REAL FM by ANURAG BASU on MTV

 

Last week as my blog turned 1(ONE-Happy Birthday) , I finally decided to register it on INDIBLOGGER, a website for bloggers across the country which acts like a forum with regular meets and events. To my surprise I got a special invite for a screening of a short film written and produced by ANURAG BASU which was sponsored by HUL for its brand SUNSILK and will be aired on MTV tonight at 7 PM IST. I was absolutely thrilled because I have been a great fan of ANURAG since the time he directed the fabulously entertaining LIFE IN A METRO in 2007 and followed it up with BARFI in 2012. It was also a chance to meet fellow bloggers and to experience first-hand the ground realities of blogging in India. 

REAL FM is a story of three girls in their early twenties who are close friends and suddenly find themselves running a radio station for one day (Independence Day). The circumstances leading them there is for you to find out on MTV tonight. The movie actually has a clichéd start and for people like me who like to write reviews it was like a trap as I had already written the movie off in the first 5 mins and was looking towards exploring the blogging part post the screening and that’s where the story turned. 

A crisis in the family, young generation which is not motivated enough, a girl scared of her family, exams, boyfriends, office tensions, it couldn’t have been more mundane and boring to begin with, but that is the beauty of REAL FM as it is showing you the reality of average people who are so obsessed with their own struggles to not know “in which part of the country is TRIPURA located” and that is where the narrative picks up, confronted with a gigantic task of running a Radio station for a day, the girls come with the idea that instead of playing anthems like other stations they will play a song each from every state of the country and thus begins a journey which mesmerises with melodies from every corner of the country, the music clearly demonstrates BASU’s knack for picking great beats as he has demonstrated in METRO and BARFI. 

Many characters are introduced in the middle just like a lot of characters were beautifully woven in METRO and they all play their parts to the T, but the highlight remains the musical tributes from all the states of the country and the girls who bring them together on REAL FM. Catch this wonderful journey of today’s youth who might not know where TRIPURA is for starters but have their heart in the right place to acknowledge and embrace it whenever they come to know about it. 

 

               So catch the hour long feature directed by AKARSH KHURANA tonight on MTV at 7 PM.

QUEEN- A STORY OF LITTLE JOYS

             QUEEN- A STORY OF LITTLE JOYS

The little joys in QUEEN are evident from the first frame as the entire family is dancing away to glory (LONDON THUMAKDA) to celebrate the joyous occasion of RANI-QUEEN-KANGANA’s wedding and after 5 minutes they are shown mourning together once the wedding is called off. A weeping rani facing the social rejection closes the door on the outside world, but you see the mother standing outside the door for the entire night, just right behind where she should be (her daughter’s back) and the grandmother is shown motivating RANI (sitting outside the door) about the wonderful things that the future has in store and the tempo is set. 

The casting of national award winning actor (FASHION) KANGANA RANAUT and stunner LISA HAYDON is impeccable as both of them hit the right notes from beginning to the very head, their combination is like the classic Fast bowler spin bowler (A la Mcgrath and Warne) duo. They are out there to take wickets oops I mean win hearts and they absolutely succeed in doing that. The screenplay by VIKAS BAHL, PARVEEZ SHAIKH and CHAITALLY PARMAR is top notch and keeps you on the edge of your seat even though this in not a thriller. 

Reality of girls like RANI is that they are very much a part of the society till date, slotted somewhere between unfortunate girls who are abused in every nook and corner of our country to the more privileged liberated girls out to conquer the world. As a drunk RANI says in a monologue “MAINE HAMESHA SABKI BAAT MAANI HAI, KABHI KOI GALAT KAAM NAHI KARA” at that point you don’t feel funny but you feel her pain and that is the beauty of KANGANA RANAUT’s performance that it is very believable and transparent. 

The real hero of the movie/project (Kangana is the reel hero) is the director VIKAS BAHL, who has had such an amazing life till date that most of the people out there including yours truly would (not be jealous but) be in awe of a journey which has been nothing short of the LIFE OF PI, after graduating from film school he learnt the ropes in advertising (NON CREATIVE), but just as he was getting to the corner office he moved on to television where he was the business head of SAB (some of the best comedy shows in Hindi in the last decade) and took it to the no.1 spot in its segment, then he moved on to UTV where under the tutelage of the legend Ronnie Screwvala produced movies like AAMIR, DEV-D, UDAAN and NO ONE KILLED JESSICA, just as UTV was about to be acquired by DISNEY and BAHL’s prospects were about to get more global he left to co direct a marvel of an effort called CHILLAR PARTY and followed it up to start a production house with ANURAAG KASHYAP and VIKRAMADITYA MOTWANE called PHANTOM which has given us LOOTERA , HASEE TOH PHASEE and now QUEEN.

You don’t give stars to a movie like QUEEN, just like you don’t give stars to the neighbourhood halwai ka boondi ka ladoo and just gobble it up instead of singing its praises to the world, the same ladoo that rani had when she got up the next morning (after the wedding was called off) and decided that she would proceed on her journey alone, such is the power of a ladoo and such is the effect of QUEEN.

 

HOUSE OF CARDS – INDIA IS WAITING

HOUSE OF CARDS – INDIA IS WAITING

The impact that the Indian adaptation of American hit series 24 has had on the audiences has been phenomenal, as most of the television critics have rated it as one of the game changers for the Indian television industry, the Indian edition was produced by Anil Kapoor who also starred in it, the series had a brilliant ensemble cast which is the second most exciting thing after a solid script, the two dozen episodes did well and people are looking forward to a second season.

There is another very exciting American show which goes by the name of HOUSE OF CARDS (HOC) and is being broadcasted by NETFLIX and has a good potential to be imported and customized for the Indian palate.

HOUSE OF CARDS is currently in season 2 in the states and ZEE in India is showing the first season on their English entertainment channel ZEE CAFÉ.

In lead role we have one of the finest actors of this generation KEVIN SPACEY who is etched in our minds for his portrayal of LESTER BURNHAM in AMERICAN BEAUTY which won him the best actor honours at the Academy awards in 1999. SPACEY along with FOREST GUMP star ROBIN WRIGHT bring to you a delightful depiction of an extremely driven American couple out there to CHANGE things.

The plot of HOC is as old as the civilisation with subtext of deceit, revenge, obstacles and success which translates into a universal theme. A lot of inferences on how people have reached a “certain “ position after “certain” struggle really grab your attention and will be easily absorbed in an emerging economy like India with half the population below 35.

To the team of HOUSE OF CARDS and BEAU WILLIMON, INDIA is waiting for its delightful import.

 

BIRDIE NUM NUM – THE PLAY

BIRDIE NUM NUM – THE PLAY

It was a lovely Saturday afternoon when I decided to book my tickets for BIRDIE NUM NUM being staged at AKSHARA Theatre. The play is written and directed by MADHAV MEHTA who happens to be a friend and a stand-up comic, to add to it my guruji MAHEEP SINGH the noted stand-up comic, shayar, playwright and lyricist was moving to the centerstage as an actor to portray the debonair PAPPAN PILO out to seduce/capture the birds (The meaning of Driving from Delhi to Gurgaon has changed for me forever). I was really looking forward to see maheep on stage and so I reached AKSHARA sharp at 7.30.

As it turned out that it was a hurricane called MALLIKA DUA who stole the show with her portrayal of LILLY KHOSLA the chirpy punju secretary of PAPPAN PILO. To all the people out there who have straightaway moved into an MNC set up after their college/MBA degrees would think of lilly as a figment of the imagination of the director, but for people who have interned in Architects/Lawyers/Chartered Accountants offices (I am one of those) before their degrees have come across LILLY KHOSLA’s in their lives.

Kudos to MADHAV and team at EPIC SHIT ENTERTAINMENT for such a well-researched role and to MALLIKA DUA for bringing to life on stage one of the most originally humorous characters in Northern India’s offices.

The cast of KRITI VIJ, SHIVAM PRADHAN, SHANTANU ANAM and RAHUL TIWARI add to the laughter as the other characters interestingly woven in the story. The sound design by RITWIK DE was very impressive and really added to the production.

All in all a great and entertaining play which you should catch if you are in or around Delhi or travelling to the capital.

DEDH ISHQIYA- THE FIRST 4 STAR MOVIE OF 2014

DEDH ISHQIYA- THE FIRST 4 STAR MOVIE OF 2014

Dedh Ishqiya is a game changer to say the least, as it is one of the most original and inspired pieces of writing in the last one year. Abhishek Chaubey who also helmed the original ISHQIYA is a force to reckon with for the coming years as he presents a crisp and tight tale of KHALU (Naseer) and BABBAN (Arshad) falling for BEGUM PARA (Madhuri) and MUNIYA (Huma Babe Qureshi) respectively.

I am a huge fan of Vidya Balan but to be fair to the movie she was not missed at all in the sequel as this was a MADHURI show all the way and one of the game changing facts is that Madhuri is here to change the rules of Bollywood again by choosing a script which was written for her and she dazzels all. IFFFFFFFTEKHAAAAAAR. Yaa Alaah.

Naseeruddin Shah is the second game changer who essays the role of Nawab of Chandpur- Ifteqar Hussain with great aplomb, he serenades with his lyrical poetry and cracks you up with his rustic camaraderie with Arshad ‘s Babban.

Arshad Warsi is a treasure with his comic timing and expressions, regaling the audience with a good hearted laughter. Huma Qureshi as the supporting actress and Vijay Raaz as the antihero are strong character actors who hold the audience spellbound. The casting director Honey Trehan should be acknowledged for his sense of casting, it is casting directors like HONEY TREHAN for Vishal Bhardwaj camp and MUKESH CHHABRA for Anuraag Kashyap camp who are showing us some real talent from across the country.

Finally the real star of the movie are the dialogues and the subtle exchanges between the actors penned by the co –producer of the film VISHAL BHARDWAJ (A LEGEND), I enjoyed some of the dialogues so much that for this effort called DEDH ISHQIYA, Vishal ko 7 KHOON MAAF bhi maaf.

LUNCHBOX – A meal for the soul

LUNCHBOX – A meal for the soul

Irrfan- Film schools will be teaching students in the years to come that just like Mahatma Gandhi walked on Indian soil for independence, there was an actor by the name of Irrfan who walked for the sake of promoting art. Please go see the film for his sheer talent. Irrfan will surprise you with his understated elegance and simplicity.

Ritesh Batra- This kind of craft for a first feature film is hard to imagine, this is called research , development and execution all in one. Let’s all pause and give a standing ovation to the man in our living rooms or wherever this blog reaches you.

Nimrat Kaur-The lady is outstanding, she has been around doing advertisements and you can catch her eating chocolate at a traffic signal in a recent ad(ok, let's not go there), but here she turns around , dons a salwar kameez with her eyebrows not done and all focus on making the hubby happy with the dabba. She should not be labelled as the new Smita Patil, but should be left alone to carve her own niche in the film industry. Her expressions match Irrfan’s stroke by stroke.

Nawazzudin- he is fantastic as the support cast and I think as soon as he steps out of the shoes of a leading man and into the shoes of a support actor, he moves to a different level, like Leander Paes in doubles tennis. Nawazzudin has been given a small but significant role, which he essays to perfection.

What Kahaani did for Kolkata, The Lunchbox does for Mumbai as it captures the daily life of Mumbai in the background of the story. The chemistry between Nimrat and her neighbour , Nimrat and her mother, Irrfan and Nawazzudin is something which needs to be taught in film/acting schools as a subject.

A big thank you to Anuraag Kashyap, Guneet Monga and Arun Rangachari for producing a tale of romance, struggle, little joys and life.

 

90 % of Students in IIM’s are Engineers- Diversity claims go for a toss

90 % of Students in IIM’s are Engineers- Diversity claims go for a toss

Compared to an average of 35-40%  in global institutes like Harvard and Stanford, who emphasise on diversification, in India the scenario is grim despite of the tall diversity claims.

You know these engineers , most of them have never scored less than 90 % in their lives, in fact the only reason why I wanted to score a 90% was to get a complementary triple sundae ice cream from nirulas.

The engineers they top school, IIT and land at the CAT centre, even the CAT paper is afraid of them.  I believe that IIT’s are the most honest institution in the country at least they claim that they are an institute of technology, whereas the IIM claim that they are the an institute of management when most of the admissions (almost 90%) go to the tech grads, ideally they should be renamed as IIMTS –Indian institute of management for technology students.

Then they begin their 2 year management program and start studying economics and accounts in year 1,  when the teachers were telling these chaps to opt for commerce with maths, then it was all about winning a Nobel and now after 6 years of science you are back to economics and accounts.

After two years of rigorous Management education, the interviews happen, most of these bright minds line up for the two GOLDMINE sectors BANKING and CONSULTING, when you are changing your stream from engineering to accounts in 6 years then the solid advice that you can give to a prospective client would be “ Sir, this is a great project for you, we have a 5 year vision for the project, if this does not work out we always have a plan –B ready for you, that’s what we have done ourselves too”.

Those who opt for BANKING are the best as they make use of their tech studies in the day to day banking jobs, the kind of application of chemical engineering that goes in selling credit cards, application of electronics engineering that helps in scanning documents in the operations department and the wonderful application of software engineering that helps them in making PPT for the senior management.

So all the non-engineering graduates who want to go for a B-School degree, your probability of getting into an Ivy league is much more than an IIM or should I say IIMTS.