Section: Movies

Aryann Bhowmik Interview: Actor Prosenjit Chatterjee has Become Like a Father Figure to Me

BY Anindita Banerjee On

Kakababur Protyaborton, an upcoming Bengali film starring actor Prosenjit Chatterjee and Aryann Bhowmik and directed by Srijit Mukherji, is all set for a grand Christmas release. Talking about the film, Bhowmik, who will be seen playing the character of Santu, says the shoot was more exciting than he had imagined it would be.

“It was very thrilling to shoot for Kakababur Protyaborton. The previous two film shootings have been adventurous, so I was already expecting the same but I didn’t expect such a great experience. We knew that shooting in Africa would be fun and exciting but a lot of surprises on-screen and off-screen left us completely awestruck. I was thrilled to be a part of this journey,” he says.

Based on Jongoler Moddhey Ek Hotel by author Sunil Gangopadhyay, this film will be the third instalment in the director’s Kakababu series, after Mishawr Rawhoshyo and Yeti Obhijaan. This is also the fourth film Bhowmik will be seen alongside Chatterjee.

“When I first worked with him in Cholo Paltai, it was like a dream come true. I was really nervous the day I met him but within five minutes, he made it so easy for me,” says Bhowmik. “Initially I realised I was working with a star but now he has become like a father figure to me. He guides me and helps me a lot through everything. His charm and charisma are such that it does not feel like you’re around a huge star. It’s been an honour to work with such a talented actor,” he adds.

Photo Credit – SVF Twitter

The film has been extensively shot in Kenya and Bhowmik says he loved being around animals while shooting.

“Being a wildlife lover, I enjoyed every bit of it but surely the logistics of the filmmaking was challenging. Shooting at a foreign place on such a tight schedule, and around so many wild animals was a huge challenge,” says the actor.

His character, over the three films, has matured, he says. “Most of the people who have read Kakababu in their childhood are very familiar with the character of Santu. Srijit Mukherji has made some tiny changes to the character here and there. Like, Santu now appears to be more mature. But, his original traits, like Santu being trained in martial arts, him being an adventure lover, and how much he idolises Kakababu, have all been retained.”

Talking about the growth of his character he says, “Unlike the other films I have done, this is the only one where I have acted in a series. For Mishawr Rawhoshyo I had sketched out the character of Santu from the books and the way Srijitda had written the characteristics in the script. But for Yeti Obhijaan I could take reference from my own portrayal of Santu in the previous film. Characteristics-wise, Santu has gained immense maturity compared to the first film as he has aged through the films too. He’s more confident now in the situations where real threat arises. It almost seems like he’s more used to now to the dangers around them.”

Prosenjit Aryann

Bhowmik was also seen in another detective film, Durgeshgorer Guptodhan, which released in 2019. But, for him the experience of working in two detective films has been different.

“The storylines were definitely different. Although both had the thrill, the adventure level in Kakababu films has always been more. Durgeshgorer Guptodhan explored more into human feelings, whereas Kakababu is all about the adventure quotient. The approaches of both directors, Srijit Mukherji and Dhrubo Banerjee are very different, which makes their films unique and fun to work with,” says Bhowmik.

On working with Mukherji for the third time, the actor says, “He (Mukherji) is like an elder brother to me. He is a perfectionist when it comes to filmmaking thus it is always an utter pleasure to work in his films. He is extremely clear about his vision and can understand what his actors are going through. My directorial schooling started with Srijit da in Mishawr Rawhoshyo. Now after two films, I can understand what he wants even without him pointing it out. He allows his actors to have a lot of creative freedom. When a director is so clear about his vision, it becomes better for the actor.”

Both Mishawr Rawhoshyo and Yeti Obhijaan did well at the box office and Bhowmik is confident that Kakababur Protyaborton will also receive the same love.

“The Kakababu series has a huge audience and everybody is thrilled that the third installation is coming. People have shown us so much love that I am confident even with pandemic restrictions, the film will see a huge audience. Especially the heights at which the director has taken this film, I think it might even break the record of the last two installations,” he says.

The actor is working as a lead on a Bengali daily soap, titled Titli, on Star Jalsha.

“There are talks going on for other projects but as of now, I have not signed anything,” he adds.

 

Photo Credit – Durlav Roy Chowdhury (Cropped & Edited)

Anand Deverakonda Interview: I was Drawn to the Middle-class Aspect of Things

BY Namrata Ganguly On

Middle Class Melodies, directed by debutant Vinod Ananthoju, is an upcoming Telugu comedy-drama starring Anand Deverakonda and Varsha Bollamma in lead roles. The film is scheduled to release on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.

Deverakonda, who plays the the role of Raghava, an amateur cook who aspires to open a tiffin centre and move from his village to Guntur town in Andhra Pradesh, says: “The movie mirrors all of the middle-class lives, the beautiful and dramatic parts as well as the sad parts of a middle-class family and that’s why we call it a ‘melody’ with all its ups and downs.”

Narrating the story of Raghava, Deverakonda said: “I play the role of Raghava who is from a middle-class family from a small village near a town called Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. My ambition in life is just to make it to the town and open a tiffin centre. All of this sounds very serious and drama but the movie, in general, is really humorous. It’s witty, there’s no slapstick humour, it is very situational and very subtle kind of humour. So really enjoyable and if someone’s watching on Amazon Prime Video sitting back with their families, I think it’s a very nice experience considering the times we are in.”

According to Deverakonda, what drew him to the role was the middle-class way of life that he could relate to.

“I was drawn to the middle-class aspect of things. I saw this majority of my life- like I said, the beautiful parts as well as the struggles of being in a middle-class family. This sticking together and supporting each other as well as breaking down and financially things come crumbling down. So, all of these things, I have seen in my life and that’s what resonated with me when Vinod, the director of the film, narrated the script to me.”

The actor says he had to learn some cooking skills while preparing for his role as an amateur cook in the film.

“The cooking parts I don’t particularly do in my real life. It was something that I just did for the movie. The thing about cooking is you spend like one hour, one-and-a-half-hour in cooking and then you eat it within five minutes. If there’s something like as enjoyable as spending time eating the food for like one hour, I would definitely do that.”

In the trailer, the actors are seen as college-goers. Recalling his own college days, Deverakonda says, “I think there’s a song called Sandhya in the movie. It’s a really nice, very quirky song that’s set in the college. It has very nice moments that you just remember your school days actually, the little things like fooling around in the classroom troubling girls and girls troubling you.”

“We actually didn’t have a choreographer on the set, we just directed it ourselves, so all of those memories from school were only brought  on the screen,” he says.

“We met two-three weeks prior to the shoot and got the opportunity to know each other through workshops, played board games during the workshop and carried them in the classroom,” says Deverakonda.

“We enjoyed the whole process of shoot, we shot for 30 days in Hyderabad and then 30 days in Guntur. The whole crew is between the age of 24-31 or something, really young. All of us enjoyed each other’s company, had a lot of fun in the sets. Just hoping for the best.”

The film was supposed to release earlier this year, but will release directly on Amazon Prime Video. Deverakonda says he is excited about the film’s digital release.

“For me, the experience has been completely different- the theatre viewing vs the digital platform viewing sitting at your home or watching it on your phone. But just the fact of convenience, the fact of affordability, the fact of being safe during the pandemic, I think there’s nothing better than Amazon (Prime Video) and for our movie to be on it, the whole team is equally excited including the director, myself and Varsha (Bollamma). So, ya we don’t particularly miss it. I think our movie would have been equally accepted if it was releasing in the theatres also, we are confident about whatever the release,” he says.

Talking about his upcoming projects, he says: “I’m in a process of shooting for a Telugu movie and it’s almost done. Once they start post-production, we will be thinking of what to do with it and where it can go.”

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Kazakh American Association Calls for Film to be Disqualified at Award Shows

BY Shrija Ganguly On

The Kazakh American Association has requested all major award show organisers to disqualify Sacha Baron Cohen‘s Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, a sequel to the 2006 film Borat, for its alleged racist representation of Kazakhs, Variety reported.

The Virginia-based non-profit organisation, that is dedicated to “preserving and promoting” Kazakh heritage and culture in the US, has requested the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Guild of America Awards, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards to consider disqualifying the film for “whitewashing” their ethnic identity as Eastern Europeans.

The letter, co-signed by the Hollywood Film Academy and Council on American-Islamic Relations read, “The Kazakh community worldwide is underrepresented and inherently vulnerable. Our nation is still recovering from an oppressive colonial past, which is why we do not have substantial media representation. Sacha Baron Cohen understands this fact and exploits Kazakhstan by hijacking our ethnic identity, whitewashing us by portraying us as Eastern Europeans, and inciting harassment toward Kazakh people worldwide. Our people report countless cases of sexual and physical harassment as well as bullying due to the Borat franchise.”

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, directed by Jason Woliner, is a mockumentary comedy that documents the journey of Kazakh television journalist Borat Sagdiyev (played by Cohen) to America. The film is set during the US presidential elections.

Kazakhstan is a transcontinental country, located in Central Asia, with a small part of it in Eastern Europe. A predominantly Muslim nation, it shares its borders with Russia in the north, China in the east, and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in the south.

According to the association, the film is brimming with “misogynistic, incestuous, anti-Semitic, and barbarous” portrayals.

This is not be the first time the satirical film has landed in troubled waters.

Earlier this year, Rudy Giulani, former New York City mayor and attorney to the outgoing President Donald Trump, tweeted a clip from the film (in which he is seen with his hands in his pants in a hotel room, which brought his behaviour under the scanner) and defended himself.

While Amazon Prime Video, which released the film on October 23, is yet to respond, Cohen said in a statement to The New York Times, “This is a comedy, and the Kazakhstan in the film has nothing to do with the real country. I chose Kazakhstan because it was a place that almost nobody in the U.S. knew anything about, which allowed us to create a wild, comedic, fake world. The real Kazakhstan is a beautiful country with a modern, proud society — the opposite of Borat’s version.”

Varsha Bollamma Interview: I’m a Kannadiga from Bangalore, Manne Number 13 will be for My Hometown Audience

BY Namrata Ganguly On

Actor Varsha Bollamma has two films- Telugu film Middle Class Melodies and Kannada film Manne Number 13– lined up for direct release on Amazon Prime Video this month. Bollamma, who has predominantly worked in Tamil films, says her first Kannada film is “an exciting thing”.

“It’s a Kannada movie and I am a Kannadiga, from Bangalore. So, everybody back home can enjoy it. And people keep asking me ‘We want to see you speak the language, we want to see you acting in Kannada cinema’. So, that will be for my hometown audience, it’s exciting,” she says.

About the two films releasing within a month on OTT, Bollamma says: “Our main aim was for people to see what we have made, for our content to reach a lot of people and that’s happening. A lot of times, I have seen people not going out of their homes because there are lots of problems- they have pets at home or they have kids, and all these people who have stopped going out to watch movies, everybody can watch movies now, everyone. So, it’s a good thing.”

In Telugu film Middle Class Melodies, Bollamma plays the role of Sandhya.

“Sandhya is this girl who is in love. So, they say if you are in love you cannot be scared of the world, right? But Sandhya is extremely scared,” she says.

“She is this person who always thinks about her family, her father, so she is not able to express her feelings and she bottles all of it up. It’s a very sweet role that has been written very well. The dialogues are less but the way she expresses is really sweet.”

Filming for Middle Class Melodies brought back fond memories from school, says Bollamma. “I think we had a scene where I am filling up a slambook, it was fun because our whole school life was about filling up slam books.”

Bollamma has recently wrapped up shooting for a Tamil film. She will soon begin shooting for a Telugu and Tamil film, both of which she has recently signed.

Manne Number 13 and Middle Class Melodies will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video from November 19 and November 26 respectively.

Soumitra Chatterjee: Kolkata Bids a Tearful Farewell to Last Cinematic Legend

BY Kathakali Nandi On

Veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee died on November 15 due to complications related to Covid-19 at a private hospital in Kolkata.

Soon after doctors declared the 85-year-old actor dead, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rushed to Belle Vue Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment, and visited his family members. Addressing media persons, she announced that Chatterjee’s body would be kept at several points in the city for people to pay their last respects to the actor.

Chatterjee’s body was first taken to his residence at Golf Green area of Kolkata and was then taken to  Technician’s Studio in Tollygunge area, the nerve-centre of  the Bengali film industry, for film technicians to pay their respects. His body was then kept for two hours at the Rabindra Sadan cultural complex, where the public was allowed to pay their last respects. Several members of the Bengali film and television industry, as well as political leaders paid their respects to Chatterjee at Rabindra Sadan. People turned up in large numbers to bid farewell to their favourite Feluda.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pays her respect to late actor Soumitra Chatterjee in Kolkata on November 15. Photo by Viral Bhayani.
Left Front chairperson Biman Bose (centre) lays a garland on late actor Soumitra Chatterjee along with CPI(M) state secretary Surjyakanta Mishra (extreme left) and CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty (right). Photo by Viral Bhayani.

From Rabindra Sadan, Chatterjee’s body was taken to Keoratola crematorium for his funeral. Despite Covid-19 regulations in place, hundreds of people participated in the procession that led Chatterjee’s body to the crematorium from Rabindra Sadan.

Chatterjee, who identified himself as a Marxist, never shied away from making bold political statements and was open about his political leanings towards the then ruling CPI(M) government in Bengal. He even worked on films that had strong political undertones in the plot lines. In 2007, when the state’s intellectuals were voicing their opinions against the then CPI(M) government’s land acquisition in Nandigram, Chatterjee stood by the state government, despite facing criticisms. An open critic of Rightist politics, he had publicly criticised Modi for introducing the Citizenship Amendment Act. Earlier this year, the thespian had penned an article for the Durga Puja edition of Ganashakti, the Bengali mouthpiece of the CPI(M), titled Ekhono Biswas Kori Bamponthai Bikolpo (I sill believe Leftist ideology is the alternative).

In a fitting farewell and an unprecedented gesture, his funeral procession saw the participation of leaders from both the Left Front as well as the Trinamool Congress. While Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee led the procession; Left Front chairperson Biman Bose, CPI(M) state secretary Surjyakanta Mishra and CPI(M) leader and MLA Sujan Chakraborty walked along with the crowds to pay their last tributes to their comrade.

As the procession walked along the streets of Kolkata, people sung songs composed by Rabindranath Tagore to celebrate Chatterjee and the expansive body of films he had worked on. As the procession passed by, many people stood silently, holding candles in honour of Chatterjee. People carried banners and photos of Chatterjee as they walked behind the hearse carrying Chatterjee’s body.

People walk along in the funeral procession of actor Soumitra Chatterjee in Kolkata on November 15. Photo by Viral Bhayani.

As per the chief minister’s announcement, Chatterjee was given full state honours at his funeral. Besides Chatterjee’s family, his funeral was attended by the chief minister, Left Front leaders Bose, Mishra, Chakraborty, and several film personalities. He was honoured with a gun salute by the Kolkata Police.

Over a six-decade-long career, Chatterjee has acted in almost 200 films and has worked closely with master filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Out of the 36 films that Ray made, 14 of them were with Chatterjee. Chatterjee debuted in Ray’s Apur Sansar (1959), the third film in the Apu Trilogy and went on to act in iconic films like the Feluda series, Devi (1960), Charulata (1964), Aranyer Din Ratri (1970), Ghare Baire (1984), and many more. On the advice of Ray, he took up commercial film projects and worked on some memorable films, at a time when Uttam Kumar was the reigning star of commercial Bengali cinema.

As news of his death spread, many news organisations across the world recalled Chatterjee’s iconic performances and penned tributes in honour of the late actor.

Sharing photos by Nemai Ghosh, a renowned photographer who worked with Ray for over two decades, BBC quoted an excerpt from an interview with film critic and biographer Marie Seton.

“I didn’t know what to do when Mr Ray first asked me. I didn’t know what was the real difference between stage and screen acting. I was afraid I’d overact,” he told Marie Seton.

“His chief asset was the natural sensitivity of his appearance,” Seton wrote of the actor.

Calling the veteran actor a “frequent Satyajit Ray collaborator”, Variety reported that the actor had 10 films ready for release at the time of his death and he continued his association with theatre till the end.

“Soumitra Chatterjee is an ‘idea’ which is slowly fading away amongst us. The all encompassing persona of a Renaissance man,” Suman Ghosh, who directed Chatterjee in Podokkhep told Variety. “He had an intensely exploratory mind which wanted to enquire and explore many facets of life, which revealed through his writings, poetry, theater and of course cinema. I hope he is remembered beyond just being an internationally renowned actor.”

Elaborating on the actor’s preference to work solely in Bengali cinema, AP wrote: “Despite his immense popularity in Bengali-language cinema, Chatterjee stayed away from Bollywood. But for 90 million Bengalis, he was a cultural icon and an unforgettable star.”

In 1999, Chatterjee became the only Indian film personality to be conferred with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s highest award for artists. In 2017, he was honoured with France’s highest civilian award, the Chevalier of Legion of Honour.

Expressing his grief, Ambassador of France Emmanuel Lenain took to Twitter to offer his condolences.

Mexico Selects I’m No Longer Here as Official Oscar Entry 

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Mexico selected I’m No Longer Here, the Spanish film, as its official entry for Oscars on Monday. Deadline reported that the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences has chosen the Fernando Frais de la Parra directorial venture for this year’s International Feature Film race at the Oscars.

The film is written and directed by de la Parra and features Juan Daniel Garcia Trevino and Angelina Chen in the lead roles.

The story revolves around a young local gang leader (played by Trevino) who relocates to Queens, in New York, after an altercation with a local drug cartel. What follows is a battle for survival for a homeless and penniless youngster.

Prior to its Oscar run, the film made a mark at some international film festivals, including the Morelia International Film Festival 2019 (where it won the Audience Award and the Best Feature Film Award), and the Cairo International Film Festival 2019 (where Trevino bagged the Best Actor Award and the film took home the Golden Pyramid Best Film Award).

The film also received 10 Ariel Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and is Mexico’s official submission for Spain’s Goya Awards. It is produced by Frias along with Alberto Muffelmann, Gerry Kim, and Gerardo Gatica.

It premiered at the 2019 Morelia International Film Festival and released on Netflix on May 27, as the OTT giant had bought the rights of the film back in 2018.

In April, the Academy Awards had announced that films which were intended to have a theatrical release but were released on streaming platforms were also eligible for entry.

Mexico has seen a total of nine nominations for the Oscars’ International Feature Race. The 2018 film Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, was the last Mexican film to have won an Oscar.

Indonesia announced on November 11 that the 2019 horror film Impetigore (Perempuan Tanah Jahanam) will be the South-Asian country’s official entry for Oscars. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is the only horror film to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Other horror films that have earned a nomination include, The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), The Sixth Sense (1999), Black Swan (2010), and Get Out (2017).

Helmed and penned by Joko Anwar, the film was chosen out of 59 Indonesian films by the Oscar Submission Selection Committee in Indonesia led by celebrated filmmaker Garin Nugroho.

It won the Méliès International Festivals Federation Award for Best Asian Film at the 2020 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea, and dominated the nominations at the 2020 Indonesian Film Festival by receiving a total of 17 nominations.

While India is yet to announce its Oscar entry, three Indian filmmakers have been invited to the Oscars 2021 jury- Nishtha Jain, Shirley Abraham, and Amit Madhesiya. 

Some other entries include Japan’s True Mothers, Germany’s  And Tomorrow the Entire World, Czech Republic’s Charlatan, and South Korea’s The Man Standing Next. Netflix has pitched four films for the Oscar race- Mank, The Trial of Chicago 7, Da 5 Bloods, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

People’s Choice Awards 2020: Zendaya, BTS, Ariana Grande, Will Smith Take Trophies Home

BY Anindita Banerjee On

Among several A-list nominations for this year’s People’s Choice Awards, BTS, Tiffany Hadish, Will Smith, and Zendaya were among the ones to take the trophies home.

The ceremony was held virtually this year on Monday, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. American pop star Demi Lovato hosted the show, which aired live from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. Instead of a live audience at the PCA 2020 this time, the stage was surrounded by video screens of people watching at home.

Here’s a list of winners and nominees in some of the categories this year:

MOVIES

THE MOVIE OF 2020
Bad Boys for Life (WINNER)
Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Extraction
Hamilton
Project Power
The Invisible Man
The Old Guard
Trolls World Tour

THE MALE MOVIE STAR OF 2020
Will Smith, Bad Boys for Life (WINNER) 
Chris Hemsworth, Extraction
Jamie Foxx, Project Power
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Mark Wahlberg, Spenser Confidential
Robert Downey Jr., Dolittle
Tom Hanks, Greyhound
Vin Diesel, Bloodshot

THE FEMALE MOVIE STAR OF 2020
Tiffany Haddish, Like A Boss (WINNER)
Camila Mendes, Dangerous Lies
Charlize Theron, The Old Guard
Elisabeth Moss, The Invisible Man
Issa Rae, The Lovebirds
Margot Robbie, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Salma Hayek, Like a Boss
Vanessa Hudgens, Bad Boys for Life

TV

THE SHOW OF 2020
Grey’s Anatomy (WINNER)
Never Have I Ever
Outer Banks
The Bachelor
The Last Dance
The Masked Singer
This Is Us
Tiger King

THE MALE TV STAR OF 2020
Cole Sprouse, Riverdale (WINNER)
Chase Stokes, Outer Banks
Dan Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Jesse Williams, Grey’s Anatomy
Norman Reedus, The Walking Dead
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Steve Carell, Space Force

THE FEMALE TV STAR OF 2020
Ellen Pompeo, Grey’s Anatomy (WINNER)
Christina Applegate, Dead To Me
Danai Gurira, The Walking Dead
Lili Reinhart, Riverdale
Mandy Moore, This Is Us
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: SVU
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Sofía Vergara, Modern Family

MUSIC

THE MALE ARTIST OF 2020
Justin Bieber (WINNER)
Bad Bunny
Blake Shelton
DaBaby
Drake
J Balvin
Lil Baby
The Weeknd

THE FEMALE ARTIST OF 2020
Ariana Grande (WINNER)
Billie Eilish
Cardi B
Dua Lipa
Lady Gaga
Megan Thee Stallion
Miley Cyrus
Taylor Swift

THE GROUP OF 2020
BTS (WINNER)
5 Seconds of Summer
BLACKPINK
Chloe X Halle
CNCO
Dan + Shay
Jonas Brothers
Twenty One pilots

THE SONG OF 2020
Dynamite, BTS (WINNER)
Break My Heart, Dua Lipa
Intentions, Justin Bieber
Rain On Me, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande
Rockstar, DaBaby ft Roddy Ricch
Savage, Megan Thee Stallion
Stuck With U, Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber
WAP, Cardi B ft Megan Thee Stallion

THE ALBUM OF 2020
Map of the Soul: 7, BTS (WINNER)
After Hours, The Weeknd
High Off Life, Future
Changes, Justin Bieber
Chromatica, Lady Gaga
Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa
Folklore, Taylor Swift
YHLQMDLG, Bad Bunny

THE MUSIC VIDEO OF 2020
Dynamite, BTS (WINNER)
Blinding Lights, The Weeknd
Holy, Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper
Ice Cream, BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez
Life Is Good, Future ft Drake
Rain On Me, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande
UN DIA, J Balvin, Dua Lip, Bad Bunny
WAP, Cardi B ft Megan Thee Stallion

POP CULTURE

THE SOCIAL CELEBRITY OF 2020
Ariana Grande (WINNER)
Britney Spears
Justin Bieber
Kim Kardashian West
Kylie Jenner
Lady Gaga
LeBron James
Selena Gomez

THE STYLE STAR OF 2020
Zendaya (WINNER)
Janelle Monáe
Kendall Jenner
Kim Kardashian West
Lady Gaga
Lil Nas X
Rihanna
Timothee Chalamet

To check out all the winners in the 44 categories, click here.

Agni Siragugal: Vijay Antony, Akshara Haasan, Arun Vijay Wrap Up Shooting

BY Anindita Banerjee On

The shooting of Agni Siragugal, starring Arun Vijay, Vijay Antony and Akshara Haasan, was wrapped up in Kolkata. The film, directed by Naveen, is an action-thriller.

The first schedule of the film was shot in Chennai and Kolkata, where the action sequences were filmed. The second leg of shooting was done in Moscow and St Petersburg, followed by Almaty in Kazakhstan. The last leg was once again shot in the City of Joy.

Talking about the completion of the shoot, Naveen said: “It’s been a challenging phase, like any other shoot happening over the world. However, it’s the team spirit that keeps everyone going, and as a filmmaker, I am blessed to find that in abundance with the Agni Siragugal team. We have now completed shooting the final schedule of this film in Kolkata, that involved some crucial scenes. I am spellbound over the performances of Vijay Antony and Akshara Hassan. The overall experience of shooting for Agni Siragugal has been amazing. With the shooting wrapped up now, it will be followed by the immediate commencement of postproduction work.”

Along with Arun, Vijay, and Haasan, the film also stars Sampath, J Satish Kumar, Raima Sen, Sendrayan alongside few more actors. Music has been composed by Natarajan Sankaran, while cinematography has been done by KA Batcha. Vetrivelan K is the editor and the stunt direction is by Mahesh Mathew.

Earlier, talking about the film with The Times of India,Naveen had said: “Arun Vijay and Vijay Antony are in a profession that involves violence. But their morals are different. And that’s what makes this action thriller different. Arun plays a carefree guy. There is no room for sympathy or sentiment in his life. His walk, smile, and attitude are all laid-back. You can see the confidence in him when he approaches you. He carries that confidence because of his attitude.”

The film is produced by T Siva of Amma Creations.

Soumitra Chatterjee: Much More than Apu and Bengal’s Favourite Feluda

BY Anindita Banerjee On

The world was first introduced to Soumitra Chatterjee as Apu- a sensitive, conscientious, and diligent young man- by Satyajit Ray in Apur Sansar (1959). We see the actor’s smiling face for the first time on-screen as he says, “Acha, choli sir. (Okay. I’m leaving, sir.)”.

Chatterjee may have left his earthly presence, but his aura still lives and breathes in the hearts of everyone who watched his magnificent cinematic journey.

Born to Mohit Kumar Chatterjee and Ashalata Chatterjee in the Sealdah area of Kolkata in West Bengal on January 19, 1935, a young Chatterjee was highly influenced by theatre as both his father and grandfather were theatre actors. After graduating from City College, Kolkata, in Bengali literature, he later pursued a master’s degree in the same subject from the University of Calcutta. As a student, he not only performed in college theatre productions, but was also being mentored by theatre stalwarts like Sisir Bhaduri and Ahindra Choudhury. Meanwhile, he was also on the lookout to debut on the silver screen.

After being rejected for a role in Neelachaler Mahaprabhu, he approached auteur Satyajit Ray and expressed his interest to act as Apu in Aparajito (1956), the second film in Ray’s Apu Trilogy, but was rejected as Ray thought he was too old to play an adolescent Apu. Ray, however, had decided to cast the young actor in the third film in the series, Apur Sansar. On May 1, 1959, Chatterjee and Ray came together with the cinematic brilliance- Apur Sansar, which went on to win the National Award for Best Feature Film that year. What followed was a great camaraderie between the director and the actor, who went on to work together in 14 films, including the famous Feluda series.

A still from Apur Sansar

With Ray, Chatterjee experimented and performed different roles, adding to the volume of illustrious career. In Charulata (1964), we see him as an ardent literature aficionado and an intellectual companion to his lonely sister-in-law, while in Samapti (part of Teen Kanya, a three-film anthology film which released in 1961), he portrays a headstrong, educated young man who marries a girl of his own choice only to realise she’s too immature to be his wife.

However, Chatterjee became Bengal’s favourite private detective with his performance as dashing, young Prodosh Chandra Mitter aka Feluda, who solved the greatest of mysteries with his mogojastro (power of intelligence). Ray had, in fact, modelled Feluda along the lines of Chatterjee’s physical appearance when writing the character of the sleuth. Despite several other actors slipping into his shoes as Feluda; for Bengalis, Chatterjee has been the one and only Feluda.

In his 2006 memoir titled Manik Dar Shange (The Master and I), Chatterjee wrote about Ray: “All my life, I felt that he had always treated me like his own discovery, combined with a feeling of possessiveness — the way a father-figure always tries to shield his children from all dangers. But his possessiveness never curtailed my freedom. This became even more clear afterwards — when I started working with other directors too. I used to ask him, Manik-da, should I act in this particular film? He used to guide me, which was of immense help to me. Especially at the beginning of my acting life, this magnanimous assistance was extremely useful.”

The memoir was later translated to English by Arunava Sinha in 2014.

Chatterjee did not restrict himself to acting with just his mentor. At the time, Uttam Kumar was considered the reigning king of Bengali commercial cinema. Chatterjee went on to perform in commercial films, on the advice of Ray. He worked in Akash Kusum (1965) with Mrinal Sen, Jhinder Bondi (1961) with Tapan Sinha, Teen Bhubaner Pare (1969) with Ashutosh Bandyopadhyay, Parineeta (1969) with Ajoy Kar, Basanta Bilap (1973) with Dinen Gupta, Kony (1984) with Saroj Dey, and did many other films with notable directors during the time.

His iconic dialogue as a swimming coach in Kony- “Fight Kony, fight”- became Bengalis’ popular catch-phrase. In an interview in 2012, Chatterjee said he would often chant the dialogue to “lift his ageing spirits”.

In the 1980s and 90s, when Bengali cinema was undergoing a change, Chatterjee didn’t shy away from working with contemporary directors like Goutam Ghose, Aparna Sen, Anjan Das, and Rituparno Ghosh. His famous films during from this period include Ghosh’s Asukh (1999), Sen’s Paromitar Ek Din (2000), Abhijit Chowdhury’s Patalghar (2003), Sandip Ray’s Nishijapon (2005), Ghose’s Shunyo Awnko (2013), among other films. 

His sensitive, layered portrayal as an elderly book store owner who suddenly decides to divorce his wife of 49 years in Bele Seshe (a 2015 film directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee), earned him both critical and popular acclaim. The film was so successful that the makers went on to make a sequel, Bela Shuru, which was supposed to release this summer but was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.

A still from Bela Seshe

Chatterjee, however, never considered reaching out to Mumbai and working in Hindi films. He was apparently offered Anand by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Junoon by Shashi Kapoor, but he turned them down.

Even after becoming a superstar, Chatterjee returned to his first love- theatre. In 1978, he starred in his own production Naam Jibon. His oeuvre includes Rajkumar, Phera, Nilkantha, Ghatak Biday, Tiktiki, Homa Pakhi, and more. His most noted act in theatre is Raja Lear, a play directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay and based on King Lear by William Shakespeare.

Chatterjee was not just a star. He was a poet, painter, editor of a literary journal, and above all a bhadralok (gentleman). He wrote several volumes of poetry, prose collections and plays. Unlike many big names, the actor did not have security personnel accompanying him and was an approachable star. He continued to work till the time he tested positive with Covid-19 in October. Just before he fell ill, he was working on Abhijaan, a biopic of his own life directed by Parambrata Chatterjee. According to his daughter Poulomi Bose, he was disturbed by the lockdown and would spend time at his study room to write poetry and paint.

A staunch believer of Marxist ideologies, he did not hide his political leanings. He was regularly seen sharing the stage with CPI(M) leaders in West Bengal during the Left Front’s regime in the state. In 2007, when the state’s intellectuals were voicing their opinions against the then CPI(M) government’s land acquisition in Nandigram, Chatterjee stood by the state government, despite facing criticisms. His last published article was a Durga Puja special- titled Ekhono Biswas Kori Bamponthai Bikolpo (I still believe Leftist ideology is an alternative)- for Ganashakti, the Bengali mouthpiece of the CPI(M). An open critic of Rightist politics, he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Despite establishing his acting prowess, he continued to be snubbed by the National Film Awards committee. He was vocal about his disappointment in the award committee’s alleged bias in celebrating mainstream films. In 2001, the veteran actor refused the Special Jury Award for Goutam Ghose’s Dekha to protest the “biased attitude” of the Awards committee.

Later in 2006, he accepted the National Film Award for Best Actor for Podokkhep and later won two more National Film Awards.

He was decorated with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour given by the Indian government, in 2004, after turning down the Padma Shri in 1970s. In 1998, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. 

He received the Officier des Arts et Metiers, the highest award for arts conferred by France in 1999. In 2018, he received the Legion d’Honneur, the highest civilian honour conferred by France.

In 2012, he was conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in cinema by the Indian government, for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. 

A still from Apur Sansar

His greatest achievement, however, was the immense love he received from his fans. This probably motivated him to work till the last days of his life. Chatterjee will forever remain etched in everyone’s hearts for his iconic acting, his infectious smile, and his beautiful baritone voice.

At the entrance to heaven
A tourism poster hangs
I stand beneath it
Holding immigration papers

No more music now
No more of counting the stars
In the circus of fairies and nymphs

The band plays
Many hippos, many giraffes
And a walrus
Moving in a queue
Towards the entrance to heaven

Beneath the tourism poster
I wonder, floating in my dream,
When I will wake up
And tell the boy at the tea shop
Can you wash the cup in warm water
And give me some tea

– Soumitra Chatterjee

 

Aditya Roy Kapur to Star in Action-thriller OM – The Battle Within

BY Ramya Ashok Kumar On

Zee Studios on Monday revealed the title of actor Aditya Roy Kapur’s upcoming film, OM – The Battle Within. The film’s shooting is expected to begin in December and it is slated to release in the second half of next year.

The announcement comes on Kapur’s 35th birthday.

Tweeting a photo of Kapur, Zee Studios wrote, “On the occasion of #AdityaRoyKapur’s birthday, we present to you ‘#Om – The Battle Within’ produced by @ZeeStudios_, @khan_ahmedasas, and @shairaahmedkhan, directed by @itskapilverma.We are ecstatic to start shooting for this in December and release it in the second half of 2021.”

Ahmed Khan, one of the co-producers, also shared the news on Instagram and wrote, “Presenting @adityaroykapur in OM-the battle within on his birthday in an Action Avataar along with @zeestudiosofficial To be directed by @itskapilverma”

 

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A post shared by Team Ahmed Khan (@khan_ahmedasas)

OM – The Battle Within, billed as an out-and-out “commercial action” movie, is helmed by debutant director Kapil Verma, the son of action director Tinu Verma. The film is bankrolled by Zee Studios along with Ahmed Khan and Shaira Khan.

Kapur was last seen in Anurag Basu‘s anthology film Ludo, which released on Netflix on November 13. Along with Kapur, the movie also starred Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Bachchan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Rohit Saraf, and Pearle Maaney

He was also seen in Malang, directed by Mohit Suri, starring Anil Kapoor and Disha Patani. The film released earlier this year.

Talking about Ludo and Malang, Kapur told Mumbai Mirror: “Last year, around this time, I was juggling between the shoots of Malang and Ludo. Both films got me a lot of appreciation. Covid notwithstanding, this year has been a special one on the work front. I have been living with OM since the last few months now, and I am looking forward to the journey.”

American Junction: Soubin Shahir Releases His Film’s First Look

BY Namrata Ganguly On

Actor Soubin Shahir, who predominantly works in Malayalam films, released the first look poster of his upcoming Malayalam film American Junction on Sunday. The film is directed by Prem Sreekumar.

Making the announcement, the actor wrote: “Happy Diwali to all. Here’s the first look poster of American Junction directed by Prem Sreekumar, Written by Sibi Kaippan & Happy to team up with Shyju Unni after Parava.”

 

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A post shared by Soubin Shahir (@soubinshahir)

The first look poster of the movie shows a caricature of Shahir wearing American flag-tinted sunglasses with the stars on the left lens and red and white stripes on the right with coconut leaves in the background.

The film is written by Sibi Kaippan and produced by Shyju Unni under the banner of The Movie Club. The film marks Sreekumar’s fourth directorial. Making the announcement on Sunday, Shyju wrote on social media: “Soubi, it was great to be part of your directorial debut parava and looking forward working with you again. Along with director Prem sreekumar and writer Sibi Kaippan we will make a great team.”

The rest of the cast and crew of the film is yet to be finalised.

Shahir and Shyju had earlier worked on the former’s directorial debut, Parava, in 2017.

Actor and director Shahir, who made his acting debut in a supporting role with the National Award-winning 2013 Malayalam romantic drama film Annayum Rasoolum, was last seen in Halal Love Story, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video last month. The film co-stars Indrajith Sukumaran, Grace Antony, Joju George and Sharaf U Dheen in lead roles. Prior to that, he was seen in Trance, which released earlier this year.

The actor currently has movies Jack and Jill and Vellarikka Pattanam, (co-starring Manju Warrier),  Joothan (co-starring Rima Kallingal and Mamta Mohandas), Kallan D’souza and Djinn (co-starring Shine Tom Chacko and Sharaf U Dheen). He recently wrapped up shooting for Irul, which also stars Fahadh Faasil and Darshana Rajendran.

Soumitra Chatterjee: Nation Reveres Legendary Actor, Wakes Up to a World Without Apu

BY Kathakali Nandi On

Veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee died on Sunday at a private hospital in Kolkata, ending a brilliant six-decade-long career of stellar performances in notable films. The 85-year-old actor, who debuted in master filmmaker Satyajit Ray‘s Apur Sansar (1959), was considered to be Ray’s favourite actor and had acted in 14 of the auteur’s films. The thespian was often termed as the ‘thinking man’s actor’, who attained critical acclaim both in parallel and well as in commercial films.

As news of his death spread, people took to Twitter to mourn the death of one of the last cinematic legends.

Condoling Chatterjee’s death, President of India Ram Nath Kovind tweeted that he would be “specially remembered for the ‘Apu’ trilogy and other memorable performances in Satyajit Ray’s masterpieces”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote that he was “anguished” by the demise of Chatterjee and offered his condolences to the actor’s family and admirers.

Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee had visited Chatterjee’s family at the Belle Vue Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment, on Sunday afternoon. Addressing media persons, she had announced that the actor would be given full state honours at his funeral. Chatterjee’s body was kept at Rabindra Sadan for the public to pay their last respects and was then taken to the Keoratola crematorium for his last rites. On Sunday evening, Banerjee walked along with a procession that led his body to Keoratola from Rabindra Sadan. Tweeting her condolences for the actor, Banerjee wrote “the film world in Bengal has been orphaned”.

Sharing her anecdotes of working alongside Chatterjee, actor Sharmila Tagore– who had also debuted in Apur Sansar- said she was yet to come across a person as learned as Chatterjee.

“I’ve lost a very dear, old and loyal friend… He didn’t just act in films, he worked in theatre, painted, did elocution. I’m very sad today. He may have left us but he will be with us forever,” she told a news channel.

She recalled the “lovely memories” of long chats with him and the rest of the cast during the outdoor shoots of Ray’s Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) and filmmaker Goutam Ghose’s Abar Aranye (2003). “He was so learned, regarding so many things- cinema, theatre, books, politics. I would only listen and learn. I regret not recording all those conversations,” she added.

Actor and filmmaker Aparna Sen, who debuted in Ray’s Samapti (in 1961, opposite Chatterjee), which was part of the three-film anthology Teen Kanya, recalled him as her first co-star and said she would initially call him ‘Soumitra Kaku’ (uncle). Sen went on to direct Chatterjee in her National Award-winning films Paromitar Ek Din (2000) and 15 Park Avenue (2005).

“He would tease me saying ‘here’s our famous director, why don’t you cast me in one of your films?’. He has given several notable performances but I consider his performance in Paromitar Ek Din as one of his career best… We bonded over talking about our respective siblings. He was our family friend and was a good friend of my father’s,” Sen said.

Filmmaker Sandip Ray, who is also Satyajit Ray’s son, recalled the veteran actor as a family friend.

“I’ve lost a family friend whom I’ve known for 60 years. He was suffering for a long while. I last met him in September, when he was working on an archive of his acting, elocution, theatre and painting. He had a long association with my father and loved my father’s techniques,” he said.

Sharing a photo of Chatterjee and himself, veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan wrote that the “mightiest pillar of the film industry has fallen”.

Chatterjee was known for being a staunch supporter of the Left Front and never shied away from making political statements. In 2007, when the state’s intelligentsia were voicing their opinions against the then CPI(M) government’s land acquisition in Nandigram, Chatterjee stood by the state government, despite facing criticisms. An open critic of Rightist politics, he had publicly criticised Modi for introducing the Citizenship Amendment Act. Earlier this year, the thespian had penned an article for the Durga Puja edition of Ganashakti, the Bengali mouthpiece of the CPI(M), titled Ekhono Biswas Kori Bamponthai Bikolpo (I sill believe Leftist ideology is the alternative).

On Sunday evening, as hundreds of people walked behind Chatterjee’s hearse led by the chief minister, Left Front chairperson Biman Bose, CPI(M) state secretary Surjyakanta Mishra and CPI(M) leader and MLA Sujan Chakraborty walked along with the crowds to pay their last tributes to their comrade.

In a statement, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya wrote: “The death of Soumitra Chatterjee is deeply tragic. Bengali cinema will forever be indebted to him. Condolences to his family and well wishers.”

Congress MP and senior leader of the party Shashi Tharoor wrote on Twitter: “A legend is lost to #COVID19, but for those of us who admired his work, Soumitra Chatterjee remains immortal. I had the privilege of meeting him in his prime & was struck by his grace & humility, so rare in the megastars of today. Kolkata mourns its fav son.”

Sharing a photo of Chatterjee, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “It’s sad to hear of the demise of Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Shri Soumitra Chatterjee, an actor par excellence who the nation has revered over the years.”

Sylvester Stallone Joins the Cast of The Suicide Squad

BY Ramya Ashok Kumar On

Actor Sylvester Stallone will be joining the cast of The Suicide Squad, confirmed the movie’s director James Gunn on Sunday.

Gunn shared a photo of himself along with the actor on Instagram and wrote, “Always love working with my friend @officialslystallone & our work today on #TheSuicideSquad was no exception. Despite Sly being an iconic movie star, most people still don’t have any idea what an amazing actor this guy is.”

 

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A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn)

Stallone, too, confirmed the news by sharing a screenshot of an article announcing his casting on Instagram and wrote, “Working with this incredible Director on this astounding project has made this an amazing year. I am a very lucky man to be surrounded by such talent.! #Warner Bros.”

Gunn had announced the cast and released an extended behind-the-scenes look of the movie during the DC FanDome virtual convention in August. Stallone will appear alongside the likes of Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena and Pete Davidson.

While Robbie will be reprising her role as Harley Quinn, Cena will play Peacemaker and Davidson will play Blackguard. Elba was initially cast to replace Will Smith, who played Deadshot, but was later cast as a new character, Bloodsport. Steve Agee will be playing the role of King Shark, the antagonist of the film.

The first film, Suicide Squad, was written and directed by David Ayer. Despite the movie grossing $756.8 million globally, it was considered a creative disappointment. In 2017, Gavin O’Connor was signed to write and direct the sequel, but he left in a year.

Gunn was signed in as the director of the sequel to Suicide Squad in 2018 after he was fired by Disney from directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 for posting a series of tweets making light of rape and pedophilia. The movie is expected to release in theatres on August 6, 2021.

Ludo Review: Four Chaotic Narrative Threads that Offer a Few Laughs Along the Way

BY Swathy R Iyer On

Director: Anurag Basu

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanya Malhotra, Rajkummar Rao, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Pearle Maaney, Rohit Saraf,  Shalini Vatsa, Rahul Bagga, Anurag Basu, Aman Bhagat, Asha Negi, Krishan Rathee, Vishal Tiwari

Ludo, named after the popular four-player board game –  the app version of which made quite a splash in India during the lockdown – opens with two unnamed characters who sit down to play the game on a smartphone. One of them (played by the film’s director Anurag Basu) says to the other “What are human beings? Just different coloured tokens on the board of life.”

In Basu’s latest, a colour pallet-driven hyperlink cinema, four chaotic narrative threads collide at various points, come to a momentary standstill at others, offering a few laughs along the way.

Akash (played by Aditya Roy Kapur), a standup comedian discovers one day that someone had taped him and his ex-lover Shruti (played by Sanya Malhotra) having sex in a hotel room and uploaded it on the internet. Making things worse for Shruti is the fact that she is getting married in a couple of days in a grandiose, destination dream wedding. Bittu (played by Abhishek Bachchan) is a former ruffian who gets separated from both his wife and baby after landing up in jail right after he decides to mend his ways. Aalu (played by Rajkummar Rao) is a waiter at a roadside dhaba who sincerely believes he is in a ‘one-sided relationship’ with a girl from his childhood- Pinky (played by Fatima Sana Shaikh) – who now happens to be married with a baby named Babu. Sheeja (played by Pearle Maaney) is a Malayali nurse in a strange city who chances upon Rahul (played by Rohit Saraf) and a suitcase loaded with cash, both on the same day. And tying them all together is Sattu Bhaiya (played by Pankaj Tripathi), the mobster, whose actions cause direct consequences in all four narratives.

In the film, Rao stands out and renders a near-perfect portrayal of the lovesick dhaba waiter Aalu who simply cannot say no his school-time crush Pinky. Every time Pinky comes to the dhaba, Rao is visibly rattled. He darts across the restaurant to another room where he breaks down in sobs. That she always comes seeking a favour does not seem to dishearten Rao whose eyes always appear to be filled with hope as he says Bolo (tell me). Tripathi who is no stranger to playing the role of the mobster fits into the film with visible ease.

Basu does manage to bring a sense of realness to the characters in Ludo – visible in the scene where the nurse, Sheeja, tries to push Tripathi off a bridge so she can take off with his suitcase full of cash. She first ties his shoelaces together and then pokes him in the chest with her finger hoping that it would be enough to send him on a fatal fall. When a suspicious Pinky hops on her scooty to follow her husband, she does not change out of her nightwear, and later, when her husband gets arrested, a flustered Pinky shows up at the police station, clad, yet again, in nightwear.

What really salvages Ludo, however, is the brilliant use of colours throughout the film. Akash and Shruti’s narrative is built around the colour theme yellow. In their story we see a lot of things tinted with the same colour- the car they drive, the salwar kameez that Shruti wears when they first meet, the kurta Akash is seen in during his gig and the walls of hotel rooms they revisit, to name a few. In Bittu’s story, red is the prominent colour theme- seen in the flickering neon lights on his street, the towel that he uses and a van he drives later in the film.

All the positives notwithstanding, Ludo is a hit-and-miss affair. The in-your-face twists and turns, the linear manner in which the characters’ lives collide with each other, even the jokes – everything seems a bit laboured in Basu’s Ludo.

****

Ludo is streaming on Netflix.

****

The Ludo review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreenindia.com and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.

Pikchar With Rita: Mili and the Tender Ode to Longing and Missing

BY On

In my mother tongue Sindhi, the word sik is very special. It is longing, missing, remembering but avoids the temporality of the past or present.

Sik lagi aahe yaar jee, mohab mithe mann thaar je – would mean I want to be with; but also, I am thinking of the moments I have been with the yaar (god/human) and so on. The definite absence of the object of memory implied in ‘missing’  is missing, so to speak.

Some film songs create sik but use the word yaad, and the one that comes to mind is aaye tum yaad mujhe, gaane lagi har dhadkhan from the film Mili (1975) directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Sung superbly by Kishore Kumar to the music directed by SD Burman, the song is both a visual and aural treat. A pensive-looking, kurta pyjama– wearing Shekhar (played by Amitabh Bachchan) expresses, for once, a state of affection and tenderness to a neighbour who lives one floor below.

Mili (played by Jaya Bachchan) is not exactly the neighbour that I would first warm up to; she is an all-over-the-place neighbour. The one that barges into your life and home; and by being so gregarious makes you feel anti-social.

However, troubled souls are sometimes healed by simple means of being drawn out; of made to step out of self for a little while and appreciate little things. In a pesky neighbourhood, where everyone is supposed to like everyone, and lives bleed into each other, intruding, enriching, healing and hindering, an anti-social person draws much attention. Shekhar is angry all the time, with the world apparently, but really speaking with his self. Mili intuitively knows this and makes no fuss of a past that haunts him and creates this anger, except to draw his attention to what he might be able to give- a space to let children play and a telescopic view into the sky.

The relationship remains far from romantic, it builds just enough to have trust when Mili, who suffers from a terminal illness, falls seriously ill. The neighbourhood that hummed with activity has gone silent and a private man’s longing and love is made public while he sings in his house. Strange mixture this is of love that does not get spoken or heard in conversation, but finds its expression in verse and music, and one that is available for everyone to hear.

The words of this song do not particularly stand out for their lyrics; except that some of us would know when a literal and metaphoric reference has come together in a line such as jab mein raaton mein tare ginta hun, aur tere kadmon ki aahat sunta hun (when I count stars at night, and hear your approaching footsteps)- it is both the lover’s longing at night who gazes at the star-studded sky and fantasises the motion, but it is also the narrative link that makes this song integral to the story.

Shekhar had a telescope in his house and in showing Mili how to gaze at the stars; he opens up to the daily joys of meeting her and finding promise of life in her face. With Jaya Bhaduri (then) and Amitabh Bachchan in the lead roles, the film is often clubbed with Abhimaan, about the on-screen and off-screen couple, of which one  would retreat into the shadows of the other.

While the film has receded in significance for most, the song has lasted as a tender ode to both memory and promise from someone who lay closer to death than life. It is this dual element of something not being there; but infusing the present and the future by its promise that sik contains. I translate the affect of this song in my language and therefore the refrain aaye tum yaad mujhe.. brings for me associations of not yaad, but sik, a moment both over and waiting.

After all, songs are not about themselves alone, they are often about us.

Switzerland Review: Middle-class Aspirations Turn Too Ambitious, With No Sight of the Swiss Alps

BY Kathakali Nandi On

Director: Sauvik Kundu

Cast: Abir Chatterjee, Rukmini Maitra, Ambarish Bhattacharya, Alokananda Roy Mukherjea, Biswanath Basu

In Switzerland, Sauvik Kundu’s directorial debut, everybody is nice. And those who are not, will become nice by the time the movie ends – the arrogant aunt, the neighbour’s son and the law-abiding police officer.

The premise is simple – nice guy Shibu (Abir Chatterjee), a devoted husband and father, leads a mundane but content life as a salesperson at a car showroom in Kolkata. His nice wife Rumi (Rukmini Maitra) is a geography teacher at a school and a loving mother of two nice, young girls – Diya and Riya. Although Rumi’s nice parents are rich (which is established by showing her parents living in a palatial house by the Ganges in Chandannagar and her father riding a chauffeur-driven Audi), Rumi leads an ordinary, middle-class life in a small apartment but has no complaints with the life she chose. During an uncomfortable lunch at Rumi’s parent’s house, when Shibu is pushed to the edge by the taunts of her snobbish aunt; he blurts out that he is taking his family to Switzerland for a vacation. The rest of the film is about how Shibu goes on a quest to realise this seemingly impossible dream.

The film is drab and laden with pointless subplots – an elderly couple who live next door to Shibu and Rumi, who are indebted, literally and figuratively, to Shibu for the time and attention he showers on them as they continue to get snubbed by their only son living abroad. And a track about Rumi’s aunt (Alokananda Roy Mukherjea), who disapproves of Rumi for going against the family and marrying Shibu. She is the flag bearer of tradition in the family and looks for opportunities to remind Shibu that he is poor. Since she is one of the very few unpleasant characters in the film, we are told why she behaves the way she does – a sad soul who was forced to give up her dreams of becoming a dancer, married off young and soon widowed. Towards the end, expectedly, she and her haughty son turn nice.

The most disappointing part of the film is the depiction of a middle-class Bengali families and their aspirations. Bengalis are known for their love for travel and their affinity for DiPuDa- Digha, Puri, Darjeeling. While there’s nothing wrong in a middle-class couple saving every penny for a much-awaited, once-in-a-lifetime foreign trip, it becomes upsetting when the film looks down upon Bengalis’ favourite, affordable travel destinations and projects a foreign trip as the be-all and end-all of an average middle-class person. It is as though the director sees middle-class Bengalis from the perspective of Rumi’s aunt.

Rumi is an unsettling contradiction – she is both a headstrong, modern, financially independent woman, and is also petty, miserly wife who snitches money off her husband’s wallet. This is especially unsettling since we are told that she chose love over money when she married Shibu.

Maitra, still early into her career, struggles under the weight of Rumi’s character. She looks far too young to be a mother of an eight-year-old child, too glamorous to be a school teacher and middle-class wife.

Chatterjee, as Shibu, is perhaps the only positive in the film. A brilliant performer, you feel for him when he is being bullied by Rumi’s aunt and her son for not being able to afford a trip in three years. Your heart goes out to him when he is in a dilemma over whether to donate his hard-earned Rs 1 lakh to his elderly neighbour at a moment of crisis. When he is locked up by the police for gambling, Rumi rushes to the police station and pleads with the officer-in-charge to let him go. Shibu weeps silently and watches helplessly from behind the bars as his wife grovels for his freedom.

In an otherwise shoddily executed film, what works is the layered characterisation of Shibu and Rumi. Just when you start judging Shibu for being egoistical and stubborn, you realise he is embarking on a difficult financial journey only to fulfil his wife’s only dream. When Shibu visits his impoverished college friend to extract money that he had loaned many moons ago, he returns home empty-handed when he realises that his friend needs it more than he does. To help make more money, Shibu starts driving a cab after office hours, but keeps it a secret from Rumi. When his father-in-law accidentally finds out, he does not judge his over-ambitious son-in-law, neither does he patronisingly offer to lend him money, he simply shares a cup of tea and advises Shibu to come clean to Rumi.

Rumi stands by her husband’s ambition of holidaying at the Swiss Alps. She fires the domestic help and takes up tuition classes to help fund their vacation. She knows Shibu hates her aunt but is too polite to say it out loud, so she gives him a free hand of talking back at her. A loyal and proud wife, she quietly rebels against her snooty aunt and does not visit her parents for an entire year, when the taunts against her husband become thorny. When a distraught Shibu calls her to ask whether to give away money to the elderly neighbour, she agrees but cannot hide her disappointment later.

Shibu, the movie tells us, is already paying instalments for loans taken to fund his house and car, which is why he cannot take another loan for the Switzerland trip. He, therefore, suggests that the family give up on expensive food items like ilish (Hilsa fish), chingri (prawn) and mutton for a year. In the end, perhaps what Shibu and Rumi needed was a financial adviser. That might have saved them from all the unnecessary drama and allowed them to enjoy an ilish or two.

****

The Switzerland review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreenindia.com and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.

Master Teaser Starring Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi

Master – Starring Thalapathy Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi, Malavika Mohanan, Andrea Jeremiah, Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Arjun Das

Written & Directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj
Produced by Xavier Britto
Co-Produced by Lalit Kumar & Jagadish Palanisamy
Music – Anirudh Ravichander
DOP – Sathyan Sooryan
Art Director – Sathees Kumar
Editor – Philomin Raj
Lyrics – Arunraja Kamaraj, Vigneshshivn, Vishnu Edavan, Arivu
Stunts – Stunt Silva
Choreography – Dinesh, Sathish
Executive Producer – R Udayakumar
Managers – KTS.Swaminathan, Balamurugan, Viswanathan, Jeyaprakash, Suresh Kanagaraj
Sound Design – Sync Cinema
Sound Mix – Kannan Ganpat
Costume Designer – Pallavi Singh
Chief Make-Up Artist – P.Nagaraj & Preethi Sheel
Costumer – V.Sai
DI – Igene
VFX – Unifi Media
DI Colorist – Ranga
Publicity Design – Gopi Prasannaa
Stills – Maneksha
PRO – Riaz K Ahmed
Music on – Sony Music Entertainment
Asso. Directors – Magesh Balasubramaniam, Santhosh Krishnan, Sathya, Venki, Logi, Vishnu Edavan

Cinderella Teaser Starring Raai Laxmi, Sakshi Agarwal

Cinderella is a horror film directed by Vinoo Venketesh, starring Raai Laxmi in the lead roles.

Cast: Raai Laxmi, Sakshi Agarwal

Crew: Vinoo Venketesh (Director), Rammy (Director of Photography), Ashwamithra (Music Director), Manimozhian Ramadurai (Art Director)
Production Company: SSI Production
Screenplay Writer: Vinoo Venketesh
Choreographer: Sujay Srinivas
Stunt Director: Hari Dinesh
Editor: Lawrence Kishore
Genres: Drama, Horror
Tamil Name: சிண்ட்ரெல்லா

MGR Magan Teaser Starring Sasikumar, Mirnalini Ravi, Sathyaraj

Movie – MGR Magan
Cast – Sasikumar, Mirnalini Ravi, Sathyaraj, Samuthrakani, Saranya Ponvannan, Nandhitha Swetha, Singampuli, Pazha Karupiah, Mottai Rajendran, Ramachandran

Written & Directed by – Ponram
Music Director – Anthony Daasan
Cinematographer – Vinoth Rathinasamy
Editor – Vivek Harshan
Art Director – G.Durairaj
Stunts – Stunt Silva
Lyricist – Yugabharathi / Anthony Daasan / Kadal Venthan / Murugan Manthiram
Dolby Atmos Mix – T.Udhayakumar
Choreographers – Dhinesh / Brindha / Dheena
Vfx Designers – Gemini FX
Stills – Komalam Ranjith
Publicity Designers – Clinton Roach S
PRO – Nikil Murugan

Line Producer – Saravanan
Executive Producers – Siddharth Ravipati | senthil Kumar.
Production – Screen Scene Media Entertainment

Music Label – Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.

Eeswaran Teaser Starring Silambarasan

Madhav Media – Balaji Kappa Presents
D Company – KV Durai & MDM Sharfudden production

Silambarasan TR
in & as
“Eeswaran”

A Susienthiran Film

Music by Thaman S
DOP – Thirunavukkarasu
Editor – Anthony
Art – Rajeevan

Eeswaran Teaser Musicians Credits :
Programmed & Arranged By Thaman S
Live Percussions – Sukumar
Krishna Kishore Buddhar Kalai Kuzhu
Thumba Raja Veda Lakhsmi Narayan Raju Team Kaviraj & Sruthi
Additional Percussions – Thamania
Harmonies – Ananthu Deepak & Team
Chennai String Section – Conducted By Prabhakar Assisted By Ravi Raghav Additional Solar Horns – Osho V
Recorded At V Studios ( Chn ) Yrf ( Mumbai ) Vgp ( Chn )
Mixed & Mastered By Shadab Rayeen
At New Edge ( Mumbai ) & New Edge Ny
Assisted By Abhishek & Tapas
Musicians Co Ordinator – Manigandan
Studio Assistance – Kannan Seenu & Lingam

Balaji Kesavan | Sekar B | Yugabharathi | Dinesh Kasi | Shobi | Uthra Menon | Antony Xavier | Sarath Nivash | Hariharasuthan | Aakash Balaji | BeatRoute | Daboo Ratnani | Tuney John, 24 AM | Arun Arunachalam

Kabadadaari Teaser Starring Sibiraj

Producer: Dr.G.Dhananjayan & Lalitha Dhananjayan
Director: Pradeep Krishnamoorthy
Cinematography: Rasamathi
Music Director: Simon K King
Editor: K.L. Praveen
Art Director: Videsh
Action Choreography: Stunt Silva
Cast & Crew: Sibi Sathyaraj,Nandita Swetha, Nasser, Jayaprakash, Suman Ranganath, JSK Sathish Kumar, Sampath

Teaser Conceptualised by – Parthibhan Ravi (Studio Shades)
Teaser Edited by – Kavin Adithya
Sound Design : Krishnan Subramanian
Sound Mixing : S Sivakumar
Sound Design & Mix Studio : AM Studio

Doctor: Sivakarthikeyan Unveils Motion Poster of his Upcoming Film

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Actor Sivakarthikeyan released the motion poster of his upcoming Tamil film Doctor on social media on Saturday and announced that the film will release next year in summer.

The motion poster, which features strong musical beats, introduces the cast of the film. The clip features a desk full of surgical equipment, a body organ, and a gun. Directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, the film stars Priyanka Arul Mohan, Vinay, Yogi Babu, Ilavarasu, and Archana in pivotal roles.

The film’s shooting was completed before the Covid-19 pandemic set in and was supposed to release earlier this year. The release, however, was delayed due to the lockdown.

As per a report by India Today, post-production was started from May and the film went on floors last December. A majority of the film was shot in Goa.

The first look poster was unveiled in February and featured Sivakarthikeyan seated on a chair with bloodied surgical gloves and a knife in his hand. Reportedly, the film is based on organ trafficking.

The film is produced by Sivakarthikeyan and Kalai Arasu under their respective banners, Sivakarthikeyan Productions and KJR Studios. Anirudh Ravichander is composing music. While Vijay Kartik Kannan is the cinematographer, Nirmal is on the edit.

Sivakarthikeyan was last seen in the 2019 film Hero, that featured Abhay Deol, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Ivana in prominent roles. He is working on the science-fiction film Ayalaan, alongside Rakul Preet Singh. It will be directed by Ravikumar and produced by KJR Studios.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Arul Mohan was last seen in the 2019 Telugu film Gang Leader.

Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom to Contest for Best Picture Award at Oscars Next Year

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Netflix has pitched its upcoming film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom for the Best Picture Award at the 93rd Academy Awards.

According to a Variety report, the film is the OTT platform’s fourth contender for the awards after The Trial of Chicago 7, Mank, and Da 5 Bloods.

Directed by George C Wolfe, the film features Viola Davis as Ma Rainey along with Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, and Michael Potts. The film is an adaptation of August Wilson’s play by the same name.

The film marks the last performance of late Black Panther actor, Boseman, who died of cancer in August. Boseman is also Netflix’s contender for the Best Actor in the Lead Role (Male) category for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Oscars. He also features in Da 5 Bloods directed by Spike Lee.

The streaming platform also has the actor contending at the Gotham Awards 2020 for the Best Actor award for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. 

Boseman was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2016 and is the first person to have two posthumous acting nominations during the same year.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom revolves around the title character, Ma Rainey, who is one of the first generation Blues singers to record. Produced by Todd Black, Denzel Washington, and Dany Wolf, the film’s screenwriter is Ruben Santiago-Hudson.

According to Variety, Boseman portrays Ma’s band member Levee, an ambitious trumpeter who aspired to make his own mark in the Chicago music scene by putting a contemporary spin on old-fashioned songs.

Blues is a musical form that was introduced by the African-Americans with roots in African musical traditions. It includes spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom of 1927, is one of the hundred recordings that she made. Set in Chicago, the musicians grapple with issues of race, music, relationships, and the exploitation of black music artists.

While the film will have a theatrical release in selected places in November, it will have a worldwide release on Netflix on December 18.

Ram Setu: Akshay Kumar Unveils Poster of His Next Film With Abhishek Sharma

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Actor Akshay Kumar unveiled the poster of his next film, Ram Setu, on social media on Saturday.

Released on the occasion of Diwali, the film’s poster attempted to mark the festival’s association with the Hindu deity Ram.

Releasing the poster both in English and Hindi, Akshay’s Instagram post read:

इस दीपावली,भारत राष्ट्र के आदर्श और महानायक भगवान श्री राम की पुण्य स्मृतियों को युगों – युगों तक भारत की चेतना में सुरक्षित रखने के लिए एक ऐसा सेतु बनाये जो आने वाले पीढ़ियों को राम से जोड़ कर रखे।इसी प्रयास में हमारा भी एक छोटा संकल्प है – राम सेतु
आप सबको दीपावली की शुभ कामनाएं l
#RamSetu #AbhishekSharma #CapeOfGoodFilms @abundantiaent

@ivikramix #DrChandraprakashDwivedi

In the poster, the actor can be seen wearing a saffron scarf and spectacles. Sporting a dishevelled look, the poster has Hindu deity Ram in the background. The poster also has a line that says, “Myth or Reality?” hinting towards the mythical elements involved in the building of Ram Setu (bridge) by Hindu deity Ram with the help of the Vaanar Sena (Monkey Army) from India to Sri Lanka in an effort to rescue his wife Sita.

The film will be directed by Abhishek Sharma and Chandraprakash Dwivedi will be the creative producer. Dwivedi will be also directing Akshay in Prithviraj.

The film will be produced by Arun Bhatia and Vikram Malhotra under the banner Abundantia Entertainment. Further details regarding the cast and technical crew have not been disclosed yet.

Akshay was last seen in Laxmii alongside Kiara Advani that premiered on Disney+Hotstar on Monday. The film is the Hindi remake of the 2011 Tamil film Kanchana. 

The actor also has a slew of projects lined up, including Bell Bottom and Atrangi Re.

Meanwhile, Sharma’s last directorial venture was the Hindi film Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari featuring Manoj Bajpayee and Diljit Dosanjh.