Home

Indian Movies

Request for bloggers to review the movie 'Toss'

01 September 2009 г., 07:52

Sharing this on behalf of my friend Chhavi, who wrote to me with her request for bloggers to review the new movie 'Toss'.  Please read and connect directly.

Cheers

Rajesh


------


I'm writing to invite bloggers who would be interested in reviewing the film Toss to get in touch with us - we'll hook them up with a pair of free tickets either today (Sep 1) to view it at any theatre near them. They need to send us an sms (or call) with their name, closest theatre showing Toss and the time they want to view it along with the URL for their blog ASAP.

We're doing this mostly because the mainstream media (in the face of 9 releases last weekend) has pretty much ignored Toss. The movie is totally youth focused (18-35 years) and we feel there's just not been enough awareness of it to direct people towards it.

The number to text is +91.90.0434.3778
Remember to send 1. your name, 2. blog's URL, as well as 3. time & venue you want to see Toss. All reviews are welcome.

Cheers,
Chhavi

Leave a comment

What a disaster

by [info]pmax3

01 March 2009 г., 02:20


I never thought i would write this. I just came back from watching Slumdog Millionaire and was thoroughly dissappointed.

The movie has NO REDEEMING VALUE!

There is no plot (whatever there is is contrived and implausible), and the movie doesn't make any point apart from showing that a boy from the slums became a millionaire and got the girl. Everything else is a macabre and distorted depiction of poverty and injustice and in India packaged as entertainment.

There are so many things that don't make sense that I don't know where to start. For instance, the fact that the boy just happened to know all the answers is so unbelieveable. And what was that about the quiz show host handing over the boy to the police like that - that doesn't happen, no not even India. And to think that the police would be stupid enough to apply third-degree methods on such a high-profile person - gosh it is all so fake. 

I am surprised that the movie won the best picture Oscar. It is a fact that Indian cinema has produced many movies that are far better than this pedestrian effort. Or perhaps the judges felt entertained by the glum depictions of an exotic and harsh place.

I said before that the movie had no redeeming value. Well I'd like to change that and say that there is one - the movie doesn't shy away from showing the dark underbelly of Indian society and goes where most Indian filmmakers feel out of their comfort zone. It brings out in the open what nobody seems comfortable to talk about and that is a good thing. However the problem is that no message is conveyed and everything is presented as a fait accompli, again just to serve as entertainment. And in that the movie leaves much to be desired.

Leave a comment | 2

INDIAN SOFTPOWER’S KODAK MOMENT!

25 February 2009 г., 10:55

In the days to come, there will be widespread discussion on Slumdog Millionaire and whether it reflects the true worth of India and is indeed a representation of life in India. There will be many who will suddenly change their stance now that the film has won eight Oscars. While there will be silly marketing managers and their ilk who will try and devise strategies as to how Jamal Malik can now be the brand-endorser for all things which are basic and Indian.


For me personally, the Oscar ceremony on February 22 at the Kodak Theatre was more than just about a film set in Bombay. It was about recognising the true worth of soft power and its role in building a brand: in this case, Brand India and I believe for that and that alone, we need to be grateful to Danny Boyle. The film could easily have been set in Africa. We may have missed A R Rahman’s music in that case but am sure the treatment would have not been so dramatically different.


To read more click here.

 

Leave a comment

24 February 2009 г., 11:05

Hi moderators,

Could you please clarify your policy re. postings by members? Are we permitted to plonk in our film reviews and/or thoughts on this community?

Sorry for posting this here but the comm profile does not carry any e-mail information for questions and similar. Please delete this if it does not fit the comm guidelines.

Leave a comment | 3

Masakkali

by [info]pmax3

21 February 2009 г., 18:57

Can anyone please tell me what "masakkali" means? The song is all the rage but everyone has a different take on what this unfamilier word means.

Leave a comment | 2

What the...

by [info]pmax3

08 February 2009 г., 17:26


'Barbers' miffed with film title Billu Barber

What's derogatory and offensive about the word "barber"? grrr...

Leave a comment

Reviews: Slumdog and Raaz

24 January 2009 г., 12:12

Slumdog Millionaire

India has a way of accepting second hand from the West, what was our own to begin with. Like yoga, herbal medicine or curry.

Slumdog Millionaire, with its multiple wins and Oscar nominations, just re-packages Ram Gopal Verma and Mahesh Bhatt.. Raj Kapoor and KA Abbas too if we were to go back further, and gives the waiting world a Bollywood film done Angrez style.. the film equivalent of power yoga or pizza with tandoori toppings.

Read more... )

Raaz: The Mystery Continues


Like most recent horror films like Phoonk and 1920, Mohit Suri’s Raaz: The Mystery Continues faithfully follows set horror film conventions, but gives some more thought to the plot — maybe inspired by Stigmata, making an uneasy combination with Ganashatru (based on Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People) and of course, elements of The Exorcist.

Nandita (
Irrfan Khan-Saurabh Shukla), a model starts showing signs of mysterious attacks by spirits, which irritates her boyfriend Yash (Adhyayan Suman), who hosts a TV show called Andhvishwas, exposing supernatural phenomena as hoaxes and superstition. Nandita is also stalked by a haunted-looking painter Prithvi (Emraan Hashmi), who paints the unpleasant incidents before they occur to her, and can’t figure out the connection.

Read more... )

Leave a comment | 1

LJ India, a hub for all LJ India users

23 January 2009 г., 16:10

Hi Everyone,         


We are happy to announce that it has been over six months since LJ announced its
localisation plans for India

 

We have been making great progress and with help from all of you, we have successfully launched a number of India specific communities. Besides India Movies the other active and buzzing India centric communities on LiveJournal are India Politics, India Writing, India Travels, India Sport and Bollywood Club

 

We would also like you take this opportunity to introduce to you LJ India. LJ India is going to be an active hub, almost the ground zero for all Indian users of LiveJournal, as well as all LiveJournal users interested in India.

 

Suggest ideas & improvements, ask questions, post queries, garner insights from other LJ users or just find friends with similar interests – LJ India is the community that you should join.

 

Do join the LJ India community. We look forward to meeting you on LJ India.

 

If you have any thoughts on how the past six months have been, or thoughts on how to take it forward, do leave a word.

 

Cheers,

Rajika

Leave a comment

How Bollywood got its Shehanshah

22 January 2009 г., 14:20

To read more about how Amitabh Bachchan’s golden performances on the silver screen has made him an unforgettable saga... Click Here

40 years from when he started, Amitabh Bachchan still considers himself lucky to live his journey. Even at the age of 65, his potential reaches new heights with every performance. And thus, we call him Amitabh Bachchan- the living legend!

Leave a comment

3 Globes for Slumdog:

21 January 2009 г., 11:35

India-based story of an underdog, the Danny Boyle-directed Slumdog Millionaire as you might already know won three Golden Globe awards. First bagging the award for the Best Director (Danny Boyle), Best Screenplay category (Simon Beaufoy), and the Best Original Score (A R Rahman).

The story of a slum kid who participates in popular reality game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who Wants to be a Millionaire) and ends up winning Rs 2 crore, the protagonist Dev Patel won the most promising newcomer award at the British Independent Film Awards recently as well as the Best Young Actor Award at the Critics' Choice Awards.





To read more
click here.

Leave a comment

No Nomination for TZP

16 January 2009 г., 22:57

Aamir Khan was so busy plugging Ghajini, that there was not much news of his creating a buzz for Taare Zameen Par in LA, like he did for Lagaan, which made it to the Oscar short-list in the Best Foreign Film Category,  and lost the the far-superior No Man's Land.

 

Meanwhile the Indian media is jumping with joy over Slumdog Millionaire winning four Golden Globes (though it is not an Indian film), including one for AR Rahman, that there hasn't been much lamenting over TZP not getting into the longlist.

 

Read more... )

 


Leave a comment | 1

Chandni Chowk to China

16 January 2009 г., 22:30



The intention was right—get Hollywood (Warner) clout to back an Indian masala-meets-Chinese-kung fu spectacle and conquer the world. Maybe because they aimed too high, the fall was equally hard.

 

 A film like Chandni Chowk to China, inspired by the illogical seventies' style commercial cinema (the kind Manmohan Desai patented), needs a sense of childish abandon, total conviction in its silliness and a don't-let-them-think pace, which Nikhil Advani simply cannot accomplish.  As a result of which the Chinese martial arts portions of the film (like a live-action Kung Fu Panda) work much better that the Bollywood melodrama. 

  

Read more... )

Leave a comment | 2

Celeb Bloggers

12 January 2009 г., 11:59

Soumyadip has put together a great list of Indian celebrity bloggers, mostly Bollywood actors, actresses and directors.

The post makes an attempt at listing the Indian celebrities who have taken on to blogging. 

A great resource!

Leave a comment

Bad Luck Govind

09 January 2009 г., 17:10

In the credits (and the brochure), the characters have names likes Angelic Anu, Hungree Hussain, Krazee Kripalani, Troubled Talpade, and so on… and the wit in Varun Khanna's Bad Luck Govind ends right there.
 
The thought of watching yet another Mumbai gangster film is not in the least encouraging, but the title suggested a comedy, so hopes were raised a bit… and dashed soon enough. 
 


A skinny and sad-looking, jug-eared Govind (Gaurav Kapur) believes he brings bad luck wherever he goes… a very unlikely series of errors, leads to his leaving Delhi for Mumbai, and having his luggage stolen on the train.
 
At a hospital (where he goes to try make some money as a sperm donor), he meets aspiring actor Vishal (Amit Mistry--earnest), who gives the hapless fellow shelter in his chawl room.
 
The chawl has two sets of warring gangsters – Kapoor (Parmeet Sethi) and gang on one side, and Talpade (Ganesh Yadav) on the other. Mostly they just yell insults across the yard, but there is some complicated betting involving the imprisonment of a don Mahalkar's (Govind Namdeo) nephew, causing ego clashes between the two sides.
 
Read more... )


Leave a comment

The President is Coming

09 January 2009 г., 16:52

Kunaal Roy Kapoor's The President is Coming has several pluses—it is based on  a contemporary Indian English play by Anuvab Pal, a major Bollywood production company (the Sippys) have put their money  (not a lot, but still..) on it and some of Mumbai's best stage actors get to show their talent on screen.  George Bush was always a subject ripe for satire, even though this film comes a little too late for throwing a figurative shoe at him.

 


Since it is in English, the audience is automatically limited, but its wacky humour, and furious one-liners will go down well with young urban multiplex-going crowds, who get to see a film that speaks their tongue and probably expresses some of their thoughts.
 
Read more... )

Leave a comment

From Page to Film

08 January 2009 г., 15:38

Hello, the film adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's One Night@Call Centre,  did not do well at the box-office. There's another film, 3 Idiots, based on his novel Five Point Someone coming up, being directed by Rajkumar (Munnabhai) Hirani, with Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor, so that counts for something.

 Contemporary Indian literature being turned into films, however, got a boost with the extraordinary success of Slumdog Millionaire, based on Vikas Swarup's Q & A—one of the few instances, I am told, of the film being better than the book.

 

Read more... )


Leave a comment | 3

2008: Not a Bad Year

30 December 2008 г., 15:47

A year that started on a high and optimistic note, ends with recession and a bit of gloom.. but 2008 was not such a bad year all thing considered. At least it ended with the bang of Rab Ne Bana Do Jodi and Ghajini.

If anything, 2008 taught filmmakers once again, that audiences cannot be taken for granted.  And just because one film of a genre worked, doesn't mean everything will.  After the success of comedies last year, there was a spate of them this year and most of them Bombay to Bangkok, One Two Three, Mr Black and Mr White, De TaaliMoney Hai To Honey HaiDhoom DhadakkaUgly Aur Pagli, God Tussi Great Ho, Maan Gaye Mughe-e-Azam, Rafoochakkar failed at the box-office.  But Golmaal Returns, Singh is Kingg, Dostana and surprisingly Welcome to Sajjanpur salvaged the genre somewhat.

Read more... )</div>

 


Leave a comment | 2

The selling of Ghajini

30 December 2008 г., 15:34

If a star—who otherwise claims to be a private person—pulls out all the stops to promote a film, including cutting hair in the streets, and releasing his body building video, it smacks of desperation. Only if someone is not totally sure of their film would they go for these begging bowl marketing strategies.

 

Ok, so Ghajini took a great opening, and money is all, but what about dignity?  Aamir Khan has enough fans, and if everyone saw the film at least once, it would do well anyway.  But after that publicity blitz, people who would normally not see the film are going out of curiosity, and many are coming out revolted by the violence and shocked by mediocrity of the film.  But Aamir wanted big opening figures and he got them, but what's he going to do next for publicity—he has already plumbed the depths.


 

The film, directed by AR Murugadoss, who had also helmed the Tamil version, is a revenge drama –the kind Mithun Chakraborty has done by the dozen in the past—the only twist is that the hero suffers from short-term memory loss, and this twist as everyone knows, has been picked from Hollywood film Memento. So much for originality… no wonder the hero needs to build up an eight-pack body and flaunt it.

 

Leave a comment | 4

'Ghajini': Masala!

24 December 2008 г., 10:30

It's Wednesday, and the reviews of the film Ghajini have already started pouring in online. The movie featuring Aamir Khan, has been much awaited for. The supremely talented actor acts in one film a year (or max two) and no two films are indentical in plotline.



So what are the critics saying:
'On the whole, Ghajini is a winner all the way'  --  msn.in Entertainment
'A fulltu paisa vasool movie for a Bollywood buff' -- Reallybollywood.com
'The film will set new records and has the merits to emerge as one of the biggest hits of all times' -- Sify.com
Ghajini isn't great film or a good one but I recommend that you see it...' -- NDTV.com


Leave a comment

Wafaa: Heart-breaking

22 December 2008 г., 10:06


Today's generation may not even be aware of the Rajesh Khanna craze the early seventies. But such was the frenzy that the word 'superstar' was coined for him.

His downfall was equally rapid and then the Amitabh Bachchan frenzy took over. But for the short while that he was at the top, he was in another stratosphere.  Years later, it was nostalgia that brought a small bunch of people to the cinemas to see his new film Wafaa.

 

Read more... )

Leave a comment

September 2009

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930