anurag rules!

...just back from watching gulal for the second time in two weeks...he is easily the most exciting, biggest risk-taking director in recent times...if dev d was scorching for turning devdas on its head, gulal spiralled brilliantly out of control in the seeming pursuit for power...enough has been written about the man, his passion, his contemporary story-telling...but what i stay with after watching the two films, is a man saved from the brink of self-destruction by these two films (back to back)...manic n possessed, his anger seething from every frame...and above it all - love...or rather, unrequited love...which drives him to utter n complete destruction...
piyush mishra...what a revelation!...and to think he lives in the same building! superlative performance crowns excellent music n lyrics (so what if i didn't get all of it)...dev d too, the music was brilliant...and rekha bharadwaj - just wah wah!
both films wonderfully shot by rajeev ravi - the way he interprets the spaces the characters inhabit most refreshing...paharganj, rajasthan...guess it must all come from anurag's lived experiences...the intimate details all adding up to the multi-layering of both these films...
intelligent, in-your-face, raw n provocative...love him or hate, you just cannot ignore him...he's certainly scaling the peaks for this generation of filmmakers (ok i'll stop now :)

milk

just stepped out of wacthing gus van sant's 'milk'...tears well n flowed over by the end...a brilliant film - simply told. beautifully shot n lit n what music!!...sean penn...words are just not enough...i mean, he lives his characters...it's not a performance, a 'role'. van sant is a wizard n i want to see more...

a depressing thought passed my mind while peeing after the film...at tonight's oscars, slumdog is going to sweep em all...that's just so fuckall.

maximum hypedog millionaire

i'd been waiting long n eagerly to go watch. avoided the dvd's n downloads...first day second show and thirty minutes into it the disappointment started creeping in. it was the cliches that did it for me - taj mahal, dharavi, dhobi ghat, vt...i mean, of course, it was well shot n edited, etc but left me as cold as the half empty cinema hall. anthony dodd mantle is one of my gods n one of my highpoints last year was meeting him when lighting up the millionaire shoot for them...but i guess when you shoot 2 film n 5 hd cameras rolling all at once, you will have an excessively edited film, right. slick yes but so shallow. the kids who played the middle part were the best...n the music - rahman has done much better stuff in the past...
smells of the beauty pageants thing - need to find new markets, shower them with faux attention. lapped up soo well...first, firang technicians infiltrated the industry, now they're gonna be making our films too! it's gonna take me sometime adjusting to this globalisation where i cannot go shoot in their country but they can come here...even in times when projects/films are being shelved due to "recession" while we sit home write blogs, drink or attend yet another meeting!
of course, it's gonna win a handful of oscars...or course, it's gonna be a blockbuster grosser...right film at the right time, nothing extraordinary. go see but we're not gonna blow an evening talking about it...banned any conversation about it last evening at the party :)

dostaana & dasvidanya - such extremes!

just had to watch these two films and am glad i did...dostaana was a friend's first film as production designer and dasvidanya another friend's first film...dostaana starts off with these languorous body-caressing shots of john abraham, usually reserved for the female of the species...down to his skimpiest lil undie pulled down...nervous giggles around the almost housefull sets the tone of what was to follow...what starts off as a comedy drags miserably in the second half...wafer thin script that goes nowhere. i slept off somewhere in the second half n was rudely awakened by the very loud "gay gay" song...i mean, trust kjo to push the envelope but hopefully he'll inspire more meaningful scripts where homosexuality is as natural n common place...o that priyanka is so hot ;)
dasvidanya was such a contrast! none of the kjo ott-ness, no media blitzkrieg, no big star line-up...just a hugely big heart. and vinay pathak!...carries the film single-handedly with such ease n confidence...how do actors become producers? to showcase themselves? a simple enough script reminds one of the bucket list ...but not cancer for god's sake! i liked the slow deliberate-ness of the film...but save vinay's role the others were terrible caricatures - the deaf tv serial stuck mum, the fat slobbering over food boss. rajat as best friend seems wasted...but all-in-all a nice feel good film modestly told. Go watch!

three monkeys vs a wednesday

i've been to turkey but didn't have a clue about turkish cinema n hadn't heard of nuri bilge ceylan...but "three monkeys" last night got me to sit right up in my seat riveted to the very end...a dark, very dark tale of denial and silence...brooding n deathly slow but brilliant!...a family plunged into a spiral in order to save a local politician's honour and his re-election following a car accident. the camera hardly moves n the long takes force you into the slowly unfolding narrative...no shifting focus to relieve you of an unsettling image, no cutting away or unnecessary pans. you confront the moment squarely in the face digesting every morsel of information it holds...and what performances! soo understated yet so powerful in a gut-wrenching story. hatice aslan - what a face! hauntingly beautiful...now, i learn that ceylan was a photographer before he began making films...raw gritty de-saturated, almost 'digital' imagery...there are two absolutely dramatic images when the past slips into the present!... haven't seen nothing quite like this before! so a must-watch!

"a wednesday" on the other hand, was among the worst films i've ever seen with THE worst cinematography possible...was there even a cinematographer? o it was fuad khan? no wonder! atrocious shot-taking and worse, so much of the film out of focus! the story even more disturbing - simple common man takes law into his own hands and ends up a hero complete with bhaashan that has the nation cheering and police in awe! pathetic n scary! o of course, there's this pretty bimbette utv news reporter in dilemma ...faux shallow torn betw news duty and service to the nation...in i have no idea what people were raving about :( i mean, yes, there was naseer doing what he does best so easily and anupam kher trying hard to keep up with naseer's demands as the jimmy jib swung to n fro and up n down like someone had just discovered it's function! terrible terrible terrible...

tahaan vs padre neustro

it's like lycra - either you have it or you don't!...and we, indians definitely don't.

tahaan- thin plodding plot beautifully shot with fantastic performances by the boy, anupam kher and sarika. bose, on the other hand, should be banned. however hard he may think he tries, he cannot act and will remain as stuck up as frozen carrot. but above all, i was most disappointed with sivan's handling of the plot. didn't expect him to succumb to using the boy for some specious hair-brained terror act. showcasing kashmir in it's rugged beauty coupled with taufiq's music distanced me even further n left me cold (of course, 13 people in a freezing multiplex didn't help either;) i guess i keep going back to sivan only because of his brilliant "halo"...but then, that's what first films are all about - the passion, the exacting detail and control...no "cutting away" to beauty shots coz your plot lacks depth.

padre neustro had my heartbeat racing from the opening minute!...a lil like the way cidade de deus opens but there ended the comfort. such control, crisp succinct riveting dialogue, intimate in-your-face camera filmed at the just the threshold of exposure, your pupils dilated opening up every pore of experience and a sound track that melded atmospheric sounds brilliantly with music to heighten that unsettling edgy feeling...and this continued till the very end, by which time you let out this huge phew and go, 'fuckkk!' ...chris zaalaa - all of 35, had us wrapped firmly around his lil finger with this story of migration n identity. not for a second does he show you new york as the big apple...the big american dream. you are in that frame...face to face with each character, twisting at every turn, reeling n being repulsed by the city's underbelly...and what performances!...paola mendonza in particular.

kya hoga apun logo ka? mera toh, kuch nahi...with my penchant for the beautiful, glossing over all that is uncomfortable. my challenge to myself as i get back to my film...

ranjan's forever young

...just watched ranjan palit's "forever young" - his latest film or should i say labour of love? i mean, we knew he'd been going each year to shillong for dylan's birthday celebrations and we knew ranjan's wonderful dylan act - guitar harmonica n song and we know how extraordinarily good a cinematographer he is...so when i heard it was ready, i couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy n see it...the usual suspects let me down, but thanks naresh...
...so much love!...in every frame, and tenderness...the man - lou majaw shone thru with all his imperfections and brilliance! what a character!...the narrative unfolding with just the right balance between the music and the spoken word. hardly felt the length, something ranjan seemed so concerned about when we spoke later. and some lovely transitions...of course, the end makes me want to send my daughter to that all-girls convent school in shillong where the head-mistress/principal invites the band to play for the students because exams are just over!! and what does the madman break out into? - everybody must get stoned!! :)
now to get a nice big screening going here in bombay...(and no, not a sweaty overcrowded sittingcrossleggedonthefloor screening ;)

dark knight indeed!

what a performance!...may his soul rest in peace :)
ps: i don't think chris nolan is going to be making another film in a hurry

go see persepolis!...now

n if you haven't read marjane's satrapi's graphic novel yet...then do so, quick! it's just fantastic. the story itself n of course the illustration is brilliant in it execution n detailing, stark gripping tale of a young outspoken girl growing up in tumultuous iran. the film takes the novel to even greater heights - the way they've maintained the integrity of the style n adapted it to motion so beautifully!...go see!

just in case you missed this...

this article in the mid-day made me go all red!

chinese restaurants india premier

last evening at the ngma audi, thanks to asia society, we finally screened cheuk kwan's "chinese restaurants" - tho just the india n argentina parts. almost full the house was...watched in rapt attention n seemed to enjoy the film. it's so easy when you are presenting someone else's film... i remember the nervousness n misery i went thru at my film screenings...but this was different! the discussion though was derailed by a bad start n we never recovered from that...but clearly the film worked n was well-received. in fact, there were 8 firm orders for a box set of 5dvds!!

to celebrate, went to ling's pavilion for a sumptuous dinner...where they stuffed our faces silly!...pork , prawns, chiken, corn curd, stew, bacon steamed rice n noodles!...aaah! a perfect way to end the day!...cheers cheuk!

re-watching the film...listening to mr chiang of casa china in buenos aires made me ponder about our own smallness...here was man who left taiwan 40yrs ago changed 3boats n has now lived half his life in argentina. his wife n son live in new york n there's this loneliness n acceptance, resilience n courage you begin to respect. his world view is almost zen-like...his concept of home, of identity makes me wonder of the sena campaign here in bombay...when will we ever learn?...

closer home, the lives of baba n nini ling are played out...so different they are from each other...i cringe when a smartypants nri starts the discussion asking if "they" can speak hindi...but to my (later) disgust, i do not dismiss the premise of his question...n grow increasingly protective of them in the course of the discussion...i live n learn!

mantle-piece!

"The name of the judge who sentences Björk to death in "Dancer in the Dark" is Anthony Dod Mantle. In "Breaking the Waves", a man of the same name is laid to rest with the words, "Anthony Dod Mantle you are a sinner. You deserve your place in hell," while the camera pans across his tombstone."

got called out to help light the kbc set for an international film production "slumdog millionaire"...cursorily asked who the dp n director were...o my god! anthony dod mantle and danny boyle...a completely different aesthetic n working style. wished i could've worked on this film. needles to say, i've asked anthony if i could work with him on laars von trier's next film this autumn. we'll be in touch, he said...while i learnt he has a team of 20!!

aaja nacch le!

madhureeeee!....that's all i wanted to see!...after ages did advance booking for first day first show!! o those eyes n taht flashing smile...n no one, no one can move like her!...the story v weak n tres facile...the supporting cast fantastic, esp vinay, divya dutt, konkana...impeccably lit n shot...though an over use of the jib i thought...
most disappointing of course, was the empty theatre...this carpet bombing of realese prints has taken the mazaa out of a full house. there were barely 45-50 people in this 200seater at goregaon :( lagta nahi ki yeh picture chalegi :(

johnny g!

i just about caught the last day last show of johnny gadaar last night...and boy wasn't i glad i didn't miss it. unreal it was, i had to keep reminding myself that this was a bollywood flick i was watching that too from the yashraj stable!...slick pacy n relentless, all without emotion! incredible performances matched a totally hatkey script n plot. the unclimatic end didn't matter after the roller coaster you've been put thru. three cheers, thumbs up n whatever else!! but sadly, not many takers... :(

the blew unbrella

...now vishal bhardwaj, i'd say is among the most exciting thinking directors we got in bollywood today. my fav is maqbool no doubt, followed by makdee. it is with this v high expection i went to see "the blue umbrella" this morn...he must've known it wasn't up to his high benchmark...wondered about this delayed release, considering it was ready before omkaara. all this became clear as the film unfolded...completely lacking emotion, the story plodded on at a slow pace, punctuated with some expectedly good music tho' unnecessary song dance numbers, ruined by some inconsistent "trying-hard-to-look-good" camerawork n patchy editing. shining thru some very dark frames was pankaj kapoor...he is just fantastic...breathing n living his character (much like he wow-ed us in maqbool), getting the look perfect and the accent. and the girl! - bright eyed n cute but didn't pull on the heart-strings (like say the girl in makdee)...i'd fault the script really, not her. so net-net, all wonderful ingredients not coming together...tch tch!

oye balley balley!

chak de last night got me so excited n so happy...so what if we had to crank our necks up from our second row seats...it was just so fantastic to see hockey up there on bada pardah...the passion with the girls played, delightfully peppered local-flavour dialogues (notwithstanding some awful cliches)...a good tight script (albeit a lil predictable tho' pacy first half)...and srk! o he must've had a blast doing this film. i mean, of course there were the ickky srk moments, when his voice quivers n his hands tremble...but it worked! and how!...a full house cheering lustily to the very end, almost like lagaan! but this was hockey! and that made me all teary-eyed!... well-researched and a good bit of detailed nuances in the way the game is played. o the girls!...just fantastic, esp my fav - the impish haryanvi chautala. the tension betw the fowards so real...the locker room backstabbings...transported me right back to my inter-school matches...three cheers! and five stars!!

namesake

finally saw namesake tonight...at this run-down movietime in malad...a late start n incorrect projection gate got me all pissed off to start with...the film itself hardly moved, som good ol mira nair exotica, tabu looked awful, nitin sawhney wasted, some really arbit cutting n unecessary flashbacks...most disappointing. was looking foward to seeing my fav actress tabu...but she just didn't hit the right key this time. irrfan on the other hand, was brilliant. next!....