Category: Movies

Lohitha Das passes away

Lohitha Das, one of the best scriptwriters that Malayalam cinema ever had, died today in Kochi.  He belonged to a class of writers who found their raw material from the lives of ordinary people. Some of the best musicals in Malayalam cinema were penned by him, like “His Highness Abdullah” and “Bharatham“. Both Mammootty and Mohan Lal had some of their best characters in their acting career from Lohitha Das. He gave movies like Thaniyaavarthanam and Boothakannaadi to Mammootty and Kireedam and Bharatham to Mohan Lal. He introduced some of the best actresses in Malayalam – Manju Warrier, Meera Jasmin and Bhaama. Even though he enjoyed great success as a script-writer, his career as a director was not so bright. His last two directorial ventures had flopped in the box office. But he will be remembered for the characters and stories he had penned down in his life time.

RIP, Lohitha Das…

(Image sourced from Sify.com)

Aussies, Bollywood, Racism etc

rajesh_khannaThese are scary times for the Indian students in Australia. The fear of being beaten up, or the vehicles being torched etc still prevails and its all in the name of race. The racist attacks against Indian students in Australia have sparked widespread protests in India and abroad. The most noted protest came from the old showman of the so-called Bollywood who refused to accept an award given to him by the Aussies. And the Bollywood joined in this protest against racism.

Yes, against racism. Now before I go further, wouldn’t you agree that Racism, Casteism and Prejudice are cousins? If yes, let us rewind the news a little bit. There we see the Bollywood star of the yesteryears, Rajesh Khanna, publicly mouthing against South Indians.

I had a hearty laugh when she said that when a person retires he or she gets lifetime achievement award. I disagree. Probably she doesn’t know the word (in) English, she’s probably from south (India).

So Mr. Khanna believes that the south Indians do not understand English. Now either I can go ahead and point out at more than a thousand examples of known or not-publicly-known individuals from South India, or ignore his ignorance. And I prefer the latter. What I cannot ignore however, is this kind of prejudice that prevails among us, the people of the same country. But the old Mr. Khanna can be excused since the south Indians themselves have such prejudices against each other.

Coming back to our protest against racism, we Indians seem to have easily forgotten our Desi version of it – Casteism. And as much as we like to deny it, some reminders keep popping up from time to time. Like this, for example. The 11 year old Dalit servant boy who was made to sit and eat under the table, while his masters enjoy their meals on the dining table. The image of a dog  comes to my mind, that sits under the table of his master. We even have a popular name for this set of people now – The slum dogs. And talking of slum dogs, this is about how you would treat the people who belongs to the lowest step of the caste and economical ladder.

Oh, and what was the occassion that Khanna ji made his remarks against South Indians? IIFA – The so-called International Indian Film Awards. about which I had written about in my blog on various occassions (Not in Our Name and Indian Awards, Given Abroad) and of which our old angry young man, who refused to accept the Aussie award in protest against racism, is a leading ambassador.

Thoughts on The Pianist

I watched the movie “The Pianist” today for the 3rd or 4th time. I love war movies and when I say that people think it is because I like violence. But I like war movies because they show the the effect of violence in the human life. It teaches me to cherish the life that I have as it is and reminds me how important it is to support the causes of oppressed and downtrodden people and voice for them.

A couple of thoughts passed my mind when I watched The Pianist again today. There are many scenes (and remember the movie is based on a true-life account) in this movie where individuals are left with no choice but to save/help themselves and ignore the others in the process. That makes me think, can we really help anyone but ourselves in the extreme situations? I mean, the really extreme situations. If not, then what is this so called thing “morale” mean to us? What is our morality based on?

(Image source: Wikipedia)

Meet Akash Kingston

[Lies on the Prize, directed by Dubai-based Akash Kingston, won the first prize at the 15th Slamdance Film Festival 2009. He shares his winning experience with KK Moidu]

Akash Kingston was chosen by the Real Ideas Studio Student Filmmaking programme in 2009 for Slamdance Film Festival held in January in Park City, Utah, USA. Eight documentaries made by thirty-two students from different backgrounds from all over the world were screened at the festival. Akash’s team got the story idea for the winning documentary from colleagues. He was the head of one of the eight teams selected through an interview and skills assessment by the board members of the Real Ideas Studio. Twenty-year-old Akash, son of Kingston Gilbert and Usha Kingston, is a graduate in film production from SAE Institute, Dubai.

Born in Calicut, Kerala, India, Akash has been living in Dubai for the last 13 years. Akash was the only one to be selected from the Middle East and the Asian region for this prestigious event. The participants had been given a short period of 10 days to write the script, shoot and edit a five-minute short film. Akash’s film was selected by the jury as the best film from the entries submitted by more than 30 students from around the world.

Continue reading Meet Akash Kingston

An Indian victory?

A R Rahman wins Oscar

Do we call it an Indian victory?

That was the question that CNN-IBN panel asked Kamala Haasan (whom the media used to call Kamal Hassan earlier) relating to the Oscar sweep of the movie Slumdog Millionaire. We can see how futile this question is, since Slumdog Millionaire is a British production, directed and produced by a Brit and the major chunk of the technical crew were Brits. Why should India, the nation, celebrate the victory of Slumdog Millionaire? The British have a reason to celebrate but what does India have to call the 8 oscars the movie got as an “Indian victory”? Our celebration should be about the individuals who have won the accolades in the Oscar platform. A R Rahman and Resul Pookutty for the global recognition that they have got.

Adding to the absurdity is a comment from Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. She reportedly said that Slumdog Millionaire has created history in the field of Indian cinema. How did Slumdog create history in “Indian cinema“? But she doesn’t just stop there and goes on to offer tax exemption for the film. The union Home Minister P Chidambaram has also joined the bandwagon by requesting finance ministry to exempt the film from tax.

Just think about it. So many quality regional language films are struggling in India without getting distributors or theaters to exhibit their films and the government did not do much about helping them promote their films. And then, a British film which was released under a big banner like Fox Searchlight Pictures win Oscars and it gets tax exemption in India. So much for our government’s love for art and cinema.

If the government and politicians are so much moved by the recognition that A R Rahman and Resul Pookkutty received in the Oscar arena, what they should do in return is to help these individuals help others who are interested in the fields of music and cinema. How about offering scholarships or sponsorships for talented but poor youngsters to learn the technical sides of Cinema? Or how about sponsoring talented but poor youngsters to get an entry into a renowned musical institute? Or how about helping A R Rahman to offer the poor but talented youngsters a chance to learn world music from his upcoming musical conservatory? Well, I think we will hardly see any of these happening.

Let me conclude with Kamala Haasan’s answer to CNN-IBN’s question, because he puts it rightly.

This day means something to Danny Boyle, Rahman and to an extent some of the Indians. But it doesn’t mean anything to Indian cinema till Indian cinema tries to make quality films. So when it does that, it will deserve the recognition and it doesn’t mean that we are not making quality cinemas. We are not respecting quality cinemas as it should be. That is because content might be king but placement is very important.

(Image courtesy: IndiaGlitz)

Oscars to India

The 81st Academy Awards have been announced. A R Rahman and Resul Pookkutty made India proud in the event and people everywhere is talking about it. Not so surprisingly, Slumdog Millionaire packed 8 Oscars in the event. I feel sad for Thomas Newman, for his work in Wall-E (for background score) was not recognized but those who appreciate music knows no matter what a bunch of people in the Academy decides, Mr. Newman’s work excels than the rest of the nominations. I am happy for A R Rahman though, as a fan and a fellow Indian, but I still don’t think the song Jai Ho is worthy of an Oscar. A R Rahman has done better work than this in the films made in India.

I couldn’t watch the show live but hoping to watch the re-telecast tonight. By the way, I have got 13 out of my 21 Oscar award predictions right. 🙂

Oscar Awards – My prediction

These predictions are based solely on my intuition, as I have not watched some of the nominated films this year. So these predictions may or may not represent what I think the best, and it’s mostly based on what I think the Academy would choose for the Oscar awards. 🙂

Performance by an actor in a leading role: Richard Jenkins for “The Visitor”

Richard Jenkins has done his role in The Visitor simply and superbly. He portrays a widower who has been caught up with the routine life and pretends he is busy and finally finds something which interests him, that is music. Richard’s acting in this movie is very realistic and with very subtle expressions and he masters the whole thing excellently. Sean Penn and Brad Pitt were superb too, but I think the Oscar should go to this underdog. I haven’t seen the performances of Frank Langella or Mickey Rourke yet. But Sean Penn (movie: Milk) will definitely make it a tight competition for Richard Jenkins. So I would predict it is either Richard Jenkins or Sean Penn.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role: Heath Ledger for “The Dark Knight“

I haven’t seen Robert Downey Jr’s or Michael Shannon’s performances, but I think Heath Ledger should win. He is such a talented actor who gave a totally different dimension to The Joker, a role which was portrayed by Jack Nicholson earlier, and I must say he has done it way better than the legendary Jack Nicholson himself. More than that, the actor has a world-wide sympathy over him for his untimely death and I have a gut feeling that the Academy will consider that. A close competitor would be Philip Seymour Hoffman for the film Doubt.

Performance by an actress in a leading role: Kate Winslet for “The Reader“

I want Kate Winslet to win this award. That woman has done an amazing performance in The Reader. She has been nominated six times for Academy awards and has never won. I hope this time the luck and Academy favors her. The ever amazing Meryl Streep gives a tough competition to Kate Winslet and I wouldn’t be disappointed if Meryl Streep won the best actress award for her performance in Doubt. So it is either Kate Winslet or Meryl Streep.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role: Taraji P. Henson for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Taraji’s talent is proven in this movie where she portrays a woman in her young and old ages. She has given a good performance and I think the Academy would see that. A second choice would be Amy Adams for her role in Doubt. She portrays an innocent young nun in that film and she handled it very well.

Best animated feature film of the year: Wall-E

The positive edge that Wall-E has over the other animated feature films is that there was a big challenge involved in making this film. There is no conversation for a long time in the film and main characters of the film are robots and to have them express emotions are tough. But the ever amazing team at Pixar has done their magic again and it needs to be recognized.


Random prediction continues below:

Achievement in art direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Achievement in cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Achievement in costume design: The Duchess
Achievement in directing: David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Achievement in film editing: Slumdog Millionaire (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best foreign language film of the year: The Class
Achievement in makeup: Greg Cannom (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score): Thomas Newman (Wall-E)
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song): A.R. Rahman (Jai Ho)
Best motion picture of the year: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best animated short film: Presto
Achievement in sound editing: The Dark Knight
Achievement in sound mixing: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Achievement in visual effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Adapted screenplay: David Hare (The Reader)
Original screenplay: Milk

Nagesh – A tribute

[Nagesh will be remembered as one of the most talented comedians in Tamil Cinema, says KK Moidu in today’s guest post].

Cyril K Nagesh, popularly known as Nagesh, has left a void in the Tamil cinema industry. The death of the septuagenarian on Jan. 31 due to complications related to diabetes and heart ailment put an end to an era. The 76-year-old actor is survived by three sons, including actor Anand Babu.

Nagesh, who carved a niche for himself, was most often casted as the man who stands next to the hero. He had enough luck to share screen space with three generations of actors like MGR-Sivaji, Rajinikanth-Kamal Hassan and the latest Tamil heartthrobs Ilayathalapathi Vijay and Ajith Kumar. Most of the people today remember Nagesh as a funny man but many don’t know yesteryear’s front-line heroes like MGR and Sivaji Ganesan were waiting for his arrival on the sets. For producers, his presence in films was necessary for commercial success. He was not able to find enough time and worked on an hourly basis on each film per day. For the last couple of years, Nagesh was rarely seen on screen and his last film was Dasavatharam, where Kamal Hassan played ten different roles. He was one of the leading comedians of the 60s and 70s during the reign of MGR-Shivaji and was a regular in their films. Nagesh, a good dancer, was praised for his pairing opposite Manorama in several films.

CK Nagesh was born as Gundu Rao in a Brahmin community to Kannada speaking Brahmin Madhwa parents in 1933. He left his home as a teenager, telling his parents that he would return only after establishing himself. He travelled to Chennai and started his career as an employee of the Indian Railways. After watching a Tamil play Kamba Ramayanam presented by his colleagues, he felt that he could do a better job. His role in a play as a man suffering from stomach pain staged at the Railways Cultural Association won him appreciation from MGR, the chief guest of the programme. Nagesh began his career as a theatre artiste by playing minor roles and finally reached stardom.

Continue reading Nagesh – A tribute

Amvizone Internet Movie Awards

Amvizone brings you an internet based film awards program titled “AmviZone Internet Movie Awards”. They are a community of amateur film makers who create short movies based on small themes and release them online. You can check out some of their videos in their website.

They have come up with this project to find out what the normal Internet users like you and me think about movies and stars. They say that so far the space was dominated by a few media giants and now people also have a say in it. Amvizone has created a voting platform where normal internet users can vote for various movie related categories.

Blog – www.moviebuzz.org

Voting page – http://moviebuzz.org/internet-movie-awards-2008/

Current Voting Status – http://moviebuzz.org/award2008/status.php

Checkout my nominations for Music category.