Winds From The East

3 Idiots : Who is the idiot then? The cinema screens all over the country become the most potent of weapons for the middle class to battle The Man. But the battle is not one that involves any amount of introspection, only sloganeering. IA sees a trend emerging. Anuj Explores .

Debojit Ghatak (The film is as confused) Clearly, Zoya Akhtar only illustrates written text. Her ‘cinema’, if you can call it that, is about pointing-and-shooting written text. The only time her camera becomes dynamic is when she assumes her shot features a subtle sensitivity, such as when Vikram (her male lead), and Sona (her female lead), sleep on the sofa, wrapped around each other. Then, her camera dollies back slowly. And that is that. The camera, for the rest of the film, is only just switched on, as actors speak their lines. Though the above is nothing to be proud of, it is not something that should shatter the earth in terms of a director’s introspection of his or her work. Many directors point-and-shoot and it’s the basic denial of cinema’s basic function though one cannot deny the power of a narrative. A great script can be shot. It is normal. And this does imply that any judgement of Akhatr’s cinema should be performed in context of her narrative and not her visual capacity....

Supriya Suri Once the thesis(film) by Madhur Bhandarkar is out, you know the controversies will be there for his authenticity in exploring the industry, and presenting before us the reality about them. His films are based on a great amount of research, which we all are yet to see being presented in a cinematic way. The research so widely advertised about his movie does not come across in a ways that could be attributed to cinema; its ontological values, and not just interviews, observation, research and his thesis put across the screen that, I believe, could be better suited for a some other medium, but definitely not cinema. More than understanding the topic, the content, the story, that apparently in our country marks the distinction between other oeuvres and the greatness of a filmmaker. It's the exploration of the form that is something requires immediate attention. Because there is a need to explore its dimension, since cinema is not just about content, or form alone, but it...

We often went to the movies. The screen lit up and we trembled…But more often than not Madeleine and I were disappointed. The pictures were dated, they flickered. And Marilyn Monroe had aged terribly. It made us sad. This wasn’t the film we’d dreamed of. This wasn’t the total film that each of us had carried within himself...the film we wanted to make, or, more secretly, no doubt, that we wanted to live. Paul, in Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin‑féminin Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na is a film of the 21st century, born under the eyes of the producers, marketed viciously under the lens of the PR team, hyped and buzzed to such a state that one is made to believe this one would be different from everything else being made in the country. But like many of its similitude’s in Bollywood, this film too is just a marketing gimmick. It does not have the naïve innocence or even a well carried narrative like QSQT(Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak), neither does it have well laid characters like Dil Chaatha Hai, nor does it...

Every time I sit down to write a film review it molds into something else. After watching Sarkar Raj it seemed natural to write about the film keeping the original in mind, and several other key aspects which forms its existence; something which most people fail to do. I realize, I can never write a straightforward review and proclaim something about a film based on half-baked ideas and facts, which most film hosts and reviewers in India practice. Even their sense of history is based on superlative facts about cinema, and their critical understanding is based on the formula - 'touch the surface' facts (great cinematography, sleek editing, and shaky camera, weak script blah blah blah) without giving us what these things really stand for in the films, but that's another story... I'll save it for next time. Here is the excerpt from my article on Sarkar Raj for Cinema without Borders : Ram Gopal Verma had a fascination for the bullies of his class; their ideology to ter...

( More intoxicating than sleeping pill) 1) Star and power + Yashraj= Immense success – False. 2) Once the tracking shot was a question of morale. Today, thanks to Jimmy Jib, our directors love moving in an out of shots without any purpose, every god-damn framing and composition are tried here- without understanding the basic nature of angle, shot, frame and composition. 3) Ever since the likes of Tarantino and Guy Ritchie decided to create the phenomenon of circular tracks; it has been misused to the max, and something similar can be seen in the film. Eventually leading to a severe headache. 4) How long can people in the Industry and Yashraj keep fooling us with their star power, money and repeated stories? There is no difference between our local vegetable seller and this people; after all, each time I go to the market, they scream on top of their lungs selling their products, something similar with our filmmaker when they proclaim: “Our films have emotions, drama, song and dance an...

Osiris 83 here - I honestly cannot comprehend why the hell did so many so called (and maybe self proclaimed) critics of our country, who are nothing more than pretentious bastards and fan boys belonging to certain camp (SRK camp, Amitabh camp et al), lauded this movie as ‘revolutionary’ and ‘path breaking’. The hype machine started spewing praises ever since Mr. Gowarikar announced this project. Then came the music release followed by the delay. The release finally happened and with it came the controversy-wagon with the movie getting banned, Rajputs protesting, historians playing the dick waving contest and what not. I somehow managed to get the tickets after 2 weeks of the release. More than the historical accuracy I was interested in seeing Mr. Gowarikar’s metamorphosis as a director or rather, a storyteller. After watching the movie I am left disappointed. The movie actually started with a few disclaimers or maybe waivers w...

Osiris83 His Master's Voice I'm a sucker for comic flicks. Seriously, who isn't? Yeah, there are a few weirdoes, and I have the delight of knowing few of them. Suckers who need a reason to laugh. Anyway, that’s probably not the topic I'm going to write about. So here we go. Stay with me fellas, this is going to be insane, totally. Let’s see, since we started talking about the comedy genre lets continue with that. In 2000 Priyadarshan released a movie titled 'Hera Pheri'. A remake of the Tamil film 'Arangetra Velai' which was it a remake of the Mallu film 'Ramji Rao Speaking'. 'Hera Pheri' was a nice movie, no doubt, but the genre has slowly gone down the drain after that. There is shit-loads of new stuff released every year. First time you watch them 10 giggles + 2 laughs. Next time, 5 giggles + 1 laugh. The third time… Well! There is no reason to w...

Osiris83 OM SHANTI OM The good – Deepika Padukone on the big screen. The Bad – Alright, I get it, they wanted to make a commercial movie. They have been masturbating over this fact during the previews and the commercials everywhere. But, god damn, there are better masala movies. The main problem in this movie is the fact that this is not a movie. Its a shameless, blatant, self publicizing advertisement for SRK. The guy is OLD, admit that. He looks absolutely ridiculous opposite Padukone. Secondly, the guy cannot do any comedy. The film simply ripped an IQ point from my head each time he acted funny and more than one IQ point when Arjun Rampal (the main antagonist) even tries to act. So finally, why the fuck did I watch this movie? Because I got free tickets for platinum seats. A velvet couch where someone twice my size can sit comfortably. Plus, free snacks, popcorn and a cold drink. Heck, I would have gone for the Himesh movie for this deal. JAB WE MET The good – 2 jokes....may...