What is Happening in Hindi Film Industry?

A new trend is noticeable in Bollywood as more serious and bolder films are being released in place of the trivial blockbusters. A Lot Of of these portray interesting plots, story lines and techniques being used by the movie makers. This shift can be witnessed in the newly released and upcoming Bollywood movies.

It is difficult to distinguish the popular movies from the so called art movies. Current Bollywood cinema emphasizes more on the real life and has good direction, cinematography and editing featured in these movies. The movies being made by the present day directors are affecting the tastes of the viewers and introducing them to more realistic cinema.

The story lines of many latest and upcoming Bollywood movies including 3 Idiots, Wake Up Sid and Well Done Abba are concerned with the troubles and life problems of an ordinary citizen. The rebellion of a member of the general public against social problems and terrorism has become popular as movie themes among present directors.

Another evident trend is the use of the state-of-art technology and special effects in new movies like Drona, Love Story-2050 and Krrish. Even animation films are gaining popularity and big producers like Yash Raj Films are investing money and energy in such movies.

Another interesting trend is that many producers and directors are taking up remaking of the old classic films that were extremely successful in their times. For instance, RGV ki Aag was a remake of the classic Amitabh movie Sholay and Don which is another Amitabh movie from 70s was remade with Shahrukh as the lead.

Further, the production houses are coming up with more and more movies targetted at city viewers. Such movies like Fashion, Metro, Company, Wake Up Sid and Page3 that were directed towards the city viewers have turned out to be very profitable for the producers.

Another visible trend is that a few production houses in Bollywood have been releasing many movies in the span of one year. Also interestingly, many of the films are being co-produced nowadays.

One important trend that should be mentioned here is the rise in the export of the prints of the large Bollywood productions and better response to Hindi films outside India. There are a lot of Indians who are currently residing in foreign lands and are addicted to Bollywood cinema, and it is quite likely that the English movies might find a strong contender in the Hindi movies internationally.

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Movies, Media & More tackles Hollywood's entrenched racism

Movies, Media & More

Dwight Hobbes/MN Spokesman-Recorder

 Movies, Media & More, despite the nice, innocuous title is neither nice nor innocuous.  I just call it that because Movies, Media & More is more economic and eye-friendly than Raising Three Different Kinds of Hell About the Insidious, Ruthless Racism by which Hollywood Determinedly Propagandizes a White is Wonderful Agenda that Would Warm Adolf Hitler's Heart. 

It will for instance, comment on how gifted director-screenwriter Kasi Lemmons got shafted, pretty much relegated to obscurity after making a huge splash with Eve's Bayou.  Her follow-up, The Caveman's Valentine, artfully adapted to the screen by George Dawes Green from his novel was not a commercial success.  Accordingly, this gifted, black, female fell from favor at the studios and has not achieved the prominence her talent richly deserves.  In a one-strike-you're-out shelving of Lemmons to the sidelines, she now has to bust her behind to figure out where the next movie deal will come from.  White directors, male and female, can fall on their faces as much as they want and still have film companies fawning all over them to do another project.  Penny Marshall broke the bank with Big and A League of Their Own, then flopped with Renaissance Man and Riding in Cars with Boys.  Her phone, though, still rings off the hook (i.e. last year's TV flick Women Without Men, this season's series United States of Tara. Kasi Lemmons hasn't been tapped to direct traffic, let alone a film or television project since her sterling 2007 turn Talk To Me.  These days, she's gone back to acting (that was her playing Jodie Foster's FBI academy sidekick in Silence of the Lambs), following a 2006 role for Waist Deep in which she played – I swear to God, she's listed in the credits as --- "Angry Black Woman".  In 2012, she'll be on the big screen in a blink-and-you-miss-her role for Disconnect.  Along with Kasi Lemmons being out of directing work, black audiences, importantly black women, miss out on her extraordinary ability to authentically depict black reality.

 

Movies, Media & More also will have a thing or two to say about how sell-outs (yes, I went there) like actors Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Thandie Newton and others (there's more than a few) along with directors like Antoine Fuqua and F. Gary Gray help Hollywood sustain a bottle neck through which struggling actors of color (brown, yellow and red along with black) can't pass.  They made their bones on the wallets of black ticket-buyers, then signed on as card-carrying members of the I Have Overcome Generation.  Not a one of them use their star power, their clout at the box office and with studio execs, to do a damned thing about changing, about improving how and how often black life is reflected in American cinema.  Yeah, yeah, they every so often play black figures out of history to drum up credibility – when they do it more than once in awhile, they'll actually be doing something.  Hell, the saying used be "scarce as hen's teeth".  Now you can say, without fear of contradiction, "scarce as black women in a Wesley Snipes movie". 

Along with grousing about how awful things are, Movies, Media & More will, on the rare occasions where it's warranted, give credit where credit's due.  For instance, according kudos to winning efforts like Next Day Air, which entertained – without showing black folk as stock types in a weak script -- turned a profit and didn't have one white face from beginning to end. Speaking of which, the column will, yes, acknowledge that white stars like veteran icon Martin Sheen – who didn't need the work -- stepped up to make cameo appearances in cinematic gems like Dead Presidents by directors Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes and Lemmons' Talk To Me.

So, the long and the short of it is Movies, Media & More will state the painfully obvious.  Every week, until Hollywood changes its spots.  Which, of course, will be a long time.

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Abduction: Sloppily Written & Acted Action Film

Opening shot: A car zooms down a tree lined road. A cute guy is seated on the front windshield laughing his head off, yelling at the driver to go faster. They reach the party. We get a round of fist bumps and a chorus of 'Man, you're so crazy!' followed by 'I totally am, bro!' and a whole lot of beer. Windshield guy, Nathan (Lautner), wakes up the next morning shirtless and on the lawn where his dad finds him, then takes him home and forces him to spar with him. This little scene sets the film's mood perfectly. It says, 'I am made for 15-year-old boys; I am a mash-up of everything they may find cool.'

The first thing you discover about Nathan is that he really isn't the sharpest tool in the box. He's a brown guy raised by white, blonde-haired and blue-eyed parents without ever questioning his parentage or suspecting anything. While working on a school paper with his girlfriend Karen (Collins), he discovers his picture on a missing kids' website and thus discovers that his parents aren't biologically related to him.

Before he has time to fully process this fact, a bunch of guys bust into his house, murdering his parents and forcing both, him and Karen, to flee for their lives. Hot on their heels are both the CIA and Koszlow (Nyqvist), the guy who ordered the hit on his parents. They're both after a top-secret encrypted list that Nathan has courtesy of his estranged biological father. 

Don't expect much on the acting front; at least not from Lautner and Collins. When Lautner isn't kicking ass, he's lolling around looking extremely awkward, possibly reading his lines off of a teleprompter. Nyqvist, who was so thoroughly badass in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, comes off as a rather campy caricature of a villain. 

The film suffers from an embarrassing script full of laughably bad lines, worn out clichés and huge plot holes. For example, both the villains and the CIA repeatedly intercept Nathan's calls on his mobile phone; yet the plans that he makes with his friend via the same exact mobile phone are never intercepted and allow him to stay one step ahead of his pursuers. Sigourney Weaver, playing Nathan's shrink and an undercover ex-CIA agent, is pretty much the only character with a shred of a soul. 

The only possible reason for this film's existence is that Hollywood's powers-that-be are attempting to turn TaylorLautner into a fully-fledged action hero; a teenage Jason Statham if you will. He actually doesn't do a half-bad job on those terms; he's definitely at his most animated and engaging when he's running for his life or beating the crap out of people. Either way, the only thing that Abduction has going for it is the fight scenes; and the fact remains that not even its very talented supporting cast can salvage the rest.

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

The Trip: Delectably Funny Faux-Documentary

The Trip essentially stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as themselves. The film has main characters loosely based on the people acting them, and you will keep losing track of whether you're watching a film or a documentary. Is this real or isn't it?

Coogan is an actor who aspires to appear in mainstreamHollywoodfilms. He's carved a successful career for himself in British TV and art films, yetUSfame eludes him. His old friend Brydon is a Welsh comedian and mimic who is also moderately successful in theUK, but unlike Coogan, he is content with his lot in life. Coogan has been commissioned to review a bunch of fancy restaurants scattered aroundNorthern England, and he takes Brydon along for the week-long trip after his on-off girlfriend Mischa (Stilley) bails.

On paper, it sounds rather sparse and empty, and in a way it is; yet it's still really funny. This is a no-frills production and there's absolutely nothing fancy about the whole film; except for the food, which consists of fancy multi-course meals made by top European chefs. If you're a fellow cooking show devotee, watching snippets of the food being prepared is just as entertaining as the comedy.

Shot mostly in the countryside, the film's breathtaking scenery provides gorgeous views despite the dreary English skies. Also, while there is nothing out of the ordinary about the camera work and the editing; it works perfectly to keep the focus on the two leads. Pretty much everything in the film takes a backseat; allowing both Coogan and Brydon to shine.

Regardless of whether these two are old friends in real life or not, they definitely convey it convincingly. And while Coogan is rather blasé about their friendship and frequently gives the impression that he finds Brydon rather irritating, it's also obvious that Coogan is getting more out of the friendship and depends on it more than Brydon does. Brydon has his wife to fall back on, whereas Coogan has an ex-wife who isn't exactly his biggest fan and his relationship with his girlfriend is rather rocky. Brydon's goofy, down-to-earth persona is the perfect foil to Coogan's prima donna, and they play off of each other perfectly.

Their banter carries the whole thing. They bicker, squabble, have ABBA sing-alongs in the car and impersonate famous people. This reviewer's personal favourite was Brydon's Woody Allen impression with his hilariously accurate Al Pacino and De Niro impersonations coming in close seconds. Celeb impressions notwithstanding, the funniest parts were probably Coogan's two dream sequences, one of which stars Ben Stiller as himself.

The Trip is for fans of straight-up comedy with dark undertones, for people who don't need a lot happening on screen to hold their attention. Yes, you will be basically watching two (very funny) blokes argue for the better part of two hours; but it's so worth it.

 

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

The Traveller: Confusing & Thought-Provoking Egyptian Drama

The Traveller is an Egyptian film that follows Hassan on three different days in his life in three different places. InPort Said 1948, Hassan (El Nabawy) meets Nura (Abdel Nour),who he initially charms but ultimately rapes aboard a ship. In Alexandria 1973, Nura's daughter Nadia reaches out to a much older Hassan (Sharif) upon the death of her last remaining family member; her twin brother. Upon meeting her, he realises that he is her father, but ultimately shirks the responsibility that comes with the discovery. In Cairo 2001, Hassan meets his grandson Aly (Ramzy) and tries to establish a connection with him.

To say that this film is muddled, vague and confusing is an understatement. You won't understand much while watching it, but a few hours and a couple of thousand brain cells later; you'll start to piece together your own personal interpretation of the story and the characters. In this reviewer's opinion, the film is trying to say something about both masculinity and family.

Hassan's first conversation with Nura involves her telling him about her admiration for brave men. A short while later he rapes her after telling her that he knows she likes her men daring and forward; almost as if justifying the assault. Hassan rapes Nura as a way of living up to expectations of masculinity, as well as her own thrill-seeking carefree approach to life. During the second act, these same expectations ended up killing their son, who dies in the middle of a foolhardy stunt.

In the third act, upon meeting Hassan as an old man, we find that he is still as susceptible as ever to society's definition of masculinity. He goads his grandson into picking a fight, hits on an attractive doctor and glorifies dangerously stupid, highly macho acts that supposedly prove your worth as a man. In contrast to his grandfather, Aly isn't as confined by these constructs. You also get the feeling that Aly is, more or less, happy the way he is and that he only caves to his grandfather's pressure in an attempt to forge a deeper connection with his deceased uncle and namesake. 

The familial theme is slightly less obscure. The film shows Hassan's growth over the years. When it starts out, his only interest is getting the girl no matter what. During the second act, he realizes that his actions bore him children that he has no desire to take responsibility for. Upon growing old, he yearns for a family and attempts to delude himself into thinking that he might have had a relationship with the son whose existence he was never aware of until his death. He clings to the only family member he has left, namely his grandson Aly, even though they have nothing in common.   

Having such a boorish central character means that the film is fighting an uphill battle; especially  as he never actually shows signs of remorse or regret. In fact, there is a part when you can tell that he is this close to sexually assaulting another woman. As the younger Hassan, El Nabawy comes across as predatory and sleazy while Sharif, as the older version of Hassan, plays the befuddled and lonely old man very well. The problem lies in the disconnect between the stages and in the fact that both Nura and Nadia, as the film's victims, come across as highly passive and completely spineless. On the other hand, Ramzy's Aly is possibly the only well-rounded character. He is allowed to come across as strong yet vulnerable, smart but impressionable; making him one of the more interesting characters.

The Traveller is not a commercial film nor is it trying to be. It may not entertain you, it may even infuriate you but it will get you thinking - even if just to make sense of it. In addition, it's worth a watch just for the novelty of seeing an Egyptian period piece.

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Staff Writer for Cairo 360 

Original article on:Cairo360

How Hindi Film Industry Changed

The Hindi film industry or Bollywood's history dates back to 1913, when Dadasaheb Phalke produced and directed the silent movie Raja Harishchandra. After the roaring success of the movie, a creative bunch of people stepped into movie making in Mumbai. After the silent age came the talkies, and the very first Hindi sound film Alam Ara was released in 1931, followed by the very first Hindi colour film Kisan Kanya.

Films that came out of Bollywood during the 40s were mostly escapist fantasies, owing to the grim socio political conditions that were brought about by the nationalist movement, which coincided with World War II. However, socio political issues also found expression on the silver screen, with movies like.

Poverty in the villages of India and undying family values were depicted with unflinching realism in Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957). It was about the same period that Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor made some of their best films, and showed their wonderful directorial and acting talent in films like Pyaasa, Awara and Shree 420. Mughal-E-Azam, a 1960 classic, was an immortal film that recreated the Mughal era on the silver screen with great realism.

Music composers like OP Nayyar and SD Burman enchanted the masses with their musical compositions and artistes like Nargis, Madhubala, Dev Anand and Ashok Kumar became household names. It was during the 50s and 60s that Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar won nationwide acclaim as playback singers.

In the swinging 60s, Shammi Kapoor, the Indian Elvis Presley, mesmerized audiences with his dance and acting. The 70s was a decade for Amitabh Bachchan with his characters fighting against injustice and corruption. The action genre continued into the mid 80s, until the nationwide release of Qayamat se Qayamat Tak in 1988, and since then, romantic movies have been popular in Bollywood and can even be seen in the latest Bollywood movies. However Bollywood now has a much more advanced industry, creating movies that often get wide acclaim from throughout the world.

Rural poverty and undying family values were remarkably depicted in Mehboob Khan's Mother India, which was released in 1957. During the same time, the great actor and director Raj Kapoor directed two immortal classics - Awara and Shree 420 - and director Guru Dutt also produced and directed such wonderful films as Pyaasa. Mughal-E-Azam (1960) was an epic on celluloid that brought the Mughal era on the silver screen like never before.

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Minnesota in the Movies

Almost every city in the USA has, at some point or another, found itself the subject of Hollywood's scrutiny and featured heavily as the location for a movie or TV series. Over the years many famous landmarks, and lesser known features of the vast and varied American landscape, have became immortalized in celluloid history. Whenever a film crew rolls into town, there comes with it a sense of unbridled excitement as residents vie for the chance to become 'extras', and local architectural treasures grab a piece of the limelight.

The on-screen representation of any city, town or region can evoke a range of responses. Outsiders may well build an opinion about a place based solely on what they see in a movie, with the result that once little know communities can develop a unique sense of celebrity. Local residents, depending on the depiction of their home, may be overcome with feelings of exceptional pride, or find themselves utterly insulted by how they and their town have been represented by the script writers and directors. One only has to think about the way that many Minnesotans felt aggrieved by their depiction in the Coen Brothers' widely acclaimed movie Fargo. Many locals complained bitterly about what they considered to be the controversial use of exaggerated accents, one of the most talked-about and loved features of the movie.

But way before the Coens ever cried "camera, lights, action!", filmographers had been flocking to the Minneapolis area, inspired by the landscape and the people of this unique region. Major 1970s productions such as Airport and Slaughterhouse-Five were shot in Minnesota, but as far as the viewer is concerned could really have been filmed anywhere. Others, such as the psychological thriller You'll Like My Mother, fully utilized the distinctive landscape of the state.

In more recent year, several popular blockbusters have made good use of Minnesota's many charms, including family favorites The Mighty Ducks and Grumpy Old Men franchises. A few less memorable productions, such as Drop Dead Fred and Jingle All The Way have also been lured to the Twin Cities area with varying degrees of success. Iconic local landmarks, including St Paul's famous eatery Mickey's Dining Car, have been put to good use on occasion, appearing on the big screen a number of times.

One of Minneapolis's most celebrated sons, Prince, famously used the city as the backdrop for his hit 1984 movie Purple Rain, and mid 90s 'indie' cult classic Mallrats focused on events filmed in Eden Prairie Center, although was supposedly set in New Jersey. More recently, the Coen's turned their focus back on the area for their acclaimed film A Serious Man, and recent thrillers Phasma Ex Machina and The Inheritance were both filmed in Minnesota.

Of course for many, that ground-breaking 70s TV comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show put Minneapolis firmly on the map. In fact, the Kenwood Parkway house that featured in the show, as the location of Mary's apartment, became a major tourist attraction in its own right, continuing to attract sightseers for many years after the show ended in 1977. The city today honors the cultural impact that this comedy had in the US, in the form of a statue that depicts Mary tossing her hat into the air, as famously depicted in the show's opening credits.

Like many other parts of the country, Minneapolis has had its fair share of both great and not-so-good exposure via both the big and small screens. Film-makers continue to flock here thanks to its unique landscape, character and atmosphere, and along with them come significant financial benefits, helping local economies. And better still, we get to share our great city and state with the world!

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Super Summer Box Office Hits

Whether it's a sling from your web, a toss of your batterang, or a punch with your Hulk hands, summer is the perfect time to explore your inner superhero.  The past decade has seen the sunny months defined by massive blockbuster hits, such as Iron Man and X-Men, and this year is set to be no different.  With a handful of super-budget super-movies to be released in the coming months, there are two that could either be the next splash in the long line of superhero hits, or they could drop with a resounding thud into the nameless movie abyss where nothing is remembered except for how bad it was.

Green Lantern

Hitting the cinema in mid-June, The Green Lantern could easily be one of the summer's best movies. According to film reviews and critics, it could also very easily flop and be this year's version of Aquaman (you do remember when Aquaman came out, don't you?).  A take on the classic DC comic of the same name, The Green Lantern is going to portray the beginnings of the Lantern on the planet Earth. Hal Jordan, played by Ryan Reynolds, gets chosen by the power ring of the Green Lantern community after its former owner crashes in the middle of the desert.

Jordan, no stranger to flying as a test pilot, immediately becomes part of the universal peace keeping corps known as the Green Lanterns.  Never fond of humans, the rest of the Green Lanterns have fears of his initiation into the brotherhood; but Jordan's humanness allows him to combine empathy with determination in order to prove the other members wrong and overcome the evils of Parallax, the biggest threat to the universe.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

With its ominous movie trailer that combines historical moon landing footage with a behind the scenes twist, the premise of this Transformers filmis based around the 1960s space race being about discovering a mysterious crash landing on the moon.  The moon crash turns out to be an ark launched from the home planet of the Autobots years earlier in a failed attempt to save the Autobot race from the Decepticons.  The technology is still buried on the moon when Sam Witwicky, played by Shia Leboeuf, and the normal cast of robot transformers set out to save the world, yet again, from the evil Decepticons.  A signal is sent into space and the hibernating transformers emerge from their moon caves to participate in the fight for the universe.  This time the fight is all along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States as both Washington D.C. and New York City get attacked by the space robots.

Unlike the Green Lantern, the Transformers seriesis at a place where it is almost too big to fail, even if it ends up being a lousy flick.  The movie franchise is sure to rake in a huge amount of money and have massive box office numbers when it debuts on 1 July this year.  Will it be big enough, however, to justify a fourth instalment of the morphing superheroes?

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