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?

40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

Quite brilliant!

WTF?!

"Solid Death"

Blue Bird Hero

An Ode to Mr. McKay

Written & Directed by: Siddharth Gautam Singh
Animation: Siddharth Gautam Singh, Rohit Iyer
Sound & Mixing: Siddharth Gautam Singh
Narration: Rohit Iyer

"Once upon a time, not so far away, lived a little frog named Mr. McKay..."

The tale of Mr. McKay, a fashion-conscious frog who loves to party!

Created for Lina Tipnis' show during Lakme Fasion Week 2008.

For more info, check out Sid's blog here - http://cafesid.blogspot.com/2008/11/once-upon-time.html

X Films Poster

Here's a poster I made for a screening of the final films of my junior batch in Film & Video Communication. Originally, it was going to be like an engraved tablet. But for better readability, I decided to use a scroll background.

Also, I realise that there are certain leaps of logic, like text and images appearing on the rolled up part of the scroll. But I think it looks cool... and that's what counts!

PS - The "X" is a Roman numeral, as in 10 Films, not X-rated films! :)

Tatha

Roadside Romeo

I saw the film a few days ago. I was going in with low expectations: I didn’t like the designs (quadripeds standing on two legs is kinda awkward), but I was still curious. Unlike many Indian “animated” features, which are sometimes more like animatics, the trailers for Roadside Romeo showed full animation and some real acting, for a change. Also I was interested in how local this film would really be.

I can’t believe I’m saying this: I actually enjoyed myself. It’s easy to make fun of this film, but when you realize it’s not trying to be more than it really is, you can’t help HAVING fun instead. The story is very cliched - a rich bratty dog named Romeo gets left on the streets of Mumbai when his family leaves for London. He befriends the street dogs, falls in love and hoodwinks the local bull dog villain (Charlie Anna, he literally steals the show).

What it lacks in terms of plot, the film makes up for with some great voice acting and insightful humour. The gags here are not translated from Hollywood, but rather from live-action Bollywood. The characters talk like stereotypes definitley, but INDIAN stereotypes, and that is (in a small way) a step forward.

The film has been written and directed by former (failed) Bollywood actor, Jugal Hansraj, and he actually does a good job of balancing comedy with interesting characters. The animation was done by Tata Elxsi - http://www.tataelxsi.com/ - and while character design and art direction do take a back seat, the animation itself is pretty good, without a hint of motion capture.

I’m pretty sure that by having Disney involved in this, the standards have definitely been raised. Made over a two-and-a-half year period, it seems to have come along pretty quickly.
My only hope is that this film, while bordering on mediocre, opens up avenues for better big-budget animated features here in India.

I know this has kind of turned into a mini-review I’ll just finish by saying, if you’re a Bollywood fan - go see it. Otherwise a lot of the in-jokes will fly past.

Jesus H. Christ!

Octopussy