review by Vinoo
Language : Malayalam
Director : Shaji N Karun

‘Piravi’ should be counted among one of our best films. It tells the story of an old man’s, Raghava Chakyar’s, wait for his son, Raghu. Raghu, an Engineering student, goes mysteriously missing from his college. He does not turn up for his sister’s engagement ceremony. His father sits in wait hoping his son will come back one day. Finally he learns from a newspaper report that Raghu has been taken into custody by the police. Raghava Chakyar goes to Trivandrum to meet the Minister and then the Police Inspector and finally returns with nothing but reassurances. He keeps the news to himself so as not to bring grief to his wife and daughter. The daughter meets Raghu’s classmate from who she gets the news of his arrest. She decides to find out what really happened and meets Raghu’s classmates to get details of his arrest. She figures he has been arrested by the police allegedly for being a naxalite sympathizer, and specifically for directing a play that mocked one of the ministers in the then cabinet in Kerala. She returns home and tells her father that waiting for Raghu is futile, to which her father angrily responds – “Forget him? How can I as his father, she as his mother and you as his sister forget him? Well… how can we?” (Bad translation that). His daily routine of fording the river to get to the bus stand and wait until the last bus has left before he returns home really kills you. The film ends on that note, with the father expectantly looking for the last bus with the profound hope that his son will return today. The emotions of the father is conveyed so very well through the eyes of Premji. Raghu never appears in the entire length of the film, except as childhood memories. Thanks to my cousin for sourcing this film from Switzerland. Could have shared this if only it had English subtitles.

The film has brilliant portrayal by Premji as Raghava Chakyar, the father. Premji has also acted in films like ‘Vilkkanundu swapnangal’, ‘Paraya Dhan’, ‘Fakira’, ‘Hatyara’, Anubandham’, etc. Hope to look for him the next time I watch these films. Also Archana has never looked as good as she does in this film. I think Shaji has not used artificial lighting for any of the scenes in ‘Piravi’. Shaji has shot the film himself and the frames are simply brilliant.

‘Piravi’ is based on the Rajan Murder case, which rocked the Kerala assembly when C Achutha Menon was the Chief Minister and K Karunakaran the then Home Minister in the CPI-Cong led Government. The verdict later, caused such a furore that K Karunakaran had to resign from his Chief Ministership, barely a month after taking oath. The Rajan incident is a stark reminder of the days of the emergency and how his father, Eachara Warrier, could not even file a habeus corpus. He had to wait until the Emergency was lifted before he could file a case against the Kerala government.

Shaji N Karun has also directed ‘Vanaprastham’, which in my opinion is brilliant. Also got a VHS copy of ‘Swam / Swaham’ which I hope to figure a way of watching. He has also directed ‘Nishad’ in Hindi, which I hope to access. ‘Kuttisraank’, his latest film has just been released. Shaji surely is among one of our best Director’s today.
‘Memories of a father’ written by T V Eachara Warrier, Rajan’s father, is worth a read and you can find it here :

http://www.ahrchk.net/pub/pdf/mof.pdf

Useless trivia : Music for ‘Piravi’ is by G Aravindan, who has also scored music for ‘Aaro oral’ and his own ‘Estheppan’. Shaji used to be the Cinematographer on most of G Aravindan’s films like ‘Oridathu’ ‘Kanchana Sita’, ‘Thampu’, “Estheppan’, ‘Pokkuveyil’, etc besides being Cinematographer on films like ‘Onnumuthal poojyam vare’, ‘Arapatta kettiya gramathil’, ‘Sargam’, ‘Ek chadar maili si’, etc. He has also directed a 19 minute documentary tribute called ‘G Aravindan’ for Films Division. Who better to direct a tribute to Aravindan. But then the film leaves you with too little.

NB : ‘Floating Weeds’ second project, and my Directorial debut ‘Where the gods give up caste’, a 26 minute documentary produced jointly with Films Division, will be screened at 18:30 hours on Saturday, 07 August, 2010. More useless trivia when there. Venue : B 11, Gurukripa, Off Veera Desai Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai.

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Review by Vinoo

Language : English / Hindi
Director : Jaideep Varma

This one will go right alongside ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ in my collection. Hats off to Jaideep Varma for a wonderful tribute to, arguably, the best band in the country. The passion with which the group makes their music is nothing short of infectious. The film begins wonderfully with various sounds, street calls, vehicle honks, hawkers singing, all of which could be music if seen the way it should be, culminating in the house where Indian Ocean has been jamming for years making the wonderful music that they are. The inspiration to the music that Indian Ocean makes has been varied, be it the ‘Ma Rewa’ from the people of Narmada, or ‘Kaun’ inspired by Kashmir, or ‘Kandisa’ pulled out from Aramaic, or the wonderful music for ‘Black Friday’ which is definitely one of those films where the soundtrack will be talked of much after the film’s lifetime.

There have been moments when I have caught myself singing aloud ‘Ma Rewa’, ‘Kandisa’, ‘Bandeh’, ‘Tun tun tanaa na’ and lots more. It is music you just loved, music you couldn’t ignore, music you couldn’t slot. A lot of soul in the music they create. And what a wonderful tribute Piyush Mishra gives the band with his ‘Badtameezi’ comment which I will avoid translating cos it can’t be. Like the band members themselves confess  “None of us are among the best of musicians. In fact, we are all in the middle rung and just about mediocre. But when we come together we are a different animal, we create magic”. Indeed. I mean the magic. Magic churned out of the ‘Indian Ocean’ workshop in Delhi. Each one of the band members Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarthy, Rahul Ram and Amit Kilam are distinctly different and when they come together they can only be referred to in the collective. Many people have come and gone out of the band. But they didn’t miss anyone as bad as they did bassist Indrajit Dutta. What a moment when he just sits with the guitar and peels off his nails before playing for two full hours.  On Susmit’s insistence Indrajit came back from his secure job at CPWD to try his hand at the Guitar. After the session his regret at not having been part of the group is a heartbreaker. It is very much like many of us who give up our passion for a regular job, a salary at the end of the month. Sigh! Asheem singing ‘Wahan kaun hai tera musafir jayega kahan’ choked me. It is sad that he passed away very recently and the movie has a tribute to him in the end credits. Like always the group will find their own and continue making music that people like me will continue humming. ‘Kandisa’ for instance, I remember humming it way back in 2000 from a cassette that my brother dropped off for me with the mention that this is mind-blowing and a big rage in JNU. What a journey it has been since, with the group. Also loved Rahul Ram’s comment on why the ‘firangs’ gave their music a lukewarm response because they couldn’t digest Indians mastering an instrument that is decidedly Western. And how well the group has used guitar to bring live the sounds of an Indian instrument sound like that of the ‘Sarangi’ for instance or the folk sounds of ‘Ma Rewa’ by dropping the pitch because they couldn’t match the high pitch of the folk singers… I could go on and on. I’d rather you watch it. I sure will watch it at least one more time.

Jaideep varma has also directed ‘Hulla’ which had a premature exit from the screens rather suspiciously. Hope to pick up the DVD sometime. Thanks Mo, Param, Jaideep and team for a wonderful film. Sure will pick up this one for my collection.

Also watched Kamalhasan’s ‘Virumaandi’. Pretty good although a little too long and a bit of a messed up climax. Surely must be a role of a lifetime for Rohini as the journalist. Pasupathy, Napolean and Abhirami are all brilliant.

Useless trivia : Asheem and Susmit quit advertising to start ‘Indian Ocean’. I have hope J. The group wouldn’t be complete without Rahul Ram and Amit Kilam and of course Indrajit Dutta, even if briefly. Also Shaleen Sharma and Anirban Roy in the initial days. The band’s name, ‘Indian Ocean’, was Susmit’s father’s suggestion. The albums of the group include ‘Desert Rain’, ‘Jhini’, ‘Kandisa’, ‘Black Friday’ and hot on the charts now is ‘Peepli Live’. ‘Yaara maula’ in Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Gulaal’ was sung by Rahul and Asheem.

Review by Vinoo
Language : English
Director : Susan Koch / Jeff Werner
‘Kicking it’ is a documentary on the World Cup for the homeless. 48 countries participate in a World Cup for the homeless in 2006 during which most of the football footage for this film was shot. Started in 2003, by Mel Young and Harald Schmeid, this initiative is simply remarkable. The premise is that a football can change lives. How true! The film follows 7 people from various countries : Jesus (a 62 year old with an alcohol problem, an ex-player for the junior team of Real Madrid, Spain), Slavan (from the streets of St.Petersburg, Russia, Najib, from the Taliban-ruled, war-torn Afghanisthan), Damien and Simon (from the drug rehab centres of Dublin, Ireland), Craig (a homeless from the streets of North Carolina, USA), Alex (a toilet-cleaner, from the slums of Kenya).

All of them are more or less the key players of their respective teams. They all find hope in this World Cup for the homeless. Some of them harbour hopes of making it as a football professional while for some others it is an escape from the pathetic life they lead. A win will make them heroes back home. The film brings to us the spirit of the real game of football. No politics, no drugs, no ill will, no fancy stars, no money at stake. Just a game that can change lives forever, a game that can give hope to the homeless, the drug addicts and alcoholics, the people on the street, etc. Russia goes on to win the cup at the WC, 2006. The film manages to put before us the plight of the individuals and the backgrounds they come from and the stark reality in each one of those countries. Colin Farrell is the narrator. He sure must be a football-lover. This film is a real tribute to the game of football. I loved watching this one more than the World Cup, 2010.

This film is a must-have in anyone’s, more so in any footballer’s, collection. Here is the trailer for those interested.

There should be a whole team out there on the streets of India, a team much better than our national team. It is time we had our own version of the World Cup for the homeless. A ball can change the world.  I sure agree.  Football is nothing short of therapy. There is nothing it can’t cure. Talking from personal experience.

http://www.homelessworldcup.org/

Just in case you are interested to know more about this initiative click here
Thanks to a good old friend for lending me this one.
Also watched ‘Stand by me’ and ‘Fever Pitch’ thanks to a good old Gunner fan. Nowhere near as good as the book by Nick Hornby, but the film is worth a watch just for the celebration that follows Arsenal’s 2 nil win against Liverpool, when having to win 2 nil to win the Championship in 1989, and that too in an away game at Anfield. For a Gunner fan starved of any recent wins, it sure is a moment to cherish. Not recommended for loser ManU fans.
Useless trivia : ‘Kicking it’ premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. Starting 2008 there has been a Women’s WC for the homeless. This year’s World Cup for the homeless is to be held in Rio Di Janeiro, Brazil at the Copacabana beach. The next one will be in Paris, at a venue close to the Eiffel Tower.

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Topic: noX 2K d-cinema camera
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* Phantom HD High Speed Digital Camera
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