Somebody please complete Abhik Mukhopadhyay's Bhoomi

Who says only women go through labour pain? Ask Anurag Kashyap, who went through hell — over nine years and not nine months of below-the-belt Paanch-es — before delivering Black Friday. And now Abhik Mukhopadhyay is the latest prey. The gifted cinematographer, who is as much responsible for Rituparno Ghosh's cinema as Christopher Doyle is responsible for Wong Kar-Wai's cinema, took the directorial plunge a couple of years back. The film was called Bhoomi. It's written by Devashish Makhija, another talented creator (he does a lot of stuff besides writing). It was Abhik-da's Three Colours, trying to capture India through its tricolour existence across the north, the north-east and centre. He shot a huge chunk of it and then the financiers had other ideas. The film got stuck. Abhik-da even had a 10-minute feel-reel of the movie cut to woo other producers. Everyone went wow at the footage but didn't put the money where their mouths were. Here are those 10 minutes for you. Now, you tell me whether this film deserves to get made or not. 

Pyaar Impossible & Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani better Hadippa & Wanted

This is really sad but very true. Two big movies released today and the two trailers that were shown before/in the middle of the two movies turned out to be better than the full-length features! And I am sure when those two films will release, the trailers that will be shown before/in the middle of them will turn out to be better than the movies.

The trailer of Pyaar Impossible was shown before Dil Bole Hadippa! and you wouldn't expect a  Uday Chopra film to leave a more lasting impression than a Shahid Kapoor movie even if we don't get into the Priyanka Chopra vs Rani Mukerji thingy. Anyway, Pyaar Impossible looks fun and freaky, perhaps what the doctor ordered for Yash Raj.


As for the trailer of Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani, which was shown before Wanted, well, here's a film I have been waiting for ages. Not only because I admire Ranbir and drool over Katrina, but this film is said to take Raj Kumar Santoshi back to his Andaz Apna Apna days. And if the trailer is anything to go by, he is sure around the area. Here's the trailer. Watch it a couple of times and you would want it watch a couple of times more. Exactly what a trailer should be like. Enjoy!

How do Samir Karnik and Nikhil Advani get funding?

Ram Gopal Varma had this amazing idea when he started out as a director. He would make a film and before that got released, he would have already started his next. That was at a time when he wasn't producing films, but only directing them. So he would ensure that he would always have a film up his sleeve even if his new one fails at the box office. That way he would get another crack.

I don't know whether some of the Bolly directors too are following Ramu's footsteps. But I would really like to know how some of them are getting funding. I want to know what Samir Karnik tells a producer when he meets him. He must be doing something right because he has managed to make four films, when he shouldn't have been allowed to make a single one. Read his filmography and you are bound to agree with me — Kyun Ho Gaya Na, Nanhe Jaisalmer, Heroes and Vaada Raha. The last one released last week and despite having Bobby Deol and Kangana Ranaut in the lead, no one turned up to watch it.

Then you have Nikhil Advani. Now, he did start with Kal Ho Naa Ho but by now we all know how much of it was Nikhil and how much of it was Karan Johar. Most pass off KHNH as a KJo flick. Then Nikhil fought with his mentor, directed Salaam-e-Ishq and Chandni Chowk to China. The combined budget of those two films must be over Rs 120 crore. With that amount, Rituparno Ghosh could have made at least 40 films! And at least 39 of them would have been better than Salaam-e-Ishq and CC2C combined. But Nikhil's making another film with Akshay and Anushka Sharma and Patiala House must cost another 40-odd crore.

And Navdeep Singh, who made the memorable Manorama: Six Feet Under, is struggling to get finances for his second film for over three years now. 

Such is life!

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The Return of Dev Benegal

For many of us growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, English, August had a lot of firsts. Indian actors speaking in English aside, the way we could peek inside the head of Agastya Sen visually was quite a heady experience. And, of course, Tanvi Azmi. Ok, we will come back to that one. But the point here is Dev Benegal. A filmmaker who changed the perception that Indian actors could act in an English film, talk in their English accent and yet portray the emotions convincingly. The Ivory Merchant films were there but they would always mix the Indian characters with foreign ones. Not Dev.

He followed up the terrific English, August with another very watchable film Split Wide Open which had some great moments besides Laila Roauss. That was in 1999. For the next full decade Dev didn't make anything. Yes imdb says he made a documentary called Shabana but that hardly counts in a feature film filmography. And now the man is back with Road, Movie, exactly 10 years after Split Wide Open. The film is being shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. It stars Abhay Deol (two thumbs way up to this actor who is clearly showing the way ahead for every other Bollywood star/actor), Tannishtha Chatterjee (Brick Lane) and Satish Kaushik.


If the trailer is anything to go by, this would be a cracker of a film. And I am not the only guy impressed here. At the Cannes film market, where Bollywood biggies like Kites and My Name Is Khan struggled to find a buyer, the leading global sales agent Fortissimo Films picked up the distribution rights of Road, Movie. Let me know what you thought of this one. Enjoy!

Show me your face, you Yash Raj director

What's with these Yash Raj Films directors? Why don't they show their faces? Why don't they talk to the press? I mean, what is your problem? First the big daddy himself — Aditya Chopra — who went missing after Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge's Filmfare triumph night. And now most of his directors are following suit.

I had a lovely chat with Shaad Ali after Saathiya and he spoke really well, talking about little nuances of moviemaking and how he had imbibed them from Mani Sir. That film wasn't with Yash Raj. Then Shaad moved to Yash Raj and when I called him before the release of Bunty Aur Babli, he flatly refused to talk about the film. He was like "it was a great experience making the film... yes, Abhishek and Rani are great... yes Abhik-da is great". Even your Mani Sir talks a lot more! By the time Jhoom Barabar Jhoom came, he was in complete hiding.

Now we have Anurag Singh, the debutant director of Dil Bole Hadippa, who has refused to show up. And who's defending him? Rani Mukerji! "Oh, he is too shy to talk about the film!" God, if the director is too shy to talk about the film, baat kaun karega? Spotboy?! I simply don't under this. It cannot be a clause for all YRF directors because Kabir Khan and Kunal Kohli do talk and maybe because the two KKs talk so much, the other directors have to stay mum! What say? Or are you too shy to say?

The greatest Indian actor alive!

No, it's not Amitabh Bachchan. For those who have been tracking the career of Soumitra Chatterjee for over half a century, would agree with me. Ray's favourite actor has achieved what AB has struggled to do on a number of occasions — make the smooth transition from a leading man to a character actor to an old leading man to an old character actor.

He was beautiful in his youth. Watch him in Apur Sansar or Debi or Aranyer Dinratri or Teen Bhuvaner Paarey and you would be convinced why women would go crazy for him. Yes, Uttam Kumar was the Nayak, but Soumitra Chatterjee was no less. Let's not get into the debate of who was a better actor in the 70s because for every Uttam fan, you will find a Soumitra follower.

What's fascinating is the way Soumitra settled into the elderly roles. Make no mistake, he had no smaller an image than Bachchan in Bengal. Come on, he was Feluda, for Kali's sake. But Uttoran onwards, he was a character and no longer the Charminar-smoking sleuth. Paromitar Ek Din, Sanjhbaatir Rupkathara, Aabar Aranye... Soumitra was as good as the old man as he was as the matinee hero. And just to let the rest of the country know, last year, his turn in Podokhhep won him the National Award for Best Actor.

Just watch him here in a commercial he has done recently for Thums Up and let it load and play till he says "Ebaar jombe moja!" Watch those eyes twinkle, watch that smile engulf his face, watch that slow transformation of the body language... few actors around the world can recall years of experience and translate it at will in a few nano seconds. Soumitra can do that and like Bachchan, he deserves roles written for him. I can tell you I am writing one, with him in mind. And man, I am going to make it!