Thursday, May 30, 2013

Rituparno Ghosh: A trailblazer for a new generation




Rituparno Ghosh, who died of cardiac arrest on Thursday age 52, came into the world of cinema like a storm, with two remarkable films on the trot. He has disappeared in a similar fashion, like a sudden gust of wind. The breath of fresh air that he had brought with him still lingers. 

His films, with their sensitive portrayal of human relationships, anguish, trauma and love in a fast-changing, post-liberalization Indiacharmed audiences. His brilliant story-telling reflected contemporary society like never before. While his death creates a tremendous void that can never be filled, Rituparno's work blazed a trail that has paved the way for an entire generation of filmmakers who have dared to be different. It was Rituparno who gave them the courage. 

He was undoubtedly the best filmmaker of the generation that followed mine. Having known him from the time he worked in advertising, I have seen him flower as a filmmaker. The two things which I foundremarkable about his cinema were his sensitivity and the thorough research that went into his work. His education, his intellect, his subtlety and consciousness were evident in every frame that he produced.

He looked at ordinary middle-class relationships from an angle that had never been explored. For example, the mother-daughter relationship in 'Unishe April' was so refreshing, yet realistic in a society that was going through a churning. I was in complete awe of the film from the moment I watched it. I had immensely liked his debut film — 'Hirer Angti' — too. It had the mark of an exceptionally talented director. 

Rituparno had a profound interest in classics. Be it Tagore or the epics, he would study and interpret them like a research scholar. One couldn't help but marvel at his diligence. More importantly, the scholarship showed in his films. Often, he would tell me about his plans to make a film on an episode from the 'Mahabharata'. Or, discuss a particular Tagore novel that he would like to make into a film.

You could see that he had researched extensively, although the film might never be made. But he loved going deep into his subjects. And loved talking about his plans. I enjoyed these discussions for they would leave me enriched. And he was not just a filmmaker, but a complete creative person. He wrote brilliantly, conceived his scenes quite graphically and prepared scripts that often produced a lyrical effect on screen. 

Being a sensitive individual, Rituparno went through several emotional upheavals in his life. The loss of his parents left him shattered. He grappled to come to terms with it. He would often say that he felt lonely and lost without them. However, he gradually overcame the grief. My daughter, who worked in his last film 'Byomkesh', found him to be his usual jolly self. He had started cracking jokes and pulling actors' legs again on the sets. "Ask your father to cook for us," he told my daughter. It was re-assuring, for it meant he was getting a grip on his life. 

If cinema is a collective memory of the time and people, Rituparno's films best reflect the transition of our societal values from traditional to those which took over in a post-liberalization market-driven economy. They had an urban milieu, but aptly documented our metropolitan concerns. He made the new era come alive on screen. 

Like a true great director, Rituparno had grown out of the transgender theme. He was ready to dabble in other genres, which is evident from the fact that his last film was 'Byomkesh'. I am sure that he has done a brilliant job, which, unfortunately is going to be his last. 

In a short span of time, he has done quite a lot of work. Perhaps, at the cost of his health. I wish he had worked a little less and been around for many more years. For, there will never be aRituparno Ghosh again. 

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Two bronzes for Lowe India at AME 2013

The wins were pulled in by the agency's Surf Excel and Lifebuoy campaigns.

 


As confirmed by the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival (AME) authorities earlier today, Lowe Lintas & Partners India has won two bronze awards at this year's event.

Both wins are in the 'Best Sustained Success' category for the Unilever brands, Lifebuoy and Surf Excel.
Titled 'Global Hand Washing Day: Saving Lives', the winning Lifebuoy campaign conveyed the message that simply washing one's hands with soap can help save lives. In an earlier story on afaqs!, Samir Singh, global vice-president, Lifebuoy, had mentioned that the brand's goal is to change the hand washing behaviour of a billion people by 2015 and consequently save lives, especially in diarrhoea-ridden parts of India.
In the case of Surf Excel, the winning entry is titled 'Tapping into Forgotten Gandhian Values to Sell 2 Billion Packs of Detergent'.

As reported by afaqs! earlier today, among other Indian wins at the AME 2013 are Ogilvy's silver for its Vodafone 'Made for You' campaign and BBDO's bronze for its Gillette 'Everyday Soldier' campaign. Lowe's wins were not documented on the official AME website at the time of filing the previous report. However, as of today, both, Lowe as well as the awards team, have confirmed the agency's wins.
The awards show was held on May 8-9 at Shanghai, China.

 

Shailesh Nile roped in as VFX head for international film


Josan Sandeep, who has worked as assistant director for Sam Mendes' Hollywood flick 'Skyfall', is making his directorial debut with a bilingual film titled 'The Journey'. The film is based on the life of Jesus Christ and will be made in English and Hindi. Interestingly Marathi filmmaker Shailesh Nile (of Veer Baji Prabhu Deshpande fame) has been roped in to handle the technical aspects of the film owing to his expertise in VFX technology.


Courtesy : TOI

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Why horror films should use better VFX, tells 'Aatma' director


It's true that horror films are seen as a safe bet in Bollywood. And why not? The budget of such films are usually low and the recovery faster. Now, since the budget is low, do film-makers of such films compromise on the story or the visual effects? Yes, that's usually the case, but I didn't compromise on Aatma since I had complete support from Reliance Mediaworks. If you need to make a horror film of international standards, then you have to understand the significance of other aspects of the film, most important being that of visual effects (VFX) and the hurdle of the revenue game.

Internationally, it's a different ball game altogether. Since we have to outsource for superior VFX technology, it gets costly. For example, 340 VFX shots will require close to 200-250 hours, and these require VFX technicians, who are paid on an hourly basis. Besides, in Hollywood, they almost take a year to just work on the special effects of a film, while we have to complete a film in that time span. The post-production too has to be completed within three months.

Now coming to the budget of a horror film, it's a star driven one in Bollywood. If the star cast is big, then the budget is high. With small stars you are given a conservative estimate, and to be on the safe side, the makers begin to compromise on production design and effects. That's where it all goes wrong. I believe that more than the stars, the budget has to be worked out with the VFX technicians before getting into the actual making of the film. To prevent such a thing from happening, the level of VFX understanding needs to be high among the makers as well as producers to work effectively. Having said that, I see budgeting for such films improving. The aesthetics of this genre (which is in its nascent stage here) is changing, and we are moving towards the next level. You now have a zombie film coming up in India. The next-generation film-makers are trying hard to introduce new subjects to the horror genre despite the market being dictatorial. And producers will have to change too. They won't have a choice, but to use better VFX technology, which is becoming a significant part of narrative.



Friday, May 3, 2013

100 years of Indian cinema: The amazing story of 'Celluloid Man'


In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director - Alfred Hitchcock.

With due respect to Alfred Hitchcock's ideas, I dare say that here is a documentary which is far more relevant and heavier in content than most of the feature films where god is not the director. In fact, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur's National Award winning documentary 'Celluloid Man' is a film appreciation course in itself.

The film attains more importance because 2013 is the 100th year of Indian cinema and 'Celluloid Man' is a documentation of the evolvement of a phenomenon called films in a country which draws its cultural references from celluloid.

The documentary revolves around the work of Paramesh Krishnan Nair, the man responsible for building the National Film Archive of India, and covers a span of almost 70 years.
'Celluloid Man' showcases the tradition of film archiving and showcasing in India and how films amalgamated in the daily lives of common Indians.

'Celluloid Man' can broadly be considered as a biography but it is multi-layered and deals with different forms of preserved history and the cultural artifacts which form the popular conscience towards an art form.
Unlike most of the audacious subjects of biographical documentaries, the subject is a man who is known for breaking the ceiling between the ideal and social environments. PK Nair recalls about his childhood and how he started to collect film related items at a tender age without falling into an unapologetic self-praise mode.
He understands the personalised nature of his work but seldom does he reveal the difficulties of his job as an individual. Nair never becomes translucent about the nature of a true archivist despite eminent film personalities showering tons of praise over him. He remains like a saint whose enthusiasm towards the art of archiving films knows no boundary, in fact, so much so that he accepts to call himself a film archivist despite wanting to be a filmmaker initially.

The film tries to bring PK Nair on par with Henri Langlois, the legendary founder of Cinematheque, but very soon establishes new standard bars for rest of the archivists across the globe. Shivendra Singh's painstaking research gets reflected in the number of commentators he has interviewed for the film. Shyam Benegal, Jaya Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah, Krysztof Zanussi, Gulzar, Saeed Mirza, Mahesh Bhatt, Kumar Sahani, Mrinal Sen, you just name it. Sometimes these notions look pre-conceived because how does everyone have a different story to tell, but the moment you take a look at Nair's contribution in arranging nearly 12,000 prints for NFAI, you know that you're not witnessing a man's journey but viewing history taking shape.

Further, 'Celluloid Man' is not merely a biography as its undertone brings forth a lot of burning questions. If nut farmers of a remote area can relate to Kurosawa's 'Rashomon' just because somebody shouldered the responsibility of showcasing them the film, how can the government be so oblivion towards the fast dying art of preserving prints. The creative epitomes of masters reached to provide the villagers a vision for the future only because people like Nair sacrificed their leisure to create a bank of film prints.
Had he not been there, people would have challenged whether 'Raja Harishchandar' was India's first story film or not!

The photogenic memory of Nair Saab, the documentary will force you to take his name with respect, aptly supported by commentaries and imaginative visuals make you think about the red tapism looming over NFAI, about the lost documents, about a selfless man, and about a teacher who created pupils who later evolved as the innovators of Indian cinema.

Not only the content but form also leads 'Celluloid Man' to become a must watch. Apart from goosebump moments during rare footage of historical films, 'Celluloid Man' is directed with aplomb. The director has used metaphors that will wrench your heart, for example when he juxtaposes the shots of the rotting cans over the dialogue of a girl who doesn't want to die, you will feel a revulsion within yourself about the system.
The introductory black and white shots are superb and establish just the perfect mood. Thanks to its crisp editing, 'Celluloid Man' holds the audience's attention for 150 minutes, a noteworthy feat to achieve for a documentary based on just one principal character.

It's a must watch film even if you don't like documentaries, simply because a piece of art needs patrons to survive and then thrive.

100 years of Indian cinema: Top 50 hand-painted Bollywood posters




A hundred years ago when Dhundiraj Govind Phalke organised the first public screening of his film Raja Harishchandra, the publicity posters didn't have any images on them, but that changed soon after. A film's publicity poster also became an extension of the creativity expressed on celluloid and able artists highlighted those selected images from the movie that could draw the audiences to inside the dark theatres for more than two-hours of cinematic mesmerisation. 

With time and the advance of technology photographs replaced hand-drawn images on film posters, but somehow photographs seemed to take the fun out of the Bollywood posters. They seemed best hand painted, where the painter did what plastic surgeons failed to, even though nowadays Photoshop is able to replicate much of that. Sometimes the actors are barely recognisable in their hand-drawn avatars and the heroines usually have their curves accentuated. Also some over-imaginative poster artists draw appealing scenes, that to the disappointment of the paying public are not replicated on the big screen. 

Hand-drawn posters are a rarity now, only an occasional film uses the style for effect. Here are 50 of the best hand-painted posters that Bollywood had produced since its inception. A salute to an aspect of the art of Indian cinema as it completes a hundred years of its existence. 

Posters of films listed in alphabetical order:

Aan (1952)


Abhimaan (1973)


Angoor (1982)


Aradhana (1969)


Awara (1951)


Baarish (1957)


Barsaat (1949)


Bobby (1973)


Bombay to Goa (1972)


Chandni (1989)


Daag (1973)


Deewar (1975)


Do Bigha Zamin (1953)


Do Shatru (1980)


Don (1978)


Geet Gaya Patharon Ne (1964)


Guide (1965)


Heera Panna (1973)


Johny Mera Naam (1970)


Justice Chaudhury (1983)


Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959)


Aar-Paar (1954)


Kala Bazar (1960)


Kaala Patthar (1979)


Kashmir Ki Kali (1964)


Khamoshi (1969)


Kora Kagaz (1974)


Koshish (1972)


Mahal (1949)


Mera Naam Joker (1970)


Mother India (1957)


Mughal-e-Azam (1960)


Pakeezah (1972)


Pyaasa (1957)


Rajnigandha (1974)


Ram Aur Shyam (1967)


Razia Sultan (1983)


Sagina (1974)


Sajan (1969)


Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978)


Saudagar (1973)


Seeta Aur Geeta (1972)


Sholay (1975)


Shor (1972)


Silsila (1981)


Sujata (1959)


Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963)


Trishul (1978)


Yaadein (1964)


Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke (1963)


Courtesy : www.ibnlive.in