HOUSE M.D.

Just finished watching the second season of House M.D.... Am partially hooked... not so much into it like I was hooked onto the first season of Lost, Heroes, Monk, M*A*S*H*, NCIS, etc. but nonetheless (well... a little less) a good watch. I recall leaving from work early just so that I could watch Lost.

First saw House on Star World and then a few episodes in the U.S. and now got hold of the entire second and third season...

Hugh Laurie is simply superb as Doctor Gregory House... magnificient is just the right word for his performance of the no-caring all-caring abusing pill popping limping hooker hiring divorced doctor...

I guess one big fault in the show is that the supporting characters arent strong enough... mainly coz all of the other doctors are always proved wrong by House and so they seem pretty lame and incompetent despite using a lot of big medically lingo unheard to the common man before...

and secondly one wonders how on earth the weirdest cases always end up in the hospital in which House is working in... and why despite House always being right do the Dean and even his own colleagues always confront/ contradict him and give him more problems...

I like the way symptons and diseases are explained in the show... never have heard of so many terms but the beauty is the way the docs let the audience know what they are talkign about.

The first medical show that I ever saw was Doogie Houser M.D which I really loved as a kid. That was followed by other shows like Children's Ward, Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy and a sorry excuse for TV shows called Sanjeevani and Ayushman on Indian television... No no, didnt watch the last two... just an episode or so... (I am beyond crap I am beyond crap)

The worst song sequence ever!!

On youtube there are many videos which say best car chase sequence ever, best comedy scene ever, best fight sequence ever and honestly none of them actually are... but my friend Diti mailed me this link of youtube which says Worlds Most Pathetic Dance Video and without a doubt I truly second that.

This dude is hilarious and makes Sunny Deol look like Michael Jackson. You have to believe me on this... I didn't believe Diti but I do now... simply incredible... I can't really believe somebody actually shot this and didn't realize how bad it actually is...

It's literally like a bunch of illiterate retards out of a tabela who have dreams of making and acting in films...

Have uploaded the video and you can also chek it out on youtube on the following link

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=LYUBL4cWSO8

Don't forget to read the text comments on youtube...

Gha Jee Nahi

Had gigantic expectations... probably the highest I've had in a very long time for any film and they did come crumbling down after a few initial reviews but I think that helped somewhere mainly coz I went in with zero expectations. Devansh Patel really ripped the movie to the core and Taran Adarsh praised it to no end but honestly I didn't think it was worthy of either.

Not a bad movie but definitely had so much more potential... let's me tell you that the film was over three hours long... and if I was the director or the editor then I could and I would definitely trim it down by atleast 45 mins. I wish there was a 2 1/2 hour international version. I expected intellectual stimulation cosidering the core plot of the film but was let down by a screenplay dominated by South Indian styled and 80's based sequences.

There were so many unnecessary and cliche scenes in the film like Asin's entry, the entire Ambassador buying scenes, the Aamir-Asin romance was just too long, don't know why they gave a newbie cop so much footage if he was going to eventually die much before the interval... lots more... dont wana take 3 hours to write a review...

Direction was bad... had a particular south style seen in many Hindi films made by South Indian directors with Nayak really coming to mind. I know people have loved Aamir's fight sequences but if you really dissect them then they actually were like any other Sunny Deol fight minus the 'Oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!' Editing too seemed very much out of a Shankar film...

I really dont understand so many things... Why wasnt Aamir killed along with Asin? Why couldn't Asin escape from her apartment even though she had many opportunities to do so? Why does the main baddie Ghajini who also happens to be an popular industrialist do his own dirty work? Why dont Asin's house, Jiah's girls hostel have watchmen? Why does Jiah Khan bore?

On the plus side... Aamir's performance was good though I wouldnt say was his best. I predict Asin to be the next big actress in the Hindi Film Industry and I dont mean eye candy like Katrina but a real actresss like Smita Patil. Definitely a contender for numerous debutant awards... Another debutant who has great dialogue delivery is veteran writer Anjum Rajabali... Jiah was theek theek... no wonder she was side-lined in the promotions...

Even though A.R Rehman's music was pretty good, the film could have been better without any songs. Loved Aye Bachchu and Asin looks great.

I would never want to watch this film again even if it comes on television mainly because of the length but I must admit that I could sit thru it unlike Salaam-E-Ishq. Probably a trimmed version might be worth a watch some day!!

Ghajini apprehensions

Got three reviews of Ghajini so far...

Taran rates it to be a 4 1/2 star movie. Didn't read his review as I though it would reveal a lot.

Devansh Patel gives it one over chat.

Gaurav Malani says, "Ghajini is essentially a romance-cum-revenge saga. Only externally it's sewed up with the memory loss syndrome which could have been the highlight." Rating- **

Going to watch the movie in a one and a half at Fame Malad. Fingers crossed. Shilpa and I were predicting Ghajini rating yesterday evening... both unanimously said 3 stars but somehome I dont see that happening anymore. Hopefully the Birthday of Christ doesn't co-incide with a migraine!!

Merry Christmas Everybody :D

Street Kings (2008)

Five minutes into the movie and I said 'great, another cop movie'. Not that I dont like cop movies but its really been a while since I saw a good one and the dumb Dus nausea still hasnt left me. But this movie took me by surprise... nothing that we havent seen every Hollywood star do but yet it was pretty interesting. Read up that the screenplay was in the making for over a decade.

LAPD cop Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) is out to find out the men who killed his former partner (not really original now is it?). As he climbs up each rung of the ladder he thinks he's one step ahead of everyone but is he at the end of the 'Hoody' night?

Finally I saw Keanu with some expressions on his face... He looked and acted the part really well and so did Forest Whitaker as Tom's captain. This is the first time I saw Hugh Laurie in a movie. Love him in House M.D. and he was pretty good albeit a small role.

The climax might come as a surprise but if you really think hard (which I wasnt) you just might guess what's in store...

Neat basic action- foot chases, car chases, gun shots (and even a shovel) to the face and more.

Check it out if you like some neat dishum bishum.

Kanti Shah-- The true Baadshah of B-grade Bollywood

Now I have been a big fan of Kanti Shah's cinema. He knows his target audience very well even more than people like Bhansali, Anurag Kashyap, Raj Kumar Santoshi. Of course I wouldn't like to consider myself to be part of his TA but I can't disown this master film-maker whose cinema has just entertained me profusely on lonely Sunday afternoons.

I think his Gunda is probably the best and ultimate B-film of all time. Just too amazing for words. If you can watch it plz do so or else check out the following link for some youtube fun... http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=qZcURBogNlA Dont you just love a hamming Ishrat Ali. "Kundaaaaannnnn... Marne ka Nai Marne Ka Naaaaaaiiiii..." Do check him out in Aatank Hi Aatank (DVD available on Moser Baer Home Video for Rs. 34) as well.

The villains intro in the film is hilarious.
Mukesh Rishi- "Mera naam hai Bulla, karta hoon main sabka khulla." Now I might be wrong but after hearing that rather than sounding like a bad ass I feel he gives blowjobs to his posse.

Shakti Kapoor's name is Chutiya. (The word is uncensored. You have to love the double standards of our dumb Censor Board)

Harish Patel is Ibu Hatela. (I think Harish pulls off an Ibu. Don't know what it means but the name suits him.)

For the mere mortals reading this piece, Gunda still has a huge dedicated fan following and it's DVD is sub-titled in English, French, Dutch and German (No jokes).

Apart from that I have seen Kanti Shah's Loha a million times on television. Dharmendra is in his hamming and whamming best. There is a scene in the film where the bad guy Rami Reddy shoots his gun at him. Dharmendra just catches the bullet and says "Teri goli shareer ko phaad sakti hai magar LOHE ko nahi." Wah Wah!! Excellent!! Now we know that Sunny's super-human strength is genetic.

There is an item song by Govinda and Manisha Koirala which cleanses your heart and touches your soul- "Teri Behna Se Dosti, Tere Bapu Se Jagde..." is an instant classic.

Another movie of Kanti bhai which I liked is Duplicate Sholay. I gifted the VCD of the film to my friend Krushant on his birthday. Don't know if he ever saw it. If he didn't then it's his loss. Duplicates of Amitabh, Dharmendra, Sunny, Mithun, etc. do a good job in hamming. One scene which really gets me rolling on the floor is when duplicate Sunny screams 'Main Indian Hoon Indian' and goes to whack the Rs. 100 per day extra but surprise surprise he ends up over-powered as the villain creams him and says 'Main Bhi Indian Hoon.' Clearly this one didnt have his dhai kilo ka haath.

And then there is Kabhi Kranti Kabhi Jung. Cable zindabad. Again full of duplicates (including one of Parvez Musharraf) and they also play a cricket match. Was interesting in bits but definitely not on the level of other Kanti Shah classics.

Now I havent seen his Munnibai but I recall it being a super hit in the interiors. Still remember reading a trade article in Stardust magazine a decade ago which said... "Munnibai has struck gold in the B and C centres. Trade Pundits still haven't been able to figure this one out." Believe it or not, this film actually outdid Madhur Bhandarkar's Trishakti which released around the same time.

Love him, hate him, ignore him but he will strike back again and again. Kant stop Kanti!!

Also check out Moses Navgire's article on one of Kanti's other film Marna Zaroori Hai... http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/features/2006/06/23/1312/index.html

You Only Live Once (1937)

Believe it or not, I saw two Henry Fonda films back to back, the other was 12 Angry Men (check the previous post). I had never seen a Henry Fonda movie in my life but I do recall seeing his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Would want to watch some more of his movies.

Immediately after hearing the name Fonda, I remember Jane Fonda (who incidentally is Henry's daughter) and immediately recall my childhood days and my mother doing her aerobics work-out while watching Jane's work-out video on VHS.

A mug (Henry Fonda) is released from prison and marries his sweet-heart (Sylvia Sidney). However, he is wrongly accused of an armoured truck robbery which leads to the death of six people. He is caught but escapes from jail killing a Priest in the process. Turns out his innocence was proved but then this murder just gets him back to square one. He and his wife are now on the run from the law.

I think this movie kind of partly gave inspiration to Bonnie and Clyde (which in turn inspired Bunty Aur Babli).

Personally, I think YOLO is over-rated. However, considering the year it was made it I might say it was pretty decent. Great performances- Henry is good, Sylvia is really beautiful and does really well, decent direction and decent screenplay.

Watch it if you have nothing much to do on a day where you are lazy enough not to crib for your lost time in case you don't like it.

12 Angry Men (1957)

Finally saw the 1957 classic and now I can clearly see why it is called one.

12 jury members are asked by the court of law to decide the fate of a young boy who is accused of murdering his father. Now, the jury members have to reach a unanimous decision which will either release the boy or get him the chair. Seems like its going to be a unanimous decision of guilty as all the evidence is against the bboy until one of the jurors casts his vote as not guilty. The leading man Henry Fonda (terrific) is the one who does it much to the annoyance of others who want to leave. Now its up to the rest to either change his mind or up to him to change the others minds.

It's pretty cool one by one each juror changes his vote and not without reason. Awesome!!

What is even more amazing are the characters in the film. Each juror has a distinct personality and all of them end up with amazing performances.

Really wonderful story telling by the director Sidney Lumet. He’s the same guy who made Al Pacino’s Dog Day Afternoon almost two decades later. Don’t know much about him but read that he is one big gun in Hollywood. Not surprising considering he made 12 and Dog.

This movie was made in India by Basu Chatterjee in the form of Ek Rukah Hua Faisla. Haven’t seen it but have heard that it was really good. Thank God it was made by Basuda. Recently it was in the news that Vivek Agnihotri plans to remake 12 Angry Men. I sincerely hope he doesn’t. Having seen his last two movies, I’m sure this one too will be a disaster as well as a slap to the original.

My first blog

Just decided to visit my first blog ever...

Didnt know if it existed or not... and actually took me some time to find it. Turned out it was still active... Think I've evolved as a blogger...

Here's the link...
http://praveenlancefernandes.spaces.live.com/blog/

What is wrong with Yash Raj?

In my IndiaFM and Indiatimes days, I thought Yash Raj was just arrogant- in speaking to the media, in their publicity campaigns, etc. Now I think they are simply dumb.

Their promotional campaign for Roadside Romeo was the pits despite it being the only good movie to come out of their banner in a very very long time...

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is a big film... Aditya Chopra and SRK coming together after almost 9 years is a big thing for a lot of people... liked DDLJ, thought Mohabbatein was all right but here I'm not talking of my movie opinion... I'm talking from a business point of view of getting in the audience...

DDLJ is still running forcefully at Maratha Mandir after so many years but gone are the days of Silver, Golden, Platinum jubilees. Today, release your movie and in the second month release it's DVD and in the third month air it on television. It's sad but true... one misses those silver jubilee signs... I guess you still might see them in small towns but becuase of the multiplex culture it's maximum profit in the first week end.

But I don't know why but Yash Raj just seems full of itself. Lousy and repetitive promotions of RNBDJ dont really excite... yes SRK has a fan following but recall that Chak De India had a bad opening and it worked only because of word of mouth publicity eventually.

People are confused... what is this movie all about? Why is SRK looking like a retard? Also just read yesterday that the advance booking will only begin two days before the release date appparently because of the terrorist attacks. I'm trying to think of the strategy there but sense eludes me. Deshdrohi had more recall value man... Sheesh!!

Bandook Saints

Phew... long time since my last post and a lot has happened in Mumbai...

Saw a few movies... The Forbidden Kingdom (Predictable), Dostana (Spoilt masala) and The Boondock Saints (really cool).

Boondock Saints is my kind of movie... more on action with minimal doses of drama, a story which moves at the right pace and really good characterization.

Now, I don't know if it's a co-incidence if I saw this movie just prior to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai but I just want to tell you about my confused state of mind.

What's the movie about? Two Irish Brothers accidentally kill a couple of underworld hotshots and turn themselves in. They are released and the public welcomes them as heroes who have wiped some of the scum of the earth. Taking this to be the call of God, the brothers start wiping out all that is evil- Russian, Italian mafia, local goons, etc.

Firstly, I want to tell you that I loved this movie. I loved it for the way the the film was shot, the action and the way the director told the story.

Now, I know killing is not right. As far as I know no religion tells us to kill including Christianity. But then why did it seem so right to me?

Now let me compare this with the recent terrorist attacks... The terrorists came and killed the same way like in Boondock Saints. The only difference was that here the victims were innocent people. But did the terrorists feel the same way? If they didn't then they aren't really different from the Boondock Saints.

So I guess it all boils down to not killing people... So Boondock Saints spread a wrong message... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I know incomplete boring post... but I dont know what to say... I still like the movie... I guess I should just take this as entertainment and not go really deep into it. (still thinks)

Sivaji- The Chaos

While making fun of my South Indian maid in office, I recalled a mail my friend sent me when Rajnikanth's Sivaji released. The frenzy for the south superstar is amazing as we all know but how many of us cosmos are actually privileged to witness such craze... Check out the pics... Yennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnjooooooooooiiiiiiiiii!!

Film on N Indian's struggle in Mumbai canned in Maharashtra

13 Nov 2008, 1031 hrs IST, Yogesh Naik & Bharati Dubey, TNN

MUMBAI: The state government on Wednesday banned the Hindi film `Deshdrohi', saying it would create a divide between north Indians and Marathis.

The low-budget movie by Bhojpuri film-maker Kamal Khan, who also plays the lead, is about a north Indian migrant's struggle in Mumbai. It was banned under Section 6 of the Bombay Cinema Regulation Act, 1963, which empowers the state or police to suspend screening - even if the film is cleared by the censor board - if they think it can create a law-and-order problem.

Mumbai police commissioner Hasan Gafoor said, "We had found certain scenes in `Deshdrohi' objectionable and had informed the government about it.'' He confirmed on Wednesday night that he had received the ban order from the state government.

After the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the ban should not be viewed as "moral policing''. The initial idea was to ask the producer-director to remove the controversial scenes, but finally, the cabinet decided to ban the film, he said.

Additional chief secretary (home) Chitkala Zutshi told TOI that the film dwelt on issues which had created trouble between communities in the recent past. "The government felt it would inflame passions and emotions further, hence we decided to ban the film for 60 days.''

Last week, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had asked for a ban on the film after watching its promos on TV but after Akhilesh Chaubey, MNS leader Raj Thackeray's lawyer, watched the film at a special screening, he said there was "nothing objectionable'' in it. "The promos are misleading.''

Soon after the government's announcement that it would ban the film, MNS spokesperson Shirish Parkar demanded legal action against Kamal Khan, the producer-director of `Deshdrohi'.

"The exhibition of this film should be stayed for some time. It should not be screened as long as the campaign to spread hatred between communities and Marathis and North Indians does not stop,'' Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Sanjay Nirupam said.

Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh said such films spreading hatred must be banned. In fact, they should not be made. He said that Marathi plays spreading hatred should also be banned. One such play is `Bhaiyya Haath Paay Pasari', which shows how a poor north Indian migrant comes to Mumbai and ends up buying the entire building in which he had rented a room.

Producer Kamal Khan said on Wednesday that he would challenge the ban in the high court. "It's a story about an unemployed youth who is used by politicians and eventually becomes a criminal. Maybe that's what some politicians didn't like in my film.''

However, someone who has seen the film told this paper, "There are some derogatory remarks against north Indian and Maharashtrians which may create problems. Had the film not got so much publicity, it would've gone unnoticed.''

It was not easy for Khan to get censor clearance. The executive committee of the Mumbai board had given ten cuts and an `A' certificate to the film. But the producer got his film cleared from the appellate tribunal in Delhi with five cuts and a UA certificate.

Vinayak Azad, regional officer of the Censor Board in Mumbai said, "We have certified the film for public exhibition but law and order is a state subject and the state can stop the exhibition of the film if it thinks it will create a law and order problem.''

Mahesh Bhatt said, "It's a shame that those who claim to be the crusaders of freedom have violated the rights of freedom of speech of the film-maker. They are no different from any repressive regime. You can't use the pretext of law and order to ban a film.''

Spotting Prem Qaidi Harish

I was at Yokos in Malad in the middle of a delicious cheese roll when my Bollywood bride girlfriend suddenly spotted a yesteryear gem… none other than HARISH!! Immediately, I forgot my date and S.P. Balasubramanium’s voice started ringing in my head- I live for Yeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww, I die for Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww, I live for yewewwwwwwww I die fohor yeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww…

I wasn’t so happy since the time I spotted Avinash Wadhwan at the music launch of Souten- the other woman.

I have seen some of Harish’s best movies- Army (alongside the likes of Ronit Roy, Sudesh Berry and Ravi Kissen), a soul-touching cameo in Hero No. 1, Aunty No. 1, Coolie No. 1 (All with Govinda), Aadmi and Shapath (alongside Mithunda yaaaayyyyy) and probably the best Aashiq Mastane (alongside Rock On director Abhishek Kapoor).

When I told my brother about it, he said Prem Qaidi was a drag movie coz Harish looked like the heroine and Karishma the leading man. “Hum Hain Prem Qaidi, Hum Hain Prem Qaidi” Pardon my excitement folks.

And Tapan Mehhta was in splits on the mere mention of his name. He told me that Harish played the role of young Rajnikanth (Haha) in Andha Kanoon (Hehe) who sees his sister getting raped and father murdered (Hoho). Incidentally, he was Rajnikanth’s son (I think) in Bulandi (which was also directed by the same director).

I so wanted to get a pic with him but since Yokos was full, he didn’t get a place to sit and left. Sniff sniff… I tried to salvage that moment and get it etched in my memory forever.

Deshdrohi comments...

Hi all,I've been wondering why I haven't put up something on Deshdrohi... I'm sure its going to be the most unintentionally funny film of the year... but I have to point out that the promotions of Deshdrohi are bigger than movies like Roadside Romeo, Heroes and maybe even Karzzzzzzzzz...

So some of us started a chain mail and I wanted to put up some comments from there on the movie... the promos are just killing us and there is Deshdrohi fever all over.

"For the uninitiated Deshdrohi marks the grand launch of Bhojpuri producer Kamal Rashid Khan (KRK - the next thing after SRK)... what's more u even have Ravi Kishen and Manoj Tiwari with an item no by Saif's ex Rosa Catalano... Bhaiya KRK is going to be a bigger sensation than Gujju Himesh... those who have seen the trailers vouch for it. The multi-starrer comprises of an irresistable cast of Nirmal Pandey, Aroon Bakshi, Shiva, Aman Varma, BIG BOSS fame Zulfi Syed, Avtar Gill, Rana Jung Bahadur yesteryear gems like Kadar Khan, Prem Chopra, Shakti Kapoor, Raza Murad and Ranjeet. What? did u ask of the girls? there's Lagaan fame Gracy Singh and Mohabbatien fame Kim Sharma"

"Arrey KRK... interests me! and I saw the trailers... the guy looks a dude.. can give the likes of John a run for their money! M on! "

"today those who go for deshdrohi will definitely get bashed by MNS. malani seems to hv made full plans to get bashed. those who want to get their bones broken can happily join him... i'll send u flowers tomo :P"

"count me in for deshdrohi ! ... sure looks hilarious... ! KRK has some amazing high fundoo dialouges and a mouse like squeeky voice to match it up to... !! LOL...

I think this movie would kill all classic coemdy movies that hindi cinema has witnessed till date... ! Cant wait to fall off my chair.."

"I am in too.... i dont even knw tht 'deshdrohi's' name but boooyyyy he looks cool!
wt dialogue delivery... wat style... he is india's answer to daniel craig!!"

"KRK..?? is he that lanky bhaiyya?"

"With a heavyheart, I regret to inform all of you that Deshdrohi has been postponed from Nov 7 to Nov 14. In this time of sorrrow, I urge all of you to be strong and await the delay bravely so that we may be able to take Kamal Rashid Khan to the level of super stardom... "

"What a big-hearted KRK is... he just wanted to give fair chance to Daniel Craig whose James Bond flick is releasing on Nov 7... opposite Deshdrohi, Quantam of Solace had no chance... now Kamal Rashid Rashid plans to compete with Dostana... "

"who on earth can hate him? in fact i think after watching this movie raj thakeray will withdraw all his goons and peace will once again prevail in mumbai... all thanks to KRK"

"raj thackeray will kick his well deserving ass but you guys shud hav seen his interview on live india yesday..(another shitty hindi channel ran by silly bhaiyyas)... the man showed off his confidence in style and ws ready to take on the politicians! KRK is a true hero"

Don't you just love it... All right guys... Deshdrohi releases this Friday... Go for it... i definitely am... BTW, for more comments you can also check out the deshdrohi fan page on facebook... cya!!

Nach Baliye 4 and Bigg Boss

My former classmate Megha Gupta is on Nach Baliye 4. I saw her dance just once before on the first episode and I didn't think she was all that good.

However, my mom being a fan of such dance and singing competitions made me watch another episode. Yesterday, Megha and beau Naman were just fabulous dancing to my new favourite song Desi Girl from Dostana... Megha was brimming with energy and there was so much fun in their dance.

The judges gave them a total of 24 points and Farah even called them the 'most beautiful looking couple' on the show. Kudos and hope they win.

I am somehow hooked onto Bigg Boss... I'm surprised because I hated the first season and must have forcefully seen about 4 episodes... I think Rakhi Sawant turned me off.

This year is pretty interesting. Not that, the creative team is doing anything but the people inside are pretty bitchy which I guess is interesting. It's kinda reminding me of Johnny Gaddaar... the audience knows everything but the inmates dont.

I hate Raja Choudhary. He has no respect for anyone especially women... I can very well imagine why his hot wife left him. His ego and pride is larger than his acting career. I'm vouching for Ashutosh and Zulfi to win but Rahul Mahajan seems to be the favourite. Diana Hayden got out. I liked her and thought she was a genuine person unlike Raja and Rahul.

That being said I'm not an Indian television fan by any means. The second season of HEROES (not the Salman movie) begins on 16 with two back to back episodes... whoopieeeeeeeeeeee!!

My film not selected for IFFI

Sadly, my film didn't get selected for IFFI. I'm not really disappointed. No expectation, no disappointments I guess... but it would have been good if it got selected.

Anyways, a new day- a new script- a new film awaits to be made.

Director's Notepad (software)

My dearest frand Chelc purchased this software for me from Canada. I worked on the trial version for a while, liked it and blackmailed Chelc into buying it for me.

Is it a good software? - No, it isn't.
Is it user-friendly?- No, it isn't.
Does it get the job done?- Yes, it does.

It took me about 3 days to break an entire feature film script down and it was worth the pain.

Features-
You can add story-boards, voice-notes, regular notes, camera set-ups, cast, location, D/N, I/E, extras, etc.

The best part about it is the print out styles. You can print it out set up style as well as 3X5 cards.

It also has a presentation mode where it looks supercool on a laptop or a projector.

Cons
Doesn't have actor breakdown.

I showed writer Rajat Aroraa about it and he partially liked it. He demonstrated a freeware called Celtix. Will work on it soon and see how it is.

Director's notepad is pretty reasonable. Costs only $29.

You can download the trial version on the following link-
http://www.directorsnotebook.com/

Roadside Romeo- Cool Cool

The best animated film I've seen come out of India. This one makes Hanuman and Hanuman Returns look juvenile. I dont want to even compare it to movies like Bal Ganesh (blasphemy) and others mainly because this is one is just too way ahead of them.

Fuck the dumb critics who say otherwise, this is a rocking movie in terms of entertainment and technical advances.

One critic says, "ROADSIDE ROMEO borrows from the masala films of 1980s. There's a hero, a heroine, the mandatory villain, plus love, problems, misunderstandings and conflict, but all's well that ends well. The story is predictable and worse, you don't feel for any of those characters you watch on screen."

I agree with the first part... but then again the same critic gave Om Shanti Om a 4 star rating. This is what he said about OSO- "there's a dash of KARZ, a bit of KARAN ARJUN, a sprinkling of KUDRAT, but beyond that it's a film that makes you nostalgic about 1970s Bollywood." So two contradictory statements in these reviews. Just wanted to point it out our hypocritical critics.

As for the characters, I thought including the leading cast, this film has the most loveable side characters a film could ever have. I agree Laila (Kareena) was wasted but over all even the villains non-speaking side-kicks (Charlie's Angels) were fun.

Javed Jafferi and Sanjay Mishra steal the show. Javed as the heavy-mouthed Charlie Anna and Sanjay as the Bhojpuri speaking scruffy mutt are both hilarious. I thought Saif Ali Khan was just all-right... It's only star power here coz I really thought a talented VO artist could have done a much better job.

But the new entrant who gets doggie points (pun intended) is debutant director and writer Jugal Hansraj. He tells a simple predictable story in a very very interesting way. The screenplay is hilarious and not once do you get tired. If Jugal continues this then he will be a director to look out for.

My favourite part of the film is when Charlie Anna goes on a date with a fake Laila (Tanaaz Irani) and the song playing in the background is the title song of Ek Duje Ke Liye. I think this was the first time I heard S.P. Balasubramanium's voice on the big screen. "I dont know what you say, i dont know dont know what you say." I must have heard that song after a decade. Sniff sniff... nostalgia... and luckily I had someone to wipe my tears. I jumped from my seat with glee and the couple making out next to me thought I was a weirdo.

Overall a pleasure to watch... Don't remember the last time I laughed and smiled at the movies so much.

Fata poster nikle Heroes

Saw Heroes with Mommy... Initially didnt have any expectations from the film but then it got decent reviews so decided to watch it. Other option was Roadside Romeo which I didn't think my mom would enjoy...

I was looking forward to watching Oyeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh Sunny and Yayy Mithunda.

Sunny didnt let me down but I got bored with Gunmaster G-9.

I really don't feel like really blogging about this movie so I'll just say what's on top of my head.

Unique concept for a Hindi film. A proper road movie has not been shown before but the director and writer screw it up by blending it's uniqueness with regular masala. So you see Sunny bashing 20 men once again, unwanted songs, unwanted mini romantic angles and just an amateurish screenplay.

I haven't seen Kyon Ho Gaya Na or Nanhe Jaisalmer (Thank you Lord) but I definitely have to say that Samir Karnik is a bad director. No two ways about it.

The cinematography is very bad. It should have been the highlight of such a film. It's surprising considering Binod Pradhan was behind the lens.

I've never loved Preity Zinta more. Amazing performance. Sohail Khan too is good. I was vouching for Vatsal Seth but his dialogue delivery was bad. However, his acting is pretty decent.

Taran Adarsh in his review writes that this is one of Salman's finest works. Considering that he has three scenes in the film, I don't know what he is talking about.

Stay tuned for a completely dedicated post on the Sunny Deol fight scene from Heroes. A funny thing which I must mention. I was speaking to my friend Payal and she innocently asked me if Heroes is a sequel to Sunny Deol's The Hero... Hahahahahahahahaha!!

Kashyap VS Malani- Anuragpatti VS Poda Patti

I read Anurag Kashyap's blog on passionforcinema.com after a very very long time. It was on Hulla directed by Anurag's friend Jaideep Verma so going by his past blogs I was pretty sure Anurag would rave about this one considering the fact that it flopped. Before reading further I was certain that he would immeditaly talk of how immature the Indian audience was for not liking and ignoring the film and Sushant Singh. And that is exactly what happened...

Here's the link
http://passionforcinema.com/hulla-bol/

Now I'm no one to pass judgement over the film mainly because I havent seen it. But I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be spending money watching this one considering the promos were pretty lame. Had it received good word of mouth publicity I wouldn't mind catching it. It received negative reviews... Now I know (this is where I agree with Anurag) that most of India's top critics are lame but over the years I have learnt how to read between the lines and figure these reviews out. And the end result was that I still didnt want to watch this movie.

However, as curiosity got the better of me I decided to pass the link to my friend Gaurav Malani (who is also a critic for Indiatimes). His reply was pretty interesting...
The following is a reply to my e-mail sent by Gaurav...

"What I can conclude from this is that Anurag is not only an influential speaker but also an influential writer (no screenwriter - but blogger)... the way in which he expresses his throughts make you question your viewpoints to an extent...

But I strongly affirm to the fact that Hulla was not a good film... as Anurag says 'we get so impassioned that we abuse teh film even disregarding it and we start discussing how the filmmaker should have done it'... why people started discussing because they felt that Hulla had a very interesting start but the way in which it culminated was stupid... stupid to the core... open ending and all that crap is not an excuse... there are very very few films that are impressive despite an open ending... I personally am against open endings.... it completely kills the purpose of making a film... if the audience had to interpret, why see your film for 2-3 hours then...

Back to Hulla, the believable characters and story is all fine... but there were may more flaws in the films over the side performances and casting (the only weak link that Anurag discusses)... if you have seen the film u will understand that there are so many unsolved subplots, repetitive jokes and redundant dream sequences... and the end is not open... its unintelligent, unconnected to the entire film and bad (yawn)!
Independent cinema doesn't give you the right or excuse to serve any crap to the audience in the name of something different... one can be entertaining, intelligent and yet different... that's where Kashyap's Black Friday differs from his No Smoking

And his complaint on Big Films being a bad producer, et al is crap.... he said the same thing for Eros after No Smoking saying that the film didn't work because the distributors pulled out the film from theatres instead of waiting for it to pick up by the word of mouth.... he was just trying to blame his incompetence on the distributors... As for Adlabs they at least got out his film Black Friday to theatres which nobody was willing to touch...

Its just a case of sour grapes with Anurag Kashyap... he just goes on bitching any film, person or company that does not understand (forget respecting) his work..."

What Gaurav wrote is pretty interesting... Actually reading that has given me incentive to watch the movie now. I'm waiting for the DVD... I'm surprised it hasn't come out yet.

Time for dinner. Right now... Balika Vadu seems more interesting...

Watch KarZZZZZZZ!! Get a hole in your PurZZZZZZZ

All right I know that the whole ZZZZZZZZZZZZ thing is pretty cliche. That was the first thing I thought when I came to know that numerology was added in this title as well. However, this title is more grounded as compared to nose-man's debut film Aap Kaa Surroor: The Moviee - The Real Luv Story.

I remember another Karz which released six years ago... Karz- The burden of truth starring Sunny Paaji, Maa Shakti Suniel Shetty and Shilpa Shetty sans Big Brother. Himesh's film could have well been titled Karz- the burden.

Now, let me tell you my expectations before watching this movie. I am by no means a Himesh fan. Do I find him fascinating? Yes, I do. Do I respect his work? Absolutely not. So I go to watch this film hoping for a few unintentional laughs which I did get early on. Himesh dancing on stage as a rock-star with his face bigger that his biceps is hilarious. But the funniest part was when a firang actually fainted in awe watching him- TWICE. After the initial laughs, it just got pretty lame and boring.

Some points I have to mention-
Urmila is supposed to be 25 years older than Himesh in the film. WTF... I mean they could have just bought back Simi Garewal in this version as well. With her surgeries and face-lifts, the 80 year old can pull off being 45.

Himesh is supposed to be 20 years old. He must have never looked 20 in his entire life.

I finally liked Dino Morea in a movie. It took him just 40 of them to get there.

Why the fuck does Gulshan Grover have an electronic arm which makes music?

In Taran Adarsh's latest trade report, he says that Karzzzzz flopped big time in U.K. and U.S. which actually took me by surprise. The 'vicks ki goli lo khich khich door karo' guy has a big fan following out there but it didnt work. It did make me happy for a bit thinking that the audience has finally woken up and is not accepting average masala cinema with huge sets but then it struck me that this could be because of rising inflation and the dipping economy of the U.S. Can Obama or McCain save Himesh's acting career?

The only salvation I got was that I watched this movie on a Vodafone tuesday so got a free ticket and it was a morning show so it cost me only Rs. 90. Didn't go to office as the MNS started their shit again so could watch this film at Fame Adlabs. I love the Vodafone dog and the MNS bitches.

Filmy quote of the week

"After all, in Bollywood, you're as good or bad as your last Friday." - Taran Adarsh

Short Film Center at IFFI

Couriered my film The Neo Testament to the Short Film Center in Goa. It's an initiative taken by IFFI this year to focus on short films. Thanks to Gaurav who told me about it, I managed to send it 6 days before the deadline.

IFFI is probably the biggest film festival in India and I hope that my film gets selected. I dont know how much exposure it will give me as a film-maker but seeing one's film on the big-screen to a packed audience is a different high altogether. The Neo Testament was screened at Universal Studios in Hollywood as part of NYFA's final screening. Felt really good.

I had to submit a lot of documents and other things. Firstly and most obviously was a DVD copy of the film. Apart from that they required me to fill a form. Name, address, the usual but apart from that I had to write a 30 word synopsis, 100 word synopsis, technical details like aspect ratio, etc. etc.

Also had to give a demand draft of Rs. 1000 non-refundable even if the film is not chosen. And apart from that a few movie stills which I didn't have. So I cut frames from the movie itself. My dear Sadhana resized them and then gave it for prinitng. Came out decently. Also had to give my own picture. Found a decent one taken on my last day at Indiatimes.

I remember going for IFFI as an official trip two years ago while I was at IndiaFM. Gaurav, Moses and Chanakya were with me. Was nice and saw a lot of film-enthusiasts. It was the first film festival I had been to and was very good even though I couldn't attend all the days.

Will come to know on 30 October if my film is selected or not. Reels crossed...

Watch my film by clicking on the following link...

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=RDWeVE4NsWY

Please leave comments and give feedback... will appreciate it.

Ending of Khanjar- The Knife

I have been fortunate to watch the hilarious ending of Khanjar- The Knife twice in the past month on television. Released in 2003 and starring Suniel Shetty and Tabu, this one was definitely delayed by a decade or so. Suniel Shetty when he was known as SUNIL Shetty and Tabu when she looked like a 14 year old whose features hadn't yet developed.

It begins with Anna warning his long lost brother over the phone in the phone-booth that their mother and sister have been kidnapped by the bad guys. The goons now find Suniel and tie up the phone booth and drag it to a jungle of all place. Enters unknown villain who claims to have killed Sunil's father (Mohan Joshi)- dumb quick flashback in slo-mo. Now begins the fun part.

I assume that this film got really delayed and hence Suniel refused to complete the film. So the goons put a blinding mask over a duplicate Suniel and the dupe fights with a mask on. So now Suniel has added 50 pounds within 1000 frames.

However, one has to show that the mask has come off eventually, so the over-weight dupe takes it off and does the fighting with the camera positioned behind a leaf. And then finally stock footage is used of Suniel for close-ups. What's hilarious (and I'm sure really frustrating for the director) is that his close-ups are shot in the night while the fights are actually happening in the day time.

And after the bad guy is dead, for some strange reason we see the dead Mohan Joshi come back. Not a recommended watch, but surely 10 unforgettable minutes.

Supersize Me (2004)

I'm never eating at McDonalds again!! The Macs at Linking rd, Bandra is gonna lose some of it's business.

Supersize me is an experimental documentary written and directed by Morgan Spurlock. This dude actually had the balls to go on an all Mac diet for 30 days just to make a movie.

The rules are simple...
He has to eat and drink only from the McDonalds menu, including the water. If they don't serve water in that particular outlet, then he has to settle with a shake or coke.

He has to eat all the items available on the menu in the alloted 30 days.

He can only buy the Supersize meal if he is asked to by the Mac guys.

33 years old and very healthy, Spurlock puts his health on the line. By the end of day 21, he gets almost screwed... his once upon a time healthy liver turned into fat and doctors said he probably might get artery problems in the future.

Not as good as Fast Food Nation even though FFN never really took names of McDonalds. I thought the ending could have been more impactful nonetheless a decent effort.

Opinions from doctors, lobbyists, activists make a great watch even though one would have liked to see a litttle more of humor in the film.

Film was showcased at Sundance and received good critical acclaim and according to imdb this was the highest grossing documentary in Australia.

Watch this and you are bound to get one MacStomachache!

Escape from New York (1981)

Now after watching the movie and reading up on it, I found out that this was a cult classic.

The idea was pretty cool... It's about 20 years into the future (from 1981) and New York has been evacuated and separated from the rest of the U.S. and has become a dumping ground of prisoners and low-lives.

Air Force One gets hijacked and is crashed into a building (ironically, lead Kurt Russell lands his glider onto the World Trade Center). The President surives as he enters his escape pod but is then captured and kidnapped by The Duke... the guy who runs the place. Kurt Russell an ex-army man is supposed to be sent to New York for armed robbery. He gets a deal where all his crimes will be forgiven if he gets the President back in 23 hrs. And that's when the mayhem begins...

Really good concept and I guess for a movie made in the early 80s, it was something really original and different. Keeping that in mind, personally I felt there was a lot left to be desired in the screenplay.

Director John Carpenter did a pretty good job. He had a good vision but I felt he couldn't take it to the next level. Nonetheless, a decently engrossing film even though there were half-baked characters and patches of boredom.

Kurt Russell (I'm an in-the-closet Kurt Russell fan) is awesome as the patch wearking Snake Plisskin... Carpenter and Kurt came together again for a sequel Escape from L.A. Will watch that one soon and write about it. But heard it was a disaster for various reasons and bombed at the box-office.

Trivia: The bad guy Duke played by Isaac Hayes was the voice of chef in South Park. He passed away a couple of months ago.

From what I heard, a remake of this film is planned to be produced by New Line Cinema starring Gerard Butler. It definitely has tremendous potential today.

Dawn of the dead (1978)

Dawn of the dead is the best zombie (not that I've seen many) movie I have ever seen. This one makes I Am Legend, the 28 series and Resident Evil look as bad as the human intestines eaten by the zombies. Gota bunch of Zombie flicks to watch now. Really want to explore this genre...

One question to ask if the situation ever arises... Which is the most resourceful place on the planet if it is suddenly infested by Zombies? A Mall naturally... You have food, water, clothes, toys and if you're a pervert a mannequin as well...

Two SWAT guys and a couple end up on the roof of a mall using their helicopter. There they find a room which is not yet discovered by Zombies. They make that their hide-out. But now they need food and other supplies for survival.. It's how they strategize, outwit and outpunch the zombies is what the film is about...

The film is not really scary as everything is revealed pretty early- we know the zombies, their mannerisms... so its mostly strategy which I love in movies or in computer games.

Director George Romero who earlier made another hit Zombie flick Night of the living dead did an outstanding job as a visualizer and story-teller. No sleek editing (shouldnt expect it in the 70s.) but I guess that adds to the charm of the film.

This one is definitely a classic. Try to get a hold of it or give me a call for a copy.

Had one great line "When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth." I think that was Romero's prediction on George Bush.

FILMY QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Pataal Bhairavi is better than Drona" - Tapan Mehhta

Hammer Films- The original Ramsays

Picked up the Hammer Story : The Authorized History of Hammer Films from the Strand sale... Before I go on I want to compliment Strand Book Stall for the wonderful service that they provide us with. While a Crossword or Granth give a minimum of 10% off on every book during their sales (and highly publicize it), Strand offers 20% off on every book on any given day. That's the magic of Strand. I eagerly wait for their bi-yearly sales which even though burns a hole in my pocket, it gives me immense happiness.

I had briefly read about Hammer films when I was doing research on the cinema of the Ramsay family. The Ramsays known for their horror movies in India actually were inspired by Hammer Films including their first horror flick Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche.

Did a little reading out of curiosity on Hammer a year ago and was surprised to find this book at the Suburban sale. Decided to pick it up... Hammer was a production house based in UK which churned out horror movie but eventually shut down as they could not recreate themselves with changing times. The book cost me a cool Rs. 750. There was just one copy of it and I wonder if it wasn't for me would someone ever pick it up. I would like to know who would buy something like that... Still waiting to meet a collector who collects books on various aspects of movies.

Have just brushed thru the book so far and it seems pretty interesting. Will read it when time permits.

Surveillance- Teesri Aankh

I really have no idea whether the surveillance security at malls and multiplexes in India is as good as what they show in Surveillance. With bombs erupting everywhere, I have to admit that I think twice before watching a movie at a multiplex. I wonder if there will be any salvation for me in dying in a bomb blast in a multiplex mainly because I'll die doing what I really love.

Caught it on Star Movies thinking it to be another average small budgeted Hollywood film but this one actually caught me by surprise.

It ended up giving me the creeps on how much power a single man can have because he has security cameras at his disposal. Now, this wasnt gory gory horror but the idea of someone breathing down your neck all the time is no less eerie to me. Being in the thriller genre, I would love to put it in the horror genre as well...

Now, this is the second Hollywood film in recent times that I've liked despite it getting really bad reviews. The other was See No Evil starring Kane, the WWE wrestler.

Armand Assante is amazingly cast as the obsessive security guard in the flick but like all Hollywood films this one too gets predictable after a while. But Assante is pretty amazing. Don't know much about him but he is definitely a seasoned actor or simply a completely natural old new-comer.

Try to catch Surveillance... Your experience in a mall will never be the same again!

Film em up

Hello friends, foes and hoes,

Welcome to my second blog. The first one got ruined because MSN doesn't offer unlimited space in theirs. That's why I love anything and everything that Google comes out with. If you aren't a googleaholic then you are probably one of those who prefer a non-flat television, lo-def cable TV and Yahoo!! Please, don't be santusht!!

Now I understand that in this over-communicated as well as fast-paced world where time is money and honey, you have taken time out to read what's in my brain so I'm going to try my absolute level best to not get you bored. My blog will be about the movies and TV shows that I watch, some incidents that I come across in the film industry, the books that I read and my personal views on cinema. So sit back, grab your popcorn and coke and welcome to my world of movies.

I was going to end with a SRK quote saying "Picture abb baki hai mere dost" but since I already used his "don't be santusht" line, I decided to go with another ham- Porky Pig i.e. "That's all folks!!"