Indian Movies Thread IV

Bharatvarsh · (This post was last modified: 07-05-2007, 08:25 PM by Bharatvarsh.)

QUOTEAanivaer sets new standardsÂ

Wimal Sockanathan Tamil Guardian 01 November 2006Â

I was privileged to be one of the few press-wallahs invited to the premier of âAanivaerâ the movie which has been packing venues out across the Diaspora centres in the West. The title translates as âprimary rootâ â as in oneâs descent or origin.

Aanivaer, in my view, is assured of its place in the history of Tamil movies.

In keeping with its claim â âinspired by true eventsâ - it is an authentic portrayal of the post 1984 Northern province under Army brutality. Produced by Swiss-based Tamil financiers, the film was shot in Northern Sri Lanka using extras from Jaffna (as opposed to south Indian Tamils with unconvincing voiceovers).

The hero, heroine and some other characters are played by stars from the South Indian movie world (quite understandably â Tamil Nadu popular cinema is, at least for now, decades ahead of Sri Lankan Tamil cinema).

The producer also brought in South Indian Tamil technicians for camerawork & direction. The film has been scripted and directed by Jon Mahendran, son of the celebrated director Mahendran.

The story starts with a South Indian news reporter Sandhya (Madumitha) arriving at the Sri Lanka Army checkpoint at Omanthai/Mankulam. She then crosses into Tamil Eelam territory. Her first interaction is a polite but firm encounter with the Tamil Eelam Police.

Sandhya tells them that she has come in search of a Tamil Doctor named Nanda (played by actor Nanda) whom she met some years ago rendering Medical treatment and social work to the hundreds of Tamil children women and the elderly injured by Army shelling.

But staff at the records office are unable to trace records on Dr Nanda and fear that he may have been killed by enemy action.

The film then goes into a flashback starting from the first day of Sandhyaâs arrival some years ago and her meeting Dr Nanda, a dedicated and hardworking medical man for whom the top priority is the alleviation of the sufferings of his fellow Tamils around him.

Having lost his parents in the war he lives with his grand mother. At the outset, Dr Nanda is infuriated when Sandhya introduces herself as a Tamil journalist who has come from India to do a cover story!

Sandhya, although startled by Nandaâs short temper continues to follow him with a camera.

From then on, Aanivaer traces Sandhya and Nanda witnessing a sequence of well known atrocities committed by Sinhala troops.

But this is no mere documentary. By placing Sandhya and Nanda in proximity to the incidents, director Jon brings historical fact to horrifying life.

We are shocked at the sudden air raids early one day that disrupt the calm of Sandhya and Nandaâs morning coffee.

We are reduced to tears when Sandhya goes into a hysteria at the sight of the bodies of Tamil civilians minced by Army Tanks and scattered all over the road.

We are outraged when schoolgirl Shivashanthi riding in her bicycle is waylaid by boorish Sri Lankan Army soldiers in uniform, who bully her first but later subject her to thuggish assaults and finally rape and bury her in the muddy soil.

We share the feelings of Dr Nanda, who was very attached to Shivashanthi, when he refuses to see her body when as it is brought out of the soil.

The parallels to the rape and murder and subsequent exhumation of Jaffna schoolgirl Krishanthi Kumaraswamy are obvious.

Tamils have read and heard about all these incidents in the media. But our reaction is quite different when we see it re-enacted on the big screen with the realism induced by modern technology and crystal clear sound.

Many in the audience wept openly as the movie unfolded.

The producers have taken extreme care in avoiding words such as Thamil Eelam and Viduthalai Puligal (Liberation Tigers) for fear of accusations that this was just propaganda for the LTTE. It is the undeniable violence unleashed against the Tamil people by their erstwhile state that the movie seeks to capture.

There is one fleeting departure from this abstention, when Dr Nanda, referring to the atrocities, asks: âwhy should we Tamils stomach all this? We are not Poonai (cat) we are Puli (tigers).â

Perhaps inevitably, enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience at this solitary mention.

In its stirring of public reflection on Tamilsâ political situation, Aanivaer, reminded me of a mini TV series also titled âRootsâ which I saw in the late seventies on British TV. In that production, the writer Alex Haley vividly describes the problems his Black ancestors faced at the hands of White rulers. That TV series shocked many and created deep controversies at the time.

By and large, films produced by Sri Lankan Tamils have a less than illustrious history, irrespective of whether they are produced in Colombo, Chennai, or in the Diaspora centres in the West.

Firstly these movies had a pronounced accent barrier in view of the fact that Jaffna spoken (colloquial) Tamil has been misused by Radio Ceylon dramas such as Vithaniyar Veetil, Sirappar Kudumbam and London Kandiah and promoted the notion that Jaffna Tamil is the language of comedy. South Indian movies like Thennali starring Kamala Hassan speaking our Jaffna Tamil made capital out of this mistaken belief.

Secondly, there is a distinct lack of professionalism.

Many of these producers are more concerned with âstarringâ in their own movie with their favourite lady as heroine (who would not only be inexperienced but also would, shall we say, not be photogenic).

The âproducerâ would also distribute and assign key responsibilities such as camera, sound etc, to his amateurish friends and relatives. Or perhaps it is a matter of being stingy.

These sub standard movies have severely undermined the reputation of Sri lankan Tamil movies which had become the butt of many a joke.

By contrast, Aanivaer, sets new standards by a demonstrable professionalism never seen before even in Maniratnamâs âmasalaâ movies which, like all South Indian movies, amassed huge revenues from expatriate Tamils, without acknowledging the historical circumstances of our community.

As the producer of Aanivaer, (an aptly named) S Prabhakaran, pointed out, âsouth Indiaâs movie industry has shownmore interest in the wallets of our people than in our political problems.â

Wimal Sockanathan is a well known broadcaster & journalist.

http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=929
There is a subtitled clip of it here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...7941169461

I didn't watch it yet, would have watched it in theater if I had known then.

Husky · (This post was last modified: 07-07-2007, 06:22 PM by Husky.)

QUOTE(Bharatvarsh @ Jul 5 2007, 08:24 PM)<div class='quotetop'>QUOTEAanivaer sets new standardsÂ

The producer also brought in South Indian Tamil technicians for camerawork & direction. The film has been scripted and directed by Jon Mahendran, son of the celebrated director Mahendran.[right][snapback]70836[/snapback][/right]</div>Do you know the religious affiliation of the director? This matters to me. (And if he's christian, he should change his surname to Matthew or something.)
In Sri Lanka christian Tamils are desperate for leverage and so use Tamil Hindus for their purpose.
In Tamil Nadu there's no such ruse: their enemies in TN are the Hindus (just like it is in the rest of India). What's more they badmouth Hinduism in every Tamil board. <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /> And when they're not doing that they evangelise (they bought out several boards and it got infested real fast by anti-Hindus who'd insult Hinduism on one hand and then praise christianity on the other).

Or they start appropriating Hinduism. I remember reading some non-Indian lady posting in a Tamil thread, asking after Tamil poetry by Bharatiyar. At one point she was interested in knowing the meaning of Tamil names. She asked about Eesan, said she found it beautiful. A Hindu posted how it meant Shiva. (Perhaps you know already that Eesan = Ishwaran, literally it means Lord but it refers to Shiva - just like Latin Dominus means Lord, but refers to Mithra. In fact, the Hindu case is more special in that Eesan is particularly a name of Shiva in Tamil. That's why so many Tamizh male children for countless generations have been bearing that name.)
Then a christian had posted that Eesan means 'Lord Jesus' in Tamil. Total garbage; an outright lie. They've no sense of Tamil, of history, of Hinduism, or even of their own religion: christianity. Why can't they just use English 'Lord' or take their names from Syriac or Aramaic or something? Why steal Tamil words meant for Hindu Gods; why steal Tamil Hindu names?
Okay. Digressed too far.

Bharatvarsh · 07-07-2007, 07:28 PM

I am not sure about his religious affiliation, he has a xtian name, all I know is that the hero and heroine are from south India not Eelam and as is the director and the movie was shot in Vanni.

07-10-2007, 07:47 PM

Congress moves court against 'Sivaji: The Boss'
QUOTERajnikant-starrer Tamil film 'Sivaji: The Boss', running to full houses, Monday attracted a second lawsuit, as a Congress activist sought a ban on the film, alleging it portrayed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi in poor light.


QUOTEThe petition said that the villain, Aadhikesavan, has a photograph on his table showing him in the company of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.

The photograph is shown four times in the film, giving an impression that the villain was a member of the Congress party and that its leaders were supporting him, the petitioner said.
<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' />

Didn't bother much about this movie despite the fact that Rajnikant made some sort of record as being highest paid actor with this movie. Now it's on 'must see' list.

07-11-2007, 08:50 PM

Now 'Bollywood' is officially a word in dictionary

Bharatvarsh · 08-10-2007, 07:41 PM

QUOTEAssamâs braveheart general now on screen
- Film on Lachit Barphukan to be made on a scale as big as Mel Gibsonâs epicÂ
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Guwahati, Aug. 9: Hollywood actor-director Mel Gibson gave Scottish hero William Wallace international recognition through the Hollywood hit Braveheart.

Assamâs very own braveheart, Ahom military general Lachit Barphukan, is all set for international exposure with award-winning filmmaker Suman Haripriya ready to start work on a magnum opus on the life and times of the military general who defeated the invading Mughal army at the famous battle of Saraighat.

The battle is considered a defining moment in Assamâs history and also remains a symbol of patriotism as Lachit Barphukan beheaded his maternal uncle â âDesatkoi mumai dangor nohoi (my uncle is not bigger than my country)â â for dereliction of duty a day before the great battle.

To be made in three languages â Assamese, English and Hindi â the film on Lachit will be made with help from the state government. âI met chief minister Tarun Gogoi last night and he assured me that his government would help in making the film,â she said. Haripriyaâs film Kadam Tole Krishna Nache, a film based on saint-philosopher Sankardev, won the Rajat Kamal in the National Film Awards announced on Tuesday.

âThe film on Lachit will be on the scale of Braveheart. It is a dream project for me and I am studying every detail that I can get on the hero,â she added. Though she was yet to select an actor who will portray the military general, Haripriya said she has also studied dresses of Ahom generals at the Assam State Museum.

Admitting that enacting the battle of Saraighat will be her biggest challenge, the director said over â1,000 actors will be used to enact the battle scenes, which can only be shot over several days. We will try to make it as realistic as possible.â She said a team of four assistants was busy collecting details about the military general.

âWhat we have found out is that he was not a very young man during the battle of Saraighat, probably 39-40 years. He was a stocky man with a rotund face. We are looking for an actor who will match his physical appearance and also have his charisma,â she said.

A historical chronicler who had accompanied the Mughal army had recorded a pen-picture of Lachit's appearance: âHis face is broad and resembles a full moon. No one had the guts to stare at his face and speak.â

Despite winning the prestigious Rajat Kamal, Haripriya said: âThough the film Kadam tole... gave her immense pride as a maker, it failed to bring in the crowds to the theatres.â

The film â screened at the prestigious Diaspora Film Festival at Brooklyn, New York â was a celluloid tribute to the legacy of the bhakti cult of 15th century Vaishnavite saint Sankardev. The film is also the first full length Assamese feature film on art, culture and social achievement of Sankardev.

Exuding confidence about the success of the film on Lachit, Haripriya said she was determined to put the military general on the world stage.

âWe have our own braveheart and the world will see the Assamese Braveheart,â she added.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070810/asp/...ory_8172275.asp

09-11-2007, 07:11 PM

Watch snapshots from the Ki Aag premier, featuring Ram Gopal Varma and Amitabh Bachchan talking about the movie shooting.

Watch the video on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV7d7UBa6TQ

ramana · (This post was last modified: 09-17-2007, 11:42 PM by ramana.)

I saw the movie and felt bad that I it was a DVD movie. The plot looked cooked up. Come on a Hindi cow belt gangster ruling Mumbai underworld! Everyone knows its ruled by D Company's thugs. They had one odd Maharastrian named sidekick fro Amitabh who thinks he is in a movie about terrorists. Wasnt too sure if he shot the brother.
One thing is there seemed to be too much sterotyping and shifting of villans. SHQ wondered why most of the villans looked SDRE.

Many of the scenes lifted from Sholay did not gel with the story. Amitabh looked like a transplant from Mad Max at Thunderdome. True he did make you hate him- a true mark of great actor. The dances were misplaced and lost. So all in all a total waste.

09-17-2007, 05:34 PM

Now its officialâ¦Hema Malini to direct a film.
The project in question will feature the ageless diva Rekha, along with Abhishek Bachchan and obviously Hema's daughter, Esha Deol.

btw, talking about Abhishek....check out a a great video (Abhishek and Ashwarya)

Husky · (This post was last modified: 09-17-2007, 07:03 PM by Husky.)

QUOTE(Dul @ Sep 17 2007, 05:34 PM)btw, talking about Abhishek....check out a a great video (Abhishek and Ashwarya)
[right][snapback]73254[/snapback][/right]Dul - I know pedantry isn't attractive, but I can't help it in certain cases and wouldn't mind you returning the favour whenever I make a typo (which is very frequently) - but the way you accidentally spelled her name happens to have strange connotations:
Aishwarya Rai is not a horse. 'Ashwa' being horse in Samskritam, it kind of inadvertently reminds one of that. But 'Aishwarya' is one of Lakshmi's many names and particularly refers to the wealth aspect of Lakshmi.

(Come to think of it, when channel-zapping when in Chennai I've heard ignorant psecular stars and presenters call A Rai "Ashwarya" - although the programs where it happened were in Hindi, I understood that they were referring to Rai when they showed clips of her and also the mention of the 'Rai' surname was a hint...
Anyways, I thought they were doing it either because (1) They're so far removed from anything Hindu they don't know it's actually pronounced Eye-shvaryaa not Ah-shwarya; (2) they didn't like her for whatever reason and mangled her name on purpose; or (3) they only ever came across her name shortened to "Ash" and assumed the full version was somehow related to that instead.)

09-25-2007, 07:45 PM

Agree with Ramana on his comments on 'Aag'. Waste of time. Ingore it.

Eklavya, India's official choice to the Oscars.

ramana · 10-06-2007, 02:42 AM

Pioneer, Book review, 6 Oct, 2007

QUOTEHindu gods in Hindi cinema 

Indian cinema showcases the country's composite and seldom recognised culture, writes MV Kamath

Filming the Gods, Rachel Dwyer, Routledge, Rs 350

Indian cinema is probably the most analysed, dissected and diagonised aspect of the country's values and culture. Rachel Dwyer, the author of this excellent work, refers to some three hundred odd books and articles on the subject which shows the great interest evinced by scholars in Indian cinema as a means of communication, cutting across religion, language and other forms of societal identification. 

More than the media, cinema has had an outreach that defies imagination. Whether it is Raj Kapoor or Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar or Mukesh, they have reached every corner of India by their acting and singing and are known and admired names. And may it be remembered, long before even the print media came into existence, music and dance were the hallmark of Indian culture, though their outreach was limited and largely confined to elite audiences, like a Maharaja's darbar.

With the coming of the cinema, things changed to an unbelievable extent. It is this change, in all its variety, that Dwyer has sought to unveil. Filming the Gods is broadly divided into four chapters. The first deals with mythological films, the second chapter with its devotional equivalent. The third chapter is devoted to the study of the Islamicate film. 'Islamicate' is a contrived word implying 'something corresponding to'. Presumably, 'Islamicate' means something corresponding to, but not necessarily Islamic in character -- a subtle differentiation.

And the last chapter deals with the religious and the secular in Hindi films. It is remarkable how the Indian cinema followed the 19th century art, such as that of Raja Ravi Varma, whose paintings, for example, of Lakshmi and Saraswati still define the average Hindu's conception of the two goddesses.

Certainly, art in the centuries preceding the coming of the film mostly reflected mythology and devotion, whether through raslila, yakshagana or Bharatanatyam. When MS Subbulakshmi played the role of a devotee, dancing to the song, Krishna ni begana baroh, audiences would be dazzled. There was, then, a certain inevitability in the production of the earliest films like Raja Harishchandra, directed by Dadasaheb Phalke.

In the first place, stories did not have to be invented: Mythology presented them for the asking. In the second place, whether mythological or devotional, audiences identified themselves easily with the films based on known characters in Puranas. Vishwamitra and Menaka needed no introduction to Indian -- predominantly Hindu -- audiences.

It is well to remember that long after India gained Independence and with the growth of an increasingly sophisticated audience, films based on Ramayan and Mahabharat could still invite large audiences belonging to all castes, creeds and religions. This could happen only in India. No wonder among Phalke's more notable films were Kaliya Mardan (1919) and Shree Krishna Janma.

What is interesting to know is that in the early years of Indian cinema, only Hindu audiences appreciated Indian films, while Parsis, Muslims and Christians preferred 'foreign', notably British and American, films -- the reason, perhaps, being the mythological or devotional nature of Hindi movies. One can hardly expect Muslims to go to a cinema theatre to see V Shantaram's Sant Tukaram which ran to full cinema halls for over 52 weeks in Mumbai. But even the early mythological films had their novelty and thus attracted audiences in far away places in Burma, Singapore, Malayasia and east Africa.

Of course this may be partly explained by the fact that these places had a substantial Hindu population. The mythological film followed the silent one, but nearly all the early talkies whether in Hindi or any south Indian language had a mythological base. Telugu had Bhakta Pralahd, Tamil had Kalidas and Gujarati Narsi Mehta. Social themes were to follow. It is said that the first Marathi talkie, Shyamsundar (1932), directed by Bhalji Pendharkar, reportedly crossed all lines -- religious or lingual -- and the singing of Balgandharva and Master Modak, reports Dwyer, quoting sources, drove everyone "Hindu, Parsi or Muslim, crazy".

Then came devotional films. 'New Theatre' made Chandidas (1932). Devaki Bose directed Puran Bhakt (1933) and Meerabai. These were followed in Maharashtra with Shantaram's Amar Jyoti, Duniya Na Mane, Aadmi, Padosi and Do Ankhe Barah Hath. Prabhat's and Shantaram's devotional films were concerned solely with Maharashtrain saints like Tukaram, Jnaneshwar and Sakhubai.

Dwyer's study of the Islamicate film has a special appeal. It is significant that while in the early stages Muslims were not very much in the picture, with the coming of Hindi cinema, Muslims came very much into their own with many of the writers like Agha Kashmiri, Akhtar Mirza, Saadat Manto, Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar making it to the top. Many of the top female stars were also Muslim, including Gohar, Noor Jehan, Suraiya, Nargis, Madhubala, Meena Kumari and Waheeda Rehman.

Dwyer insists that while other genres of Hindi cinema have cyclically emerged and disappeared, its dominant variety since the 1940s has been the omnibus 'social' theme. Remember Achyut Kanya (1936), Sujata (1959), BR Chopra's Naya Daur (1957) and Yash Chopra's Dhool Ka Phool (1959). In Rangeela (1995), the hero Munniah could have been either a Muslim or a Hindu. The point is that our film producers have been largely 'secular' in their outlook. In Veer Zaara, Sikhs negotiate between Hindus and Muslims and the Pakistani girl, Zaara, goes to India to take her Sikh nanny's ashes back to her homeland.

Academic though this study is, it is very revelatory of India's composite and seldom recognised culture. It reflects the essential unity of the land and the ethos of the country.

10-08-2007, 12:08 AM

just watched hotel rawanda, very well made movie, give's a close up just before the genocide started. very moving and clean style.

ramana · 10-09-2007, 03:35 AM

Went to see "Vanaja" on Friday. Was duped into seeing it as it was billed as a outcaste girl learns Kuchipudi. Learning Kuchipudi is a very minor part of the story and is emphasised to lure the viewers. Turns out its a sexploitation movie about dominance and the girl looses out everywhich way. While the critics praised it a lot I felt it the story was more on the lines of John Ruskin's "Sex, lies and death". Glad we didnt take the children with us as I had a premonition that it wasnt what the ads made it out. Should be NC-17 for Indian children in order to prevent traumatization. There are factual errors also and and the unneeded twist of a US returned dominant male sterotype. If he was really US returned he would know the laws in the US vis a vis minors and the main theme of the film.

One thing I could not agree with was the writer director having a minor child mouth those dialogs and the acts.

So in short avoid it.

11-23-2007, 12:11 AM

QUOTE(rhytha @ Oct 8 2007, 12:08 AM)just watched hotel rawanda, very well made movie, give's a close up just before the genocide started. very moving and clean style.
[right][snapback]74004[/snapback][/right]

Yesterday, watched this movie, well made movie, but they had skipped lot of nonsense by UN, EU and Church. I have seen documentary which was very violent and more detailed.
Worth to note -
Belgium divide/identified tribe based on nose length and facial features and before leaving gave power to minority/Hutu. Later provided weapons for genocide.

Husky · (This post was last modified: 11-23-2007, 03:42 PM by Husky.)

QUOTE(Mudy @ Nov 23 2007, 12:11 AM)Yesterday, watched this movie, well made movie, but they had skipped lot of nonsense by UN, EU and Church. I have seen documentary which was very violent and more detailed.Â
Worth to note -
Belgium divide/identified tribe based on nose length and facial features and before leaving gave power to minority/Hutu. Later provided weapons for genocide.
[right][snapback]75522[/snapback][/right]I think the minority were Tutsis. But both Tutsis and Hutus were cruelly used by christoterrorism (colonial christoterrorists).

QUOTE(Hotel Rwanda) had skipped lot of nonsense by UN, EU and ChurchIt's why I will never watch such sham movies that won't dare spell out what killed the poor Rwandans or Native Americans or others.
Hutus were also murdered even in the original genocide, but its main target population was Tutsis who were largely the victims.
I think Rwanda has been described as more than genocide ('ethnocide' being the wrong term as they turn out to have been the same ethnicity all along): it's also been referred to as gendercide, because a particularly large number of men of both subcommunities were targeted. This gendercide view includes not only the initial anti-Tutsi genocide but also subsequent anti-Hutu massacres. The bloody revenge-and-counter-revenge cycle was all founded on the usual christoterrorist fictions.
Yet the real villain of christoterrorism is alive and well, and no one has brought it to justice or dared to accuse it. Everything regarding christoislamism has been the greatest coverup in history. It remains free to keep violating human rights again and again.
Rwandans should take REAL revenge by bringing down the thing that truly killed them, christoislamism (they should expose it forever, by taking christianity to an international human rights/warcrimes/crimes against humanity tribunal).

11-27-2007, 12:39 AM

Can i anybody provide list of all the hindi war movies.? If i remember correctly there was a list here long time ago and i did make note of it on paper but lost it.

I have only LOC so far.

I would like to buy these movies.

I am looking for border, gaddar etc..

Referral of any good sites for is welcome.

11-27-2007, 01:57 AM

QUOTECan i anybody provide list of all the hindi war movies.?
Lakshya (Excellent movie)
Waqt
Border
LOC
Hindustan ki kasam

11-27-2007, 02:21 AM

Thread diversion alert: QUOTEBelgium divide/identified tribe based on nose length and facial features and before leaving gave power to minority/Hutu. 
The mess in Belgium today is something like in Rawanda of 90s minus the genocide . And it's not something that's highlighted these days by West for all their chest-beating about strifes/poverty worldwide. For about 5 months there's been no govt in Belgium. There's a huge internal strife between French speaking Beligians in South versus the Dutch speaking Flanders in North. French speaking areas live in abject poverty with unemployment as high as 20% while rest of country is doing extremely well.
It's a region to be watched.

Bharatvarsh · 11-27-2007, 08:47 PM

QUOTEI am looking for border, gaddar etc.. 
Gadar is not a war movie, its set around Partition riots, more of sikh vs muslim beginning although sikular brigade managed to uncover a Hindutva conspiracy behind it also.

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