BRAZIL GOES BOLLYWOOD with FANAA

Fanaa is being taken to Brazilian cinemas to woo audiences on the 100th anniversary of Indian cinema.The Kajol-Aamir Khan starrer is the first film to open in 25 different mainstream cinema halls throughout the large Brazilian territory in hopes that the audience will become acquainted with Bollywood cinema and develop a taste for it. If the film does well in its first week, it will continue to run for a second week and possibly increase its screenings to 40 cinemas. The project of its release has been led by Dinesh Sinha and Andre Nascimento, who are at the head of Bollywood Filmes, the new and very first distributor of Indian films in Latin America. They are being supported by the Sao Paulo Center for Indian Culture, Yash Raj, Bollywood Brazil, Mistika and Social Media i9. The Brazilian trailer for the 6 year old film has been created to attract the Brazilian audience.

The decision was consciously taken to avoid the world cinema circuit for the release of the film and Bollywood Filmes director, Dinesh Sinha has expressed his company's aim to target a larger audience who is keen to watch commercial cinema. Bollywood Filmes is also setting its sights on the possibility of making the beauty and variety of Brazil an attractive location for shooting Indian films.

Fanaa has been shortened to suit the current taste of Brazilian moviegoers. Four of the songs have been left out in hopes that Brazilians will enjoy the remaining musical sequences and will ask for more in subsequent screenings of films that have been expected to release later through the same distributor.

The fever of Bollywood is therefore bound to hit Brazil and will be followed by a 2013 retrospective of Bollywood classics (organized by Ibirá Machado) shown throughout the country, which has a population of  approximately 100 million potential moviegoers. Latin America represents a vast market for Bollywood, given the films' similarity to storylines used in typically Latin American TV series called  telenovelas, which are watched daily by hundreds of millions of people throughout the continent. The huge success of one of these series, called "Caminhos da India" (The Paths of India) in 2009 has reassured investors and distributors that Brazilians are ready to fall in love with Indian films.

Here is wishing Fanaa a fantastic opening. If you are in Brazil and wish to visit the official Brazilian website for Fanaa, you may do so at http://fanaaofilme.com.br/ (Se você quer, pode visitar o site oficial do filme Fanaa aqui). You may also watch an interview about Fanaa with Aamir Khan and Kajol subtitled in Portuguese here (Vocè tambem pode ver uma intervista com os dois atores principais de Fanaa, Aamir Khan e Kajol, legendada em portugués, aqui).

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NICOLE KIDMAN's "GRACE OF MONACO" co-financed by YRF

Talk about the South of France and Cannes may be a hot topic at the moment due to the worldwide known Cannes festival 2012 but our attention was recently diverted by the news that the South of France will also be the "point of departure" for Nicole Kidman's Grace of Monaco. What does this have to do with Hindi cinema, a reader may ask. YRF Entertainment, a subsidiary of  Yash Raj Films studios in India is a company that focuses on the production of English language films abroad. The company will be participating in Kidman's endeavour in the executive production, script writing and financing/production departments. YRF Entertainment's CEO, Uday Chopra, has met with producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam (ex co-founder of Europacorp and known for global films such as Colombiana) to organize the financial production of Grace of Monaco, which will be directed by Olivier Dahan (well known in France for La Vie En Rose starring Marion Cotillard).

Films having a mix of Indian and foreign crew and cast include Oscar nominated movies by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth and sequel Elizabeth : The Golden Age) or films such as Karma: Crime, Passion, Reincarnation. We are looking forward to see the successful collaboration of entertainment professionals from France, India and the USA in Dahan's film, which retraces the political life of Grace Kelly.

Keep updated about Grace of Monaco at IMDb

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Aamir Khan’s SATYAMEV JAYATE: A Show with a Heart

This Sunday, the Hindi Cinema Blog enjoyed an hour and a half in excellent company. The actor turned TV show-host, Aamir Khan and his guests, graced the household with Khan’s “most ambitious project to date”, television show Satyamev Jayate.

Expectation at Star Plus TV was at its highest as the first episode countdown began since last evening. A permanent announcement being made at the top left-hand corner of their broadcast let India know how many hours, minutes and seconds were left for the final take off. 

Let us imagine… Do you recall Deejay (Rang de Basanti), the rebel who increasingly became aware of his country and wished he could become its voice and touch its people enough to create change from within? How about Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Taare Zameen Par), who wanted each child’s voice to be heard and nurtured? The picture would not be complete without the immensely popular and endearing Rancho (3 Idiots), the inspiring intelligent innocence who moves lives and whom we can all relate to because that is what we each aspire to become. Our imagination can see that all of these characters had a common denominator apart from their will to make the world, or at least India, a better place. That common denominator is Aamir Khan. Things seem to come full circle with Satyamev Jayate.

After many questions from the media and the audience related to what his show’s content would be, the result is an eclectic, pacy, touching and profoundly Indian talk show. A few elements of Satyamev Jayate may have been perceived in USA based talk shows, especially those catering to minorities (early 90s “Cristina” shows, for example) in terms of creating awareness regarding a certain issue or the emotional degree of the content being presented. Aamir Khan’s show however is innovative and deeply different in the sense that its topic, mindset, audience on the set, specialists and even its entertainment style (oh what wonderful music!) are Indian at the very core. Those readers who relate to India or are Indian will understand that this signifies that the show is unique in itself, given India’s inherent singularity.

It is obvious that the show has been the result of considerable work by its team, ranging from research, footage and choice of topic to the carefully written TV host monologue used to present the issue at hand. Moreover, it has been an excellent choice to open the show by targeting a vast audience with the topic of female foeticide, which will inevitably be close to each woman’s heart and to which the male part of the population can also relate to. The time slot selected for broadcasting the show we believe has also been a winning decision. 

But how to present an issue to the audience in only one hour and a half? How can the show be useful to India? The first episode of Satyamev Jayate reflects that these questions were extensively pondered on beforehand and we are happy to be witnesses to that. The show attempts to draw in donations for the cause being presented through Junglee, thereby motivating the audience to act upon what they have been listening to and be useful. We hope other ways of collecting funds have been put in place in other episodes, helping those who do not have resources to donate to possibly win or generate money for the cause. As to the challenge of presenting an issue and its major implications in only one hour and a half, the show succeeds and achieves so through logic (presenting the dangerous consequences of female foeticide) but also through the heart… I have not seen another Indian cinema icon connecting emotionally and genuinely, even if briefly, with his fellow countrymen as much as Aamir Khan. Though guests are interviewed by him for only a very short time, their story is to the point and stirs feelings in he who listens. Satyamev Jayate is a show about feeling. It is a show with a heart. 

Even though this first episode of Satyamev Jayate does not truly show what many expected as a window into India in the shape of a road trip through Bharat, with Khan encountering his fellow countrymen and women throughout the vast wonder of his nation, this blogger has not yet given up in seeing that dream sporadically unfold on screen in subsequent episodes.  Aamir Khan may always be trusted to surprise one and all. The thirteen topics are as many opportunities to unravel delightful surprises.

A final mention goes to the fantastic theme song for the episode. Ram Sampath accompanied Swanand Kirkire in O Ri Chiraiya, one of his best television performances, both due to the beauty of the song and lyrics but also to the perpetual moving quality of his voice.

 

An hour and a half went by without blinking and now the week will have a new mantra until we reach next Sunday: “Hum sach se nazrein hatayen kyon”... 

Watch the full episode with English subtitles below:

Satyamev Jayate airs on StarPlus and DD1 at 11 am IST every Sunday in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada 

Read Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate column in the Hindustan Times
Visit the Satyamev Jayate website

Learn about Satyamev Jayate on Wikipedia

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INDIA REPUBLIC DAY Clip Directed by PURAB KOHLI

Multi-talented Purab Kohli has recently directed a touching clip for India's Republic Day with a heartwarming message inviting all Indians to be sensitive to their youngsters, who are the future of the nation.

The moving clip was filmed in a peaceful emblematic beach in Goa and features the Indian national anthem in the background, performed by the golden and subtle guitar fingers of Dhruv Ghanekar. 

Happy Republic Day, India!

Directed by: Purab H Kohli
Visuals: Pushan Kripalani
Editing: Onir.

Read our exclusive interview with Purab Kohli (2010)

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CINEMA THOSE DAYS

Collage of Bollywood posters from http://8ate.blogspot.com/

 Guest post

Fellow blogger Shri Ram Ayyangar is from Bangalore and has an insightful blog called VYANGYAM in which he shares his satirical, social and political views on events around him with his readers. In 2008, he traveled through Madhya Pradesh to visit those places in which he had spent his childhood. This resulted in musings about the cinema halls he used to go back to, time and time again, while growing up. His description of those days is a little gem for lovers of Indian cinema and its history. It is therefore with great pleasure that the Hindi Cinema Blog welcomes Shri Ram Ayyangar as our guest blogger. 

My father was a movie buff when we were young. Because of his interest, our entire family used to go to movies. Those were the days of 50s to 60s when he often used to get transferred from one place to other during his service days in Madhya Pradesh. This gave us a chance to see the cinema theatres of many towns and even small villages in M.P. We all brothers and sisters used to eagerly wait for Sunday when my father used to call me to announce that we are all going to a particular movie that day.



There were no twin theatres or multiplexes. All were simple, ordinary looking non- air conditioned single screen theatres which more or less looked like present day FCI Godowns with asbestos sheet roofing. Before the commencement of the show, songs were played over a speaker so that entire town used to know that its time for the film to start. Normally the first song used to be some devotional song. There was no dearth of devotional/ religious songs as majority of the movies used to be either Religious movie or Historical movie. Later on AVM & Gemini film companies started making family movies all of which became hit with the masses. People used to throng the theatre well in advance to see the photos of the movie. Those days, photos of several scenes from the film used to be displayed on a specially made poster board outside the theatre hall in the foyer. During intermission, I used to revisit those photos just to know what all scenes have come before the interval and wait for the scenes which are yet to come after the interval. Songs of the movie printed on small foldable sheets used to be sold for a paisa or two. Even while going to the school by walk, the cinema posters here and there used to fascinate me.

Chindwara cinema hall, image by Shri Ram Ayyangar

During interval, gate pass used to be given to those going out of the hall to be collected back on their return. This was to ensure that no ticket less person gets in to the hall. I remember, once when I was in my college, went to watch a movie bunking the class and without telling anybody at home. In the interval, I took the pass and came back home with the idea that I will watch the remaining part later as I had the pass. After few days when I went to the theatre after the interval, I was denied entry by the gate keeper because they were using different colour pass for different days and the one I had was not being used that day! I had to cut a very sorry figure before the gate keeper and returned home without watching the remaining film after interval.

Being a gazetted officer, my father used to command high respect in small towns. At some places, the film used to start on our arrival to the theatre. We used to watch the movie from highest enclosure called ‘Box’. As the name suggest, all the theatres used to have two boxes like cabins on both side of the projection room. It was one class higher than the balcony. Boxes used to have limited seats. While watching the movie, we also used to hear the whirling sound of the projector from balcony or box class. There used to be a separate class for ladies only. During interval, the ladies class used to be covered with a screen so that no one could peep in. The lowest class used to be just ground in front of the screen where villagers used to watch movies squatting on the ground. Smoking ‘beedies’, eating groundnuts, chewing ‘Paan’ during the show and spiting all over the place were common sight in all the theatres and no body used to complain or object.

Capitol Cinema, Bombay Gallery BMB

The film publicity was normally used to be done by hand push carts and the man pushing the cart used to shout to announce the name of film and their cast. I remember, at one place Sagar, one of the theatres used another novel way of publicity. They had an old Austin car with a carrier (normally used for to keeping luggage) fitted on the top. Film posters used to be mounted on the carrier on all the four sides and during night times used to be lit with tube lights. This car used to go round the town during night times with full illumination and announcement made over a mike. Sometimes, the sound of generator set fitted on the back side of the car will be so loud that we used to run out of the house to find out which new movie has come.

Multai cinema hall, image by Shri Ram Ayyangar

While recollecting about cinema theatres, I particularly remember a unique theatre of those days called ‘Starlit’ at Indore. From outside it looked like a domed shape godown made of asbestos sheets. Inside, the ceiling was covered with steel rods in a pattern. At each joint of those rods were small blue coloured bulbs like stars. There were no bright lights inside except one in the middle to give a look of moon. The theatre from inside used to look blue (à la Leela Bansali’s ‘Saawariya’) because of the glow of several small blue lights. The slide projector was also a unique one as the projected slide advertisement used to traverse from floor up to the screen and thereafter from screen to ceiling and again back to projection room. I have never seen such a theatre elsewhere. Probably, it was a concept well ahead of its time. Alas, that theatre does not exist now.

After experiencing all the comforts and fun of present day hi-fi theatres, Dolby sound system and several screen multiplexes, it was still a thrill to wait for Sundays to watch a movie those days.

http://www.blogadda.com/

Thank you, Sir, for sharing your view of cinema those days with all of us.
Visit another highly interesting post about Indian cinema: "Nostalgic Bollywood" by Shri Ram Ayyangar.

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'PEEPLI LIVE': FIRST TIME'S A CHARM

Anusha Rizvi's maiden directorial venture has been selected to participate in one of the prestigious meccas of independent and world cinema, the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, USA.

'Peepli Live' is the first Indian feature film to participate in the festival's World Cinema Dramatic competition and also coincidentally the first film that Aamir Khan has produced with the deliberate purpose of entertaining an international audience. The series of seemingly auspicious first experiences linked to the film lead us to think that "first" may indeed rhyme with "outstanding".

Additionally, 'Peepli Live' stars newcomers  Omkar Das and Shalini Vatsa alongside some of India's most notable actors, Raghuvir Yadav and Naseeruddin Shah.

Much speculative talk about the film in past months had reduced its plot to a serious and almost documentary approach on the issue of farmer suicides in India. Rizvi seems however to have taken the challenge further by scripting a film on such a delicate subject with black humour, concentrating on rural life, politics and the media's thirst for "scoops".

Tickets for the first show (January 24) are sold out but viewers able to attend the festival may buy tickets for subsequent screenings from January 26-29 here.

Watch video below of Aamir Khan in Sundance, speaking about 'Peepli Live':

For more promos, image downloads and information on 'Peepli Live' visit the Official 'Peepli Live' website

Director

Anusha Rizvi

Screenwriter

Anusha Rizvi
Cast

Omkar Das, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raghuvir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa

Produced by

Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao

Coproducer

Ronnie Screwvala

Composer

Mathias Duplessy

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