Last couple of moments in television makes you think hard and makes it one of the best climax in recent times.. Even though he was good human being (read modern muslim values and family man), he was termed as terrorist or suiside bomber by media and cops..
Just think, how many Aamir might have made news headlines in past 20 years of terrorism in India..
Nik
loading...
While I might be clinically incorrect, but here is what I feel.I don’t subscribe to this idea of a film autopsy. while reconstruction of a work of art is always fun, but it is more enjoyed(again, everything is IMHO) when given a tangent. OK. so a film released. we lapped it up. tore it apart. asked a million questions. answered them. case solved. where is the love?
to me, scripting has always been a yawn routine that makes films mechanical. how do you include a poem in a script? do you have a slug line for that? I love reading scripts, and have no issues with going as deep as one can before the film. NBK is one example which loomed large and still does over the ghost of writing. But I am yet to read the empty charm of a Visconti, the indecision of a Herzog or the mad subservience of an auteur film in a defined text book formula. I am doing the ghastly crime of comparing the Harvards with the drop-outs but what the heck.I agree that it is indispensable and all that, but come on. are you telling me that you will take the film beyond by explaining me why the hero’s mom wore a red sari with a green blouse in the 7th scene? sorry again if this sounds irrelevant. I haven’t seen Aamir. the last film I happened to like some but saw it ruined by over-analysis was no smoking(not talking spoilers). it killed the poor love.
agree that some films are pro-analysis while some are not. some are pro-script, pro-thematics, while some are happily laid off all that. But not all film DVD’S need a director’s commentary. I saw Johnny Gaddaar yet again, after doing the commentary version. and the film is now dead for me. I miss the love. now when I think of it, all that comes to mind is “oh, so it could have a different climax!” “oh, so here is the perfect screenplay, a tight thriller whodunnit ishtory!”
Films should have fun man. in midst of all this technical bullshit. that’s why I like songs. which again are slowly getting killed now, as bombay rises to the larger realities of lalaland thanks to Syd Field and all his mohalle-waalas. I am glad that such a thing hasn’t happened with all the other films I don’t want to be dissected. agreed its a matter of choice. agreed good stuff is happening in bombay. but give me a mithya anyday.
thanks to all these discussions, ’screenplay’ is the most abused word in multiplexes in india, next to NOIR/SURREAL/ARTFILM/HATKE & RGV. “yaar, is film ka screenplay tight nahi hai”.
“Oh really, here you go. I have the number of the director, call him right now so that he knows what he needs for the next lay.”
I saw gone baby gone and into the wild today. looked for some reviews, articles. didn’t find many. saw your post on gone baby gone. you again started teaching me like grade school. I didn’t read further. may be its my cocky refusal to acknowledge scripting as a key element of cinema, but I am willing to be convinced otherwise.
loading...
Completely unrelated thought which has been bothering me for some time now…
How does one write slapstick and make it interesting to a screenplay reader? Strict rules of screenplay writing wouldn’t even allow usage of a PG wodehouse-ian type of prose…
loading...
@tushar,
i can speak for meself. the love is there thus the analysis!!
if there was no love then wouldnt even bother…
films can be fun man
films can be a whole lot of other things as well…
if u talk in terms of ‘ooh i like it / i loved that’, whats there between appreciating someones creative effort and a pinapple souffle (just to add a disclaimer here- i happen to think and know that a pinapple souffle can also be a work of art, this is just for arguments sake)?
and yep it does look like ur ‘cocky refusal’ :-)
loading...
36…funny thoughts…if discussion kills luv..then whts the purpose behind sites like pfc…?
why posts on films…music etc…
c the film..listen the music…
y 2 discuss…everybody has mind 2 c nd understand…
1 has eyes nd ears… stop publishing posts on films nd music..only post new stories…
loading...
I believe that Aamir failed to achieve its full potential owing to the same reasons that hamper the total effectiveness of most thrillers…
It wasn’t about the pacing.. I thought the story and the settings sort of dictated a string of “pacing levels” rather than one… Like certain sequences needed the director to show the protagonist’s heightened psychological awareness in the time of a calamity and he did a commendable job of it..
But there was this issue of a contrived effort to establish an end-to-end connectivity for sequences… this effort to induce a sort of “mirroring of sequences” to create irony..
So every sequence seemed to be put in for some or the other reason, rather than like a general sequence put in merely to “Phrase time”… Every sequence in a film if put just for some purpose sometimes makes its characters look too smart… Like some of the characters in Aamir seemed to be.. Not a bad thing at all… But to me that approach sometimes kills the life in a movie..
loading...
exactly Sreehari, however that reflects on the whole pace of the movie.. doesnt it? that was what was being said..
loading...
Dpac..
Hmm.. I donno.. I just thought the pacing per se was very good..I mean… this feeling of time being beyond your grasp… getting accustomed to its swift passing…. wanting to slow it down… then this totally new dynamic where u feel the need for time to just pass on quickly.. I would like to believe that there was some thought that went behind those various levels..
But this sense of putting in everything for some reason.. Also some sequences where u feel that the director is working on an already established theory of double-crossing you.. That sequence where the hotel owner laughs after a pause.. Stuff like those.. Minor designing errors..
loading...
sure..
i believe that intent was there but just didnt get a clean execution..
but thats what i was talking about taking the middle road and falling a bit by the way side
(dont think the hotelwala laugh was an error, it felt that was the way it was intended)
loading...
@ 37 D&C –
I have not written slapstick yet, buit the key is to communicate to the reader. I dopn’t know what wodehousian prose is, not having read any.
The way I would write slapstick is to describe action and reaction, which you normally won’t do. For example,
Rishi eyes the remote across the room and rushes to it, trying to beat Komal. Rishi crosses the living room in two giant strides, springs off the couch…almost clear, but his foot catches the back.
He slams to the floor. Ouch.
Komal strolls to the remote, and picks it up as Rishi watches from the floor. Tangled and helpless.
loading...
@ 44
Thanks Dabba. what about writing characers and dialogues which are completely over the top? Those dialogues can never sound ‘real’ but you know if acted well, they can be really funny.
I mean imagine writing a Rajpal Yadav character in a script or even say the ‘Jailor’ in Sholay. What might turn out to be amazing on screen due to superlative acting and a director’s vision might actually sound very very stupid and incompetent on a script especially when the other characters in the script are more grounded in reality.
Any thoughts on this…?
loading...
“The villain is counting on Aamir to open the suitcase, thereby betting on the unpredictability of human behaviour.”…….
Aamir is provided with a paper along with the suitcase and the paper carries a number which i guess is 123 ……the suitcase is num-locked…anyone carrying both these thing won’t require to have a brilliant brain to guess whats the key to the suitcase….so the villian is not betting on the unpredictability of human behaviour but he knows that aamir will open the suitcase…..thats what he wants aamir to do…and thats what aamir does……
Again later on when aamir fights for the suitcase and gets it..why would he open it again ?He knows that it has cash in it why would he waste time opening it when time is the biggest constraint…..
Tell me one bollywood movie from recent times…should be a thriller…should have soul..should cover current situations be it political or religious …and should follow every protocol mentioned in this post ..and yeh should be commercial and no Black friday pls….?
loading...
My solution to Aamir:
My two paisa solution to problems of Amir. First of all make Amir distantly related to the gangster. The former escaping the poor conditions by becoming a doctor; the gangster taking out khunnas on him. Second put gangster on police radar so he is under watch and can’t work on his own. These two together will answer why he was chosen amir for the job – due to both personal and circumstantial reasons.
Third make the arrival day of amir coincide with the very day the fanatic muslims are marking a ‘zehadi’ day eg. September 11, or fall of Babari masjid or the Gujarat riots, and the gangster is under order to operate a blast to mark the day. So he will use Amir.
Four separate gangster, terrorist and the money bags. Gangster is our amir’s maamu, terrorist is the Pakistani sleeper cell that has the bomb, and the money bags is one of the hafta centers. Now, Amir will have the task to get the money from money bags, hand it to the sleeper cell – who after confirming from Pakistan – will hand over the bomb to Amir. He will then be ordered to take it to a public gathering marking this occasion and plant the bomb.
Two solutions for the unfolding of events from here on until the end, for a regular Bollywood thriller have Amir discover the money and the bomb, work his out so as to turn around the game plan on the gangsters, have his family set free (using the time compulsion maamu has) and in the end have the bomb planted under his seat (we’ll see the mantralaya meeting going well as per the plans, only a blast in a Md Ali road kholi is reported; news of a gangster dead is brought to TV)! Or for a realism thriller like one we already have, Amir leaves the bomb where he is asked to and we end the film on his closeup just before the bomb is to go.
p.s Leave the realist toilet shots but change amir’s western clothes mid way so that he gels in with the crowd. Also change the colour of the red suitcase to something more regular. I suggest bright green:), just kidding.
loading...
@ 46 anand –
You are right. he is given the combination. I oerlooked that. Tell me why the villain asks him “why he opened the suitcase when it was not his property.” Also, wouldn’t it have been easier to give him a suitcase with the bomb in the first place, and not give him the combination?
loading...
@ D&C –
Don’t become a part of the conspiracy against writers.
“I mean imagine writing a Rajpal Yadav character in a script or even say the ‘Jailor’ in Sholay. What might turn out to be amazing on screen due to superlative acting and a director’s vision might actually sound very very stupid and incompetent on a script especially when the other characters in the script are more grounded in reality.”
You can write everything. Don’t give the actor and directors so much credit. Without your words, they are nothing. They can’t even start a film. Never forget that.
You want to write an over the top character, while everyone else is grounded? Do that. Over the top is not necessarily loud. leave that to the actor/director. But, you can write it in such a way that what you want to see is the way they will visualize it.
Create situations where their reaction is different from what an average person woulod do. that would be over the top.
Transcribe the asrani jailor scenes. Describe the action and dialogue. See how best you can write on the page, what you see on the screen without describing the acting. the more you do that, the more you will figure it out.
loading...
@ VarunG –
“City is a character” is masturbation fodder for directors and critics/reviewers. A screenwriter can only describe and create actions that can be seen. we don’t write reaction shots etc.
What part of the story would change if it was set in Delhi or Calcutta as opposed to Mumbai?
loading...
@ Neil –
I didn’t notice it either. If it was the case, it makes no sense.
@ PlayBack – Thanks
@ Goonda #20 – Don’t get your drift. I watched khakhee a while ago, and remember atul’s muslim character was framed. don’t get the rest of your comment. please elaborate.
loading...
@ French –
My comment about indians vs aussies and cultural mores was an extension of your hypothesis. If the film is merely a ploy to show case good old indian values, by logical extension the climax would be the summation and conclusion of the hypothesis, and it would have had to pit indian values vs aussie values in whatever fashion. instead, you have a hockey final without any cultural commentary.
as for the choice of muslim protagonist, i don’t know…geez, maybe, like, you know, this shit actually happened? there was a muslim coach of a girl’s hockey team? It is also called drama to give your protagonist a ghost or past failure for him to overcome. If he were hindu, and just a washed up coach, that would be one angle to play. Making him a muslim that is accused of gaddari, defintely adds to the drama.
What next? Are you going to say, why was the coach in Remember the Titans black (Denzel)? Becasue setting a sports film during segregation and having a non-segregated team is drama. Because it actually happened.
In your entire comment you got one thing right. I am high on Sriram’s dope.
Why hockey? Because.
I didn’t hear you complain about Lagaaan not being about futbol. Why?
Because it is the writer’s prerogative. Because. Becoz.
As for jaideep being overrated, I don’t disagree. In the land of the blind, the cross-eyed still have something going for them.
loading...
@ 25 Shashank – Thanks for the vote of confidence.
loading...
@ Tushi –
“to me, scripting has always been a yawn routine that makes films mechanical.”
You too have joined the conspiracy against writers.
Why do people denigrate screenwriting so much? Because it’s words, and everyone thinks they can? Because it’s not a fucking F-stop?
yaar aise logic ke saath main kya karoon? DPac and Krishn have said what I would have.
loading...
@ Nik –
Sorry i didn’t entertain you. that was not the intention.
is any criticism or analysis termed bashing?
loading...
Dabba man !!! awesome … shit i wish i had more time …
i dont kinda agree with some of ur inputs into the script … i wud love to discuss tat … me running out of time .. shit shit !!! i will try to hit one hr tommo at the IT centre !!!
keep this comin man …
loading...
38 n 39..dpac n krishn…was just going to type d same. realised u guys hav said it. if its movies, its mechanical. it may come out from heart or mind or wherever but the director doesnt put his heart on the big screen. one gets to see n hear what d director wants,with million cuts n billion thoughts for those few hours. if it was just poetry, anyone could have done it.
loading...
@ Tushi –
Where and what was I teaching in the gone baby gone post? I analyzed multiple scenes and said it was well done. i took pointers to improve my writing and shared the same with others.
@ all –
I am a good screenwriter. A damn fine one actually. Do you know why?
I respect it, and when i didn’t know how to write (3-4 years ago), i listened. I listened to a guy that had written two scripts, but hadn’t sold. He had read a lot of screenwriting books, analyzed a lot of films and novels etc. And, he was giving away his knowledge for free. It took him 4 years of study. I learned in 6 months.
I met him at a writer’s group, and everyone was busy talking about how many scripts they had written and the metaness of their script. It was my first time, and he asked me “what have you written?” I said, “Nothing worth showing anyone”
He was yelling his heart out at the writer’s group telling people not to make the mistakes they were making.
Do you know what happened?
No one wanted to listen to him. they were convinced he was full of shit. why? no credentials and they thought their writing was good. They talked about everything but the craft.
I did not say a single word, which if you know me, is pretty rare. I will pat myself on the back now and say that everything he was saying made complete sense, and I could see it. I was in awe of someone sharing so much wealth, and others not taking it.
He told me, stop writing. Don’t write. Read. I said that wouldn’t be a problem since i had written only one. Knew it sucked, but didn’t know how to improve.
He gave me a list of 100 screenwriting books and two websites (Worplay and Johnauagust). He said i should read them all at least twice.
Because i’m a lazy motherfucker, i read 30 once. I had drunk from the fountain.
I wrote a short. sent it to him. He was merciless. He tore it down. Analyzed every word of my 10 page script. that was The Gumshoe.
The pointers i share with people i learned from him and the books i read. stuff like not using adverbs. it slows the read, and you can’t shoot advberbs. Replace an adverb with a more precise verb.
So instead of saying walk slowly, use stroll or some such.
right down to the nitty-gritty. I write for readability. I write as an outsider. I write with utmost fear. fear of the reader and audience. That they will be distracted and think about their laundry or what they left on the stove.
Do you know that i wordsmith my screenplay so that i leave a little cliffhanger at the end of every page that will compel the reader to turn the page and see what’s going to happen next. I break my scene so that the climax, the punchline is always the first line of the next page.
Do people realize this when they read my script? No. But it reads like a breeze. I will not allow the reader to get distracted.
Do you know how many drafts it takes me to wordsmith like that?
the story ideas i develop need to have punch. and make a studio want to produce. it has to be high concept. we are nobodies.
that is why among subrat’s 3 stories, i expressed an interest in #3, race to the botttom. There’s a hook, and will make for a good pitch. Saket Ram will be a damn hard sell.
I write to sell. I write to get a film greenlit and play on 1000s of screens around the world.
May be when I have a sale or produced credit, people will listen to me.
May be it will be too late.
loading...
Excellent analysis… very interesting take on the film. Love your subsequent comments too.. specially post # 58. Add one to the list of people looking forward to reading a script of yours. Cheers Shridhar
loading...
@dabba
First of all I don’t like your analysis at all. Aamir for me was done in best possible way. I can connect with each and every scene and it goes on as per my psycho.
But you’re free to express your will without caring for my opinion.
Now one point which made me angry and made me feel like, it’s a bashing post rather than a analysis is the below paragraph:
“This plot point creates several other problems also. The villain is counting on Aamir to open the suitcase, thereby betting on the unpredictability of human behaviour. Then, he steals the suitcase, and creates situations that he is certain will cause Aamir to chase and find the suitcase (and demonstrate that everyone fights when something of theirs is stolen), and hoping that this time Aamir won’t open the retrieved suitcase.”
The phone person is counting on Aamir to open the suitcase as he supplies with some numbers on a paper. Now any human in that situation would definitely try those on suitcase. This was willingly done as to satisfy Aamir that suitcase doesn’t have a bomb.
Now when he recollects the suitcase, the phone person is counting on him to not open it,as when Aamir enters the room he finds the snatcher struggling to open the suitcase. Also, this time they might have changed the lock combination. He is less on time, I can bet no one would bother to check open the suitcase in that situation.
loading...
@ Dabba
I had mentioned on previous posts on Aamir that it needed a stronger script and a pacy direction, etc. You have analysed the film brilliantly (are you guys get paid for this?) and almost exactly the way what i felt about the film (I am also into script writing). And backed your dissection amazingly. I second Sridhar. Take a bow.
loading...
dabba,
Can you help me out with my attempt at a script? Promise to send not more than the first 10 pages. You can email me at anbharadwaj@yahoo.com
thanks
loading...
Dabba, Great analysis! Especially the point about Aamir not checking the briefcase after recovering it from the goons. But I loved the film anyway
I’ve read two of Syd Field’s books and am currently doing my second, more detailed reading of McKee’s Story. I intend to buy Linda Seger’s books as well.
Can you tell me which books you’ve found to be most helpful?
I’m also looking forward to your Chak De India vs Goal analysis. On the surface, Goal felt like an okay movie while I was watching it, but there was something overall which didn’t quite ring correct, apart from the smaller things (#1 being John Abraham’s accent. You can’t have a born and raised in Britain guy talking in an Indian accent)
loading...
Dabba I read your post twice..obviously because I found it interesting. I don’t really believe in such autopsies because I see a film as a product…I don’t think about ingredients of a recipe while eating it. So a films works for me as a whole…like sometimes a film for me has lot of cliches like chak-de or TZP, but I like them as a product.
But at the same time I am finding your analysis quite interesting and I wud love to send you two of my script for evaluation in your way.
loading...
@ A just A –
you are right in the fact that I overlooked something in my analysis. As i mentioned to another commenter upthread (may be Anand Kadam?), I missed the whole “piece of paper with 1-2-3 combination” part.
Now, since you think it was done in the best possible way, and this goes for anyone else reading and wants to defend the film… does that make any sense?
Badman wants hero to place a suitcase with a bomb in a bus. He gives him a suitcase with money and the combination, and switches it out for an identical one with a bomb later on? Clearly, these terrorists don’t know their mouth from my ass.
Why not give him the case with the bomb in the first place and like, you know, NOT GIVE HIM THE FUCKING COMBINATION? ooh, but then they couldn’t convince him or make him join their cause, because the movie would have ended in 30 minutes.
If you were a terrorist mastermind what would you do since this is such a realistic film?
oh, but, but, but, it’s a movie and every maker is allowed some cinematic liberty….
loading...
@ J and Kenny –
Thanks
@ D&C –
you know where to reach me. Send me a 3 sentence logline or paragraph synopsis along with first 10.
@ ashish –
Same as D&C.
loading...
Honestly, I had a huge expectation on AAMIR. After reading great reviews on web sites, good writeup on PFC, i was literally waiting to experience the film.
But holy shit, this movie made me feel nothing, der is no impact as such..whtsoever area of filmaking (though i must admitt background score was incredible so was the location shot n da way they r shot is fantabulous)
PLEASE FRIEND(S) OF RAJ KUMAR GUPTA, dont ever glorify someone for your personal interest.
I wud say sarkar raj is as normal as amir.
I wud say audience wud hate to watch AAMIR, in case they had watched Phoonebooth.
loading...
100 odd screenwriting books to read.
I mentioned upthread about my friend who had read them all. This is his list. Yes, he is anal. I am lazy. My list in the next comment.
1 Story – Robert McKee
2 Adventures in the Screen Trade – William Goldman
3 Which Lie Did I Tell – William Goldman
4 Stein on Writing – Sol Stein
5 Save the Cat – Blake Snyder
6 Screenwriting: The Art, Craft and Business – Richard Walter
7 Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade – William Froug
8 The First Five Pages – Noah Lukeman
9 The Whole Picture – Richard Walter
10 Art of Dramatic Writing – Lajos Egri
11 On Writing Well – William Zinsser
12 Art of Creative Writing – Lajos Egri
13 Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434 – Lew Hunter
14 When the Shooting Stops, the Cuttting Begins – Ralph Rosenblum
15 How to Grow a Novel – Sol Stein
16 The Art of Fiction – John Gardner
17 How Not to Write a Screenplay – Denny Flinn
18 Solutions for Novelists – Sol Stein
19 The Secrets of Action Screenwriting – William Martell
20 500 Ways to Beat the Hollywood Script Reader – Jennifer Lerch
21 Screenplay – Syd Field
22 Crafty Screeenwriting – Alex Epstein
23 The Screenwriter’s Bible – David Trottier
24 The Forest for the Trees – Betsey Lerner
25 Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
26 Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg
27 The Screenwriter’s Problem Solver – Syd Field
28 Elements of Style – Strunk and White
29 Aristotle’s Poetics – Francis Fergusson
30 The Weekend Novelist – Robert Ray
31 The Writer’s Journey – Christopher Volger
32 Master Class in Fiction Writing – Adam Sexton
33 The First Time I Got Paid for it – William Goldman
34 The Power of the Actor – Ivana Chubbuck
35 Line by Line – Claire Cook
36 What Are You Laughing At – Brad Schreiber
37 The Craft of the Screenwriter – John Brady
38 Making a Good Script Great – Linda Seeger
39 Advanced Screenwriting – Linda Seger
40 How to Build a Great Screenplay – David Howard
41 Creating Characters; Let them Whisper Their Secrets – Marisa D’Vrai
42 Breakfast with Sharks – Michael Lent
43 Making a Good Writer Great – Linda Seger
44 The Screenwriter’s Survival Guide – Max Adams
45 How to Write a Selling Screenplay – Christopher Keane
46 The Screenwriter’s Workbook – Syd Field
47 On Writing – Stephen King
48 I Liked It, Didn’t Love It – Rona Edwards
49 Creating Unforgettable Characters – Linda Seger
50 Zen and the Art of Screenwriting – William Froug
51 Selling a Screenplay – Syd Field
52 Top Secrets: Screenwriting – Jurgen Wolff
53 The Plot Thickens – Noah Lukeman
54 The Literary Life and Other Curiosities – Robert Hendrickson
55 Writing Mysteries – Mystery Writers of America
56 Understanding Comics – Scott McCloud
57 Hot Property – Chris Keane
58 Hollywood 101: The Film Industry – Frederick Levy
59 The Screenwriter Looks at the Screenwriter – William Froug
60 Rebel Without a Crew – Robert Rodriguez
61 Writing Dialogue – Tom chiarella
62 Secrets of Screenplay Structure – Linda Cowgill
63 The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters – Karl Iglesias
64 The Mailroom – David Rensin
65 Screenplay: Writing the Picture – Robin Russin
66 The New Screenwriter Looks at the New Screenwriter – William Froug
67 The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
68 So You Want to be a Screenwriter – Sara Caldwell
69 Writing a Great Movie – Jeff Kitchen
70 The Script Selling Game – Kathie Yoneda
71 The Hollywood Rules – anonnymous
72 Woody Allen on Woody Allen – Stig Bjorkman
73 Making Movies – Sidney Lumet
74 Hollywood Animal – Joe Eszterhas
75 Cinematic Storytelling – Jennifer Sijill
76 Writer’s Guide to Selling Your Screenplay – Cynthia Whitcomb
77 Psychology for Screenwriters – William Indick
78 Dangerous Company – Peter Bart
79 The Visual Story – Bruce Block
80 You’ll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again – Julia Phillips
81 Film Directing Shot by Shot – Steven Katz
82 How to be Funny – Jon Macks
83 The Big Picture – William Goldman
84 5001 Nights at the Movies – Paulilne Kael
85 They Can Kill You But They Can’t Eat You – Dawn Steel
86 The 5 C’s of Cinematography – Joseph Mascelli
87 How to Write a Movie in 21 Days – Viki King
88 What Just Happened – Art Linson
89 The Devil’s Candy: The Bonfire of the Vanities – Julie Salomon
90 The Screenwriter Within – D. B. Gilles
91 Screenwriting from the Soul – Richard Krevolin
92 The Movie Book Business – Jason Squire
93 The Comic Toolbox – John Vorhaus
94 What Makes Sammy Run – Budd Schulberg
95 Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach – Paul Gulino
96 Power Screenwriting – Michael Chase Walker
97 Hit and Run – Nancy Griffin
98 Down and Dirty: Miramax, Sundance – Peter Biskind
99 Setting Up Your Shots – Jeremy Vineyard
100 Shoot Out – Peter Guber, Peter Bart
101 Blockbuster Plots – Martha Alderson
102 20 Master Plots – Ronald Tobias
103 The Studio – John Dunne
104 Blue Pages – Eleanor Perry
105 The Season – William Goldman
106 Comedy Writing Secrets – Helitzer
107 Afterglow: Last Conversation with Pauline Kael – Francis Davis
108 Writing the Comedy Film – Stuart Voytilla
loading...
@ shridhar –
thanks. will let you know when I finish what I’m working on.
loading...
I read –
1-20; 31, 38, 39, 43, 47, 48, 59, 60, 81, 87, 108 and a bunch of other books.
happy reading.
loading...
just a thgt
anything comes to mind where a writer has gone against every rule in the book but still managed to get it right across?
loading...
Holy…
Thanks for the list.
loading...
@68, and i am wondering if these 108 books give 108 different formulas for writing a screenplay or they give the same formula in 108 different ways?
great compilation,,thanx
loading...
and i am also wondering whether reading these books makes you a good writer or a good teacher?
Also, whether reading these books clogs your mind or really opens it?
Also, if writing can be a+b-ab….?
since lot of people admire, follow, read Syd Field and Robert Mckee has brilliantly written the book ’story’.. am still wondering if there is more to read in other books that will be really different. Yeah it will be different style and a different perspective but will they tell you something new.
Also since these writers know every inch of a problem and everything about screenwriting, why haven’t they themselves cracked a great screenplay? i know..i know its a question of teacher and student…
am still looking for an answer…haven’t found yet.. have argued endlessly.. still doing:)
loading...
@dpac
Watch an Aussie film called “Noise”.
loading...
whenever i see the poster and tagline, i queue it up for later mitch…
mebe one of these days
loading...
Dabba,
If you overlooked a few facts in your analysis, the analysis is not an honest one. It has been done because of some worst human emotions involved apart from an honest pure critical analysis.
There are many more flaws in your version, but now considering yours is a dishonest analysis, I won’t bother to answer those. You may continue doing what you’re good at; I won’t take away your pleasure.
Anyways to answer your question:
“If you were a terrorist mastermind what would you do since this is such a realistic film?
oh, but, but, but, it’s a movie and every maker is allowed some cinematic liberty….”
Buddy, I’ll do the same if I were a terrorist mastermind.
See if Aamir Ali knows it’s a bomb from very beginning, he might go to police straight away. Now, when he sees suitcase has money and nothing else. He is in a better state to decide. Anyone will be ready to transport a bagful of money for terrorist organization in order to save his family, but transporting a bomb isn’t same. Many who still are alive with a conscious won’t agree to plant a bomb, whatever the consequences may be.
It’s a realistic film, and will be in my list of best of Hindi Cinema.
loading...
@ A just A –
Thanks for continuing the discussion, your swipe at my motives aside.
Again, I agree that people will be willing to transport money, but a bomb is an entirely different thing.
Why tell him it’s a bomb at all? If he was given a suitcase with a bomb, and no combination, and he has no way of opening it, how would he know?
Would he try and pry open the case? What is the villain trying to achieve?
loading...
Dabba,
“Why tell him it’s a bomb at all? If he was given a suitcase with a bomb, and no combination, and he has no way of opening it, how would he know?”
The most obvious guess will be suitcase has a bomb. The money part was done to remove any apprehensions from protagonists mind that suitcase has a bomb. The whole suitacse money part was done to ease Aamir’s decision on whether to go ahead with the suitcase or not. When he sees he just have to transfer some money, still with many questions in his mind, his decision to move on with it becomes very easy.
loading...
Aah Dabba! What a pleasure…
Did not see Aamir, just waiting for some time to catch up on Cavite and will then watch it.
I did not read the complete analysis, will after watching it but needless to say, I am glad Raj Kumar made u come back to writing with a bang! Have heard left to write reviews about Aamir from the junta calling it the diff’est cinema in India ever to the purists like u calling it murder… fascinating.
So took a clue from you… writer/producer… lets work on it in NYC!
loading...
“If he was given a suitcase with a bomb, and no combination, and he has no way of opening it, how would he know?”
if Aamir had no way of opening it…he would have surely thought it as bomb and not anything else …he may have panicked and after calming down would have made a decision as agianst the vilian ….but on other hand as shown in the film, aamir is made to believe that he is carrying cash and not bomb…..
so what villian thinks is that if aamir will come to know abt the bomb at very last min ….chances of going against the villian are very less since aamir wont have enough time to make a sane decision and villian may succeed in his plan ………this makes proper sense from villians pov ..
loading...
agree with A just A ….
loading...
@ DPac:
There are no rules. Do whatever you need to amp up the drama. There are plenty of asian films, epecially korean ones that seem not to follow any structure.
But, they all do something. Things get progressively worse for the protagonists. The Host for example. Even Fight Club. Depends on what you call rules.
@ Suchita –
there is no formula, and anyone that tries to sell one is full of shit. McKee and Field are quacks because they have not written anything that sold or got produced. syd field has one television credit, i think.
as for what these books do, i will leave it to you to decide. They are not all about character motivation, or turning points, or act breaks. It also includes things about the actual craft of writing a screenplay. And make it readable. Like i mentioned above, i only read 30 odd books, because I found some redundant. But I picked up every one of them, and gave it a quick gander to see if it was worth buying. I also continue to look for screenwriter interviews and tips from working writers. I want to continue developing my tool box. Let me give you an example. I think Akiva Goldsman (cinderella man, beautiful mind, irobot etc) is a hack, and i don’t like his writing. In a commentary for some film, he said that when he writes a strong character going through a rough period, to show strength and vulnerability he shows them keeping their shit together in front of the group, but he breaks them down in private. I thought that was a good tool. Then i saw it done in Children of Men. Clive Owen keeps it together in front of the group he’s leading when his father is killed, but he walks away from them, and to the camera, and breaks down and cries. They don’t see it, but we the audience do. I liked it and write a similar scene in one of my screenplays. I did not find this in a book, but there are similar tips that i found in some of the books above. If you have read Story, and read it well, and read it multiple times, that should be enough. But, I have seen people that swear by that book, and write like a 6 year old with Down’s.
loading...
@ Anand and A just A –
Agreed about locked suitcase making him panic and think it is a bomb and not go through with it. Why use Aamir and not someone else that’s actually a fidayeen?
loading...
“Why use Aamir and not someone else that’s actually a fidayeen?” …..
1] may be the villians want to show the world that even educated muslims beleive in their “philosophy” …
2] may be he wanted to brain wash the educated muslims by showing them the “state” of muslims in India …
3] may be to make himself and his group safe from the investigation that will follow the blast by diverting the investigations in wrong direction….
loading...
“Why use Aamir and not someone else that’s actually a fidayeen?”
My POV is similar to points made by Anand Kadam. The cause can be made much more stronger and can puzzle a lot more “non believers (in the cause) muslims” to think and take it up.
loading...
I have a different story.. abut a boy 7 i need the help of a writter to completed the story…. as i am a young writter
& i have little knowleged……
loading...
The best way to learn the art of writing was and always will be to watch films… A great film conditions you to constantly ready itself for the weirdest of impulses and find a suitable cinema transalation for it..
Once u realize that everything conceivable by the human mind can be transalated onto celluloid, you then start working around a strategy to see it thru… And that is the most admirable of all cinematic atributes..Putting ideas and impulses together and seeing a project thru..
loading...
Hi Dabba, was offline for the past few days, so missed out on the action, if we can call it so.
Glad to see you analyse Aamir from a screen writers perspective. This post was a pioneering effort in this direction and has paved the way for similar analysis of films released in the past and those due for release.
While film critics review for the masses, reviews such as yours would help a lot of screen writers review and improve upon thier scripts.
Your mail box is gonna be innundated with script writing queries. Well, PFC does need an agony aunt to help out script writers :-)
loading...
i dont know anything abt screenplay …nd dont know abt bombs also … but even if amir was given suitcase no. nd he was clearly told 2 give suitcase nd no to other person… nd amir suspects that suitcase has bomb then y he will try 2 open suitcase…
if suitcase had bomn then it cd ve exploded by his efforts 2 open it…that was cliche…
whole episode of prostitute helping amir was very weak…
initially film luked gud but 20-25 minutes later it becums clear that film has taken preachy turn..nd it was clear by the mid of film that film will end in same preachy mood…
this posts analysis that film heavily relies on newspaper headlines is highly true…
not bad but story shd look convincing…but film gave impresion that story is created around dialogues…though in gud thrillers dialogues r searched 2 support story…
amir has 2 say this so turn story like this…kidnapper has 2 say this so make scenes like this…
amir’s airport scene luked a forced scene…a very synthetic scene…
no doubt rajiv khandelwal acted well…
ending affected badly the film nd reduced any possibility 2 generate ny discussion…
amir was an educated man…in all his conscious state he got down from the bus…he asks construction ppl to vacate the place… if he had throw the bomb at empty place nd even if police catch him…there were chances truth wd cum out..by dying he harmed society becoz now police cannt know the story behind conspiracy..if he was ready 2 die then it was follish 2 die with bomb..director missed a golden chance 2 make a very gud ending…
it shows he had no belief on country’s law nd investigation method…
he had come just 12 hrs before from UK..he had nothing 2 lose in investigation…as he was going 2 b releasedin the end… but chances were that terrorist grp cd ve caught…but amir became suicide bomber…a weak ending destroyed the film…
loading...
amir is 1st time director film so that way its ok film but if big name of anurag k is attached with creative controller team then its not gud effort…
phone booth keep audience alert …whts going 2 happen…amir becums more preachy than a thriller… stress is more on heavy dialogues than on pace of the film…a thriller can not generate discussion in case of communal divide nd amir tries 2 do that…
without religious angle film cd ve worked better…afterall amir does things 2 save his family nd not for sake of religion…if villain, had asked him 2 do soething where he was forced 2 do becoz of blackmailing then film cd ve worked as a thriller nd then director also cd ve given stress on thriller factor more nd preaching flavour was lost then
loading...
dabba,
Regarding your comments @78 and @84
1) Aamir is never told there is a bomb in the suitcase. The villain instructs him to shove it under the seat and get off the bus. In fact, the word bomb isn’t uttered once during the climax. Aamir assumes there is a bomb.
2) Why Aamir? Aamir himself asks this question. To which the villain replies something along the lines of
“Now you’ll realize your own worth and how an ordinary man can fight back”
Then,
“You should have done this before but you ran away. You have left London, if you don’t carry this one out, you’ll have to leave Mumbai as well.”
And finally,
“Get off the bus and you’ll be a mujahideen and we’ll let your family go”
There are 3 ways to interpret this:
a) Because Aamir was the archtype modern/educated/secular Muslim, the villain wanted to put him in his ‘rightful’ place. By carrying out the bombing, Aamir would ‘opt-into’ jihad. Whether he likes it or not, he would become a decorated mujahideen.
b) Aamir had been previously approached or was involved in some terrorist bombing (7/7 ?) in London. Which is why he ‘ran away’. Now, his tormentors want him to complete whatever tasks he had left unfinished in London.
c)Both a and b
Now I know this is a long shot, but in the flashback scene at National Restuarant, Aamir is carrying a backpack as he strolls around London. Did not the July bombers carry bombs in backpacks?
Another small detail : When Aamir returns to the shady hotel, he is served a king’s meal. Condemned Man’s meal, by any chance?
loading...
Loved the analysis… and the follow-up discussion… Have never read script-analysis books or anything, but still found this article to be very very interesting (despite not having seen the movie)…
But just one question… you say (in comment 83)
>>McKee and Field are quacks because they have not written anything that sold or got produced.
But you also say that (comment 58)
>>I listened to a guy that had written two scripts, but hadn’t sold.
Dint understand why McKee and Field (NOTE: Havent read ANY thing from them) are/were quacks while your ‘guru’ wasnt…Btw, hope you post such articles regularly (though for that , i guess, Bolly should release thrillers regularly AND you should have the time/inclination to do such an article)
loading...
@ abhijit –
interesting. i suspect it is a bit of both a and b, and therein lies the problem with the villain’s motivation.
i was addressing the motivation etc etc., because the middle is slow and boring, and i wanted to see what can be done to make it more dynamic within the constraints placed by the current story.
loading...
@ rbehemoth –
They are quacks because they don’t write screenplays but tell others how to write. And earn their living doing that.
My friend writes screenplays. He just hasn’t sold one yet. And his advice is free. He will sell one soon. I’m hoping that I beat him to it. That will satisfy my need for irony.
loading...
Saw Aamir last night and was a reasonabally good watch. Fine job by the director and the crew and of course the lead actor.
loading...
Dabba: you do stuff like this and then complain people don’t challenge you enough online!! Loved the analysis, the alternatives provided and what could have beens. The one part I don’t agree with is the desire to have the tables turned on the Chief at the end (the happy ending version). That would have killed the film. You mention that there are other versions you are saving up for your film. I’m intrigued by that. Do you mean other versions apart from the happy ending or the shaheed versions or variants of these two endings?
loading...
@ subrat –
The ending is the most important thing. I offered up two simplistic versions. any story, you give the hero a goal, and a choice to make. the most enriching ones are when you answer a yes/no question differently.
in this case, the question is does he save his family, or does he save strangers. The current ending is a good alternative, and would have been satisfying if we saw him try over and over again to overcome his circum stances and was repeatedly beaten down, and in the end the only way was to blow himself up. then the current ending would have been satisfying.
while my film is different, and the issue at hand is not jihad or terrorism, but something else (you’re smart and if you follow the books i was reading [in the private forum] and some of my comments, you probably know what it is. i pose the same question.
save strangers and incur personal loss, or save yourself. I have multiple endings at this point, and only when i finish my script i’ll know which is the best one.
loading...
@dabba (4)
i missed 4..
i wasnt suggesting ‘existential realism’ as a genre, but as a treatment..
loading...
@ Dpac about (4) –
Sorry, realize now that you didn;t mean it as a genre. But the treatment would affect plot right? Would it still be a thriller, or devolve into surreal drama halfway through. For example, The Cell is superficially a serial killer film as genre, but the treatment is anything but that. the serial killer investigation is given lip service, and the focus is on the internal state of the killer, and how beautiful those images look. It does’nt work as a story, but still makes for good viewing. If Aamir had gone down a similar route, and focused on the internal state of an Everyman put in a pressure cooker situation, and taken it into fantasy and surrealism, I would have been ok with that, and would not have analyzed.
loading...
Dabba
Liked ur analysis, do u have an e mail ID wud b interested in reading what u’ve written
loading...
dabba,
example invoking koi aap se seekhe eheh
yeah exactly why that thgt cropped up in my mind about whether it ended up neither here or there. (presuming of course that there was a hera and there)…
ur end statement piques me..
why ?? do u analyse only thriller genre ?
loading...
Hi Dabba,
Superb stuff. Really.
What also rang for a long time was #58. I think that’s the approach to take to writing, or by extension, any creative endeavour that needs to be sold.
I’ve been an advertising writer for 12-odd years now and the greatest tips I’ve scrounged about writing have all to do far more with hard work, resolve and hard, cold polishing than ceiling-staring.
Anyways. Great analysis, looking forward for more.
loading...
existential realism? really thats a term? as opposed to existential fantasy?
loading...
@ saks –
if you look at the archives in PFC, there’s a short story (NOT screenplay) that i wrote called Frigid, and a link to a short screenplay I wrote called The Gumshoe.
loading...
@ inca – thanks
@ DPac – To break in and make my first sale, i am focussing only on genre films, and analyze them for the writing. so, thriller, horror, comedy are my prime focus right now, cos they are lower budget and easier to sell compared to action-adventure, scifi, or drama.
loading...
Yeah what is “existential realism”??? This sounds like something Dpac pulled out of his ass to sound intelligent. You know someone is bluffing their way through when they start puking fake definitions coated with pretentious snobbery.
loading...
@ saks, indypendy, DPac –
I will leave it to DPac to defend his coinage. I didn’t bring it up earlier, because I did not want to derail the thread on discussions around what is realism, surrealism, existentialism etc., in the movies.
loading...
:-)
indypendy,
it IS something which i pulled outta my ass for lack of a better word, to describe what i perceived to be an effort by the makers of aamir to visually document a mumbai as it is – as real as it gets, documentary like- and add some existential connotations/queries/questions/confusions to the mix. phew…
and yes in hind sight it does ’sound’ extremely intelligent ehehe
i remember thinking to meself ‘that should do it to get a ‘pseudo’ tag’. surprised it came up this late though, i was in the process of deluding meself into thinking i got my ‘bootylicious’ (albeit a phrase). but it is debatable whether i coined something worthwhile, since im pretty inarticulate when it comes to filmi craft jargons in the first place.
i hope u get the wind outtamaass :-)
loading...
You could have just said a realistic cinema with an existential theme. I don’t think you realise how stupid you sound when you coin terms like existential realism and attach a definition that suits your whim. That is not how it works.
If you keep expelling a lot of hot air like that…you can give yourself the tag psuedo…
loading...
110 @Dpac
loading...
@indypendy,
thats precisely the point. ‘realistic cinema with an existential theme’ just didnt reflect what i wanted to say.
and like i said, i do admit wondering whether such a phrase is correct or even needed (but it sounded right), so ‘whim’ i dont think so! inadequate maybe
feel free to come up with a term or phrase which imparts what i said b4.
plus ‘That is not how it works’ how exactly does it work ??
you wait to read it in some big tome b4 you start using it?
loading...
@Dpac You are beyond clueless…seems like you live in a la la land where you keep wondering and coining terms just because it sounds right. It takes more than a whim to ignore established rational intellectual traditions in acquiring and classifying knowledge.
It is understandable in such a fantasy world you feel every worthless banal exposition coming out of your nether region is a pearl of wisdom worthy of an “ism”. You must be wondering why everyone bothers to use clear sentences when you can use an “ism”.
I don’t think I am capable of bursting this bubble of yours…when you didn’t see the pit falls of such an approach when you tried to pass off your “existential realism” as a genre but when questioned changed it to a treatment!!.
loading...
hahahhahahah that was priceless Indypindy i give u tht..
and yes i do live wondering aloud in la la land…
heck i even have a bluddy mansion there..
compared to tht earth is a day job! :-)
i neva said anything about coining concrete phrases along ‘established rational intellectual traditions’ or on ‘isms’..
that could be something u wish for and expect out of a simple phrase i used to convey something from dpac’s lalaland..
since you cant get tht, yeah bro u sure aint capable a lot of things…
of course that could change if u get that big sledgehammer outta ur ass and let some air off ehehhe
maaaaaan… tussi great nahin maha great ho..
peace bro!!!
loading...
@Dabba.. your prescription and doctoring would have resulted in an enjoyable even charged thriller.. no doubt about that but for what, according to you, Aamir stands to lose.. it gains tenfold.. and it’s precisely the non-coherenace, the absolute randomness of certain key plot elements that make it rise above the template of the average paranoid thriller.
You point out very specifically the unestablished motivations of the villain and the non-reason for one specific guy- Aamir to be embroiled in the machinizations.
Well, to me this very randomness makes the movie an urgent political allegory.
Aamir is much more than a common man pulled into a vortex of deciet. He is the suspect citizen of today as we all are. There are not one but many well documented incidents post 9/11 when the whole political climate of world has turned dystopian when regular blue collar, white-collar hard working decent people have been whisked away straight from the airport to torture chambers and quarantines. And no reason is given whatsoever. Some shadowy higher power thinks you are suspect or vulnerable and exploits it for their own agendas. In these confused times, I think a script that tries to pretend it comprehends the situation would be faking it. I’m glad Aamir didn’t try to.
This is first established by the early scene at the airport and then the movie takes over as an allegory. The director establishes the existential aspects by constantly serving up dualities. Does Aamir’s family really die or is it just a dream? It’s never really explained.
The movie becomes the story of a common generally apathetic middle class individuals descent into an hell he cannot even begin to comprehend. He unravels, he unlearns, he witnesses those who exist below him in society, he rebels.. unsucessfully and finally the only way out seems to be the destruction of his existence. Only in that moment of absolute annhilation can he win.
Once again the dualities come into play. Did he really conquer his destiny or rather surrender and take the easy way out.
Speaking of character transformation, I’d say that he doesn’t transform and that’s exactly why he has to sacrifice his being for freedom. As himself he is tied up, responsible and has the baggage of the world.
as for how come the signal of teh cell-phone never went out.. come on.. are you kidding me. What is this abbas-mustan where the signal jumps back and forth only to provide you required jolts.
you did a very devious thing in trying to box the movie in and you were very very very wrong.
Fuck Mckee
loading...
@ siddharth –
“you did a very devious thing in trying to box the movie in and you were very very very wrong.”
Why devious?
I have seen you ascribe great meaning to the intents of every film you review including Sarkar Raj, so pardon me if I don’t care much for your intellecutalization of this film as some urgent political allegory. You write well, but your talents would be better served in a novella or short fiction. Your reviews rarely match up to what a film actually is because you go out of your way to interpret and offer meaning based on what the maker, you think is trying to say.
I call bullshit on your reviews and I call bullshit on your use of the word allegory here. Aamir is not allegory.
Because there is nothing symbolic about it. It is overt and in your face regarding what the film is about when Badman keeps telling Aamir over and over again about being a good muslim, and how he doesn’t care for his Qaum.
Allegory is No Smoking. Allegory is Dawn of the Dead. You can go ahead and add your existential ponderings and mumblings to any film. That is your preorgative. Just don’t expect me to let it pass. Narnia is allegory. Panchatantra is allegory.
Is Black Friday allegory? If not, neither is Aamir. Only difference is BF executed it well.
“it’s precisely the non-coherenace, the absolute randomness of certain key plot elements that make it rise above the template of the average paranoid thriller.You point out very specifically the unestablished motivations of the villain and the non-reason for one specific guy- Aamir to be embroiled in the machinizations.”
Apologia for poor execution. It is not that the villain’s motivation is not established. It is answered over and over again. Like the reference to Masdrid and London, and how Aamir didn’t join them. It is muddled, and his actions don’t reflect his words.
If your last declaration was some sort of negation of everything I articulated, it is laughable. You can fuck McKee all you want, just use protection. Heard he gets around quite a bit.
I don’t care for him. I took from his book what was useful, and discarded the rest.
loading...
okay boy.. i dunno why you came up with the word ‘review’ for the take on the films that i enjoy constructing.. it’s probably the same narrow line of thought that wants you to label Aamir a ‘thriller’. If you’re happy with the smaller picture.. cool man, no problem.. but if you wanna goad the rest in with you.. bugger off. Personally man i cant believe your the same guy who wrote the thing the ‘persepolis’.. since then you’ve been jus jerkin off and if a fantasy involving Mckee and Me keeps you going……..
well, adios
loading...
[Editors note : Caution: Indypendy, Don't misuse PFC to attack any author on personal basis.
It will not lead anyone anywhere. Please use your wisdom in making discussions more interesting and it can be done without attacking any author. Authors are not topics but their articles are. Please maintain civilized nature of PFC . Thanks]
———————————————————————————–
dabba is the first in the line of script monkeys or script coolies …soon to be a lucrative out sourcing business…coming soon to your near by sweat shop.
He has read the 101 ways to squeeze the life out of cinema audience.
To be faithful to his masters he has taken upon himself to reeducate the unwashed on how to make and appreciate movies. Soon he will mesmerize you with mind numbing banality between flashes of shock and awe …akin to nazi propaganda movies….
or it could be more sinister….since he is an unabashed fanboy of ditsy american pop culture, he could be trying to emulate colmbine…realising he has no talent except for his fine imitation of the verbosity of some oc character on crack….he wants take everyone down to his hell along with him.
loading...
[Editors Note : Indypendy, PFC has a system to caution authors whenever they do wrong. Its always done through proper channel. Unknown commentators can be addressed on their comments only]
hey editor,Hope you show the same enthusiasm to post warnings about civil discussion when authors themselves bully posters…or is this a case of some are more equal.
loading...
@ Siddharth
Can we have a discussion around your misuse of the word allegory?
loading...
@ Indypendy
In my estimation, the average number of comments before someone invokes godwin’s rule on PFC is 105, so you are right there (feel free to wiki that if you have no idea what I’m talking about). Please make every effort to help maintain that average which would mean right around comment 90 is when you should do it next time.
I guess it took you a little over a day to recover from my burn on the other thread. In the meanwhile you attacked DPac for no reason, read all 17 of my posts (thank you) and still couldn’t find anything to diss me so you gave me a backhanded compliment about “flashes of shock and awe”.
If you and others spent nearly the same time in scripting we would all be served well.
While I continue to squeeze cinema you should go ahead and get that projector and we can screen your basket weaving film. I’ll bring the popcorn.
loading...
yeah I know you get off on silly point scoring,it could be amusing if it wasn’t so pathetic.That’s your craft basket weaving….i don’t get flustered by your verbal gimmicks…must have taken a lot of practice to reach this level to be able to spar with blog posters….I have only read this article of yours and have got an insight into a character that could be a pathological narcissist and a fraud.
The probability of someone invoking godwins law also reaches 1 around the same number of posts.So you can improve your law of averages next time around 90.Meantime you can feel all victorious inside for burning me again until I post next time..ok.
loading...
@123 Indypendy –
“I have only read this article of yours”
Liar. I know you read the Conspiracy post since you commented on it. Chalk that up to more silly point scoring, but it’s fun when the points accrue on your side.
loading...
ha ha you can take all the points and some more since only you are keeping the score….actualy I haven’t read both your articles except for a few bits which is enough to get the gist of what you are all about..I find the comments in your article more interesting….
loading...
After a whole lot of praise for ‘Aamir’, I watched the darn film yesterday afternoon.
The opening shot with Aamir sleeping, his head slouched over his co-passenger’s shoulder was a good one. It’s something that happens everywhere so, it starts off with the ordinary. The next scene shows Aamir stretching his arm and hitting the same fellow. So, it succeeds in showing that while Aamir is returning back to India from England, he is traveling economy class. The reasons for this is established later: he has three sisters to marry off, his father is no longer alive to support the family financially and he also has a young brother whose future Aamir is responsible for. Another few references thrown-in later also clue us into his monthly income: 3000 pounds a month (which is not a lot, considering he lives in London (?)), and that he is returning back from England because his Visa wasn’t renewed.
The immigration scene was good but the guy called Amar coming in after Aamir was quite cheesy, given that Aamir says that ‘Mera naam Amar hota toh aap itne sawaal nahin karte…’
Then the chase begins.
The first chase shows Aamir running after the satkela taxi driver’s fiat. This chase essentially tries to drive home to fact to Aamir and the viewers that unless Aamir does as he is told on the phone by the takla baddie, he stands to lose everything he has.
Aamir tries to fight this by asking the taxi wala to stop, which that fellow does. And when Aamir hops off, the taxi chugs away with all his belongings. Point driven-in and Aamir now starts to understand the seriousness of this weird phone game.
Then Aamir gets another phone from the biker friends (so, they are shadowing him with extra mobiles?) and he is told by the baldie to get to National at Dongri by 1.
An attempt of adding some humor comes in at this place when Aamir gets into a cab and tells him ‘Dongri’ and the fellow says, ‘Rasta bata na’. Aamir then says ‘Gaddi roko’ and the cabbie says, ‘Rukki hui hai, saab’. This got a few chuckles from the theatre I was watching this at.
Then we get to see Aamir directing the traffic near Dongri. This also reinforces that Aamir is now taking the whole affair seriously (he is also informed before he gets into the cab that his family is with them). Again, a normal Aamir might have just sat back waiting for the traffic to sort out on its own (As would many of us). But here, he is playing against a ticking clock and this makes his desperate enough to become a traffic policewala for a small time.
Then the scene at National. Aamir sits in a table reserved for him thinking about his family whem he gets another call from the baddie, whose enjoying a sumptuous feast. Over here, we get to understand Aamir’s personal beliefs when he says the girl in the photo with him is a Hindu. So, he really doesn’t believe in Hindus being anti-muslim as the baddie apparently does.
Then the shot where the waiter refuses to give Aamir a glass of water. Super.
Then Gulistan building toilet shot was revealing. Aamir asks for Gulistan thinking of it to be a good builidng and he gets shown towards a dilapidated structure. The whole scene is super.
Then the call to Karachi. I believe the cop was a set-up, just to scare Aamir into believing with the cause that just because he spoke to someone at Karachi, the cop thought he was a suspicious character. And the cop just disappeared when Aamir got the call while he was running away from him.
The scene where he is handed over the bag was neat. They tried to scare him further by saying it was a bomb (which Aamir discovers it not to be back at the lodge).
Then the chase scene to reclaim the bag was nice and I didn’t expect the bags to have been switched till he is told to slide it under the seat of the bus and walk away. That’s when Aamir realizes that the whole nightmare is just beginning.
He tries to walk away but he can’t (for reasons left to our interpretation) and then he hugs the bag with a smile on his face, the baddie trying desperately to reach Aamir and then, boom.
The end tries to show, to my understanding, that Aamir takes control of what has been happpening to him. All this while, he was being threatened of dire consequences to his family if he doesn’t follow orders. But if he blew himself up and saved innocent people in the process, there isn’t really much the baddie can threaten anyone else with. There is a chance that he will kill off Aamir’s family to leave no trace of the whole racket (or ask Aamir’s younger brother to do the needful).
Or he might just let them go, waiting for another Aamir to do what he is told.
All in all, it was a different movie. The background score and in-film music was good. The acting was efficient though I found that women at the lodge somewhat irritating!
loading...
Can’t agree more with you!
I watched the movie because i got lots of +ve feedback. But was disappointed by the film narration (not the story idea). When i gave my reasons, i was disagreed with.
Reading your take, sounded like my thoughts have elaborately penned by someone else :-)
Loved what your wrote…the way you wrote!
loading...
I have seen Cavite and its still on my DVR. Saw Aamir and was disappointed to a large extent. I saw it after reading Anurag’s claims that this one is not copied etc etc. It would have helped if the makers put in a statement saying, “Story adapted from Cavite”.
The director has received lot of kudos and yes he has been quite faithful to the original for the most part. I applaud the guy who went about finding the locations, more so because he seemed to remember the scenes from Cavithe very vividly. He probably had a portable DVD player while scouting the locations.
The ending was sufficiently modified to justify the simultaneous inspiration of two film makers.
Yaar Anurag and RK, kyon logon ko bana rahe ho? Anurag bhaiyya, maan lo, cheating kii hai. Aap hi ki bhalai hai is mein.
loading...