Forget unstoppable media frenzy with the stories of powerful Presidents and details of the secret behind the physical beauty of the few of the first ladies, APKGK is far more interesting story of a far more interesting President and only woman (apart from his mother) in his life, Jenni, his love interest.
What if he is the President of “Happy Club”? Unlike political Presidents PREM is here to share only happiness with the rest of the world.

In his introducing scene in the film Prem (Ranbir Kapoor) rides a bicycle which has got no brakes and even though he makes an accident with a man but this accident turns out to be a fruitful incident for Prem and same looks true for the acting career of Ranbir Kapoor also. His is going to be an unstoppable journey hence forth. A bud has started flourishing into a beautiful flower.

His performance is the biggest USP and achievement of the film. He alone represents more than 50% soul of the film.

His presence in the hindi film Industry is going to bring a very good competition among actors who are successful stars also. He proves with this film that he also can dance like Hritik Roshan. Rather in one of the songs, “Prem Ki naiyya hai ram ke bharose” (a SEL type song), he has got dance steps shown by Hritik Roshan in films like KMG and Mission Kashmir etc and Ranbir makes the moves of his own. Considering his comfortable singing (lip syncing) and dancing on the screen he is ready to do an Elvis Presley in a musical.

Ranbir has shown full command over comedy also. His timing, facial expressions, body language and dialogue delivery, all the elements have decorated very well his comedy skills.

His comedy does not become loud and does not go entirely into the buffoonery direction. It comes via his natural expressions.

Kapoor clan has this specialty that most of the male members of the family have almost similar looks (they all look alike once they cross the age of 55 or 60) but every actor hailing from Kapoor clan has been following his own acting style and he does not follow acting style of his predecessors (exception can be found in case of Rajeev Kapoor whose acting style looked similar to the young Shammi Kapoor).

Can’t remember if Prithvi Raj Kapoor did an out and out comedy film in his youth days but Raj kapoor onwards every member of Kapoor clan has been given his own type of comedy films. Randhir Kapoor can be said as the one Kapoor who showed more inclination toward comedy than any other genre of filmmaking but even he did not do a film like APKGK. Ranbir Kapoor with APKGK has established his own independent brand among illustrious members of Kapoor clan of actors.

A film is a good film if in spite of knowing what is going to come in a scene as soon as the scene starts, scene brings a full satisfaction to the audience of being a good scene. APKGK has many scenes which we have seen in many old films but still this film presents these scenes as its own. That is the triumph of the director Raj Santoshi.

For example in the scene where Ranbir over hears the conversation of his parents (where his father is saying that he can not live with Prem and Prem joins the conversation and turns the whole situation on his father). We know since beginning of the scene what is going to happen next but director and his actors have made it a very interesting scene. New is good but how well it is shown that matters more in a film and if done well then repetitive things also may look appealing.

RS managed the restaurant scene so well though it had some similarities with the confrontation scene between Vijay Raaj and his on screen father Anjan Srivastava in Abhishek Bachchan starrer Run. Here it was less dramatic and yet very funny.

APKGK shares some similarities with Kundan Shah’s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa also but people can find some reservations with Shahrukh’s performance in some scenes but here in APKGK Ranbir does not leave any room for suggestions that he should have done this scene in this or that manner.

To me only at one place his facial expressions looked like scene (This was in his very first interaction with Katrina where he shows astonishment upon her saying the word “Kutta”. He also repeats “Kutta”) demanded bit more or bit less from his side.
But in the very next moment he gives perfect expressions when he imitates her saying “Pilla” and afterwards he created the situation of “No complaints” with his very good performance and film watching became a smooth journey which generated so many laughs inside the cinema hall. It became a paisa vasool film.

Film has tried to capture audience of different age group and cartoonish fight scenes creating total anarchy on the screen could be there to lure the kids but even adults were laughing on these fight sequences. Tickets are so costly these days that we have developed a habit to oppose most of the things present in the film but still this film removed those barriers and people seemed to thoroughly enjoy the film.

Ranbir has enjoyed his role. His character looks competent like some characters of his father’s films of 70s and Amitabh Bachchan’s character in Amar Akbar Anthony. Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan enjoyed playing those comic characters and this fun looked visible in their performances and it looks visible in Ranbir’s performance in this film also.

The way he handles the scene with Salman Khan shows the class of his comedy.

He is good in emotional scenes also. He stammers while passing through emotional stress in the film but he does not show any lacking in doing any kind of scene.

Barring few scenes Raj Santoshi has managed well to keep up the comedy factor through out the film. He has used Katrina Kaif‘s presence very well. She remains within the boundaries of her character while majority of characters are displaying comedy everywhere.

Dialogues are funny and attractive. It is possible but still it looked odd that Katrina Kaif says to Ranbir that Upen Patel had gone to Canada and his father also tries to send him again to Canada but U.P. says to Ranbir that he has done MBA from London. If it is not intentional then either Canada or London could have worked in a better manner.

While Raj Santoshi’s another comedy film had many characters like Teja, Crime master Goga etc also which became famous in addition to characters of Aamir Khan and Salman Khan but here no such supporting character is there which will get independent fame.
But in so many other areas APKGK scores over AAA.

Overall it is a nice watch. APKGK connects the present age hindi films to the glorious lineage of romantic comedies of hindi cinema of 60s.

Related posts:

1. CHAMELI KI SHAADI (1986) – A COMIC LOVE STORY
2. Love Story 2050 – Dud chala dude banne?
3. Ananda Thandavam- A one sided love story not well adapted

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

Rk | Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: aamir khan, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Amar Akbar Anthony, Amitabh Bachchan, andaz apna apna, APKGK, Elvis Presley, Hritik Roshan, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, katrina kaif, Koi Mil Gaya, kundan shah, Mission Kashmir, Prithvi Raj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Raj Kumar Santoshi, Rajiv Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, randhir kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Shammi Kapoor

What I am trying to get at is – “Why do actors contest elections? Or to rephrase is joining politics the only possible way for Bollywood actors to serve the country? What is the need (or dare I say ‘want’) for actors to do so? I have not got the faintest idea and my brain would resign into a dormant mode if, I start pondering upon it. Nevertheless, it produces an inane effect of caustic wit. I am not just saying these things because I have got nothing better to do. Looking at the history of the Bollywood actors when it comes to contesting elections, it would be apt to say that it has majorly been a disaster. Karl Marx sums it up aptly in his famous quote – “history repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce”.

Recently, Sanjay Dutt riding high on munnabhai idolisation, announced his candidacy from Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh. I do not detest the notion of an actor contesting elections, but the conundrum which pins me down is the moment they start delivering oration to exemplify their cause. Seriously, quit it. Well, Sanjay Dutt was disallowed from running elections in the end.

It’s not the first occasion for an actor to contest election and maintain a self-disciplined tone all the way till the results are out. If the swing is in the favour, a new unexplored journey of verbal attack begins targeting vulnerable individuals. Tersely speaking the coat of social service is worn on the shoulder of an actor, who defies all odds against politicians in a typical bollywood or even the parallel cinema. If the result is unfavourable, which means, our respected actor can always go back to the celluloid, projecting himself as a victim of dirty coated politics.

The actors in bollywood are considered as Demi-Gods and they hold a certain image on screen which they selfishly implement on the masses. As a viewer, I loved watching Amitabh Bachchan’s sturdy image of a good son, doting lover and carrying the burden of nation on his shoulders, to name a few, on the screen. But I was flabbergasted when I found him singing on stage while canvassing for a political party in India. People look up to them as a source of inspiration rather than clowns showing their tomfoolery on a stage in a political rally and begging for votes. And here’s the evidence:

Link 1 (video), Link 2

The jokes and humour about politics is not new and it is enjoyed by people gleefully. But relatively speaking, actors have a choice before venturing out in the political rink. Why don’t they question their moral stand? Can’t they just contemplate a bit and come out clean about politics and fighting elections? Or is it just another feather in their hat.

I would like to quote Govinda as an example, star actor of slap-stick comedies lip-syncing songs genuinely pollution to ears. He contested and won the election but after a while was put on the “Most Wanted List”. Perplexed? I guess I didn’t make myself clear. I could tell you but I would rather let you watch and see it for yourself.

One would have imagined that Mr. Govinda was in a recluse state worrying and finding ways of helping people. If the conscience is true to the heart, all one has to do is to do what you want to do rather than polishing the M.P. name stand in the dark corners.

The list is endless and with voting going on we have yet again witnessed Bollywood lining up for their piece of action on this cul-de-sac. The panoramic view of elections stays on with the actor churning out dialogues on the stage to woo the voters. Do the masses come there to seriously put an ear to the party’s ideology or just to catch a glimpse of their star? Well, the brutal truth is the latter. The politicians are completely soaked in guilt of five years and they resort to actors to find the lost charm with their magnetic touch and the masss’ desire to see the star in flesh, flock to the parade grounds. Does any one care for the poor shabby Democracy in the state of India? The question remains unanswered or is it out in the open and everyone is surreptitiously ignoring it.

We have the keys to the doors, and all we do is sit quietly inside our rooms instead of voicing our opinions. Help me gather support for what is just and remember that nothing is impossible. We need to put an end to this façade. Let us start by voting for the candidate’s political credibility as opposed to Bollywood strength.

Related posts:

1. Feud – Hindi Cine Stars Vs Politicians :: Latest SRK Vs Amar Singh !
2. 3 politicians back in to the films – Wake up Hindi film Industry !
3. Online Critics Society

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

| Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: Actor Politician, Amitabh Bachchan, Congress, Elections, Govinda, Politician, politics, samajwadi party, Sanjay Dutt

10 years of cinema. The first ten of the 21^st century. Another milestone gets added to the pages of history. An impression, a permanent etching of memories of one’s life collaborated with what movie released during a particular bad phase or a good phase or an unforgettable moment of their life in these past ten years. A few years from now, someone will pick up the keyboard, or perhaps a mic to talk into, that a software will translate, into print on a blog to publish the blogger’s memory of his or her life in these ten years and the cinema. Perhaps there will be a new Torture series that people will be reading 10, 15 years from now. Who knows?

For me 80s created a permanent impression. Cause each second of my life was measured by what movie I saw and how I saw it. 90s just flew by before I could even blink and then just when there was a comfort zone settling in, 10 years have flown by post Y2K.

The flight to San Francisco, in early ’99, was to land me in a shit pool of hell for the 18 months, I had no idea, it was the worst phase of my professional career, and yet in all that, those depressing San Francisco foggy evenings, after another day of no interviews, no calls, no projects, no source of livelihood, in that cramped apartment shared with 5 others, I saw Vaastav – stunned by Sanjay Dutt performance, specially the scene about the first peace talks in the restaurant; Kaun – hit me, I thought it did except the amateurish way I thought it moved towards the end; I could not understand what the hell was this Nimbuda Nimbuda;

18 months later things improved, I found Orange County, fell in love with the place, moved to a small coastal town, a surfing community, enrolled in Taekwondo gave up on Goju-Ru, dislocated the shoulder as I ran first base with the bat in my hand, surfing lessons till I scraped off the flesh off my thighs, bought my first Dell, now all I needed was to connect back to Indian movies. Found a site that would put movies online. Saw Jungle, made a note of the name Jaideep Sahni, bought my first car, drove 48 miles to watch Rajkumar Santoshi’s Khaki, my first Indian film in a desi theater in USA, rented my first pirated DVD on the same day of it’s theatrical release in India – took half the day off from work on the pretext of “not feeling well” as I could barely manage to hold myself back from watching the pirated DVD I had in my hands on Friday of Company.

Ten years later, I realize, as I write this, not much has changed in how I remember moments of my life. They are always, mostly, tied to some movie.

So here it is, a collection of 5 movie related items listed in each part of this series, that come from my music collection on my laptop, a DVD in the living room, a movie I constantly go back to, scenes or songs that hit me hard and have stayed with me since, or memories that keep constantly floating back through those cracks in the door closed on the past. Generally the list will cover years from ’99 onwards… so put on your favorite music, open a beer can, light your poison, dim the lights and float into some real good times these last 10 years have given us… after all it wasn’t as bad as you thought… It never is and never shall be!

Number One in this part, starts with one my favorites, Sheryl Crow, singing – Everyday is a winding road, from the soundtrack of Erin Brokovich.

What hooked me?

The lyrics… especially, the first lines of the song. To me it encapsulates our urban city lives… just perfectly… and so true of the people we come across on the internet.

I hitched a ride with a vending machine repair man
He says he’s been down this road more than twice
He was high on intellectualism
I’ve never been there but the brochure looks nice
Jump in, let’s go
Lay back, enjoy the show
Everybody gets high, everybody gets low,
These are the days when anything goes

Trying listening to this, as you drive on Pacific Coast Highway with the ocean on your left, clear blue skies, bright sunshine, and a gentle breeze hitting the deck of your car. Bliss and a complete surrender to the moment… I kid you not.

Sab Ganda Hain, Par Dhanda Hai Yeh from Company

For week’s before Company released, I was practically eating, drinking and sleeping with this song on non stop loop. And blame it on this song that I excused myself from work that day so I could get to watch Company. I haven’t seen any other song in this genre create so much impact on me. I’m surprised the music director simply vanished from the scene, only to be seen recently in a music video. And tragically, this was the last time, for me, that Ram Gopal Varma did something good. The loss is not only Varma’s, but ours as well.

Sanjay Dutt in Vaastav

Everyone has a unique manner of watching a movie, listening to a song or reading a book. For me, being a chronic ADD, just few seconds, a flicker of the eye, or a few words in the dialogue can hit me, bind me and hook me in. I can’t sit through 90 minutes cause of my condition; I need to take frequent 20 – 30 minute breaks if the movie isn’t going anywhere. As per Dibakar’s excellent analysis of our present day moviegoers – I’m the poster boy for the shag a scene style of story telling. Yet, for me, those tiny played out fraction of a second – moments are enough to hook me in.

The scene that made me pause the video as we were watching Vaastav, unfolds in 3 seconds. Sanjay Dutt’s body language and facial expressions in those 3 – 5 seconds. It was magic. He had got the arithmetic fantastically right. A few years later he would hit it hard again with Munnabhai. But this fraction of a scene (and the climax) turned him, in my books, from a okey dokey actor to Oh Boy he was amazing!

Keep an eye of Sanjay Dutt’s facial expressions from 9:03 onwards. For the first time he was not acting. He so transparently displays his vulnerability…

And from 0:03 onwards, the moment he folds his hands nervously to acknowledge the two guys in front of him as he sits… BANG… that did it for me… Sanjay Dutt had finally turned into an amazing actor (of course besides his lovely performances in Naam and a couple others)

Vaastav is never complete without the amazing heart ripping climax… I was like, is this really Sanjay Dutt? Yes it was!

Dido – Resting here with me from Love Actually

Recently in an interview to Time Out Mumbai, I was asked to name one movie I have in my DVD collection, that’s sort of an embarrassing guilty pleasure.

It wasn’t hard to answer. Love Actually is my favorite and it has left a few jaws open of some visitors at PFC HQ as they see it resting in my DVD collection.

But what makes Love Actually absolutely delightful is the background song tracks of Dido.

There is one scene which leaves me teary eyed each time I watch it. Superbly executed by the actor on screen (Andrew Lincoln), this is a scene where Kiera Knightley realizes that her husband’s best friend (Lincoln) was secretly in love with her.

Watch the scene from 0:05 to about 0:50, unfortunately another 10 seconds of the actual footage is not in this video (a fan boy edit), but it has Lincoln finally breaking down and screaming out at the pain he’s feeling in that foggy London day. Mind-blowing execution.

That 30 – 40 seconds where the camera just follows Lincoln on the streets wrapped in cold winter fog, as Dido’s song reaches a pitch – right at the stroke of Lincoln’s screaming, is potent enough to stab any heart that has experienced pain and depression in love.

My first movie Review

It was just meant to be. I had already started writing standup acts on my blog and cinema was sooner or later bound to be poured in that mix. And that’s what I emailed Magik recently. How I blogged, when I used to. The focus was always a standup comic act. Could I be at the Improv and play this blog out in front of an eating drinking wild audience… and the words would thence flow, the thoughts would now follow a path that had a goal. It was never about trashing or abusing movies, but squeezing the comedy out of watching a bad movie. My standup comic influences remain Lewis Black and Robert Schimmel, both of whom I got to meet and watch their shows in person, many times this decade (another plus to these 10 years). At times you will see a touching influence in later reviews of the late Iqbal Masud and Khalid Mohamed both who’s reviews I religiously read each Sunday while growing up in the seventies and eighties.

Many friends and readers ask me why I’d stopped writing. Cause as the years went by it looked like every blogger had turned into a movie reviewer. Whatever I had to say would be said by a dozen other bloggers and writers. There was nothing new I had to add.

And looking back some of the blogs I wrote look so amateurish to me today. Damn! Did I really write that!

And then there is life, I still haven’t learnt to crack a joke in rough seas… someday perhaps I’ll learn that art and it would be a good time to start the engines again.

Here’s my first review I ever wrote… and then it just snowballed into bigger and bigger things… today we have had to create two separate sections for Reviews on PFC… boy O boy!!! What a decade this has been!

January 31, 2005

Ab Tumhare Hawale “D A N D A” Saathiyon

I swear I’m completely normal, sane and in a chirpy, jovial mood discussing current events with my roommates over the dining table. I finish the brunch, and move to the living room to watch Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon (ATHWS), directed by Anil Sharma.

Saturday, 2:30pm:
I knock on my first roommate’s door, and ask him to come to the living room. I then knock on my second roommate’s door and ask him to come down to the living room. With both of them in the room, I give each of them my tennis racquets. I kneel down and put my head on the floor. I then ask them to whack my head with the racquets till I cry out and agree that there is not a single drop of hope in my body, hope that Bollywood will give me a good movie, at least one in a year.

My roommates refused to do that… they thought this was a cunning ploy on my part to kick them out of my house where they have not paid me rent for the last… I have lost count of the months… In fact another month like this and I’m ready to scratch the word rent out of my dictionary. I already have moments where I have to think real hard to understand what rent really means.

After my roommates’ refusal, I sat down and thought. I thought hard. In fact I thought very very hard. And I still am, while writing this blog, thinking whether Mr. Sharma thinks we are human beings who have FUCKING MELTED BRAINS IN THEIR FUCKING SKULL. WE WERE SITTING THERE CRYING OUT “GIVE US A FUCKING MOVIE WHICH WILL TELL US HOW FUCKING STUPID WE ARE” …and Mr. Sharma listened to our prayers, and did give us one.

What’s the story?…aaa my dear blog reader. Please don’t make this mistake again of asking someone this question: What’s the story of ATHWS?

Please don’t ask, if you care for your head not being smashed over and over by the person you asked the question to. But due to the protective barriers of the Internet, I will tell you the answer while I smash my computer monitor with the racquet. Hopefully I would have told you the complete story before my computer monitor starts looking like a 12th century piece of shitty art.

…bear with me for second …another second …another second please …I …the story …WHAT THE FUCK, THE STORY IS SO SCREWED UP, I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO FUCKING START.  Ok… Amitabh’s son Bobby Deol is killed in war. Amitabh raises his grandson Bobby (again) along with Nagma, Amitabh’s daughter-in-law. So she is Bobby’s mother. No no not the Bobby I mentioned earlier, but the later one. She is Bobby’s wife and the uhhh Bobby’s mother uhh HELL WHO THE FUCK IS SHE? BOBBYS MOTHER? BOBBYS WIFE? WHAT?

…calm down.

She’s the wife of Bobby Amitabh’s son who is killed in war. She has Bobby (again) as her son. This new Bobby is Amitabh’s grandson. Now Bobby is in the army cause he wants to make grandpa and momma happy, but really he wants to fly to America and start his own business. Really? True. Bobby is one of those people who does every thing in the book and outside the book to enter America legally, look for work, look for nice place to stay and end up staying WITH ME AND FUCKING PAY ME NO RENT FOR YEARS. I’M PISSED I NEED MY RENT!!!

And someone please explain to me on why does Nagma look more as Bobby’s younger sister or daughter INSTEAD OF HIS MOTHER. WHAT DOES SHARMA THINK – THAT NOT ONLY HAVE OUR BRAINS MELTED BUT ALSO WE HAVE TURNED FUCKING BLIND????

Calm down…

Moving on, Bobby falls in love with girl. Girl was married to Akshay Kumar who had to attend the call of duty on his suhaag raat. He gets captured by the enemy and the girl thinks he is dead. Just when things are heating up between our dear old Bobby and Girl, Akshay comes back, having escaped from enemy. Bobby’s heart breaks. Some funky stuff and more freaky stuff happen and we reach the climax (of the movie NOT the suhaag raat) and good wins and bad loses.

I have always loved shero shayari and was a regular at Kavi Sammelans (Poets gatherings). But I would never in my living life start reciting poetry when MY FUCKING ASS IS GETTING KICKED BY THE ENEMY. Watching Akshay break into singing poetry when the enemy is torturing him wants me to rush and do two things. Give him a Superman’s cap and paint a big S on his shirt. Yes. He is superman. He doesn’t feel pain; he doesn’t feel the iron rods hitting his body. The enemy is always intelligent enough not to beat him on his face, because they would then have to report to human rights groups who would demand an explanation for beating an enemy on the face. MY FOOT!!!!

More than half of the movie was watched in fast forward note. What would happen if there were no fast forward science, no fast forward buttons? What would happen? What happened to those who watched this movie in the theaters? Maybe the viewers in theaters jump on their seats or run around in the hall, aping the fast forward action.

But I want to know is this: Did Sharma and his crew read the script or story they created before actually moving on to make it. And since they did make and release this movie I can only imagine they raising their glasses all excited on what an exciting story they had in their hands. Well here’s my quandary. Since Sharma and his team already think we are brainless morons, why even bother to make the movie. All they have to do, is go door to door, and tell this: We created an exciting story last night over scotch and beer. We are very excited reading this story; hence we demand money for being excited. Take the money from each home and that’s the end.

They then move on to creating a new story and get excited and take money from each house they knock on. At least that would save MY FUCKING BRAINS FROM GETTING FRIED WHILE WATCHING THE FUCKING STORY AND THINKING I AM A FUCKING IDIOT FOR WATCHING THIS MOVIE FROM START TO END!!!

Minus Z Grade. Avoid at all costs.

Related posts:

1. Satya- A Decade Later
2. Best directorial debut of the decade
3. “The Feel-Good Fillum Of The Decade”

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

oz | Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo, Audio, Company, Dhanda Hai, Everyday is a winding road, Love Actually, Memories, Music, Resting Here With Me, Sanjay Dutt, Sheryl Crow, Vaastav, Video, Y2K The Decade That Was : Series

Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Salman Khan (for a minute!)

Director: Raj Kumar Santoshi

Rating: Two and a half stars

The kid’s brilliant. So watch it Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor and all the big and small Khans. At the rate he’s going – by sheer evidence of his screen charisma, technical felicity and youth power – Ranbir Kapoor is more than likely to be the Next Best Thing, if he isn’t one already. He’s RK Jr and he’s more than super A-Ok.

One BIG movie that can accommodate his talent, and he’ll be unstoppable. Alas, Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani (tongue-twister of a title that) is not that Biggie. Yet the actor does make the old-wine-in-newish-bottle watchable and remarkable for it wow moments –  like RK Jr’s soliloquy in church and that scene of self-reflection on losing out on love, picturised against a hillscape in the declining evening. Applause please.

There is a bubbling chemistry, too, between goofball Prem (Ranbir Kapoor) and the Cinderella-like Jenny (Katrina Kaif). It’s heartening to see them together, never mind that corny in-joke about her fan mania for Salman Khan, who by the way, pops up in an uncredited guest appearance. Indeed, that’s the problem with director and co-writer Santoshi: he lays on the romcom much too thick like an entire tub of butter expended on a single muffin. Too much huffin’ and puffin’, including Santoshi fetching up in a Hitchcokian appearance to shrug grandpa-like at the lead pair. Cute? Just a little.

In fact in sum, Ajab..Ghazab is just that. Quite zany and ticklish occasionally but far too pancake-flat for most of the way. No Andaz Apna Apna this, which incidentally, is recalled very quietly in the background score. Or was it sound engineer Rakesh Ranjan fiddling around with the AAA soundtrack cleverly?

Aah, Santoshi was far more peppy and punchy then. This time around, there is an element of the woodenly retro, what with Prem and his pals running a ‘happy club’, besides dashing off for skirmishes with  eunuchs (two even tumble and kiss!) and bellicose police officers. Balloons fly, a nasty stepma hisses, the only Nasir Husain touch that’s missing is the good old, late Rajindernath in a woman’s frilly nightie. Oh oh, no that’s there,too. Only Prem opts for the heroine’s pink sleeveless top instead. How gulabi is that!

Technically Santoshi frequently opts for a gaudy look, even outmoded back-projection shots and Steven Bernard’s awkward editing with antiquated wipes when a jump-cut could have made the pace snappier. Moreover, characters keep multiplying like rats as if Santoshi believes that entertainment means the more the madder. It doesn’t. He just has to re-see the classics of Charlie Chaplin or the breezy romances of Shammi Kapoor  – both of whom are invoked here – to understand that less can be more in the movies. For instance, a nutzoid don and his henchguys in black become irritating as hell, particularly in the climax which makes the Priyadarshan finales seem far less anarchical by comparison.

The plot, if one can call it that, is simply this: hazy lazy Prem-sees-girl-falls-in-love-but-doesn’t-tell-her-so-till-she-drags-out Upen Patel (!) from semi-retirement. Patel’s a politician’s son, gifts Jenny a diamond necklace and irrevocably behaves like a sun-tanned Big Moose. Before this, Jenny has also been saved from a wedding to a beefy bozo rekindling Zabisko from Amar Akbar Anthony. In effect, it takes two weddings and no-funeral for true love to go chirpy-chirpy-cheep-cheep.

Throughout the gags could have been infinitely more inventive. Stillsitting on cream cakes, knocking on wooden heads and personality mix-ups are always good for a few guffaws and giggles. Pritam’s music score in serviceable, not quite in the class of  his Dhoom and Jab We Met, which you hope will not turn out to be the Sholays of his career. Nothing vaguely comparable after those.

Of the lead players,  Katrina Kaif’s looks bankably gorgeous (but pray, she should take care of those worry lines already creasing her forehead), and does reveal an incipient flair for comedy. Without Ranbir Kapoor, of course, this one would have been a mere ajab movie. He brings the much-needed underlining of ghazab to it. Sid has woken up and how.Way to shine!

Related posts:

1. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani
2. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani – Trailer
3. Ajab Sanju Ki Gajab Kahani

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

Khalid Mohamed | Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani Movie Review, katrina kaif, Movie Review, rajkumar santoshi, Ranbir Kapoor

Chetan Anand showed a brave attempt by making Aakhri Khat . He tried to set different boundaries with this film.

He had a 15 months old toddler as the lead actor in his film and elder actors had supporting roles in a story revolving around the kid.

Aakhri Khat reveals that cinema can be so powerful that it may force an audience to wriggle to enter the screen to influence the events happening on the screen. After all it is a matter of 15 months old child. He passes through a lot of troubles and one wants to save him from those troubles. He is left on the busy streets of Bombay where a self indulgent world is operating in its own way.

A 15 months old toddler is wandering here and there on the streets of Bombay. He can barely speak two words “Mamma” and his own name “Buntu”. Hungry Bantu needs something to eat. Children are eating food at their homes. A couple is quarreling and husband takes bottle, having sleeping pills, from his wife and throws it out of window. Bottle falls near where Bantu is standing on the road. Pills come out of the broken bottle. Poor kid picks up one pill and keeps it in his mouth. What an audience would feel and do in such conditions? These are the moments when impression that he is merely watching a film is lost and he wants to stop the kid. Kid picks up another pill and eats it.

Next, this kid is walking on the railway tracks!

Mothers, soft and weak hearted and quite sensitive people should be advised before hand to watch this film with a definite pre-conceived notion that they have to constantly remind themselves throughout the film that it is just a film otherwise film is so powerful that heart of the audience can be affected. Little boy and his predicaments have been shown in such an effective manner that it is impossible not to be carried away with the flow of the film.

Many a times father is searching for his son and boy is searching for his mother in the same locality but they don’t cross each other’s path. This is a film where an audience knows that it is all happening in a film but film becomes so realistic that he prays that Rajesh Khanna should see the child.

Kid is thirsty and tries to open the tap but his hands don’t react at that height. He is unable to quench his thirst. He is dependent on others to feed him and such a helpless kid is searching for his lost mother in Bombay.

Film provokes contradictory feelings in the audience and it happens at same time. Any given time a 15 months old kid is suffering on the streets of Bombay and audience’s heart is wriggling to save the kid from all the sufferings but since the kid can not take impact of this suffering and he is reacting as per his natural instincts so audience can not stop himself from falling for the charming traits and actions of the kid. Kid continuously goes on stealing the heart of the audience with his sweet and charming gestures.

It looks impossible to take out a pre-decided work from a 15-18 months old toddler. In most of the scenes Chetan Anand and his cinematographer Jaal Mistry, captured kid’s natural movements with the help of a hand held camera. Director managed to generate and accelerate the movements of the kid and he wandered here and there on the locations and Director and his camera team followed him. Task was extremely difficult because this footage was to be used in such a way so that it could have assimilated with the flow of the film. Continuity can not be maintained in such a case. Somehow Chetan Anand handled this difficult task and presented a unique performance by the toddler actor Master Bunty Behl.

This is a remarkable thing that Chetan Anand had done this experiment 43 years ago in 1966. A similar experiment was later done by Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Panahi in his 1997 film Ayenah (The Mirror) but he had got a girl who was atleast 5-6 years old.

Aakhri khat was sent to Oscar awards in 1967 as India’s official entry.

A child’s presence changes the whole atmosphere of the home. Everybody in the home becomes a caretaker of that child. Child becomes the most important person in the home. He becomes the master of that space. Other’s schedules are changed according to child’s schedule. Child should not suffer from anything, becomes the most essential task of everybody living in the family.

Children get protection at home. Chetan Anand showed the opposite world and this depiction comes to the audience in a heart wrenching manner. Such a sweet child is wandering on the dangerous roads in the chaotic world of Bombay and visual depiction of this struggle of the kid creates more than enough friction in the mind of an audience. Kid has not got any kind of shelter. He has nothing to eat. At same time to produce the comparison Chetan Anand shows other children enjoying a protected life inside their houses where their parents are feeding them or playing with them.

Characterization aspect is good in Aakhri khat . Rajesh Khanna is quite vulnerable. One passes through both kinds of emotions seeing his character. One feels angry on him and one feels sympathy on his helpless conditionsChetan Anandvery well anticipated this kind of reactions towards Rajesh Khanna’s character and Inspector says,”Is aadmi par gussa bhee aata hai aur is par taras bhee aata hai.”

Nothing heroic is present in the film. Rajesh Khanna, father of the kid, has never seen the kid. He knows that his wife and kid are in Bombay. He gets to know that his wife has been died and now his little kid is lost somewhere on the roads of Bombay. He does not even own the photo of the kid. He did not even have photo of his wife and that is why before he and police could find her she dies. A difficult task is there before him and police. They have to search for a child whose photo is not available with them.

Chetan Anand had this special talent to make a perfect kind of blend of realistic approach and romanticism.

Father and police force both are failed in searching the kid and he himself reaches to the home of his father where he identifies the statue of his mother.

His clinging to the statue of his mother represents the sculpture “Mother and Child” of Henry Moore .

Rajesh Khanna’s moving performance in this climax scene in his debut film (released) clearly shows why he became such a rage in the late 60s and early 70s.

He is crying and still enjoying the actions of the little kid and same happens with the audience throughout the film.

Film makes a person more sensitive toward the little children.

Cinematography and sound, two technical departments have shown the excellent performances in the film.

This is Chetan Anand’s remarkable cinematic attempt.

Aakhri khat is one among those films which have brought laurels and a sense of pride to the hindi cinema.

Related posts:

1. Anand Aur Anand : Raju “Guide” to preach at Cannes
2. Goodbye Chetan Datar
3. Heer Raanjha (1970) – Unique film in Verse !

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

Rk | Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: Aakhri Khat, Ayenah, Chetan Anand, Henry Moore, Indrani Mukherjee, Jaal Mistry, jafar panahi, khayyam, Master Bunty Behl, Mother and Child, Oscar awards, Rajesh Khanna, The Mirror

This is a humble effort from a bunch of film enthusiasts whose love for cinema has purely driven to dare make an effort to facilitate an event like this. The intention is to bring the aspiring screenwriters together under one roof and facilitate a great deal of first hand learning experience from a few contemporary filmmakers/screenwriters our country has witnessed, who have been slowly changing the face of Indian cinema.

A bunch of enthusiasts with lots of passion for cinema started to work on what we had planned and look here we are, presenting to you, an extensive workshop in screenwriting, covering aspects from the basic fundamentals to nuances, aesthetics and the grammar of cinematic story telling.

Mentors:-

• Saurabh Shukla 
• Ruchi Narain 
• Manish Gupta 
• Devika Bhagat 

Guest Mentors :- We have been talking to 4 more guest mentors who have shown keen interest to be a part of the workshop, however owing to their busy schedule haven’t been able to confirm the dates. We shall announce the names once they confirm.

 Registration Details:-

To register yourself please visit http://www.rabikiskuentertainment.com/BSW/BSW.html

The schedule, venue and other details can be found at the above mentioned URL.

For any queries/concerns reach out to :- arvind@rabikiskuentertainment.com

Organiser’s note: - Conceiving this workshop wouldn’t have been possible if not for the wonderful mentors who came forward to be a part of it, for those filmmakers who couldn’t be a part of it owing to their busy schedule but still showed tremendous faith, encouragement & support to make this event happen. My special thanks to PFC, its editors, authors & readers for having proven that all it takes is “Passion for Cinema” and the rest follows.

Related posts:

1. Me @ India Screenwriting Workshop 2008 in Goa
2. FWA-WWI Screenwriting Workshop
3. ScriptWalla Workshop

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

| Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: Bangalore Screenwriting Workshop, Devika Bhagat, Dibakar Banerjee, Manish Gupta, Ruchi Narain, Saurabh Shukla, Screenwriting, Workshop

Fish Tank captures those days when we used to give a damn about anything that is uninteresting to us; the days when arrogance was part of our persona and issues like low-self esteem and self-pity were nowhere near the horizon. We were king/queens of our world. All external things posed a threat. And look at nowadays; the threats have now been internalized. We ourselves are the one threatening ourselves. We are constantly fighting with our moods, impulses, desires. Whereas the teenage days was the time to act on our moods impulses and desires without caring a hoot for anything or anybody.

The film is about a 15 yr old foul-mouthed teenager, Mia (Katie Jarvis), who hates everything apart for her time when she dances alone in an unoccupied flat with her CDman belting hip-hop. Her mother is a blonde alcoholic who abuses her whenever she steps in the house. Mia, therefore spends limited time at home. She roams around the neighborhood, watching girls dance practicing, buying booze and quite often spends time at a net café surfing for dance videos. Her daily routine is affected when she starts interacting with her mother’s new boyfriend, Connor (Michael Fassbender). She gets infatuated by his presence and uncharacteristically starts hanging around with her mother, her baby sister and him.

The notion of love, when you are a teenager is shallow and confused with infatuation. But whatever it may be, it surely is strong and overpowering. And it makes your world go round. The film depicts this infatuation with so much observation and heart that first time in my life I truly identified with the attraction a girl feels for a man. I was literally in Mia’s shoes, when Connor was around her. His nonchalance towards her and at the same time the protectiveness that he displays for her made him a perfect object of attraction. Mia falls for him, and starts visiting him at his workplace, and also occasionally listens to his advice, which is so very uncharacteristic of her.

The film captures the attraction and her initial arrogance towards Connor turning into respect and awe, subtly and beautifully, without any voice-overs or any slow motions of Mia drooling over Connor. That’s what I love about these small indie films. They give me a much needed break from the larger than life romances and dreamy attractive leads. They present real people in real quandaries. And the satisfaction such films give me, is much greater and long lasting than the entertainment the films with broader strokes provide.

Let me take a shot at answering a question “What is good cinematography?” I say, a film can be said to be well shot when the lighting, the framing and the camera movement evokes emotional responses, without the viewer noticing any of the above. The shot should not distract the viewer and thus detach him from the characters. Many a times fancy lighting and camera movements stylizes the shot and gives it a very good aesthetic look, but what is the fuckin use of it if it draws attention of the viewer away from the characters and the story. I owe this perspective to a very knowledgeable friend of mine who shattered my adolescent notions of cinematography.

There is a scene in Fish tank I remember vividly. Connor is seated on a sofa at night watching TV. Mia enters the room. Connor asks her to show him the dance that she has prepared for some upcoming audition. Mia reluctant at first hesitantly gives into his demand and dances onto a number which she had heard the first time in Connor’s car. She dances passionately to the song as if her dance is just meant for Connor. As the song ends, Mia sits besides Connor and slowly they start making out and end up making love on the sofa. And now when I think in retrospect of the shots which made up that scene, I cannot help but appreciate the atmosphere which it builds up with help of a yellow backlight coming through the window from a street lamp. Mia is shot in sexy silhouettes and Connor in dim lit close ups. The tension which slowly builds up as the song proceeds is made very palpable with help of this piece of superb cinematography.

Fish Tank, the title is supposed to symbolize the years when you are trapped in the confine of angst and frustrations. The fish inside surely don’t know that there is a huge ocean out there. But saying this would be looking down upon teenage years as just some clueless years. Sure, the world outside is way bigger and worse than what we imagine in our teenage years, but it also reflects the inherent human tendencies of rebelling for freedom, acting on impulses and desires, boosting the ego and finally loving someone like there is no tomorrow.

Related posts:

1. Dark World of Tim Burton-Big Fish
2. Terminator Salvation : The Teaser
3. Begani Shadi Mein Adullah Deewana : Item numbers by Super Stars

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

| Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: Fish Tank, katie jarvis, michael fassbender

Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Manoj Bajpai and Ram Gopal Varma movie-type of clowns-`n’-clones

Director: Madhur Bhandarkar out of form

Rating: Two stars (there’s nothing here that you don’t know or haven’t seen already)

Egg tu Bhandarkar!  His angry young prisoner is thrown right into the dark-as-a-burnt-omelette baida cell. During  solitary confinement, the prisoner claws the walls, gnashes his teeth, exudes glycerine and generally looks as unhappy as a kid denied a cookie.  Sad is life, dearies.

Okay, okay, for heaven’s sake this is a Bhandarkar, Madhur Bhandarkar movie. Get real, appreciate Jail for being as rough, real and dammit, outspoken. Sorry guys, want to..however it’s anything but. It’s just not in the league of the eye-opening Fashion, Traffic Signal, Page 3 and Chandni Bar, which have their loyal admirers including the National Film Award juries. Yeah.

The director is best when he hurtles you into  areas where the gloss-and-glamour-junkie filmwalas fail to tread. Dread. Here he doesn’t beyond a point. For sure, he locks you up in the depressing confines of a large prison, shot in Thane and Yervada jails. The visuals are unvarnished, no unnecessary top shots, no pretty daffodils blooming in the garden either.

So as the dialogue often asks..what’s the lafda chirkut?

Simply this: you’ve seen, heard and squirmed through prison atrocity flicks as many times as you’ve wolfed down popcorn. Crunchhhh. Like it or not it’s pouring cliches out here, from the hero finding the prison food ugh-ugh (did he expect sushi?) to the initial undressing parade. Mercifully the much- publicised nude parts – bodily parts that is — are covered up by pixillated effects. Thanks.

Also, Bhandarkar whose stories-screenplays usually have an element of originality and knuckle-hard strength,  in this case can’t prevent the viewer from flashbacking to similar situations from several prison movies:  The Shawshank Redemption (the bond between two prisoners from disparate generations), Ek Hasina Thi (an innocent person forced to pay for another’s crimes), Midnight Express (sadism galore) and Teen Deewarein (the  harebrained twists and turns in the plot).

And you can bet your last hundred bucks that there will be some gay-bashing: a couple of prison inmates go goo-goo on sighting the hero. Not to forget a shock tactic: an unmentionable tryst between two men in the loo. Woo hooo.

Well, ummm, old habits die hard and all that jazz bazz. Anyway, the focus is on this `chikna’ executive (Neil Nitin Mukesh), whose shifty flatmate happens to be a drug dealer. You knowthat can lead to an a la Bangkok Hilton. It does. Chikna is accused of complicity, dragged to jail and imprisoned. Moanwhile his mother (silent as a tomb) and girlfriend (Mugdha Godse, in a thousand make-up tints) wring their hands, hire a lawyer who’s plain walnuts and sit through court sessions where bail is refused again and again, and again. Pain. Scriptwriter-editor were dozing or what? The pace is slower than peak hour traffic.

In jail, our Innocent Chiknaji meets various stereotypes: a self-styled Mirza Ghalib (insufferable) , a drugged-out creepo responsible for a road accident and a politician holding court. Penty more:  a finger flicking underworld don, a recent father who wants his kid to say “abba” (not the music group), and hello there’s Arya Babbar portaying a desperado with so much surma that he resembles a racoon.

Not to forget, not to forget in the crowded scenario there’s the emotionally contained jailbird-turned-prison-butler (Manoj Bajpai). Garbed oddly in buttercup harem pants, Butler  sees a surrogate kid brother in Chikna and wants him to retain his ‘umeedein’ despite the odds. The parting scene between them, in fact, is the most sensitively executed moment in this Chandniless Bar.

On the plus side, there are some stray insights like street-dwellers committing petty crimes to find a shelter in prisons during the monsoon. The wind-up statistic about the possible number of ‘innocent’ persons languishing behind bars also hits home. Aah, how you wish the rest of this effort was in the same researched vein.

On the tech side, the cinematography is remarkably fluid. Anil Mohile’s background music tends to be obtrusive, frequently sounding very Godfatherish. The songs are nothing to hum about, no alas not even the  devotional track by Lata Mangeshkar.

Of the cast, Neil Nitin Mukesh is as earnest as a Boy Scout, he’s methodical and controlled; there are flashes of an actor of tremendous potential here. Manoj Bajpai by holding his gaze – his eyes are like arrows about to leave a bow – is extraordinary. Jail isn’t. No way.

Related posts:

1. Jail
2. New York Movie Review
3. Jalsa Movie Review

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

Khalid Mohamed | Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: jail, Jail Movie Review, Madhur Bhandarkar, Manoj Bajpai, Movie Review, neil nitin mukesh

Director : Rajkumar Santoshi

Writers: Rajkumar Santoshi, R.D.Tailang ( Screenplay, Dialogues )

Release Date: 6 November 2009 ( India )

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Upen Patel

Producer: Ramesh S.Taurani

Music: Pritam

Cinematography: Thiru.S

Film Editing: Steven Bernard

Vote your reactions for the movie below. Click on the number of stars you would like to give to the movie and add your short reaction in the comment block

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1. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani – Trailer
2. Ajab Sanju Ki Gajab Kahani
3. Spiderman – ek prem kahani…

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

PFC Desktop | Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani Movie Review, katrina kaif, Movie Reviews, Pritam, R.D.Tailang, rajkumar santoshi, Ramesh S.Taurani, Ranbir Kapoor, Steven Bernard, Thiru.S, Upen Patel

Director : Madhur Bhandarkar

Writers: Madhur Bandarkar, Manoj Tyagi, Anuradha Tiwari ( Story,Screenplay ) , Raghuvir Shekhawat ( Dialogues )

Release Date: 6 November 2009 ( India )

Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Godse, Manoj Bajpai

Producer: Shailendra Singh

Music: Sharib-Toshi, Shamir Tandon

Cinematography: Kalpesh Bhandarkar

Film Editing: Deven Murdeshwar

Vote your reactions for the movie below. Click on the number of stars you would like to give to the movie and add your short reaction in the comment block

Related posts:

1. Jail Movie Review : What a jail bin machhli!
2. Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail : Trailer
3. Acid Factory

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

PFC Desktop | Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: Anuradha Tiwari, Deven Murdeshwar, Hindi, jail, Jail Movie Review, Kalpesh Bhandarkar, Madhur Bandarkar, Manoj Bajpai, Manoj Tyagi, Movie Reviews, mugdha godse, neil nitin mukesh, Raghuvir Shekhawat, Shailendra Singh, Shamir Tandon, Sharib-Toshi

Director : Grant Heslov

Writers: Peter Straughan ( Screenplay ),Jon Ronson( Source Material )

Release Date: 6 November 2009 ( USA )

Cast: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey

Producers: George Clooney, Paul Lister, Grant Heslov

Music: Rolfe Kent

Cinematography: Robert Elswit

Film Editing: Tatiana S.Riegel

Vote your reactions for the movie below. Click on the number of stars you would like to give to the movie and add your short reaction in the comment block

Related posts:

1. The Men Who Stare At Goats – New Trailer
2. Aadhavan
3. Blue

Are you making your One minute Movie for PFCOne 2010?

PFC Desktop | Permalink |
© PassionforCinema, 2009.
Post tags: Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Jon Ronson, Kevin Spacey, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, Paul Lister, Peter Straughan, Robert Elswit, Rolfe Kent, Tatiana S.Riegel, The Men who stare at Goats, The Men Who Stare at Goats Movie Review