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    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

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    Hyderabad (January 27)

    * * * * *

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Browsing Tags nagesh kukunoor sudhish kamath tasveer

Tasveer 8×10: Nagesh blows it up for the market

April 4, 2009 · by sudhishkamath

Warning: This being a supernatural thriller, please adequately suspend your disbelief because as Kukunoor reminds us: a picture not just freezes time but also tells us a story of what happened behind the scene.

Sitting at the theatre watching 8X10, I could relate to Akshay Kumar’s psychic ability. Given below is a first-hand account of my psychic journeys that took me me behind the scenes of Tasveer.

Soon after the elaborately staged miniature opening credits, a crane swoops down towards the edge of a cliff to reveal a fat kid standing stunned. He’s staring at a football. His parents come running towards him… More crane swoops follow as: I get sucked in to the location of filming.

On the other side of the camera, there’s Nagesh Kukunoor counting wads and wads of cash. “40 Crores,” chuckles Kukunoor. “Just two words to explain this: Akshay, Kumar. Goes to show that it doesn’t matter if you have a good script or not as long as you have a star.”

SFX: A miniature Nagesh pops up in a bubble above the life size filmmaker who is still counting the cash in disbelief.

“Have you forgotten your underdog days when you had one tenth that amount and made films like Dor and Iqbal and made them hits even without stars,” asks the miniature Kukunoor.

“Oh, it’s my conscience. Yes, yes. A star is not necessarily a bad thing to have. As long as you tone down the theatrics and extract what you want – exactly what the script demands. Not more. Not less,” he replies.

One minute is up and I wake up in time to catch the next scene.

Akshay Kumar seems to underplay quite a bit, though his English seems a little awkward. Apparently, he’s this Environmental (No co-incidence that it contains the word Mental) Protection Services officer who can just smell a bear-hunter from a distance and I get transported to the filming again.

Akshay: Listen Nagesh, I don’t think I am being utilised with this underplaying thing. My fans want more.

Nagesh: I am sorry. But this is your role.

Akshay: I understand but there should be something I can do. Look at that lake.

Nagesh: Yeah, we will take a few shots of it.

Akshay: I want to jump 100 feet into it.

Nagesh: Relax. This is just a simple whodunit.

Akshay: I know. I started my career with a whodunit called Khiladi and being a Khiladi, my films run because of athletics. I do crazy things to get my Thums Up and you think I’ll be twiddling my thumbs here like this is some Night Shyamalan film?

Nagesh: I am not too sure.

Akshay: I am not too sure either if I want to do this, you know.

Nagesh (looking at the wads of notes): Yeah, okay. Let’s do it.

Miniature Kukunoor opens from his forehead like a cuckoo clock.

Nagesh: Go back Conscience, I have always wanted to make an action film.

And suspended by strings, Akshay Kumar “jumps” screaming like a maniac as the same is shot with eight or ten cameras.

Nagesh: Oh well!

A few scenes later.

We learn that his father Benjamin Geelani is dead and the only way he can get to the bottom of the truth is to get into the photograph and visit the scene.

Surreal VFX later, I find myself looking at Nagesh Kukunoor trying to write his script.

Super: Five Years Ago

Kukunoor can’t seem to get an idea.

He looks around and sees a picture. It’s a still from Baywatch.

baywatch

And he gets sucked into their world.

He can see Pamela Anderson’s in a hot shower… It becomes a little too gross for me to watch what Kukunoor is doing while fantasising about this. So I tune out for a bit and return to the scene after a minute thinking about Borat falling in love with the woman in red water panties saying: “This C.J. was like no Kazakh woman I have ever seen. She had golden hairs, teeth as white as pearls, and the asshole of a seven-year-old.”

By the time I am back from that train of thought, I see Nagesh now staring at Carmen Electra and soon, he’s sucked into her Jacuzzi. But since I have the disturbing image of Kukunoor taking matters in his own hands… I tune out remembering that line from Hyderabad Blues: “Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar… Haath Me Le”.

A minute later, he stares at the other lifeguard… Aw Shucks! Is this ever going to stop?

I leave the guy alone to have his independent motion picture going but I am tempted to say: “Kukunoor dude, you have a script to write and I reckon you aren’t calling it Apna Haath Jagannath.”

Kukunoor finally wakes up, thankfully washes his hands, smiles satisfactorily and types down the title: 8×10

And I wonder, “What, you going to make a porno about a guy fantasizing about people in pictures? Guys do it all the time. What’s so unique about it?”

Suddenly, I feel the sound of the plane from Lost – yes, the sound effect used as a cue between flashbacks and present day. I am back in the theatre.

Akshay Kumar seems to be doing Parkour in most of the scenes, whether the film demands them or not. Maybe he’s looking for that bottle of Thums Up. Or didn’t have time for the gym. Because, no kidding, even when he’s attending a phone call, he’s doing his abs.

And soon, I’m at the set.

Akshay: I want to jump from there.

Nagesh: Ok

A few minutes later.

Akshay: Now, I want to jump from here.

Nagesh: Ok

A few minutes later… Montage:

Akshay: Now, from here.

Akshay: From there.

Nagesh (muttering): Does this guy never get tired?

A few minutes later.

Nagesh: Mr. Kumar, I think we have overdone the stunts, now we come to the revelation scene where Ayesha Takia has discovered a corpse. And since you are inside the house and on the floor, you can’t jump anywhere. You just need to react naturally.

Akshay (nods understandingly): Ok

He’s on the floor when he hears the screams, the cue for the shot.

Nagesh: And Action.

Akshay crawls from under the table like a commando.

Nagesh throws his hands up in the air.

Swooooosh. I am back in the hall watching Akshay have more of his psychic journeys, his health deteriorating after each departure.

And, I arrive on time to witness the scene behind that scene where Nagesh is arguing with his miniature conscience that’s become smaller than ever.

Mini Kukunoor: But this guy’s taking the film away from you making it look like an ad for Mountain Dew…

Kukunoor: Thums Up.

Mini Kukunoor: Yes, but I got an idea to satisfy you. Why don’t you disable him, make him sit on a wheelchair because you can always attribute it as a side effect of his psychic journeys.

Back in the film, Akshay Kumar seems to be calling 911 every other scene.

The 911 Operator: Oh, Hello Mr. Jai. With you being a regular caller and all, we have installed a special ambulance right outside your house.

The usual happens and I find myself at the set where Akshay is having an argument with Nagesh.

Akshay: I want to do more in this film. You can’t have a Whodunit and let some other actor walk away with the big revelation scene in the end.

Nagesh: But in a Whodunit, a director has to be fair to his audience and reveal all the suspects right at the beginning and we’ve done it through this 8×10 photo. Suddenly, introducing a new character not in the picture may make them feel cheated.

Akshay: Nagesh, you must watch more Hindi films. Nobody cares. Why should there be fixed rules that you should play all your cards at the beginning. The film is only halfway done, you can still introduce a mystery man trying to kill me when I am cycling so that I can do some more stunts… Maybe I can jump…

Nagesh: No more jumping please.

Akshay: Okay, done. I understand. I could just fall off the cycle and roll down the cliff.

At the end of the day’s shoot, Ayesha Takia unable to carry the weight of her top-heavy load, is dragging the cycle along after rolling down a cliff. But Akshay, he carries the cycle on his shoulder.

A few scenes later, Javed Jaffrey playing Habibullah Pasha, Happy with an I, is calling a nurse called Sally as Saali.

At the set, I walk in on Nagesh Kukunoor having a conversation with himself.

Micro Mini Kukunoor: Don’t you think it’s corny?

Kukunoor: Listen, I should have left you home the minute I signed this film. But now that it is anyway becoming a B-movie, maybe I should just play along and make it more campy. B-movie is also a genre, you know.

Micro Mini Kukunoor: I know. You already tried your hand at it with that last bit in Bombay to Bangkok.

Back in the film itself, plenty of things happen which I am afraid cannot be revealed given a request that reads like this:

“Hi,

This is Nagesh. I just want to make a personal, humble and unusual request to you that you not divulge the ending of my film in your reviews.

Given that it is a thriller and a murder mystery, its USP is the finale. I hope to reach as wide an audience as possible and I fear that the revelation of the climax may turn many viewers away.

Thanking you in advance.

Regards
Nagesh Kukunoor”

I get sucked into the computer screen as I see Kukunoor is sitting at his desk trying to type an email. He’s looking at the screen as Kukunoor’s Conscience, now a mere speck on his desk says: You are doomed. Critics are going to give away the end on Day 1 and once people know the end, they will surely not watch the film. Because they would be like: What?????

Kukunoor: Oh shut up, I remember my Hrishikesh Mukherjee films. All I need to do is name the boat after one of his films that is based on this very premise and keep using it as a cutaway. That should legitimise it with the critics and also work as a clue and tribute.

Soon, the end credits roll up with the signature Akshay-Kumar-film-rap accompanying it (with Bohemia) and Kukunoor finally makes his cameo – as an item boy getting drenched in the water with Akshay.

Back at the set, the actor directs the filmmaker.

Akshay: Trust me Nagesh. I know what I am doing with this. It’s a must-do in all my films… Come on, join me.

And that is how Nagesh Kukunoor learnt the Bollywood dance.

The End.

In other words: Tasveer 8×10 is a little under-developed, like all Bollywood films seems to be botched up in a dark room and the picture itself surely didn’t demand to be blown up this big. But then, if you like your poster-boys, forget everything else and be mind-numbingly entertained.

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