The camera

Thousands of people have been inspired by the films of Martin Scorsese. The one thing that makes me go back to classics such as Goodfellas and Raging Bull is the handling of the camera. With the help of great cinematographers such as Michael Ballhaus and Robert Richardson, Scorsese does something with the camera, that seems so ballsy, so deliciously audacious, you want to slap him if you see him....He makes you look at what he wants you to see.its almost like saying 'Here punk, look at what i'm showing you'

there's a fantastic tracking shot in goodfellas when henry and karen go to the copacabana, it establishes so much, the extent of henry's influence and karen's disbelief...and the audience IS the camera, walking behind them, stalking, like a voyeur, i'm sure it must have been hell shooting this one shot but its one of my favourites...here it is..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pwVuystKJ0

another great scene from goodfellas is when jimmy decides to whack murray, the dolly moves up on deniro slowly and the scene is shot at a36 fps, the twinkle in jimmy's eyes is so terrifying but yet fascinating and Cream's Sunshine of your love adds to the magic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2owcQDvQLc

i guess its similar to the Jumpin' Jack Flash scene from Mean Streets where Deniro walks into the bar with the two girls but i prefer this one

The sugar ray robinson fight scene in raging bull is almost antithetical to the tracking scene from goodfellas. Here scorsese opts for a lot of ambient lighting, varying frame-rates and close-ups, and thanks to the masterful editing of Thelma Schoonmaker creates one of cinemas most memorable seqences. the sequence features the frequent addition and subtraction of sound, the best parts are the silences......the most vivid image that i've retained from all the movies i've seen is the blood dripping from the ropes at the end of the scene....an example of the 'look here' shtick i was talking about..

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=-nAjurxttv4

in bringing out the dead(lesser championed scorsese movie in which nicholas cage plays a troubled paramedic working an ambulance in new york city), scorsese puts the camera on top of the ambulance and the film is sped up....the result semms like a recreation of Frank's troubled state, his mind is racing and so is the ambulance, he needs a break, needs to slow down but the ambulance just keeps moving,.... no stopping here.....
sorry, couldn't find a clip but do check out the movie if you get hold of a copy, its fantastic

scorsese himself admits he's been inspired to move the camera from the films of other greats but even Newton said he succeeded cause he'stood on the shoulders of giants'....

i wonder what i'll do with a 35mm Arriflex if i'm ever given one.....

Ramblings of A Madman AKA A list of random faults that plague Indian Films

As much as I try to avoid being prosaic, metaphors such as sinking ship, last waltz and the ever popular 'last reel' keep springing to mind. Therefore I have decided not to list the obvious and oft repeated grudges(script, screenplay, etc etc etc). Here then is my list, which I have compiled in less than 15 minutes, while being amply stuffed with carbohydrates, fats and whatever is in beer. And cheese.
Take it or leave it KJo

1.) Sound
Bollywood(apologies for the use of this blanket term, find me another that has as many or lesser syllables and I shall happily convert) isn't really big on sound except if its music you're talking about. Sound isn't recorded on set, just the actions, and the actors 'dub' the voices later in the studio. No ambient sound is recorded, stock sounds are added at the editing stage. Sometimes they just forget. So you get two characters walking in the middle of a busy street and all you hear are their peculiarly relaxed voices( as in they sit in air-conditioned rooms when the voices are recorded), a crow and a car horn that honks intermittently. Watch Madhur Bhandarkar's Page 3, you'll know what i'm talking about
If the film is shot in 'synch sound'. it makes for a substantial news item in most Bolly-rags;that should tell you something.

2.) Marketing
Marketing in B-town means getting your star on to a bunch of reality TV shows where they use the word 'mind-blowing' about 17 million times. The only thing we can learn from LA is the handling of the business...Least you could do is watch Entourage,,,

3.) Absence of quality television
Television in India is the pits. Especially prime time television. A couple of names happened to catch my attention on the Tata Sky guide...bear in mind all these shows air from 8.00 to 10.30:

Mata Ki Chowki ( Hinglish:The Mother's station?)
Woh Rehni Wali Mehlon Ki(Hinglish:She lived in palaces)
Betiyaan(Hinglish: daughters)
Balika Wadhu(Hinglish: i''m guessing Child Bride.....)

I'd like to meet the people who find these shows entertaining especially the last one which from the promos seems to be a weird concoction of Rajasthani folk drama and good ol' child abuse....
Sarabhai vs Sarabhai to me is the only Hindi TV show that seems moderately entertaining. In case the TV stations have come to their senses thanks to divine intervention and have started broadcasting quality entertainment let me know, cause i'vve pretty much given up on TV.

ABSENCE OF GOOD TV LEADS TO FILM-WALLAHS wanting to make ENTER-FUCKING-TAINING films...

forgive my outburts, i'm morbidly depressed

4.) Professionalism
see point 2...(watch entourage,),,

5.) sorry, breaking my own rule here.....
script script script....

no studio except UTV puts in the effort to study scripts and structures....yash raj doesn't even bother to come up with character names...Raj and Rahul will do just fine....


these as the title suggests are the rambling of a mad-man....If an industry such as this can pass of Abhishek Bachchan who has a bigger beer paunch than me as a superhero.....or Vidya Malavde, the hottei goalie from Chak De as Minnisha Lambas mother, i have not much else to say...

I conclude, rather humbly, by providing the link of a masterful scene from the great auteur Manoj Kumar who's movies have influenced more people than the cinema of Ray, Godard, Kurosawa or Scorsese. The gem of a movie is called CLERK.

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=zYBJQX0L0QA

So You Want To Be A Film-maker?

For the past few weeks, many of my 'acquaintances' (let's call them well-wishers for the sake of the story, shall we) have wondered, alarmingly aloud at most times, if i shall ever find the inclination to get off my buttocks( notice how i decided not to use the more profane 'ass') and do something i.e get a job. Such times call for great tact and diplomacy and my family has been handling these potentially lethal(not really) situations with the grace of an underage Chinese gymnast at the Olympics(libelous, i'm sure). Answers such as ' He's thinking about the future', ' He's doing quite a lot of research on all avenues' and the really bold 'He wants to do something creative' have kept comparisons with others of 'my age', who have somehow managed to find work with great corporations such as GE, Microsoft, Infosys, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers
( HAHA, who's laughing now bitch!), at bay.(whew, long sentence)
I usually flee such interactions without uttering a word and have managed to be consistent by keeping to myself for the most part( A few weeks more and I'll start referring to random objects as 'My precious'), but I feel the need to vent and in the process provide an informative and yet interesting(how you ask?) peek into my plans for my 'future'.

So here goes....
I plan to be....wait for it....wait for it....
A FILM-MAKER!!!!
(loud crash of cymbals)

Yes, my dear readers, your vision has not failed you. I have thought about it, just like Scorsese and Speilberg must have, and I fully intend to immerse myself in the cinematic world . Of course, no sane persone(although i don't mind working with the insane ones) would put me in charge of a documentary short, let alone a feature film without the x-word(experience, not xylophone....wait a minute, it should be the e word) and therefore I have decided to get some formal cinematic education, i.e a degree of some sort and have been actively pursuing applications for the same. A major part of the application process is of course the portfolio, and mine is coming along nicely thanks to major help from my ol' buddy Ashok Hariharan( who is a fantastic actor and also a great singer) who plays the troubled protagonist in my film.(yes, like all film-school aspirants i have decided to make an applicaion film about a troubled protagonist)

So there it is world, this is what I have chosen. It may seem a bit over-ambitious but I'm sure it's worth a shot( It's actually worth a lot more to me). Some of you may have lost respect for me(be a good Indian boy Abhay, you'll say) while others may think i'm just plain crazy, but tell you what we'll talk 10 years from now and I'm sure i'll have quite a few stories to tell....

Untill then,
Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish

PS: Big props to my family too, for being extremely supportive, more supportive than i've been myself (did i just type that?)
Apologies for the exaggerated use of parenthesis.
Cheers