Probing the image of Kannada cinema

Regional cinema in India has almost always found its own language, its own discourse and a target audience distinct from the Hindi film-watchers. In fact, its very ethos takes you closer to Bharat, something that Hindi cinema, of late, has been studiously avoiding. While Hindi film directors, when they are not fuelling NRI fantasies, are increasingly catering to urban audiences, their regional counterparts are still relatively rooted to the soil. Often drawing from the little traditions of the place and adding a dash of the legend, regional cinema has carved out a distinct image for itself, crafted as much out of political segmentation as cultural affinity.

Heterogeneity
It is not that regional cinema in India is a monolith. It has its own distinct shades and layers which lend to it certain heterogeneity. For instance, Tamil cinema has appealed to audiences beyond Tamil Nadu with cine-goers in Japan, Malaysia and Europe too craving to see the latest from Rajnikanth. On the other hand, films from States like Orissa, Assam, and even Karnataka are about their respective States and their people.

In Bipolar Identity, M.K. Raghavendra, a film critic of no mean stature, attempts to link cinema with political discourse, even myths and legends. For the most part, he succeeds. His approach is academic, his understanding worthy of somebody who is rooted to the soil. What sets him apart from the new breed of film writers is that he has stayed behind the scenes and remained honest to his craft, quietly observing the trends in cinema of India, as opposed to Indian cinema, as he notes in the introduction.

Full report here Hindu

Is a slumdog birthday cake not the real poverty porn?

India's Bollywood elite turned out in force for a 60th birthday bash in the Juhu area of western Mumbai on Saturday night.

The birthday girl in question, Shabana Azmi, is almost as old as independent India, having been born just three years after the British Raj ended.

She comes from a prominent Muslim family: her father was a well-known poet and her husband, Javed Akhtar, is Bollywood's best-known lyricist and a member of the upper house of parliament. For the last two decades at least Shabana Azmi has been noted for her social activism.

Controversially, she starred in the 1996 film Fire, as a middle-class Delhi housewife having a sexual relationship with her sister-in-law. Rightwing Hindus were up in arms about it: her character was called Sita (also the name of a Hindu goddess) and to them a Muslim playing a lesbian woman called Sita was – well – a bit too much to digest.

But back to the birthday party. Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood's biggest star and eight years Ms Azmi's senior, sent out a series of tweets as the festivities progressed. Here they are, in order. The last one reveals the reason for this article.

Full report here Guardian

‘Film world needs literary touch’

The Kannada film industry requires guidance of Kannada Sahitya Parishath more than ever for its survival and welfare, observed Karnataka Film Chamber president Basanth Kumar Patil.

Speaking on the second day of sixth Bangalore City District Kannada literary meet at Ravindra Kalaskhetra here on Saturday, Patil noted the Kannada filmdom is in a pathetic state as there is a huge gap between the industry and Sahitya Parishat.

“More number of films are being made in Kannada as compared to other languages. However, the films lack quality due to the disconnect between the industry and the writers. “There will be a renaissance in the film industry with the guidance of Kannada writers, ”he said. Outsiders coming to Bangalore should learn Kannada language. It is the duty of every Kannadiga to teach outsiders Kannada language and culture, he added.

Full report here Deccan Herald

Chetan Bhagat more careful with films now

With his third book ready to be adapted into film, author Chetan Bhagat says he has become more careful after the 3 Idiots films controversy.

“I am more careful and clear now. I want and make sure that there is no confusion regarding anything,” says Bhagat, whose book Five Point Someone formed the basis for the blockbuster film 3 Idiots starring Aamir Khan went on to become the highest grosser in Indian film history.

Bhagat and the producers and directors of the film had gone public with their fight over credits. The matter was later resolved.

Another of Bhagat’s books 3 Mistakes of my life released in 2008 is being made into a film directed by Rock On fame Abhishek Kapoor and reportedly starring Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan.

Bollywood directors have always been fascinated by best-selling books and Chetan Bhagat’s novels seems to be a favourite when it comes to making films.

Full report here Hindu

Unmatched innings

With his fourth biography to be published soon, actor Dilip Kumar looks back at his seven decades in Bollywood.

Uttam Kumar was watching a trial show of Sagina Mahato in 16mm print at NT1 Studio, Kolkata in July, 1972.  Later he told director Tapan Sinha, “Tapan da, thank God you did not cast me as Sagina. It would have been a blunder as I could not have matched Yusufda who has brought Sagina alive on screen.”

This is one of the stories in thespian Dilip Kumar's fourth biography, written by his wife Saira Banu.  This comprehensive biography of one of India's greatest actors has initiated a lot of curiosity since it was announced five years ago.

Films like Andaz, Jogan, Daag, Foot Path, Devdas  and Ganga Jumna stand testimony to his versatility.  Even today viewers remember his ro Nina ro in Andaz, as he shows Nargis the photo of her late father and helps her get over the shock of his death.

'Peepli Live is my tribute to Premchand: Rizvi

When director Anusha Rizvi started developing the characters in her debut film 'Peepli Live', her thoughts kept going back to Premchand and the hero of his 1936 novel Godaan.

Rizvi says she could not resist the temptation of using the novel as a metaphor in her film and decided to include Hori Mehto's character to convey the helplessness of a farmer.

"Hori kept coming to my mind when I was developing this character, so I decided to keep the character. Also, I wanted to show the sense of continuity from the time of Godaan to the present day. We used Hori Mehto's name as a symbol to convey that there has been no change in farmers' situation in all these years," Rizvi said.

Considered one of the greatest novel of modern Indian literature, Premchand's last novel depicts the socio- economic deprivation as well as the exploitation of the village poor through Hori.

'Godaan' was also made into a Hindi film in 1963, starring Rajkumar, Mehmood and Shashikala.

Full report here Economic Times

Lights, camera, literature!

In my opinion great books are not tailor-made for a film. Most good books have an independent style and they are so dependent on their own form and style that the film always looks faded in front of it. I feel Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez has immense potential to be converted into a film.

The not-so-literary books can make better films. For example, The Godfather — it is not a great piece of literature, but a great film has been made out of it. It has a very good storyline, which is intrinsic.
When you try to turn a great book into a film, most often than not it doesn’t translate very well as too many words can’t be interpreted nicely during shooting. That’s because in literature you move from abstract to the concrete, but in case of films, concrete is turned into abstract. In films, solid instances have to be brought into action.

However, there are a few books which are good and still the plot has enough to be made into movie. I really like A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. It had so many plots and sub-plots. I think more than three movies could be made out of it. And I personally would like to take it up because it talks about all the things that interest me — from political matters of post-independent India and empowerment of women to issues like caste discrimination. But of course, besides adapting the story from a book, a lot needs to be done to make a good screenplay.

Full report here Asian Age

The big deal about ‘Red’

Hollywood’s latest marketing gimmick would appear to be making movies featuring yesterday’s (or the day before’s) action heroes. The Expendables is clearly an example of one such movie, although I must confess that I believe Jason Statham to be the best-big-thing-who-will-probably-never-be in action movies. Red, which should release in India soon, looks like a movie in the same mould. It has an all-star cast of Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker and Richard Dreyfuss.

Yet, it’s different: Red’s cast features relatively older actors because it is a movie about relatively older people. Willis plays Frank Moses, a CIA black-ops operative who is now retired and leading a fairly ordinary existence till the agency, or at least a group of people within it decide to kill him. So he assembles his old team (Mirren, Malkovich, Freeman) and decides to get to the bottom of it. I am yet to see the movie but I am sure lots of blood and gore are in store.

Full report here Mint

People who break the rules of the game fascinate the audience

He is better known for his stories that spellbind the audience than the songs he writes, though he has succeeded amply in both departments. With a resume which reads Company, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Bunty Aur Babli, Chak De India, Rocket Singh Salesman of the Year, Jaideep Sahni spells success. This computer engineer by training, entered the film industry late and began with a crime script which changed the way we see these films. He talks to Nandini Raghavendra about what draws both the writer and the audience to this genre.

What draws a writer to the ‘underworld theme’ of Mumbai? 
Men and women who don’t seem to care for the rules of the society have generated interest and intrigued people. They can be outlaws, pirates, slave traders, smugglers, violent killers, terrorists, corrupt big businessmen but the more bad they are, the more people are fascinated by them. Underworld dons are the modern-version leaders who seem to operate parallel empires of their own, thumbing their noses and our social, economic and legal system. Storytellers, of course, are more intrigued with their lives and what goes on in their minds, that make them choose a path which has a dizzying ride but usually only one end.

Full interview here Economic Times

Maoists star in books, movies

They have been called India's biggest enemy, but Maoist rebels are also the unlikely subjects of a recent rash of movies and books that some say are romanticising the rebels and their cause.

The four-decade-old Maoist insurgency and its effect on the common man are the focus of a new Bollywood film Red Alert, which tells the story of a poor labourer who gets caught in the fight between the rebels and law-enforcement agencies. The labourer, played by popular actor Suniel Shetty, joins the rebels first as a cook and then receives weapons training before he gets disillusioned and finds leaving them is not easy.

The film, which releases in India on Friday, features well-known actors Naseeruddin Shah, Sameera Reddy and Gulshan Grover and is based, the promotions say, on a real life story, "culled straight from today's torrid headlines". "Every line is something that has actually been said by those involved with the struggle, whether it is police officers, villagers or Maoists themselves," director Ananth Mahadevan said.

The film does not take a stand, Mahadevan said, it only highlights the conflict facing the poor who have few choices. "My film is neither for the cause nor against it. I am merely reporting facts as they are. This is not a black and white situation, and as even the home minister has admitted, this is a developmental problem, and my film reflects that," he said.

The Maoist movement, which Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as India's biggest security threat, is active in a third of the country, largely in poor, rural areas.

Full report here Reuters 

Vidhu catalogue screenplays of classics!

Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra is all set to start one more division under his banner.

The new division, which is yet to be named, will be working towards making a bank of classic films in the form of detailed books. The books will be made available in the market and the first film to be catalogued will be Chopra’s recent blockbuster 3 Idiots.

A source from the production house said, “The endeavour of this division is to catalogue the minutest details of a script. The book will include the screenplay, deleted scenes, character sketches, reworked scenes, casting process and everything that went into making the particular film.

Full report here Times of India

REVIEW: From Rajahs and Yogis to Gandhi & Beyond

REVIEW

From Rajahs And Yogis To Gandhi And Beyond: Images Of India In International Films Of The 20th Century
Vijaya Mulay
Seagull Books
Rs 695
Pp 350
ISBN: 1905422962
Paperback

Blurb
Brahmins named Iftikar, Buddhist rites in Hindu Shiva temples, Indian maidens dressed like Arabian harem girls--right from the birth of cinema, international movies have been wildly inventive in their fantastical imagining of India. In fact, images of India in these films have always said more about the filmmakers than they have about India. From the early 20th century, when India was imagined as the fabulous, exotic, oriental Other, site for all sorts of fantasies; to the imperial and colonial mindset of the middle decades of the 20th century; to postcolonial films and auteurs like Jean Renoir and Louis Malle who genuinely strove to understand a different culture and its values; to the globalized worldview with which the century ended--India as seen on the international screen has changed in intriguing ways, as this pioneering study describes and analyzes. Allowing us access to rare short films from the 1900s, British Durbar films, the precursors of the newsreel genre, and Empire adventure movies, this book also explores Melies, Lumiere, Louis Malle and Jean Renoir, moving on to the Raj films of the 1980s and international cinema of the late 20th century. In the process, a wide range of movies is examined and discussed, and a trajectory of changing images of India abroad is traced over the course of the last century.

Review 
Dear Cinema
The film society movement in India must get a huge proportion of the credit not only for having created the best filmmakers outside the mainstream – those like Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal but also for inspiring film critics, academics and film scholars, as it continues to do today. Vijaya Mulay, the author of the book under review is one of the pioneers of the movement, having been associated with ‘Indian film culture’ in its infancy and its formative years. Beginning her engagement with cinema more than 60 years ago, Vijaya Mulay (or ‘Akka’ to her friends) has seen Satyajit Ray at work and also come into close contact with international filmmakers like Louis Malle – when he was in India in the 1960s. Malle went on to make his celebrated series on India – later proscribed by Mrs Gandhi’s government for ‘showing India in bad light’.  Akka has an unmatched exposure to Indian and international cinema and this makes her the ideal person to document and trace the way in which India as a cultural space has been recorded and represented in international cinema from around the world. The book combines the diachronic or historical approach with the thematic one. It begins by dividing films according to eras rather than themes and this makes it extremely easy to follow but it also has separate sections for foreign filmmakers like Franz Osten, who worked in India in collaboration with Indians. After making ‘Orientalist’ films like Light of Asia (1925) and Shiraz (1928), Osten made Hindi classics like Achut Kanya (1936) Savitri (1937) and Kangan (1939).

India's answer to Brokeback Mountain ready to hit cinemas

First Indian film to feature a gay kiss, Dunno Y … Na Jaane Kyun, likely to spark controversy...

The posters are ready, so is the film. The only question is whether the Indian public is too. Dunno Y … Na Jaane Kyun, a film featuring India's first cinematic gay kiss, is scheduled to go on general release within weeks. Already dubbed India's answer to Brokeback Mountain it tells the story of an aspiring model who travels to Mumbai, India's commercial and film capital, to seek his fortune and enters into a homosexual relationship, in part to further his career.

Trailers of the film have been well received by activists. "It looks good," said Ashok Row Kavi, editor of Bombay Dost, India's first gay magazine. It talks of the complexities [of being gay] in India. Taboos are still very strong and hopefully it will change things."

For decades Bollywood avoided graphic depictions of even heterosexual kisses, with films famously cutting away to images of budding flowers, breaking waves or crashing waterfalls at the crucial moment. Earlier this year a film called Love, Sex … and Dhokha (ditching) which included relatively graphic scenes of heterosexual sex was released. Though there was much media debate, the film generated little public outrage, encouraging those seeking to draw the largely formulaic Indian film industry in new directions. However the most explicit sequences in the film were cut or altered by censors.

Full report here Guardian

Satyajit Ray retrospective opens in Dhaka

A retrospective of Satyajit Ray's films opened in the Bangladesh capital on April 23 to mark the 18th death anniversary of the master filmmaker who is regarded as a towering figure of 20th century cinema.

The Indian high commission has organised the week-long event where six of Ray's movies will be showcased as part of the 'Satyajit Retrospective' at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in downtown Gulshan.

'Satyajit Ray Introspections' by Indian documentary maker K. Bikram Singh and Ray's own Kanchenjunga are being showcased, while the documentary Pa and Ray's all time classics Apur Sansar, Aranyer Dinratri and Seemabaddha will be screened over the week, reports New Age newspaper.

Full report here Sify News

Gurinder Chadha back with another comedy

Gurinder Chadha, writer/director of the acclaimed comedy Bend It Like Beckham, is back with another affable cultural comedy. This time the concept around which the story revolves is a mother who, in her desperation to marry off her daughter, kills off those who ruin her plans.

Rather than centring on the spooky excesses of this doting mother, however, the film is taken down Chadha’s favourite soppy-family route as the ghosts of the deceased come back to haunt her, but end up deciding to help in her tasks in order to redeem their souls.

The concept isn’t a bad one. There’s plenty of scope for excess as the ghouls trail Mrs. Sethi, pursued by bumbling detectives, and her daughter Roopi as she searches for love. The silliness is enhanced by Roopi’s friend Linda, whose obsession with Indian culture has led her to believe she has psychic powers, a useful skill that is drawn on for several of the more humorous plot twists.

Full report here Obsessed With Film

Pandora named most influential Hollywood word

'Pandora' from James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar has been adjudged the number one word from Hollywood that influenced the English language in 2009.

The list released by word analyst group Global Language Monitor saw 'Hurt Locker' from The Hurt Locker, 'Barley Pop' from Crazy Heart, 'Vampire' from Twilight and 'Squeakquel' from Chipmunks closely following 'Pandora'.

Rounding out the top ten were: 'December 21st, 2012' from the film 2012, 'Vichy' from Inglorious Basterds, 'Her' from Star Trek, 'Theirs but to do or die' from The Blind Side, and 'Prawns' from District 9.

Full report here NDTV

Eat, Pray, Love release date announced

Julia Roberts starrer Eat, Pray, Love, which took the Hollywood star to Italy, Indonesia as well as India for what she describes as the 'acting Olympics', will release in India on Aug 27.

Directed by Ryan Murphy, the movie is based on Pushcart prize-winning author Elizabeth Gilbert's spirituality travel memoirs and features Roberts as Gilbert who travels to Italy, India and Indonesia in search of peace.

Commenting on her shooting schedule for the movie, Roberts said: "It was quite a huge undertaking. It was a little bit daunting, dragging three little kids around the world, but well worth it? It was really like the acting Olympics."

"It's been a long time since I've had a full-time acting job. I am really glad that I made the decision to go off and do that movie," she said in a press statement. Produced by Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner, the film releases Aug 13 in the US. Also in the film are Richard Jenkins, Javier Bardem, Billy Crudup, James Franco and Viola Davis.

Full report here Hindustan Times 

Joaquin Phoenix to play Edgar Allen Poe

Joaquin Phoenix is set to make a comeback to acting to play iconic American writer and poet Edgar Allen Poe.

The actor had decided to quit acting to launch his rap career. He has only been seen in a string of bizarre TV interviews of late.

"I couldn't be happier because I am doing a period film. It is a very special challenge because I have to recreate the sound textures of New York in 1854," the Daily Star quoted Oscar winning sound engineer Resul Pookutty, as telling India's Mumbai Mirror.

He added: "It's an adaptation of The Beautiful Cigar Girl by Daniel Stashower and based on an eerie real-life experience of author Edgar Allan Poe which happened just months before his death. Joaquin plays Edgar Allen Poe."


Full report here DNA

Priya Dutt releases book on Mother India

Priya Dutt, sister of actor Sanjay Dutt, released the book The Dialogue of Mother India, Mehboob Khan's Immortal Classic at Mehboob Studios recently.

The Dialogue of Mother India, Mehboob Khan’s Immortal Classic features the film’s complete dailouge by Vajahat Mirza & S. Ali. Raza and songs by Shakeel Badayuni presented in Urdu, Hindi & Roman scripts. Lavishly illustrated, the original dialogues are accompanied by an English Translation, Introduction & commentary.

The movie which lost by one vote at the Oscars in the foreign language category is acknowledged as Indian cinema’s most important cinematic moment where Mehboob Khan stirs the audience with his powerful & poignant screenplay that matches its visual beauty and enduring appeal.

Full report here Indiaglitz.com

Thriving on metaphors

Everyone who walked out of Bandra Fort on Sunday after interacting with Gulzar and Intezar Hussain took those metaphors home. The foremost writers of India and Pakistan shared a stage for two hours but the experience will last for long.

A line-up of recognisable faces had occupied the front row. There was Vidya Balan, Javed Siddiqi, theatre director Salim Arif, Deepti Naval and singer Mitali Singh. Balan was there as a "huge fan of Gulzar Saab" and narrated a verse in his honour that had been written by "another fan", producer-director Vishal Bhardwaj.

Right at the start, the event served to remind people that folktales and legends have for generations inspired writers of all nations and cultures. Gulzar, who admits to feeling besieged for having used a half-line of 'Ibn-E-Batoota' by Sarveshwar Dayal for a film song, must have been relieved to see Intizar Hussain tell his version of a Panchatantra story to his Indian listeners.

Full report here Times of India