On the Right Track

There are moments in cinema when you give it to the medium, apart from the reasons you should be, that is for content. This is for me one of those rare instances and for good reasons when form blows you away. Then you put all those ideas of perfect cinema being the one with content dictating form into your mental trash cans, and just enjoy the beauty. Well I agree if form were to dictate the content that would be manipulation at some level. But isn't cinema all about manipulating you at some level? Good cinema is about conviction and more of conviction, and when that is present everything is justified. Audacity, chicanery, urge to show off are all pardoned, and considered the core elements of the medium.

For me I have not seen such an audacious display of kinetics in a long, long time. Okay, the last time was Saving Private Ryan (1998). Joe Wright and Seamus McGarvey take us on this long ride (pun unintended), and a display of coordination, free flow whose highest quality is its seamlessness. I would have felt let down or downright "cheated", "fooled" if it were CGI phenomenon at display. Thankfully the digital additions were bare minimum, just restricted to a few ships, and some smoke I learn.



Atonement (2007) 5minutes 6 seconds



But had this prepared me enough for the Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil"?! Considering the time it was made in when tracks ruled the roost, and steadycams were unheard of, the opening sequence took my breath away.

Sweeping across the roads and junctions, hovering over buildings... aaah! framing, and what framing!

Touch of Evil (1957) 4 minutes 31 seconds



Tracking shots at their very best. What a ride!

People Trafficking

If you were to break the rules on road in Hyderabad during the non-peak hours, you pay for the crime.

You get to serve as a traffic constable for a day.


But do we want a city filled up with "traffic constables" to the brim?


Do we!

Evolution

The call for the "upliftment" of the Marathi Manoos well may turn Raj Thackeray into a Marathi Manhoos for Maharashtra, and worse, India in the bigger picture. The agitation no matter how justified by the MNS goes against the very fabric of India, something I have been personally proud of. If Raj can be practically evil, I could be devilishly ideal. The fact that a region, a country could be held ransom to an individual's ideology is frightening. Call me outdated but I feel fundamentalism will have it's share of limelight in may be 3049 AD.

I gushingly went in with my dad earlier. I win this this round appa. May be some other time for you.

Deep Throat

When God made Anu Malik, Strepsils were still in clinical trials

Khan Film Festival

,which is just an alternative name for the cinematic farce that has been celebrated and quite irritatingly venerated over years, the Filmfare Awards do it this time? While it is quite remarkable on their part to have Darsheel Safary nominated in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category, skepticism and cynicism in equal amounts come to the fore when the ultimate outcome is thought of. Bennett,Coleman & Co. might pat themselves for doing this groundbreaking act, and emerge winners in the first round. It truly remains to be seen if they are worthy enough for self appreciation the next time around, and when the unthinkable happens the gentlemen at B, C&Co. needn't worry for the whole cine folks shall salute them. Can they rub the power batteries on which their businesses run the wrong way? Wait! have Power awards 2.0 or some such crap have already been created to appease the powers that be? Nuclear Power awards, may be! or Power of Powers; or worse a Life Time Achievement marking the elegies. While these could be imagined when the stars in the fray do not have anything considerable or nothing at all to brag about, the bad news is that near apologies of performances in the form of C' De India, Guru of 2007 could be very well honored and Darsheel Safary might have to go back with some Critics' lollipop.



If the unthinkable were to happen the gentlemen at B,C & Co. needn't worry for the whole cine folks shall salute them

Knotty People, Knotty Ideas

Aalasyam amrutham visham should read their motto.


The top honchos of the Law Commission of India would have us believe that 18 is better than 21, the sooner the better, or in other words the marriageable age of men had better be brought down to 18 from 21. Their rationale is that if we guys could think for ourselves and better, decide for ourselves, why wait till 21!

Probably they haven't heard of my family.

Uncommon Man

An Iyer in Pune.

A quirky, wry, insouciant, double-tongued fantastic soul. Great lineage with two brothers making for two contrasting case studies.

Extraordinary.

Uncommon.

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman



Thank you Anuradha SenGupta, Thank you Sudhir Dar, Thank you Dileep Padgaonkar, Thank you Abhishek Singhvi, Thank you Ravi Shankar, Thank you Rimanika Laxman, and Thank you CNN-IBN.

Thank you Bennett, Coleman & Co., The Illustrated Weekly and The Times of India.