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