Maktub – Mother Jane’s new album

Mother Jane, the Indie rock music band’s new album – Maktub – is going to have a web premiere. Starting from the 18th midnight to 27th, they are posting previews of the 9 songs from this new album. You can download the ringtones & read the inside story of each song in their website.

The live web premiere and album launch details below:

Venue : www.motherjane.in
Date : 27/09/2008
Time : 8pm IST

Click here to check out the podcast interview by M-Pod (the Malayalam podcast) with Suraj Mani, the frontman cum lead vocalist of Mother Jane.

ViBGYOR 2008

ViBGYOR Film Festival 2008

4th ViBGYOR International Film Festival is to be held at Thrissur on February 4th to 8th, 2009. The venue is Regional Theatre Campus, in Thrissur, Kerala. ViBGRYOR is a non-competitive film festival held every year in Kerala for the past three years. Documentary, Short Films, Music Videos, Animation, Spots and Experimental films are screened in the Festival.

ViBGYOR Theme Packages:

  • Gender and Sexuality
  • Dalit Reality
  • Indigenous People
  • Globalisation
  • Nation State
  • Fundamentalism v/s Diversity
  • Region Focus –Pakistan

Every year there is a theme as Focus of the year on which a National seminar is conducted and a substantial number of films are screened. The focus of this year is Food.

ViBGYOR is an initiative of the ViBGYOR Film Collective, which is an open coalition of various networks and groups, representing indigenous people, dalits, youth, and sexual minorities and addressing issues of war, conflict and peace, human rights, environment and development, culture and media and globalization.

ViBGYOR is organized by Chetana Media Institute, Nottam Traveling Film Festival, Navachitra Film Society, CenSE, GAIA, Moving Republic, Visual Search and others.

For more information, log on www.vibgyorfilm.com
Or contact 9447000830/9446529991/0487-2330830,
Email: vibgyorfilmfest@gmail.com

(Info via email from Santhosh Kumar)

Khan and Kher

I bought a couple of DVDs last week among which there was Apna Asmaan and Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara. And I am so happy to have watched these two movies, not because of it’s craft (both has many flaws which could have been avoided to make them better) but for two finest actors of Hindi cinema. Two fine actors – Anupam Kher and Irfan Khan – who needs a big applause for their controlled and realistic acting skills.

Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin MaaraIn Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara, directed by Jhanu Barua, Anupam Khers portrays a retired Hindi professor who has Alzheimers. Well, it is not clear whether it is Alzheimers or Schizophrenia because he shows signs of these two. He is a man of principles and passionate about literature. Now, the talent of Mr. Kher shows when he transforms from the normal stage to the dementia stage. This change is so subtle and Kher carefully handles the character without overdoing it. The scenes like when he begins to get upset are also showcasing his wonderful skill at mastering the character. There are Rajit Kapoor (another talented actor who has nothing much to do in this film) and Urmila Matondkar (who does a good job) but it is an all-Anupam-Kher movie.

The movie could have been done better though. Instead of saving the mystery behind the trauma of Professor Chaudhry for the climax scene, director choose to reveal it halfway through the movie. I wish if the director had saved it for the climax court scene, because that would give it a good twist at the end and make this movie beautiful.

Apna AasmaanApna Aasmaan is another Taare Zameen Par, but with a different situation, less tears and with lots of loose ends in the script. What saves this movie is the amazing performance of Irfan Khan. I haven’t watched any other movies of Irfan Khan, but this one makes me want to watch more of his films.

So go ahead, get the DVDs of these two movies. Watch it, not for the movie, but for two amazing actors and their wonderful performances.

(Image courtesy: Rediff.com)