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PassionForCinema (10 unread)

This Manjha comes with a sharp edge

Posted: February 25th, 2008, 6:34pm CST by Utpal Borpujari

54. That is the number of films that I and two of my co-jury members watched in just five days at the 10th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short & Animation films (MIFF). The festival was held over seven days, from February 3 to 9, but the films in the Indian competition section (in which I served on the critics jury chosen by the Indian chapter of the International Federation of Film Critics – FIPRESCI - along with Uma da Cunha from Mumbai and M K Raghabendra from Bangalore) were screened from the 4th to the 8th. Of these 40 were documentaries, nine short fiction films and five animation films. We had a tough task at hand, since we were mandated to give out only one award – I personally felt it was a great injustice to the films as we had to select the winner from among three different genres of filmmaking, none of which can be compared with the other two for obvious reasons. The main jury had a much better task at hand, as they had an array of awards to give out for all the three genres.

The critics jury gave its award to Vinod Raja’s Mahua Memoirs, a hard-hitting, investigative film that exposes how big-moneyed MNCs are virtually breaking every possible law of the land, with the government almost deliberately looking the other way, to carry out exploitation of mineral resources deep within protected forest areas in the tribal belts of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.

But here, I am not writing about this film. Instead, I want to introduce all of us to Manjha, a Marathi-Hindi short fiction film directed by Rahi Anil Barve. This 27-year-old director’s B&W film won two top awards – the best film award in the fiction category and the IDPA award for the best first film by a director. It was not surprising to see it winning these two awards. Barve’s 40-minute film deserves every ounce of the praise it got at the festival, despite its loud background score and somewhat tardy ending.

Even then, Barve has shown why he should be a man to watch out for. Shot in darker tones even for a B&W film, the camerawork by Pankaj Kumar is highly interesting, adding to the film’s mood. Barve has taken up a dark subject – of child molestation - in his very first film, and the way he has plunged head on into it is quite outstanding. I don’t remember the name of the child actor who played Ranka, a street orphan all of ten years old. He makes manjha (well, we all have flown kites sometime or the other, isn’t it?) for a living, and he has to take care of his three-year-old little sister Chimi, who is somewhat mentally challenged. The guy is simply too good, confidently mouthing the street lingo – not of the Hindi cinema kind but the kind one would actually hear from such homeless kids surviving on the streets of big cities – and making the rough-and-tough character enactment seem an easy thing to do.

A mentally-disturbed cop – disturbed because he had been abused by his father as a child – gets friendly with Ranka and takes Chimi on the pretext of buying her some sweets, only to sexually abuse her. Ranka finds her next morning at a construction site, lying half-dead, and the cop goes on to explain to him that such things keep happening, especially if it has to be with people of his kind of background, and it is best to forget about it and move on with life. But Ranka knows he has to protect his sister from monsters like the cop, and he takes his revenge, in the process losing whatever little innocence he has as a child. This more or less is the film’s storyline, but the execution of the subject shows Barve is on firm ground.

The film, made in SP Beta, is too dark for comfort sometimes, but he has not let the mood slip even for once, and that is where he has succeeded as a director. How many times do we see a film with a dark mood suddenly losing its way thanks to our propensity to squeeze in that so-called audience-pampering item number. Yes, it is easy not to waver in the short fiction format, and I don’t know if Barve would be able to show this uncompromising streak when he makes his first and subsequent feature films, but I hope he does. I would wait for this guy to come up with his next work. It’s a pity that we cannot get to watch this kind of short films in our theatres, and have to depend on festivals to access them. Catch this film if you get a chance.
Valu (2008)

Posted: February 2nd, 2008, 2:11pm CST by Full2Faltu

Three characters, a wild bull, a reluctant forest officer and a village deep in the interior of Maharahstra. The wild bull goes on a rampage destroying a lot in the village and to stop it, a forest officer is called to catch the bull. The Marathi film “Valu” directed by debutant director Umesh Kulkarni has this one line story which forms the skeleton of a interesting two hour movie.

Valu is a village tradition in Maharahstra where a bull is let loose in the village in god’s name. The bull is free to roam anywhere in the small village of Kusavade until it goes berserk and starts destroying crops and the village. To counter the menace, a forest officer is called from the government forest department. What happens after that is what the story about.

Valu is not as much of a story as in having a start or a climax. Its all about catching the bull but then it explores the socio-economic condition with respect to caste, gender and the political struggle. A reluctant forest officer who thinks catching a bull is below his status, a aging village headman (sarpanch), a wannabe sarpanch who wants each and every opportunity to be the sarpanch, a mad woman who is trying to protect the bull, an old woman who is the only one who feeds the bull. a young couple who are separated because of the bull, the village priest who has a bowel problem, his wife who’s only dream is to build her own latrine, a couple who wants to see their daughter be a successful heroine, a villager who is helping the forest officer with everything and prides of his closeness to the officer, the forest officer’s brother who is making the documentary of the whole process make a long list of interesting character each different and each with its dreams and belief.

Capturing their every antics and goof-up is the documentary film maker. It makes the story interesting as each person tries to be best in front of the camera

Valu does not have a hero or heroine but has characters each as important as the other in the movie and the plus point of the movie is the one-line story and a great script. Valu biggest plus point is the script and the characters and the actors who play the characters. Each character has been well-defined, well-etched and does not look like a mere add-on.

While watching Valu, I could not help comparing them with the TV News channel. A political rivalry, a love story, an environmentalist who is in minority, the fascination of reality TV and to capture this all, a film maker who wants to make an exciting documentary. The emphasis of the film maker is to tell an exciting story rather than the truth much aligned to the new channels of today who want to sensationalize the news as an entertainment and not as news.

While watching the movie with Sandeep, he was excited to watch because he could relate a lot to the language and tradition shown in the movie. This is a compliment to the movie to show the Maharahstra as real as possible,

Valu does not have any songs but the background score by Mangesh Dhakde is too good. Another good aspect is the Cinematography by Sudhir Palsane. The dry mountains, the serpentine roads, the village has been captured beautifully. Atul Kulkarni waking up and standing on the door while the sun rises behind him, the dry golden hills, the dark bull standing on the barren hills are some of the shots worth mentioning.

Watch the scene when husband and wife are fighting in a shop as their small daughter watches. Three characters seen through three doors. A wonderful scene.

As for the actors, there are many. Atul Kulkarni as the forest officer, Swanand Gaddamwar is as usual very good. Then there is Dilip Prabhavalkar, Mohan Aghase Bharati Achrekar, Amruta Subhash, Jyoti Subash and many others. A worthy mention is Girish Kulkarni who plays the role of Jeevan, the man who helps the forest officer around the village. Amruta Subhash did seem to be a little out playing the village girl but by the end of the movie she did seem to hold on quite well.

I wish the editing was more crisp as some scenes seem to drag a little but then its a minor drawback.

I was losing faith on Marathi movies again with some pathetic release the last few months with most movies being a poor remakes of English or Hindi movies. Kedar Shinde’s last two movies namely “Bakula Namdev Ghotale” and “Yancha Kahi Name nahi” disappointed a lot. He seem to be losing the magic of “Aga Bai Arechya”

Valu does come as a breath of fresh air and hopefully Marathi film makers come up with such nice stories. Remakes just does not make any creative idea.

Valu is funny, entertaining and thought-provoking. Its a good story, brilliantly shot and good acting.

It has been just released (25th January 2008) and if it is still playing, go and see it. Its worth a watch

Rating: 8.5/10
38th IFFI-Goa : Indian Panorama announced

Posted: October 16th, 2007, 8:18am CDT by Utpal Borpujari

The Indian Panorama for the 38th IFFI (Goa, Nov 23-Dec 3) has been just announced.

Lenin Rajendran’s “Ratri Mazha” (Night Rain) in Malayalam and Samir Chanda’s “Ek Nadir Galpo” (Story of a River) will represent India in the Asian-African-Latin American Competition section. The Panorama section will open with another Malayalam film, Shyamaprasad’s “Ore Kadal”.

The other films in Indian Panorama are B S Lingadevaru’s “Kada Beladingalu”, P R Ramdas Naidu’s “Moggina Jade” K Shivarudraiah’s “Daatu” (all Kannada), Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s “Naalu Pennungal”, Renjith’s “Kayyoppu”,
Babu Thiruvalla’s “Thaniye” (all Malayalam), Bhavna Talwar’s “Dharm”, Sameer Hanchate’s “Gafla” (both Hindi), Sanib Sabhapandit’s “Jaatingaa Ityadi” (Assamese), Mangesh Hadawale’s “Tingya”, Gajendra Ahire’s “Maai Baap”, Bipin Nadkarni’s “Aevdhe Se Aabhaal” and Vishal Bhandari’s “Kaalchakra” (all Marathi), Gnana Rajasekaran’s “Periyar” and Padma Magan’s “Ammuvagiya Naan” (both Tamil), Anjan Das’ “Jaara Brishtite Bhijechilo”, Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s “Ami, Yasin Aar Amaar Madhubala” (both Bengali), Makhonmani Mongsaba’s “Yenning Amadi Likia” (Manipuri).

The jury was headed by veteran Tamil director K S Sethumadhavan. The other jury members were filmmakers Manju Borah from Assam, Leslie Carvalho from Bangalore, Abhijeet Dasgupta from Kolkata, Mrunalinni Patil Dayal from Mumbai along with Delhi-based critic. Shubhra Gupta. There were a total of 119 entries.

The non-feature jury, headed by Arun Khopkar, selected Bishnu Deb Haldar’s Bengali “Bagher Baccha” (The Tiger Cub) as the opening film of that section.

The non-feature film jury selected only 15 entries for the Panorama out of the 149 entries received, even though the maximum possible number in the section is 21.

The selected films are Aribam Syam Sharma’s “Rajashree Bhagya Chardoa of Manipur”, Supriyo Sen’s “Hope Dies Last In War”, Meren Imchen’s “Nokpokliba” (all English), Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s “Naushad Ali – The Melody Continues”, V Packriswamy’s “Pandit Ramnarayan”, Ladly Mukhopadhyay’s “Whose Land Is It Anyway?”, Ashok Rane’s “Masti Bhara Hai Sama”, Manisha Issrani Misra’s “Joy Ride”, Bipin Choubal’s “Mubarak Begum” (all Hindi), M A Rehman’s “M-Tyude Kumaraneloorke Kulangal”, Vipin Vijay’s “Poomaram”, Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s “The Dance Of The Enchantress”, Dhiraj Meshram’s “Harvilele Indradhansh” (all Malayalam) and Haobam Paban Kumar’s “Ngaihak Lambida”(Manipuri).

The non-feature jury comprising Pankaj Butalia, Kavita Chaudhary and Gautam Saikia went through 149 entries received.
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag - the ‘inspirations’!

Posted: October 13th, 2007, 12:00pm CDT by Utpal Borpujari

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (dir Pradeep Sarkar) is an ‘inspirational’ work. That is what is being said in some sections of the media and the Net.

Here are 4 films which have similar story backgrounds. Decide for yourself.

1. Doghi (Sisters) Marathi (1995)

Dir: Sumitra Bhave & Sunil Sukhtankar; Cast: Renuka Daftardar, Sonali Kulkarni, Uttara Baokar, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Suryakant Mandre.

Synopsis: The story of two sisters, Gauri and Krishna, two ordinary middle-class girl in a village who, as their fate would have it, fall into different circumstances in life. After her husband’s fatal accident, Gauri comes to her poor brother in Bombay only to end up as a sex worker. Her sister, Krishna tries to help her in vain. A social drama with human pathos lifted by superb performances from the main cast.
It went to a lot of international film festivals and won some awards too, including Torino (Italy) where it won the Grand Jury Prize, Indian Panorama in IFFI (1996), the National Award for the Best Film on Social Issues (1996), Mannheim International Film Festival (Germany), Belgrade Film Festival (1997), London Film Festival (1996), Cairo International Film Festival (1996).

This is what Sarkar said in an interview:
Q: There’s talk that Laaga Chunari…has been inspired from the Sumitra Bhave-Sukthankar directed Marathi film, Doghi?

A: Yes, Adi (Aditya Chopra) did hear about this film a long time back and the idea had stayed with him. He developed the story and when I heard it, I almost cried. And Rekha Nigam, who previously did the screenplay for Parineeta did a superb job with it.

2. Nirontor (Forever Flows); Dir: Abu Sayeed; Bangladesh (2006)

Synopsis: A lower-middle class family in Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka is going through hard times. Their father has gone blind and can no longer work, and most of the family’s money has been wasted on their unemployed son Hiru, who refuses to work. All the family s problems fall on the shoulder of their beautiful daughter Tithi, who works as a prostitute to help the family. The film is a fairly non-judgmental look at the lives of Tithi, her family and the people she comes in contact with through her job.
This Bengali language film got a special jury award at IFFI (Goa) in 2006 and was Bangladesh’s official entry for the Foreign Language Oscar.

3. Ek Din Pratidin (A Day Like Any Other); Dir Mrinal Sen (1979)

Synopsis: The bread-winning daughter in a middle-class family fails to return from work one evening. The night begins with worries at home, followed by midnight searches and finally a deepening crisis arising out of economic and moral constraints prevalent in the society. Yet the film speaks of hope, of strength hidden behind despair.

The storyline is exactly similar to LCMD, but has a premise that rides on the same issue.

4. AAINA; dir: K Balachander, Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Mumtaz, Jagdeep, Madan Puri; 1974

Synopsis: Ram Sastri is an honest and upright purohit earning his livelihood by performing religious ceremonies. He would starve rather that accept charity in any form. He has a big family-wife and eight children. To add to his woes, his sister, accompanied by her daughter, comes to stay with him.
The purohit’s grown-up daughter, Shalini, once accepts a sari from her childhood friend Ashok. She accepts the gift because the sari she has is in tatters. But Ram Sastri would have none of it and sees to it that the sari is given away to a beggar woman. Once the children enact a drama with Shalini in the role of a boon-granting goddess. Everyone expresses his or her wish. Her brother Gautam wants to be a doctor. Purna wants to be a musician while Devi desires to be happily married. One brother wants to be an engineer, another a major in the army. And, large-hearted Shalini promises to fulfil their wishes. Despite objections, she takes up a job locally to meet the needs of the family.

When it is time for Gautam to seek admission to the medical college, Shalini goes to the city to solicit recommendation. She stays with a danseuse friend whose inaugural dance performance is fixed for the following day. At the house of an M.L.A. from whom she expects to obtain a recommendation, Shalini meets a woman who promises her to take to a bigwig who would arrange for the admission of her brother to the medical college. The next day, Shalini goes to attend the dance performance but there she meets the woman of the previous day who drags her forthwith to the bigwig who molests her.

Shalini returns home to be told that Gautam had already been allotted a seat in the medical college. Now he needs money to join the college and again Shalini is called upon to do the needful. Meanwhile, Shalini is transferred to Delhi and she decides to go. There, She asks the boss for an advance so that she could remit the money to her brother for his college fees. He offers to pay but at price. She weighs the pros and cons and finally, in the interests of the family, agrees to succumb to the boss’s carnal desire. From then on, she earns plenty of money as prostitute and Ram Sastri’s family prospers.

Devi’s marriage is fixed and Shalini comes home to attend the wedding. To her horror she discovers that the bridgroom had once been her ‘customer’, Provoked by Shalini’s song, he disappears on the bridal night, but she seeks him out and the two, after an argument, agree to forget the episode and returns to his bride.

A chance remark of Shalini… “I have become immune to the presence of men”…raises suspicion in the minds of her parents. “Ashok corroborates saying that she had been living as a prostitute. Ram Sastri is furious. He turns her out, says is dead and performs that last rites. Even Gautam, whose marriage with the Tahsildar’s daughter she had arranged, scoffs at her and drags her out of the house.
Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles 2008 Call for Entries

Posted: September 18th, 2007, 1:08am CDT by Vijay

IFFLA 2008 Announces Call for Entries

The Sixth Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) seeks narrative, documentary, music videos, experimental, children’s and animated films of any length and format. IFFLA will run April 22-27, 2008 at ArcLight Hollywood, a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of Los Angeles. Jury and Audience Choice Prizes will be awarded for Best Feature, Documentary and Short Film.

IFFLA 2007 had over 6,000 attendees and screened 36 films from 8 countries. In addition to the high-quality of presentation of their work, filmmakers in attendance gained access to an eclectic mix of professionals from the Los Angeles film industry.

Check out what our past filmmakers have to say about their festival experience.

Due to the increasing number of submissions, IFFLA now offers reduced entry fees for films submitted before November 12, 2007. Final submission deadline is January 7, 2008. For further information as well as the submission form and guidelines, please visit www.indianfilmfestival.org/submissions.html
The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) was established in 2002 as a not-for-profit organization devoted to promoting a greater appreciation of Indian culture by showcasing a selection of films from or about India by Indian and international filmmakers as well as films that reflect diverse perspectives of the Indian Diaspora. In addition, IFFLA continues to spotlight works by Indian filmmakers that cross boundaries to tell compelling stories of a global perspective.

www.indianfilmfestival.org
What should be Indian entry to Oscars this time?

Posted: September 4th, 2007, 7:54am CDT by Utpal Borpujari

Pickle, an online journal on the entertainment industry, believed to be backed by one industry body, has reported that the Film Federation of India (FFI) has started the process to select the Indian entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar in the 80th Academy Award.

It says that a cross section of industry experts and critics contacted by it “squared in on” Feroz Abbas Khan’s Gandhi My Father (Hindi), Ameer Sultan’s Paruthiveeran (Tamil) and Maniratnam’s Guru (Hindi) as their favourite choice for nomination from India for the Oscars.

Some of the other films that are in the “radar of Oscar watchers” are Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya (Hindi), Shanker’s Sivaji (Tamil), Radhamohan’s Mozhi (Tamil) and Rosshan Andrews’ Notebook (Malayalam), it claims. But it adds the rider, “Analysts appreciated the films listed in this para but were not confident to bet on any of these movies.”

According to Pickle, Gandhi My Father and Paruthiveeran stand out in the list as they are unique films from India to get nominated in the best foreign language film category.

FFI has asked the regional associations to submit movies for preview, and is likely to announce the nomination from India by end September.

Keeping in mind the fact that a film released between Oct 1 of the previous year and Sept 30 of the current year can theoritically enter for the Oscar Award (in any category, though except for the Best Foreign Film award all others would have to have a theatrical release in USA to be eligible) for the coming year, let’s find out which are the films PFCians think should compete to become the Indian entry this year.

Also, let’s debate a few points here:

1. Over the years, FFI has sent in some strange entries from India (eg Jeans), which will only get jeers from the Academy voters. Why?

2. Has the FFI ever sent a film by India’s acclaimed masters - Ray, Adoor, Bimal Roy, Benegal - to the Oscars? Or will it ever send a film by the new age filmmakers like Sudhir Mishra, Anurag Kashyap and so on (at least Amir Sultan’s name finds a mention in the Pickle report)?

3. Why cannot the Best Feature Film award winner at the National Awards be nominated as the Indian entry to the Oscars (of course, there is a problem here, as the time span for award eligibility for the National Awards and Oscars are different - Jan 1-Dec 31 of the previous year for the former)?

4. How would you compare the Indian entries for the last few years with the ultimate winner (for eg, Lagaan with No Man’s Land, which pipped the former for the Best Foreign Language Oscar)?

5. Which are the Indian films that you thought deserved to be nominated over that year’s FFI nominee - since the Oscars started - and why?

6. Finally, do we take the Oscars too seriously? After all, this is mainly a focus on the Hollywood industry, with a minor award for the best foreign film thrown in! And Indian cinema has won major awards in every major film festival over the years, from Neecha Nagar (1946) onwards. So, why fuss over the Oscars, if we negate the fact that just because of the media blitzkrieg it gets the biggest hype, even more than the awards given by prestigious festivals like Cannes, Venice, Berlin and so on?

By the way, I have tried to search online for all the Indian entries to the Oscars over the years, but could not locate any resource. Can anyone suggest?
That’s Passion!!!

Posted: August 21st, 2007, 3:35am CDT by wb

One look at it, and you will realize that it is a typical South Indian village.

The vista evokes nostalgia in every Anna, Chetta, Thambi and Thamma — the rusty red (Mangalore) terracotta tiled roofs on the cute little row of houses that are huddled together like one single cozy family; the dusty roads, all of them ending in unison near one chowk - the center of the village and a major landmark - where a grand colonial looking statue stands aloft ceremonially adorned by the crows and pigeon poop; a post office; a cinema theater - sinima hall - that plays old South Indian movies; a push cart ice cream seller; a huge Pipal tree under which sits a fortune teller, who has decorated the tree with his handmade hand charts that explain his expertise; a beggar clad like a sadhu; a sweetshop and the disillusioned owner of it; a bunch of kids who gather around to play gulli cricket — I lack words to explain the immense sense of belongingness these images invoke in the minds and hearts of Indians.

One person named Raasipuram Krishnaswamy Narayanaswamy Iyer, a writer by profession who failed in his English graduate exam the first time, had the creativity to bestow upon us this glimpse of Indiana in his beautiful words, while another genius named Shankar Nagarakatte, a stage performer by passion, had the gumption to give life to those words by composing them into images for the benefit of future generations.

Malgudi Days! The master piece that will continue to captivate every Indian’s heart for generations to come.

“Tanaa na tana nana naa” these words by themselves may sound corny and meaningless, but the moment I think “Malgudi Days” these gibberish words magically get transformed into a melodious albeit rustic music - and all it is, honestly, is just a person, that too one with a nasal twang, humming - a heavenly, haunting and unforgettable tune that is engraved forever in the mind of every Indian child in late 80s.

R.K.Narayan’s words, R.K.Laxman’s sketches, L.Vaidyanathan’s euphonic score, Manjunath’s adorable portrayal of Swamy and to top it all, Shankar Nag’s astute vision of recreating Malgudi in Agumbe, a beautiful place that God made with utmost care nestled in the foothills Western Ghats.

Malgudi Days is our M*A*S*H; it is our Hogans Heroes; it is our A-Team and it is our I Dream of Jeannie. It is an important milestone in the history of Indian television. And it became possible only because one person had the dare to dream.

Shankar Nag! God bless his soul!!
RAINS–Slushy For Mumbai, Sexy For Bollywood

Posted: July 27th, 2007, 3:26pm CDT by krysh

Mumbai rains played truant almost throughout July..Then suddendly today it started raining again..Not raining..But pouring..It hardly drizzles in Mumbai.

Whether it becomes Shanghai or not one thing is for sure, Mumbai scores over it in terms of rainfall. It receives almost the double the amount in Shanghai.For your gyan the average annual rainfall of 2120mm is almost double of Shanghai’s 1143 mm. Moreover no other global cities match Mumbai’s average.

‘Another unique aspect of Mumbai rains is that no other city handles as many intense rainy spells. Hongkong and Shanghai get six to seven months of rain, while Mumbai piles up its staggering average in just three very wet months.’ So much and such muck for Mumbai rains.

You might wonder what is the link between Mumbai rains and Bollywood.It’s said that Mumbai ki barsaat aur producer ki baat ka kabhi bharosa nahin kiya ja sakta( Mumbai rains and producers’ claim can’t be trusted).

Mumbai has a love-hate relationship with rains. It can’t live without rains, it can’t live with it also. Too much of it cause pain to Mumabi city. But for Hindi Films aka Bollywood rain spells gain..Off screen, rains may lead to fallen attendance at the theatres but on screen rain ususally helps in luring audiences to the theatre. To an extent rains brings out the voyeur within the audience.

Hindi Films romance with rains is legendary and full of sensuality. Hindi Films have invariably flirted with rains–whether in portion of a song sequence or its use in drama,suspense and action films. Songs like Ghanan Ghanan ghir ghir aaye badra (Lagaan) or Allah megh de paani de (Guide) form the very basis of a film story.

But focus of this post is on the best of Hindi cinema in terms of rain songs that celebrate rains per se and the resultant interplay of ignited passions between the genders. The typical scenario plays somewhat like this: Lightning and thunder. She gets wet. Shivers.Invariably she is without any outer protection. He lends her his jacket..She takes it and He escorts her to a nearby cottage or a glass house(with lots of window panes). Or she carries the jacket for a while and then lets herself loose in the rain. In her chiffon or mini skirt. He joins in her revelry. Or plays indifferent to her advances. In his denim shirt or simple banian. Eventually both come under the cottage or a glass house. He lights the logs in an already established fireplace or make shift one. Lightning and thunder.. This time dimple on his chin and droplets on her cheek are highlighted..That work as a spark to ignite already simmering passions.They come close..And closer.In earlier times not so far away before the advent of mulitplex era, the moment they came closer camera panned to the firelogs..Now- a- days it goes full nine yards in its exploration. All said and done the essence still lies in the song, not the sex.

Here is a random selection of my favorites.

Rimjhim girey saawan, sulag-sulag jayee mann (Manzil–Yogesh’s lyrics sizzle and smoulder as Amitabh Bachchan and Moushmi Chaterjee get wet on Mumbai streets)

Ik ladki bheegi bhaagi si, soti raaton mein jaagi si,mili ik ajnabi se (Chalti ka naam Gaadi–Madhubala is simply stunning in her drenched state)

Saanson ko saanson mein dhalney do zara..lamhon ki guzaarish hai paas aa jayein (Hum-Tum–Again beautiful picturaisation of Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee getting wet and close on Mumbai streets, especially in the night)

Lagi aaj saawan ki phir wo jhaddi hai (Chaandni–Vinod Khanna’s anguish on unrequited love touches a chord deep down..Juhi Chawla looks stunning)

Kaate nahin Kattey din ye raat, kehni thhi jo dil ki baat, aaj main kehti hoon, I love you (Mr. India–Sridevi never looked so sensuous and erotic as getting wet in blue chiffon saree )

Hai Hai Ye majboori, Ye mausam aur ye doori…teri do takayaan di naukri, mera laakhon ka saawan jaye ( Roti Kapda Aur Makaan– Zeenat Aman mocking Manoj Kumar’s reservation of letting himself loose in the monsoon rain)

Bheegi Bheegi raaton mein, meethi meethi baaton mein, aisi barsaaton mein kaisa lagta hai ( Ajnabi–This question answer duet has some of the best similies to express feelings about rain enacted on screen by Rajesh Khanna and Zeenat Aman )

Aaj rapat jayein toh humein na chhuradiyo (Namak Halal–Amitabh Bachchan and Smita Patil going berserk in machine made Mumbai rain..Watch Prakash Mehra doing Alfred Hitchcockian appearance in the song)

Baadal kyun barastaa hai, darr kuchh aisa lagta hai (Betaab–Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh while giving those wet and wiling looks to each other definitely don’t look debutantes)

Hai re hai, neend nahin aaye dil mein tu samaye ( Humjoli– Leena Chandravarkar adding to Jeetendra’s passion and pelvic thrusts in the rain)

Chhoti si kahani se,baarishon kay paani se..saarii vaadi dhul gayi ( Ijazat–Shots of lush green hills, fog, drizzle,droplets on the leaves,meandering brook, cascading waterfall all through a train journey..the entire atmosphere with the song playing in the background is–in one word- enchanting)

Saawan barse tarse dil, kyun na nikaley ghar se dil ( Dahek–surprisingly Aadesh Srivastava reprised Yanni’s Aria and made into a melody in which Akshaye Khanna and Sonali Bendre go through various locations,obstacles and modes of transport–all in rain, just to meet each other)

Saawan Ka mahina pavan karey sor (Milan–Nutan correcting Sunil Dutt on word sor as shor has so many layers wrapped around itself..And then the words used to express effects of saawan on one’s sensibilities is wonderful)

Barkha rani zara thham kay barso,peey mere aa jaayein chahe jum kay phir barso ( Sabak–Shatrugha Sinha’s appeal to rain as a Queen to go slow till the beloved comes and then it can pour, reminds one of Kalidasa’s Meghdoot where clouds are made a messenger to convey one’s feeling to the beloved. Plus Mukesh’s rendition is so soulful)

Tip tip barsaa paani, paani mein aag lagi ( Mohra–Raveena Tandon gyrating to seduce Akshay Kumar has all the masaala and cliches, still it brings out Raveena’s lurking sensuality and shows the chemistry between the lead pair)

Koi Ladki hai jab wo gaati hai…tak dhum dhum, tak dhum dhum ( Dil Toh Pagal Hai–Getting drenched and wet in accompany of kids adds to this songs buoyancy and zing..Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in their elements)

Mohe ang lag ja baalma, main akeli piya,sard hai mora jiya ( Mera Naam Joker–Padmini’s voluptuousness just bursts forth after getting wet in the rain and her entreaty to Raj Kapoor provides an amazing counterpoint)

Barso re megha megha barso re ( Guru–Wonderful atmosphere where Aishwarya celebrates rains and her own spirit of freedom)

And my two top favorites:

Pyar hua ikraar hua, pyaar se phir kyun darta hai dil ( Shri 420–You just can’t ignore the sizzling chemistry between Raj Kapoor and Nargis..Both under one umbrella..So near yet so far..And in one shot threesome of Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and Rima Kapoor seen as kids…. walking down the footpath with their raincoats on..Captivating)

Roop tera Mastaana, pyar mera diwaana bhool koi humse na ho jayee ( Aradhana–If there is one single example of showing effects on human sensibilites without actually getting wet but with rain constantly looming in the background, its this song..Picturised in a single shot it brings out the carnal desires between Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore without them lip-synching..Just an inter-play of reactions with burning firelogs adding to the smouldering passion..Ultimate)

So join in to add on your own favorites from hindi, tamil,telugu,malyalam,english, bengali,marathi,punjabi rain songs from films and may be music albums too– till rain-drops keep falling on my head (and yours too).
Dombivali Fast

Posted: May 4th, 2007, 3:02am CDT by FenderBender

An awesome review was already done for this by Full2Faltu here. I am not going to write a big review or analysis or the movie or its characters, acting, direction, etc. I just felt that I had to express the feelings and emotions this movie evoked in me. Coming from a Maharashtrian family from Mumbai and personally knowing many such regular white collar straight-jacket Madhav Aptes, this movie gave me goosebumps, had me in tears, brought a smile to my face at times as the movie hit the right spot!

The movie definitely sets you off on a spiral of introspection. Brilliant is an understatement! A review in words really can’t do justice to this movie. The emotions that the audience goes through are the real review of this awesome work!
Dahavi Pha (2002)

Posted: April 30th, 2007, 7:44am CDT by Full2Faltu

Human beings always like to categorize, segregate other people in a particular group or category. It is always US against THEM. This groupism can be based on religion, region, sex, caste and many more categories. Its always those Bengalis, Marathis, Tamils, Europeans, Muslims, Americans, Indians, Dalits, Brahmins, Nerds, Yuppies, blacks, whites, brown and a number of groups. If a person can be categorized in a group, he/she will be. This groupism a lot of times leads to alienation of that group which can have a negative impact on the society.

The Marathi movie “Dahavi Pha” (10th Standard division F) explores this very concept without going into too much preaching. Dahavi Pha is a story of group of student studying in the 10th Standard of a school in the “F” division. The students in the school are grouped according to their exam scores. The “A” division being the boys who score the highest in exam. The “F” division consists of students who are weak in studies. Here the division of students in the classes is based on the marks they get in the exam and not on their intellect.

The students of 10th F are humiliated, shouted at constantly with the teachers not so keen to teach them properly. Every teacher go in the motion of completing the syllabus instead of really explaining it to them. The attitude of the teachers rubs on the students too, who are least interested in studies. However the same students are used for school work when things are to be done, mostly physical. Most of these students are from the lower-most income group of the society who also work part time to support their family. In the course of time they develop a rebellious attitude which triggers the story.

During a normal fight between students of different classes, the “F” division students are punished while the other class is let free. Angered by the injustice, the “F” division students destroy the school lab. To bring discipline to the school, all the students of that division are suspended unless they pay for the damages. Many students are on the verge of discontinuing their studies while the school does not relent. A teacher, who has seen his own anger destroy a life, takes the responsibility of the student and motivates them to the right path in turn repaying the damages and at the same time studying. How the teacher and the students achieve their goal and learn a valuable lesson in life forms the rest of the story.

The second half of the movie is all about how the teacher directs the anger of the students and also tries to convince the other teachers to accept the students as equal. The movie is termed as a children film but I guess its not, at least not in the sense like other children movies. It could be called a mature children movie.

The movie attacks the basic education system where the exam marks determine the type of students. It also questions the responsibility of the teachers in the education framework. Are the teachers only supposed to teach the subjects or are they suppose to build future citizen. However clichéd the previous sentence seemed, it is also true that the teachers impact a child mind after parents. A child spends most of the time in school after home and here is where the teachers influence the child’s behavior and personality.

Primarily the movie tries to question the categorization in general and not only in the education system. Although not mentioned in the movie, the question is evident.

The movie is directed by teacher-student duo of Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar. The duo had earlier directed “Doghi” and later directed “Vastupurush”. The duo faced many problem because of shortage of funds but eventually did manage to complete the movie. The movie is fast paced but does slow down at some instances. Being a children film, it should be more fast-paced. The lack of funds shows in cinematography.

The story, script and dialogs are by Sumitra Bhave. Although most of the dialogs are as realistic as possible, some of the movie has heavy Marathi dialogs like the conversation between Atul Kulkarni and his friend which is completely in poem. Although very beautiful written and enacted, the scene suddenly slows down the pace of the movie and takes off again after that.

Atul Kulkarni plays the teacher who guides the student and as always has done a wonderful job. This is one actor who is completely under-utilized. In addition there are many child actors who have given quite a good performance.

There are quite a few songs in the movie like “Tum pan Sahi”, a kind of mavali song and “Oh Sir, Amhi kelach kay ho sir?”

The movie looks at the economically poor student who work and study and at the same time are not able to perform in the exams. However the students have qualities which are not generally appreciated because of being poor in studies. The students work to repay the school damages sometimes working as labors in market suggesting child labor. Was it justified? I don’t know.

All in all, Dahavi Pha is wholesome entertainment.

Rating: 8.5/10