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Showing posts from December, 2009

Indian Auteur: JumpCut

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IA gleans over the decade past: The confession from a maniac cinephile's journal: the enduring images, the random thoughts, the harangue and the eulogies. JUMPCUT: Films 2009- Maithili Rao JUMPCUT: The OO's- Anuj Malothra.

IA Weekly: 3 Idiots

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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 .

IA Weekly: AVATAR

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Indian Auteur Weekly Review Updates: Anuj writes on, Avatar... “I’ll tell you the story of Ramakrishna and his disciple. Ramakrishna was a Hindu wise man. And he had a disciple who had absolutely no faith in his teachings. So the disciple went off all by himself. Fifteen years later, he came back and said, “I have found the Way!” He told Ramakrishna, “Come, and I will show you.” Then he took Ramakrishna to a river. And the disciple went back and forth across the river, walking on water. “See?” he told Ramakrishna. “I can cross the river without getting wet! I have found the Way!” Then Ramakrishna said to him, “You’re a complete ass. With one rupee and a boat, I’ve been doing the same thing for years!” - Contempt(1963)/Jean-Luc Godard The history of cinema is linear. If an event occupies a certain point on the linear cinema history-time, it will never reiterate, repeat or recur; instead, like the history of time, being frozen at that point. Such recurrence is rendered impos

Cinematography: Subrata Mitra

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Discussion on favorite cinematographers and their aesthetic and technique at Indian Auteur Forum . The discussion kicked off with the works of the legendary but largely forogtten cinematographer Subrata Mitra . Join in to discuss this and more at the forum: 'Subrata Mitra is perhaps the greatest ever Indian cinematographer who revolutionized prevailing aesthetics in Indian Cinema with innovations designed to make light more realistic and poetic. Mitra was born into a middle-class Bengali family in 1930. Even as a schoolchild he would cycle with classmates to the nearest cinema to watch British and Hollywood films. By the time he was in college, he had decided he would either become an architect or a cinematographer. Failing to find work as a camera assistant he reluctantly continued studying for his science degree. In 1950 the great Jean Renoir came to Calcutta to shoot 'The River'. Mitra tried to get a job on the film but was turned away. With the efforts of his father he