Walk Like An Egyptian Bodybuilder

Bunny Slipper

Holey Cow!

Whip It!

Live Long And Prosper

Neat-o's

Angry School Kid

Ouch

"I Ate Shreyas R. Krishnan."

UPDATE: You can see more pictures and words about Shreyas' predip on her blog here:

http://shreyasrkrishnan.blogspot.com/2009/04/predip.html

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Shreyas did the posters and headers for the combined pre-diploma display (predip) that I'd put up at the end of my 4th year in 2007. Which reminds me, I still have to upload pictures from that display. Anyway, I thought I would reciprocate since it is now Shreyas' turn to put her predip up. I made this series based on a random thought I had. There are some repeats and modifications due to time constraints.

The first image is a mock-up I used to get Shreyas' approval.

The second is the poster (we printed it in different colors).

After that are a series of labels/headers which describe the various courses Shreyas undertook at NID and on her exchange programme.

The last blank one is for her retrospective look-back on the last four years.

As usual, click on the pictures to enlarge. Enjoy!

PS - The creature came to be called Custard after the poem by Ogden Nash.

Ya-Ya

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Pappu Postman

I'll Be Home For Christmas

LUCK BY CHANCE: Beginner's Luck?

As a filmmaker (or perhaps a filmmaker-to-be), I often find myself thinking more about the process of filmmaking itself as opposed to what that process should be used to present. Such is the case with Zoya Akhtar's debut film, Luck By Chance. "Write what you know" they say and it feels that she's tried to do exactly that.

Hot on the heels of the last Excel Productions film, Rock On!!, Luck By Chance marks the entry of Farhan Akhtar's sister into the world of films and it's the world of films that she decides to deal with. And rather than offering us a soup or salad to whet or appetites, she gets right into things with a thali-full of delights.

The set-up of the film is efficient and the title sequence is one of the most poignant tributes to Indian cinema that I've seen in some time. We instantly know that we will be covering a lot of ground. The plot-lines are many and varied: There's Sona Mishra's (Konkona Sen Sharma) struggle to become an established first tier heroine; there's Romy Rolly's (Rishi Kapoor) struggle to make a blockbuster film while balancing the airs of uppity celebrities; there's Zaffar Khan's (Hrithik Roshan) struggle to maintain some semblance of a normal life amidst extreme adulation and fame; there's Neena Wallia's (Dimple Kapadia) struggle to make sure her daughter follows in her footsteps and becomes a big star; and at the forefront is Vikram Jaisingh's (Farhan Akhtar) struggle to tie all of these plotlines together while he treats every other character as a rung on the ladder to the top.

Most of the peformances are top-notch. Rishi Kapoor is completely over-the-top, Dimple Kapadia is super scary and Hrithik Roshan stands out as the straight man amidst all the hijinks. Zoya Akhtar peppers the narrative with minor characters, many a celebrity character and observations on the nature of the industry. While these references are whizzing past with every scene, one minor complaint is that instead of being the perceptive views of an insider they pander to the cliches that one associates with Bollywood. But that's a relatively unimportant issue when we see how much is dealt with.

It's a wonder that the script is able to handle all of these threads (and many more) to weave a rich tapestry of the "Hindi Film Industry". In spite of moments of confusion, we are treated to everything from the corporate side of Bollywood to the dedication of theatre actors to their muse. And while it's commendable that all of this manages to stay coherent, it does make us lose track of who or what we should be following.

While Vikram's story seems to be the one we should be following, a second act turn makes us wonder what we are really invested in. And while this is an interesting approach, it isn't helped by the fact that the story begins to meander and almost reduces itself to a series of gags and oh-look-it's-so-and-so-celebrity situations. Rather than building to a resounding climax, it limps it's way across the finish line to an ending that is quite brave and down-to-earth but at the same time unexpected and a tad undeserved.

In fact it's not very dissimilar to the trailer for the film. It starts as a light-hearted satire on today's Bollywood and descends into sentimentality and heavy-handedness. By trying to have the ostentatious song-and-dance sequence along with a certain cynicism, it balances along an uneven tone and one feels that Zoya Akhtar wants to have her cake and eat it too.

Having said that, I do think it's a great first effort and there is just too much in this film to leave disappointed. It's great to see an intelligent voice shine through and hopefully once Ms. Akhtar achieves the catharsis she seems to desire, she moves beyond the realm of what she knows to what she wants to know.

*** stars out of *****

Who Wants to be an Oscar Nominee?

Like everyone I had been waiting eagerly for the announcement of the Oscar nominations and boy was I disappointed. I was very, very put off by the 10 nominations that Slumdog Millionaire received and let me tell you why. Although the Oscars are not definitive in any way, let's be honest here - they do hold some weight amongst the film community.

Slumdog Millionaire is by no means a great film. It is a good film but not a great one. I'm a big fan of Danny Boyle and he does great work here. But it's the script that had me tearing my hair out! Simon Beaufoy's screenplay is so convoluted, so contrived and so uneven that the fact that the film is being appreciated so much only goes to show what a great director Danny Boyle is. I am an Indian and while this rant has nothing to do with the current media buzz about Slumdog being "poverty porn" or misrepresentational, this has everything to do with Slumdog's story being devoid of common sense.

I can buy the idea of the gameshow questions framing the narrative; in fact I think it's a really good idea. But there are plot holes in this script that I could drive a space shuttle through. I understand that it's a fairytale. I understand that I have to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the ride. What I don't understand is that I have to watch these unbelievable characters contradict themselves and contradict logic at the same time. Would a gameshow host really be jealous of a contestant? Would said contestant be tortured for cheating as if he'd planted a bomb on the set? If the money is not so important to Jamal, does he even have to answer the question once he's found Latika? After showing us the harrowing childhood that he had can we really believe that this British-English speaking call-center employee is the same boy?

Let me confess here that I did enjoy the film. I'm just getting bothered with the hype, awards and otherwise, that is being generated around it when there are other, more deserving films around. Maybe it is a fascination with "exotic India". Maybe awards nominations are based on agendas: we have a holocaust movie, an epic life story, a political movie, a gay-rights movie, and Slumdog Millionaire. But to give this a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay over so many of the other gems we had last year is just hypocritical. Does this film really deserve to win or did it just get lucky with its lifelines?