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Anurag Kashyap & Kalki Koechlin film premiere at the Asia Society

August 25, 2011 By 1 Comment

Last night New Yorkers had a chance to see That Girl in Yellow Boots when it had its worldwide premiere at the Asia Society, more than a week before it releases across the US and India.

The film was the opener at last year’s SAIFF and created much excitement there.

(By the way, there was an audible gasp that went up in the audience when, just before the lights dimmed, it was mentioned that there would be an exhibit opening in September of paintings and drawings by Rabindranath Tagore.)

Here are a few photos from the red carpet last night and the Q&A afterward, to be followed very shortly by an interview with writer/director Kalki & writer/director Anurag:  [Read more...]

Filed Under: New releases

Disney releasing three Indian films in North America

July 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Disney%203 Disney releasing three Indian films in North America

Two weeks from today Walt Disney Studios will take a historic step forward with the release of three Indian films in North America.

On July 26th, Disney is simultaneously releasing Do Dooni Char, Zokkomon and Once Upon a Warrior on DVD, video-on-demand, and digital download.  They will also be featured on iTunes that day.  The three films will be in their original languages (Hindi for Do Dooni Char and Zokkomon, Telugu for Once Upon a Warrior) and will have English subtitles.

Here are Disney’s descriptions of the films:

DoDooniChar Disney releasing three Indian films in North America

DO DOONI CHAAR

DO DOONI CHAAR is a heart-warming comedy about the dreams and challenges of a middle-class family who take a chaotic journey to fulfill their dream of owning a car and discover the true meaning of family along the way.  The film was written and directed by Habib Faisal (co-writer of “Salaam Namaste”) and features Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Aditi Vasudev, Archit Krishna, Akhilendra Mishra, Natasha Rastogi, Supriya Shukla, Mohit Chaddha and Avtar Sahni. It won India’s prestigious National Award for Best Hindi Film of the Year as well as the Best Actor Award from the 2011 New York Indian Film Festival for Rishi Kapoor.

OnceUponaWarrior Disney releasing three Indian films in North America

ONCE UPON A WARRIOR

As the first ever Disney Telugu fantasy adventure, ONCE UPON A WARRIOR is about a swashbuckling warrior on an epic quest to save a mystical young girl from a wicked Queen in the ultimate battle between good and evil.  In the tradition of “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Prince of Persia,” the film features an all-star cast including Siddharth, Shruti Haasan and Lakshmi Manchu. The background score is from Salim-Sulaiman and the Music Directors are Koti, Mickey J. Mayer,  Salim-Sulaiman and M.M. Keeravani.  The film is produced by Prasad Devinini, Prakash Kovelamudi and Written & Directed by Prakash Kovelamudi.  K. Raghavendra Rao who has over 100 Telugu films among his credits, is also a producer.

Zokkomon Disney releasing three Indian films in North America

ZOKKOMON

Zokkomon is a thrilling Hindi action adventure film about an ordinary boy who overcomes extraordinary challenges to become a magical hero.  The film had its World Premiere at the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles and a limited theatrical release.  Featuring well-known Indian stars Darsheel Safary and Anupam Kher (“Bend it Like Beckham”) the film features music by India’s most popular trio, Shankar Ehsaan Loy.

Filed Under: New releases

Jig & the Global Appeal of Irish Dancing

June 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

jig movie poster%202 Jig & the Global Appeal of Irish Dancing

To make this documentary, Jig, Scottish director Sue Bourne was able to do what no one else had done before.

She approached An Commissiun – the governing body of the annual World Irish Dancing Championships – to request, and ultimately be granted, access to the 2010 “Worlds” (as the competitors and their retinues of parents and dance instructors refer to them).  Her intent was to tell the story of the contagious, competitive and athletic art form that is Irish dancing (yes, that same which you saw Jean Butler and Michael Flatley shoot to stardom doing).

In fact, many of the kids and teens you see profiled in Jig owe their initiation into this world to Riverdance (the dance show that had its birth as an interval feature lasting a little over five minutes at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin) and was then expanded to full show and toured the world .  As you hear several parents tell it, the kids saw the video, they became entranced and started mimicking the steps, then taking classes, and so on.

Bourne has selected an interesting assortment of dancers to illustrate just how global an obsession Irish dancing has become.  There’s a group of young women in Moscow who are coached by Shane, who flies over from his base in Munich every couple of weeks to train them, then there’s Sandun, a tall Sri Lankan teen who was adopted as a little boy by a Dutch couple and who has grown up in Holland, and there’s Joe Bitter, the Silicon Valley boy who bears some resemblance to a young Jonathan Rhys Meyers and shows such promise that his parents leave California to settle in Birmingham, England to be close to John Carey, a legendary former dancer and now much sought-after instructor. Carey also teaches John Whitehurst, an adorable ten-year-old who also shows talent and promise regardless of the jeers he’s had to endure from his classmates at school.

Two of the most interesting dancers profiled are ten-year-old competitors Brogan McCay, a blonde, chatty dynamo from Derry, Northern Ireland, and Julia O’Rourke, a more solemn Long Island girl, with a Philippine mother and Irish-American father, neither who had ever any interest in Irish dancing until their daughter picked it up.

To round out the group, there is a trio of older teen girl competitors from Ireland, England and Scotland who have been opponents on the stage for years and all are nearing the end of the age where they can still compete at the Worlds.

I have to confess, as someone who was mesmerized by Riverdance when it first blazed upon the scene, I was delighted back then to see the comparatively cooler attire of the dancers (black tights & shoes under velvet minidresses for the girls, dark trousers and shirts for the boys) and I just cannot for the life of me understand the enduring appeal of these curly, curly ringlet wigs that all competing girls will put on (even the older ones), and the garish Celtic-motif dresses (which cost thousands of dollars) that often come in DayGlo shades that would make you queasy if you stared at them too long.  And that’s not to mention the fake tan, orange foundation of the kind that was popular with Aer Lingus stews back in the Seventies, and heavy make-up (even on the 10-year-olds).  The male dancers fare significantly better, though their waistcoat and ties can, at times, succumb to the same oversize, glow-in-the-dark designs that afflict their female peers.

After an intro of each of the subjects, with some beautifully composed shots of the kids practicing and talking about what dancing means to them and cuts to the parents, most whom seem genuinely bewildered that their offspring have picked up this costly obsession that pays nothing (there are no money prizes at the competitions, just the trophies and the glory of being chosen the best) and yet demands expensive costumes, shoes, wigs (for the girls), lessons, travel, and occasionally physiotherapy.  There are no obnoxious stage Moms or pageant Dads in this film, but you can’t miss the intensity of the parents (and the teachers) as they watch their young charges compete.  At one point, while Julia O’Rourke dances on stage, her mother and two dance instructors from New York are in the audience, silently bobbing up and down in their seats as they mimic Julia’s routine.

The final 20 minutes or so of the film – shot at the championship competition in Glasgow last year – is when the drama, as one would expect, builds.  There are various rounds that each must perform, and during the softer, almost balletic moves, Bourne has chosen to use a lovely piece of music by renowned composer Patrick Doyle to accompany the footwork.  The percussive stamp and pound of the hard shoe dancing is thoroughly infectious.  You may not feel confident enough to stand up and mimic the dancers’ moves, but you’ll have a hard time not tapping a foot along with the beats.

My only small complaint is about what comes at the end, as the tension is at its peak, when the kids are watching their scores and those of their competitors appear on a huge electronic board (while we hear the figures being announced): unless you’re following the profiled dancers’ numbers pinned to their costumes, and if you don’t know about the scoring process, you may, like I did, experience a momentary confusion and not know what was happening or who was winning, with your only cue the tears of sadness or joy of the competitors we’ve been following.

At the very end, when we learn if Brogan or Julia has won, there’s a seemingly genuine moment of grace and good sportsmanship on screen that is at once surprising and touching, given how young the girls are.

See it or skip it

Oooh, see it!  The footwork and talent and rhythm are all so compelling, as are the different dancers’ stories and the sense that Irish dance is saving at least some of them from a darker future (for the Russian girls, it gives them joy and the gift of flight, albeit fleeting, and for Sandun in Holland, it’s been a life preserver of sorts, that has helped him avoid darker paths with which he seems to have struggled).  And the scenes of the dancing, be it during rehearsals or the competition, are exhilarating.

The film opens today in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Toronto.  For tonight only (Friday, June 17th), if you’re in NY and go to see the film at the Quad cinemas, director Sue Bourne will be in attendance for a Q&A after each screening, as well as young Julia O’Rourke and Joe Bitter (who are featured in the film) and Jean Butler, the red-haired Long Island dancer who was the female face of Riverdance and Michael Flatley’s dance partner.

Filed Under: Ireland, New releases

Aaranya Kaandam

June 10, 2011 By 1 Comment

 

aaranya%20poster%202 Aaranya Kaandam

Just some quick thoughts based on seeing the film Aaranya Kaandam at last year’s SAIFF.  Am going back tonight for a second viewing now that the film is out today.

What has stuck with me since that night seven months ago is this: I recall a gritty, stylish, violent and often funny story of one day in the lives of several people that intersect at one point or another, all connected in some way to the Chennai crime world.

Jackie Shroff has put any vanity aside and let it all hang out as Singaperumal, a mean, angry, aging don who slaps his girlfriend Subbu (Yasmin Ponnappa) around when he can’t perform in bed.  And wait til you the shagadelic wallpaper in their bedroom.

jackie%20sampath%202 Aaranya Kaandam

Jackie Shroff and Sampath Raj

Then there’s his young gofer (played by Ravi Krishna) who’s got a crush on Subbu.  And the wonderful Sampath Raj as Pasupathy, a man in Singaperumal’s gang with some problems of his own.  Add to this Somasundaram as Kaalayan, a drunk, pea-brained father who is bossed around by his whip-smart and foul-mouthed little son (Master Vasanth).

Sadly, my Tamil is not extensive enough to appreciate it, but I do recall some folks last year relishing the colorful usage of curse words in the film’s dialogues, which ended up delaying the release until the producer could make his case before the censor in Chennai and then in Delhi and convince them that 50+ cuts were not the way to go.

But I did enjoy the discussion among Singaperumal’s guys about women and how you could tell – based on whether a girl liked Rajnikant or Kamalhaasan – how likely you’d be to bed her.  Priceless!

See it or skip it

See it!  I’ve been waiting months for a chance to watch it again, that must tell you something.  Amazing debut from director Thiagarajan Kumararajan.

Filed Under: New releases, Tamil

US Release of 3 Idiots DVD with Extra Features

April 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

3%20idiots%20scratching%202 US Release of 3 Idiots DVD with Extra Features

Thank you, Rajkumar Hirani. While you might not have done a director’s commentary on the 3 Idiots DVD that was released today here in the US from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, nor did you include a full-on “making of” documentary type feature that was an hour or two in length, what you did do was include four featurettes that serve as a wonderful little amuse bouches for what either of those might have been.  You left me wanting more, which is, I suppose, better than the contrary.

The most engaging of the four extra features directed by Karan Narvekar, for me, is Idiots in Ladakh.  This may be partially due to the fact that I’ve had an obsession with Ladakh since 1998 when I first caught a glimpse of it in Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se.  To my delight, several films since have also made the trek there (Bose-The Forgotten Hero, LOC Kargil, Lakshya, The Fakir of Venice, Tashan).  How can you not be mesmerized by this place? 

But ok, my obsession aside, the short film is a little drama in itself, as it tells of the episode the cast and crew had when they all went to Ladakh to shoot.  They had established themselves in a tent village of their own, with trucks and trucks of equipment, etc.  Just as they were about to start shooting, clouds rolled in and they had to stop.  One member of the team, a costume assistant, fell ill due to the altitude while the cast were trying to keep warm and distract themselves with card games and the like.  They got a doctor and took care of her, but no sooner had they done that, then it started to snow, lightly at first, and then it really came down.  I won’t spoil the rest of the story for you, but this featurette gave a facinating glimpse into the behind-the-scenes aspect of the making of 3 Idiots.

The subsequent three – All Izz Well, 100% Idiots and Making of Miss Idiot - contain similarly interesting episodes, about the choreography & shooting of the song, of a drunk scene in the film, and about getting the right look for Kareena Kapoor, and the sum total of them plus the Ladakh short are so enjoyable they’ll leave you wishing Raju Hirani had done a longer “making of” feature and/or a director’s commentary.  Maybe next time…yes, Raju?

Filed Under: New releases

Dum Maaro Dum: Go Ahead, Take a Toke

April 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

DMD%20Poster%202 Dum Maaro Dum: Go Ahead, Take a Toke

Friends, here are some rather rushed initial thoughts from the road, trying to get these online before the coffee shop and its Wifi close down….

Something happens to me when we’re at the beginning of spring, and the days are getting warmer. A movie will come along that offers a welcome glimpse of summer for two hours, until you exit the theater and the still-cold night air hits you. Three years back, it was Tashan, a film I really enjoyed and still do.

Last night in Manhattan, it was Dum Maaro Dum.

abhi%20and%20team%202 Dum Maaro Dum: Go Ahead, Take a Toke

Boarding school buddies Rohan Sippy and Abhishek Bachchan (here sporting a Freddie Mercury ‘tache) have again collaborated (this is their third flic after Kuch Naa Kaho and Bluffmaster). Located in Goa, the story has ACP Vishnu Kamath (Abhishek Bachchan) chasing down the city’s biggest druglord Lorsa Biscuita (Aditya Pancholi) for very personal motives. Biscuita’s drug business has managed to cause a domino effect of ruination in the lives of a string of interconnected people: Lorry (Prateik), the lovesick teen desperate to follow his girlfriend to the US but who doesn’t have the money, Zoe (Bipasha Basu) the ambitious would-be air hostess, and her shaggy, bighearted boyfriend Joki (Rana Daggubati).

As he did with Bluffmaster, Rohan Sippy creates a sometimes funny, dark, stylish story that has at its core a man who has lost his love and is trying to set things right because of that. Rather than watching Abhi and Piggy Chops cavort around Bombay, here he is older and jaded as he roughs up the bad guys in Goa. The colors are bleached from all the sun and sand and the costumes reflect the hang loose vibe present at all beachfront resorts from Rio to Kingston to Ibiza, a look that particularly suits Bips and Rana.

bips%20on%20beach%202 Dum Maaro Dum: Go Ahead, Take a Toke

Both look sunkissed and fabulous (she in lacy white sundresses and he in long baggy shorts & tees) and one can understand how some folks might speculate as to their possible involvement.

rana%20and%20bips%202 Dum Maaro Dum: Go Ahead, Take a Toke

Prateik’s role here plays up his youth and vulnerability to the max. While it’s not as nuanced or demanding as his Munna in Dhobi Ghat, he still conveys a sweet innocence that will inspire many viewers to want to protect and comfort him.

prateik%202 Dum Maaro Dum: Go Ahead, Take a Toke

Like many folks, this is my first time seeing Rana, and based on his work here as the faithful musician boyfriend, I would definitely check out his future work in any films, Telugu or otherwise.

I was particularly happy to see Aditya Pancholi back in major roles again recently, but I would have loved to see a little more meat on the bones of his part as Biscuita, maybe not to explain or justify his bad behavior, but just to see him not in full-on slimy crime boss mode.

bips%20and%20aditya%202 Dum Maaro Dum: Go Ahead, Take a Toke

Abhi does as well as he can as the man on a crimefighting mission, but his role too, aside from the glimpse of his life before The Really Bad Thing happened, is rather thin on substance too. Yes, he’s a cop, but is there nothing more to him when he’s off duty?

abhi%202 Dum Maaro Dum: Go Ahead, Take a Toke

See it or skip it?

Based on what I’d seen in Bluffmaster, I had really high hopes for Dum Maaro Dum, but sadly, they weren’t quite met. Not that I was expecting the same type of film or the same type of story, but while Bluffmaster had gloss and good looks too, it also had some fun characters of which you grew fond.

In DMD, the good people are likeable but very much in a surface kind of way. And the story, after the climactic confrontation at a forest rave starring Deepika Padukone, has one twist and switchback too many in an ending that takes about 10 minutes too long to reach.

I’d say, see it, even with these imperfections. (It’s showing in 101 theaters across the US & Canada!) The sum total of Abhi, Bips, Rana, Prateik and Aditya is worth it.

Filed Under: New releases