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  • About GNGM

    Reviews

    “A cerebral joyride”
    Karan Johar, filmmaker on REDIFF

    “Among the most charming and creative Indian independent films”
    J Hurtado, TWITCH

    ★★★★✩
    “You don’t really need a big star cast… you don’t even need a big budget to get the techniques of filmmaking bang on…”
    Allen O Brien, TIMES OF INDIA

    ★★★★✩
    “An outstanding experience that doesn’t come by too often out of Indian cinema!”
    Shakti Salgaokar, DNA

    ★★★
    “This film can reach out the young, urban, upwardly mobile, but lonely, disconnected souls living anywhere in the world, not just India.”
    Namrata Joshi, OUTLOOK

    “I was blown away!”
    Aseem Chhabra, MUMBAI MIRROR

    “Good Night Good Morning is brilliant!”
    Rohit Vats, IBN-LIVE

    ★★★✩✩
    “Watch it because it’s a smart film.”
    Shubha Shetty Saha, MIDDAY

    ★★★✩✩
    “A small gem of a movie.”
    Sonia Chopra, SIFY

    ★★★✩✩
    “A charming flirtation to watch.”
    Shalini Langer, INDIAN EXPRESS

    “Interesting, intelligent & innovative”
    Pragya Tiwari, TEHELKA

    “Beyond good. Original, engrossing and entertaining”
    Roshni Mulchandani, BOLLYSPICE

    * * * * *
    Synopsis

    ‘Good Night Good Morning’ is a black and white, split-screen, conversation film about two strangers sharing an all-night phone call on New Year's night.

    Writer-Director Sudhish Kamath attempts to discover good old-fashioned romance in a technology-driven mobile world as the boy Turiya, driving from New York to Philadelphia with buddies, calls the enigmatic girl staying alone in her hotel room, after a brief encounter at the bar earlier in the night.

    The boy has his baggage of an eight-year-old failed relationship and the girl has her own demons to fight. Scarred by unpleasant memories, she prefers to travel on New Year's Eve.

    Anonymity could be comforting and such a situation could lead to an almost romance as two strangers go through the eight stages of a relationship – The Icebreaker, The Honeymoon, The Reality Check, The Break-up, The Patch-up, The Confiding, The Great Friendship, The Killing Confusion - all over one phone conversation.

    As they get closer to each other over the phone, they find themselves miles apart geographically when the film ends and it is time for her to board her flight. Will they just let it be a night they would cherish for the rest of their lives or do they want more?

    Good Night | Good Morning, starring Manu Narayan (Bombay Dreams, The Love Guru, Quarter Life Crisis) and Seema Rahmani (Loins of Punjab, Sins and Missed Call) also features New York based theatre actor Vasanth Santosham (Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain), screenwriter and film critic Raja Sen and adman Abhishek D Shah.

    Shot in black and white as a tribute to the era of talkies of the fifties, the film set to a jazzy score by musicians from UK (Jazz composer Ray Guntrip and singer Tina May collaborated for the song ‘Out of the Blue), the US (Manu Narayan and his creative partner Radovan scored two songs for the film – All That’s Beautiful Must Die and Fire while Gregory Generet provided his versions of two popular jazz standards – Once You’ve Been In Love and Moon Dance) and India (Sudeep and Jerry came up with a new live version of Strangers in the Night) was met with rave reviews from leading film critics.

    The film was released under the PVR Director’s Rare banner on January 20, 2012.

    Festivals & Screenings

    Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI), Mumbai 2010 World Premiere
    South Asian Intl Film Festival, New York, 2010 Intl Premiere
    Goa Film Alliance-IFFI, Goa, 2010 Spl Screening
    Chennai Intl Film Festival, Chennai, 2010 Official Selection
    Habitat Film Festival, New Delhi, 2011 Official Selection
    Transilvania Intl Film Festival, Cluj, 2011 Official Selection, 3.97/5 Audience Barometer
    International Film Festival, Delhi, 2011 Official Selection
    Noordelijk Film Festival, Netherlands, 2011 Official Selection, 7.11/10 Audience Barometer
    Mumbai Film Mart, Mumbai 2011, Market Screening
    Film Bazaar, IFFI-Goa, 2011, Market Screening
    Saarang Film Festival, IIT-Madras, 2012, Official Selection, 7.7/10 Audience Barometer

    Theatrical Release, January 20, 2012 through PVR

    Mumbai
    Delhi
    Gurgaon
    Ahmedabad
    Bangalore
    Chennai
    Hyderabad (January 27)

    * * * * *

    More information: IMDB | Facebook | Youtube | Wikipedia | Website

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Archive For September, 2008

One helluva trip!

September 29, 2008 · by sudhishkamath

I really don’t know where to start.

This post is just for all of you who have been asking me to blog about the trip. With seven travel stories planned, I don’t want to type the whole thing here. But it’s a trip I will cherish for a lifetime for the following reasons:

1. Did Chennai-Frankfurt-Los Angeles (Read: Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, ABC Studios – the home of Lost, Disneyland, Kodak Theatre)-New York (Did two Broadway musicals including Lion King back to back, thanks to Disney)-Pittsburgh (visiting my best friend Murugan)-New York (again for sightseeing, pub-hopping, thanks to Gita and Sheetal)-Frankfurt-Ibiza (Yes, to see the best sunrise in the world)-Paris (should I even say more?)-Amsterdam (Heard of The Flying Pig?)-cut to one missed train to Frankfurt and back to Chennai – all in 19 days! The first leg of the tour was official, on invitation from the Disney Group to get a taste of the Disney Difference first hand and everything from Pittsburgh was part of my personal holiday.

2. Got a Dharma Initiative tattoo done in Pittsburgh. Of course, it hurt like hell but thanks to Murugan and Roshni for having cameras around so that I couldn’t chicken out or show any signs of pain… 🙂 All my fellow Lost fans will be proud of me. I surprised myself because I never thought I would be the kind to pay to get my skin scalded. I guess I was super kicked after meeting Barry Jossen who was nominated for an Emmy for the Lost mobisodes along with the creators Lindeloff and Cuse. And also extra thanks to Murugan and Roshni for taking me for Burn After Reading on the day of the release. Too bad it was a little disappointing though Brad Pitt turned in an awesome extended cameo and Clooney rocked. But come on guys, this is a film the Coens couldve written in their sleep… An assembly-line Coen Brothers film that smacks of Deja Vu every other scene.

3. Sat on the monster rollercoaster California Screamin. Twice (since I held on to railing the first time thinking it is mandatory for security reasons… the second time around was great fun cuz it felt like a free fall) And did every single ride meant for grown ups at Disneyland including the Pirates ride, the Indiana Jones ride, the Finding Nemo submarine ride, the Maliboomer rocket ride that takes you up 1000 ft and drops down half the distance, the Space Mountain ride, the Jungle Cruise and the some kiddy rides too.

4. Smoked half a joint of hash in Amsterdam. Hated it!! Left a bad taste in my mouth and a hole in my pocket. Not literally. Just shopped for some 250 euros in the next half hour buying clothes with no clue about sizes… Instead of me having to choose the clothes… if I buy enough, friends can always choose what they want right? Had to buy a suitcase to put it in and then missed my train because the train left 40 minutes earlier than the time on my ticket because the Germans suck at building reservation systems. Took five trains in the middle of the night to get to Frankfurt to catch my flight back to India.

5. Saw one of the greatest sunsets in the world in Ibiza with 5000 to 10,000 other people (floating population) along the coast standing by Cafe Del Mar (no place to stand, let alone sit). People actually applauded after the sunset. I could see why it is the world’s biggest party island but I hated drunk Brits pissing in the middle of the street like they owned the place. Also, got conned by Torres Hostal on arrival around midnight (Famous words: “Yes you have a reservation with us. But we don’t have a room for you”) and found decent and much better accomodation next street in Cervantes.

6. Walked all around Paris by day and did the pub crawl at night, partied till 2.30 a.m and had a tough time getting a taxi back to the hostel. Mark Benzer, if you’re reading this… This is your wingman wishing you all the best for the rest of your tour! That was fun, brother!

7. Found out why New York City is everybody’s favourite city in the world. I had a blast there. Did the hop on hop off tour along with the cruise by Statue of Liberty, walked the Brooklyn Bridge and got a great view of the skyline and got a taste of the night life there, thanks to Gita. Times Square was all electric energy and when over a hundred Harley Davidson bikers rode on for a promotional rally, I just loved the city a little more. NYC was great except for an Indian cabbie who decided to give our race a bad name. When I asked him why he didn’t put the meter, he earnestly tells me (as the Vacant sign flashes at me): “They’ve introduced a new system, you just have to key in the zip code and it tells you the fare.” Manjeet Singh, shame on you for swiping my card and helping yourself to an unauthorised 25 per cent tip. Yes, I was conned by a Sardar! Okay, no more Sardar jokes from me!

8. Finally set foot into Hollywood as a journalist.  I could see the Kodak Theatre from my studio suite in Renaissance. Yes, Disney took really good care of us, flying us business class and putting us up in some really cool boutique hotels – First The Grafton on Sunset (on Sunset Boulevard of course) and then at the Disney Grand Californian inside Disneyland, Anaheim, Renaissance and Hudson in Manhattan, New York! We met with Disney’s top bosses in Motion Pictures business, ABC (we were at the sets of the Brothers and Sisters TV show), Products, Imagineers at the theme park and even went backstage after the Lion King Broadway musical… Yes, I get paid to do things like this! Well, when work is this tough, what choice do you have but to lie back and enjoy it, huh? 😀

Watch out for my travel stories starting next week.

Post Script: Note to Kutti:

But it wasn’t complete, wasn’t nearly close to being in the same vicinity as complete because I couldn’t share it with you. I couldn’t hear your voice or laugh about it with you. I missed my – I missed my girl…

I love you. You… complete me.

😀

Do critics set out to rip films apart?

September 29, 2008 · by sudhishkamath

It’s been a week that I have been back after my longest holiday in the last few years.

And probably my biggest yet!

Before I post an update on that, I would like to thank my Superbro Raja Sen, one of my two favourite Indian film critics (well, by now I guess most of you regulars here know the other favourite is good old Baddy to friends, Baradwaj Rangan to fans and I know him more as Baradwaj Rangan than Baddy)… Yes, so… Thank you, Raja for endorsing this blog and I hope sincerely that your last column has added a lot more weight to your reputation of being “the most hated Indian online”…

😀

Recently at a film audio launch party, a popular producer-actor told me that he loves the way I “rip” films apart. Now, that’s exactly what the lady who issued me the Schengen visa said when I went for the interview at the German Consulate a month ago. But Umm… Er… I am not sure if that’s any compliment.

I am pretty sure Raja does not enjoy people hating him or writes reviews to be hated or writes reviews simply because he hates the makers.

I certainly do not “rip apart” films or at least haven’t started writing a review because people love/hate to read negative reviews.

It’s just a job that I do to the best of my ability, based on deadlines, prevailing mood at the time of watching and writing, availability of the backgrounders (this also involves watching all films related to the film – originals in case of remakes, rip-offs or tributes, prequels apart from reading interviews, synopsis and production notes… When Revenge of the Sith released, I had a blast watching all the five Star Wars films back to back in one night and when Clone Wars releases, I will have no choice but to watch all six at one go… Yes, I actually get paid for this) And I also write keeping in mind the crowd response and the context of what the filmmaker has tried to do and sometimes with the sole intention of balancing out skewed positive or negative reviews in other mainstream media (so as to say: Come on, it’s not that bad or Hey, it isn’t that good as they tell you)… And there’s the word limit factor that further affects the review – the desk may just deem it fit to remove any explanation of an argument and sometimes may want to play it safe when anything remotely sexual or any kind of slang is mentioned. [Recently, I had referred to Bipasha as Her Hotness in a recent review and found that it had been changed it to “Miss Hot” (sic!)]

With so many things to worry about including memory in case of forgettable films, I clearly do not have the talent to also manufacture negativity and humour along with all that mandatory analysis that’s required in a review.

It is foolish to even try to make every review a funny one or a negative one when your word limit is packed with the bare essentials – which consists of why the film works or why it doesn’t, along with instances, singling out departments or individuals that stood out for whatever reasons, a basic storyline avoiding spoilers, an overview of what the film, the cast and the crew achieves and a summary or suggestion of what the reader is supposed to do after reading the review.

Let me clarify – I am not even hinting that all this is difficult. I just mean to say that a reviewer cannot afford to stick to or be bound by one additional parameter when he has so many of these other things to do. Which is why I don’t try to make every review of mine funny or negative. Just like how every film is unique, it deserves a review that it truly deserves – a review that does justice to all the effort gone into making the film or in watching it.

Tamil Cinema: The new wave

September 10, 2008 · by sudhishkamath

Remember 2007, when boys next door turned a pin-code into a phenomenal cult film on street cricket? And a film about a girl who cannot talk spoke volumes about the intelligence and evolution of modern day audiences.
Venkat Prabhu and Radha Mohan showed the way last year and now, we have a whole new brave generation of filmmakers ready to show the box office that it is good scripts that make films work, stars or no stars.
Though star-struck audiences still buy into hype and practice idol worship, this year Mysskin with Anjaathey and Sasikumar with Subramaniyapuram have provided further proof that the audience for Tamil cinema has come a long way.
With half a dozen offbeat films from young, promising filmmakers in the cans, we decided to sample some of the blue-blood and got these filmmakers together for a photo-shoot at Sathyam Cinemas recently.
Snatches from the conversation.

Krishnan Seshadri Gomatam

“The market has exploded. It has changed,” swears Krishnan Seshadri Gomatam, director of Muthal Muthal Muthal Varai, smartly abbreviated to a market savvy ‘M3V’.

“Earlier, we used to make a movie for the mass. Today, with the IT boom and the impact of globalisation, attitudes have changed. People have more exposure to International content. The mood is upbeat,” he explains why he believes that the audience is ready for a new genre of films.

“The hero-heroine-villain kind of thing is getting old. That’s not the only kind of films people want to see. Today, you can concentrate, target people and talk only to them, thanks to the multiplexes. Satyajit Ray’s cinema reflected a different kind of India. Today, it’s all about celebration of life.”

Unlike regular male dominated films, in M3V, you can expect the girl to play a role that’s as important as the guy. “The hero of my film has no qualms about getting help from the girl to achieve is dream. Men and women are stepping into what used to be considered exclusive domain. Our films need to reflect that change,” he says.

M3V starring Satyajit, Anuja Iyer, Charan and Keevna is set to release this month.

Vijay

What made someone who made a hardcore Thala film to venture into a territory reserved for the underdog filmmakers?

“It is only content that matters today,” says Vijay, speaking about his Khosla Ka Ghosla remake ‘Poi Solla Porum’ all set to release on September 12.

“I want to do different kinds of films. If I do ten films in my life, I should’ve dabbled in ten different genres,” he says.

There are advantages and disadvantages of working with experienced actors and stars. “They are professionals, they know how to portray characters. There is little you have to tell them. But when you are working with newcomers, everything is your responsibility. But I had a blast working on ‘Poi Solla Porum’. I was able to experiment on a lot of things.”

Vijay is an advocate of change. “Tamil cinema definitely needs a change otherwise it will get monotonous. Hollywood has different genres. People are welcoming the new kind of cinema. That’s a good sign. We have to make sensible movies.”

Poi Solla Porum starring Nedumudi Venu, Nasser, Karthik Kumar, Pia, Om and Bosskey is about a group of underdogs who take on a powerful land shark.

Anita Udeep

She made her first film in English. “Knock, Knock, I Am Looking To Marry” ran a record six weeks when the multiplex culture had just set in and now she’s done with eighty per cent of the shoot of her Tamil debut ‘Kulir 100’.

“I think I understand the balance between what I want to do and what will click with the audience,” says Anita Udeep, who also has an animation feature ‘Gullivers Travel’ to her credit.

“If you can work out the economics backwards and make a film, you can make something that you really like, something that’s your style, something without compromise that will appeal to people… But you have to also look at a way where you make money. But I am sure there will be so many people like me who will want to watch a different kind of film.”

Anita’s film Kulir 100 is about a bunch of six high-schoolers. “It’s not the regular kind of high school comedy with sexual innuendoes or puppy love. I’ve tried to capture the vulnerability of that phase of being 17-years old when your mind is not stable, it is constantly wavering.”

Kulir 100 features Sanjeev, Ria, Karthik, Akash, Ritish and Syed is all set for a Diwali release.

Viji

Vellithirai was one of the most candid films made on the film industry itself, a critique on the state of the art. Did it go down well with his fraternity?

“I think they enjoyed the film and the characters. There was no negative feedback since I had not attacked anyone specific,” says Viji, who is readying up the script for his new film for Mirchi Movies.

There will always be two aspects to the business – art and commercial, he says. “The commercial films will use stars and there are also good things about that too. I employ humour to make it more commercially savvy.”

Viji too wants to make all kinds of films. “But the films should represent the times. We can’t recycle the same plots. The angry young man may not be completely relevant today,” he says.

Viji’s yet to be titled film tries to capture the change in attitude through the story of four boys and four girls. “Be it the joint family system, the father-son-family relationships or girl-boy interaction, everything has changed over the years. We have to make our cinema contemporary,” he says. “Yes, the public wants something different. The climate has changed. I can’t say the total trend has changed. But different films also are working.”

Gayathri-Pushkar

“For us, doing a different kind of film is as important as making a film commercially work,” says Gayathri, also speaking for Pushkar. The duo’s Oram Po may not have set the box office on fire but it was received well by critics and the people who watched it.

“Seventy per cent of commercial films fail. Somewhere you have to look at it from the audience point of view and see if people will enjoy it. And you need to have your unique voice with something new to say,” she explains.

Stars do make things a lot easier, adds Pushkar. “If you get a star, you automatically you get a producer. Let’s say you have a story that needs a certain kind of budget to get it realised and if you have a strong vision, you need to get a star. The onus is then on your head to go get the star and convince him.”
The duo are currently scripting their new film ‘Raakozhi.’ “Our films are a light-hearted take on life, that reflect the time and space the characters…We like the story to be rooted in the local milieu. We’re strongly against delivering messages. We don’t have that kind of life experience. Also, you wont be seeing dramatic situations, melodrama or major crying in our films. Stay away from melodrama is one of our mantras.”

Sasikumar:
What gave him the guts to make a non-glamourous realistic film set in the eighties and have nothing else but pictures of four unkempt bearded men on the posters?

“The story made me,” says Sasikumar, director of Subramaniyapuram. “I told myself whatever it is, do or die. You got to prove yourself. This is the age we can take risks. We shouldn’t compromise.”

Sasikumar wanted to go back to the origin of the angry young man. “The eighties was when it all started. The unemployed youth became misguided and took to rowdyism. Also, we have not had flashback films that went so back in time. I was confident that people who are over 35 would want to see it out of curiosity.”

Though he is a fan of Ram Gopal Varma, he says that his cinema is derived from real life. “The raw violence you see in the film is something I took from Madurai. It still happens. Violence is like that. If you read the crime stories in newspapers there, you will get gory details on how murders are committed.”

“There are different ways to drive home a point. You can say anything with love or create fear. With Subramaniyapuram, I wanted to scare and show the consequences of a violent path.”
Sasikumar will now be seen acting in Samudirakanni’s “Nadodigal”. “Again, it is a non-formula film. The Kathai is the hero.  We are starting shoot in September.”

His next directorial venture goes on floors in February 2009.

Rock On: Totally Rockin’

September 6, 2008 · by sudhishkamath

Genre: Musical
Director: Abhishek Kapoor
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny, Prachi Desai, Koel Puri
Storyline: Four friends who are part of a rock band called Magik fall apart until one day, ten years later, life offers them a second chance.
Bottomline: A rock-version of Dil Chahta Hai-meets-Jhankaar Beats in an incredibly solid ensemble film.

Rock on is predictable from start to the supers in the end that will tell us what happened to each of the band members and is certainly not the film you ought to watch after the spoof ‘Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.’

Because, Rock On has every single element synonymous with the sub-genre of rock-movies – a band that has fallen apart must get together to redeem itself.

But it’s not the What that matters in a movie like Rock On, it’s the How.

And How it works!

Gloriously at that, hitting the right notes with the restraint and understatement, a sensibility we are now attuned to expect from the Farhan Akhtar brand of cinema. Director Abhishek Kapoor is completely in control, backed by Farhan Akhtar’s effectively incisive dialogues that take us right into the mind of the characters, not to forget the powerhouse performances from the entire ensemble.

The film does get indulgently slow down towards in the middle when it delves into what went wrong with the band, but by then you’re already in love with the mood and the feel of Rock On. Cinematographer Jason West, take a bow.

With the classic golden sephia tones and the saturated colours created in a sea of swaying arms, the flashbacks feel like a Woodstock documentary set in Mumbai.

You can completely relate to the boys, their dilemmas and where the conflict stems from, through the nuances and body language of the characters, with the filmmaker rarely ever resorting to theatrics, melodrama or cinematic exaggeration.

Rock On is a nostalgic ode to an era when rock musicians could be spotted with their long hair. Yes, they did smoke up, they had their groupies but that wasn’t all they did.

It maybe a little unfair to compare this with Cameron Crowe’s ‘Almost Famous’ that went behind the scenes and deep into the minds of pig-headed power-drunk rockstars because rockstars in India are anything but that.

Because Rock On is the definitive film on the state of Indian rock. Rockstars in India are small-time survivors, consumed by the angst of their struggle against odds, playing for what they believe in and bound together by friendship and music, more than anything else. And Rock On is spot on when it comes to exploring these issues.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s music is the backbone of this film. The songs work ‘Magik’ when you watch them within the film, grow on you and may just convince you pick up a CD. It’s raw, fresh and full of life. And once you’ve seen the movie, it will also trigger memories of the film.

There is so much to rave about Farhan Akhtar’s performance. He’s emerged out to be one of India’s finest actors in the film, brooding with aggressive intensity, employing his voice modulation to bring out the anguish, compared to a superbly restrained Arjun Rampal who lets his eyes do all the talking with his mellowed down angst-ridden countenance. Purab Kohli is delightfully charming and fun and is almost solely responsible for the laughs in the film while Luke Kenny underplays the level-headed, strong-minded introvert with great panache. The women in the film Prachi Desai, Koel Puri and especially Sahana Goswami are solid in their support roles.

Even the most predictable scenes are delivered with utmost sincerity and the sync sound breathes so much life into even the most used plot devices.

Unfortunately though this multiplex film has limited urban appeal and one can only wish that it stays long enough to get the audience it deserves.

Book your ticket now and Rock On.

Mumbai Meri Jaan: The blasts that shook them alive

September 5, 2008 · by sudhishkamath

Genre: Drama
Director: Nishikant Kamat
Cast: Paresh Rawal, R.Madhavan, Kay Kay, Soha Ali Khan, Vijay Maurya
Storyline: One week in the life of Mumbaiites from different walks of life in the aftermath of the Mumbai blasts.
Bottomline: Glimpses of genius

Nishikant Kamat has to be among the most promising of our filmmakers today.

Mumbai Meri Jaan breaks your heart a few times, chokes you in fits and starts and is one of the most sincere films of our times.

Yes, it is a little overwritten, slow, disjointed and even gets a little repetitive but this is a solid attempt at introducing powerhouse drama through subtlety.

Ironically, the only parts that do not work are those where Kamat tries to use his cinematic licence to exaggerate for the sake of drama.

For instance, we understand Irrfan’s character lives on the fringes of the society, often ignored and insulted. Yet, well after establishing that, Kamat feels the need to show it visually and so he exaggerates to show him humiliated in front of his family for daring to walk into a multiplex and trying on perfume.
But then, how many Indian filmmakers have dared to handle a complex ensemble socio-political commentary film like Crash or Babel?

Though Mumbai is nowhere as subtle as Babel or as clever as Crash, Kamat’s film is all heart. It borrows the parallel-narratives-stitched-together structure of the Paul Haggis film and the ‘everything is connected’ thread of the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s masterpiece and yet peoples it with characters that represent different walks of life in the countries cultural capital.

In the wake of the blasts, the state of the State is represented by a flawed, ineffective cop about to retire (Paresh Rawal in a career best) and a young policeman (Thank you again, Nagesh Kukunoor, for giving us Vijay Maurya) disillusioned with his role in the corrupt system.

The ideal conscientious citizen (R.Madhavan reprises his character from Kamat’s ‘Evano Oruvan’) loses it here too but at a completely, wholly believable level – he may just want to opt out of the system.

The also film takes us to the root of the issue – more than that of ideology or religion –public perception and the politics of vendetta (no one could’ve fit the bill better than Kay Kay Menon), the role of the media (Soha Ali Khan cries like she was born for this role) represented through a TV journalist who becomes the prime exhibit of the circus and the consequence of apathy and indifference towards the minority which could turn the most innocent man into a sadistic soul taking his revenge on the society (Irrfan Khan is reliably solid).

Mumbai Meri Jaan, thankfully, is not a rose-tinted perspective of a city that rose on its feet on the day of the blasts and its undying spirit (as the TV channels packaged it). The film is, in fact, a reality check. There are no easy solutions offered and the individual stories are resolved with credible doses of realism and hope.

Unlike his first film Dombivli Fast, Mumbai… is only border-line dark.

Now, there will always be art-lovers who would have liked this film to end on a stark, depressing note. But political filmmaking transcends something you put up for approval from art critics. By genre, it is for you to express what you have to say on the issue.

And Kamat so well sums it up in a cameo: “Terrorism is a part of our reality and our children will get used to it… Earlier tourists came to see the twin towers. Now, they come to see Ground Zero.”

Phoonk: RGV makes another boo-boo

September 4, 2008 · by sudhishkamath

Genre: Horror
Director: Ram Gopal Varma
Cast: Sudeep, Amruta Khanvilkar, Ahsaas Channa
Storyline: A builder’s child becomes the victim of black magic after her Dad fires a witch
Bottomline: Hamming hits new highs

The only horror in Phoonk is how much Ram Gopal Varma makes his actors ham. Especially, the fabulous four who were the mainstay of the Ramsay Brothers brand of horror.

The Scary Old Lady: Ram Gopal Varma’s old lady can’t talk without shaking her head. That lady’s consistently disapproving expression sort of sums up the audience reaction to the film.

The Kohl-Eyed-Witch: Tight close-ups of over-the-top animated expressions have the hall in splits. Entertaining yes, scary no.

The Freak Watchman: The camera keeps cutting back to his squint-eyed ‘I could be a psycho’ stares all through the film for subtle reminders that he maybe a freak.

The Baba Black Sheep Killer: Horror of horrors, Zakir Hussain takes home the honours in breaking new ground in Hamville as the miracle man – the baba who can kill and generate cornball special effects – the conveniently quick fix solution to this horror tale.

Nothing wrong in employing such visual loudness in a horror film but the reason this doesn’t work in RGV’s latest is because the filmmaker also wants to be subtle at the same time and scare us with close-ups of, among other things – a stress-ball, Spiderman and an E.T. stuffed toy.

We get the idea behind the ‘What if there was life in all sorts of idols?’ If God resides inside an idol or a poster and people believe that from the bottom of their hearts, could there be life inside other shapes and objects too, say, in ominous looking statues? But that idea too goes unexplored, and is reduced to a style-sheet gimmick of icons in the foreground of every other scene before the camera shifts focus to the action in the background.

The science versus superstition debate works at a superficial level, limited to a couple of conversations on faith with absolutely no new perspective on the issue. Probably because RGV himself isn’t acquainted with the significant difference in being an atheist and being agnostic. Atheism, by no means, is a scientific stance simply because just like you cannot scientifically prove God exists, you cannot prove He does not exist.

Sudeep isn’t a bad actor and if he were agnostic, he could’ve come across as a level-headed relatable man of science at the beginning of the film.

Amruta looks like she just stepped out of a TV soap and the child actor Ahsaas Channa looks believably tormented.

The omnipotent crow, supposed to be one of the main performers in the film, is just a glorified extra on the set, offering absolutely zero scares.

So is there anything at all that will scare you?

Yes, thank God for the filmmaker who invented The Dream Cheat and for all the guys who made films on exorcism.

But again, ‘It’s just a dream’ cheats work best when used once. When RGV resorts to repetition, you can tell a man who has run of ideas.

The only other explanation for this film to be this bad is that black magic really exists. And someone’s cast a nasty spell on RGV’s filmmaking.

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