Kapil's Korner » bollywood

My new DVDs – Hindi classics

Kapil — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:16:43 +0000

Last weekend was a bore. Sick and down with no action at all. Read a lot and caught up with ‘How I met your mother’ season 2, finally.

To kill the sickness blues I went DVD shopping. And I was in a total retro mood thanks to my current read – Bollywood by Mihir Bose.

Mother India – Seen this & thought it should be in the collection.

Pyaasa - Not seen but very keen to see Guru Dutt’s work and Waheeda Rehman perform the role of a prostitute.

Shree 420 and Awaara - The Raj Kapoor classics. Have seen them in bits and pieces on cable TV. But this time going to watch it end to end.

Hopefully should be catching up with the movies soon and will share my thoughts here. Meanwhile do tell me what’s been your favourite classic movie from Bollywood or the Hollywood collections.

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Harishchandrachi Factory

Kapil — Wed, 12 May 2010 07:33:31 +0000

Last night the MacBook refused to go online. After a 2 hour struggle it just won’t work.

So I gave up. Which lead me to dig out the DVD of Harishchandrachi Factory [Theatrical Trailer] – A Marathi film depicting the struggle of Dadasaheb Phalke in making Raja Harishchandra in 1913, India’s first feature film, thus the birth of Indian cinema. The film was selected as the official entry from India at the Oscars. I was particularly interested in watching this film because I am currently reading Bollywood: A History by Mihir Bose which traces the birth of Indian Cinema.

A 90 minute entertaining film made with a lot of character from those days. It traces the path which Dadasaheb Phalke had to walk to fulfill his dream to make India’s first “moving picture”. Some learning from the film -

At a time when a government job was the most secured profession or to do something tried and tested like setting up a printing press for him was so much easier. But he instead thought against the wave and decided to make India’s first motion film.

Your dream needs to be fueled by your own passion, first. Dadasaheb Phalke almost sold out his house to pursue his dream and even left his pregnant wife and went away for 2 months to London.

Dadasaheb fought against all odds – an almost lost eyesight, limited financial resources, friends and neighbours declaring him mental and almost taking him to the Thane Mental hospital. And then they were all proved wrong.

Ideas don’t come when you sit with a pen and paper and wait for them. Ideas come when you least expect them.

And lastly, a man set out to achieve something can’t do much without the support of his loved ones and a few kind hearted souls around him.

I strongly suggest you go pick up the DVD of this movie and watch it. Has English sub-titles for people like me who are not completely at ease with Marathi.

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Let SRK be your next holiday guide

Kapil — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:28:21 +0000

Filmstars. The Divas. We like to walk, talk and dress like our favourite star. And now you have the option to even holiday like the stars in their on-screen avatars only, of course.

SOTC in an interesting tie-up with Yashraj Films presents what they call the Enchanted Journey. Travel Packages which explore Europe and promise to give you an experience just like SRK-Kajol had in the mountains of Switerzland or Abhishek-Rani in the streets of Paris. I tried checking the website for an idea as to what’s the “enchanted” element but very little innovation in describing the packages for these holidays. I wonder if it’s like the typical stuff – “this is the place where Raj proposed to Simran” or this is the place where “hum tum” was shot.

Continuing the trend, Makemytrip.com has tied up with SRK’s latest – My Name is Khan to offer the Indian vacationer an opportunity to explore the USA, just like SRK does in the film. [View TVC] Sadly, on makemytrip.com I could not find any package on offer which has been co-branded with “My Name is Khan”. Actually there is NO mention of the film tie-up on the website.

So this summer holiday I hope you enjoy your trips just like in the movies.

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5 people I would invite to lunch

Kapil — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:00:12 +0000

Read an article in Campaign India which inspired me to put this down.

Farhan Akhtar
This is the guy who once again re-confirms my â€œlife-wishâ€ to make a movie someday. His ability to play so many roles (film director, actor & singer) and that too with superb performances is commendable. Firstly, I would thank him for responding to the letter I sent him a few months back after watching ‘Rock On’. Then I will discuss what does he tell himself before jumping into the unknown waters. How do you expect a film director to make his debut in a movie in which he sings the songs himself?

ShahRukh Khan
The first two guests are from the film industry but I guess they have a certain attraction. I wonâ€™t meet SRK because he is King Khan but rather because there was something he said long back and that thought has been kind of printed in my head – â€œI strive to do good work, money is only a byproduct.â€. And would love to know the secret of his energy. He is very active and needs only 4 hours of sleep to keep him going.

Robin Sharma
Read his books and have found them to be a great source of positive thinking and looking at life in a new perspective every time. Loved his book The Greatness Guide. Would love to chat up with him and dwell deeper into understanding the simplicity of life we forget in this fast moving world of ours. A totally philosophical chat, this one would be.

Thomas Hawk
This man has a mission – 1 million photos to be uploaded on flickr in his lifetime. He rarely travels without his camera & equipment. He not only has a brilliant photo collection on flickr but also is a photographer rights activist and talks a lot about his processes and experiences at the blog. Thomas is a person who inspires me to shoot more and experiment with angles and Lightroom effects. Will have a discussion on what’s it that he searches for from his viewfinder and hits the shutter to take that awesome shot.

Milind Deora (Who’s he?)
Politics and me don’t fit together very well. A little because I don’t really get the idea and a little because I believe Indian politics is a bit too complicated to comprehend. A luncheon with this young face of Indian politics, would only to be understand his attitude towards the political system. Is he just following his father’s footsteps? Does he see a future for this country different from what the old leaders see it as? Maybe this chat can finally get me interested in politics and it’s workings.

So, who’s that interesting person you would like to have lunch with? Share your thoughts in the comment area.

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Fashion – Not a show-stopper

Kapil — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:03:38 +0000

Creativity is not a cut and paste formula. And I guess what works once, maybe even twice may not work again and again. That’s what Madhur Bhandarkar seems to have missed out on in his latest project – fashion.

Gay designers, the need to sleep around for work, drug abuse, alcoholism & a bit more – a very predictable story line which leaves very little to imagine and nothing really to look forward post interval. Unlike a Page 3 it gives you nothing to be aghast about and no twist in the storyline will make you twitch in the seat.

If there is something superb about the movie it’s the casting and performance. Every role has been etched out very well and each one of them has done a fantastic performance. Kangana looks the very realistic drug addict they made her out to be. Priyanka does a good mix of attitude and emotion to play her role perfect. Of course the little surprise package is Chitrashi Rawat. [She was a rough 'n' tough missy Komal Chautala in Shah Rukh Khan's Chak De India.] Just 4 little scenes but impressive stuff.

There was a an over-dose of gay fashion designers and makes you believe that if you are a male fashion designer – you gotta be GAY. People from the industry may beg to differ that the world isn’t that bad after all – and it maybe tough, but then Madhur has very beautifully shown us that the corporate world isn’t easy either.

Final verdict: Watch this movie for it’s performances and for a storyline which is different from the Bollywood masala. I won’t label it as realistic cinema and or even put in the same league as Page 3. Also I hope Madhur’s next is not another “behind the scenes” of some industry yet again.

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Farhan Akhtar writes back to me

Kapil — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:30:36 +0000

Two weeks back I saw Rock On and blogged the review in a Letter to Farhan. I later sent an email to Farhan’s production company Excel Enterntainment expressin my wish to share the letter with Farhan himself.

A day later I got a response from a production supervisor at Excel saying that the letter had been forwarded to Mr.Akhtar.

And later this afternoon I get an email from the man himself. Farhan actually read the letter on my blog and put in a little note to me. (email addresses have been deleted here to protect them from any spam).

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: farhan@
To: “EXCEL ENTERTAINMENT”
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:53:55 +0530
Subject: Re: Fw: From my Blog: Letter to Farhan
Hi Kapil. Thanks for sharing your appreciation. Will pass on the warmth to the rest of the crew.
best wishes
farhan

It’s been a lovely feeling to have my movie review read by the team and getting an acknowledgement for the same. Once again, thanks Farhan for writing back.

Note: I DO NOT HAVE Farhan’s email address. The best way to get in touch with him is via the website at Excel Entertainment.

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Letter to Farhan

Kapil — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:30:49 +0000

I watched Rock On and thought I should send a congratulatory note to Farhan & his team for a good job they had done.

Dear Farhan,

I couldn’t ask for a better treat. I watched Rock On with my wife and I think it was time well spent on my birthday.

“Multi-talented” is the word which my wife used to describe you. A fabulous director who makes a debut with Dil Chata Hai, a solid performance in Rock On and then you even sing the songs yourself. Kudos.

The incident where you decide to leave the band and walk away to Delhi reminded me of a similar incident many years ago when I too walked away from a project I started with my friends. We were young, restless with very little maturity and understanding in our heads. If it wasn’t our way it wasn’t the right way.

Arjun does a real good job in portraying that typical guitar player from the Bandra area. I am sure a lot of aspiring performers may have identified with his struggle. As always Purab is fun to watch and his image transformation from his band days to the shop owner has been done well, but I thought showing him in a full sleeve with a designer pen on a Sunday afternoon at Army Cafe was taking it a bit too seriously.

Little Prachi couldn’t have made a better choice than Rock On to be her launch pad into Bollywood. I really hope she lives up to her performance (whatever little there was for her) and does not get into the type-cast bollywood masala numbers. But when it comes to brilliance I think Joe’s wife (Shahana) does a real god job showing the young bubbly college girl turn into this frustrated house-wife. I bet she’s already got some directors on her door step.

Farhan, I don’t know if it’s your sense of fashion & design or is it the hard work of a fantastic team which makes the styling of your movie so-so desirable. Whether it’s Aamir’s room in DCH, SRK’s clothing in DON or your very own home in Rock On. Fantabulous.

Man, what were you guys thinking when you’ll wrote those lyrics. “Meri laundry ka ek bill, sinbad the sailor”. How did you convince your Dad (Javed sahaab) to write those things? But they are so sticky I was actually humming them on my way back home from the cinema hall.

Of course I am not going to let you walk away with all the credit because Abhishek does deserve the credit for having directed this wonderful movie whose DVD I can’t way to buy.

Regards,
A fan who truly loved your movie

P.S The little (but strong) message at the end made an impact and I actually went to 3 shops before I could get myself the original audio CD of the movie. It’s freaking SOLD out almost everywhere.

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Microsoft brands with Bachna ae Haseenso

Kapil — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:00:41 +0000

Yash Raj Film’s latest venture Bachna ae Haseeno may or may not be a box office hit. But if there is something they have hit for sure is a a good in-film brand placement initiative with Microsoft’s Halo 3.

The brand team for Halo 3 at Microsoft, India should be commended for a wonderful branding activity they managed to get themselves with the film. The film’s director and dialogue writer have done a good job in making it not feel like a deliberate branding effort. And of course the producer has surely walked home with some good money to help finance those huge production costs.

A particular scene where Ranbir rattles of names of some Microsoft XBox games is so well stitched into the script I am sure not many would have got hit hard unless you have that little marketing/advertising “keeda” in you.

However if there is something I hope the movie does not drive home is the point that all Microsoft Gaming professionals are “killer Casanova’s” like the super-sexy Raj.

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Monday Mumble: Radio channel idea

Kapil — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:55:26 +0000

For some strange reason I have been thinking “radio” all of last week. That’s maybe because I spent three sick days last week listening to a lot of music.

— from inframan – (?)

Idea #1: You’ve got TV channels dedicated to religious talks – Aastha, Sanskar and a few more. How about having Radio channels dedicated to bhajans, spiritual talks and good sayings … something which can give people more than just bollywood masala. Ad revenues should not be difficult, after all religion is a big money subject in this country.

Idea #2: I don’t know if this has been attempted before. Radio channel branded public transport buses. Radio channel pays the bus operator a fee and gets to have the channel playing in the bus all the time. Bus can be branded too – “Is bus mein sab kush hain, kyonki sab Radio Mirchi sunte hain”.

Would love to know what do you think of the ideas, share your thoughts in the comment area.

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Woh Lamhe

Kapil — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 08:54:36 +0000

Thursday night is attractive to watch a movie at Inox, the Manhattan card gives you one free ticket with every one purchased. So itâ€™s two for the value of one â€“ And at Inox rates it matters. Wife and me decided to catch the late night show of Woh Lamhe.

A movie aptly named, this is about two lovers who spend some beautiful moments before destiny separates them. Very filmy, has to be because itâ€™s a Mahesh Bhatt story and a big brother Mukeshâ€™s production. This move inspired from the lives of Mahesh and Praveen Bhabhi has all the elements of a masala flick â€“ lots of romance, drama and a big of action too. Although Shiney Ahuja is impressive in his role, I think the dude had some major problems in his throat enacting certain scenes which needed loud screaming (like the one at the Orra party). And letâ€™s not even talk about Kanganaâ€™s diction â€“ She should skip the English atleast. Somebody who really did a fine job was Purab Kohli. It was so very good to see him in a different role from his usual VJing. The director should have spent a little effort to get some of his junior artists perfect â€“ the news-reporter who announces Shamaâ€™s discovery at the hospital. Gosh â€“ He sucked! And the doctor at the hospital could have done some better acting.

Two dialogues which really take the cake:

If there is no hope, we shall invent it.
I will kill you, if you die.

All in all, this movie is worth a dekho. However I would have liked it if the horror and psycho bit could have been kept to a minimum. Besides I think the whole storyline makes for an interesting book. Any writers taking up this one?