The Invitation | Between Breaths

The moment is closing by… Between Breaths is waiting for us with open arms and a smile…

The idea of a short is very complicated though it seems very simple. A layman may say, ‘what’s the heck, just pick some cam and get some buddies… and shoot.’ But in a way, shooting and editing a good short is almost as complicated as crafting a good scene for silver screen. Between Breaths celebrates all such efforts.

We at TheReelMag (http://www.thereelmag.in/) invites you to the Between Breaths Fest…

Reserve Your Calendars:

April 1^st                 Participating Videos Will Be Uploaded

                              Jury Members Would Be Introduced

                              Discussions On Short Making On Public Forums Like FB &
                              Twitter

April 2^nd                Introduction To All The Videos

                              Article On Some Highly Acclaimed Shorts

                              Article On Some Highly Acclaimed Short-makers

April 3^rd                Collage Of Some Interesting Comments

                              Article On  Short Film Making

                             Concluding Remarks By Jury Members

April 3^rd-14^th        Voting Window To Select The Best Short

April 16^th              Results

                             Analysis Of Each Participating Video

Fingers Crossed For Between Breaths | Editor's Pen

I was watching a short film by a student on Zee Studio’s Get Shorty. It was brilliant. It was a story about a young doctor who is working in a village. He tells story of a girl who kills herself due to humiliation of being molested by her own father. In a few minutes, with the help of emotions and symbols he presented the story with brilliance. Shorts have great impact… Between Breaths aims at cherishing something similar.

When the idea of Between Breaths was first conceived by Ali, it stole my heart. It was not only refreshing but also challenging. That’s the reason why, even after failure in the year of inception we decided to rejuvenate it from the scratch.

Seeing some good response for Between Breaths, TheReelMag Team has decided to extend the last date for the event. Now the entries can be sent till 26^th Midnight. It would be interesting to showcase some really good shorts for the fest. As an extension to the event, we have decided to discuss independent short films beyond the competition. Please feel free to suggest youtube links.

In coming days, we will open our Pandora box about the Jury Members and Prizes. Till them… keep commenting.

Love

Sujoy Ghosh

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa | Will you Cross the Skies and Come to me? | The Critique

Its mushy. Still my Rating would be 4/5.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa is a sweet love story of a Mechanical Engineer turned Assistant Director who falls in love with his Landlord’s daughter. Both belong to different religions and that’s the reason why girl’s father won’t approve. 15 minutes into the story and the hero drops the bomb saying I Love You and movie kick starts from there. She resists his emotions, he insists on his feelings. She has reasons to say know and he has the grit to stand with his point. She is engaged and going to marry someone. In the opening scene, she is walking down the aisle before the scene fades to past. Would he turn the table like Akshay did in Namaste London. No… he won’t. Will he get the girl… better watch the movie.

Concept wise the movie seems to be plagued by plethora of clichés; in reality it repels all of them. Shot simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil, both movies are same and different at the same time. A sub-plot in first is the plot of second (and vice versa). Though essentially the same story, both versions have different climaxes and both the climaxes has been shown in both the movies. How it is done? Well, kudos to fine scriptwriting and brilliant editing… and definitely, outstanding direction.

Chemistry between Trisha as Jessie and Silambarasan Rajendar as Karthik is awesome. There is a presence of sexual emotions taking over usually lovey dovey stuff making it more realistic than idealistic. Supporting cast including K. S. Ravikumar and Naga Chaitanya playing themselves, did justice to their roles. They are very realistic. The humor in the movie generally swings between wit and sarcasm. The turn of events is interesting and well drafted. Music is the high of the cinematic feel. It’s one of the best works by A. R. Rahman. Majority of songs are beautiful and even though I was parsing through the subtitles, I can still hum the song easily. Cinematography is brilliant. Kerela has been captured beautifully. One might feel like making it home.

Lastly… editing and direction of the movie were simply brilliant. Average job in these two segments would have reduced the movie to crap. Kudos to Anthony Gonsalves (Editor) and Gautham Menon (Director) for achieving such a high.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Sanjay Dutt And Madhuri Dixit | Axed Reel Romances In Bollywood - Part 3 | Under Lens

Tada court case for Bombay Bomb Blasts burnt a lot in Sanjay Dutt’s life. Highly gossiped romance between him and Madhuri Dixit (now Nene) was a part of that lot.

With the release of Khalnayak, Sanjay Dutt garnered all the critical acclaim he always desired. He rose his bar from a good actor of Naam and Sadak to an incredible actor of Khalnayak. His portrayal of crazy criminal has no parallel in Indian Cinema. That time gossip magazines were talking about something that had nothing to do with his stellar performance. Romance with Madhuri Dixit.

Madhuri was the most desired actress of ‘90s. She was linked with many actors throughout her illustrious career. But the link-up with Sunil Dutt’s son was big news. Sunil Dutt himself married an ace actress. While the gossip magazines were shouting about the romance and speculations of their plans to marry, Tada case popped up making life difficult for Dutts forever.

Madhuri moved on. Sanjay met Rhea and fell for her. They married and then divorced. Madhuri married Dr. Nene based in US and is having a happy married life. She returned to make a comeback with Aaja Nachle which bombed on BO. Sanjay is still doing movies… is married to Manyata and recently was blessed with twins.

In his chat-show Karan Johar asked Sanjay what will he do, if he and Madhuri get struck in a lift. Sanjay’s pat reply raised many eyebrows. He said, what can we do… we both are married. Obviously, the statement was given in a lighter vein. However, it clearly hinted that at some point there was something sprouting between Madhuri and Sanjay Dutt.

This was the last part of this series. I hope you liked the articles featured in this three-part series.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Seven Amazing Hindi Movies Of 2010 | Candid Krishnan

Please don’t screech into my ears yelling… “No DABANGG!!!” Yes. No Dabangg. No Dabangg, No Enthiran, No Kites, No My Name Is Khan… and many nos. Plus a big NO to I Hate Love Storys and Break K Bad. A small no to Rajneeti. A punching NO to Golmaal-3 and a kicking NO to Lafangay Parinday. I guess despite of many nos, there will be a few yeses. If you just said Yes, here is my list… and even if you just yelled a no… read to know why I said NO…

Peepli Live: Aamir Khan’s production with no big name on board. For many the only recognizable name was Raghubeer Yadav (Mungeri Laal K Hassen Sapne… eh, the same fellow) but the brand AK ensured that P/L gets enough coverage on all the channels… especially the news channels on whom the joke was on. Success of P/L means a lot: more satire on news makers and presenters, rural backdrop back on screen and AK can sell everything (including the computers whose manufacturing company’s head comes to repair the faulty piece… think of Jobbs coming to your place to repair your faulty iPad).

Tere Bin Laden: Pack your brain in a bag and enjoy. The style of satire presented in TBL had some resemblance with contemporary Peepli, it had no moral responsibility to be sane like the latter. Ali Zafar as manipulative reporter obsessed with USA and Pradhuman Singh as Osama Bin Laden’s look-alike stole the treat. The movie highlighted a few stereotypes… especially the hysteria and dumbness of US. Well… we too stereotype them as they think of us autodrivers.

Udaan: A coming of age tale that had a strong plot of Father-Son relationship, Udaan is a brilliant movie standing on three pillars- Script, Direction and Performances. Udaan accumulated more praises than box-office collections and it seems that no one is complaining. Such movies don’t work usually. But they do touch heart. No wonder, Udaan bagged three honors at Blue Notebook.

Red Alert: Suniel Shetty is not known for his acting skills. But with Red Alert he defied all the notions attached to him. Red Alert is a sensitive and really realistic movie on Naxalism. It’s not biased and has open ears. Unfortunately, this movie didn’t reached many eyes…

Lahore: Sports and revenge. Lahore is actually not a great movie. It boasts of smooth flight of brain and makes the unbelievable believable. Farookh Sheikh stands out as a coach and despite of numerous factual and logical flaws, you might fell in love with this movie. Yeah… also, in this country, for the first time (may be the last time as well) you will see a cricketer leaving cricket to pick up kick-boxing. On the rocks… eh Mr. Script Writer??

Karthik Calling Karthik: Scheeeezophreniiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaa seems to be the flavor of Bollywood these days. Everyone is making a movie on this mental problem and misusing creative liberty to show whatever they want (remember one movies like Madhoshi, Aitbar and Chehra??). But unlike the usual crop, KCK was smarter and crisper. Farhan Akthar and his phattu avatar steals the show.

Ishqiya: Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin Shah, a debutant director patronized by Vishal Bhardwaj and rough UP. Deadly combination of desi daaru and desi F words. Ishqiya will be remembered for many things. Interesting plot that turned out to be an anti-climax. Some fun moments everyone can enjoy and some only a few can understand. Sleaziness that was on the verge of being obscene but refrained from being so. Bravo.

Written By: Candy Krishnan

Vivan Shah - The Actor In Making | Editor's Pen

Though I personally didn’t like 7 Khoon Maaf, there were few highs for me in the movie. Vivan Shah, son of legendary Naseeruddin Shah; was one of them. Last year many debutants showed what acting is. From Udaan’s Rajat to Ban Baaja Baraat’s Ranbeer, the newcomers gave commendable performances. Their interpretation of acting seemed to be more real than many big names. This year the trend continued with a sober and subtle Vivan.

Being Naseer’s son and try hands on acting is something like being Sunil Gavaskar’s son and try batting. Moreover, we have seen Sikander Kher and Bobby Deol on sceen… However, Vivan showed quite a character in remaining in his suit and gave a very mature performance without trying to emulate his father. It will be interesting to see how he shapes his career. Will he succumb to the lust of commercial cinema and pick whatever comes in front of him or will he play safe and smart guarding himself against all big money just to ensure a long and acclaimed career on screen?

Looking forward to your comments…

Love,

Sujoy

Opochi okoka obobi olola | DDLJ revisited | Under Lens

*WARNING: long post ahead*

‘Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge’ or DDLJ (as most people lovingly refer to it) is etched in our collective memories. For my generation it will remain a romantic pilgrimage of sorts. It is what launched SRK foray as the superstar.

So this last weekend I had a chance to watch DDLJ again. And then I watched again, and again and… you get the drift. There are many things/themes that I didn’t notice when I used to watch it earlier.

Let’s take character of Chaudhary Baldev Singh played by Ambrish Puri for instance. In my memory, character is a strict patriarch devoid of any care for his family’s feelings.  But if we look closely we see a man who is very nostalgic about his country and who is trying very hard to just preserve his culture. And he loves both his daughters, allowing Simran to go on a trip and eventually marry boy of her choice.

Also if you notice nearly all major characters, with a brief character sketch, are introduced in first 20 minutes of the movie. Within the song ‘Mere khwabon mei jo aaye…’ we are shown Simran is madly in love with her notion of innocent love, on the other hand Raj is the go getter, winning sports and ladies alike. In short he is a free spirit and she is little immature.

Both Raj and Simran are very close to one of their parents, Raj to his Dad and Simran to her Mom. They are their strengths who support them in thick and thin. One of my favorite part of DDLJ is oozing chemistry between SRK and Anupam Kher; and I still don’t understand one of my favorite dialogues between father and son , “Opochi okoka obobi olola”. Also the scene where Simran leaves when she reads of her marriage, Farida Jalal as her mother feels her disappointment and just turns around to agree with her husband that indeed Simran is shy. In that scene, whole equation of there is so beautifully and subtly put in front of the viewer. The scene where Simran’s mom tells of her sacrifices as mother, sister and daughter is beautifully written. Even in the end she’s the one who takes Simran to station and tells her to go before Ambrish Puri holds Kajol’s hand. Farida played the role of loving, strong mother who is constantly undermined by her husband.

Also interesting, is the way director has used characters for comic relief in second half, in form of Ms. Rajeshwari as the cute little sis; Kuljit as handsome but dumb Groom-to-be and Bua with her comic moments with SRK and Anupam Kher.

In first half comic timing of SRK is fantastic. His constant banter initially with Simran is what endears the viewer to the two characters. He delivers cult dialogues like, ‘bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hain’, ‘Senorita’ and ‘I HATE GIRLS’ which just made girls swoon over SRK. Also dialogues like ‘al pacino, al kutto, al kamino’, ‘ab koi gadbad nahi ho sakti’ tickled my ribs yet again.

There time alone in Europe also reminds me of ‘It happened one night’ and ‘Dil hai ki manta nahi’. Talking of the first half, their trip seemed to me too short for 1 month. Seemed like 1.5 weeks to me. Probably the period of them rejoining their friends and finally departing constitutes the rest of the period.

Coming to Simran’s character, Kajol has performed it exceedingly well. Simran has been brought up to respect elders and look up to others when making her decisions. She is naïve, probably this is what sets her apart from other girls in life of Raj. About Raj what can I write that has not been felt before, he is the backbone of the film.

I also noted why Raj is sure about her loving him and Simran is not. The now iconic scene ‘palat palat’ tells him that she loves him but he never tells her that he loves her. When he does tell her, he himself says he was joking

In short, I as a viewer realized that DDLJ is not just only good story, great acting but also has superb characterizations. As the tagline goes … ‘Come fall in love…’ I have fallen in love with the movie … again.

Written by Ali Naqvi.

Inshallah, Football | Censorship Woes | Hammers High

A terrorist is a human being who has forgotten the basic human values. He deserves no pardon. But should his child be cursed for his father’s ideology? This is the core concept of the movie- Inshallah, Football made by Oscar nominee ‘Little Terrorist’ - short film’s director Ashvin Kumar’s latest outing.

Inshallah, Football is a movie about a young boy ‘Basha’ who aspires to become a soccer player. He is selected for a Brazillian Football club, Santos FC (yeah, Pele’s club) in an exchange program. But his visa and passport are held on the grounds of his father’s association with a terrorist group. Incidentally, his father left the family about two decades ago when he was barely two months old. The movie is about the boy, his mentor an Argentinean coach and their struggle.

The content of the movie tend to show Armed Forces in a grey light. As expected, the movie drew flak and discontent in the Government fractions and without giving a proper opportunity to present his case, Kumar was given an A certificate. With an ‘A’ certificate, it becomes very difficult to market such sensitive and non-sensual movies in this country. Theatres consider such movies dry and refrain from showcasing them.

While the makers defended their case by sticking to their stand of making sensible cinema, Censor board defended the certificate by highlighting the face that the content of movie is mature and can be misunderstood by young. Kumar and his supporters shot back by pointing out that there are more political reasons behind the certificate than sensibilities of the Censor Board.

Another movie was given ‘A’ certificate during the same time- No One Killed Jessica. This movie was based murder of a model, Jessica by son of a Congress politician. Any raised eyebrow??

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Fantastic Mr.Fox Movie Review | Critique

Rating-3 stars

I had heard a whole lot deal about this film. Fantastic Mr. Fox.  Posters kept me intrigued, and I finally got to watch it and it turned out completely different from what I had expected, primarily because it isn’t computer animated movie but a stop motion. Like the ones used for the initial type of animations. Stop motion lends the film a texture that CGI couldn’t have matched.

It is a queer film in terms of style but it just immerses  you in itself with the struggle of Mr. Fox struggle to keep his family alive. As Ebert said in his review, the film leaves you with the feeling that there is something hidden in the story that is hidden. That is what leads to wonder.

The film takes time to sink in initially and is tad boring in first half until adventure sets in the second half, making it an enjoyable ride.

You just have to see it to understand what I felt. Mixed feelings of a different kind.

Written by Ali Naqvi

#Oscar Results | Fall Of The Legend | Cine Talk

True Grit stood by the meaning of its name though lost the race. Ten nominations without winning even one honor; though that hardly makes it any lesser gem. True Grit won hearts… but failed to get the big one… as a matter of fact, any of them. This news robbed peace of many minds and many more disagree with the results of Academy Awards. Big movies like Inception, The Social Network and The King’s Speech grabbed respectively 4, 3 and 4 Oscars providing some nail-biting moments in the Kodak Theatre.

This Oscars would be remembered as one of the closely contested Academy nights. Never had the viewers been so divided in their opinion. While Inception and TSN relied more on the technology, True Grit and TKS relied more on the content (symbolically; Inception and TSN had great content too but they represent technology advancements). The big honors, i.e. Best Picture and Best Director both went to TKS leaving behind disappointed fans of True Grit, Inception, TSN, The Fighter and Black Swan. However, except True Grit, fans of all of these had some better moments. Black Swan got Best Actress. The Fighter got both Actress and Actor in Supporting Role. Inception and TSN ruled the technical awards. The lone loser was True Grit. It had many nominations yet failed to convert any of them. May be this was the real test of the grit.

Brilliantly made Inception won over its strengths. It won honors for Visual Effects, Sound (Mixing, editing) and Cinematography. Personally, I don’t agree with the last one. The Social Network grabbed three Oscars. As expected it grabbed the honor for Best Editing and Writing (Adapted Screenplay) and surprised with the Music (Original Score) Nomination. Many expected 127 Hours to make a mark. Pixar’s Toy Story-3 also bagged two honors.

Rahman failed to impress the Jury. That could have been a high for Indian Cinema. When Slumdog Millionaire bagged 8 Oscars, many hailed it as a victory of Bollywood over Hollywood as the movie was almost a typical Bollywood movie save for the packaging it had. Rahman’s victory with 127 Hours would have cemented it. Anyways… better luck next time…

High: Victory of ‘God Of love’ in Short Film Category.

Low: Many… for me… Rahman failing in getting the Oscar.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Akshay Kumar And Ladies | Axed Reel Romances In Bollywood - Part 2 | Under Lens

Akshay Kumar is rough and tough. He looks sincere. He has rose through the ranks and established himself as a big star in tinsel town.  He has a dedicated fan following and he was the first person to become a threat to the rule of three Khans at the outset of 2000s. Though, his movies are not doing well nowadays, he is still a star… a star with big money, hot wife and perfect family. There is nothing in him today that can label him as a playboy but if you scan through his past, its all pink…

Akshay was in serious relationships with two big names of the ‘90s- graceful Raveena Tandon and charming Shilpa Shetty. Movies like Mohra and Main Khiladi Tu Anari established him as a tough and reliable action hero who can romance with her ladies on and off screen. These relationships were not simple flings, these were pretty serious. At one point Akshay was rumored to be engaged to Shilpa. It was the time when Salman (another ladies man) was primarily doing romantic movies and the other action hero, Suniel Shetty was busy trying to shape his career.  Sanjay Dutt was almost out of the scene, courtesy Bomb Blast Case. Aamir and Shahrukh were not the ones in the league of action heroes. And last one, Sunny Deol was absolutely not the romantic types. This left Akshay as the only big name who can fight and charm girls. Rumors of his relationships added fuel to fire.

One fine day Twinkle came into his life. Both fell in love and got married. It seemed that now Khiladi would hold his horses. Assumptions were right till Priyanka Chopra came into scene. With Andaaz and Aitraaz, they set the silver screen on fire. Akshay was recommending her for every big movie and the rumors started affecting his personal equation with lovely wife, Twinkle. Then the axe fell. No more pairing with Priyanka…

Rumors also said something about Akshay and Katrina, the equation between Akshay and Salman rubbished them outright. Well, only these two know the truth.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh