Dont Judge Me If You Dont Know Me

2010-10-25T13:22:00.004+05:30

Well , the number and frequency of my post have definitely gone down , but i am trying to cover that by uploading more substantial and better quality stuff than just a bunch of drawings or odd film reviews.

This is something i had been working on for past one week, this is the output after one and a half rim of papers and 15 Stadler 6B pencil later.

Hope you guys enjoy this.. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5bld_8nCys

Reinventing my self :)

2010-05-28T16:15:00.004+05:30

Off late i have been toying with the idea of creating animation film without using Computer (i mean of course you would need them when it comes to taking a compressed render and uploading the file). Animation off late is becoming extremely technical- numbers, axis, constrains, Graphs and what not, what ever happened to storytelling, i mean animation has been around a long before computers were even invented, so why have computers become so indispensable now..!!??

I have already done a quite a bit of Cutout animation earlier, Clay is a medium which has always challenged my curiosity.. and when i got a opportunity this week, well what can i say..you dont let go of such opportunities so easily do you..??

Bad Bad Bad Weekend and here is why - Martyrs and AntiChrist Reviews Double bill

2009-09-24T12:09:00.010+05:30

If you are a horror film aficionado, you must know by now that those films which are appreciated equivocally, hardly have any lasting impact on your senses, and I am not just talking PG13 , I also (if I may dare) include the R rated one’s – Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th , Halloween etc .All the above films were R rated films and pushed the envelope of onscreen violence and then they got remade and they pushed the same envelope a little more, don’t get me wrong, I am an absolute fan boy when it comes to above 3 and add Nightmare at the Elm Street into the grind and we are looking at a Horror Nerds wet dream (pardon my euphuism). But this brings me to the most pertinent question-
are these films worth a watch ??
Hell Yes..!!
Are they Scary enough..??
Like Hell they are..!!
Will you remember this film after 7 years..??
Hmmmm.. Can’t Say.. Maybe not .

And that’s exactly the reason why I actually prefer watching film who are not equivocally appreciated.. There is a risk in it.. 8 out of 10 times I am looking at crap.. but that risk is well its worth for the rest of the 2 out of 10 times. And Last week had been a psychedelic coincidence that I got to catch those ‘2 out of 10 times movies worth waiting for’ back to back . Now since I had been on and off in action for sometime, I figured it will be a good idea to give you a Review Double Bill.

19th Sep 2009, Saturday
2100 hrs
4 shots of Tequila
2 Bottles of Beer to go with the film.

Popped the DVD in the player, switched the lights off and started the film

Matrys

There is something about the French horror especially for the people who are too used to the basic formula in the genre, you don’t know what to expect, lesser known actors/actress makes it even difficult to pledge you sympathy for any character and root for him/her. .Look at À l'intérieur , where the whole film plays out with just two main characters, you will still find the end too unpredictable (and Grim!!), This guys really know there craft and they pull no stops or cut any corners in creating it.
Martyrs starts around 1970 ,where Anna breaks out from captivity in a warehouse and is discovered wondering around the country road in near catatonic stage She is interrogated by the police, who , when they follow up on the information and travel to the scene, find no evidence or sign of life. The Girl has been deeply scarred both physically and mentally. The film then jumps to 15 years later, where Anna, now growing up in an orphanage has formed a bond with another girl Lucie, Anna, has been left deeply disturbed by the incidence that took place 15 years ago seemed to have pieced her life together until one day she spots the perpetrators who are responsible for her state and she brings down wrath on them (I mean literally) ..
Now let me pause, giving away anything beyond this will be crime, I know that the above description looks very ordinary and by the number , and you are right, its ordinary, except the fact that its very atmospheric and shot incredibly well and have enough blood and gore to satisfy the biggest gore hounds.
Anna was tortured when she was young , she grows up, tracks down the people behind her kidnapping and torture and blows the shit out of them.. Bad guys are dead, lead girl is alive (bloody- but alive none the less) so mission accomplished, Right..!! WRONG..!! This is where the fun ends.. The third act elevates the film from just another torture porn (that’s what they are calling films like Hostel these days) and takes it somewhere else where probably no other film has gone before. Twists in the third act are the flavor of the season and this film is no different, but the twist here is organic, it takes the film where it meant to go, and doesn’t leaves you wondering if the film is a puzzle where there were clues laid out all through out the length of the film that challenged your intelligence ala Sixth Sense.
What this film does is, it makes you partner in one of the most heinous and diabolical crime the same way Irreversible or Man Bites Dog did.. Suddenly you will find your self trapped there, with the character, looking at her ,face the worst level of human degeneration, and you realize that the film hasn’t remained a film anymore and your Voyeuristic tendency has taken over, you want to look away, but you also want to see how far can this degradation go.. and by the time its over, you are left thinking – “ I should have looked away when I had the chance..!!”
Its wrong to classify this film as torture porn , although I can see that the first two acts have similarities to the sub genre, but if I can think of any other film that comes close to Martys in terms on Visceral impact and psychological bleakness –it has to be Irreversible.
I was watching this film with my sister in law , let me explain here, she likes blood and gore, she likes film like hostel and she loved À l'intérieur, and she watched this film out of her free will, and both of us were , as I said earlier, having a good time till 3/4th of the film, we were enjoying the Jump moments, the in your face violence, both of us thought we are people who have become sedate to onscreen violence.. Hey, now how can you top Ichi the killer..!! and that’s the beauty of this film ..it doesn’t tops any film, Violence is there as a narrative tool and its not glorified and then in the third act- most of it is off-screen.. and still manages to shake you to the core.. Once the film got over, we sat there in silence , a very awkward silence , not able to figure out weather to condemn or appreciate the film, we were numb, and felt guilty, as a matter of fact, it has never happened that we saw a horror film and not discussed it over dinner (Yes.. we are very twisted people, we discuss decapitation and dismemberment over dinner..!!) with our respective spouses, we still have not discussed Martys.. but then if the film can have so much of influence on somebody, then it must be something to recon.. Pascal Laugier have managed to make a film which will be hated by most of the audience and it will still be debated over, the biggest trick that the film pulls is for most of it run time it leads you to believe that you are watch a regular horror film, and then right there –at the ‘I know how this one is going to end..!!’ moment , its pulls the rug underneath you feet , revealing the dark underbelly of human filth, and you are trapped.. with no where to go, you feel cheated and you hate yourself and the director for taking you to the places this film takes you.
Surprisingly, even after all that’s been said and done, the film actually ends on a bitter sweet note and has a very uplifting ending. Unfortunately I am still not in a state where I can call it a good film or a bad film, I can’t , this movie will still take some time to sink in.. So I am just sharing my first thoughts on it , I knew I was up for a lousy Sunday and things cant get any worse.. well to hell with Martyrs.. I still had a bottle of beer and another film left and this one looks like a softcore.. William Defoe is there in it, he can do stuff like this, didn’t he do Madonna in Body of Evidence.. so lets check it out.

Who would have known that a bottle of beer and a film later I would be devastated beyond all comprehensions?

19th Sep 2009, Saturday
2300 hrs
4 shots of Tequila
2 Bottles of Beer later.

Antichrist

A Couple of years ago me and my cousin were having our weekend boys night , as one of Beyonce song popped up on Mtv, My cousin who masquerades as a heavy metal follower, in his drunken stupor , admitted , that he loves watching Beyonce, not because of her music, but because she is beautiful and has a really nice ..ummm.. how do i say this.. Back Side..!! and then he started going on and on about the object of his affection ..then he paused, he looked at me with broad gleaming eyes and spoke as if he was making an epiphany , “ No matter how beautiful her arse is, it still makes shit like everyone else..!!” then he paused and added- as Beyonce Booties filled up the screen of my Television, “Can you believe something so beautiful can do something so disgusting” very philosophical indeed.
I get his point now.
People who know Lars Von Trier will also know that he almost single handedly kicked of Dogma95 movement in film making. The acclaimed Danish film maker who have done films like Breaking the Waves, Dogville and Dancer in the Dark- now if you are informed about his body of work there are two important things you will be aware of, he is a minimalist and his films usually contains explicit sexual contents.. and that’s What AntiChrist DVD Cover art leads you to believe, and also delivers, but then what you don’t know is that this film, also is a solid character study, border lining avant grade, Another thing which I felt was that people will be vocal about this film, they will either like it a lot or they will detest it and call it misogynistic, but the reaction to this will be very strong.
First things first- this is not a horror film, not even close, it is , like I said earlier, a character driven drama with a some moments of solid suspense. The film have got only 2 actors and whenever there are incidental characters in a scene, they don’t have any faces.
The film is structured in chapters (very similar to Dogville) with a total of four Chapters, and prologue and epilogue.
The film starts with a couple (Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe) are making love as there toddler falls to death from the fourth floor, The couple trys to deal with the loss but wife is having a very difficult time in getting over the death of there child and she is becoming manic depressive, he is a therapist so he decides to take charge and finds that his psycho therapy sessions with his wife are also acting as his catharsis as he is able to distract himself from his sons death and focus on his wife.
As a part of the therapy, both of them travel to Eden , the cabin they have in the woods, in order to spend time there while she recovers from her grief, but things only get worse.
Now that you know , there are only two characters in the film, what you can be sure of is that there will be no Billy Zane accidentally driving down/sailing down to there cabin and throwing a spanner in the proceeding, if you are expecting a CG Ghost hidden in the basement of the cabin , you cant be more wrong- this just isn’t that type of a film, heck there is not a single jump scare, instead this film relay more on the atmosphere and the mood, the fear of impending doom, the whole anticipation and the built up, this one here is a slow burner,it takes its own time in establishing the characters and there individual emotional and physical journey . The suspense exists on a different level- it happens through what you know about our characters, and as the movie proceeds and you know more about them the more suspense ensues, the wife loves her husband, is manic depressive, she is scared of nature, she has been doing a thesis in genocide- the husband is equally grief struck, he is concerned about his wife, he discontinues her therapy with other doctor and takes charge of the situation, the more he gets involved in her therapy the more he drifts away from her, the line blurs between his relation and his profession. Added to this, the forest and the nature around them itself keeps becoming menacing and foreboding, you know something bad is going to happen, you don’t know when- and when it does, it goes all the way.
Rarely you will see a film where the nature plays a character (and I am not talking Ronald Emmirich movies featuring Natural disaster ) there are no flash flood, torrential rain or Volcanic eruptions. The nature here means what’s around us and what’s inside us.
Nature is the real villain in this film and cinematography is the real Hero.
When you are making a film with just two actors, you need to be very careful with whom you cast (look what happened to Vinyan) and Lars Von hits the nail on the head, the casting of Charlotte Gainsbourg , brings a lot of vulnerability to the character when its needed, and she is equally compelling when she looses it towards the end. William Defoe, underplays and completes the spectrum that the director wanted to paint.

This is not a sort of film I will advice you to go and watch immediately, This is not a film for everybody, although I am against spoiler warnings but in this particular case , I will strongly advice you to do some reading about it before you actually go and see it. The only reason this film is worth seeing is to understand that films like this can also be made, and how (and I mean it in a good way).

Both the films discussed above are difficult films , so I strongly advice you to watch it on your own discretion, otherwise you will spend one day just recovering from the hangover that they will give you, symptoms of which are as follows :
Loss of appetite
Headache
Inability to laugh at Jokes
Inability to Crack Jokes
Being scared stiff, every time your wife appears infront of you.

Enjoy.

Guess who is Back..!!

2009-07-03T16:37:00.008+05:30

Hah... Back Finally, I am sorry for my long absence, But its better late than never..Isn't it.??, so although this image may not look much, and this is obviously not the first illustration i have done with this theme(1930, Mob, Gangster, Mafia) but this is the first one in which i have caricatured my colleagues to pose as one. Do care to comment.
Cheers

Oh just in case you are wondering why its called "insane CT" , C&T is the department i am working for, its expanded to Content and Training.. :)

WTF 3..!!

2008-09-19T13:41:00.005+05:30

Recently we decided to have our lunch in a food court of a famous shopping mall, located at a stone throw distance away from our office, after we were handed over the lunch we realized the irony in context of what they preach and what they practice..here you can see one of my colleague holding his lunch in a plastic platter and right behind him, you can see a small sign that says "Save Earth, reduce the use of Plastic"..i mean W the F..!!

What Goes Around, Comes Around.

2008-09-06T16:15:00.003+05:30

Of all the things that scares the living daylight out of me (including heights) the biggest nightmare comes from what is called Nosocomephobia (fear of Hospitals), I hate visits to local clinics and hospitals, the smell of phenol and spirit makes me nauseated , maybe thats why I keep postponing my trips to the hospital even when I am in a really bad shape, I instead try to opt for self treatment – how bad things could be, I mean, if you have fever ,you can counter it with a Crocin or a Paracetamol tab let, bad stomach, you can face it off with Eno, Pudinhara , Diagene, Lopamide or Dipendol, you have barf attack and you have Stemetil for that, for Pain you have Brufane and for common cold there is another set of medication that you can buy without prescription from you local medical shop..So if I look at my medical history, Its only once in past 8 years that I had to make a trip to hospital or even to a local clinic - which I see as quite an achievement.

4 years ago, on my way back to my home from my office, in Hyderabad, I met with an accident, no bones broken, only a couple of bad bruises and a swollen leg..i treated it my self, it took me a month to walk and took another month to loose the limp, but I was allright- Yes Sir..!! I was..!! No doctors, no medication this time again..self help and my determination got me back on my feet , for four years , I used to boast to people about how good I am at survival..not knowing that one day the tables will turn on me and this phobia that I have, is going to do a full circle and bite me on my arse..

I had this reoccurring pain in my lower back and leg for quite a while, I kept passing it off as a usual strain, something that is a reciprocal action of my sitting posture, and once in a while when that pain became excruciating, I will take a pain killer and forget about it, until last week, when the Pain became so much that I was not able to concentrate, sit, stand for few seconds without shifting weight from one leg to another, the pain was so high and so concurrent that it made me cringe and left me with fever, so I figured, another trip to the hospital is in order..the first doctor I saw, regarding this was a physician, who saw the swelling on my ankle, threw his hands up in the air, frowned and told me that I should go to a Orthopedist instead..well I had no choice but to follow his advice and therefore there I was , the next day, holding my breath, gripping my chair with fear ..sitting in front of the Orthopedist , he started his examination, and then it went on forever..he will twist my leg in the most awkward way and ask me if it hurts and I will think to my self that why the hell not, I mean he should try doing it to himself and he would know wether it hurts and how bad it hurts, but then being a gentleman that I am, I braved all his nifty little tricks he did using my leg, with a straight face..and then he tells me he will need my blood sample, now this gave me the heebee jeebees ..as I have always assumed , that when you venture into a orthopedic ward ,you are asked for a x-ray , blood test some how doesn't fits the picture..
As the fate will have it, I am being diagnosed with a thing called Sciatica -The term sciatica describes the symptoms of leg pain and possibly tingling, numbness or weakness that travels from the low back through the buttock and down the large sciatic nerve in the back of the leg.
The vast majority of people who experience sciatica get better with time (usually a few weeks or months) and find pain relief with non-surgical sciatica treatment. For others, however, sciatica can be severe and debilitating.
It turns out, I belong to the second category of individuals..serves me right, now that I look back in time, I have overlooked the earlier symptoms, paid no heed to the warnings, and in order to avoid a few trips to hospital , I have put my self in a situation where I will need to make a lot many such trips, I will be on high dose of Dexrabeprazole Sodium and Indomethacine for a very long time now, and this list of medication is only going to grow.. I have no idea , how long is it going to take me to completely recover from this situation, the prescribed painkiller are not effective, the pain never goes away,so much so that now I get a feeling that when , one day I will get back to normal, I am going to miss it (the pain)..as it has become so much of a part of me now.

Also looking at the brighter side, I think in next couple of months I will be able to over come the biggest of my fears , as I have quite a few trips to Hospital lined up..Well, there I have learned the lesson the hard way, and the reason I shared this in the blog is , to impart some wisdom to the readers who think they are invincible :) and are above the prescribed medication..trust me we are not, we are humans weekend by our mortality and vulnerability, so the next time you experience anything out of ordinary, that lasts longer than you expected it to- make sure you make a quick trip to the local clinic instead of burying it for so long that it rises it head like a phoenix.

Mumbai Meri Jaan : Visual methphors one on one

2008-08-29T17:33:00.007+05:30

Among the usual barrage of thrash and pulp cinema that is produced in our country, every year after year, once in a while a little gem comes out and goes un-noticed, its like fishing in the deep ocean, most of the time you will catch a lot of sardines, but then if you wait long enough – you might end up hooking a Tuna,
and this is turning out to be a good year as there had been more than a couple of Tuna's- starting with Mithya, Via Darjeeling, Shaurya, Aamir to name the few, but this month, mid monsoon, the years biggest catch came along in form of Mumbai Meri Jaan..i can go on and on about the film, but for the first time in this year, I actually concur with all that has been written by the critique about this film..therefore instead of the review, I thought of something else, once I was done watching this film, I pulled out the little blue notebook that I have, and started the movie all over again..only this time pausing it in the middle every now and then and taking notes on it..and what I saw the second time was even more profound than the first time,This film is laced with brilliant Visual Metaphors ..few very explicit and few very subtle. Following is the list of all that I was able to catch (I am sure there would be a few more which I missed)
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But before you read up any further, let me forewarn you about the spoilers , so if you haven't seen this film and you are planning to see it any time soon..now will be a good time to click on column on images displayed on the right (your right) side of this page which will take you to my Flickr photo stream.
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****SPOILERS*****

1. Once the blast in the local train happens, you can see a body fly in the air and hit a pillar with the number 7/11 on it.

2. When the colleagues of Rupali (Soha Ali Kahan)come to her place after the death of her fiancée, the scene starts with their (all three of them including Rupali) reflection on the television screen in her living room(Rupali works as a news correspondent for a Television channel). Later when Rupali agrees to become a part of the report that the channel is planning to highlight her loss, the TV executives shake her hands and stand up, you can see Rupali's face reflecting on the floor on which both the executives step on as they are walking out of the house.

3. After Kadam(Vijay Murya) is warned by his senior officer, right after he has arrested the couple doing drugs, Kadam walks out of the police station, Tukaram(Paresh Rawal) follows him out- in the next shot, you can see Kadams reflection in the rear view mirror of a vehicle as he walks away, the scene acknowledges the frustration kadam is going through as Kadams reflection looks framed, indicating that his life is restrained, the four side of the rear view mirror doubles up as a two dimensional jail Kadam is living in .

4. Suresh (Key Key Menon) a racist, is shown wearing a T-shirt with NAZI symbol printed on it, the scene goes on to show how ignorant and single dimensional Suresh is as on one side he maintains that there is only one religion that is responsible for all the violence in the world, he himself wears a T-shirt, the symbol on which reminds you of the army, which became infamous because of there atrocities at the time of 2nd World war..and wanted to rule the world.

5. When Nikhil(R.Madhvan) has a dream in which he sees his apartment blowing up because of the gas leak, right after the explosion, as Nikhil is lying injured on the floor, you can see he is not able to use one of his hand, just like his friend who was in the first class compartment when one of the serial bomb exploded in the train, and Nikhil's friend looses his arm.

6. After the Tamil coffee vendor(Irfan Khan) realizes his mistake after witnessing a senior citizen almost loosing his life due to the prank played by him( Hoax phone calls).The coffee vendor is taken over by guilt and he goes home, while the same news is playing on Television, he takes the lamp and directly looks into the light and then breaks down completely, the scene is very straight forward and shows that the coffee vendor saw the light (redemption) in the darkness (helplessness, hatred and guilt) that surrounds him.

7. When Suresh gets picked up by Tukaram in the police van, you can see his face reflecting in the window glass right behind Tukaram, bringing forth the dualism in Suresh's personality, cause just few seconds earlier, the scene establishes Suresh wearing a NAZI T-shirt, also the same scene again uses Forced Perspective to juxtapose Suresh reflection with Tukaram's face ,reckoning two entirely different faces of humanity.

This are the few of metaphors I was able to notice, feel free to add anything that I have missed once you have seen the film.

Indian Noir

2008-08-22T18:16:00.010+05:30

Noir Cinema is a quasi genre whose roots can be traced back to German Expressionist Cinema in the late 1930's..before i elaborate on the Noir , lets try and understand what does German Expressionism really stands for-- In the earlier times, the film making used to be a very controlled process, the production mostly taking place within the confines of studio, the final film therefore used to be extremely polished and glossy, Post world war 1 Hollywood film makers decided to take the films outside the studio and shoot them on a higher budget, making them even more extravagant, Germany at the same time, was trying to recover from the Economic slump that was created due to the war and was finding it hard to match up to the high standards set by their Hollywood counterparts, therefore, in order to counter balance the threat from Hollywood Cinema the German film makers created a niche for them selves, the kind of films that were done on low budgets, shot in low key lighting,dark and moody, having abstract sets which gave a very surreal feel to the shebang ; The Cabinet of Dr Calligiri (1920) and "The Last Laugh (1924)" were the earlier example of German Expressionism , These films also became known for there unconventional story and themes which dealt with dark subjects as Death, Insanity, betrayal and Lust (as opposed to the conventional action adventure or romantic films from that era) . Later when the 2nd World War started , lot of the directors and technicians from Germany migrated to Hollywood and started working there, with Hollywood producers and Hollywood Scripts, adding there original elements that they carried over from Germany, to the usually sordid Hollywood, giving birth to a completely new style of films called Noir.
Noir films are usually recognized by few following elements :
They have low key lighting, hard shadows, and the light and smoke play a integral part in the texture of the film, also the composition and shots are dramatically taken, usually low angles, canted frames, and tight closeups.
The narrative of this type of films is rarely linear, and it involves time line jumps , Flashback and dream sequences
The Character in these sort of film dont follow any structured ethics or moral integrity and every character is driven by his/her selfish motives
The presence of a femme-fatal , if not omnipresent is very common in such genre.
The tone of the film is essentially downbeat, dark and gritty

Noir is a genre which has become very popular in the America and Europe and it has been explored a lot of times, while in India, its a genre which still has to gain recognition, therefore in this column i have decided to explore few films that may classify as Indian Noirs (although they were never intended to be a noir but the plot points, themes and values in the story, although unintentional, has resulted them in classified under the category of noir films), so here it goes :

1.CID (1956) Dir :Raj Khosla
This Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman starrer is probably the first taste of Noir film that Indian audience got, dark, brooding and atmospheric, it follows a Police officer investigating a crime and later himself getting implicated for the same, beautifully shot by Anwar and Murthy, this remains one of the best in the genre.

2.KalaPani (1958) Dir :Raj Khosla
Another Dev Anand starer directed by the same person who helmed the earlier film, this film was based on AJ Cronins book called 'Beyond this Place', this film is about a man who is falsely implicated for a crime he never committed and his son's (who is a lawyer) crusade to prove his father innocent, although not as dark and atmospheric as CID this film is still able to stand on its two feet , this films crosses genres between Court room Drama and a crime thriller..and get it right.

3.Kanoon (1960) Dir : B.R.Chopra
While visiting a german film festival , B.R.Chopra was told that Indian films 'consist nothing but songs' so B.R.Chopra took it on himself to make a film without any song and he made Kanoon, a character driven crime drama with no protagonist..its about a hotshot public attorney who witnesses his own father in law ,who is a judge, committing a murder and having another not so innocent man framed for the same crime, things become more complicated when the public attorney have to defend the same guy who got framed for the charge in a case thats being presided by his own father in law (the judge), morals versus ambition, relationships versus deceptions, this film weaves a complex and multi layered tale of 5 character with immaculate precision.

4.Thikana (1987) Dir :Mahesh Bhatt
A hard boiled film with amazing performances all around Smita Patil , Anil Kapoor ,Amrita Singh, Anupam Kher and Suresh Oborai, Mahesh Bhattcreated a film which was so dark and atmospheric that you will want to take a shower after you are done watching it, layer after layer, twist after twist, it follows two different stories, one involving a sting operation gone terribly wrong and another one of a down and out alcoholic lawyer , both these stories merges seamlessly, this film doesn't looses steam, and pulls no stops..an absolute noir in all its glory.

5.Kabzaa (1988) Dir :Mahesh Bhatt
A semi noiristic film starring Sanjay Dutt, Raj Babbar, Paresh Rawal and Amrita Singh, was another shot by Mahesh Bhatt in directing a noir, but due to the failure of his earlier film, he figured that the Indian audience are still not ready for something as downbeat and dark as Thikana, so he made few alteration to his story to suit Indian taste, therefore this movie which could have been one of India's most profound entry in this genre, remains to be a revenge drama for most of its runtime, still you cant disregard the fact that there are lot of noir elements in it..predictably enough this film went on and became a hit , while i find Thikana to be a much better film..this film also proved that Sanjay Dutt performance in Naam wasnt just a fluke and also became a take off film for a very talented and gifted actor called Paresh Rawal.

6.Khoj (1989) Dir :Keshu Ramsey
A copy of a TV film called 'One of my Wife is Missing" , this one is a strange film, cause all through out the film its plays out like a Noir and with one final twist in the end , it turns into mystery film..which ever way, this Rishi Kapoor and Nasiruddin Shah starrer still makes a compelling watch which should not be missed by anybody.

7.Parinda (1989) Dir :Vidhu V chopra
A very strong entry in the genre, It was one of the earliest realistic portrayal of gangsters in Indian cinema, a film which treads the razor sharp edge that separates commercial films from the art house films, the film has gained popularity as a gangster film, which is not true, this is Noir at its best, amazing performances all around, this is a poignant film that explores the underbelly of Indian (read Mumbai) Crime world and manages to add some white the the blackest of the characters in the story, this one is a slow burner, very bleak and downbeat..and thats what makes it such a amazing film.

8.Aar Ya Paar (1997) Dir :Ketan Mehta
This films packs almost all the elements that defines a Noir, simply put- this film is about bad people doing bad things and worse happing to them, morals and innocence fly's out of the window in this story of crossing ,double crossing, multiple crossing, the films borrows heavily from a James Hadley Novel and few other films like 'The Postman Only Rings Twice' and 'Dial M for Murder' this is typical B grade pulp at its best.

9.Kaante (2002) Dir :Sanjay Gupta
Possibly one of the most highly anticipated film of all time, part Reservoir Dog , Part Usual Suspect and since both of the original sources were noirs, this one cant be anything else
stylish, slick and technically well executed film , although its flawed but still its always a fun to watch such ensemble cast have a good time.

9.Footpath (2003) Dir :Vikram Bhatt
Another under rated film, mostly inspires 'State of Grace' with a few other film, this movie i am sure would have looked very good on paper, but with the shoestring budget and inexperienced cast and director this film is never able to rise above the occasion and instead ends up undermining itself, all said and done this is still a Noir which could have been done really well..but it is still worth a watch for someone who is exploring this genre in Indian Films.

11.Jism (2003) Dir:Pooja Bhatt
If film was a wine then it should be Jism cause the aged it is the better it will taste, Pooja Bhatt goes behind the camera for the first time and introduces two new comers to the industry, the raw chemistry between the two protagonists , the sexual tension- is a character in itself in the film, loosely based on Double Indemnity, this film uses a very original location by setting the film in Pondicherry, the heat, humidity and sweat only adds to the film which is already hot.

12.Musafir (2004) Dir: Sanjay Gupta
A copy of U Turn, this one is easiest to be classified as a noir since it blatantly rips off one, Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor and Sameera Reddy starrer, does well ripping a orignal content and tearing it to shreds , in a good way..U-Turn was never a great film, so Musafir although if not worse, is equally bad, but its bad in a good way, low on content and high on style..the film, never takes it self too seriously and doesnt trys too hard to be something its not, and therefore instead of a film which is actually a noir it ends up looking like a spoof of a Film Noir.

13.Ek Hasina Thi (2004) Dir :Sriram Raghvan
This is a little gem, although it borrows a few plot points from a film by Chan woo Park's 'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance' , it has enough originality to stand on its own two feet, lovely performances by the two leads (Urmila Matondkar and Saif Ali Khan) and very well supported by the supporting cast, this film puts a completely new spin on the 'Damsel in Distress' formula cause here the damsel rebounds..a must watch for who ever likes there thriller with a dash of noir.

14.Manorama Six Feet Under (2007) Dir : Navdeep Singh
Partly inspired by "Chinatown" still has enough originality, based on dry deserted backdrop of Rajisthan, this film is a Noir and it knows it, intricately woven plot , deals with the themes of deception, infidelity and betrayal and the best part of all is, it adopts Noir elements to very rustic indian sensibilities, you dont have people dressed in overcoat and flat hats smoking cigarettes and blowing puffs of smoke, instead you get very real and Indian character caught reluctantly in situation none of them want to be in, laced with brilliant performances all around by all the cast..this is a noir that is true to the soil.

15.Jhonny Gaddar (2007) Dir : Sriram Raghvan
When 'Ek Hasina thi' released, everybody thought that there is no way Sriram Raghvan would be able to supersede this and then he made Jhonny Gaddar, one of the best entires in the genre, wonderful and tightly woven script, and a remarkable debut by Neil Nitin Mukesh as an anti hero just sets the bar high for all other thrillers, very noir-ish the other most remarkable thing about this film is its ability to pay homage to various material without becoming a spoof..this film has everything it takes to become a cult classic.

16.Woodstock Villa (2008) Dir :Hansal Meheta
A wannabe Noir, its the lamest movie in this whole list, a half hearted direction to a half backed script couldn't result in a work of art, but this film manages to set standards for 'bad films' , the director seems bored, the actress seems bored, most of the supporting cast seems bored..if anyone seems to be making any effort in the film is the protagonist (Sikander Kher) and because of his sincere effort he stands out like a sore thumb in the whole circus..the film tries to redeem it self with one final twist in the end , but by then its already too late.

17.Mithya (2008) Dir :Rajat Kapoor
There is no better way to end the list but by listing the best of the lot, Mithya is a labour of love and it shows, the performances by the cast, the screenplay, the dialogs, the cinematography and the direction but what takes this film a notch higher than all the other films in this list is its unpredictability, it never lets you sit back and think to yourself that you have it all figured out, it has twists, but the twists are introduced to take the story forward..unlike the times where the whole film is based on one twist in the end, which forces you to change you perspective, its good but its cheating , as all through out the film you are seeing the film differently..those kind of twist are like a Duex-ex-machine, where as in Mithya the twist are as much part of the character development as much as the story is..A noir in its full glory.

The Following films are also worthy mention in the list
1. Bees Saal Baab (Raj Khosla)
2. The Train (Ravikant Nagaich)
3. Kudrat(Chetan Anand)
4. No Smoking(Anurag Kashyap)
5. Satya (Ram Gopal Verma)

To Draw or not to Draw that is the question..!!

2008-08-11T17:07:00.001+05:30

Please don't take me to be a pervert of some sort but one question has always bothered me while practicing anatomy...errrr...how do i deal with the..um..there is no easy way to say it..so i will just blurt it out..HOW DO DEAL WITH DRAWING GENITALS !!! while drawing a male or female anatomy..I do understand the necessity to draw strategically and politically correct poses, but its too hard to hit bulls eye all the time,so While i safely avoid drawing certain parts of human anatomy..the end result seems to have something missing, and if i draw those parts..it looks too explicit..!! So,i am always in a dilemma and every time my pencil reaches below the waist (of my drawings...obviously).. i gasp, understanding the predicament i am about to get my self into.., the exprianced artist have the ability to make everything look good cause they have a very clear and sound understanding of aesthetics, but for an ameture like me, aesthetics are the last thing on the mind, getting the muscles right is primary and the foremost thing, How on Earth shall i deal with this situation I need some help from all you co- blogger who keep scanning my blog, Kamal, Chandan,Naresh, Safdar,Jesu ..anyone..!!

Bouncing back

2008-08-08T12:44:00.011+05:30

Past few months had been real difficult, not that i am dealing with a family crisis or anything, its the feeling of being creatively drained out, inability to take a pencil and draw something, even the doodles are unsatisfactory,looking at a sheet of blank paper gets me tired and exasperated,the whole photography gear starts to look like a bad investment and although there are films to watch,i just watch them like a turnip,i dont enjoy them, i end up watch them to kill time.., the overpowering feeling of absolute voidness, how hard you try to overcome,reverts back as a quicksand you are stuck in and keeps dragging you down.
A few years early, this used to get me in a state of panic.. but i have gotten wiser with time and assessed that this condition is like an influenza or viral infection that surfaces twice every year..now i do not panic , i just let it overcome me..and while i am in a state of recluse, i spend time reading..and gradually it withers away, i have come to realize that the only way to bounce back is to hit the rock bottom..and the harder i try to get out of this patch the more i am delaying my recovery..so here is me bouncing back..

PS : i owe a lot to Mr.Siju Thomas , whom i have never met in person but whose drawings have always been a source of inspiration.

Jaani Dushman :Ek Anokhi Kahani

2008-07-15T16:25:00.018+05:30

A film way ahead of its time..
In the year 2002, India got a chance to witness revival of a genre, a genre called Raj Kumar Kohili, If you are aware of the name then you will already know what i am talking about but those of you who aren't, let me take you a couple of decades back in time, and remind you of multistarrer blockbusters like Nagin(1976), Jaani Dushman(1979), Raj Tilak(1984) and Bees Saal Baad(1988)..there was a time when this name was a synonym to hard hitting thought provoking and yet entertaining films, these films have broken new grounds in Indian Cinema and taken it to places where it had never been before..RajKumar Kohli gave us our first (and probably the only) Warewolf movie, he also gave us the haunting of the beautiful undead woman whose hands can stretch for miles if someone visits her 'Haveli' and asks her for a hammer ( the concept that got incorporated as remote control in present day)..above all Rajkumar Kohili marked the arrival of supernatural and monster movies, which had been a forte of Ramsey brothers until those times..Rajkumar Kohili introduced the elements of supernatural and horror to the mainstream indian audience and managed to get the top stars work for him in those films..among few most memorable scene that he directed ,was a song from film Nagin(1976) in which Jeetendra(his half naked self) and Reena Roy are introduced to the audience as a shape shifter (Ikchadhari Nag) couple, singing and dancing before they start to consummate (in india its a ritual to sing and dance before you consummate, thats why we have such grand marriages,where everyone dances) and where Jeetendra exudes more sensuality than the female protagonist(Reena Roy). This film came at a time when we thought being happy and Gay is the same thing.
Also its hard to forget the transformation scenes in Jaani Dushman(1979) where the most hairy person in the cast (Raza Murad) turns into a hairy monster at the sight of his bride dressed in Red..and that was the earliest visual metaphor in films ever to grace the silver screen(a hairy man turns into another hairy man when he sees Red..get it).

And then with such brilliant films, he got lost in time, trying to launch his Sons career, and then relaunch it..and then launch it again, and then change the name of his son and launch him one more time. Proving him self to be one of the most doting father in the industry. The career of his son,however, even after his relentless efforts never took off and a decade passed, and then in 2002 a miracle happened..a miracle called Jaani Dushman :Ek Anokhi Kahani ..and this came as a reboot to the quasi franchise of A-grade supernatural flick..and what a comeback it was, a absolute home run..Jaani Dushman (2002) is and will remain a modern classic, a avant grade cinema. A film that challenges every convention and breaks it, a film thats so scary that there are times when you have to turn away from the screen and mute the sound in order to be able to comprehend the ongoing, a film so scary that through out the films i advice you to keep repeating the words,"Its only a movie" to yourself..by the time the movie ends, you are breathless and you just sit there in awe of what you have just witnessed, staring at the screen with your jaws on the floor and yearning for more. A brilliant Star cast, a most original story, amazing dialogs and groundbreaking special effects..it was a shame that the committee who chooses the film to be send to Academy Awards got it all wrong again and instead of Jaani Dushman the ended up sending the lame Devdas(2002).

Now for the story : from a very distant future, a shape shifting Cyborg (Cybernetic Organism :a Robot in Human tissue) is send back , way back in time : and i am talking about the time when Maharashtra had snow capped mountains in winters and it used to look something like the Grand Canyons in Summers..this robot is not just any ordinary Robot..its a much advanced version of T-1000 (Terminator-2) and T-X(Terminator-3) as T-1000 and T-X had there limitations while morphing, this one can also morph into complex mechaines and gadgets..it also has an upgraded attachment that lets him walk on water, so back in 200 AD this Robot (named Kapil- played with amazing restrain by Arman Kohili )ends up falling in love with Vasundhra(Manisha Koirala) and as they are going through the pre-consummating ritual (i already mentioned in India people wear colorful clothes and do some freestyle dancing which pumps the blood pressure and does them good for the real action to follow). In order to execute the carefully co-ordinated dance steps with extreme precision, there continues and relentless thumping and stomping breaks the ground underneath their feets (thats why avant Garde, cause it means ground breaking cinema and this one literally breaks the ground) and they fall on top of a sage(Amrish Puri : hard to recognize under the amazing prosthetic and makeup work) meditating underneath : the sage angered by their juvenile behavior puts a curse on them, which would lead to Vasundhra's death just as the sun sets..and so it happens. Upset from his beloveds death, Kapil decides to morph into a Banyan Tree, waiting for his beloved Vasundhra to be re-incarnated. Cut to present day in one of the most affluent collages of Mumbai, where a gang of 40 something are doing there 2nd year of graduation in some stream which we are never told.. this gang of 40 (years old) something includes the likes of Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Aditya Pancholi, Aftab Shivdasani, Rambha, Rajat Bedi, Sharad Kapoor, Siddhart, Sonu Nigam and oh yes Mainsha Koirala (Divya:the reincarnated Vasundhra). the Collage only have one person staff, the Principal Joseph(Raj Babbar) who is a one man army as he teaches, specializes in parapsychology, and presides over Boxing matches..this is also the collage where the girls take their showers together (mmmmm ;) )and where a student is allowed to carry a gun to the collage and wave it around infront of his principal with elen.. Divya's Boyfriend Karan Saxena( Sunny Deol in an intense performance) is a pass out from the same collage..before you know Divya makes contact with Kapil and faces a dilemma every Indian girl is scared of ; whether to choose her lover from the present time or whether to choose her lover from previous birth who has been waiting for her for a few centuries . And before she is able to make up her mind she is raped by two of her classmates (Slimy Rajat Bedi and obnoxious Siddhart)..and eventually commits suicide. Now here i will like to pause for a moment and discuss the dialogs laced with sheer brilliance:
Just before the goons attempts to molest Divya for the first time (oh yes they attempt it twice, succeeding only the second time.)

Divya : Tum log kisi ki izzat nahin kartain..!!?? (you people don't respect anybody)
Bad Guy : Aree agar sabki izzat karangey to lootaingey Kiski (if we respect everybody then whose respect are we going to steal).

Believe me my friends this dialogs has a ability to gain the same amount of colloquial usage as Sholay's dialogs, and before you know every rapist in the country will be using the same lines before he attacks his victim.

or the intense exchange of words that Divya has, as she sits , bleeding to death and the rest of the gang arrives.

Diya : Mai tum logon ko Kabhi Maaf Nahin Karoongi
Akshay : Tum hum pe aisa Jhoota ilzaam nahin laga sakti
Sonu : Haan Akhir Hamne Kiya Kya Hai.
Sunil : Blah Blah Blah
Aditya : Blah Blah Blah
Divya :Blah Blah Blah Blah

And the whole gang stands there arguing and explaining themselves and it occurs to no one to call the ambulance therefore Divya dies in the Arms of Kapil who just waltz into the location dressed up like R.N. Tagores Shakuntala, but just before she dies, Divya makes Kapil swear that he will revenge her death from the whole gang (obviously: whatever chances of survival she had were meticulously negated by the gang as they decided to argue and explain their stance in the situation leading to Divya's rape..instead of calling for an Ambulance, therefore becoming partner in crime).

The rest of the film follows Kapil methodically dispatching the members of the gang one by one in few of the most inventive death scene indian audience has ever seen, few deaths includes one of them getting French kissed by an anaconda, another one (Arshad Warsi)getting electrocuted and while a couple of hundred watts of electricity is running through his body, he also makes a benediction and bids a final adieu to all his friend ,(Arshad Warsi ironically played a character called Circuit in another movie), then there is a death by getting bashed with a motorcycle on the head.

the credit to use the cast so immaculately also goes to the director, as all the characters are so well etched, and they never do anything outside the parameters of the characters they play

Akshay Kumar- the atheist who carries gun to the collage, and plans parties to get over the death of the dying crew.
Sunil shetty- angry individual who is so violent that in every dialogs of his, he either talks of breaking bones or killing someone.
Arshad Warsi- the wisecracking guy..who always tells jokes so much so that he doesn't even have a orignal line in the film.
Aftab shivdasani- the poor lover boy who keeps getting beaten to pulp.
Aditya Pancholi : the Rich spoilt brat who carrys 50,000 bucks in his pocket and is always dressed in a coat in sweltering heat of Mumbai..and is very scared of water
Sonu Nigam : actually does nothing until the end where he gives out girlie shrieks proving to all the other producers that he is equally capable of doing female playback singing..as much as he is of doing male playback
Sunny Deol : he plays himself (angry, grunting, bringing down the police station with his red bull power punches)

Besides them there are also cameo appearances by Johnny Lever, Dinesh Hingoo, Atul Agnihotri and Aman Verma..all of whom plays equally important part in taking the story forward.

The special Fx department has done a steller job as well by morphing, exploding and levitating the stuff where ever its needed and even in those places where it wasn't needed..creating visuals that are so amazing that it will difficult to outdo them for any one in a very long time to come.
This brings us to Arman Kohli playing Kapil who got launched probably the 4th time through this film, and as they say 4th time is the charm..he delivers and how, a performance propelled by sheer energy and brilliance..he gets the best and the most complex character(we are talking about a character with the ability to travel in time, morph into organic and inorganic forms, the character who is invincible and is out for revenge) to play in the film and Arman Kohli takes the character of Kapil and runs with it..he gets under the skin of the character so well that i cant think of any other example that even comes close to his performance, when it comes to method acting..the way he uses his eyes and his acting especially when is under going a transformation (he is a shape shifter..remember) is immaculate..there is a part where he transforms into a snake, for a moment there i thought he really is a snake, and that transformation into motorcycle, how can i forget that..Wow..!!

the film works at various levels..its a saga of love and redemption, its a powerful action flick..it also makes you think , what will you do if you if the things in this film have happened to you..how prepared are you to sacrifice for your love - will you become a tree, if someone you loved died, and wait for her/him for several centuries..!! or if you blow someone off with a RPG Launcher and then he comes back to life, what will you do..will you try and blow him again..!!?? or if a shape shifting cyborg from a distant future is after your life ,will you make an appearance publicly and perform a song and dance routine infront of a packed auditorium and keep your words to the sponsors , putting your life at stake for your morals and integrity ..

If there is ever going to be a movie of a millennium..this is it, unfortunately people just didn't get it at the time it was released, , but i can promise you that in times to come this will become a cult film and the screenplay might also get entered in Film Academy's Library.This film is India's answer to Terminators and Matrix and to every body who takes our films as complaisant films. Its a film which is a must for your collection..especially if your the kind of person who is into Drugs and Alcohol.
Do not miss it..........EVER..!!

Lawrence of Arabia : Ripped out my guts and strangeld me with it..and i loved it.

2008-07-04T14:01:00.007+05:30

I have been a avid fan boy of horror films and i take pride in claiming that i have almost seen anything coming out of this genre be it slasher, supernatural, French new wave, J-horror, indie,italian giallo or grindhouse ,if you have heard of it, i have seen it- which has made me immune and sedate to on screen scares, jump out of seat moments and psychological tension..never in my wildest dream , i could have imagined i will find the best scare of my life in the most unlikely film, where Argento,Friedkin,Romero, Remi and Cravens has failed in last 10 years David Lean will accomplish that effortlessly..yup!! you heard it..i said David Lean, but more on that later.

Its rare now a days when you can walk into a film and allow the film to draw you in so bloody well that even hours after you walk out of it you keep seeing things in Technicolor, Lawrence of Arabia did just that for me ,for the whole runtime of 3 hrs 50 mins, i was in a state of trance, completely mesmerized..there wasnt a moment in the film when i took my eyes off the screen and the best part was i had this tingling sensation in my spine and goose pimple on more that one occasion. I would be lying if i say that this film caught me off guard (a film which ranks in the top 10 films ever made) so i was aware that i am in for something big and spectacular..but spectacular with so much heart, this is something i did not expect. Each frame (shot on Super 70 Pan Vision) of this film is a work of art. watching it is like watching a poetry in motion, the haunting music score by Maurice Jarre, the immaculate cinematography by Freddie Young and Art Direction by John Stohll is spot on. As for the director, well do i need to say anything, its David Lean for crying out loud, probably with his most ambitious film.
Based on the life of T.E.Lawrence this film adapts from two biographical sources "Revolt in the Desert" and "Seven pillars of Wisdom", the film is an account of how a British soldier(T.E.Lawrence played by the legendary Peter 'O' Toole ) lead Arab insurgents to revolt against Turks, the films cross weaves themas of espionage, friendship,leadership, survival,velor and reluctant heroism..but forget the story, the film is a visual delight..the vast desert landscapes and never ending mirages, the frames painted in hues of blue and reds, i have never ever seen any thing like this before and i dont think i will see it ever again and thats exactly what makes this film so special..it has dated so well , that even if you see it today it will hold on its own among all that thrash thats is produced ever year , masquerading as entertainment.
Those were the times my friend..when you didnt have visual effects and green screen so if there is a shot when an Air Craft flys a few feets from the ground bombing a camp as it goes..its really a Air Craft flying so low..or for instance when there is a hoard of people stepping out of there tents and getting ready to attack the Turkish army for the first time..its no crowd manipulation, and of course how can i forget the best of it..when a Locomotive derails..!!

Coming back to where i started..watch the sequence in which Lawarance, Sharif Ali and a troop of 50 men is crossing the Nefud desert..the journey is an 'edge of the seat with a lump in you throat affair'..it will rate in my "top 10 scary moments of all time" the way they have encompassed the seclusion and how it takes over a mans mind , is just beautiful..!!
Its a sort of film which can not be put together in words, i am finding it extremely hard to continue writing as i am falling short of superlatives and therefore bearing the risk of getting repetitive. But before i end here are few small trivia

The film don't have a female lead, as a matter of fact it just doesn't has any actress other than those extras.
Dilip Kumar was the first choice for the role of Sharif Ali which later went to Omar Sharif
To film Omar Sharif's entrance through a mirage, 'Freddie Young (I)' used a special 482mm lens from Panavision. Panavision still has this lens, and it is known among cinematographers as the "David Lean lens".
Peter O'Toole's performance as T.E. Lawrence is the #1 ranked performance of all time in Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.

So for those of you who hasn't seen this film, buy a 29 inch television or anything bigger (if you don't have it ) and rent the film and watch this spectacle unravel, for those of you who have seen it when it was played on AXN..watch it again and for those of you who got a chance to see it in theater--- Grrrrr!!! I envy you..!!

Statutory Warning : Do not watch this film on any screen which is less than 29 inches.

WTF 2..!!

2008-07-03T10:49:00.005+05:30

Yesterday, there was this major hit and run incident very close to our office, A car trying to make a U- turn was hit by another speeding car, the perpetrators didn't even slowed down ,hitting a Bajaj Pulser which was parked on the curb, while they tried to getaway..the other car went into a spin but fortunately enough, was able to pull over just in time without hurting any passer by.. By Indian standards its was a clean getaway for the guy driving the other car, as there wasn't a way that heat could have caught up to him..and by the time the victim got his composure back, they (the perpetrators) have gotten far far away..
But, here is the thing that elevates this particular incident from the other hit and run i have witnessed- the perpetrators somehow managed to leave there rear fender stuck to the victims car, to make things even worse..they managed to leave the rear fender behind with there license plate stuck on it..

Define Irony now..!!

WTF..!!

2008-07-03T10:25:00.008+05:30

Now here you have a hot woman with word Silicon imprinted right next to her and an ISI symbol on the top..so i ask ..if there is any thing that remains implicit about it..!!??

Grrrrr...how on earth does that make sense..a plywood company called Silicon a marketing themselves using a well endowed female model..!!

Film Vocabulary

2008-06-21T16:18:00.007+05:30

Film vocabulary is a collection of film, directors and Actors name and there meanings in the modern world, do feel free to add to the list. Maybe with your support we can publish the 2nd Volume of this list soon enough.

Picnic at Hanging Rock - Disappearing without a trace.

Heavens Gate - Miserable failure.

Thelma and Luise syndrome- Inability to complete a phrase or a sentence.

Mulholland Driveistic - extremely convulsed and complicated.

Memento-ish - Too difficult to remember or recollect, habit of forgetting things.

Glengherry Glenross - a very well written, non-pornographic literature with reoccurring explicit words mostly starting with the alphabet 'F' .

Bergman-ing- Choosing not to talk, staring at a void without blinking, going around doing your daily chores at half the usual speed.

Bogarting - Habit of lighting up a cigarette before you start a conversation and never smoke it.

Black Dahlia - A beautiful, intricate work of craft with someones shit all over it.

Jodha Akbar- Something that has a start but no end.

Audition-ing - Making a huge life altering mistake, getting married.

Diliveranced - Aftermath of your not being able to meet any given dead line at work

StarWars (Episode1)-ed - Somebody's beautiful ,intricate work of craft with his own shit all over it.

Last Tango in Paris - Having sex backwards.

Caligula- Somebody out with a death wish to die from AIDS

Titanic - A huge architecture (with some one naked on the top)

Bad Taste - Art of sallowing your own barf (also known as :doing a Baruah)

Brokeback Mountain - a condition in which a individual is a homosexual and doesnt knows it while everyone else in the world does.

Crying Game- A game in which you are suppose to shock your opponent out of his wits

Abhisheking - A condition in which a person doesnt talks, always frowns and scoff , tries hard to look like a cardboard cutout thinking all the here mentioned traits makes him look cool

10 films you must watch before you die..!!

2008-05-27T13:55:00.015+05:30

I have put together a list of film which i have felt are probably the most original films ever made,who also have a very good entertainment value. Quite a few of my favorite films have not made to this list because either they were based on a book or were inspired by an actual event.
This list is also a compilation of top 10 films of world cinema, and i have put it together based on the little knowledge that i have on the subject matter and the films that i have seen,and how they have effected me .

So this list doesn't generalizes anything and its just the list of my personal favorites which i feel should be seen by people who are interested in watching quality films.

So here it goes......

1.

Chinatown (USA) -

Directed by Roman Polanski , the film redefined Noir, an exceptional film, multi layerd and complex this film is nothing short of brilliant, a killer screenplay by Robert Towne and beautifully acted by Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston.

2.

Children's of Heaven (Iran)

Directed by Majid Majidi, probably the simplest film ever made, People who think Tare Zameen pe and Masoom( Shekhar Kapoor) were sensitive..they must see this, the film totally depends on the interplay of the two protagonist which the child actors have pulled off with elen .

3.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Korea)

Directed by Chan-wook-Park whose more popular film is Old Boy and with Old Boy getting away with so much acknowledgment and focus.this little gem gets over shone by its predecessor ,which is a shame cause its is the strongest of three film in the Vengeance Trilogy ( Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance, Old Boy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance).

4.

Audition (Japan)

Directed by Takashii Mike, this film is a film which took Japan by a storm , starts out like a family drama/comedy later turning into what some calls Japan's answer to "Fatal Attraction", very Hitchcockian and still original in its own right.

5.

Man bites Dog (Belgium)

Directed by Rémy Belvaux & André Bonzel The film which set new trend in the convention of breaking the fourth wall, the mockumentary style of narrative, this dark comedy may sometime get very difficult to watch ,but this still remains to be a film which was way ahead of its time.

6.

Cinema Paradiso (Italy)

Although Guissipie Tornatore made a few other films which were widely accepted, this by far remains to be his best work till date , anyone who is in love with films and the whole craft will have no problem identifying with the central character and although on surface this looks like a coming of age film, its way more than that, probably one of the most satisfying cinematic experience.

7.

Blowup (UK)

Michelangelo Antonioni's first English Film and its a home run, so many films till today have tried to lift up the underlying themes of voyeurism and plot points from this one, but the original still outshines all of them..A timeless Classic thats what this one is.

8.

Seven Samurai's (Japan)

Its nearly impossible ,not to have this film in this list . since this is the film which put the Japanese Cinema on the world map, this film made in 1954 has aged like a wine with time and has actually become better. If you have reservations against watching a 3 hrs long foreign film done in Black and white and if you think its going to bore you out of your wits, you couldn't be more wrong..

9.

City of God (Brazil)

Directed by Fernando Meirelles this is a supernova of a film which explodes on the screen from the very first scene and hooks you,and then it plays backwards unveiling the chain of events that have lead to the opening sequence, the raw and agressive style of direction just compliments the story and keeps you riveted till the end credits start to roll.

10.

Dolace Vita La (Italy)

Federico Fellini probably started the trend of episodic film with interconnected stories with this one and though it was made in 1960 ,it still remains to be the best film with interpolated narratives of various stories,
the film is cold and poignant and leaves you awestruck once you are done watching it.

Following are worthy mentions who came real close to making to this list:

Blade runner (final Cut)
Amelie
Jamon Jamon
Fallen Angels
Rashamon
Dileverance
straw Dogs
2001 A Space Odessy
Funny Games

जिएंदा लाश मुर्दा आदमी ...!!

2008-05-22T17:50:00.004+05:30

I have been absolutely and totally out of time for past several days due to increasing load of work, just didn't wanted to have a maiden week..so quickly did one today..just before we call it a day.

Haircut

2008-05-13T14:09:00.003+05:30

A quick life study using Wacom

2008-05-12T14:34:00.002+05:30

3 mins

Stoner chacha

2008-05-09T18:48:00.002+05:30

Meet Uncle Peter

2008-05-07T13:47:00.001+05:30

Death...

2008-05-05T14:23:00.005+05:30

Drawing inspired by "George.A.Romero's Diary of the Dead"

Another One

2008-05-03T16:37:00.001+05:30

Finally something worth Uploading

2008-05-01T17:39:00.003+05:30

Wacom Zindabad..!! A homage to old school slasher films from the 80's

Khuda Ke Liye : In the Name of God

2008-04-29T18:42:00.006+05:30

It takes guts of steel to make a film that is a true reflection of society, cause there is every possibility that the film will get construed as an arthouse cinema and will fail to get its true audience it deserves, its even harder when such film comes from Pakistan, a nation which has earned a reputation of being extremely volatile and highly explosive in recent times, a country which most of the world thinks is full of extremists and fundamentalists..so i thought,to be very honest, i was wrong..a country that can deliver a cinema so true and so hard hitting and still so human can not be so single dimensional. I have seen quite a few films which have walked a thin line between socially relevant and entertaining.. Do beegha Zameen, Naya Daur, Shor, Purab aur Pashchim, Main Azad Hoon,Akrosh, Ardha Satya, Swades, Parzania and Rang De Basanti..few successful and few not so successful..but even in these cases the audience were divided between commercial and art house flicks, the problem is being a nation thats is a "Secular Democratic Republic" the truth in the cinema is often underplayed and sugar quoted with diplomacy and thats why every time a cinema decides to unveil a mirror in front of us..its get embroiled in some sort of controversy (eg Hey Ram, Machis, Parzania).

"Khuda Ke Liye" is one such film which is every thing you expect a thought provoking film to be and even more, it offers a closure and a solution. I will be very honest when i say that i haven't seen a film made in this subcontinent which has been able to change me as a person or my point of view towards anything..until i saw Khuda Ke Liye, it shook me ( i am not a politics aficionado, and i am not opinionated towards any religion..just to put things straight) but i love my country and i dont like when certain manipulative forces tries to disrupt our harmony with sheer act of cowardliness..but then those are a handful of people who are mislead to fight a war without a cause for certain someone else who is too scared to fight his own battle..and i cant hate any country for what these few individual do..i can only feel sorry for there ignorance, and thats exactly how this film has changed me. Its a difficult subject, a director could have easily decided in favor of playing safe and ended up as a narcissist storyteller, fortunately Shohib Mansoor is not a person who believes in patronizing and diplomacy and therefore he makes a film which is so unbiased that it will put geometry to shame.

Its a story of two brothers Mansoor (Shaan) and Sarmad (Fawad Khan) and their love for music, how they gradually drift apart as one goes on America to study music while the other gives up music and becomes a recluse and later a fundamentalist, its also the story of Maryam (Imaan Ali) who is living a London dream until her hypocrite father who himself lives with a English lady and still has zero tolerance towards her daughter dating a white guy, gets her married to Sarmad and packs her off to Afghanistan, the life which is worse than a exile and a marriage that borderlines kidnapping. In the meanwhile Mansoor becomes a prime suspect and gets implicated as a person involved in 9/11 just because he is a Muslim and hails from Pakistan and therefore ends up facing rendition, overnight his life turns from a symphony to a cacophony. Sarmad on the other side of the world discovers that fundamentalism may not be what he expected as he lands up in a war with Taliban, interpretation of holy book of Quran becomes murky,vague and unclear until he realizes that what he had assumed to be truth was only the half truth, his redemption forms the crux of the story.

The acting here is top notch.. Shaan seems to be hamming is the beginning but then he grows on you and gives a lovely performance, few of the best lines and best moments of the film are a part of his track..Iman Ali is a actress i will look forward to, the vulnerability and angst she conveys is impaccible, Rasheed Naz as Maulana Tahiri-the films pseudo villain is a veteran and he proves his metal yet again, but the film truly belongs to Fawad Khan who probably portrays the most complex character of Sarmad who may be on the wrong side but you still empathize with him, its a performance which is effortless and yet a powerhouse..and all this in his first film. A guest appearance by Nasiruddin Shah is brief but plays a pivotal part in films arc.

The film is a statement from the director Shohib Mansoor, of his convictions and his passion that addresses not just the Art of film but also to the society around him, His work comes across as a solid labor of love, although there are few places where the transition looks incoherent , those are minor quibble in the grand scheme of things.The film is linear and yet it doesnt follow the three arc routine, its episodic in nature and it works cause there are more than one perspectives here to tackle.

If somebody says its a revival of Pakistani Cinema..i will call it a understatement, this film is the kind of film which should also be understood by Indian film makers, and taken up as an example towards "how to make sensible films", this film totally deserves a nomination for best foreign film category in the Academy Awards..and it has a fairly decent chance even to win it.. (irrespective of the total runtime). Kudos to Shohib Mansoor and his team for making such an important film at the right time.Do not miss it.

Living with six fingers in my left hand now..

2008-04-24T13:15:00.010+05:30

For past several days, i have been completely hooked to WACOM..and finally i am starting to like the last few paintings i have done using it, i am deliberately sticking to portraits and caricature as of now, cause its helping me learn faster..but i do intend to graduate into doing more elaborate set pieces..

John Rainbow...at your service

2008-04-23T18:10:00.004+05:30

Sam an Me (cont..)

2008-04-22T18:06:00.001+05:30

Episode 11
Sam an Me
in
Balls

Faces

2008-04-19T11:33:00.009+05:30

Hostile Visitors

2008-04-17T15:14:00.002+05:30

Sam an Me (cont..)

2008-04-14T18:35:00.001+05:30

Episode 10
Sam and Me
in
Prejudice

2100 AD

2008-04-14T14:25:00.000+05:30

i realized today that besides forearm and eyes..drawing with WACOM is even more hazardous to bladder and kidney,it just makes me hold my piss until i finish one painting..and i get stomach cramps..guess, there is a price to pay for everything now a days.. :D

Blast off

2008-04-12T15:36:00.000+05:30

The Abyss

2008-04-11T18:24:00.001+05:30

Sam an Me (cont..)

2008-04-10T17:01:00.000+05:30

Episode 09
Sam an Me
in
No Country For Old Monk

1st Attempt with WACOM

2008-04-10T13:56:00.000+05:30

I have lot to rant against WACOM touch pads..to start with, i really had trouble keeping my hand and eye co-ordination besides being a left hander i have a habit of keeping the paper perpendicular to my head (almost at 90 degrees)when i draw..which is like an insult to an injury.
As a matter of fact , i had been so scared of WACOM that even though i had one installed on my system for past one year, this is the first time i have actually used it. My forearms feel sore and eyes hurt but i figured one thing out at the end of the exercise..its was a mental block for me that was restraining me from using it other than anything else..now when i look at the image..i feel content and elated, i think its all a matter of getting used to things and then they become a part of you..like insticts.
So the next thing that i intend to do is to get really used to WACOM, lets see how it turns out.
Wish Me Luck..!!

Portrait

2008-04-09T17:07:00.000+05:30

I came so close to not being able to post anything today..but finally , managed doing this portrait somehow..

Sam an Me (cont..)

2008-04-05T18:09:00.000+05:30

Sam and Me
in
The Slingshot

Another Noir style

2008-04-05T16:21:00.000+05:30

Oil

2008-04-03T15:56:00.000+05:30

Eh..nothing much, just tried out oil painting style using photoshop..

Noir

2008-04-01T16:32:00.000+05:30

Following the tutorials send to me by Chandan (see the comment section to this post)..i have done some changes to the previous image, i am posting both the images so that the comparisons could be drawn.. Thanks Chandan, the tutorials really did helped a lot
After tutorial

Before tutorial

Being very fond of Film Noir..here is something that i did

more sketches

2008-03-31T17:17:00.000+05:30

This i have done from memory..without using any references..

Sam an Me (cont..)

2008-03-29T16:31:00.000+05:30

Sam an Me
in
Bad Education

Intergallatic Space Vehical

2008-03-29T12:33:00.000+05:30

inspired by 2001:A Space Odessy

Sam an Me (cont..)

2008-03-27T15:42:00.000+05:30

Episode 06
Sam and Me in the "Ladies Man"

कमसिन जवानी और खूनी दररिन्दा

2008-03-26T17:18:00.000+05:30

Beauty and the Beast:Reloaded

Sam an Me (cont..)

2008-03-25T14:46:00.000+05:30

Episode 05 "Gone Fishing"

Episode 04 "Making New Friends"

MAn in tHe mIRroR

2008-03-25T12:22:00.000+05:30

Prowler Alpha 100

2008-03-24T17:35:00.000+05:30

Skull Front

2008-03-24T15:30:00.000+05:30

Sam an Me

2008-03-22T12:43:00.000+05:30

Episode 03

Episode 02

Episode 01

Sam is .. A 7 ft X 4 ft (28 square feet) dude, extremely imaginative, loves to draw and believes that a pencil and a sketch book are not stationary but are actually an extension to his body..he loves to think and imagine and doesnt speaks much, an absolute animal lover, he loves animal so much that he likes to Christian the chicken on chicken pizza before he eats it..loves watching animation films,riding pillion with friends and riding himself whenever dads not looking, loves drinking beer and philosophy, drawing and animals and drawing animals

"ME" is 4ft X 1ft (4 square feet) dude, friend of Sam,speaks a lot thinks little, always trying to score with ladies (he thinks he is a Casanova)believes he can not be part of any comic script cause he is too good to be a sidekick and too bad to be a super hero, he loves booze, more booze,a little more booze,a lot more booze.. loves to throw up in his friends home, and piss on road side.. has a steady girlfriend and lives out of her purse..a true scum of the highest order, is awfully scared of heights so much so that he decided against growing taller after he became 4 ft.

Preston and Blair are two German Shepard's that Sam has, Sam has them since he was 5..and when he got them Sam thought them to be a horse and wanted to ride them to the school..Preston and Blair loves to Sleep,Watch Television and Hate "ME".

There is nothing that Vijay"cant" ..its always vijay"can"

2008-03-21T15:52:00.000+05:30

The mother of all Tamil films..if you thought there is any such thing called "Masala Films" you have not seen Captain Prabhakarna as yet..where masala films ends, thats where "Captain Prabhakarn" starts..here is the script of the film is a nut shell

" Bang bang bang bang Ratttatataaaataaaataaaa dishoom dishoom dishoom dishoom bang Ratttatta dishoom swish swish Argggghhhhh sob sob sob sob bang bang dishoom dishoom dishoom tooooootttttt whishwoosh wishwoosh wishwoosh wishwoosh bang bang wishwoosh bang bang wishwoosh bang bang wish woosh bang bang bang bang dishoom dishoom dishoom dishoom Rattttaaattttaaaataaaaa Bang Bang Bang Bang KAPLOOOWWWWWW Arggghhhhhhhaaa..THE END..!!"

which means you will not need subtitles to understand the film..its the simplest film you could ever see..Get it, Dummy..!!

PS : Thanks Kamal ...!!

खूपरिया

2008-03-20T17:45:00.000+05:30

New Drawings

2008-03-19T16:43:00.000+05:30

Blast from the Past : An ode to Ray and Jatayu

2008-03-18T15:42:00.000+05:30

For Chandan & Deepa
if it wasnt for there continuous persistance ,that pushed me into a corner and then i finally gave in and watched an old Bengali film with them cause they really wanted me to, and the weekend that started off as just another weekend banter over a few bottles of beer turned into a life defining (a bit exaggerated) moment for me..eversince that day i have realised and understood how a clever and simple story contributes in making a good film and how thinking outside the box can do what millions of dollars cant..and that is.. make you cherish a film.

So here is to Stayajit Ray ,one of the most profound storyteller of our times and here is to Prodosh Mitter,Lal Mohan Ganguly ,Topshe ,Siddhu kaka and Haripada and Srinath..few people who still keep the child alive in me as i refuse to grow up.

illustration inspired from "Shonar Kella" a novel written by Ray in 1971

in color

Back to School

2008-03-17T14:02:00.000+05:30

"Old" School :D

Weekend Drawing Board

2008-03-17T10:32:00.000+05:30

Few Rough quickies done over the weekend ..

paintings

2008-03-13T12:59:00.000+05:30

another day at work..another sketches painted..

Elated

2008-03-12T18:51:00.000+05:30

Here is another one that i did today..

Munnar (painting)

2008-03-12T13:41:00.000+05:30

Just realised how difficult it is to paint a complete landscape in Photoshop..i started off well yesterday,but ran out of paitance today..hats off to those concept artists who endure the whole process days in and days out and finally bring out some thing so amazing..as for me, i would rather stick to my watercolors and brush..phewww..!!!

Sunbath

2008-03-11T18:34:00.000+05:30

Beach babe.. ;)

Face

2008-03-11T13:33:00.000+05:30

This i did today..he is pretty pissed for some reason..!!

Lady Jaundice

2008-03-10T18:37:00.000+05:30

Here is the new one..i am starting to caricature the anatomy..!! I call her "Lady Jaundice" because she is yellow in color.

2008-03-10T16:43:00.000+05:30

More drawings..(i am having fun with the doodles..)

here are the roughs

New Drawing

2008-03-10T11:43:00.000+05:30

New Drawing..a very rough doodle which i have painted .. :D

well..here is the doodle

New Paintings

2008-03-07T18:46:00.000+05:30

I have started enjoying coloring my sketches in Photoshop because here i can use any good doodle done by me on the back of my note book or diary, which i wouldnt upload otherwise..so here is what i have done today..!!

Best Viewed on full Screen .

Female anatomy

2008-03-05T16:13:00.000+05:30

Like i mentioned earlier..Female anatomy study..will get better!!

Rough sketches

2008-03-04T15:39:00.000+05:30

Rough Sketches..

Alien in Color

2008-03-04T12:54:00.000+05:30

After much deliberation i have finally managed to digitally paint one of my drawings..
Finally..!!

Fear...!!

2008-02-29T14:52:00.000+05:30

I have tried thematic sketching this time and decided to take up "fear" as my theme for these particular sketches.

My co-blogger and friend Kamal suggested me to make the second drawing look a little more dynamic..so i made few changes to it above and i am posting it again.

best viewed on full screen

more Drawings

2008-02-28T17:57:00.000+05:30

Well..Here are few more drawings i did today,I have decided that i will keep studying male Anatomy for next few days and then will start with female Anatomy..and while i am at it, i will keep posting the better sketches on my blog , right now i am using combination of approaches..i have followed Andre Loomis for the Anatomy part of the drawing..but for construction (armature) i am following Burne Hogarth (using boxes and putting them in perspective) i have found this hybrid approach to be very convenient especially for somebody who cant comfortably translate his thoughts on paper through drawings, here ..following this combination, with little bit of planning , you can easily draw the most complicated of foreshortenings.

better viewed when full screen.

Back in Action

2008-02-27T17:50:00.000+05:30

Have been hibernating for sometime, there had been lot of stuff i needed to read up cause i was feeling extremly uninspired lately, i have got myself into a habit of buying books and keeping them for a later date for reading, i had been doing this since last one year and didn't read a single book, until i realized the same, and therefore i resolved to take some time off, from my everyday schedule and start reading them..had been doing the same for last 6 months, finished reading "Kite Runner", "Roald Dahl Omnibus", "Styajit Rays :Adventure of Feluda", "www.H.R.Giger.com", "Story by Robert Mckee" and a few others. Now since i am done with them..i am back to my drawing board and here are a few quickies to start with, trust me..this will get better with time.

Sharada (1981) :A Comedy that tries too hard to be a Family Drama

2008-01-17T12:12:00.000+05:30

I am sure you guys must be thinking that i have lost it completely, especially because this is going to be the first Mainstream hindi film i am reviewing on this blog..that too from 1981, and its not Sholey either. So what really lead me to make my mind up for reviewing this particular film which people from my generation might have never even heard of.. Honestly, I have no idea, it could be lot of things, maybe starting from- me having absolutely no idea of what i am getting into when i started watching it or the fact that the film was so bad that it was good..you just cant imagine how exhilarated and amused i was when the events started to unfold..i was laughing , choking, throwing up ,sallowing my puke and laughing again and i kept doing the same thing over and over again for the next two hours or so (yes ..even while the songs).

Picture this, Inder (jitender) is a hard working and god fearing simpleton who lives with his mother and works for Lalima Lipsticks. His mother is a conservative and over protective person, who has seen some really difficult times owing to the early demise of her husband. Inder, due to his hard work soon starts to climb the corporate ladder and becomes the favorite of his Chairman Mr.Kohili (Madan Puri) who looks at him as a prospective son in law. Jagdish (Jagdeep) is Inder's hyperactive and street smart secretary who believes in getting promoted by hook or by crook. In an important meeting with the companies agents Jadish offers female escorts in order to entertain the clients, All the agents get drunk including Inder (first time for him) and indulge in a night of debauchery leaving Inder estranged with a woman called Sharada(Rameshwari) who is a rookie in the profession (First time for her too).. Inder who is completly drunk and overly emotional by now and Sharda who has already declined a advance made by one of the agents ,strike a conversation leading to some of the most hilarious lines in the history of Indian Cinema :

Inder : Chi..tum aisa kam kyon karti ho ?
Sharda : Kyonki mai aanath hoon ..aur ek anath ladki ke duniya fayada uthati hai
Inder : Kyaaah... tum Anath Ho..!!?? ( Bursts into tears) Mai tumhara dard samajh Sakta hoon..!

and the Conversation leads to Inder getting married to Sharda in the same hotel while the rest of the escorts and the agents plays best men and brides maid respectively.(of which Inder has no memory of the next morning..of course, he was drunk..wasnt he!!)

Shit hits the fan when Mr.Kohili meets Inders mother and tells her his intention of getting his daughter married to her son..for which the mother readily agrees cause after all he is the Chairman who has recently promoted her son, a conversation that leads to the second most hilarious line in the history of Indian Cinema:

Mr Kohili : Mai AApko Inder ke promotion ke liye Mubarak baad dena Chahata tha
Mother : Promotion..!! MAtlab pagar me sau ek rupiyaa to badega na..??
Mr:Kohili : SAu Ek Rupiyaa nahin ..pure Derh Hazaar , Ab Inder ki Pagar poorey teen Hazaar ho gayi hai
Mother : (Gasps in Disbelief) Hai raam..Itney Paise hum Rakhheygey kahan..!!??

whats follows is a completly bizarre set of events which includes fixing grill on the windows, scheme of a murder, attempted poisoning,suicidal mother, a wife who is a absolute pile on,a VAT 69 scotch whiskey that looks like Rum, a dream sequence which goes too far, regular trips between Pune and Mumbai (both of whom seems to be in a different time zone in 1981.),an overly long horse leash (100 yards at least.), a Blackmailer getting Blackmailed and One Final showdown in Haridwaar. Oh yes in the middle of all that ..you also have Raj Babbar in a "blink and you miss" appearance.

Most of time me and Chetan( My Ex Girlfrnd and my Present Roomie) were baffled and perplexed cause we were not able to figure ,if the director (Lekh Tondon) intended to make this a comedy or a family drama..then Chetan pointed out that since the scenes in which i was laughing hardest had a low and extremly sad background score ..it must be family drama..!! Its just that the socio economical and cultural changes in past 26 years have turned it into one of the best comedies of present time.

I was lucky enough to watch it on Television, but its a rare film cause there is nothing written about it over the internet as well..therefore i wasnt able to get the film poster from anywhere. But try not missing this little gem from 1981 if you get a chance today..especially if you enjoyed reading this review and have a similar sense of humor like mine.

In a flurry of recent remakes i guess this film has a lot of potential , only if Mr.David Dhawan is listening..!!

The Missing Link...

2008-01-07T16:02:00.000+05:30

Need I say more...

Bucknorism

2008-01-07T12:56:00.000+05:30

Buknorism : an extremly fatal condition leading to loss of hearing, vision and responses to stimuli ,that occurs because of being exposed to severe environments of profanity and excessive aggression. Symptoms usually includes perennial precipitation and recurring loss of body fluids

Amit ,my colleague at work made a very interesting observation about the way India played in Sydney, he stated that without prejudice this is the best performance given by India ever in any test match because against all odds they were actually able to play the game till the fifth day..but then playing against Australia is never easy who have just proved they are world champions not just in cricket but every thing else as well ;)

(Nigger is sometimes used amongst working class Australians, when used in a casual sense between friends or work colleagues of both white and mixed race. )

the reason i mention this is in the given context is because i dont want the cartoon to be misconstrued as racial and derogatory in any manner.

press pressure

2008-01-04T13:46:00.000+05:30

I had been following a story doing rounds in tabloids regarding two NRI ladies getting molested in Mumbai on the eve of the new year, at Juhu..It has been a sad incident, but what has been more saddening is the voyeuristic attitude of two photographers who where there from the time the whole scuffle started..its unfortunate to see the media exploiting somebodies personal tragedy for there own gain and TRPs.

The photographs would have worked as an evidence against the perpetrators even if they have not been circulated all over the media. Off late you can easily see that free and fair journalism has become a story of the past. The Media is starting to take sides and that day is not far when for the sake of sensationalizing journalism they would become a party to an act that may lead to a news report..

so on a less serious note, here is my take at our Media :

Rejoicing 2008

2008-01-02T11:31:00.001+05:30

Rejoicing 2008, originally uploaded by aroop_d.

A very happy and prosperous new year to all the readers..i will try to be more regular with my posts this year unlike the last year where i had been on and off..!!

Have an Amazing year Ahead.. Cheers!!

Camera Confusion..!!

2007-12-28T17:28:00.000+05:30

The eternal discussion of digital vs Film camera continues and it has now taken shape of a debate as most of the popular manufacturer of popular film camera have decided to completely replace there assembly line with Digital camera, Nikon is already doing away with its Film SLR and completely replacing it with the new breed of DSLR , thankfully you will still be able to use old Nikon lens kits with the DSLR but then you will need to manually focus as Nikon D40,D40x and D50 doesn't have a motor built in the camera body and instead they rely on lenses with inbuilt motor to Auto focus. Minolta has been bought over by Sony and Canon has also pretty much given up on manufacturing Film SLR's and like Olympus they are only producing compact film cameras and every thing else have gone digital, so what does a photography enthusiast do in such case, where does he/her start..when to upgrade and upgrade to what..I will try and answer such issues in the rest of the article.

lets first Categorize the users

1. A person trying to upgrade from a Film compact Camera to a Film SLR or Digital Compact or DSLR :

Since the above user is fresh into photography as he is still using a Compact film camera..I think its more advisable for him to go in for a Digital Compact Camera..with a budget of around Rs 7000 you can easily buy a Digital Camera with 3-4x zoom (28-55 mm) or (28-70mm) also before buying they must check what all features the camera offers , usually in this kind of budget you can easily find camera with aperture priority or shutter priority which gets you pretty close to shooting the picture for your self and not letting the camera's Auto mode shoot it for you, another thing that can be checked is exposure..from shortest to longest..usually in the above budget it ranges from 1/2000 of sec to 8-10 sec (long exposure). Most people who buy camera usually don't explore there cameras and keep using it like a regular point and shoot not realizing that there camera is capable of much more than that.
I think a Canon powershot A460 or A550 is a good example of such Camera..which is cheap ,very compact and yet very capable..another example is Samsung D430.

Canon A460

Canon Powershot A550

2. A person trying to upgrade from a Film SLR to Compact Digital Camera or DSLR:

This is the category where there is the biggest confusion specially because people using a FilmSLR would never prefer to downgrade themselves to Compact Digital and so the only option they look at is a DSLR, which is actually because of there ignorance and lack of research..the Compact Digital Cameras don't always mean a point and shoot Camera, there are lot of high end compact camera (which are priced much lesser than DSLR) who are as capable as a entry level DSLR and sometimes even better..best Example is an Olympus SP550 UZ its a compact camera which gives you a 18x zoom that is 27mm to (hold your breath)500mm, they give you a complete manual mode,also gives a shutter and aperture priority mode, Video Capture at 640*480@30fps,image stabilization,ISO from as low as 50 to as high as 5000 and is able to Shoot in RAW format and all this costs you around Rs.16500, another option is my personal favorite FujiFilm FinePix S9600 which doesn't has a zoom of Olympus SP550 and only has a 28-300 mm Zoom (which is pretty good if you compare it with any DSLR cause you will need at least two separate lens kits to get that range) besides its a very sturdy Camera and looks and feels just like a DSLR, one of the thing I really like about this piece is that it has a manual zoom so every time you want to zoom in you can rotate your lens just like in SLR's and zoom into a subject instead of toggling buttons and a snout sticking out in front of the camera (which also eventually spoils the motor of the camera) you can manually focus with this once as well also that it provides a aperture range from f2.8 to f11 ( which is as good as a Entry level DSLR) and has 9.1 Megapixel with RAW output..the fact that you have the range of 28-300mm at your disposal (leaves hardly anything left out until you want to do a intergalactic photo shoot) there is nothing you cant shoot with this baby..this is almost a DSLR the only reason it doesn't completely crosses over is just because it has a fixed lens. Smartly priced at around Rs.22000 which is the same as Nikon D40 (but you will need to buy the telephoto lens separately which will cost you extra Rs 12000.) Its one of the best buys available in the market for someone who is trying to upgrade to some serious photography.

Olympus SP 550 Uz

Fuji finepix S9600

You can also look at Panasonic DMC- FZ30, Sony Cybershot DSC H70 or Canon Powershot S 5is

3. A person trying to upgrade from a Compact Digital to a Film SLR or a DSLR :

This is a tricky one..the biggest paradox here is the general misconception that Digital camera only upgrades to another Digital Camera and can not upgrade to a Film Camera..which isn't quite true,Digital and Film camera both take pictures, in Film SLR there is a cost of a film roll but then the Camera bodies are really cheap and also lets not forget that you get to click slides through a film SLR which gives you a resolution which is more than 10 times that of a DSLR with the highest Megapixel.
Since in Film SLR there isn't a CCD and the picture get imprinted on a negative, you are able to easily point the camera directly towards a high powered light source and click a picture, if you do the same with you DSLR, you will end up damaging your CCD..also the fact that DSLR camera are mostly integrated circuits and micro chips , makes them even more susceptible to damages due to dust, moisture and shock..Film SLR instead are cheap and mostly mechanical (gears and pulleys) so they might rust but will still keep working under very hard conditions.
The only thing that turns the table around drastically in favor of DSLR is Replaybility ie ability to view the image the moment you click it..while in Film SLR you will first need for your roll to get over, then give it for developing and only after that you can view the pictures that you have clicked. This one obvious point which actually seems to work in favor of a digital SLR sometimes works against it..!! Let me Explain :
Say you are a hobbyist and you buy your self a Digital SLR, its very easy for a person starting with photography to get overwhelmed by feature rich camera with an Artificial intelligence, that he disregards to most common things ie Shutter and Aperture (trust me lot of people prefer using ISO settings instead of adjusting the shutter in low light conditions and eventually they end up getting images which looks good on the LCD of the Camera but once you transfer it to a computer..it looks grainy and noisy..therefore the DSLR increases the learning curve. A Film SLR instead, is a rather simple assembly..a Exposure Knob and a Aperture Setting and then that green and red light signal showing when the image is getting rightly exposed, that blinks inside your view finder (light meter) and that's that. Even the fact there are exhibitions and competitions that asks you to submit negatives and slides of you photograph (in order to make sure the picture isn't post processed using Photoshop or any other photo editing software.) makes a Film SLR a viable purchase.
But the biggest factor is the cost..as more and more DSLR are being pumped into the market, the second hand market of Film SLR is showing tremendous growth, now a second hand SLR is easily available for Rs.7000 to 10,000 and telephoto lenses are available in the range of Rs 3000 to 7000. which combined is cheaper than most of the Compact Digital Camera available with 3 or 4 x zoom and around 6 Megapixel. Which is nothing compared to a 35 mm film (its the same size of film that you watch in the theater, the image that you see on the screen is the resolution your film camera is able to shoot at.)

My honest suggestion is if you really want to take up photography as a hobby and learn with what all a SLR Camera can do..get your self a Film SLR instead of DSLR and make sure the lenses you are buying with it have a common mount..so that when you buy a DSLR later you can use the same lenses. you will need to do a bit of research for this..from what I have gathered
All the Nikkor lenses can be used with any Nikon DSLR but there wont be a Auto Focus and you will need to Manually focus.
All Canon lenses also go with Canon DSLR
Most of the Tamron Lenses goes with Pentex
Sigma Lenses goes with Olympus and Nikon mounts but again in Nikon you will need to Manually focus.

Vivitar 3800 N Film SLR

4. Why to buy a DSLR at all.

Interestingly if I go with my above arguments then there is actually no need for anybody to buy a DSLR , but there is..for everybody who wants to take photography seriously and wants there camera to do more for them. Even in my past argument I have stated that the Digital compact that comes closest to being a DSLR is Fuji Finepix with fixed lens of 28-300 mm, but then there is a 10mm wide angle lens available and a 500mm Zoom lens available , and in order to use those you would need a DSLR. there is no denying that the image quality of DSLR is a notch better than a compact digital camera and when it comes to making prints a shot taken from a DSLR would provide better results compared to a Compact Digital Camera.
What's really important for one to understand is the resolution of there camera..a entry level DSLR like a Nikon D40 gives you a 6.1 Megapixel or a Canon EOS D30 with 4 Megapixel which is much lesser than that of a Fuji FinePix S9600 (Compact Digital Camera) which gives you a resolution of 9 Megapixel and still carries the same price tag and tends to be cheaper if you intend to buy a Nikon D40 with a telephoto lens kit ,which will then cost Rs.22000 (Camerabody and 18-55 mm lens) +Rs 11000 (Telephoto Lens 50mm-200mm) . If you really need a DSLR , then don't mind spending a little more and buying a Nikon D40x or an Olympus E410 or Canon 40 D all of them gives you a 10 Megapixel resolution , so even if you decide to shoot in really low light using a ISO setting which is above 400 and then decide to make prints of 4 X 6 ,the results will be pretty decent.
Another thing that you need to keep in mind is the purpose you will be using your Camera for ie if you intend to do extensive night photography, then many of the above Entry level DSLR don't offer you a cable release socket (although they have a 'b' exposure) instead they allow you to use a remote which you need to buy separately and it costs much more than a cable release does. On the positive side , all the above DSLR gives you a long Exposure of 30 sec's, but if you want to go beyond that..be ready to spend extra money and buy a remote control that is sold seperately.

Nikon D40 x
Olympus Evolt 410

I would conclude by saying that its a good idea to have you DSLR as your second Camera which you use along with either a Compact Digital Camera or a SLR, and if you have decided to buy a DSLR then try not to compromise with the Entry level DSLR and spend a little more and buy something that is probably mid range if you dont have enough money then wait till you have the budget, because there is nothing worse than spending a lot of money and then being unsatisfied with the product..I would suggest an Olympus E 410 ( I know Nikon and Canon are more popular names but Olympus scores above them when it comes to features and that too for the same price.) Also remember one thing, its not the Camera that makes good picture..its the person taking those snaps.

Points to Remember while buying a high End Digital Camera (Compact or DSLR)

Does the camera shoots the RAW format.
How many Megapixel ( the more the merrier)
The lens ( how wide is it and how much can it zoom)
The aperture in Wide and Tele mode (the bigger the aperture ie lesser Value, the shallower Depth of field -for eg at wide angle a f2.8 will be better than f4 and at Telephoto an f 4 will be better than a f 5.6.
the Dynamic range of Exposure ie bigger the range the better the camera
what is the longest Exposure that the camera can shoot in usually ranges from 8 secs to 30 secs
Does the Camera have a bulb exposure
ISO range
Availability of lens kits in case of DSLR ( the price and how easily are they available)
Image Stabilization ( in the case come compact cameras with nice Zoom).
Navigation is over rated..as you get used to the camera ..it becomes easier for you to navigate through the controls , so don't be taken in by some one who compares Camera based on Navigation
Image Quality ( are you happy with what you see)- for this you can do a following test..select all the camera you are interested in and put them on Auto mode and then click the same subject with all of them, once you have taken the picture..start zooming into it and go all the way till the end, now compare the images for noise and loss and color..the more saturated colors and the less noise the better the image quality.

Indian Call Center

2007-12-20T13:26:00.000+05:30

Came across this video on Internet..a very interesting tongue in cheek take on Indian Call Center..watch at your own peril..and try not to choke yourself laughing

Dead Mary : Entertaining until the third Act

2007-11-22T18:08:00.001+05:30

In last 10 years, thanks to the advancements in digital medium and inexpensive cameras which have ability to shoot high resolution images, we have seen a flurry of Films made on shoe string budget , almost everybody with enough passion for films is able to make a film today.. all that really matters is getting a crew of like minded people together. What this digital advantage has resulted in is a barrage of films .. mostly ,not so good- the reason being over ambitious projects, bad acting and weak screenplay and story structure.
When you try to incorporate a lot of elements in the film which might make it look glossier and more expensive then it actually is, it falls flat on the face, as these elements ends up making the film very artificial and fake ( for example-badly executed SFX or make up work done by using jelly and ketchups ) but then there are few gems who know their constrains and use it to their advantage –the perfect example of it being the films like-The Blair Witch Project, After, 2000 Maniacs, Hamiltons ,Blood Car, REC and I can go on and on.

Recently I got a chance to watch Dead Mary a Canadian film directed by Robert Wilson , which left quite a impact on me.. there is nothing more fun than watching a film which looks bigger than itself, Dead Mary inherently is a horror/supernatural flick but it has been crafted really well, it seems like a mix of ‘The Thing’ (John Carpenter) and ‘Evil Dead’(Sam Raimi), the acting is very good through out and plot devices work pretty well most of the time.
Now the nitty-gritty’s of it, Ahem, well there are things which you don’t do when you are inside a horror film, those are rules- if you break them , you will end up facing severe consequences.

Rule 1 : you never take a weekend trip with your friends into the woods to spend a night in a cabin or a camp by the lake.

Rule 2 : If you have broken the 1st Rule then while you are in your Cabin by the lake you Never- never-ever discuss Urban legends or mock at them .

Rule 3 : Now that you had been stupid enough to break both the above rules- you still Have a chance if you decided not to venture out on a exploration trip into he Woods ,all on your own.

Rule 4: You don’t do Drugs

Rule 5: You don’t have Sex- only Virgins make it out alive.

Rule 6: Try not to be a pervert/cock-sucker/creep/bitch/slut –whom everyone in the group hates but still hangs out with em- you will be the first one dead n the grand scheme of things .

Rule 7: When you are lost in the woods and you find a small shack and you want to call some one for help because obviously your cell-phone isn’t working- don’t you dare go knocking at their doors and shouting out the three magic words "Hello! Anybody home."

Rule 8: Don’t ever say “I will be right Back” thats the last thing your friends will hear you say.

Rule 9: when you have sealed your self inside the cabin or the house, make sure you double check..there is always a open window that you would have missed..and then triple check and then check again.

Rule10 :If you hear a sound in the attic..Dont run out of the house in panic,the sound could be a rat or beaver for all that you know.

The bunch of friends in Dead Mary breaks all of the above rules and more- so they obviously will have to face the consequence, Of course they will- only this time, its not “a stranger with a ugly face behind the mask walking with a hatchet/chainsaw in the woods” instead they are pitted against each other, which makes the proceeding even more suspenseful .
Here is how it goes – A bunch of Six friends, heads out into the woods for a long weekend, they get bored-get drunk and decide to play a game involving a Urban Legend, the game is actually pretty simple- you carry a candle, stand infront of a mirror , switch off that rooms light and then you look at your reflection in the mirror and say Dead Mary thrice- if you do that, Dead Mary shows up and bad things happen. So far so good (in been there, done that sort of way) but then Dead Mary doesn’t really shows up, instead it possesses one of the friends and turns him into a killer , this is where the tension arises as all the cast is able to figure out the ploy of one of them getting possessed and being turned against all the others, and they figure it out pretty early in the film- but they cant find a way to figure out which one among them is really possessed. Dead Mary becomes a red herring of sort as what ever is happening to the group may or may not be Dead Mary.. there are hints at the forest being possessed by evil spirit even before the group arrived (one of the plot device).

Its not a great film, its not even a film that will gain a cult status in the future,it doesn't deserves one (for heavens sake it’s a PG-13 film, ever heard of a PG-13 film which went onto become a cult classic..!!??) but there are quite a few good things that the film has going for itself,For example the laid back first act, which takes its time in establishing the character, the first death happens after 40 mins of runtime in the film, the Cinematography is brilliant ,using a very saturated pallet when it starts and then reducing the colour scheme to blue and red and gray by the time its over ,this is one element which raises the standard of what could have been a very lame and run of the mill affair, Acting is pretty good and screenplay is pretty potent because it makes a mediocre story into a good film, unfortunately- the third act of the film is where the film fails, the director is not able to use lot of plot devices that he has introduced earlier in the script therefore all you get is potential set pieces one after another but no proper closure to them, understood too much of exposition is never a good idea but establishing a device and not using it in the favor of the film or not using it all -is even worse ,and the film ends all to suddenly, I wish and hope that the director realizes this and releases a directors cut with a extended ending of the film. But even with all those issues , I personally find Dead Mary to be a pretty entertaining ,lesser known film done on a very low budget. Give it a chance and if you watch it with a open mind, it wont disappoint you.

Pithamagan : a Brilliant exercise in Film Making

2007-10-30T12:53:00.000+05:30

Long Back, in a scorching hot afternoon of Delhi, I was a reluctant audience to a seminar on Film theories and Deconstructions..i had better things to do that afternoon and although I love watching films, I just didn’t felt there is anything more that you can dwell deeper into other than the entertainment value, what I never knew was within next two hours my whole perspective towards films is going to crumble to dust and shoved into my face.. the esteemed lecturer started by stating , “ the most entertaining films are the easiest to understand, and since they are so easy, you loose them the moment you walk out of the theater.” And he left it at that.. just showing me one side of the coin, I didn’t even knew till then that there are kind of films that could be otherwise. Films are a medium of entertainment ,are they not, I see life every day, therefore if I pay money and sit in one dark corner of a theater , I prefer to isolate my self from the rest of the world for next 3 hrs and watch something that , I will never get to watch in real life.. that’s exactly how I felt, isn’t that what a film is suppose to do to you, weave a fairytale around you and take away your worries for those 3 blissful hours – Wrong!! thats entertaining cinema at best, responsible cinema- I guess not, if that film has not changed you in anyway by the time it gets over, its pointless and a wasted medium.. entertaining, definitely but Value Driven –absolutely not.. its not that I have something against the escapist cinema, I have been bought up on a staple diet of such films, but once in a while I love watching the multi layered film with a social message , because they are reassuring , telling me-“Son! all is not lost we still exist, outnumbered and lurking in shadows of so called mainstream film, but we are alive.. so have some faith!!” Films communicate to me and I have learned to listen to them.
Also, before I get into more details, I will take a liberty of adding that ever since I have developed a taste for regional and International Cinema , I had been a happier man.. although I don’t know the language, the films communicate more to me than anything coming out of Bombay or Hollywood.

PithaMagan is a film which very cleverly walks a razors edge between the thinking mans Cinema and film for the masses, and succeeds in doing so – The Story is about a Graveyard Caretaker Chitan (Brilliantly portrayed by Vikram) who was born in the graveyard and and was orphaned right away thus leading a feral life, he grows up in the Graveyard devoid of all/any Human contact and and one day ,is forced to walk out and face the ruthless world ..all he has with him are true animal instincts, the films follows him and we watch the proceeding through his POV,its Chintans journey and transition from a wild being to a domesticated one and reverse, the films at times veers away to introduce few more characters and takes a little longer than necessary to establish them.. but that’s allright. The Director( Bala) has done a great job in getting his crew together.. and the performances are just extraordinary ..the subject could have failed miserably in less competent hands but it’s the restrained performance by Vikram (trust me in a part like that, its very easy to ham and go over the top)which makes it work. Its very difficult to describe the character of Chintan as he isn’t mentally challenged but it’s a kind of part where most of the other actors would have slyly rented DVD of Hollywood films(Forrest Gump, Instict etc) and looked for inspiration thus at the end of the day making the part a very synthetic and pretentious one(Rani Mukherjee in Black). Instead Vikram just gets under the skin of Chintan, he takes the character and makes it his own.. when you are looking at the screen, its only Chintan that you see, Vikram just doesn’t exists in the film.
Shakthi(Surya) plays the otherside of the spectrum, and does well to stand up to author baked role of Vikram, all on his own- he is rough, he is loud and foul mouthed street urchin but still likable.. as the film progresses, its shown that with all the minor flaws ,Shakti has got his heart in the right place.. and he is a do gooder , a kind of friend anyone of us would like to have and the film trys to establish this particular fact over and over again (one of the films major flaws) because when a films trys too hard to make a character likable –you pretty much get a hint of how his cookie would crumble. Laila was the surprise package and her arch connects both Chitan and Shakti as her part starts off as a comic relief and ends in one of the most heart wrenching and poignant moment (read: reaction to a death) ever filmed on a Indian Screen.. the film(I know people will hate me if a say this..) also has a vague undercurrent of a Man in love with another Man (I am avoiding the word homosexuality) which has been dealt with utmost profound dignity..
Simaran’s(Playing herself) part starts off well but then turns out to be like a guests who overstays his welcome.. this is the only part that looks forced into the whole narrative of the film.
The Cinematography is wonderful, music of Illyaraja is good and the technical department does well, but it’s a film that belongs to the actor and they have all done a amazing job (incidentally :all the films I have seen of Vikram now he seems to repeat similar role, becoming typecasted which is unfortunate)

My heart goes out to this film and the fact that even though these kind of films are being made we are still sending out Devdas and Paheli and Eklavya for Oscars.. not that Oscar is a big deal, but why on earth these kind of films are not able to get the kind of exposure they deserve and instead, end up confided in certain region of the country,Yeah, this film would be much better if it was 20 minutes shorter but its a indian film that comes with its idiosyncrasies like every other film out there, I don’t believe in giving points and grading a Film but I can tell you one thing for sure.. its one of the better ones out there to come out that year. Defiantly a must watch.

Sye : kicking ass the old fashioned way

2007-10-01T11:33:00.000+05:30

With the Check De effect all around ..I thought its about time, I write about something too.. but then everybody has a opinion on Chak de and almost everybody likes it ..there fore it doesn’t makes much sense to me to write about a film which is so popular that people hates to discuss its gray areas forget the blacks (not that there aren’t any)..there is absolutely no doubt that its one of the best film of the year but the only problem with films based on sports is.. you know how its going to end even before it begins and since there had been already so many films made on the same subject that everything you see on screen (esp if you follow the Genre) feels like been there done that.. starting from the fallen hero, his eventual return from his confinement (Keanu Reeves in Replacements),his taking over the most unlikely team of losers or underdogs ..till the final infamous speech in the dressing room during the halftime and the match being decided in the penultimate moment.. people had been comparing Chak De with “The Mighty Ducks” and “Miracle” I seriously pity the Critics these days they don’t even look through the film.. forget doing a bit of research on the source material ..if my memory serves me right Chak de seemed more derivative of a film called “A League of there Own”. Chak De is a good film , if not a great film but I am not here to talk about Chak De..i am writing here to take you on a little trip in the past and talk about a film which might be a lesser known to ardent film watchers like myself

For me the beauty of watching film has always been getting into the film expecting something (not much really) and getting something which is entirely different.. SYE (Telgu ) is one such film (the film must be a popular one in Andhra Pradesh and south of India) but the purpose of me writing about it here is to do my bit and get this film close to the audience it really deserves. Now the director of the film S.S.Rajamauli(its his 2nd film) takes every possible cliché ,every possible formula and puts it into the grind..the film is absolute no brainer but its Entertainment on the Rocks.. let me give you a hint

Two feuding groups in a Arts and Science Collage in Hyderabad (Wings and Claws), One Land Mafia and wannabe MLA eyeing the land that the collage is built on, both the feuding groups join forces for one final showdown with the land Mafia.. throw in few colorful songs in the middle, good looking people (PYT), nice oomph quotient and a comedy track which has nothing to do with the film narrative ..and you have got it all in place..
Its hard to talk about a film like SYE without giving away much, but trust me.. the lesser you know about it , the more you will enjoy it.. its not a Yash Raj and SRK but still manages to deliver a high on adrenalin(read:steroids) ride ,from the word go.. it gave me something I felt was missing in Cinema for a very long time – A great larger than life Villain(you will just love to hate him) and a lovely third act that culminates into a climax which is 45 minutes long!! .. the acting ranges from Campy to good to Histrionics ..but hey !! it’s a formula film that works like a Charm.. Hyderabad is Shot beautifully on Screen and the film flows swiftly.. its connected well and the action is good.. just what you want to view on a laid back Sunday evening.. make sure to have your friends over ,stack your self with enough Pizza and Beer.. and you are in for a fun ride ..go ahead ,have a good time.
(also watch out for the usage of the “F” word without any beeps …whoowww Fuckin Awasome.. ;))

my new blog

2007-09-19T14:52:00.000+05:30

Yayeee...!! I have a photoblog too..

chk this /http://www.pwtw.blogspot.com/

Enlightement

2007-08-07T18:54:00.001+05:30

Enlightement, originally uploaded by aroop_d.

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Pondicherry : Try it..you will like it.

2007-07-23T17:12:00.000+05:30

Just as we were heading towards the end of a project, we decided to take a break once the things are all wrapped up, it has been rather difficult few months with a very demanding client in terms of quality, we did our bit of research and came up with a couple of options –Calicut, Munnar and Pondycherry and we finally zeroed in on Pondicherry because being a Union Territory we knew that the booze will be extremely cheap, so we got our reservation done and started from Bangalore on Thursday night (Indira travels Sleeper Coach Bus) as this was the first time I was traveling to Pondicherry, there were lot of things I wasn’t aware of, First and foremost being the fact that If you are planning a weekend trip to Pondicherry make sure you get you return tickets reserved well in advance as there is a huge rush of people traveling back to Bangalore from Pondicherry and usually all the buses are booked ,also the fact that there are KRTC (Karnataka Roadways ) and PRTC (Pondicherry Roadways) operate a Volvo service from Pondicherry to Bangalore and back-the fact that not a lot of people are actually aware of this, helps you in getting a booking if you are on a short notice and decide to travel at the eleventh hour.
Our start was disastrous.. we were not able to find out the place where we were suppose to board the bus and then later it started raining heavy but we finally made it.. the next morning we were in Pondicherry at 6 ‘O’ clock and therefore decided to go to the Sea Front before we go to our Resort , to catch the Sunrise, however we got a little late and the sun was already up . Now just in case if you are new to Pondicherry here is a piece of information that can help, the Auto Rikshaws there don’t go by the meter and they don’t have a prepaid tariff card. You need to negotiate, what I know is from the Bus Stand to Gubert Avenue (sea front ) costs Rs.30 and from Bus Station to any resort on ECR (East Coast Road) will coast Rs.150. So after having our Breakfast at the Sea front in a nice cozy place which is a café of Hotel Ajantha , we took a Auto for our Resort which is almost 15 kms from the city.

Pondicherry

We got our hotel Reservations done early in Hotel Ashok Beach Resort and the agent very conveniently forgot to mention that the check in time of the Hotel is 12 noon, we reached Pondicherry by bus after a rather difficult overnight journey and we just wanted to take some sleep before we start with the sight seeing, we took a Auto rikshaw and went to the hotel ;the standard rate is Rs150 from the Bus stand to Hotel Ashok ; also take a note that there is bus service from the bus station to all the Hotels on ECR(East Coast Road) there is a bus in every 20 mins and it only costs Rs 3 also if you are adventure loving sort you can ask the Auto to take you to Mission street and from there you can hire a two wheeler (usally costs Rs 100/per day) and then drive to the hotel, its not very difficult since the there is just one main road and you have to drive straight down on it. When we reached the Hotel ..we were immediately taken in by the warmness of the place, the hotel is tucked away in a wilderness far from the maddening crowd of the city , the receptionist (a sweet lady called Miss Saundarya) told us that we are early and asked us to wait just another hour and we were checked in at 9 o clock (thanks to them) we got a nice room with a wonderful view of the sea. Also i would like to mention that this hotel sports one of the nicest beach in the city as Pondicherry beaches are pretty rough and rocky, this once also doesn’t allows you to swim ..but since its clean and secluded , there is less to crib.

Ajantha Hotel
Gubert Avenue

The staff is very friendly and accommodating (i always follow the philosophy that if you treat someone with respect that’s what you get back in return) over the period of two daysI was with them on there first name basis, the service is immaculate, the bar is open till 10:30 in the night and if you want to drink after that you can order room service to get you your poison and u can stack it in the refrigerator, the menu ..although is less in terms of varity..it more than makes up for it in quality ( pls do try out the chefs special Fish Steaks).. the ambience of the bar gives reminiscence of the old colonial times.. its a rather simple place , no frills and no string attached and thats why you end up feeling so right at home.
The place still doesnt has a swimming pool although its in construction and will be ready by the peak season (Dec- Jan). but I couldn’t have possibly waited that long ,so as we had only 2 days Reservation in Ashok , I decided to check out early in the morning on Sunday and got our booking done in another hotel called Aananda Inn ..its not a beach resort but has a very nice swimming pool and that’s exactly what I wanted after 2 days of rigorous sight seeing ,it seemed like a wonderful idea to laze around at the pool the whole of Sunday..

Hotel Ashok Beach Resort, Chinakalapet , Pondicherry.

While at Pondicherry do not miss Chunnamber Beach..its around 10 Km from the city en route to Cuddlore . Ideally you can rent a bike and Drive down there, start early so that you can be there by 10 in the morning, once you are there. You can take a ferry ride to Paradise Beach Resort ,it’s a beautiful and serene beach and the good thing, is if you were not reading it here, you wouldn’t ever know about it, so you see , its not a very popular tourist destination yet..you can spend the whole day there and still yearn for more (do remember its a private beach and it closes at 6 PM).
There is a lot of frustration that Pondicherry creates for the adventure enthusiasts because while in Pondicherry..you can look at the sea, but you cant go in for a swim as its very rough and sucks you in.. Chunnambar turns out to be a nice place to let you frustration out as it offers a very mellow and soft sea.

Paradise Beach
Chunnambar Backwaters

Shopping wise Pondicherry doesn’t have any novelty though ,as it offers the same old handicrafts material that you can get on any city which is close to the Ocean. There is a nice market near mission street called Grand Market and its worth going there once.
There is another place on the Goubert Avenue (towards the Cathedral ) called The Book Shop , nice place to spend sometime if you like reading. But what appeals you the most is how well the old French flavor has been preserved in the city and how well it has amalgamated with the culture in South. Take a walk down the Seafront and I will bet you will get a feeling that its Europe and not somewhere in India.

for more images of Pondicherry kindly visit

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aroop_d/

Of Blood , Sex and Severed Limb

2007-07-17T12:18:00.000+05:30

C U at 9

Another sleeper, I don’t even recall the year of it release, I avoided watching it for as long as possible because there was nothing written about this film anywhere and neither did anyone spoke about it to me.. that left me perplexed, everytime I used to visit my local DVD rental store to rent out a film , while browsing through the album of films, this particular film used to turn up (very cleverly stacked under the category of Erotic Thriller with the likes of Basic Instinct, Sliver and almost all of Zalman Kings popular films) and yesterday, since there was nothing better to watch and I was actually looking for some popcorn entertainment, especially from which I cant expect anything.. out of curiosity I rented this one out.. i went back home, popped the DVD in ,took to my couch and allowed it to roll, well !! to tell you the truth, I was not very impressed with the start ,the introduction of characters but then as events proceeded, I was drawn.. not because of the screenplay, but because I realized that it heavily borrows from Takashi Miike ‘s Audition.. yes ( Jafar Bhai you heard that right)..All this time I was expecting and hoping and contemplating that one of these days I will get to see a Hollywood’s remake of Audition..not realizing that there was one that existed right under my nose all this while.. so, as I said earlier..I was drawn, because I can see what was coming and I was really curious that how will the get away with an audacious climax like that of Audition (it’s a Indian Film for crying out loud)..and boy oh boy, I was in for a big surprise, never again in my life will I underestimate a low budget Indie film done by a bunch of nobodies , because they have gone all out with a style although they could have done away with the excess hamming of Kim (Asami in Audition) towards the end and atleast not have her sing “kambakht ishq hai jo “ in a monologue.

The other thing which surprised me is how this film has pushed the envelop in terms of depiction of sex and violence ( I was finding it hard to believe, how a conservative sensor like that of ours have agreed to pass few things in the film ) Severed limbs, decapitation ,mutilated corpse, sodomy and orgasm its all there. God bless the Sensor board and I hope they stay this way till eternity , providing more space to a film maker to express himself/herself creatively so that we can watch something beyond the regular masala that has been served to us until now.

The Film starts with multiple people receiving random phone calls from a wrong number ,the girls voice on the other side asks them to see her at 9,most of the people hang up expecting it to be a prank call, but our hero (Romeo) decides to play along and fixes up a place where those two can meet, what follows next is basically Audition meets Sisters (Brian de Palma), one thing that I immediately noticed was the quality of cinematography for a budget like that of this film, it was quite good, the grainy and bleached out texture of the film adds to the atmosphere.

Yes it is a flawed film and derivative one too ,it does go through the most common mistake a novice film maker commits ie not following the rule : Don’t use Dialogues to express things which can be visually understood by the audience. But those are minor quibbles, until you are looking for substance in a film otherwise the acting is better than average, Cinematography is top notch, Direction is pretty decent for a first timer.. the film is a labor of love, it’s a well executed piece of work, although it went un-noticed at the time of its release, I am sure this film will gain a cult status in the future , any given day I will prefer watching this film over a Dhoom2 or Jhoom Barabar Jhoom..

ps : IF You ARe Squimish and are easily offended by blood and gore..AVoId this film, its an escapist cinema and it has a niche Audience ,these films are not for everybody's taste..so please dont take my write up at its face value and look at the images that i have posted..if you are in for it,go ahead watch it and enjoy

डोले शोले

2007-07-11T18:31:00.000+05:30

Anotomy is so much fun..did some sketches today..also tried a different style in the 3rd one..

ऊँगली कर दी .. माफ़ी चाहूँगा !!

2007-07-10T12:53:00.001+05:30

I was emotionally manipulated,coxed and was talked into digitally touching up few of the snaps that i had clicked earlier..so here i am posting the touched up version of them..

कार्टून

2007-07-09T16:23:00.000+05:30

here are a couple of quick doodles.. that i did a couple of days earlier, thought i will post it today..

शीवाजी की जय

2007-06-27T18:35:00.000+05:30

Watching Sivaji is like watching a part of cinematic history unfold in front of you. .more than a couple of decades later, this will be a story you will be narrating to your grandchildren, its not just a film , its an event that acts like a template of time.. its like you telling someone “ummm…that’s the year I saw Sivaji, I must be 30(or what ever your age is) “, Shankar unlike his earlier works, has done what Kurasawa , Felini , Tarkavosky, Bergman are known for – telling a very simple story, in the simplest possible way, no timeline jumps no twist in tale sort of gimmicks..this film would have worked even without Rajni, with Rajini in it..its just becomes larger than life.. the best part that I really loved about this film was, it’s ability in not taking it self seriously and actually parodying itself..like for example there is a lot of reference to Rajini older releases (the most prominent and reoccurring one is reference to Chandramukhi ) the other example is a particular song which has been shot in a very retro style and where Rajini Does a take on various generation song and dance routine, his imitation of Akkineni Nageshwar Rao, NTR and Chirranjivi is spot on..and then there is a part where Rajini again parodies his Manik Badshah character..also there is a throwback at early 70’s romps, the drive in theater sequence ,with King Kong playing in the background.. you just cant help but notice the nudge nudge wink wink effect and smile.. the songs, are colorful, tastefully shot, but not humable..(but that’s how A.R.Rehman’s Songs are, aren’t they.. you don’t like them in the beginning, they just grow on you..), the action remains ordinary throughout (my main crib) up until the end and then ..what I got to see on screen was probably one of the most beautifully shot climax ever filmed in last 20-25 years, something that Michael Bay or John Woo shall be proud of.. Oh yes, in the middle of all this..there is a story too, a story of a NRI who comes back to his country aspiring to give something back to his motherland, but instead of redemption he finds retribution, corruption and beaurocracy,he tries to fight his way through the honest means,but gets evicted from his land and property, he fights back and almost succeeds until he gets convicted and send to prison .. how he overcomes all the obstacles and finally becomes the BOSS (Bachlore of Social Service)..thats what Shivaji is all about.
Although it’s a Rajini’s film, he has underplayed himself , which is a good thing as it’s a welcome change not watching him as the usually over the top protagonist with a signature dialogue( here he just says “cooool”..thats it..!!), Shreya looks good, acts well and cries even better, Vivek is his stereotyped self..his part just looked like an extension of his part from “ Aniyan”.. and Raghuvaran does good with French kissing another man- but not in a gay sort of way..
This is a perfect film to watch on a weekend and watch it in theater don’t bother if you don’t speak the language, cause it wont matter.. just watching Rajini’s entry in the film and the way half the theater cheers when he comes on screen for the first time in the film, it is enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and take notice ..
Watch this film!!

for more on Shivaji also check http://anjelo.blogspot.com

यह थोड़ी और फोटू घर के आस पास कि और सह-कर्मचारियों की ..

2007-06-19T18:51:00.000+05:30

I am using a old fashioned(not Digital)SLR Camera -a Vivitar 3800N..most of photographs had been shot in very low light (using exp as low as 4 and 1 and fstop of 3.4 the negative stock is Kodak Gold,100 iso), no artificial source of lighting is used and none of them have been touched up digitally..

few more shots..

अरे ..अब मे भी फोटू खिंच सकता हूँ ..माँ कसम!!

2007-06-19T18:40:00.000+05:30

Recently..after watching some really good works on the net, i finally managed to get my self a hobby..(last time, i checked ..it used to be drawing and sketching ,until it became my profession)..only much later and very recently , after wasting huge amount of film stock and money..i figured i am interested in photography..and since it has been a really long time since i updated my blog,and as i am not getting enough time to sketch(read Artist's mental Block)..i have started divulging my self in Photography..here are the few decent ones which i felt were being worthy of being put on this blog.

ऑडिशन

2007-04-10T15:51:00.000+05:30

Okay! I usually take time to judge a film, i try to think about it watch it over and over, because i have figured that there are few films that you start liking once you start thinking about them, they tend to grow on you, also i have realized that the first opinion that you usually form about a film are mostly prejudiced, because you already know what you are going to watch-be it due to trailers and teasers you get to see on Television or internet or due to reviews that you read somewhere its hard now a days for a film to catch you off guard and say GOTCHYA!!

AUDITION(Odishon) does this for me,especially because this is a lesser known Japanese film that has fortunately managed to evade the Hollywood radar for such a long time, otherwise a remake would have been out by now.Its a sweet and heartwarming lovestory that works on various level,its a family drama and a equally effective comedy as well..its starts with the Ayoma (Ryo Ishibashi) loosing his wife ,who leaves behind a son and then the story jumps to few years later when the son has grown up and is 17, and he is worried about his father who have buried himself under tons of work and his professional commitments in order to deal with his grief and loneliness, the son wants his father to start dating again, fall in love and get married and manages to convince his father,well almost.
Ayoma works for a production house and his colleague device a plan to help him choose the right girl, the plan is to hold mock -audition for a film. Ayoma takes liking for mysterious Asami (Eihi Shiina) ,he is enchanted by her beauty and of the fact that she has lead a very difficult life but still haven't given up on it, at some level Ayoma starts to identify with Asami and fall in love with her. Asami is oblivious to the fact that the auditions were fake and looks at Ayoma as just another producer trying to exploit her but since she is aware how important that film is to her ,she leads Ayoma on instead of declining his advances,but the more time they spend together the more they get to know about each other and eventually end up falling in love, Ayoma confesses that the Audition were fake and Asami forgives him only on one condition that he (Ayoma) will love her and only her..
Its hard to find a film these days which is so simple and modest, a film that juxtaposes loneliness with true and unconditional love and how much are people willing to sacrifice for it- The son wanting his father to start dating again and ready to move out of the house once his father gets married, the colleagues of Ayoma who are taking efforts to hold mock audition just to get Ayoma a partner, Ayoma himself who has enough courage to confess to Asami that audition that meant so much to Asami, were actually a ploy and above all Asami who forgives Ayoma stating she doesnt needs the part in a film because she has got much more in the bargain(love of Ayoma).
The film takes its own time in establishing its characters, one good thing about the characters here is that they are not fairy tale good people, they are all gray ,they all make mistakes,they all feel the pain and guilt,the film also attempts to explain how complicated is the emotion called Love and how the interpretation of love is different for different people.
Watch this film before a remake of it comes out in America,watch this film because its so simple and straight forward and watch it with your family (errrrr..or maybe just watch it yourself and then decide if you want your family to watch it) .

GOTCHYA........!!!!!

Kerela - The lighter side of life.

2007-03-20T14:13:00.000+05:30

When you are backpacking across a state,you sometimes get more than you can bargain for,not just the knowledge of there culture or photographs of immensely beautiful places in and around but some smaller details like for example this particular photograph that i am posting here separately,its by far the funniest film poster i have seen..

i mean, who puts a half naked Police officer caught with his pants down on a film poster..seriously..if this is not funny, then i dont know what is.

Kerela Reloaded.

2007-03-20T13:59:00.000+05:30

Another trip to Cochin, another set of photographs- this place is Fort Cochin,Fort Cochin is the site of the St. Francis church which was built in 1510 by five Portuguese priests who arrived with Albuquerque. This church, said to be the oldest European church built in India, was the original burial site for Vasco da Gama in 1524 (Fourteen years later his mortal remains were exhumed and sent to Lisbon, Portugal.) Later the church was successively taken over by the Dutch in 1633, the British (when it became the Anglican Church) and, finally, the Church of South India. Telling this hoary history are gravestones inside the church as sell as an 18th century register of marriages and baptisms.

Also in Fort Cochin is the Santa Cruz Cathedral, a Roman Catholic church close to the St. Francis Church, also built by the Portuguese. It is said to have suffered severe damage when the British fought with the Dutch to take control of Cochin. Its attractions include some beautiful paintings and a decorative ceiling.
Unfortunetly-when we visited the Church, i had already exhausted all the battery of my camera,and therefore wasnt able to click any photographs there..but on my next trip i shall do a exclusive on St.Francis Church.

whoooowww..!!

2007-03-09T10:11:00.000+05:30

This is a photograph that i came across recently, i was told that its of a shop in Bihar, i don't care where ever it is from..its just down right hilarious.

Relax..!! I think they mean " CHILLED BEER"

Thought i died and gone to heaven.

2007-03-05T11:51:00.000+05:30

I havent been posting for long..as i got a little busy at work,but the payoff was highly rewarding as i got a chance to see a lot of Kerela (Cochin especially), i am just posting a couple of snaps which i felt relevant for this blog..have a look and envy me cause i was there.. :D

Die piggy piggy die die piggy

2007-02-14T11:24:00.000+05:30

Have a Killer Valentines

If this wasnt worth reading..i wouldnt put it up here.

2007-02-13T11:15:00.000+05:30

I got this article in a mail that got forwarded to me by a colleague..i usually dont read forwarded mails and delete them without opening but since it came from a person who doesn't forwards anything until it makes some true sense,i decided to read it..Maybe putting this up on my blog is not such a good idea or maybe it is, but i honestly feel that this is a story thats worthy of being told- so here you go

Two Choices

What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't
look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it
anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same
choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves
learning-disabled children, the father of one of the
students delivered a speech that would never be
forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the
school and its dedicated staff, he offered a
question: "When not interfered with by outside
influences, everything nature does is done with
perfection.. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things
as other children do. He cannot understand things as
other children do. Where is the natural order of
things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe that when a child
like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes
into the world, an opportunity to realize true human
nature presents itself, and it comes in the way
other people treat that child."
Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where
some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay
asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's
father knew that most of the boys would not want
someone like Shay on their team, but the father also
understood that if his son were allowed to play, it
would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and
some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of
his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the
field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could
play. The boy looked around for guidance and said,
"We're losing by six runs and the game is in the
eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and
we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a
broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched
with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his
heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son
being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind
by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put
on a glove and played in the right field. Even
though no hits came his way, he was obviously
ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field,
grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him
from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning,
Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the
bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base
and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away
their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was
given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but
impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold
the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the
pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting
winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved
in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay
could at least make contact. The first pitch came
and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher
again took a few steps forward to toss the ball
softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay
swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right
back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up
the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the
ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out
and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the
first baseman's head, out of reach of all team
mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams
started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!"
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he
made it to first base. He scampered down the
baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards
second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the
base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base,
the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy
on their team who now had his first chance to be the
hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to
the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood
the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally
threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's
head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the
runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way
Shay"

Shay reached third base because the opposing
shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the
direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third!
Shay, run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and
the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay,
run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on
the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the
grand slam and won the game for his team.

"That day", said the father softly with tears now
rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams
helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into
this world".

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that
winter, having never forgotten being the hero and
making his father so happy, and coming home and
seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero
of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send
thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a
second thought, but when it comes to sending
messages
about life choices, people hesitate. The crude,
vulgar and often obscene pass freely through
cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is
too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message,
chances are that you're probably sorting out the
people in your address book who aren't the
"appropriate" ones to receive this type of message.
Well, the person who sent you this believes that we
all can make a difference. We all have thousands of
opportunities every single day to help realize the
"natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial
interactions between two people present us with a
choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and
humanity or do we
pass up those opportunities and leave the world a
little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how
it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:
1. Delete
2. Forward
May your day be a Shay Day......

Celebrating Love this Valentines :HIGHT OF LOVE

2007-02-10T13:50:00.000+05:30

HIGHT OF LOVE

My Girlfriend has been been pushing me to do something that she could put up in her office for the Valentines Day..she wanted something sweet and romantic,true to"Yash Chopra style", so i did this for her as i feel its only in Yash Chopra's films that the people are so preposterously rich that they can afford two seats in one toilet..however ,she didnt like it and called me perv and eccentric and various other names..i guess not everyone can appreciate art the way an artist does it, so i am putting this up on my blog ..Have a Nice Valentines Day..(atleast better than mine..)