Adieu Pankaj Advani | Editorial

Hey folks,

Some time back, came the news about untimely demise of director Pankaj Advani. He had helmed director’s chair in known movies like Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Sankat City and little known films like National award winning children’s movie Sunday; critically loved Urf Professor.

Press hails him as a good filmmaker, but his blogpost on PFC tells just before Sankat City release that there is no buzz in media about his film. Sankat City was also lauded by critics as far as I can remember, but buzz wasn’t started by the media.

At less than 50 years of age what could have lead to his early demise? Maybe just the kind of beating that all of his films took, had its effect.

We’ll we need more people, more powerful people to promote such film makers. Like Aamir Khan did for Peepli live.

A friend recently argued that Aamir hogged all the limelight for the film, and didn’t divert attention to the filmmaker Anjum Rizvi.

To that I have to say, what will a filmmaker prefer?

A)     To have his films just seen and appreciated by few people, and not having his name known until after his death?

B)      To have his film seen and appreciated by millions by playing second fiddle to some big shot, thereby opening more avenues to create his niche in the future?

I would opt for B any day.

Goodbye Pankaj, May you RIP.

With love,

Ali Naqvi

Abrar Alvi - As Director | Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Fullstop | Statesmen

You remember Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam ? Any idea who directed it. I asked few cine-buffs about it and the random answer was Guru Dutt… Well, I am a Guru Dutt fan and I would love to say Yes, but no. It was directed by a fine film writer who is credited with works like… Mr. & Mrs. 55, Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Chaudhvin Ka Chand,  Professor… Yes, I am talking about Abrar Alvi.

Abrar Alvi impressed Guru Dutt on sets of Baaz with his deep insight of storytelling. Recognizing his talent, Guru Dutt asked him to join in for Aar Paar and its subsequent success stamped his talent. When a very impressive Kaagaz Ke Phool failed to impress public; Guru Dutt came under heavy debts. He needed a big movie to help him stand. At this point, Alvi rose to the accession and directed Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. It was a big blockbuster…

Success is mother of controversies. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam had the distinct signature of Guru Dutt and the general opinion was that Guru Dutt ghost-directed it. Many people still believe it and many crew-members had dropped hints indicating that though Alvi directed the movie; there was larger than just an actor involvement on Guru Dutt’s part. Something people usually say about Aamir Khan as well… Interestingly, the editor of movie maintained that it was out and out Alvi’s genius that made Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam such an epic.

Alvi never directed another movie. He is perhaps the only who got Filmfare for his debut and sole movie. He never got the credit for his work and maybe that had a major impact on his decision to stay away from director’s seat. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam is one of the movies that cannot be remade again. Let’s raise a toast in name of the director of the movie… Abrar Alvi.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Little Manhattan | The Critique| Unusual love stories Part 3

Rating: 4/5

I was in class 1 when I first fell in love with a sweet damsel in my class. She used to sit two rows ahead of me in a class divided on lines of Indo-Pak border. Her hazel eyes and sweetest smile made me crazy about her. She changed her school that very year and I am still trying to search her over social networks. Yes… I too had a love story… and maybe that’s the very reason I was able to connect with Gabe and his childish love for Rosemary.

Little Manhattan is a sweet love story of an eleven year old kid Gabe, who fell in love with a beautiful girl Rosemary. Gabe’s parents are on verge of separation and life thus is not great for him. His only solace is the fact that he loves Rosemary and the dopamine keeps him up. But that’s no utopia. He feels that she is drifting far from him. He discusses this with his father and his father says that the reason he and Gabe’s mother is not in an amiable situation is that they left many things unsaid.

Gabe opens up. Rosemary says that lets the time take its own course. Till then they can be good friends… Gabe’s father reconciles with his wife and things are getting into shape. Gabe remarks that he won’t forget his first love…

Wow, quite a tale. Well, to believe that as a movie with child actors, you will actually have to watch it. Direction, music and cinematography aides the near-perfect story and lovely performances. Seriously, watch it to believe it…

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Al Capone | Criminals In Cinema - Part 5 | Under Lens

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone… ahem ahem. That’s an impressive name. Al Capone is one of the most celebrated criminal of Hollywood. There have been thousands of references and portrayals of this legendary name. What made him so special? Nature of his crime? Nah… Unlike boring Families; Capone was more outgoing. He believed in doing things with a big trailing sound. His larger than life persona attracted everyone from journalist to Hollywood movie stars… and yes; who can forget/overlook Saint Valentine's Day Massacre.

The Godfather had a small fictionalized role of Capone in the war. This was an acknowledgement of Capone’s might and popularity. Considering the uncountable times Capone has been caricatured; we will limit our discussion to two highly acclaimed movies: The Untouchables and Scarface.

The Untouchables was based on a novel by the same name, tells the story of infamous Capone and his famed strife with Agent Ness. This movie was critically acclaimed for direction. Robert De Niro played the role of Al Capone and the portrayal is remembered as one of his finest. He went to the extent of gaining 30 pounds to give the Capone persona to his reel avatar. Moreover, his adaptation of character had the brutality and the chivalry both at the same time; something Capone was famous for. Result was deadly.

Based on 1932 movie by Hawks, in 1983, Scarface was made with Al Pacino playing the role of Tony Montana. Tony Montana is a famous screen adaptation of Capone and since 1932; nobody has a shred of doubt about it. When Scarface (1932) was made; it was a fact and when Scarface was remade in 1983; it was a legend. Al Pacino gave one of his finest performances and the movie went on to become a legend. Due to heavy dosage of blood and abuse censor was very cautious about rating this movie. However, that did not mar the quality of work by any mean. No wonder, Ebert gave 4/4 to this rebel movie.

That’s the end of our series – ‘Criminals In Cinema’. I hope you like it. May be soon, I will start off with a long series on Axed Reel Romances In Bollywood. Wait for it…

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Robot Mania | Editor's Pen

Hi Folks,

Two weekends back i had the chance to watch Endhiran aka Robot. This was after i had heard a few negative voices from Rajni fans for the film.

Living in Bangalore without witnessing Rajni Mania is no less than a crime (Umm ok Chennai would have been better for the same ...) So I landed into a non-multiplex hall and ended up paying double the ticket price, in Tamil, without subtitles ! Ha beat that!

The movie started with seetis and taalis. Initial credits hinted at the high amount of money spent in making of the movie. As regards to my reaction about the movie. One Word. AWESOME.

It has so many twist and turns. The plot actually has a logic, and it progresses logically not just randomly at script writers whim.

Robot is not shown as a perfect device but has flaws. Thats what i admire about the film. It could have gone overboard at so many places but it doesn't.

Aishwarya looks as pretty as she did in nities and Rajni has excelled in acting department specially as the Villain Robot (SRK fans, be sure he couldn't do justice to the role, my bet on that) .But man of the hour HAS to be director Shankar who creates a film that is so huge in scale, at the same time is original and it never falls in temptation

PS in the climax of Endhiran is bloody awesome.I will rate it over so many of hollywood blockbusters in recent past may be even transformers.

PPS - Give Endhiran a chance, it will shock and surprise you.By the way, I am now a Rajni fan :-D

With Love,
Ali Naqvi

Kevin Mitnick | Criminals In Cinema – Part 4 | Under Lens

If you remember the kid in A Wednesday and don’t remember the chap who was asked to track Naseeruddin Shah’s whereabouts and still don’t know even a shred about Kevin Mitnick then you are at the right place. Kevin Mitnick is not another obscure hacker/cracker. He is the image behind geeky larger than life hackers shown in movies. Yes, Kevin Mitnick the Brand is the same about whom your bank release notifications.

A legend in his own right, Mitnick was semi-biographed in 2000’s Takedown/Trackdown/Hackers 2 [see, different names for the same movie… that’s geeky]. Takedown was based on a book by the same name written by John Markoff and Tsutomu Shimomura. The movie spoke about the cyber war between a hacker and a cracker- Mitnick and Shimomura. Though Shimomura stood by his own version; Mitnick said that the book and hence, the movie were full of inaccuracies. It told the story from a biased point of view. Incidentally, records support Mitnick on this.

Innumerous characters have been influenced by this legend. Just think of any of those geeky characters who can hack into any system with anything made available and come up with an unbelievable still believable outcome… that’s Mitnick. That includes… Jagdish (Abhishek Bachchan) in Om Jai Jagdish. A hacker turned cyber security expert…

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

B’Wood RomComs… Blah Blah | Candid Krishnan

Aisha… well, they said that its an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. Poor Austen. She could never had conceived a worse nightmare than seeing this sugar coated movie that fatally failed to understand Austen at the first place. Waste of time and money… both at the same time. RomComs…! Bollywood F.U.

Similarly, anyday I would have love to have a quick revision of Choti Si Baat than wasting my savings on an overhyped IHLS. What a waste of money, man. Here is a guy who hate love stories and frown on silly cliché’s and see, he grows (?) into someone who repeats all of them just to convince you that when you are in love; you go nuts. Dude, get a life. Life is not a plethora of clichés.

Actually, such movies should be censored. The reels should be put into a capsule and thrown in Pacific. How dare they make such movies? Why can’t they have a script before shooting… now, please don’t tell me that they had a script. Last few movies made show the paucity of talent in this country. If we feel proud of having a film industry; we need serious introspection.

The word RomCom reminds me of a sweet movie… ‘You’ve Got Mail’. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Yes, I know that its blasphemous talking about this and IHLS in the same flow; still I am doing so because any talk about RomComs minus this movie is incomplete. Sweet romance, spicy comedy and sparking chemistry. That’s RomCom. Some people need to understand that. So, either make good RomCom or make Spoofs… Anyways, judging by latest outings, I guess both mean the same in B-Town dictionary.

Written By: Candy Krishnan

Hayao Miyazaki | Statesmen

Seldom does any artist work get recognition as, "He makes better animated films than Pixar", but Hayao Miyazaki does.

Long before Pixar came into existence, Miyazaki was making exceptional animated movies that were not just for kids. His films are 90% hand animated and mostly have female protagonists and always carry a message. Ecology pollution and the like feature as themes.

Miyazaki has won Oscar for his films and holds the record for most sucessful film in Japan. He is revered by Pixar studio people, his work has inspired many directors.

Funny and remarkable thing about his films is that production begins before story has been finalized. The story is developed as film nears its completion.

Written by Ali Naqvi

Splash Movie Review | Critique | Unusual Love stories - Part 2

Rating – 3/5 Star

Unusual love stories can be in many forms, unusual in their situation, stories or people who are in love. Unusual couples hmmm, let’s see, guy falling for another guy or girl falling for another girl … How about non-human love interest. A mermaid, perhaps?

This is what forms core plot of Splash  – a love story of an average Joe and a mermaid. A brief chance encounter between a little mermaid and a little boy connect them. Another chance encounter years later, leads to mermaid coming to land to find love of her life. (Wondering how that works, You see she is gets human feet when her tail is dry). She is new to human culture and often lands up doing things embarrassingly funny. Makers make use of it for generating laughs.

Another major subplot is a scientist who has seen the mermaid in its under see form keeps trying to prove that she is a mermaid. This turns out to be the turning point in the movie.

Tom Hanks plays the role of the lucky guy, Allen and Daryl Hannah as the beautiful mermaid, Madison. Hanks on one hand performs his part well, on the other hand Daryl Hannah is super as Mermaid. She is so may things at the same time. She is curious of her new surroundings, she is madly in love and looks amazing. (She looks the part of the mermaid completely ;-) )

Technically, the scene in which she first transforms from woman to mermaid is pretty well done (it was scary though, unintentionally). Scenes in which actress as mermaid does not seem to breathe for long shots must have been difficult to shoot.

I must add though that the ratings a little too high on rotten tomatoes but still the movie is definitely worth at least a single viewing.

PS – You might recognize the weird scientist as father of Jim from ‘American Pie’ ;-).

PPS - Coming up next in the series Unusual love stories – Before Sunset, Lars and the Real girl.

Written by – ‘Ali Naqvi’