Barfi | Sweet Or Not | Editor's Pen

Hi Friends,

In last couple of days, much has been written about Barfi being a choice for Indian entry for Oscars. Some people appreciated it. Some laughed it off. Some were enraged as their film failed to make it through.

Except for few exception, Barfi was liked by most of the cinephiles in web world. Partly because of a good storyline and partly because of very convincing performances. Ranbeer, post Rockstar, has developed a niche fan following. Anurag Basu evokes some sentiments due a well made Life In A Metro. Priyanka is always interesting on screen and Illeana looked like a forbidden fruit. The story of Barfi really worked. Though it seemed to be a little overdone, the impact was there.

Good opening of Barfi followed up with plagiarism accusations. Some scenes were direct lift. Some scenes seemed more like a reference. Overall, a good enough part looked like a ctrl+c and ctrl+v exercise. Critics were not kind. The decision of sending it to Academy seemed to be a blooper.

To some extent I agree. Barfi is not a perfect choice. I would have liked to see Paan Singh Tomar or Gangs Of Wasseypur rather. They are more Indian than Barfi. Having said that, I believe, much of the criticism Barfi is facing is uncalled for. Its not the first time we have shamlessly copied from World cinema. But its one of those rare cases where movie didn't turned out to be a sham.

Love
Sujoy Ghosh 

Bedabrata Pain Takes You To Chittagong | Golden Podium

TheReelMag team got an opportunity to talk to Bedabrata Pain whose story is not only motivating, it’s also very soul stirring. His movie – Chittagong has started getting appreciation. Here we go.

 

Q1: Hi Bedabrata. First of all, many congratulations for appreciation you are getting for your movie 'Chittagong'. How are you feeling now? Satisfied, elated, restless?

 

BP: Chittagong has been somewhat of an epic journey. Against all odds and personal tragedies – some of which will always remain behind the curtains – I finished this film. Chittagong is dedicated to my son – who was the biggest supporter of the film. And I have given better than my best … so I have that satisfaction. The rest, who knows!

 

When I began the film, I didn’t know if I could make a film. Now I know that I can. And I know that my instincts are right – whenever I have trusted them, I have got good results. That’s my take-away. I am not trying to think who will like my work or in what form my work will be appreciated. That’s not in my hand – only the effort is!

 

Q2: Your story... IIT-Kgp, University of Columbia, NASA and then a movie about a forgotten revolutionary. Reminds me of SRK in Swades, incidentally made by a very talented Ashutosh. When did you took the decision to quit the NASA and why? Isn't science your call?

 

BP: Ha ha ha … art imitates life or something like that? One of the worst things about modern life is that you are almost forced to be one-dimensional robotic person – feeling little, and thinking even less.

 

But I guess I grew up at a time when being multi-dimensional or embracing life to the fullest or having a social consciousness were considered very precious. It is something I have that ingrained in me – a notion that you might find in Nazrul’s Bidrohi. I think, as human beings, we are capable of processing a plethora of information and take any number of initiatives. I think I can contribute equally to the field of arts as well as to science. Perhaps this whole journey was an experiment to break these conventional constraints of unidimensionality.

 

Have I succeeded? I don’t know. But I have tried and I will remain just as committed to science as to art. Both require tremendous fidelity to real life and whole lot of creativity. Let’s see how far I can go …

 

Q3: Why you chose such an offbeat topic? What was your inspiration behind Chittagong?

 

BP: Actually Chittagong is not an offbeat film. When I started it felt like that there is a stasis in the world. And today – you see simmering discontent everywhere in the world – from the Americas to the Africa. The way my film ends, it makes it so relevant for the world today. Indeed that’s the inspiration. I wanted to tell a story of victory – but a victory not by a big boss or a super-hero – a victory that is won by the ordinary people – people like you and me. My film underscores the point that at historic moments, it is the ordinary people who can and do prevail. And perhaps today we are reaching such a historic moment.

 

Q4: Manoj Bajpai is a very talented actor. Was he your first pick for role of Masterji?

 

BP: Manoj is one of the best actors I know. Masterda’s role is a very difficult one. Because he’s a different kind of a hero. He’s not a chest-beating, bicep-flexing hero. Masterda led from behind. He was a visionary man. He was an inspiring man. To play such a person, a very versatile actor was needed. It is easier to play a cynic, but to play a visionary, it requires an actor par excellence. And that was Manoj. He had done an absolutely fabulous job of playing Masterda with sensitivity and restraint.

 

Q5: There was a little controversy over release of Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey and your movie. Some people hinted at some arm-twisting. Your thoughts...

 

BP: Let’s not drag the past anymore. What matters is the present. Today Chittagong stands on its own. And it should be viewed as an independent film – not in association or comparison with anything else.

 

Most importantly, Indian film market has changed a lot in recent times. There is a significant rise of non-traditional Bollywood films – which above all, are good films. Why, only this year, we have had successful films such as Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar, Gangs of Wasseypur, Shanghai and others! I strongly believe that Chittagong is part of this new wave. I am extremely hopeful about Chittagong, but then you know as they say – it’s after all luck by chance.

 

Q6: What will you like to say to people who want to submit their resignations and pursue their hobbies?

 

BP: I don’t know what I tell somebody who’s only pursuing his or her hobbies. Because, by definition, a hobby is recreational.

 

I wasn’t pursuing my hobby. I was going for the long haul. So, if anyone is serious about pursuing something, my only advice is to go headlong for it. No regrets, no leaving a backdoor open. For me to have tried to make a film on my own towards the end of a successful and very different career was a tremendous leap of faith – it’s like skydiving without knowing if everything will work out. But I don’t think there is any other option. You have to go out on a limb.

 

TheReelMag team wishes the entire team of Chittagong all the success. Bedabrata has endured a lot for this moment. We know somewhere Ishan must be very proud.

Shankar Nag | The Karnataka Films Icon | Statesmen

South India cinema consists of 4 prominent languages namely Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil. But when it comes to ranking Kannada cinema industry is usually perceived to be inferior. Albeit, few people would look into Kannada cinemas whenever, there are releases of few directors like Yogaraj Bhat, Soori, Upendra, R.Chandru, Shashank, Preetham Gubbi, Prem(Besagara Halli Bairegowda), Om Sai Prakash, Om Prakash Rao, GuruPrasad etc. or few stars like Puneeth Raj Kumar, Shivaraj Kumar, Sudeep, Darshan, Ganesh, Ajay Rao, Diganth, Upendra, the most of the films would go un-noticed. But there was a man who had single handedly made whole India forward to Kannada Cinema for short span of 12 years with his 90+ films. This man was none another than Shankar Nag.

 

Shankar Nag was born on November 9, 1954 in Mallapur Village, Kumta (North Canara), Karnataka as younger brother of versatile multilingual actor and former minister of Government of Karnataka, Ananth Nag.  Albeit, he completed schooling at Bombay and was involved in Marathi theatre his cinema debut was with Girish Karanad’s Kannada film Ondanondu Kaladalli which was an Off-beat Kannada which was also a commercial success. After that,  within the span of 12 years (from 1978 to 1990) he acted in some 80 Kannada movies, in leading role, besides co-producing (with actor-brother Anant Nag ) and directing 12 films like Minchina Ota,  Accident, Ondu Muttina Kathe, Nodi Swami Naavirodu Heege, Hosa Teerpu, Lalach, Janma Janmada Anubandha and Geetha. Although, some of the movies were not critical success, it is believed that none of his movies lost business. He also directed tele serial Malgudi Days based on R.K.Narayan's short stories. Besides these, he was actively involved in Kannada Theatre. He also co-wrote 22 June 1897, an Indian National award winning Marathi film.

 

His films like Accident, Minchina Ota were not big commercial success, but it had won many National and international awards. Apart from these movies there is one movie which has made him remain in hearts of Kannadigas. That movie is none other than Auto Raja. This movie has made people remember him, 22 years even after his death. We can still see Autos in Karnataka which has Shankar Nag’s photo.  Auto drivers still consider him as the role model in Karnataka. Interestingly, he died in a car accident.

 

Not only liberal arts, he will be remembered also for modernization of Karnataka. He was instrumental in realization of Banglore Metro and establishment of Karnataka Milk Federation with brand Nandini. So much for a man who lived for just 35 odd years.

 

Written By: Sandeep Shetty

Passion Narrative - Story Of Guru Dutt - 1 | Statesmen

What an irony? A person born as Vasanth became famous for ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ and ‘Pyaasa’. 

 

Guru Dutt...

 

10 October 1964. News spread like fire in dry wild. Guru Dutt died an untimely death. Some speculated accidental overdose of sleeping pills and some saw it as a suicide bid. But the bottom line was that one of the biggest contemporary name became a page of past. A tragedy to be mourned over again and again. As obituaries started flowing in, people realized that despite of all success and all acclaim, there was a big void in life of Guru Dutt – lack of personal harmony. What they saw in his characters in Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool... had much more than a hint of reality. Much more.

 

Born in Bangalore, Guru Dutt had more than his share of sorrows. Financial constraints and tension between parents affected him. But it was his kid brother’s death inflicted more injury than anything else.

 

His early days in Calcutta shaped him as an artist. Like any other artist, he struggled hard. He started with Uday Shankar’s troupe. This helped him later when he worked as a choreographer. His stint with Uday Shankar taught him the importance of discipline and enhanced his artistic vision. Guru Dutt began his career as an Assistant Director and Choreographer. His experiences with Gyan Mukherjee as his assistant helped him understand the nuances of cine-world in and outside the film studios. In his early days, Guru Dutt bonded well with Dev Anand and Rehman. His friendship with two established faces made his way easier. Dev Anand offered him his first film as director – Baazi. Baazi established Guru Dutt as a promising director. A journey thus started...

 

There are reasons to believe that many times Guru Dutt was held hostage by industry norms and producer’s whims. Sometimes he would abandon the project and sometimes he would just give in. After Baazi, Jaal and Baaz came. Both failed. However, these two movies helped him develop the famous Guru Dutt Team. Over the years, this team influenced Indian cinema to a great extent.

 

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

 

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Courtroom Dramas - Special Edition | Editor's Pen

Hi All,

 

Courtroom Dramas… the roaring voice of prosecution of defense, loopholes in law, the balance of judgment, the thump of ‘order-order’… they all seem to attract even the least of the cine-buffs. In this edition, we decided to have a look on courtroom dramas. Unlike previous takes on Genres over years, this year we focused on nuances of Courtroom Drama which makes them so popular.  

 

Analysis of courtroom dramas helped us understand the role prejudices play. In famous movie To Kill A Mocking Bird, A Cry In The Dark and Achanak, the judgment depended largely on how jury felt personally about the person in witness box. 12 Angry Men is a classic example where one need to get rid of personal opinions and prejudices. Judgment At Nuremberg challenges the very origin of a prejudice and shows how dangerous this human fallibility is. Similarly in Kudrat, we see that opinion for respected icon can act as a shield for their past. In the current political scenario, propaganda are leading to prejudices. We can see people declaring verdict even before charge sheet is filed. On a personal level, I don’t endorse it. We need rationality prevail.

 

Today is Ali’s birthday. Wishing him the best in life on behalf of entire TheReelMag team.      

 

Waiting for your comments.

 

Love

Sujoy

EK Ruka Hua Faisla-The Critique

I happened to watch ‘Ek Ruka Hua Faisla’ about an year back, with high expectations. After all, it is known for being Indian take on Sydney Lumet’s Fantastic directorial debut movie, 12 Angry Men. Also to ERHF’s advantage, i haven’t seen the original, which does not cloud my judgement and lets me assess the movie to its own merit.

As i just mentioned, previous experiences cloud our judgement. This forms the main theme of the movie. Does a person from lower class deserve to be given a benefit of doubt? Does a liar always lie or maybe in some situation a liar might also tell the truth?

Movie starts with judge, instructing 12 jurors to unanimously decide the fate of a slum dwelling boy accused of killing his father. All evidences point towards the boy. It seems like an open and shut case to the all of the jury. All but one juror. Juror 8 is not convinced, either of boy’s guilt or his innocence. You see, its matter of life and death, and there is no harm over going through evidence again.What follows is the discussion over boy’s guilt, and examining of all evidences.

Beauty of the film lies in the fact that on closer looks evidences are not fool proof, and jurors are not unbiased or specially interested in dispensing justice. How the judgement changes from unanimous guilt to unanimous doubt is fascinating to watch. Before this happens jurors must be confronted, and made to reason. Jurors must confront their own prejudices. Prejudices come in form of class prejudice, younger generation prejudice and plain non-chalance for a human life.

To flesh out the conflict, ERHF boasts of impressive performances from likes of Pankaj Kapoor, Annu Kapoor, KK Raina, in that order. Basu Chatterjee, controls his cast and performances with great skill. With most of the film shot in a room, Basu cleverly places his camera as to transport viewers into the same room. He makes us the thirteenth juror.

Ek Ruka Hua Faisla is undoubtedly a fine jury/courtroom drama made in India. It has made me curious about the original, which i think is one of the biggest compliment a remake can get.

Written By Ali Naqvi.

Understanding Courtroom Drama | Under Lens

What Exactly A Courtroom Drama Is? Courtrooms attract people. It is the place where an act of crime meets a logical conclusion. It is the place where everything is clinically dissected and truth is revealed. It is the place where justice is delivered. Courtrooms have been an important part of our literature. Remember Merchant Of Venice? Remember Panch Parmeshwar? Remember Julius Caesar? A story that deals with legal aspects of an action (usually in Act 1) in Act 2 and reaches a conclusion, traditionally holding the torch of justice, in Act 3 can define a courtroom drama in its generic form.

 

What Happens In A Courtroom Drama? In a courtroom drama, two opposite sides- prosecution and defense, analytically examine and cross examine the evidences and witnesses. The charges and accused’s stand is discussed. More than often, motive or rational behind the crime is discussed. Emotions flow and sometimes heated arguments forces judge to intervene. Not only people are in the box, even sometime law is judged. Sometimes, sanity of accused is questioned. Sometimes, validity of crime is questioned. Sometimes, morality of victim is questioned. Sometimes, the court is questioned.

 

Examples: 12 Angry Men, Anatomy of a Murder, A Cry In The Dark, A Few Good Men, Judgment at Nuremberg, Philadelphia, Qatl are rated high. Movies like To Kill A Mocking Bird, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Waqt, Awaara, Achanak revolve around court cases and hence are treated as Courtroom Dramas.

 

Fine Print: As the word says- Drama, a lot of what is shown is fiction. The bottom line is to tell an interesting story. As a result even the best of the courtroom dramas show misinterpretation of law. As a result, many misconceptions are promoted. For example, in 12 Angry Men it is shown that Juror 8 brings in a knife in the room and tells that he got it from a shop in the area where crime took place. This and Jury making assumptions based on personal observations (not put forward by lawyers) would have led to mistrial in a standard court.

Clinical Anatomy Of A Murder | Under Lens

Anatomy of a Murder is considered as text book for courtroom drama. Ranked #7^th in AFI's list of Top 10 Courtroom Dramas, movie broke many stereotypes. It also challenged many norms of the era. Even today, Anatomy of a Murder’s brilliance is unchallenged. Big question is, what’s so special about it?

 

Censor Censored: Censorship guidelines were rarely tricked so well. While, Director Producer Otto Preminger played within the limits, the language used along with strong graphic subtext was frowned upon. In courtroom, terminology used was realistic. It was very frank for the era. Apart from language used, the morality of characters and final outcome of the story challenged the standard where Good has to win.

 

Fine Print Of Laws: Usually courtroom dramas are spoiled by melodrama. Though emotions flow in witness box, it’s a rare commodity unlike what movies show. Anatomy of a Murder steer away from the cliché. Movie not only avoid excessive and unnatural display of emotions, it also strives more on circumstantial evidences. Anatomy of a Murder also touches some politically incorrect aspects of law without any inhibition. Lawyers coach the witness and creates impression on jury. Histrionics shown by lawyers on both the sides explores skills used in real courts. Anatomy of a Murder is well researched without prejudices. The fallibility of system was one of the highlights.

 

Grey Matter: Characters are grey, not white, not black. Morality, ethics and integrity are vague terms. Their definition depend more on perspective than being absolute. The lawyer ask his client to wear dress in accordance with what jury might approve of. Accused picks up a subtle hint and states his case. Lawyers design their case in order to influence the jury rather than focusing on justice. These ambiguities make them more interesting and more realistic.

 

Insanity Defense: Insanity, to be more precise irresistible impulse, is used as an excuse for crime. The way defense builds the case around these two words is remarkable. Different aspects like memory loss and rage are used to develop an infallible story. When challenged by prosecution based on opinion of a psychiatrist, the way defense destroys the stand is a pleasure.

 

In Conversation with Arun Purushothaman and Sujoy Ghosh

A Cry In The Dark | Prejudices And Justice | The Critique

Public opinion can influence judgments. Anybody who has an idea who Jesus was, will understand. A Cry In The Dark presents a similar situation where public opinion took precedence over truth and exposes the reliability of jury-system. Made in a docu-drama style, the movie hits hard on the role media plays in creating sensational news and affecting mindset of people involved. Based on Evil’s Angles written by  John Bryson is based on true story of Chamberlains.

 

Michael and Lindy are blessed with a girl child Azaria. They go on camping with bunch of friends. While they are enjoying their dinner, a cry is heard. As it turns out, a dingo is  suspected to have taken away their daughter. Distraught couple accept the fact and make peace with it. However, people around them smell some rot. How can a couple who lost their 2-month old daughter accept it as His wish? Rumors and malicious media reports start creating an anti-Chamberlains mood in court. Lindy, the prime suspect, decides against showing fake emotions to change the course of verdict in her direction. She stands by her beliefs irrespective of what follows.

 

Sam Neill had a difficult role to play. One reason was the emotion baggage this role carries and the second reason was that he was playing a role opposite to Meryl Streep. Sam Neill gave a performance which he must be very proud of. Meryl nails it again. The difficult part was the prejudice the character evokes. Even if you know the reality, it’s difficult to ‘not’ think like what people did. They believed that Lindy was guilty and at some point, you will endorse similar emotions. Her portrayal makes it very difficult to feel for the character and this is exactly what happened for Lindy. She carries the burden of cross and how well. Meryl Streep excelled, like always. The characters play their part so honestly you will almost sense a deja-vu. When the credits roll, you will realize what prejudices can do to justice.

 

Fred Schepisi clinical approach works brilliantly. Aided by a very well written book in the foundation, Fred uses a mix of different mediums of storytelling and blends documentary elements with drama so well that one might not notice the difference. Media as a character plays a strong role and the way it is developed is an example to follow. Rated at par with best in the genre, A Cry In The Dark is a movie that might fade away from memory but it might survive in nightmares. Such strong is the impact. Such strong were the performances.

 

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Judge Dan Haywood In Judgment at Nuremberg | Actor's Eye

Saw an awesome court room drama recently, “Judgment at Nuremberg”. Crisp script, nice characterization and some wonderful acting clubbed along with some hidden aural and visual hints made it a memorable experience. The story is about trial of four Nazi judges, for war crimes, by an Allies court lead by Americans.

 

Unlike many of the court room dramas I have seen till date, especially the ones from Bollywood which have either the prosecutor or the defense or the victims or some witness in the lead, this one has something new to offer where it deals with the turmoil and confusion of “Your Honour” during a trial.

 

Played by Spencer Tracy, the character, Chief Judge Dan Haywood, visits Germany for the first time and gets to learn about the culture, the people, the circumstances and about “The Germany” before, during and after the “Hitler” era. How Judge Haywood is influenced, is in turmoil and at times confused by the proceedings but yet remains truthful to the call of duty and gives a judgment based on the ultimate truth is what the script deals in. The character is soft at heart , who receives and gets love and respect in the course of time, when he is outside the court and at the same time he is also a person with strong will power and one who is firm about and stands for his decisions whether they please people around him or not. He is humble, he is down to earth and he is polite with ladies and he is also one who knows how to get the “order” right inside the court.

 

Judge Haywood in short has been shown to be the epitome of justice and Spencer Tracy, as usual, has done proper justice with the judge. The elegance through body language, the pride and authority through voice and the confusion through expressions he has depicted all and depicted all very well.  All in all a good character and a good performance in a well scripted and well directed movie makes it a pleasure to watch.

 

Written By: Gaurav Karmakar

Courtroom Dramas In Bollywood | Under Lens

1. Kudrat: Re-incarnation, crime-never-leaves-you and debt-versus-ethics conflict, Chetan Anand’s Kudrat had all of this. Son of a Zamindar – Janak Singh rapes a local girl Paro under influence of alcohol. Her fiancé Madhav comes to know about this and seeks revenge. In order to save his skin, he gets them murdered. The girl’s fiancé reborn as Mohan and gets Janak Singh patronage. Paro has reborn as Chandramukhi. As expected, they meet and learn about their past life. They decide to take Janak Singh to court. Movie is still remembered for its songs and brilliant performances by Rajesh Khanna and Raj Kumar.

 

2. Damini: Shekhar is a rich man who marries a poor girl Damini. His family reluctantly accepts her. But all hell broke loose when she witness Shekhar brother raping their maid and decides to lodge police complaint. As expected, in the first act, justice is not delivered. Damini’s real struggle begins as she is not ready to forfeit and is helped by Govind, a lawyer who is upset with the entire system. Stellar performances by Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Amrish Puri backed a strong but melodramatic script. Movie is still remembered for its hard-hitting dialogues.

 

3. Mera Saaya: How will you react when a woman who looks like your wife comes and claims when you know that she is dead? Sunil Dutt has been a part of many courtroom dramas. Mera Saaya is one of the most memorable one. In a very difficult role of husband whose love died in front of him and now needs to take on a fraud, he excels. Sadhana, in twin role, play both the characters beautifully. One might wonder that she was heavily underrated as an actress.   

 

4. Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara: An agonizing tale of an old man who believes that he is responsible for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Struck in a moment of his childhood, he is not able to see differentiate between reality and illusions. To save him, his daughter decides to take the trial to court. Anupam Kher and Urmila gave brilliant performances, may be next to their respective performances in Saransh and Pinjar.  Though the movie failed to impress BO, it remains a special film.

 

5. Awaara: Son is a convict while father is the judge. A cue drawn from Ramayan, Awaara tells story of a man (aptly name Raghunath) who disowns his wife when he doubts her loyalty. He believes that lineage is more important than the upbringing. His prejudice angers a criminal who decides to test his philosophy. When Raghunath disowns his wife, the criminal ensures that Raghunath’s child Raj follows path of crime. Raj ends up in court on multiple charges. Awaara is one of the most celebrated Hindi film. Intense performances, well-woven script and memorable music.

 

 

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