It's Valentine's Day Special | Editor's Pen

First, thanks for giving warm response to Between Breaths. We think that this time we will have a good number of entries. The show time would be grand. Please spread the word.

For long we have been planning to bring out a Valentine’s Day special. So, here we go…

Love is an interesting emotion. When you love someone, you feel like owning her (or him). It’s not bullish. It’s something you feel very normal. Though, it might be a serious breach of private space, smeared in the potion of love, you don’t care. Problems may or may not arise; but that’s definitely a story. In a contrasting situation, you give your love too much space. Even that can become a problem… and another great story. Space or no space, love is bound to have problems. That’s why there are so many love stories…

When someone ask me what’s love for me… I say, its defined by Casablanca and refined by Just Ada. What’s love for you?? Tell me. I am hearing…

Love,

Sujoy Ghosh

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind | Critique

Rating- 4 Stars

What will happen if two lovers would have had their first meeting in different setting? Will they still fall in love?

If they do fall in love will they have the same fights or different ones?

In my opinion(read interpretation), above things forms the central core of ‘Eternal Sunshine…’. Yes, there is a love story involved. Yes, there is a slight sci-fi angle that never overpowers the plot. Yes, there is question of morality regarding the memory erasing idea. It is a delight to understand the whole story of as it shuttles between present and past.

Kate Winslet is adorable as the girl with changing hairstyles and difficult attitudes. Jim Carrey proves once again that he has acting chops enough to portray any role. Kirsten Dunst, as the nurse madly in love with her doctor, is superb. All the characters are relatable and hence heartbreaking for what they are going through.

Sequence where Jim Carrey is trying hard to resist erasing memory of Kate by burying it in other memories is hilarious and heart breaking at the same time.

The morbid cinematography helps set the feel of film right; screenplay layered and great. The movie has taught me that, even if a love relation doesn’t last, irrespective of fight that happen, we still have cherished moments which make every ordeal in love worth it.

PS- The colored hair of the girl friend in ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the world’ to me seem to be inspired from ‘Eternal Sunshine …’

Written by Ali Naqvi

Yeh Saali Zindagi Movie Review | The Critique

Rating-3 stars

Before watching Yeh Saali Zindagi I was wondering what could be rationale of releasing the movie near Valentine Day.

Now I get it. It is pretty much a love story, or love stories if you will. Stories of Irrfan Khan-Chitrangadha Singh and Arunoday Singh- Aditi Rao Hydari. Irrfan-Chitrangadha track is major plot in the film and plays out well. Both being great actors have credibly performed their roles but they could have been utilized better.

Next comes the surprise package. Love and hate story of married couple Arunoday Singh- Aditi Rao Hydari, and it has more fire than any screen chemistry I have seen recently. They fight, she slaps him every 15 minutes, he kisses her just about anywhere and they make passionate love. Smoldering chemistry I say!

Sudhir Mishra has made a better film with Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi but this one is pretty good too. It actually took me by surprise, with all the black humor and so many twists and turns. The thing is that with so much happening in the movie it still manages to entertain audiences and.

If audiences cheer in cinema is any sign then the movie will be a hit for sure.  Movie caught most of the theater in collective laughter at least 15-20 times and that is more than most comedies these days. So if you’re too stressed out, give the movie a shot and my guess is you’ll come out smiling.

PS- would have rated it better had movie utilized talents of Irrfan and Chitrangadha better.

PPS- If you are wary of abuses stay away but if you can bear them you’ll just love this film.

Written by Ali Naqvi

Chhoti Si Baat | Valentine's Day Special Review | Critique

You want to say ‘I Love You’ but you can’t say it. Why? The fear of rejection stops you. Her good friend outsmarts you in almost every fashion. You see yourself in mirror and find yourself shrinking into a piece of door-mat, at everybody’s disposal. Atleast one third of the world would admit undergoing similar situation. Another one-third would never accept for the fear of being ridiculed. No wonder, a large number of people loved this movie when it came to theatres and even after that on VCR, VHS, CDs and cable television. Basu Chatterjee’s one of the finest work, ‘Chhoti Si Baat’ is a magical experience.

Arun (Amol Palekar) is a simpleton who lacks self-confidence. He happens to see Prabha (Vidya Sinha) and falls in love with her. Due to official connection, they happen to talk and Arun sees this as a golden opportunity. But all efforts to convince himself are thwarted by arrival of a smart colleague of Prabha, Nagesh (Asrani). Frustrated and dejected Arun seeks solution at the doors of astrologers, gurus etc. One day he reads about Colonel Julius Nagendranath Wilfred Singh (Ashok Kumar) who grooms people. Colonel develops affection for him for his simple ways and decides to help him. But the task is really difficult. Can tortoise match the hare this time?

CSB is a very sweet and at times mushy movie. Expressions overshadow dialogues and all four main actors gave amazing performances. Music complements the story well. ‘Na Jaane Kyun’ epitomes the emotions of a girl who misses her secret lover. Another memorable song, ‘Janeman Janeman’ is peppy and crisp. Direction is too good. Basu Chatterjee’s work has the sensibility and simplicity of Hrishikesh Mukherjee. He keeps the laughter quotient low and smile quotient very high. The characters are simple and very much like us.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Amitabh-Rekha | Axed Reel Romances In Bollywood - Part 1 | Under Lens

Silsila… dubbed as semi-autobiographical account of one of the most comfortable on-screen couple of Indian Cinema. However it was not the case. There was much debate and discussion in magazines about this movie because it had three actors, two of them married and two of them allegedly in an extra-marital relationship. Amitabh and Rekha never worked together.

Amitabh and Jaya married after Zanzeer. Though much in love; there were obscure speculations about this couple. Then came Rekha. Sparks flew between two actors who looked brilliant together on screen. Amitabh never looked so good on-screen with any of his leading lady. Not even Parveen Babi. There was certainly something magical about this pair.

Picture this: Movie, Muqaddar Ka Sikander. A heart-broken Amitabh (Sikander) comes to her place for some solace. She finds a real man in him. A person who is at her door steps not to see her sensual performance, but to heal his own heart. She fells in love with him. Interestingly, Sikander has no such feelings for her. She is just a good friend who gives him few moments of peace. He is in love with another lady…

Amitabh and Rekha starred together in numerous movies. Most of them became big time hits and it was pretty natural for gossip magazines to fill their pages with stories involving the hot couple. Their chemistry simply set screen on fire and the rumors started becoming believable. They never accepted any relation between them. But at the prime of their career, they decided (definitely not officially) not to work together (maybe they were fine with it but nobody offered them anything good; I am not buying this) after epic Silsila.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

@TheReelMag Jury #nominationBB Open For Twitter Users | Between Breaths

Whats The Deal?? If you are in love with short films and want to be on the board of Jury Members of Between Breaths Short Film Contest, here is a way you can be on board…

Eligibility? If you have a twitter account and you have a taste for short films, you can nominate yourself. Just Tweet: @TheReelMag I Nominate Myself For Jury Of Between Breaths #nominationBB

Any Screening? Obviously. We have some procedures… ;-) We will put a series of questions on our portal. All you need to do is to answer them. The questions won’t be about movies. It will try to understand your understanding of cinema as an art. Don’t worry we would put 4-5 questions only.

Last Date to nominate: Feb 25th, 2011 Rush in your TWEETS

Between Breaths - Short Film Festival | Editor's Pen

Between Breaths… symbolizing the effect of smart short movies on audience, Between Breaths intends to celebrate the genre. Last time we failed to get an outcome and this forced us to analyze what went wrong. There were many flaws… we didn’t publicize much, we were too rigid with rules and many silly things. And as one o my friend noted down… we were trying to be too idealistic.

This time, Between Breaths will don a new avatar and hopefully make an impact. All we need is your kind support and word of mouth. So, do spread the word and please participate as well.

Thanks for your support to cause of Jafar Panahi. It gave is immense pleasure when saw the tweets and retweets. That’s why we are putting a poll. Let’s tell them that freedom of expression cannot be shunned. One cannot hold back creativity and any effort to do so is sin. God gave us the freedom of expression and to imprison someone’s expression is a crime against God. If one is guilty of sedition or something like that, hold him, arrest him and prosecute him. But you cannot stop him from thinking and expressing. It’s as bad as what Nazis did in concentration camp. By any chance, you think what Nazis did to innocents was justified, God bless you. Panahi deserves a better treatment. Support his cause. Keep the torch burning…

Love…

Sujoy

Short Film submission guidelines | Between Breaths

 
Length:
Permitted Length of the film is from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, excluding starting and end credits
Copyright issues:
Any use of copyright must be avoided at all costs. Use of copyrighted material will lead to loss of marks.
Entrance Fee:
Entrance fees is Rs. 0, as Between Breaths is all about inspiring you to make your first film or being the push to make one more film.
Awards:
For top 3 short films we’ll give away mementoes, formal certificate and a citation of the films merit.
Jury:
Jury consists of cine-philes from twitter-verse who will debate the merit of each movie before reaching on a decision
The competition is free to enter, and first 3 winner rankers will be awarded trophy and certificate
Submission Date:
Date of submission is tentatively at 26^th March.
Submission method:
You can submit by one of the following ways:
1) Send us the movie as an attachment in the mail to
the.reel.admin@gmail.com . 
2) You can provide us the link if it is already hosted in video sites like
3) You may send it to us using the site http://www.sendthisfile.com/
In all of the above methods drop a mail to us in the following format:
########################
Subject of Email: Entry for Between Breaths 2011
Name / Role : <Your Name>
Name of the movie: <Your Title>
Link of the movie: <URL of video hosted OR “sent as an attachment”>
########################
We are looking forward to your participation. If you have any clarification, please leave your query in comment section and we’ll answer ASAP.
Regards,
TheReelMag Team

Nana Patekar | The Actor With An Aggression| Statesmen

Some days back I was watching one brilliant movie by Nana Patekar. Prahaar. He is one big show-stealer. With the aggression in his voice and mannerisms, he makes a badly directed movie like Tiranga appear like a gem. Talking about Prahaar; it is a movie about Military Academy and their idealism. Also, it introspect the failure of Civil System in this country. Directed by the Nana Patekar himself, it suggests that for some time, every Indian should be a part of Army (Defense in general).

Nana Patekar is one brilliant actor who can stand with Naseeruddin Shah in current scenario. The power he instills into a character is simply amazing. I remember one amazing performance in movie Wajood (Don’t tell me that you haven’t heard of this name) where he plays the character of a theatre artist. In this particular scene he plays turn-coat aspect of a mentally-sick character. The person in him is a meek fellow who is very shy and reluctant but when he is acting, the artist in him totally hijacks everything around. As a viewer I was mesmerized watching that scene in which my favorite actress Madhuri slowly vanishes in nothing.

Another epic example of mélange was a scene in movie Yeshwant (Ek Machchar Sala… Fame). Yeshwant wants to say sorry to his wife and is waiting for her at her place. He rehearses for his apology and her reply, switching between both skins smoothly. This one scene is enough to fall in love with the actor in him.

Krantiveer is definitely one of the most celebrated movies of this actor but in my opinion any discussion about Nana is incomplete without these three movies- Prahaar, Wajood and Yeshwant. It’s unfortunate that he never got his due, the only reason why it happened is that he lacks the chocolate boy face. He is more like us than the Kapoors and the Khans. Maybe we hate to see the mirror…

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Jafar Panahi - Support Him | Cine Talk

Who is Jafar Panahi?? The connoisseurs of World Cinema know him as a sensible film maker from middle-east (Iran, to be precise) who made movies like The Mirror, The Circle and Offside. His movies are woven around the lives of Iranians and their problems. His most notable movie The Circle spoke about the condition of women under Iran’s Islamist regime and Offside narrated tale of girls who dress up as boys to watch soccer matches.

Why is he arrested?? Officially, he is arrested because he was making a movie on Iran’s government and that will show the country in a bad light. Panahi and his family refuted the charges. Cinema lovers and supporters opposed the arrest. Icons like Francis F. Coppola, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Curtis Hanson, Ang Lee, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Abbas Kiarostami raised their voice. However, Government was more than adamant and verdict came out.

What is his punishment?? The court ordered a six year imprisonment and twenty years ban on making/directing movies, writing screenplay and giving any kind of interviews apart from the restriction that he cannot go out of the country. The draconian judgment aimed at killing the voice of Iranian Neorealistic cinema’s torch-bearer.

Our Stand: At TRM we believe in voice. One can be imprisoned if he has done anything wrong but the twenty years ban on speech and expression is a crime against God. Panahi deserves a better treatment. If he is being prosecuted for sedition charges, let the trial be fair. Even then if he is found guilty, sentence him. However, you cannot ban his right to express. Expression is the difference between living and dead. You cannot force a person live like a dead.

The universal uproar against the sentence and support of proactive Iranian Bloggers/Tweepies indicate foul play. Support Panahi because what he is facing is inhuman. Vote to say that you have a voice…

Thanks

Sujoy Ghosh

Apocalypto | The Critique

Mel Gibson is known for many wrong reasons. But when you talk about his film making skills… you can’t rubbish him. He is definitely one of the most respected and intelligent film directors of our time. Apocalypto is the evidence. Apocalypto is a movie telling a simple story of a tribal young man in a declining Mayan culture.

Jaguar Paw is a tribesman whose family and tribe have been attacked by elitist community who consider his tribe low. They give human sacrifice to satisfy the heavenly powers. While his tribe is being attacked, he safeguards his pregnant wife and kid in a well and then tries to protect his men. He is being captured with many other members of his community and they are supposed to be sacrificed to please God. However, he is a bit lucky and just before his sacrifice solar eclipse happens. God is satisfied. But will he be spared. Obviously not. But will he die an un-heroic death?

Movie starts of as a normal story but gains pace and momentum as clock ticks. Cinematography and art-direction are simply breath taking. It’s more realistic than what you read in your history books. Performances were good and complemented the rhythm of story well. They were closest to imagination. Direction… Its Mel Gibson I am talking about.

Set in 16^th century, Apocalypto boasts of thorough research work about Mayan Culture. As a matter of fact, the language of the movie is Yucatec Maya, the language of Mayans. It usually happens that historians and experts on the same subject have diagonally opposite opinions and the unsatisfied group emerges as bashers. This happened to this movie as well. Accuracy was questioned. However, despite of such voices, the realism was applauded by everyone (including the bashers).

Written by: Sujoy Ghosh