to cinema, with love

Plot:Taking place over the course of over two decades, City of God tells the story of Cidade de Deus (Portuguese for City of God), a lower class quarter west of Rio de Janeiro. The film is told from the viewpoint of a boy named Rocket (Busca pé in Portuguese) who grows up there as a fishmonger's son, and demonstrates the desperation and violence inherent in the slums. Based on a real story, the movie depicts drug abuse, violent crime, and a boy's struggle to free himself from the slums' grasp.

My Take: From the word go, this movie is captivating. What is so different about this movie from the movies of its genre is, its treatment. Just after the movie, i was wondering how such a script could be written(the movie spans over two decades, with a lot of characters being presented to us and in a shortwhile they get killed by someone. In short almost every character kills someother character and in a while gets killed by someone else). Later I found out that this movie was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins, which are both based on a true story. Still the screenplay is handled exceptionally well. The cinematography by Cesar Charlone is excellent. The effect of the camera work on the screen is such that the entire film seems lively as if you are witnessing the actual scenes. This movie is an example on the contribution of cinematography in making of a classic. Another section which is amazing is its editing by Daniel Rezende. The editing in this movie is phenomenal. This part keeps you glued to the movie till the end. The background music is exceptionally good and very apt to the scenes in the movie. Hats off to the director Fernando Merielles and co-director Katia Lund for making a well crafted movie .

The film's real ace is the kids(most of the actors in the movie are kids).All the kids in the movie give us a pleasant surprise.Though most of them had been cast through open auditions and were, in fact, residents of favelas such as Vidigal and the Cidade de Deus itself, they undoubtedly give the authencity such kind of movies demand. The scene in which two young kids must decide whether they want to be shot in the hand or the foot contains some of the most powerful acting in the film. The film contains multiple stories and its told in a unique way. The way in which the stories unfold make you feel more than a spectator; you feel part of their world. I feel so happy to have watched this movie. But i have a regret that i couldn't watch this movie in a theater. Undoubtedly this is a true masterpiece and you dont get to watch movies of this sort often. In fact movies of this quality are rarely made, may be once in your lifetime. It's irresistible. It's sheer crime to miss this movie. Do watch it when you can.

I went to see this movie on the 6th day of its release and found hardly two dozen people had turned up for the show. But it didn't take me long to find the reason out. Some of the bold scenes shown in the movie makes it almost impossible for someone to watch it with his family. But to be frank the movie had some surprises in store for me.

Son of a rich industrialist, who is sent away to London when he was 12, Dev [Abhay Deol] returns to his hometown and to Paro [Mahi Gill], his childhood sweetheart. Inseparable as they seem, a misunderstanding puts their lives in a tizzy; Paro is married off to someone else and Dev goes into severe depression. Not one to take on responsibilities for his acts, Dev Digs deep into drugs and alcohol for salvation. He stays away from home, but his finances still come from a doting father.Lenny [Kalki] likes to live her life on the edge a rich student with a penchant for adventure. After a devastating MMS scandal, she's abandoned by her family and is forced into isolation. As a runaway, she finds shelter with Chunni, a pimp. With great determination and inner strength she adopts an alter ego Chanda .As Chanda, she gets to be a high profile escort by night, while Lenny remains a college student by day. At this juncture, Dev enters her life.

As from the plot above its clear that the movie is loosely based on the epic Devdas. But there are differences apart from the fact that its set in modern era.. The circumstances used in the movie has been taken from real life incidents [for eg: Delhi MMS scandal] and using these kind of incidents the story of the contemporary Devdas is told. The immediate reaction of moviegoers after the show would be that the movie is all about alcohol, drugs and sex as almost in the entire film you wont find a single frame which doesn't contain any 1 or more of the 3 things mentioned above. Surprisingly i liked the movie. The main reason would be the boldness in the movie. Dark movies are rarely made in this part of the world. It was refreshing to see a movie without any ishq,pyar,mohabbat or any rab. Entire storyline had this difference from the usual hindi mohabbat films. Coming to cast i think Abhay did pretty well. Mahi suited for her role as Paro and Kalki was so different from the usual heroines on our screen. And not to forget about the curvy-women whom Dev meets at his house in the party. She compensated her acting with her exposure. This movie is definitely worth a watch, but with a word of caution:dont watch this with your parents.

Plot:Taking place over the course of over two decades, City of God tells the story of Cidade de Deus (Portuguese for City of God), a lower class quarter west of Rio de Janeiro. The film is told from the viewpoint of a boy named Rocket (Busca pé in Portuguese) who grows up there as a fishmonger's son, and demonstrates the desperation and violence inherent in the slums. Based on a real story, the movie depicts drug abuse, violent crime, and a boy's struggle to free himself from the slums' grasp.

My Take:From the word go, this movie is captivating.Though the events in the film can be found in various other films what makes this movie so different from the others is its treatment.Just after the movie got over i wondered how such a script could be written(the movie spans over two decades, with a lot of characters being presented to us and in a shortwhile they get killed by someone.In short almost every character kills someother character and in a while gets killed by someone else).Later i found out that this movie was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins, which are both based on a true story.Still the screenplay is handled very well.The cinematography by Cesar Charlone is excellent.The effect of the camera work on the screen is such that the entire film seems lively as if you are witnessing the actual scenes(it may be because the film is told from the viewpoint of a boy named Rocket).What is the contribution of cinematography in making a classic?City Of God very well shows the importance of top notch cinematography in making a claasic.Another section which is amazing is its editing by Daniel Rezende.The editing in this movie is just out of this world.This part keeps you glued to the movie till its over.The background music is exceptionally good and very apt to the scenes in the movie.Hats off to the director Fernando Meriellesand co-director Katia Lund for making a movie this like.

The film's real ace is the kids(most of the actors in the movie are kids).All the kids in the movie give us a pleasant surprise.Though most of them had been cast through open auditions and were, in fact, residents of favelas such as Vidigal and the Cidade de Deus itself, they undoubtedly give the authencity such kind of movies demand.The scene in which two young kids must decide whether they want to be shot in the hand or the foot contains some of the most powerful acting in the film.The film contains multiple stories and its told in a unique way.The way in which the stories unfold make you feel more than a spectator; you feel part of their world.I feel so happy to have watched this movie.But i have a regret that i couldn't watch this movie in a theatre.Undoubtedly this is a true masterpiece and you dont get to watch movies of this sort often.Infact movies of this quality are rarely made, may be once in your lifetime.Its irresistible.Its sheer crime to miss this movie.Do watch it when you can.

Director:Yash Chopra
Producer:Gulshan Rai
Story/Screenplay:Javed Akhtar,Salim Khan
Cinematography:Kay Gee
Editor:Pran Mehra
Music Director:R.D Burman
Lyricist:Sahir Ludhianvi
Cast:Amitabh Bachchan,Shashi Kapoor,Nirupa Roy,Neetu Singh,Parveen Babi
Length: 174 minutes
Release Date:January 24,1975
Country:India


Plot:Two brothers, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi(Shashi Kapoor) grow up in a working-class urban area. As they enter adulthood, their lives take two entirely different directions.Vijay, who starts out as a boot polisher and becomes a dockyard worker in his youth, becomes a smuggler and a leading figure of the underworld.Vijay sacrifices his own education so that his brother Ravi can pursue education.Vijay posing as a businessman helps his family through hard times. He meets and falls in love with an exotic dancer, Anita (Parveen Babi). Meanwhile Ravi joins the police force, where he gets assigned to a case tracking down a smuggler. It turns out to be his brother.What follows is a drama of conflict between the brothers backed with terrific performances by the cast.

Take: Deewaar(Wall) came at a time when the country was disappointed and restless and the people were ready to lash out.So when Amitabh Bachchan donned the robs of Angry Young Man who turns to crime out of angst and pride, the audience was more than ready to cheer him on.And the phenomenon was born.The '70s signaled the end of the tragic hero.No one wanted a weak protagonist and strong romantic tracks.The audience wanted action,swift and deliberate.Deewar provided them just that, with a strong script and great dialogues with punch lines that became iconic words of Bollywood.While earlier writers used the language of films, writer duo Salim-Javed lifted street language from the nooks and crannies of Mumbai and put them on screen.Vijay, a driven man who becomes the big crime boss, is able to find refuge in his mother's embrace only when he dies.For the first time, the audience was willing to accept such a character. Earlier, when you had Ashok Kumar playing a thief, he was still a thief, though with a heart of gold.Not so in Deewar, which found the audience rooting for him rather than his policeman younger brother.

content courtsey:Rafique Baghdadi.

DID U KNOW?

• Amitabh was offered the role after Dev Anand apparently turned it down because the character had no songs, which was a must for any actor in those years till Deewaar took Bollywood by storm.

• Amitabh Bachchan's character, Vijay Verma, is loosely based on famous Bombay smuggler Haji Mastan. To give the role authenticity, Amitabh Bachchan reportedly met Haji Mastan to study his mannerisms.

• Gulshan Rai,the producer, read the movies script twice, and both the times he got so emotional that tears burst from his eyes.

• Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar originally intended that the film be songless and only relented upon the director's insistence that songs be accommodated.

• The screenplay minus the dialogues was written in just 18 days.

• Zanjeer was the other film that patented Amitabh as the Angry Young Man, which he turned into complex moral territory and is the cornerstone of an extraordinary career.

• Amitabh Bachchan shot 'Sholay' (1975) and ‘Deewaar’ simultaneously. Since most of his scenes feature him indoors or during the dark, he used to shoot ‘Sholay’ in the morning and ‘Deewaar’ during the night.

• Though this is consider to be one of the best performances of Indian films, Amitabh Bachchan didn't win the best actor Filmfare award that year.That year Filmfare Best Actor award went to Sanjeev Kumar for Aandhi.

• After the release of the movie, Amitabh's favourite screen name became Vijay, used in over 20 movies.

• Mere paas maa hai - "I've got mom." is considered to be most recognized dialogue from any Indian film.
  

• Indiatimes Movies ranks Deewaar amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films

‘Ghajini’ is a film that ought to be seen for the sheer novelty of its theme. Inspired – and to some extent, lifted – from Hollywood’s ‘Memento’, it tells the story of Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan) who can’t remember anything beyond 15 minutes. He suffers from short term memory loss. But somehow he has found ways to remind himself of just one thing – that he has to find and kill the man whose name his murdered lover Kalpana ( Asin) whispered in his ear just moments before he too was hit on the head with an iron rod, never to fully recover his memory again. So, through tattoos and polaroids and notes he keeps reminding himself of just one aim – to find Ghajini, the killer whose face and whereabouts he neither knows, nor can remember.

Director: Ramesh Sippy
Producer: G P Sippy
Story/Screenplay: Javed Akhtar,Salim Khan
Cinematography: Dwarka Divecha
Editor: M Shinde
Art Director: Ram Yedekar
Music Director: R D Burman,Basu Manohari,Maruti Rao
Lyricist: Anand Bakshi
Cast: Sanjeev Kumar,Dharmendra,Amitabh Bachchan,Hema Malini,Jaya Bhaduri,Amjad Khan
Length: 204 minutes
Release Date: August 15,1975
Country: India

Plot: Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) enlists the help of two small-time, but brave crooks, Jaidev (Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra), to seek revenge on Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), who has killed all but one of his family members. Jai and Veeru's decision to stay and take up the landowner's offer - rather than raid his safe and run - is influenced by their attraction to the Thakur's widowed daughter-in-law, Radha (Jaya Bhaduri) and local girl, Basanti (Hema Malini), respectively. What follows is the battle of good versus evil entwined with romance, comedy, music and dance.

My Take: Sholay (Flames) starts with the most kinetic opening of Indian cinema.The first action, of bandits raiding the train sequence, gives us a clue about the treat we are about to receive.Perhaps, the greatest film in the history of Bollywood cinema (with one of the longest theatrical runs in Bollywood history), this is the definitive Bollywood action epic movie in the same way that Leone's 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly' was the definitive Western.The film is based loosely around the concepts of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai & John Sturges The Magnificent Seven.The film features the acting talents of the actors and a visual delight is provided by the cinematographer Dwarka Divecha.The strength of the movie lies in the way the story is told.There are flashbacks in flashbacks.Got confused?But it isn't confusing when u see the movie.The dialogues are classy and have become a trademark with the people of future generation;especially “Arre o Saambha, kitne aadmi tay? (Oye Saambha, how many men were there?)”,"Jo darr gaya samjho margaya (Who ever is scared is dead)".Salim-Javed hit a creative high with their sterling work on dialogues and story in “Sholay”.Comedy has a pride of place here. Surma bhopali and The Angrezon ka zamane ka jailor are unforgettable. But the real comedian is our very own Dharmendra. His exuberance in everything from drinking away to glory to teaching Basanti to shoot is a pointer to every young lover.The scene when Amitabh goes to ask Hema Malini's hand for Dharmendra to her 'Mausi' is hilarious.In comedy the suicide scene steals the show.R D Burman's music is great and is exactly what the movie needs.Everyone who has seen the movie would have his/her own favourite scene.Finally the movie is a miracle in terms of its ingredients and its perfect casting.Be it in action, comedy, romance, storyline its a true cinematic masterpiece.

DID U KNOW?

• When first released, the film was declared a commercial disaster.The collections had dropped and the theatres started running empty.Then word of mouth convinced movie-goers to give the film a chance and soon it became a box-office phenomenon. It ran for 286 weeks straight (more than five years) in one Mumbai theater, the Minerva.

• Sholay was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate silver jubilee (25 weeks) at over a hundred theatres across India.

• Sholay's initial theatrical release was 10 years, where it played in a Mumbai theater. This record lasted until it was broken by Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995).

• Each actor wanted to play the other's role. Thakur's and Gabbar's role were the juiciest ones. Amitabh Bachhan and Sanjeev Kumar wanted to play Gabbar. Dharmendra wanted to play the Thakur. But he relented when the director informed him that in this case Sanjeev Kumar would play Veeru and get the heroine. Sanjeev had just then proposed marriage to Hema. Dharmendra was in love with her and so it did not take "Paaji" a single moment to go back to the role of Veeru.

• Sholay was an event which had long term effects on the lives of the film stars and the technicians involved with the film. It changed their careers forever. Especially Amjad Khan who eventually played Gabbar Singh.

• Danny Denzongpa was offered the Gabbar role but backed out two weeks before shooting began, and Amjad Khan stepped in at a salary of Rs500 a week.

• It was the first Indian film to have its dialogues released on audio cassette.And perhaps the only film in which the dialogues outsold the songs.
  

• A description of the famous overhead tank scene where Dharmendra threatens Mausi with suicide and Jai attempts at making a proposal of marriage was drawn from a real life scene. This was when Javed was in love with Honey Irani and wanted to marry her. Salim his partner and the lady's mother were against the tie-up between the two. But very reluctantly Salim went on to make a marriage proposal on Javed's behalf and the dialogues between Mausi and Jai were drawn from the actual dialogues between the lady's mother and Salim.

• The film was a lavish production for its time. It took two and a half years to make; it went Rs. 300,000 over budget. Much of the film was set in the rocky terrain of Ramanagaram, a village near Bangalore,Karnataka . The filmmakers had to build a road from the Bangalore highway to Ramanagaram for convenient access to the sets.In fact, one part of Ramanagaram town was renamed "Sippynagar" after the director of the movie. Even to this day, a visit to the "Sholay rocks" (where the movie was shot) is offered to tourists travelling through Ramanagaram (on the road between Bangalore and Mysore).

• In 1999,BBC India declared it the "Film of the Millennium".

• In that same year, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare awards awarded it with a special award called 'Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years' .Interestingly when it was first released, Sholay won only one Filmfare award: film editor M. S. Shinde won for Best Editing.It didn't win any other Filmfare award including the best film award which went to Deewar, another masterpiece script by Salim-Javed.

• In 2006, Sholay was voted best film in Iran.

• The flamboyant Shatrughan Sinha was initially cast for the role of Jai, but Amitabh Bachchan convinced the producers that he was suitable for the role.

Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Producer: Aamir Khan
Story: Ashutosh Gowariker
Screenplay: Ashutosh Gowariker,Kumar Dave,Sanjay Dayma
Dialogue: K.P. Saxena
Cinematography: Anil Mehta
Art: Nitin Desai
Editor: Ballu Saluja
Lyricist: Javed Akhtar
Music Director: A R Rahman
Cast: Aamir Khan,Gracy Singh,Paul Blackthorne,Rachel Shelley
Length: 223 minutes
Release: 15 June 2001
Country: India

Plot:The year is 1893. The farmers of a small village in central India have been waiting for the evasive monsoons to rain on their dusty crops but to no avail. On top of their woes, the local British ruler Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne) has demanded double tax - Lagaan. The angry villagers confront their masters, only to be faced with the arrogant Russell who issues them with a challenge: a game of cricket.The unlikely heroes are led by enigmatic farmer Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), who slowly wins the hearts and minds of the village, inspiring them to learn the game and climaxing in the most lively and tense cricket match witnessed on the silver screen.

My Take:This may seem like a ridiculous idea for a movie but this was one of the most exciting and wonderful movies ever made in Indian cinema.It all comes down to a cricket match between the upper class British twits and the neophyte Indian farmers.But the movie is no just about a cricket match.It speaks volume about the Indian culture, the social issues and the lifestyle of people of central India in that era. The movie is not just a story. It is an experience. An experience of watching something that puts life into you, that puts a cheer on your face, however depressed you might be.To make a movie of this kind calls for real guts. It requires grit and determination to attempt a film of this magnitude. It requires guts to defy the norms and parameters of commercial cinema and devote the entire film to a cricket match. It also requires valour and money in abundance to recreate an era which none from the present generation have witnessed (the film is set in the year 1893). A. R. Rahman does justice to this Indian musical.This movie has gems of A. R. Rahman songs and background scores.Anil Mehta's cinematography, Bhanu Athaiya's costumes, Nakul Kamte's sound and tremendous acting performance by all the actors take the movie to the next level. Amitabh Bachchan's commentary, interspersed throughout the film, is one of the assets.Whichever country you belong to, if you are a movie lover this is a movie which certainly falls in the list of movies-to-see-before-you-die.

DID U KNOW?

• Ashutosh first put forth the idea of the film to Shahrukh Khan, Khan was not able to do the film and recommended Aamir Khan for the film.

• Initially Aamir Khan not only refused to act in it but also tried to dissuade Gowariker from making it.As he insisted in making something 'safe' this time as their previous venture Baazi had bombed at the box office.Finally Aamir Khan went on to produce this high budget movie.

• The movie was shot in villages of Bhuj (Gujarat). Bhuj was destroyed in an earthquake on 26th January 2001, six months after the movie was shot.

• The first Bollywood production in 30 years to use synchronized sound. An Arri535 camera, brought over from Germany, was used to facilitate sync-sound recording. Most Indian films are dubbed entirely in the studio in the process known as ADR.