17 marzo 2013

Will the real RGV please stand up?

Vi segnalo un lungo articolo, piuttosto pungente, dedicato al regista Ram Gopal VarmaWill the real RGV please stand up?, Ranjeeta Ganeshan, Rediff, 11 marzo 2013:

'From the sublime to the ridiculous, Ram Gopal Varma’s films have been at the extreme ends of the Bollywood spectrum. (...) His factory was the stuff of which edgy dreams were made. He confronted convention, discerned talent and showed that guns and gravel could make perfectly acceptable substitutes for candyfloss. Aspiring writers, film makers and technicians found a messiah in the producer-director who rolled out movies on a conveyor belt. Still, the last five years have added to Ram Gopal Varma’s repertoire a clutter of mostly forgettable cinema. (...) Varma may have delivered a series of flops but that has not damaged his pace. (...) But this strategy of producing films every few months has led to them having shorter shelf lives. (...) 
Satya (...) inspired a rash of crime, thriller and shootout films. The much-admired gangster movie along with his debut work Shiva and Rangeela are his three cinematic mistakes, Varma once said in a blog, “because they have created a benchmark and all the time I get bashed up for not living up to them.” (...) Sarkar Raj in 2008 was Varma’s last memorable hit. (...) Despite a somewhat inconsistent career, his image as an intelligent director has not been compromised. Big distributors have been wary of his films for the past few years. Yet, for his directorial ventures, Varma manages to find financiers, a feat often attributed to his script-narration skills. (...) “If you look into Varma’s eyes when he narrates, you can’t say ‘no’; you just trust him,” says a producer. (...) 
According to Varma, his ability to bounce back after flops comes from never treating anything as a failure. “Others see the effect and I would analyse the cause. The moment you truly understand the cause, your failure will become your strength and the new-found knowledge will lead you to success,” he wrote on his blog, later admitting that this did not prevent him from making new mistakes. Among these new mistakes is a shift in focus from strong themes and crisp words to darker and dramatic images. The experimental rogue camera technique he introduced recently, where digital cameras are placed in various spots to capture the scene from various angles, was trashed by critics. (...) 
The crop of talents including Anurag Kashyap, (...) whom he encouraged early on, have embarked on their separate journeys and flourished. Kashyap has stopped watching his films. Critic [Mayank] Shekhar says, “he is no longer surrounded by the best creative minds that exist.” (...) The man, accused by some of having ‘no personal life,’ is said to spend his spare time watching movies, documentaries and short films. Of his romantic involvements, the director once said, “I have been taken and left many times”. (...) While seen as a serious man in television interviews, he maintained a very candid blog from 2008 to 2009. Now, he uses Twitter to offer explanations, lash out or just be cheeky. Varma is known to talk about the complexities of crime in a manner that would impress experts in the field of law. (...) 
“Megalomaniacal” is now a term used freely to describe his style. This was not the case during Satya. Most of the crew including Varma were relatively new and had nothing to lose then. “When you’re in a position where there are a lot of expectations, that’s when things go wrong,” observes Saurabh Shukla who co-wrote Satya with Kashyap. Shukla recalls Varma as a receptive man, whom even assistant directors could approach with suggestions. (...) “Varma has the right to do whatever fascinates him as an artist,” Shukla says. “Yes, it would be great if he does any other kind of film - what is not known in quotes as a ‘Ram Gopal Varma film’; because he will have a newer take on things.” [Makarand] Deshpande (...) adds, “He is his own enemy. He can anytime create wonders if he just becomes friends.” Over the years, Varma has accepted both criticism and praise, saying, “I equally love to be hated and loved. What scares me is to bore you all”.'

India Today Conclave 2013

L'India Today Conclave 2013 si è svolto a Delhi dal 15 al 16 marzo. Il tema dell'edizione di quest'anno era Reinventing Democracy. Fra le celebrità che hanno partecipato all'evento, segnalo Irrfan Khan e Anushka Sharma. Sito ufficiale dell'evento.

I figli della mezzanotte in Italia

I figli della mezzanotte di Deepa Mehta verrà finalmente distribuito anche nelle sale del nostro Paese il 28 marzo 2013. Vi propongo la locandina e il trailer. In un'intervista pubblicata dal Corriere della Sera il 15 marzo 2013, la regista dichiara: 'Il cinema italiano ha avuto un grande impatto sul mio lavoro di regista. E per I figli della mezzanotte ho pensato spesso a Il Gattopardo, a quel raccontare il dramma e la nostalgia sullo sfondo di una costante tensione politica. Così come ho amato i tocchi surrealisti de Il Conformista con cui Bertolucci ha inaugurato un nuovo modo di girare, capace di mescolare le passioni e i conflitti di un individuo con quelli della nazione'.
Vedi anche:

Salman Khan: The Hit Machine

Vi segnalo l'articolo Salman Khan: The Hit Machine, di Ashish K. Mishra e Shishir Prasad, pubblicato da Forbes India nel numero speciale dell'8 febbraio 2013 dedicato alle 100 celebrità più famose del subcontinente. Nella classifica, Salman si posiziona saldamente al secondo posto, battuto solo dal collega Shah Rukh Khan (clicca qui).

'He is the star who has made masala films hip again. No other actor in the last 30 years has done what Salman Khan has done. He has delivered six superhits in four years, grossing over Rs 850 crore. (...) The transformation of Salman is one the most notable turnaround stories of Indian business. Behind it lies a shift in the way he views his career, philanthropy and the counsel of some wise minds, most notably his father Salim Khan. There is only one thing he hasn’t changed. His cocky but lovable attitude. (...)
The rise of a star
Over the last 40 years, Hindi cinema has had two undisputed matinee idols. The first was Rajesh Khanna. The second is Amitabh Bachchan. The slot fell vacant in 1982, when Bachchan was injured while shooting for Coolie. (...) In 1995, Shah Rukh Khan happened when he did Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, one of the highest grossing Indian films of all times. Till 2003, it was Shah Rukh who reigned at the box office. It has to be said though that a lot of his success came from the overseas market, thanks to his urbane looks and demeanour. (...) If there is one thing that Shah Rukh could not manage, it was to become as big a draw as Bachchan or Khanna in the hinterlands.
All work and no play 
It was then that Salman, who had been busy partying and doing some eminently forgettable films, decided to change his ways. He stopped his party-hard ways and improved his work ethics dramatically. It didn’t happen in a day. As his father Salim Khan says, it was only over a period of time that Salman understood that anything good that he wanted to do - charity for instance - would happen only if he was able to succeed as an actor. The first step would be to turn up for shoots on time and select the right films. (...) Around 2002, Salman’s affair with Aishwarya Rai ended. Though he was linked to Katrina Kaif later, people close to him believe that for the last three to four years, Salman has been as single as he can be. The loss in emotional intensity in his personal life has been taken up by his focus on his career. (...) But the bigger challenge was to differentiate himself. Aamir [Khan] is the serious guy. Shah Rukh is the romantic guy. When you need a few bones broken, Ajay Devgan was the man. Salman put it all together. It is reminiscent of the way Bachchan in his heydays offered a bit of everything - romance, action, comedy. Similarly, there is a little bit of Salman-ness in all of his roles. He is cocky, arrogant, but funny too. (...)
Joy of giving
Being Human Foundation was Salman’s idea. The family has always been out to help people, but it was sporadic. In 2007, they decided that they should do it in a more organised way. In 2012, the foundation donated close to Rs 7.5 crore and, in terms of medicine and hospital expenses, helped 2,534 people. (...) All this has been made possible by making Being Human a lifestyle brand. In 2012, Being Human (licensed to Mandhana Industries, a Mumbai-based textile company) had a turnover of about Rs 60 crore. “It has worked so well as it is a combination of fashion, charity and celebrity. Two percent of our sales go to the Foundation,” says Manish Mandhana, managing director of Mandhana Industries. The potential is huge. “Women literally bought small sizes of men’s T-shirts. Finally, we said we need to extend the product line. In March, we are launching both women and kids' wear,” adds Mandhana. Early this month, Being Human opened its flagship, standalone store on Linking Road at Bandra in Mumbai'.

Vedi anche Il fenomeno Salman Khan, 10 dicembre 2021