Roma: Indian Film Festival 2025

Dal 7 all'11 febbraio 2025 presso la sala cinema della sede ANICA di Roma si svolgerà l'Indian Film Festival, organizzato dall'Ambasciata Indiana. In cartellone RRR (solo su invito), Gangubai Kathiawadi, Soorarai Pottru (di Sudha Kongara, con Suriya, in lingua tamil), Vikram e Kantara. Le proiezioni saranno in lingua originale con sottotitoli in italiano e in inglese. Ingresso gratuito ma occorre prenotarsi qui.

Aggiornamento del 21 febbraio 2025: il Consolato Indiano di Milano offre la proiezione di RRR presso la sala Aurora del CityLife Anteo, proiezione in cartellone il 28 febbraio 2025 alle ore 19.30. Ingresso gratuito ma occorre prenotarsi qui.

Aditi Rao Hydari e Siddharth in Toscana

Aditi Rao Hydari e Siddharth sono in questi giorni in vacanza in Toscana. Un paio di mesi fa i due attori avevano ufficializzato il loro fidanzamento.

Aggiornamento del 4 giugno 2024: video.

Naatu Naatu, All That Breathes e The Elephant Whisperers in corsa per gli Oscar

Questo pomeriggio sono stati resi noti i candidati definitivi per il premio Oscar. Chhello Show purtroppo è fuori dai giochi, ma l'India può comunque celebrare: la canzone Naatu Naatu (tratta dalla colonna sonora del film telugu RRR), l'acclamato documentario All That Breathes (già vincitore del World Documentary Grand Jury Prize al Sundance Film Festival 2022 e dell’Œil d’or al Festival di Cannes 2022), e il cortometraggio documentario tamil The Elephant Whisperers (diretto dalla regista Kartiki Gonsalves e prodotto da Guneet Monga) sono entrati nella cinquina nelle rispettive categorie. Vi ricordo che The Elephant Whisperers è stato distribuito da Netflix a partire dallo scorso 8 dicembre. Il titolo dell'edizione italiana è Raghu, il piccolo elefante. Trailer.

Aggiornamento del 13 marzo 2023: Naatu Naatu e The Elephant Whisperers vincono l'Oscar

Kartiki Gonsalves e Guneet Monga, Los Angeles, 14.02.2023 

Ali Fazal e Tom Cruise, Los Angeles, 14 febbraio 2023

G. Monga, K. Gonsalves e S. Spielberg - Los Angeles, 14.02.2023

Ali Fazal, Shaunak Sen, Guneet Monga e Tom Cruise

Kartiki Gonsaves e Guneet Monga, Los Angeles, 9 marzo 2023

Nayanthara e Vignesh Shivan oggi sposi

Nayanthara e il regista Vignesh Shivan si sono sposati poche ore fa, nel corso di una cerimonia a cui hanno partecipato, fra gli altri, Shah Rukh Khan, Rajinikanth, Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi, Atlee e Boney Kapoor. Felicitazioni alla coppia!

What early Indian sci-fi looked like

Vi segnalo l'articolo Videochats on the Moon, immortality pills: what early Indian sci-fi looked like, di Gayle Sequeira e Ashutosh Mohan, pubblicato da Film Companion il 27 marzo 2021:

'More than meets the eye: early films about invisibility

Most of Bollywood's first few sci-fi outings revolved around the limitless potential that invisibility could unlock for a single person, and the unintended consequences that could follow. Nanabhai Bhatt's Mr. X (1957), considered to be the first Indian science-fiction film, follows a lab assistant who accidentally drinks an invisibility potion. Bad news: there's no antidote that will make him reappear. When there's a spate of crimes in the city, he's the obvious suspect and must prove his innocence. In Mr. X in Bombay (1964), the protagonist gets his hands on an invisibility potion and uses it to solve a problem more pressing than world hunger - his lack of a love life. (...) In 1965 film Aadhi Raat Ke Baad (...) director Nanabhai Bhatt (...) attempts to answer one question: how much harder would it be to solve a murder mystery if the main suspect could turn invisible at will? (...) It's a plot similar to Bhatt's earlier vanishing man film Mr. X. These early films adopted a myopic attitude towards invisibility, with the protagonists often using their newfound powers for selfish reasons rather than the greater good. It took till 1971 for invisibility to serve more altruistic purposes. In K. Ramanlal's Elaan. (...) Mr. India (1987), [is] the first mainstream Bollywood sci-fi film. (...) Another film (...) explored the more nefarious consequences of scientific advancement. In Mr. X [1984], written and directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. (...) In Malayalam film Jaithra Yaathra (1987) (...) invisibility is used to create chaos and for comic ends. (...) Invisibility, unlike immortality, appears to excite no moral questions. A person who lives forever can probably cause a lot of harm, but how bad can a brief disappearance be?

A whole new world: sci-fi set in space

Director A. Kasilingam's Kalai Arasi (1963) has aliens from another galaxy visit Earth and Mohan (M.G. Ramachandran) follow them back to their home. They look like us except for their sartorial preferences. They like tight shorts and safari helmets. Their spaceship has a distinct steampunk sensibility - levers and crankshafts everywhere. You even hear the periodic puff of escaping steam that apparently powers its cross-galaxy travel. (...) There is, however, one fundamental difference between us and them: the aliens are lovers of art to a fault. They've come to abduct talented artists from Earth and make them better ones. Their spaceship has a tiny screen that's a precursor to Google Earth. (...) What's surprising, especially since this is the first science-fiction film in Tamil, is how people react to a UFO. Mohan is with his friends when a spaceship flies overhead. He practically yawns an explanation, saying that experts believe that aliens from other galaxies would visit Earth at some point in time. His blasé friends are instantly convinced, feeling as much awe upon seeing a spaceship as an odd-looking cow. (...) Hindi film Chand Par Chadayee (1967) released two years before the first manned mission to the Moon, which is perhaps what emboldened director T.P. Sundaram to take creative liberties with the subject. (...) For a film that includes ridiculous scenes such as (...) parachute-wearing Moon women dancing above the clouds, the film was astonishingly prescient in terms of technological advancements. A high-ranking Moon citizen and the king of Mars videochat, and even communicate through a Google Glass-like device in which a real-time video of the caller appears on the lens of a pair of sunglasses. (...) The same year as Chand Par Chadayee's release, Martians visited Earth in Nisar Ahmad Ansari's Wahan Ke Log. (...)

Caution, side effects: medical science-fiction

Just as the vastness of space can be liberating, so can the invention of certain drugs that give their users powers. In P. Subramaniam's Malayalam classic Karutha Rathrikal (1967), the soft-spoken Santhan (Madhu) invents a drug that changes his appearance and gives him the ability to kill people. He's unable to make an antidote (perhaps, because of impure ingredients) which leads to his own death. An adaptation of R.L. Stevenson's Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, KR has an ambivalent stance towards the morality of science. We don't actually see much science, except in a comedy track that explains the concept of an antidote. The idea of an antidote becomes extraordinarily important in this subgenre, in which a scientist (typically out of hubris) invents a drug that gives him superpowers. In Naalai Manithan (1989) [tamil] the fate of the world hangs on Dr. Shankar (Jaishankar). After winning the Nobel Prize for inventing an AIDS drug, he creates another one that wakes the dead. Shankar's hubris prevents him from acknowledging the side effects of his immortality pill: violent and anti-social behaviour. Just as in Karutha Rathrikal, a scientist's individual choices shape how science plays out. By taking moral responsibility for his out-of-control inventions, the scientist ends up as the villain in these films. Both Santhan from KR and Shankar from NM die as a result of pushing the limits of human potential. This, however, isn't the case for the Professor (Anant Nag) from Kannada film Hollywood (2002), which claims to be India's first robot film. If the Professor's humanoid robot US-47 goes rogue, it's the robots fault, not his. (...) The Professor simply dismantles the malfunctioning robot. A rogue invention is only a technical problem, not a moral one. The film doesn't ask, like Naalai Manithan does, whether science leads to progress. Why embargo an invention when you could simply dismantle if it's not useful? Not quite human, not quite machine is the vehicle at the center of Ajantrik (1958), considered to be one of the earliest Bengali sci-fi movies. Director Ritwik Ghatak explores the relationship between a small-town driver, Bimal (Kali Banerjee) and his battered taxi by humanizing the vehicle through a combination of visual and sound effects. (...) Is the taxi sentient, or is Bimal projecting his emotions onto it?

Back to the future: films about time travel

In Aditya 369 [1991, telugu], written and directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, Professor Ramdas (Tinnu Anand) (...) invents a time machine. (...) What's interesting is when he [Nandamuri Balakrishna's Krisha Kumar] ends up in an apocalyptic-looking 2504 AD. We see a post-World War 3 Earth, where a radiation from nuclear weapons has made the surface unfit for living. It's practically a desert, and humans live underground in hermetic forts. (...) 'Stomach computers' tell people when to eat. But (...) this isn't interpreted cynically. (...) People in 2504 AD are merely amused that their lives are run by machines.

Science fiction is still an underserved genre in our films. Films like Rahul Sadasivan's Red Rain (2013) [malayalam] explore the instinctive terror we feel for something from beyond Earth, but recent films have continued earlier templates, with a bit more realism. Arati Kadav's Cargo (2019), Tik Tik Tik (2018) [tamil] and Antariksham 9000KMPH (2018) [telugu] are space operas but the science is believable. Fifty years after Karutha Rathrikal, Maayavan (2017) [tamil] explores the question of who we really are if we swap brains with someone else. 24 (2016) [tamil] and Indru Netru Naalai (2015) [tamil] are entertaining time travel films that take us to the past and, hesitantly, to the future of science fiction films'.

Black Eyed Peas: Action

Il video di Action, il nuovo brano dei Black Eyed Peas, si ispira al cinema indiano, ed offre alcune sequenze - rivedute - di pellicole celebri: Maryada Ramanna (S.S. Rajamouli), Enthiran (S. Shankar), Aambala (Sundar C.), Singham (Rohit Shetty) - oltre al film svedese Kops. Nel comunicato stampa si legge: "The Black Eyed Peas have been inspired by Indian culture from the beginning of our career. From Asha Bhosle to A.R. Rahman, Indian music has influenced our songs on more than one occasion. This video for ACTION shows our LOVE and appreciation for BOLLYWOOD and the imagination and awesomeness it brings to the screen. Thank you INDIA & BOLLYWOOD!!!".

Fahadh Faasil: Make your directors fall in love with you

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa dal talentuosissimo Fahadh Faasil ad Anupama Chopra e a Baradwaj Rangan, pubblicata ieri da Film Companion. Make your directors fall in love with you; you'll never run out of content: Fahadh Faasil:

'AC: It has taken us eight months to get you here.

I think it's because I feel incomplete about my films. I don't know when the right time to talk about them is. I usually talk about them only after a year when I have actually realised what I tried to do and what I achieved. When we start shooting I think, 'Is this how it is supposed to be?', 'Is this right?' or 'Is this how it is in the script?'. And after release, I'm thinking 'Did I get it right?' I always go through that cycle in my head for all my films and that's why I'm always absent from promotions.

AC: You just shot See you soon with Mahesh Narayanan. And you mentioned that this is not a feature film and it is kind of an experiment. 

I met Mahesh 10 years ago when I moved to Kochi. When we eventually decided to do Take off, we knew it wasn't the first film we wanted to do together. But I had to be there for him. That is how Take off, and then Malik happened and then we decided to do an even bigger film and then the lockdown happened. Then, he came up with this idea that we can eventually redesign a film on the editing table. He said he needed three actors who need not be together, it could happen over phone and video and things like that. I thought it was crazy but I did a test shoot for a day and told him to capture the portions with the other actors. (...) When he came back with a rough edit, I knew I wanted to be part of the film. I told him to not worry about the theatrical release or money and to just shoot it.

BR: When Irrfan Khan passed away, you wrote a deeply moving note where you said 'I owe my acting career to him. I don't think I would have come this far in my career had I not picked up that DVD and watched that film'. Which DVD was it and what time in your life were you in when you watched that film and how did it help your acting?

It's a film directed by Naseeruddin Shah called Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota. I saw it in 2005 and it was my third year in America. That was the first time I saw Irrfan on screen and he didn't look like an actor to me. I couldn't stop looking at him, even when other actors came on screen. He looked so graceful. I kept looking at his feet to check whether his feet were on the floor, he seemed to be always floating. No one has made that kind of an impression on me. (...)

AC: In the few interviews you have given, you've mentioned that you don't prep for a role. What is the Fahadh Faasil process? (...)

I think my prep is to costantly interact with my writer and director and DOP on the sets. I never finish my films on schedule because, for me, the filming process takes a lot of time. (...) The prep I do is that I keep interacting. I never stop questioning. (...) I might have a one-liner. Most of the time, we have the climax. We know this is how we want to conclude (...) and that changes like five days into the shoot. I think the drive to shoot is to achieve what we initially thought or the fire we had for the initial idea. So, once we capture that, then that's when things start growing. It's difficult but it is very interesting and I love it. (...) I rarely walk in to sets prepared. The moment I have to prepare, I think I will collapse. When I work in Tamil, the biggest problem is that I don't think in Tamil. I go there and read the script and then translate it into my language and then learn the lines. That process is not easy for me. I want to do a Tamil or Hindi film and speak in Malayalam (laughs).

AC: Is it true that when you shot Take off with Parvathy, you asked her how her character's signature would be? How does a detail like that affect what you are doing? (...)

What fascinated me was that after she read the script, she was talking like Sameera, thinking like Sameera, and we were on sets and I was not able to get it right. So, I tried talking to her and at that time she was fiddling with a pen and then I told her to just sign Sameera, and the way she signed was very vulnerable. (...) Something about it looked vulnerable to me and that is where I picked it from. (...) These are actually very small things that nobody really notices. (...)

AC: Is it true that you take two days to get into character and you request your director to reshoot the first two days later?

Yeah. My first two days are exercise. I never get them right. (...) All my films we have actually gone back and shot the first two days. (...)

AC: Is acting stressful for you or do you find joy in it? And, how do you deal with films that don't do well?

I believe I have become a better human being once I started acting and started taking it seriously, because that is when I started thinking about others. When a film goes wrong, what actually goes wrong is your thought process and what you have been thinking for the last two or three years. (...) That is very difficult to accept for me. I actually get into a defensive mode and I try to explain, 'This is what I tried'. (...) Because I was wrong, the film went wrong and I usually accept that. But that phase is very difficult for me. I usually take time to come out of it. I come out of it when I find something else to be excited about.

BR: [Thiagarajan] Kumararaja said that you knew only three Tamil words and he was completely amazed that you did the dubbing for the film with all emotions intact. He spoke about it as if he had almost sighted a UFO. How do you do that, especially in a language you don't know?

I have to give it to Kumar. I was very sceptical about it. I wanted to do a film with Kumar, but I wanted it to be in Malayalam, to be honest. I actually went to Kumar five years ago, even before he started thinking about Super Deluxe, and told him 'Let's do a film in Malayalam', and I got him all the way to Kochi, but it didn't work out and he went back to Chennai. Then, he called me for Super Deluxe. I was very sceptical, because if you do this film with a person who can think and speak in Tamil, you can do wonders with the character, so I kept pushing him to do it with another actor, but he was adamant and kept saying that it was just language. One thing I realised when I was doing the film is that I started speaking in Tamil. If I spend time there, I'll get used to the language, that is what I realised. The thing about Tamil is that it is a very beautiful language and to learn it by rote is very easy. It's like learning a song. (...)

AC: Which role took the most out of you?

All the roles. (...) It is amazing to get people to react to your emotions or smile at you. And I discovered this much later in my life. I was not ready to be an actor or anything, and I am a person who tasted success much too late in my career and once I tasted it, the entire connection became very beautiful. So, for me, it is very important to feel for the character and the story. I need to believe that this is something that could happen or that has happened and I need to feel the connection to that story or plot.

BR: Your father launched you, things didn't work out, you took a break of eight years and came back. What was your frame of mind at that point?

After my first film didn't do well and I decided to go to the US, I had this conversation with my father. My father introduced Mohanlal. So when I spoke to him, he told me that I have an acting rhythm and that if I was actually planning to take up acting, I should do it in a way that it is happening from my stomach and not from my brain, and that was a very interesting advice. It is about how you see things and how you want to see things. So, I want to feel for the character and then emote. (...) I turned 19 during the shoot. To be honest, if that film had worked, I don't think I would have come this far. I would have been a star for 10 years and then I don't know what would have happened. Because the film didn't work, at least I am trying to be an actor, and that makes a huge difference.

AC: Fahadh, I loved the fact that Nazriya [Nazim, moglie di Fahadh] proposed to you on the sets of Bangalore Days. Please tell us that story.

Yeah, there is another side to it, but okay (laughs). It was new for me to see a girl that wasn't excited about meeting Fahadh Faasil. I had to do things to get her attention and I think I fell in love with that. I would walk into sets and the first thing I would want to see is if she was looking at me. So, I took initiative but she asked me out because she knew that I didn't have the guts to ask her. The two good things that I did after coming into cinema is getting married to an actress and starting a production house. (...)

AC: Now that you have gone to Tamil, would you be interested in Hindi, perhaps?

For me, the fact that my Malayalam films are watched in Mumbai, and that I get these messages and beautiful calls from people in the same industry is itself a big thing. (...) None of my films are made into any other language, because they are very rooted. My cinema is here. I would love to interact with Meghna Gulzar and Zoya Akhtar. There are so many brilliant directors that I'd love to work with, and there are so many films that are so good. If you ask me, Piku was the best film to have released in the last decade. I absolutely love it, the performances and the way it is made. (...)

BR: Speaking of Kumararaja, did he actually make you do 200 takes?

That's his average. With me, it has gone to 500-550 shots and what is interesting is I know I would have done around 60-65 takes for him and he would come and say that 'In the 17th take the look was perfect but in the 12th take, I liked the rendering, but as a whole I liked the 35th take'.'

Yevade Subramanyam, Baahubali, I e Yatchan : Recensioni

[Blog] Recensioni di alcuni dei film più interessanti delle cinematografie telugu e tamil nell'anno 2015. Con Vikram, Nani, Anuskha Shetty, Prabhas, Arya, Rana Daggubati e Tamannah. Yevade Subramanyam e Baahubali (telugu), I e Yatchan (tamil) i titoli da non perdere.

Kaaka Muttai in programmazione a Milano

Forse alcuni di voi lo avranno visto lo scorso maggio in occasione del Festival del Cinema Africano, d'Asia e America Latina. Kaaka Muttai (The crow's egg), delizioso film per ragazzi in lingua tamil scritto e diretto dall'esordiente M. Manikandan, prodotto da Vetri Maaran e dalla superstar Dhanush, riapproda a Milano con una vera programmazione in sala. Il Cinema Beltrade lo ha infatti incluso in cartellone dal 19 al 26 novembre 2015, in edizione originale con sottotitoli in italiano. Domenica 22 novembre è prevista una proiezione speciale alle 11.00 del mattino, seguita da un brunch di cucina indiana. La programmazione al Beltrade è preceduta dalla presentazione di KM al festival Piccolo Grande Cinema 2015, il 14 novembre alle ore 17.00 allo Spazio Oberdan, con lettura dal vivo dei dialoghi (ingresso gratuito). 

KM si è aggiudicato due prestigiosi National Award: best children's film e best child actor (J. Vignesh e V. Ramesh). È stata la prima pellicola tamil ad essere proiettata in prima mondiale al Toronto International Film Festival (nel 2014). KM era in cartellone al Festival Internazionale del Film di Roma (sempre nel 2014 - sezione autonoma Alice nella città). Al Festival del Cinema Africano, d'Asia e America Latina, KM si è aggiudicato il premio per il miglior film sul dialogo interculturale giovanile, con la seguente motivazione: 'Per lo sguardo minuzioso ed intenso sulle discriminazioni sociali di una metropoli indiana nello scenario attuale della globalizzazione e per la vitalità e la caparbietà dei giovanissimi protagonisti del racconto filmico, che superano le barriere dell’esclusione e dell’omologazione, restando uniti e condividendo saperi, affetti, fatiche, impegno costante e consapevolezza critica dei propri autentici bisogni'. Il 5 giugno 2015 KM è stato distribuito nelle sale in India, incontrando il favore di pubblico e critica, e scatenando un fiume di commenti positivi in Twitter da parte di celebrità dell'industria cinematografica hindi. Trailer.

Le prime del 10 novembre 2015: Vedalam

In occasione della celebrazione della festività hindu del Diwali, l'industria cinematografica in lingua tamil quest'anno propone un sanguinoso duello fra due pezzi da novanta: Kamal Haasan (con Thoongaa Vanam) e Ajith Kumar. Ajith è il protagonista di Vedalam, film diretto da Siva e interpretato da Shruti Haasan (figlia del rivale Kamal). Ma qual è la particolarità di Vedalam? Facile: alcune sequenze sono state girate a Milano, in Valle d'Aosta (6 luglio 2015), e a Viareggio (dal 9 al 12 luglio 2015). Vi segnalo il video del brano Don't You Mess With Me, unitamente ad una ricca galleria di immagini, incluse quattro magnifiche fotografie che ritraggono Shruti sui set allestiti in Italia, fotografie scattate dallo stesso Ajith.

(scatto di Ajith Kumar)

(scatto di Ajith Kumar)

(scatto di Ajith Kumar)

(scatto di Ajith Kumar)

Vellaiyilla Pattathari : Recensione

[Blog] Recensione di Vellaiyilla Pattathari (2014), il nuovo film con la star tamil Dhanush diretto dal debuttante Velraj. Nel cast anche Amala Paul e Saranya Ponvannan.

Le prime del 18 luglio 2014: Pizza

Non capita spesso che un film horror indiano venga ben accolto da pubblico e critica, varchi i confini nazionali, e si guadagni persino una recensione italiana positiva. È il caso di Pizza, pellicola in lingua tamil distribuita nel 2012, diretta dall'esordiente Karthik Subbaraj. UTV Motion Pictures e Bejoy Nambiar presentano ora il remake in hindi, diretto da Akshay Akkineni. Eccovi il trailer. Per non parlare dell'originale trovata promozionale di UTV: a fine testo, la (ehm) pizza recapitata a giornalisti e critici indiani.... Nel 2013 era stato distribuito il remake in lingua kannada dal titolo Whistle.

Riporto di seguito la recensione dell'originale tamil firmata da Diego Garufi e pubblicata da Everyeye il 2 gennaio 2014:

'È certo difficile etichettare un film come Pizza inscrivendolo all'interno di un solo genere. Infatti nella pellicola di debutto del regista Karthik Subbaraj ci troviamo di fronte ad una miriade di generi che vengono apparentemente inseriti alla rinfusa ma che seguono invece una ben precisa strutturazione. (...)

Subbaraj (...) mostra una buona capacità tecnica e riesce a dosare al meglio i colpi di scena inseriti nell'arco dell'intero film. Tutto accade per una ragione e sebbene ci siano alcune caratteristiche tipiche di un certo cinema regionale indiano che non possono essere eliminate, (...) il film scorre molto bene. Ciò che rimane ostico per il pubblico internazionale è il continuo cambio di registro con improvvisi passaggi da scene dal tono fortemente horror a scene quasi comiche. Cambi a cui il pubblico indiano è avvezzo e che anzi esige, portando così alla conseguente autarchia del cinema indiano, che gode di una distribuzione internazionale molto scarsa proprio a causa di questa differenza nella fruizione di un certo cinema spettacolare.

Pizza è un'operazione commerciale che ha modificato la percezione del cinema dell'orrore in India. Un'operazione quasi delirante per la quantità di cambi di genere che accadono nell'arco di sole due ore. Dalla commedia romantica all'heist movie passando per il thriller e l'horror fino al crime investigativo. Il tutto senza soluzione di continuità. Eppure questo amalgama schizofrenico funziona egregiamente, nonostante qualche inciampo nella parte iniziale che però guadagna un maggiore significato in rapporto agli eventi nella seconda metà della pellicola. Un film che merita di essere visto, nonostante le difficoltà che si possono avere se non avvezzi a questo cinema'.

Irumbu Kuthirai: le riprese in Italia

[Archivio]

Nell'ottobre 2013 la troupe del film tamil Irumbu Kuthirai era in Italia per girare alcune sequenze. Fra le località selezionate: Cinque Terre, Lucca, Pisa (Parco di San Rossore) e Venezia. IK è diretto da Yuvaraj Bose e interpretato da Atharvaa e Priya Anand.

Aggiornamento del 9 agosto 2014 - An Italian Adventure: The Irumbu Kuthirai Press Meet Report, Deepika Ramesh, Silverscreen India: 'Atharvaa, the male protagonist in the flick couldn’t stop talking about the many Ducatis and BMW super-bikes he got to ride on the wide, wide roads in Italy. (...) Atharvaa recalled spending the first five days in the country learning about super-bikes. And, how they work. On the fifth day though, when he rode one for the first time, it felt surreal to the actor. He also remembered having a close-shave while shooting; he almost met with an accident. Italy was adventurous, alright, smiled the actor. He had to rely on Google Translator to get around the place, and converse in Italian'.

Aggiornamento dell'8 agosto 2016: Emiliano Umelli di Savona ci offre uno scatto e un video da lui prontamente registrato in diretta (nostro eroe!) delle riprese in Liguria. Trailer e video dei brani Ange Ippo Enna Seigiraai e Alay Paayum.

Maryan : Recensione

[Blog] Recensione di Maryan (2013), bellissimo film drammatico in lingua tamil interpretato da Dhanush e Parvathi Menon.

Film Tamil 2012 consigliati da Caterina

[Blog] Classifica personale dei migliori film in lingua tamil usciti nel 2012.

Kay Kay Menon: 90 per cent of Hindi cinema is non-cinema

Ieri è stato distribuito Udhayam NH4, film tamil diretto dall'esordiente Manimaran, interpretato da Siddharth e da Kay Kay Menon (al suo debutto a Kollywood). Vetri Maaran ha collaborato alla sceneggiatura. Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Kay Kay a Shobha Warrier, pubblicata da Rediff il 18 aprile 2013. Kay Kay Menon: 90 per cent of Hindi cinema is non-cinema:

'What was your initial reaction when Vetri Maaran and Manimaran came to you with the script of Udhayam NH4?

The first time I met Vetri and Mani, I found that they were contemporary film makers, modern in their thinking and not orthodox in any sense. They had a unique sense of cinema. So, that was quite exciting for me and made me say 'yes' to their project. (...)

What impressed you about the story and the film-maker?

It has to do with the film-maker and not the story. A simple love story can be made into an interesting film if the film-maker can think differently. For me, the film-maker is more important than the story. What impressed me was his extremely modern way of thinking about cinema. The conversation I had with the film-maker was very interesting. (...) Only someone who thinks out of the box excites me. (...)

What kind of films do you believe in?

I believe in cinema! Unfortunately, 90 per cent of Hindi cinema is non-cinema. Only marketing works here. Even the item songs in these films are an extension of marketing. (...) You must have certain integrity to make cinema. Unfortunately, in 90 per cent of cases only the marketing mind of the director works and not the creative mind. 

Has your idea of cinema changed over the years?

Certainly, it has evolved over a period of time, as you see more films and work in more films. Once you are working in films, you learn a lot more about cinema. It is connected to your thought process and like any thought process this also evolves after a period of time. After 16 years of working here, now I have a clear idea about what is cinema and what is non-cinema. (...) Where lots of money is involved in film-making do you see marketing governing the film. 

Many film-makers say that unlike writing or painting, a lot of money is involved in the making of a film, and it is necessary that they get the money back.

I don't agree with this argument. Nobody can use that as an excuse to make trash. Money can be used for a good purpose as well. That is a lame excuse for those who have no talent but have money. But if you have talent, you will use money very well and for the uplift of cinema. Like you can use money for eradication of poverty, you can use money to remove the poverty of mind in cinema. I feel it is the duty of the film-maker to try and uplift cinema and the mindset of the audience. If you give only trash all the time, the mindset of the audience also will not change. They will never evolve into good cinema viewers. (...)

Is the satisfaction you derive from cinema more important than money?

It is to do with legitimacy. You can earn money in any way but you have to have peace of mind too. What I do is only with good intention. That is more important than earning money for me. Fortunately, good cinema has increased in Hindi. So, we can have some hope that audiences are maturing.

Once you started acting in Udhayam NH4 were you happy with the way it was made?

I was very happy with working in this film. While making the film, we were evolving every day and creating new things. A genuine moment has no expiry date and this film has many genuine moments. 

What exactly impressed you about the way the film was made?

The whole process of thinking out of the box impressed me. It is like if you give a simple story to a mediocre film-maker and a brilliant film-maker you will see how different the films will be. You see a brilliant film-maker blossoming in front of you, improvising and growing. In the case of this film, once we started shooting, it went up by 10-15 notches.

Do you understand Tamil well?

I understand Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi but I can't read and write them. My policy is that I work only in films the language of which I understand even if I can't speak it. If you don't understand the language, you will only be mouthing the dialogues the assistant director tells you. Then, you will only be a dummy kind of actor, which I don't like. 

Was it enjoyable to shoot in real locations?

Shooting in real locations gives you a lot of possibilities. For example, the script may say the Jeep travels in one direction, stops, and the driver looks in one direction. Now, when in a real location, there are so many possibilities that you can use, like a dog running in front of you, or a tree or trees in that area. You will improvise according to the location and that becomes an interesting feeling for an actor.  

What kind of an actor are you? Do you internalise the character?

All acting is internal; there is nothing external which, according to me, is hamming. Even if you are playing a loud character, that is also an internal process. Each actor has a way of internalising. 

Has any character you played refused to leave you?

I let them live their own lives. I call them back whenever I require them! It's all about exploring your self. And I enjoy the process. Most actors are fake and they get away with hamming because of marketing. It has nothing to do with what you do in a film; it's all about marketing. 

Are you against marketing?

I am not as long as it doesn't intrude into cinema. I am also not against item numbers if it has something to do with the film. But if it spoils the film viewing, I am not for it. You cannot adulterate a film by forcing item numbers etc into it. A marketing guy cannot enter into the film; he can only be outside the film'. 

Bollywood alla conquista del Giappone

Il 7 marzo 2013 Ek Tha Tiger è stato distribuito a Tokyo col titolo Thaiga Densetsu No Supai. Il regista Kabir Khan, presente alla prima, ha dichiarato che la pellicola è pronta a conquistare il Giappone: si parte con 30 copie in diverse città del Paese, fra cui Osaka e Kyoto, per raggiungere successivamente le 70 copie.

Sempre in Giappone, il 16 marzo 2013 verrà distribuita in 15 sale la versione sottotitolata di Om Shanti Om, col titolo Koi Suru Rinne Om Shanti Om. La regista Farah Khan presenzierà alla prima.

Vi segnalo anche le locandine giapponesi di 3 Idiots e di Don 2. Pare siano stati raggiunti degli accordi per la distribuzione di Jab Tak Hai Jaan e di Dhoom:3. Vi ricordo che Enthiran (tamil) in Giappone aveva generato un certo clamore fra i fan locali.

 

Om Shanti Om

 

Om Shanti Om

  

 

Southscope Febbraio 2013: Tamannaah & Vishal

In attesa di conoscere quali saranno i volti del numero di marzo, scopriamo una curvacea e sensuale Tamannaah e uno scultoreo Vishal nella copertina dell'edizione di Southscope ancora in edicola.

La bella Tamannaah sta attualmente girando il remake di Himmatwala, diretto da Sajid Khan, al fianco di Ajay Devgan. Il sito di Filmfare magazine propone oggi il primo video promozionale del brano "Taki Taki", cantato da Shreya Goshal e Mika Singh. 

Southscope tamil settembre 2012: Jeeva & Pooja Hegde

Nella copertina tamil di Southscope sovrasta l'attore Jiiva dietro la sua maschera di super eroe, affiancato dall'attrice kannada Pooja Hegde, sua co-protagonista nel tanto atteso Mugamoodi. Il film, da ieri uscito nelle sale del sud dell'India, sta dividendo il pubblico e i critici con recensioni alquanto contrastanti. Il regista è Mysskin, autore del commovente Nandalala (2010) e del celebrato action movie Ajanthey (2008). Maggiori info su Mugamoodi qui.

Il cinema indiano e l'Italia: mappa delle locations

[Blog]  Una lista dalla A alla Z delle locations italiane che sono apparse, o a breve appariranno, in film hindi, telugu, tamil e bengali. Provvederemo a aggiornare e completare i testi mano a mano. Se  alcuni   titoli ci sono sfuggiti non esitate a scriverci per suggerircene la visione! Buon viaggio nell'Italia bolly-kolly-tollywoodiana!