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On the topic of the Oscars® you may wish to see all the movies ever sent in by India in an article on wikipedia.

My personal belief & opinion is that the movies that get nominated and win in the Best Foreign film category are all films, in order of priority are, the ones that -1. Deal with human emotions 2. Portray stories that can be easily understood and felt by western audiences 3. Reflect the life/history/culture of the country the film is made in, in a manner that reflects the way it is perceived or understood by western audiences.

Yes, Lagaan was an exception in spite of its 3.5 hour length and numerous songs and dances.

Since the Golden Globes® were scrapped due to the writer’s strike (as mentioned in my post -65th Golden Globes® in jeopardy? and Golden Globes® scrapped ) I wonder if an arrangement will be reached before the Oscars® or will the Oscars® too get reduced to a 32 minute press conference to announce the results ? I hope not!

   Imagine you are the last man alive in a city trying to find a cure to a virus to which you are immune, but which has wiped out humanity as we know it. You have your dog for company and everything that’s left in the city is yours to take, but keep away from the dark corners and stay indoors, hidden, after dark.

You end up talking to mannequins to keep your sanity, you end up watching movie after movie. You end up watching taped news telecast. You end up broadcasting a message and waiting at a place at the same time every day, all in the hope that there is someone else out there, for you are the only man alive but you are not alone. The darkness brings out the creatures, who were once human.

Does this give you a foreboding preview of the tone of this movie ? I hope it does for words cannot describe the efforts of the director (Francis Lawrence) and the intense performance of Will Smith, as Robert Neville. A strain of measles modified to cure cancer soon mutates to become a deadly virus that turns the infected into vampire like creatures. Like I mentioned about the movie ‘30 Days of Night’, this movie Continue reading ‘I am Legend’

This being our campus blog where we would be engaging in dialogue with young ambitious minds such as you, we would expect a post about careers wound’nt we ? Well… Yes but then this post is not about career options in the Hindi Film Industry. It’s not about how you can get admitted to the FTII (Film & Television Institute of India) or the Satyajit Ray Film Institute. This post is also not about whether it is better to do a course in Sound Engineering before doing a course in Editing or is it better to do a course in Acting before taking up Direction. The post is also not about how you could get selected by Ramu (RGV) or Sanjay Leela Bhansali in their next venture !

This post is about starting off a discussion about the growth and change in which ‘careers’ have been dealt with in Hindi Cinema. I have chosen Hindi Cinema for the topic because of late, the Hindi Film Industry hogs all the limelight so I can safely presume the topic will be one of common understanding. The post is not detailed though I could go on with the comparisons and examples. I thought I would only start off a discussion and conversation with this brief one.

 If I look back at my childhood days and days of watching Hindi movies on TV in ‘Eastman Colour’ and try to recall the professions of the protagonists or the heroes I can recollect the following careers exposed- Mill worker, Mine Worker, Policeman, Dacoit, Gangster, Factory Worker, journalist or working in a ‘daftar’. Daftar being the operational term for an office and very often even after the movie ended you would not be clear on what line of business the office was engaged in but you would see a lot of people poring over many a ledger. Then how can we forget those factory strikes for some reason or the other allowing the story to plunge into one of despair and providing opportunity for the rich factory owner to face off with righteous factory worker. This and many more were ‘career’ oriented scenes that remain etched in memory from the 70s and early 80s.

The late 80s saw the birth of the Banker, the Entrepreneur and the righteous & ambitious promotion oriented young man (the angry ones of course being represented by none other than the original angry young man). The 80s saw a development in the technology of film making and scripts underwent a change with foreign locales opening up and well into the 90s, the script opened up to allow us to peek a little more into the work life of the protagonist for the stories or the romance found itself in the offices.

The late 90s and the years up-till now saw the new careers of the heroes emerge. Now you have Heroes as Chefs (take Saif in Salaam Namaste and Amitabh in Chini Kum), Heroes or Heroines as Marketeers (remember Bipasha in Corporate),Heroes as coaches (as in my current favourite Chak De). You still have the Heroes in some business which you cannot identify (remember Aamir Khan in Dil Chahta Hai going off to Australia and handling some business we don’t know about). My friends made a movie called Kadhale En Khadale (in Tamil and not Hindi ) which featured another of my friends as an IT Engineer who also goes for an on-site opportunity ! Times dure have changed, haven’t they ? The film of course did’nt do well but I was among the few who did watch it.

I am sure some of you will say the story does not demand any details on the profession of the heroes for the movie to entertain the viewer but then if we really think about  this can’t we think of a lot of movies where the profession of the main characters interest us? I am sure we can.

What’s more interesting and what interests me about this topic is the fact that our cinema only reflects the prevalent scenario of the time. In the early 70s and 80s a government or public sector job were considered the only options and that was reflected in the ‘careers’ of our own heroes and heroines. But post the dot come era and the invasion of the Internet and opening up of economy you have diverse careers from Event Management to Radio Jockeying to Software to Marketing to being a Chef, the reality of which has only found its way into the cinema we watch. Cinema imitates life rather than the other way round is’nt it ?

Do you remember the weirdest or the most memorable ‘career’ of a main character in Cinema in recent times ? Why don’t you post that in a comment. We would love to read that for sure !

Sometime winning is everything.

As the baseline of the movie says, winning is really everything and this movie is a winner. Written by Jaideep Sahni, produced by Aditya Chopra, directed by Shimit Amin, starring Shahrukh Khan and a bunch of endearing young women, I watched this movie twice before writing this. I watched it twice because I wanted to. The movie is awesome in all means !

The tale of a disgraced player taking on an underdog team to redeem himself and make a point is no new storyline (in Indian cinema it could be) but what holds this movie together is its sense of purpose. The movie is made to tell a tale and that’s what it does. Shimit Amin has a talent for tight storytelling which was evident in his Ab Tak Chappan. Jaideep Sahni’s writing goes absolutely in sync with Shimit Amin’s style, Salim Suleiman’s score is memorable and adds soul to an already tight narrative and of course the production values are taken care of by Yash Raj films. Let’s not forget this movie does for Hockey, what a Lagaan could not do for Indian cricket (yup…that’s’ because the cricket team’s not doing too great is it, while the hockey team in reaching the top spot once again)

The latest is that this movie is being included in some management school curriculum and I can see why. The movie is a lesson for any kind of team oriented existence be it in sports or even in corporate life. After Lagaan, this is one movie which again instills the feeling of passion, purpose, conviction and teaming in spite of surmounting challenges, opposition, politics and everything else put together. Being in the corporate world myself I couldn’t help but relate to the situations in the movie, from the conviction to the politics, the support to the dissent, the oldies in the team resenting change to the newbies being unsure, there’s everything you want in this movie. You want a situation you will find it, you want a learning you will get it. Its to teaming and winning what The Godfather is to life, answering every question you can ask.

The movie takes you a on a roller coaster ride, which is impeccably predictable, knowingly understated but yet…you fall in love with this piece of cinematic brilliance. You know what’s happening, you know what’s going to happen but yet you wait with bated breath to watch it unfold.

The girls playing the team of girls are outstanding and Shahrukh Khan is absolutely controlled and a superstar beyond measure for being the star and yet allowing the team to star in this sporty movie. I have always been a fan of Shahrukh Khan the superstar but after this movie, I do believe that he can act, act within the confines of a character.

The girls led by the experienced but authority-resistant Bindiya Naik (Shilpa Shukla), the quite Gunjan, perky Aliyah Bose(Anaitha Nair ),matured Vidya Sharma (Vidya Malavade), strong and hot-tempered Balbir, Mary Ralte, the very cute and endearing Komal Chautala (Chitrashi Rawat), the attractive Preeti Sabharwal (Sagarika Ghagte) and many others who can put some established actresses to shame come together as the Indian Women’s hockey team and rule the screen for over 2.5 hours along with their coach Kabir Khan (Shahrukh).

The story commences with India losing a final to Pakistan in the men’s world cup due to the captain Kabir Khan missing a penalty and then facing the ire of the media and the public. With allegations of being a Pakistan supporter Kabir Khan leaves his locality and goes into obscurity, for 7 years. A bunch of bureaucratic never-been-on-the-field administrators of the hockey association are sitting over the coach’s job for the Indian Women’s Hockey team and Kabir Khan takes up the job.

It gets interesting from here on with coach Kabir trying to build a team first, rather than teach hockey. There are unforgettable characters in the team, take the tiny dynamo Komal Chautala for example. From Haryana, this little cutie absolutely holds your attention with her rapid fire dialogue delivery. I can go on and on about the cast because they are brilliant. The team faces many a hurdle right from their practice sessions to getting their chance in the world-championships in Australia but eventually get there. And, what unfolds there is a combination of brilliant photography, tight scriptwriting, some excellent technical support & great production of the hockey scenes. What you get are scenes of absolute natural action, yet nail-biting suspense.

The scenes between the girls when they first register for the training camp, the scene when they first go to their dormitories, the first training session, the hockey match with the men’s team and all the championship hockey matches are awesome.

While I do not want to give away the climax, although I did mention it is all predictable, let me just say that having watched this movie twice I still did not lose out on the thrill because the characters and the story overpowers the action. You want to hear those dialogues again, you want to see Kabir Khan’s passion again, you want to admire the young expressions again and you will want to watch this movie again and again….

Shimit Amin is definitely a director to watch out for. Shahrukh Khan is King. This gang of girls rule !