Aug 29, 2009

An interview that disappointed me





A few days ago I read an interview of one of my favourite directors Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Sex Lies and Videotape, Oceans 11) on Guardian.

I have been a huge fan of his ever since I watched the film Traffic, the drug war drama that won Soderbergh the best director Oscar in 2001. Since then, I went back and watched his earlier films like Sex, Lies and Videotape, The Limey and Erin Brockovich.

Soderbergh’s last work recently made the two part biopic on Che Guevara. Both the films were not as well received as it should have been. Initially, Soderbergh struggled to find financers for the films as he was not willing to make the film in English but in Spanish, for the sake of authenticity. This in turn led to the films only managing to find a limited release in US. The Academy awards completely ignored the films despite a stellar performance from Benicio Del Toro in the lead role.

Anyway, Soderbergh was about to direct a film titled Moneyball starring Brad Pitt, but rumour has it, that a last minute rewrite of the script by Soderbergh failed to impress the Sony Chief Amy Pascal. Soderbergh was unceremoniously ousted from the project a day before the filming was about to begin.

In this interview here, Soderbergh sounds very upset, kind of defeated and he even goes on to say that he doesn’t see a very long future for himself in the industry.

As an ardent fan of Soderbergh, it definitely upset me to see him so dejected and alienated. Hollywood would surely miss one of its most talented directors of the last decade if he leaves.

Aug 12, 2009

Ishqiya - trailer

It was 2 am at night. Have been meaning to go to sleep for over 2 hours now, but just could not complete that all important task that I excel in – procrastinating.

Anyway, as I was just randomly going to some of my regular sites, I came across THIS

Thanks to Anurag Kashyap on PFC for sharing this trailer with us.

It has left me absolutely speechless. I am not going to say much now, as I am still in awe.

Will talk about it later soon.

Enjoy it.

Aug 11, 2009

Love Aaj Kal - a sincere take on contemporary relationships

Writer/Director: Imtiaz Ali

My favourite films are not necessarily the quintessential examples of technical brilliance and flawlessness. Instead, they are those that are able to strike a chord with my heart and mind, influence my thoughts, ideas, emotions etc. The promos of Love Aaj Kal interested me greatly and despite not being a fan of either Saif or Deepika’s acting, the one man for whom I was willing to build expectations was Imtiaz Ali, whose earlier two films I am greatly fond of.

lak1

Jai Vardhan Singh (Saif Ali Khan) meets Meera Pandit (Deepika Padukone) in London. They enjoy good times together, no strings attached. Then it’s time for Meera to go to India to pursue her career as a restoration artist and Jai to work towards his dream in San Franciso. They conclude that a long distance relationship via chats, emails, phones is hard to maintain and decide to party ways amicably. But then, they do exactly what they had thought would not be possible and practical – maintain contact through phone, internet etc. Meanwhile Jai makes friends with a local coffee shop owner Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor) and in between Jai’s long and warbled monologues, Veer Singh manages to tell his love story – a story of stolen glances, cycle and rickshaw encounters, and rebellion against families – story of a time when professing love meant proposing marriage as it is popularly believed.

With a blockbuster like Jab We Met behind him, Imtiaz Ali was in a very tricky situation. We all expect another Jab We Met, we want Love Aaj Kal to be the next Indian cult romance after Jab We Met, we all want the same experience, not realizing that each film has its own experience and it not possible to recreate it with another film. A different film will have a different experience, maybe in fact a better experience, but we are not convinced, we want the exact same experience. So either way, it was difficult for Imtiaz Ali, there would be some people who would complain “Oh its not Jab We Met”. That’s right, its not Jab We Met , its not Socha Na Tha, nor does it attempt to be. Its about two individuals and that’s where the similarity ends. If you want to watch JWM or SNT, please buy the DVDs, don’t waste your time on LAK.

Having seen 3 films written by Imtiaz Ali, (the third one being Aahista Aahista), I knew exactly what to expect – witty and crispy screenplay, and Imtiaz does not disappoint one bit. The film is full of such breezy, entertaining and fun moments. In fact, one of the areas where the film scores so heavily is not going the typical way that Bollywood love stories usually do in certain moments

SPOILER WARNING





Jai and Meera’s first meeting

Jai and Meera’s breakup

Meera’s wedding (Deepika’s expression in that scene when Saif is talking is absolutely brilliant but more on that later)

Meera’s call to Jai the morning after the wedding, you think you know what will happen next, they realize they are in love, and she ends the marriage and they live happily ever after, and that’s where Imtiaz scores as a writer with a completely different turn. Kudos to him.

The climax scene





SPOILER WARNING OVER

lak2

As a director, Imtiaz innovates with a non linear narrative, something that I absolutely adore in films. It is clear that he has not yet perfected the art yet, as in some portions the switch to a different time looks a bit forced, but then the slick editing, pace and engrossing screenplay soon help you get over it.

The music by Pritam is absolutely magnificent and fits in with the narrative seamlessly. I have earlier spoken about my thoughts on the music here

The characters are very well detailed as that is clearly Imtiaz’s forte as a writer. One will easily relate with Jai and Meera and understand their confusion, loneliness, thoughts, experiences.

Saif Ali Khan plays a character tailor made for him and does so effortlessly. However he risks being typecast as this happy go lucky guy who doesn’t believe in love and marriages thanks to Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste and now Love Aaj Kal. He is however in top form as the younger Veer.

Deepika Padukone looks absolutely breathtakingly beautiful and hot at the same time. Everyone who knows me knows how I am fascinated by her beauty. However I have never been a fan of her acting. I thought she was terrible in Om Shanti Om, a little less terrible in Bachna Ae Haseeno. Meera by far is her best role and working with a far superior director this time, she impresses heavily with her facial expressions, body language and overall demeanour. Where she falters severely is her diction/dialogue deliver. It is perhaps due to inexperience that she hasn’t been able to quite control her voice to suit her performance. Imtiaz cleverly does not require many dialogues from her in important moments such as the wedding scene where Saif speaks and she just listens. Her silence helped that scene immensely.

Rishi Kapoor, after a long time has not managed to annoy me, and is a delight this time as Veer Singh.

Giselle Monteiro looks beautiful, a bit like Monica Bellucci in some portions and doer her role well.

Love Aaj Kal is a contemporary, realistic take on love today, and while it follows many Bollywood films in its genre, it is also different in its own way and manages to make an impact. We all know that Jai and Meera would end up together, yet the film manages to shock and surprise us and the director deserves tremendous praise for being able to do that.

The message is clear as Vasan Bala of Passion For Cinema writes, “whatever the era, whether it’s the shy glances of the bygone era or of the pick up guru’s of the dude era, when cupid strikes, time stands still”.

I hope a real and closer to life love story like this manages to influence other makers in Bollywood and the days of OTT, melodramatic and poorly executed love stories come to an end.

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