the paanchvi pass dons!

tania-the babuji's righthand gal
gd-the online editor, bob-srk's cam, ashwin-the recordist, rd-the writer

sai baba twin towers!

...inviting me n inciting me to fly right thru them...

for sanah

...who wouldn't drink her milk the day she came to stay...

paanchvi pass - from tomorrow

...watch out for srk riding my bicycle for one of the openings :) it's been a peaceful good-fun shoot n we start shooting the second sked from next week. lemme know what you think..

tino n his table

the clearing

i taalo-ed(postponed) it as much as i could...just couldn't bare the loss of thick shrubbery n all the birds n bees that would have one place less to nest n rest. but this time i just had to...it's summer, less to clear, got labour finally n started the clearing.
the plot's in a valley nestled between some ever-dwindling green cover. the spring which ran alongside the plot, dry now. i've decided to clear just half the plot n let the other half just be the "jungle" it is. finally, i was able to walk around the plot, get a sense of the slope of the land n select a spot to build...just above the tree level looking northwest into the sunset...next, get down to work on the design of the centre n start building after the monsoons! yaay!!

off to goa...yet again!

squeezed perfectly between two schedules of paanchvi pass, i'm off to go, again. this time to prepare for a workshop we plan to do end-may. also, there's always some paper work that needs attending to and keep thinking n working on a design plan for the centre. so see you at the end of the week.

meanwhile, my driving's getting better. haven't run over anyone yet :)

views from the tarafa (catwalk)

at least once, when i'm lighting, i climb up on to the catwalk to see that the lightboys are doing ok n that they've laid out the cables right n that they have enough fire extinguishers at hand n that there are no obstructions to their escape route in case of fire, etc.


but the views it offers!....the higher you go, the more you see!!

magical blue frog nite

...magic malik...what kind of name is that, i wondered when i read about the next gig at bf. but when i got to know he had collaborated with st germain on boulevard, i knew i just had to go. luckily for me, srk had a promo shoot to go to n we finished in good time for me to leg it to lower parel in time...
coir mat for hair he sat hunched over a bank of pre-amps n his macbookpro...glistening steel flute in hand with silver chain dangling...he made that piece of steel talk n how! he'd move, bob his head, his stomach would tighten n relax, his eyes closed lightly, occasionally he'd bother telling us what he's been playing or what's gonna follow...but mersmerising it was to hear him tap on his gullet (larynx?) to produce some amazing sounds which mixed n grooved so effortlessly with the grand piano, bass n drums...that was when he wasn't makin magic with his flute...i mean, ian anderson's got some v serious competition here ;)
towards the end of the second set, he launched into the funkiest version of "vaishnava janato"...slow n searing to start with n then ripped right thru it...what a night!...he's playing tomo n day after night. go!
)pics not loading for some reason :(

learning to drive!

mee??!! yup...8 sessions done n i can start, stop, drive in 3rd gear and reverse!!...a weird way to start your day tho'...but kinda relaxing. i often wondered how so many of my friends found driving relaxing...while i could only think of it as extremely stressful. but it's ok...learning on a santro hoping to graduate to a sienna!...
my instructor from jaunpur was v sleepy this morn...ate some gutka, turned to me, "kya aap khaatey hai kya?" n went on to tell me about life back home n how he's left his kheti-ka-kaam n come to bombay n how he's going to get his brother too. hope that thakeray goon ain't reading this.
back home, quickly bath, breaka n off to filmcity on my bicycle, of course!!...racing downslope outside the studio last night, i realised my bike woudn't stop dead even if i pressed my brakes all the way...phew!...got to slow down n lose some weight that propels me even faster down ;)

tickin away!

floyd again!...putting things in perspective!
..."And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun"...

back to daftar!

this was to be my year off from television...a year i was to assist on a feature film...but that didn't happen, nor did anything else. and then came this offer to shoot "paanchvi pass" at good ol #7 @ filmcity...and of course i took it up!...so i'm back on my bicycle at 845 every morn...for the next two months!...been lighting the last 4days. it's the indian version of "are you smarter than a fifth grader?"...so look out for it!

you are here!

mbti pic post

some lifetimes ago, i met this hard-nosed, pain in the ass iim-a guy at cry. he was product manager, getting in the money, which we at projects spent. the two depts seldom saw eye to eye...but he n i somehow hit it off. jump-cut to last month, he asks me to come in on a project that he's been thinking could be made into a film!and this is janaki, who's been doing research to figure if there is an "indian" type...how well they complement each other..a delight to watch in action!

just in case you missed this...

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

happy easter!

the storm's abated
the dark clouds dissipating
the sea a lot calmer
n the light divine!
...(so what if it took me a lot more than 3 days ;)
what a fab way to end a weekend full of celebration! have a wonderful easter!

my mbti type - infp

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality questionnaire designed to identify certain psychological differences according to the typological theories of Carl Gustav Jung as published in his 1921 book Psychological Types.

the dichotomies:
Extraversion Introversion
Sensing iNtuition
Thinking Feeling
Judging Perceiving

...INFPs are quiet, creative, sensitive and perceptive souls who often strike others as shy, reserved and cool. These folks have a rare capacity for deep caring and commitment--both to the people and causes they idealize. INFPs guide their behavior by a strong inner sense of values, rather than by conventional logic and reason. Forced to cope with this facts-and-figures "real" world we inhabit, INFPs may appear to have been imported from another galaxy! They gravitate toward creative or human service careers which allow them to use their instinctive sens of empathy and remarkable communication skills. Strongly religious, spiritual or philosophical people, INFPs may see the purpose of their lives as an inner journey, quest or personal unfolding. More practical or rational types may tend to discredit the INFP's sources of understanding as mystical. The search for a soulmate is a preoccupation for many INFPs, who must balance their need for privacy and peace with their yearning for human connection. If there seems to be an air of sadness in the INFP's spirit, blame it on this type's longing for the perfect in all things.

ha! :)

myers briggs anyone??

am off to delhi this afternoon to learn about the myers briggs type indicator...a friend from my CRY lifetime is looking at making a film exploring the "indian" type...mbti is a qnnaire that uses jung's psychological types ka theory in order to better understand ourselves. whatever!...will tell more when i learn more ;)

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!

kps gill must go!

there's no two ways about it...guys let's start a kps gill hatao campaign from the ihf, if we have to recover from the absolutely pathetic news that we didn't qualify for the olympics in hockey for the first time in 80years!! i'm so sad n so angry. for all the upper that srk's chak de was, however momentary n filmy, this downer is for real n will take a long time re-hauling. it makes me even more ill when i think of the money cricket continues to attract...on the other hand, maybe just change our national sport to cricket let our hockey glories be buried deep under our consciousness.

blue frog weekend

nothing sends me soaring higher than some good live music...and blue frog's just THE place...bob belden's animation on saturday night blew the roof away with some exciting nu-jazz mixed live with dj logic's dual vinyl turntables...i wish they'd let good ol louis banks sleep so late at night, instead of forcing some indo-jazz fusion on us...i mean he's been doing the same plink-plonking since the last 20years!...
but their ballistic version of "sunshine of your love" had us begging for more! for the first time, all my screaming for more was in vain...they simply didn't come back for one last one :(
a nice end to an evening with naresh over music, old b/w pics n stories, some good feni...aaahhhh!

come along!

ASIA SOCIETY
presents

as part of its CHINESE NEW YEAR Series


Chinese Restaurants: Beyond Frontiers


by Cheuk Kwan, Director


Followed by Q&A with Ajay Noronha, Cinematographer


Thursday, 13 March 2008. 6.30 pm


National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) Auditorium, 2nd Floor, NGMA,

Sir Cowasji Jehangir Public Hall, M G Road, (diagonally opposite Regal Cinema), Mumbai 400032

Telephone: 022-22881970


Film screening at 6.30 pm, followed by Discussion



Chinese Restaurants: Beyond Frontiers tells the story of the Chinese Diaspora through its most recognizable and enduring icon - the family-run Chinese restaurant. Filmmaker Cheuk Kwan travels across the world and comes face to face with Chinese communities who have transcended geographical, political, and social frontiers. Together, these community and personal histories illustrate the wider story of Chinese migration and settlement and celebrate the resilience and complexity of the Chinese Diaspora. They highlight the fluidity and highly personal nature of identity, and the struggle of ethnic minorities to break through cultural and racial boundaries. Cheuk Kwan was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. After earning his master’s degree in systems engineering in the U.S., he immigrated to Canada in 1976 where he embarked upon a successful career in information technology. Following a film workshop at New York University in 1998, he established his own production company, Tissa Films, which has produced the Chinese Restaurant series of documentaries.

sleep eludes me tonight...

...vikram seth offers some solace...as i contemplate unconditional love.

"All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right
And emptiness above -

Know that you aren't alone
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years."

contento mucho contento!

mama noronha shares her joy with the rest of us as we decide that anil lina baba will go stay in the recently won chembur flat this may!

the buddha smiled....finally!

the sun, it rose at 2.35am today!...and i saw the light...clear crisp dazzling n warm...just gonna enjoy that for now...n hope to radiate some too :)

bom-blr-bom

i didn't go to bangalore for over 6years n now suddenly in the last four months, i find myself going there thrice!...tomorrow with sunil to shoot astad deboo's performance at rang shankara. see you soon!

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!!

my first nomination!

...as the weather warms n the fog lifts...some forgotten fragments glint thru...like my first television awards nomination - best DoP for koffee with karan...not that i won it, just the excitement was fun but being on the other side of a tv production was the best part!!

the first indian television honours, originally conceived for dubai...felt kinda ott here at the andheri sports complex...

i me pic post

old wine older bottles

...every new year for the last 4, i resolve to finish my film on my dad...n every year somewhere along the way it gets derailed n i get increasingly lazy...no not lazy (yes! lazy) kinda struggling to find the motivation...last week, on an impulse, i decided to fly down to spend a couple of days with my uncle. my mum said she'd come along too...the night before the departure i had an idea! let's not shoot this time...enough of your boring camera-in-your-face shoots...i decided to do some audio recordings with my uncle n mum n her sister there...my usual last-minute scrambling around..my poor friends now inured to my ways chipped in - paro, suresh, mohandas, madhu, mahesh, sur, muks...so walkman dat in tow with two mics i went ...thought i'd take b/w digital stills in a desperate hope to get me thinking afresh anew...but na...i just wasn't thinking enough...of what i wanted n how. recorded random conversations with old family friends...n even took some pics...but haven't come back happy...the blessing of "the plot" never happened - mum forgot to carry her holy water n eddie didn't call to remind me of the good ol coconut n my uncle couldn't walk up so stayed back in the car...sighhhh! kya hoga mera??!! angry at myself n v disappointed i spent the next day alone on the beach...

the goa it is a-changin!

and fast n furiously!...altho i've been going there once in 2-3 months, the rate of change boggles me...largescale unplanned development...buildings, bungalows, industry...the global juggernaut is in spin here n how!...the same paranoia about the "outsider"...aggression n distrust rapidly replacing the sussegaad spirit...politically at an all-time naadir...while stashes of crores buy n sell the very soul of this state...

i scratch my head as i walk around "the plot" in verna, dreaming up my idyl...a place where kids of all ages, religion, caste n class can interact n share n play n learn...am still scratchin my head n chewing my nails...

BluD on the beach!

just back from goa...a quickie 'twas...to take my uncle (dad's brother) to verna to see "the plot". reverand father gregory noronha, is how he'd have answered the phone, but we kids always knew him as blue-dada...apparently after a blue bus he used to drive around in nagpore! like all good migratory nri's he comes in once a year around winter to remember "the good ol times"...besides work.

at 82, he's amazingly active...getting slower n lonelier...not much of his family left n whatever lil is left he don't seem to enjoy. so i'd walk with him down the crowded calangute beach as he let the once-golden sands massage his aching right foot...and we'd sit n watch the sun go down...right down today since there was no mist on the horizon...and he'd tell me things "just between you n me"...dreams, disappointments n hopes...

kept thinking of meeka n appa n my slow interrupted walks with them in the cold winter sun of delhi...much the same...they'd talk i'd listen...makes me think about how little they need now n yet how little we seem to be giving them...

picture-time!

trekked to town last week on one of those deliciously cold winter afternoons... was amazed to find bombay out in hordes consuming public art like i'd never seen before. so what if some of the works were bad...they made for unique backdrops ;)

the fog it is lifting...finally!

there are some things ian anderson (of jethro tull) just says so much better...

There's a haze on the skyline, to wish me on my way.
And there's a note on the telephone some roses on a tray.
And the motorway's stretching right out to us all,
as I pull on my old wings one white duck on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real? One white duck on your wall.

I'll catch a ride on your violin strung upon your bow.
And I'll float on your melody sing your chorus soft and low.
There's a picture-view postcard to say that I called.
You can see from the fireplace, one white duck on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real? One white duck on your wall.

lighting@sristi3

some of their situations...william'sroanna's
philly's
sahil's
tariq's

PS: a bar of chocolate to anyone who figures out the dominant mood ;)

birthday in b'lore

my friend ranjan had me over for lunch on the 25th...complete with belge beer n exquisite strawberry cheesecake...what a start...then later that night...

... i made them lots of goa sausages n irish cream n they got me this yumm chocolate cake.and early my b'day morning, sur's friend sushma drove me to their beautiful farmhouse nearby for breakfast n some very good coffee...aahhh nice!...needles to say, we ended the long day with lots more beer n music...er ya n some food!!

lighting@sristi2

so we closely observed daylight, watched films - bits n whole, looked at paintings, read about how the great masters worked - from nykvist to murty saab and slowly started working on individual lighting situations which they realised over the last 3days...
quite intense, it ended up being...working about 12hrs everyday...sat sun republic day too!!

lighting@sristi

early this month, mike (aka michael joseph of johnny gadaar fame) called from bangalore asking me to do a 10day camera n lighting workshop for his film students at sristi. 10days!!! i gulped...we settled for 7...i'd never done a week long lighting workshop. was most kicked about the fact that i would be teaching my niece-pooja!
now, i had seen some early dip films from sristi n loved them n thought this mike guy's got a good thing going. on our last trip to b'lore, visited the school n liked the vibe n met up with mike n bonded almost immediately. i've often felt frustrated at sophia's where i've been teaching for about 13yeaars!...and now quite looked forward to interacting with just 10students. that too all day for however long we wanted...an all new experience!

...and a happy new year it has been!

discovered the hippest jazz night club in town - blue frog! good international acts in a well designed space all centred around the performance stage.
school boys reunion! kaali, mullah, tun, shorty, batli reminiscing...missing pakya, ghoda, padhya, porky, chic...was years since we used those names! such fun!
did a pottery workshop at the prince of wales museum! something i had always wanted to learn. sitting at the wheel shaping a mound of clay to life is the closest spiritual experience i've had recently!!
...and how's the new year treating you??