The Eyes Read It: Love Story On The Rocks

Kites fly high and so does Hrithik... on the wings of some foreign doll Barbara. Well, Hrithik has vehemently denied any link up with the co-actress and any break-up with his spouse. That’s good. When you have such a beautiful lady by your side, why roam around some plastic? We at The Reel wish the best for the Roshan couple.

News that will have a positive impact on Cinema- Shahrukh and Aamir are friends again. Guess what? We never believed the splitsville. They just camped separately... anyways Good Luck Khans. Pss. I forget to tell you the issue of Union. Multiplexes charge unreasonable charges for tickets and Producers want a bigger share in the charge. The Reel really wished, they could have asked to reduce the prices. Anyways, movies are on hold for some good time.

By the way with IPL around the block, who is going to cinema halls? Strategic time to hold flops.

Aa Dekhe Zara was cool and Neil was cooler. I guess his looks are going to ruin him. He should try to replace George Clooney instead. He is wasting himself here. If you think I am wrong... I guess you haven’t seen Johnny Gaddar.

Brad-Jolie leading to splitsville? I have this soft-corner for Aniston so perhaps, I am not the right person to comment but the only thing I wish... they should think about their children before taking any decision.

Finally... when is Veer coming? Dying to see Salman...

Under Lens: Motilal vs SRK

I beg your pardon for making the title look like some debate about the skills of legends of their time. It is not about their stardom or acting skills. It’s about their approach to it.
Years ago when Motilal died, he died in rags. This revelation was shocking for many people as he always maintained ‘great rich man’ repute. Even in his odd days, he was not even mediocre, forget about being poor. But death unveiled every dark truth about his financial bankruptcy.

Earlier, the fate of a movie changed lives of the makers. A glimpse of the dark truth is shown in Jaya Bhaduri (Bachchan) and Dharmendra starrer ‘Guddi’ where Dharmendra introduces Guddi to a ruined film set.
Shailendra ruined his career and life making ‘Teesri Kasam’. Many legends saw same writing on the wall and some were forced to face it. Example- Lalita Pawar.
But today, the scene has changed. People in industry have understood the dynamics of box-office and today even a poor run makes enough to compensate the makers. Sometimes, even before the premiere, the money invested is pocketed. Today stars not only rule the box-office, but are almost unaffected by the weekend verdict.

SRK owns an IPL franchisee. Despite of string of flops, Salman gets fat cheques for his movies. Starlets are ready to experiment and corporate a gambling high even in hostile recession time. This turnaround means the change of approach in the work style of the industry- from experimental ad-hoc to truly professional.

However, this change is not too age-old. About 15 years old story. The main architect of this phenomenon has been Amitabh Bachchan who foresaw the future and ensured his safety. Shahrukh followed the steps of Bachchan and invested in the right places right from the beginning. With the arrival of the age of the multiplexes, the risk factor reduced further and corporate found it safer to experiment.

It’s smart to learn from your past and predecessors. When you ride high... keep one foot on land.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

The Critique: Hazaaron Khwahishain Aisi

Hazaaron khwahishain aisi ke har khwahish pe dam nikle
bohot nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle…

This couplet pretty much sums up what charaters of “hazaron khwaishein” are going through.
Set in the times of political turmoil of Emergency and period just before it. The story basically tracks the paths of three characters, Geetha Rao (played by supremely beautiful and talented Chitragandha Singh), Siddharth Tayabji (played by acclaimed KK Menon) and Vikram Malhotra (played by Shiney Ahuja in his best performance till date, also his second movie). Vikram likes Geetha, who in turn is in love with Siddharth, a revolutionary.
Siddharth leaves to join the revolution. Geetha moves on for higher studies, where she marries an IAS officer. A failed marriage draws her back to Siddharth, (IAS played by Ram Kapoor, who is brilliant in the scene where as a not-in-cotrol husband he confronts Geetha about Siddharth, beats her up and eventually begs her to stay back.) Later Geetha moves to join revolution, where she helps Siddharth in all ways, even once gets abused to save him. Siddharth lands in lock up. Vikram meanwhile is now a successful Business man, who gets involved in emergency turmoil as his Gandhian Father is arrested and Geetha approaches him to rescue Siddharth and what follows is a chilling climax.

By acclaimed director Sudhir Mishra who understands every shade of his characters. Mishra a leftist himself and who has seen through horrific emergency days of 70’s, presents a chilling account. Performances are top notch; even bit roles are played to perfection.

A mature love story with characters meeting over a span of six years,relations explicit but not sensational, even adulterous to portray intimacy, intimate scenes are shot starkly (as was required).It is about difference in ideology as Siddharth, an idealist in contrast with Vikram who remains in system to use it for himself. It is also what choices people make finally. Notice how role reversal takes place in the end, with Siddharth and Vikram *swapping choices they made. It works on so many levels at the same time, and that is what makes it a great watch.

Interesting to watch, more for those of us who were born after emergency. This is a MUST watch if serious movies is your thing, and if you like it spread the word, make your friends watch it too, as it has lesser audiences than it deserves. Some might see it as a less-on-entertainment package, if they are not into serious movies. But if you are trying to start watching serious issue based movies this will be a good start.

Written By: Ali (Rosebud)

Hammers High: Citizen Kane Authorship

Circa 1941 A.D., Orson Welles shares the ‘written by’ credit with Herman J. Mankiewicz and grabs the Academy Award for the same. After sixty seven years, even today, people remember the overhyped and subtly explained word ‘rosebud’. The word shows a void in the character of the protagonist Kane; a void that engulfed Welles too.

Herman knew W.R. Hearst, on whose persona Kane was modelled, personally and he caricatured a movie around him. The person Kane himself in the movie had an undercurrent of both the authors’ lives woven around Hearst’s career. This supports the credits’ claim that is shared by both of them. However, many people who were close to Herman openly opposed the sharing of credits. They always claimed that the authorship of the movie-screenplay entirely belongs to Mankiewicz as Welles had no role in drafting it.

On the other hand, the poster of the movie before the release read- ‘the one-man band, directing, acting, and writing’; and the man in picture was Welles. More fuel was added to the feud by Welles quote- ‘So I wrote Citizen Kane’. Up to this point the credits were with Welles and it appeared that he had no intention to share them. This was enough to blow Herman’s brain out of places and he went to Screen Writers Guild. He claimed complete authorship while Welles said that he was planning to share the credits. Guild finally settled the feud by directing Welles to share the credits and take the second place in the list pacifying Mankiewicz’s claim. Welles had a void in personal and professional life and the zeal to be the one man army was a medium to fill up the void. Rosebud!

It is really interesting that the man who performed and directed brilliantly in the most reputed movie of all times, won the Academy Awards for the controversial screenplay of the same movie. A controversy that had bitterness on tongue left a lingering sweetness on lips.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Statesmen: Heath ‘Joker’ Ledger

An Australian died and the world cried. When The Dark Knight was released, people grew fanatic seeing one of the finest negative performance on screen. The whole career of Ledger is highlighted by two great performances. First, the bisexual character Ennis in The Brokeback Mountain and the devilish Joker in The Dark Knight.
The bi-character of Ennis needed a great understanding of human psyche and sincere empathy for people who are not comfortable with their homosexuality in public and end up with the trauma. Ledger’s performance in the movie is usually rated at par with those of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn.

In the character of Joker, he portrayed a sociopath, a mass-murderer for whom everything including massive bloodshed is nothing more than a small joke. Ledger went to great extent to get into character and did outperformed many outstanding performances.

But these two movies were not the greatest achievement of the actor who died due to an accidental toxic combination of prescription drugs.

He died on January 22, 2008 while more than half of the shooting of his final movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. After his untimely death, makers had few options. Maker Terry Gallium temporarily suspended the shooting of movie. He had no idea how will the movie be completed. But he knew it will be completed and will be dedicated to Ledger. Mode… he was not sure.

Finally, they came up with an option that has no known precedence in cinema. The stars, Johnny Depp, Collin Farrell and Jude Law signed on a pact to take over Ledger’s role of Tony; becoming multiple incarnations of his character. This was a generous tribute to one of the greatest actors of his generation. Moreover, the price paid to these actors will be donated to Ledger’s daughter Matilda. This was his greatest achievement. While many win accolades a few commands respect and love. Today, he is not alive but his memories are still fresh. Like the film, in life too, Joker had the last laugh.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Editor's Pen: THE REEL

Movies are a sensible reflection of the society... a reflection that resembles the one on the shiny surface of a soap bubble. Strangely, it is matches the dynamism too.
“The Reel” is an endeavour to provide space to all those who love cinema for one or more reason. A blog only for those who have a passion for quality cinema and are willing to be a part of the league. Its an exclusive forum, by invitation but open for all.

If want to read and know about cinema, you are most welcome and if you wish to be with us in the journey... we are waiting for you...

In this blog you will find passionate reviews, serious biographies, classic controversies, spicy gossip and something for the aspirants- their space so that they may showcase themselves.

We aspire to contribute positively to the great world of cinema.

Love...
Sujoy Ghosh
The Blog Editor