The Hateful Kashyap - part III

Part-3 – the epilogue

From the day we reached Pune and the shoot was scheduled in next 3 days we were working with a very much constrained budget. And the budget as small as 20k was finalized because Rugved, my cousin and the music director of the film, would cook food for all of us and for all the meals. Right from the breakfast, the lunch the evening snacks and to the dinner of the whole crew…it was Rugved who was feeding us. Walking in the kitchen right when he used to get up till the final rinsing of utensils at night before he slept, Rugved managed to take rest for only a few hours in the daytime.

Working with such a dedication and the helpful nature it was also very difficult for him to digest the fact that we had called off the shoot. He had done everything that he was supposed to do, in fact a little more than the need. Keeping aside his ego, his self-respect and the stature at what he works in his home town he was all in for any kind of work just for me, just so that I could work without pressure. Even at such a time, half an hour after the final pack up, when we went back home and Rugved made coffee for all of us. The taste was amazing but his combined efforts of all the days in that one last coffee were so much that it was hard for me to consume it and even harder to keep the cup aside.

Even after everyone left the sets and went back to Mumbai, I stayed back there for three more days for a reason that, I was too ashamed to face my parents and I wanted to spend time with myself to think over what exactly went wrong. My dad called me and very softly he said that he is proud of me that I dared to take such a risk of making a big short-film…he said that he is not disappointed and not angry coz of the financial loss either…all he wanted was me to be back home in Mumbai. Sakhi was a great support when I was a loner. Spending a few hours talking with her would give me some hope.

A very close friend called Rupal Nand was also keen in keeping me out of my ‘very upset’ stage by taking me to movies or coming along to the breakfast and sometimes getting me tiffin so that I don’t skip my lunch.

Coming back I kept the Being Kashyap topic away for a month. It could only stay away from discussions but it couldn’t go away from my mind. Finally I prepared a rough budget…what if I made the film just as I imagined it before…with the Rs. 70,000 budget.

With that budget in mind and on paper, I started finding producers. I had a couple of short-films that I had already made to convince them that I do complete the projects. Words were spread to Sakhi and Rajdeep to find the producers – the one who they think might be ready to help us. After a month long search I met Abhay Shevde through my Uncle. Abhay Shevde had produced a compilation of short films called Bioscope. He was my hope.

Almost thrice a month I used to discuss him about Being Kashyap and he used to give me hopes and words. After persisting for 3 long months of June, July and August, he finally asked for the budget and distribution plans. I prepared a distribution plan but what possibly could be a plan for distribution for a short film? Festivals, screenings, Dvds…that’s it. What else? If there was any I was unaware of it.

Abhay Shevde was supported by a friend called Vinay Joshi who called me to give a short narration and explain the plans. “The amount is quite small, there won’t be any problem getting this budget.” that’s what Abhay Shevde had told me. I gave the narration and explained the plans of festivals, they promised to talk after the Ganpati Festival.

Finally, on September 9^th2014, Abhay Shevde told me that they are not interested in Being Kashyap.

I was also searching for other options but everyone was only ready to finance if the returns were guaranteed and that’s exactly what we didn’t have.

Ultimately…I started to get a feeling that this film is not meant to happen now. Of course for me to get at this though, it was a slow process and took quite a time. The impact of failure at every step was so much that my mind had blocked itself. I was not able to come up with any new concept, no new script written after December 2013. No new story developed. No new nothing. I wasted my 9 months being Kashyap, and even then I couldn’t be one. By the end of everything I almost started hating this film. I started to think that maybe the people whom I read this script were just praising it for the sake of praising. Maybe the script is not that good. Maybe it’s very very ordinary for a producer to put in money. Maybe…it’s is not a good idea to make this film at all.

I was dreadfully torn between two worlds of, ‘If you want it you have to go n get it’ and ‘if it’s meant to happen it will surely happen’. The feeling of being unwanted and ignored sucked. Then I heard it somewhere…if you have a very strong inner desire, a wish that you want to be fulfilled, then, you shouldn’t hold the wish too tight with you…instead you should let it out in the universe; and the universe will do its job of making it come true.

This blog, The Hateful Kashyap, is what I call ‘just cannot let it go’ impact. I decided to let Being Kashyap go. It will happen when it wants itself to happen. And I just hoped that it will be done by ME.

All I am doing now is waiting for Universe to do its job. The moment universe plans to do it…I am ready.

I am ready with my shoes on, I am ready with the posters of Satya, Taxi Driver, Inglorious Bastards, Fuh se Phantom, Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction and 34 other like these, I am ready with all the actors and crew on my speed dial, I am ready with the paper work…I am ready for the Being Kashyap.

And In all of this…what I exponentially learnt is, if I want to reach the heights at which I have seen myself…that Being Shoneel is going to be very difficult for me. And Being Shoneel is what I would always want to be. And inspite of many failures, I will be one.        

The End

The Hateful Kashyap - part II

Part -2 – the efforts.

Someone comes up to you and tells you that you have to buy a piece of ocean…depending on your budget. You see the problem here? You have a constrained budget and the area, from which you have to choose your part, is so vast. And yet you have to keep it accessible.

I was confused between what parts of Kashyap’s life and movies should be included. How much personal the film must go; What contexts could be included in the movie so that the general viewers (who are not Kashyap followers) will understand them without the internal references; how much amount of Western cinema’s influence on Kashyap and Kashyap’s influence on me should be mentioned and including all this, how should we establish Anurag Kashyap as everything that is described in the first part (the Prologue) – And All of this through the eyes of Kashyap’s fan!

After taking into consideration all of the above aspects, what I felt is needed was that, the script should be trendy & meaningful and crispy & classy at the same time. The genre should be humour and realisation together. With December 12^th to write the first letter of the script, taking a lot of time, doing quite a research and giving it a final specific dimension, in pieces and in halts the final draft of the script was completed by mid February.

The bounded and registered script was narrated to my close friend and a beautiful actress Sakhi Gokhale and I put forth to her the demand to rope in an actor called Rajdeep to play the lead role of Amit. (The protagonist was named Amit as it was shown that his parents fell in love while watching an Amitabh Bachchan movie, which was later excluded from the script taking into consideration the amount of things I already had to juggle with.)

The script was narrated to few others who were needed and many other who were not but were to be an indirect part of project.

In all of this, one person who was with me, Rock solid, was my elder cousin, Rugved Deshpande, a musician and lyricist. Once the things started moving ahead with certain pace, we decided of composing an original song for the film - One, to be used in the film and one more to be used for online promotion. Rupali Moghe, a very talented singer and a personal favourite of both Me and Rugved gave her voice to the unbelievably well composed sound track. This track was composed by Rugved himself after consistent changes of my demands which actually made him drive nuts. (Best-things are the outcome of creative frustration, is what I believe.)

The budget of the short-film, which would be of the 30mins duration, was racing up to Rs.70, 000. But everyone was ready to be a part of this project with one carrot hanged, and that was my craziness about reaching to Kashyap with this film. Everyone wanted THAT NAME IN THE TITLE of this film to read their names in the end scroll. With things like these happening, the budget was cut down to Rs. 20,000 now. With everyone’s dates that could be attained, we had a narrow window of 9 odd days, for us to shoot. But 9 days were more than sufficient. And I prepared a lavish schedule of shooting only two-three scenes a day. With 3 initial days left only for preparations and rehearsals.

The date of the shoot was slated. We were going on floor in April 1^st week. All the arrangements were done. The A3 size photo frames, with Kashyap’s photos in them were made as a part of production design. Leaving a couple of scenes to be shot later in Mumbai, the rest of the locations, shot division & other paper work were finalized. (We were going to shoot in Pune for convenience and location availability purpose). The crew of 12 people who were supposed to be fed and accommodated by the production (us) was set to come to Pune.

Things were going exactly the way they should be proceeding.

And with all smiles on my face a quote by Swami Vivekanand ran through my head – When things are happening exactly the way you want them to be, be sure that something somewhere is going terribly wrong.

A day before we were leaving for Pune – Rajdeep called to say that, as per the contract of the last film he signed, he has to be there for its promotion. The two people who were supposed to assist me for continuity and other technical stuff couldn’t make it as something changed for them at the last minute.

And the cinematographer would only come 8 hours before the call time of the first day, which meant he would only see the locations at the time of shoot.

And on top of everything, the available camera we were going to use degraded from Canon 5D to Canon 60D.

With all this we still began the shoot. Kashyap’s Photo-Frames were hanged as the property on Amit’s house walls. And another ‘Amit’ was finalised only a day before the first day of shoot, named Siddharth Menon. 

With Siddharth’s dates the lavish schedule had to be constrained to the 4-5 scenes a day. And on the first day itself after shooting 4 odd scenes, Siddharth got a call from his feature film director, Sachin Kundalkar, to come to dub his part of dialogues in Mumbai the following day and staying there for the next 4 days as well.

Siddharth, who was roped in, with great efforts and Sakhi’s enormous help, and who was playing the lead protagonist, had to leave the sets of Being Kashyap.

With all the apologetic and motivational words, Siddharth went out bringing the shoot to the halt and putting all of us in a great despair.

Believe it or not, with a whole lot of silence in the room after the actor went, the frame of Anurag Kashyap’s photo slipped down the wall with a huge noise.

The silence grew colder and my heart beats ran faster. All of us only gazing at the frame and then staring at each other.

Hardly had we felt that we should have believed in the sign. Even though you have the faith in 

positive vibes, we cannot ignore the existence of negative one.

The shoot was aborted the next day at the dusk as the sun set, leaving me shattered, speechless, insulted and at the lowest of my moral.

The despair continues…

The Hateful Kashyap - part I

Part -1 – the Prologue

“I am a sucker for Shahrukh Khan”, said Anupama Chopra in one of her reviews and probably on her show on channel Zoom, while reviewing Chennai Express. I guess I know what she meant but I am not aware if there was any pun in that sentence. If we take out that pun and see what she actually meant I would say I am a sucker for Anurag Kashyap.

I have read what Parallel Cinema is…I have known what is Italian Neo Realism and French New Wave. And I would like to believe, even if Kashyap himself doesn’t, that he is in the process of giving the hugest contribution to the cinema world. May it be Directing, Writing, Editing (for Queen, 2014) or for that matter producing a few content wise promising films. For the emerging and aspiring film makers he is known as most accessible and sensible director-producer. He is an inspiration to many. An Atheist himself, Anurag, is The God for many. I don’t believe in the term God or the names given to the idols that are worshipped, but I believe in the positive energy around, to which, people have named - God. The strength of your belief is the level positivity in the energy.

I am fond of cinema. I am not a clichéd person to say that cinema is my first wife…but I love this phenomenon more than how much I might love my wife. And if someone is doing good for something you love the most, you tend to like that someone too. Hence, as a small time tribute from all what I could manage to do it, I decided to shoot a Short-film dedicated to Anurag Kashyap.

The film was called, Being Kashyap.

The lingering thought of doing this one thing for the person who keeps me inspiring and motivated, even without his physical presence and relation with me, got its way out of my mind in December – 13 while I was doing a short term film making course in Pune, just to answer the people who judge the film-makers, not on their films or work, but on where they have learnt. So I had to have the best course and the smallest course as I didn’t want to waste my time attending lectures and writing 15,000 words thesis. I was studying at Vikshi Institute of Media Studies, where A.S.Kanal and his better half, Jayashree Kanal teach the basic film-making.

That way-out of the lingering thought was in the form of dialogues. Dialogues - that would be delivered by the true and genuine fan of Anurag Kashyap. It was when a huge smile came on my face when I saw a scene from Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, where we hear a gunshot. In the frame we see a white horse running, being ridden by the character called, Big Daddy…and with that gunshot the film goes high-speed (Slow-motion) so does the sound…and we see blood spilling down the horse’s legs and after a moment Big Daddy enters the frame, falling down, being shot dead and falls down going out of the frame. The rider less horse keeps running.

The huge smile was because I felt that Kashyap is the superb mixture of three-four things together, the Quentin Tarantino, the Martin Scorsese, some garnished Woody Allen and on top of everything, the main thing…Anurag Kashyap himself. The scene of Gulaal, 2009, during the final combat where Dilip is storming into Duke Bana’s Rajwadha, he shoots a couple of guards. The shot is this way, Dilip is climbing stairs and only the lower half portion is in the frame, camera is flowing him from behind and we hear a shot, camera keeps on following and as Dilip is storming in we see a guard lying dead on the right and we hear another shot again as he is walking up, a guard enters the frame rolling down the stairs and frames out. Both the scenes do not reveal the killing in their frames but show is the impact of the gun shot that is heard.

This is one example where I could see the co-incidental similarity of thoughts between Tarantino n Kashyap. Taking into consideration many such examples I felt that I don’t know If I would be working with Kashyap ever ahead…but what I really want is not working with him or for him but I want him to be fond of me or my work somewhere in the future. At least he should be proud of me and feel somewhat nice about him being my inspiration.

And that’s where the writing of Being Kashyap began...

With the Last scene written first and with the initial thoughts kept last.

To be continued…

The Band's Visit

     After a long time I am writing a blog. It’s not like there were no instances where I felt like writing, but after so many days, I now got the time to do it.

     

     Last two days was a marathon of different movies for me. I was occupied in my work since 1^st August and I got some time for myself three days before. And the outcome of this hectic schedule, with no time for me, was 6 movies in 48 hours and a shooting of a music video, of which the music is composed by my cousin brother, Rugved Deshpande.

     It started with “Poshter Boys” a regional, Marathi language film, a debut production of (according to me the only Hero & actor in Marathi industry) Shreyas Talpade and his wife. This one was a total commercial film. And I loved the way it was kept commercial throughout its run time. The comedy drama film was the much needed break for my stressed mind. The makers made it really well and actors yet again proved their worth in the industry here.

     Following this film I saw KICK. Words coming to my ears – ‘bhai ki film ayi hai..bhai ko dekhne jana hai, bhai rocks! Bhai! Bhai!! Bhai!!’ I wanted to see this film for this Bhaigiri that Salman Khan (Bhai) manages to pull off with his attitude. I don’t want to compare both of them on their credibility or acting  by any chance…but the image of Salman Khan in India for his fan club is like that of Robert Downey Jr. Both of them pull off the films on their attitudes. (I am talking only of the image and nothing else at all). Surprisingly, there is more to it (KICK) than just five songs, three actions sequences and two item songs in Kick. Means these things are there...along with this there are very very impressive production design, good camera work and finite use of VFX. Good work by Sajid Nadiadwala.  Even a few things in the story and Bhaigiri are good. The part in the Bar where Mithoonda and Bhai dance is the highlight of the film according to me. The paisa gets vasooled watching Mithunda dance like that at this age.

     Then was the time for my two favourites, Vishal Bhardwaj produced and Abhishek Chaubey directed, Ishqiya.

     In the evening I saw a disgusting film called – Saturday Sunday – by Makarand Deshpande. It was for that name Mac, the person who was the Sadhu (saint) with Shah Rukh Khan in his Caravan, singing ‘yun hi chala, chal rahi’, in Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Swades. This film, Saturday Sunday - was a pile of Shit all over. The maker managed to fool the producer really well by using big names and fine narration to make him lend some money for this film, bringing Aamir Khan to say good things in front of media and giving this ‘just fooling around’ film a release. Amruta Subhash, the actress playing the heroine in the film was super good in her performance. Taking into consideration the overall direction of the film, it is pretty clear that Amruta Subhash is a hardcore actress, improvising her character to the fullest and playing it most efficiently.

     After that I saw two films back to back – Dil Dosti etc. and the one I liked very much – The Band’s Visit.

     The Band’s Visit, is an Israeli film and the debut film of the film-maker, Eran Kolirin. There are many ‘best’ things about this movie. I am not comparing it with any other film, but verifying it according to the own language of cinema. There are out and out better movies out there but I prefer sticking to The Band’s Visit. The first best thing about this film is – Its Simplicity. Every single thing, every single aspect of this film is kept very simple. And because of this simplicity the maker has managed to keep simple things simple and great things great.

     The plot is simple as said above. It is - An Egyptian Arab Police band is called to Israel to perform for an inauguration. And the film begins with no one comes to receive them. The problem multiplies when they find no answer from the phone number they have to contact in case of emergency. Ultimately, trying their best to keep their dignity, self-respect and ethics at the par they take resort at a restaurant and spend the next 24 hours in very calm and quite Israeli city outskirts.

     The simple characters of Tewfiq and Khaled are the best ones in the band, the owner of the shop, Dina, is very impressive & lovabale and the shy & under confident Papi also stays in mind. There are more characters, the assistant to the General Tewfiq, who stay with another guy at the night with two other colleagues, on the day of the host’s wife’s birthday. He finds an end to his half written orchestra at that house. Telling us that some things are about to end just like that…some things do end when we least expect them to end, like relations. But that is the end. That is how life makes things happen somehow. Messages as simple as this one are stored in this film.

     The best part of the movie according to me was the scene at the Skating club with Khaled and Papi. Here, Khaled helps the shy Papi to woo the girl who was his blind-date. The whole silent patch speaks a lot and tells u many things which your subconscious mind softly takes in.

So much more to talk about this film, however, the film is so short that a few good words more and you will have the screenplay of it in this review.

     2 for the performances, 3 for the silence and the simplicity and 2.5 for all the other good things, making it score 7.5/10 for all of it. I slept in peace the other night. Thanks to The Band’s Visit.

Sarfarosh

     Walking on the streets of Delhi University, my friend said, ‘they say some scenes of Sarfarosh were shot somewhere around here’. I looked around and tried to mark the architecture. And said, ‘Maybe…but somehow it doesn’t seem so.’

It did not. I have seen Sarfarosh for more than 20-22 times. The legendary Sarfarosh watching saga (especially on the channel Star Gold and if at all shown on any other channel) is so old for me that my watching Sarfarosh can be divided into phases.

‘Because I like Aamir Khan’ phase. (9-11 years old)
‘Because I wanted to become a Police’ phase. (11-13 years old)
‘Because there were guns and action in it’ phase. (13-15 years old)
‘Because of the scene where Sonali Bendre finds out that Aamir is an ACP’ phase (16 years old…when I wanted to impress a girl in my class who wanted to marry a police officer).
‘Because then I understood the real story of the film’ phase (18-20)
and
‘Because I have been making short-films now and now I know how truly, amazingly great this movie is and that’s why out of respect I just not watch it but read and admire it’ phase. (The current one-22)

     Sarfarosh is directed by John Mathew Matthan. It is also produced and written by him. 

The film deals with various aspects and especially with the illegal dealing of arms from across the border in India and the genuine efforts of Mumbai police to crack the racket.

Having Aamir Khan and Sonali Bendre in the lead with superb piece of work by Naseeruddin Shah, Goving Namdeo and Mukesh Rishi (whom I was initially scared of, for his negative role in a Salman Khan film, Judwa) this film has become an excellent piece of art.

     This film was made in 1999; it’s a crime thriller and the first highly grossing and critically praised Police film. In the era where Dagangg, Singham, Rowdey Rathore and Policegiri were making space for police uniform attraction, Aamir was doing his second suspense thriller Cop film, Talaash. There is no intention of comparison but Sarfarosh was truly amazing than any of these mentioned above. No special effects, no out of the world action, no stupid dialogues to attract the market and no whimsical villains. Sarfarosh is the product with no adulteration and expressed in the purest form of cinematic language. Even though the filming lacked in having new era facilities, it still stays the best of all…the reason is…

     

It’s highly gripping screenplay and excellently written script. A good dialogue is not that what makes you clap, but the one that makes you silent. This script does not shout to attract attention, it communicates. Every line said in this film has a meaning and a context attached to its screenplay or in the satire of the scene. No scene is written or shot just for the sake of commercialism. However, even after being so strict with the language of cinema and purity of the script, the story and unfolding of events that are designed by the director that itself makes it sellable.

     The characters – there are many characters in the film. But each of them contributes to at least one important aspect in the film. Every character has been given his/her due importance to their existence and has a role in the story. Every person brings a depth and the meaning to the story in a whole.

     Using an actress just for the sake of selling points for the marketing of the film and still utilizing her character at the point where you do not see the story going ahead is a brilliant aspect of this film. The commercial directors today who use heroines to expose their half-boobs and copper toned thighs, should be shown this movie every two weeks until they understand the real meaning of having a female lead.

     The performance of every actor is mind-blowing. The fact that every actor knew that their character has a meaning in the story, they were tend to put in their heart and soul in the role they played. Of course, the director is to be complimented for directing them in such a way that every character stays in mind after the film just the way Aamir Khan stays in our minds. This means even the guy having a very small role, of Inspector Salim’s informer.

     In the sequence where two goons are held for interrogation and one who says that he will confess, is Nawazuddin Siddique. In 1999, Nawaz was interrogated by Aamir in Sarfarosh when he was a junior artist and must have been arranged by a junior artist coordinator. And In 2012, Nawaz was again interrogated by Aamir in Talaash, but this time Nawaz was a youth icon. The young generation loves him. Every classy director (by ‘classy’ I mean my favourites and the one who do understandable authentic communication to the viewers with the films and cinema) wants Nawaz to be a part of their work.

     Sarfarosh is a piece of Art. Very few are aware of the fact that Sarfarosh has the most authentic and the longest title sequence in the history of bollywood cinema. The whole movie proceeds on the visuals that go with the titles. The whole racket of ordering, packing, transporting, distributing and using of arms, is shown in the title sequence. The aesthetic trueness in the portrayal of locations and the behavior & the life of, police men, the top level mafia and the bottom level goons is worth watching and knowing.

Overall, there is no such film as Sarfarosh as it has marked its uniqueness and height.

     I would rate Sarfarosh 9/10; 8.5 points for the film and 0.5 for my biased love for the correct cinematic language.     

Ek Villain - There is one in every story

                                 

        This one was awaited. After a long time I was waiting for a movie to release. Means I was not waiting as desperately as I am waiting for Anurag Kashyap’s, ‘Ugly’ to release but this one seemed different, for one reason, that the trailer was too good. They had, kind of, revealed the suspense in the trailer itself. But what I was amused about is, if they have a typical bollywood suspense thriller plot, and that they have opened the suspense in the trailer, then what was the main content of the film?

‘Ek Villain’ quite well caters the thirst for twists and turns. This one is directed by Mohit Suri, who directed his first movie, Zeher (2005), at the age of 24, now directs his ninth bollywood film nine years later. I respect his consistency in making at least one film every year since his break. Ek Villain stars Siddharth Malhotra (Guru) in the lead, Ritesh Deshmukh (Rakesh Mahadkar) as the villain and there is a ‘thread’ in the story which pulls these two characters in front of each other, which is Shraddha Kapoor (Aisha).

It’s too early to discuss about the plot but I can reveal the things that they have revealed in the promos and songs. Early or late, it’s better not to discuss the plot in detail.

Plot description is that – Rakesh Mahadkar kills Aisha who is the love interest of Guru. Guru works for a Don in Goa, called Ceaser (played by Remo Fernandez). And Guru starts searching the killer. When he gets hold of him, without knowing why the killer killed Aisha, he beats him and tells him before throwing him in front of the hospital that, “I will come and beat you up. Beat you up so bad that you will crave for death. And just when you are about to die, I will save you. Let you recover. And then again come and beat you till you will pray for death and you will have to pray to me, coz I will be holding your last breath.”

Reading this plot, the film seems pretty senseless. It feels as if everything is revealed in the plot itself. But that's the beauty of this film. What we have known is just the 30% of what they have in the film.

Screenplay - The film has a very well managed non-linear screenplay. The story begins with the murder of Aisha. And trust me it takes a lot of guts to reveal the killer in first 15 minutes. So I am highly impressed with the screenplay.

It’s not a great film overall to store it as a classic feature, but few things in the movie are truly great, of which one is, as mentioned above, the screenplay.

Guru’s entry – OMG!! I am a guy and I am straight. However, I envy Siddharth Malhotra for the look that has been given to him by the makers. He has been given a spectacular entry as a villain.

Siddharth’s acting - The people who spread the rumors; that Karan Johar and Siddharth were dating until Siddharth got his break in Student of the year, should watch this film and see that the actor is deserving of what he has got. He has managed to look ultra-extremely superb (I don't even know that if it is right to use these 3 adjectives together but, I am not exaggerating). He has done a spectacular job playing his role as Guru and has astounded many people and his criticizers. I bet that girls have to sit cross legged after one point of the movie.

Ritesh’s acting – ‘Aise kaise!!’ Ritesh has proved his versatility in this film. He has proved that he is not limited to Sajid Khan movies (btw he has done a fabulous job in all Sajid Khan’s movies as well. Regardless of the movies, Ritesh was always good as gold). He has risen in his stature and level. He has developed himself very well and we can see him putting all his efforts. His shades of performances have a good source of outlet in Ek Villain’s Rakesh Mahadkar.

Music – Its not Rahman, its not Trivedi but the music is good even though its Mithoon and two others. Two or three songs do make some impact.

The Single-shot fight sequence – There is a fight sequence in the film that ends as the song ends which is shot unbelievably outstanding. Seeing the limited technology of Indian cinema if compared to the Hollywood, this shot is a small achievement by the one who designed & executed it. (Probably the action director). It reminded me of the lobby action sequence in the Korean film, ‘Oldboy’ second part of vengeance series by Chan Park Wook.

The small funny scene, which is well designed, is when Guru enters the mental hospital theater to find Chotu, is a feast to watch.

The reason given for Rakesh Mahadkar’s character being the character that it is, is very convincing.

I called Shraddha Kapoor as the thread as she has the role as slim as any thread, in which it is deeply felt that she needs to work a lot on her acting skills. She seems Plastic. However, she looks cute.

There are a few stupid things which unfortunately have the typical stupid bollywood touch. But they are only few. So that is good. At one point Suri has a scene that is inspired by a legendary sequence of the all time cult – Pulp Fiction (1995) where in John Travolta pushes the needle of the syringe in Uma Thurman’s heart to make her alive.

Over all film is up to the mark and a very good use of technical advancement is made to make the film look clean and attractive.

1.5 – Siddharth + 1.5 – Ritesh + 1.5 – for the screenplay + 1.5 – for all things mentioned above + 0.7 – to the directors consistency and trailer of the film.
Hence it is 6.7 out of 10.

Lost In Translation

        I did not know who the director of the movie was when I saw this movie for the first time. I started liking (maybe loving) the film as soon as the film opened with a simple frame and divine composition. As the film proceeded, it kept me involved and made me like it more. Then later, I read the name, Sophia Coppola, and leaned back into my chair and thought – perfect! It is in the genes and she is indeed a genius.

Lost in Translation is a story of two American people of different age and different lives facing the ‘do not know what our future is’ crisis in the backdrop of the Japanese city – Tokyo. Played by Bill Murray (Bob Harris) and Scarlett Johansson (Charlotte) who are the protagonists where Bob is a fading American actor whose marriage life is also on the verge of ending and Charlotte is a newly married wife of a photographer John (Giovanni Ribisi) who has brought her here with him as he has his photography assignment in Tokyo. Later it is revealed that he is giving more attention to a model Kelly (Anna Faris), making Charlotte face the conflict within herself of whom has she married.

Bill was the first choice of the director and she kept persisting him to play the role for almost a year. And Bill Murray as the hero of acting he is has played it efficiently and as it must have been expected by the director. Scarlett Johansson was only 17 when she accepted this role and though her real age doesn’t match the one in the film, says it that all in all she has done a mature job in the film. Both of them won the BAFTA awards for their role in this film.

The swing of the film begins when Charlotte sends a drink to Bob in the restaurant as she empathises with him and connects with his loneliness. This begins a friendship between them which later turns into the dilemma of two, whether it is just the company of the known each other they are enjoying in the unknown city or it is the serious love, making it worth an affair. None of this is literally uttered in the film anywhere so ever, nevertheless, the feeling one can get with the beautiful cinematic expression conceived by Lance Acord (Cinematographer) and Sophia Coppola (Director) is closely similar.

Being the daughter of legendary film-maker, Francis Ford Coppola, Sophia has lived up to the expectations. The pace of the movie is just what it should be like. The Aesthetics followed by the team and the makers is authentic and gripping.

There cannot be suitable title other than, Lost in Translation, for the film. Though this one is a comedy film, many other emotions subtly emoted in the screenplay might have been lost in the decoding by the viewers while watching it. However, film gets the 100 percent marks for filming it right.

A city is a big phenomenon to be shown in 90 minutes. Especially with the convincing lives of two major characters who must be kept in attention all the time. A city has many aspects, historical, economical, cultural and social and every aspect has too many sub-aspects and covering them all in a small duration is next to impossible, however, Coppola has managed to frame all the important and needful ones in the film very soberly and without hurting the Japanese sentiments. The makers have taken a good time to establish the characters and the city.

Comedy here is situational. The lives of the two characters are lost in the cultural shock of the foreign country. Two singular paths of culture crossing each other as bluntly as they possibly do and what we get to see is, Lost in Translation. The way by which Bob and Charlotte’s relationship develops is the reason why you keep smiling and feeling good about the characters after a long cinematic time. The dilemma that follows this is what you see it coming. And all you feel is, both the sides are right and wait for what the makers have thought to end it.

Keeping a small duration, you do not have to wait for long and the end touches you gently and pushes you back into your lives. The superb end written felt to me like, a fellow commuter who became friend in the journey, pulled me closer to her as we were reaching our destination, pressed her to me and pushed me back to say goodbye verbally. No questions asked and no answers needed.

The best part of the movie was the initial scene of the sets of shooting where the director speaks long and expressive lines to Bob, directing him for the shot and the interpreter translates it to only a few words. Bob asks if the director only meant that much, but ultimately not realizing that many and many things get lost in translation, the film continues.

The Return Journey

Writing after a few days is like getting out of the hangover of ‘not writing’. It’s difficult to make the words come to you. You have to fetch them. Well, you might succeed in fetching the words but what about the content? You have to make sure that the content is good and readable, and you should be able to not only fetch the words but also have the right knowledge and sensible opinions of the same.

I am lucky that this time, I was gifted with a ready-made content, given to me by my life and I am lucky that it’s is worth sharing.

Though no one in this world has interest in the personal life of mine, I would still share a few things here. Last four days, I wasn’t in my town – Mumbai.

Being a dreamer I always dreamt of going to Delhi one day, just alone, without parents, meet a few friends, have a great time and come back. I didn’t have any friends back then. However, I do have some friends now. And I did go to Delhi.

What happened in Delhi as a mini-travelogue, that I might write in some other post but this one is especially dedicated to the Return journey.

While going to Delhi, I was excited. Excited coz of two things, one, I was going to meet my friends there and two, coz I was going to cover the journey of 16 hours by train all alone for the first time. I had seen Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Strangers on a Train’ and all I was day dreaming was of meeting a person with whom I will get into talking and I will have a story to tell when I will be back. I had one, not while I was going to Delhi, but while coming back.

My friend came to see me off back to Mumbai at New Delhi Railway Station – Hazrat Nizamuddin. We reached the platform an hour before, as I observed while coming to Delhi, it is 20 minutes before that the train, Mumbai Rajdhani, arrives at the station. So we had to wait for 40 minutes standing. Standing, because all seats on the platform were occupied by families and their luggage. To my surprise I could see a train slipping in beside my platform and IT WAS my train. I couldn’t believe and so did my friend, Gauri. ‘Main soch rahi thi, train naa aye, toh tujhe wapis le jaati.’ (I hoped the train wouldn’t have arrived, so that I would have taken you back with me) she said. We went inside my coach and I jumped on my seat near the window. Later, a not-so-Indian and quite-so-African looking boy entered my compartment and sat in front of me. Unlike the stereotypical image & behaviour of the people whom we call Negros, this guy Smiled and all the typecasting thoughts of him were shunned away in a moment.

Not so later another boy, huge and carrying a similar ‘Wildcraft’ bag like my brother entered our compartment and sat beside the other guy. Now it was three of us, who were travelling by themselves. What could have possibly spoiled the fun was an old couple and their over 40s Son who would take the remaining three seats of our compartment. And yes, there was a man in his 40s asking either one of us to exchange our seat with a seat at the other end of the coach as the group of four was coming to travel. Finally when the fellow-commuters walked in – rather almost fell in with the luggage they could hardly carry, we discovered a delightful thing that they are not oldies. It was a group of girls – who looked confused and annoyed with the person asking us for the seat exchange and seemed that they wanted to get rid of him to smell their freedom and in-dependency for the journey.

On the side seats parallel to our compartment, there was a guy, oddly 26-27 in age, who was starring at our compartment, though the view from his window was better than the one from mine. He did it time-to-time, as all the four girls were sitting on our side of the seats. His Bad, I felt.

It was that guy, with the ‘Wildcraft’ bag and the ‘Cosco’ rackets whose name was Arnab, started the interaction with the girls.
Now Girls, whether in group or not, come with a fortified virtual wall of border that resists the interaction from boys even if guys want to have a genuine word with them. Which, I feel is right up to some extent. They have this set of ‘get the hell out of here’ expressions which they manage to show-off giving the new one every time, which makes them look even cuter. Well, this was not the case with these four girls commuting with us with cuteness and all, but in general, if not cute, they had this set of expressions I mentioned above. So it was Arnab who started entering the fortification with a steady move looking for the space from where the water could spill in.

I was busy talking to the other guy who smiled. He was from Sudan, he was studying in India and he was called Mojahid. He was in India since four years and was graduating this year. We both talked a lot. And for me, my ‘Strangers on a Train’ had already begun and there was no blackmailing here.

Slowly, even I entered the talks with girls and after an hour or something, though Arnab and I were not so welcomed, we were part of the communication. Having food together, talking about the vaguest of the topics from economics and Raghu Ram, the Governor of RBI to the football world cup 14, that is going on, we all, all of us, were keeping ourselves too much reserved. I told them that I am a writer, I guess I mentioned film-making too, but the writing was what I was focused on. Everyone was showing just one card of their pack. And I was honestly, liking that.

Many a times before, I hoped my journeys to be like this. Meeting new people, talking as if you all have met only after a long time and you are not strangers. Showing only one side of your nature and most importantly acting what you are actually not.

Everyone loves to act, some do not act because of the stage fear and over-attention and some do not act as they have different priorities. But everyone is acting. Everyone is wearing masks. This was the first time I was interacting with the commuters I hardly knew before and we were talking for hours. By the time we slept everyone was used to each others’ existence, except the one called Anjali who was silent most and aloof and another one named, Stuti, who was shy, introvert and was talking only because she was sitting in between the four talkative ones – Myself, Arnab, Tamanna and Aditi. I did interact with a complete stranger for an hour, some 10 years before but it was he interacting with a kid that I was. I remember that boy. He was then what I am today.

The best thing about this return journey was – All of us knew about the masks that all of us were wearing. All of us aware of what cards to open. All of us knew very well that ‘we are talking to them because now, we cannot avoid them’. The philosophy of ‘If you cannot avoid it, enjoy it’ was applied by everyone. Mojahid was giving me to watch a few social videos in his cell-phone. In all, everyone was trying to pull-off the time with whatever limited open selves of them could give away.

The 26-27 year old guy who was sitting on opposite seat of the compartment was looking at us time-to-time. We both exchanged the smiles for a few times, because I could feel him resisting himself to look here and cursing himself for not being part of talking to those girls. He pretended as if he paid no heed, and so he was briefly the topic of conversation amongst the girls too. (The poor boy would have been happy to know this. I hope he reads this blog someday and relate.) Finally, in the morning when my eyes opened, the first thing I saw was Aditi, Tamanna and Stuti were taking the birth-seat down and that guy was helping them, holding the bed-sheets and covers with one hand and holding the birth with all will and might with another. Finally, after a long wait he got a chance to be around them. As the day changed, even his fortune did for the morning, as the nicest looking girl in them was sharing the side seat with him.

Another layer of masks were put on, as soon as the train reached its destination. A brief formal goodbye and the faces were straight as iron base. Not a single wrinkle of emotions was seen on anyone’s face while we were walking down the platform of Mumbai. Not a good-bye wave nor a had-a-nice-time smile.

What we had in the 8 seats of the compartment was – the masks that were put to life for limited time, till the journey was ceased.

“To the world full of eyes,

blindfold is the punishment,

but to the punished set of eyes,

blindfold is the glimpse of hope.”

               -something that I felt as I saw the blunt faces of the people who smiled a while ago!

Kannathil Muthamittal (A peck on the cheek)

    Kannathil Muthamittal (A peck on the cheek)

    A very sweet Tamil movie made in 2002, starring P.S.Keerthana, Simran, R.Madhavan and Prakash Raj. The movie is directed by one of my favourites, Mani Ratnam, who also takes the credits for story and screenplay. Dialogues are written by a well known Tamil dialogue writer, Sujatha, whose words are used in epic films like – Guru, Shivaji - the boss, Enthiran (Robot) etc.
The story is set in the midst of Sri Lankan Civil War.

    Keeping the base of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the story, Mani Ratnam, has weaved in a superb dramatic screenplay of a 9 year old girl, notorious, lovable, sweet and smart, called Amudha (P.S.Keerthana) in a family of a dad who is strict and a writer, Indra (that’s what he writes his name as Author) (played by R. Madhavan) a very sweet mom, who is not scared of this strict dad, the real Indra (Simran) and two younger brothers. Amudha is loved by everyone and is the favourite in the school and colony. A happy family is faced with a twist when Amudha is told by her father the fact that she is not their child and she was adopted.

    Film that begins with the marriage of a couple in northern Sri Lanka, played by Nandita Das and Chakravarthy, jumps to their first night and leads to military forcing in the jungle where the couple is spending a good time. Chakravarthy tells Nandita to go home and runs into the dense jungle. Nandita das is brought to Rameshwar where the screenplay is cut at the point of her labour pain. It’s left at the audience to apply logic to know that she has given birth to Amudha.

The core film is when Amudha, starts insisting her parents to search for her biological mother. All they have is her mother’s name – Shyama. At the beginning Amudha tries her own sources which go out of hands when she does not come home from her school. One day, she goes away to Rameshwar (the family stays in Chennai) to search for her mother with her cousin. That time Madhavan commits Amudha to take her to her biological mother, about whom they are not sure if she is dead or alive.

    What is impressive is the acting of all the artists…everyone has done a fabulous job. Now since it is proved that Mani Ratnam can even make a stone shine like a diamond (taking into consideration the explicit performance by Abhishek Bachchan in Yuva, Guru and Ravaan), acting had to be over the top. Even more impressive is the cinematography – Ravi K. Chandran. Superb camera work and deliverance by this man. A 30 percent credit has to go to Ratnam for conceiving the shots. Especially in the song “Sundari”. Though shot in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry, the cinematic difference is felt between the shots of India and Sri Lanka.

    Music – Just as the film begins, the highly soothing harmony begins with the top shot, and that’s exactly where you understand (if you follow that man’s music) it is A.R. Rahman. He did just what he is good at.

    Now to the favourite factors of the movie…credited entirely to Mani Ratnam, that only he can make sequences like these look unique on paper.

    The love in the family is the nicest feature of this film. The attachment in the family, Amutha’s relation to her father, her grandfather, to her mother and her brothers, all of it is particularly defined and put into us. Every Father loves his daughter more than anyone…it is exactly portrayed likewise in this film. Though it’s difficult to give equal love to the adopted one for the mother, who she has the children of her own, Simran is shown giving Amudha, the equal love and priority (and the reason behind this is the best part of the movie, which I will discuss later). Her Grandfather (Mother’s father), loves her as she is the first child of the family. And then, the brothers, both younger, where she always fights with the immediate one and the latter one always complains.

The man has something in his presence on the sets of his films while shooting the emotional scenes. He just makes it unbelievably emoting and expressive. What he writes must be the result of what he has felt at least ones in his life. But they are amazingly captured and put through.

    The presence of Prakash Raj – For bollywood people, they have seen and loved Prakash Raj for his roles in Wanted, Singham and Dabangg2. He makes the best whimsical villain. But watch this guy in this film. His Role is as jolly and connective as the best people in our groups. He has a white collar role and a person who has a helping nature, who helps the family to search for Shyama, during the high of LTTE and Sri Lankan Military fights and shootouts, as if they are his own family. Superb role, written for and played by Prakash Raj.

    The Shootout sequence in Sri Lanka – Of course there is no comparison between the two I am going to mention, but what I am talking about is the feel – Remember the first 30 mins of Spielberg’s ‘Saving Private Ryan’? The superb shots taken and presented. The shootout sequence at a garden and the building nearby between Sri Lankan Military and LTTE fighters is made very very well and shot creatively.

    And finally the best sequence I liked, is the reason why Simran loves Amudha equally is the flashback of how Amudha was adopted. When Amudha asks – How was I adopted? R. Madhavan replies with – We did not adopt you who adopted us – taking us to the flashback at Rameshwar and the love story of Madhavan and Simran. A superb sequence, highly peppy and sticking to the characters that are placed in. No character behaves out of his nature. And giving two entirely different moods equal justice keeping the same characterization for everyone is very difficult and Mani Ratnam is one of the greatest who does it well.

    

    Finally, I would rate this movie a 6.9/10. (Mind you 8/10 are like popular’s 100/10 for me.)    

The result of SSC

Today is 17^th June.

The thing special about today is concise and confined. Some people were waiting for this day to come, must have planned this day minute by minute, and recharged their phones, the eagerness and hope and fear in their eyes. Some kids of 15-16 must be having their heartbeats reaching to the optimum intensity unless they were caught while some ill-doing by someone before. But for the rest of the people, this day would be just a normal Tuesday as it is in every week. A day following Monday and a day preceding Wednesday.

Today is the result of 10^{th standard}, SSC.

What is a 10^th Std? It is as important as the final exam of the senior year of the high school. After which, on your academic marks (score), depends which college will accept you. Better the college, better the chances of the future.

10^th in India is one of the most Hyped phenomenon in a student’s life. It is said to be the stepping stone of the kids’ career. It was different some 10 years ago. Your score decided which stream you would go for. Least score window meant Commerce, Medium score window meant Arts and Better score window meant Science. Somewhere someone might choose Diploma, which is a sugar coated face-off engineering I would say. But now things have changed. Kids go where they want to if college puts up their name, in the lists they release which contains the name of the students which the college (here, high school) is ready to accept for the year.

I agree that it is important, but people do not understand that the times have changed and there is a lot more in this world to do apart from Arts, Commerce and Science. Even though one chooses the stream of his choice, it may not be like, he is getting the exact subject he really want to study and flourish in. he has to go through something that he never wants, or something that is not going to make one bit difference to his entire life that he is going to lead.
This is not the fault of the subject. It is the fault of the system – educational system.

Unfortunately, the system cannot be changed. But what can be changed is the attitude. I have seen parents pressurizing their kids to bring good marks. I have seen them comparing their own kids with the better competitors in their class or area. Some even threaten kids. Why? Because, they should not be let down if all other kids get more marks, and the kid should get a better college.

What I have to say is, ask the kid what he wants to do and let him decide the score for him. If the kid wants to do a business, why torture the kid by making him study at IAS level? And at 16, Kids are sane and sound. If they know how to lose their virginity by 16, they know what they have to do to pamper themselves for their careers.

And it would not have been this much of problem, if the limit of “good marks” was set at something. People are just not satisfied with anything. My cousin was in 10^th, it is his result today. His mother is over ambitious with him…I mean too much. It’s a joke in our family that on the first day of my cousin’s exam, people called his mother to wish her luck and completely forgot that it’s her son who is going to give the exam. 100% is the highest one could get. “The Percent” means “of them”. And according to me 80% is a decent score. It needs hard work, dedication, talent and a lot of study to acquire this number. I had score 81.23% in my SSC, 6 years back and I knew what I went through to achieve this. I am not talented or extra-ordinary. Few are, I am not talking about them. But what about the rest of them who are compared to them and forced and tortured to be one of them? For my poor cousin, the scales of scores are marked this way –

91% - 93% = He got less marks.

93% - 95% = this is what the minimum he is supposed to get. Nothing big.

95% - 97% = the kid has put some efforts they would say.

97% and above = Yes, he has scored very well.

Though the number just grows by two, the efforts and hard work to jump to that two, is in multiples.

People claim and pretend that they are not like the parents who force their kids to get such marks. They say they have told their kid just to give his 100% and whatever marks he will obtain will be accepted and celebrated. However, what happens behind the closed doors of the study room is only known by that, unfortunate kid and his unkind parents.

Why do we do all this? To become big? I am not giving people an excuse but I want them to keep in mind these examples.

Sachin Tendulkar, Bill Gates, Charlie Chaplin, Steve Jobs…these are the few that are on top of my mind right now. If I Google, the number would just go on.

These people have put themselves above the pinnacles in their fields. Everyone was a dropout.

Good grades are not everything. The life and mentality of that kid is.

“I was born intelligent, education ruined me!” I believe this saying sometimes. Education is the framework for your vision, agreed!

However, the frame sets its limitation too.

Do not run for education, run for knowledge. Do not go for marks, go for information. Do not go for biggest college, coz what is inside you is going to make you big.

Maybe the best of the education will create an extra-ordinary person. But what is created by the knowledge and instinct is a person above the excellence of any extra-ordinary.

Where syllabus ends, a visionary is born!