I am Kalam: To Kalam, with love
Genre: Drama
Director: Nila Madhab Panda
Cast: Harsh Mayar, Hussan Saad, Pitobash, Gulshan Grover
Storyline: A street smart underprivileged kid befriends a rich Rajput prince and dreams of going to school
Bottomline: A thank you letter to former President Kalam for inspiring children
If someone were to take the most inspiring ideas from the books of APJ Abdul Kalam and made a movie to show its applications in contemporary India, it would be a lot like Nila Madhab Panda’s I am Kalam, a hit at festivals around the world. The film was rated 4.40 on 5 by audiences at the Transilvania International Film Festival recently.
“An ignited mind is the most powerful resource on earth, above the earth and under the earth”
Street smart Chottu (Harsh Mayar), who works in a Rajasthani dhaba that caters to the haveli-turned-hotel, catches Kalam’s address on TV and becomes an ignited mind. He already had a passion for books and education and dreamt of becoming one of those television models sporting ties on TV. But now, he finds a role model in the President and gives himself a name. Kalam.
“The right kind of education on moral values will upgrade the society and the country”
Little Kalam does not lie. He does not steal. He stands up for friends. He works hard and wants to earn to fund his own education. He’s a great example for kids. And this is one reason you must take your kids to watch this film.
“The ‘dream-thought-action’ philosophy is what I would like to be inculcated in each and every student.”
When Kalam catches the President’s four-step path to success (Dreams. Action Plan. Hard Work. Courage), he transforms into a student. So what if he’s not in school.
“A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.”
The game changers in Kalam’s life happen through the friendless young rich Rajput prince (Hussan Saad) and a foreign tourist Lucy who share their knowledge with him. While the Prince teaches him English, the tourist teaches him French and the young lad himself teaches them everything he knows – from Hindi to Camel riding to lesser known aspects about India. The village in Rajasthan becomes a microcosm for what India represents today with one feet firmly in the past and one in the present. The haveli may open itself up to tourists but is still unwilling to go all out and start cooking in the palace to cater to them.
“Give one hour a day exclusively for book reading and you will become a knowledge centre in a few years.”
Kalam becomes a knowledge centre in months and shows great promise of becoming a leader. The filmmaker wants to ensure that we don’t dismiss this off as idealism and shows us change in Kalam, slowly and steadily. He learns simple things that any of us can in a matter of minutes – whether it’s about making tea, or wearing a tie, to basic greetings in different languages. And he connects everything he learns from people with what he reads in books.
“Music and dance can be used as an instrument for ensuring global peace and act as a binding force.”
There’s a beautiful scene in the middle of the film when a whole group joins in an impromptu jamming session led by Chottu. There’s a guitarist, there are folk artistes and there’s a foreigner playing an Indian string instrument.
“If India is to become developed by 2020, it will do so only by riding on the shoulders of the young.”
Thankfully, the change in Kalam does not happen because of the foreigner. It happens because of children. They overcome their obstacles and speak up for what they want by initiating a dialogue with the older generation.
“What matters in this life more than winning for ourselves is helping others win”
Kalam does not care about winning himself. He is confident. He knows he will reach his destination some day. And wants his best friend to win, whether it is a French test or a Hindi elocution contest in school.
“It is not a disgrace to not reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for.”
While many Indian youth (like Pitobash as Luvtund) grow up idolising film stars, we are really lucky to have Kalam. And it’s a good thing that someone made a film to give kids a role model, someone they can become.
Interview: “I’m not a critical-acclaim junkie” – Ekta Kapoor
“Sorry, I was in a temple,” she says, calling back promptly two minutes after the appointed time for the telephonic interview. I was given five minutes and told to call at 3.25 p.m sharp. The PR also requested if I could avoid any personal questions. After all the “She’s like the Devil in Devil Wears Prada” stories, you hear about her, the last thing you expect to hear is “Yes, Sir.”
In fact, she finishes every sentence with Sir. I am clearly enjoying this and have no heart to tell her I may be younger than she thinks. She’s respectful, polite and prompt and that’s this is the woman who runs an Empire built over millions of drawing rooms around the country. We can be pretty sure that there’s no chance any woman watching TV in this country has never heard her name before.
Ekta Kapoor is full of surprises. Currently, she’s on a roll with back to back releases and much acclaim with Shor In The City two weeks ago and Ragini MMS opening reasonably well. She speaks to us about her tryst with the motion picture business and her relationship with TV and the letter K.
Q:What kind of cinema is Balaji planning to be associated with? Any ingredients that will be common?
A: What I want to do with cinema is keep it as universal as possible. And if it has to do with different niches, give them what you promised. There’s no certain type of cinema but there’s a certain type of promise every film comes with. The agenda is to keep an eye on quality and live up to that promise.
Q: Why is your fare on the big screen and TV so different?
A: TV is more mass-oriented. It’s all about going into various homes… you got to go into a conservative home and a modern home with the same drawing room entertainment because people sit together and watch TV from different areas and different cultures. TV allows and explores unity in diversity. You need to get one interesting idea that connects with a much larger number of people than films can.
Q: How much control or regulation do you personally exercise over themes shown on your TV fare?
A: I have no interest in working against the sensibilities of all the mothers and family members who sit together. They know that if they watch a Balaji show, they will get a certain kind of entertainment. I do NOT want to break that connection ever.
Q: What’s your take on reality shows and society?
A: Anything we watch is a taste being catered to. You cannot ignore the fact that there is a taste. Somewhere we have to remember we are a voyeuristic society, we like shock value. But reality shows don’t get the numbers that fiction get. The staple diet of TV is family entertainment.
Q: First LSD and now Ragini MMS, which from trailers, seems to be quite bold for Indian audiences.
A: We are catering to an existing audience. We are not creating the audience. Youngsters talk like that. They do talk about going away for a dirty weekend. The film does not to try and shock you, it’s just accepting it. It shows a young couple who are comfortable with each other physically as they are mentally. Their conversations are real. They are not selling crass sexuality under the garb of being coy. Which is what happens in most Bollywood… wet duppattas, fluttering eye lashes, biting on the lips and yet we say it is non-sexual when it is actually overtly and covertly sexual.
Q: It was quite surprising to see a film like Shor In The City from your banner.
A: Shor In The City may not have a high level of sexuality but it may have a high level of humour that working professionals will enjoy. I think any kind of film that any audience would enjoy should be made by Balaji. Taryanche Bait, our Marathi film, that came out about a month ago was among the top five grossers. It’s about a middle-class man and his relationship with his son. We knew that the Maharashtrian audience will accept it. So we made it for them.
Q: So are you enjoying all the critical acclaim and going to festivals?
A: I am not going to become a critical-acclaim-junkie at all. I will not start falling for the bait of wanting to please people ever. I will do it the way I always do, with my gut. I cater to a viewer because that viewer’s taste matters more than anyone else’s and I will keep him first in mind and then, if it also appeals to the critics, so be it. On the other hand, it’s a great feeling to be accepted by audiences that have never accepted you.
Q: You have this larger than life image of a head-strong, highly opinionated and even arrogant businesswoman. Is that the right perception?
A: I think I am a bit too individualistic. I try to lead. I do not follow. Even if I don’t lead, I would follow my own path. If that works for people, great. If it doesn’t, great. I rather make my own mistakes and pay for them rather than pay for mistakes that are formulistic. So I just go by my gut.
Q: You seem to have come a long way from being associated only with the K-brand of TV shows.
A: I have just diversified. I don’t think I have come a long way from it. I would always go back to it when I feel the need to creatively do more shows. We underestimate the power of entertaining the country. By just doing niche films, I don’t think I have done some great work. Catering to India was far more challenging. I diversify just to explore my creativity. I believe that TV is a much bigger medium than films and I will always respect TV more.
Q: Do you watch American and British TV?
A: I am a huge American TV addict. I cannot do without my daily dose of American shows. Right now I am watching Shameless, 90210, Gossip Girl, True Blood, Dexter, Californication, Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives. I am the first one to get the DVD here.
Q: Finally, what’s with the K-serial brand? Are you done with it? Do you believe in the superstition?
A: I love the letter K. I am a K-addict. (laughs) But I have taken a small sabbatical. It was an astro-thing. It suited my Mangal. When it didn’t suit me, I didn’t use it. We have currently broken up but we may get back together one day (laughs).
Interview with Poonam Pandey: The slip between the cup and her hip (UNEDITED!)
By promising to strip for the Indian cricket team in the event of India winning the World Cup, this starlet shot to fame overnight by trending on Twitter for over 72 hours and also became Google India’s most searched personality in the last 48 hours.
And she’s not even 20! Poonam Pandey’s meteoric rise has made Bal Thackeray himself sit up and take notice as the Sena chief warned her against facing the wrath of the Sainiks on Friday afternoon. I caught up with Poonam for a quick telephonic chat on her vow, increasing pressure from fans who expect her to keep her promise, criticism and even the looming threat of moral policing.
Q: Are you aware of the exceptions to Freedom of expression granted under Article 19?
A: Are YOU aware of Articles 34 D? My World Cup is bigger than that! (laughs) Of course, yes. I did consult my friend who’s studying law and she said I could be charged with obscenity. You tell me, is the female human body obscene? Or is it your gaze that makes it obscene? Like beauty, obscenity is in the eye of the beholder. Whoever wants to charge me with obscenity can come and look for themselves if what I do is obscene. I want to see what is it about the female form that disturbs them. I’m sure my form will excite them.
Q: You speak with absolute certainty that India will win the Cup and you will be stripping in the stadium.
A: No, I will not be stripping in the stadium because I have been advised that there will be a law and order problem and the BCCI has refused to meet me over the last two days. But yes, I am sure India will beat Sri Lanka. And it won’t be just me who will have panties in a bunch (laughs).
Q: Lack of permission may seem to be a convenient way out of not being able to stick to the promised deal to your critics and fellow models who have lashed out against you. Aren’t you worried about the backlash?
A: I will certainly not back out of it. There are so many ways to do it. I can do it from my website through a live webcast. I can do it on camera for an exclusive TV channel. We’re still working out the possibilities and I will make an announcement after the result of the match. I am not worried about anything. The backlash will be there even after I keep my promise. We are a country of hypocrites. Men want to see women naked, they strip women with their eyes but cannot handle it when a woman does it out of her own will because she can do what they can never do. If they took their clothes off, women would close their eyes out in horror. That’s how ugly most men look. Also, they have small (pauses) minds.
Q: Ahem! Thanks. But don’t be too sure.
A: (Laughs) I cannot see you over the phone, so no comment. But you sound nice. Also, my agent told me to be nice to the media. (laughs again)
Q: If you had a daughter, would you be happy if she made a similar promise. Is your family taking it well?
A: My family is bindaas. Also they are not old fashioned. They are very very very old fashioned. Because, back in the day, we explored enough to write a manual on different sex positions. Where did the one billion babies come from? Kamasutra is part of India’s pride. Sex is what keeps us going. And if my daughter were to do it, I’d say: I’ll join you and let’s show the boys some love.
Q: Aren’t you too young to be talking about sex?
A: I am 19. If the law thought I was young, it wouldn’t be allowing 12-13 year olds explore each others bodies. Our law lets us have sex when we are over 15 though it does not let us vote. What does that tell you? Sex is part of our culture. So why make a big deal about nudity?
Highlight to read NSFW portions below:
Q: How come you don’t sound this smart on Twitter?
A: Because, you made up this interview, jackass. Happy Fools Day everyone! =) Go ahead, fool your friends by sending them the link to this interview! Team up and play along like a sport now!
Love, Sex aur Dhokha: The medium is the message
Genre: Drama
Director: Dibakar Banerjee
Cast: Handycam, CCTV, Spycam and some humans – Anshuman Jha, Shruti, Raj Kumar Yadav, Neha Chauhan, Amit Sial, Arya Devdutta, Herry Tangri
Storyline: Life and times of three couples as seen through cameras that best define their relationship
Bottomline: A historic piece of cinema guaranteed to revolutionise independent filmmaking in the country
Whoa!
Dibakar Banerjee makes a film that could be given out to students of mass media around the world along with copies of Marshall McLuhan’s text book “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man”.
McLuhan couldn’t have been prouder with an updated thesis on film that proves and applies his “The medium is the message” theory to the tech-savvy modern world.
It is the single most significant film to have come out of the country as India’s contribution to world cinema because Dibakar has fused the medium and the message in a way that they are not only intrinsic to each other but in a way never attempted before.
Yes, we’ve had the likes of Blair Witch Project, September Tapes, Cloverfield or Paranormal Activity or Michael Mann’s digital action films that have tapped into the potential of the medium but here’s a film that demands a mix of mediums to tell its story about the impact of the medium and its relationship with society.
For long, film cameras have been our window to love stories and candy floss and the medium of escape has delivered many Happily Everafters because our cinema has strongly believed that Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (The Brave Heart Will Take the Bride).
There’s an obvious huge disconnect between that world as seen through the film camera and the same recreated through a video camera simply because the larger than life elements recreated on a tool used for hard news gathering will yield results that are as best laughable. The first in the inter-connected stories explores the relationship between the young naïve believers of cinema and the male chauvinistic society and life meets film.
We see this story through the eyes of a video camera that records the larger than life (film), the intimately personal (as the filmmaker confides to the handycam, addressing Aditya Chopra, the guy to have given an entire generation hope that you can manufacture parental consent for your love story) and a tool that also captures the brutal realities of life by becoming a silent observer documenting the consequences of life imitating art. The film and video cameras represent romance or love (from the title) because they tell stories that are personal. These cameras like love provide the society ESCAPE from their everyday lives.
The second story in the film is all about the other big revolution in recording life – the omnipresent surveillance cameras that are watching and recording every single move of ours in public spaces. We are aware of their existence and trust on those managing it to not exploit the medium. Our behaviour and relationship with these cameras is defined by our reluctance to do anything remotely private in public eye. Which is what makes the voyeurs excited on the potential of this technology. Dibakar captures the primal need for sex in a story where the controllers of the medium take advantage of the subjects at their most vulnerable state. Not just for sex itself but as sex for the society as a whole – porn.
The third and final story is about how the intrusive medium can be used to completely betray the subject because the person who is being watched may have absolutely no clue that a spycam is capturing every bit of his deepest, darkest secrets.
Yet, there’s Love, Sex and Dhoka in all three stories and the genius filmmaker connects them in a way that these stories influence and resolve each other, sometimes for the worse and sometimes for the better.
The ensemble is just brilliant and at no point in the film you see them as actors. This is reality cinema at its best with all elements you usually associate with the larger than life genre – romance, action, comedy, song and dance. But most importantly, it holds the mirror to the male-chauvinist society and shows us our ugly side – we at our most unflattering, despicable real selves. Yet, it leaves us with a little hope of what we are capable of doing.
Clearly, the best film to have come out of Hindi cinema in ages.
Kuselan: Superstar makes you cry
Kuselan is not your regular Superstar formula film.
It is just a film with Superstar in it. It’s about the human side of Superstar.
By not a regular Superstar film, I mean there are no powerful adversaries, no challenges, no revenge, no riches to rags to riches character graph. And a Rajnikant film without a villain is something we haven’t seen in God knows how long! Two decades?
Kuselan is faithful to the Malayalam original Katha Parayumpol with an extended Vadivel comedy sequence and a few Superstar-movie elements inserted into the film under the pretext of movie within a movie, though we are really never sure what is the movie he’s shooting for in the film – Sometimes it’s Annamalai 2, Sometimes Chandramukhi 2 and sometimes, Kuselan.
Real meets reel as Superstar Rajnikant plays Superstar Ashok Kumar and frankly, you can’t tell the difference nor does director P.Vasu want you to know the difference. Montage of Rajnikant films and references to Superstar’s life are thrown in liberally into the Tamil remake.
Since the pace of the original is already slow, these elements further slacken the pace.
Performance-wise, Superstar is a little subdued because he has to play himself. As a fan, I understand the expectation out of a regular Thalaivar film. Though it is closest to the real him, with Kuselan, we realise that his screen persona is larger than the real him and it’s like watching a tiger put inside a cage at the circus. We so want him to break free and send bad guys flying into outer space.
All we see is Superstar flashing a smile all through the film, except the climax when he really makes you reach out for the hankies, along with the phenomenally talented Pasupathy who underplays the role to match Srinivasan’s subtlety in the original. At least most of the time. If only the background score had a similar sensibility.
To make up for the lack of masala, Vasu unleashes glamour in the form of Nayanthara cavorting in the rain and has Vadivelu leer at her like a voyeur. That should keep the front benchers happy.
But by genre, it is a sentimental film targeted at women and family audiences. City folk who are fans only because it is cool to be Superstar fans may not like the film because it has absolutely no superhero elements. Also the climax gets a little too sentimental that the “macho men” in the hall decided that making fun of the sentiment as a defense mechanism was the best way to stop the tears from rolling. Just like how people watching a genuine horror film begin to make noises just to take their minds of it and trivialise it so that they don’t have to be scared.
But, like Superstar himself says in the film: Watching a film being shot is not as exciting as watching the film itself. And Kuselan is a soppy drama with the shooting of a Superstar film being a mere backdrop. There are a few good lines written specially for Superstar in there though about 70 per cent of the film is so faithful to the Malayalam version that it’s not just the jokes that are borrowed, even the exact timing, dates, names and even shots have been recreated religiously.
Qualitatively, though Mammooty and Srinivasan churn out a much classier performance, P.Vasu’s focus here is to have Superstar and Pasupathy play it up for the masses. Some of the interesting touches from the original have been sacrificed to maintain political correctness. Like that bit in the original when the youngest of the kids asks his father why he’s the dark child in the family and the father replies cheekily that the mother had the first two kids with a foreigner. Can you imagine a mass-based audience buy that kind of irreverence in this part of the world?
For people closely following his political ambitions, let me just say that Superstar distances himself from the political punch-lines from his past films saying that he was only an actor saying his lines.
And he hastens to add, that he does not have to answer to anybody about whether or not he will do something in the future. There’s also a tinge of Superstar’s personal philosophy when he reveals why he takes a trip to Himalayas every year.
Kuselan though slow is extremely watchable if you forget the hype.
Go for it only if you are a sucker for sentiment. Let the taps flow. Bring out the hankies.
Suderman Rating: 3/5
Money Hai Toh Honey Hai: No Funny, No Money
Genre: Comedy
Director: Ganesh Acharya
Cast: Govinda, Manoj Bajpayee, Aftab Shivdasani, Celina Jaitley, Hansika Motwani, Upen Patel, Prem Chopra
Storyline: A dying man names six random strangers in his will to take over his textile business
Bottomline: Say Govinda, Govinda to your money. Drop it in the Tirupati temple instead.
You can tell a comedy that tries hard from the first frame.
Right from the moment the lead women, dressed as Chinese, sing us the title in a sing-song accent for the opening credits, you know what to expect. Before you can say pop-corn, there’s good old Govinda letting his eyebrows do all the dancing.
Ganesh Acharya’s filmmaking is like David Dhawan overdosing on hip-hop and bling, which would’ve been interesting by itself but the dance choreographer-turned-director also has ambitions of being Rajkumar Hirani or Aziz Mirza, as he attempts to put together a good-hearted ensemble to manufacture feel good cinema.
Like David Dhawan’s cinema, the wackiness quotient is on a high.
Sample the score that sometimes gives out cock sounds to suggest that the character (Prem Chopra) has gone cuckoo and sometimes, cues in the rap version of ‘Tujhe Mirchi Lagi Toh Main Kya Karoon’ as Govinda, dressed like a gangster rapper, sporting a G-tattoo, drives in for a character introduction scene.
And, like Dhawan’s cinema, the crass quotient hits new lows.
Like, when Upen Patel replies to: “I like your guts” with a charming “I like your cuts and curves.” And, when moments later, the cleavage-obsessed camera loses itself in the curves of a model-kamwaali bai. There’s also a chance for Govinda to size up single-ready-to-mingle Sophie Chowdhury a few scenes later and wonder “Itna Achcha Maal Ab Tak Godown Main Pada Hai (Such goods lay waste in the warehouse until now)… Are you hanging out with gays?” There’s scope for a slutty Archana Puran Singh to show us what a cougar she could be and to establish Upen Patel as – as Manoj Bajpayee wisely observes: “Dheeley langot ka lagta hai” – one with loose morals. Poor Patel plays a struggling underwear model with author-backed lines such as “Kachcha pehna paddtha hai, utarna paddhta hai.”
Ganesh Acharya, like Dhawan, too has a natural flair for spoof when he pokes fun at an Ektaa Kapoor-like character and the soap opera routine as we are introduced to a popular TV bahu called Meera (a chirpy Hansika Motwani) who wants to break out of the ‘devi’ image and become a diva. It captures the angst of a TV star, though light-heartedly, as she whines about not being considered for Filmfare awards, item songs or Koffee with Karan. And, God bless irony, a bikini-savvy Celina talks of coming up with affordable designer-wear for the common man blessed with a not-so-heavenly body.
Despite a few such ideas with potential, the film is hardly cohesive.
Now you see Aftab (not too bad this time) and he’s gone for a while. You see Kim Sharma and she’s gone for the rest of the movie. Till the interval point, the disjointed parallel narratives (over half a dozen of them) keep inter-cutting each other with no rhyme or reason, making way for each actor to dance to some hip-hop loops with Govinda before their individual stories are sketchily assembled together at interval block for a common conflict – though there is none.
They all need money but not all of them are in dire need really. Yet you see, a street-smart Govinda stare tragically into nothingness just to keep the mood of the montage in tact. That’s the kind of drama that ruins it for Acharya.
Yes, David Dhawan makes a movie out of random dramatic scenes too but he knows where to cut it short and get on with the story. Here, Acharya has noble intentions but finds himself in troubled waters not knowing what’s important and what’s not. He wants to tell us a story about six different individuals with differing attitudes towards money who are put together in a situation, thanks to a random screenwriting ploy, so that they can earn their money with what they are best at. But he does not understand editing, brevity, pace or the need for consistency of mood.
He needs to forget dance basics – it’s not just a few great steps that makes it a popular number. It’s the cut to the beat.
Mission Istaanbul: Sitting Thru is Mission Impossibul (UNRATED)
Genre: Action
Director: Apoorva Lakhia
Cast: Zayed Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Shriya Saran
Storyline: A journalist finds his life in danger as he discovers the truth behind a controversial TV network with a little help from a mysterious commando.
Bottomline: Destined to be the butt of all jokes
Mission Istaanbul is not a joke. It’s a series. Here are a few random thoughts that ran past my mind as I sat there in the dark trying to take Mission Instanbul seriously:
What’s the best season to release the film in the US?
Thanksgiving. Because it would be the biggest Turkey.
* * *
How close are Suniel Shetty, Zayed Khan and Vivek Oberoi to Hollywood after Istaanbul?
Very. They are wholly wooden.
* * *
Why do Zayed and the villain take off their shirts half the time they see each other?
Because they wanted to rub more than shoulders?
* * *
What is Apoorva Lakhia’s idea of terrorism?
Showing us what the world would be like if Suniel Shetty and Zayed Khan played journalists.
* * *
What is Mission Istaanbul in journalistic parlance?
Bad news.
* * *
Is Shweta Bharadwaj a double or a triple agent? Whose side is she on?
She hasn’t found out yet. Has to be the audience’s side. She wants to please everybody.
* * *
Why is Abhishek Bachchan doing an item in this film?
To console Vivek Oberoi that he also does things apart from Oberoi’s ex-girlfriend.
* * *
Why did a soft drink brand this film and insist on the tagline: Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai before the action sequence?
It was the competition’s masterstroke.
* * *
Bad guys keep spraying bullets but why don’t Vivek or Zayed ever get hit?
Come on, when have Vivek and Zayed ever even remotely been in a hit?
* * *
What is Shriya Saran doing in Istaanbul?
Trying and hoping to get killed right from the first scene. Is there any other way out of this film?
* * *
Why does Vivek Oberoi keep smiling through out the movie?
He’s the only one who got all the jokes.
* * *
What was Apoorva Lakhia thinking?
He was?
* * *
What is common to Istaanbul and rocket launchers?
It is their destiny to bomb.
* * *
Knock, Knock…
“Who’s there?”
Bull.
“Who Bull?”
Mission…
[interrupts] “Oh! I’m not opening.”
* * *
Knock, Knock…
[No answer]
Knock, Knock…
[Still no answer]
Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock…
[Snore]
Ah! Mission Istaanbul is playing. Even the gateman’s dozed off.
The Dark Knight: Don’t bat an eyelid!
Genre: Action
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman
Storyline: Batman wants to retire but Joker wants him to play with
Bottomline: The best superhero movie ever
Heath Ledger probably didn’t care too much about death.
Maybe because he knew he was going to be immortalised as one of the best onscreen villains of all time. Maybe he also knew that the world, at some subconscious level, loved and related to Joker more than Batman.
Because, like Joker observes: “Insanity is a lot like gravity. All it needs is a little… push.” At some level, Joker as “the agent of chaos” is the alter-ego of the common man stifled by the system.
What makes Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger’s Joker so scary is that they make you realise that this psychopath actually resides in that darkest corner of your heart. Never has a comic book character become someone so real that it could easily be YOU… if put in a situation and asked to make a difficult choice: Like the people of Gotham are asked to, towards the end.
Sacrificing the back-story of Joker’s origin was probably just what Nolan needed to make Joker that enigmatic villain who people, including Batman himself, do not fully understand.
The Dark Knight is Joker’s movie all the way (watch the cinema hall erupt with applause for every single punch line) and Batman just happens to be in it just to remind us that someone’s got to clean up the streets (Batman gets his due too and earns the applause as a matter of right, taking on an adversary as clever and dangerous as the Joker).
Christopher Nolan makes Tim Burton’s 1989 ‘Batman’ (arguably the best Batman film before Nolan took his shot) look like child’s play. Why does Burton’s version seem so amateur now? It was awesome when we watched it as kids. Heath Ledger makes Jack Nicholson’s Joker look like a circus clown. Also, Bale’s certainly a better Batman than Keaton for his ability to play Batman as well as he plays Bruce Wayne.
Here’s why ‘The Dark Knight’ may be the best superhero movie ever.
To begin with, the near-flawless ensemble cast – Apart from the phenomenally talented Heath Ledger and the charming Bale, there’s Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal (replacing Katie Holmes), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent) with author-backed roles.
Second, though it derives its characters from comics with two-dimensional depth and simplified differentiation of good and evil, Christopher and his brother Jonathan Nolan have fleshed out these characters to an extent that none of them are monotone. They are all complex characters with relatable issues – the superhero just wants to retire and spend time with the girl he loves, the girl herself may just move on with her life, the psychopath does not want to be the only freak in town, the honest guy is unable to deal with the price he’s had to pay to be good (a nice contrast between Harvey Dent and Gordon when people they love are in trouble) and even the loyalists do not approve of all things the superhero does.
Third, the man who was consumed by the dark side of Joker. Heath Ledger plays the role of his lifetime. If Nicholson’s Joker was all cheese, Heath’s is chalk (yeah, we’re talking about the minimalist make-up too). At no point do you see Heath, it’s always Joker. Apparently, Heath improvised quite a bit (especially the part where he starts clapping sarcastically in jail) and absolutely seems to relish the part with his drawling dialogue delivery, smacking his lips at his shot at immortality. He’s lived the role, keeping Joker larger than life yet believably relatable. This is something that could’ve easily gone so over the top, the Nicholson way.
Four, the mix between dialogue and action choreography. There’s enough in there for hardcore action buffs and also plenty for those who like their movies layered and deep. It’s not sitting pretty right on top of IMDB’s top 250 (with a 9.5 rating with over a lakh votes) for nothing.
In the coming months, it would be interesting to see how it fares with The Godfather considered to be the best movie of all time (currently at No.2 with a 9.1 rating with almost three lakh votes).
We could go on talking about it but we need a book. Go watch it, again and again and again.
Contract: Cheap thrills on an underwear-string budget
Genre: Action
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Cast: Adhvik Mahajan, Sakshi Gulati, Amruta Khanvilkar
Storyline: A former soldier seeks revenge, infiltrates an underworld gang to establish contact with terrorists responsible for the death of his wife and daughter.
Bottomline: Only for Varma’s chaddi-buddies.
Contract begins with a line: You may ignore terrorism. But terrorism won’t ignore you. We could say the same thing about Varma. He keeps coming back to haunt us. The man is evil. Only he could’ve made an entire film as an inside joke.
His idea of the underworld has something to do with an encounter cop, streaking through streets of Mumbai, without his underwear.
And this, moments after the hideous looking chap walks out of his bath in a towel and flashes Mallika Sherawat, staring down at him from her photograph (that busty one taken during the Myth premiere). With the kind of money she charges these days, this was the best Varma could do – use her poster.
And before he knows it, the cop does a Ranbir Kapoor-Saawariya-towel-drop and runs around the streets in the buff, chased by the hero of the film. Someone shoots this on his mobile and after the thrilling chase sequence, the cop returns home to complain to Mallika, who still seems to be smiling down at him from her poster.
Contract is all about the ‘underworld,’ the ‘ghusna’ (infiltration) and the ‘maarna’ (‘Wham Bam,’ of course).
We know someone’s going to have a broken back mounting the saddle, “entering the underworld,” when the chief of police (a poker-faced Prasad Purandare) tells our ex-soldier hero mourning the death of his wife: “Ab Jo Kuch Hoga, Hamare Beech Main Hoga. Main Iske Baare Main Kissi Se Nahin Kahoonga” (Whatever happens from now, will remain between us. I will not tell anyone).
The cop wants him to go to prison because that’s where all the gangs go bang-bang at each other. As he eloquently explains: “Underworld ke andar ghusne ki training police se behtar aur kaun de sakta hai” (Who could train you more for entering the underworld more than the police itself) and immediately spells out: “It is supposed to be a joke.” Since most of the film is filled with such juvenile humour about all possible puns the word ‘Underworld’ could accommodate, you hardly get a chance to get serious about the plot. That’s a tragedy because Prashant Pandey’s screenplay comes across as a tribute to crime-dramas like ‘Drohkaal’ or ‘The Departed’ where an honest officer has to go undercover to infiltrate a gang.
Varma botches it up trying to make a masala film out of this seriously explosive material by shooting it like a low-budget student film. One gang leader lives on a boat, another lives in someplace ‘vilayat’ (which looks suspiciously like Goa) and the rest of the film is shot in extreme close-ups. Which is okay if the people featured look good.
Adhvik looks like a cross between Ajith and Simbu and tries hard to be all angst, the chubby girl (Sakshi Gulati) pouts like Namitha unconvincingly and the rest of the gangsters look like they haven’t had a bath all their lives because RGV is gunning for realism in the Satya mould… while trying to make a masala movie ridden with Hindi text book proverbs for dialogues.
Sample: Jahaan Mitthai hoti hai, Makhi aa jaati hai (Sweets attract flies), ‘Mashoor Betey Ke Sau Baap Hotey Hai (Success has many fathers), ‘Jab Sar Katnewala hai toh Dhadi bananey ka kya fayda (What’s the point of shaving your beard when you’re going to be beheaded). Or something as charming as “Har roz ek hi rang ki chaddi pehanta hoon kya” (Do I wear the same colour underwear everyday?) and that’s supposed to mean: “I don’t need to feel the same way everyday”.
After Contract, we can be sure that Ram Gopal Varma is only as good as his screenwriters.
As he admits himself, Satya happened by accident. We know Company was Jaideep Sahni’s genius. Contract looks like a hurriedly made low-budget assembly-line action film that smacks of Varma’s disregard for writing. Wasted potential.
Kismat Konnection: One Minute Review
Genre: Romance
Director: Aziz Mirza
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Om Puri, Haider Ali
Storyline: An unlucky architect falls in love with his Lady Luck but has to decide what he wants more.
Ups: It makes you think Lindsay Lohan-starrer ‘Just My Luck’ wasn’t that bad. Kismet is on the same lines towards the beginning and then gets into ‘Two Weeks Notice’ territory with the shopping-mall versus community-centre conflict. Om Puri and… never mind, we forget. Actually, with female company you may not mind this seemingly long film that demands absolutely no attention from you.
Downs: Shahid Kapoor is back to being Shah Rukh Khan and suggests that Jab We Met may have been a fluke. Vidya Balan is all set to win the Na-Real again for her choice of wardrobe that often gives her arms to match Shahid. No doubt she’s pretty but I wouldn’t dare an arm-wrestling match with Vidya after Kismet. We know Aziz Mirza’s signature is in creating an ensemble but here, it just means more annoying characters than ever. It’s always tricky to make a film based on chance and luck but there’s only so much disbelief you can suspend. Suddenly telling us that nobody, including all architects pitching for the project, knew the disputed property had a strong foundation is not just convenient and lazy screenwriting, it is the kind of stuff that makes you want to walk out in a terribly slow film that tries hard to be sweet.
Bottomline: Miss Kismat. Mat Jao.
Kuselan News Watch – 1
Superstar fans may want to see this.
BRB
Sorry guys,
Thank you for your emails and comments. Been a little busy with outstation trips. Just getting back to the routine.
It’s been a crazy fortnight or so. Finally finished casting for my new film and we’re likely to shoot by July end or August.
That’s also the time That Four Letter Word would be out on Home Video and on Video on Demand. Watch this space, will post a link through which you ll be able to order the film directly. 
Thanks. And I promise to post the pending reviews and new stuff in a couple of days.
One, Two, Three: Don’t be silly? Why not?
Genre: Comedy
Director: Ashwini Dheer
Cast: Suniel Shetty, Tusshar Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Upen Patel, Sameera Reddy, Esha Deol, Tanisha, Neetu Chandra
Storyline: Three guys with a common name show up in Pondicherry as confusion ensues.
Bottomline: Watch it drunk with your chaddi-buddies
Confession: One, Two, Three isn’t half as bad as people tell you it is.
Obviously, not many would like to admit they laughed at the drop of an undergarment.
Ashwini’s script is a factory of undergarment jokes tailor-made for mass appeal.
If you laughed out loud for the ‘Yeh To Bada Toing Hai’ ad campaign or ‘the Rupa ke Underwear aur Banian’ MTV gag, you are going to love this extra-large comedy of errors involving the underworld, an underwear seller and an employee under pressure.
Paresh Rawal revels in his role as the old-fashioned salesman on the threshold of change as his son wants to give the business a modern feel. Lakshminarayan 1 sizes up his customers with natural flair, never under-estimating their needs. While he’s actually supposed to meet Tamil-spouting lingerie designer (Esha Deol), thanks to the confusion of two other of his name-sakes staying in the hotel, Paresh Rawal hooks up with vintage car-seller Sameera, who likes to keep her advertising brief and effective.
Suniel Shetty is such a talented actor that at no point do you realise he’s trying to rip off Mr.Bean’s antics. Lakshminarayan 2 has a good thing going until humour by repetition takes its toll on you. This is easily one of his best roles till date. He has four lines including a joke in the movie. And he’s made to repeat that joke 40 times in the course of car-hunting for his boss, only to become hunted by the underworld being mistaken for Lakshminarayan 3.
Tusshar Kapoor (the third Lakshminarayan, the hit-man) finally realizes that the only way he can play a gangster is in a farce. Bagging his first killing contract, all he ends up knocking down are a couple of coconuts. Jitender Junior gets to romance Dharmendra Junior until the confusion gets compounded further… the kind of comedy Crazy Mohan and Kamal Hassan would’ve kicked butt with.
But Ashwini tries too hard and too many things. Somewhere between all this, for your viewing pleasure, there’s Tanisha who doesn’t seem to care two hoots about the length of her role or wardrobe and Upen Patel as her partner-in-crime… The crime being stealing the diamond and hiding it in a petrol tank… Moral of the story: Always choose clothes big enough to hide a stone.
Ridiculous? Wait until you hear Neetu Chandra and her team of cops talk in chaste Haryanvi in Pondicherry or the bad guy (called Papa… duh, the Indian Godfather) with a fixation for adding S to every word or the trained, jinxed bomb specialist or the rival Don obsessively compulsive about bad poetry…
In spite of that huge line-up of stars and ensemble, the film looks like it’s shot on a gee-string budget.
With the volume of jokes touching a new high, the quality doesn’t seem to matter. Even at a success rate of one is to ten, you have about 30-40 laughs in the film. Which is not bad at all if you just want to have a good time. There are a lot of moments where timing salvages the saddest of jokes and there are the silliest of lines delivered with great conviction… often reminding you about ‘Andaz Apna Apna,’ only that this is way more downmarket… So downmarket, that this is down there with ‘Kya Kool Hai Hum’ or ‘Dhamaal’.
Not that downmarket is a bad thing, David Dhawan used to rule that roost. But Ashwini clearly has more potential. If only he knew when to stop. And where.
Taare Zameen Par!
Just posted my review. Taare Zameen Par is the movie of the year.
Fell in love with the movie within the first 10 minutes. Please make sure every parent you know watches this movie. Refreshingly full of life.
Also, in case you haven’t yet voted for Sivaji as CNN-IBN’s Movie of the Year, please do so now by clicking here.
Yes, I know Chak De is a great film. And I might have even voted for Taare Zameen Par if it was nominated but Sivaji is closer home. And Superstar deserves to stay on the top of any list. So spread the word and Vote for Superstar.
Just out: Reviews of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Laaga Chunari, etc.
Just found time to post online my reviews of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Licence to Wed, Wrong Turn and Resident Evil 3: Extinction.
You check out these reviews and more on my movie blog.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa: The case of the missing marbles!
Director: Priyadarshan
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Shiney Ahuja, Vidya Balan, Ameesha Patel
Storyline: A newly-wed couple try to dispel notions of a ghost in their haunted mansion only to find themselves caught in its spell.
Bottomline: Priyadarshan loses it in translation
Genre: Thriller
If bad remakes amounted to murder, Priyadarshan’s a serial killer going by his track record, box-office figures notwithstanding.
How bad a filmmaker should you be to stay so faithful to the screenplay of the Malayalam original ‘Manichitrathazhu’ and yet churn out such horror?
At least if the filmmaker had to deal with changes/touches/twists to the tale, you could’ve blamed it on the screenwriter. But here’s a film that stays as close as possible to the screenplay of the much-acclaimed classic and yet falters, purely because of its execution. By execution, I also mean CAPITAL punishment for us viewers.
It is an ordeal to sit through the first one hour of ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ and its attempt at comedy. Because, in this segment, even the usually dependable Paresh Rawal’s timing is all bollocks and you end up giggling only when you are supposed to be scared.
While the original was rooted in a credible rural milieu with an endearingly believable bunch of village simpletons who are convinced about the presence of a ghost, Priyadarshan’s take is filled with his regular inventory of caricatures – Rajpal Yadav in yet another ‘Chottey’ avatar, Paresh Rawal bumbling around like an idiot, Asrani hamming it up… you get the picture?
Add to this, there’s the phenomenally expressionless Ameesha Patel to hoot at.
Akshay finally makes his entry ten minutes before interval and gives you something to look forward to: The over-priced popcorn.
Jokes apart, Akshay is the only entertaining proposition of the film, using his seasoned comic flair to keep the proceedings light, carrying what’s left of the film on his able shoulders. Vidya Balan has two left feet and Shiney Ahuja’s sincerity shows in the scene where he breaks down. What a long way he has come since Sins.
Where Bhool Bhulaiyaa fails and Manichitrathazhu scores, is in the filmmaker’s ability (or inability, in this case) to set up a face-off between science and superstition. Fazil played a gripping mind-game with us keeping us guessing on what was causing all hell to break loose – was it really the ghost or was it someone with a dissociative identity disorder?
There were many cues thrown around in Manichitrathazhu, some to mislead, some to distract and some to hint and help you participate in the guessing game. For all his claim to have worked on the film, Priyadarshan doesn’t even seem to have got hold of the basic idea behind the film: a science-meets-superstition-based-thriller where parapsychology and exorcism flow seamlessly into the narrative.
While we can understand P.Vasu’s commercial considerations that made him ignore these finer aspects and just dumb it down as a Superstar film for the masses, Priyadarshan’s claim of being faithful to the original is superficial and unreal, just like the film he has made.
‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ is yet another example of a classic lost in translation, another victim of Priyadarshan’s obsessive compulsive urge to make a career out of other people’s films with only buffoonery for a USP.
Laaga Chunari Main Daag: Didi’s Tragedy Show, Rom-Com style
Genre: Drama
Director: Pradeep Sarkar
Cast: Rani Mukerji, Konkana Sen Sharma, Kunal Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan
Storyline: Small town girl goes to big bad Mumbai and becomes an escort.
Bottomline: Sarkar’s sense of feminism goes hanky-panky, with special emphasis on the hanky.
There are moments in the film where Pradeep Sarkar breaks the predictability associated with the stock-story with a few new touches.
Like the bit when she does not take the money the first time she gets a ‘daag’ on her chunari. She slaps the guy instead. Like the part where she chooses to do it on her terms and in style instead of signing up for Madhur Bhandarkar’s Chandni Bar-girl’s desperation of doing it for pocket change. Like the point that she always has an
exit-route option open, throughout the film.
These touches are the only saving grace of a film that tries hard to be a feminist take on the issue but fails due to one basic flaw: The fact that she goes through all this in an attempt to be the “son” her father wanted and in the end, her exit from this path is guaranteed only by the entry of the son-in-laws, the family’s new male
protectors.
This ruins everything.
Maybe this is Pradeep Sarkar’s way of telling us that this candy-floss pseudo-feminism is a picture perfect reflection of our times where morality as defined by the rich and the famous differs from the morality of the middle-class. Once you’ve made the jump who cares what others say? Love is all that matters. Perfect for the multiplex-goer sensibility.
It does not squeeze the sentiment enough to dampen your hanky. Nor is it bitter-sweet. At best, it’s a feel-good tragedy.
It’s not an author-backed role for any of the characters, so you are wondering why Jaya Bachchan’s name appears first in the credits. Maybe because the director wanted to keep his promise of writing a role tailor-made for her, he literally just keeps her going at the sewing machine day and night. You didn’t get the metaphor? Without her putting the stitches on the petticoats, the family’s fortune would be reduced to rags.
Wait, there are more. From the predictable Ganga of the Benaras epitomising the purity of the protagonist to the deteriorating condition of the family (through father’s health) and their ancestral home, literally, to the stack of falling chips to the professional courtesan’s in-your-face assessment of Rani’s innocence, every thing is spelt out that it would be no surprise if the next film from the Yash Raj Banner has arrow-pointers and footnotes explaining the motifs and metaphors employed to make the film artistically richer.
This need to spell out everything probably only emerges because every situation, character and location is bathed in the Yash Raj-banner-sensibility of manufacturing cinema – good-looking people in great looking clothes singing and dancing around in gorgeous locations.
Thanks to the picture perfect cinematography we hardly know that their palatial nest was supposed to be on the verge of ruins as the dialogue suggests.
There’s nothing visually dirty about the job she takes up – we see her get herself a makeover, strut around in the best of clothes, fly business class to Zurich and almost do a Dilwale Dulhaniya all over again. And, we are supposed to feel sorry for her? The sensibility demanded of the screenplay is the biggest casualty of the Yash Raj Films stylization.
Konkana’s chirpiness borders on annoying but blame that on the dumb thing she plays. Rani has a cakewalk of a role that demands no more than her Mona Lisa smile and she ‘sleeps’ through it, not sure what to do in the bedroom scenes.
The film is so old-school that it is refreshing to see Kunal Kapoor improvise with a burger, spilling mayonnaise on his shirt and provide the film its romantic comedy moments. Abhishek Bachchan with all of 15 minutes of screen-time banks on charm and chemistry with his not-so-Babli pair this time.
The only reason it is worth catching on TV is that it takes every single cliché from the genre of the past and juxtaposes it with updated contemporary, modern-day reactions which have become clichés too.
Sample: How the sister comes to know about her ‘job’: Cliché. How she reacts to it: New age cliche. How the family comes to know: Cliché. How they react to it: New-age cliche. How the boy comes to know: Cliché. How he reacts to it: New-age Romantic Comedy cliche.
These sort of twists against the tragedy genre work, but only in a Sooraj Barjatya-kind of a way.
One Minute Reviews
Licence to Wed:
Cast: Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, John Krasinski
Director: Ken Kwapis
Storyline: A lovey-dovey couple decides to take a marriage preparatory course and find the Reverend to be a bone in the kebab.
Ups: The chick-flick mood, the romantic comedy with some genuinely funny moments, Robin Williams and his adorable sidekick minister-kid, Mandy Moore’s appeal that helps her skip through yet another role bravely without the skill better known as acting and John, who seems to be a natural.
Downs: Predictable like any film in the genre, uni-dimensional characters, completely unbelievable Reverend… Bugging apartments of couples to crackdown on their sex life? Only Robin Williams could’ve made this work.
Bottomline: Perfect date movie but if you are dreading the M-word, don’t take her for this one.
Wrong Turn:
Cast: Desmond Harrington, Eliza Dushku
Director: Rob Schmidt
Storyline: A bunch of friends trespass into Cannibal-zombie-land and end up playing hide and seek with death.
Ups: Hot babes who you know will last longest in the film, plenty of thrills, jump-scenes, scary moments and a credible landscape.
Downs: For a film that came out in 2003, even the sequel is out on DVD. Not an iota of class or subtlety, highly predictable plotline and why don’t the zombies just eat the hot ones like they did with the boys instead of taking them captive? Oh, wait, that’s a no-brainer.
Bottomline: Awesome B-movie stuff.
Resident Evil 3:
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Ashanti
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Storyline: The survivors of Part 2 need to head to Alaska before they are eaten up by ugly zombie creatures and crows.
Ups: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, many more Milla Jovovichs in her favourite choice of wardrobe in the series: None. Come on, why else would anyone watch this series that looks like a videogame?
Downs: What on the planet is happening? Something that went wrong because of Umbrella Corporation’s classified confidential project.
Bottomline: Only for Milla fans or addicts of the game.
That Four Letter in Mumbai
CNN-IBN and Rajeev Masand were quite sweet to us by covering the release of the film at Fun Cinemas. Rajeev also called me to their studios for a quick chat on independent cinema. Take a look. And thank you, Varsha!
CNN-IBN: That Four Letter Word in Mumbai
CNN-IBN and Rajeev Masand were quite sweet to us by covering the release of the film at Fun Cinemas. Rajeev also called me to their studios for a quick chat on independent cinema. Take a look. And thank you, Varsha!
Return of the Jewel Thief
Vijay Anand has a worthy successor.
Sriram Raghavan, the brains behind the dark taut thriller Ek Hasina Thi and the phenomenally acclaimed ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ quoting Tarantino (“I steal from every film”) recently in an article went on to give a complete list of his ‘Reservoir Gods,’ ranging from John Huston’s ‘The Asphalt Jungle’ to Kubrick’s ‘The Killing’ to Jules Dassin’s ‘Rififi’ to the modern day interpreters of the genre: Coen Brothers and Tarantino to Vijay Anand’s suspense-filled thrillers (‘Teesri Manzil,’ ‘Jewel Thief,’ ‘Johnny Mera Naam’) to Jyoti Swaroop’s ‘Parwana,’ and ended it on a note saying: “I hope I have managed to steal something from them.”
The master thief did. And so smoothly that you would find nothing unoriginal about ‘Johnny Gaddaar,’ one of the best homage films ever made. (Read my review of the film here.)
Not every filmmaker exposes his influences to critics who are just waiting to spot the reference.
In a detailed exclusive interview over email, Raghavan explains:
“When I wrote the piece about the movies that influenced and inspired me, it was not some sort of confession. The movies I listed are great films, by great directors. When I began Johnny Gaddaar, I wanted to imbibe some of the qualities that made those films so rich and layered. My plot is not based on any of the films. Of course, the genre will have some elements in common. Femme fatales, corrupt cops, double crossers, infidelity and so on.
Likewise every film set in a jail like Ek Hasina Thi will have common elements. Shawshank Redemption, Midnight Express, Escape from Alcatraz, Birdman of Alcatraz, The Great Escape, Lock up, Double Jeopardy are all such different films. But they will have at least half dozen common situations.
I see a fairly THICK line between homage, inspiration and plagiarism. I mean, what’s the point of copying a scene ditto…where’s the fun and challenge in it.”
Unfortunately, for Raghavan, the film did not have the best of openings and the film couldn’t stay on till the word of mouth spread. ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ averaged three and a half stars on five from over a dozen reviews around the country but the box office can be cruel.
What went wrong?
“Jaideep Sahni asked one ticket seller in a hall, how is the picture? He had an interesting answer. He said, picture zabardast hai, audience bekar hai.
But, I wont blame the audiences. Why would anyone risk paying 150-200 rupees on a weekend to see a film with a new actor? Unless…they know it’s a damn good film. I would have loved it but I did not expect a huge opening for the film. I was confident that those who saw it would like it and spread the word. That’s exactly what is happening. But the press has been extremely positive and so too various people in the film fraternity. The word of mouth is strong and the second weekend collections are better than the first.
Also most movies made today expect the viewer to leave his brains at home. Johnny demands the viewer pay attention. That’s the way I like to watch thrillers, all movies actually.
I do feel we should have had some innovative marketing strategy. We did promote the film to our best but certain movies need strong marketing ideas. Hitchcock announced during the release of Pyscho that no viewer would be allowed in the hall once the movie began. Also he had an ambulance outside every theatre in case someone got a heart attack. These gimmicks create curiousity and then if the film is good too, there’s no stopping it. Pyscho was his most inexpensive film but his biggest hit.”
We decide to let him refute a little criticism that he’s got from critics around the country. That the police is near absent during the proceedings. That you have “over-written” and “over-directed” the film. That it is the first comprehensive spot the movie reference exercise.
“Ok….one by one. The lead characters are shrewd criminals so they’d definitely ensure that their misdeeds don’t attract the police. In fact one of the main characters is a corrupt cop!! I could have shown cops doing some sundry investigations but it’s not relevant to my story. The story takes place over just 2-3 days and I’m sure the cops would get into the picture once they find the bodies…but by then, the movie is over.
I don’t understand what over written and over directed mean. Need examples to answer that. Really. I can understand over acting. Or over dose of violence..but how can you overwrite a film. Do the critics mean it’s too verbose? Or have I taken strange angles and bizarre show off kind of shots?
Spot the references….Well…I feel the references are vital to the movie’s screenplay. I mean the various clips I’ve shown are carrying the plot of Johnny Gaddaar forward. The lead guy gets his caper idea from an old Amitabh Bachchan movie. The characters speak about movies like Scarface and Black…but why not? Don’t we all refer to movies in our day to day conversations. People have love it. It’s all meant for fun…and offsets the dark and nasty things that happen in the movie.”
Raghavan’s finest quality as a filmmaker is how he observes and learns techniques from the films he watches.
The characterisation in Johnny Gaddaar would make you believe it was a script the Coen Brothers wrote. Is that what he stole from them – the art of creating memorably real characters?
“I love the Coen Brothers work. My favourites are Millers Crossing, Blood Simple and Fargo. Fargo has a pregnant cop in charge of the investigation. It was not necessary to the script but it lends the character an emotional reality and quirky appeal. Nine out of ten heroines in India would throw me out if I suggested such a thing to them. But Francis McDormand did a super job and even won an Oscar for the performance. While making Johnny, I and my writers kept brainstorming on how to make the characters somewhat real so that they connect with viewers even though they are racketeers. Also I must thank my actors who brought their own inputs and experiences to give shades to the roles that were not so fleshed out in the script.”
We then talk a little about the fantastic score that was nostalgic enough to give us the goose-bumps.The title sequence was pure nostalgia for the Hindi film freak.
“All credit for the soundtrack goes to Shankar Ehsaan Loy and my background music composer Daniel George. Actually we had no scope for conventional songs in the movie. And yet I love music and wanted a lot of music in the film. So we asked SEL to do a title song which we could use in a crucial scene as background. I loved the song so much that I persuaded them to take time out and compose two more numbers. They are used very briefly in the film and to really enjoy it, you got to listen to the CD. It’s an eclectic album.”
And then, he belts out the references of his learning again:
“A good thriller needs a terrific background score. Imagine Pyscho or Taxi Driver without Bernard Hermann’s tracks. Or Untouchables without Ennio Morricone.
The JG score has been composed by Daniel B George. We have done some experimenting here…. The BG score was majorly conceived on live performances and recorded on an analog machine. We tried to stay away from the digital environment which is in right now.
The tympanis, brass, violins were all recorded live. The approach has actually been to record music like it was done back in the 70s. It was a long and arduous and comparatively expensive process but the quality will be discernible to the audience.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and had the privilege to work with musicians like Franco Vaz, who’ve actually played for RD Burman, Kalyanji Anandji and other greats.”
His next project with Saif Ali Khan, Agent Vinod sounds like another throwback to a bygone era. Is that another homage film?
“Agent Vinod is a realistic thriller set in the world of current day espionage. The script is still being honed so it’s too early to speak about the plot etc. But it’s not like the James Bond spoofs that Hindi movies had successfully attempted. I mean, it’s not Farz or Suraksha or even the Rajshri production Agent Vinod starring Mahendra Sandhu.
We will have no scene like the Chief of Intelligence hears about some disaster and says Call Vinod. And we cut to Vinod in bed with a buxom beauty and his watch goes beeeep.
Yes, there will be thrills and shocks and action set pieces but more in a believable mould. I loved the recent Casino Royale and Bourne Ultimatum. Again, I’ve to think of an interesting way to weave music as you cant have a spy in these times, singing and romancing a girl over the Niagara Falls. Or can we??”
The way he talks so much about movies other than his, he’s on his way to earn the Desi Tarantino tag.
“Desi Tarantino sounds too funny,” he says.
“And I hope that every film I do will not be like this. I get influenced by so many styles of filmmaking and yet somewhere, I hope I can make films for our audiences, and on my terms.
The next film I’m doing is an offbeat love story. I’m still working on the script and it’s not even titled. But on my comp, I’ve put down that the treatment should be something like Run Lola Run meets Three Colours Blue. What does that mean? I don’t know myself. Filmmaking is a process of discovery and adventure which is what makes it nerve wracking… and fun too.”
