In Hollywood, there is an unspoken dictum: “No film should have the mental age of more than ten years.” So, the birth of popcorn movies. We call ourselves Bollywood. How can we be any different? We lament the fact that there is no more a Hrishikesh Mukherjee amongst us. But really the question is where are Kundan Shah, Sudhir Mishra and Saeed Akhtar Mirza? --- This is from a article written by Kundan Shah.Its the reality of bollywood in simple lines.
Bollywood and Cricket culture is here in Indian same as Hollywood and Baseball in america. But unlike modern American history, Bollywood is not something you can squeeze in just one lifetime. It is in genes of movie watchers.But a new trend is happening here in recent past. Bollywood totally losing its touch with the Hindi heartland and instead catering to the multiplex-going city slickers. The latest India Today calls it the 'popcorn' movie trend - films specially conceived and designed for the youth which, today, is the highest spending demographic. Young people - and even older folks, families - are going to the movies because it is 'something to do'. In this country we don't have baseball games or any other weekend sporting events(Currently IPL). Well, often a movie gets just 3 stars out of 5 but junta goes to see it because it's 'good time pass'. We don't have a clubbing culture. After 5 days of BPO or IT culture, weekends are just part of great consumer culture.
IT revolution lead to the rise of Internet and mobile culture with people attached to the technology. There are lot of films downloaded over the Internet that forms an important growth of watching films, sharing films along with music in colleges in India. Students across India; consciously or unconsciously watch tons of films from all over the world. Then they feel the shock impact that a lot is happening in the world of cinema and why are we not there. I have felt the same PAIN and AGONY.
All these aspects has lead to the growth and ‘Appreciation of Cinema’ in the country, where people are getting aware about watching good films and not just sticking to watching routine Bollywood fare. These groups of people mainly belong to the urban class. The urban class of film lover notably refers to people leaving in the metros in India because they have the facilities and the accessibility to watch foreign films in theaters, film festivals, and in their own homes.
Today foreign films are released in theatres and Film titles are available in the market, and there are 24hrs satellite TV showing not just Bollywood or Hollywood but World Movies. NDTV Lumiere is releasing foreign language films in India, World movies is up and running, palador and ndtv lumiere again releasing great titles on DVD. Independent films are clicking their space inch by inch with coming years. There is light shining at the end of the tunnel.......
As Indian Cinema needs a support (who love the medium- Cinephile), and not just another SRK fan clubs. Since the importance of such fan clubs or critical look at filmmakers could only hold importance when compared on the overall merit of the 'Indian Film Industry,' since Cinema in India also exist beyond the boundaries and clutches of Bollywood.
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Bollywood Award Ceremonies
Today, Bollywood is cursed by epidemic of award ceremonies. These ceremonies are used as platform for tieing superstars with production houses. But, now we have atleast 5-10 big award ceremonies and each award is given to strengthen business connection or satisfy the ego of ruling bollywood families.
Starting from the 1950's, Filmfare Awards continue to remain the Big Daddy of Indian film awards - probably because no other award has the might as big as that of Times of India behind it. Long before the Filmfare nominations became the subject of nationwide debate and controversy, it was more of an exercise in bonhomie than any serious competition between actors. Anil Kapoor was given a prize for Beta, which was announced (by Dimple Kapadia) without opening the envelope! . It is one of the most blatantly rigged prizes in the history of film awards.This angered Aamir Khan (in the running for Jo Jeet Wohi Sikandar) so much that he has boycotted the awards ever since!
We have now IFFA award each year (not staged in India) and only bollywood films are in contest with the brand name of Indian film federation awards. No regional language films other than pure commercial bollywood flick can enter the competition. And they call it Indian film awards. A real tribute to diversity of India.Hail Preetesh Nandy!!!
News/Scandel/Controversy: Akshay Kumar has rejected the best popular actor award that he received at the Nokia 15th Annual Star Screen Awards. However, Akshay came with his wife to attend the award function. But, later on when he was presented the Best Popular Actor award he refused to accept it saying that he had watched Ghajini recently and he felt that Aamir Khan, the 'Ghajini' star had done a lot better than him or any other Bollywood actor this year. He said that he believes that Aamir Khan should have won the award irrespective of the fact that he attends award functions or not. It was done by him deliberately either to show true face of awards or as he was not given best actor award for 'Singh is King'. Award for the Best Actor went to Hrithik Roshan, 'Jodha Akbar' star as he attended the award function just in nick of time. Other wise, the prize of best actor would have fall in the laps of Akshay Kumar. It would also be ridiculous for sponsors for presenting best actor award to Akshay in front of Hrithik for 'Singh is King'. To satisfy ego of AK, the sponsors presented him the award of Best popular actor. He just nominate his award to the fellow who does not give damn to the award ceremonies. The point to note here is that it was not critic award for acting but was given for popularity among audience. How can one present his popularity to other which solely depends on fans...
One more article about truth behind award ceremonies is here.
Bottomline:In the end, Bollywood Award Ceremonies are all about loving your sponsors.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Unity in Diversity
Rahul Basu rightly reviews the book 'India after Gandhi' in these lines. I really liked them for clear construction of his thought on such a vast topic. "It has become fashionable to deride and denigrate Nehru and Nehruvian socialism and secularism. But it is the Nehruvian ideal, the cliche of 'unity in diversity' that has precisely seen the country through the shocks of more than half a century. It was precisely Nehru's insistence that every culture, every language, every religion, every creed, every caste would have its own place in the Indian polity that, illogically enough, has kept the country together. There has never been an overarching dominant culture to which all others have had to defer. India might be predominantly Hindu, but by no means is it a Hindu Pakistan. "
We need to understand that the cliche “Unity in Diversity” goes beyond the words. Our rich cultural heritage and diversity extends well beyond language and variety in indian cuisine. Cultural, Linguistic, geographical and wildlife diversity of the region gives a rough idea about it.India is so diverse that one life time is not sufficient for anyone to know what exactly it is. The beauty of it lies in diversity. Just imagine how we will be if we were of the same religion, same caste, same color and ofcourse in a tiny country but we aren't and gifted with vast country, different cultures and ofcourse languages. If we all look same in our way of living, race, color and region then aren't we missing a chance to explore this so many wonderful ways of living.
Indians are intelligent enough and our centuries practiced tolerance for diversity has equipped us with strong skills of adaptation. The diversity is mind boggling to foreigners not only in terms cultures & food but the psyche of the people as well. The difference in the south itself is apparent in the way the society has evolved in the last 60 years of independence, where Kerala has taken strides in the social front and rural infrastructure way better than most of the northern states… Karnataka, AP and Tamilnadu have been successful in the new age industries of IT and biotech. Gujjus and marvaris are predominantly business oriented. Among the troops, there is more representation from punjab, haryana, himachal, UP, MP, bihar, rajasthan. Still, Diversity shouldn’t be sacrificed for the sake of a unifying identity.
Amalgam of ethnicity and races against Indian background. It is Melting Pots: Mosaic [Hybrid Culture and Religion]. India as new model for both bio and ethnic diversity. Place of birth of 4 major religion: Hindu, Jainism, Buddhism & Sikhism. Muslim and Christian are fairly adopted here.Jews were given shelter when they were bashed all over the world. Business, Invasion, Settlement and adaption to provide rich heritage. Indian subcontinent is well diverse in each aspect of culture. India, amidst her diversity still stands incredible to the world because she has the ability to evolve while retaining her uniqueness.
Only Europe can match its diversity but not quality. Look at Europe. It got split into small little countries because of the language and culture differences. And today, amazingly they are uniting again, under the flag of EU. It makes economic sense.
Let me end the topic with few quotes:
We need to understand that the cliche “Unity in Diversity” goes beyond the words. Our rich cultural heritage and diversity extends well beyond language and variety in indian cuisine. Cultural, Linguistic, geographical and wildlife diversity of the region gives a rough idea about it.India is so diverse that one life time is not sufficient for anyone to know what exactly it is. The beauty of it lies in diversity. Just imagine how we will be if we were of the same religion, same caste, same color and ofcourse in a tiny country but we aren't and gifted with vast country, different cultures and ofcourse languages. If we all look same in our way of living, race, color and region then aren't we missing a chance to explore this so many wonderful ways of living.
Indians are intelligent enough and our centuries practiced tolerance for diversity has equipped us with strong skills of adaptation. The diversity is mind boggling to foreigners not only in terms cultures & food but the psyche of the people as well. The difference in the south itself is apparent in the way the society has evolved in the last 60 years of independence, where Kerala has taken strides in the social front and rural infrastructure way better than most of the northern states… Karnataka, AP and Tamilnadu have been successful in the new age industries of IT and biotech. Gujjus and marvaris are predominantly business oriented. Among the troops, there is more representation from punjab, haryana, himachal, UP, MP, bihar, rajasthan. Still, Diversity shouldn’t be sacrificed for the sake of a unifying identity.
Amalgam of ethnicity and races against Indian background. It is Melting Pots: Mosaic [Hybrid Culture and Religion]. India as new model for both bio and ethnic diversity. Place of birth of 4 major religion: Hindu, Jainism, Buddhism & Sikhism. Muslim and Christian are fairly adopted here.Jews were given shelter when they were bashed all over the world. Business, Invasion, Settlement and adaption to provide rich heritage. Indian subcontinent is well diverse in each aspect of culture. India, amidst her diversity still stands incredible to the world because she has the ability to evolve while retaining her uniqueness.
Only Europe can match its diversity but not quality. Look at Europe. It got split into small little countries because of the language and culture differences. And today, amazingly they are uniting again, under the flag of EU. It makes economic sense.
Let me end the topic with few quotes:
Rene Dubos -"Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival".
Jimmy Carter -"We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic of different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes and different dreams".
Helen Keller - "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much".
Mikhail Gorbachev "Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences".
Jimmy Carter -"We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic of different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes and different dreams".
Helen Keller - "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much".
Mikhail Gorbachev "Peace is not unity in similarity but unity in diversity, in the comparison and conciliation of differences".
Saturday, December 27, 2008
New face of Indian Cricket
Rookie from every part of India came and change the face of Indian cricket. After the shambles of booking controversy, Ganguly had taken captaincy in his hand. He was passionate and fusion of new blood in team changes the perspective of cricket in India. The whole career of Dada is of wilderness and redemption. Setback and comeback become inheritance culture of Indian team in dada captaincy. He was committed to change regional attitude to national character of cricketers. The unending passion to win and set he landmark has established him as fierce cricketer in opposition camp. Dada has turned hope of millions into expectation for winning both local and abroad. Dada shows how to win in any condition yet known in this part of world.
Back in 2001, the Oz juggernaut that had crushed everything in its path for 16 games came to a shuddering halt when India refused to be cowed at Eden Gardens despite the hopeless situation that they found themselves in at the end of day three. Then we see the miracle and uncertainty of cricket with exceptional win of India. By the time the teams reached Chennai for the deciding Test, the aura had gone, and India calmly picked off 510 in response to Australia's 391 to set up a series win.
The times, they certainly were a changing. Hope was turned into milestone performance. Natwest trophy 2002 was also beginning of new era and yuvi and Kaif makes the dream chase successful. What this photo did for a nation in war, the image on the left did to a nation in doubt with its expression at success. The half-naked Maharaja's slap on proud Brit cheek was perhaps as strong as the "Half-naked Fakir's".
Talent hunter like Greg has pointed out for younger version of our cricket team. But his cynical tactics make him to pay price of failures. Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble has done real good job after taking reins of captaincy. But nothing magical was achieved except first test win in South Africa. Only tough stand of Anil Kumble against Australian sledging and cheating attitude was worthy remembrance. The heated controversy at Australia shows our national nature to stand together in hard times.
Leadership is a spark not hard work or preparation. Its natural or inherited and M S Dhoni has uncompromising pursuit for victory. Peter Roebuck has done very straight to heart article about current condition of Indian Cricket.Dhoni correctly remarked: "It is all about enjoying each other success". I am enjoying his success feat and is Dhoni enjoying mine?
Message for New Year for Indian Cricket:
" Beyond the skies the hope lies and we see a better tomorrow with open eyes !!"
Reality Shows in India
The first ever music reality show was- Popstars. And the nation was hooked on to the fortunes of Viva, long before Abhijeet Sawant of Mumbai or Silchar Assam ke Debojit and Sanjaya Malakar of Mohawk hair fame! But I recalled due to age limit that there was a dance show named Boggie Woggie. It was the first dance show that changed the idiot box viewers interaction. It was the first popular show across India that made the participation of an average Indian possible. Even S. Sreesanth danced to its tune in his childhood days.
Apart from the past, the airing program reminded me of unlimited potential spread across our land. India is beautiful nation and full of colors in each aspect of life. Brilliant Performance by children shows the changing attitude of previous generation towards dance, songs and cultural values. Ethics are changing with time (Degrading according to previous generation).
A new type of show is spreading across cable channels: Reality Show for talent hunting.
Until now, so called 'reality shows' have really been talent shows. Indian Idol, Fame Gurukul, Sa re ga ma,Great Indian Laughter Challenge - all of them promise to make a star out of an unknown quantity.On one hand rich cultural heritage and diversity are expressed to us by competition and on other 'Make a name of yourself fast & big philosophy' is in full flow in masses. Mainly dance, songs, comedy or mimicry is limited to bollywood. Folk culture is dying in fast rush of population for city culture or consumer culture. Leave alone the Drama, Tantrum and TRP ratings. For nonjudicial and biased decision of reality shows, read this brilliant article:
From youthcurry blog, one line thrashers for this trash shows:
Rock n Roll Family: They flirt shamelessly with the judges, and debate on saali being aadhi or poori gharwali. All scripted for sure but there is no sharam or lihaaj in either the banter or the matkas and jhatkas.
Big Boss: It may be trivial, perfectly "yeww" in parts. But even discussing how much you supposedly hate it... is fodder for canteen conversation.
MTV Roadies:The irony of each rounds is that if you ask a junior to do this kind of thing in college, it's called 'ragging' and you could go to jail.
Splitsvilla: The I & B ministry recently issued a notice to MTV for 'denigrating women' .
In my(yayaver) opinion 15 girls to seduce 2 boys is really cat fight not to miss by each boy/guy at home alone.Truly,all of them are one more step ahead for voyeurism,vulgar language and dirty politics on idiot box.And all things are done in the name of reality.
My opinion: We are feeding upcoming generation with "reality TV" obsessed culture. The way the real-life viewers ignore the real lives of their compatriots and customers while focusing on a false life on screen; whose life is more real and whose is worth living? Instead, the insight aspect of the reality show has been catapulted by a society that would more readily watch "reality" than live it.Notable watch for understanding and future of reality showbiz: The Truman Show in this genre.
Message for die hard reality shows fan: The audience that watched the reality show is a self-indulgent audience of consumers who wanted to be entertained no matter what the cost to characters, reminded me of the soaps opera & Paparazzi, of how we like to know about the celebrities, and ultimately of how the product could be the death of someone such as Princess Diana.
Rashmi Bansal quotes in her post about sad state of affairs---
"The whole idea of the new generation of 'reality' shows is to create an 'emotional infection'. While the characters in a soap opera act and evoke emotions, reality shows set up a showdown of some kind which induce emotions, spontaneously. The ultimate irony, isn't it? 'Reality shows' and their contestants are becoming more real and newsworthy for viewers ... than reality itself."
Bottomline: Life is not fair - that is reality. Neither are reality shows which are actually not real at all...
Apart from the past, the airing program reminded me of unlimited potential spread across our land. India is beautiful nation and full of colors in each aspect of life. Brilliant Performance by children shows the changing attitude of previous generation towards dance, songs and cultural values. Ethics are changing with time (Degrading according to previous generation).
A new type of show is spreading across cable channels: Reality Show for talent hunting.
Until now, so called 'reality shows' have really been talent shows. Indian Idol, Fame Gurukul, Sa re ga ma,Great Indian Laughter Challenge - all of them promise to make a star out of an unknown quantity.On one hand rich cultural heritage and diversity are expressed to us by competition and on other 'Make a name of yourself fast & big philosophy' is in full flow in masses. Mainly dance, songs, comedy or mimicry is limited to bollywood. Folk culture is dying in fast rush of population for city culture or consumer culture. Leave alone the Drama, Tantrum and TRP ratings. For nonjudicial and biased decision of reality shows, read this brilliant article:
From youthcurry blog, one line thrashers for this trash shows:
Rock n Roll Family: They flirt shamelessly with the judges, and debate on saali being aadhi or poori gharwali. All scripted for sure but there is no sharam or lihaaj in either the banter or the matkas and jhatkas.
Big Boss: It may be trivial, perfectly "yeww" in parts. But even discussing how much you supposedly hate it... is fodder for canteen conversation.
MTV Roadies:The irony of each rounds is that if you ask a junior to do this kind of thing in college, it's called 'ragging' and you could go to jail.
Splitsvilla: The I & B ministry recently issued a notice to MTV for 'denigrating women' .
In my(yayaver) opinion 15 girls to seduce 2 boys is really cat fight not to miss by each boy/guy at home alone.Truly,all of them are one more step ahead for voyeurism,vulgar language and dirty politics on idiot box.And all things are done in the name of reality.
My opinion: We are feeding upcoming generation with "reality TV" obsessed culture. The way the real-life viewers ignore the real lives of their compatriots and customers while focusing on a false life on screen; whose life is more real and whose is worth living? Instead, the insight aspect of the reality show has been catapulted by a society that would more readily watch "reality" than live it.Notable watch for understanding and future of reality showbiz: The Truman Show in this genre.
Message for die hard reality shows fan: The audience that watched the reality show is a self-indulgent audience of consumers who wanted to be entertained no matter what the cost to characters, reminded me of the soaps opera & Paparazzi, of how we like to know about the celebrities, and ultimately of how the product could be the death of someone such as Princess Diana.
Rashmi Bansal quotes in her post about sad state of affairs---
"The whole idea of the new generation of 'reality' shows is to create an 'emotional infection'. While the characters in a soap opera act and evoke emotions, reality shows set up a showdown of some kind which induce emotions, spontaneously. The ultimate irony, isn't it? 'Reality shows' and their contestants are becoming more real and newsworthy for viewers ... than reality itself."
Bottomline: Life is not fair - that is reality. Neither are reality shows which are actually not real at all...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Death of Parallel Cinema
There are now two decades over after the demise of parallel cinema.Literature and Theater are the main sources of parallel cinema in India.The turbulent situation of the 1970's gave birth to the ‘parallel cinema’ movement in India.With the open market policy in film industry and decay in government funding,this movement dies out slowly after economic liberation.Indian Cinema is thriving today thanks to an audience who is hungry for films, however, our works have degraded over the years, and regional cinema and few great filmmakers are marginalized to the film festival or art house circuits.
Regional films constitute of high percentage in parallel cinema. The regional cinema, obviously in majority formed the alternate cinema. Ever since the decline of regional cinema throughout the nation, and the dying out of the parallel movement, the viewers have been feed with repeated image, sound and music.Most of us had used to watch regional films on DD on Sundays. With the advent of cable and dish culture, the regional cinema has suffered huge setback. There is no information either in the print or electronic media about alternate films.Dish Channels do not show off alternate movies even in non prime time.
Today, the films of ' New Wave' are hard to find, and the aesthetics of these filmmakers were never carried forward, meaning, the tradition not only got lost, but never translated or taken further- explored in new avenues. Not only that, the lack of availability of the films of ‘New Wave’ in the market is another important factor which slowly spelled death for the filmmakers and their films. It’s sad, because, even when one wants to rescue these films most negatives are either lost or destroyed or its in hands of people who are not willing to part away with them for reasons unknown.
For,deep view in the subject:
-To each his cinema.
-Wikipedia Link about Parallel Cinema.
-Indian New Wave- a potrait.
-Old vs New Parallel Cinema.
-Parallel or New Cinema in India.
-The demise of parallel cinema.
-Demise Of A Different Kind.
-Parallel Cinema not getting visibility at global festivals.
While other directors other mainstream directors usually try to be time consumer and economical by saving on cuts and indulging into unnecessary zooms and moves of the camera, it feels positive that there existed what we call Indian Parallel cinema, wherein the directors were at least trying to find their style with a sense of aesthetics .
As Andrei Tarkovsky once said, "Cinema can never be a true art form till it’s confined by the constraints of money."
Regional films constitute of high percentage in parallel cinema. The regional cinema, obviously in majority formed the alternate cinema. Ever since the decline of regional cinema throughout the nation, and the dying out of the parallel movement, the viewers have been feed with repeated image, sound and music.Most of us had used to watch regional films on DD on Sundays. With the advent of cable and dish culture, the regional cinema has suffered huge setback. There is no information either in the print or electronic media about alternate films.Dish Channels do not show off alternate movies even in non prime time.
Today, the films of ' New Wave' are hard to find, and the aesthetics of these filmmakers were never carried forward, meaning, the tradition not only got lost, but never translated or taken further- explored in new avenues. Not only that, the lack of availability of the films of ‘New Wave’ in the market is another important factor which slowly spelled death for the filmmakers and their films. It’s sad, because, even when one wants to rescue these films most negatives are either lost or destroyed or its in hands of people who are not willing to part away with them for reasons unknown.
For,deep view in the subject:
-To each his cinema.
-Wikipedia Link about Parallel Cinema.
-Indian New Wave- a potrait.
-Old vs New Parallel Cinema.
-Parallel or New Cinema in India.
-The demise of parallel cinema.
-Demise Of A Different Kind.
-Parallel Cinema not getting visibility at global festivals.
While other directors other mainstream directors usually try to be time consumer and economical by saving on cuts and indulging into unnecessary zooms and moves of the camera, it feels positive that there existed what we call Indian Parallel cinema, wherein the directors were at least trying to find their style with a sense of aesthetics .
As Andrei Tarkovsky once said, "Cinema can never be a true art form till it’s confined by the constraints of money."
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Warzone Mumbai
After Black Friday, 26/11 turns to be Black Wednesday for whole India. The Mumbai has been struck by the terrorist attack. CST, Nariman House, Taj Hotel and Trident (Oberoi) hotel were prime targets of this attacks.59 Hours of operation with over 182 death and 327 injured people. Jewish people were targeted in India and Israel declares that it is a clear attack on Israel. That's the spirit of real nation...
This is the time to stand together and end the terror regime. Enough is enough; this blood shed of innocent must be stopped. It is a national cause above all mutual difference between political or regional differences. Dirty politics by each party must be punished by people in election. Shivraj Patil was an impotent home minister appointed by Sonia Gandhi on the pure basis of favoritism. Ridiculous talking of home ministry after every bomb blasts has shown nation absurdity of the comments. With this line written, the news of bomb blast in Assam is flashing on news channel. Also, V S Achuthanandan(CPI) has really made cheap comments about martyr family at this time of National crisis.
We care more about distorted image of India projected in USA or UK. We are more worried about external support than internal unity of this country. There is enough proof of Pakistan hand. This fidayen style of training and planning at POK is worth shocking. The diplomatic and internal security efforts must be made with rapid pace (before election).
Currently, we need a strict federal law to deal with this kind of proxy war. The federal agency is needed to coordinate various intelligence and security measures. Either we can laid back to old attitude or help families of victims and brave cops. The terrorist said anonymous mail forging themselves under name of Deccan Mujaheeden.No negotiation policy with the terrorist is best suited for India now. The security forces must be backed with modern ammunition and rifles.
1-Formation of Federal Agency.
2-Reamendment of security acts and laws.
3-Police reforms implementation.
4-Use of CCTV camera at sensitive places.
5-Curbing the economic resource of Terrorist (Join F.A.T.F.)
Feel the backbone invertebrate political leaders .Do not disgust nation with vote bank politics !!!
A nation becomes weak first from inside and attack is done afterward from external enemies. NSG, Marine Commandos, ATS and Mumbai cops make a team effort to save life of so many people. GRP at CST or hotel staff also did tremendous job in the hour of terrorist attack. Salute to them.
This is the time to stand together and end the terror regime. Enough is enough; this blood shed of innocent must be stopped. It is a national cause above all mutual difference between political or regional differences. Dirty politics by each party must be punished by people in election. Shivraj Patil was an impotent home minister appointed by Sonia Gandhi on the pure basis of favoritism. Ridiculous talking of home ministry after every bomb blasts has shown nation absurdity of the comments. With this line written, the news of bomb blast in Assam is flashing on news channel. Also, V S Achuthanandan(CPI) has really made cheap comments about martyr family at this time of National crisis.
We care more about distorted image of India projected in USA or UK. We are more worried about external support than internal unity of this country. There is enough proof of Pakistan hand. This fidayen style of training and planning at POK is worth shocking. The diplomatic and internal security efforts must be made with rapid pace (before election).
Currently, we need a strict federal law to deal with this kind of proxy war. The federal agency is needed to coordinate various intelligence and security measures. Either we can laid back to old attitude or help families of victims and brave cops. The terrorist said anonymous mail forging themselves under name of Deccan Mujaheeden.No negotiation policy with the terrorist is best suited for India now. The security forces must be backed with modern ammunition and rifles.
1-Formation of Federal Agency.
2-Reamendment of security acts and laws.
3-Police reforms implementation.
4-Use of CCTV camera at sensitive places.
5-Curbing the economic resource of Terrorist (Join F.A.T.F.)
Feel the backbone invertebrate political leaders .Do not disgust nation with vote bank politics !!!
A nation becomes weak first from inside and attack is done afterward from external enemies. NSG, Marine Commandos, ATS and Mumbai cops make a team effort to save life of so many people. GRP at CST or hotel staff also did tremendous job in the hour of terrorist attack. Salute to them.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Regional Cinema in India
India is a large country where many languages are spoken. According to the 1991 Census of India there are about 10,400 'raw mother tongues' in India.If closely related and mutually comprehensible dialects are grouped, the number can be reduced to 114 main languages. These 114 languages are the ones surveyed in the Indian census. Indian film producers have made films in thirty of the largest languages. However, only the very largest language groups support major regional industries. These are: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Odiya & Malayalam. Official statistics categories Indian films according to the languages in which they are distributed.
Masala movies are made both in regional and Bollywood film industry. But regional films constitute of high percentage in parallel cinema. The regional cinema, obviously in majority formed the alternate cinema. Ever since the decline of regional cinema throughout the nation, and the dying out of the parallel movement, the viewers have been feed with repeated image, sound and music. Indians do not watch movies made in other part of India itself but able to watch latest flick of Hollywood. Why?
Firstly, I personally don’t think language should pose a problem but it does, not a lot of work has been done when it comes to movies. Frankly people need to get over this as subtitling as an art has really developed. Still people are irritated & afraid at the though of reading subtitles. If we can watch Japanese, Chinese and Iranian films with subtitles, we can watch home productions too. If subtitles are available there is no issue in watching good regional films. Subtitles are not easily available for any films and it’s not easy for everyone to get access to any foreign or regional films through P2P or torrent client.
Secondly, film education is nonexistent in India. If we were to educate people in films studies Bollywood masala films might just be a subject of history. I believe that a lot of good regional films are not of excellent production (technical) quality like Hollywood or Bollywood. That is also where they score less... but unless regional filmmakers find financial backing, it is very difficult for them to produce good production quality.
Lastly Media has glorified Hollywood and Bollywood. Regional films are not given so much coverage in the media slots. The marketing and distribution system is under developed. The major problem is being lack of availability not due to the fact that such movies don’t exist but because they are not marketed properly.
Indian Cinema is thriving today thanks to an audience who is hungry for films, however, our works have degraded over the years, and regional cinema and few great filmmakers are marginalized to the film festival or art house circuits. Most of us had used to watch regional films on DD on Sundays. With the advent of cable and dish culture, the regional cinema has suffered huge setback. There is no information either in the print or electronic media about regional films.
Language Barrier:
Language controversy has nothing to do with the topic which is primarily a problem of socio-economic & cultural conditioning in which media is responsible to a great extent. Regardless of the language, a film is a film and must be regarded as a work of art. Some films are language less, soundless but are classics. The point is only this that statistics cannot determine quality of a film and regardless of how many people speak a language, a language is a means of communication and nobody can decide on a superior and inferior language.
A good movie is a good movie whether it’s being made in Hindi or Tamil or other foreign languages. But many talented directors like Hriskesh mukherjee, Basu chatterjee, Shyam benegal made many films in Hindi the reason being that it reaches over to larger audience. Many good directors make movies in Hindi or English irrespective of their mother tongues. Even legendary Satyajit ray made a film 'satranj ke khiladi' in Hindi.
I am saying Hindi is just like any other language and is grammatically similar to all devnagiri languages. The point here being that when someone puts his efforts in making a film it’s quite logical he expects it to reach more audience. I'm not getting into this language debate.Back to movies!!!
Obsession with Bollywood/Hollywood(Studied from above Link)
"Our bureaucracy and the ruling class (irrespective of political affiliations) are mesmerized by the glamor and dazzle of Bollywood, quite ignorant of the fact that it is the strength regional cinema primarily that the true picture /reality our vast country is reflected or represented. No doubt I.F.F.I. was shifted from New Delhi to Goa to create a carnival atmosphere on the lines of Cannes film festival oblivion of the fact that evolution, nature & utility of the two are entirely different. Besides after 200 years of domination by the Anglo-Saxons culture we still in our subconscious mind feel whatever comes from foreign/ Hollywood is superior(though technologically they are, yet cinema is not only about technology). "
Even Satyajit Ray’s "Pather Panchali" was appreciated only after it got recognition from abroad. A new and independent thinking pattern is needed with clever marketing strategy for upheavel of regional films.There is huge growth in overseas market of indian films. It provides basic investment needed for people working in regional film industry to move to other regions. Now, the good point is mobility and exchange of technical crews and artist with different regional background. There is a great deal of mobility between the regional industries. Many workers in other regional industries, once their talent and popularity is established, move on to work in other film industries, nationally as well as internationally.
In end, simply it’s just that not a lot of smart people have invested themselves in this marketing and commercial aspect of film industry.
Masala movies are made both in regional and Bollywood film industry. But regional films constitute of high percentage in parallel cinema. The regional cinema, obviously in majority formed the alternate cinema. Ever since the decline of regional cinema throughout the nation, and the dying out of the parallel movement, the viewers have been feed with repeated image, sound and music. Indians do not watch movies made in other part of India itself but able to watch latest flick of Hollywood. Why?
Firstly, I personally don’t think language should pose a problem but it does, not a lot of work has been done when it comes to movies. Frankly people need to get over this as subtitling as an art has really developed. Still people are irritated & afraid at the though of reading subtitles. If we can watch Japanese, Chinese and Iranian films with subtitles, we can watch home productions too. If subtitles are available there is no issue in watching good regional films. Subtitles are not easily available for any films and it’s not easy for everyone to get access to any foreign or regional films through P2P or torrent client.
Secondly, film education is nonexistent in India. If we were to educate people in films studies Bollywood masala films might just be a subject of history. I believe that a lot of good regional films are not of excellent production (technical) quality like Hollywood or Bollywood. That is also where they score less... but unless regional filmmakers find financial backing, it is very difficult for them to produce good production quality.
Lastly Media has glorified Hollywood and Bollywood. Regional films are not given so much coverage in the media slots. The marketing and distribution system is under developed. The major problem is being lack of availability not due to the fact that such movies don’t exist but because they are not marketed properly.
Indian Cinema is thriving today thanks to an audience who is hungry for films, however, our works have degraded over the years, and regional cinema and few great filmmakers are marginalized to the film festival or art house circuits. Most of us had used to watch regional films on DD on Sundays. With the advent of cable and dish culture, the regional cinema has suffered huge setback. There is no information either in the print or electronic media about regional films.
Language Barrier:
Language controversy has nothing to do with the topic which is primarily a problem of socio-economic & cultural conditioning in which media is responsible to a great extent. Regardless of the language, a film is a film and must be regarded as a work of art. Some films are language less, soundless but are classics. The point is only this that statistics cannot determine quality of a film and regardless of how many people speak a language, a language is a means of communication and nobody can decide on a superior and inferior language.
A good movie is a good movie whether it’s being made in Hindi or Tamil or other foreign languages. But many talented directors like Hriskesh mukherjee, Basu chatterjee, Shyam benegal made many films in Hindi the reason being that it reaches over to larger audience. Many good directors make movies in Hindi or English irrespective of their mother tongues. Even legendary Satyajit ray made a film 'satranj ke khiladi' in Hindi.
I am saying Hindi is just like any other language and is grammatically similar to all devnagiri languages. The point here being that when someone puts his efforts in making a film it’s quite logical he expects it to reach more audience. I'm not getting into this language debate.Back to movies!!!
Obsession with Bollywood/Hollywood(Studied from above Link)
"Our bureaucracy and the ruling class (irrespective of political affiliations) are mesmerized by the glamor and dazzle of Bollywood, quite ignorant of the fact that it is the strength regional cinema primarily that the true picture /reality our vast country is reflected or represented. No doubt I.F.F.I. was shifted from New Delhi to Goa to create a carnival atmosphere on the lines of Cannes film festival oblivion of the fact that evolution, nature & utility of the two are entirely different. Besides after 200 years of domination by the Anglo-Saxons culture we still in our subconscious mind feel whatever comes from foreign/ Hollywood is superior(though technologically they are, yet cinema is not only about technology). "
Even Satyajit Ray’s "Pather Panchali" was appreciated only after it got recognition from abroad. A new and independent thinking pattern is needed with clever marketing strategy for upheavel of regional films.There is huge growth in overseas market of indian films. It provides basic investment needed for people working in regional film industry to move to other regions. Now, the good point is mobility and exchange of technical crews and artist with different regional background. There is a great deal of mobility between the regional industries. Many workers in other regional industries, once their talent and popularity is established, move on to work in other film industries, nationally as well as internationally.
In end, simply it’s just that not a lot of smart people have invested themselves in this marketing and commercial aspect of film industry.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Superheroes of Indian Films
Rajnikant, Mithun Chakraborthy, Mohanlal, Mammoty, Kamal Hassan, Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan & Chiranjeevi are the prominent superstars of Indian film industry.
First two names are the phenomenon in Indian film industry. They are not even stars of Indian movie industry. Rest of all names in the list is of superstars. But anyone do have clue over superstar and phenomenon. Phenomenon has cast charm over the people without any acting. They are worshiped by the people due to their iconic presence and style on the screen.
Most of the people do not have clue that ‘Mithun da’ has won national award for his acting in prestigious art film 'Mrigayaa'. Now, the co
mmercial movies have made brand image of ‘Mithun da’. Masses know him for his hit films like Disco Dancer, Boxer and Dalal. Most of young people feel his presence in epic roles in Gunda, Loha, Cheetah & Ravanraj. He is virtually style icon of youths coming from down trodden society in north India from past 25 years. For die hard fans of mithun da, read this website.
‘Rajnikant’ is name of living style to each filmi geek of India. His special technique of igniting cigarette becomes a fashion in his fans. Now, cigarettes are changed by Chewing gums due to dangerous following of successors in public smoking. He is second highest paid actor after Jackie Chan in Asia. He is living legend in every sense.
From past 30 years, both of them are ruling the hearts of Indian people. They have got exclusively fan club and temples dedicated to them. The fight scenes in their movies can make envious to comic super heroes. Law of nature (even gravity) cannot bind their action sequence. Their external beauty and style has attracted heroines from last 3 generation. Also, their action scenes are synchronized with each other in different movies. They are the binding forces of north and south India. Least exaggeration sentence: They are pole stars (2 in same constellation) of great India reel life…………
I was looking for the reason of the rise of these phenomenons. ‘Mithun da’ hails from Bengal and ‘Rajnikant’ start off his career in Tamil movie industry. Tamil and Bengali societies are one of the leading societies in term of reformation with English education. People with western way of thinking forms a small but influential intellectual part in the society. There is no entertainment for common masses. These two rise on such occasion and becomes the role models by their screen roles of rebel hero. They stand against the local mafia, corrupt policemen, greedy merchant and shrewd politician. The violence and struggle life of ‘mean streets’ match the attitude of ‘Rambo’ in the background. They rise as a voice of family, community and society in reel life.
These two mortal gods have been face of India mostly go unnoticed or undisclosed in intellectual society.They are role models for masses. Despite of all these nonsense stuff, just do not forget about real heroes of children: Krish or Mr. India (Big Screen) and Shaktimaan (T.V. Screen)………………………………
First two names are the phenomenon in Indian film industry. They are not even stars of Indian movie industry. Rest of all names in the list is of superstars. But anyone do have clue over superstar and phenomenon. Phenomenon has cast charm over the people without any acting. They are worshiped by the people due to their iconic presence and style on the screen.
Most of the people do not have clue that ‘Mithun da’ has won national award for his acting in prestigious art film 'Mrigayaa'. Now, the co
mmercial movies have made brand image of ‘Mithun da’. Masses know him for his hit films like Disco Dancer, Boxer and Dalal. Most of young people feel his presence in epic roles in Gunda, Loha, Cheetah & Ravanraj. He is virtually style icon of youths coming from down trodden society in north India from past 25 years. For die hard fans of mithun da, read this website.‘Rajnikant’ is name of living style to each filmi geek of India. His special technique of igniting cigarette becomes a fashion in his fans. Now, cigarettes are changed by Chewing gums due to dangerous following of successors in public smoking. He is second highest paid actor after Jackie Chan in Asia. He is living legend in every sense.
From past 30 years, both of them are ruling the hearts of Indian people. They have got exclusively fan club and temples dedicated to them. The fight scenes in their movies can make envious to comic super heroes. Law of nature (even gravity) cannot bind their action sequence. Their external beauty and style has attracted heroines from last 3 generation. Also, their action scenes are synchronized with each other in different movies. They are the binding forces of north and south India. Least exaggeration sentence: They are pole stars (2 in same constellation) of great India reel life…………
I was looking for the reason of the rise of these phenomenons. ‘Mithun da’ hails from Bengal and ‘Rajnikant’ start off his career in Tamil movie industry. Tamil and Bengali societies are one of the leading societies in term of reformation with English education. People with western way of thinking forms a small but influential intellectual part in the society. There is no entertainment for common masses. These two rise on such occasion and becomes the role models by their screen roles of rebel hero. They stand against the local mafia, corrupt policemen, greedy merchant and shrewd politician. The violence and struggle life of ‘mean streets’ match the attitude of ‘Rambo’ in the background. They rise as a voice of family, community and society in reel life.
These two mortal gods have been face of India mostly go unnoticed or undisclosed in intellectual society.They are role models for masses. Despite of all these nonsense stuff, just do not forget about real heroes of children: Krish or Mr. India (Big Screen) and Shaktimaan (T.V. Screen)………………………………
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Chandrayaan mission:Indian mission to moon
Chandrayaan I (Sanskrit: चंद्रयान-1, lit: Lunar Craft), is an unmanned lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The mission includes a lunar orbiter as well as an impactor. The spacecraft will be launched by a modified version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
Hrs GMT [05:50-06:50 Hrs IST] on Oct. 22, 2008 is the launching time.
Chandrayaan is the first Indian mission to the moon for undertaking high resolution remote sensing of the lunar surface, aimed at determining the evolutionary process of the moon by studying the mineral and chemical structure of its surface.
I am feeling proud to be Indian.Hope you will too.....
Hrs GMT [05:50-06:50 Hrs IST] on Oct. 22, 2008 is the launching time.
Chandrayaan is the first Indian mission to the moon for undertaking high resolution remote sensing of the lunar surface, aimed at determining the evolutionary process of the moon by studying the mineral and chemical structure of its surface.
I am feeling proud to be Indian.Hope you will too.....
Friday, February 29, 2008
Plagiarism in Bollywood
I Love Cinema.
I Hate Copying.
Hence,Bollywood is mine target.
I Hate Copying.
Hence,Bollywood is mine target.
I will remind all of you from where word "Bollywood" comes.
It originates from this equation- {Bombay+Hollywood=Bollywood}.
Our Bollywood truly works on this equation.Take a movie from Hollywood and carbon copy it in Bombay(now Mumbai).
Bollywood represent India everywhere in world due to its huge market base.Those who know about cinema will be critical of these lines.I am also critical of it but it is brutal truth.Bollywood is not the face of Indian Cinema but merely an ugly part.Practically,it is quoted as an film industry because it produces 600-800 films per year.Ideally,99% films are foreign films wrapped in Indian format for recreation of viewers.Only 1% films are original or adapted.Rest of all copied from Hollywood,Tollywood or Korean Cinema.
We,Indian Viewers do not either feel shame or anger on our films due to our ignorance.Most of our commercial movies are copycat of Hollywood blockbusters.Bollywood do not even pick any rare known movie for copying.Xerox copy of hit movies are made without any fear of copyrights.Scene by scene copying is the trademark of our movies.If censor board does not exist,then even sex,love and violent scenes can be copied without any concern for Indian viewers.
Music is also picked from English albums for soundtracks,but its Bollywood.Nothing is impossible here.On questioning men involved in it,a simple line is answer.Original movie is just n Inspiration,nothing else.Everything can be justified on the basis of it.
I will now categorize Bollywood Movies in 3 parts.Each part have its own distinctive features.
1-Inspiration:
These are genuine movies inspired from another movies.These movies acknowledge their recreation of old movie in new way.Sarkar attributes its inspiration from classic Godfather1 and Godfather2.Inspired director and producer either remake the old films or uses its theme material.Creative directors like Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee often used theme material of English classic to make films with social message.I cannot even remember the name of such movies. If you remember it ,then acknowledge me in comments column.
2-Adaptation:
Adaption word is used by me where our movie is based on material previously published or produced in another medium.Like literature and theater are two primary sources of adapted movies.Novels,short stories and even poems provide enough material to make a loose script for a movie.Theater is the source of parallel cinema in Indian Cinema.It is the base of all good aristic movies.Irony of Bollywood is that it demands for star rather than an actor.Filmmaker like Shyam Benegal,Vishal Bhardwaj & Gulzar had taken literature and theater as working ground for their few masterpieces.
3-Ditto Copy:
Plenty of material is beside me to write about junk.This junk is like pile of garbage so nuisance beyond our capacity to neglect it.Again and again,same trend of putting a superb plot of Hollywood movie in ours cinema through Bollywood.
According to Screenwriter-director Anurag Kashyap "Our screenwriters have always been taken for granted, I have so many original scripts no producer wants to touch. They prefer to play safe, making remakes of Hollywood hits. Hopefully, this case will force Indian producers to buy the rights of films and books before copying them."
List of the movie is endless.Whole Bollywood is full of moneylenders and mafia,no artist is there.There is a website devoted to acknowledge original source code of a Bollywood movies.
Before watching any annoying Bollywood,just check its originality from here.This is the link of the website.
I will pen down the name of these movies in my next posting,Till then ,any comment and suggestion are welcome.
It originates from this equation- {Bombay+Hollywood=Bollywood}.
Our Bollywood truly works on this equation.Take a movie from Hollywood and carbon copy it in Bombay(now Mumbai).
Bollywood represent India everywhere in world due to its huge market base.Those who know about cinema will be critical of these lines.I am also critical of it but it is brutal truth.Bollywood is not the face of Indian Cinema but merely an ugly part.Practically,it is quoted as an film industry because it produces 600-800 films per year.Ideally,99% films are foreign films wrapped in Indian format for recreation of viewers.Only 1% films are original or adapted.Rest of all copied from Hollywood,Tollywood or Korean Cinema.
We,Indian Viewers do not either feel shame or anger on our films due to our ignorance.Most of our commercial movies are copycat of Hollywood blockbusters.Bollywood do not even pick any rare known movie for copying.Xerox copy of hit movies are made without any fear of copyrights.Scene by scene copying is the trademark of our movies.If censor board does not exist,then even sex,love and violent scenes can be copied without any concern for Indian viewers.
Music is also picked from English albums for soundtracks,but its Bollywood.Nothing is impossible here.On questioning men involved in it,a simple line is answer.Original movie is just n Inspiration,nothing else.Everything can be justified on the basis of it.
I will now categorize Bollywood Movies in 3 parts.Each part have its own distinctive features.
1-Inspiration:
These are genuine movies inspired from another movies.These movies acknowledge their recreation of old movie in new way.Sarkar attributes its inspiration from classic Godfather1 and Godfather2.Inspired director and producer either remake the old films or uses its theme material.Creative directors like Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee often used theme material of English classic to make films with social message.I cannot even remember the name of such movies. If you remember it ,then acknowledge me in comments column.
2-Adaptation:
Adaption word is used by me where our movie is based on material previously published or produced in another medium.Like literature and theater are two primary sources of adapted movies.Novels,short stories and even poems provide enough material to make a loose script for a movie.Theater is the source of parallel cinema in Indian Cinema.It is the base of all good aristic movies.Irony of Bollywood is that it demands for star rather than an actor.Filmmaker like Shyam Benegal,Vishal Bhardwaj & Gulzar had taken literature and theater as working ground for their few masterpieces.
3-Ditto Copy:
Plenty of material is beside me to write about junk.This junk is like pile of garbage so nuisance beyond our capacity to neglect it.Again and again,same trend of putting a superb plot of Hollywood movie in ours cinema through Bollywood.
According to Screenwriter-director Anurag Kashyap "Our screenwriters have always been taken for granted, I have so many original scripts no producer wants to touch. They prefer to play safe, making remakes of Hollywood hits. Hopefully, this case will force Indian producers to buy the rights of films and books before copying them."
List of the movie is endless.Whole Bollywood is full of moneylenders and mafia,no artist is there.There is a website devoted to acknowledge original source code of a Bollywood movies.
Before watching any annoying Bollywood,just check its originality from here.This is the link of the website.
I will pen down the name of these movies in my next posting,Till then ,any comment and suggestion are welcome.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
To Each his Cinema
No body makes a compromise while making a film. All of them make film according to their predilection and their own value to the system. As a filmmaker, you live in the same world as your audience. Time and place are two great parameters to determine a piece of art. Your work will be reflected on scale of faith and reason of yours in object and environment surrounding it.Cinema reflects dreams, aspiration and hidden desires of society.
'Parallel' was initiated because true artists could not find there voice in mainstream. New wave had started because previous was becoming typical and stagnated. It was like revolt (mutation) not reform(evolution) against the old system of values. Most of the parallel cinema in India told of inequalities in society and the endeavor to change the system.
Changing times bring change in society and content of cinema. Now aspirational side is more credited in cinematic piece of work than emotional reverberation. Strong moral basis of heroism mentioned in mythologies has became a thing of dead past. Reaping commercial benefit is primary concern of films. There is moral blurring in the society. On the name of entertainment, humor is replaced by nonsense.
There are universal human emotions and core value are attached to social relations. Compassion and care of fellow human being is everywhere in world. Place and orientation of watching a cinema may change but not its message and beauty.
One makes a film because he derives joys from the performances. But one should always remember that social engagement is an important part of work as individual identity.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
60 years of Independent India
On the eve of this event,no words can justify emotion within us.We are not only independent country now but a nation having democratic past of 60 years.To recall the struggle for independence is quite memorable but mammoth task at this small blog..'Unity in Diversity' is now our symbolic representation and future also.A good example to remember this red letter day is to present lines of a great spokesman of independent India.
Tryst with Destiny
This speech was delivered to the Constituent Assembly of India in New Delhi on August 14 1947 Jawaharlal Nehru.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Goodbye Kalam
A.P.J. Kalam is not our president anymore.His tenure of 5 years have completed like a dream to all of us. We, Indians have seen many philosophers,thinkers and leaders acquiring the post of president but none was as popular among people like Kalam.
In the 21st century. We are looking for youths to lead India as a world power. But youth of this country also needed a visionary icon to follow.This chance was provided by Kalam to youths of nation. I can only say from the feeling of good bye to Kalam "Dream a dream to live a dream". A intresting link on his personality is here.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Remembering India
“कुछ बात है कि हस्ती मिट-ती नहीं हमारी, सदियों रहा है दुश्मन, दौरे ज़माना हमारा!”
It is not often that I became patriotic in mood and shed some tears on the past event of history. Now in Germany, I am just learning about my Dharma and Nation vividly. People are curious to know about my country and its people.
I am feeling certain change in myself and now my attachments to India is increased. It may be the separation and isolation of myself, but really feeling PROUD TO BE INDIAN.
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