Totally Filmi

May Movie Madness: Bittoo Boss in Six Words

 

Once again, I think I'll let the film speak for itself:

 

 

Bittoo Boss (Hindi, dir. Supavitra Babul, 2012)

Starring: Pulkit Samrat, Amita Pathak, Rajendra Sethi, Mohan Kapoor

Worth Revisiting?  You know what?  Yes.  I was disappointed that I couldn't love the film -- it doesn't have the effortless charm of films like Vicky Donor or Band Baaja Baaraat, the story is kind of messy and episodic, the supporting characters don't make much of an impression, and there's some not-so-great acting happening at times.  But.  I really loved the music, and the film has such heart, as well as a hero who truly is a nice guy.  The premise -- a videowala who dreams of making films beyond the ones he takes of weddings and other ceremonies -- is solid, even if the execution is uneven.  There are some really lovely moments in this film, and it's just too bad they weren't strung together into a more cohesive whole that I could love.  That said, I think I'd watch it again, and I definitely want to see what both Pulkit Samrat and Supavitra Babul will do next.  Perhaps the second time will be the charm?

May Movie Madness: Bhalo Theko in Six Words

 

Poetry, politics, philosophy, nature, love, persistence.

 

 

Bhalo Theko ("Take Care", Bengali, dir. Goutam Halder, 2003)

Starring: Vidya Balan,  Soumitra Chatterjee, Joy Sengupta, Debshankar Haldar, Parambrata Chatterjee, Rimjhim Gupta, Souvik Poyra, Anusua Majumdar, Bijay Lakshmi Barman, Chandan Sengupta

Worth Revisiting? Yes.  Sure, it's arty and slow-paced and requires a lot of patience.  But it's Vidya Balan's first feature film, and the film won three National Awards in 2003: Best Cinematography, Best Audiography, and a Special Jury Award "(f)or its quiet but masterful foray into the new cinematic idioms."  It's also interesting to see Vidya Balan and Parambrata Chatterjee together on screen prior to their work  in Kahaani.

 

Shaitan

Any film with the name Anurag Kashyap attached to it is automatically guaranteed to be a house fave here at Casa Totally Filmi -- we still await the release of That Girl in Yellow Boots (seeing it at TIFF was not enough), and today, we are very keen to watch the leaked trailer of Shaitan, produced by Kashyap, starring amongst others another house fave Kalki Koechlin, and written and directed by Bejoy Nambiar.

I feel kind of compelled to repeat that last point, as everyone seems to be declaring this "Anurag Kashyap's next film".  Shaitan is Bejoy Nambiar's directorial debut -- his previous experience includes being a line producer for Mani Ratnam's Raavan and Raavanan, and assistant director on another Ratnam film, Guru.

That said:  this leaked trailer bears a lot of classic Kashyap fingerprints on it:  the cinematography (especially the use of colour), the style of the thing.  In fact, I'd say I had a bit of a Paanch* and Black Sunday via No Smoking flashback while watching it:

One thing is certain, however:  if this film opens over here, I am *so* going to watch it. 

 

*In fact, I had a very strong Paanch flashback.  This makes me intensely curious.  And just adds to my desire to see the film.

**Also?  I feel compelled to mention that the film is being edited by A. Sreekar Prasad, who also worked on Urumi.  Just to let you know that I'm still longing to see the film.  Sigh.

Stanley Ka Dabba

House favourite Amole Gupte (also in the much-anticipated Urumi, I note wryly) is making his directorial debut with the upcoming film Stanley Ka Dabba.  And you know what?

 

I really, really, really, really, really want to see this film.

Here's the synopsis from the film's official site,

"Imagine this boy in your mind's eye. He arrives in school much before any of his classmates to drum away his blues on empty benches. He stuffs himself with water instead of the nutritious food that his schoolmates relish during the lunch break. He covers up for his lack of social rank with the finesse of the most seasoned diplomat. Who is this child? What is he like? Why is he anything like he is? Wouldn't you like to know? Meet Stanley, the protagonist of the much awaited 'Stanley Ka Dabba

'Stanley Ka Dabba' is the latest offering from the insightful writer-director, Amole Gupte that throws light on the everyday life of a school going child. The character, Stanley, tugs at your heartstrings with his indomitable spirit, while warding off the hostile world he is surrounded by at all times, everywhere. The film reveals how this is child-soldier, rises above his choking real life situation on the way setting a template for all whiners to learn from, even emulate.

Like most others his ilk, Stanley loves to be amongst friends and win the appreciation of his peers and colleagues. He uses his sparkling wit and innocent wisdom to impress everyone he touches. At times spinning-a-yarn amongst friends about his mother's flight, while on occasion conjuring some heartfelt poetry to impress the lovely English teacher, Rosy Miss (Divya Dutta). There are though teachers like the pungent Science Madam, Ms Iyer (Divya Jagdale) whose rigid beliefs smother Stanley's innovative science experiment with all the contempt at her disposal. Then there is the gluttonous Hindi master, Verma Sir (Amole Gupte) who emerges as the catalyst in helping the boys bond for Stanley's dignity and rightful place in the school.

The camaraderie between the boys comes to the fore when they thwart Verma Sir's desperate attempts to polish off their dabbas with all the guile at their disposal. The gang makes the 'invincible' Verma show his true vulnerable self for once as he marches from one possible hideout to another in the school premises trying to binge upon their home made food.

Stanley, the little protagonist of Amole Gupte's, latest film 'Stanley Ka Dabba' shows how, like the proverbial lotus, can one rise above all the filth around and make the world a better, beautiful place to live in.

The way he goes about bringing cheer to his colleagues and his little friends is what makes him the Stanley we all need to be in today's day and age. Wise and sensitive, loving and mischievous: living every moment as if there is no tomorrow."

 

And if that's not enough to tempt you, then perhaps the trailer is?

 

 

Sadly, I'm willing to bet this film won't get a theatrical opening over here.  Perhaps I'll be proved wrong?  I would so love to be wrong.

I've gone quite over the deep end with this film, and if you're like me, you can follow its progress in a number of ways:

On Facebook:  Stanley Ka Dabba

Stanley seems to have a blog, too.  And he's on twitter:  @StanleyKaTweets

And, of course, Stanley's Youtube Channel.

Summer Wine

Okay.  With Deol Dhamaka drawing to a close, it's probably about time I got around to a final post about Betaab, about why it's a film I like so much when others find it not entirely watchable, about how I can forgive it so many faults that I won't forgive other films.

I've written two posts on this and thrown them both in the trash, as I think that all I did was try to re-hash some of the things I actually like about the film.

Here, in the end, is what I think I've decided:  sometimes the reasons a film resonates with us have nothing to do with plot or story or dialogue or directing or acting or cinematography or music or any of the myriad of technical or creative things that go into making a film.

Sometimes the reasons some of us like a film and others of us don't have more to do with the kinds of baggage we bring into the theatre with us -- because, on some level, none of us sees a film in the same way.  Oh, sure, there may be markers along the way that we all see, but how we interpret them can often be as simple as how we feel that day.  If we've had a crappy day, we may not enjoy the film we pop in the player.

Bottom line:  my experience, knowledge, and culture will be different from yours, and all of those things might influence my film-watching experience.

And I think this is some of what is happening for me with Betaab. 

I think that Betaab is a film that resonates with me for a few reasons -- first, as someone who loves first films, I find it very intriguing to watch.  I've mentioned before how impressive Bobby Deol's debut in Barsaat was, how you see so much of what Bobby was good at or capable of in that very first film.

And I think the same is true, though perhaps not to the same extent, for both Amrita Singh and Sunny Deol in Betaab.  I've mentioned that I felt that, perhaps, especially in the early part of the film, the two young debut actors didn't have the skill or experience needed to temper their roles, so they both end up kind of shrill or shouty, instead of stubborn and impetuous.  But, frankly, there's so much they do bring to their performances that shows they already contain the grains of the actors they will become. 

Sunny, for example, is brilliant at the action scenes in Betaab, displaying a confidence and skill that he would only build on as his career progressed.  Amaluu (she with incredible and encyclopedic knowledge of movie music) has mentioned the way Sunny looks at his heroines in picturisations -- it's something I'd noticed, too, and you can already see it here in his very first film.  He's also very comfortable physically with his heroines -- you know what I mean, some heroes look as if they're afraid to touch the heroine, so they look very awkward at times.  Not Sunny.  And that, too, is there in Betaab, as is his innate shyness, a trait that is used to great advantage in later films such as Gadar:  Ek Prem Katha and Yamla Pagla Deewana.

I'm not as familiar with Amrita Singh's career, alas, but Betaab has convinced me that her films are worth seeking out.  Her performance later in the film contains many more subtle moments that are absolutely missing in the first half of the film, and she's capable of portraying such sweetness and fun at times, and capable of finding more of the moments of silence in her character, just a little, enough for me at least, to know that she's someone worth watching beyond that shaky debut performance.

Because here's the thing:  I bring some pretty hefty baggage to Betaab in terms of film-watching, especially for Sunny Deol.  I already know pretty much how his career plays out, and how good he's gotten over the years -- and I really do believe that Betaab struck something in me more simply because I'd seen it right on the heels of watching Sunny's latest performance in Yamla Pagla Deewana.

And if I haven't seen a lot of Amrita Singh, I've actually seen one of her most recent performances, in the film Dus Kahaniyaan.  If you haven't seen it, it is, as the title suggests, a film made up of ten short stories strung together.  I love many of them, but my absolute favorite, and one that makes it worth owning the DVD is "Pooranmaashi", starring Minissha Lambha and Amrita Singh as daughter and mother.

This is the segment in its entirety.  The quality is squiffy, but I hope it will encourage you to go get the film and watch it.  There are no subtitles, but it doesn't need them.  Amrita Singh says what's needed through her expressions, her actions, and her silences:

 

Frankly, this short film, and Amrita Singh's performance, leaves me absolutely gutted every time I watch it.

I think what I feel when I watch Betaab is a certain kind of tender nostalgia -- I look at these two very young actors just at the beginnings of their careers, and I can see that they are like wine that's just been bottled:  some of the essential characteristics of the wine will already be there, but they'll need time to develop, for the full character and flavour and essence to come out.

When I look at Amrita Singh and Sunny Deol today, I see now that what they had then, in that very first film, those bouquets, those little notes, would grow and develop as they gained more experience, as they matured.

I'm struck, at times, by a certain level of ageism that creeps into our lives, how we suddenly decide that someone is 40 and past their prime, and 50, my god, they might as well be dead.  But it's so terribly wrongheaded, that ageism thing.  Sure, at 20 we may have youth and energy and drive, and it's a wonderful thing.  But at 40, at 50 -- and even when we finally do become old at 70 or 80 -- we bring such a wealth of experience, a depth of emotion gained by years of joy and sorrow, a tempering of our wonderful youthful personalities.  We are still what we were at 20 -- only better, really.  We're no longer that youthful summer wine.  We've matured.  We're rounded, we're tempered, we have depth that can only be gained by time.

And that, I think, is why Betaab holds a special kind of place for me, because I can look at Amrita Singh and Sunny Deol and see how achingly lovely and young they were, and I can also look at them today and see how beautiful and handsome they have, respectively, become, and how all that experience has made them even better artists now, doing some of their best work as they grow through their 50s.

Betaab is summer wine.  Dus Kahaniyaan and Yamla Pagla Deewana are vintage, and so worth the time and the distance and the wait. 

First Films: Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere (dir. Arjun Hingorani, 1960)

As I mentioned, I've not yet seen Dharmendra's debut film, Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere, so I can't really tell you much about it -- there is, however, an intriguing plot summary on IMDb.

I'm assuming Dharmendra plays Ashok, the cigarette seller who falls in love with with the maidservant and then gets hired as a boxer. It just sounds so....Dharmendra.

 

 

Also?  I think that if I'd been of an age to be watching Dharmendra's films when he first started out?  I'd be one of those women they tease about in Yamla Pagla Deewana, absolutely mad for him and sleeping with his photo under my pillow.