An old man sits two seats in front, and asks a helping hand from Shamiana what time the film, Gumraah, is to be screened. He is two hours too late, unfortunately. “But this is good as well,” he is promised. “They’re short films. You’ll enjoy them.”

He seems to. He sits through the delayed start, the mic checks, and the technical jugglery with the projector, right down to the hurried end. Every time the house lights come on between the film segments, he looks around at the testy audience (it is a hot evening at Cama) with a twinkle in his eyes and smiles generously.

That’s the power of a short film. A big promise fulfilled, in very little time.

Of course, the short film is a much abused art form today, especially now that digital technology makes it so much easier to shoot, cut and send your little masterpiece out into the world. The clutter is unimaginable; Youtube servers are surely testament to the fact.

From within this clutter, Cyrus Dastur has curated a smart collection of short films by Indian students (abroad, and from around the country) for your viewing pleasure. Beginning with the tender, acclaimed (and Oscar shortlisted) film Birju, the evening goes on to end with Little Sivaji II, the sequel to a popular short spoof filmed with a zany twist by Kannan and gang, students from SIES College (Nerul). There is no theme that the screened films subscribe to, or a particular style that holds them together. Conversely, it is their effective diversity that asks the audience to examine the true portent and potential of a short film.

While Birju slowly unfolds as a sensitive and contemplative character drama, Printing Mistake (from Chennai) is a straight out narrative with a nostalgic touch for story telling. A Perfect Day from FTII (Pune) peppers a slice of life story with idiosyncrasies not just of the characters, but of the film itself.

It is a proud moment for Shamiana when the audience fills the seats, and stays put for the remainder of the show, I bet. If so, it is a proud moment for Indian cinema as well. These are but the humble beginnings of tomorrow’s entertainers. They deserve the applause.

Shamiana has been showcasing various selections of short films through the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. There is another screening due this evening. Take them up on their promise; watch the show. Remember, the corollary promise to short films is that even if they fail, at least you wouldn’t have wasted too much time!

Bae Chang-Ho’s My Heart shall be screened today at the Max Mueller Bhavan at 1830 hours i. e. 6:30 in the evening. The director is considered the foremost exponent of the Korean New Wave cinema. In a stark departure from his usual style of film-making, My Heart is set in the Korea of 1920’s.

The movie is shot amidst the beautiful scenery of Korea. It tells the story of Sun-Yi (played by Kim Yoo-Mi, the director’s wife), who is married off to a ten-year old spoiled brat. When her husband grows past adolescence, he brings home a mistress much to the petrifaction of Sun-Yi. The movie tells the story of how Sun-Yi leaves home and searches for an identity of her own. In a way, the movie mirrors the struggle of Korea to find its identity in a shrinking world. (Click here to read the whole post)

Two of the gems of experimental cinema - Manhatta and The Man With The Movie-Camera - were screened at the Gallery Beyond yesterday. Since I missed the first one (I watched it on the internet anyway), I shall review only The Man With The Movie-Camera.

Made in 1929 by Dziga Vertov with cinematography by his brother Mikhail Khaufman, The Man With The Movie-Camera captures the Russian life in all its avatars. The movie has no story as such, yet one could call it the story of a people and a time.

The movie shows the Russian way of life in minute detail, and not often in the sad way that directors of art movies are wont to perceive. The camera captures in a most natural way the beautifully uncertain smiles, the lips that make unheard whispers, basking ladies, the victories and the excitement, the routine and the indifference - all captured with the devouring eye of a greedy voyeur and the detailed panache of a keen observer. The result is a movie which speaks of life without judgment and the consequent pitfalls that a jaundiced eye brings to the task of film-making. (Click here to read the whole post)

The third session of Experimental Cinema screenings (and my second), Gallery Beyond showcased the last four of Avant-Garde movies they had chosen to screen. I say chosen to screen because the Avant-Garde Collection (from which the movies are being shown) is a much wider collection comprising many more movies than time would have allowed them to show.

The four movies screened were:

• Regen (Rain) (Netherlands, 1929) directed by Joris Ivens, 14 minutes: This is a movie every Bombayite would love to watch, especially if you’ve grown up watching the rain and what gentle poetry it can create on the streets and in the minds of men. If you can catch this short film anytime, please do so. It is a lovely evocation of rain in Amsterdam and how people react to it. Perhaps the most lyrical of all Avant-Garde movies, it is for the best that it is a silent movie. The gentle strumming of the guitar throughout the movie is the only sound the movie has. It is the director’s best documentary before he moved on to doing political documentaries. It is now my favorite documentary; when you have watched it, it will be yours too.
• H2O (US, 1929) directed by Ralph Steiner, 12 minutes: This movie demonstrates what light can do with surfaces, especially with water. An intensive exploration of the play between light and water, it soon delves into abstractions leaving the consciousness of the existence of water behind. Recommended only if you love the sort of cinema that academics can argue and debate over.

(Click here to read the whole post)

I was lazing around in the afternoon and almost on a whim, I decided to attend the Avant-Garde movie screenings held at the Gallery Beyond. And it was so good that at the end of it, I cursed myself for being lazy and not attending on previous days.

The map for the festival does not pinpoint the location of the Gallery. And nobody except the a man standing outside Max Mueller could tell me where Gallery was. As a result, I arrived at the Gallery a full one hour late. To add to my woes, the watchman there told me that games were being played at the Gallery (Yahaan toh khel khila rahein hain).

Just as I was about to leave thinking that the event had been shifted to some other venue at the last minute for which notifications could not be put up on the website, a man told me that movies were indeed being screened at the Gallery and directed me to a door. I entered a darkened hall where the movies were being screened. It was only when my eyes adjusted to the light and I spotted paintings hanging on the walls around me that I realized I’d been ushered into the gallery itself.
(Click here to read the whole post)

The Tenth Kala Ghoda Arts Festival

Invites you to participate in a competition for young filmmakers (age- 25 years and below).

Make a short film titled TEN

Duration: 1 min - 5 mins
Format: DVD only
Last Submission date: 26th Jan ’08
Submissions to: Brinda Miller, Millernium, 665, Cadell Rd, Next to Dadar Catering College, Dadar West, Mumbai 400028.

The sooner you submit the better your chances! Only 20 films will be chosen for screening at the festival.

For inquiries, call: Smriti Garach- +91 9819242246, Jethu Mundul- +91 9820254429

Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by Maya

Cinema Finale.
I promised myself that I wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world. It was Cinema Finale with four previously unscreened documentaries being screened by four women directors. But I did miss it (@#%&*).well, at least the first film.

The four films screened were

. Blank Verse by Indrayani Mukherjee
. Rose Mahal by Jenny Pinto

. Call It Slut by Nishtha Jain
. Naamkaran by Konkana Sensharma

I missed Blank Verse (grumble mumble crumble)

I walked into Horniman Circle Garden just as Rose Mahal and the director were being introduced. Rose Mahal is the story of an old house called.well, Rose Mahal, construced in 1933 by the Pinto family in Bangalore. The house is to be pulled down and the author is re-living the last of its memories by holding a huge feast for all her relatives. In the process, she tells Rose Mahal’s story interspersed with her own.and the lessons she learnt in the process. A personal tribute to a home which gave her childhood the spark that would last for a lifetime, Jenny Pinto takes us through past and present as she infuses her current celebration with those of her own celebrated memories. The documentary was at the best, decent. The characters gyrated on your nerves and the dialogues were stilted. A few shots were admirable.like those of Grandma Rose licking away the last of the leftovers with her fingers and the quaint little house dwarfed by monolithic cement brick buildings in the background. In the end, it left the taste of peach iced tea-hot water combination that they were selling at David Sassoon library.you like peach, but you don’t want to have another sip of that delightful flavour with erghhh.hot water!

Call It Slut was the next film. Ah! What can I say? Gorgeous. Nishtha made a film on Lakshmi Tripathi, a hijra. Before you make comic innuendos and turn you noses away, just read this quote by Lakshmi. “The joy of being a woman is that you can wrap yourself in six metres of cloth and still appear naked,” says Lakshmi. Confident, beautiful, graceful, magical, bold, wicked, shocking.that’s Lakshmi for you. “I can’t stand hypocrites,” she says in another scene. “When I met her, I just knew I had to make a film on her,” said Nishtha. I often wondered.how can one make a biographical film on someone who is still alive without offending him/ her or making his/her existence less-celebrated? Nishtha provided the answer-just be honest. The film intersperses Lakshmi’s likes, dislikes, beliefs, ideologies with some lessons in womanhood to Nishtha-a tribute to the beauty of honesty and confession. Lakshmi gives us her opinion on exploitation, the Kamasutra and the government ban on bar girls. “Government did a wonderful thing by banning the dance bars. First, there was one hurdle for the customers wanting to take bar girls to bed.and that was the stage. The government removed this hurdle. Ab yeh stage ko hatake ladki ko sidha bistar pe daal diya,” she critiques. A must watch!

Lastly, Konkana Senharma’s debut feature short film, Naamkaran was a big hit. My Bengali friend had threatened to kill me if he missed this film because of mon late arrival. But Naamkaran was the last to be screened. So all’s well that end’s well. Naamkaran is a film about sibling rivalry in a family of three (two sisters and the handicapped father). They are pick-pocketers by profession. The protagonist is a mother of a toddler and dislikes the ways of her family. Her sister buys gifts for her son with stolen money. The film initially explores the relationship between the two sisters. The elder one wants her younger sister to get a job and work honestly; while the younger want wants her elder sister to start pick-pocketing again. She also wants her sister to name her baby after their father.or at least give him a name that rhymes with their father’s name. Abhijit, Surojit etc. The film takes us though their lives as we discover nuances of the family’s strained relationships, which give a well-rounded logic to the protagonist’s last act of pick-pocketing a man’s wallet on the tram.and eventually naming her baby after him.Abhrojit.a final act which bonds her back to her family.

Ah! If you weren’t there.you missed some beautiful cinema honey.
Now go.run.go take a retail therapy or dessert dive-ins.
I had mine last night.(halo reappears).

Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by Dilip D’souza

Some things get me peeved. My 6.5-year-old son and I go to the screening of My Fair Lady at the Cama Institute, Sunday evening. Even though we get there 15 minutes before the start, the hall is full. Wandering around, I finally find a seat for him at one end of a row. Nothing else except some seats along the side wall, so I sit on the chair there closest to him.

Many more people stream in after us, also searching for seats. About half an hour into the film, a young mother wanders in, strolls about searching for a while, then scurries over (yes, rather bandicoot-like) to my son and worms herself onto his seat. First, she squashes him to one side, then she actually lifts him up and puts him on her lap. I’m hard-pressed to believe I’m seeing this. I lean over and say, that’s my son, I’m not happy with what you did, can you please leave him alone? She motions pleadingly to me.

I can’t make a scene here and now, so I sit back, fuming.

He sits on her lap, but I can tell he is uncomfortable because of the angle of her legs. He keeps sliding off and has to hold on to the seat in front to prevent that. Finally he stands. I call to him to come sit on my lap, whereupon the lady’s son runs over and occupies her sliding lap.

Why is it OK to do this to a kid? Would the lady have thought it acceptable if she had been sitting on the chair and a large man came over and wormed himself into it?

But apart from that: how many more loved, more familiar Western films are there than My Fair Lady? The delicious insults Higgins throws about, Eliza’s outraged Cockney howls, the melody in every one of those songs . no wonder several in the audience mouthed along as Eliza sang. Lots of chocolate for me to eat/Lots of coal making lots of ‘eat/Warm face, warm hands, warm feet/AAAAh-Wooo-dn’t it be loverly?

Ohhhh yes.

Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by Maya

After yesterday’s movies, I decided to catch some live events today. So I got off work and came straight to KG. As indecisive as I am, I couldn’t decide which event to go for.the Folk Dance Extravaganza by Indumati Lele or Beats n Bars & Air guitars, film screening.

Hmm.hmmmmmm.hmmmmmmmm.
The beckoned.Folk Dance it is.

They had already finished with the first dance. I walked in during the second performance. There was a huge crowd at MC Ghia Hall, opposite Rampart Row. People were standing atop chairs and every other conceivable area that would provide easy and uninterrupted viewing of the performance. I almost gave up. But I saw this small space at the back and I managed to squeeze in and found a vantage position to view the dance.a handycam. Believe me. I saw 89% of the rest of the show on the display screen of this gora’s handycam. In between, with the heads moving in rhythm, I managed to see a bit here and there.
The dances were:
1) Natwa Nrutya
2) Lezim Nrutya (Maharashtra)
The Lezim dance, a male performance, combines beautifully physical exercise and dancing. Done with a Lezim or a small mallet, it is a fascinating dance performed in the formation of a circle, in twos or fours. The accompanying instruments are the drums. It involves a lot of stepping, hopping, bending, squatting, etc. to the perfect timing of the strikes of the Lezim. A large group of boys and girls doing Lezim dance presents a beautiful sight while the Lezims strike rhythmically in perfect unison.
3) Chirmi Nrutya (Rajasthan)

This dance was amazing. Chirmi is tree which is worshipped in Rjasthan. Women dance with an arrangement of pots and a lighted lamp balanced on their heads.
4) Garbi Nrutya (Gujarat)
Originally men use to perform this dance. This is performed on the eve of Navratri and is dedicated to Goddess Kali. During Navaratri, all women get together and one woman sings this song and others dance. Then all women sing this song again in the second round and dance together.
5) Kashmiri Nrutya (Kashmir)
I saw, I heard and I thought.this is where Mission Kashmir got it from. Mission Kashmir’s Bhoomroo had borrowed the strains of and dance steps from this original form.
6) Koli Nrutya (Maharashtra)
This dance got the loudest cheers and wolf whistles. Hmmm.I wonder why.? The dance derives its name from the fisher folk of Maharashtra-Kolis, who are noted for their distinct identity and lively dances. Their dances incorporate elements they are most familiar with-the sea and their occupation of fishing. The dance is performed by both men and women-divided into two groups. The smaller group of men and women, in pairs, enact the main story of the dance-where the Kolin or fisherwoman makes advances to the Koli or fisherman. The larger group, also in pairs, forms the backdrop for the story, dancing in a looped movement that depicts the rowing of a fishing boat on undulating waves.

7) Chapeli Nrutya (Uttaranchal)
It is a very famous and fast dance of Kumaun. The theme of the dance is love and it is very romantic. Both men and women participate in this dance and the costume is very colourful. (Goriya manwa tu humra kehna.)
8) Ramleela
Need I say more? Story telling dominated this dance with beautiful movements. And the audience departed happily.

Some thoughts were running through my head constantly. While most of the dances that were being introduced, the host constantly repeated words like ‘business’ and ‘religion’. Undoubtedly, art has been forever influenced by religion and business. Dances were performed to celebrate the onset of a season. Gods were worshipped in hope of garnering a fruitful and prosperous year ahead. Business became a religion. Initially, I couldn’t place my finger on the high points of the dances. But as the performances were enhanced by vigour and expression, realisation slid in.the turnarounds, vigourous drum beats, the fast steps, the lull and then the storm. It was spectacular!

Indumati Lele, whose troupe performed a total of eight dances this evening, thanked her group of 50 dancers from all over the city, including college students and housewives.

It was 9.and I was still oscillating between two destinations.home? Or Stand Up comedy by plus 2 productions at David Sassoon Garden? I thought I’d drop in for the Stand up routine. At the DS garden, I encountered the last dregs of Beats n Bars & Air guitars, film screening.

I walked in half way through the screening of a documentary on a contest between three hip-hop artists. It was directed by Dami Akinnsas. The documentary was eclipsed by a fight between two audience members. Apparently, one had coughed into the ear of the guy sitting ahead of him, and refused to say sorry. As they were arguing, many others asked them to not disrupt the screening and take the fight out. To quell the battle of words, one of them answered the other’s objections with just one word.Shut up!
Here is an excerpt:
Guy1: You mind your language
Guy 2: Shut up
1: Behave yourself, I didn’t.
2: Shut up
1: Just watch the movie.
2: Shut up
1: You.

2: Shut up
1: Shut up man
2: Shut up
1: Damn.
2: Shut up
2: Shut up
2: Shut up
2: Shut up

And then, the first guy gave up. Peace prevailed.Oh Shut up.there’s more

The last movie was good. ‘Holly Bolly’ was directed by, Dil Rehman and Obi. It was a story of two guys, an Indian and a Black, who were trying to garner funds to make a film. Their ideas are constantly rejected by various funding boards, who want a film on the lines of the one made by another lesbian director. Eventually, they find a financer who wants them to make a film on ethnic characters. So the Indian, Dil, thinks of a concept where four Asians are about to be killed by a gang of British mafia. The financer doesn’t like it and tells them that the white man is always the hero. Eventually, the British mafia leader actually speaks in an Indian accent and the film is completed. The movie, gets nominated for the award, but fails to win. The award, yet again, goes to the lesbian director for ‘Angela and Betty’.

The movie is side-splitting, as the directors show how filmmakers have to bow down to the financers’ understanding of the market. The financer’s whims and fancies are interspersed with the enactment of the same scene over and over again.albeit with his changes. So the Asian heroes are replaced by the white men. The villain’s threatening dialogues are changed constantly.once in the Brit accent, then in the Indian accent, then he relays his dialogues in a sufi song, then via a bhangra number. It’s absolutely hilarious!

The directors have effectively brought out how the popularity of ethnicity is nothing but a joke.and a modus operandi for the financers cash in on its popularity. It’s a classic satire on the entire ABCD film culture.

9:30 pm.still half an hour to wait. Nah! Home calling.
While I was trying to hail a cab, two other girls, who saw the films, discussed about how the films overall were average, with the exception of the last two. “I think the last two films were the best,” one of them said.

:)

I could feel the halo on my head as I went back home.

Comments

Comment by kate on February 11, 2006 @ 2:45 pm

Hey,
I was at the short film screening too- guy 2 really was a bit of a dramaqueen.

Especially when he nearly fell over the bench when he stood on it.

Oh well. Atleast they re-played the bit we missed. :)

Though I do think you missed the rendition of Stairway to Heaven, sung backwards, and played in reverse. Quite something. I suppose that was where the ‘air guitars’ in the title came from.

Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by Maya

I took half day off work. I wanted to watch Thelma and Louise (T & L).Some like it hot was supposed to be a bonus.

So I walked in 12 minutes late for T & L, found my self a chair in the darkened Cama hall, and settled down to watch the master piece starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. Directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri, the movie explores the story of two women, Thelma Dickinson (Geena Davis) and Louise Sawyer (Susan Sarandon). Thelma is married to Daryl, a restaurant owner, who is as dominating likes his wife to stay quiet in the kitchen so that he can watch football on TV. Louise, on the other hand, works in a fast food restaurant as a waitress and has some problems with her friend Jimmy, who, as a musician, is always on the road. One day they decide to break out of their normal life and jump in the car and hit the road. Their journey, however, turns into a flight when Louise kills a man who threatens to rape Thelma. They decide to go to Mexico, but soon they are hunted by American police. Along the way, both women rediscover the strength of their friendship and surprising aspects of their personalities and self-strengths in the trying times. (Source: www.imdb.com)

Seven scenes before the movie gets over, there is some technical problem. Damn yam.Grumble mumble.Shit wit.Nit pick.Yawn gone.

Ah, the movie is back.5 scenes from the end.

If plotted on a graph, the T & L starts with a smooth concrete road ride and then moves on from a long jump leap, to kung-fu walking in the air move, to a superman flight. The build up is fabulous. Add to that, fantastic performances by Davis and Sarandon. The back ground score is awesome. “These girls are not the killing type,” says the waitress to the cop. Chilling.what can one incident do you? How can a harmless weekend getaway turn a monotonous existence to a monolithic adventure? Add to that, the blade-edge twists and turns of both the characters. Thelma’s submissiveness, encouraged by Louise’s ‘you-have-a-louse-for-a-husband’ talks, rages into a one night stand (Brad Pitt), armed robbery and eventual drive over the edge of the mountain. As the film lurches toward its lacerating climax, there are many conflicting feelings about Thelma and Louise: Whatcha-gotten-into-em??? When did they turn from women to bitches? Are they feminist martyrs or bitches from hell?

They are nothing but women.each marred by the transformation of a young dream to a tedious existence. They are nothing but women, who are not angry at the transformation because they don’t know that they should be angry.we do. They are not even vengeful.they just slide and stream into events, and enjoy the ride till the end.like most of us don’t. An iconic end redeems both.the protagonists and the audience.

Some like It Hot
This 1959 classic starring Marilyn Monroe as Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, Tony Curtis as Joe (’Josephine’/'Junior’) and Jack Lemmon as Jerry (’Daphne’) is a story of two musicians, a saxophonist and a bass player who witness a murder committed by the mob/ mafia and are on the run to save their lives. In the process they enlist themselves in an all-girl’s band and impersonate as women (who are a tad large-boned) as a camouflage mechanism. In addition to hiding, each has his own problems; one falls for another band member but can’t tell her his gender, and the other has a rich suitor who will not take “No,” for an answer. As usual, Bollywood got inspired by this movie and in 1974, Rafoo Chakar was made starring Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh.

Being born in an era, which forced me to see the Bollywood version before the original; I found obvious similarities which dimmed the potential enjoyment that I would have derived from the film. Nonetheless, the dialogues saved the day.

Some gems.

Jerry: Have I got things to tell you!
Joe: What happened?

Jerry: I’m engaged.
Joe: Congratulations. Who’s the lucky girl?
Jerry: I am!
—-X—-

Jerry: Will you look at that! Look how she moves! It’s like Jell-O on springs. Must have some sort of built-in motor or something. I tell you, it’s a whole different sex!
—-X—-

Sugar: Water polo? Isn’t that terribly dangerous?
Junior: I’ll say. I had two ponies drowned under me.
—-X—-

Osgood: Right now, she
[his mother]
Osgood: thinks I’m out there on my yacht - deep sea fishing!
Daphne: Well, pull in your reel, Mr. Fielding, you’re barking up the wrong fish!
—-X—-

Sweet Sue: Are you two from the Poliakoff agency?
Joe: Yes, we’re the new girls.
Daphne: Brand new!

Apparently, Marilyn had a miscarriage during this film. In view of that, she acted remarkably well. Directed by Billy Wilder, ‘Some Like It Hot’ is a pleasure to watch.

Some Trivia.. A preview audience laughed so hard in the scene where Jack Lemmon announces his engagement that a lot of the dialogue was missed. It had to be re-shot with pauses (and the maraca gimmick) added.

. Colombo (George Raft) sees one of Bonaparte’s henchmen flipping a coin, and asks “Where did you pick up that cheap trick?” In Scarface (1932), Raft played a mafia henchman who is remembered for the fact that he kept flipping a coin.

. While watching the rushes of the famous kissing scene on the yacht, Tony Curtis told those assembled that kissing Marilyn Monroe was “like kissing Hitler” (to which Monroe replied to Life magazine in 1962: “I think that’s his problem.”) He has subsequently denied that, and claimed that she deliberately teased him by grinding her body against his until he was aroused, and then stop (Monroe told Life that, since Curtis was so negative to her, she imagined she was with someone else instead of him.) He has also claimed the two had an affair during filming. (trivia and dialogues; Source: www.imdb.com)

Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by addytorials

Shooting Rhymes and Cutting Verses is no less than an eye-opener to the possibilities of expression that the medium of cinema offers. In a country where the short film is denied recognition as a difficult and unwieldy art form in its own respect, this screening is a Godsend. 13 examples of poetry on film.

Poetry as a visual expression is an abstract idea in itself. Yet, some of the films were anything but. Riley’s “The Elevator” has all the slick charm of a linear short film and is yet much more due to its poetic narrative. The claustrophobia of an old racist finds amplitude in the combination of the visual elements and the poetry running through them. Hedgecock’s The Burdened Ass is a touching sentiment in verse seen through the thoughts of a man on sentry duty. It is hard to imagine now if the poetry would evoke as much without the shot of the understanding smile at the end. Rogoyska’s Not Waving But Drowning uses poetry as an effective punchline that twists the perceived content of the film in retrospect. Hill’s The Tyre is a short film that might hold its own as a separate story but is given superlative meaning through the interspersed verses of poetry.

Then, of course, are those films that defy every boundary of visual rationale and dance with the poetic form as an equal partner. These animated films are more a heightened experience of poetry than stories told on the backbone of imaginative verse. They are the moving splashes of colours, words and images that the written word illuminates in that fugitive part of your creative mind. Askin’s Summer with Monika and Arthur’s Picassoesque Naturankles give light and sound to the vivid imagery the poetry demands. Kocevar’s For You (based on a poem by Jacques Prevert) provides stark literal images following a simple and shocking little poem:

I went to the market, where they sell birds
and I bought some birds
for you
my love
I went to the market, where they sell flowers
and I bought some flowers
for you
my love

I went to the market, where they sell chains
and I bought some chains
heavy chains
for you
my love
And then I went to the slave market
and I looked for you
but I did not find you there
my love

Enmeshed at the very soul of their craft, these films take both cinema and poetry to a higher plane of expression. Bold, inconceivable and experimental, the 13 short films are an inspiring evolution in art.

Comments

Comment by Dilip D on February 8, 2006 @ 10:47 pm

I’m told by reliable sources that that poem is not based on a poem by Jacques Prevert, but is the precise translation of a poem by Jacques Prevert (Pour toi mon amour).

Comment by addytorials on February 9, 2006 @ 12:16 am

ah true. horrendous choice of words there. very misleading. what i meant was that the film was based on the poem, which, of course, is a true translation of the original by Prevert. my bad. thanks for pointing it out.

Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by charukesi

I walked into the Cama building for Umrao Jaan just as Asha Bhonsle’s throaty voice fills the airless hot room with justju jiski thi usko to na paaya humne, is bahane se magar dekh li duniya humne..

tip : ignore the English subtitles much as it is tempting to look at them, they are distracting. I came to know the ways of the world through this.

Umrao is abducted from her village, separated from her family as as young girl, sold to a kotha in Lucknow. She grows up to be Umaro Jaan, accomplished singer-dancer sought after by the indulgent Lucknowis. Her friend Ramrey also abducted with her, now married to her own love, the nawab. At their meeting after years, Umrao answering her friend’s question - if we had switched places as kids, this mansion would have been mine, and my brothel would have been yours. Oh, for what might have been.

A cast of great actors; Rekha at her sensual husky best, Farooq Shaikh in a much-too-understated role as the nawab who is Rekha’s justju, Naseeruddin Shah in those bumbling-scheming ‘marry me’ scenes, Dina Pathak, Shaukat Kaifi.

The ancient fans creak and move slowly on the high ceiling. The audience titters at Rekha’s barb at Naseer, kya tum apne liye paighaam leke aaye ho? The ubiquitous cellphone rings, arey mein picture me baitha hoon. Umrao Jaan. Haan, woh Rekha-wala.

Suddenly my mind wanders.

Umrao Jaan being remade by J.P.Border-Datta with *shudder* Aishwarya Rai in the lead.

Those magical Lucknowi-Urdu numbers, now to be rendered by. Alka Yagnik perhaps? *further shudder*.

And Anu Malik composing the score for the Umrao Jaan 2.0.

Dil cheez kya hai, dhinchak dhinchak dhinchak, come on baby.

*faints*

Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by FatCat

I had a problem each with the movies I watched yesterday. One was directed by Mahesh Bhatt who has less consistency than he has hair on his head. The other starred Jennifer Aniston who will forever be the spoilt one from Friends. For me atleast. So going into watching both movies back to back at the MMB I had to spent the whole train ride from home isolating both sentiments.

Now I am not a professional movie watcher or critic (though I may review them like one!). I can’t tell my Kurosawa from my Ajinomoto. So I went in expecting a good story telling experience. Not looking out for the editing, the sound technology and all that jazz.

Both Arth and The Good Girl are stories about relationship. Wihle the former concentrates on the aftermath of infidelity, the latter nicely depicts the motivation to go bed-hopping.

Arth is one of those rare Hindi movies I have seen that has secured both critical and commercial success. Not to mention the phenomenal popularity of the songs in it. The story speaks of a jilted wife whose husband has run into the arms of a movie star. The wife goes through a gamut of emotions from depression to anger to loneliness and finally to independence. In the meantime the movie star herself abandons him branding him eternally untrustworthy.

Arth is not a slick movie. And it is not meant to be. The directly clearly wants to portray the characters and how they cope with the situations they are put into. No time for camera angles and life-like sets and panoramic shots. There are clearly good guys and the bad guys in Arth and really noone who struggles with both sides of an issue. An over-simplification perhaps.

Shabana Azmi as the jilted wife is excellent but maybe pulled it off a tad too effortlessly. Arth belongs to her. Smita Patil fits the role to a T. Khulbhushan Kharbandha shines in his role of the infidel husband but, I dare say, not by much. The screenplay does drag a bit in places but the Jagjit Singh ghazals help to tide over some of these patches. The songs come late in the movie but are well worth the wait and are undoubtedly classics.

The Good Girl takes the same overall theme of infidelity but this time makes the woman the adulterer and spends more time talking about what led to her having an affair with a co-worker. The great thing for me about this movie was how you could love and hate ALL the characters in it. At some point all of them beg sympathy and then a little later evoke loathing.

Jennifer Aniston slogs through a deadbeat life working in a retail store. The only thing more deadbeat is her marriage to a pothead painter, played by John C Reilly. She has been trying with no success to have a baby and thinks her husband has a problem with his swimmers.

When a new co-worker played by Jake Gyllenhaal joins her store she sees the opportunity to meet somebody new and exciting. All this is depicted with excellent subtlety. Soon she is having an affair, sleeping with her husband’s best friend to keep him from talking about it, and finally gets pregnant.

The movie ends, depressingly perhaps, with her in her old job, back with her husband, a baby and all her skeletons burried for good. It is not a story of personal triumph like Arth. A woman tries to break out of her opressed surroundings but fails and goes back to the drudgery.

All the characters are excellent. Jennifer Aniston was a revelation for me in a dark and unglamorous role. The Good Girl is a good movie which does not try too hard.

I recommend both movies.

Comments

Comment by charukesi on February 7, 2006 @ 12:36 pm

fatcat, it is believed that Mahesh Bhatt bsed Arth on his own life - Smita Patil being Parveen Babi in real life.

Comment by Akshaya on February 7, 2006 @ 9:40 pm

Boss your understanding of cinema is so bad that either you shouldn’t watch films at all, or should watch about thousand more before you start even thinking about them critically. Writing is an altogether different matter.

- Akshaya