dick_grayson

looking for some Satyajit Ray recommendations.

thanks

dvd_freak

1. The Apu Trilogy (h**p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apu_Trilogy):
- Pather Panchali
- Aparajito
- Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)

(not sure where you can find these though, these were available on DVDs from Sony until a few years ago). They are available from Artificial Eye (Region 2)

2. The Chess Players (Netflix)

3. Charulata (The Lonely Wife) - (Netflix)

4. Jana Aranya (The Middleman)

These movies are not listed according to any criteria but are good for someone who has not seen Ray's movies. There are a few other titles available on Netflix but mind you the image quality of the movies is not really good.

More information on Satyajit Ray here: h**p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyajit_Ray and SatyajitRay.org

zombeaner

An update, my dealer got me the real thing. Very excited, I also picked up Bobby, Zanjeer, Bunty air Babli, and Company while I was there. A good haul. Just waiting impatiently for Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi to come out. Might go check out Delhi 6 this week.

toddly6666

nice! looks like you have a good connection. Can you ask him if he can hook you and me up with the HEY RAM out-of-print BMD DVD? The BMD version is the only anamorphic version. If he can hook you up with 2 of them, I will gladly pay you any amount of dough (well, not more than $50) for it if he finds it. The ULTRA and EROS DVD versions of this film are awful quality non-anamorphic letterboxed versions.

Here's the DVD review of the BMD DVD: http://www.myreviewer.com/default.asp?a=14391

flixtime

I suppose when you are discussing a filmmaker at the level of Satyajit Ray it really is tough to make too great a misstep when delving into his work. Maybe if you're a dive-into-the-deep-end type just go straight for the obvious - THE APU TRILOGY. Myself, I'm rather partial to THE CHESS PLAYERS because of the historical setting, and it might be a good choice if you want to sort of wade into things. Also, the UK label Masters of Cinema put out a DVD of Ray's ABHIJAN...so that is another option. I enjoyed ABHIJAN quite a bit too.



And in a note related to SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, here is a Wall Street Journal article saying how the movie has sparked an interest where visitors to Mumbai now want to take a tour of the city's slums:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123517711344337609.html

samper

I am currently viewing the Artificail Eye Volume 1 of SR. Wonderful stories and movies.

flixtime

I was just doing some checking around and decided to see what Director Nagesh Kukunoor is up to; I've mentioned in the past how very much I enjoyed his 2006 film DOR. Well, he'll be delivering two movies to us in 2009. One stars John Abraham and is titled AASHAYEIN (not sure on a release date). The plot description is as follows:

Aashayein is a story of a gambling addict who discovers new meanings of fortune and life through a dramatic turn of events. Aashayein is a tale of Rahul's journey from darkness to light. A journey about love, hate, life, death and above all hope.

And here is a link to the official website:
http://www.aashayeinthefilm.com/

The other - TASVEER - EIGHT BY TEN - stars toddly's favorite Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar with Ayesha Takia as the female lead. Apparently it was a somewhat difficult shoot with delays, cost overruns from some shooting in Canada, etc. It seems to be a sort of supernatural, sci-fi thriller...with initial speculation that it was something in the ballpark of Shayamalan's UNBREAKABLE or the SIXTH SENSE. Here is some unverified info. from around the 'net:

In ‘Eight By Ten’, Akshay Kumar plays a psychological superhero with amazing mental powers. He can look into a person’s past or future by just staring at their photographs.

Rumour also has it that Akshay’s character in the film is a guy who cannot be hurt.

Akshay Kumar is gifted with special sense, i.e. he can go inside the 8X10 Photograph and enter in the past. While his body remains at nausea [unconscious?] state, his soul is busy re-discovering the past, when he is out of his nausea he always has a secret related to someones past. His father was murdered, and one day he will witness the same seen from an 8X10 photograph, and he will take his revenge.

Here's the trailer...an actual trailer as opposed to music clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym5VbrSoDbs

Not sure about an exact release date, perhaps early May of this year.

Director Kukunoor (HYDERABAD BLUES, TEEN DEEWAREIN, IQBAL, DOR, etc.) is capable of delivering a fine film so I'm really looking forward to both of these movies.

zombeaner

I caught Billu Barber a couple of weeks ago and was of a divided mind about it. I thought Irfan Khan was fantastic, and Lara Dutta was very good as well. SRK wasn't terribly endearing until the very end, his big scene came off nicely, but I think his item numbers were wedged into the film in places that they didn't fit, and the choreography wasn't his best. My favorite number was Billoo Bhayankar by FAR. Not the best, but better than I'd heard in reviews.

nitin77

Johnny Gaddar, this has to be one of the more insipid thrillers I have come across in some time. And yet, this seemed to be championed as some sort of bollywood indie gem. did I miss something?

also halfway through dhoom 2, and I'm tempted to leave it that way. Although I am curious to see whether aishwariya rai's performance can get worse through the second half?

toddly6666

Johnny Gaddar sounds like a private detective movie in which Johnny has a talent for tracking homosexual criminals...

You didn't like Dhoom 2? Watch the whole thing!

dvd_freak

Johnny = Johnny
Gaddar = traitor (in Hindi)

dvd_freak

I own Vol 1, Vol 2 and The Apu Trilogy (from Artificial Eye). Great movies and really good restoration to DVD.

flixtime

The Stoneman Murders (Hindi - 2009)
A lone wolf cop works outside the system to catch a serial/ritual killer - The Stoneman - in 1983 Bombay. This film is being marketed with tags such as it being "from the makers of BANDIT QUEEN, MAQBOOL & SAATHIYA". Also, it is the first feature film effort from a fellow by the name of Manish Gupta; he looks to be from the stable of Ram Gopal Varma. Director Gupta started off as the writer for films such as D, SARKAR, and JAMES; he also co-wrote and directed a segment of the anthology film DARNA ZAROORI HAI. Despite the rather strong pedigree, this thriller is a decidedly low budget, indie-ish, B-movie affair...certainly a genre item for niche audiences in India. The biggest name in the cast is Kay Kay Menon as our protagonist investigator. Apparently this film is a fictional story built around a true crime killer who stalked Bombay in the early 80's. From what I've read, THE STONEMAN MURDERS has been the recipient of solid praise in some quarters. As for me, I thought it rather dumb and below average but watchable (in great part because of its short 95-minute runtime). I don't have the heart to direct much heat towards a small film such as this. I didn't have a problem with the low budget (lots of night scenes on isolated streets, train stations, etc.) but the failure of the film is in the writing...and sometimes the background score is over-utilized. Kay Kay Menon seems to have received some high praise for his work but I thought it rather run-of-the-mill. There is only one song - an item number - in a somewhat seedy bar. The film could have been a decent little B-movie with a nice dark atmosphere, actually enhanced by working well with the low budget. But again the writing fails in far too many instances, as does the relationship angle between investigator Menon and his wife. All-in-all, THE STONEMAN MURDERS is C-grade, direct-to-video material...not recommended.

dvd_freak

Is this a DVD or a theatrical review?

flixtime

dvd_freak, I watched it via a DVD rental.

dvd_freak

Thanks.

toddly6666

So what's the next good Bollywood movie a la Jodhaa Akbar?

flixtime

toddly, not really sure what might be in the pipeline that might eventually equate to a film like JODHAA AKBAR.

Setting that aside, though I haven't set any expectations, a couple of Hindi films I'm curious about are:

ALADIN - set in contemporary times version of the Aladdin tale. Ritesh Deshmukh is Aladdin, Amitabh Bachchan is the genie, and Sanjay Dutt is the villain. Sort of a family fantasy movie. Maybe coming this Summer.

BLUE - contemporary action/adventure about people after some sunken treasure...and all the deep sea hazards - aka sharks - that come with it. Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, are among the cast. If I remember right, Kylie Minogue is actually going to do the item number. Shooting locations included Thailand and the Bahamas. I believe there is a bunch of Hollywood talent working on the technical end of things. If I remember right Michael Bay even got wind of some positive signs so he might be interested in teaming up (co-producing?) for a sequel. I think this is tentative for late this Summer too.

Doesn't look like we will be seeing the sequels to KRRISH, DHOOM, and DON until 2010 at the earliest.

And I think you are already aware of Tamil director Shankar's movie - ROBOT - which is coming this Fall. It stars Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Rai.

nitin77

finished Dhoom 2, at a loss for words as to how bad this was. Second half sees bipasha trying to match aish's horrible acting and almost succeeding.

flixtime

I remember the basketball scene between Hrithik and Aish being particularly awful. But nitin77, at least for your suffering you got to see Aishwarya Rai looking pretty hot in the waitress outfit in the end. So you get no sympathy from me because I haven't even gotten that much out of:

SHOOT ME NOW...oops, a little Freudian slip, I mean DELHI-6. What a piece of junk...at least that portion I've been tortured with so far. This was one of those that looked liked a stinker two minutes in...I fought on until the forty minute mark and quit...took a very, very long break to clear my head and maybe approach it differently...sat through twenty more minutes and then threw in the towel. This is now the frontrunner for worst film I will watch this year. DELHI-6 is from the same director who did RANG DE BASANTI (which I also disliked immensely). Abhishek Bachchan is the lead and my opinion of him is in absolute freefall. Here his character sports an American accent for some portions, and he delivers dialogue that seems written for a twelve year-old...he looks way too old to pull off roles like this and DRONA. Say a prayer for me because I will try and finish this at some time.

On a related note, I understand that a handful of U.S. studios (Fox Searchlight, Sony Classic, Lions Gate, IFC) are trying to coattail the success of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE by maybe picking up DELHI-6 for a mainstream U.S. theatrical release. Good lord, what are they thinking!!!!!!!!! Of all the Indian films to consider they want a crushing bore like DELHI-6.

toddly6666

It's not a surprise - Hollywood picked up the painfully awful Saawariya. I couldn't even watch more than 20 minutes of this crud. They should just release Jodhaa Akbaar on USA DVD.

nitin77

flixtime,

look the aish leg show was enjoyable but less makeup would have helped I think she had more makeup on her face than how much she weighed (and of course, its totally unnecessary on her).

flixtime

Delhi-6 (Hindi - 2009)
To follow-up on my previous post, I did go back and finish this one. Not too long after the intermission there was a measurable improvement so I don't have as much venom for it as I did earlier. I'd still label it a failure, but to be fair a well-intentioned one. So I'll retract my earlier comment about it being the frontrunner for worst of 2009. The movie for much of its early runtime plays more like a love letter to the city of Delhi combined with a SWADES-like current of returning and re-discovering love for one's homeland. All of this is seen through the eyes of Abhishek Bachchan's character who has accompanied his ill grandmother back to India. I still didn't care for his performance, and I wonder why he was wearing sunglasses in so many scenes throughout the movie. Anil Kapoor's daughter Sonam (previously in SAAWARIYA) is the female lead, and I don't really find much interesting about her as an actress. There are a number of supporting cast who comprise the residents of the old Delhi neighborhood where the movie takes place. There are a few different things going on with a relating of Hindu mythology to the present day characters; the neighborhood being plagued by a sort of mystical black monkey; and a look at perhaps an emerging India trying to make peace with a host of social, religious, cultural, etc. issues. And this is where the movie heads in the second half...and it becomes more tolerable to watch. I won't go into detail where it goes, but ultimately it is a message-movie. I'll give director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra some credit for that and for having his heart in the right place, and for trying to at least do something a little bit different and unique. In a sense I preferred what he was going for in this movie over his previous entry RANG DE BASANTI, though I'd still say his first movie - the Hollywood-inspired thriller AKS - was easily the most enjoyable to watch. I wonder if it is better to make an entertaining piece of disposable fluff like AKS, or maybe is it better to shoot for the moon with some attempt at substance even it means you end up crashing and burning. I see that DELHI-6 didn't fare too well in India and that is not surprising as it seems to artsy and everyday to appeal to a mass market. At the same time, it is too poorly executed, unfocused, and India-specific to hold much appeal for non-Indian audiences...so I'm still befuddled as to why Hollywood studios find this of interest. DOR from a couple of years ago would have been a much better choice for U.S. theaters.


toddly, I didn't care for SAAWARIYA either, but since it was co-financed by a U.S. studio that's the excuse for that one getting theatrical play here in the U.S. It's too bad JODHAA AKBAR was so long otherwise that would have been a good choice (besides DOR).

NOTE: this thread is getting a bit too long, so I'll start a PART 4 sometime soon.

Next up for viewing in the next few days is LUCK BY CHANCE.

flixtime

Due to length, I'm going to request this thread to be locked. We can continue discussion in PART 4 here:

Indian Cinema - PART 4