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259 Responses to “Gangs of Wasseypur 2, Jism 2 & Kya Super Kool Hain Hum (ongoing), the rest of the box office”
Bol Bachchan continued to do well in its fourth week and was helped by Raksha Bandhan holiday on Thursday as collections doubled from the previous day. The film is still putting up decent numbers in Gujarat, UP, CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan. The final business in the Gujarat/Saurashtra area will be around 20 crore which is a huge number
The fourth week collections were around 3.50 crore nett and in its fifth weekend it went ahead of Cocktail as the fifth weekend business of Bol Bachchan was better than the fourth weekend of Cocktail.
The business of the film after 31 days is around 98.75 crore nett and will be around 99.25 crore nett after five weeks.
The film has beaten the 98 crore nett of Singham and should just about have the legs to hit the 100 crore nett mark.
LOL, despite their week 1 reductions they have to admit it’s doing a 100! The Taran total is probably around 105-107.
Incidentally weekend 4 here was already the same as Cocktail’s weekend 3. Given that BB has been most about single/double screens at this point and Cocktail only about multiplexes this is even more remarkable.
Some of us well remember BOI’s insistence that Diwali hurts SRK starrers like Don — whereas festivals help other stars. Everyone knows this rather obvious fact — except for the schmucks who wanted to release Don around Diwali!
Found that hysterical too. A totally random qualification of the kind we’ve come to expect with BOI. And you’ll only get this with Indian box office “experts”. You’ll never catch IMDB saying that Lord of the Rings was saved by Kwanzaa.
Jism 2 crashed at the box office all over on Monday as it collected around 2-2.25 crore nett. The writing was on the wall on Saturday but even still to be over 70% down from Friday is a first.
The total after four days including paid previews is around 23.50 crore nett and the week is likely to finish in the 27-28 crore nett range and lifetime business at 30 crore nett.
The film will put most of its distributors in the red by big sums with Mumbai alone accounting for a 2 crore plus loss. The producers made good money as they sold as they managed to get good rates. The final scenario for the film is similar to Ferrari Ki Sawaari which was big winner for producers but big loser for distributors.
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum Has Decent Second Weekend
Monday 6th August 2011 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum had a decent second weekend of around 5.50 crore nett. The drop is 75% from its first weekend but considering the good opening the film got and competition from Jism 2 it has still managed to collect a reasonable amount in its second weekend. The ten day business is around 40 crore nett
The second week should do around 8 crore nett business which would mean around 42.50 crore nett in two weeks and the film will finish close to the 45 crore nett mark.
The film has made big money for the producers and its all India distributors are safe despite it fetching good money in most of the circuits across India.
LOL.. This is a great read.. I hope the Bhatts’ read it and stop immediately with their cheap, useless ‘brand’ films like Jism 2:
—————————-
I finally understand what the sexual frustration of the Indian male looks like. It looks like a stuffy run-down movie theatre in Bongaigaon, Assam and some 200 hollering men watching Jism 2. Jism 2 is worse than a tease. It’s a tease wanna-be.
The movie was apparently sold out. That wasn’t too surprising. Mayapuri is the only theatre in Bongaigaon. Jism 2 is the only movie playing in it. There was no sign that said that it was sold out. But the ticket counter was closed. And the only people selling any tickets were a bunch of blackmarketeers.
There was something pre-INOX nostalgic about the whole experience from the multicoloured tickets (pink for Dress Circle, Blue for balcony) down to the little packages of generic popcorn – no options for caramel or cheese. The ceiling fans whirred lazily overhead making scarcely any difference to the heat. The ushers were in their banians. My blackmarket ticket had a view that was partially obstructed by a column, obviously a mark of my inexperience in these matters. But luckily, my seat listed to one side anyway.
IBN-Live.
The audience for porn star Sunny Leone’s Bollywood debut was almost 99 percent male. There was just one family with what looked like a six-year-old daughter in the row behind me. There was a married couple next to me, obviously on a date night, firmly holding each other’s hands, though I don’t know whether it was spurred by romance or sheer terror triggered by the waves of pure testosterone ricocheting off the peeling walls of Mayapuri movie theatre.
Once the lights went down the entire audience shrieked as one. There was none of the usual nonsense of little sermonizing documentaries about HIV/AIDS and traffic safety nor the uber-annoying Vicco Vajradanti ads. So far so good. We went right to the real stuff.
Sunny Leone emerged from some body of water and the theatre erupted into wolf whistles, seat thumping and cheers exhorting her to take off what little she wore. Meanwhile, streams of men were still coming into the theatre, fumbling their way to their seats with the help of the lights on their mobile phones. Their intrusion caused the amp-ed up audience to curse and holler louder at this unwelcome obstruction of their view. Four men holding onto each other’s hands struggled their way to the end of the row, only to find someone squatting on two of their seats. Everyone fought for awhile. People around them asked them to shut up. The banian-ed ticket checker finally brought out a couple of extra chairs and put them in the aisle.
We were now well into ten minutes of the film. And other than looking at what resembled a splendid infomercial for some lovely tropical-looking hotel in Sri Lanka, I had not been able to hear one snatch of dialogue. Everything was drowned by the audience lustily appreciating every bit of Sunny Leone from her red dress to her cleavage to the love letter she writes in her own blood. When Randeep Hooda showed up in a towel and languorously embraced Sunny someone shouted, “Pet bhorey nai (My stomach is not full yet).”
But I soon realised that this film will not fill anyone’s stomach. This erotic thriller is low on both eroticism and thrills. Jism 2 just teases the audience into waiting for sex scenes that never arrive, torturing them instead with an inane plot where everyone is chasing a disk that contains some data that we are supposed to care about.
Bhatt obviously wanted to make some kind of girl power statement here. So Sunny gets to proposition the man, flip flop between two of them and say things like “I need a drink”. The men, on the other hand, are of the sensitive brute variety. Their breasts heave far often than Sunny’s. Randeep Hooda’s soulful Urduized dialogue delivered in a bedroom voice makes him sound like Mirza Ghalib on serious medication. And Sunny’s other squeeze, Arunoday Singh, has impressive muscles but spends most of his time pouting dramatically, sometimes facing a corner, sometimes bleeding on a beach, sometimes crumpled artistically on the floor.
But if anybody has been tricked into Sunny’s “honey-trap” it isn’t Hooda but the audience. They came in good faith looking for a good time. And Jism 2 just gave them two-plus hours of airbrushed frustration. In the age of readily available Internet porn, Jism 2 lives down to its own dialogue – har jism ka expiry date hota hai. This one is long past its expiry date. The audience boos lustily when finally a love making scene interrupted the story only to quickly fade to black. When an erotic thriller skimps on the sex, that’s just wrong.
Guardians of public morality have been suing to stop the screening of Jism 2 on the grounds of public decency. I say we should ban it because it does something worse. It makes fools of all us by pretending to treat us as adults.
Two hundred frustrated men poured out into the dark night of Bongaigaon after Jism 2. If that’s a scene repeating across a thousand small towns in India, God help us all.
Qalandar and Satyam: BOI makes many blunders. But I dont see what you find funny in their statement that Raksha Bandhan helped cpollections of BB on Thursday. ‘ as collections doubled from the previous day’ could not have bee accident, right? Or what si your explanation? That large number of people suddenly discovered the superlative merits of the film on a Thursday in its 4th week of run?
As far as Diwali collections, they have always insisted that collections on the Diwlai evening proper when the North Indians do Laxmi Puja that the collections are affected. It improves in other shows and during the period because of the holiday spirit. And the Laxmi puja thing applies to certain regions only. I don’t see anything illogical there.
well they doubled if you believe them! I doubt that’s the case. Things are often marginally higher or lower from day to day and you can often quote a center or theater in isolation to create a misleading impression. Is it likely that repeat viewers suddenly turned up over a Raksha Bandhan day in the 4th week or that first-timers suddenly decided to see it for this reason?! It’s one thing for these events to help very early on and quite another when the film is more or less on its last legs! At the margins I’m sure there’s a difference but allow me to be skeptical when BOI seem rather more positive on the film over its 4th weekend than they were over the 1st (when they were busy reducing numbers!).
as for Diwali let me put it this was as someone who’s always followed the Bombay film media and trade rather avidly. Till very recently (Don was the first time) I never ever heard the claim that Diwali was problematic for a film in any sense. Even if one accepts that the puja day affects collections the overall event here is obviously a huge positive which is why it’s been a much coveted date for big films! Also even in contemporary times Messrs Taran and Nahta and BOI and whoever never used this excuse before the Don release. How come no one used this excuse when KKHH released on Diwali and had BMCM for competition (a film that actually outgrossed KKHH in week 1)? When a film is doing very well and opens very strongly none of these ‘excuses’ are necessary! So Laxmi Puja affected Don as opposed to all those other films for decades including SRK’s own (he owned Diwali for so long!) that weren’t! By the way Don never really picked up even over the week and though it remained stable it never had very strong collections. Pretty decent or better but nothing spectacular. It’s not as if this film after a bit of a pickup over the weekend started roaring! OSO on the other hand did even with very stiff competition (over the first weekend after which there was a collapse) from Saawariya. What happened to Laxmi Puja here?!
The other sleight of hand here is this — how much lower does a film open because of Laxmi Puja? Are there any reliable stats on this?! Hypothetically if a film is affected by 10 or 20% the trade could justify a 40% lower (than expectations) opening using the same excuse!
So whichever way you cut this the explanation offered doesn’t pass an elementary logic test.
AA: it’s not about a bros/sis festival, just that it’s holiday. No new films. waiting for GOW2. May catch both parts together, if it runs that way in our city.
Utkal uncle: did u watch jism2?
What are your expert opinions about sunny leone..
How will u rank the cocktail songs(since u still seem in the cocktail mood)
What is your list of top directors-check the top directors thread…
Not interested in Jism2. Sunny Leone ios pretty but boring. Just read a quote from one of my Facebook friends attributed to Marilyn Monroe : Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be perfectly ridiculous than perfectly boring.
Cocktail songs: 1. Tumi Ho Bnadhu, Lotna, Yaariyan, Jugni, Terav Naam japti phira. Desi Daaru, Second Hand Jawani
Utkal uncle: I was hoping that u will be the one who will boldly go where nobody has gone here-ie seeing jism 2 and admitting to it here!
Good ranking there-lootna @ no2, yaariyan at 3– hmm..wow
Ps: live uptdate:news item:sunny leone apparently will be paying a visit to a Delhi Sikh temple apparently
Utkal uncle: u get my whole hearted support
Your writeups and views on cocktail were awesome and must I say, uniquely brilliant
Looking forward to more posts on cocktail
Since I actually learn from u in that
Ps: I’m a nit disappointed though that u didn’t pick up the diana panty ‘convenient?’ change of mind in this
Ps2: normally a skillful romcom expert, Amy disappointed in totally missing the point but the whole circle in the films interpretation-she just stayed in the realms one the obvious /superficialities
In that genre, was surpising from her (though Satyams grasp wasnt surprising 🙂
Cocktail/ the director is not in the list ..
To repeat and just for clarification –
The list ONLY contains-in no order
Mani ratnam
Anurag kashyap
Kamalhassan
Shekhar kapoor
Ps: note that some care has been taken to only include those so have some bare minimum contact with ‘normal’ audience
Their films HAVE been released in ‘normal’ cinemas some even being box office hits
That takes away the likes of ‘geniuses’ like adoor out (unfortunately)
Again just IMO lol
“Their films HAVE been released in ‘normal’ cinemas some even being box office hits”
Yup losers like Adoor have to make do with film festivals in NY or London or Paris. And we all know of course that directorial greatness is about screen count. Sajid Khan should top this list.
you should add ‘differ based on not having seen a single Adoor film’!
by the way it’s not just about living filmmakers. Adoor is one of the very greatest 2-3 directors India has produced. His Rat-Trap is as good a film as has ever been made in India.
Yes: thats the point
Most can’t rate adoor due to lack of exposure/accessibility/language/genre/style
So it’s not about ‘quality’ or class here
‘like for like comparison’ becomes even more difficult here than it already is otherwise
IMO to keep the comparisons sane, maybe adoor can be compared to the benegals, ritwik ghataks, ray (if alltime)
But these cannot be ‘mixed” to the common pool..
In some cases like yours, though, the “common pool’ is a big one 🙂
It’s not Adoor’s problem if people can’t access his films for one reason or another. And it’s hardly a problem unique to him in any case. How many people do you think have seen or even heard of Bela Tarr? You were raving about Turin Horse for the longest time. Someone could say everything here that you have about Adoor!
“How many people do you think have seen or even heard of Bela Tarr? You were raving about Turin Horse for the longest time. ”
Ya well, in that case got some privileged access to some ‘auteur’ screenings due to some ‘friends’
Screening(s) because one viewing isn’t enough for a film of that genre!
Needs patience even perseverance to get into the system but once it does enter the system it’s a fulfilling experience …
Also to add-
Have not really checked the oeuvre of these delving exclusively in regional language cinema ..
Though it may appear that, it’s nothing due to ‘looking down upon’ at all
It’s simply perhaps the lack of quality time/patience/interest
When I get a chance, i do check out this ‘auteur’ European stuff-
It’s a different experience with some ‘students’ taking notes etc
Btw am likely to check ‘the man from London’ this weekend ..
Why did an ar rahman feel the ‘urge’ to move out/ try out Bollywood and ultimately Hollywood..
While the same action can be taken positively but some can spin it differently as well.
To me mani ratnam also branched out and even Kamal hassan as well..
Don’t want to make this the MAIN point of criteria but someone like adoor surprises me to not having tried the ‘bigger stage’
I trust satyams judgement and believe him when he bestows that greatness on adoor..
But somewhere in this inability /inertia to cater to the bigger field is a loss for viewers like me(& also for adoor undoubtedly since at the end of the day, films are made for ‘other’ viewers apart from oneself usually)
Ps- back2work-will check satyams responses in a bit 🙂
Rofl likedthe one liners
Unsurprisngly they are hot on the net/twitter–actually dialogues are floating around /being exchangedSomeone pointed me out to this—
May use this —
Manish: Kaisa hai
Shorey:[ Tu iska kya karega]
Manish: Gift hai Zoya ke liye
shorey: [Tu use itne acche se janta hai ke use dress de raha hai]
Manish: Abe dress de raha hu utaar thode na raha hoon.
🙂
Jism 2 took another heavy fall on Tuesday as collections were 30% lower than Monday. The film collected around 2.50 crore on Monday and the collections were 1.75 crore nett on Tuesday taking the four day business of the film to 24.75 crore nett.
The film is going down all over be it a high end multiplexes or the smaller centres in Bihar and Bengal.
The second week will see the film running at limited theatres and limited screens. If we compare with Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum the first day was 10% better but lifetime business will be around 35% less.
Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 2 had a poor response in its paid previews on Tuesday evening. The shows were limited to 1-2 shows per multiplex but still occupancies were around 25-30% at most places. It did better in select multiplexes of Mumbai city and Delhi NCR. The all India collections on Tuesday were probably in the 30 lakhs nett region.
Basically the response was better where the first part did well. Gujarat was poor but Mumbai city better, Gurgaon was good but rest of East Punjab circuit dull and that’s how the first part had been been poor in Gujarat and Punjab but better in Mumbai city and Gurgaon.
The opening on Wednesday is likely to follow the same pattern where it will open better where the first part managed to get some appreciation.
Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 opened to a poor response at most places in the country. The opening was around the 30% mark on average. It opened to around 20% at many places while select multiplexes in the metros managed around 40%.
The opening was not much better than the first part of the film released in June as many centres recorded lower business than the first part.
Even some of select centres where the first part managed better business comparatively did not respond that well to Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2. Some centres in Gujarat and Maharashtra recorded very dull collections.
Overall the first day figures may come out lower than the first day figures of Gangs Of Wasseypur part 1.
^thanx for that link Amy on sneha
She does seem genuinely interested in rustic folkish music and is not scared of truly experimenting..
Btw Amy/ anjali: once u have been educated about ‘KLPD’ after going through all the referrences/links : plz me know as well-I also need that info 😉
Yes- they were disgusting. Especially given the number of rapes and molestation incidents that are in the news in India these days- how insensitive can they be? 😦
Haven’t seen the trailer yet but i liked this director’s Ek Chalis Ki Last Local a lot. Btw Ami, do u know that the title KLPD derives its name from a phrase used commonly in Delhi etc? Do u know its actual meaning? If u don’t u should find out (Tony is from Delhi and i’m sure he knows abt it)- it will add to ur knowledge bank.
Agree on the insensitive bit. Actually this one swings more towards something disturbing n sick. This shit isnt funny. I dont mind jokes made in poor taste but they at least have to be funny. this one seems to try a bit too hard in evoking laughs but ends up coming across as something entirely different.
With all its toilet jokes, Delhi Belly still had some class to it. I know its a little too early to say this based on one promo, but Viveik in the role of a Dilli wallah (the accent is all wrong and all over the place) and Mallika as the lead puts me off already!
Ami to find out the meaning go to the site urbandictionary.com and type in the search box KLPD- u will get ur answer. here is the link though it may not work- http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=KLPD
Haha actually in Amsterdam /around, the cops are apparently specially trained to look out /tackle for all innovative type of offences
Given the lenient laws on prostitution and drugs….
Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 collected poorly all over. The Delhi/UP circuit was a bit overall the collections are in the same range as the opening day for part 1 which also opened poorly but managed to show a bit of growth in pockets.
The non performance of part 1 at the box office which opened poorly and failed to grow much in most parts of the country has resulted in the second part getting a poor opening. The opening was better in Delhi NCR and Mumbai city and that is where the first part managed average collections.
The film had collected around 30 lakhs nett in paid previews on Tuesday and below is the breakdown of its first day business.
Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 collected less than Gangs Of Wasseypur part 1 in Gurgaon on day one. Gurgaon was the best performing centre across India for part 1 and it is still running in its 7th week but still the second part opened lower than the first one due to the first part having limited appreciattion. Below are the first day collections of both parts of Gangs Of Wasseypur in Gurgaon.
i think for this kind of film which builds on word of mouth and has select audience,releasing the film on wednesday was a masterstroke by Anurag…..have the scam rip downloaded(saw the first scene of the movie and had a fit of laughing…black humor at its biting best)
will see this film in a cinema hall tomorrow.
BOI are back with their silliness. GoW1 did about as much as BBB! Not sure who was expecting 50 crores here! This is 40% or so more than Dev D did which was a much more audience-friendly subject even for that limited audience. It’s just crazy to say this is a poor performance. I am surprised if GoW2 is not opening as well as the first part (if BOI are correct here) but they have been rather negative on the film all along for some absurd reason.
BOI’s biased commentary is getting glaringly evident with every release. The theatre I watched GOW 2 in was almost 85% full, that too on an afternoon show on Wednesday (opening day). I really think it is a good enough success with its target audience.
The audience reaction was very positive. Applause at the end of the film.What else do you expect. Together the two versions are going to gross almost 40-45 crores and probably more
50 should be the minimal number here if the second part just does as much as the first one. In addition to everything else to get this kind of response across a 2 part film is remarkable. As for their commentary on the film doing well at select places well what does one expect here?! Consider this, ZNMD with every advantage in the world did 7-8 crores on day 1, many smaller, somewhat different films with major stars do 3 crores or so on day 1, in what universe can 3 crores for the second part of a film like GoW be considered anything less than very good?!
Gangs of Wasseypur 2 is simply an enthralling, gripping & supremely entertaining follow-up to what was an equally terrific 1st part…it is typified by a master filmmaker in complete command of his craft right from the engaging opening frames to a firecracker of a climax…crackling dialogues & performances, astonishingly realistic hinterland locales & quirky characters named Perpendicular & Definite having a “blast” (literally !! ) are some of the many highlights of this epic concluding installment…all in all a cinematic guilty pleasure like no other & a gangster saga to savour for the ages !
Ramadhir Singh, Sardar Khan, Faisal Khan, Sultan, Perpendicular, Definite, Tangent, Naghma, Mohsina & many others….what a fabulous ensemble cast of memorable characters making Gangs of Wasseypur so so appealing… portrayed by some of the finest acting talent in the country !!
Having seen part 2 now, would definitely rate GOW as AK’s finest work along with Black Friday.
Nawazuddin, wow ! What a find this guy is…but the real surprise for me was Tigmanshu Dhulia as Ramadhir, the guy has now a future both as director & actor…probably has some of the best lines in GOW.
And coming to the females, Richa Chaddha & Huma Qureshi…both terrific finds…Huma is remarkably assured for a debutante, apart from being a stunner in the looks department !!!
Richa Chadha – her expressions in that wedding song she sang were priceless.. she shone brightly in her very small part in part 2..
Siddiqui – A brilliant performance. A guy who’s small in stature and skinny carried the film on his shoulders.. firecracker of an act
Tigmanshu – his age reflected in his dialogue delivery n body language. understands the nuances well.. a very good performance
Huma Qureshi – Fits the part very well.. Did exactly what the role demanded.. Impressive!
Perpendicular – an interesting find. natural n hilarious
Definite – the surprise package and the underdog. If Nawazuddin is gonna benefit by leaps n bounds, better and significant roles are in store for this actor. An outstanding performance is what I think he delivered here..
Raj Kumar Yadav – Quicksilver. Fits in every role he gets. Impressive and competent. Hope to see more of him.
Tony, thanks for this excellent summary (i have not seen the film yet) and I am elated that u mentioned Raj Kumar Yadav- i am a fan of this guy. Loved him in Ragini MMS and Shaitan. He alongwith Gulshan Devaiah and Rajeev Khandelwal are my fav from this group of ‘offbeat actors’
Just back from GOW 2. The film starts with a bang and goes up a few notches right away with Yahspal Shramas maddeningly brilliant rendering of Yaad Teri AAyegi.. to the funeral procession of Danish. Just atht secne reveals so much about Anurag’s grasp over Indian pop culture and mass psychology, that those who even talk of Anurag and Rohan Sippy should be charged with blasphemy. The effect gets even more heightened with ‘ Teri meherbaniya, teri kdardaniya”. sung to yet another dead body getting carried away.
Then the middle section starts and I begin to think the first part was so much better, because it had the historic sweep, it had Manoj Bajpai, and the so human character of Sardar Khan and it had the ability to surprise you with a fresh chracter, the likes of which you had never seen before in Massooma ( Huma Qureshi) . Over all the women chracters ( Richa, Reemi and Huma) were more pivotal. Here , what kind of surprises Anurag could introduce? Lines like ‘ Mera pistol’? ” Tumhara lungi mein’ is vintage anurag. Also there are Perpendicular and Definite, but they were not good enough substitutes for our first encounters with Faisal and Masooma. ( with the ‘ Permishion lena chahiye na’ episode.)
Then comes the end section and everything is forgiven. The film comes into its own. The shoot out at Faizal’s home has mood, drama and suspense. Definite has grown interesting by now . and the end piece starting with the emotional moment with Faisal and Masooma and ending with the final blood bath is as god cinema as one has ever seen. The music does its bit here. The song ‘ Jo bhi wrongwa hai kar do setrightwa’ is magical and it geives you an experience quite separate from what the main narratiove on screen is giving you. The heavy duty version of Kehke loonga is similarly orgasmic. There is no one, simply no one, who can touch anurag when it comes to using songs ,in a narrative, with so many layers of impact. Though in the final reckoning I like the Part 1 more, this is a cinematic experience not to be missed.
Just one thought on how the film finally covers so much ground and totally redeems itself :
Na that kuchh to music tha, na hota kuchh to music hota
Mera film viewing experience ka kya hota, agar music na hota?
@ utkal
The film starts with a bang and goes up a few notches right away with Yahspal Shramas maddeningly brilliant rendering of Yaad Teri AAyegi.. to the funeral procession of Danish. Just atht secne reveals so much about Anurag’s grasp over Indian pop culture and mass psychology
can u elaborate? how is playing bollywood numbers with the funeral procession reflective of the knowledge of mass psychology on the part of the director?
Checked out the dark knight returns today..hmm..Comments later maybe
“The heavy duty version of Kehke loonga is similarly orgasmic. There is no one, simply no one, who can touch anurag when it comes to using songs ,in a narrative, with so many layers of impact”
Besides anurag : u need to give some credit to the music director here as well…lol
Anjali Singh: it is not just about a Bollywood song playing during funeral. It ‘s the kind of song that is being sung and how it is being sung. yiou know, the two songs he uses during the the two funeral processions: ” Yaad teri aayegi’ and ‘ Teri meherbaniya” – these are kind of Nadeem-Shravan or Laxmikant-Pyarelal kind of melodies as opposed to RD Burman or AR Rahman kind of melodies. These are the kind of songs sung bu Mohd Rafi. Munna, Shabbir Ali or Mohd aziz as against singers like Kishore Kumar or Hariharan. In other words : less sophisticated more earthy. The singing style is over the top, uber-sentimental…where you hold nothing back, and let it all hang out. This is the kind of song patronized hugely by the muslim hoi polloi , but also by rural and small-town Indians in general. To even a slightly more sophisticated tastes it sounds very banal. But a large segment of Indians empathize with it. That’s how the traditional Indians are, not shy of demonstrating their deepest emotions in public. And Bollywood songs have been operating as the soundtrack to people’s lives for years. The core appeal of these songs become apparent when a brass band plays these songs during a wedding. But they could as well play them during a funeral. Anurag’s masterstroke is in making it look as if they routinely play Bollywood songs during funeral. And the way Yashpal performs it is seen to be belived. He catches the very essence of these songs and their appeal. Note especiaaly the point where he abruptly stops, counts upto 5 beats on his fingers, and then launches into a glass-shattering high octave passage of the song.
I am putting up in the next post my review of Kiran Nagrakar’s ‘ The Extras’ which deals with this universe; Proletariat Music and Bollywood.
An epic journey
Utkal Mohanty
“We want a story that starts out with an earthquake and works its way up to a climax,”: this apocryphal diktat from Sam Goldwyn seems to have inspired Kiran Nagarkar’s The Extras, a gargantuan narrative of feverish action and outlandish plot twists.
It all starts with Parvatibai from the fourth floor of CWD Chawl No 17 in
Mumbai losing hold of her baby son Ram, who falls down, only to be held safely by neighbour Victor Coutinho. This miraculous escape from death results in Parvatibai rechristening Ram as Ravan.
But Victor dies in the act of saving the baby and in a signature twist of events, the funeral van carrying Victor is forced to carry his wife, the pregnant Violet, to the hospital, where she delivers a baby boy, Eddie. And our two protagonists are all set to start on their journey. And what a journey it is!
Music is the passion of both Ravan and Eddie. Adept at playing the Xylophone (He could draw out a note long after it had disappeared into the ether, and yet you continued to hear it like the aching memory of lost love.), Ravan forms the Cum September Jai Bharat Band to play at weddings, while Eddie forms the Bandra Bombshells, with his Anglo-Indian girlfriend Belle.
……….
^May read this later but is it your piece published in some newspaper?
If yes: congrats utkal uncle 🙂
Have u be become a writer or something hahaha
Ps: what do u hav to say about misguided allegations of ‘affairs’ -read comment above … Lol
Ps2: that koimoi review seems good -will read it later-who has written it ..
AAMIR KHAN could have done nothing. Privilege is a blessing very few entitled Indians use for anything more than lining the already silver clouds they inhabit. But Aamir stepped up and created Satyamev Jayate (SMJ), a show unprecedented on Indian television. It wasn’t a risky thing to do in the classic sense: there were no struggles for money; no threat to life; no power structures breasted. But there were the possibilities of failure, rejection, loss of popularity — the breath cinema stars live on. Aamir didn’t linger to calculate those ephemerals. Having decided to do the show, he mounted a massive and staggeringly meticulous operation to get it right. With his core team of three, Satyajit and Svati Chakravarty Bhatkal and Lancelot Fernandes — co-travellers, he says, he’d have been crippled without — Aamir went about acquiring 1,600 hours of background footage, capturing personal testimonies from across the country, ferreting out experts, statistics, legal positions and solutions. On the sets, he had 10 hidden cameras so guests wouldn’t feel their intrusive eye, and generated more footage per episode than entire seasons of other shows on Star TV Network.
Sad it is but like all good things of past this festival too has completely disappeared from bwood. Btw Janamaashtmi is still a big thing over here in Maharashtra. I also miss the entire Dahi-Handi competition we used to have in school on this day
On that note the Mach Gaya Shor song from Khuddar has some grand and iconic Bachchan moments- though not a fan of the film otherwise
Mach gaya shor was one of the first things I heard on the radio this morning: this festival still means a lot in Bombay…HAPPY JANMASHTMI to everyone!!!
“Means a lot!” It’s huge! Third only to Ganesh Chaturthi and Dandiya. Was stuck between Jogeshwari and Goregaon for nearly 2 hours (otherwise a walkable distance of 20mins). The only parts of Mumbai which did not have traffic last evening were in SoBo-ring!
The dark (k)night of film ‘reviews’ -TDKR
Why is it that one HAS to love a film like this
Well, the great Nolan has made it
The ‘fitting’ finale of the great trilogy
So not only one has to love it, one has to show it off openly-or atleast close ones eyes to glaring issues!
To heck with it…
No such compulsions here for me
Found it an ambitious, emotionally shoehorned yet overall a drab pretentious film lacking in true calibre
Yes, there are flashes of brilliance enuf but then is that it for a film with such hype and ‘credentials’
Yes, one sees the attempts at pseudo right wing politicisation but when one tries to do this whilst trying to do justice to an essentially ‘comic book’ background-this is what you get – a portentous mess.
And in the current scenario of recession and Arab spring
Is this the ‘resolution’
The underwritten symbolism here is somewhat fool’hardy’
Christian delivers reasonably and most of the cast doesn’t really underperform
Infact hardy nearly threatens to pull off a ‘joker’ here and does a good job in conveying menace through just his eyes
Ace body language in some scenes but something just fell short
And talking about oldman & Morgan -well felt a bit sorry for them!
Marion cotillard-
If she was unimpressive in midnight in Paris, she was BAD here imo. Get almost ANY reasonably maintained girl from Paris, even anywhere in france and she will be more presentable
What was she thinking and what were the makers thinking
Oh that’s cotillard -poor really
The ONLY person who came out with the reputation enhanced IMO
Was Anne Hathaway – didn’t think she would have it in her but she gave this role a new meaning!
her role was interesting-neither here nor there-neither good nor bad and unimpressed with batman…..liked her body language as well.
But what beats me is why the ‘upholders of quality’ world over mum over this!
Don’t get me wrong-would call it an above average effort that delivers somewhat in keeping with the expectations
But was that enuf!!
A somewhat ‘dark (k)night for unbiased and honest film opinion making!!!
Even if not over the top positive, the muted criticism has irritated me.
When the main saviours of a film of this scale and ambition is Anne Hathaway and hold your breath the ‘batvehicle’ one knows the feeling !!!
Xxxxxx
Not to be carried away, this film does have its moments
And liked a few
Especially the closing one of Michael Caine glancing at Christian and heathway quietly
And also the ‘return of batman’ scene…
Xxxxxxxx
But specially enjoyed the beating hardy gave batman…
Some ace dialogues there –(dialogue courtesy :google)
Bane: Theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated… but we are initiated, aren’t we Bruce? Members of the League of Shadows!
[Lifts Batman by the neck]
Bane: And you betrayed us!
Bruce Wayne: You were excommunicated… by a gang of psychopaths!
[Bane viciously beats Batman and throws him to the ground]
Bane: [viciously beats Batman and throws him to the ground] I AM the League of Shadows, and I’m here to fulfill Ra’s al Ghul’s destiny!
[Batman uses an EMP device to cut the lights]
Bane: You fight like a younger man, with nothing held back. Admirable but mistaken.
Bane: Oh, you think darkness is your ally. You merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, moulded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but BLINDING!
[grabs Batman from the shadows and continues to beat him]
Bane: The shadows betray you, they belong to me!
[repeatedly punches Batman in the face, breaking his cowl]
Bane: I will show you where I have made my home while preparing to bring justice. Then I will break you.
[Hits detonator, blowing a hole into the bottom of Wayne Enterprise]
Bane: Your precious armory, gratefully accepted! We will need it.
[Batman desperately stands and swings at Bane]
Bane: Ah, yes… I was wondering what would break first…
[lifts Batman high]
Bane: Your spirit, or your body?
[slams him on his knee]
^ ‘bang on!’-ok- will keep doing so 😉
Thanx for liking it …cheers
Btw I feel like beating some of those precocious blind nolan fans who made us believe this was the best thing since sliced bread
People thought ‘cocktail’ is my genre-
This ”latency’ is deceptive–action has been my first love though am mellowing down lately (hopefully!)
Byw Loved the beating of batman by hardy in that preinterval sequence– am looking for someone (to beat now) joking
Haha anjali: btw just to clarify that this ‘beating’ is not for any of the reviewers here–none of them have gone over the top praising TDKR thankfully–It’s only that the criticism may have been more ‘vocal’ & unhesitant…
This is for some of the blind Nolan diehards who have attacked blogosphere and are ‘guarding’ against even minor criticism ..
Rottentomatoes has blocked tdkr criticism for the first time ever due to death threats !!!
Actually GFs take is quite balanced though he shouldn’t have wasted his v good writing on this effort IMO
Ps: Btw the ‘bang on’ also had a double meaning oops haha
Finally back from watching GOW 2 in a cinema hall. What a film!
GOW 2 is way better than GOW 1. GOW 1 was a build up and a skeleton which GOW 2 puts flesh and blood and sweat and soul on.
The movie is bullet fast. the 2 things which audience will take back from GOW 2:
1. Kashyap’s black humored subversion of every single stunt and gag and melodrama of bollywood.
bilkul taar taar kar diya Anurag ne bollywood ko.
Never seen such a powerful and thundering critique of the dream factory and its idiotic influence.(The dailogue of ramadheer : “main abhi tak zinda ish liye hoon kyunki main cinema nahi dekhta”)
those who will find the movie underwhelming in terms of emotional content must understand that it was the very principle and plan of kashyap to take the ass of all our drama glorifying impulses.
the crowning glory was that the main protagonist who acted in it(nawazuddin) is the very same person bollywood had for 10 years stereotyped as a guy to be used only when the hero/villain wants to bash someone up.the subversion is relentless and complete…the drama king angry young man played by amitabh in deewar….has been robbed of all the drama …..the dhisoom dhisoom is real…..the thai thai….and diskewww is pathetically ugly.nauseous,revolting,gory,deformed and…fucking REAL.
the scene where nawaz in trying to escape from gunfire and fractures his knee and winces in pain for a full 2 minutes…and the background black homorous song “frustiyao nahi moora,nervousao nahi moora”…..captures the essential idiocy behind the hullabaloo of all heroism…..”just remember that the last laugh is on you.”
2. The acting of Nawazuddin. I doubt in the whole history of Bollywood there has been an actor to match him….and i am talking about really great actors…..from om poorie to amrish poorie…and from naseeruddin to nanapatekar to manoj bajpai to irffan khan…no one can match nawazuddin. This man is toooooo good….and i am not being hyperbolic.he is a true actor or the closest approximation of it. now i understand why the ailing ebert wanted to meet this guy specially. he wanted to meet genius before he died.
it will be very hard to find his match even in the world cinema. he manages to have tremendous screen presence without even trying to.
“the crowning glory was that the main protagonist who acted in it(nawazuddin) is the very same person bollywood had for 10 years stereotyped as a guy to be used only when the hero/villain wants to bash someone up.the subversion is relentless and complete…the drama king angry young man played by amitabh in deewar….has been robbed of all the drama …..the dhisoom dhisoom is real…..the thai thai….and diskewww is pathetically ugly.nauseous,revolting,gory,deformed and…fucking REAL.
the scene where nawaz in trying to escape from gunfire and fractures his knee and winces in pain for a full 2 minutes…and the background black homorous song “frustiyao nahi moora,nervousao nahi moora”…..captures the essential idiocy behind the hullabaloo of all heroism…..”just remember that the last laugh is on you.”
Haha an entertaining read: that seems like an entertaining screenplay with special/sound effects -keep it up 🙂
A full blown combo review on gow1 & 2 -yaiy..
Hahah anjali : it seems we both are writing ‘reviews’ together…
Anyhow mine is ‘longer’ than yours -I mean ‘review’- 😉
Hope u didn’t encounter any GoW style characters in the theatre and didn’t have to use the ‘gun’ (as in ‘hunter’) lol
The ‘hesitation’
Again, whats REALLY disappointing me here is NOT TDKR or finding it underwhelming
But cannot by any stretch find this a great film worthy of the expectations and the ‘stature’ of the predecessor
I was trying to state away from this film and a certain ‘darkness’ and tried to give it a chance
But the ‘hesitation’ in calling a spade a spade is a bit unsettling
Moreso for the NON Hollywood ‘reviewers’ who won’t mind pouncing on even genuinely good efforts just to emphasise a certain ‘superiority’ in taste!!!
Is there an undesirably undercurrent in this ‘hesitation’-I hope not!
Anyhow, as I write my honest views on this underwhelmer of a film-
Am NOW aware that rotten tomatoes is seeing a literal ‘war’ on the ‘negative’ reviews by diehard ‘teenage’ batman/nolan fanatics.
Though when even non-teenage fans ‘hesitate’ thats what I find irksome….
Oh, we’ll, rottentomatoes has note blocked negative reviews…
Have we seen any TDKR negative reviews here or elsewhere in Bollywood circles–the problem is not the ‘pattern’ but the muted ‘obedience’ that this pattern is followed !!!!
Obama shared my thoughts on TDKR!
If I would be following some of the reviews here or elsewhere even in Bollywood circles, one would believe the ultra rating this film has garnered !
But hey, someone shares my view –Obama!!!
Who felt Hathaway is the best thing about this film!!(perhaps he also meant ‘only’)!
I won’t say that ‘great minds think alike’ etc but am atleast ‘reassured’ a bit!
“It seems Barack Obama finally got around to seeing “The Dark Knight Rises“— presidents don’t get out to the Cineplex all that often — and on Monday, he offered up his review: Turns out, he really liked Anne Hathaway.
“She’s spectacular. I got a chance to see ‘Batman,’ and she was the best thing in it,” the prez raved about Hathaway’s portrayal of Catwoman (or perhaps her skin-tight catsuit). “That’s just my personal opinion.” http://movienight.mtv.ca/2012/08/president-obama-praises-anne-hathaways-catwoman-in-dark-knight-rises/
Lets ditch this ‘hesitation’ and lemme not mince any words–
TDKR (rating out of five): the brasstacks
Film 2
Nolan 2
Bale 3
Hardy 4
Marion cotillard 0
Oldman/Morgan/Caine haha
Anne Hathaway 4.5
Positive (nonteenage) Movie reviewers of TDKR : they dont need points-they need a ‘spine’
Ps: just my opinion : as by Obama 🙂
I wasnt alone-Sanity hits back!!–And finally negative reviews attack !!!!!!!
But hey-Where there is ‘smoke’, there has to be ‘fire’ !!!
Rottentomatoes had to bloody block the comments due to ‘death threats’ sent by juvenile fans!!! For the FIRST time in history ..
“Seemingly suggesting that the anonymity of Internet commenting tends to bring out the worst in people and that fans of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films are particularly sensitive to slights, Rotten Tomatoes has suspended all user comments—for the first time in its history—on reviews of The Dark Knight Rises, after a mere few hundred minor personal attacks and fanciful violent fantasies against those critics who have dared to find fault with the film. As the site’s editor-in-chief Matt Atchity told the Associated Press, “The job of policing the comments became more than my staff could handle for that film, so we stopped the comments altogether,” adding, “It just got to be too much hate based on reactions to reviews of movies that people hadn’t even seen.” And of course, threatening to gut some idiot hack who expresses a differing opinion is only acceptable after a film’s official release.
For those who can’t wait to vent until the end of the week, when user comments are likely to be restored, it should be noted that Rex Reed’s review is now up and awaiting comments. http://www.avclub.com/articles/rotten-tomatoes-suspends-dark-knight-rises-comment,82616/
@ anjali: plz come up with a fullblown review on GoW 1& 2
Am sure it will be great and deserving of a separate thread:cheers: u certainly know kashyap films inside out.
@ bliss: “”TIME suspends fareed zakaria”
Did they use suspender belt or tights for their fetishes ?
Are we supposed to tow someone’s line or agenda!!
Not me…
Loved these ones by Rex reed– ROFL
“Silly pop-culture comic book cinema about grown men in rubber masks and Styrofoam jock straps is bad enough, but incomprehensible gibberish to boot is just plain unacceptable,”
“Trash is trash, but when it costs an estimated $250 million… the charges turn criminal and someone should subject the garbage man to a citizen’s arrest.”
🙂
B.O. update: ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur 2’ picks up on Wednesday, declines on Thursday
By Taran Adarsh, August 10, 2012 – 14:02 IST
GANGS OF WASSEYPUR 2, which had a midweek release, is having an erratic run at the domestic box-office. While the film fetched fair figures in the preview screenings on Tuesday night [Rs 34 lacs], it picked up considerably on Thursday [Rs 2.75 cr]. In view of the fact that it’s a midweek release, besides lack of ‘star names’ to lure the audiences and of course, limited release, the business on Wednesday can be considered good. However, its business went downhill on Thursday [Rs 2.30 cr], despite a strong word of mouth. GANGS OF WASSEYPUR 2 will need to show a massive jump from Friday to Sunday, if it has to amass a decent total.
With EK THA TIGER arriving on Wednesday, 15 August, the screen space of GANGS OF WASSEYPUR 2 will be reduced considerably, so whatever it has to accumulate, it will have to do so before Wednesday.
Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 dropped on Thursday after a low opening on Wednesday. The collections on Thursday were around the 2.25 crore nett mark which is a 15-20% drop from Wednesday.
The business of two days including paid previews is 5.50 crore nett which is poor. The may do a bit better over the weekend but from these low levels it needs a huge turnaround. Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 will not even do the business of the first part of Gangs Of Wasseypur which in itself was poor at the box office.
The collections on day two dropped all over the country be it where it was dull or where the collections were a bit better like Delhi/NCR.
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum did fairly well in week two grossing around 8 crore nett taking its two week total to around 42.75 crore nett. The film has fared very well in the Mumbai circuit where the final distributor share will be around 9 crore.
The film held up well on the weekdays as the business of Jism 2 crashed. The film should add around 3 crore nett business from here on as it will not be in many theatres when Ek Tha Tiger releases on Wednesday.
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum has done three times the business of Kyaa Kool Hain hum which did around 15 crore nett when released in 2004.
While is was obvious to everyone that the Wednesday figures of GOW2 cannot be compared to Friday figues of GOW1, BoI went to town calling the opening poor. If the opening was poor and there was further drop on Thursday, why more screen were added on Friday? and why are the figures on Friday so much higher than Wednesday and Thursday? After all as some very wise people in many blogs had commented, Friday is also a working day like Wednesday, so there is no difference between the two days. Mysterious isn’t it? How dumb can some people get!
“Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 improved on Friday in Delhi/UP as it was screened on more theatres. Delhi/UP is the best performing circuit for the film though still below the mark. The approx figures from Delhi/UP for the first four days are as follows
( And some say animation films don’t work in India! it’s about making them work..like Rrajmouli has done)
When Ram Gopal Verma says that it would be the first Telugu film to cross 100 crore mark, the world of cinema making needs to sit up and take notice. Indeed, EEGA, the film which has been made in Telugu at the cost of Rs, 30 crore has emerged as one of the biggest hits in the recent times and has paved the way for filmmakers to think out of the box and use animation and graphics to start making films which Hollywood has developed as one of the biggest verticals. Directed by S.S. Rajmouli, EEGA is going to be made in Hindi as well with the title MAKHI, which again would be directed by Rajmouli.
Finished watching Midnight in Paris. my brief views:
The film’s a little too self-indulgent for its own good. Certainly there are moments of splendor, visual brilliance, great dialogue and dry humour, but Allen goes all out in writing a screenplay where he has immersed himself completely to create a character that’s too detached and associated with the past to care about his present. The film incidentally drew a lot of praise and won the Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars this year. I could understand why. I just thought it was nowhere near his classics. Might revisit it sometime in the near future. Literature fans and writers will definitely find the fictional characterizations of Hemingway, Adriana, and Zelda / Scott Fitzgerald interesting.
MIP was good but didn’t have Allen at his best imo.
Though the overall atmospherics , period setting, icOnic names, nostalgia of greateness added to the overall mix ..
Which helped it to be ‘celebrated’ as much..
Though not overtly wowed by MIP, the basic ‘germ idea’ was interesting and worthy of Allen ..
Did get somewhat irritated by owen Wilson whose ‘casual cool’ act got a bit to much. This also started my disillusionment with Marion cotillard — liked her earlier -with her highly indifferent act in TDKR I was pissed off.
Overall a reasonable Allen effort though would rate it slightly lower than his other gems -even below Vicky Christina Barcelona …
“Yet there’s something random about this scene: it comes out of nowhere, feels psychologically improbable given how far gone Faisal is by this point (besides, if he was initially unwilling, it was probably because he was immersed in ganja, not because of any moral compulsions) and I thought it existed only to give us a reason to feel sorry for Faisal in light of what will happen later. In any case this pathos-filled moment is soon rendered meaningless: the grim bloodbath that Faisal engages in at the end doesn’t suggest someone who was ever a reluctant participant – this is killing for the fun of it, pure bloodlust combined with a boy’s fantasy of cornering his mortal enemy in a no-escape position and emptying round after round into his body.”
VERY RIGHT
And the same goes for most of the other observations.
jai arjun is the only film reviewer i take seriously…the rest of them are jokers.
he has come up with a nice review of GOW 2. But the central thrust of his piece encapsulated best in the last paragraph, left me disappointed. here is the piece:
“Earlier, when the young widow Shama is shot dead in the Khan clan’s house, the voiceover quickly tells us that this has come as a big shock to everyone because it’s the first time ever that a woman has been killed thus during the gang wars; cut to a very brief shot of Faisal sitting by himself, looking despondent, and then everyone gets back to the business of revenge and the business of business. A little while later, Faisal’s mother – a key character – is gunned down in the market, and this again is glossed over. And once you have heard faux-maudlin versions of Hindi-film songs like “Teri Meherbaniyan” being played alongside what are mean to be genuinely sad scenes (a family weeping over a young son’s body), it’s hard to take any of the emotions at face value. Gangs of Wasseypur encourages the viewer to chuckle at its violence and at the mourning that follows it, but also wants us to feel strongly enough about the main characters that there is a sense of genuine tragedy in the last act (and the last scene, which returns us to the plaintive “Ik Bagal”). Possibly this is my failing, but – much as I enjoyed many things about this epic film – I couldn’t muster both feelings at once.”
But this is the real magic of Anurag Kashyap….his aesthetics is too playful and real to be categorized into a definite narrative(tragic or playful) that elicits a non conflicting response the audience can indulge themselves and wallow in.He is too uncompromising a realist to let the tragic moments lose their inherent playfulness and the playfulness lose their inherent tragedy.this is the meaning of black humor.
There is a scene of intense tragedy in the film “Monsoon Wedding”….when Naseer discovers that his elder brother physically abused the girl naseer raised with love and affection like his own daughter. He is found to be emotionally devastated and crying inconsolably in the arms of his wife…..and she hugs him tight….. and he keeps crying and the effect in one of profound anguish and tragedy…when suddenly…. his hug tightens….. apparently the embrace has given him a hard on and they start making love!
The protagonist of the novel The outsider by Camus is found drinking and swimming in a club swimming pool and frolicking with his girl friend and having sex with her…all this one day after his mother died.
Anurag as some other artists above is existential in his themes and treatment, he is questioning something very basic in our mental makeup..which question we do not pose to ourselves and that is the drama and the hype generating tendency inside us….the maudlin inside the man….”gham jab sataaye seeti bazaana”… quality inside the man.
The main protagonist in the film is the town and ambience of Wasseypur itself…the Bollywood obsessed caricature of loony goons….playing out their drama.
The climactic scene in the movie..where Faizal empties carbines after carbines into the dead body of Ramadheer is the culmination point of all this dramabaazi inside man.
I took my revenge!…I took my revenge!
Ok you took it now what? Time to get real?
The last scene where mohsiina with piyush mishra are forced to run away from wasseypur to bombay…is the real.
My favorite scene in the movie is the chase sequence…it clearly shows how difficult it is to maintain the gravity and intensity of a copybook situation playing in our mind when we actually do it in practice.
The batman needs to use the public toilet every once in a while between his heroic antics.
Anjali singh: “But this is the real magic of Anurag Kashyap….his aesthetics is too playful and real to be categorized into a definite narrative(tragic or playful) that elicits a non conflicting response the audience can indulge themselves and wallow in.He is too uncompromising a realist to let the tragic moments lose their inherent playfulness and the playfulness lose their inherent tragedy.this is the meaning of black humor.”
Agree hundred percent. That is what makes Anurag a cut above any director in India today.
I’m pretty sure that Jai Arjun Singh knows what what black humour is! I don’t think he is criticizing the film for it’s tragicomedic humour but for the fact that it cannot decide whether it wants the viewers to be emotionally invested in it’s characters and view them as real people or whether it wants to present it’s characters more as archetypical composites of popular culture living in a cardboard universe that is playfully derivative of gangster films and masala movies.
Jai Arjun is not such an unintelligent viewer that he needs to object to a film that does not allow him to react in the most simplistic way possible. He’s objecting to the uneven emotional engagement that the film provokes- not the fact that it is both serious and playful but the fact that it is both emotionally superficial and emotionally deep. Infact he mentions some vignettes of tragicomedy that he liked and praises Kashyap for these moments- so it’s hardly the black humour that he is objecting to.
BTW- I saw the first film today and enjoyed it very much.
“Admittedly, some of the little touches of levity are well done. When a sleeping (and probably ganja-addled) Faisal Khan is told that his father has been killed, he jumps off the charpoy and dashes down a stairway and out of the frame, looking very much the purposeful hero about to assume a responsibility – but a second later he scampers back awkwardly because he has forgotten to put on his shoes. It’s a nice touch – a pointer to the mundane things that can interfere with the playing out of the dramatic “scenes” in our lives, and the kind of shot one wouldn’t see in the Bachchan-starrer Trishul, which Faisal is so obsessed with.”
Hi Anjali and Ami,
just chanced upon this (very interesting) discussion and read your observations on my post. Firstly, thanks Ami for the comment that goes “I don’t think he is criticizing the film for it’s tragicomedic humour but for [….] derivative of gangster films and masala movies.” You’ve condensed my viewpoint better than I managed to in my post. (I mentioned in one of the comments that dark humour was definitely not the problem.)
Anjali, enjoyed reading your comment very much. Just to clarify, I have a lot of respect for any work that recognises the possibility of playfulness/levity in a tragic moment, and vice versa. (The scene where Faisal stumbles back to wear his shoes is one of a few scenes in GoW where I thought this was done quite nicely.) But I also think that in the really successful examples of such juxtapositions (like the two examples you mentioned – Monsoon Wedding and The Outsider), those apparently contradictory moods are perfectly integrated within a given context. And apart from a few scenes, I didn’t think that integration was achieved in GoW. It seemed more a case of the film telling us in one scene “This is how you’re supposed to feel about these characters” and then, in the next scene “Now you have to feel this way.”
Don’t know if I’m making any sense here – must admit that no other recent film has evoked such a conflicted response in me, and there’s every chance that when I see it a second time I’ll completely change my mind about all this!
@ jabberwock
If u r the real Jai Arjun.. I must say I love your reviews.
On the point of integration of contradictory moods within a given context….i found Gow 2 to be flawless. I had some problems with gow1 ….but none with Gow 2 at all.
From the start of the film when Sardar Khan’s dead body is laid in the room and Richa Chaddha has a glum look on her face(which will suitably animate with wails and tears when they start carrying the body)…to the lecherous stare bestowed by Piyush Mishra on Huma Kureishi over the dead body…..to Faizal Khan whispering in his friend’s ear……”Abe gaanja ka intezaam kar”(you must have seen his friend whispers back to Nawaz…”intezaam ho gaya” few moments later when he is taking the place of Nawaz in shouldering the dead body to the burial grounds)……all these little dramas are being played while the dead body of Sardar Khan (alias jiya ho bihar ke lala) is lying on the floor nnd the song is blaring outside..yaad teri aayegi….all this is sooo real…..and tragi comic.The real brilliance and the reason of confusion among audience is the pace with which Anurag is moving.He has no time for spoon feeding the audience.
From that first scene to the last I did not find any over indulgence to create black humor on the part of Kashyap.
Maybe the comedy of errors that precedes the killing of Sultan was playing to the gallery…but the chase sequence….. and many others were all bang on.
And i will politely disagree with your view that perpendicular was created just for laughs.If you had an idea of the lawless wasseypur you wud have realized there are many perpendicular-tangent combos roaming the streets….all the petty juvenile offenders and the whole gopgiri(gop means don)
Anjali: u haven’t even spared poor jai Arjun also –hehe bravo ..
“And i will politely disagree with your view that perpendicular was created just for laughs.If you had an idea of the lawless wasseypur you wud have realized there are many perpendicular-tangent combos roaming the streets….all the petty juvenile offenders and the whole gopgiri(gop means don)”
🙂
Now a french flick …
Ami, i am glad that u saw the 1st part (hope u write something abt it) and it was a pleasure reading ur debate with Anjali who like always made some fantastic original points abt the film.i can only hope that some day i attain half your (and Anjali’s) level of intellect in understanding films and arts.(i mean this seriously)
RE:”he does recognize and appreciate Kashyap’s comic juxtapositioning of the mundane and the heroic.but he is questioning:
whether the film wants the viewers to be emotionally invested in it’s characters and view them as real people or whether it wants to present it’s characters more as archetypical composites of popular culture living in a cardboard universe.”
Jai arjun is falling into the same trap by getting muddled with expressions like emotionally superficial and emotionally deep.
he appreciates the black humor of kashyap no doubt and gives examples of the same in the film….. but his mind is again falling into the trap of a grand narrative….”the emotionally deep”…which he is hankering for in the tragi-comic universe of the kashyapesque.
emotion is functional.if ur hand had no functional purpose …it wud have had no emotion either.human emotion and tragedy,etc is something very banal.this is what kashyap tries to show in his films.
what is nakedly REAL is devoid of all emotionally deep mumbo jumbo connotations.
if one has to relate with kashyap and his films one needs to grow up from the juvenile fixation of hankering for the emotionally deep…..there is no room for these humpty dumptys sitting inside the human mind at least in the kashyapverse.
“emotion is functional.if ur hand had no functional purpose …it wud have had no emotion either.human emotion and tragedy,etc is something very banal.this is what kashyap tries to show in his films.
what is nakedly REAL is devoid of all emotionally deep mumbo jumbo connotations.
if one has to relate with kashyap and his films one needs to grow up from the juvenile fixation of hankering for the emotionally deep…..there is no room for these humpty dumptys sitting inside the human mind at least in the kashyapverse.”
Hahaha wow what a post anjali 🙂
“BTW- I saw the first film today and enjoyed it very much.”
@amy: GOW has not released near me.
Would like to hear your views on GOW pleez–
U always have some very nice points as well-thanx
Ps: kashyap is truly one of the best in His country right now and so this film is also significant…
@ alex
i dont think ami is taking on me or whatever.
she merely explained to me the pov of jai arjun and i merely gave the pov of kashyap.both of us can be right at the same time.
or both of us can be wrong 🙂
u see….one cant escape the tragi comic
Amy -chillax -just fun as usual 🙂
Btw would be great to see the views of both Amy and anjali on gow!!
The clash of the icons…
Besides being original, these views dont have biases an agendas -so interesting..
Cheers
Alex stop trying to create unneccessary arguements. I’m not ‘taking on’ Anjali. As Anjali says- we are merely explaining two different points of view. It’s not a contest about who is right and who is wrong- although I do think that Anjali has misread Jai Arjun’s interpretation of the film- I still think that her points on Kashyap’s mastery over tragicomedy are very well thought-out and articulately expressed.
Anjali- I especially liked your reference to Camus’s The Stranger- it’s one of my favourite books. 🙂
But I must disagree completely with your take on Kashyap’s view of emotions.
I think that he wants to avoid the cliches of filmi ’emotional depth’, but he himself is still unconciously influenced by these emotions. So in some places you have an ironic, derivative take on filmi tropes and dramabaazi- and in other places there are genuine swatches of filmi emotion that Kashyap wants his viewers to enjoy earnestly- this creates a certain unevenness. For all his pretensions at making a sprawling, gun-toting violent multi-generational epic, Kashyap seems far more concerned with the emotional trivialties, relationship dynamics, romantic trials and sexual longing that affect his leads! Or atleast- thats how part 1 played out. I haven’t seen Part 2 yet.
“There is a scene of intense tragedy in the film “Monsoon Wedding”….when Naseer discovers that his elder brother physically abused the girl naseer raised with love and affection like his own daughter. He is found to be emotionally devastated and crying inconsolably in the arms of his wife…..and she hugs him tight….. and he keeps crying and the effect in one of profound anguish and tragedy…when suddenly…. his hug tightens….. apparently the embrace has given him a hard on and they start making love!”
ROFL 🙂
“The protagonist of the novel The outsider by Camus is found drinking and swimming in a club swimming pool and frolicking with his girl friend and having sex with her…all this one day after his mother died.”
“The batman needs to use the public toilet every once in a while between his heroic antics.”
Anjali- that’s an entertaining take…
It’s this constant ‘duality’ which exists in most real life situations but it takes a perceptive maker (& a perceptive open observer) to see it in the correct perspective ..
Guys, don’t bury the forum with unnecessary banter or long reviews one after the other or topics that are completely irrelevant in terms of the thread. A little bit here and there is ok, comment after comment becomes problematic.
Point taken but weren’t me, anjali and Amy discussing GOW in a GOW bo thread .We weren’t delving into the great Rohan sippy in a
mere kashyap thread 🙂
Nor were we discussing x rated porn ha
Anyways…
yes but many of your comments try to provoke stuff as a joke. Or even otherwise there’s one joke too many. It drowns out everything else. So for example you go on and on about this Anjali-Ami thing. Constantly trying to get them to engage. There’s no reason to do this. We all like to have fun once in a while but it shouldn’t be done all the time, otherwise the forum becomes useless.
“Anjali-Ami thing. Constantly trying to get them to engage”-
Well they are consenting adults– as in this case none of the two got ‘provoked’– but u did!!!
I have nothing against girl -girl stuff anyhow as long as its consensual.. 🙂
Ps–about to catch a french flick now hanaha
I have a longer note on GOW 2 pending.. But Im trying to get it published on a site by 20th.. If it doesnt get accepted, Ill post it here.. I hope Satyam will be kind enough to give it a separate post.
As of now, Dont know where to begin while talking about my feelings for GOW 2. Beautiful frames and performances and scenes derivative of Godfather and Goodfellas are aplenty here (Though Kashyap must be applauded for giving the proceedings his own unique touch, be it his Hindi pop culture references or chemistry between his leads and performances). On the whole I liked the series very much, but would be hesitant in calling the two-part film a classic. Looking back, all one remembers is redundant and relentless scenes of gunfire and rivalry and characters shaping up over decades. There’s a lot to admire in individual scenes, but it the screenplay doesnt really gel well together.
“you’re a gentleman”- Tony this goes for you too. You are one of the most balanced and genuinely nice people on the blog (and someone whom i continue to learn from). i have ‘never’ seen u get into an arguement here- how do u manage this man, give some tips to me too- in a perverse sense would enjoy seeing u in a heated discussion for once 🙂 On a serious note, i am waiting desperately for ur GoW review- make sure it’s a cracker of a piece (btw which site are u posting it on?)
just a random site saurabh. an unknown online magazine. Dont have great expectations : Its poor and amateur and am too lazy to make corrections or elaborate on it. lol
But in any case why aren’t u putting ur piece right now itself- i mean why do u have to wait for that site to publish it (do the site owners have an issue with someone posting their pieces somewhere else too?). in any case if u don’t have a problem telling, which site is this? (would like to check it out)
Re-visited GOW-2. Unlike first part, its second viewing bored me. But in any case this is not missed for those who have seen first part .. movie was full engaging on first watch.
Friday Report: Solid Starts for ‘Bourne,’ ‘Campaign’
by Ray Subers
The Bourne Legacy
August 11, 2012
The Bourne Legacy and The Campaign both got off to respectable starts on Friday, which pushed reigning champion The Dark Knight Rises down to third place.
The Bourne reboot/spin-off debuted to an estimated $14 million yesterday. That’s up from The Bourne Identity’s $8.7 million from a decade ago, but less than The Bourne Supremacy ($18.4 million) and The Bourne Ultimatum ($24.7 million). It’s at least right in line with recent Bond franchise reboot Casino Royale, which earned $14.7 million on its opening day. Distributor Universal Pictures is currently predicting a $41 million weekend, which is a fine start given the challenge of switching the leading man from Matt Damon to Jeremy Renner.
Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis political comedy The Campaign grossed an estimated $10.25 million yesterday. That’s on the low-end for Ferrell Summer movies: it’s a bit below Anchorman’s $10.76 million, and also down from Step Brothers ($11.8 million) and The Other Guys ($13.1 million). That being said, political comedies are always a tough sell, and R-rated comedies don’t usually burst out of the gate, so this is actually a pretty good debut. The Campaign appears poised to finish the three-day weekend in the high-$20 millions.
The Dark Knight Rises dropped 45 percent to an estimated $5.63 million on Friday. The conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has now earned $376.2 million, and currently trails its predecessor by almost $47 million.
Hope Springs brought in an estimated $4.7 million on Friday, which is more than it had made on Wednesday and Thursday combined ($4.45 million). While that is noticeably off from star Meryl Streep’s last Summer release, Julie & Julia ($6.5 million), it’s a fine number for a movie that should play well with older audiences for the remainder of the Summer.
Sony Pictures did not report on Total Recall’s Friday haul, which suggests that the poor word-of-mouth (“C+” CinemaScore) has put the movie on track for a catastrophic second weekend.
Depending on where Total Recall falls on the chart, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days took fifth or sixth place with an estimated $2.85 million on Friday. Through eight days, the children’s book adaptation has earned $25.2 million, and has no chance of getting anywhere close to its predecessors ($64 million and $52.7 million).
“The Dark Knight Rises dropped 45 percent to an estimated $5.63 million on Friday. The conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has now earned $376.2 million, and currently trails its predecessor by almost $47 million.”
The last one went on to a total of 533m. Would be surprised if this even did 500m. Nonetheless its own gross is nothing to be sneezed at though it probably reflects even more IMAX tickets.
Bol Bachchan puts Abhishek Bachchan in a different league
Roshini K Olivera, TNN | Aug 12, 2012, 12.00AM IST
It surely was one of the toughest roles in his career, but Abhishek Bachchan managed to pull it off well. No wonder Bol Bachchan has put the actor in a different league now. And with the film doing `100cr business, AB Jr has entered the coveted club…
So you’ve joined the `100 crore club…
I’m a bit lost for words. This whole `100cr thing used to be the Silver Jubilee earlier. It’s like a milestone. I’m just so happy and thankful that the audience have loved the film. Making it to the `100cr mark is testimony to the fact that people have enjoyed the film. The entire credit goes to Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn. I want to thank them first, for giving me Bol Bachchan, and then for supporting me through the film.
Where do you see yourself in this rat race?
I don’t think any actor believes in this whole rat race business. It’s a race when everyone’s competing at one level, like say a 100-metre race where it’s the same for everyone. But here, we are doing our individual films. If I was a part of Bol Bachchan, another actor is a part of some other film. How do you compare? It wouldn’t be fair. I can’t have that mindset; I have to be bothered about what I am doing or else I won’t be concentrating fully on it. For me, it’s always about how I can get better with every film.
You’ve had a series of hit films, then a low and now a big high again. How would you describe the journey?
It’s been a great one.
What about Friday jitters when you have a film release?
It’s very difficult. After a year of hardwork, blood and sweat by a team close to 500 people, that worked tirelessly, Friday is judgement day. There’s excitement and nerves… it’s fun.
You’ve got Dhoom 3 and Dostana 2, two very different kind of films…
Currently I’m shooting for Dhoom 3 and that’s the only film I’m totally concentrating on.
We hear of filmmakers planning projects for you.
Yes, it’s very nice to see renewed confidence in my work. It’s a great feeling and I am looking forward to doing some good films.
Action and comedy have both become your forte. Personally, what do you like better?
It’s tough to choose between the two. I enjoy all of it. I like the variety that our films offer.
Any of your movies that’s your favourite?
Each and every one of them. If it wasn’t my favourite at that point, I wouldn’t have done it.
Films apart, you are a sports lover too. We hear that you caught Bolt’s 100m win at the London Olympics?
I was very close to the track and had the best view… it was an unbelievable experience! The highlight in London for me was to see the Indian flag high up in the Olympics stadium amidst the flags of other countries.
You’re going to be abroad for three months now. So, you’ll be missing family and little Aaradhya…
They will be joining me.
@ satyman
did not see the logic behind putting Abhisekh bachchan interview on this thread.
Btw…can you give a link to Bhardwaj Rangan’s review of GOW 2?
O my god…what a perfect review!
Could not find a single fault,though i was trying hard.
Bravo!
“but the only way Gangs of Wasseypur can be considered is by treating it as a super-elaborate postmodern prank rather than a traditional dramatic narrative.”
B Rangan has some brains after all.
I wish Rajeev Masand learns from him.
The most accurate summing up of the series yet. You have said pretty much all wanted to say about the film.
Three insights that you ofer sum up the essence of the film very well:
“And his peculiar achievement – and, finally, a praiseworthy one – is that he draws from our cinema and, at the same time, denounces it. ”
” – but the only way Gangs of Wasseypur can be considered is by treating it as a super-elaborate postmodern prank rather than a traditional dramatic narrative..”
” This, Kashyap tells us, is what avengers are like – fools, sidetracked by love stories (Faizal is as much a fool for Mohsina as his father was for Durga), men with vague aims but without concrete plans. ”
Happy to see him mention that bit about the musical styles of RD Burman and Laxmikant Pyarelal on which I had elaborated on this thread.
Ha anjali: thought u presented some original thoughts there and while jai Arjun creditably tried to understand them, don’t think he assimilated the full meaning..
Btw as in the GOW song u said ‘keh ke loongi!’ to him 🙂
@ alex
haha…u dont have to be diplomatic with me 🙂
few dull heads may find ur jokes objectionable…..i enjoy them immensely.
in fact sometimes I get the feeling,that ur detached jokes are the only thing sane…in the way it debunks…. amid all the nutcase theories we vent and fight for on this forum or others.
“ur detached jokes are the only thing sane…in the way it debunks…. amid all the nutcase theories we vent and fight for on this forum or others.”– thanx anjali..
“haha…u dont have to be diplomatic with me “–
Ok so i have the ‘parmissan’ 🙂
( refer to the GOW ‘parmissan’ link below) /’
Vidya balan: the powerhouse performer-dedicated to Amy !
Well, haven’t seen dirty picture, kahaani, ishqiya
But kept hearing these superlatives about vidya Balans acting
ESP from her diehard fans like Amy and Di ..
And I thought -well she is definitely a v good actress but this is going a bit too far..
But saw thIs random song today —
Don’t need any further proof–make my impressions early ..
Now in her FIRST movie, this is the state of affairs
That she is giving a kaleidoscope of complex expressions in one goddam song
Brilliant !!
Enjoy vidya balan fans like Amy 🙂
Faizal khan is the most self centered clown in GOW 2. When sultan and his gang attacked his house,Faizal left his family to face the goli baari and was the first to sneak out from the terrace.
He broke his knee while jumping from the terrace and limped like a coward to the safety.Only when sultan and his gang left…he let loose a flurry of invectives…
His brother Danish was murdered,his brother’s wife was killed,his mother and Asghar Khan were killed in broad daylight but he took no action against Ramadheer singh who was the main villian.
He finally decided to kill Ramadheer only when an attack on his life was made by Ramadheer through the treachery of Iqlaakh.
Jab baat apne jaan par aayi the great Faizal Khan went berserk and went for the blood of Ramadheer full gong.
This shows that all the talk of taking revenge and all that nonsense was a big hoax inspired by bollywoodism.
Anjali it will be a sheer case of a great chance gone abegging if u don’t come up with a write-up on GoW- don’t think anyone here has understood/assimilated the film as well as u have
Watched Gow-1, Its extremely rich in every sense though it drags in the middle.
The most striking thing about GOW1 is the prank Ak plays with the revenge theme.. there is no revenge current but its deliberately injected by AK into the Viewer and than shows its futulity when Sardar khan is killed,his revenge dialogue is played in BG.. What i took from Gow1 is that revenge never ends, to get into it is waste and even if one enters in revenge mode it doesnt last long as other things take over, again exemplified when sardar khan changes his profession to fishing, Survival is the root instinct and desire.
Some scenes are brilliant and priceless
reema sen washing clothes.
permissan scene
AB’s Trishul entry scene and crowds erupting in theater and than Faizal khan’s Waheeda rehamn dialogue..
2 scene that shows mastery of AK over knowing finer details were one “cheeni bartan” and last home scene of sardar khan when he wakes up and starts asking about his sons and others, how his wife replies and how he responds back..
All songs are beautifully incorporated in movie except Hunter song, though I liked 1st song of Bhagal main chand, again AK taking his shot on Joy and Pain, Tears and smile and shows they just co exist and its just what one wants to see.
About cast.
The most brilliant performance is of Nagam bhegum ( Richa chada). She owns this movie, IMO
Sardar khan is neither Hero nor anti hero/villian… he is just human with all its limitations and weakness, We as audience presume him as (anti) Hero.
About profanity in language, I dont see why anyone has objection coz that’s the only way ppl talk in hinterlands and its very close to reality
ps: If i read as incoherent than I proffer apology as written in hurry
one more scene where AK again shows master is MKS song, ” salaame Ishq” One hell of scene, the way Yashpal sharma performs it and Faizal khan n Huma enact it …
@ bliss
The most striking thing about GOW1 is the prank Ak plays with the revenge theme.. there is no revenge current but its deliberately injected by AK into the Viewer and than shows its futulity when Sardar khan is killed,his revenge dialogue is played in BG.. What i took from Gow1 is that revenge never ends, to get into it is waste and even if one enters in revenge mode it doesnt last long as other things take over, again exemplified when sardar khan changes his profession to fishing, Survival is the root instinct and desire.
Brilliant!
you got the very soul of the movie.
Bhardwaj Rangan’s review of GOW 1 talks nothing about subversion and stuff.his gow 2 review talks about subversion.Maybe he took hints from our thread.
you got the very essence of the movie.
The Leading Lady with Balls ( OPEN ) Feature on Vidya Balan
It’s a freedom few sex symbols have. But then, The Dirty Picture didn’t give the country just another sex symbol. It gave India a sex symbol that wasn’t for audiences to sculpt, modify or even judge. ‘I am a real woman and this is a real woman’s sexy body,’ her character seemed to convey, ‘Deal with it.’
It’s an attitude she clearly revels in. “Men come up and thank me,” she says, “They are happy seeing a real woman. Women come and tell me that they are not embarrassed of their breasts anymore, but celebrate them. Sexiness is all about how you feel. You can either use your hands to cover or caress yourself. I love my body.”
In that love of herself and her body, professed so unabashedly, Vidya Balan has helped millions of Indians love themselves just the way they are. As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, ‘To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.’ It takes a radical departure from every force that seems to be bearing down on you. In Hindi cinema, it takes superhuman willpower as well.
Gangs Of Waseeypur 2 had a poor extended weekend of 15-15.50 crore nett as per early estimates. These collections would have been good if it was a three day weekend but from for five days plus paid previews its a poor total.
The film’s collections on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all in the same range as the film grossed in between 3 and 3.50 crore nett on all three days.
There is not much hope for he film with Ek Tha Tiger releasing on Wednesday but it was always going to be tough task for the film as Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 found little appreciation therefore making it much harder for the second part to put up better numbers.
Jism 2 had a heavy fall in the second weekend collecting around 3.50-3.75 crore nett. The first weekend collections were around 20.50 crore nett which is a 80% plus week on week drop.
The film has managed to come out with better than expected overall numbers in North and Bihar but collections elsewhere are below expectations.
The film has around two more days to collect as Ek Tha Tiger will take most of the single screens Jism 2 is playing on at present leaving it with 1-2 shows at multiplexes.
Overall the film do a final distributor share of around 18.25-18.50 crore leaving a couple pf distributors safe while other will loses heavy amounts especially the Mumbai distributor.
Have mixed feelings for Vicky Cristina Barcelona..
Starts off well and Allen’s fascination for finer things in life (paintings, love, landscapes) brings a smile, but plot becomes convoluted..
Anyone want to share feelings for this film? Maybe Alex
Tony, i thought u may be interested in this- An 80 page comic book on Agent Vinod titled “Agent Vinod- The Jungfrau Encounters” has hit the stands (it was released by the makers of the films) and is surprisingly getting good reviews. i am planning to check this one out
Yes tony :
Liked Vicky Christina Barcelona –I personally liked it a lot though not for everyone
…
Was busy -tired now but may write something on it soon…
anurag kashyap is the greatest indian film maker of all time.
i saw both the parts together today..gow 1 and 2 in a hall again.
i m sorry….but b rangan has been able to fathom 10 percent of his genius in his review. kashyap is greater than satyajit and every one else in india.
he is the greatesttttt!
i m ready for the challenge…anyone who wants to contest me…give it a try. anurag is the greatest.
Anjali, so I assume you’ve seen all the important works of Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan… I am just throwing some names off the top of my head but this list could be made a lot more comprehensive.
I think one can lavish a great deal of praise onto a work without indulging in the kind of hyperbole that makes the opinion almost meaningless.
And if you have seen all these directors and some others and still have this opinion frankly it’s a little scary.
And to think Rangan was complaining about similar issues with the Sight & Sound poll!
I should nonetheless thank you for some restraint I suppose. A guy on twitter the other day (the only reason I read these comments is because I follow Kashyap and he retweets every single thing on the film.. if you say I had Frosted Flakes before watching the film and this enhanced my experience of part 2 more than part 1 where I only saw the latter after drinking a glass of milk he’ll retweet this too!) suggested there were now three great epics in India — Ramayana, Mahabharata, GoW.
dev d a subversion of devdas infact this was touched by shyam bengal (sooraj ka satwa ghoda ….do watch it ) and many others its just people have short memory
no smoking was lifted from stephen king’s quitters
the girl in yellow boots ( a refrence to godmen and incest and one wonder nair and others are doing it for ges)
gow 1 ( a huge godfather hangover )…here a prakash jha did the same with rajneeti ( a touch of godfather and mahabharata )
gulal(on stupic politics and an inversion of karna of mahabharata)…..others are doing that for ages…the makers of art film movement and even rgv
one biggest regret with kashyap he is yet to make any significant movie which put up the bar technically , commercially or infact be a lesson of budding filmmakers forget being greatest
btw did satya had any star and it became trendsetter and even commercially a big sucessand infact both gow1 and gow 2 are another masala fick without any major star
Bliss, but in some cases one can at least understand the hyperbole. Obviously this can never be a ‘scientific’ word that completely fits any given work but when you talk about certain kinds of films and directors it is at least comprehensible. You are at the very least commenting on the stratosphere that work belongs to. So if it’s not the greatest maybe it’s ‘among’ the very greatest, however long or short such a list is. And again one can do these things differently depending on one’s preferences. But in what universe and by what possible ranking could any Kashyap film be considered the greatest Indian film made?!
Ya, It can be ‘One of the great/st’ but not “The greatest’ and this can only be done as you rightly said on ‘Body of work’ not on single piece unless that piece defines History or makes new school of thought ..
Rest on 3 epics .. LOL …
AK plugs in every tweet about his movies and that sometimes is laughable and defeats the very purpose of what his movies stand for..
I agree completely with you. But just to take Anjali’s side for a minute (for the heck of it) i believe sometimes one makes these hyperbolic statements in enthusiasm/jest. Now of course if one makes such a statement, it will be automatically disqualified from any ‘serious debate’. And u know this kind of ridiculously hyperbolic comments in india are not limited to films- the other day one of my younger cousins was telling me that Kohli is the best exponent of cover drive ever in the history of the game!
may be for people of this generation kashyap is more legendary than others… i mean who is gonna go out of his way and watch old classics…
in the limited sphere of this generation, i guess kashyap being the best is a good shot, but all time, cannot be compared… i have always hated all time list….
its like amitabh being greatest of all, i did rather say he was best of his time, but if you talk today i might prefer Aamir khan or Salman Khan Movie… its all generational…
relating to someone or a work in a generational sense is one thing, a critical judgment is quite another. I can hardly say Shakespeare or the Mahabharata were the best for their time!
Ya agreed rajen, but sometimes people get carried away.
I often feel after watching a movie for eg. RDB or Swades, this is the best cinema…. of all time in the heat of the moment, when mind gets calm i know its impossible to say all time best….
i had occassion to see Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa… and makes me realise that such debates are futile at least to my view. As i believe Pyaasa is a masterpiece. But how do i compare that to RDB, which hada great cultural impact.
So why to compare, make them good in their generation… and i stay happy with it, so no conflict. 🙂
Anjali: that’s the spirit
If u liked it, that’s it ..
Good that it forced u to venture into the cinema hall twice leaving your laptop..
Hope u didn’t encounter any ‘definites’ & ‘perpendiculars’ there 🙂
And Satyam should be thankful to Q (the director) for the number of hits his film may have generated for SS by now 🙂 – i have noticed that GANDU (the film) is enjoying the perennial Rajendra Kumar status of the blog. Has Satyam or anyone seen it (remember Tony telling that he found the film useless)? Btw Kashyap is producing Q’s next film “Tasher Desh” (based on Tagore’s novel) which will be some kind of a musical
Christ, thats about a block away from the gas station I worked at in 1994! The heart of Texas, every house/dwelling/apartment has a minm of 2 guns in the premises. Not surprised at all…
The movie Gangs Of Wasseypur can be summed up in one single sentence, which is the tag line of the film too: Teri keh ke loonga!
The film is a super elaborate exercise in Keh ke loonga against the Bollywood and the audience who have made it into what it is… Everyone was beguiled into thinking that the taunting line has been used in the context of the film as it ran in the promos …..but now the real implication of that line is out. After all the buzz, promotion, publicity and the subsequent release of the film ….no one can blame Anurag that he did not tell us before he took our Bollywood besotted ass.
All the anger and frustration of Anurag against the whole tamasha called mainstream hindi cinema comes out here. The industry prejudice against Anurag was so deep that even his brother Abhinav was not getting producers to make his maiden film. In an interview Abhinav was found confessing that producers used to become hostile towards him when they found out his surname.
“Arrey yeh toh anurag ka bhai hai,waisi hi picture banayega.”
Anurag’s passionate blogging, drinking and depression days have been much publicized.
Anurag is not one to forgive and forget.
The most stupendous achievement of the film is that it sucks you inside the world of Wasseypur so deeply and totally that you do not realize it has a double meaning. I doubt anyone in the west where gangs was feted understood the real purpose of the film. The movie is too realistic in its detail and dialogue.
Nowhere one gets a suspicion that it’s a spoof of monumental proportion.
The crowning glory of the film is that the main protagonist in it…. is someone who has suffered for 10 years at the hands of this stereotyping of the Bollywood. Nawazuddin was used in films only when the hero/villain wanted to bash someone up.
Filmmaking for anurag is not something divorced and artistic. it is an intensely personal and angst ridden voice of the underdog against the pervasive stereotyping of the system which has branded him a loser. It is a powerful and thundering…relentless and comprehensive Revenge by Anurag against that system. He is not only making fun of bollywood but now with his production company going to change it. This is the reason why the youths identify with him….this is the cause of his cult status.
The angry young man Amitabh and the rebellious bad boys Sanjay dutt and salman become puny figures when compared with the depth of rebelliousness and subversion festering in the soul of Anurag. That is the reason why the underdog inside us connects with this genius underdog of bollywood outside(Anurag)…it elicits a response that is often emotional. Anurag is not a mere film director..he is a cultural icon of the times. He is the voice of this angry generation.
He is the “keh ke loonga” personified for the Bollywood syndicate. He is the one man against the whole. If Bollywood has one big fear…it is Anurag Kashyap….because what he is doing is going to change the face of cinema in India.
I haven’t seen the film but have read a few noted on it –havent seen this point of subversion of bollywood symbolism been made as lucidly and effectively as this
@ anjali: u should cumulate all these comments into a structured review..
And suggest that needs to be made into a separate thread IMO
I dont want to get into whether Anurag Kashyap is the greatest Indian film directors or not as it is a futile exercise. But he is certainly up their among the best ever.
At this moment it is more pertinent to celebrate the burst of creativity he has brought into the Indian film scene. I felt the same exhilaration upon seeing GOW 1 & 2 as when reading A Hundred Years of Solitude for the first time. Wasseypur is Macondo for me. It is a totally misplaced to bring in Godftaher in the context of Wasseypur. Godfather is a straight narrative like any Hollywood film. Of course it is a very good narrative with many resonances, but ultimately it is a conventional drama where the story from A to B to C.
GOW is anything but that. It is a multi-layered cultural product that mixes conventional narrative, drama, songs, buffoonery, folk humour, linguistic invention ( Womaniya, Setrightway karo, ), pop culture, poetry ( Ek bagal mein chand), in a crazy mix that also has a unique auteur’s signature.
That is why it is more Marquez and Cervantes than Godfather. Though I must add even the Marquez parallel can only partly hint wht GOW is like. In the end, it is a fiercely original work so steeped in Indian roots and speaking a new cinematic language.
We should not go around expecting critics foreign or Indian to getr it all in one go. Though I must admit Rangan has made a good beginning.
I continue to despair of these hyperbolic comparisons! But you definitely shouldn’t compare mere mortals like Marquez and even more mortals like Cervantes to Kashyap.
And since we’re on these comparisons let me defend the Godfather by saying that characterizing it in your terms is a little reductive (just a little..!) but even accepting your terms I guess this only makes it like War and Peace.
The Kashyap commentary has the feel of an auction. Alright who’ll bring up Shakespeare now? Who’ll bring up Kurosawa?
Of course we had someone not too long ago who felt Kashyap was better than all these guys combined..
SATYAMSHOT 
August 7, 2012 at 8:34 AM
Bol Bachchan Closes In On A Century
Tuesday 7th August 2012 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Bol Bachchan continued to do well in its fourth week and was helped by Raksha Bandhan holiday on Thursday as collections doubled from the previous day. The film is still putting up decent numbers in Gujarat, UP, CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan. The final business in the Gujarat/Saurashtra area will be around 20 crore which is a huge number
The fourth week collections were around 3.50 crore nett and in its fifth weekend it went ahead of Cocktail as the fifth weekend business of Bol Bachchan was better than the fourth weekend of Cocktail.
The business of the film after 31 days is around 98.75 crore nett and will be around 99.25 crore nett after five weeks.
The film has beaten the 98 crore nett of Singham and should just about have the legs to hit the 100 crore nett mark.
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August 7, 2012 at 8:34 AM
LOL, despite their week 1 reductions they have to admit it’s doing a 100! The Taran total is probably around 105-107.
Incidentally weekend 4 here was already the same as Cocktail’s weekend 3. Given that BB has been most about single/double screens at this point and Cocktail only about multiplexes this is even more remarkable.
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August 7, 2012 at 8:40 AM
Re: “…was helped by Raksha Bandhan …”
LOL
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August 7, 2012 at 9:02 AM
ha! that too!
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August 7, 2012 at 11:32 AM
Some of us well remember BOI’s insistence that Diwali hurts SRK starrers like Don — whereas festivals help other stars. Everyone knows this rather obvious fact — except for the schmucks who wanted to release Don around Diwali!
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August 7, 2012 at 11:43 AM
LOL!
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August 7, 2012 at 11:39 AM
Found that hysterical too. A totally random qualification of the kind we’ve come to expect with BOI. And you’ll only get this with Indian box office “experts”. You’ll never catch IMDB saying that Lord of the Rings was saved by Kwanzaa.
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August 7, 2012 at 11:43 AM
Ha!!! Line of the day!
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August 7, 2012 at 8:36 AM
Jism 2 Crashes On Monday
Tuesday 7th August 2012 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Jism 2 crashed at the box office all over on Monday as it collected around 2-2.25 crore nett. The writing was on the wall on Saturday but even still to be over 70% down from Friday is a first.
The total after four days including paid previews is around 23.50 crore nett and the week is likely to finish in the 27-28 crore nett range and lifetime business at 30 crore nett.
The film will put most of its distributors in the red by big sums with Mumbai alone accounting for a 2 crore plus loss. The producers made good money as they sold as they managed to get good rates. The final scenario for the film is similar to Ferrari Ki Sawaari which was big winner for producers but big loser for distributors.
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August 7, 2012 at 8:37 AM
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum Has Decent Second Weekend
Monday 6th August 2011 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum had a decent second weekend of around 5.50 crore nett. The drop is 75% from its first weekend but considering the good opening the film got and competition from Jism 2 it has still managed to collect a reasonable amount in its second weekend. The ten day business is around 40 crore nett
The second week should do around 8 crore nett business which would mean around 42.50 crore nett in two weeks and the film will finish close to the 45 crore nett mark.
The film has made big money for the producers and its all India distributors are safe despite it fetching good money in most of the circuits across India.
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August 7, 2012 at 8:49 AM
LOL.. This is a great read.. I hope the Bhatts’ read it and stop immediately with their cheap, useless ‘brand’ films like Jism 2:
—————————-
I finally understand what the sexual frustration of the Indian male looks like. It looks like a stuffy run-down movie theatre in Bongaigaon, Assam and some 200 hollering men watching Jism 2. Jism 2 is worse than a tease. It’s a tease wanna-be.
The movie was apparently sold out. That wasn’t too surprising. Mayapuri is the only theatre in Bongaigaon. Jism 2 is the only movie playing in it. There was no sign that said that it was sold out. But the ticket counter was closed. And the only people selling any tickets were a bunch of blackmarketeers.
There was something pre-INOX nostalgic about the whole experience from the multicoloured tickets (pink for Dress Circle, Blue for balcony) down to the little packages of generic popcorn – no options for caramel or cheese. The ceiling fans whirred lazily overhead making scarcely any difference to the heat. The ushers were in their banians. My blackmarket ticket had a view that was partially obstructed by a column, obviously a mark of my inexperience in these matters. But luckily, my seat listed to one side anyway.
IBN-Live.
The audience for porn star Sunny Leone’s Bollywood debut was almost 99 percent male. There was just one family with what looked like a six-year-old daughter in the row behind me. There was a married couple next to me, obviously on a date night, firmly holding each other’s hands, though I don’t know whether it was spurred by romance or sheer terror triggered by the waves of pure testosterone ricocheting off the peeling walls of Mayapuri movie theatre.
Once the lights went down the entire audience shrieked as one. There was none of the usual nonsense of little sermonizing documentaries about HIV/AIDS and traffic safety nor the uber-annoying Vicco Vajradanti ads. So far so good. We went right to the real stuff.
Sunny Leone emerged from some body of water and the theatre erupted into wolf whistles, seat thumping and cheers exhorting her to take off what little she wore. Meanwhile, streams of men were still coming into the theatre, fumbling their way to their seats with the help of the lights on their mobile phones. Their intrusion caused the amp-ed up audience to curse and holler louder at this unwelcome obstruction of their view. Four men holding onto each other’s hands struggled their way to the end of the row, only to find someone squatting on two of their seats. Everyone fought for awhile. People around them asked them to shut up. The banian-ed ticket checker finally brought out a couple of extra chairs and put them in the aisle.
We were now well into ten minutes of the film. And other than looking at what resembled a splendid infomercial for some lovely tropical-looking hotel in Sri Lanka, I had not been able to hear one snatch of dialogue. Everything was drowned by the audience lustily appreciating every bit of Sunny Leone from her red dress to her cleavage to the love letter she writes in her own blood. When Randeep Hooda showed up in a towel and languorously embraced Sunny someone shouted, “Pet bhorey nai (My stomach is not full yet).”
But I soon realised that this film will not fill anyone’s stomach. This erotic thriller is low on both eroticism and thrills. Jism 2 just teases the audience into waiting for sex scenes that never arrive, torturing them instead with an inane plot where everyone is chasing a disk that contains some data that we are supposed to care about.
Bhatt obviously wanted to make some kind of girl power statement here. So Sunny gets to proposition the man, flip flop between two of them and say things like “I need a drink”. The men, on the other hand, are of the sensitive brute variety. Their breasts heave far often than Sunny’s. Randeep Hooda’s soulful Urduized dialogue delivered in a bedroom voice makes him sound like Mirza Ghalib on serious medication. And Sunny’s other squeeze, Arunoday Singh, has impressive muscles but spends most of his time pouting dramatically, sometimes facing a corner, sometimes bleeding on a beach, sometimes crumpled artistically on the floor.
But if anybody has been tricked into Sunny’s “honey-trap” it isn’t Hooda but the audience. They came in good faith looking for a good time. And Jism 2 just gave them two-plus hours of airbrushed frustration. In the age of readily available Internet porn, Jism 2 lives down to its own dialogue – har jism ka expiry date hota hai. This one is long past its expiry date. The audience boos lustily when finally a love making scene interrupted the story only to quickly fade to black. When an erotic thriller skimps on the sex, that’s just wrong.
Guardians of public morality have been suing to stop the screening of Jism 2 on the grounds of public decency. I say we should ban it because it does something worse. It makes fools of all us by pretending to treat us as adults.
Two hundred frustrated men poured out into the dark night of Bongaigaon after Jism 2. If that’s a scene repeating across a thousand small towns in India, God help us all.
http://www.firstpost.com/living/watching-jism-2-in-bongaigaon-howls-of-fury-and-frustration-406966.html#.UCCXkv-p3ZM.twitter
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August 7, 2012 at 2:46 PM
Qalandar and Satyam: BOI makes many blunders. But I dont see what you find funny in their statement that Raksha Bandhan helped cpollections of BB on Thursday. ‘ as collections doubled from the previous day’ could not have bee accident, right? Or what si your explanation? That large number of people suddenly discovered the superlative merits of the film on a Thursday in its 4th week of run?
As far as Diwali collections, they have always insisted that collections on the Diwlai evening proper when the North Indians do Laxmi Puja that the collections are affected. It improves in other shows and during the period because of the holiday spirit. And the Laxmi puja thing applies to certain regions only. I don’t see anything illogical there.
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August 7, 2012 at 3:02 PM
well they doubled if you believe them! I doubt that’s the case. Things are often marginally higher or lower from day to day and you can often quote a center or theater in isolation to create a misleading impression. Is it likely that repeat viewers suddenly turned up over a Raksha Bandhan day in the 4th week or that first-timers suddenly decided to see it for this reason?! It’s one thing for these events to help very early on and quite another when the film is more or less on its last legs! At the margins I’m sure there’s a difference but allow me to be skeptical when BOI seem rather more positive on the film over its 4th weekend than they were over the 1st (when they were busy reducing numbers!).
as for Diwali let me put it this was as someone who’s always followed the Bombay film media and trade rather avidly. Till very recently (Don was the first time) I never ever heard the claim that Diwali was problematic for a film in any sense. Even if one accepts that the puja day affects collections the overall event here is obviously a huge positive which is why it’s been a much coveted date for big films! Also even in contemporary times Messrs Taran and Nahta and BOI and whoever never used this excuse before the Don release. How come no one used this excuse when KKHH released on Diwali and had BMCM for competition (a film that actually outgrossed KKHH in week 1)? When a film is doing very well and opens very strongly none of these ‘excuses’ are necessary! So Laxmi Puja affected Don as opposed to all those other films for decades including SRK’s own (he owned Diwali for so long!) that weren’t! By the way Don never really picked up even over the week and though it remained stable it never had very strong collections. Pretty decent or better but nothing spectacular. It’s not as if this film after a bit of a pickup over the weekend started roaring! OSO on the other hand did even with very stiff competition (over the first weekend after which there was a collapse) from Saawariya. What happened to Laxmi Puja here?!
The other sleight of hand here is this — how much lower does a film open because of Laxmi Puja? Are there any reliable stats on this?! Hypothetically if a film is affected by 10 or 20% the trade could justify a 40% lower (than expectations) opening using the same excuse!
So whichever way you cut this the explanation offered doesn’t pass an elementary logic test.
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August 7, 2012 at 3:07 PM
by the way, they don’t make ‘blunders’. They deliberately misrepresent stuff!
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August 7, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Btw read somewhere that this bro/sis festival increased jism2 collections!!!
I mean..
Ps: utkal uncle: any latest films uve seen?
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August 7, 2012 at 2:56 PM
AA: it’s not about a bros/sis festival, just that it’s holiday. No new films. waiting for GOW2. May catch both parts together, if it runs that way in our city.
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August 7, 2012 at 3:16 PM
Utkal uncle: did u watch jism2?
What are your expert opinions about sunny leone..
How will u rank the cocktail songs(since u still seem in the cocktail mood)
What is your list of top directors-check the top directors thread…
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August 7, 2012 at 3:24 PM
Not interested in Jism2. Sunny Leone ios pretty but boring. Just read a quote from one of my Facebook friends attributed to Marilyn Monroe : Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be perfectly ridiculous than perfectly boring.
Cocktail songs: 1. Tumi Ho Bnadhu, Lotna, Yaariyan, Jugni, Terav Naam japti phira. Desi Daaru, Second Hand Jawani
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August 7, 2012 at 3:42 PM
“…and it’s better to be perfectly ridiculous than perfectly boring.”
ah… now I understand your Cocktail views!
Sorry! Couldn’t resist it!
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August 7, 2012 at 3:31 PM
Utkal uncle: I was hoping that u will be the one who will boldly go where nobody has gone here-ie seeing jism 2 and admitting to it here!
Good ranking there-lootna @ no2, yaariyan at 3– hmm..wow
Ps: live uptdate:news item:sunny leone apparently will be paying a visit to a Delhi Sikh temple apparently
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August 7, 2012 at 3:50 PM
Satyam: You need not be sorry. I would definitely prefer my views on Cocktail or anything else, to be thought as ridiculous than boring.
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August 7, 2012 at 4:00 PM
yes we all have very high opinions about our respective brands of ridiculousness!
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August 7, 2012 at 4:00 PM
Utkal uncle: u get my whole hearted support
Your writeups and views on cocktail were awesome and must I say, uniquely brilliant
Looking forward to more posts on cocktail
Since I actually learn from u in that
Ps: I’m a nit disappointed though that u didn’t pick up the diana panty ‘convenient?’ change of mind in this
Ps2: normally a skillful romcom expert, Amy disappointed in totally missing the point but the whole circle in the films interpretation-she just stayed in the realms one the obvious /superficialities
In that genre, was surpising from her (though Satyams grasp wasnt surprising 🙂
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August 7, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Not surprisingly those who find Cocktail brilliant are rather nonplussed when it comes to Rohan Sippy!
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August 7, 2012 at 4:13 PM
Cocktail/ the director is not in the list ..
To repeat and just for clarification –
The list ONLY contains-in no order
Mani ratnam
Anurag kashyap
Kamalhassan
Shekhar kapoor
Ps: note that some care has been taken to only include those so have some bare minimum contact with ‘normal’ audience
Their films HAVE been released in ‘normal’ cinemas some even being box office hits
That takes away the likes of ‘geniuses’ like adoor out (unfortunately)
Again just IMO lol
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August 7, 2012 at 4:20 PM
“Their films HAVE been released in ‘normal’ cinemas some even being box office hits”
Yup losers like Adoor have to make do with film festivals in NY or London or Paris. And we all know of course that directorial greatness is about screen count. Sajid Khan should top this list.
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August 7, 2012 at 4:26 PM
Ok so Satyams no1 is adoor- the greatest Indian film maker alive
Respect that choice but differ
What do others feel?
This was/is interesting…
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August 7, 2012 at 4:30 PM
“Respect that choice but differ”
you should add ‘differ based on not having seen a single Adoor film’!
by the way it’s not just about living filmmakers. Adoor is one of the very greatest 2-3 directors India has produced. His Rat-Trap is as good a film as has ever been made in India.
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August 7, 2012 at 4:41 PM
Yes: thats the point
Most can’t rate adoor due to lack of exposure/accessibility/language/genre/style
So it’s not about ‘quality’ or class here
‘like for like comparison’ becomes even more difficult here than it already is otherwise
IMO to keep the comparisons sane, maybe adoor can be compared to the benegals, ritwik ghataks, ray (if alltime)
But these cannot be ‘mixed” to the common pool..
In some cases like yours, though, the “common pool’ is a big one 🙂
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August 7, 2012 at 5:11 PM
It’s not Adoor’s problem if people can’t access his films for one reason or another. And it’s hardly a problem unique to him in any case. How many people do you think have seen or even heard of Bela Tarr? You were raving about Turin Horse for the longest time. Someone could say everything here that you have about Adoor!
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August 8, 2012 at 12:38 PM
“How many people do you think have seen or even heard of Bela Tarr? You were raving about Turin Horse for the longest time. ”
Ya well, in that case got some privileged access to some ‘auteur’ screenings due to some ‘friends’
Screening(s) because one viewing isn’t enough for a film of that genre!
Needs patience even perseverance to get into the system but once it does enter the system it’s a fulfilling experience …
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August 8, 2012 at 12:45 PM
Also to add-
Have not really checked the oeuvre of these delving exclusively in regional language cinema ..
Though it may appear that, it’s nothing due to ‘looking down upon’ at all
It’s simply perhaps the lack of quality time/patience/interest
When I get a chance, i do check out this ‘auteur’ European stuff-
It’s a different experience with some ‘students’ taking notes etc
Btw am likely to check ‘the man from London’ this weekend ..
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August 8, 2012 at 12:52 PM
Why did an ar rahman feel the ‘urge’ to move out/ try out Bollywood and ultimately Hollywood..
While the same action can be taken positively but some can spin it differently as well.
To me mani ratnam also branched out and even Kamal hassan as well..
Don’t want to make this the MAIN point of criteria but someone like adoor surprises me to not having tried the ‘bigger stage’
I trust satyams judgement and believe him when he bestows that greatness on adoor..
But somewhere in this inability /inertia to cater to the bigger field is a loss for viewers like me(& also for adoor undoubtedly since at the end of the day, films are made for ‘other’ viewers apart from oneself usually)
Ps- back2work-will check satyams responses in a bit 🙂
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August 7, 2012 at 4:36 PM
Duel was scary btw..
so fast-paced it hardly gives one time to blink.
well done spielberg.. impressive debut
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August 7, 2012 at 5:16 PM
Not sure of this has been posted before
But liked hahah
Some good One-liners there (worth using)
[added to post]
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August 7, 2012 at 5:21 PM
Rofl likedthe one liners
Unsurprisngly they are hot on the net/twitter–actually dialogues are floating around /being exchangedSomeone pointed me out to this—
May use this —
Manish: Kaisa hai
Shorey:[ Tu iska kya karega]
Manish: Gift hai Zoya ke liye
shorey: [Tu use itne acche se janta hai ke use dress de raha hai]
Manish: Abe dress de raha hu utaar thode na raha hoon.
🙂
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August 7, 2012 at 11:38 PM
Satyam. Trailer of Studio Ghibli’s next anime written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro Miyazaki- “From Up On Poppy Hill” –
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August 8, 2012 at 11:36 AM
Thank you for posting this Saurabh- I’m really looking forward to this…
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August 8, 2012 at 2:55 PM
Ami, u like Miyazaki! -finally our taste matched atleast in something even if it was animation
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August 8, 2012 at 12:12 AM
Looks good. Dr Phil? Hey that’s quality television…hehe
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August 8, 2012 at 10:07 AM
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August 8, 2012 at 10:08 AM
Bollywood Box Office Unplugged-III: Movie reviewers, reviewed
http://www.moneylife.in/article/bollywood-box-office-unplugged-iii-movie-reviewers-reviewed/27599.html#.UCHlsMW0lZE.facebook
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August 8, 2012 at 11:27 AM
if anything this piece is too kind about what actually goes on..
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August 8, 2012 at 12:27 PM
http://www.moneylife.in/article/bollywood-box-office-unplugged-i-why-the-first-day-and-first-week-is-make-or-break/27528.html
http://www.moneylife.in/article/bollywood-box-office-unplugged-ii-winners-and-losers-among-the-2012-releases/27578.html
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August 8, 2012 at 12:32 PM
useful stuff…
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August 8, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Watched Gow – 2 .. Good as expected. Entertaining n funny n brutal.
but I feel I have taken an overdose of such realistic, grim, gang-war films..
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August 8, 2012 at 12:19 PM
LOL, Rangan at his best on Jism2!
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August 8, 2012 at 1:54 PM
LO,golden! Someone should point this review out to Ms.Bhatt.
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August 8, 2012 at 11:49 PM
Jism 2 Crashes Further On Tuesday
Wednesday 8th August 2012 10.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Jism 2 took another heavy fall on Tuesday as collections were 30% lower than Monday. The film collected around 2.50 crore on Monday and the collections were 1.75 crore nett on Tuesday taking the four day business of the film to 24.75 crore nett.
The film is going down all over be it a high end multiplexes or the smaller centres in Bihar and Bengal.
The second week will see the film running at limited theatres and limited screens. If we compare with Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum the first day was 10% better but lifetime business will be around 35% less.
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August 8, 2012 at 11:49 PM
Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 2 Has Poor Paid Previews
Wednesday 8th August 2012 10.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 2 had a poor response in its paid previews on Tuesday evening. The shows were limited to 1-2 shows per multiplex but still occupancies were around 25-30% at most places. It did better in select multiplexes of Mumbai city and Delhi NCR. The all India collections on Tuesday were probably in the 30 lakhs nett region.
Basically the response was better where the first part did well. Gujarat was poor but Mumbai city better, Gurgaon was good but rest of East Punjab circuit dull and that’s how the first part had been been poor in Gujarat and Punjab but better in Mumbai city and Gurgaon.
The opening on Wednesday is likely to follow the same pattern where it will open better where the first part managed to get some appreciation.
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August 8, 2012 at 11:50 PM
Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 2 Opens To Poor Response
Thursday 9th August 2012 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 opened to a poor response at most places in the country. The opening was around the 30% mark on average. It opened to around 20% at many places while select multiplexes in the metros managed around 40%.
The opening was not much better than the first part of the film released in June as many centres recorded lower business than the first part.
Even some of select centres where the first part managed better business comparatively did not respond that well to Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2. Some centres in Gujarat and Maharashtra recorded very dull collections.
Overall the first day figures may come out lower than the first day figures of Gangs Of Wasseypur part 1.
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August 8, 2012 at 11:51 PM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
#GOW2 Tuesday preview screenings Rs 32 lacs.
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August 9, 2012 at 12:24 AM
For Alex- Sneha Khanwalkar apparently has her own TV show as well:
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August 9, 2012 at 7:25 AM
^thanx for that link Amy on sneha
She does seem genuinely interested in rustic folkish music and is not scared of truly experimenting..
Btw Amy/ anjali: once u have been educated about ‘KLPD’ after going through all the referrences/links : plz me know as well-I also need that info 😉
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August 9, 2012 at 2:34 AM
Here’s the trailer for Kismet Love Paisa Dilli (Viveik Oberoi, Mallika Sherawat)
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August 9, 2012 at 4:49 AM
This looks terrible…
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August 9, 2012 at 4:55 AM
I know.. a wannabe Delhi Belly feel to it. those rape jokes were in poor taste
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August 9, 2012 at 5:39 AM
Yes- they were disgusting. Especially given the number of rapes and molestation incidents that are in the news in India these days- how insensitive can they be? 😦
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August 9, 2012 at 6:32 AM
Haven’t seen the trailer yet but i liked this director’s Ek Chalis Ki Last Local a lot. Btw Ami, do u know that the title KLPD derives its name from a phrase used commonly in Delhi etc? Do u know its actual meaning? If u don’t u should find out (Tony is from Delhi and i’m sure he knows abt it)- it will add to ur knowledge bank.
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August 9, 2012 at 6:36 AM
saurabh – My lips are sealed.. 😛
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August 9, 2012 at 6:42 AM
Agree on the insensitive bit. Actually this one swings more towards something disturbing n sick. This shit isnt funny. I dont mind jokes made in poor taste but they at least have to be funny. this one seems to try a bit too hard in evoking laughs but ends up coming across as something entirely different.
With all its toilet jokes, Delhi Belly still had some class to it. I know its a little too early to say this based on one promo, but Viveik in the role of a Dilli wallah (the accent is all wrong and all over the place) and Mallika as the lead puts me off already!
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August 9, 2012 at 6:44 AM
Tony, hum aap ki duvidha samajh sakte hai 🙂 . Anyway for folks with ‘cultivated tastes’ like Ami (just kidding) here is the meaning of the acronym- http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3Fterm%3DKLPD&sa=U&ei=_JEjUKqEPcGQ2AX5z4G4Bw&ved=0CBYQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNFEvXFqIqIsk7dpfBkwkVnwTturJA
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August 9, 2012 at 6:51 AM
saurabh,
kyu ami ko bigaad rahe ho? btw check the link that you’ve posted.. It hasnt displayed anything on the page
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August 9, 2012 at 6:37 AM
Btw, here’s another trailer, of Preity’s home production Ishq in Paris:
[added to post]
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August 9, 2012 at 6:48 AM
Priety is so adorable! I wish she had chosen a more promising comeback film- but I’ll still watch this for her. And what’s KPLD?
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August 9, 2012 at 6:52 AM
you wouldnt want to hear what that means.. Its gross!
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August 9, 2012 at 7:00 AM
Ami to find out the meaning go to the site urbandictionary.com and type in the search box KLPD- u will get ur answer. here is the link though it may not work- http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=KLPD
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August 9, 2012 at 7:06 AM
KLPD: Korps Landelijke Politie Diensten (nationwide police-services corps) in the netherlands.
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August 9, 2012 at 7:09 AM
Hahahahaha.. OMG
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August 9, 2012 at 7:27 AM
Haha actually in Amsterdam /around, the cops are apparently specially trained to look out /tackle for all innovative type of offences
Given the lenient laws on prostitution and drugs….
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August 9, 2012 at 7:46 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
#GOW2 picked up during the course of the day, yesterday. Wednesday *early estimates* indicate 3 cr. May even cross 3 cr.
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August 9, 2012 at 7:47 AM
Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 2 First Day Business
Thursday 9th August 2012 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 collected poorly all over. The Delhi/UP circuit was a bit overall the collections are in the same range as the opening day for part 1 which also opened poorly but managed to show a bit of growth in pockets.
The non performance of part 1 at the box office which opened poorly and failed to grow much in most parts of the country has resulted in the second part getting a poor opening. The opening was better in Delhi NCR and Mumbai city and that is where the first part managed average collections.
The film had collected around 30 lakhs nett in paid previews on Tuesday and below is the breakdown of its first day business.
Mumbai – 1.08 crore
Delhi/UP – 74 lakhs
East Punjab – 26 lakhs
West Bengal – 13 lakhs
Bihar – 7 lakhs
CP Berar – 11 lakhs
CI – 11 lakhs
Rajasthan – 13 lakhs
Nizam – 9 lakhs
Mysore – 12 lakhs
Others – 4 lakhs
TOTAL – 2.88 crore
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August 9, 2012 at 7:47 AM
Gurgaon: Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 2 v Part 1
Thursday 8th August 2012 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 collected less than Gangs Of Wasseypur part 1 in Gurgaon on day one. Gurgaon was the best performing centre across India for part 1 and it is still running in its 7th week but still the second part opened lower than the first one due to the first part having limited appreciattion. Below are the first day collections of both parts of Gangs Of Wasseypur in Gurgaon.
PVR Ambience
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 2,42,413
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 2,37,835
PVR MGF
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 2,70,316
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 2,88,836
PVR Sahara
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 88,188
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 1,30,687
DT City
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 1,88,377
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 1,07,284
DT Mega
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 99,226
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 66,805
DT Star
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 1,02,707
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 91,034
Big
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 1,43,532
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 1,49,859
SRS Omaxe
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 97,861
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 59,036
SRS Wedding
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 64,977
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 76,249
TOTAL
Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 – 12,97,601
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 – 12,07,550
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August 9, 2012 at 7:51 AM
Suniel Wadhwa @sunielwadhwa
#GOW II *India* Early Est : PVR :0. 50 Cr, Big: 0.28Cr. All India 3 Cr approx Extraordinary 4 wkdays on lower ticket rates.
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August 9, 2012 at 8:17 AM
3 crore on a Wednesday is a very good total
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August 9, 2012 at 2:56 PM
i think for this kind of film which builds on word of mouth and has select audience,releasing the film on wednesday was a masterstroke by Anurag…..have the scam rip downloaded(saw the first scene of the movie and had a fit of laughing…black humor at its biting best)
will see this film in a cinema hall tomorrow.
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August 9, 2012 at 7:23 PM
“will see this film in a cinema hall tomorrow.”
Be careful especially since the audience maybe similar to some characters in GoW 🙂
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August 9, 2012 at 7:48 PM
I don’t think there will be any problem in multiplex.The crowd is decent there.
Anyways for precaution I am taking an AK 56 in my bag…..just in case.
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August 9, 2012 at 7:53 PM
Haha
What else dya take in your bag–oops that’s classified info 😉
Kidding
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August 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Btw this is nothing compared to Oldgold who takes flights to catch a film on the big screen 🙂
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August 9, 2012 at 7:50 AM
BOI are back with their silliness. GoW1 did about as much as BBB! Not sure who was expecting 50 crores here! This is 40% or so more than Dev D did which was a much more audience-friendly subject even for that limited audience. It’s just crazy to say this is a poor performance. I am surprised if GoW2 is not opening as well as the first part (if BOI are correct here) but they have been rather negative on the film all along for some absurd reason.
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August 9, 2012 at 8:16 AM
BOI’s biased commentary is getting glaringly evident with every release. The theatre I watched GOW 2 in was almost 85% full, that too on an afternoon show on Wednesday (opening day). I really think it is a good enough success with its target audience.
The audience reaction was very positive. Applause at the end of the film.What else do you expect. Together the two versions are going to gross almost 40-45 crores and probably more
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August 9, 2012 at 8:27 AM
50 should be the minimal number here if the second part just does as much as the first one. In addition to everything else to get this kind of response across a 2 part film is remarkable. As for their commentary on the film doing well at select places well what does one expect here?! Consider this, ZNMD with every advantage in the world did 7-8 crores on day 1, many smaller, somewhat different films with major stars do 3 crores or so on day 1, in what universe can 3 crores for the second part of a film like GoW be considered anything less than very good?!
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August 9, 2012 at 2:09 PM
Gangs of Wasseypur 2 is simply an enthralling, gripping & supremely entertaining follow-up to what was an equally terrific 1st part…it is typified by a master filmmaker in complete command of his craft right from the engaging opening frames to a firecracker of a climax…crackling dialogues & performances, astonishingly realistic hinterland locales & quirky characters named Perpendicular & Definite having a “blast” (literally !! ) are some of the many highlights of this epic concluding installment…all in all a cinematic guilty pleasure like no other & a gangster saga to savour for the ages !
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August 9, 2012 at 2:10 PM
Ramadhir Singh, Sardar Khan, Faisal Khan, Sultan, Perpendicular, Definite, Tangent, Naghma, Mohsina & many others….what a fabulous ensemble cast of memorable characters making Gangs of Wasseypur so so appealing… portrayed by some of the finest acting talent in the country !!
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August 9, 2012 at 2:12 PM
Off to TDKR IMAX 4 sum axn .cya .. 🙂
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August 9, 2012 at 2:16 PM
Having seen part 2 now, would definitely rate GOW as AK’s finest work along with Black Friday.
Nawazuddin, wow ! What a find this guy is…but the real surprise for me was Tigmanshu Dhulia as Ramadhir, the guy has now a future both as director & actor…probably has some of the best lines in GOW.
And coming to the females, Richa Chaddha & Huma Qureshi…both terrific finds…Huma is remarkably assured for a debutante, apart from being a stunner in the looks department !!!
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August 9, 2012 at 3:16 PM
Richa Chadha – her expressions in that wedding song she sang were priceless.. she shone brightly in her very small part in part 2..
Siddiqui – A brilliant performance. A guy who’s small in stature and skinny carried the film on his shoulders.. firecracker of an act
Tigmanshu – his age reflected in his dialogue delivery n body language. understands the nuances well.. a very good performance
Huma Qureshi – Fits the part very well.. Did exactly what the role demanded.. Impressive!
Perpendicular – an interesting find. natural n hilarious
Definite – the surprise package and the underdog. If Nawazuddin is gonna benefit by leaps n bounds, better and significant roles are in store for this actor. An outstanding performance is what I think he delivered here..
Raj Kumar Yadav – Quicksilver. Fits in every role he gets. Impressive and competent. Hope to see more of him.
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August 9, 2012 at 3:30 PM
Tony, thanks for this excellent summary (i have not seen the film yet) and I am elated that u mentioned Raj Kumar Yadav- i am a fan of this guy. Loved him in Ragini MMS and Shaitan. He alongwith Gulshan Devaiah and Rajeev Khandelwal are my fav from this group of ‘offbeat actors’
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August 10, 2012 at 8:27 AM
thanks saurabh. Yes Raj Kumar Yadav is certainly talented. Liked his act in LSD as well
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August 9, 2012 at 3:21 PM
Just back from GOW 2. The film starts with a bang and goes up a few notches right away with Yahspal Shramas maddeningly brilliant rendering of Yaad Teri AAyegi.. to the funeral procession of Danish. Just atht secne reveals so much about Anurag’s grasp over Indian pop culture and mass psychology, that those who even talk of Anurag and Rohan Sippy should be charged with blasphemy. The effect gets even more heightened with ‘ Teri meherbaniya, teri kdardaniya”. sung to yet another dead body getting carried away.
Then the middle section starts and I begin to think the first part was so much better, because it had the historic sweep, it had Manoj Bajpai, and the so human character of Sardar Khan and it had the ability to surprise you with a fresh chracter, the likes of which you had never seen before in Massooma ( Huma Qureshi) . Over all the women chracters ( Richa, Reemi and Huma) were more pivotal. Here , what kind of surprises Anurag could introduce? Lines like ‘ Mera pistol’? ” Tumhara lungi mein’ is vintage anurag. Also there are Perpendicular and Definite, but they were not good enough substitutes for our first encounters with Faisal and Masooma. ( with the ‘ Permishion lena chahiye na’ episode.)
Then comes the end section and everything is forgiven. The film comes into its own. The shoot out at Faizal’s home has mood, drama and suspense. Definite has grown interesting by now . and the end piece starting with the emotional moment with Faisal and Masooma and ending with the final blood bath is as god cinema as one has ever seen. The music does its bit here. The song ‘ Jo bhi wrongwa hai kar do setrightwa’ is magical and it geives you an experience quite separate from what the main narratiove on screen is giving you. The heavy duty version of Kehke loonga is similarly orgasmic. There is no one, simply no one, who can touch anurag when it comes to using songs ,in a narrative, with so many layers of impact. Though in the final reckoning I like the Part 1 more, this is a cinematic experience not to be missed.
Just one thought on how the film finally covers so much ground and totally redeems itself :
Na that kuchh to music tha, na hota kuchh to music hota
Mera film viewing experience ka kya hota, agar music na hota?
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August 9, 2012 at 5:37 PM
@ utkal
The film starts with a bang and goes up a few notches right away with Yahspal Shramas maddeningly brilliant rendering of Yaad Teri AAyegi.. to the funeral procession of Danish. Just atht secne reveals so much about Anurag’s grasp over Indian pop culture and mass psychology
can u elaborate? how is playing bollywood numbers with the funeral procession reflective of the knowledge of mass psychology on the part of the director?
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August 9, 2012 at 7:19 PM
Checked out the dark knight returns today..hmm..Comments later maybe
“The heavy duty version of Kehke loonga is similarly orgasmic. There is no one, simply no one, who can touch anurag when it comes to using songs ,in a narrative, with so many layers of impact”
Besides anurag : u need to give some credit to the music director here as well…lol
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August 10, 2012 at 12:19 AM
@utkal
Huma Qureshi’s character is named Mohsina and not Massooma.
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August 10, 2012 at 1:54 AM
Anjali Singh: it is not just about a Bollywood song playing during funeral. It ‘s the kind of song that is being sung and how it is being sung. yiou know, the two songs he uses during the the two funeral processions: ” Yaad teri aayegi’ and ‘ Teri meherbaniya” – these are kind of Nadeem-Shravan or Laxmikant-Pyarelal kind of melodies as opposed to RD Burman or AR Rahman kind of melodies. These are the kind of songs sung bu Mohd Rafi. Munna, Shabbir Ali or Mohd aziz as against singers like Kishore Kumar or Hariharan. In other words : less sophisticated more earthy. The singing style is over the top, uber-sentimental…where you hold nothing back, and let it all hang out. This is the kind of song patronized hugely by the muslim hoi polloi , but also by rural and small-town Indians in general. To even a slightly more sophisticated tastes it sounds very banal. But a large segment of Indians empathize with it. That’s how the traditional Indians are, not shy of demonstrating their deepest emotions in public. And Bollywood songs have been operating as the soundtrack to people’s lives for years. The core appeal of these songs become apparent when a brass band plays these songs during a wedding. But they could as well play them during a funeral. Anurag’s masterstroke is in making it look as if they routinely play Bollywood songs during funeral. And the way Yashpal performs it is seen to be belived. He catches the very essence of these songs and their appeal. Note especiaaly the point where he abruptly stops, counts upto 5 beats on his fingers, and then launches into a glass-shattering high octave passage of the song.
I am putting up in the next post my review of Kiran Nagrakar’s ‘ The Extras’ which deals with this universe; Proletariat Music and Bollywood.
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August 10, 2012 at 1:58 AM
An epic journey
Utkal Mohanty
“We want a story that starts out with an earthquake and works its way up to a climax,”: this apocryphal diktat from Sam Goldwyn seems to have inspired Kiran Nagarkar’s The Extras, a gargantuan narrative of feverish action and outlandish plot twists.
It all starts with Parvatibai from the fourth floor of CWD Chawl No 17 in
Mumbai losing hold of her baby son Ram, who falls down, only to be held safely by neighbour Victor Coutinho. This miraculous escape from death results in Parvatibai rechristening Ram as Ravan.
But Victor dies in the act of saving the baby and in a signature twist of events, the funeral van carrying Victor is forced to carry his wife, the pregnant Violet, to the hospital, where she delivers a baby boy, Eddie. And our two protagonists are all set to start on their journey. And what a journey it is!
Music is the passion of both Ravan and Eddie. Adept at playing the Xylophone (He could draw out a note long after it had disappeared into the ether, and yet you continued to hear it like the aching memory of lost love.), Ravan forms the Cum September Jai Bharat Band to play at weddings, while Eddie forms the Bandra Bombshells, with his Anglo-Indian girlfriend Belle.
……….
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/264285/an-epic-journey.html
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August 10, 2012 at 2:44 AM
^May read this later but is it your piece published in some newspaper?
If yes: congrats utkal uncle 🙂
Have u be become a writer or something hahaha
Ps: what do u hav to say about misguided allegations of ‘affairs’ -read comment above … Lol
Ps2: that koimoi review seems good -will read it later-who has written it ..
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August 10, 2012 at 3:41 AM
Aamir Khan Intw Tehelka
AAMIR KHAN could have done nothing. Privilege is a blessing very few entitled Indians use for anything more than lining the already silver clouds they inhabit. But Aamir stepped up and created Satyamev Jayate (SMJ), a show unprecedented on Indian television. It wasn’t a risky thing to do in the classic sense: there were no struggles for money; no threat to life; no power structures breasted. But there were the possibilities of failure, rejection, loss of popularity — the breath cinema stars live on. Aamir didn’t linger to calculate those ephemerals. Having decided to do the show, he mounted a massive and staggeringly meticulous operation to get it right. With his core team of three, Satyajit and Svati Chakravarty Bhatkal and Lancelot Fernandes — co-travellers, he says, he’d have been crippled without — Aamir went about acquiring 1,600 hours of background footage, capturing personal testimonies from across the country, ferreting out experts, statistics, legal positions and solutions. On the sets, he had 10 hidden cameras so guests wouldn’t feel their intrusive eye, and generated more footage per episode than entire seasons of other shows on Star TV Network.
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=hub180812grown.asp
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August 10, 2012 at 8:17 AM
Happy Janamaashtmi to Satyam and eveyone else on the blog
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August 10, 2012 at 8:35 AM
the same to you Saurabh and everyone else.. thanks.
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August 10, 2012 at 8:47 AM
Sad it is but like all good things of past this festival too has completely disappeared from bwood. Btw Janamaashtmi is still a big thing over here in Maharashtra. I also miss the entire Dahi-Handi competition we used to have in school on this day
On that note the Mach Gaya Shor song from Khuddar has some grand and iconic Bachchan moments- though not a fan of the film otherwise
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August 10, 2012 at 9:10 AM
Mach gaya shor was one of the first things I heard on the radio this morning: this festival still means a lot in Bombay…HAPPY JANMASHTMI to everyone!!!
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August 11, 2012 at 2:45 AM
“Means a lot!” It’s huge! Third only to Ganesh Chaturthi and Dandiya. Was stuck between Jogeshwari and Goregaon for nearly 2 hours (otherwise a walkable distance of 20mins). The only parts of Mumbai which did not have traffic last evening were in SoBo-ring!
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August 10, 2012 at 9:41 AM
I would say saurabh (in jest) its more big in Gujarat as we have a holiday for it tooo 😉 unlike maharatra!!
Happy Janmastmi 🙂 my friend…. i shall be taking my mom to temple at midnight.
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August 11, 2012 at 2:46 AM
Actually, it was declared as a State Holiday in Maharashtra for the first time this year 🙂
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August 10, 2012 at 9:44 AM
HAPPY JANAMASHTAMI TO ALL….
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August 10, 2012 at 9:47 AM
this song very popular at the time was apparently shot on location in the Khetwadi area.
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August 10, 2012 at 9:55 AM
Ya..
Shammi said in some intw that location was real, ppl were real and showering of flowers, water and milk were by real residents of that locality
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August 10, 2012 at 9:56 AM
that’s where Manmohan Desai lived all his life.
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August 10, 2012 at 2:20 PM
Ek Tha Tiger First Seven Days Business Chart !!
http://bollybusiness.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/ek-tha-tiger-first-seven-days-business-chart/
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August 10, 2012 at 3:02 PM
Amitabh Bachchan @SrBachchan
T 832 – Got a rare off this afternoon and saw GOW 2 .. quite impressive and rugged .. more violence, and some twists and turns unexpected !!
Amitabh Bachchan @SrBachchan
T 832 – GOW 2 … the performances, the natural and most vivid visuals and the unique music, so novel and attractive !!
Amitabh Bachchan @SrBachchan
T 832 – GOW : Gangs of Wassepur .. a riveting film on the conditions and state of this region in Bihar !! Most naturally performed !!
Amitabh Bachchan @SrBachchan
T 832 – GOW 2 … though I must say despite its brilliance I did seem to enjoy GOW 1 , more .. maybe because it came first !!
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August 10, 2012 at 3:46 PM
lol!
I like his style.
Kill the haters with kindness!
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August 10, 2012 at 3:56 PM
The dark (k)night of film ‘reviews’ -TDKR
Why is it that one HAS to love a film like this
Well, the great Nolan has made it
The ‘fitting’ finale of the great trilogy
So not only one has to love it, one has to show it off openly-or atleast close ones eyes to glaring issues!
To heck with it…
No such compulsions here for me
Found it an ambitious, emotionally shoehorned yet overall a drab pretentious film lacking in true calibre
Yes, there are flashes of brilliance enuf but then is that it for a film with such hype and ‘credentials’
Yes, one sees the attempts at pseudo right wing politicisation but when one tries to do this whilst trying to do justice to an essentially ‘comic book’ background-this is what you get – a portentous mess.
And in the current scenario of recession and Arab spring
Is this the ‘resolution’
The underwritten symbolism here is somewhat fool’hardy’
Christian delivers reasonably and most of the cast doesn’t really underperform
Infact hardy nearly threatens to pull off a ‘joker’ here and does a good job in conveying menace through just his eyes
Ace body language in some scenes but something just fell short
And talking about oldman & Morgan -well felt a bit sorry for them!
Marion cotillard-
If she was unimpressive in midnight in Paris, she was BAD here imo. Get almost ANY reasonably maintained girl from Paris, even anywhere in france and she will be more presentable
What was she thinking and what were the makers thinking
Oh that’s cotillard -poor really
The ONLY person who came out with the reputation enhanced IMO
Was Anne Hathaway – didn’t think she would have it in her but she gave this role a new meaning!
her role was interesting-neither here nor there-neither good nor bad and unimpressed with batman…..liked her body language as well.
But what beats me is why the ‘upholders of quality’ world over mum over this!
Don’t get me wrong-would call it an above average effort that delivers somewhat in keeping with the expectations
But was that enuf!!
A somewhat ‘dark (k)night for unbiased and honest film opinion making!!!
Even if not over the top positive, the muted criticism has irritated me.
When the main saviours of a film of this scale and ambition is Anne Hathaway and hold your breath the ‘batvehicle’ one knows the feeling !!!
Xxxxxx
Not to be carried away, this film does have its moments
And liked a few
Especially the closing one of Michael Caine glancing at Christian and heathway quietly
And also the ‘return of batman’ scene…
Xxxxxxxx
But specially enjoyed the beating hardy gave batman…
Some ace dialogues there –(dialogue courtesy :google)
Bane: Theatricality and deception are powerful agents to the uninitiated… but we are initiated, aren’t we Bruce? Members of the League of Shadows!
[Lifts Batman by the neck]
Bane: And you betrayed us!
Bruce Wayne: You were excommunicated… by a gang of psychopaths!
[Bane viciously beats Batman and throws him to the ground]
Bane: [viciously beats Batman and throws him to the ground] I AM the League of Shadows, and I’m here to fulfill Ra’s al Ghul’s destiny!
[Batman uses an EMP device to cut the lights]
Bane: You fight like a younger man, with nothing held back. Admirable but mistaken.
Bane: Oh, you think darkness is your ally. You merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, moulded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but BLINDING!
[grabs Batman from the shadows and continues to beat him]
Bane: The shadows betray you, they belong to me!
[repeatedly punches Batman in the face, breaking his cowl]
Bane: I will show you where I have made my home while preparing to bring justice. Then I will break you.
[Hits detonator, blowing a hole into the bottom of Wayne Enterprise]
Bane: Your precious armory, gratefully accepted! We will need it.
[Batman desperately stands and swings at Bane]
Bane: Ah, yes… I was wondering what would break first…
[lifts Batman high]
Bane: Your spirit, or your body?
[slams him on his knee]
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August 10, 2012 at 4:57 PM
@ alex
your views on tdkr…bang on!
didn’t like it at all.
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August 10, 2012 at 5:04 PM
^ ‘bang on!’-ok- will keep doing so 😉
Thanx for liking it …cheers
Btw I feel like beating some of those precocious blind nolan fans who made us believe this was the best thing since sliced bread
People thought ‘cocktail’ is my genre-
This ”latency’ is deceptive–action has been my first love though am mellowing down lately (hopefully!)
Byw Loved the beating of batman by hardy in that preinterval sequence– am looking for someone (to beat now) joking
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August 10, 2012 at 5:12 PM
@ alex
“Btw I feel like beating some of those precocious blind nolan fans who made us believe this was the best thing since sliced bread”
u will do them a service by beating the bhoot out of their system.
anything which makes a person suspend his/her judgement is cheap.
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August 10, 2012 at 5:47 PM
Haha anjali: btw just to clarify that this ‘beating’ is not for any of the reviewers here–none of them have gone over the top praising TDKR thankfully–It’s only that the criticism may have been more ‘vocal’ & unhesitant…
This is for some of the blind Nolan diehards who have attacked blogosphere and are ‘guarding’ against even minor criticism ..
Rottentomatoes has blocked tdkr criticism for the first time ever due to death threats !!!
Actually GFs take is quite balanced though he shouldn’t have wasted his v good writing on this effort IMO
Ps: Btw the ‘bang on’ also had a double meaning oops haha
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August 10, 2012 at 3:59 PM
Finally back from watching GOW 2 in a cinema hall. What a film!
GOW 2 is way better than GOW 1. GOW 1 was a build up and a skeleton which GOW 2 puts flesh and blood and sweat and soul on.
The movie is bullet fast. the 2 things which audience will take back from GOW 2:
1. Kashyap’s black humored subversion of every single stunt and gag and melodrama of bollywood.
bilkul taar taar kar diya Anurag ne bollywood ko.
Never seen such a powerful and thundering critique of the dream factory and its idiotic influence.(The dailogue of ramadheer : “main abhi tak zinda ish liye hoon kyunki main cinema nahi dekhta”)
those who will find the movie underwhelming in terms of emotional content must understand that it was the very principle and plan of kashyap to take the ass of all our drama glorifying impulses.
the crowning glory was that the main protagonist who acted in it(nawazuddin) is the very same person bollywood had for 10 years stereotyped as a guy to be used only when the hero/villain wants to bash someone up.the subversion is relentless and complete…the drama king angry young man played by amitabh in deewar….has been robbed of all the drama …..the dhisoom dhisoom is real…..the thai thai….and diskewww is pathetically ugly.nauseous,revolting,gory,deformed and…fucking REAL.
the scene where nawaz in trying to escape from gunfire and fractures his knee and winces in pain for a full 2 minutes…and the background black homorous song “frustiyao nahi moora,nervousao nahi moora”…..captures the essential idiocy behind the hullabaloo of all heroism…..”just remember that the last laugh is on you.”
2. The acting of Nawazuddin. I doubt in the whole history of Bollywood there has been an actor to match him….and i am talking about really great actors…..from om poorie to amrish poorie…and from naseeruddin to nanapatekar to manoj bajpai to irffan khan…no one can match nawazuddin. This man is toooooo good….and i am not being hyperbolic.he is a true actor or the closest approximation of it. now i understand why the ailing ebert wanted to meet this guy specially. he wanted to meet genius before he died.
it will be very hard to find his match even in the world cinema. he manages to have tremendous screen presence without even trying to.
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August 10, 2012 at 5:25 PM
“the crowning glory was that the main protagonist who acted in it(nawazuddin) is the very same person bollywood had for 10 years stereotyped as a guy to be used only when the hero/villain wants to bash someone up.the subversion is relentless and complete…the drama king angry young man played by amitabh in deewar….has been robbed of all the drama …..the dhisoom dhisoom is real…..the thai thai….and diskewww is pathetically ugly.nauseous,revolting,gory,deformed and…fucking REAL.
the scene where nawaz in trying to escape from gunfire and fractures his knee and winces in pain for a full 2 minutes…and the background black homorous song “frustiyao nahi moora,nervousao nahi moora”…..captures the essential idiocy behind the hullabaloo of all heroism…..”just remember that the last laugh is on you.”
Haha an entertaining read: that seems like an entertaining screenplay with special/sound effects -keep it up 🙂
A full blown combo review on gow1 & 2 -yaiy..
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August 10, 2012 at 4:04 PM
Hahah anjali : it seems we both are writing ‘reviews’ together…
Anyhow mine is ‘longer’ than yours -I mean ‘review’- 😉
Hope u didn’t encounter any GoW style characters in the theatre and didn’t have to use the ‘gun’ (as in ‘hunter’) lol
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August 10, 2012 at 4:20 PM
The ‘hesitation’
Again, whats REALLY disappointing me here is NOT TDKR or finding it underwhelming
But cannot by any stretch find this a great film worthy of the expectations and the ‘stature’ of the predecessor
I was trying to state away from this film and a certain ‘darkness’ and tried to give it a chance
But the ‘hesitation’ in calling a spade a spade is a bit unsettling
Moreso for the NON Hollywood ‘reviewers’ who won’t mind pouncing on even genuinely good efforts just to emphasise a certain ‘superiority’ in taste!!!
Is there an undesirably undercurrent in this ‘hesitation’-I hope not!
Anyhow, as I write my honest views on this underwhelmer of a film-
Am NOW aware that rotten tomatoes is seeing a literal ‘war’ on the ‘negative’ reviews by diehard ‘teenage’ batman/nolan fanatics.
Though when even non-teenage fans ‘hesitate’ thats what I find irksome….
Oh, we’ll, rottentomatoes has note blocked negative reviews…
Have we seen any TDKR negative reviews here or elsewhere in Bollywood circles–the problem is not the ‘pattern’ but the muted ‘obedience’ that this pattern is followed !!!!
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August 10, 2012 at 4:26 PM
Obama shared my thoughts on TDKR!
If I would be following some of the reviews here or elsewhere even in Bollywood circles, one would believe the ultra rating this film has garnered !
But hey, someone shares my view –Obama!!!
Who felt Hathaway is the best thing about this film!!(perhaps he also meant ‘only’)!
I won’t say that ‘great minds think alike’ etc but am atleast ‘reassured’ a bit!
“It seems Barack Obama finally got around to seeing “The Dark Knight Rises“— presidents don’t get out to the Cineplex all that often — and on Monday, he offered up his review: Turns out, he really liked Anne Hathaway.
“She’s spectacular. I got a chance to see ‘Batman,’ and she was the best thing in it,” the prez raved about Hathaway’s portrayal of Catwoman (or perhaps her skin-tight catsuit). “That’s just my personal opinion.”
http://movienight.mtv.ca/2012/08/president-obama-praises-anne-hathaways-catwoman-in-dark-knight-rises/
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August 10, 2012 at 4:34 PM
Lets ditch this ‘hesitation’ and lemme not mince any words–
TDKR (rating out of five): the brasstacks
Film 2
Nolan 2
Bale 3
Hardy 4
Marion cotillard 0
Oldman/Morgan/Caine haha
Anne Hathaway 4.5
Positive (nonteenage) Movie reviewers of TDKR : they dont need points-they need a ‘spine’
Ps: just my opinion : as by Obama 🙂
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August 10, 2012 at 4:47 PM
I wasnt alone-Sanity hits back!!–And finally negative reviews attack !!!!!!!
But hey-Where there is ‘smoke’, there has to be ‘fire’ !!!
Rottentomatoes had to bloody block the comments due to ‘death threats’ sent by juvenile fans!!! For the FIRST time in history ..
“Seemingly suggesting that the anonymity of Internet commenting tends to bring out the worst in people and that fans of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films are particularly sensitive to slights, Rotten Tomatoes has suspended all user comments—for the first time in its history—on reviews of The Dark Knight Rises, after a mere few hundred minor personal attacks and fanciful violent fantasies against those critics who have dared to find fault with the film. As the site’s editor-in-chief Matt Atchity told the Associated Press, “The job of policing the comments became more than my staff could handle for that film, so we stopped the comments altogether,” adding, “It just got to be too much hate based on reactions to reviews of movies that people hadn’t even seen.” And of course, threatening to gut some idiot hack who expresses a differing opinion is only acceptable after a film’s official release.
For those who can’t wait to vent until the end of the week, when user comments are likely to be restored, it should be noted that Rex Reed’s review is now up and awaiting comments.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/rotten-tomatoes-suspends-dark-knight-rises-comment,82616/
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August 10, 2012 at 4:47 PM
OT,
TIME suspends Fareed Zakaria
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/08/time-magazine-suspends-fareed-zakaria-131682.html
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August 10, 2012 at 5:14 PM
@ anjali: plz come up with a fullblown review on GoW 1& 2
Am sure it will be great and deserving of a separate thread:cheers: u certainly know kashyap films inside out.
@ bliss: “”TIME suspends fareed zakaria”
Did they use suspender belt or tights for their fetishes ?
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August 10, 2012 at 4:49 PM
Are we supposed to tow someone’s line or agenda!!
Not me…
Loved these ones by Rex reed– ROFL
“Silly pop-culture comic book cinema about grown men in rubber masks and Styrofoam jock straps is bad enough, but incomprehensible gibberish to boot is just plain unacceptable,”
“Trash is trash, but when it costs an estimated $250 million… the charges turn criminal and someone should subject the garbage man to a citizen’s arrest.”
🙂
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August 10, 2012 at 11:34 PM
B.O. update: ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur 2’ picks up on Wednesday, declines on Thursday
By Taran Adarsh, August 10, 2012 – 14:02 IST
GANGS OF WASSEYPUR 2, which had a midweek release, is having an erratic run at the domestic box-office. While the film fetched fair figures in the preview screenings on Tuesday night [Rs 34 lacs], it picked up considerably on Thursday [Rs 2.75 cr]. In view of the fact that it’s a midweek release, besides lack of ‘star names’ to lure the audiences and of course, limited release, the business on Wednesday can be considered good. However, its business went downhill on Thursday [Rs 2.30 cr], despite a strong word of mouth. GANGS OF WASSEYPUR 2 will need to show a massive jump from Friday to Sunday, if it has to amass a decent total.
With EK THA TIGER arriving on Wednesday, 15 August, the screen space of GANGS OF WASSEYPUR 2 will be reduced considerably, so whatever it has to accumulate, it will have to do so before Wednesday.
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August 10, 2012 at 11:35 PM
Gangs of Wasseypur Part 2 Drops On Thursday
Friday 10th August 2012 12.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 dropped on Thursday after a low opening on Wednesday. The collections on Thursday were around the 2.25 crore nett mark which is a 15-20% drop from Wednesday.
The business of two days including paid previews is 5.50 crore nett which is poor. The may do a bit better over the weekend but from these low levels it needs a huge turnaround. Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 will not even do the business of the first part of Gangs Of Wasseypur which in itself was poor at the box office.
The collections on day two dropped all over the country be it where it was dull or where the collections were a bit better like Delhi/NCR.
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August 10, 2012 at 11:36 PM
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum Set To Cross 45 Crore
Friday 10th August 2012 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum did fairly well in week two grossing around 8 crore nett taking its two week total to around 42.75 crore nett. The film has fared very well in the Mumbai circuit where the final distributor share will be around 9 crore.
The film held up well on the weekdays as the business of Jism 2 crashed. The film should add around 3 crore nett business from here on as it will not be in many theatres when Ek Tha Tiger releases on Wednesday.
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum has done three times the business of Kyaa Kool Hain hum which did around 15 crore nett when released in 2004.
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August 11, 2012 at 1:48 AM
becoming highly irritating!
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August 11, 2012 at 2:16 AM
While is was obvious to everyone that the Wednesday figures of GOW2 cannot be compared to Friday figues of GOW1, BoI went to town calling the opening poor. If the opening was poor and there was further drop on Thursday, why more screen were added on Friday? and why are the figures on Friday so much higher than Wednesday and Thursday? After all as some very wise people in many blogs had commented, Friday is also a working day like Wednesday, so there is no difference between the two days. Mysterious isn’t it? How dumb can some people get!
“Gangs Of Wasseypur part 2 improved on Friday in Delhi/UP as it was screened on more theatres. Delhi/UP is the best performing circuit for the film though still below the mark. The approx figures from Delhi/UP for the first four days are as follows
Paid Previews – 10 lakhs
Wednesday – 71 lakhs
Thursday – 59 lakhs
Friday – 83 lakhs”
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=4773&nCat=
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August 11, 2012 at 4:22 AM
Mind the gaps: conflicting thoughts on Gangs of Wasseypur ( Jai Arjun)
http://jaiarjun.blogspot.in/2012/08/mind-gaps-conflicting-thoughts-on-gangs.html
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August 11, 2012 at 5:39 AM
( And some say animation films don’t work in India! it’s about making them work..like Rrajmouli has done)
When Ram Gopal Verma says that it would be the first Telugu film to cross 100 crore mark, the world of cinema making needs to sit up and take notice. Indeed, EEGA, the film which has been made in Telugu at the cost of Rs, 30 crore has emerged as one of the biggest hits in the recent times and has paved the way for filmmakers to think out of the box and use animation and graphics to start making films which Hollywood has developed as one of the biggest verticals. Directed by S.S. Rajmouli, EEGA is going to be made in Hindi as well with the title MAKHI, which again would be directed by Rajmouli.
http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/12/aug/11-news-rgvs-prediction-about-eega-to-come-true-the-film-set-to-touch-100-crore-mark-081203.asp
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August 11, 2012 at 5:40 AM
OT:
Finished watching Midnight in Paris. my brief views:
The film’s a little too self-indulgent for its own good. Certainly there are moments of splendor, visual brilliance, great dialogue and dry humour, but Allen goes all out in writing a screenplay where he has immersed himself completely to create a character that’s too detached and associated with the past to care about his present. The film incidentally drew a lot of praise and won the Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars this year. I could understand why. I just thought it was nowhere near his classics. Might revisit it sometime in the near future. Literature fans and writers will definitely find the fictional characterizations of Hemingway, Adriana, and Zelda / Scott Fitzgerald interesting.
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August 11, 2012 at 8:13 AM
ya… i just couldnt get hang of hemingway, etc!!
it was all hathoda for me!!
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August 11, 2012 at 9:57 AM
MIP was good but didn’t have Allen at his best imo.
Though the overall atmospherics , period setting, icOnic names, nostalgia of greateness added to the overall mix ..
Which helped it to be ‘celebrated’ as much..
Though not overtly wowed by MIP, the basic ‘germ idea’ was interesting and worthy of Allen ..
Did get somewhat irritated by owen Wilson whose ‘casual cool’ act got a bit to much. This also started my disillusionment with Marion cotillard — liked her earlier -with her highly indifferent act in TDKR I was pissed off.
Overall a reasonable Allen effort though would rate it slightly lower than his other gems -even below Vicky Christina Barcelona …
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August 11, 2012 at 5:50 AM
“Yet there’s something random about this scene: it comes out of nowhere, feels psychologically improbable given how far gone Faisal is by this point (besides, if he was initially unwilling, it was probably because he was immersed in ganja, not because of any moral compulsions) and I thought it existed only to give us a reason to feel sorry for Faisal in light of what will happen later. In any case this pathos-filled moment is soon rendered meaningless: the grim bloodbath that Faisal engages in at the end doesn’t suggest someone who was ever a reluctant participant – this is killing for the fun of it, pure bloodlust combined with a boy’s fantasy of cornering his mortal enemy in a no-escape position and emptying round after round into his body.”
VERY RIGHT
And the same goes for most of the other observations.
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August 11, 2012 at 6:29 AM
Great Hilarious Intw of Asrani …
ROFL !!! Old is Gold 🙂
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August 11, 2012 at 9:01 AM
jai arjun is the only film reviewer i take seriously…the rest of them are jokers.
he has come up with a nice review of GOW 2. But the central thrust of his piece encapsulated best in the last paragraph, left me disappointed. here is the piece:
“Earlier, when the young widow Shama is shot dead in the Khan clan’s house, the voiceover quickly tells us that this has come as a big shock to everyone because it’s the first time ever that a woman has been killed thus during the gang wars; cut to a very brief shot of Faisal sitting by himself, looking despondent, and then everyone gets back to the business of revenge and the business of business. A little while later, Faisal’s mother – a key character – is gunned down in the market, and this again is glossed over. And once you have heard faux-maudlin versions of Hindi-film songs like “Teri Meherbaniyan” being played alongside what are mean to be genuinely sad scenes (a family weeping over a young son’s body), it’s hard to take any of the emotions at face value. Gangs of Wasseypur encourages the viewer to chuckle at its violence and at the mourning that follows it, but also wants us to feel strongly enough about the main characters that there is a sense of genuine tragedy in the last act (and the last scene, which returns us to the plaintive “Ik Bagal”). Possibly this is my failing, but – much as I enjoyed many things about this epic film – I couldn’t muster both feelings at once.”
But this is the real magic of Anurag Kashyap….his aesthetics is too playful and real to be categorized into a definite narrative(tragic or playful) that elicits a non conflicting response the audience can indulge themselves and wallow in.He is too uncompromising a realist to let the tragic moments lose their inherent playfulness and the playfulness lose their inherent tragedy.this is the meaning of black humor.
There is a scene of intense tragedy in the film “Monsoon Wedding”….when Naseer discovers that his elder brother physically abused the girl naseer raised with love and affection like his own daughter. He is found to be emotionally devastated and crying inconsolably in the arms of his wife…..and she hugs him tight….. and he keeps crying and the effect in one of profound anguish and tragedy…when suddenly…. his hug tightens….. apparently the embrace has given him a hard on and they start making love!
The protagonist of the novel The outsider by Camus is found drinking and swimming in a club swimming pool and frolicking with his girl friend and having sex with her…all this one day after his mother died.
Anurag as some other artists above is existential in his themes and treatment, he is questioning something very basic in our mental makeup..which question we do not pose to ourselves and that is the drama and the hype generating tendency inside us….the maudlin inside the man….”gham jab sataaye seeti bazaana”… quality inside the man.
The main protagonist in the film is the town and ambience of Wasseypur itself…the Bollywood obsessed caricature of loony goons….playing out their drama.
The climactic scene in the movie..where Faizal empties carbines after carbines into the dead body of Ramadheer is the culmination point of all this dramabaazi inside man.
I took my revenge!…I took my revenge!
Ok you took it now what? Time to get real?
The last scene where mohsiina with piyush mishra are forced to run away from wasseypur to bombay…is the real.
My favorite scene in the movie is the chase sequence…it clearly shows how difficult it is to maintain the gravity and intensity of a copybook situation playing in our mind when we actually do it in practice.
The batman needs to use the public toilet every once in a while between his heroic antics.
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August 11, 2012 at 9:17 AM
Anjali singh: “But this is the real magic of Anurag Kashyap….his aesthetics is too playful and real to be categorized into a definite narrative(tragic or playful) that elicits a non conflicting response the audience can indulge themselves and wallow in.He is too uncompromising a realist to let the tragic moments lose their inherent playfulness and the playfulness lose their inherent tragedy.this is the meaning of black humor.”
Agree hundred percent. That is what makes Anurag a cut above any director in India today.
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August 11, 2012 at 9:36 AM
I’m pretty sure that Jai Arjun Singh knows what what black humour is! I don’t think he is criticizing the film for it’s tragicomedic humour but for the fact that it cannot decide whether it wants the viewers to be emotionally invested in it’s characters and view them as real people or whether it wants to present it’s characters more as archetypical composites of popular culture living in a cardboard universe that is playfully derivative of gangster films and masala movies.
Jai Arjun is not such an unintelligent viewer that he needs to object to a film that does not allow him to react in the most simplistic way possible. He’s objecting to the uneven emotional engagement that the film provokes- not the fact that it is both serious and playful but the fact that it is both emotionally superficial and emotionally deep. Infact he mentions some vignettes of tragicomedy that he liked and praises Kashyap for these moments- so it’s hardly the black humour that he is objecting to.
BTW- I saw the first film today and enjoyed it very much.
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August 11, 2012 at 9:40 AM
From Jai Arjun’s review:
“Admittedly, some of the little touches of levity are well done. When a sleeping (and probably ganja-addled) Faisal Khan is told that his father has been killed, he jumps off the charpoy and dashes down a stairway and out of the frame, looking very much the purposeful hero about to assume a responsibility – but a second later he scampers back awkwardly because he has forgotten to put on his shoes. It’s a nice touch – a pointer to the mundane things that can interfere with the playing out of the dramatic “scenes” in our lives, and the kind of shot one wouldn’t see in the Bachchan-starrer Trishul, which Faisal is so obsessed with.”
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August 11, 2012 at 9:42 AM
So as you can see he does recognize and appreciate Kashyap’s comic juxtapositioning of the mundane and the heroic.
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August 11, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Hi Anjali and Ami,
just chanced upon this (very interesting) discussion and read your observations on my post. Firstly, thanks Ami for the comment that goes “I don’t think he is criticizing the film for it’s tragicomedic humour but for [….] derivative of gangster films and masala movies.” You’ve condensed my viewpoint better than I managed to in my post. (I mentioned in one of the comments that dark humour was definitely not the problem.)
Anjali, enjoyed reading your comment very much. Just to clarify, I have a lot of respect for any work that recognises the possibility of playfulness/levity in a tragic moment, and vice versa. (The scene where Faisal stumbles back to wear his shoes is one of a few scenes in GoW where I thought this was done quite nicely.) But I also think that in the really successful examples of such juxtapositions (like the two examples you mentioned – Monsoon Wedding and The Outsider), those apparently contradictory moods are perfectly integrated within a given context. And apart from a few scenes, I didn’t think that integration was achieved in GoW. It seemed more a case of the film telling us in one scene “This is how you’re supposed to feel about these characters” and then, in the next scene “Now you have to feel this way.”
Don’t know if I’m making any sense here – must admit that no other recent film has evoked such a conflicted response in me, and there’s every chance that when I see it a second time I’ll completely change my mind about all this!
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August 11, 2012 at 10:26 AM
If its jai Arjun : great to see u here -even if due to anjali and Amy 🙂
Do visit us poor guys as well mate
U write v well m8- keep it up
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August 11, 2012 at 11:14 AM
@ jabberwock
If u r the real Jai Arjun.. I must say I love your reviews.
On the point of integration of contradictory moods within a given context….i found Gow 2 to be flawless. I had some problems with gow1 ….but none with Gow 2 at all.
From the start of the film when Sardar Khan’s dead body is laid in the room and Richa Chaddha has a glum look on her face(which will suitably animate with wails and tears when they start carrying the body)…to the lecherous stare bestowed by Piyush Mishra on Huma Kureishi over the dead body…..to Faizal Khan whispering in his friend’s ear……”Abe gaanja ka intezaam kar”(you must have seen his friend whispers back to Nawaz…”intezaam ho gaya” few moments later when he is taking the place of Nawaz in shouldering the dead body to the burial grounds)……all these little dramas are being played while the dead body of Sardar Khan (alias jiya ho bihar ke lala) is lying on the floor nnd the song is blaring outside..yaad teri aayegi….all this is sooo real…..and tragi comic.The real brilliance and the reason of confusion among audience is the pace with which Anurag is moving.He has no time for spoon feeding the audience.
From that first scene to the last I did not find any over indulgence to create black humor on the part of Kashyap.
Maybe the comedy of errors that precedes the killing of Sultan was playing to the gallery…but the chase sequence….. and many others were all bang on.
And i will politely disagree with your view that perpendicular was created just for laughs.If you had an idea of the lawless wasseypur you wud have realized there are many perpendicular-tangent combos roaming the streets….all the petty juvenile offenders and the whole gopgiri(gop means don)
i found the integration complete….
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August 11, 2012 at 4:20 PM
“If u r the real Jai Arjun”
I think he is.
I prefer his smaller reviews than Rangan’s technical reviews. Not suggesting that later is bad, but I am un-read on cinema’s finer points.
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August 11, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Anjali: u haven’t even spared poor jai Arjun also –hehe bravo ..
“And i will politely disagree with your view that perpendicular was created just for laughs.If you had an idea of the lawless wasseypur you wud have realized there are many perpendicular-tangent combos roaming the streets….all the petty juvenile offenders and the whole gopgiri(gop means don)”
🙂
Now a french flick …
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August 11, 2012 at 1:27 PM
Ami, i am glad that u saw the 1st part (hope u write something abt it) and it was a pleasure reading ur debate with Anjali who like always made some fantastic original points abt the film.i can only hope that some day i attain half your (and Anjali’s) level of intellect in understanding films and arts.(i mean this seriously)
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August 11, 2012 at 10:04 AM
RE:”he does recognize and appreciate Kashyap’s comic juxtapositioning of the mundane and the heroic.but he is questioning:
whether the film wants the viewers to be emotionally invested in it’s characters and view them as real people or whether it wants to present it’s characters more as archetypical composites of popular culture living in a cardboard universe.”
Jai arjun is falling into the same trap by getting muddled with expressions like emotionally superficial and emotionally deep.
he appreciates the black humor of kashyap no doubt and gives examples of the same in the film….. but his mind is again falling into the trap of a grand narrative….”the emotionally deep”…which he is hankering for in the tragi-comic universe of the kashyapesque.
emotion is functional.if ur hand had no functional purpose …it wud have had no emotion either.human emotion and tragedy,etc is something very banal.this is what kashyap tries to show in his films.
what is nakedly REAL is devoid of all emotionally deep mumbo jumbo connotations.
if one has to relate with kashyap and his films one needs to grow up from the juvenile fixation of hankering for the emotionally deep…..there is no room for these humpty dumptys sitting inside the human mind at least in the kashyapverse.
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August 11, 2012 at 10:09 AM
“emotion is functional.if ur hand had no functional purpose …it wud have had no emotion either.human emotion and tragedy,etc is something very banal.this is what kashyap tries to show in his films.
what is nakedly REAL is devoid of all emotionally deep mumbo jumbo connotations.
if one has to relate with kashyap and his films one needs to grow up from the juvenile fixation of hankering for the emotionally deep…..there is no room for these humpty dumptys sitting inside the human mind at least in the kashyapverse.”
Hahaha wow what a post anjali 🙂
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August 11, 2012 at 10:10 AM
Amy: u shouldn’t take on anjali in this stuff 🙂
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August 11, 2012 at 10:18 AM
“BTW- I saw the first film today and enjoyed it very much.”
@amy: GOW has not released near me.
Would like to hear your views on GOW pleez–
U always have some very nice points as well-thanx
Ps: kashyap is truly one of the best in His country right now and so this film is also significant…
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August 11, 2012 at 10:19 AM
@ alex
i dont think ami is taking on me or whatever.
she merely explained to me the pov of jai arjun and i merely gave the pov of kashyap.both of us can be right at the same time.
or both of us can be wrong 🙂
u see….one cant escape the tragi comic
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August 11, 2012 at 10:22 AM
Amy -chillax -just fun as usual 🙂
Btw would be great to see the views of both Amy and anjali on gow!!
The clash of the icons…
Besides being original, these views dont have biases an agendas -so interesting..
Cheers
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August 11, 2012 at 11:01 AM
“Amy: u shouldn’t take on anjali in this stuff”
Alex stop trying to create unneccessary arguements. I’m not ‘taking on’ Anjali. As Anjali says- we are merely explaining two different points of view. It’s not a contest about who is right and who is wrong- although I do think that Anjali has misread Jai Arjun’s interpretation of the film- I still think that her points on Kashyap’s mastery over tragicomedy are very well thought-out and articulately expressed.
Anjali- I especially liked your reference to Camus’s The Stranger- it’s one of my favourite books. 🙂
But I must disagree completely with your take on Kashyap’s view of emotions.
I think that he wants to avoid the cliches of filmi ’emotional depth’, but he himself is still unconciously influenced by these emotions. So in some places you have an ironic, derivative take on filmi tropes and dramabaazi- and in other places there are genuine swatches of filmi emotion that Kashyap wants his viewers to enjoy earnestly- this creates a certain unevenness. For all his pretensions at making a sprawling, gun-toting violent multi-generational epic, Kashyap seems far more concerned with the emotional trivialties, relationship dynamics, romantic trials and sexual longing that affect his leads! Or atleast- thats how part 1 played out. I haven’t seen Part 2 yet.
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August 11, 2012 at 9:30 AM
“There is a scene of intense tragedy in the film “Monsoon Wedding”….when Naseer discovers that his elder brother physically abused the girl naseer raised with love and affection like his own daughter. He is found to be emotionally devastated and crying inconsolably in the arms of his wife…..and she hugs him tight….. and he keeps crying and the effect in one of profound anguish and tragedy…when suddenly…. his hug tightens….. apparently the embrace has given him a hard on and they start making love!”
ROFL 🙂
“The protagonist of the novel The outsider by Camus is found drinking and swimming in a club swimming pool and frolicking with his girl friend and having sex with her…all this one day after his mother died.”
“The batman needs to use the public toilet every once in a while between his heroic antics.”
Anjali- that’s an entertaining take…
It’s this constant ‘duality’ which exists in most real life situations but it takes a perceptive maker (& a perceptive open observer) to see it in the correct perspective ..
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August 11, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Guys, don’t bury the forum with unnecessary banter or long reviews one after the other or topics that are completely irrelevant in terms of the thread. A little bit here and there is ok, comment after comment becomes problematic.
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August 11, 2012 at 12:49 PM
yep…And also taking sides without having a position in debate..
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August 11, 2012 at 10:53 AM
Point taken but weren’t me, anjali and Amy discussing GOW in a GOW bo thread .We weren’t delving into the great Rohan sippy in a
mere kashyap thread 🙂
Nor were we discussing x rated porn ha
Anyways…
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August 11, 2012 at 11:09 AM
yes but many of your comments try to provoke stuff as a joke. Or even otherwise there’s one joke too many. It drowns out everything else. So for example you go on and on about this Anjali-Ami thing. Constantly trying to get them to engage. There’s no reason to do this. We all like to have fun once in a while but it shouldn’t be done all the time, otherwise the forum becomes useless.
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August 11, 2012 at 11:43 AM
I agree. Too many debates over the same issue gets a little irritating after a while.
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August 11, 2012 at 11:14 AM
“Anjali-Ami thing. Constantly trying to get them to engage”-
Well they are consenting adults– as in this case none of the two got ‘provoked’– but u did!!!
I have nothing against girl -girl stuff anyhow as long as its consensual.. 🙂
Ps–about to catch a french flick now hanaha
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August 11, 2012 at 11:21 AM
On a related note -‘girl /girl’ stuff has interested me…
Oops Amy/ anjali: not talking about u (but be safe ) haha
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August 11, 2012 at 11:40 AM
I have a longer note on GOW 2 pending.. But Im trying to get it published on a site by 20th.. If it doesnt get accepted, Ill post it here.. I hope Satyam will be kind enough to give it a separate post.
As of now, Dont know where to begin while talking about my feelings for GOW 2. Beautiful frames and performances and scenes derivative of Godfather and Goodfellas are aplenty here (Though Kashyap must be applauded for giving the proceedings his own unique touch, be it his Hindi pop culture references or chemistry between his leads and performances). On the whole I liked the series very much, but would be hesitant in calling the two-part film a classic. Looking back, all one remembers is redundant and relentless scenes of gunfire and rivalry and characters shaping up over decades. There’s a lot to admire in individual scenes, but it the screenplay doesnt really gel well together.
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August 11, 2012 at 11:53 AM
Of course Tony, goes without saying..
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August 11, 2012 at 11:59 AM
thanks satyam. you’re a gentleman
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August 11, 2012 at 3:12 PM
“you’re a gentleman”- Tony this goes for you too. You are one of the most balanced and genuinely nice people on the blog (and someone whom i continue to learn from). i have ‘never’ seen u get into an arguement here- how do u manage this man, give some tips to me too- in a perverse sense would enjoy seeing u in a heated discussion for once 🙂 On a serious note, i am waiting desperately for ur GoW review- make sure it’s a cracker of a piece (btw which site are u posting it on?)
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August 12, 2012 at 5:22 PM
🙂 Im tongue-tied. But thanks saurabh.
just a random site saurabh. an unknown online magazine. Dont have great expectations : Its poor and amateur and am too lazy to make corrections or elaborate on it. lol
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August 13, 2012 at 2:23 AM
But in any case why aren’t u putting ur piece right now itself- i mean why do u have to wait for that site to publish it (do the site owners have an issue with someone posting their pieces somewhere else too?). in any case if u don’t have a problem telling, which site is this? (would like to check it out)
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August 11, 2012 at 12:12 PM
Re-visited GOW-2. Unlike first part, its second viewing bored me. But in any case this is not missed for those who have seen first part .. movie was full engaging on first watch.
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August 11, 2012 at 3:40 PM
A record that will always remain intact, an interesting box-office history !!
http://bollybusiness.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/a-record-that-will-remain-intact-an-interesting-box-office-history/
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August 11, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Friday Report: Solid Starts for ‘Bourne,’ ‘Campaign’
by Ray Subers
The Bourne Legacy
August 11, 2012
The Bourne Legacy and The Campaign both got off to respectable starts on Friday, which pushed reigning champion The Dark Knight Rises down to third place.
The Bourne reboot/spin-off debuted to an estimated $14 million yesterday. That’s up from The Bourne Identity’s $8.7 million from a decade ago, but less than The Bourne Supremacy ($18.4 million) and The Bourne Ultimatum ($24.7 million). It’s at least right in line with recent Bond franchise reboot Casino Royale, which earned $14.7 million on its opening day. Distributor Universal Pictures is currently predicting a $41 million weekend, which is a fine start given the challenge of switching the leading man from Matt Damon to Jeremy Renner.
Will Ferrell/Zach Galifianakis political comedy The Campaign grossed an estimated $10.25 million yesterday. That’s on the low-end for Ferrell Summer movies: it’s a bit below Anchorman’s $10.76 million, and also down from Step Brothers ($11.8 million) and The Other Guys ($13.1 million). That being said, political comedies are always a tough sell, and R-rated comedies don’t usually burst out of the gate, so this is actually a pretty good debut. The Campaign appears poised to finish the three-day weekend in the high-$20 millions.
The Dark Knight Rises dropped 45 percent to an estimated $5.63 million on Friday. The conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has now earned $376.2 million, and currently trails its predecessor by almost $47 million.
Hope Springs brought in an estimated $4.7 million on Friday, which is more than it had made on Wednesday and Thursday combined ($4.45 million). While that is noticeably off from star Meryl Streep’s last Summer release, Julie & Julia ($6.5 million), it’s a fine number for a movie that should play well with older audiences for the remainder of the Summer.
Sony Pictures did not report on Total Recall’s Friday haul, which suggests that the poor word-of-mouth (“C+” CinemaScore) has put the movie on track for a catastrophic second weekend.
Depending on where Total Recall falls on the chart, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days took fifth or sixth place with an estimated $2.85 million on Friday. Through eight days, the children’s book adaptation has earned $25.2 million, and has no chance of getting anywhere close to its predecessors ($64 million and $52.7 million).
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August 11, 2012 at 4:14 PM
“The Dark Knight Rises dropped 45 percent to an estimated $5.63 million on Friday. The conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has now earned $376.2 million, and currently trails its predecessor by almost $47 million.”
The last one went on to a total of 533m. Would be surprised if this even did 500m. Nonetheless its own gross is nothing to be sneezed at though it probably reflects even more IMAX tickets.
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August 11, 2012 at 10:39 PM
The best review of Gow 2 I have come across as yet.
By a pakistani newspaper:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C08%5C12%5Cstory_12-8-2012_pg9_16
The only reviewer who has understood kashyap’s magic.
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August 11, 2012 at 10:55 PM
Review by the celebrated idiot Rajeev Masand. As expected he didn’t get the film at all. I kept laughing through his stupid review.
http://ibnlive.in.com/shows/Now+Showing/281021.html
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August 11, 2012 at 11:56 PM
At last GOW 1 7 2 are showing in Bangalore PVR as ‘ GIOW Marathon”. Planning to see it with my son ( who hasn’t see either parts yet) this evening.
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August 12, 2012 at 4:29 AM
“Planning to see it with my son”
Good plan utkal uncle
Btw your son liked which films recently and has seen cocktail 😉
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August 12, 2012 at 1:24 AM
Bol Bachchan puts Abhishek Bachchan in a different league
Roshini K Olivera, TNN | Aug 12, 2012, 12.00AM IST
It surely was one of the toughest roles in his career, but Abhishek Bachchan managed to pull it off well. No wonder Bol Bachchan has put the actor in a different league now. And with the film doing `100cr business, AB Jr has entered the coveted club…
So you’ve joined the `100 crore club…
I’m a bit lost for words. This whole `100cr thing used to be the Silver Jubilee earlier. It’s like a milestone. I’m just so happy and thankful that the audience have loved the film. Making it to the `100cr mark is testimony to the fact that people have enjoyed the film. The entire credit goes to Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn. I want to thank them first, for giving me Bol Bachchan, and then for supporting me through the film.
Where do you see yourself in this rat race?
I don’t think any actor believes in this whole rat race business. It’s a race when everyone’s competing at one level, like say a 100-metre race where it’s the same for everyone. But here, we are doing our individual films. If I was a part of Bol Bachchan, another actor is a part of some other film. How do you compare? It wouldn’t be fair. I can’t have that mindset; I have to be bothered about what I am doing or else I won’t be concentrating fully on it. For me, it’s always about how I can get better with every film.
You’ve had a series of hit films, then a low and now a big high again. How would you describe the journey?
It’s been a great one.
What about Friday jitters when you have a film release?
It’s very difficult. After a year of hardwork, blood and sweat by a team close to 500 people, that worked tirelessly, Friday is judgement day. There’s excitement and nerves… it’s fun.
You’ve got Dhoom 3 and Dostana 2, two very different kind of films…
Currently I’m shooting for Dhoom 3 and that’s the only film I’m totally concentrating on.
We hear of filmmakers planning projects for you.
Yes, it’s very nice to see renewed confidence in my work. It’s a great feeling and I am looking forward to doing some good films.
Action and comedy have both become your forte. Personally, what do you like better?
It’s tough to choose between the two. I enjoy all of it. I like the variety that our films offer.
Any of your movies that’s your favourite?
Each and every one of them. If it wasn’t my favourite at that point, I wouldn’t have done it.
Films apart, you are a sports lover too. We hear that you caught Bolt’s 100m win at the London Olympics?
I was very close to the track and had the best view… it was an unbelievable experience! The highlight in London for me was to see the Indian flag high up in the Olympics stadium amidst the flags of other countries.
You’re going to be abroad for three months now. So, you’ll be missing family and little Aaradhya…
They will be joining me.
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August 12, 2012 at 1:57 AM
@ satyman
did not see the logic behind putting Abhisekh bachchan interview on this thread.
Btw…can you give a link to Bhardwaj Rangan’s review of GOW 2?
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August 12, 2012 at 2:47 AM
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August 12, 2012 at 3:42 AM
O my god…what a perfect review!
Could not find a single fault,though i was trying hard.
Bravo!
“but the only way Gangs of Wasseypur can be considered is by treating it as a super-elaborate postmodern prank rather than a traditional dramatic narrative.”
B Rangan has some brains after all.
I wish Rajeev Masand learns from him.
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August 12, 2012 at 4:04 AM
Anurag Kashyap’s tweets about Bhardwaj Rangan’s review:
“Finally it gets across, it communicated to some1,thanks.”
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August 12, 2012 at 8:54 AM
absolutely fantastic piece, unsurprisingly! I was thinking Iruvar as I was reading the piece and Rangan came up with this reference himself!
Unfortunately at this end some of us are condemned to access the film only through such pieces!
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August 12, 2012 at 3:10 AM
This is a general thread. Anything which can not be put anywhere comes here.
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August 12, 2012 at 4:27 AM
“Anything which can not be put anywhere comes here.”–
Except homophobic stuff and porn for eg 🙂
Had seen but earlier –but was shown a full one
Good fun v v
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August 12, 2012 at 8:51 AM
meant to put it in one of the other threads, made a mistake, but Munna is right.
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August 12, 2012 at 4:24 AM
The most accurate summing up of the series yet. You have said pretty much all wanted to say about the film.
Three insights that you ofer sum up the essence of the film very well:
“And his peculiar achievement – and, finally, a praiseworthy one – is that he draws from our cinema and, at the same time, denounces it. ”
” – but the only way Gangs of Wasseypur can be considered is by treating it as a super-elaborate postmodern prank rather than a traditional dramatic narrative..”
” This, Kashyap tells us, is what avengers are like – fools, sidetracked by love stories (Faizal is as much a fool for Mohsina as his father was for Durga), men with vague aims but without concrete plans. ”
Happy to see him mention that bit about the musical styles of RD Burman and Laxmikant Pyarelal on which I had elaborated on this thread.
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August 12, 2012 at 5:01 AM
there has been a little exchange between me and jai arjun conducted on his blog.
http://jaiarjun.blogspot.in/2012/08/mind-gaps-conflicting-thoughts-on-gangs.html
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August 12, 2012 at 5:07 AM
Ha anjali: thought u presented some original thoughts there and while jai Arjun creditably tried to understand them, don’t think he assimilated the full meaning..
Btw as in the GOW song u said ‘keh ke loongi!’ to him 🙂
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August 12, 2012 at 6:57 PM
@ anjali-just realised about that joke (keh ke..)above -it was unintented-hope u took it in the right spirit -if objectionable-Satyam plz delete it …
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August 12, 2012 at 10:17 PM
@ alex
haha…u dont have to be diplomatic with me 🙂
few dull heads may find ur jokes objectionable…..i enjoy them immensely.
in fact sometimes I get the feeling,that ur detached jokes are the only thing sane…in the way it debunks…. amid all the nutcase theories we vent and fight for on this forum or others.
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August 13, 2012 at 4:03 PM
“ur detached jokes are the only thing sane…in the way it debunks…. amid all the nutcase theories we vent and fight for on this forum or others.”– thanx anjali..
“haha…u dont have to be diplomatic with me “–
Ok so i have the ‘parmissan’ 🙂
( refer to the GOW ‘parmissan’ link below) /’
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August 12, 2012 at 5:54 AM
Vidya balan: the powerhouse performer-dedicated to Amy !
Well, haven’t seen dirty picture, kahaani, ishqiya
But kept hearing these superlatives about vidya Balans acting
ESP from her diehard fans like Amy and Di ..
And I thought -well she is definitely a v good actress but this is going a bit too far..
But saw thIs random song today —
Don’t need any further proof–make my impressions early ..
Now in her FIRST movie, this is the state of affairs
That she is giving a kaleidoscope of complex expressions in one goddam song
Brilliant !!
Enjoy vidya balan fans like Amy 🙂
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August 12, 2012 at 3:22 PM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
All those asking about the advance booking of #EkThaTiger, the response is mindboggling. Expect a hurricane on 15 August.
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
Will #EkThaTiger collect 25 cr on Day 1? Or 30 cr? May be 30 cr +? Whatever the figure, all previous records will be shattered.
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August 12, 2012 at 3:22 PM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
#GOW2 Tue previews 34 lacs, Wed 2.75 cr, Thu 2.30 cr, Fri 3.20 cr, Sat [est] 3.25 cr. Total: 11.84 cr nett.
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August 12, 2012 at 3:44 PM
More male bonding!!–After DCH, rock on, znmd —
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Ritesh-Sidhwani-Farhan-Akhtars-next-to-explore-male-bonding/articleshow/15447630.cms
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August 12, 2012 at 3:54 PM
For GoW 2 fans–
Making of electric piya
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August 12, 2012 at 4:07 PM
@ anjali/ Amy/ utkal uncle/ other GoW fans
A must watch–ROFL 🙂
The real story of ‘parmissan’
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August 12, 2012 at 6:33 PM
lol.. the permission scene was priceless
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August 12, 2012 at 6:36 PM
So tony : did u get the ‘parmissan’ –was it ileana 😉
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August 12, 2012 at 6:45 PM
Moral of the story :
As long as one has asked for ‘parmissan’, one can do ANYTHING
Gud nite and enjoy …
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August 12, 2012 at 11:52 PM
interesting reviews.
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August 13, 2012 at 12:22 AM
Faizal khan is the most self centered clown in GOW 2. When sultan and his gang attacked his house,Faizal left his family to face the goli baari and was the first to sneak out from the terrace.
He broke his knee while jumping from the terrace and limped like a coward to the safety.Only when sultan and his gang left…he let loose a flurry of invectives…
His brother Danish was murdered,his brother’s wife was killed,his mother and Asghar Khan were killed in broad daylight but he took no action against Ramadheer singh who was the main villian.
He finally decided to kill Ramadheer only when an attack on his life was made by Ramadheer through the treachery of Iqlaakh.
Jab baat apne jaan par aayi the great Faizal Khan went berserk and went for the blood of Ramadheer full gong.
This shows that all the talk of taking revenge and all that nonsense was a big hoax inspired by bollywoodism.
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August 13, 2012 at 2:17 AM
Anjali it will be a sheer case of a great chance gone abegging if u don’t come up with a write-up on GoW- don’t think anyone here has understood/assimilated the film as well as u have
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August 13, 2012 at 4:57 AM
I – Day special with Big B
http://thefrontrow.starworld.in/thefrontrowstage/ShowreelVideo.aspx?id=2
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August 13, 2012 at 5:18 AM
Watched Gow-1, Its extremely rich in every sense though it drags in the middle.
The most striking thing about GOW1 is the prank Ak plays with the revenge theme.. there is no revenge current but its deliberately injected by AK into the Viewer and than shows its futulity when Sardar khan is killed,his revenge dialogue is played in BG.. What i took from Gow1 is that revenge never ends, to get into it is waste and even if one enters in revenge mode it doesnt last long as other things take over, again exemplified when sardar khan changes his profession to fishing, Survival is the root instinct and desire.
Some scenes are brilliant and priceless
reema sen washing clothes.
permissan scene
AB’s Trishul entry scene and crowds erupting in theater and than Faizal khan’s Waheeda rehamn dialogue..
2 scene that shows mastery of AK over knowing finer details were one “cheeni bartan” and last home scene of sardar khan when he wakes up and starts asking about his sons and others, how his wife replies and how he responds back..
All songs are beautifully incorporated in movie except Hunter song, though I liked 1st song of Bhagal main chand, again AK taking his shot on Joy and Pain, Tears and smile and shows they just co exist and its just what one wants to see.
About cast.
The most brilliant performance is of Nagam bhegum ( Richa chada). She owns this movie, IMO
Sardar khan is neither Hero nor anti hero/villian… he is just human with all its limitations and weakness, We as audience presume him as (anti) Hero.
About profanity in language, I dont see why anyone has objection coz that’s the only way ppl talk in hinterlands and its very close to reality
ps: If i read as incoherent than I proffer apology as written in hurry
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August 13, 2012 at 5:21 AM
one more scene where AK again shows master is MKS song, ” salaame Ishq” One hell of scene, the way Yashpal sharma performs it and Faizal khan n Huma enact it …
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August 13, 2012 at 5:22 AM
did u watch it in a cinema hall or ur computer?
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August 13, 2012 at 6:37 AM
Lappy 🙂
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August 13, 2012 at 8:18 AM
@ bliss
The most striking thing about GOW1 is the prank Ak plays with the revenge theme.. there is no revenge current but its deliberately injected by AK into the Viewer and than shows its futulity when Sardar khan is killed,his revenge dialogue is played in BG.. What i took from Gow1 is that revenge never ends, to get into it is waste and even if one enters in revenge mode it doesnt last long as other things take over, again exemplified when sardar khan changes his profession to fishing, Survival is the root instinct and desire.
Brilliant!
you got the very soul of the movie.
Bhardwaj Rangan’s review of GOW 1 talks nothing about subversion and stuff.his gow 2 review talks about subversion.Maybe he took hints from our thread.
you got the very essence of the movie.
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August 13, 2012 at 4:07 PM
Thanx bliss–nice take
I think that’s your first ever review on any film..
Keep it up gal
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August 13, 2012 at 6:39 AM
The Leading Lady with Balls ( OPEN ) Feature on Vidya Balan
It’s a freedom few sex symbols have. But then, The Dirty Picture didn’t give the country just another sex symbol. It gave India a sex symbol that wasn’t for audiences to sculpt, modify or even judge. ‘I am a real woman and this is a real woman’s sexy body,’ her character seemed to convey, ‘Deal with it.’
It’s an attitude she clearly revels in. “Men come up and thank me,” she says, “They are happy seeing a real woman. Women come and tell me that they are not embarrassed of their breasts anymore, but celebrate them. Sexiness is all about how you feel. You can either use your hands to cover or caress yourself. I love my body.”
In that love of herself and her body, professed so unabashedly, Vidya Balan has helped millions of Indians love themselves just the way they are. As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, ‘To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.’ It takes a radical departure from every force that seems to be bearing down on you. In Hindi cinema, it takes superhuman willpower as well.
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/art-culture/the-leading-lady-with-balls
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August 13, 2012 at 6:57 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
#GOW2 breakup:- Tue previews 34 lacs, Wed 2.75 cr, Thu 2.30 cr, Fri 3.20 cr, Sat 3.25 cr, Sun [est] 3.60 cr. Total: Rs 15.44 cr nett. Dull.
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
#GOW2 will have to accumulate whatever it can till Tue. Once #EkThaTiger releases on Wed, all films will be limited to 1 or 2 shows
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August 13, 2012 at 6:58 AM
Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 Has Poor Extended Weekend
Monday 13th August 2011 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Gangs Of Waseeypur 2 had a poor extended weekend of 15-15.50 crore nett as per early estimates. These collections would have been good if it was a three day weekend but from for five days plus paid previews its a poor total.
The film’s collections on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all in the same range as the film grossed in between 3 and 3.50 crore nett on all three days.
There is not much hope for he film with Ek Tha Tiger releasing on Wednesday but it was always going to be tough task for the film as Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 found little appreciation therefore making it much harder for the second part to put up better numbers.
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August 13, 2012 at 7:18 AM
@ satyam
what is a paid preview and who pays?how many shows in preview?
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August 13, 2012 at 6:58 AM
Jism 2 Has Heavy Fall In Second Weekend
Monday 13th August 2011 10.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Jism 2 had a heavy fall in the second weekend collecting around 3.50-3.75 crore nett. The first weekend collections were around 20.50 crore nett which is a 80% plus week on week drop.
The film has managed to come out with better than expected overall numbers in North and Bihar but collections elsewhere are below expectations.
The film has around two more days to collect as Ek Tha Tiger will take most of the single screens Jism 2 is playing on at present leaving it with 1-2 shows at multiplexes.
Overall the film do a final distributor share of around 18.25-18.50 crore leaving a couple pf distributors safe while other will loses heavy amounts especially the Mumbai distributor.
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August 13, 2012 at 7:36 AM
Have mixed feelings for Vicky Cristina Barcelona..
Starts off well and Allen’s fascination for finer things in life (paintings, love, landscapes) brings a smile, but plot becomes convoluted..
Anyone want to share feelings for this film? Maybe Alex
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August 13, 2012 at 9:50 AM
Tony, i thought u may be interested in this- An 80 page comic book on Agent Vinod titled “Agent Vinod- The Jungfrau Encounters” has hit the stands (it was released by the makers of the films) and is surprisingly getting good reviews. i am planning to check this one out
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August 13, 2012 at 10:07 AM
is it available online in cbr?
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August 13, 2012 at 3:58 PM
Yes tony :
Liked Vicky Christina Barcelona –I personally liked it a lot though not for everyone
…
Was busy -tired now but may write something on it soon…
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August 13, 2012 at 11:34 AM
anurag kashyap is the greatest indian film maker of all time.
i saw both the parts together today..gow 1 and 2 in a hall again.
i m sorry….but b rangan has been able to fathom 10 percent of his genius in his review. kashyap is greater than satyajit and every one else in india.
he is the greatesttttt!
i m ready for the challenge…anyone who wants to contest me…give it a try. anurag is the greatest.
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August 13, 2012 at 11:47 AM
Anjali, so I assume you’ve seen all the important works of Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan… I am just throwing some names off the top of my head but this list could be made a lot more comprehensive.
I think one can lavish a great deal of praise onto a work without indulging in the kind of hyperbole that makes the opinion almost meaningless.
And if you have seen all these directors and some others and still have this opinion frankly it’s a little scary.
And to think Rangan was complaining about similar issues with the Sight & Sound poll!
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August 13, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Sadly given your Ray remark your statement falls under a category I’ve already discussed recently..
I should nonetheless thank you for some restraint I suppose. A guy on twitter the other day (the only reason I read these comments is because I follow Kashyap and he retweets every single thing on the film.. if you say I had Frosted Flakes before watching the film and this enhanced my experience of part 2 more than part 1 where I only saw the latter after drinking a glass of milk he’ll retweet this too!) suggested there were now three great epics in India — Ramayana, Mahabharata, GoW.
Guess the psychiatrists are kept happy..
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August 13, 2012 at 2:06 PM
dev d a subversion of devdas infact this was touched by shyam bengal (sooraj ka satwa ghoda ….do watch it ) and many others its just people have short memory
no smoking was lifted from stephen king’s quitters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quitters,_Inc.
( yet to see any credit)
the girl in yellow boots ( a refrence to godmen and incest and one wonder nair and others are doing it for ges)
gow 1 ( a huge godfather hangover )…here a prakash jha did the same with rajneeti ( a touch of godfather and mahabharata )
gulal(on stupic politics and an inversion of karna of mahabharata)…..others are doing that for ages…the makers of art film movement and even rgv
one biggest regret with kashyap he is yet to make any significant movie which put up the bar technically , commercially or infact be a lesson of budding filmmakers forget being greatest
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August 13, 2012 at 2:09 PM
*on student politics*
seriously now kashyap has to make something significant
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August 13, 2012 at 2:23 PM
btw did satya had any star and it became trendsetter and even commercially a big sucessand infact both gow1 and gow 2 are another masala fick without any major star
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August 13, 2012 at 11:55 AM
I cringe whenever I see ‘The greatest’ Word… it can never be decided in one way or other, but ‘One of the Greats’ is still tolerable 🙂
Anyways, I will quote your Osho, ” Love always lead to high ‘exaggeration’ ” 😛
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August 13, 2012 at 11:57 AM
Bliss, but in some cases one can at least understand the hyperbole. Obviously this can never be a ‘scientific’ word that completely fits any given work but when you talk about certain kinds of films and directors it is at least comprehensible. You are at the very least commenting on the stratosphere that work belongs to. So if it’s not the greatest maybe it’s ‘among’ the very greatest, however long or short such a list is. And again one can do these things differently depending on one’s preferences. But in what universe and by what possible ranking could any Kashyap film be considered the greatest Indian film made?!
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August 13, 2012 at 12:04 PM
Ya, It can be ‘One of the great/st’ but not “The greatest’ and this can only be done as you rightly said on ‘Body of work’ not on single piece unless that piece defines History or makes new school of thought ..
Rest on 3 epics .. LOL …
AK plugs in every tweet about his movies and that sometimes is laughable and defeats the very purpose of what his movies stand for..
He subverts everything except His tweets 🙂
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August 13, 2012 at 12:41 PM
It can be one work or even a first work if that film happens to be Pathar Panchali!
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August 13, 2012 at 1:12 PM
I agree completely with you. But just to take Anjali’s side for a minute (for the heck of it) i believe sometimes one makes these hyperbolic statements in enthusiasm/jest. Now of course if one makes such a statement, it will be automatically disqualified from any ‘serious debate’. And u know this kind of ridiculously hyperbolic comments in india are not limited to films- the other day one of my younger cousins was telling me that Kohli is the best exponent of cover drive ever in the history of the game!
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August 13, 2012 at 1:14 PM
yeah this madness is very much on display in sports discussions.. and it is indulged in regularly by commentators as well.
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August 13, 2012 at 1:03 PM
I guess its a generational thing….
may be for people of this generation kashyap is more legendary than others… i mean who is gonna go out of his way and watch old classics…
in the limited sphere of this generation, i guess kashyap being the best is a good shot, but all time, cannot be compared… i have always hated all time list….
its like amitabh being greatest of all, i did rather say he was best of his time, but if you talk today i might prefer Aamir khan or Salman Khan Movie… its all generational…
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August 13, 2012 at 1:16 PM
relating to someone or a work in a generational sense is one thing, a critical judgment is quite another. I can hardly say Shakespeare or the Mahabharata were the best for their time!
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August 13, 2012 at 1:30 PM
LOL! Generational is rather a narrow view. Particularly if one wants to resort to this kind of hyperbole.
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August 14, 2012 at 12:58 AM
Ya agreed rajen, but sometimes people get carried away.
I often feel after watching a movie for eg. RDB or Swades, this is the best cinema…. of all time in the heat of the moment, when mind gets calm i know its impossible to say all time best….
i had occassion to see Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa… and makes me realise that such debates are futile at least to my view. As i believe Pyaasa is a masterpiece. But how do i compare that to RDB, which hada great cultural impact.
So why to compare, make them good in their generation… and i stay happy with it, so no conflict. 🙂
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August 13, 2012 at 1:30 PM
Aside have u or GF written on any Nihalani films? btw think u missed this (just like u missed the comment on Bertolucci)- https://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/sanctum-trailer/#comment-166328
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August 13, 2012 at 4:00 PM
Anjali: that’s the spirit
If u liked it, that’s it ..
Good that it forced u to venture into the cinema hall twice leaving your laptop..
Hope u didn’t encounter any ‘definites’ & ‘perpendiculars’ there 🙂
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August 13, 2012 at 1:40 PM
And Satyam should be thankful to Q (the director) for the number of hits his film may have generated for SS by now 🙂 – i have noticed that GANDU (the film) is enjoying the perennial Rajendra Kumar status of the blog. Has Satyam or anyone seen it (remember Tony telling that he found the film useless)? Btw Kashyap is producing Q’s next film “Tasher Desh” (based on Tagore’s novel) which will be some kind of a musical
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August 13, 2012 at 2:45 PM
ray had allready made a documentry on that to make it famous
just a personal opinion?:
charas , ganza , galibazi and incestperversion of highest order and somebody will say it as one of the greatest ever
just a personal opinion india seriously has lot of ch*****as
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August 14, 2012 at 1:03 AM
@saurabh credit should also be given to the person who posted it 😉 i hope u got the hint 😛
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August 13, 2012 at 1:58 PM
Pathetic! Official Poster of Priyadarshan’s next which is the sequel to Malamaal Weekly titled “Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal”- has Nana, Paresh, Om Puri, Shreyas- http://cache.fillum.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Kamaal-Dhamaal-Malamaal-First-Look.jpg
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August 13, 2012 at 2:02 PM
Satyam,
has rangan ever compiled a list of his favourite films?
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August 13, 2012 at 6:54 PM
don’t think so..
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August 13, 2012 at 2:07 PM
came across this link recently.. National Awards for Best Film Critic over the years :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Film_Award_for_Best_Film_Critic
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August 13, 2012 at 2:12 PM
2005 – bhardwaj rangan ( an alumini of bits pilani and that technicality even shows up on his reviews along with vast knowledge of films)
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August 13, 2012 at 2:45 PM
WT@ …………
Another shooting incident in USA
Several people, including law enforcement officers, shot near a university campus in Texas, U.S. police say. ( CNN)
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August 13, 2012 at 5:15 PM
Christ, thats about a block away from the gas station I worked at in 1994! The heart of Texas, every house/dwelling/apartment has a minm of 2 guns in the premises. Not surprised at all…
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August 14, 2012 at 1:08 AM
The movie Gangs Of Wasseypur can be summed up in one single sentence, which is the tag line of the film too: Teri keh ke loonga!
The film is a super elaborate exercise in Keh ke loonga against the Bollywood and the audience who have made it into what it is… Everyone was beguiled into thinking that the taunting line has been used in the context of the film as it ran in the promos …..but now the real implication of that line is out. After all the buzz, promotion, publicity and the subsequent release of the film ….no one can blame Anurag that he did not tell us before he took our Bollywood besotted ass.
All the anger and frustration of Anurag against the whole tamasha called mainstream hindi cinema comes out here. The industry prejudice against Anurag was so deep that even his brother Abhinav was not getting producers to make his maiden film. In an interview Abhinav was found confessing that producers used to become hostile towards him when they found out his surname.
“Arrey yeh toh anurag ka bhai hai,waisi hi picture banayega.”
Anurag’s passionate blogging, drinking and depression days have been much publicized.
Anurag is not one to forgive and forget.
The most stupendous achievement of the film is that it sucks you inside the world of Wasseypur so deeply and totally that you do not realize it has a double meaning. I doubt anyone in the west where gangs was feted understood the real purpose of the film. The movie is too realistic in its detail and dialogue.
Nowhere one gets a suspicion that it’s a spoof of monumental proportion.
The crowning glory of the film is that the main protagonist in it…. is someone who has suffered for 10 years at the hands of this stereotyping of the Bollywood. Nawazuddin was used in films only when the hero/villain wanted to bash someone up.
Filmmaking for anurag is not something divorced and artistic. it is an intensely personal and angst ridden voice of the underdog against the pervasive stereotyping of the system which has branded him a loser. It is a powerful and thundering…relentless and comprehensive Revenge by Anurag against that system. He is not only making fun of bollywood but now with his production company going to change it. This is the reason why the youths identify with him….this is the cause of his cult status.
The angry young man Amitabh and the rebellious bad boys Sanjay dutt and salman become puny figures when compared with the depth of rebelliousness and subversion festering in the soul of Anurag. That is the reason why the underdog inside us connects with this genius underdog of bollywood outside(Anurag)…it elicits a response that is often emotional. Anurag is not a mere film director..he is a cultural icon of the times. He is the voice of this angry generation.
He is the “keh ke loonga” personified for the Bollywood syndicate. He is the one man against the whole. If Bollywood has one big fear…it is Anurag Kashyap….because what he is doing is going to change the face of cinema in India.
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August 14, 2012 at 1:37 AM
Why don’t you combine all your long comments into one?
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August 14, 2012 at 2:17 AM
I haven’t seen the film but have read a few noted on it –havent seen this point of subversion of bollywood symbolism been made as lucidly and effectively as this
@ anjali: u should cumulate all these comments into a structured review..
And suggest that needs to be made into a separate thread IMO
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August 14, 2012 at 2:10 AM
I dont want to get into whether Anurag Kashyap is the greatest Indian film directors or not as it is a futile exercise. But he is certainly up their among the best ever.
At this moment it is more pertinent to celebrate the burst of creativity he has brought into the Indian film scene. I felt the same exhilaration upon seeing GOW 1 & 2 as when reading A Hundred Years of Solitude for the first time. Wasseypur is Macondo for me. It is a totally misplaced to bring in Godftaher in the context of Wasseypur. Godfather is a straight narrative like any Hollywood film. Of course it is a very good narrative with many resonances, but ultimately it is a conventional drama where the story from A to B to C.
GOW is anything but that. It is a multi-layered cultural product that mixes conventional narrative, drama, songs, buffoonery, folk humour, linguistic invention ( Womaniya, Setrightway karo, ), pop culture, poetry ( Ek bagal mein chand), in a crazy mix that also has a unique auteur’s signature.
That is why it is more Marquez and Cervantes than Godfather. Though I must add even the Marquez parallel can only partly hint wht GOW is like. In the end, it is a fiercely original work so steeped in Indian roots and speaking a new cinematic language.
We should not go around expecting critics foreign or Indian to getr it all in one go. Though I must admit Rangan has made a good beginning.
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August 14, 2012 at 8:08 AM
I continue to despair of these hyperbolic comparisons! But you definitely shouldn’t compare mere mortals like Marquez and even more mortals like Cervantes to Kashyap.
And since we’re on these comparisons let me defend the Godfather by saying that characterizing it in your terms is a little reductive (just a little..!) but even accepting your terms I guess this only makes it like War and Peace.
The Kashyap commentary has the feel of an auction. Alright who’ll bring up Shakespeare now? Who’ll bring up Kurosawa?
Of course we had someone not too long ago who felt Kashyap was better than all these guys combined..
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August 14, 2012 at 3:31 AM
WTF! RGV to make ‘Satya 2’ with newcomers- John Abraham to co-produce the film- http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/more/news/view/id/1547915
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August 14, 2012 at 4:58 AM
Ya !!!
Movie name will be Satya’nash’ 🙂
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August 14, 2012 at 5:27 AM
Wasseypur ki Sholay
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August 14, 2012 at 5:34 AM
RAJKUMAR HIRANI ON GROWING UP, HIS FTII DAYS, AND PURSUING HIS DREAMS (3 PART SERIES)
http://thew14.com/2012/08/14/rajkumar-hirani-on-growing-up-his-ftii-days-and-pursuing-his-dreams/
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