At the very outset I would like to make a couple of things very clear – this is not a critique on any particular kind of movie or personality and I’m not a film maker, at least not yet. So what exactly is on my mind & what am I trying to say? Well for starters what I need to impress upon is that cinema at the end of day in spite of being an art form, still has a business consideration to look into and that is a fact that cannot be denied by anybody. Just for the sake of discussion let us forget about movies being good or bad and just look at movies on the whole. So be it a commercial movie, small middle of the road movie, a completely “offbeat” movie – let us for sometime put them all in the same bandwidth & needless to say this is irrespective of the language & the genres.
The only exception to what I’ll be writing here would be the rare movies made by people who absolutely do not care for how the audience would react to the movie. In fact they are not bothered about the audience at all since they are after all making the movie only for themselves. So if you consider Bollywood movies released in 2009 so far the success rate has been below 10 % - in the 1st Qr alone there were 3 successful movies out of a total 31 (read it here- http://passionforcinema.com/kudos-to-raaz-2-slumdog-crorepati-dev-d/) and in April the releases so far have all been complete failures.
The situation is not too different when it comes to regional cinema. Whether its Tamil,Telugu,Malayalam or Kannada the number of successful movies in the year so far would be extremely low. And believe it or not if the success ratio currently is so poor, one needs to understand that this is only considering the movies that at least managed a release. So how would the situation be if one considers the movies lying in the cans for ages?Obviously its not going to look better. It’s another story that the ongoing strike in Bollywood has seen the release of some long pending movies like Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaath and Ek Se Bure Do (no I’m not mentioning anything about these movies here ).
What I’m trying to put across to everyone is that in today’s recession period, film making can be one of the most risky business initiatives. To understand this a little better let us first look at the different schools of thought about how to make a successful movie-
1.Have big stars; you have a winner on your hands- While I will definitely agree that stars bring a lot of early attention to the project and help in a lot of ways, then again I don’t think stars alone can pull of a movie just like that. The most recent example of this can probably be 8* 10 Tasveer and CC2C.2.The story and the story alone is important- Yeah sure the story and the screenplay is important. But then can somebody tell me why a Barah Anna, Luck By Chance or a Gulaal haven’t really succeeded the way they should have ?3.A top notch director/production banner will do the trick- Sure its nice to have a big production house backing your movie and a well known director helming your movie- but does it spell sure shot success? I don’t think so. What would you then say to Dhoondte Reh Jaoge (UTV), Ek- The Power of One ( Sangeeth Sivan- K Sera Sera ) or a Delhi-6 ( Raykesh Omprakash Mehra- UTV) ?
So what now comes across clearly is that there is no specific formula to ensure the success of a movie. Considering all this have the number of movies being released or going on the floors reduced? Have the number of people moving to Mumbai, Chennai,Hyderabad –( the 3 main locations of film making in India ) wanting to act, direct ,write or do anything else connected with movies reduced? Have the number of people wanting to shift from some other industry to the film industry reduced? The answer is a big no to all these questions. But then one needs to understand that in the current recession period what is becoming difficult are the following-
1.Get a production house to back your movie if you are still to make your mark2.Getting corporate tie-ups/ in film advertisement to help in giving some monetary support.3.Getting the right break in the industry if you are a new comerand the list goes on
All this said & done am I trying to say that film making is to be avoided? That one should not make movies till the recession period is over? Certainly not, but what I’m only saying that one needs to exercise a lot more caution when it comes to making a movie now. Be it in all respects-choice of cast & crew, choice of subject, deciding the budget etc all become quite important. There can be nothing more passionate than making movies and also writing about it like I’m doing here. Hence it’s all the more imperative that we realize the risks associated with film making and try to overcome them rather than ignore them.
On a parting note I wish to point out that I’m looking forward to the release of Frozen, a movie made with a lot of passion and with a lot of risk by everyone associated with it. After around 2 years of struggle, the movie is finally all set to release on May 8th 2009 (confirmed by Shivajee Chandrabhushan- the director & producer) and I just wish that movies like these definitely attain success and ensure that the passion and the risk behind such a venture pays off.
Note- I have only written this to point out the current situation as far as Indian cinema is concerned from my standpoint. I would definitely appreciate a wholehearted constructive discussion on the same and look forward to those in the industry sharing their thoughts on the same over here.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/how-risky-is-film-making-in-india-today/
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Priyadarshan- The Run Machine of Indian Cinema
So far this year we have seen the frenzy generated by SDM and the success of movies like Dev D and Raaz- the Mystery Continues. And of late we have been hearing a lot about the ongoing strike in Bollywood. But there has been a landmark that was also noticed in the 1st Qr of 2009, something which did not really get so much of attention. This landmark was achieved on 13th February ’09 when Billu got released. No this write-up is not something about either Billu or SRK. For those who are not aware I wish to inform that Billu is the 75th movie directed by Priyadarshan in his career spanning around 25 years in Indian Cinema. This is indeed a commendable achievement because there aren’t too many directors with such a big tally of completed projects and more so when it’s from someone like him who has successfully made a transition from South Indian cinema to Bollywood.
Oh! Yes we all know that a lot of his recent movies have started getting repetitive. There are valid complaints like he’s been using the same locations time & again, he’s been working with a stock set of actors, he continues to remake his own movies or those directed by others (mainly Malayalam) etc. But all said and done we just cannot ignore the fact Priyan has given us countless memorable movies in Malayalam like Chithram, Thalavattom, Kalapani etc and even some of his early Hindi movies have been quite refreshing like Gardish & Virasat. This year also has finally seen the release of his critically acclaimed Tamil movie- Kanchivaram. This year also is seeing him work on serious movies like Bum Bum Bole (with Darsheel Safary and supposedly inspired from Children of Heaven) and an untitled movie on AIDS awareness with Akshay Kumar and Mohanlal.
Hence considering all this I think this is the right time to look back in time and re-visit some of the best works of Priyan. Given below are 5 films that I feel would be top on my list and they are described below in chronological order. Considering his repertoire it has not been easy for me to choose the movies. But nevertheless here I go-
Poochakke Oru Mookuthi- This Malayalam movie released in 1984 was Priyan’s debut movie which he went on to remake later in Hindi as Hungama. The movie was a brilliant comedy of errors and had superlative performances not just from the lead cast of Shankar,Menaka and Mohanlal but also from the supporting cast like Nedumudi Venu,Sukumari, Shankaradi, Jagathy Sreekumar etc. The ‘chaotic’ style of climax which is a Priyan trademark actually originated from this movie. One of the best scenes from this movie is when Shankar an aspiring singer comes to teach music to Sukumari and Nedumudi Venu interferes. The scene does not feature in Hungama. Given below is the video link- have a look & enjoy J
Thalavattom- Released in 1986, this Malayalam movie was unsuccessfully remade by Priyan later in Hindi as Kyunki. With more than subtle shades of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, what made the movie special was Mohanal playing the character of Vinod who is mentally ill. Mohanalal’s portrayal was extremely convincing and was ably supported by others like Karthika, Nedumudi Venu, Soman,Jagathy Sreekumar etc. Inspite of the slightly serious subject Priyan retained his comic touch in the movie with some memorable comedy scenes like the one in the link below-
Music by Reghu Kumar also deserves a special mention here.
Chithram- Released in 1988, this Malayalam movie is one of the biggest hits in the history of Malayalam cinema. The movie was so successful that it went on to be remade in a lot of other languages including Tamil and Hindi but none of them were directed by Priyan, The movie was written by the prolific actor-writer Sreenivasan and once again had Mohanlal in the lead. Chithram is the story of Vishnu ( Mohanlal ) a photographer who goes to jail for accidentally killing his wife and then escapes from jail to make money for his child’s surgery. That’s when he comes in contact with Kalyani ( Renjini ) and her uncle ( Nedumudi Venu) who want him to act as Kalyani’s husband to make her father ( Poornam Vishwanathan ) happy as he is ill & on vacation. What ensues is a comic series of adventures with an extremely emotional climax. Music by Kannur Rajn was also one of the main reasons for the movie’s success. Given below is the link to the video of my favorite song from the movie – Doore kizhakkudikkum sung by M.G.Sreekumar and Sujatha.
Kilukkam- This Malayalam movie released in 1991 was also remade by him in Hindi as Muskurahat. It is certainly one of the best comedy films in Malayalam cinema – but definitely not just a routine comedy. While Mohanal as Joji the tourist guide in Ooty and Revathy as the orphan in search of her father were certainly commendable, IMO the actual star of the movie is Jagathy Sreekumar who plays the role of Mohanalal’s friend Nishchal.This movie is one of the best examples to showcase the powerhouse of talent that Jagathy Sreekumar is. Watch the scene in the video below – one of my favorites from the movie. This was one of the earlier works of Sharat Saxena in South Indian cinema.Music by S.P.Venkatesh was also in line with the mood of the film.
Kalapani- Not all movies directed by Priyan were comedies and Kalapani ( Siraichalai-Tamil, Saza-E-Kalapani-Hindi) is a fitting example to underline the statement. The movie told the poignant story of a doctor (Mohanlal) who is wrongly accused of being a naxalite and sent to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands). The movie brilliantly described the cruelty that the Indian freedom fighters suffered in the Cellular Jail during the British regime. Performances by the supporting cast of Amrish Puri,Prabhu,Tabu,Annu Kapoor etc were all praiseworthy. Music by Ilayaraja and cinematography by Santosh Sivan further enhanced the appeal of the story.Earlier this year when I finally got to visit the Cellular Jail, I couldn’t but help recollecting a lot of scenes from the movie.
Apart from these 5 movies certain other movies also deserve a special mention like Thenmavin Kombathu (Saat Rang Ke Sapne by Priyan inHindi), Akkare Akkare Akkare
the 3rd part in the classic Dasan-Vijayan police series , Vandanam, Mukundetta Sumithra Vilikunnu. Do let me know what you all feel about these movies and about the other movies made by Priyan. Here’s hoping that Priyan – the run machine of Indian cinema continues to entertain us with his movies and makes even better movies hereafter.
Note- I have not mentioned any Tamil or Hindi movie in my list because all his movies in Hindi and Tamil have been direct remakes of other South Indian movies (mainly Malayalam) directed by Priyan himself or others.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/priyadarshan-the-run-machine-of-indian-cinema/
Oh! Yes we all know that a lot of his recent movies have started getting repetitive. There are valid complaints like he’s been using the same locations time & again, he’s been working with a stock set of actors, he continues to remake his own movies or those directed by others (mainly Malayalam) etc. But all said and done we just cannot ignore the fact Priyan has given us countless memorable movies in Malayalam like Chithram, Thalavattom, Kalapani etc and even some of his early Hindi movies have been quite refreshing like Gardish & Virasat. This year also has finally seen the release of his critically acclaimed Tamil movie- Kanchivaram. This year also is seeing him work on serious movies like Bum Bum Bole (with Darsheel Safary and supposedly inspired from Children of Heaven) and an untitled movie on AIDS awareness with Akshay Kumar and Mohanlal.
Hence considering all this I think this is the right time to look back in time and re-visit some of the best works of Priyan. Given below are 5 films that I feel would be top on my list and they are described below in chronological order. Considering his repertoire it has not been easy for me to choose the movies. But nevertheless here I go-
Poochakke Oru Mookuthi- This Malayalam movie released in 1984 was Priyan’s debut movie which he went on to remake later in Hindi as Hungama. The movie was a brilliant comedy of errors and had superlative performances not just from the lead cast of Shankar,Menaka and Mohanlal but also from the supporting cast like Nedumudi Venu,Sukumari, Shankaradi, Jagathy Sreekumar etc. The ‘chaotic’ style of climax which is a Priyan trademark actually originated from this movie. One of the best scenes from this movie is when Shankar an aspiring singer comes to teach music to Sukumari and Nedumudi Venu interferes. The scene does not feature in Hungama. Given below is the video link- have a look & enjoy J
Thalavattom- Released in 1986, this Malayalam movie was unsuccessfully remade by Priyan later in Hindi as Kyunki. With more than subtle shades of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, what made the movie special was Mohanal playing the character of Vinod who is mentally ill. Mohanalal’s portrayal was extremely convincing and was ably supported by others like Karthika, Nedumudi Venu, Soman,Jagathy Sreekumar etc. Inspite of the slightly serious subject Priyan retained his comic touch in the movie with some memorable comedy scenes like the one in the link below-
Music by Reghu Kumar also deserves a special mention here.
Chithram- Released in 1988, this Malayalam movie is one of the biggest hits in the history of Malayalam cinema. The movie was so successful that it went on to be remade in a lot of other languages including Tamil and Hindi but none of them were directed by Priyan, The movie was written by the prolific actor-writer Sreenivasan and once again had Mohanlal in the lead. Chithram is the story of Vishnu ( Mohanlal ) a photographer who goes to jail for accidentally killing his wife and then escapes from jail to make money for his child’s surgery. That’s when he comes in contact with Kalyani ( Renjini ) and her uncle ( Nedumudi Venu) who want him to act as Kalyani’s husband to make her father ( Poornam Vishwanathan ) happy as he is ill & on vacation. What ensues is a comic series of adventures with an extremely emotional climax. Music by Kannur Rajn was also one of the main reasons for the movie’s success. Given below is the link to the video of my favorite song from the movie – Doore kizhakkudikkum sung by M.G.Sreekumar and Sujatha.
Kilukkam- This Malayalam movie released in 1991 was also remade by him in Hindi as Muskurahat. It is certainly one of the best comedy films in Malayalam cinema – but definitely not just a routine comedy. While Mohanal as Joji the tourist guide in Ooty and Revathy as the orphan in search of her father were certainly commendable, IMO the actual star of the movie is Jagathy Sreekumar who plays the role of Mohanalal’s friend Nishchal.This movie is one of the best examples to showcase the powerhouse of talent that Jagathy Sreekumar is. Watch the scene in the video below – one of my favorites from the movie. This was one of the earlier works of Sharat Saxena in South Indian cinema.Music by S.P.Venkatesh was also in line with the mood of the film.
Kalapani- Not all movies directed by Priyan were comedies and Kalapani ( Siraichalai-Tamil, Saza-E-Kalapani-Hindi) is a fitting example to underline the statement. The movie told the poignant story of a doctor (Mohanlal) who is wrongly accused of being a naxalite and sent to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands). The movie brilliantly described the cruelty that the Indian freedom fighters suffered in the Cellular Jail during the British regime. Performances by the supporting cast of Amrish Puri,Prabhu,Tabu,Annu Kapoor etc were all praiseworthy. Music by Ilayaraja and cinematography by Santosh Sivan further enhanced the appeal of the story.Earlier this year when I finally got to visit the Cellular Jail, I couldn’t but help recollecting a lot of scenes from the movie.
Apart from these 5 movies certain other movies also deserve a special mention like Thenmavin Kombathu (Saat Rang Ke Sapne by Priyan inHindi), Akkare Akkare Akkare
the 3rd part in the classic Dasan-Vijayan police series , Vandanam, Mukundetta Sumithra Vilikunnu. Do let me know what you all feel about these movies and about the other movies made by Priyan. Here’s hoping that Priyan – the run machine of Indian cinema continues to entertain us with his movies and makes even better movies hereafter.
Note- I have not mentioned any Tamil or Hindi movie in my list because all his movies in Hindi and Tamil have been direct remakes of other South Indian movies (mainly Malayalam) directed by Priyan himself or others.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/priyadarshan-the-run-machine-of-indian-cinema/
Revisiting Dasavatharam
At the outset let me make it clear that this write-up is not an attempt to review Kamal Haasan’s Dasavatharam.A lot of discussion has happened about the merits and the demerits of the movie on PFC as well as other forums so I’m not going to make another attempt for the same. Then why am I writing this post on the movie? Well because tomorrow- 17th April marks the release date of the Hindi version of the movie (Dashavatar) and so I thought of revisiting the movie and sharing some thoughts on the same.
The release of the movie couldn’t have been timed better. Due to the strike in Bollywood, there is a clear lack of content to feed the theatres and multiplexes and thus a release like this is welcome. So all those who have heard of the movie but couldn’t watch it in its Tamil or Telugu version can now watch it in Hindi. While I do not expect the Hindi version to be a blockbuster, I’m sure that it will definitely get noticed.
Around 10 months after its successful release in Tamil & Telugu, the Hindi version is finally releasing. While there will always be a debate on whether the butterfly effect/chaos theory angle was actually utilized well, whether the SFX work could have been better, whether some of the characters portrayed by Kamal Haasan were necessary or not, one thing that should be accepted is that the movie falls in the category of – love it or hate it but you can’t ignore it. For ages Rajnkikanth and Kamal Haasan have been the pillars of the Tamil Film Industry and both have charted their own paths to glory.
While Rajnkikanth played to the gallery and delighted the audience, Kamal Haasan went in for artistic satisfaction and in the bargain also developed his own niche audience. After Sivaji-The Boss redefined the outlook of Tamil movies in the eyes of the rest of the country, Dasavatharam only helped in re-enforcing that outlook even better. In spite of the movie being as commercial as it could be Kamal Haasan still pushed himself hard physically and mentally to portray the 10 different characters. Yes while it is easy to criticize the make-up let us realize that wearing such make-up and shooting for months together is not an easy task. Of course due credit needs to be given to the producer Aascar Ravichandran whose astute marketing brain played no less a role in ensuring the movie’s success.
Apart from Kamal Haasan and Aascar Ravichandran, a special mention must be made of K.S.Ravikumar, the director. Now all said & done – K.S.Ravikumar may probably never end up winning any National Award ( forget the Oscars ) but one needs to accept that when it comes to hard core commercial Tamil films, he’s probably among the best in the industry today. He’s made movies with nearly every big star and knows the pulse of the star and the audience quite well. Another person whose work needs a mention here is Himesh Reshamiyya who has composed the songs for the movie. I am highlighting him here for two reasons- not only did he compose songs keeping the true requirement of the movie (no trademark Himesh songs ), this may probably be the last time( atleast for now) one gets to actually hear Himesh composing for any other hero’s movie as Himesh is now only composing movies in which he acts.
Giving you below links to two of my favorite songs in the movie-
The first one is Kallai Mattum Kandal sung by Hariharan and chorus
The second one is Mukunda Mukunda sung by Sadhna Sargam and Kamal Haasan
Both the songs are quite different in approach and concept.
The Hindi release of the movie is also important for its heroine- Asin who is currently very much in the limelight after Ghajini & is being seen all over due to the Mirinda ads. Till her next release London Dreams comes along, Dashavatar is there to keep the audience reminded about her. And finally I would like to conclude by paying my homage to 2 eminent film personalities associated with the movie & who are now no more amidst us- H.Sridhar the brilliant Sound Designer and Sujatha the writer (who along with Crazy Mohan and K.S.Ravikumar had helped Kamal Haasan with the story creation).So for all those who have seen the movie and also for those who will see it now – this was a revisit to the movie from my side.
Originally published in PFC-check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/revisiting-dasavatharam/
The release of the movie couldn’t have been timed better. Due to the strike in Bollywood, there is a clear lack of content to feed the theatres and multiplexes and thus a release like this is welcome. So all those who have heard of the movie but couldn’t watch it in its Tamil or Telugu version can now watch it in Hindi. While I do not expect the Hindi version to be a blockbuster, I’m sure that it will definitely get noticed.
Around 10 months after its successful release in Tamil & Telugu, the Hindi version is finally releasing. While there will always be a debate on whether the butterfly effect/chaos theory angle was actually utilized well, whether the SFX work could have been better, whether some of the characters portrayed by Kamal Haasan were necessary or not, one thing that should be accepted is that the movie falls in the category of – love it or hate it but you can’t ignore it. For ages Rajnkikanth and Kamal Haasan have been the pillars of the Tamil Film Industry and both have charted their own paths to glory.
While Rajnkikanth played to the gallery and delighted the audience, Kamal Haasan went in for artistic satisfaction and in the bargain also developed his own niche audience. After Sivaji-The Boss redefined the outlook of Tamil movies in the eyes of the rest of the country, Dasavatharam only helped in re-enforcing that outlook even better. In spite of the movie being as commercial as it could be Kamal Haasan still pushed himself hard physically and mentally to portray the 10 different characters. Yes while it is easy to criticize the make-up let us realize that wearing such make-up and shooting for months together is not an easy task. Of course due credit needs to be given to the producer Aascar Ravichandran whose astute marketing brain played no less a role in ensuring the movie’s success.
Apart from Kamal Haasan and Aascar Ravichandran, a special mention must be made of K.S.Ravikumar, the director. Now all said & done – K.S.Ravikumar may probably never end up winning any National Award ( forget the Oscars ) but one needs to accept that when it comes to hard core commercial Tamil films, he’s probably among the best in the industry today. He’s made movies with nearly every big star and knows the pulse of the star and the audience quite well. Another person whose work needs a mention here is Himesh Reshamiyya who has composed the songs for the movie. I am highlighting him here for two reasons- not only did he compose songs keeping the true requirement of the movie (no trademark Himesh songs ), this may probably be the last time( atleast for now) one gets to actually hear Himesh composing for any other hero’s movie as Himesh is now only composing movies in which he acts.
Giving you below links to two of my favorite songs in the movie-
The first one is Kallai Mattum Kandal sung by Hariharan and chorus
The second one is Mukunda Mukunda sung by Sadhna Sargam and Kamal Haasan
Both the songs are quite different in approach and concept.
The Hindi release of the movie is also important for its heroine- Asin who is currently very much in the limelight after Ghajini & is being seen all over due to the Mirinda ads. Till her next release London Dreams comes along, Dashavatar is there to keep the audience reminded about her. And finally I would like to conclude by paying my homage to 2 eminent film personalities associated with the movie & who are now no more amidst us- H.Sridhar the brilliant Sound Designer and Sujatha the writer (who along with Crazy Mohan and K.S.Ravikumar had helped Kamal Haasan with the story creation).So for all those who have seen the movie and also for those who will see it now – this was a revisit to the movie from my side.
Originally published in PFC-check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/revisiting-dasavatharam/
Ananda Thandavam- A one sided love story not well adapted
Disclaimer- Spoiler Alert
Though Indians migrating to the U.S temporarily for education or work and then staying on permanently has been happening for ages, in the last two decades the phenomenon has been on the increase. In places like TN & AP especially the exodus has been all the more severe due to the number of engineers working especially in the software sector. And of course in the matrimonial market the U.S employed men always found a good demand back home in India. So why am I writing about all this here? Well one of the more anticipated Tamil films in recent times is Ananda Thandavam. And why wouldn’t it be anticipated- after all its based on late writer Sujatha’s well known novel- Pirivom Sandipom,produced by Aascar Ravichandran ( the producer with the Midas Touch), directed by A.R.Gandhi Krishna whose previous venture –Chellame was a reasonably good movie and stars the hot & happening Tammanah ( after Padikathavan & Ayan ).
At the very outset let me inform that I’m guilty of not having read the novel, but I know the synopsis of the same as it was very popular having been serialized in the well known Tamil magazine- Ananda Vikatan. So while the novel very well made sense at the time it was written as it gave an insight into the typical syndrome of a prospective bride’s family wanting an U.S based groom, the travails of a an Indian student in the U.S etc, the very relevance seems slightly watered down today. Going on to the movie, Ananda Thandavam begins reasonably well enough. One sees the hero ( newcomer Siddharth ) trying to commit suicide by jumping down from a waterfall somewhere close to Ambasamudram in Tenkasi and we know that it’s a case of love failure as evident from what is seen.
From then on the movie goes back into the flash back mode and you see Raghupathy an engineering graduate trying his luck at getting a job, returning to his father’s (Kitty is back after a long hiatus) place. His father is an Asst.Engineer in a beautiful reservoir and the new Chief Engineer has just moved in with his family which includes his mischievous daughter Madhumita (Tamannah). Now within no time you see Raghu falling in love with Madhu & surprisingly her family is only too glad to accept Raghu as Madhu’s groom & even get them engaged. All the while Raghu’s dad is suspicious of the whole thing, but Raghu is too much in love to bother. Trouble comes in the form of Radhakrishna ( Rishi ) a rich man from the U.S & now Madhu’s family breaks off the engagement with Raghu & instead fix her wedding with Radha.
So Raghu makes a suicide attempt but is saved instead. Now his father advices him to fight back in life & advices him to go the U.S & study further . So Raghu goes to the U.S & enrolls in NYU. One day he bumps into Madhu once again & he is now confused as to how to take things forward. There’s also Ratna (Rukmini who was appreciated in Bommalattam) who is interested in Raghu. So what happens to the 3 of them? Does Raghu’s love succeed? Or is Ratna the one to fall lucky? All this is what the rest of the film tries to tell us.
While the camera work by Jeeva Sankar is truly amazing with some brilliant visuals captured especially in the 1st half and the music by G.V.Prakash is also more than decent, the same cannot be said about the screenplay and the performances. The director seems to have made an attempt to stick as close to the novel and hence in the process slipped considerably in maintaining a tight control over the screenplay. The resultant story hardly looks contemporary and the characters especially Madhumita’s character comes across as someone very irritating- at times naïve and at times cunning. But still Tamnnah has done a decent job as Madhumita, Rukmini as Ratna is good in a brief role while Siddharth is strictly ok. Kitty is the best of the whole lot.
For any love story to succeed, one needs to connect to the on screen romance. Here in the first place –there’s actually no romance. It’s a one sided love that Raghu has for Madhumita (she never actually loves him) and similarly Ratna also feels the same for Raghu. So with no real romance that you connect to on screen, it’s really tough to appreciate the end product all the more.
While the movie had raised a lot of expectations, at the end it comes out as a half baked attempt. Probably not all literary works can make great films and this is certainly a good example for the same. In a recent interview director Gandhi Krishna had talked about how he did Chellame only to be noticed in the industry and that he wants to make realistic movies like Ananda Thandavam. My only answer to that is that it’s probably better to make a commercial movie like Chellame rather than an artistic ‘misadventure’ like Ananda Thandavam. Looks like Aascar Ravichandran has missed the bus this time.
Note- The movie has also been dubbed & released in Telugu by the same name.
Originally published in PFC-check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/ananda-thandavam-a-one-sided-love-story-not-well-adapted/
Though Indians migrating to the U.S temporarily for education or work and then staying on permanently has been happening for ages, in the last two decades the phenomenon has been on the increase. In places like TN & AP especially the exodus has been all the more severe due to the number of engineers working especially in the software sector. And of course in the matrimonial market the U.S employed men always found a good demand back home in India. So why am I writing about all this here? Well one of the more anticipated Tamil films in recent times is Ananda Thandavam. And why wouldn’t it be anticipated- after all its based on late writer Sujatha’s well known novel- Pirivom Sandipom,produced by Aascar Ravichandran ( the producer with the Midas Touch), directed by A.R.Gandhi Krishna whose previous venture –Chellame was a reasonably good movie and stars the hot & happening Tammanah ( after Padikathavan & Ayan ).
At the very outset let me inform that I’m guilty of not having read the novel, but I know the synopsis of the same as it was very popular having been serialized in the well known Tamil magazine- Ananda Vikatan. So while the novel very well made sense at the time it was written as it gave an insight into the typical syndrome of a prospective bride’s family wanting an U.S based groom, the travails of a an Indian student in the U.S etc, the very relevance seems slightly watered down today. Going on to the movie, Ananda Thandavam begins reasonably well enough. One sees the hero ( newcomer Siddharth ) trying to commit suicide by jumping down from a waterfall somewhere close to Ambasamudram in Tenkasi and we know that it’s a case of love failure as evident from what is seen.
From then on the movie goes back into the flash back mode and you see Raghupathy an engineering graduate trying his luck at getting a job, returning to his father’s (Kitty is back after a long hiatus) place. His father is an Asst.Engineer in a beautiful reservoir and the new Chief Engineer has just moved in with his family which includes his mischievous daughter Madhumita (Tamannah). Now within no time you see Raghu falling in love with Madhu & surprisingly her family is only too glad to accept Raghu as Madhu’s groom & even get them engaged. All the while Raghu’s dad is suspicious of the whole thing, but Raghu is too much in love to bother. Trouble comes in the form of Radhakrishna ( Rishi ) a rich man from the U.S & now Madhu’s family breaks off the engagement with Raghu & instead fix her wedding with Radha.
So Raghu makes a suicide attempt but is saved instead. Now his father advices him to fight back in life & advices him to go the U.S & study further . So Raghu goes to the U.S & enrolls in NYU. One day he bumps into Madhu once again & he is now confused as to how to take things forward. There’s also Ratna (Rukmini who was appreciated in Bommalattam) who is interested in Raghu. So what happens to the 3 of them? Does Raghu’s love succeed? Or is Ratna the one to fall lucky? All this is what the rest of the film tries to tell us.
While the camera work by Jeeva Sankar is truly amazing with some brilliant visuals captured especially in the 1st half and the music by G.V.Prakash is also more than decent, the same cannot be said about the screenplay and the performances. The director seems to have made an attempt to stick as close to the novel and hence in the process slipped considerably in maintaining a tight control over the screenplay. The resultant story hardly looks contemporary and the characters especially Madhumita’s character comes across as someone very irritating- at times naïve and at times cunning. But still Tamnnah has done a decent job as Madhumita, Rukmini as Ratna is good in a brief role while Siddharth is strictly ok. Kitty is the best of the whole lot.
For any love story to succeed, one needs to connect to the on screen romance. Here in the first place –there’s actually no romance. It’s a one sided love that Raghu has for Madhumita (she never actually loves him) and similarly Ratna also feels the same for Raghu. So with no real romance that you connect to on screen, it’s really tough to appreciate the end product all the more.
While the movie had raised a lot of expectations, at the end it comes out as a half baked attempt. Probably not all literary works can make great films and this is certainly a good example for the same. In a recent interview director Gandhi Krishna had talked about how he did Chellame only to be noticed in the industry and that he wants to make realistic movies like Ananda Thandavam. My only answer to that is that it’s probably better to make a commercial movie like Chellame rather than an artistic ‘misadventure’ like Ananda Thandavam. Looks like Aascar Ravichandran has missed the bus this time.
Note- The movie has also been dubbed & released in Telugu by the same name.
Originally published in PFC-check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/ananda-thandavam-a-one-sided-love-story-not-well-adapted/
The Traditional Single Screen Experience Series- Apsara Theatre,Coimbatore
The current strike being called by the Bollywood Producers and Distributors combine against the multiplexes in to ensure 50: 50 sharing of revenue has made a lot of people like me to look back at pride at the glorious days of the traditional single screen theatres and cineplexes. In the first part of the series, I had written about Priya Cinema, Kolkata(read it here- http://passionforcinema.com/the-traditional-single-screen-experience-series-%e2%80%93-priya-cinemakolkata/) and now this time I head south, all the way to Coimbatore. Well for the sake of those who aren’t familiar with Coimbatore, let me tell you that it’s one of the upcoming cities in South India and of course a fairly cosmopolitan city with a good mix of educational institutions and industries.
Well of course I’m here to talk about cinema and theatres, so let me start off by telling you all that Coimbatore generally has a tradition of good theatres and cineplexes which play the regular Tamil,English,Hindi & Malayalam movies. Apsara Theatre has been one such single screen theatre which has been popular over the years and has been a favorite haunt of mine at various periods. The theatre located at Dr.Nanjappa Road, Gandhipuram has an interesting history in terms of the movies played over there.
Operational since the late 1970’s the theatre started off primarily screening Hindi andEnglish Movies with the odd Tamil movies also getting released in between. This trend continued till the mid 80’s. Suddenly the flow of Hindi movie releases stopped and then the theatre started playing soft porn movies and the only exceptions in this period were the Jackie Chan & Jet Li movies as the theatre had started building up a good fan base for these movies. The only other theatre in town competing for the martial arts movies was Maruti in R.S.Puram. So due to the advent of soft porn and action movies the family crowds started staying away from the theatre. Many a times over the years the management tried to unsuccessfully restore the pride of the old days and the two main attempts made were in the early 90’s when you had a spate of Hindi releases like Dil,Hum,Saajan etc followed by the mid 90’s with Jeet,Yaarana etc.
But what the management lacked was patience. Since they had lost considerable family audiences, to bring them back in hordes required consistency in screening the right kind of movies (Hindi). But what happened was that usually seeing the crowd not really matching up to their expectation they would revert back to playing soft porn movies in between to make up some collection and so they could never really bring back the family crowd in its entirety. But every cloud has a silver lining and Apsara Theatre too received a shot in the arm during Diwali in 1997. Surprisingly they managed to screen Dil To Pagal Hai. With DTPH they managed to bring in initially the college crowd and eventually the family crowd. This time they realized that they needed to be patient and consistent and thus brought out a steady stream of Hindi releases. So a year down the line for Diwali in 1998, as they screened Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, they had firmly established their status as a premium Hindi movie releasing theatre. From then on they never had to look back in terms of changing the kind of movies to be released.
So why am I writing specifically about Apsara and not about any other theatre in Coimbatore? Well not only is the history mentioned earlier so interesting, I have also had a lot of interesting experiences over there over the years. The theatre in itself is an awesome structure and has one of the largest parking spaces that I have seen across theatres in India. But on the day KKHH released in 1998 there was a near stampede at night as people rushed to get in after a long wait outside the gates. On that day even the large parking space seemed to look insufficient . The theatre also boasts of one of the largest balcony areas among theatres in India both in terms of space as well as the number of seats ( 500 +) . In fact the theatre has an odd incline in such a way that if you are sitting in one of the top rows of the balcony, you actually are looking down at the screen (the screen would be below eye level).
Another odd factor about the theatre has been its pricing. On various occasions the theatre was found to be the highest priced theatre in town. In the mid 1990’s when soft porn movies were still being played there, an Indo U.S co-production called Divine Lovers released there. Now for those unaware, Divine Lovers was an English movie set in India ( directed by B.Subash of Disco Dancer fame )with reincarnation theme and did very well in India especially in the South. At that time while tickets in all the other good theatres in the city were priced at around Rs.25, in case of Apsara it was at Rs.35. One particular Friday I was shocked to see an ad in the newspaper, the ad was of Apsara theatre and it boldly said ‘on the occasion of the successful completion of 75 days of Divine Lovers, we are pleased to inform our patrons that we have now reduced our ticket prices, so now come and enjoy the movie once again.’ The ticket prices were reduced from 35 to 25
Again when the AIADMK Government in T.N in the early 2000’s introduced flexi pricing of tickets ( in the first 2 weeks of release the theatres could charge a premium for the tickets and then revert back to original rates from the 3rd week onwards), Apsara was quick to take advantage of the situation. The theatre management felt that they had a loyal audience for the movies who wouldn’t mind paying a premium and so while the rest of the theatres charged around 40-50 for a balcony, the ticket rates in Apsara were at Rs.70 in the first 2 weeks of a movie’s release. This trend continued for quite some time till the DMK came to power in 2006 & decided to remove the flexi pricing system. I remember watching a lot of Hindi movies while in school like Hum,Ghayal,Dil etc over here. While in college a lot of ‘engrossing’ movies were also seen over here. Again with Hindi movies coming back in circulation there with DTPH, it became a popular place to go on dates. On many an occasion during the night show one would normally find most of my college friends over here (most of them drunk of course ) and since my folks were elsewhere I would also be there almost every week. So be it a Kareeb, Major Saab, Gharwali Baharwali etc I would be there for almost all movies.
I then moved out of Coimbatore after college and after a long time happened to get posted there on work in 2004-05 and again relived a lot of old memories. This time around I hardly had company as most of my old friends were no more in town and I was staying alone. So visiting Apsara Theatre became a regular weekend routine. Be it a Bunty aur Babli, No Entry, Page 3, Dus etc, I would be there as a regular bhakt visiting his favourite temple. It so happened that when Iqbal released to rave reviews I happened to be in Hyderabad for the weekend and somehow could not watch the movie there. I did not worry because I expected the movie to be playing in Apsara and so when I was back in town on Monday morning I was happy to know that I was right. On the way from the airport to my residence I was then dismayed to know that the movie was running only in the noon show and the afternoon show slots.
Now with the weekend already over I was feeling bad as I wondered what to do. That’s when the passion for cinema gained control over me. I actually ended up going straight from home to Apsara and watching Iqbal in the noon show and then going to work after lunch. Such was the attraction that the theatre had for me. Well in the journey of life, I relocated again but still tried to follow up and know what’s playing there once in a while. Some time later to my shock I got to know that like a lot of other single screen theatres across the country, Apsara too closed down in 2006/07. While some people say they would be opening soon as a renovated single screen/multiplex others say that there is a family dispute still going on. Till date the theatre is closed and for the sake of old memories and for the movie lovers in Coimbatore, I hope the management decides to re-open the theatre sometime soon.
Note- Whatever I’ve written is based upon my own experiences and this is not meant to promote Apsara Theatre in any way.In the next part of the series I would be heading to Bangalore & covering some of my favourite theatres there.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/the-traditional-single-screen-experience-series-%e2%80%93-apsara-theatrecoimbatore/
Well of course I’m here to talk about cinema and theatres, so let me start off by telling you all that Coimbatore generally has a tradition of good theatres and cineplexes which play the regular Tamil,English,Hindi & Malayalam movies. Apsara Theatre has been one such single screen theatre which has been popular over the years and has been a favorite haunt of mine at various periods. The theatre located at Dr.Nanjappa Road, Gandhipuram has an interesting history in terms of the movies played over there.
Operational since the late 1970’s the theatre started off primarily screening Hindi andEnglish Movies with the odd Tamil movies also getting released in between. This trend continued till the mid 80’s. Suddenly the flow of Hindi movie releases stopped and then the theatre started playing soft porn movies and the only exceptions in this period were the Jackie Chan & Jet Li movies as the theatre had started building up a good fan base for these movies. The only other theatre in town competing for the martial arts movies was Maruti in R.S.Puram. So due to the advent of soft porn and action movies the family crowds started staying away from the theatre. Many a times over the years the management tried to unsuccessfully restore the pride of the old days and the two main attempts made were in the early 90’s when you had a spate of Hindi releases like Dil,Hum,Saajan etc followed by the mid 90’s with Jeet,Yaarana etc.
But what the management lacked was patience. Since they had lost considerable family audiences, to bring them back in hordes required consistency in screening the right kind of movies (Hindi). But what happened was that usually seeing the crowd not really matching up to their expectation they would revert back to playing soft porn movies in between to make up some collection and so they could never really bring back the family crowd in its entirety. But every cloud has a silver lining and Apsara Theatre too received a shot in the arm during Diwali in 1997. Surprisingly they managed to screen Dil To Pagal Hai. With DTPH they managed to bring in initially the college crowd and eventually the family crowd. This time they realized that they needed to be patient and consistent and thus brought out a steady stream of Hindi releases. So a year down the line for Diwali in 1998, as they screened Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, they had firmly established their status as a premium Hindi movie releasing theatre. From then on they never had to look back in terms of changing the kind of movies to be released.
So why am I writing specifically about Apsara and not about any other theatre in Coimbatore? Well not only is the history mentioned earlier so interesting, I have also had a lot of interesting experiences over there over the years. The theatre in itself is an awesome structure and has one of the largest parking spaces that I have seen across theatres in India. But on the day KKHH released in 1998 there was a near stampede at night as people rushed to get in after a long wait outside the gates. On that day even the large parking space seemed to look insufficient . The theatre also boasts of one of the largest balcony areas among theatres in India both in terms of space as well as the number of seats ( 500 +) . In fact the theatre has an odd incline in such a way that if you are sitting in one of the top rows of the balcony, you actually are looking down at the screen (the screen would be below eye level).
Another odd factor about the theatre has been its pricing. On various occasions the theatre was found to be the highest priced theatre in town. In the mid 1990’s when soft porn movies were still being played there, an Indo U.S co-production called Divine Lovers released there. Now for those unaware, Divine Lovers was an English movie set in India ( directed by B.Subash of Disco Dancer fame )with reincarnation theme and did very well in India especially in the South. At that time while tickets in all the other good theatres in the city were priced at around Rs.25, in case of Apsara it was at Rs.35. One particular Friday I was shocked to see an ad in the newspaper, the ad was of Apsara theatre and it boldly said ‘on the occasion of the successful completion of 75 days of Divine Lovers, we are pleased to inform our patrons that we have now reduced our ticket prices, so now come and enjoy the movie once again.’ The ticket prices were reduced from 35 to 25
Again when the AIADMK Government in T.N in the early 2000’s introduced flexi pricing of tickets ( in the first 2 weeks of release the theatres could charge a premium for the tickets and then revert back to original rates from the 3rd week onwards), Apsara was quick to take advantage of the situation. The theatre management felt that they had a loyal audience for the movies who wouldn’t mind paying a premium and so while the rest of the theatres charged around 40-50 for a balcony, the ticket rates in Apsara were at Rs.70 in the first 2 weeks of a movie’s release. This trend continued for quite some time till the DMK came to power in 2006 & decided to remove the flexi pricing system. I remember watching a lot of Hindi movies while in school like Hum,Ghayal,Dil etc over here. While in college a lot of ‘engrossing’ movies were also seen over here. Again with Hindi movies coming back in circulation there with DTPH, it became a popular place to go on dates. On many an occasion during the night show one would normally find most of my college friends over here (most of them drunk of course ) and since my folks were elsewhere I would also be there almost every week. So be it a Kareeb, Major Saab, Gharwali Baharwali etc I would be there for almost all movies.
I then moved out of Coimbatore after college and after a long time happened to get posted there on work in 2004-05 and again relived a lot of old memories. This time around I hardly had company as most of my old friends were no more in town and I was staying alone. So visiting Apsara Theatre became a regular weekend routine. Be it a Bunty aur Babli, No Entry, Page 3, Dus etc, I would be there as a regular bhakt visiting his favourite temple. It so happened that when Iqbal released to rave reviews I happened to be in Hyderabad for the weekend and somehow could not watch the movie there. I did not worry because I expected the movie to be playing in Apsara and so when I was back in town on Monday morning I was happy to know that I was right. On the way from the airport to my residence I was then dismayed to know that the movie was running only in the noon show and the afternoon show slots.
Now with the weekend already over I was feeling bad as I wondered what to do. That’s when the passion for cinema gained control over me. I actually ended up going straight from home to Apsara and watching Iqbal in the noon show and then going to work after lunch. Such was the attraction that the theatre had for me. Well in the journey of life, I relocated again but still tried to follow up and know what’s playing there once in a while. Some time later to my shock I got to know that like a lot of other single screen theatres across the country, Apsara too closed down in 2006/07. While some people say they would be opening soon as a renovated single screen/multiplex others say that there is a family dispute still going on. Till date the theatre is closed and for the sake of old memories and for the movie lovers in Coimbatore, I hope the management decides to re-open the theatre sometime soon.
Note- Whatever I’ve written is based upon my own experiences and this is not meant to promote Apsara Theatre in any way.In the next part of the series I would be heading to Bangalore & covering some of my favourite theatres there.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/the-traditional-single-screen-experience-series-%e2%80%93-apsara-theatrecoimbatore/
The Traditional Single Screen Experience Series- Priya Cinema, Kolkata
In this age of multiplexes and with everybody reminiscing about their favorite movies and music it’s very imperative for a filmy like me to think of the memorable moments I’ve spent across countless single screen theatres and cineplexes over the years across the country. In fact I would go to the extent of saying that these “temples of cinema” have played a large role in building up my passion for cinema. Hence I would like to dedicate this series to all the single screen theatres and cineplexes across India. So here I go with the first article of the series and I begin my journey with Kolkata’s Priya Cinema.
Traditionally movie watching in Kolkata has always been a special experience. Be it Menoka,Priya,Basushree or any other hall in South Kolkata to Nandan ( one of the highlights of Kolkata) or theatres in central Kolkata like Metro,Roxy,Lighthouse,Hind,Paradise etc they all stand apart for the uniqueness that they hit you with. For example where else in India do you see most of the theatres without a parking lot (parking is on the pavement outside the theatre) and this includes good theatres like Menoka,Priya,Basushree etc. Where else in India can you find theatres with a bar attached – don’t believe me? Well then go check out Roxy or New Empire and you would have to agree with what I say.
This brings me to Priya Cinema, my 2nd home in Kolkata. I had found Priya to be a very well maintained theatre with its unique blend of old world charm & modern technology. While waiting to book your tickets or before your show begins, the lobby is an interesting place to while away your time. Apart from the stills of movies currently running and the forthcoming attractions, you also get to see the display of photographs of celebrities who’ve visited the theatre and mind you, the list is endless- it’s a virtual who’s who of Bollywood and the Bengali film industry. There is also a vintage car kept in the display(forgot the make of the car but I hope it’s still there) . One of the good things about the theatre is its location. Situated right next to the well known Deshapriya Park on Rash Behari Avenue, it’s easily accessible to everyone especially in South Kolkata.
I considered myself to be extremely lucky because both my home (near Triangular Park) and my office (on Panditia Road) were less than a 5 minute drive from the theatre. Along with Menoka, Priya was the other first choice for cinegoers in South Kolkata. But what differentiated Priya from Menoka and the other theatres in that area or rather even Kolkata was that the management of Priya had a vision of making the theatre as a family destination which would rival even the multiplexes and hold its own in spite of the mall/multiplex wave. So they were quick to embrace technology- be it in the form of computerized reservation at the ticket counter or online booking. Also most important fact to be noted was that while Menoka and the other better theatres were mainly screening Bollywood movies alone, Priya tried to provide variety by screening not only Hindi but also English and the artistic Bengali movies.
So much so that it’s a remarkable for a single screen theatre, they managed to be showing 3-4 movies in different languages at the same time. The seating was also quite unique- while the rear stall (or first class as people elsewhere might understand) had the plastic “Bucket” seats with cushions on it, the balcony had really plush push back seats which were as good or better than the seats in the multiplexes.
In fact because the quality of viewing was good at Priya,in terms of pricing of tickets, it used to be at a premium over the other single screens. To give you an indicator let me tell you that while a few years back balcony seats in single screens in Kolkata used to be @ Rs.35 for a Hindi movie & Rs.25 for a Bengali movie, in case of Priya, the balcony was @ Rs.80 and the rear stall was @ Rs.40. But nobody really objected because they knew that Priya was competing with the multiplexes and also provided variety . That Priya had state of the art sound system and effective air conditioning is of course something that one would have understood by now (for those who are interested -Priya has Dolby Digital and DTS sound systems and has both Xenon projector and Qube digital projection systems). I believe that the current ticket prices have shot up to 140, 120 and 90 (classic, executive and rear class) but are still attractive when compared to the multiplexes in Kolkata.
With my home and office being so close by, naturally Priya became my 2nd home. So looking back I think I probably must have watched maybe a couple of movies every week over there. The movies were of all kinds be it Hollywood movies like The Passion of the Christ,Spiderman-2, Harry Potter etc or Bollywood movies like Masti, Yuva, Lakshya etc or even Bengali movies like Iti Srikanto, I would be there to build upon my passion for cinema. I remember having watched 3 Amitabh Bachchan’s movies in 3 successive weekends (Dev, Lakshya and Deewar) and also having watched a few Tamil movies in a Tamil film festival held over there. One of my funniest incidents in Kolkata which still makes me laugh when I think of it, happened in Priya Cinema.
It was a Sunday afternoon & I had just finished watching a noon show (do not remember the movie though) and while I was about to start my bike, the parking attendant (yeah the car’s and bikes are parked in the pavement next to the theatre but you still need to pay for parking ) came up to me and asked me for the parking charge. At that time it used to be Rs.5 for a bike. To my dismay I observed that I had only a 2 rupee coin and a 100 rupee note with me & so showed the same to the attendant. That was when he smiled at me & said- “are koi baat nahin sir, aap to regular ho yahan.agle hafte jab aayenge to 5 rupye de dena agar yaad rahega”. That’s when I realized how the theatre had gone on to become my 2nd home while I lived there.
The more I think I remember a lot of incidents- of many “interesting dates” ,of taking refuge from the rain, of watching even silly movies like Tarzan-The Wonder Car just because I had nothing better to do etc. The list is long and probably endless.I was in Kolkata recently for a day and was surprised to see that the number of multiplexes has increased and there is even an IMAX in Mani Square. I just hope that these multiplexes do not make the people forget the joy of watching movies in places like Nandan,Priya,Menoka etc where movie watching was more of a tradition and an enjoyable activity. These theatres represent not only the good old days of Kolkata but also symbolize the blend of the past with the present. I for one would surely revisit a Priya or a Nandan whenever I can.
Note- Whatever I’ve written is based upon my own experiences and this is not meant to promote Priya Cinema in any way.In the next part of the series I would be going down south – to Coimbatore & covering another of my favourite theatres.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/the-traditional-single-screen-experience-series-%e2%80%93-priya-cinemakolkata/
Traditionally movie watching in Kolkata has always been a special experience. Be it Menoka,Priya,Basushree or any other hall in South Kolkata to Nandan ( one of the highlights of Kolkata) or theatres in central Kolkata like Metro,Roxy,Lighthouse,Hind,Paradise etc they all stand apart for the uniqueness that they hit you with. For example where else in India do you see most of the theatres without a parking lot (parking is on the pavement outside the theatre) and this includes good theatres like Menoka,Priya,Basushree etc. Where else in India can you find theatres with a bar attached – don’t believe me? Well then go check out Roxy or New Empire and you would have to agree with what I say.
This brings me to Priya Cinema, my 2nd home in Kolkata. I had found Priya to be a very well maintained theatre with its unique blend of old world charm & modern technology. While waiting to book your tickets or before your show begins, the lobby is an interesting place to while away your time. Apart from the stills of movies currently running and the forthcoming attractions, you also get to see the display of photographs of celebrities who’ve visited the theatre and mind you, the list is endless- it’s a virtual who’s who of Bollywood and the Bengali film industry. There is also a vintage car kept in the display(forgot the make of the car but I hope it’s still there) . One of the good things about the theatre is its location. Situated right next to the well known Deshapriya Park on Rash Behari Avenue, it’s easily accessible to everyone especially in South Kolkata.
I considered myself to be extremely lucky because both my home (near Triangular Park) and my office (on Panditia Road) were less than a 5 minute drive from the theatre. Along with Menoka, Priya was the other first choice for cinegoers in South Kolkata. But what differentiated Priya from Menoka and the other theatres in that area or rather even Kolkata was that the management of Priya had a vision of making the theatre as a family destination which would rival even the multiplexes and hold its own in spite of the mall/multiplex wave. So they were quick to embrace technology- be it in the form of computerized reservation at the ticket counter or online booking. Also most important fact to be noted was that while Menoka and the other better theatres were mainly screening Bollywood movies alone, Priya tried to provide variety by screening not only Hindi but also English and the artistic Bengali movies.
So much so that it’s a remarkable for a single screen theatre, they managed to be showing 3-4 movies in different languages at the same time. The seating was also quite unique- while the rear stall (or first class as people elsewhere might understand) had the plastic “Bucket” seats with cushions on it, the balcony had really plush push back seats which were as good or better than the seats in the multiplexes.
In fact because the quality of viewing was good at Priya,in terms of pricing of tickets, it used to be at a premium over the other single screens. To give you an indicator let me tell you that while a few years back balcony seats in single screens in Kolkata used to be @ Rs.35 for a Hindi movie & Rs.25 for a Bengali movie, in case of Priya, the balcony was @ Rs.80 and the rear stall was @ Rs.40. But nobody really objected because they knew that Priya was competing with the multiplexes and also provided variety . That Priya had state of the art sound system and effective air conditioning is of course something that one would have understood by now (for those who are interested -Priya has Dolby Digital and DTS sound systems and has both Xenon projector and Qube digital projection systems). I believe that the current ticket prices have shot up to 140, 120 and 90 (classic, executive and rear class) but are still attractive when compared to the multiplexes in Kolkata.
With my home and office being so close by, naturally Priya became my 2nd home. So looking back I think I probably must have watched maybe a couple of movies every week over there. The movies were of all kinds be it Hollywood movies like The Passion of the Christ,Spiderman-2, Harry Potter etc or Bollywood movies like Masti, Yuva, Lakshya etc or even Bengali movies like Iti Srikanto, I would be there to build upon my passion for cinema. I remember having watched 3 Amitabh Bachchan’s movies in 3 successive weekends (Dev, Lakshya and Deewar) and also having watched a few Tamil movies in a Tamil film festival held over there. One of my funniest incidents in Kolkata which still makes me laugh when I think of it, happened in Priya Cinema.
It was a Sunday afternoon & I had just finished watching a noon show (do not remember the movie though) and while I was about to start my bike, the parking attendant (yeah the car’s and bikes are parked in the pavement next to the theatre but you still need to pay for parking ) came up to me and asked me for the parking charge. At that time it used to be Rs.5 for a bike. To my dismay I observed that I had only a 2 rupee coin and a 100 rupee note with me & so showed the same to the attendant. That was when he smiled at me & said- “are koi baat nahin sir, aap to regular ho yahan.agle hafte jab aayenge to 5 rupye de dena agar yaad rahega”. That’s when I realized how the theatre had gone on to become my 2nd home while I lived there.
The more I think I remember a lot of incidents- of many “interesting dates” ,of taking refuge from the rain, of watching even silly movies like Tarzan-The Wonder Car just because I had nothing better to do etc. The list is long and probably endless.I was in Kolkata recently for a day and was surprised to see that the number of multiplexes has increased and there is even an IMAX in Mani Square. I just hope that these multiplexes do not make the people forget the joy of watching movies in places like Nandan,Priya,Menoka etc where movie watching was more of a tradition and an enjoyable activity. These theatres represent not only the good old days of Kolkata but also symbolize the blend of the past with the present. I for one would surely revisit a Priya or a Nandan whenever I can.
Note- Whatever I’ve written is based upon my own experiences and this is not meant to promote Priya Cinema in any way.In the next part of the series I would be going down south – to Coimbatore & covering another of my favourite theatres.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/the-traditional-single-screen-experience-series-%e2%80%93-priya-cinemakolkata/
Kudos to Raaz-2, Slumdog Crorepati & Dev D
The 1st Qr of 2009 is over and while the good news is that there was a lot of variety in the kind of Bollywood movies released, in terms of success there were only 3 movies which can be actually called successful in the true sense. The range of movies varied from mainstream biggies like CC2C, Jai Veeru, Aa dekhen Zara etc, small movies like Firaaq,Barah Aana,The Stoneman Murders etc and movies which fall in between the mainstream biggies and the small movies in terms of budget and the number of release centre’s like Dev D,Gulaal,Luck By Chance etc. In all there were some 30 odd regular releases in the quarter (taking only the straight listed films in consideration and avoiding the so called unlisted movies and the various soft porn and dubbed movies the actual count is 31) and the actual successful films are just 3-Raaz-The Mystery Continues ( Raaz-TMC hereon), Slumdog Crorepati(hereon referred to as SDC ) and Dev D.
No this post is not a review of any of these 3 movies. We have already discussed the merits and demerits of these 3 movies in length. But yes considering these movies represent the successful 10 % (of the entire lot that released in Q 1’09), we need to not only appreciate these movies for their success but also briefly look at how & why they have been successful. Lets first talk about Raaz-2. Well we all now the kind of films Vishesh Films has been making – typically small/medium budget kind of movies with good music. This movie again did not prove to be an exception in this respect. Director Mohit Suri had already shot into prominence with movies like Zeher, Kalyug, Woh Lamhe & Awarapan and the movie had the trusted Emran Hashmi along with Kangna Ranaut ( of course it also had Adhyayan Suman ). Right from the beginning the promos showed that the movie had great music ( Raju Singh,Gaurav Dasgupta, Toshi,Sharib Sabri) and the catchy title reminded people of the highly successful Raaz.
So the people went at large and had a good time watching Raaz-TMC. Of course not many people felt it was really scary and many even felt that the climax was tame. But all said and done the solid promotion worked and Vishesh Films had a hit in their hands. On the day that Raaz-TMC released, there was another movie that got released- SDC. The Hindi version of SDM which released alongside across the country did quite well initially as the movie already had got noticed due to its popularity abroad and the series of awards it had started to sweep everywhere. But the actual success of the movie got noticed only much later i.e. after SDM swept away the Oscar Awards. In fact not only did shows of the movie get increased in most centre’s, in a lot of places where the movie had completed its initial run it was re-released and made even more money.
And then we finally come to Dev D, a movie which had a lot of fan following among the youth but was not considered to be all that powerful to make a strong impact at the box office. But surprisingly the movie not only managed to attract the youth, but it also managed to gain in popularity as days passed on. The results are there to see. It’s become a multiplex hit and as I write this post, the movie has crossed 50 days and is still playing in select multiplexes across the country. Considering that these days most of the movies make the maximum money in the first week of its release and that its tough for even a mainstream blockbuster to survive more than a few weeks, the success of Dev D is all the more commendable.
So these 3 movies had their audience and were helped by the kind of promotion it had. Be it a catchy title and a hit song like ‘Mahi Mahi’ or the Oscar Awards or ‘Emotional Atyachar’, each of these movies had something in them which helped the target audience identify with the movie and enable the movie’s success at the box office. That brings to the question- were all the other 28 releases bad? Well certainly not, some of them were definitely good and even critically appreciated but where they failed was in connecting to the audience. All said and done a 10 % success ratio is very scary indeed for the industry. We must need more and more successes both in the form of big & small/medium movies. After all a big movie’s success enables the production banner to fund many more small/medium movies. With the producer’s vs multiplexes strike supposedly starting from April 4th, there aren’t too many releases scheduled in April. Let’s hope the forthcoming releases in May and June turn out to be good and most of them manage to connect to their target audience and become successful.
Note- I have considered SDC as a Hindi version of SDM & not a dubbed movie as otherwise the success % falls even below 10 %.Moreover this post is only about box office success and not about how good or bad a film is.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/kudos-to-raaz-2-slumdog-crorepati-dev-d/
No this post is not a review of any of these 3 movies. We have already discussed the merits and demerits of these 3 movies in length. But yes considering these movies represent the successful 10 % (of the entire lot that released in Q 1’09), we need to not only appreciate these movies for their success but also briefly look at how & why they have been successful. Lets first talk about Raaz-2. Well we all now the kind of films Vishesh Films has been making – typically small/medium budget kind of movies with good music. This movie again did not prove to be an exception in this respect. Director Mohit Suri had already shot into prominence with movies like Zeher, Kalyug, Woh Lamhe & Awarapan and the movie had the trusted Emran Hashmi along with Kangna Ranaut ( of course it also had Adhyayan Suman ). Right from the beginning the promos showed that the movie had great music ( Raju Singh,Gaurav Dasgupta, Toshi,Sharib Sabri) and the catchy title reminded people of the highly successful Raaz.
So the people went at large and had a good time watching Raaz-TMC. Of course not many people felt it was really scary and many even felt that the climax was tame. But all said and done the solid promotion worked and Vishesh Films had a hit in their hands. On the day that Raaz-TMC released, there was another movie that got released- SDC. The Hindi version of SDM which released alongside across the country did quite well initially as the movie already had got noticed due to its popularity abroad and the series of awards it had started to sweep everywhere. But the actual success of the movie got noticed only much later i.e. after SDM swept away the Oscar Awards. In fact not only did shows of the movie get increased in most centre’s, in a lot of places where the movie had completed its initial run it was re-released and made even more money.
And then we finally come to Dev D, a movie which had a lot of fan following among the youth but was not considered to be all that powerful to make a strong impact at the box office. But surprisingly the movie not only managed to attract the youth, but it also managed to gain in popularity as days passed on. The results are there to see. It’s become a multiplex hit and as I write this post, the movie has crossed 50 days and is still playing in select multiplexes across the country. Considering that these days most of the movies make the maximum money in the first week of its release and that its tough for even a mainstream blockbuster to survive more than a few weeks, the success of Dev D is all the more commendable.
So these 3 movies had their audience and were helped by the kind of promotion it had. Be it a catchy title and a hit song like ‘Mahi Mahi’ or the Oscar Awards or ‘Emotional Atyachar’, each of these movies had something in them which helped the target audience identify with the movie and enable the movie’s success at the box office. That brings to the question- were all the other 28 releases bad? Well certainly not, some of them were definitely good and even critically appreciated but where they failed was in connecting to the audience. All said and done a 10 % success ratio is very scary indeed for the industry. We must need more and more successes both in the form of big & small/medium movies. After all a big movie’s success enables the production banner to fund many more small/medium movies. With the producer’s vs multiplexes strike supposedly starting from April 4th, there aren’t too many releases scheduled in April. Let’s hope the forthcoming releases in May and June turn out to be good and most of them manage to connect to their target audience and become successful.
Note- I have considered SDC as a Hindi version of SDM & not a dubbed movie as otherwise the success % falls even below 10 %.Moreover this post is only about box office success and not about how good or bad a film is.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/kudos-to-raaz-2-slumdog-crorepati-dev-d/
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Sontha Vooru- An honest tale, but not convincing enough
Sometime in 2005/2006 when officially work on the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad started, there was a sudden rise in real estate prices in that area. Not only was land being acquired by the Government for the sake of building the airport, also a lot of real estate developers came forward to buy land and develop properties. Among a lot of people who sold their lands there were quite a few from the Lambadi Tribes for whom such kind of money was unheard of till then. Initially they freaked out by buying expensive cars and other such things but soon they were struggling. The reason being they did not know how to manage such a lot of money & also now they did not possess the land that they had with them.
Ok now why am I talking about all this over here? Am I against economic development? No this is just a preamble to the review of a small but honest Telugu movie which released recently – ‘Sondha Vooru’ (Native Town/Place). Directed by Sunil Kumar Reddy based on his story and screenplay, the movie is set in a village not very far from the city (frequent glimpses of Hyderabad are shown in the movie). Rudraswamy (L.B.Sriram) is an undertaker and lives with his daughter and grandchildren. The good samaritan in the village is referred to as Devudu by everyone (Tanikella Bharani) and he is somebody everyone including Rudraswamy respects. The other main characters are Bujji (Raja) a young man with a limp and is head over heels in love with Malli (Tirtha) a prostitute.
The Government decides to set up an SEZ (Special Economic Zone) in the village and Devudu is asked to convince the villagers to sell the land for the sake of setting up the SEZ. In the process most of the villagers sell the land & migrate to the city. But Rudraswamy prefers to stay back in the village. In the meanwhile Bujji and Malli decide to get married. That is when Rudraswamy realizes that Devudu has erred in asking people to sell their land and there is a tragic twist in the tale. Though the story is honest, the way it has been handled could definitely have been better. It’s only fairly late into the movie that one actually gets to the crux of the issue- i.e about how the SEZ can actually uproot you from your own ‘vooru’ and how the villagers actually struggle as they do not know how to manage all the money they got for selling their land.
Also why on earth was the item number appearing out of nowhere in the 2nd half? The director Sunil Kumar Reddy at times comes across as quite confused as to whether to make a hard statement with the movie or to combine it with commercial elements. The real star of the movie is the dialogues (L.B.Sriram, Nagaraju Gandham & Sunil Kumar Reddy).In fact L.B.Sriram’s character walks away with some of the best dialogues and it’s a brilliant performance from the seasoned veteran. Tirtha also impresses in a difficult role to play. Raja is ok and the support cast like Tanikella Bharani,M.S.Narayana,Jayaprakash Reddy are all efficient. Music by Saketh Sriram is good and is mostly melodious. Overall the movie has a good message but is not very convincing enough.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here-http://passionforcinema.com/author/sethumadhavan/
Ok now why am I talking about all this over here? Am I against economic development? No this is just a preamble to the review of a small but honest Telugu movie which released recently – ‘Sondha Vooru’ (Native Town/Place). Directed by Sunil Kumar Reddy based on his story and screenplay, the movie is set in a village not very far from the city (frequent glimpses of Hyderabad are shown in the movie). Rudraswamy (L.B.Sriram) is an undertaker and lives with his daughter and grandchildren. The good samaritan in the village is referred to as Devudu by everyone (Tanikella Bharani) and he is somebody everyone including Rudraswamy respects. The other main characters are Bujji (Raja) a young man with a limp and is head over heels in love with Malli (Tirtha) a prostitute.
The Government decides to set up an SEZ (Special Economic Zone) in the village and Devudu is asked to convince the villagers to sell the land for the sake of setting up the SEZ. In the process most of the villagers sell the land & migrate to the city. But Rudraswamy prefers to stay back in the village. In the meanwhile Bujji and Malli decide to get married. That is when Rudraswamy realizes that Devudu has erred in asking people to sell their land and there is a tragic twist in the tale. Though the story is honest, the way it has been handled could definitely have been better. It’s only fairly late into the movie that one actually gets to the crux of the issue- i.e about how the SEZ can actually uproot you from your own ‘vooru’ and how the villagers actually struggle as they do not know how to manage all the money they got for selling their land.
Also why on earth was the item number appearing out of nowhere in the 2nd half? The director Sunil Kumar Reddy at times comes across as quite confused as to whether to make a hard statement with the movie or to combine it with commercial elements. The real star of the movie is the dialogues (L.B.Sriram, Nagaraju Gandham & Sunil Kumar Reddy).In fact L.B.Sriram’s character walks away with some of the best dialogues and it’s a brilliant performance from the seasoned veteran. Tirtha also impresses in a difficult role to play. Raja is ok and the support cast like Tanikella Bharani,M.S.Narayana,Jayaprakash Reddy are all efficient. Music by Saketh Sriram is good and is mostly melodious. Overall the movie has a good message but is not very convincing enough.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here-http://passionforcinema.com/author/sethumadhavan/
Ek- The Power of One- Totally drives you powerless
Looks like somebody has come forward to bail out K Sera Sera, the well known production company and thus one gets to suddenly see a flood of movies from their stable getting a release in the last 2 months which were otherwise lying in the cans. So after Chal Chala Chal & Kisse Pyar Karoon which released last month, this week saw the release of Ek- The Power of One. A straight remake of the Telugu blockbuster Athadu, it’s a typical masala movie, one which reminds you of the masala entertainers of the 70’s & the 80’s but then that’s also the problem with the movie. You just don’t feel connected to the movie at all.
The movie begins with Nandu (Bobby Deol) and Shekhar (Pradeep Kharab) who join Jackie Shroff’s gang at a very young age. During a particular assignment Jackie Shroff is captured by the police & so Nandu and Shekhar branch off on their own. Years later they’ve grown up to be sharp shooters. Anna Saheb Mhatre ( Sachin Khedekar) is the leader of opposition who wants to be the CM & so he hatches a plan to get himself shot at an election meeting to win public sympathy. Nandu is assigned the task. But before Nandu gets to shoot Anna, somebody else shoots & Anna dies. Now the police is behind him and thus Nandu is on the run.
On a train to Punjab, Nandu meets Pooran who is on his way home after 18 years. When the police who are following Nandu fire at him, Pooran gets killed instead accidentally. Thus Nandu ends up in a village in Hoshiarpur and takes refuge in Pooran’s large Punjabi family. Nandu is mistaken as Pooran by the family and is whole heartedly welcomed. The family consists of a grandfather (Kulbushan Kharbhanda), the eldest bua (Zarina Wahab), his childhood sweetheart (Shriya Saran) etc. The case of Anna Mhatre’s murder is entrusted to a CBI officer (Nana Patekar playing to the gallery) and he ends up landing at Hoshiarpur and meeting Nandu for the investigation.
So does Nandu manage to get away from trouble? Does the family get to know the truth? Who had shot Anna Mhatre? The rest of the film tries to answer all these questions. Athadu was a very slickly made desi version of The Assassins and was quite successful at the box office. In comparison though, Ek comes across as a very pale copy. While in Athadu Mahesh Babu as Nandu conveyed a lot through his eyes, Bobby Deol is wooden throughout. Nana Patekar in an attempt to bring in comic relief is quite irritating. The emotions hardly work and the romance is almost non existent. Shriya Saran does not get any scope. While in Athadu the climax was brilliantly shot (quite similar to The Assassins) here it is at best average. All said and done the movie is a yawn fest- watch it at your own risk.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/ek-the-power-of-one-totally-drives-you-powerless/
The movie begins with Nandu (Bobby Deol) and Shekhar (Pradeep Kharab) who join Jackie Shroff’s gang at a very young age. During a particular assignment Jackie Shroff is captured by the police & so Nandu and Shekhar branch off on their own. Years later they’ve grown up to be sharp shooters. Anna Saheb Mhatre ( Sachin Khedekar) is the leader of opposition who wants to be the CM & so he hatches a plan to get himself shot at an election meeting to win public sympathy. Nandu is assigned the task. But before Nandu gets to shoot Anna, somebody else shoots & Anna dies. Now the police is behind him and thus Nandu is on the run.
On a train to Punjab, Nandu meets Pooran who is on his way home after 18 years. When the police who are following Nandu fire at him, Pooran gets killed instead accidentally. Thus Nandu ends up in a village in Hoshiarpur and takes refuge in Pooran’s large Punjabi family. Nandu is mistaken as Pooran by the family and is whole heartedly welcomed. The family consists of a grandfather (Kulbushan Kharbhanda), the eldest bua (Zarina Wahab), his childhood sweetheart (Shriya Saran) etc. The case of Anna Mhatre’s murder is entrusted to a CBI officer (Nana Patekar playing to the gallery) and he ends up landing at Hoshiarpur and meeting Nandu for the investigation.
So does Nandu manage to get away from trouble? Does the family get to know the truth? Who had shot Anna Mhatre? The rest of the film tries to answer all these questions. Athadu was a very slickly made desi version of The Assassins and was quite successful at the box office. In comparison though, Ek comes across as a very pale copy. While in Athadu Mahesh Babu as Nandu conveyed a lot through his eyes, Bobby Deol is wooden throughout. Nana Patekar in an attempt to bring in comic relief is quite irritating. The emotions hardly work and the romance is almost non existent. Shriya Saran does not get any scope. While in Athadu the climax was brilliantly shot (quite similar to The Assassins) here it is at best average. All said and done the movie is a yawn fest- watch it at your own risk.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/ek-the-power-of-one-totally-drives-you-powerless/
Aa Dekhen Zara- The Title Sums up the Movie
After a reasonably impressive debut with Johny Gaddar, Neil Nitin Mukesh is back with Aa Dekhen Zara (ADZ from hereon). Directed by Jehangir Surti, this one is a thriller too with an interesting premise. But does it deliver and does it turn out to be that summer cool flick you’ve been waiting for? Well read on to know more. One of the movies that a lot of us as kids loved in the 80’s was Mr. India (of course doesn’t apply to people here born after 1987, the year of Mr.India’s release). The movie was all about Arun Verma ( Anil Kapoor) a simpleton who houses a lot of orphans & one day discovers his late father has left behind an inheritance – a watch like article which can make one invisible. Thus Arun Verma becomes Mr.India and there’s the evil Mogambo (Amrish Puri) to take care off.
Wait- isn’t this a review of ADZ? Why am I mentioning Mr. India here? Well no I haven’t gone bonkers; I seriously feel somebody associated with ADZ has certainly been influenced with Mr. India. ADZ is all about Ray Acharya (Neil) who’s a freelance photographer specializing in wildlife photography. One day he gets to know that his grandfather (yesteryear hero Biswajeet seen after ages) is dead and that he’s left behind a camera for him. What’s special about the camera is that it can help you glimpse the future. A down and out Roy then decides to take advantage of the camera and uses its power to make money the short way- lottery, horse racing, stocks and so on. He gets so caught up in the circle of making money that he hardly has any time for his girlfriend, Simi Chatterjee ( Bipasha Basu ) a DJ & a wannabe singer.
But as always all good things need to come to an end. So you have not just a mysterious 'captain' (Rahul Dev) who is gunning for him but there's also India's RAW who wants
the camera in the name of National Security. Thus begins a routine cat and mouse game which sees the action shifting from Mumbai to Bangkok. What starts off interesting
enough slowly turns out to be a run of the mill affair.
Into the 2nd half as the events unfold you keep wondering why are things happening like this. Why on earth is there a need to break into an item number when the chips are down? What’s the back-story of 'captain'? And if this is the way RAW would handle a matter of National Security, it makes me really cringe.Jehangir Surti has made a stylish movie and the story thankfully doesn’t lose its pace. Starting with the opening credits rolling brilliantly against the strain of the title track to the slick camera work (Jehangir Chowdhary) and fast pace of the movie, the tempo is well built. Ray portrayed by Neil is a believable character and thankfully the romantic moments are not a deterrent to the pace of the movie.
Which brings us to the actual star of the move- the pace and the the running length. At a shade under 2 hours, you don’t feel the time lost and thankfully Surti scores here.
If only the screenplay (Sheershak Anand & Shantanu Ray Chibber) offered more meat in the 2nd half, the movie could have actually been a fine thriller. Music by Gaurav Dasgupta and Pritam is decent but nothing great. Neil certainly has potential no doubt and he is reasonably earnest in the movie. For Bipasha the role is hardly a challenge. All said and done its not the worst movie in recent times, go for it if all you want is to have a decent time at the movies to brave the summer heat.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/aa-dekhen-zara-the-title-sums-up-the-movie/
Wait- isn’t this a review of ADZ? Why am I mentioning Mr. India here? Well no I haven’t gone bonkers; I seriously feel somebody associated with ADZ has certainly been influenced with Mr. India. ADZ is all about Ray Acharya (Neil) who’s a freelance photographer specializing in wildlife photography. One day he gets to know that his grandfather (yesteryear hero Biswajeet seen after ages) is dead and that he’s left behind a camera for him. What’s special about the camera is that it can help you glimpse the future. A down and out Roy then decides to take advantage of the camera and uses its power to make money the short way- lottery, horse racing, stocks and so on. He gets so caught up in the circle of making money that he hardly has any time for his girlfriend, Simi Chatterjee ( Bipasha Basu ) a DJ & a wannabe singer.
But as always all good things need to come to an end. So you have not just a mysterious 'captain' (Rahul Dev) who is gunning for him but there's also India's RAW who wants
the camera in the name of National Security. Thus begins a routine cat and mouse game which sees the action shifting from Mumbai to Bangkok. What starts off interesting
enough slowly turns out to be a run of the mill affair.
Into the 2nd half as the events unfold you keep wondering why are things happening like this. Why on earth is there a need to break into an item number when the chips are down? What’s the back-story of 'captain'? And if this is the way RAW would handle a matter of National Security, it makes me really cringe.Jehangir Surti has made a stylish movie and the story thankfully doesn’t lose its pace. Starting with the opening credits rolling brilliantly against the strain of the title track to the slick camera work (Jehangir Chowdhary) and fast pace of the movie, the tempo is well built. Ray portrayed by Neil is a believable character and thankfully the romantic moments are not a deterrent to the pace of the movie.
Which brings us to the actual star of the move- the pace and the the running length. At a shade under 2 hours, you don’t feel the time lost and thankfully Surti scores here.
If only the screenplay (Sheershak Anand & Shantanu Ray Chibber) offered more meat in the 2nd half, the movie could have actually been a fine thriller. Music by Gaurav Dasgupta and Pritam is decent but nothing great. Neil certainly has potential no doubt and he is reasonably earnest in the movie. For Bipasha the role is hardly a challenge. All said and done its not the worst movie in recent times, go for it if all you want is to have a decent time at the movies to brave the summer heat.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/aa-dekhen-zara-the-title-sums-up-the-movie/
Dhoondte Reh Jaoge- Time for some mindless, harmless fun!!!
Ok in this time of recession and with a lot of heaviness on our head, one sometimes looks forward to going easy on oneself. So on March 11th while we were all celebrating Holi across the country, I was just feeling a bit low and wanted to unwind myself. Considering that I was celebrating a festival with my whole family after ages, taking the entire family out for a movie looked to be the logical thing to do. Since I was more or less up to date on the current releases unlike my parents, I was really wondering which movie I should go for. That was when on instinct I decided to ignore all reviews and just go ahead and watch Dhoondte Reh Jaoge ( DRJ from hereon).Something within me told me that the next 2 & ½ hours spent in the multiplex would certainly help me unwind very well.
For the benefit of those may not be aware of the movie let me tell you that DRJ released on March 6th, 2009 and is a UTV production. Written and directed by Umesh Shukla, the movie stars Kunal Khemu,Paresh Rawal,Soha Ali Khan,Sonu Sood,Johny Lever etc. To be extremely honest the story as such is quite ridiculous. It’s all about two people who are both losers in their own right. One of them, Anand Pawar ( Kunal Khemu) is an upright Chartered Accountant who keeps getting thrown out of work due to his honesty and the other is Raj Chopra, a once famous producer who’s now on the run as he’s hiding from his creditors.
After a series of altercations, Anand Pawar & Raj Chopra decide to join together and make it big and turn over their own destinies. And what’s the plan for the same? Simple- they decide to make a flop movie. The logic being that they would make a movie at a fraction of the money raised for the same & end up making such a bad movie that it would flop and so they need not repay the money back. Thus the two get going- they rope in Aryan Kapoor (Sonu Sood) as the hero who himself is desperate for a hit & Neha Chattopadhyay ( Soha Ali Khan)- Anand’s girlfriend as the heroine. Johny Lever steps in as the “ghatiya” story writer. The movie- Sholay Se L’gaan Tak is made. Does it turn out to be a flop? Do Anand & Raj make the money they needed? What happens to the rest of the people?
The movie is a mad caper and that is evident when you see some of the scenes especially when the film shooting starts. There are enough sequences which make you laugh till you ache & you do not really have to look at your watch in an irritated fashion. Music by Sajid-Wajid is strictly ok. In terms of performance Kunal Khemu & Parsh Rawal are both earnest, Soha doesn’t get much scope, Sonu Sood is efficient (comes in a variety of get-ups too) and it’s great to see Johny Lever in form after a long time.
Yes the story is hardly path breaking, some of the dialogues are silly & the sets are certainly tacky and not worth talking about. But all said and done, when the intention is to laugh & be merry as John Masefield said,DRJ is certainly not a bad choice at all.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/dhoondte-reh-jaoge-time-for-some-mindless-harmless-fun/
For the benefit of those may not be aware of the movie let me tell you that DRJ released on March 6th, 2009 and is a UTV production. Written and directed by Umesh Shukla, the movie stars Kunal Khemu,Paresh Rawal,Soha Ali Khan,Sonu Sood,Johny Lever etc. To be extremely honest the story as such is quite ridiculous. It’s all about two people who are both losers in their own right. One of them, Anand Pawar ( Kunal Khemu) is an upright Chartered Accountant who keeps getting thrown out of work due to his honesty and the other is Raj Chopra, a once famous producer who’s now on the run as he’s hiding from his creditors.
After a series of altercations, Anand Pawar & Raj Chopra decide to join together and make it big and turn over their own destinies. And what’s the plan for the same? Simple- they decide to make a flop movie. The logic being that they would make a movie at a fraction of the money raised for the same & end up making such a bad movie that it would flop and so they need not repay the money back. Thus the two get going- they rope in Aryan Kapoor (Sonu Sood) as the hero who himself is desperate for a hit & Neha Chattopadhyay ( Soha Ali Khan)- Anand’s girlfriend as the heroine. Johny Lever steps in as the “ghatiya” story writer. The movie- Sholay Se L’gaan Tak is made. Does it turn out to be a flop? Do Anand & Raj make the money they needed? What happens to the rest of the people?
The movie is a mad caper and that is evident when you see some of the scenes especially when the film shooting starts. There are enough sequences which make you laugh till you ache & you do not really have to look at your watch in an irritated fashion. Music by Sajid-Wajid is strictly ok. In terms of performance Kunal Khemu & Parsh Rawal are both earnest, Soha doesn’t get much scope, Sonu Sood is efficient (comes in a variety of get-ups too) and it’s great to see Johny Lever in form after a long time.
Yes the story is hardly path breaking, some of the dialogues are silly & the sets are certainly tacky and not worth talking about. But all said and done, when the intention is to laugh & be merry as John Masefield said,DRJ is certainly not a bad choice at all.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/dhoondte-reh-jaoge-time-for-some-mindless-harmless-fun/
Next Month at the Movies- Money Saved, Joy Lost!!!
For a passionate lover of cinema like me, the anticipation of the next month always is keeping in mind the movies awaiting release- be it in Hindi, English or any other regional language. So why is it that introspecting on April’09 I’m feeling extremely sad? Ah! For the starters from April 4th onwards there’s going to be no Hindi movie releasing due to the strike called by the producers association as they have been unable to resolve their differences with the multiplex owners over revenue sharing.
For those who are unaware of the situation, let me quickly get into the details. All of us would be aware of how the producers & multiplexes have got into spats due to revenue sharing from time to time & Yash Raj Films have been in the forefront in this context. In fact we all know that Tashan did not release on time in the chain multiplexes due to this issue. Now the situation has worsened & hence the strike has been called for. The producers this time want clear 50: 50 equality in revenue sharing between the distributors & the multiplexes. Well if you are asking why do the producers bother about the distributors- the answer is simple- a lot of producers like UTV & Yash Raj are distributor’s themselves. And apart from that if the distributor is happy, naturally the producer is happy too. After all some producer- distributor relationships tend to be extremely strong over ages.
Apparently in countries like UK & UAE, the distributors and multiplexes have a clear 50:50 ratio of revenue sharing while it is 60: 40 in case of USA & Canada (first week).
But in India there has been no clear cut ratio of revenue sharing. It is all done on a case to case basis. So if it’s a movie which has a big star like Aamir/SRK/Akshay etc then the producers/distributors dictate terms &if the star cast is not very formidable then the multiplexes tend to take an upper hand. The multiplex owners on their side came forward & said they are willing to go in for revenue sharing based on a film’s performance. According to this formula if a movie succeeds like a RNBDJ or a Ghajini both parties gain & if a movie doesn’t succeed like CC2C, then both parties lose. But this proposal has been rejected by the producers & hence the strike is on.
Now how does it impact a passionate film viewer like me who’s also a victim of the Friday Phenomena (check out- http://passionforcinema.com/the-friday-phenomena/)? Well to begin with the only notable Bollywood release scheduled in April (April 3rd) is the Akshay Kumar- Nagesh Kukunoor movie – 8 *10 Tasveer. Even the release of this movie appears shaky since there is still some post production work going on. The next set of releases after April 3rd is only scheduled for May 1st (depending upon the strike getting sorted out). So which means for nearly a month I’m starved of new Hindi movies, something that I’m already beginning to dread.
So what’s the situation as far as regional cinema is concerned? Well as far as Tamil & Telugu cinema is concerned, the situation is again bleak. K.V.Anand, the ace cinematographer is back with his 2nd directorial venture (after Kana Kandein ) called Ayan ( starring Surya & Tamanna ) and this will see a simultaneous release on April 3rd. Director Vishnu Vardhan who redefined style in Tamil cinema with Billa also may see his next release- Sarwam ( Starring Arya & Trisha ) in April, but this is not yet confirmed. There are no other big releases lined up in Tamil & Telugu in April primarily due to the elections coming up.
Malayalam cinema is faring slightly better since there are important festivals like Easter & Vishu lined up in April. Hence in April one may get to see a few releases like To Hariharnagar (the sequel of In Hariharnagar), IG (Suresh Gopi), Mose & Cat (Dileep starrer directed by the veteran Fazil). But again the dates are all tentative as of now. Considering this situation what does a true filmy like me do? Well watch the odd Hollywood release that may turn out to be good, hope some more regional movies apart from those already mentioned release and just look forward to the strike in Bollywood getting over soon. Of course with elections lined up in April even if the strike is over soon it will be tough to see new releases in April.
So it becomes clear that people like me may end up saving some money as we do not have a lot of movies to watch in April, but that will come again at a cost- the cost of losing our joy of watching a lot of movies.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/next-month-at-the-movies-money-saved-joy-lost/
For those who are unaware of the situation, let me quickly get into the details. All of us would be aware of how the producers & multiplexes have got into spats due to revenue sharing from time to time & Yash Raj Films have been in the forefront in this context. In fact we all know that Tashan did not release on time in the chain multiplexes due to this issue. Now the situation has worsened & hence the strike has been called for. The producers this time want clear 50: 50 equality in revenue sharing between the distributors & the multiplexes. Well if you are asking why do the producers bother about the distributors- the answer is simple- a lot of producers like UTV & Yash Raj are distributor’s themselves. And apart from that if the distributor is happy, naturally the producer is happy too. After all some producer- distributor relationships tend to be extremely strong over ages.
Apparently in countries like UK & UAE, the distributors and multiplexes have a clear 50:50 ratio of revenue sharing while it is 60: 40 in case of USA & Canada (first week).
But in India there has been no clear cut ratio of revenue sharing. It is all done on a case to case basis. So if it’s a movie which has a big star like Aamir/SRK/Akshay etc then the producers/distributors dictate terms &if the star cast is not very formidable then the multiplexes tend to take an upper hand. The multiplex owners on their side came forward & said they are willing to go in for revenue sharing based on a film’s performance. According to this formula if a movie succeeds like a RNBDJ or a Ghajini both parties gain & if a movie doesn’t succeed like CC2C, then both parties lose. But this proposal has been rejected by the producers & hence the strike is on.
Now how does it impact a passionate film viewer like me who’s also a victim of the Friday Phenomena (check out- http://passionforcinema.com/the-friday-phenomena/)? Well to begin with the only notable Bollywood release scheduled in April (April 3rd) is the Akshay Kumar- Nagesh Kukunoor movie – 8 *10 Tasveer. Even the release of this movie appears shaky since there is still some post production work going on. The next set of releases after April 3rd is only scheduled for May 1st (depending upon the strike getting sorted out). So which means for nearly a month I’m starved of new Hindi movies, something that I’m already beginning to dread.
So what’s the situation as far as regional cinema is concerned? Well as far as Tamil & Telugu cinema is concerned, the situation is again bleak. K.V.Anand, the ace cinematographer is back with his 2nd directorial venture (after Kana Kandein ) called Ayan ( starring Surya & Tamanna ) and this will see a simultaneous release on April 3rd. Director Vishnu Vardhan who redefined style in Tamil cinema with Billa also may see his next release- Sarwam ( Starring Arya & Trisha ) in April, but this is not yet confirmed. There are no other big releases lined up in Tamil & Telugu in April primarily due to the elections coming up.
Malayalam cinema is faring slightly better since there are important festivals like Easter & Vishu lined up in April. Hence in April one may get to see a few releases like To Hariharnagar (the sequel of In Hariharnagar), IG (Suresh Gopi), Mose & Cat (Dileep starrer directed by the veteran Fazil). But again the dates are all tentative as of now. Considering this situation what does a true filmy like me do? Well watch the odd Hollywood release that may turn out to be good, hope some more regional movies apart from those already mentioned release and just look forward to the strike in Bollywood getting over soon. Of course with elections lined up in April even if the strike is over soon it will be tough to see new releases in April.
So it becomes clear that people like me may end up saving some money as we do not have a lot of movies to watch in April, but that will come again at a cost- the cost of losing our joy of watching a lot of movies.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/next-month-at-the-movies-money-saved-joy-lost/
Mungaru Male- Monsoon Rain like never before for Kannada Cinema
As the year 2006 gave way to 2007, there emerged a whiff of fresh air spreading the spirit of love. The place was Bangalore (I prefer it over Bengaluru) and the occasion was the release of a reasonably small Kannada movie- Mungaru Male (hereafter referred to as MM) which went on to take the entire Kannada film industry by storm. Initially there was hardly any ripple created and one did not realize the impact of the movie. Going down memory lane, I remember during the 2nd week of its release I had started observing the video’s of the songs & kept listening to the songs on FM radio. That was when during a casual conversation with an industry friend of mine, I commented that “is movie me kuch to zaroor hai, keep your eyes open.” My friend just shrugged away my comment & went on. But a couple of weeks later he was very excited to tell me that my comment had indeed been right, the movie was turning out to be a major success. That’s when I smiled- the smile was that of a dreamer, a passionate film lover and a romantic at heart.
For somebody who lives on a staple diet of movies across genres and across languages, Kannada cinema just did not appeal enough. Yes there had been days in the past when I had seen movies of the late Dr.Rajkumar or Vishnuvardhan (mainly in T.V), but of late there really had not been any great movie worth talking about. An Apthamitra or a Jogi were probably flashes in the pan and nothing else to look forward to apart from the movies of an odd Girish Kasaravalli and his breed of directors. But MM revived the interest in Kannada cinema not just for me but for a whole set of movie audience both Kannadiga and non Kannadiga. People who would otherwise not talk about Kannada movies started talking about the movie, the songs were heard everywhere and everyone associated with the movie began making money.
Genesis of the Movie
So what’s the movie all about? How and why did it get made? Well the director of the movie – Yograj Bhatt was from the ad film industry and had not met with success with his first two movies. This time he had a good script in hand and initially approached Puneet Rajkumar who was not convinced about the script and backed out. That’s when fate proved to be lucky for ‘Comedy Time’ Ganesh and he stepped in as the hero. Ganesh was popular on T.V as the host of a comedy show (Comedy Time) and after doing a minor role in Amruthadhaare (better known for Amitabh Bachchan’s cameo), he had tasted some success with his first solo hero movie, Chellata. Ganesh managed to get E.Krishnappa on board as the producer as he knew him from his earlier days. That’s how the movie finally took off.
Plot Outline
MM is the story of a young man Preetam( Ganesh), who falls in love at first sight with Nandini ( Pooja Gandhi). Preetam then accompanies his mother to Madikeri ( Coorg ) for the wedding of his mother’s best friend’s daughter. Yes the bride to be happens to be Nandini and as expected sparks fly between the two. After initially shying away from Preetam, Nandini too falls in love with him. But Preetam’s mother comes to know the truth and requests him to forfeit his love as the wedding is due in a few days time. So what happens next? Does true love succeed or does love get sacrificed? That’s what the rest of the movie is all about.
Factors that made the movie memorable
While the plot as such does not look very different from a routine romantic flick, there are quite a few elements that work in a big way for MM.
The treatment of the subject (story by Preetham Gubbi) is very refreshing especially keeping the general trend of Kannada cinema.
The camera work by Krishna is remarkable. In fact most people would be surprised to see the beauty of Coorg or Jog Falls getting captured so well in a Kannada movie.
Yograj Bhatt has not just done justice to the script; he manages to keep the viewer engrossed throughout the movie. What’s commendable is also the fact that he manages to extract very good performances from the cast be it the younger set like Ganesh, Pooja Gandhi,Diganth etc or seniors like Anant Nag, Padmaja Rao , Sudha Belwadi etc.
Music by Mano Moorthy is exemplary and well supported by the lyrics written by Jayanth Kaikini,Yograj Bhat,Kaviraj & Siva. What’s even more remarkable is that the songs are sung by well known singers like Udit Narayan,Sonu Nigam,Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Goshal etc.
The movie went on to break all records in the Kannada film industry and made a big star out of Ganesh. All the others like Yograj Bhat, Pooja Gandhi ,Mano Moorthy, Jayant Kaikini Krishna, etc have also become even more popular in their respective streams. So overall the movie has turned out to be a wonderful experience for everyone associated with it.
As a passionate film lover and a die hard romantic myself, I feel that for a romantic flick to succeed, one needs to connect with the on screen romance. When the connect happens like in the case of an Ek Duje Ke Liye, a DDLJ , a QSQT etc I think box office history automatically happens. In case of MM not only myself but nearly everybody else who watched the movie connected to the romance. Kannada cinema certainly got a fresh lease of life with MM.
On a parting note given below are links to some of my most favorite songs in the movie-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yICktD094yU
The first of them is Kunidhu Kunidhu Baare,sung by Udit Narayan & Sunidhi Chauhan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDTQJs6LbHM&feature=related
The second is Anisuthide Yaako Indu, sung by Sonu Nigam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnYnqxKoMqg&feature=related
The third is the title track sung by Sonu Nigam again.
Watch the videos and let the monsoon rains herald love once again.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/mungaru-male-monsoon-rain-like-never-before-for-kannada-cinema/
For somebody who lives on a staple diet of movies across genres and across languages, Kannada cinema just did not appeal enough. Yes there had been days in the past when I had seen movies of the late Dr.Rajkumar or Vishnuvardhan (mainly in T.V), but of late there really had not been any great movie worth talking about. An Apthamitra or a Jogi were probably flashes in the pan and nothing else to look forward to apart from the movies of an odd Girish Kasaravalli and his breed of directors. But MM revived the interest in Kannada cinema not just for me but for a whole set of movie audience both Kannadiga and non Kannadiga. People who would otherwise not talk about Kannada movies started talking about the movie, the songs were heard everywhere and everyone associated with the movie began making money.
Genesis of the Movie
So what’s the movie all about? How and why did it get made? Well the director of the movie – Yograj Bhatt was from the ad film industry and had not met with success with his first two movies. This time he had a good script in hand and initially approached Puneet Rajkumar who was not convinced about the script and backed out. That’s when fate proved to be lucky for ‘Comedy Time’ Ganesh and he stepped in as the hero. Ganesh was popular on T.V as the host of a comedy show (Comedy Time) and after doing a minor role in Amruthadhaare (better known for Amitabh Bachchan’s cameo), he had tasted some success with his first solo hero movie, Chellata. Ganesh managed to get E.Krishnappa on board as the producer as he knew him from his earlier days. That’s how the movie finally took off.
Plot Outline
MM is the story of a young man Preetam( Ganesh), who falls in love at first sight with Nandini ( Pooja Gandhi). Preetam then accompanies his mother to Madikeri ( Coorg ) for the wedding of his mother’s best friend’s daughter. Yes the bride to be happens to be Nandini and as expected sparks fly between the two. After initially shying away from Preetam, Nandini too falls in love with him. But Preetam’s mother comes to know the truth and requests him to forfeit his love as the wedding is due in a few days time. So what happens next? Does true love succeed or does love get sacrificed? That’s what the rest of the movie is all about.
Factors that made the movie memorable
While the plot as such does not look very different from a routine romantic flick, there are quite a few elements that work in a big way for MM.
The treatment of the subject (story by Preetham Gubbi) is very refreshing especially keeping the general trend of Kannada cinema.
The camera work by Krishna is remarkable. In fact most people would be surprised to see the beauty of Coorg or Jog Falls getting captured so well in a Kannada movie.
Yograj Bhatt has not just done justice to the script; he manages to keep the viewer engrossed throughout the movie. What’s commendable is also the fact that he manages to extract very good performances from the cast be it the younger set like Ganesh, Pooja Gandhi,Diganth etc or seniors like Anant Nag, Padmaja Rao , Sudha Belwadi etc.
Music by Mano Moorthy is exemplary and well supported by the lyrics written by Jayanth Kaikini,Yograj Bhat,Kaviraj & Siva. What’s even more remarkable is that the songs are sung by well known singers like Udit Narayan,Sonu Nigam,Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Goshal etc.
The movie went on to break all records in the Kannada film industry and made a big star out of Ganesh. All the others like Yograj Bhat, Pooja Gandhi ,Mano Moorthy, Jayant Kaikini Krishna, etc have also become even more popular in their respective streams. So overall the movie has turned out to be a wonderful experience for everyone associated with it.
As a passionate film lover and a die hard romantic myself, I feel that for a romantic flick to succeed, one needs to connect with the on screen romance. When the connect happens like in the case of an Ek Duje Ke Liye, a DDLJ , a QSQT etc I think box office history automatically happens. In case of MM not only myself but nearly everybody else who watched the movie connected to the romance. Kannada cinema certainly got a fresh lease of life with MM.
On a parting note given below are links to some of my most favorite songs in the movie-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yICktD094yU
The first of them is Kunidhu Kunidhu Baare,sung by Udit Narayan & Sunidhi Chauhan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDTQJs6LbHM&feature=related
The second is Anisuthide Yaako Indu, sung by Sonu Nigam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnYnqxKoMqg&feature=related
The third is the title track sung by Sonu Nigam again.
Watch the videos and let the monsoon rains herald love once again.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/mungaru-male-monsoon-rain-like-never-before-for-kannada-cinema/
Malayalam Summer Releases 0f 2009- A Sneak Peek
Malayalam Cinema has not been having a great run of late. After the phenomenal success of Twenty: 20, movies (both mainstream & offbeat) have been struggling to get accepted by the audience. So much so that average movies like Dileep’s Crazy Gopalan and the father-son combination of Sreenivasan and Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Makante Achhan have gone on to become hits. Both the movies had lukewarm starts (Crazy Gopalan was a Christmas release) but have managed to cling on at the box office and do well eventually due to lack of better choices. Mohanlal’s Red Chillies (directed by Shaji Kailash) had a great start and then evened out.
Considering all this the upcoming summer release schedule looks interesting. Summer is always considered a good time for Malayalam cinema. Reasons are, school & college holidays and important festivals like Vishu & Easter all ensuring that the audience is looking forward to a chance to go out for entertainment. Also the onset of monsoon starts towards end of summer and so all put together summer is the ideal time for movie releases in Kerala. Let’s take a snapshot of the main releases scheduled for Summer 2009.
1. Sagar alias Jackie, tentative release date- March 27th.Starring Mohanlal, Suman, Bhavana and directed by - Amal Nirad. This is the sequel to the Mohanlal- Suresh Gopi hit movie- Irupatham Nootrandu and going by initial reports, it looks like a well shot stylish film. Here’s hoping Amal Nirad repeats the magic of his earlier movie Big B ( Mammootty). The movie also marks the acting debut of Mohanlal’s son.
2. To Hariharnagar, tentative release date- April 2nd.Starring Mukesh, Siddique, Lakshmi Rai and directed by Lal, this one is the dark horse. It’s a sequel to the superhit comedy film of the early 1990’s- In Hariharnagar.The principal cast is the same. Lal of the erstwhile Siddique- Lal duo, who directed the first movie, is the director this time.
3. Vandemataram, tentative release date- April 12th (Easter Sunday).Starring Mammootty, Arjun, Sneha and directed by Aravindan, its an action packed movie and is a bilingual with the Tamil version being called Aruvadai. The movie has been delayed in the making.
4. IG, tentative release date- April 12th (Easter Sunday).Starring Suresh Gopi, Sai Kumar, Vijayraghavan and directed by B.Unnikrishnan. Though it’s a regular action movie for Suresh Gopi, B.Unnikrishnan is in form having directed last year’s hit Mohanlal movie - Madambi and so the movie is being talked about.
5. Mouse and Cat (earlier titled Moses.D.Samuel), tentative release date- April 14th (Vishu Day) - Starring- Dileep, Aswathy, Salim Kumar and directed by the veteran- Fazil. This should be a family entertainer with plenty of comedy thrown in.
6. Black and White Kudumbam , tentative release date- April 24th.Starring- Kalabhavan Mani, Jayasurya, Vinayaprasad and directed by Shaiju Anthikad. It’s a family entertainer again.
7. Sathyan Anthikad’s untitled film has a tentative release date of May 1st.Like all his other ventures, the name will be announced only nearer to the date of release. It has Jayaram and Kaniha in the lead and music by Ilayaraja. This movie again carries good word of mouth already.
8. May 1st is also likely to see the release of Mammootty, Kavya Madhavan starrer- Pattanathil Bhootham, directed byJohnny Antony. Going by Johny’s previous works like CID Moosa, Thurupugulan, Cycle, etc this should be a mass entertainer.
9. Passenger, tentative release date- May 7th. The star cast of Sreenivasan. Dileep. Mamta Mohandas is impressive. The director is Ranjit Shankar. It’s expected to be a comedy movie.
These are only some of the important movies lined up & the final tally of releases might see some changes. Also the elections in Kerala being on April 16th, the dates of some of these movies might get shifted. As a passionate lover of cinema and a keen follower of Malayalam cinema, I am looking forward to a satisfying summer for Malayalam cinema.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/malayalam-summer-releases-0f-2009-a-sneak-peek/
Considering all this the upcoming summer release schedule looks interesting. Summer is always considered a good time for Malayalam cinema. Reasons are, school & college holidays and important festivals like Vishu & Easter all ensuring that the audience is looking forward to a chance to go out for entertainment. Also the onset of monsoon starts towards end of summer and so all put together summer is the ideal time for movie releases in Kerala. Let’s take a snapshot of the main releases scheduled for Summer 2009.
1. Sagar alias Jackie, tentative release date- March 27th.Starring Mohanlal, Suman, Bhavana and directed by - Amal Nirad. This is the sequel to the Mohanlal- Suresh Gopi hit movie- Irupatham Nootrandu and going by initial reports, it looks like a well shot stylish film. Here’s hoping Amal Nirad repeats the magic of his earlier movie Big B ( Mammootty). The movie also marks the acting debut of Mohanlal’s son.
2. To Hariharnagar, tentative release date- April 2nd.Starring Mukesh, Siddique, Lakshmi Rai and directed by Lal, this one is the dark horse. It’s a sequel to the superhit comedy film of the early 1990’s- In Hariharnagar.The principal cast is the same. Lal of the erstwhile Siddique- Lal duo, who directed the first movie, is the director this time.
3. Vandemataram, tentative release date- April 12th (Easter Sunday).Starring Mammootty, Arjun, Sneha and directed by Aravindan, its an action packed movie and is a bilingual with the Tamil version being called Aruvadai. The movie has been delayed in the making.
4. IG, tentative release date- April 12th (Easter Sunday).Starring Suresh Gopi, Sai Kumar, Vijayraghavan and directed by B.Unnikrishnan. Though it’s a regular action movie for Suresh Gopi, B.Unnikrishnan is in form having directed last year’s hit Mohanlal movie - Madambi and so the movie is being talked about.
5. Mouse and Cat (earlier titled Moses.D.Samuel), tentative release date- April 14th (Vishu Day) - Starring- Dileep, Aswathy, Salim Kumar and directed by the veteran- Fazil. This should be a family entertainer with plenty of comedy thrown in.
6. Black and White Kudumbam , tentative release date- April 24th.Starring- Kalabhavan Mani, Jayasurya, Vinayaprasad and directed by Shaiju Anthikad. It’s a family entertainer again.
7. Sathyan Anthikad’s untitled film has a tentative release date of May 1st.Like all his other ventures, the name will be announced only nearer to the date of release. It has Jayaram and Kaniha in the lead and music by Ilayaraja. This movie again carries good word of mouth already.
8. May 1st is also likely to see the release of Mammootty, Kavya Madhavan starrer- Pattanathil Bhootham, directed byJohnny Antony. Going by Johny’s previous works like CID Moosa, Thurupugulan, Cycle, etc this should be a mass entertainer.
9. Passenger, tentative release date- May 7th. The star cast of Sreenivasan. Dileep. Mamta Mohandas is impressive. The director is Ranjit Shankar. It’s expected to be a comedy movie.
These are only some of the important movies lined up & the final tally of releases might see some changes. Also the elections in Kerala being on April 16th, the dates of some of these movies might get shifted. As a passionate lover of cinema and a keen follower of Malayalam cinema, I am looking forward to a satisfying summer for Malayalam cinema.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/malayalam-summer-releases-0f-2009-a-sneak-peek/
13 B- Beware of the Television
R.Madhavan is back & this time with a bilingual- 13 B in Hindi & Yavarum Nalam in Tamil. The movie also marks the return of Poonam Dhillon to the big screen after a long gap. One also gets to see P.C. Sreeram’s cinematography in only his 2nd ever Hindi movie & the music is by Shankar-Ehasan –Loy. Considering all these things and also the fact the movie is in the horror-thriller genre made me curious to watch the movie. Also with movies like Phoonk, 1920, Raaz- The Mystery Continues having all done well recently at the box office, the curiosity factor in my case was slightly more.
First things first Vikram Kumar the director and screen play writer loses no time in building up a premise to the plot. The movie is all about a family which consists of Madhavan, his wife ( Neetu Chandra), his brother, brother’s wife and two kids, a sister and the mother ( Poonam Dhillon). At the very beginning we see the family shifting into a new flat on the 13th floor (13 B) of the building after taking a loan. But a series of strange incidents keep happening especially with Madhavan.
The lift doesn’t seem to work for him, pictures of him taken on his mobile phone seem to be distorted, one is unable to hammer nails in the puja room, and so on. Madhavan seems to initially shrug off all these happenings and tries to get on with his routine. All the women in the house (especially the mother and her 2 daughter in laws) are fond of watching the saas- bahu serials on T.V & one day when they try to catch up on a favorite serial of theirs, they are unable to change the channels & happen to watch a new serial. What’s interesting is that the serial happens to be based on a family similar to that of theirs and the happenings in the serial seem to mirror those happening in 13 B.
One fine day Madhavan happens to notice the serial by chance & realizes the strange similarity between the serial & the situation at home.When things start getting even more bizarre, he even brings a friend, a cop (Murli Sharma) home to check the same & when he also admits to the strange similarity, things start to look all the more puzzling. So what really is the serial all about? What’s the connection between the serial & their family? Is their house haunted? What really is the secret behind all the sudden happenings? Watch the movie to find out the answers to these and many more questions.
Camera work by P.C.Sreeram really acts as one of the major highlights of the movie. The use of various color tones to suit the various moods of the film is remarkably done. Songs by S-E-L do not really work in the movie & only seem to slow down the pace of the movie. B.G.Score by Tubby-Parik is effective. In terms of acting, Madhavan is earnest as always, Neetu Chandra is decent, Poonam Dhillon as the T.V obsessed mother doesn’t get much screen time, Murli Sharma is good, Sachin Khedekar is just o.k, Dhritiman Chatterjee is good and Deepak Dobriyal in a small role impresses nevertheless. The movie for once does not have the typical blood & gore associated with Indian movies of this genre & is more of something which plays on your mind.
Considering the way one’s life nowadays has become so much dependent on the T.V & the mobile phone, the story looks quite contemporary and reasonably convincing. Yes at times the pace does drop a bit, but overall the movie is fairly earnest in what it intends to convey. Definitely a decent movie and worth a watch especially for those who like movies like The Ring (no it’s certainly not close to it in terms of brilliance though).
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/13-b-beware-of-the-television/
First things first Vikram Kumar the director and screen play writer loses no time in building up a premise to the plot. The movie is all about a family which consists of Madhavan, his wife ( Neetu Chandra), his brother, brother’s wife and two kids, a sister and the mother ( Poonam Dhillon). At the very beginning we see the family shifting into a new flat on the 13th floor (13 B) of the building after taking a loan. But a series of strange incidents keep happening especially with Madhavan.
The lift doesn’t seem to work for him, pictures of him taken on his mobile phone seem to be distorted, one is unable to hammer nails in the puja room, and so on. Madhavan seems to initially shrug off all these happenings and tries to get on with his routine. All the women in the house (especially the mother and her 2 daughter in laws) are fond of watching the saas- bahu serials on T.V & one day when they try to catch up on a favorite serial of theirs, they are unable to change the channels & happen to watch a new serial. What’s interesting is that the serial happens to be based on a family similar to that of theirs and the happenings in the serial seem to mirror those happening in 13 B.
One fine day Madhavan happens to notice the serial by chance & realizes the strange similarity between the serial & the situation at home.When things start getting even more bizarre, he even brings a friend, a cop (Murli Sharma) home to check the same & when he also admits to the strange similarity, things start to look all the more puzzling. So what really is the serial all about? What’s the connection between the serial & their family? Is their house haunted? What really is the secret behind all the sudden happenings? Watch the movie to find out the answers to these and many more questions.
Camera work by P.C.Sreeram really acts as one of the major highlights of the movie. The use of various color tones to suit the various moods of the film is remarkably done. Songs by S-E-L do not really work in the movie & only seem to slow down the pace of the movie. B.G.Score by Tubby-Parik is effective. In terms of acting, Madhavan is earnest as always, Neetu Chandra is decent, Poonam Dhillon as the T.V obsessed mother doesn’t get much screen time, Murli Sharma is good, Sachin Khedekar is just o.k, Dhritiman Chatterjee is good and Deepak Dobriyal in a small role impresses nevertheless. The movie for once does not have the typical blood & gore associated with Indian movies of this genre & is more of something which plays on your mind.
Considering the way one’s life nowadays has become so much dependent on the T.V & the mobile phone, the story looks quite contemporary and reasonably convincing. Yes at times the pace does drop a bit, but overall the movie is fairly earnest in what it intends to convey. Definitely a decent movie and worth a watch especially for those who like movies like The Ring (no it’s certainly not close to it in terms of brilliance though).
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/13-b-beware-of-the-television/
100th Post
Yeah just like the 100 days run of a movie is celebrated, like a batsman acknowleding a century or a parent appreciating his child for scoring a 100 in Maths, its time for me to rejoice too as this is the 100th post in my blog.I dont have much to say on the same except that it feels nice to keep going @ it.In my earlier blog I had stopped posting anything after a while, maybe I got bored.But the passion for cinema is keeping me going mainly even in the recession period & for that I need to thank PFC too ( www.passionforcinema.com) where I have been writing regularly for quite some tim.In fact its after ages that I've written something directly over here as most of my recent posts over here are basically a reproduction of what I've posted in PFC.Anyways I hope to keep blogging and pouring my thoughts out.Lets keep it going and keep surpassing more & more landmarks on the way.
What ails Malayalam Cinema today?
It’s a known fact that by & large Malayalam and Bengali films have gone on to stand out for the quality of movies getting made over the years. While Bengali cinema has seen masters like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak etc during the yesteryears and is now being represented by the likes of Gautam Ghosh, Rituparno Ghosh etc, Malayalam cinema too has had its maestro’s like Adoor Gopalakrishnan,Aravindan, Bharathan,Padmarajan,T.V.Chandran etc who have brought movies of a different perspective to the intelligent audience. The difference between the Malayalam & Bengali film industry lay in the fact that while mainstream cinema in Bengali in the last 2 decades especially had degenerated into typical potboilers which were not for the intelligent audiences, in case of Malayalam cinema by & large the mainstream cinema was also of high standard. Movies made by stalwarts like Sathyan Anthikkad,Sibi Malayil,Fazil, Priyadarshan etc went on to revolutionize the 80’s and the 90’s.
This brings us to Malayalam cinema of the present. Why do we constantly hear complaints of the quality of movies going down? Why do people long for the kind of movies of the 80’s and 90’s even today? Is the situation out of control? Let’s take a lot at the situation and some of the factors going against Malayalam Cinema presently.
Genuine shortage of good films
Last year’s biggest hit was Twenty: 20, a commercial khichdi which went on to break all records of the Malayalam film industry. While that can be considered as an exception, even if one looks at the other movies made, the scenario appears bleak. Veruthe Oru Bharya was the 2nd biggest hit and while it brought back a new life for Jayaram, the movie would hardly have been considered brilliant in front of some of Jayaram’s earlier movies under directors like Sathyan Anthikkad or a Rajasenan. The story continues with most of the recent releases.
Lack of audience for middle of the road cinema
It’s a shame that in Kerala today a genuinely good film like Jayaraj’s Gulmohar, which saw writer-director Ranjith making an excellent debut as an actor or M.G.Sasi’s Adayalangal struggles to get a theatrical release. And even for some good movies done by Mohanlal like Akashagopuram or a Pakalnakshtrangal, the audience preferred to stay away, preferring to instead watch him in a Twenty: 20 or a Kurukshetra.
Influence of Hindi,Tamil & Telugu Cinema
While one always knew that Malayalam cinema stood for realistic portrayals and also appreciated it, both the film makers and the audience were satisfied that they were able to reach out to the expectations of each other. The audience in Kerala has always been intelligent and preferred to see realism in Malayalam movies and left the larger than life and the glossy stuff to Hindi & Tamil cinema. So much so that in recent times SRK and Vijay have become very big stars in Kerala also on account of their popularity among the youth. This was still all right but seeing the ever increasing popularity of Hindi & Tamil movies in the state, some of the film makers decided to go in for more gloss in their own movies. Thus bringing in typical mass dance numbers and other symbols, more representative of a Hindi or a Tamil movie. In the bargain the element of realism so much an essential part of Malayalam cinema started getting lost.
Another problem has been that of Hindi,Tamil & the Malayalam dubbed versions of Telugu movies flooding the theatres in Kerala. While Hindi & Tamil movies have always found patronage in Kerala, they are finding more acceptances nowadays due to the fall in standards in Malayalam cinema. Aamir Khan’s Ghajini has become the highest grossing Hindi movie in Kerala also. But it is the wide release of the Telugu dubbed movies which is proving to be a big nuisance. For the producers and the distributors, this is a cheap option- the cost of dubbing is not high & the movies get widely released for a 1-2 week run. This sometimes even acts as a stumbling block for the release of a small Malayalam movie.
Shortage of Theatres
The multiplex culture is yet to invade Kerala (Mohanalal in partnership with someone else is now coming up with a chain of multiplexes targeting mainly the smaller towns) and so it’s still the traditional single screens and the cineplexes which rule the roost. Over the last few years a lot of theatres have given away to shopping complexes and other constructions due to either business or other reasons. A huge city like Cochin- Ernakulam does not today have more than 10 -12 direct release theatres ( Ernakulam+Fort Cochin+Tripunithira area) and that makes the availability of screens also a major problem especially if it’s a small movie getting released.
Stars holding Sway
Nearly 3 decades old in the industry and the 2 M’s Mammootty and Mohanlal still rule the roost. They continue to do 5-6 movies a year and try to balance the middle of the road cinema with the commercial movies. Dileep and Jayaram (after T: 20 and Veruthe Oru Bharya) are hanging in there, while the others including Suresh Gopi hardly seem to hit the bulls eye these days. Among the younger stars it’s only Prithviraj who seems to have some kind of connect with the audiences. When it comes to the heroines the problem is even different. Most of the Malayalam heroines like Nayanthara, Bhavana,Navya Nair, Mamta Mohan Das are more prominent in the other South Indian languages. Kavya Madhavan and Gopika have now retired after their wedding. So a new bunch of heroines are required to bring in the freshness.
Silver Lining in the cloud?
So is the situation completely out of control? Are all the factors mentioned above to much to handle? No, I would feel that the situation can still be brought under control.
Given below are some ways to overcome the same and bring back the earlier days of the Malayalam Film Industry-
Prominent film makers like Sathyan Anthikkad, Sibi Malayil, Joshy, Fazil etc to make movies more frequently with the same kind of realism that they have been working on.
More emphasis on script to be given. People like Ranjith, Blessy,Lohitadas, Sreenivasan,T.A.Razzak etc to lead the way. Bring out more works of literary giants like M.T.Vasudevan Nair.
Encourage work of talented directors like Blessy, Shaji.N.Karun etc who can bridge the divide between mainstream & middle of the road cinema.
Make use of digital cinema- Qube & UFO to help in releasing the smaller movies
Curtail the release of dubbed releases by fixing a maximum number of movies allowed per year.
Catch them young- the Kerala Government can through their own Film Society
(Kairali) organize mini festivals in college campuses and enable the students
to get exposed to critically acclaimed Malayalam movies.
The bodies like MACTA ( Malayalam Cine Techinicians Association Federation),
AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes) and the Producers Council should come forward to genuinely encourage and make good cinema. Why cannot there be budgets set aside for making some small intelligent movies patronized by these bodies itself?
All said and done all is not over and I am sure that important stake holders should be working on some of these points listed above and maybe some other points not listed here. As far as 2009 is concerned I am looking forward to movies like Pazhassi Raja (directed by veteran Hariharan, screenplay by M.T.Vasudevan Nair,Mammootty in the lead), Kutti Shranku ( directed by Shaji.N.Karun, written by Shaji.N.Karun & P.F.Mathews and with Mammootty in the lead), Brahmaram ( directed and written by Blessy and with Mohanalal in the lead), Sagar Alias Jackie ( directed by Amal Neerad,written by veteran S.M.Swamy and with Mohanalal in the lead). All these movies are of different genres and look quite exciting. I also hope that these and more such movies do their bit in a small way at least to restore some of the past glory of Malayalam Cinema.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/what-ails-malayalam-cinema-today/
This brings us to Malayalam cinema of the present. Why do we constantly hear complaints of the quality of movies going down? Why do people long for the kind of movies of the 80’s and 90’s even today? Is the situation out of control? Let’s take a lot at the situation and some of the factors going against Malayalam Cinema presently.
Genuine shortage of good films
Last year’s biggest hit was Twenty: 20, a commercial khichdi which went on to break all records of the Malayalam film industry. While that can be considered as an exception, even if one looks at the other movies made, the scenario appears bleak. Veruthe Oru Bharya was the 2nd biggest hit and while it brought back a new life for Jayaram, the movie would hardly have been considered brilliant in front of some of Jayaram’s earlier movies under directors like Sathyan Anthikkad or a Rajasenan. The story continues with most of the recent releases.
Lack of audience for middle of the road cinema
It’s a shame that in Kerala today a genuinely good film like Jayaraj’s Gulmohar, which saw writer-director Ranjith making an excellent debut as an actor or M.G.Sasi’s Adayalangal struggles to get a theatrical release. And even for some good movies done by Mohanlal like Akashagopuram or a Pakalnakshtrangal, the audience preferred to stay away, preferring to instead watch him in a Twenty: 20 or a Kurukshetra.
Influence of Hindi,Tamil & Telugu Cinema
While one always knew that Malayalam cinema stood for realistic portrayals and also appreciated it, both the film makers and the audience were satisfied that they were able to reach out to the expectations of each other. The audience in Kerala has always been intelligent and preferred to see realism in Malayalam movies and left the larger than life and the glossy stuff to Hindi & Tamil cinema. So much so that in recent times SRK and Vijay have become very big stars in Kerala also on account of their popularity among the youth. This was still all right but seeing the ever increasing popularity of Hindi & Tamil movies in the state, some of the film makers decided to go in for more gloss in their own movies. Thus bringing in typical mass dance numbers and other symbols, more representative of a Hindi or a Tamil movie. In the bargain the element of realism so much an essential part of Malayalam cinema started getting lost.
Another problem has been that of Hindi,Tamil & the Malayalam dubbed versions of Telugu movies flooding the theatres in Kerala. While Hindi & Tamil movies have always found patronage in Kerala, they are finding more acceptances nowadays due to the fall in standards in Malayalam cinema. Aamir Khan’s Ghajini has become the highest grossing Hindi movie in Kerala also. But it is the wide release of the Telugu dubbed movies which is proving to be a big nuisance. For the producers and the distributors, this is a cheap option- the cost of dubbing is not high & the movies get widely released for a 1-2 week run. This sometimes even acts as a stumbling block for the release of a small Malayalam movie.
Shortage of Theatres
The multiplex culture is yet to invade Kerala (Mohanalal in partnership with someone else is now coming up with a chain of multiplexes targeting mainly the smaller towns) and so it’s still the traditional single screens and the cineplexes which rule the roost. Over the last few years a lot of theatres have given away to shopping complexes and other constructions due to either business or other reasons. A huge city like Cochin- Ernakulam does not today have more than 10 -12 direct release theatres ( Ernakulam+Fort Cochin+Tripunithira area) and that makes the availability of screens also a major problem especially if it’s a small movie getting released.
Stars holding Sway
Nearly 3 decades old in the industry and the 2 M’s Mammootty and Mohanlal still rule the roost. They continue to do 5-6 movies a year and try to balance the middle of the road cinema with the commercial movies. Dileep and Jayaram (after T: 20 and Veruthe Oru Bharya) are hanging in there, while the others including Suresh Gopi hardly seem to hit the bulls eye these days. Among the younger stars it’s only Prithviraj who seems to have some kind of connect with the audiences. When it comes to the heroines the problem is even different. Most of the Malayalam heroines like Nayanthara, Bhavana,Navya Nair, Mamta Mohan Das are more prominent in the other South Indian languages. Kavya Madhavan and Gopika have now retired after their wedding. So a new bunch of heroines are required to bring in the freshness.
Silver Lining in the cloud?
So is the situation completely out of control? Are all the factors mentioned above to much to handle? No, I would feel that the situation can still be brought under control.
Given below are some ways to overcome the same and bring back the earlier days of the Malayalam Film Industry-
Prominent film makers like Sathyan Anthikkad, Sibi Malayil, Joshy, Fazil etc to make movies more frequently with the same kind of realism that they have been working on.
More emphasis on script to be given. People like Ranjith, Blessy,Lohitadas, Sreenivasan,T.A.Razzak etc to lead the way. Bring out more works of literary giants like M.T.Vasudevan Nair.
Encourage work of talented directors like Blessy, Shaji.N.Karun etc who can bridge the divide between mainstream & middle of the road cinema.
Make use of digital cinema- Qube & UFO to help in releasing the smaller movies
Curtail the release of dubbed releases by fixing a maximum number of movies allowed per year.
Catch them young- the Kerala Government can through their own Film Society
(Kairali) organize mini festivals in college campuses and enable the students
to get exposed to critically acclaimed Malayalam movies.
The bodies like MACTA ( Malayalam Cine Techinicians Association Federation),
AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes) and the Producers Council should come forward to genuinely encourage and make good cinema. Why cannot there be budgets set aside for making some small intelligent movies patronized by these bodies itself?
All said and done all is not over and I am sure that important stake holders should be working on some of these points listed above and maybe some other points not listed here. As far as 2009 is concerned I am looking forward to movies like Pazhassi Raja (directed by veteran Hariharan, screenplay by M.T.Vasudevan Nair,Mammootty in the lead), Kutti Shranku ( directed by Shaji.N.Karun, written by Shaji.N.Karun & P.F.Mathews and with Mammootty in the lead), Brahmaram ( directed and written by Blessy and with Mohanalal in the lead), Sagar Alias Jackie ( directed by Amal Neerad,written by veteran S.M.Swamy and with Mohanalal in the lead). All these movies are of different genres and look quite exciting. I also hope that these and more such movies do their bit in a small way at least to restore some of the past glory of Malayalam Cinema.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/what-ails-malayalam-cinema-today/
Delhi 6- "Why and Why Not"
( Spoiler alert- beware those who are yet to watch the movie)
Initially I did not have any idea to review or write anything on Delhi-6. After all I had seen the movie on the day of release, found it to have some interesting moments, great music and excellent camera work- but that was all to it. Also with so many others writing about it I did not really feel I would write anything new on the movie. But I write this now for a special reason- I’ve just finished seeing the movie once again & what’s prompted me to do it is my fellow PFC author Amanda’s write- up on the movie(Check out- http://passionforcinema.com/a-collection-of-thoughts-on-delhi-6/ )So impressed was I with the write-up that I felt the movie deserved a re-visit from my side & so I did exactly that.
So now that I’ve done it, has my opinion changed? Do I think the movie works or do I still feel the same? Well to be honest rather than blindly answering these questions I would say that I’ve been able to understand the movie & ROM’s thought process much better now after seeing it again.
Here’s why I think the movie needs to be seen-
• Music by ARR is simply brilliant- each song speaks for itself
• Binod Pradhan’s camera work stands out- excellent
• Level of detailing done by ROM is amazing- check out the scene whenAbhishek after landing in India reaches home & wants to go the loo. Just when he is about to go in with a bucket in his hand, he gets a call from his mom. Check out the way Abhishek shows his discomfort by bending his legs repeatedly
• Deepak Dobriyal, Atul Kulkarni and Vijay Raaz stand out impressively in theirportrayals of their characters among the phenomenally impressive supportingstar cast.
• Lots of brilliant moments- though Om Puri & Pawan Malhotra are not in good terms, when Waheeda Rehman is being taken to the hospital, Pawan says LodhiHospital & Om Puri in turn asks people to move to Lodhi Hospital
.• Both brothers are seen to be having their daily quota of drinks in the same manner at the same time with just a wall separating them- amazing
• Amidst all the drama when Abhishek’s heart stops while the ambulance gets stuck and the doctor is trying to revive him- watch out for Vijay Raaz & Deepak Dobriyal. Deepak is handcuffed and slowly Vijay Raaz lets him go – nice gesture and very well shown
• The scene towards the end when Prem Chopra and K.K.Raina both attend to a nature’s call in a gali & then become friendly again putting the blame on ‘kaala bandar’ was interesting
• The way Atul Kulkarni keeps imitating the baba ( Akhilendra Mishra) by saying-baba sab theek kar dega- ok was simply hilarious
Here’s why I think the movie somehow doesn’t deliver what it promised-
• The character of Roshan played by Abhishek takes a long time for the audience to take a liking to. Initially he plays the typical NRI who finds everything interesting around him. It’s only when he stops fooling around with his Motorola phone that he begins to look serious enough.
• Bittu (Sonam Kapoor) comes across as an unconvincing character. Fine she wants to be an Indian Idol, but why would she be so dumb to want to run away with a nukkad wala, especially when she has some feelings for Roshan?
• The ending looked very forced and very cliched
• From the very beginning the movie was projected more as a revisiting of one’s roots based on ROM’s experiences during his childhood/youth in childhood, but the movie is much more than that and is full of metaphors and has a larger story to tell- but something that the people at large cannot decipher so easily.
• While the movie has plenty of interesting moments like the one’s mentioned above, overall the film does look disjointed and the message seems to be conveyed in a very convenient way and hence doesn’t look very convincing.
• I was lucky enough to be able to see someone’s passion and thus get passionate myself and go watch the movie again. How many such people would want to do the same? ROM & UTV believe that there are many who would do that- it’s a point that I would vehemently debate.
All in all I would say ROM has his heart in the right place as far as Delhi-6 is concerned, but the way he has executed the same leaves a lot to be desired. A collage of interesting moments, great music and excellent camera work, it falls short of making me satisfied with the overall product.
Initially I did not have any idea to review or write anything on Delhi-6. After all I had seen the movie on the day of release, found it to have some interesting moments, great music and excellent camera work- but that was all to it. Also with so many others writing about it I did not really feel I would write anything new on the movie. But I write this now for a special reason- I’ve just finished seeing the movie once again & what’s prompted me to do it is my fellow PFC author Amanda’s write- up on the movie(Check out- http://passionforcinema.com/a-collection-of-thoughts-on-delhi-6/ )So impressed was I with the write-up that I felt the movie deserved a re-visit from my side & so I did exactly that.
So now that I’ve done it, has my opinion changed? Do I think the movie works or do I still feel the same? Well to be honest rather than blindly answering these questions I would say that I’ve been able to understand the movie & ROM’s thought process much better now after seeing it again.
Here’s why I think the movie needs to be seen-
• Music by ARR is simply brilliant- each song speaks for itself
• Binod Pradhan’s camera work stands out- excellent
• Level of detailing done by ROM is amazing- check out the scene whenAbhishek after landing in India reaches home & wants to go the loo. Just when he is about to go in with a bucket in his hand, he gets a call from his mom. Check out the way Abhishek shows his discomfort by bending his legs repeatedly
• Deepak Dobriyal, Atul Kulkarni and Vijay Raaz stand out impressively in theirportrayals of their characters among the phenomenally impressive supportingstar cast.
• Lots of brilliant moments- though Om Puri & Pawan Malhotra are not in good terms, when Waheeda Rehman is being taken to the hospital, Pawan says LodhiHospital & Om Puri in turn asks people to move to Lodhi Hospital
.• Both brothers are seen to be having their daily quota of drinks in the same manner at the same time with just a wall separating them- amazing
• Amidst all the drama when Abhishek’s heart stops while the ambulance gets stuck and the doctor is trying to revive him- watch out for Vijay Raaz & Deepak Dobriyal. Deepak is handcuffed and slowly Vijay Raaz lets him go – nice gesture and very well shown
• The scene towards the end when Prem Chopra and K.K.Raina both attend to a nature’s call in a gali & then become friendly again putting the blame on ‘kaala bandar’ was interesting
• The way Atul Kulkarni keeps imitating the baba ( Akhilendra Mishra) by saying-baba sab theek kar dega- ok was simply hilarious
Here’s why I think the movie somehow doesn’t deliver what it promised-
• The character of Roshan played by Abhishek takes a long time for the audience to take a liking to. Initially he plays the typical NRI who finds everything interesting around him. It’s only when he stops fooling around with his Motorola phone that he begins to look serious enough.
• Bittu (Sonam Kapoor) comes across as an unconvincing character. Fine she wants to be an Indian Idol, but why would she be so dumb to want to run away with a nukkad wala, especially when she has some feelings for Roshan?
• The ending looked very forced and very cliched
• From the very beginning the movie was projected more as a revisiting of one’s roots based on ROM’s experiences during his childhood/youth in childhood, but the movie is much more than that and is full of metaphors and has a larger story to tell- but something that the people at large cannot decipher so easily.
• While the movie has plenty of interesting moments like the one’s mentioned above, overall the film does look disjointed and the message seems to be conveyed in a very convenient way and hence doesn’t look very convincing.
• I was lucky enough to be able to see someone’s passion and thus get passionate myself and go watch the movie again. How many such people would want to do the same? ROM & UTV believe that there are many who would do that- it’s a point that I would vehemently debate.
All in all I would say ROM has his heart in the right place as far as Delhi-6 is concerned, but the way he has executed the same leaves a lot to be desired. A collage of interesting moments, great music and excellent camera work, it falls short of making me satisfied with the overall product.
Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/delhi-6-%e2%80%93-why-and-why-not/
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