PICTURE SPEAK

Navdeep Singh’s Manorama Six Feet Under

Greenhorn director Arindam Mitra’s cricket adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral stars K.K. Menon and warhorse Danny Denzongpa stars in his 150th feature, debutant Shivajee Chandrabhusan’s Frozen. There’s also Omkara and Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.

This year’s festival will also screen films at PVR Plaza and Rivoli. Says Osian’s founder-chairman Neville Tuli about this new, business-like face of the festival, “We need to bridge the divide between the so-called commercial and art cinema through such festivals. This means drawing mainstream producers who until now were wary of a bad review at a film festival killing their film even before it hit the cinema halls.”

Being the year of Indo-Japanese friendship, the festival will feature five special sections on the country’s culture and history. The tribute to master filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi, to be inaugurated with a live benshi narrative to his The Water Magician on July 21, will be the centerpiece. Five samurai films and a selection of contemporary cinema will provide a glimpse of Japan old and new. Hymns of Freedom will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Mutiny of 1857 with tales of struggle from Asia and the Arab world. The inaugural Filmcraft, showcasing and debating aspects of film practice, will look at cinematography with Mani Kaul. The First Features section will see Anand Rai’s Strangers as the sole Indian entry. Film faithful, bow down.

-By Gaurav Rajkhowa

PICTURE SPEAK

Fiddlers get vocal in India

-By Nirmala Ravindran

PICTURE SPEAK

A work by Dube

At A-1, Neeti Bagh from July 2-28, Monday to Saturday.

PICTURE SPEAK

Motwani and Reshammiya

What does Himesh Reshammiya look like without his cap? If you watch this seriously unfunny promotional video waiting for the answer, you have every right to feel like a mug. Because we don’t know. We also don’t know the answer to all the other earth-shatteringly important questions raised by HR, as the movie calls him. Why doesn’t he smile? Or drink? Or date? He sings the Gayatri mantra, utters Jai mata di, salutes India’s auto drivers and prefers his women in salwar kameezes—what else can explain his opting for the blobby former child star Hansika Motwani instead of the luscious, can’t-keep-my-dress-on Mallika Sherawat? Truly tacky.

PICTURE SPEAK

The Deol father and sons

The father, the sons and everyone else in the movie sob their hearts out. The three-hour weepathon has a wildly improbable plot but when has that ever come in the way of Deol heroics? Bobby Deol, despite baring extraordinary cleavage in the boxing scenes, almost manages to beat the world heavyweight champion; Sunny actually succeeds. Their father cries and cajoles while romancing the mother of all Punjabi matrons Kirron Kher and uttering fortune cookie homilies: hit life before it hits you back; you can ban me but you can’t ban the spirit in me. But is there another 72-year-old who can play an Olympics silver medallist? For those who like paaji’s punches with a desi dum and macho men with marshmallow souls, Apne is like a group hug.

PICTURE SPEAK

Hashmi plods along

Emraan Hashmi as a Sufi soldier who sacrifices his soul for a Pakistani woman whom he doesn’t kiss even once? Incredible but true. Shot in warm golden light by Mohit Suri, Hashmi is self-effacingly quiet and quite efficient as a hitman seeking redemption which will come only when he defies the underworld boss who treats him like a son. The plot is thick with cliches and the direction, in the urge to induce a pseudo-spiritual calm to the movie, is painfully plodding. Add to that dialogues for Sharma, who plays a Pakistani sex slave, that make her sound like an extra in Pakeezah, and this becomes little more than a showreel for Hashmi’s new hair. The music, by Mustafa Zahid, yet another Pakistani singer whom the Bhatt factory has discovered, is stunning. Shame about the movie.

-By Kaveree Bamzai

PICTURE SPEAK

Chowdhury

Q. What does this award mean to you?

A. It makes me humble that I am being recognised for my contribution to popularising classical music.

Q. You learnt from two gurus of different gharans. What’s your musical style?

A. I’ve sourced the best from my gurus, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur. I just didn’t mix and match or reproduce the same music. It is my interpretation of the philosophy of the raga but predominantly, my approach is that of Jaipur Atrauli gharana. I have also played rare ragas—Bhankar, Kukubh Bilawal, Nat-bihag—which had not been played on instruments before.

Q. What is your advice to the younger generation?

A. There is nothing wrong in experimenting with fusion but don’t succumb to the demands of the basest market. Discover the treasures of classicism.

Index