Stanley Ka Dabba | Flash Review

Stanley Ka Dabba is a simple tale of a kid and his 'khadoos' teacher played by Gupte Junior and Senior respectively. Without being preacher at any point, Gupte brings out a story that’s totally about children and their ‘life’.  There is a kid who is very talented but never brings his lunch and shares food brought by peers. There is a teacher who eats from tiffin boxes of students and he is disturbed seeing Stanley eating his pie. He threatens him. What will Stanley do? This tale mesmerize you to the core and you leave the hall with a smile.

Rating: 4/5

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Pyaar Ka Punchnama | The Critique

There is an acronym which is a little out-dated now... 'MCP'. Gradually men understood value of women and allowed them to dominate. Then came the iconic word- Emotional Atyachar. PKP is fun film that elaborates this Emotional Atyachar stuff in detail. It tells about various strategies a woman employs to get a guy and tame him from the guy's point of view which is as clear as fog in Delhi on a chilling morning.

Guys fall in love with girls for anything. Sometimes sex appeal does the magic and sometimes a small gentle smile is enough. Fortunately, in this movie the three protagonists are of type 2. They fell in love with three wrong girls who seemed to be as naive and harmless as Sridevi of Lamhe. However, soon their real self comes out and bring in lots of laughter and blushes. The story works. Everyone who is having or had a girlfriend in past can relate to it. Even the lucky guys without a trace of a girl in entire span of life can relate to it. Pyaar Ka Punchnama deals with different POVs of boys and girls about same things and how the differences in their POVs can ruin relationships. This movie is a bit anti-girls but that should be taken in a lighter vein.

The makers clearly had an idea about their prospects. They had a good story and all three male characters had equal role. So, instead of roping in three not-so-young stars, they kept the movie low budget and introduced three actors. Some witty dialogues worked. Especially the million dollar dialogues of Divyendu and amazing monologue by Kartikeya clicked. Flat/apartment life of boys was captured brilliantly. One can easily relate to it. There were cliches but chalta hai yaar... Girls looked hot and were impressive.

In first half some scenes looked amateur. Some scenes were abrupt. In a few scenes, script was a bit off and on-screen looked novice. But overall both direction and editing were good. Camerawork was really impressive. Music and background score. Simply superb. They were really well thought and brilliantly placed.

Rating: 2.5 stars
Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Just Ada Is Released | Editor's Pen

Finally its done…

With blessings of Almighty and our families, TheReelMag and Closing Frames released Just Ada. Being the director, I am on cloud 9. I am feeling like a child…

It has been an incredible journey… In words, it cannot be stated. It taught us more lessons than we ever dreamt in our wildest dreams… and you know what, I have started respecting everyone in Industry… even a particular Chopra. The amount of effort needed in making even a bad scene is respectable. A good scene should have every ingredient in perfect order and amount… and there are scores of such ingredients. If a single thing goes wrong, the scene screws up. However, that should not devalue the commendable work of other people involved in the particular scene.

I wish to thank everyone involved in this movie. My apologies if I have been obnoxious at times. Have a look on this 28 min video available on http://www.justadamovie.blogspot.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/closingframes. Let us know about your thoughts…

Regards

Sujoy Ghosh

Mere Paas Maa Hai | Deewaar | My Take | Under Lens

From Mother India to Tare Zameen Par, mothers always had a special place in Indian cinema. The emotions for motherly love have no parallel. Even love for spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend stand no case infront of love for mothers. So, when Amitabh Bachchan crosses the entrance of a temple for well being of his mother, it evokes same emotion in every person watching that scene. However there is another dialogue from the same movie that is remembered as arguably the most iconic of all the dialogues involving a mother... 'Mere Paas Maa Hai'.

Vijay is worried about well being of his younger brother Shekhar who can fell prey to the vicious plans of criminals. He wants Shekhar to leave his job of police and stay with him. A righteous person, Shekhar, is not ready to leave the path of Right. Vijay tries to lure and challenge him with his iconic statement... "Mere Paas Bangla Hai Gaadi Hai..." His anger  is evident. There is a hint of mock as well. Shekhar, in his job, can't even dream of having all these luxuries of life. His stubborn behaviour won't reap any dividend.

Shekhar replies with... "Mere Paas Maa Hai". He puts their mother on balance against all the luxuries of life and finds that she is the most valuable asset of their life. Vijay might have accumulated all the wealth but is still poor because he is deprived of the love of their mother. He took so much trouble to get all this success but their mother is not ready to accept all this because his ways were wrong, his money is dirty.

The location and mood of the scene is perfect. Its well complemented by some brilliant background score. Direction is remarkable. Though its a simple scene, its execution might have been very difficult. The dialogue delivery and emotions should match every technical hook. Finally Actors. Do I need to say anything?

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas | Statesmen

K.A. Abbas is well known name for many reasons. A novelist, a screen writer, a film maker and columnist of the longest running column- Last Page. One of the most accomplished work of cinema crafted by him was the movie ‘Saat Hindustani’ which saw advent of a lanky young man who rewrote the history of cinema and influenced the entire country for next 40 years… Amitabh Bachchan.

Born in a family proud of being the bloodline of Aiyub Ansari who was a companion of Prophet Muhammad, martyr of 1857 rebellion Khwaja Gulam Abbas and poet Khwaja Altaf Husain Hali who was a student of Mirza Ghalib, K. A. Abbas made a niche for himself. Literature was his natural forte. In about 75 books he wrote, Abbas reflected his socialist and open outlook. His most celebrated work Inquilab is considered to be one of the best pieces of literature in Urdu. It reflected the trauma and pathos of common man in struggle of independence.

His directorial debut was Dharti Ke Laal. With iconic Balraj Sahni, this movie was made for IPTA. The movie dealt with Famine in Bengal of 1943. Around this time only, he wrote Neecha Nagar and Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani for Chetan Anand and V. Shantaram. Former won Golden Palm at Cannes and till date is the only movie with the honor. He also collaborated as writer with Raj Kapoor in thought-provoking movies like Awara, Shree 420, Jaagte Raho and also in likes of Mera Naam Joker, Bobby, Heena. Two other highly rated movies he made were Saat Hindustani and Do Boond Paani. Both were awarded Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. Not many people in cinema can boast of such acclaimed profile.

K.A. Abbas’ strength was his sensibility and wide spectrum of knowledge. He had an instinctive sense of film-making and knew how to make a statement with a dialogue or scene. His works were thought-provoking and revealed the reality in a poetic way. If you want to see his genius, watch the last scene of Saat Hindustani where all men come together…

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh