Saturday is the best day of week for me now, earlier it used to be Sunday until I started working. It starts at 11 o'clock and ends at 12 o’clock; you are just at the beginning of a nice weekend. This Saturday was one of the most boring days however. I don't know the reason but may be it was cloudy and almost all of my friends were busy with something. Me and my room-mate decided to go for a movie. As we ran through stupid films and there endless insane narrations / promotions in Pune Times, it was really hard to find a good movie. But we are so determined and hopeful that we decided to go for it anyways. Via Darjeeling was selected mainly because it's a Hindi Movie (my roomie's primary concern, he can't tolerate English movies unless they are action packed ) and the star cast. Kay Kay Menon, Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Sandhya Mrudul and Sonali Kulkarni was a solid combination I guessed. But initial half hour was enough to prove that I was terribly wrong. A boring Saturday morning followed by dose of crappy movie ruined the whole day.
The movie starts with a quarrel between a hired car driver and Kay Kay. It doesn't stop with few heated exchanges but goes on and results into some serious repercussions. Kay Kay and Sonali's honeymoon turns into a nightmare when Kay Kay goes missing. Sonali calls up a police inspector (Vinay) to investigate the case. Upto this level, the film is tolerable but it looses the track when the story suddenly moves to a small get together in Rajat Kapoor's house where Vinay narrates his experience to the group. Then there is a series of endless, illogical and irrelevant discussions. Each one of the group members is from a background somehow related with media and they each narrate a plot of what could have happened to Kay Kay. The movie is a poor mixture of their views about the characters and nothing else. The songs are ultimate examples of how things could be misarranged and lyrics are in any aspect not related to the theme. About acting, everyone played their part but no one is really mentionable. About the overall plot, its very badly arranged, the characters look like not attached to each others and there seems to be a shade of artificiality in acting. The dialogs are so shoddy that at some time audiences feel that they could have written in better ways. On a positive note, the director has shown something which is new to Hindi cinema but the presentation could have been much better.
Few lessons that I learnt:
1. Do not judge a film based on it's cast.
2. Do not go for a movie when you are not sure if it's worth watching or not.
3. If you have an intense desire to waste your Rs. 150/- ; bring some good food, eat and sleep.
4. Always prefer a little nap over any film.
5. English / Marathi movies are generally better than Hindi movies ( this in fact is my opinion since start and Via Darjeeling has made it even more stronger).
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
ice'2008 digital short film festival
I have never been to a film festival before. It's my friend Waghya ( Amol Waghmare) who took me to my first film festival. The "Catalogue" of the movies to be screened created some interest, at least the plots of some of the movies looked good. They were casting top 5 films that received various awards. After a small introduction to ICE (International Cultural Exchange) and their initiative in promoting and celebrating the quality cinema in genre of digital short film, the screening started. "Hridayattileykku Oru Madakkayatra" was awarded as the best film and there were few other films got awarded in their own category.
Honestly speaking, I did not like all of them. I do respect the hard work and money that these film makers have put in converting a passion into something worth seeing, but I was surprised how some films got awarded. I don't understand film critics and don't have an eye of jury but for a common man like me, some of them were of a very average class.
The 5 films were :-
1. Naanum - Me too : (10.10 min)
An unborn child wants to live with her mother and family but her father doesn't want the breed of pre-marital relations. The child was too cute but overall film was not that good.
2. Life In Sine : (08.45 min)
The title seems catchy but the film isn't. A story of a patient whose mental stage changes from one to another and how a small thing makes an impact on his life. The small thing is a small bush which the patient used to water turns into a dead plant. It has to be one of them, either the film is too good or I don't have an appetite for such movies.
3. Kya Aam Admi Surakshit Hai? : (19.50 min)
Looks like a pretty serious film from name but turns out to be a comical portrayal of how media shows simple things in dramatical ways and make people believe in it. Points to be mentioned are the coverages shown of the local, national news channels whose names sarcastically resemble to news channels we see these days. The news reporter and their style, the comments of people and leaders are fantastic. Worth to be screened in a film festivals.
4. An Insight - Beyond Headlines (19.56 min)
A serious documentary on the burning issue, SEZ. A small group seeks opinions of the people who are actually affected by SEZ (includes people from Raigad, Mundra port ). Some real information which we don't see on channels and don't read in newspapers. Appreciable efforts for bringing out bitter realities behind the national policy of SEZ.
5. Hridayattileykku Oru Madakkayatra (15.00 min)
The best film (which is also the director's diploma project) of the festival, and certainly deserves the reward. 'Theyyam' is a ritual dance form in the northern region of Kerala. The story revolves around a life of 'Chemmaran' the Theyyam player and his family. 'Prabhadhan' (his son) is going abroad discarding his father's wish of making him a 'Theyyam' artist. The first scene tells that this movie is special and made by hands of an adept director, Abhinand H Kumar. It shows the father coloring himself and preparing for a performance. Then in the second scene there is a lovely use of camera which shows different stages of father's life (His son goes abroad, gets a citizenship, marries a German girl, becomes father, the couple splits apart, son decides to come back home with his child). The last scene is also good when the father asks his son to dip into a kunda to become sacred again and the son after bath, turns into a Theyyam player.
In all, a good experience. I wish ICE a very good luck in future and hope to see some great short films ahead. Good work ICE, keep it up !
Honestly speaking, I did not like all of them. I do respect the hard work and money that these film makers have put in converting a passion into something worth seeing, but I was surprised how some films got awarded. I don't understand film critics and don't have an eye of jury but for a common man like me, some of them were of a very average class.
The 5 films were :-
1. Naanum - Me too : (10.10 min)
An unborn child wants to live with her mother and family but her father doesn't want the breed of pre-marital relations. The child was too cute but overall film was not that good.
2. Life In Sine : (08.45 min)
The title seems catchy but the film isn't. A story of a patient whose mental stage changes from one to another and how a small thing makes an impact on his life. The small thing is a small bush which the patient used to water turns into a dead plant. It has to be one of them, either the film is too good or I don't have an appetite for such movies.
3. Kya Aam Admi Surakshit Hai? : (19.50 min)
Looks like a pretty serious film from name but turns out to be a comical portrayal of how media shows simple things in dramatical ways and make people believe in it. Points to be mentioned are the coverages shown of the local, national news channels whose names sarcastically resemble to news channels we see these days. The news reporter and their style, the comments of people and leaders are fantastic. Worth to be screened in a film festivals.
4. An Insight - Beyond Headlines (19.56 min)
A serious documentary on the burning issue, SEZ. A small group seeks opinions of the people who are actually affected by SEZ (includes people from Raigad, Mundra port ). Some real information which we don't see on channels and don't read in newspapers. Appreciable efforts for bringing out bitter realities behind the national policy of SEZ.
5. Hridayattileykku Oru Madakkayatra (15.00 min)
The best film (which is also the director's diploma project) of the festival, and certainly deserves the reward. 'Theyyam' is a ritual dance form in the northern region of Kerala. The story revolves around a life of 'Chemmaran' the Theyyam player and his family. 'Prabhadhan' (his son) is going abroad discarding his father's wish of making him a 'Theyyam' artist. The first scene tells that this movie is special and made by hands of an adept director, Abhinand H Kumar. It shows the father coloring himself and preparing for a performance. Then in the second scene there is a lovely use of camera which shows different stages of father's life (His son goes abroad, gets a citizenship, marries a German girl, becomes father, the couple splits apart, son decides to come back home with his child). The last scene is also good when the father asks his son to dip into a kunda to become sacred again and the son after bath, turns into a Theyyam player.
In all, a good experience. I wish ICE a very good luck in future and hope to see some great short films ahead. Good work ICE, keep it up !
Monday, June 02, 2008
Mango-Days
Every summer comes with a variety of fruits, mango being the favorite , often celebrated as the "King of all fruits". When I go home on weekends, my mother brings in lots of mangoes for her beloved son. This may sound like a small kid, but when it comes to fruits, I prefer being called as bachha. This Sunday when we were eating Aam-Ras, we had a discussion about the good old days we spent in my small village with my grandparents.
My forefathers ( starting from my grandfather ) lived in a very small village called Rajuri ( Jamked Taluka, Nagar District). Even today, we have our land there and it's cultivated and nourished by my father with help of a local person (called as sarakati in Marathi). These days we hear enormous prices of mangoes, 300-400 Rs. per dozen if you are going for Alphonso and similar ranges if you go for other brands. My great grandfather planted around 50+ mango trees before 150+ years and we used to enjoy the fruits of his efforts lately. I vividly remember those days when we had summer vacations. Myself with my brother and cousins used to go to the farm where mangoes are taken off the trees. We used to sleep in the deepest shadows of great trees and eat paad ( state of kairi, when it is about to be called as a mango ). We used to help those people in whatever they do, bring back the unripe mangoes home on a bail-gaadi , arrange them in a linear fashion called as Aadhi. As the days passed, the unripe fruits get really sweet and juicy. My uncles and their families, other relatives and few guests loved to eat home made Aam-Ras from our farm. My Aajoba ( grandfather) used to offer us a Paan after a heavy lunch, we often played carom / cards together those days. At night, he used to tell us stories ( even when I was in 10th or 11th std.) which were always new; without a single repetition and I used to sleep listening to them.
But they say, time changes and so do things. Our old trees no more bear any fruits. They are too old to stand in a hot Sun and these days we have a great water crisis. My grandpa and grandma both passed away recently and nobody lives in the wada, which was once considered as nothing less than heavens. Today when I add milk in Aam-Ras, I feel very bad ( we didn't do it in those days, neither did we add extra sugar), also I don't like crushing the mango pulp in mixer. And when I hear such high prices, sometimes I feel proud of myself that I have seen those Mango - Days.
P.S.
Being a problem solver by nature, I proposed to plant few new breeds of mangoes so that we could see those days again but the water crunch is a major hurdle. Also, trees in their initial days need great care and being a so called "professional" deeply engaged in materialistic, urban and suave lives, I could not go to my village and do it myself. My father is aging and can't push this extra burden on his shoulders. In all, I am not sure if I can see those sweet mango-days again ...
My forefathers ( starting from my grandfather ) lived in a very small village called Rajuri ( Jamked Taluka, Nagar District). Even today, we have our land there and it's cultivated and nourished by my father with help of a local person (called as sarakati in Marathi). These days we hear enormous prices of mangoes, 300-400 Rs. per dozen if you are going for Alphonso and similar ranges if you go for other brands. My great grandfather planted around 50+ mango trees before 150+ years and we used to enjoy the fruits of his efforts lately. I vividly remember those days when we had summer vacations. Myself with my brother and cousins used to go to the farm where mangoes are taken off the trees. We used to sleep in the deepest shadows of great trees and eat paad ( state of kairi, when it is about to be called as a mango ). We used to help those people in whatever they do, bring back the unripe mangoes home on a bail-gaadi , arrange them in a linear fashion called as Aadhi. As the days passed, the unripe fruits get really sweet and juicy. My uncles and their families, other relatives and few guests loved to eat home made Aam-Ras from our farm. My Aajoba ( grandfather) used to offer us a Paan after a heavy lunch, we often played carom / cards together those days. At night, he used to tell us stories ( even when I was in 10th or 11th std.) which were always new; without a single repetition and I used to sleep listening to them.
But they say, time changes and so do things. Our old trees no more bear any fruits. They are too old to stand in a hot Sun and these days we have a great water crisis. My grandpa and grandma both passed away recently and nobody lives in the wada, which was once considered as nothing less than heavens. Today when I add milk in Aam-Ras, I feel very bad ( we didn't do it in those days, neither did we add extra sugar), also I don't like crushing the mango pulp in mixer. And when I hear such high prices, sometimes I feel proud of myself that I have seen those Mango - Days.
P.S.
Being a problem solver by nature, I proposed to plant few new breeds of mangoes so that we could see those days again but the water crunch is a major hurdle. Also, trees in their initial days need great care and being a so called "professional" deeply engaged in materialistic, urban and suave lives, I could not go to my village and do it myself. My father is aging and can't push this extra burden on his shoulders. In all, I am not sure if I can see those sweet mango-days again ...
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