Why Do I Love to Write About Cinema?

If you carefully look at the title, there's a lot to notice there. There are 2 keywords -
Write and Cinema - both of which I love!
Quick question? Why should you be reading this?
I have an answer - because you opened this link, so something definitely attracted you towards it.
Before you start asking me questions about my knowledge in films and filmmaking, I would like to clear out that I am merely someone who is still learning about this magnanimous universe of stories blended together with creativity and technology.
I don't just write blogs on films and their reviews, I also happen to run a broadcast on Whatsapp, called Filmorama, which is devoted to cinema and motion pictures.
So at this point, we have established my love for cinema. What about writing?
Writing is as important and speaking. You should be lucky if you can do both, doesn't matter what script you write or speak in. Keeping that in mind, I like to combine the two things I love the most to create a third one, that keeps my passion burning. This third thing is nothing but the knowledge I seek about both writing and cinema.
To keep this short and simple, I'd like to end with a quote -

Source: Pinterest

Interestingly enough, this applies both for writing and for cinema! Don't you think so?

Why should I go to the cinema hall? Here's a few reasons .....

Around a hundred (or more) films are released worldwide every year, but only a handful get nominations, say 10. And me being the filmy buff that I am, I unfortunately get to see only a minute percentage of those selected movies; say about 1, at the cinema hall.

Now, the reason why I am writing about this in my blog today is because of 2 reasons –

First, of all the friends I have, half of them don’t watch movies at the cinema because of the brilliant technology we have in this century, which gave us Netflix and Torrent. Yes, I know. It’s cheaper, easily available and you can watch it anytime.

Anyway, moving on, second, because I don’t want to you to make a random plan with your friends to watch that one movie that you’ve been waiting for ever since its teaser got viral and then complaint about it being a complete waste of time and money, but, to actually go for a movie which has a promising story line, appealing soundtrack and a well shown trailer (or at least two of the above).

So here I present to you, four reasons why you should go to the cinema hall to watch a movie –

1)      That’s the only time you’ll ever see anything on the silver screen

The silver screen (the screen that you see in a movie hall, duh!) is perhaps the largest screen you’ll ever get to see a motion picture in, unless you are some rich Sheikh who can afford to build their own home theatre.

PS- it is a thousand times better than watching a movie like Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, which you specially download on your phone to watch, only after a fortnight of its release. Instead, you can watch Neerja at the theatres, feeling much obliged and relieved, to see Sonam in a role which is better defined and more meaningful.

2)      It gives the movie the originality that it already it needs

Face it; piracy is not the best way to tell the makers that you loved their movie. Neither does watching it after paying a few hundred rupees per person. But watching the entire movie without any obstacles or bad quality does make sense. This is only delivered at the cinema.

3)      Netflix and Torrent don’t provide you 3D experience

Until and unless you have your own 3D television and glasses, it’s not going to help unless you have the 3D version of the movie.

4)      It transforms your movie experience into something unforgettable

This mostly works in the case of horror, thriller, action and/or period films, where you experience a world much different than yours. For some 120 minutes or so, you can forget everything and everyone and experience an ‘Alice in the Wonderland’ like feeling.

Give it a thought. Once in a few months, spending a few bucks on a movie you’ve been anxiously waiting for months is not going to eat into your pocket money a lot.

P.S. – don’t be stupid enough to take your friends on a movie treat and end up buying all the tickets on your own. 

BAJIRAO MASTANI : where grandeur meets simplicity.

All battles won, none lost. The only one lost is that of love, because unfortunately love has more complications than a battle. 

A love story of a warrior is not easy to tell, especially when the society and religion pose as a wall between the lovers. But nothing is impossible for a warrior. After all, he is a warrior. Such is the story of Peshwa Bajirao, who falls in love with Mastani, a Rajput-Muslim princess, who then becomes his second wife (his first wife being Kashibai). 

It is then not just the story of how these two meet and fall in love, but how they fight for love, together. Amidst this is the feeling of betrayal, jealousy, loss of pride and the clash of two religions. It is an epic told from the point of view of love.  

The movie doesn't just consist of grand sets, wars and royal clothes and jewellery, but also has an amazing story line, an overwhelming cast, splendid songs and an amazing screenplay which bring in the grandeur which combine with the simplicity of a king (Peshwa Bajirao), the passion of a wife (Kashibai) and the devotion of a lover (Mastani). All these pieces put together by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his team prove to be one of the year's best told stories on the silver screen.

Bajirao Mastani was definitely worth the wait and is a must watch !!!!!  

  

THE OSCARS AND INDIA !!!

It all started on one fine day-May 16, 1929. The first ever Academy Awards were held on this very day at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. 250 people attended the event. The tickets were worth US$5 and the event lasted ten minutes. Best picture went to silent movie Wings, starring Clara Bow and Charles Rogers, actors now forgotten - creating a major historical event in the realm of movies.

The celebration still continues, where legends come and go, but Academy Awards is still there, making its presence felt every year, getting grander and bigger. The Oscars have a rule as well – winners are told to limit their “thank you” speeches to 45 seconds, after which the orchestra takes over. But rules are meant to be broken, aren’t they? In 2001, Julia Roberts began her Best Actress award acceptance speech for her role in Erin Brockovich by making sure the conductor knew exactly how she felt. This is what she said – “Sir, you’re doing a great job with that stick. So why don’t you sit, because I may never be here again.” Seriously, how can you say no to that face, right? It worked, the orchestra let her finish. Let’s talk about another miracle at the Academy Awards. The Titanic, as we all know, sure did sink, but the movie did wonders. In 1998, the movie won 11 Oscars. After winning the Best Director Oscar, James Cameron announced, “I’m the king of the world”.  

We started sending our movies to the Oscars only after 1958, Mother India being our first submission. Since then we have been sending entries to Oscars except for the years 1961, 1982 and 1984. But we did too create history at the Oscars, owing to the great success of
Indian films like Mother India, Mahanagar, Manthan, Payal ki Jhankaar, Saaransh, Lagaan etc. Though not all of them came back victorious, but some achieved huge appreciation and did make it to the winners list.

First Indian to receive an Oscar is Bhanu Athayia, who won the Academy award for Best Costume Designer for her work in the film Gandhi (1982). Since we are naming legends of Indian film industry, let’s not forget to mention the master of all filmmakers, Satyajit Ray. So impressed was the world with his vision and depiction of cinema that in 1992 the Academy Awards presented him with an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime achievement. Further making the country proud, entries like Slumdog Millionaire made India cry in joy after it won several awards in the following categories – Best Original Song (Jai Ho); accredited to AR Rahman and Gulzar sahib, Best Original Score again accredited to AR Rahman and Best Sound Mixing award which was accredited to Resul Pookutty.

Other than films, short documentaries have also shown their magic at the Oscars. Not many know that An Encounter with Faces was filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra's first directorial attempt and interestingly won a nomination at the Oscars in the year 1979. It was a short documentary film by Chopra and nominated in the 'Best Documentary on Short Subjects' category. Ashwin Kumar, son of fashion designer Ritu Kumar, made his entry to the Oscar nomination list with his short film ' Little Terrorist' in the year 2005, but unfortunately didn’t make it to the winner’s list. Also, in the year 2009, Smile Pinki, received the Oscar for Best Short Documentary.

This year, Marathi film Court beat blockbuster hits like Rajkumar Hirani’s PK, Neeraj Ghyaywan’s Masaan and SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali in the Oscar race, thus making an official entry to the Oscars 2016.

Chaitanya Tamhane, 28, wrote and directed the story of a folk singer who is accused of causing a sewage worker to commit suicide with his music. The movie has had a fascinating year, travelling to 19 national and international film festivals and picking up 16 awards.

This does not end the list of accomplishments enjoyed by us over the years, rather gives us a few moments of both happiness and sorrow – former for our victories, and latter for the ones lost and the ones which did not get the chance to be nominated for the Academy Awards, such as Do Bhiga Zameen, Ardh Satya, Anand, Bandini, Kagaz ke Phool, Udaan and the most recent Lunchbox. But as we all know, all’s well that ends well, and all movies end with a good note, just like the awards night – waiting to return the next year with more awards and accolades!!!