Wooohooo folks…a bit of an announcement… we just wrapped up our new short film called ‘Full Stop’ which we shot last month. This time, Accessible Horizon Films in association with Yatra Multimedia will be launching the co-production in a public event in Pondicherry/Auroville. Not only that, our new film will be part of a larger Open-Air Film presentation(including the screening of 2 other short films) slash cultural(dance) event organized by Yatra Arts Foundation. More details on that later. But for now, here’s the first look Poster of ‘Full Stop’. Context of the film: In Tamil Slang, a ‘Full’(Oru Fullu) means ‘a Full bottle of liquor’. Having said that, Full Stop is sort of a comic caper quickie (or whatever) set in the exclusive world of Alcoholics in Tamil Nadu. So what happens when a ‘Full’, an unidentified Alcoholic and 4 mysterious women come together? Damn it Yo! You connect the dots!!! Or just come to the show directly and bring your film-lover friends too. It’s a free event. And folks in and around Pondicherry, do get down there. The film is also a PSA made in the larger public interest of…well, you watch it.
Penned & Orchestrated by Raghu Players – Yatra Srinivassan, Lakshmipriya Chandramouli, Earthling, Nandhini, Stella and Oshiva Story by Earthling, Created by Ramesh Mourthy Cinematography by Mohandass, Assistant Camera by Rajaram and Prakash Dhanagopalan Art by Mithran and Bharath Production Support by Yatra Team.
Venue: Yatra Arts Foundation, Near NuCreation Sports Ground/Swimming pool, Kuilapaalayam, Auroville. Call us for directions. Date: Sunday, June 29th, 2014 Time: 7:00 p.m.
Helloooo hellooo Peeps, exciting news! Our documentary film 'Metroxical New York' has won the 'CINEMA PARADISO AWARD' for great Cinematography, interesting Concept and being a truly International film at the Auroville Film Festival 2013. It has won in the category 'Films made by Aurovilians, residents of Bio-region and Guests of Auroville' and has been chosen among 53 other films in the category. More than the award itself, we had a lot of people in the audience say some really nice things about it. The reason we feel high is that it connected with people at some level, the same way we connected with the project when we created it. Thanks universe, we owe you more exciting work!
Wow...seriously, when the bloody heck did 2012 fly by? It freakin' feels like last night when exactly 364 days ago we were beset by a severe storm shutting down the power of our city, forcing us to open our eyes to darkness and mayhem on January 1st, 2012. But anyways, that's not the point. The point is, this so-called thing called TIME just whizzed past us, leaving us dumb-founded and as lost as a stray on the highway. So many things happened at break-neck speed that we didn't even realize when and where these days slipped by us. As they say, 'Life is what happens when you are busy doing other things'... But one thing is for sure, we got a bloody short life that there's no reason for us to compromise on the things we truly love. Whewwww! Ok, without rambling too much on the philosophical aspect of things, we'll just reminisce a bit on 2012. I guess 2012 was a rolla-costa year...full of inspiring, adrenaline-packed stuff. We completed 2 projects - Metroxical New York(our latest feature documentary film) and 500 & 5(our first feature length narrative film project in Tamil), made some crazy artwork, travelled 8000 kms to parts of India that seemed like another planet(Ladakh, Himachal, J&K), did a dangerous(no kidding) trek to Kheer Ganga, climbed 16000 feet, met other whacked-out Nomads(from Uruguay, Sweden, France, London, Israel, Tibet, US) like us, met the Dalai Lama(sat through a little during his teaching), volunteered to teach and interact at SECMOL(Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh) teaching Ladakhi students Science, Maths and English, did a mini documentary film for them, met the awesome and humble Sonam Wangchuk(rumoured to be the real life Phunsukh Wangdu, a character played by Aamir Khan in 3 Idiots, the hindi film), attended the world premiere of 500 & 5 at IFFK, Trivandrum and a ton of other stuff. Most importantly, it was the people and friends who made it for us. People who inspired us with their minds, their creativity and amazing personalities. It's only when we interact with people like them, we truly feel we are all connected and are directed by this collective consciousness. Anyways, since some of you couldn't come for the film festival premiere and have been asking about it, a little update on that - We had 2 shows in total. The first one at Anjali Theater was pretty decent and the second one at Kalabhavan theater was ok, not bad. But the good thing is that, we had a lot of our other awesome friends at the festival who came out to support us. A special thanks to all our actors and crew who helped in bringing 500 & 5 to life. I would love to share some of the reviews and feedback we got after the screenings, but I guess I'll wait until the next step. We had some reasonable press coverage from The Hindu(here and here), The Indian Express(here) and other Malayalam Press/Media. The funny part was, in the Malayalam Manorama newspaper, there was a headline that said – “Cosmic Sex(the movie) is the result of my research” says Raghu – Apparently, I had directed the movie about sex and spirituality. Poor Amitabh Chakraborty, the actual director of the film - he had worked so hard on Cosmic Sex(interesting film) and I get the damn credit. But anyways, the world is never fair and true. We also met some amazing filmmakers from Iran, France, Chile, Mexico and Turkey & got to watch some awesome, crazy-ass whacked out movies. A few worth mentioning are Holy Motors(French), Sister(French), Nos Vemos Papa(Spanish), With you Without you(Sri Lankan), Ini Avan(Sri Lankan), Tungsten(Greek) among others. Moreover, we have some interesting developments happening around our film. And just a note, nothing...nothing comes easy to independent filmmakers. Will elaborate further later. Also, last week I had gone to the Chennai Thiraipada Sangam(Chennai Film Society) organized by Mr. Vijayan in North Chennai where they regularly have guest filmmakers to teach/interact with their students. They had invited me last week for a session. It wasn't really a class, at least that's what I told them, that a class would serve no purpose...so we had more like a Q & A session revolving around filmmaking, cinema in general and 500 & 5's making and the production process. It was heartening to see lots of like-minded aspiring filmmakers who really felt the need for alternative cinema in Chennai. Some wanted to be directors, some cinematographers, some writers...and the class' age group ranged from 20 to 60. We had an energetic session as we explored what's really stopping independent, low-budget filmmakers from taking their next step. Met some interesting personalities who seem to give hope towards the future of Tamil cinema. Alright, that's that for now I guess. And I won't say Happy New Year because I hope we 'show' and don't 'tell'...
Folks, as many of you may already know of this or have heard about this, we still wanted to share this across to you in the hope of supporting Alternative, Independent Cinema in India. Recently we have seen a spate of parallel and alternative and experimental cinematic content oozing into the mainstream Indian film consciousness and we only hope it gets bigger and better. This has to be brought into the mainstream school of thought and we have to encourage people to support content that is typically created with minimal resources and under extreme circumstances. The article and the petition in itself has valid points towards helping Independent artists, performers, filmmakers, technicians et al, and what you can do to propagate it. So if you can take the time off to sign this petition, you may become a part of the change that you've always wanted to be.
Here's the link: https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/save-indie-cinema
Pic courtesy: Change.org
The calm after the storm. Was a hot sunny day with too much chaos in the location. We scrambled to get our day's work done. But the sun had had enough waiting for us. So we knelt down in submission.
Trailer of our recent short film 'Chasm in Time'. Updates about its premiere will soon follow. Cast Cornelio Abella, Joey Mintz, Karthik Srinivasan, Kymm Walker.
First of all, this is not a movie review although I'll write a little about the film itself as part of the film watching experience. Surprising and intriguing - are the words that best describe what I felt. Being an indie film fanatic myself, I couldn't bear some reactions to 'Evano Oruvan'. Context: Matinee show of the film in Pondicherry, 3rd day from release. Tons of people arrived at the almost 1000-seated theater, say about 95% of the seats had butts in them. Multiple reasons for the crowd - Sunday afternoon, Madhavan starrer, etc. Personally, I went because the director Nishikant Kamat is a friend of mine whom I had met at Los Angeles at IFFLA when our film 'Men of Burden - Pedaling Towards a Horizon' had its world premiere in April 2006. And also because I had seen the Marathi version of the film(Dombivli Fast) which had garnered several international awards and wanted to see how the Tamil version had shaped up. The film was pretty much the same in terms of its delivery like its Marathi version but I felt it a little lacking in the narrative and the dialogue was a little less audible with the other dominating sounds. (btw, Sangeetha's hot as hell) One of the thoughts that struck me was the reaction of the regular Tamil-movie-going population that made me think as the movie went along. For the fact that it was a break from the regular song-and-dance movie, I wanted the people to love the film because I personally believe in the power of the indie film to make one think as opposed to the factory churned movies by the Tamil/Hindi film industry. I wanted the indie filmmaker to succeed commercially, so bad. Every scene I wanted people to sit back quietly and listen to the dialogue and think, and look at the lighting and enjoy the subtleties of the scene and the composition. Those things never happened. But most of my expectations were shattered when many in the audience were jeering at the 'monotony' of the film. People were talking on cell phones, letting their phones ring, not paying attention to the meaning of the film, some even chatting and shouting that they were gonna get out, because there were no songs and fights and 'slow-mo' intros of the hero. For a few moments, I was irritated at their indifference to such a film but what could I do, the minority that I am, in the world where people go to the movies to fulfill their escapist fantasies. So I'm still wondering what is the world that I am living in, that is, with my sensibilities as an indie filmmaker and supporter with international cinema as my study guide...I'm left thinking where is that balance between art and commercial cinema. Ahh, the cliched question. And this, especially at a stage where I'm leaning towards commercial viability but still can't tear away from the indie scene. It's a tough road to be on.
Do you wonder why there are so many films in India focusing on the politicians as the villains? Sometimes you would think as to why the film media has to portray them in such a bad light. But the truth is, almost every scene we see in these types of films are basically a reflection of life. Truth reflected back on the screen. Corrupt politicians, subservient police, caste distinctions and elections gone awry...all not just fantasy or fictional work to thrill the audience, but a deliberate showcase of the status quo of Indian politics. A glimpse of a case in point: Mukhtar Ansari - Here are some excerpts from this article on Wall Street Journal, POLITICAL CONVICTIONS,Lawless Legislators Thwart Social Progress in India,Malnutrition, Polio;A 'Superior' Jail Cellfor Mukhtar Ansari, By PETER WONACOTT, May 4, 2007; Page A1 Mukhtar Ansari with police - Picture courtesy: Tribune India
GHAZIPUR, India -- Since late 2005, Mukhtar Ansari has been confined to this ramshackle town's jailhouse, accused of conspiracy to murder. That charge and 27 other criminal cases lodged against him over 19 years have done little to derail a long political career. In 1996, months after being charged with firing an AK-47 at the local police commissioner, Mr. Ansari was voted a member of his state's Legislative Assembly, the equivalent of an American state senate. In 2002, while facing a charge of illegal arms possession, he won re-election by a wide margin. Now, the 40-year-old Mr. Ansari is running again for re-election in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. He's expected to sail back into office in elections next Tuesday, thanks to a potent mix of divisive politics and political largess. His brother, Afzal, locked up with him in the Ghazipur District Jail, is a member of India's national parliament in New Delhi. Police accuse the brothers of masterminding the assassination of a political rival and five associates. Both deny all charges against them; neither has ever been convicted of a crime. ... Many countries, including the U.S., have lawmakers who run afoul of the law, and it's not uncommon in developing countries for those fleeing the law to find sanctuary in political office. Brazilian legislators, for example, have been accused of entering politics to take advantage of a law that grants them immunity from criminal prosecution in office. Few countries, however, can match India's numbers. Following the 2004 election, almost a quarter of the 535 elected members of India's national parliament have criminal charges registered against them or pending in court, according to the Public Affairs Center, an Indian elections watchdog. Half of those with charges pending against them face prison terms of at least five years if convicted. For some insular communities in India, criminal charges carry much less of a stigma than in other countries, or even more mainstream parts of India. Such charges may even be an asset, since tough characters can help bond together people of the same faith or caste, especially if that person is seen as one who will help resist bullying by other groups, says Rashid Alvi, a Congress Party member of parliament from Uttar Pradesh. "They will elect the hardcore criminals if they think it will teach a lesson to the other castes," says Mr. Alvi. "It's the idea of who cares if he's a rogue, he's our rogue!" For alleged criminals, political office is alluring: If they haven't been convicted, they can remain in office, even while in jail. And if convicted, politicians often manage to hold onto their jobs while an appeal is lodged. India's justice system grinds so slowly that cases may not be heard for years. Meanwhile, police escorts deter their foes -- often other legislators -- from trying to kill them. ... Prior to the elections, slightly more than half of its 403 legislative assembly members, including Mukhtar Ansari, faced criminal charges. In the first six phases of the elections, there were 48 constituencies offering four or more candidates with criminal cases pending against them. The criminal justice system remains vulnerable to political pressure. Political rivals often direct charges against each other, and work to withdraw cases against supporters. Still, many of India's legislators in legal trouble faced criminal charges well before their political careers began, according to I.C. Dwivedi, former director of police for Uttar Pradesh and now the state's head of Election Watch, an NGO. "They were criminals first and politicians later," he says. ...
The concept of time in film has been a fascinating aspect to me. The past, nostalgia, dreamy flashbacks, foreseeable futures and even basic montages that cut through time. And then, there are also the concepts of linear story-telling and horizontal story-telling (Linear Vs. Non-linear narratives) which we may all be familiar with. But I recently came across this great filmmaker - Russian director, Andrei Tarkovsky - who actually developed a theory of cinema called "Sculpting in Time" where the passage of time is in "real time" as in unedited sequences. To be more precise, here's an excerpt from Wikipedia about his method and style of working/directing.
Tarkovsky developed a theory of cinema that he called "sculpting in time". By this he meant that the unique characteristic of cinema as a medium was to take our experience of time and alter it. Unedited movie footage transcribes time in real time. (The speedy jump-cutting style that is prevalent in music videos and many Hollywood movies, by contrast, overrides any sense of time by imposing the editor's viewpoint.) By using long takes and few cuts in his films, he aimed to give the viewers a sense of time passing, time lost, and the relationship of one moment in time to another. Up to and including his film Mirror, Tarkovsky focused his cinematic works on exploring this theory.
This is one area I really wanna explore in my future projects. But I guess this is mainly possible in story structures that demand a specific emotional response. I don't think there's any way to make fast-paced movies with this kind of a styling. Well, we could, maybe intersperse the sculpting-in-time scenes with action and create a horizontal structure. And we should keep in mind that the narrative shouldn't get lost in the array of parallel scenes. (Pic courtesy - http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~tstronds/nostalghia.com/ThePhotos.html)
