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Jackie Chan at China Film Festival in New Delhi

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DSCN9029Jackie Chan loves to sing, the movie 3 Idiots and Biryani. At the China Film Festival held in Siri Fort Complex on 18th June, the multi-faceted actor talked about fostering better ties between the two growing economies. Chan, who was here to inaugurate the first ever China Film Festival in India displayed his interest in acting in a Bollywood movie. “I can sing and dance….I am a good actor,” said the star. He also sent out an open invitation to Bollywood directors to hire him in  their movies stating that all he needed was “a good script”. He wishes to change his image as that of an action superstar to that of an actor and added that he wants to be remembered as “Asia’s Robert De Niro”.

Present with him were his co-stars from his latest film ‘Chinese Zodiac’, who were all praises for him as a director to which Chan quipped,“They have to love me or they are fired!” On being questioned about the strain in the India-China relations recently, Chan hesitant at first, replied that we cannot choose our neighbours and that, we should make more movies on peace. On his never playing the role of the ‘bad guy’ in his films ChanDSCN9030 said, “Young children watch my movies and I do not want to be a bad influence on them.” As an actor and a director, Chan feels it is his responsibility to produce a clean, free of violence film for his audience.

Chan felt that even though there is a lot of good cinema coming out of India, the producers are just not putting in enough effort to promote it globally. The star quipped that he has no time for vacations and only accepts invitation, if there is work involved.

Image credits: Niharika Singh

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DUB Speak

Holi, Starring: The Dancers’ Brood

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Dear Talent Hunt Shows,

This is to bring into focus your spectacular folly of investing millions of Rupees in search of talent in a country like India, where every nook and cranny has many pseudo-Mick Jaggers and Michael Jacksons. Holi, the festival of tubs filled with colours, hair with oil and stomachs with sumptuous delicacies, is the time when such creatures, or as some like to say dancers, step out of their hibernation shells. To find talented people, all you need to do is walk into any random alley on “Holi” Day. People can be found literally dancing their clothes away under the influence of, for the lack of a more sophisticated synonym, Bhaang.

Here is an assortment of peculiar dance forms that one is most likely to behold this Holi:

  • Kite-Flying Dance: On Holi, specimens generally found in blue, green, pink or red colour derive some sort of sadistic pleasure in miming the action of flying a kite, knees bent and teeth bared nastily. No matter why, no matter when, and no matter what the song is, the Kite-Flying dance form fits perfectly.
  • Snake-Dance: “If Holi comes, can Snake-dance be far behind?” never quoted P.B Shelley. Only people with a bold demeanour can perform this dance, or by all those who have bid farewell to their sensibilities. Maybe even those suffering from megalomania can join in, and that is almost everyone during Holi. It requires crawling, flexibility and a lot of space. Our streets have all of this to offer.
  • Traditional-Dance: While the above mentioned dance forms are the “maverick versions”, there are also conventional yet spiced up forms of shaking a leg. For example, fancy doing Dandiya or Bhangra to the beat of “Do me a favour….let’s play Holi….”
  • Bollywood-Dance: Now, this one comes naturally to the movie buffs. No sooner does the DJ play a bollywood song than the steps do a somersault and a back flip. The next thing we know-everyone is doing or trying to do the original step of the song.
  • Gangnam Style: This Holi will be different, all hail Psy! While the Holi celebrations shall begin normally, it is bound to turn uncivilized and super weird because of that “one” friend who just wouldn’t be able to keep his horse-riding prowess to himself/herself. In the end, it will all be the Gangnam Style epidemic.
  • Harlem Shake: This is the latest of all dance forms. Truth to be told, Harlem Shake is the cousin of the Indian Wasp Dance. Both are closely related to a severe level of Parkinson’s disease, characterized by uncontrollable shaking of arms and legs. However, is there a better way to burn off all those extra calories you gained by gorging on those fat Gujiyas?

This Holi, Choose a Step. Get Dancing!

Shreya Bhardwaj
[email protected]

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DUB Speak

The Quintessential Indian Filmmaker

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Recognition in the international arena; every Indian filmmaker worth his two bits of tear jerker wields the camera propelled by this very desire. Much like the storyline, his dreams are rather predictable and more often than not revolve around golden statuettes; a full- fledged confetti shower and Emma Stone and Megan Fox shaking their derriere in tune with one of his songs in the background. For the Indian filmmaker, the ethereal glitz and glamour of the Academy Awards is the pinnacle of success. There is nothing more mind numbingly awesome than to have an Oscar handed to you by a Billy Crystal or a Meryl Streep while the entire world watches on. The filmmaker would radiate a newly-acquired-Oscar glow and the world would beam back respect. Back home, at least one state’s population would try desperately to clutch on to some branch of the filmmaker’s now suddenly expanding family tree.

With the promise of such instant repute and glory, the filmmaker knows in his heart of hearts that his upcoming project has to be the next big thing on the Oscar front. To achieve the same, the Indian filmmaker seeks extensive counsel on both the script and the protagonist who will bring the story to life. The Chosen One is made to give a gazillion takes till that swishing of hair, flicking of glasses and circles of cigarette smoke are immaculate. The expressions of the One are refined and polished to such an extent that with one piercing look the audience is captivated. Exotic locations are handpicked and those rejected rue the day they came into existence. A fine balance of emotions, scandal and action with a dash of Indian-ness is concocted and the filmmaker has produced a piece of artistic brilliance; a Dabbang/ Bol Bachchan/ Student of the Year/ Housefull etc is born.

Reception from the audience exceeds expectations. The Indian filmmaker now acquires his own metaphoric Ecstasy; it is pumped into his system every time rabid fans drool at his direction. There is a certain popping of buttons as the chest size inadvertently increases. The beaming grin however, fades a tad when critics universally pan the film while going gaga over a Kahaani/ A Wednesday/ Firaq/ some other low-budget-minus-exotic-locales movie. It fades a lot more when the filmmaker’s brainchild isn’t the country’s entry for the Oscars. The filmmaker is distraught and what begins is a wearing down of the family’s exquisite Persian carpets owing to the endless pacing. He is unable to put his finger on the reason behind this dry spell. Slumdog Millionaire is brought forth and notes are compared; action, emotion, poverty, scandal, it’s all there; still that glowing dream has once again been reduced to a hazy distant picture.

The filmmaker is unable to get his head around this conundrum. He gives up trying to reason, vows to bag the Oscar with a bigger film oozing glamour in the future, and till then be content with domestic adulation and drool.

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Arts & Culture

English Vinglish – Review

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The movie English Vinglish surely marks a stellar comeback of veteran actress Sridevi. The plot revolves around an issue that may not have achieved a great magnitude in the world, but still bothers many nevertheless. Living in a world, where speaking is English is a “necessity” than show off , the movie displays the effect of that “necessity” on a non- English speaking person.

The movie unfolds by characterizing Shashi (Sridevi). A quintessential middle class woman, whose world revolves around her children and husband. She alone, looks after the house, listens to her children and husband nag her about not knowing English, and that silently eats up her self confidence and respect.

She is then invited to Manhattan, to assist in the wedding of her sister’s daughter. The house of Manu (the sister) is more comforting, where Manu and Radha (Shashi’s niece) are seen as strong pillars of emotional support. After a particularly humiliating incident in a restaurant in Manhattan that was largely attributed to her not knowing English, Shashi decided to join English speaking classes, without telling anyone.

The classes become a source of happiness for Shashi, simultaneously boosting her self confidence. A relatively unimportant sub plot of a love story between a classmate and Shashi also enters the play here. In the end, it is finally shown that Shashi earns her certificate of English speaking , with distinction, and gives a speech in English in her niece’s wedding, thereby re-inculcating the lost respect in the minds of her children and husband.

The movie very correctly depicts the mental state of an average middle class married lady, and how little things in life assume great importance. For example, Shashi had decided to make marriage sweets herself, in her niece’s marriage.  In an unfortunate turn of events, she drops and spoils those sweets. And that was the day of her final exam in English. Shashi decided to make the sweets again rather than go to the English class.

Also, the movie ends on a very good note, that when you love yourself , everything around you becomes sweeter, and when you are not able to embrace your identity , everything that is associated with you becomes aversive. This is shown in Shashi’s behavior, when in the airlines, on her way back to India, she deliberately asks for a Hindi newspaper, and chooses not to read an English one, thereby accepting her identity and being comfortable in it.

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Arts & Culture

Five Most Horrific Horror Movies

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With Raaz 3 now running in cinemas for some time, I thought long and hard as to why Bollywood failed so miserably at making good horror movies. I didn’t find a satisfactory answer and decided instead to look back upon the most horrific horror movies made in India:

5. Kaal: Soham Shah sat behind the camera for this disaster. Ajay Devgn, no that’s not a typo, seems to have tried out every possible genre. This, his first foray into horror movies was also his last. That guy sure has beans. Vivek Oberoi was the ghost in this one. One hopes he was as wise as Ajay and stopped doing movies altogether. Also it was widely believed that the best part of the movie was the Shah Rukh item song at the beginning. Go figure.

 

4. Hawa: If you ever happen to meet Tabu, kindly inquire of her the desperate nature of circumstances that compelled her into signing on for this absolute horror of a movie. Had the director kidnapped her mother? Did he have damning evidence against her? Did he threaten her to make her watch the movie once it was completed?

3. Dhuund the Fog: Yes, this is a movie. I checked and going by the reaction of the handful of people who saw this, it might well be the worst movie made by man, dogs or donkeys ever. The only reason why this is not higher up on this list is because it wasn’t advertised all that much and thus did not compel mankind to as much misery as the following movies did.

 

2. Agyaat: Ram Gopal Verma is quite an enigmatic filmmaker. He has obvious talent. Why he chooses to make movies such as this incomprehensible. We feel cheated. RGV is not supposed to be dominating lists such as this and yet he does. Not only has he headed the top two worst horror movies of all time but with Aag on his CV, he also has the worst movie ever to his name. Way to go, dumbass.

 

1. Phoonk 2: We all know the story with this one. RGV announced that whoever watched this movie alone in the theatre would get 5 Lakh rupees from him. Nice way to ensure audience, eh? Well someone did manage to watch it alone and RGV had to part with the said sum, bringing the total revenue from the project to a grand total of 5 rupees. At least someone gained from the investment.

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Arts & Culture

2012: It isn’t just about the Khans!

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If 2011 gave us record breaking films with mind boggling collections, plethora of biggies are lined up in this new year which have the potential to take the industry by storm. You don’t need to be a genius to predict who will rule the Box Office but the Khans, still there are plenty other films which ride high on promise and can provide us all a worthy time at the cinemas.

2012 can easily be called as the year of sequels with as many as 15 films like Jannat 2, Raaz 3, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai 2, 1920 Part 2, Dabangg 2, Jism 2 and Housefull 2 releasing this year. Then there is Kya Super Kool Hain Hum, a sequel to the 2005 hit Kya Kool Hain Hum as well.

Apart from these sequels and the Khans, there are few films that may do the trick for their producers as well as the audience. These may not have the hype currently but can certainly prove successful considering few key factors attached to them.

Here are my picks:

Heroine
I don’t need to tell you either the star cast or the man behind the film as it has already been on the top of the charts of controversies. This Madhur Bhandarkar film promises to be a blockbuster simply ‘coz it has the buzz and the name (Kareena Kapoor) that can help the film create history.

Student Of the Year
So, this is the first time Karan Johar helms direction without his buddy SRK. With three absolute newcomers, this campus film seems exciting and with Karan’s masterful storytelling, the film could well end up as one of the blockbusters of the year.

Kahaani
After the super success of The Dirty Picture, all eyes are on Vidya Balan. And her next, directed by Sujoy Ghosh, looks like an engrossing watch. Its teaser that was released just a few days back gave a glimpse of how Vidya can again run away with all the critical acclaim and the moolah.
P.S. If you haven’t seen the teaser yet, catch it and hold your breath before the last scene, it will blow you away!

Lootera
Produced by Anurag Kashyap and group (Phantom Films) and Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane of Udaan fame, this Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha starrer grabs your attention with the names associated with it. A romantic saga set in the 1950s, Lootera could be a big surprise waiting this year.

Agent Vinod
Months and months were consumed to complete this Saif and Kareena starrer. But it is sure that once the release date of the film nears (March 23), the film will catch the spice and will become a hot property. Also because its Saif’s ambitious project which he co-produced as well.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Teri Meri Kahaani
These two films share the same spot because of their ‘not in love now’ star cast. While Ranbir and Deepika star in a Karan Johar production Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra join hands for Teri Meri Kahaani (tentative title), which marks Kunal Kohli’s return to direction after four years.

Rock the Shaadi
No-no, this isn’t the usual shaadi saaga but, believe it or not, India’s first Zombie film starring Genelia D’Souza and Abhay Deol and produced by Ekta Kapoor. I can’t say how good will this “zom-com” be, but one thing is for sure, it’s certain to generate ample curiosity by the time it releases.

Jodi Breakers
Starring R.Madhavan and Bipasha Basu, Jodi Breakers may well be the Tanu Weds Manu of this year. As the title suggests, the film is all about two divorce lawyers and their love story. Going by Madhavan’s track record and the unconventional jodi, the film may give Bipasha a much needed hit.

Shanghai
Dibakar Banerjee’s films have a certain air about them, which defies convention. And Shanghai starring Abhay Deol and Emraan Hashmi makes the fare seem even more exciting.

Barfi!
Like the unusual title, the film starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra is a tale of two opposite personalities, with Priyanka enacting the role of a mentally challenged girl. Directed by Anurag Basu, Barfi! looks like an intriguing prospect.

That’s not it! Akshay Kumar comes up with as many as four films – Rowdy Rathore starring Sonakshi Sinha, OUTIM 2, Joker and Khiladi 786. Ajay Devgn’s Son of Sardaar is highly anticipated in the trade and Hrithik Roshan’s Agneepath is already very hyped and is ready for release next week.

Are we missing something? Well, yes! The Khans! It will be a key year as all the three Khans have at least a single release this year. While Aamir Khan’s Talaash co-starring Rani and Kareena releases this June, Salman Khan has one release each for Eid and Christmas which are EK Tha Tiger and Dabangg 2 respectively.

But for me, the most awaited film has to be SRK’s next, directed by the legendary Yash Chopra. With Katrina and Anushka Sharma as leads, the film surely promises to be a grand cinematic experience.

It’s over to you, 2012!

Chaitanya Sharma
[email protected]

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