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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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Posts By sudhishkamath

Inching towards the final cut!

October 18, 2005 · by sudhishkamath

People!

We faced a lot more hurdles, both personal and financial in the last few months. But, have finally been able to complete a first rough cut last month.

We also had reason to cheer after Asif Bhai, our old music director agreed to do the background score and original soundtrack for the movie, unconditionally.

Over the last coupla weeks, he has prepared some really kick-ass scores.

And we’re maha-inspired as we gear up for the final cut starting tomorrow.

From here on, things would hopefully move at a reasonable pace and we hope to have a movie in our hands by the end of the year and ready for release early next year, hopefully the Valentine’s season. In any case, we’ll arrange a special show for bloggers before that. 🙂

Also, we have booked an official site. It should be up by the end of next month.

Thanks for not giving up on us and for all those endless enquiries.

This is also to welcome my co-writer and best buddy Murugan back home. He has come back for good from the US. We wrote the script over email, if you remember.

Now, that he’s around, we are gonna have a full-time executive producer to run around and get us some deals. Meanwhile, if you are aware of potential buyers and distributors, do drop us an email at madeinmadras[at]gmail[dot]com.

Layout, links, updates!

October 15, 2005 · by sudhishkamath

Just for those who haven’t yet noticed: I have updated my links on the sidebar below the movie reviews. Have tried to sort them out under random classifications, just to break them up.

Have listed some of my favourites. That does not mean the others aren’t good, my favourite blogs just reflect my kinda reading. I noticed that women specialise in personal blogs while men seem to stick to general topics that are either funny or light or based on film, technology, cricket and infotainment. So I’ve put select women under a special section called ‘Up Close and Personal.’

Suderbuddies are my favourite people, my closest friends, colleagues and virtual friends. There’s also a separate section for ‘Under 21,’ the young promising bloggers.

Also, I hope I’ve added all those who had asked. Else, just feel free to remind me.

The latest ‘He says She says’ column on dress codes has been posted in its home blog.

Since that’s a column I share with a co-writer, I thought it required a separate blog. So do visit us there if you still haven’t. It has the entire collection, so you could catch up with the ones you missed, right from Episode 1.

😀

Episode 7: Dress code

October 15, 2005 · by sudhishkamath

(Right in the beginning, we had decided the column isn’t just gonna be about topics but also everyday issues. We had to wait till people got the hang of the column. But now that we do have a topic at hand, we did seem to agree that a University Vice Chancellor prescribing a sexist dress code banning jeans, tees and tops was ridiculous. But agreeing is against the spirit of the column. So I had to disagree… Read on!)

She Says:

Are saris more modest than jeans? Are kurtas coyer than capris?

Are women dressed in skirts actually sneaky vamps out to trick clueless young men into life of reckless lechery?

Sigh. Those poor men. If the moral police are to be believed, all they do is sit, artlessly discussing existantialism perhaps, at street corners. Then, boom. A depraved woman in (gasp) a pair of jeans and T-shirt walks past, and they have no option but to start stalking her, passing obscene comments.

Give us a break.

As any woman who’s walked any street in this city knows, you will be followed. You will be whistled at. You will be commented on. And this is irrespective of whether you’re wearing a tiny pair of shorts or a voluminous cotton sari. Irrespective of your age, or your looks, or your size.

That’s the strange thing about this city’s brand of roadside romeos: they don’t spare anyone.

So anyone who thinks that dressing all the city’s students in ‘traditional Indian wear’ will bring down the crime rate is either ridiculously optimistic, or amazingly shortsighted.

Apart from the obvious fact that karate is more likely to deter those hot-headed misguided young men than kurtas, there’s another fact that authorities in question should keep in mind.

Students are rebels. They will always be.

Sari’s can be made of light-as-air chiffon with blouses that are more itsy-bitsy than any self-respecting bikini. Kurtas can be sleeveless, backless and off shoulder. Churidhars today are slinker than the Oscar ballgowns.

Indian traditional wear can give western casual a run for its money anytime. Check out the woman in backless cholis at any wedding, and you’ll know what I mean.

And to think people are protesting denim and T-shirts!

He says:

I agree with the Vice Chancellor.

He’s absolutely right.

Let’s get rid of jeans and short tight tops.

They are not part of Indian culture nor are trousers.

Neither is English nor engineering.

Hence, the learned officials, must also introduce Sanskrit or Tamil as official language and make students dress up in costumes from ‘Asoka,’ a dress code that conforms to Indian culture.

Considering what Kareena wore (or didn’t wear), the attendance from the boys will be unprecedented.

Given that industrialisation, modernisation and subsequent globalisation is taking away from Indian culture, we need to go back to our roots and embrace agriculture.

Gandhiji said India lives in its villages, remember.

Let’s do away with the evil of engineering and technology that’s converting sacred rural pockets into urban centres.

Let’s get rid of education, it was not part of the Indian culture.

Whatever we need to know is there in the vedas, the scriptures and also recorded by our own great great-grand-fathers.

Let’s all learn to shoot with bows and arrows, walk around in loin cloth and hunt for our food.

Let’s get rid of the concept of money, it is not part of the Indian culture. It distracts.

Let’s get rid of democracy, it is not part of the Indian culture. Call the kings, let there be courtesans. Let there be war to decide who rules who. It’s part of our heritage after all.

One billion Indians arrived on this planet because of indiscipline and distraction.

So yes, let’s get rid of sex and embrace abstinence.

Adam and Eve practiced it with much discipline until the apple came in between.

So let’s get rid of all apples.

And peace will prevail, and maybe our dinosaurs will live happily ever after.

Review: The Cave

October 15, 2005 · by sudhishkamath

No IIPM updates here, go away!

Cast: Cole Hauser, Morris Chestnut, Eddie Cibrian and assorted freshers.
Director: Bruce Hunt
Genre: Monster/ thriller
Storyline:What could it be? 😛
Bottomline: Enter at your own risk.

Do flying creatures that munch humans for lunch still excite you?

Hollywood never seems to get tired of mean old monster movies.

The Cave is just an assembly-line export reject, hoping to find takers in a CAS-inflicted regime in Chennai where STAR Movies and HBO come at a premium. But that’s taking optimism too far. For, movie channels give you one such monster film every day a month for the same price of a cinema ticket.

‘The Cave’ is, at best, a crash course on monster movies for dummies.

Cast: Get some guys who’ve done supporting roles in some popular movies. Get guys who don’t mind getting killed after a minute or two and women who look good and scream well. Also one black American to make sure its representative of population, it keeps the brothers happy.

Storyline: A bunch of people venture into a ______ (insert title of the film here… example Haunted Mansion, Deep Blue Sea, Jurassic Park or just say “place” if the title of the film is a creature) only to end up as lunch for ______ (insert name of monster… example Anaconda, Jaws, Godzilla, Aliens, Predator, etc). But for the main guy and the girl (and sometimes, just one more friend) everybody else becomes a part of the monster buffet. And even after they escape, the monsters surface before the end credits to announce a sequel.

Rules:
1. Monsters are huge, toad ugly motherfukkers.
2. They have irregular eating habits, eat humans anytime they please, especially towards the second half.
3. Monsters like their food raw. They eat humans without peeling the skin or the clothes off them.
4. Monsters have short term memory loss. They often forget to make an appearance, especially during bonding and feel good scenes.
5. They are all psychotic, make funny noises that sound like mating calls but are rarely shown having sex. Or indulging in any romantic moment. They do love to eat women but not the way you think.
6. You never find monster crap in movies cuz monsters look very similar, plus there’s a possibility that eaten man/woman finds an exit from the rear.

Treatment: Hire a game addict and give him a deadline of 100 minutes to write a script. All he needs to do is to transcribe a monster videogame.

Get a visual effects guy for a director. People go to watch a monster movie for the effects. Nothing else matters. Or at least that’s what the makers of this film seem to believe. To director Bruce Hunt’s credit, the visual effects for ‘The Cave’ do rock.

But for that, there’s no other reason to venture in.

And yes, if you’re still hunting for IIPM related blogs, you certainly do need admission into The Cave along with… maybe a back-to-back Double Bill with ‘Grudge,’ the movie I would gladly send anyone I have one against. Grudge, in fact, has a burping ghost.

Yes, announcement: Kisna is no longer the worst film made, it’s got to be the Grudge! By miles.

IIPM case: How valid is an electronic legal notice?

October 13, 2005 · by sudhishkamath

Is the lawsuit one big hoax??
After the clowns in IIPM issued electronic legal notices to Rashmi, Gaurav and Varna, I emailed legal expert Naavi to ask him his opinion on the validity.

Reproduced below is the text of Naavi’s email.

From: naavi

To: Sudhish Kamath
Date: Oct 11, 2005 7:33 PM
Subject: Re: Is it possible to send legal notices over email?

Dear Mr Sudhish,

It is true that e-mails can be used for serving notices inlieu of paper notices. This follows from Section 4 of ITA-2000 (Read along with Section 1(4) and 5,to 9,of ITA-2000).

Normally it would be necessary for the notice to be digitally signed by the sender. However, in the instant case, the receiver seems to have acknowledged the receipt of the notice. hence there is no problem about identification of the addressee.

Another aspect of the current case is that though notices in e-form are legally recognizable, legal notices prior to launch of court proceedings may require to follow established court procedures. I suppose that if the defence refuses to acknowledge the notice, Court when approached may direct the petitioner to serve another proper notice through paper. I suppose the court can at its discretion accept the validity if in its opinion their is no doubt that the accused has received the notice.

Naavi

—– Original Message —–
From: Sudhish Kamath
To: naavi@vsnl.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 4:29 AM
Subject: Is it possible to send legal notices over email?

Hello Mr. Naavi,
Im a journalist with The Hindu and wanted to know the veracity of electronic legal notices?
Can they be indeed be served over email??
I’m not sure if you’ve heard about the latest controversy in blogdom.
http://desipundit.com has an overview on how IIPM has sued a couple of bloggers Gaurav Sabnis (www.gauravsabnis.blogspot.com) and Varna who had given links to an expose done by a Mumbai-based youth magazine called JAM. Even the editor of JAM, Rashmi Bansal ( http://www.youthcurry.blogspot.com).
Going through this legal notice sent my email to Gaurav, I can’t help but wonder if its a hoax.
Here’s the link for you to examine: http://gauravsabnis.blogspot.com/2005/10/im-disconnecting-my-cable-connection.html
Is it really possible to sue people over email when the address is not veriable? There is no proof of address given and I could create an email address today that says Manmohan Singh and submit his real address while registration. If i create a blog in his name and bad mouth IIPM, will Manmohan Singh’s email address get a legal notice??
The entire blogworld is following this episode with great detail. Please give us a legal insight into this case if you have the time.
I remember my colleague Karthik Subramaniam corresponding with you during the alleged ***** bathing video case.
Thank you,
Yours truly,
sudhish kamath

So what this means is that if the receiver does not acknowledge receipt of the notice, the court will ask petitioner to send one on paper. So those who do get notices from now on, just ignore it. Let them send one on paper if they are serious about demanding that patry Rs.175 crores from you. Since the losers are fishing for money even here, let’s make them shell out some money for sending a legal notice on paper!

FURTHER UPDATE: Given this Indian Express report, and the IIPM dean’s statement that he’s not aware of these legal notices, methinks these 125 crore and 175 crore lawsuits are a big hoax.

In this information overload, looks like people, especially those compiling it, are just skimming thru posts.

So let me just clarify, I said the electronic legal notices are a hoax as in they have very little legal standing. at best, these mails from IIPM are plain threats.

They are from IIPM, they do communicate intent to sue but IN NO WAY CAN THESE NOTICES BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY UNTIL THE DEFENCE GETS SUCH COMMUNICATION ON PAPER AT HIS OR HER POSTAL ADDRESS.

Cuz, as the legal expert says, u can only send email notices after proceedings in court have started.

These email notices are not yet serious or real, IIPM just wanted to threaten the bloggers believe so. If they were serious, they wud be talking to the media and announcing intent to sue.

The only official quote we’ve got till date is: “I don’t think so.” from All-India Dean of IIPM.

So obviously, they say it in public domain on paper, it does not hold water. Tomorrow, you can always tell the court u deleted a stupid mail asking u for 200 crores thinking it was spam or a bad joke!Again, just a reminder, if you get one of these jokes asking for 175 crores or such pocket change, dont bother replying (cuz even if they are real, u get into trouble only by replying or acknowledging receipt) or telling the world u’ve got it.

Let them send u a notice on paper, till then its only laugh-worthy.

The electronic legal notice is just another IIPM tall claim. Read it again, the notice ends by saying:”Your formal response shall be expected by the 12 noon (Indian Standard Time) of 6th October 2005 ; failing which, we shall proceed with the parallel arrest proceedings against you.”

Arrest proceedings??? Duh, they are not the police. They cannot proceed to arrest you! Any real lawyer knows this. Obviously its one of those incompetent IIPM staff at work!!

There’s more…”Refrain in the future from releasing any news item containing IIPM’s reference without the prior explicit written approval of IIPM.”

Any real lawyer knows that information in public domain can be shared by anyone with anyone unless its copyright protected by IIPM. And even suggesting that you can’t release it reeks of stupidity.You guys still want to believe its a real authentic legal notice??? I give up.

Shelter from the storm!

October 12, 2005 · by sudhishkamath


Taken (self-shot) inside the traffic umbrella at Besant Nagar Beach on a really, really, really rainy Wednesday evening at around 8 p.m.

What an evening! We spent about four hours embracing the rain, thoroughly enjoying every drop of it. After all, it doesn’t date Madras all that often.

Making love to the Rain!

October 12, 2005 · by sudhishkamath

I love this pic I took from the traffic umbrella for the composition.
Yes, this is one of the we-just-bought-the-road poses.
Damn, if only I had a high resolution camera, this wud’ve made a nice poster.
But not bad for a mobile phone photography, huh?

Soaking Wet, Sipping Cappuccino!

October 12, 2005 · by sudhishkamath


When it poured gallons on Wednesday, we took off on a ride on the Last Samurai to Besant Nagar beach.
We parked the bike under a tree, walked to the shore, spotted many couples making out by the sea, sat by the platform, walked the road like we just bought it, took the traffic umbrella under seige and celebrated our victory with a cappuccino and chocolate excess at Barista, Besant Nagar.
Thank you guys, for letting us in! And taking this pic, however unflattering it maybe! 🙂

Holiday Special Blog: Meet Mani Ratnam and John Abraham: Bakras Return!

October 11, 2005 · by sudhishkamath


My tummy hurts.

Played a bakra on someone after ages. The last good one was on my buddy Abhishek (the guy in the middle if you can see the pic) . That masterpiece of a bakra remains the best we’ve played considering that it was on his budday and also special because he’s my partner in crime (pulling up really fast ones on people).

Thought I’ll blog about this
a. Cuz the last few posts have been very serious, and how can Suderman’s blog be sober?
b. Cuz its holiday season, it’s raining outside and it’s just the perfect time to read/write long posts.

This one happened cuz of the guy at the right Raj who came from Hyderabad for the weekend. After we pulled a brief one on him, he wanted us to play a more elaborate prank on his IITian friend K, supposed to be an incredibly sweet innocent girl who is crazy about Mani Ratnam.

And so it all started at Main Street, Residency Towers.

First, I save Abhishek’s number as Mani Sir. Raj asks his friends back at IIT to ensure that K joins them for the late night dinner at Dhabba Express inside the campus.

Then we set off to IIT. Raj is supposed to gimme a CD of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
“You think she’ll believe that Mani will speak to her at 1.30 in the night,” I ask Raj.
“She will. Trust me she will,” he says.

1.20 a.m. Raj introduces me to the gang at Dhabba Express, six of them including K, before he goes to the room to get the CD.

They ask me to join them for dinner.

I go: “Oh, no way. I just finished dinner. Been eating for two hours, especially with a one hour phone conversation with Mani about his new project.”

“Mani, who?”

Me: “Mani Ratnam. He’s doing a musical. I did a coupla stories for him, he liked it so he wants me to take care of documentation and the making of the musical.”

“Wow… K is a huge fan of Mani… Can you introduce her?”

Me: “Of course, take his number.”

“Mani Ratnam’s number??”

Me: “98402 18328. And don’t give it to anyone. You can tell him I gave you the number.”

K promptly saves it on her phone and mine too. She’s very happy already. And we hadn’t even started with our prank. I message Abhi asking him to call me from his phone.

Me: “But don’t expect him to be sweet and all. These celebs they hardly care for people like you or me. They call only when they need something.”

Phone starts ringing. I look at it with surprise.

Me: “Hello…
Yes, Sir…
Oh no problem sir…
[pause]
yes sir…
[longer pause]
Do you want it right away sir?
[pause]
No, problem… I think… I have the notes with me…
Sure Sir…
[flipping notes from my scribbling pad…]
Can I call you back Sir…
I’ll call you in 10 minutes Sir..”

I cut the phone. And bitch some more. I’m pretty irritated.

Me: “I can’t believe it. He wants the minutes of the meeting now. Do you believe it, he wants the minutes of a telephonic conversation I had with him over dinner. And he expects me to have taken down notes.”

I nervously run through the scribbling pad… go to the section where I had jotted down notes of the real meeting. [I had gone to cover the making of Netru Indru Nalai, the musical for real, a coupla months ago… All I had to do was to flip to that section of the notes]

They curiously lean and sneak a peek at the notes. They can’t understand it either.

Me: “How am I supposed to make sense of this at 1.40 in the morning?? Gimme ten minutes guys.”

I then go and sit at another table and start writing down notes. I think, I then refer to the old notes, I act pretty irritated and then start writing… after a while I scratch it off.

In ten minutes, Raj comes back with the CD and sits next to me and asks: Did she speak to him yet?

“No not yet. We have to make them believe it was really Mani Ratnam. Will take some more time. I have to call him now.”

Then I call “Mani Sir”. Making use of the advantage that others cannot hear what he says, “Mani Sir” decides to have fun.

Me: “Yes Sir… I have the notes with me Sir.”
He: “And how’s the chick?”
Me: “It’s alright Sir.”
He: “What do you mean alright? Is she good looking?”
Me: “Pretty Workable Sir”
He: “Workable? For who?”
Me: “We can work it out Sir.”
He: “What do you mean WE can work it out? I can work it out or you can work it out?”
Me: “I can give it you Sir.”
He: “OK. Go on…”
Me: “Sir, the first part of the programme is the one we decided to call BnW, short for black and white… yes Sir, the Pesum Padam sequence… the silent era bit… Yes Sir… Status: Rajeev has done light testing for it and its been sent for programming. Number Two: Flashback Sephia or something Sir.. we are yet to think of a name. And Status: Sabu Cyril has to source a car that belongs to the sixties era for the Viswanathan Velai vendum song.
He: If you had to do all the talking, why call at all… (laughs)
Me: No Sir… it’s all worked out…
He: This is konjam over…
Me: Yes Sir, it is. Number Three: Enter the Eighties Sir… Revathy has got preliminary costume design ready. And we’re supposed to remind Rohini tomorrow about the colours we need. Number Four is the Rahmania Sequence. You weren’t happy with the choice and order of songs. The last part… I think this is what we should do…
He: Aha… You are gonna tell Mani what to do?
Me: Yes sir, I think we should keep it a surprise Sir… No one should know that Vivek Oberoi and Shilpa Shetty are gonna do Chaiyya chaiyya. So we have to leave their names out of the cast in the brochure. Even Abhishek’s (Bachchan) name we have to skip.
He: Why, whats wrong with Abhishek. My name is Abhishek
Me: (cant control not laughing) (smile)… Yes Sir… you had said you wanted it to be a surprise.
He: Okay, let’s not mess it up.. We have do a good bakra.
Me: No Sir, you didn’t disturb me. I’m just out with friends. I have a huge fan of yours sitting next to me Sir…
He: Is she hawt?
Me: (still smiling, half laughing) Yes Sir, like you’re going to come to IIT even if I invite you… okay Sir, we’ll catch up tomorrow… Bye..
He: He he! Bye

PhooooooooooF!
I let out a sigh of relief.
“Finally done. Imagine. Having to give him the minutes at 2 in the morning. And he’s not even my boss. I wonder how he’ll feel if someone calls him at 2 to ask doubts.”
Raj: You told him about K?
Me: (turning towards K) I did tell him about you… But I don’t remember if I said you name and that you’ll call him… did I?
Raj: No, you didn’t tell her name.
Me: Oh, how about calling him now and giving a quick intro. He seemed to be in a good mood and was pretending to be my best friend. He was saying I didn’t invite him to dinner with friends… Like he’s gonna come…You see what I mean… these celebs are just your friends when they need something. So now that we need them, we can take liberties like friends do… You want to talk to him now K?
K: You will call him now?
Me: Of course… (start dialing) Sir, sorry to bother you but this friend of mine will kill me if I don’t introduce her to you… I’m giving her the phone sir…
K: (totally clueless on how to start) Hello Sir… Naan unga biggest fan.
He: thanks…
K: I’ve seen all your films Sir… (super excited)
He: Ok
K: I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time. It is my dream to work with you Sir… (schoolgirlish excitement)
He: ok.
K: Can I just meet you once Sir… Anytime sir… (fumbling)
He: I’m shooting from Wednesday but I’m sure you can meet me before that. You can check with Sudhish tomorrow.
K: Thank you sooo much Sir. Thank you… It’s great to talk to you sir…(ecstatic)
He: Give it to Sudhish
K:Yes Sir… (totally thrilled, euphoric… utopia!)

Me: Yes Sir …
He: Fix up a date with the chick, some nice place and ask her to meet me…
Me: Sure Sir.
He: Yeah.
Me: Thank you, Sir… Sorry to bother you again Sir..
He: Bye
Me: Bye.

K feels like she’s on top of the world. She can’t believe it. She can’t contain her happiness. She’s a picture of joy. I just didn’t have the heart to tell her. And that moment, I really wished it were true indeed.

I bid them bye and as Raj walks me out, I tell Raj: Let’s break it to her right away.
Raj: No, let her go meet him and find out…
He: Look at her… she’s soo happy. We need to tell her right away.
Raj: Yeah… I guess… okay..

So we go back to the table.
Me: Ok, K… And… Cut. End of scene….
[pause]
The guy you spoke to… was my friend Abhishek.

She could’ve killed me with that look. The whole gang couldn’t believe it. They had all bought it.
“You mean that last call was not Mani Ratnam.”
“No call was Mani Ratnam. I’ve nt met him in two months.”
“It was all made up. Yes, it was all Raj’s idea.”

She didn’t talk to Raj for a bit. After all, she had called her Dad while he was walking me out… She had called her Dad at 2.20 in the morning to tell him she spoke to Mani Ratnam.

What heartless jokers we were!

But as a filmmaker, I was mighty pleased with myself. The satisfaction a filmmaker gets when people buy the world he’s created cannot be described in words… The smile on the face of the maker is the best testimony to that.

On Monday, I’m telling Sonima (name changed ;): You know, we played a prank on a girl on Saturday night… (and then it occurs to me that I can do it on her too…)

Anyways, guess who my latest celeb friend is?

Sonima: Shahrukh?
Me: No.
Sonima: Aamir?
Me: No.
Sonima: Vivek? Abhishek?
(Ha ha ha ha! Of course, Abhishek… not Bachchan though, but I cudn’t have said Yes to that right?)
Me: John.
Sonima: Abraham?
Me: Yup.
Sonima: Tell me, tell me… how did you meet him?
Me: (as I message Abhishek… Can you please call me, John Abraham, Your biggest fan Shonali wants to speak to you. And save his number as John Abraham) I met him last weekend at a friend’s party. We were at Suresh Menon’s place when John dropped in cuz he’s doing a guest appearance in Priyadarshan’s film.
Sonima: Oh wow… so you spoke to him?
Me: Of course, now I’m on first name basis with John.
Sonima: Sooo cool…
Me: Hmmm…
A colleague then intervenes to tell her about her new car…
As Sonima gets up to leave, the phone rings, and I’m a picture of total surprise… I show my phone to Sonima… She reads: John Abraham…
She’s like: Wow!
Me: Hey… what a surprise… You still in town?? Whats up?
Sonima leaves the room.
Five minutes later, I go across to her cabin and ask: “You want to come for a party tonight.”
Sonima: What party?
Me: John’s party.
Sonima: What John’s party?
Me: It’s the launch of Priyadarshan’s latest film at Taj Coromandel. And John just called to invite.
Sonima: How can I come? I don’t want to gatecrash.
Me: He said I could bring my friends along.
Sonima: You sure? Can I do an interview for Metro?
Me: I could check…
Sonima: Call him… Ask him if I can do an interview.
Me: Sure… (dial John) Hi John… well, my colleague here just wanted to know if she can do an interview with you this evening at the party.
He: How about a telephonic?
Me: Ummm… telephonic is it? Let me check… Sonima, you want to do a telephonic?
Sonima: I’d prefer a one on one…
Me: John, why don’t you just talk to my friend, she wants to fix up. Besides, she doesn’t want to gatecrash into the party… She wants you to invite her.
Sonima cringes quite embarrassed as she gets up to leave. I thrust the phone into her hand. And she takes the phone and runs out so that she can have a private conversation.
Sonima: Hi John, this is me.
He: (in a very polished accent): And who is me?
Sonima: (fumbling) I’m Sonima. I was just asking him how can I just gate crash without being invited.
He: That’s okay.
Sonima: So I was wondering if I can do an interview?
He: Can we do it now over phone?
Sonima: Can I meet you in the evening?
He: Yes, you can. But I have a few other interviews lined up. Why don’t we just finish this.
Sonima: Okay, shall I just call you from my phone then?
He: Sure.
Sonima: Thanks. Bye.

And then Sonima turns to me: I can’t believe I spoke to John.
Me: (smiling) Yes…
She: He sounds sooo cool.
Me: (more smiling) Yes, of course.
She: I just hope Metro lets me do the interview.
Me: (more smiling) Ha ha
She: That was John, wasn’t it?
I just take the phone out and show it to her… It says Dialled John Abraham.
That’s enough to satisfy her. We’ve played a million pranks on her and she still falls for each single one of them. “I’m not gullible. I’m plain trusting,” as she often says. The best part about this prank was that she knows Abhishek and has spoken to him over phone before.
She: Now, I just have to get it cleared. I hope they let me do it ya.
He: (still smiling)
She: You aren’t pulling a fast one on me, are you?
He: Of course I am. You think John Abraham will talk to you?? That was Abhishek.
She: What??? What??? Call him… I’m gonna kill him…
Ha ha ha ha!
My tummy still hurts.

Calling Chennaiites!

October 9, 2005 · by sudhishkamath

Finally, people are coming together to voice their concern against rising intolerance and moral policing. A forum is being created to facilitate exchange on issues of morality, personal liberty and freedom of speech and expression in Chennai.

I did a story on the meeting that happened on Friday evening.

Those interested can register by emailing sanerchennai [at] yahoo [dot] com. There is a meeting scheduled to happen at the Asian College of Journalism on October 15, 10 a.m. Please land up for the first brainstorming session to discuss modus operandi. How do we carry out the campaign for civil rights and personal liberty? How do we engage people involved — the lawmakers, the police, the state and the judiciary — in a discussion to create a progressive society free from Taliban-like legislation?

The forum has over 60 volunteers already, including noted lawyers, doctors, businessmen, journalists and even students. One thing we discussed in the meeting was the need to mobilise young people for the movement, especially because they are the most affected and hence have an active role to play considering the future of the civil society.

If we want to be a modern evolved society, we cannot stop with protests and online bitching, we need to engage people involved in a dialogue and reason it out with them. For which, we need to become a significant body that represents the voice of a silent majority. We need to be able to deal with hypocrites and arm-twist them into making them see sense. It is a tough task cuz most of them know they have different sets of rules for men and women. The only to do this is to become a significant mass, a body whose opinions they cannot ignore, a body that reflects sentiments of a significant vote bank. We need to get them on TV and influence more like-minded people to make themselves heard, through electoral franchise or moulding public opinion. There were some fascinating points that came up during the meeting, sure-fire strategies to preserve personal liberty and freedom of speech and expression.

For which, we need you, you, you, you and you to join. The stronger we are, the more power we weild. Let’s show them who rules in a democracy — we, the people!

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