Mohammed Hanif: The joys and struggles of everyday life

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa dallo scrittore pachistano Mohammed Hanif a Qantara, pubblicata il 14 maggio 2012. L'autore presenta il suo nuovo romanzo, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti. 

The joys and struggles of everyday life, Claudia Kramatschek:

'Many in the West equate Pakistan with terrorism. But your new novel isn't about terrorism or the Taliban; it's about the daily fight for survival.

Mohammed Hanif: It is a much more intimate novel. And as you pointed out, it is an insider's look at how life is lived on a day-to-day basis. This is not the kind of life that makes screaming headlines; this is not the kind of life that CNN and FOX and Al Jazeera like to cover. It might seem mundane and boring from the outside, but it is full of little adventures, full of little romances, full of little humiliations, full of tiny terrors. For me, this life is as captivating, as amazing as anything that happens on a global scale.

The main setting is a Christian hospital in Karachi, which seems to be a place where hope is abandoned at the entrance. To what extent should readers view this hospital as a cipher, a symbol for the state of the country as a whole?

Hanif: Most of us who live in urban societies were born in a hospital; at some point we end up there to manage our pains, and even if we are all completely healthy, there is a chance that we will end up there. That kind of fascinated me because it is a very familiar place for most people who live in a city. And obviously it is a world of its own. So if you want to read it as a stand-in for a whole society or a whole country, if you want to read it as a study of a sickness that invades our society, if you want to read it as a study of people who try and cure this sickness - sometimes they fail and sometimes they succeed - most of all, you know, I would like to read it as it is written: a place full of life and death and hope and despair.

To a certain extent, it is a special hospital because it is a Christian hospital. What's more, the main female protagonist is a Christian. This is unusual because the situation of minorities in Pakistan is rarely addressed in the West.

Hanif: I do not usually like the word "minority" because when you call a group a minority, society is absolving itself of its moral and political responsibility. What it says is that here is something that is quite minor and small and doesn't matter because there are things that are bigger and more important and that matter more. But that is not true. Take, for example, women in Pakistan. In terms of numbers, they are the majority; they far outnumber men. But are they treated like a majority? No. We still treat them like a subspecies, like we treat animals that we don't like. And it is similar with other religions; we have a very bad history with them. And it has got to the point where it is not just people who belong to other religions who are affected; people who call themselves Muslims for example are affected too. There is whole sect in Pakistan called the Ahmedis. There is a law that prohibits them from saying they are Muslims. If they call themselves Muslims, they can be sent to prison. And people have gone to jail for that. Then you have Shias being targeted in Pakistan. But if you keep dividing people into these subgroups, you will reach the conclusion that everyone is a minority of one. But to tell you the truth, my main character could have been a Muslim and from the same class background, and she would have had the same experiences. So sometimes yes, it makes a difference if you belong to a different faith. But I have seen cases in real life where you actually do belong to the majority faith, but it is your class that determines your faith, rather then your religion.

What is your name? Where do you come from? What is your religion? Identity still seems to be a driving force and a dividing line inside the country.

Hanif: Yes, completely. Because people still haven't been able to decide the biggest debate in Pakistan, which is this: why did Pakistan come into existence? More then 65 years have passed, and we still haven't been able to reach some minimum kind of consensus on that. There are people who think that this is some kind of divine gift, which is supposed to be an ultra-religious Islamic country. There are other people who argue that this is a country that was created for Muslims so that their economic rights could be protected, and that their country was supposed to be as open to non-Muslims as to anybody else. That is a central debate that goes on in Pakistan and it gets much more complicated with ethnicities: where do you come from, are you a Punjabi or a Sindhi or a Beloch? And then the biggest debate of them all: what class and which clan do you belong to?

It seems to me that by looking at one seemingly small aspect, you give a broad insight into the difficulties and the different layers of Pakistani society.

Hanif: Somebody is dying of hunger or blown up by some explosion or has suffered terribly in some way. That is when it makes it to your TV screen. That is when it gets written about in the newspapers. And that somehow reduces all of society to this bizarre image of either people who are completely suffering or being bombed to death, people who are starving because of national disasters or drones striking people in the mountains, whereas the majority of people live somewhere between these two extremes. There are joys in daily life, there are daily struggles that people have to get through, and sometimes all those struggles are successful. And in among all of this, of course, there is love. That is my major concern in this book: how people fall in love, how they try to live together, and how sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Well, for Alice it doesn't work in the end. In general the situation for women seems to be very bad...

Hanif: The plain truth is that it is. And I will give you an example of that. I live in Karachi and, like any citizen, I pick up the local newspaper every day, which gives you the news about the city. A few years ago, I realised that every day there would be at least one story about a woman who has been killed in some bizarre way - usually by her own brother, by her own husband, by her own father, sometimes by her own mother or other women in the family. And I am not talking about some remote tribal area or rural area; I am talking about a big city. That is when I started to think about these things. Obviously women's lot is difficult; there is a lot of violence against women. But we must also point out that in my book and also outside in society, there are a lot of women who are very gutsy, who fight back, who have to wage a battle every day to win an inch of space. And that space, I must say, over the years has been increased. It has been a tough battle. But that is a fight that goes on, on daily basis.

The story is set in Karachi, which has long been dogged by riots and ethnic rivalries. To what extent does the city represent the country's problems?

Hanif: Karachi is basically a city of immigrants. When partition took place, it was a city of only 100,000 people, 400,000 people actually. Now it is a city of almost 20 million people and it has migrants not only from all over Pakistan, but from India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. So in a way it has become a regional hub for migrants. And despite all the violence and despite all its problems, it is still the kind of city that gives people a livelihood. So in a way it does represent a lot of the country's problems: all the religious differences, all the ethnic differences, the black economy that exists in Pakistan and in the region. But at the same time it also represents what is perhaps the only hopeful model for the country. There are people who are so diverse, people who speak completely different languages and belong to completely different ethnic backgrounds and sometimes belong to completely different religions. If they can live on the same street, than the rest of the country can also follow the same model'.

Project to give Mumbai a Bollywood mural makeover

Le celebrazioni per il centenario del cinema indiano stanno coinvolgendo anche i comuni cittadini. Due designer mumbaiti hanno inaugurato il Bollywood Art Project, un'iniziativa che, grazie alla collaborazione dei leggendari pittori di manifesti  (oggi in disgrazia), si ripromette di decorare la metropoli con una serie di giganteschi murales a tema cinematografico. Il primo - alto 6 metri - si trova a Bandra, ed è immortalato nella fotografia a sinistra: si tratta del film Anarkali (1953). Durante il fine settimana la pellicola è stata proiettata all'aperto sulla stessa parete come sfondo. Il secondo è in fase di realizzazione: un ritratto di 18 metri di Helen. 

Project to give Mumbai a Bollywood mural makeover, Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Reuters, 16 maggio 2012: '“Mumbai is the home of Bollywood, but it has no Bollywood flavour,” said Ranjit Dahiya, who started the project with his friend, Tony Peter. “We wanted to change that.” (...) “We have a lot of indications around Mumbai of what Bollywood is today, in terms of posters of latest releases, but there is no indication of where we came from,” Peter said. (...) Peter says he hopes to recruit more of India’s poster painting stars into the project, indirectly helping workers skilled in the once-flourishing art of hand-painted, larger-than-life posters, who have been struggling in recent years. Both Dahiya and Peter have regular day jobs in design but say their project has become an all-consuming hobby'.

Madhuri Dixit compie 45 anni

La divina Madhuri Dixit compie oggi 45 anni. L'articolo Mad about Mads di Rahul Gangwani, pubblicato da Filmfare, ripercorre la carriera della celebre attrice e ballerina attraverso le sue coreografie migliori:

'A breathtakingly beautiful girl dressed in pretty pink dancing benevolently on the 70 mm screen. The year was 1988 and the film was Tezaab. And the nation was in love. There was enchantment in her smile, charm in her moves and exuberance in her personality. In brief, it was pure magic. We are talking about a phenomenon known as Madhuri Madness. (...) There is no explanation on how a simple Maharashtrian would-be micro-biologist became one of the biggest names of Hindi Cinema. Madhuri Dixit’s journey in the movie business is as enticing as her aura. She is one woman who can attract the fantasy of nine year old as well as a nonagenarian. M.F. Husain’s fascination for Madhuri is a story well known and goes on to prove her alluring magnetism.  

Madhuri Dixit is the epitome of grace. There are many attributes which contributed in the making of the Superstar. But the one factor which still dominates her personality is her dancing flair. Dance is Madhuri’s X factor. Boy she can dance and how! (...) Her moves serve as a perfect confluence of poetry and music. Her dance beautifully amalgamates method with spontaneity and make for a visual epiphany. She is one actor who can be a picture of poise and at the same time steam up the screen with her seduction. Maverick film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali once famously said that one can go mad watching her dance. We concur that'.

Sapete qual è l'origine di dhak dhak girl, l'affettuoso soprannome con cui viene identificata la star? Ecco soddisfatta la vostra curiosità: si tratta del brano Dhak Dhak Karne Laga, tratto dalla colonna sonora del film Beta del 1992.

Salman Rushdie: On censorship

L'11 maggio 2012 The New Yorker ha pubblicato On censorship, l'intervento di Salman Rushdie del 6 maggio al PEN World Voices Festival. Ovviamente l'argomento trattato riguarda il celebre scrittore molto da vicino: 

'No writer ever really wants to talk about censorship. Writers want to talk about creation, and censorship is anti-creation, negative energy, uncreation. (...) Censorship is the thing that stops you doing what you want to do, and what writers want to talk about is what they do. (...)

The creative act requires not only freedom but also this assumption of freedom. If the creative artist worries if he will still be free tomorrow, then he will not be free today. If he is afraid of the consequences of his choice of subject or of his manner of treatment of it, then his choices will not be determined by his talent, but by fear. If we are not confident of our freedom, then we are not free.

And, even worse than that, when censorship intrudes on art, it becomes the subject; the art becomes “censored art,” and that is how the world sees and understands it. (...) At its most effective, the censor’s lie actually succeeds in replacing the artist’s truth. That which is censored is thought to have deserved censorship. (...)

You will even find people who will give you the argument that censorship is good for artists because it challenges their imagination. This is like arguing that if you cut a man’s arms off you can praise him for learning to write with a pen held between his teeth. Censorship is not good for art, and it is even worse for artists themselves. (...) So perhaps we can argue that art is stronger than the censor, and perhaps it often is. Artists, however, are vulnerable. (...)

Even more serious is the growing (...) agreement that censorship can be justified when certain interest groups, or genders, or faiths declare themselves affronted by a piece of work. Great art, or, let’s just say, more modestly, original art is never created in the safe middle ground, but always at the edge. Originality is dangerous. It challenges, questions, overturns assumptions, unsettles moral codes, disrespects sacred cows or other such entities. It can be shocking, or ugly, or, to use the catch-all term so beloved of the tabloid press, controversial. And if we believe in liberty, if we want the air we breathe to remain plentiful and breathable, this is the art whose right to exist we must not only defend, but celebrate. Art is not entertainment. At its very best, it’s a revolution.

This piece is drawn from the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture given by Rushdie, on May 6th, as part of the PEN World Voices Festival'.

Dibakar Banerjee: Emraan Hashmi wanted to look ugly

Emraan Hashmi in Shanghai

Chi avrebbe mai immaginato che un giorno Emraan Hashmi, il serial kisser di Bollywood, sarebbe stato scritturato nientemeno che da Dibakar Banerjee? Eppure per Shanghai è successo. Vi segnalo Emraan wanted to look ugly: Dibakar Banerjee, una divertente intervista concessa dal duo a Priyanka Jain, pubblicata oggi da Hindustan Times:

'What do you like about each other's brand of cinema?

Emraan: When I saw Khosla Ka Ghosla, I was impressed. Later, I came to know this strong and conceptually brilliant film was made on a miniscule budget. When Dibakar first messaged me, saying he wanted to meet to discuss a possible film, I had already decided to say yes. I had to work with him. He makes unique films that others would shy away from, and yet manage to strike a chord with the audience. Shanghai, though different from his usual films, does have his stamp on it. It’s a thriller, a whodunit and entertaining as well. The film is profound but it’s not preachy.

Dibakar: I have liked Emraan since his debut film Footpath (2003). He had little to do in that film, but he stood out from the rest. Despite the glam-heavy films he has done, you can see how his eyes speak a lot. I love how they can emote so much. Emraan always clicks with the audience instantly. He is so relatable in the films he has done that your heart goes out for the character.

So far, both of you have explored diverse sides of filmmaking. How has working together benefited both of you? Also, tell us more about each other's contributions to the film.

Emraan: There is a certain way in which Dibakar envisions characters in his films, a quality that is very unique to him. I haven’t seen things like that before in the films I have done so far. There is a certain subtext to every performance and role. He goes into the complexities of what each character is thinking - where it’s coming from, where it’s going and what it’s going through. That means even more hard work for the actor. He does a lot of prep work.

Dibakar: It is a winning formula for both of us. We were diametrically opposite, but what is more important is the coming together of Abhay Deol and Emraan Hashmi on screen. That is the odd, unique combination; people don’t know what to expect. A lot of people told me I had gone mad casting these two together and warned me against it. But I enjoy going against the grain.

Emraan, will being in a Dibakar film help you shed the serial kisser tag and let people take you seriously? And Dibakar, will Emraan’s mass appeal help you get eyeballs for your films?

Emraan: I don’t sign films with directors simply because their previous ventures had a Rs 50 crore opening. I don’t do south remakes just because it’s the trend now. I don’t jump onto those bandwagons. I like people like Dibakar Banerjee, Raj Kumar Gupta who are make interesting and unique cinema. I want to be part of their films. It’s not the need to shed a tag but the desire to do more. I take my films pretty seriously, be it Jannat 2 or Shanghai.

Dibakar: Of course. Emraan has a pull with his audience. However, we aren’t totally counting on that because we have cast Emraan in a non-sensual role. In fact, Emraan was excited when we told him: ‘You won’t look hot on screen!’. He jumped up and down in excitement when I said :‘We will make you look ugly.’ In this film, you will see a very repulsive and grotesque Emraan as Jogi Parmar.

Emraan, was it challenging to work with a director known for his strong subject-oriented films and maverick style of filming? Dibakar, was it daunting to cast Emraan in a non-glam avatar?

Emraan: I had to go through ten workshops with Dibakar’s team. It breaks you as an actor! He hurled me into the fire with this one. Jogi is not even five percent close to who I am. The character is someone I don’t understand at all. The whole shooting experience has been a discovery of sorts for me.

Dibakar: The audience is in for a surprise from Emraan in this film. He was initially uncomfortable and nervous about becoming Jogi. But he has put in a lot of hard work. Which other established actors would go through acting workshops to get into character? The first day when he came to the sets after the workshop, the crew was abuzz about how they saw Jogi in him and not Emraan!'.

Naresh Fernandes: Taj Mahal Foxtrot

Vi segnalo la recensione di Taj Mahal Foxtrot - The story of Bombay's jazz age di Naresh Fernandes, recensione firmata da Amitava Sanyal e pubblicata da Hindustan Times il 17 febbraio 2012:

'A delightful book on Bombay’s jazz past that takes readers beyond jazz as well as Bombay.

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when India was coughing awake to light and freedom, the charmed people of Bombay and Karachi were celebrating in swing time. In Bombay’s Taj Mahal Hotel, jazz bands led by saxophonist Micky Correa and trumpeter Chic Chocolate were playing the new national anthem with a young J.R.D. Tata and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit in audience. At the Karachi Club a night later, Ken Mac’s band played a special request by Muhammad Ali Jinnah - Paul Robeson’s ‘The End’, which the Quaid-e-Azam apparently used to hum while visiting his wife’s grave in Mazagaon, Bombay.

Such vivid snapshots take Taj Mahal Foxtrot, Naresh Fernandes’ book on jazz in Bombay, to a field larger than either jazz or Bombay. Fernandes’ eight-year transcontinental research gives the American-born genre of music a new historical home this side of the Suez. His doggedness at getting close to the likes of Ken, Chic and Micky leads to a unique portrait of Bombay musicians. In the middle is the sketch of a fad-following Brilliantined society - one that worried more about slowing down the quicksilver ‘Paris speed’ to ‘Bombay speed’ than about the morning after - that Fernandes projects as jazz loving Bombay.

Much like the music itself, Fernandes’ research goes on inspired dot-joining sprees. He dives into chapters as diverse as the role of jazz musicians in the nation-building project; on Blue Rhythm, the only Indian magazine on jazz, published by diamond merchant Niranjan Jhaveri and friends in 1952-53; and on the playing up of colour as a signifier of authenticity in bands like the Plantation Quartet. At times, the collected trivia would fall between the dots and need to be parked in footnotes or in the eponymous blog. From one such aside we learn that C. Lobo, leader of the Bengal governor’s marching band around 1900, grudgingly taught western notations and violin to his neighbour, a young boy named Allauddin Khan.

The three musicians in the August 1947 postcards loom large because of their stellar roles in the history. In Finding Carlton, a documentary researched by New York-based artist-entrepreneur Susheel Kurien at about the same time as Fernandes’ book, Ken Mac is identified as the musician who brought jazz to India in the 1920s, a time the self-proclaimed ‘pioneer of European dance bands’ was playing 40 engagements a month. 

Micky Correa provided generations of musicians sustenance through his Taj band during 1939-1961.

Chic Chocolate, on the other hand, was a shape-shifter who showed others how to survive. A Goan born as Antonio Xavier Vaz, Chic first styled himself after Louis Armstrong at the time the African American was emerging as the biggest name in swing, the jaunty form of jazz that stands for the larger genre in the book. After 1947, Chic and several other jazzmen found jobs in the burgeoning orchestras of Bollywood because of their skill with harmonies and western rhythms. In that phase, Chic helped composer C. Ramchandra with some of the biggest film hits of all times: ‘Shola jo bhadke’ in Albela and ‘Eena meena deeka’ in Aasha.

Independence signalled another kind of watershed, too. After 1947, jazz masters such as Max Roach, Dave Brubeck and Duke Ellington would come by, but they would never hover for more than few weeks. Gone was the era when jazz musicians, some of them frontiersmen travelling from the racially-segregated US, would spend half a year in residence in Calcutta or Bombay.

One such travelling salesman was Teddy Weatherford, who had the most impeccable jazz pedigree in India at the time. Weatherford had mastered the piano in New Orleans, the US port where ragtime and blues blended into jazz. In Chicago, he had played with Armstrong in a pit orchestra accompanying silent films. His rendition of the Armstrong hit Basin Street Blues is included on the six-song CD that accompanies Fernandes’ book.

The burly American shifted to ‘the Orient’ in 1926. Between his first stint in Shanghai and his last in Calcutta, he played in Singapore, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Surabaya and Colombo. In Calcutta’s Grand Hotel he set up India’s best regarded jazz band of the 1940s. Among the people he hired was Nepali trumpeter Pushkar Bahadur Buddhapriti a.k.a. George Banks, whose son Louiz is a survivor of the itinerant jazz ages that followed.

During one of his Bombay stints, Weatherford was called in to record a song written by Menassch David Silas, a Baghdadi Jew born in Shanghai and settled in Bombay. The ethno-geographic mash was all too jazz-like. As was the song: a paean to the Taj Mahal Hotel, set in foxtrot'.

Naresh Fernandes pubblica testi dedicati al jazz nel sito Taj Mahal Foxtrot. A proposito: vi ricordo che Bombay Velvet, il film in progetto di Anurag Kashyap, narrerà gli sfavillanti anni del jazz nella capitale economica del Paese. Ranbir Kapoor è stato scritturato per il ruolo del protagonista, ruolo offerto in precedenza ad Aamir Khan.

Vedi anche #MumbaiMirrored: All that jazz, 19 settembre 2019.

Le prime del 18 maggio 2012: Department

Un nuovo film di Ram Gopal Varma con Amitabh Bachchan è sempre un evento. Il vulcanico regista ha regalato alla superstar una collana di ruoli indimenticabili (Sarkar, Nishabd), da qui l'eccitazione che accompagna la distribuzione di Department. Nel cast anche Sanjay Dutt e Rana Daggubati. In Department  RGV ha utilizzato  una miriade di videocamere in simultanea, alcune localizzate nei posti più impensati, e ha chiesto agli attori di sentirsi il personaggio sempre addosso e di agire come lui, in piena libertà sulla scena. A ciak ultimato, sono state selezionate le inquadrature migliori. Big B ha dichiarato il suo entusiasmo per questa tecnica nuova e stimolante. Vi propongo i video dei brani Kammo e Mumbai police, composti da Bappi Lahiri, e di Dan Dan Cheeni, item song firmata da Dharam Sandeep (ispirata alla canzone Aasai Nooru Vagai, inclusa nella colonna sonora del film tamil Adutha Varisu del 1983 interpretato da Rajinikanth). Trailer. Vi segnalo anche I am almost a gangster myself, intervista concessa da RGV a Sonil Dedhia, e pubblicata da Rediff il 9 maggio 2012:

'You recently tweeted that Amitabh Bachchan's role in Department is that of Nasty Sarkar. How similar is it to the character he played in Sarkar?

The hairstyle is similar. He is still playing a political leader though the background is different. And there is a certain intrigue in his character and from the context of the film you cannot make out whether he is a villain or a positive character. His way of speaking is very crass compared to Sarkar. That's the reason I came up with the title Nasty Sarkar.

Recently there have been a lot of cop films. How does Department stand out?

If my film Company dealt with politics within an underworld organisation, this film deals with politics within the police department. This particular department is specially formed to tackle crime situations in Mumbai. So what happens among the members of the department is what the film is about. Primarily, it is about the relationship between characters played by Sanjay Dutt and Rana Daggubati.

You have worked many times with Amitabh Bachchan. Have you found it difficult to convince him to play a role?

Fortunately, he trusts me a lot as a director. So far it hasn't happened that I've approached him for a role and he has said no. Sometimes the films have worked and sometimes they haven't, but somewhere he knows my commitment is there.

Which is Amitabh Bachchan's best performance according to you?

I think his best performance has come in Nishabd. People reacted to the overall film, but as a director I reacted to his performance. (...)

How would you define yourself?

I am almost a gangster myself. Just because I didn't have the guts to become one for real, I became a filmmaker to make films on gangsters (Laughs). (...)

You work with stars and newcomers. Do you handle them differently?

Stars come with an image attached to them. They come with a certain background. You can only build up from the characters they have done in the past. A newcomer becomes a separate character; you can make him more real compared to a star. You can make a Satya with newcomers but for a Sarkar you need a star'.

Aggiornamento del 27 maggio 2012: nelle settimane precedenti la distribuzione, era trapelata la notizia di dissapori fra il regista Varma e l'attore (e coproduttore del film) Sanjay Dutt. Department è stato pesantemente bocciato da pubblico e critica, e, per la prima volta nella sua carriera, RGV non si assume la responsabilità dell'insuccesso di un suo lavoro.

Le prime del 18 maggio 2012: Mr. Bhatti On Chutti

Godetevi l'irresistibile trailer - che in realtà è un corto di cinque minuti - di Mr. Bhatti On Chutti e vi innamorerete della pellicola e del grandissimo Anupam Kher. L'esilarante commedia è ambientata in Inghilterra ed è diretta da Karan Razdan. È previsto un cameo di Amitabh Bachchan, che ha accordato alla produzione il permesso di filmare una scena di MBOC all'esterno di casa sua. Il custode con cui interagisce il protagonista è il vero custode dell'abitazione di Big B. Vi propongo anche il video di Balle Balle, la spumeggiante... ehm... item song visualizzata da Anupam.

Le prime dell'11 maggio 2012: Gabbar Singh

Ieri è stato distribuito Gabbar Singh, remake in lingua telugu del blockbuster hindi Dabangg. Gabbar Singh ha registrato incassi spettacolari nel primo giorno di programmazione, pare abbattendo ogni record precedente nell'ambito di Tollywood. E non solo: anche nelle sale americane sta conseguendo un grande successo. Ram Gopal Varma ha definito GS addirittura migliore di Dabangg. Il film è diretto da Harish Shankar e interpretato da Pawan Kalyan e Shruti Haasan. Malaika Arora visualizza l'item song Kevvu Keka composta da Devi Sri Prasad. Trailer.

Anish Kapoor e Cecil Balmond: Orbit

A Londra è stata inaugurata l'opera Orbit, torre disegnata da Anish Kapoor e da Cecil Balmond. La struttura, la più alta del Paese, è situata nell'area del Parco Olimpico. Vi segnalo l'articolo Anish Kapoor's 'awkward but beautiful' Olympic tower unveiled, Hindustan Times, 12 maggio 2012:

'British Indian artist Anish Kapoor on Saturday unveiled Britain's tallest sculpture, a twisted tangle of steel sponsored by ArcelorMittal, next to the Olympic Stadium. (...) Steel giant ArcelorMittal has contributed nearly 20 million pounds towards the project. (...) Kapoor said: "I think it is awkward. It has its elbows sticking out. In a way it refuses any singular capture. It refuses to be an emblem. It is unsettling and I think that is part of this thing of beauty". Located in Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, the tower has two observation floors, a 455-step spiral staircase, lift and restaurant. Visitors go up in the lift and walk down the staircase and take in the views and artistic tricks designed by Kapoor. Admitting that the structure would prove controversial, Kapoor said: "I think controversy is OK - it is part of the deal really. We have tried to open territory for ourselves and hopefully in so doing a whole question about what this type of tower form can be. I am sure there are other possibilities but this is the one that we thought was right". The tower, which is made from 60 per cent scrap metal, is designed by structural designer Cecil Balmond. Kapoor said: "Cecil is also a very clever man. The four people who pieced it together could do so because Cecil designed the structure in such a way that one (piece of) steel and the next piece come down in the right position and because of it you need no scaffolding".'

Se volete ammirare in un film una delle opere più note di Kapoor, il Cloud Gate di Chicago, vi consiglio il magnifico Source Code di Duncan Jones, che offre anche un cameo di Russell Peters, noto attore canadese di origine indiana.

Cloud Gate, Chicago

Lady Gaga e la moda indiana

L'abito sfoggiato martedì da Lady Gaga all'aeroporto di Hong Kong è firmato dagli stilisti indiani Alpana & Neeraj. Il... ehm... copricapo è una creazione di Shilpa Chavan (marchio Little Shilpa).

Salone Internazionale del Libro 2012

L'edizione 2012 del Salone Internazionale del Libro si svolge a Torino dal 10 al 14 maggio. Amitav Ghosh è fra gli ospiti attesi alla manifestazione.

Aggiornamenti del 14 maggio 2012 - Vi segnalo il testo redatto da Ghosh dedicato al fenomeno dei blog, tradotto da Anna Nadotti e pubblicato ieri da La Repubblica. Di seguito un estratto:

'Il blogging cominciò a interessarmi solo quando aveva cessato di essere la cosa più nuova e incandescente. Fino a quel momento le sue potenzialità erano oscurate dalla tempestività che da esso si esigeva. Tutti i blog si occupavano del Qui-e-Ora. (...) Il formato sembrava voler mimare una concezione del "mondo reale" in cui i fatti e i sentimenti rotolano oltre lo spettatore come i detriti disordinati di un fiume in piena. (...) Il "look" costituiva la prova grafica di urgenza e autenticità. I post spesso erano concepiti per essere letti come dichiarazioni, o testimonianze, e le loro parole dovevano apparire come uscite di getto, sotto la spinta del tempo, di una profonda emozione, o di qualche incontenibile stimolo esterno. Ma quei giorni ormai sono lontani. Oggi la funzione di testimoniare e fornire aggiornamenti in tempo reale è stata assunta dalle reti sociali e dagli sms. (...) I blog non possono sperare di competere quanto a sveltezza e tempestività. Né possono competere con Facebook e Twitter come forum di discussione. (...) Solo dopo aver accantonato l'urgenza i blogger cominciarono a prestare più attenzione a ciò che fa del blog un particolare tipo di manufatto, un oggetto che viene forgiato con cura prima di metterlo in mostra. E proprio questo è l'aspetto più entusiasmante del blog: non la sua immediatezza, bensì il fatto che offre la possibilità di tornare a una forma più antica di rappresentazione, che permette di accostare senza soluzione di continuità parole e pittura o disegni, immagini e testo. (...) Venuta meno la pressione del Qui-e-Ora, è anche una delle poche forme virtuali ormai priva di scopi eminentemente pratici. (...) Uno degli aspetti più divertenti del blogging è che non ha bisogno di intermediari. È una forma di espressione che non richiede né ragione né ricompensa, né pubblico né causa - e come tale è quanto di più puro e piacevole si possa immaginare. (...) Nulla nel tenere un blog è sorprendente quanto il puro piacere di farlo'.

Vi segnalo infine Occupy Art!, testo pubblicato oggi da Ghosh nel suo sito, dedicato al movimento torinese dell'Arte Povera, arricchito da fotografie scattate dallo scrittore durante il suo soggiorno in Piemonte.

In focus: VFX segment

L'articolo In focus: VFX segment, pubblicato da Box Office India il 5 maggio 2012, analizza in modo dettagliato lo stato attuale della tecnologia indiana nel campo degli effetti visivi o VFX. Il settore è (tanto per cambiare) in rapida espansione, sia per quanto riguarda il cinema, che per la televisione e la pubblicità. Sino ad ora, le società VFX indiane hanno operato quasi esclusivamente per conto di aziende americane e inglesi, ma, grazie alla produzione di film e spot pubblicitari ad alto budget anche nel subcontinente, la domanda è in crescita da parte del mercato interno. Le aziende del settore sono circa quaranta, e il loro lavoro costituisce il 10% dell'intera torta di commesse VFX in outsourcing. La percentuale è in aumento per le richieste hollywoodiane. Ad esempio: Prime Focus ha collaborato in Star Wars: Episodio I - La minaccia fantasma, Tron: Legacy, Harry Potter e i Doni della Morte. In India la pubblicità è stata la prima a richiedere uno sviluppo dell'uso di tecnologia VFX, incoraggiata dall'accresciuta popolarità della fantascienza, seguita poi dal cinema, con Bollywood in testa (Ra.One), ma anche con titoli non hindi (Enthiran - tamil, Eega - telugu), malgrado i costi, pur economici per i clienti stranieri, siano ancora onerosi per le produzioni locali. Sino ad ora gli effetti visivi sono stati poco sfruttati nell'ambito delle pellicole in 3D. Si moltiplicano gli istituti scolastici che preparano i tecnici del settore.

Seattle International Film Festival 2012

Il Seattle International Film Festival 2012 si svolgerà dal 17 maggio al 10 giugno. Fra i titoli indiani in cartellone, vi segnalo Adaminte Makan Abu e Valley of Saints.

Una città nella storia: Mumbai Bollywood

Milano si confronta con quattro città. Oggi e domani tocca a Mumbai. Allo Spazio Teatro No'hma, alle ore 21.00, si svolge l'evento Una città nella storia: Mumbai Bollywood. L'ingresso è gratuito. 

Bikram Singha: locandina, trailer, Dhin Tak Na, Na Champa Na Chameli

Calcutta, anzi, Kolkata non è solo la città che vanta il maggior numero di premi Nobel al mondo (fra cui, vado a memoria: Rabindranath Tagore - letteratura, Madre Teresa - pace, Amartya Sen - economia), e non è solo la capitale culturale dell'India. Kolkata è anche la sede della cinematografia in lingua bengali (e occasionalmente in lingua inglese), considerata la più autoriale ed europeizzata del Paese. Il neorealismo italiano è apprezzatissimo dai suoi cineasti. A Kolkata si svolge annualmente il festival del film d'autore più importante di tutto il continente asiatico. Ma a Kolkata si producono numerosi titoli commerciali, tanto che questa industria condivide con quella in lingua telugu lo stesso nomignolo: Tollywood. La superstar del cinema bengali è Prosenjit Chatterjee, celebre per gli innumerevoli ruoli in pellicole d'intrattenimento e per le rigorose interpretazioni in film d'autore. Presto potremo ammirarlo a Bollywood in Shanghai. Prosenjit è il protagonista di Bikram Singha, di Rajiv Kumar, remake bengali del successo telugu Vikramarkudu, e quindi cugino di Rowdy Rathore. Vi propongo in un colpo solo locandina, trailer e i video dei brani Dhin Tak Na, composto da Shree Pritam, e Na Champa Na Chameli, composto da Bappi Lahiri.

The secret to writing a bestseller in India

Vi segnalo l'articolo The secret to writing a bestseller in India, di Mukti Jain Campion, pubblicato oggi nel sito della BBC. L'India è il terzo mercato al mondo per l'editoria in lingua inglese, dopo gli Stati Uniti e il Regno Unito, ma gli osservatori ritengono che scalzerà presto gli avversari per posizionarsi trionfalmente in vetta. La classe media indiana si espande a vista d'occhio, e l'inglese è ormai la sua lingua ufficiale. Molteplici case editrici straniere stanno dunque inaugurando filiali nel subcontinente, ma devono tener conto della peculiarità demografica del Paese: un terzo della popolazione è sotto i trent'anni. Cosa legge la gioventù urbana indiana? Jeffrey Archer è lo scrittore straniero più apprezzato, tanto che i suoi nuovi lavori vengono pubblicati prima in India che altrove, e le sue visite nel subcontinente sono un successo clamoroso. L'autore indiano più venduto è Chetan Bhagat, i cui romanzi sono scritti in un inglese facilmente accessibile, a differenza della lingua aulica adottata da Salman Rushdie o da Arundhati Roy, nomi celebri all'estero ma poco commerciabili nel loro Paese d'origine. Di seguito riporto l'articolo:

'The Indian market for English books is booming. Third only to the USA and Britain, it's set to become the biggest in the world as India's middle class continues to expand rapidly over the next 10 years. Keen to get a piece of the action, international publishers are flocking to set up offices in India, while many canny Indian publishers have already been reaping big rewards from backing emerging homegrown talent. India has a demographic profile very different to the US or Britain, with more than a third of its population under 30. With literacy on the rise and a fiercely competitive education and work environment, English has become established as the language of the new middle class. Book sales are demonstrating that these young urban Indians, with more disposable income than ever before, are hungry for books that will develop their English and help them to succeed on college campuses and in the globalised offices of corporate India.

So what are Indians reading? It used to be Agatha Christie and P.G. Wodehouse, but no longer. 

Jeffrey Archer is the most successful foreign author in India. He now launches his books in India before anywhere else and his book-signing tours are big crowd-pullers. He puts his success down to the nature of his protagonists. "The Indian race is an aspiring race, and my books so often are about someone coming from nowhere and achieving something, which is what every Indian believes will happen to them - and that's a wonderful thing."

Business books, self-help books and books about India written by Indians are all selling well.

But the biggest growth has been in commercial fiction, led by a banker turned author called Chetan Bhagat whose books have become a publishing phenomenon. His first novel, Five Point Someone, published in 2004, was a laddish tale of student antics and young love set on a college campus. It became a huge bestseller, opening up a previously untapped mass market of young readers. His subsequent books have also all been fantastically successful, turning him into a nationwide celebrity. Bhagat ascribes his success to being able to catch the zeitgeist: "India is seeing a lot of change in terms of economic development and change in values and each of my five stories has connected with the youth audience in a way that other books have not. That's why they continue to patronise me and be my fans." His books are often criticised for dumbing down but it is the very accessibility of his language that attracts readers for whom English may be their second or even third language and who may previously have never bought an English book.

While Indian authors like Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy have won great international acclaim, their style of literary fiction is largely inaccessible to the majority of Indian readers. Today there are many hundreds of Indian authors trying to emulate Bhagat's success, writing in simpler language, devising fast-paced narratives with plenty of humour and, most importantly, a finger on the pulse of modern urban Indian life.

Jaishree Misra is an Indian-born novelist who lived in Britain for more than 20 years, where her first novel Ancient Promises was published. She has now switched to writing commercial fiction and moved back to live in Delhi. A three-book deal for a chick-lit series beginning with Secrets and Lies was commissioned by Harper Collins in Britain but has actually won her more readers in India. The plots feature jet-setting Indian characters, glamorous foreign locations and the prose is liberally sprinkled with luxury designer names. She has been more than willing to adapt her style for Indian readers. "I am now trying to keep my language a little simpler than before. As it is in the world of commercial fiction, you have editors breathing down your neck saying: 'Don't use big words.' "I would rebel against that in the past but now I understand. I'd rather not lose these people who are buying books in hundreds of thousands."

So what else does it take to write an Indian bestseller? Kapish Mehra of Rupa [casa editrice indiana], who first published Chetan Bhagat, has these words of advice. "There is no formula. You have to keep on looking for what the reader is expecting. Is there a certain sort of aspiration that today's youth have that is not being fulfilled? You have to constantly engage in dialogue with your target market, to speak to the reader in the language they want to be spoken to." And he is optimistic that, for those who can crack it, the rewards will prove worthwhile. "Today we have three generations of English-speaking Indians, and that will continue to grow. With every new generation we are obviously creating a bigger market".'

Bollywood's Funny Guy

Ranvir Shorey non è solo un ottimo attore, ma anche un uomo intelligente ed estremamente divertente. Vi segnalo Bollywood’s Funny Guy, l'intervista concessa da Ranvir ad Aastha Atray Banan, pubblicata da Open il 4 maggio 2012. Di seguito un estratto: 

'“Don’t say I play middle-class characters well. That’s not true. I can just ‘be anyone’. That’s the right phrase.” As friend and co-actor Vinay Pathak says, “Ranvir has this honesty that he brings to each character that makes you believe everything he does. It’s a rare talent and that’s what makes him so good.” (...) “I have a three-tier method of selection. I first see the script, then the role and then the director. I trust Rajat [Kapoor, the director] implicitly.”  Rajat (...) says, “I have high regard of him as an actor. He is an instinctive actor and that’s great. Even in his first reading of a scene, he always catches the right note. He also brings this sense of humour and endearing quality to the role that is so him.” (...) 

It’s easy to see why people relate with him on screen. He seems so normal, a rarity for actors from Bollywood. (...) His opinions on politics and the general state of our country and film industry well thought out, he seems sorted and intelligent. I almost cringe asking him, “How did films happen?” He smiles, “I am from Jalandhar, but moved to Mumbai when I was only one. My father was a film producer, so yes, I grew up on sets and all. I wanted to be a pilot, but then did so many odd jobs when I was 21 - like working in a restaurant. There was pressure at home to make money, and so I had to work. And then I started doing TV and became a VJ, because the money was good, not because I wanted to act. And then I did Ek Chhotisi Love Story. You want to hear about my first day at shoot?” he asks, and then laughs, “I played Manisha Koirala’s boyfriend. And the first shot was that I had to ring the bell of her house, and she would pull me in and tear my clothes off. I was shivering, and Manisha was laughing.” 

Since then, he has done a variety of roles; and (...) he’s managed to convince audiences and critics that he truly gets under the skin of the character. Actress and wife Konkona Sen Sharma puts it simply, “He is a compassionate actor, he makes you feel for the character. He is much better than me, actually.” But (...) Ranvir rues the futility of being a good actor in this industry. “Investors don’t want to invest in small movies. Money comes with glam, and glam comes with stars. This niche I am working in is not completely ‘niched’ yet. Don’t fall for the fallacy that small movies are doing well. A Vicky Donor has John Abraham behind it, and a Dhobi Ghat or Peepli [Live] has Aamir Khan behind it. It’s great though that they are supporting new talent. But I will always try and bridge that gap between alternative and masala movies. I will die trying if I have to.” 

But he has no problems with being an underdog. “I’d rather be an underdog and achieve something that is not supposed to be achievable, than be a star and do nothing. The fact that I have work and people like me are doing what I am doing is such a blessing. I may have been a star, but then you may have hated me.” He’s surprised though that many good scripts never turn into films. “You know, I will get two scripts. One will be great and one not so. And the one which is not good will get made. I have no clue how this happens. There are so many scripts just lying around. I still have around three movies waiting for release.” (...)

I ask Ranvir what drew him to his wife, Konkona, when he first met her, and he wickedly remarks, “So what draws a guy to a girl, ya?” I am trying to be polite now: “Maybe her eyes?” He throws back his head and laughs, “I was 35, I had had enough eyes and legs. I wanted to settle down. So yes, apart from being attracted to her, I love Koko’s ‘qualitative exactitude’. She never overdoes anything.” Konkona, on the other hand, loves the fact that with Ranvir around, there is “never a dull moment”. At home, he is either playing with his one-year-old son Haroon, which means ‘hope’ in Sanskrit, or, “[spending] hours with his gadgets,” says Konkona. “He is also an avid foodie,” reveals Vinay, “he knows all about food - what’s good, what’s healthy, what’s nutritious. He knows everything.” (...)

As I leave him, he says modestly, “Don’t be too hard on me, okay?” Well, it’s not even an option, is it?'.

Randeep Hooda: I'm very secure with the man in me

In un mondo di eterni adolescenti, un *Uomo* è un esemplare raro, e merita dunque tutta la nostra attenzione. Randeep Hooda atterra schiere di ammiratrici con il suo sensualissimo timbro di voce, il sorriso letale, lo sguardo tenebroso, e con tutto il resto. Sarà la primavera o chissà cos'altro, ma il gorgoglio ormonale di fondo scatenato dall'attore stenta a spegnersi. L'intervista concessa da Randeep a Madhureeta Mukherjee, pubblicata oggi da The Times of India, certo non aiuta: I'm very secure with the man in me. Di seguito un estratto:

'Recently you said, “Every dog has its day!” Ready to bite, Randeep? 

I’ve had my share of struggle. I believe, never take success to your head or failure to your heart. All actors go through five stages - 1) Who is Randeep Hooda? 2) Get me Randeep Hooda. 3) Get me a Randeep Hooda type. 4) Get me a younger Randeep Hooda, and 5) Who is Randeep Hooda? So you know which stage I’ve to be in for the longest time to survive. (...)

What about your former mentor Ram Gopal Varma? He still says you’re a great actor. 

Sadly, it didn’t work out with him. RGV’s approach to cinema doesn’t agree with me anymore.

So far, Sunny Leone has been grabbing more eyeballs than you in Jism 2. 

True, but I’ve never seen her movies or videos. When people ask me too much about Sunny, I just tell them she’s not the only (s)expert. Haha!

You’re playing second fiddle to actresses in films like Heroine and Jism 2. Isn’t your machismo taking a hit? 

No it’s not, because I’m very secure with the man in me.

In an industry full of Khans, Kumars and Kapoors, did you ever feel like an outsider? 

It was undoubtedly hard for me; some actors get a platform because of their filmi families. Even the media shows interest in certain actors despite their failures. But after some years, it becomes a level playing field. Some of the biggest actors today haven’t come from filmi families.

This year, you’re sharing screen space with Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor and Sunny Leone. Lucky guy! 

It’s too bad I’m not a flirt. When I’m on the sets, I’m too busy working on my scenes to look at the ladies'.

Gandhi e i tessitori della pace

All'Università di Pavia, dall'8 all'11 maggio 2012 viene allestita la mostra Gandhi e i tessitori della pace. Per l'occasione, sono previste conferenze e tavole rotonde. Dal 15 al 22 maggio la mostra sarà esposta a Como presso la ex Chiesa di San Francesco.

Vandhanam / Nirnayam : Recensione

[Blog] Recensione di Vandhanam (1989) e del suo remake telugu Nirnayam (1991). Con Mohanlal, Nagarjuna, Amala e Girija Shettar. Regia di Priyadarshan.

Cibo al cinema

Il 5 maggio 2012 Box Office India ha pubblicato un bizzarro articolo, Gut Feel, dedicato al rapporto fra cibo e distribuzione cinematografica. Gli investimenti legati ai multisala diventano sempre più onerosi, ma è stato imposto un limite al prezzo del biglietto, quindi i proprietari delle sale, anche nelle città di provincia, tentano di incrementare gli introiti diversificando l'offerta di cibo. Non più solo popcorn e cola (che tuttavia costituiscono il 60% delle vendite), ma anche spuntini tipici indiani e addirittura assaggi di pasta. I prezzi sono spesso scoraggianti, però in alcune catene sono differenziati a seconda del costo del biglietto. Attualmente il giro d'affari riguardante il cibo garantisce un ritorno del 25-30% sull'importo totale degli incassi, a cui aggiungere un 10-12% proveniente dalla pubblicità.

DJ Fatboy Slim charms Delhi

Fatboy Slim - Gurgaon, 2012

Vi segnalo l'articolo DJ Fatboy Slim charms Delhi, di Mitik Singhal, pubblicato oggi da Hindustan Times. Il pezzo è la cronaca dell'esibizione di Fatboy Slim a Gurgaon, città satellite di Delhi, ed espone qualche interessante considerazione: 'The brisk growth of the Indian economy especially in the service sector and its integration with the world has not only put money in the pockets of our youth but has also diversified our tastes and choices. DJ Fatboy Slim's maiden tour to India follows DJ Guetta's successful gig in March this year. These represent, as observed by music buffs, a growing trend where international bands and brands flock to India eager to tap into our markets. Musical concerts as well as hi-life events offer a golden opportunity to lifestyle brands (watches, liquor, designer wear, tobacco companies) to sensitise their target audience consisting of uber riche youth and crème de la crème of high society. As per analysts, with the saturation of the Western markets the future growth in the electronic dance music genre will be seen in emerging markets of Brazil and India'.

Le prime dell'11 maggio 2012: Ishaqzaade

Ishaqzaade si prospetta interessante da molti punti di vista. In primo luogo sembra che Yash Raj Films proietterà Ishaqzaade al Marché du film a Cannes, nell'ambito della promozione commerciale del suo catalogo di titoli. In secondo luogo la pellicola segna il ritorno alla macchina da presa di Habib Faisal, regista dell'ottimo Do Dooni Chaar (premiato col National Award). Habib ha redatto anche la sceneggiatura e i dialoghi. Ishaqzaade offre inoltre una fresca (e tosta, a giudicare dal trailer - sottotitolato in inglese) coppia di giovani attori: Parineeti Chopra - cugina di Priyanka, nel suo primo ruolo da protagonista dopo il buon debutto in Ladies vs Ricky Bahl - è affiancata da Arjun Kapoor al suo esordio. Arjun è figlio del produttore Boney Kapoor (per intenderci: Anil Kapoor è suo zio, Sonam Kapoor sua cugina). Le coreografie sono ideate dai mitici Chinni e Rekha Prakash. La colonna sonora è firmata dal talentuoso Amit Trivedi che, ormai lo sappiamo bene, non delude mai. Un assaggio? Eccovi serviti: Aafaton Ke Parinde e Chokra Jawaan. Insomma: sulla carta Ishaqzaade è un successo annunciato.

Le prime dell'11 maggio 2012: The forest

Ashvin Kumar, regista dell'acclamato documentario Inshallah, football (premiato con il National Award), torna nella sale con l'inquietante thriller The forest. Nel cast Javed Jaffrey e Nandana Sen, affiancati da due magnifici leopardi in prestito dalla Francia. In India la legge che disciplina l'utilizzo di animali sul set è molto restrittiva, da qui la scelta della location thailandese. Una troupe internazionale ha collaborato alla realizzazione della pellicola. The forest viene distribuito nel subcontinente nell'edizione in lingua inglese per evitare i paletti imposti dalla censura indiana. Trailer. Approfitto per segnalarvi l'articolo Can we ban the Censor Board, please?, di Diksha Kamra, pubblicato da The Times of India il 4 maggio 2012. L'articolo raccoglie alcune dichiarazioni rilasciate da Kumar. Di seguito un estratto: 

'“With great difficulty, I have had the chance to release my first commercial film, “The Forest”, made four years ago. Finally, when it was about to hit the screens, the CBFC [Central Board of Film Certification] gave its trailer an ‘A’ certificate. The trailer has to be screened in the middle of an ‘A’ film only. It’s even delayed the release by a week. I show a story mentioning the Indian government, and I’m not allowed. I show someone lighting up in my film for a few seconds, and I’m told that I have to put a scroll about smoking being injurious to health, then I have to run a few lines on screen while the scene is shown. Then, I show two people - husband and wife - having sex, and that can’t be shown to the audience. So, I get tired of all this unwanted hassle and release the film only in English. (...) What is this Censor Board for? Can we ban the Censor Board, please? And yes, this is the only film which will be released in cinema halls as well as on the internet on the same day. That’s because, come what may, I - like any filmmaker - wish to reach out to as many people as possible”.'

The Khans do, Rajinikanth doesn't!

Vi segnalo l'articolo The Khans do, Rajinikanth doesn't!, di Lata Srinivasan, pubblicato oggi da The Times of India. Il testo analizza il rapporto fra cinema, sport e pubblicità. L'India è un Paese in vertiginosa crescita, quindi un mercato sempre più ampio. I grandi marchi si contendono a suon di compensi stellari giocatori di cricket e superstar del cinema (principalmente hindi) come testimonial. Gli attori utilizzano i contratti pubblicitari anche come veicolo promozionale per i loro film, o consentono il product placement al fine di comprimere i costi delle pellicole. In tal senso, Shah Rukh Khan è un mago. Il trio regale dei Khan - Aamir, Salman e Shah Rukh - è il più richiesto dai marchi. Fra le attrici, Kareena Kapoor e Katrina Kaif sono le testimonial più desiderate. Ma anche le nuove leve si buttano nella mischia: un buon contratto pubblicitario significa la sopravvivenza economica pur senza film all'orizzonte. A Kollywood, il leggendario Kamal Haasan solo ora, a 57 anni, ha accettato di promuovere un marchio. Mentre la supersuperstar Rajinikanth rifiuta persino di incontrare gli agenti pubblicitari. Pare che una nota casa produttrice di bevande lo stia corteggiando dal 2006, innalzando di continuo l'offerta economica pur di ingaggiarlo. Rajinikanth 'has achieved a status that is beyond these and frankly, does he even have a price?'. In effetti...

Mahesh Bhatt: Emraan doesn't need me anymore

Singolare carriera quella del clan dei Bhatt, parallela alla Bollywood che conta. Nel corso degli anni, i Bhatt hanno diretto e prodotto film incuranti degli argomenti trattati - spesso volutamente pruriginosi - e ignorando le onerose superstar. I titoli della Vishesh Films hanno conquistato una fetta considerevole di mercato. Sono pellicole perlopiù di intrattenimento puro, contraddistinte da colonne sonore molto accattivanti e da sequenze audaci per gli standard indiani. Ma il clan ha anche il merito di aver creato una star ormai di prima grandezza - Emraan Hashmi, componente della stessa famiglia -, e di aver prodotto Gangster, il miglior lavoro, ad oggi, di Anurag Basu. Vi segnalo l'intervista Emraan doesn't need me anymore, concessa da Mahesh Bhatt (proprietario della Vishesh Films in società col fratello Mukesh) a Sonil Dedhia e pubblicata ieri da Rediff. Di seguito un estratto:

'The trigger for Jannat 2 is quite interesting. Tell us about it.

I was sitting in my old office at Juhu when a young man came and told the receptionist that he wanted to meet me. When she refused to let him in, he took out a country-made pistol from his bag and fired one shot at one of the doors. This is something we enact on the sets and enhance it for cinematic experience, but it was happening in real life! Then, the writer of the film, Shagufta Rafique, was a victim of illegal arms. Her brother-in-law Brij Sadanah (who directed the film Victoria No. 203) got drunk one day, killed his wife and daughter, and ultimately shot himself dead. These incidents became the trigger.

The character and the plot are different from Jannat so why call the film Jannat 2?

We had earlier called this film Informer. That got an ice cold response from the media. It was not generating the kind of anxiety amongst the audience. The truth is that the blockbuster mentality has taken over. We have the same mentality as Hollywood. The opening weekend has become very important. A franchise gives a sense of security to everyone - the director, producers, exhibitors and even the audience feels that they are watching something close to the first part. (...) We tasted success with Murder 2 and Raaz 2. As soon as we changed the name of our film from Informer to Jannat 2, the pre-release buzz has been astounding. People are eager to see the film. (...)

So that's just succumbing to public demand?

I think that is uncharitable. We have never succumbed to a star system and we have stood alone and made films on our own terms. We use our own brand that we have created to our advantage in these times when everybody is obsessed with brands. (...) In our case the star of our film is the brand we build. (...)

Do you feel in a safe zone when you are casting Emraan Hashmi in your film?

After Murder 2, Emraan may look like a very safe proposition, but (...) having created this monster we won't let this monster devour us. What's the point of saying that you won't work with stars and you wait for your own in-house star to dictate the terms? He has other people to work with which would make him richer and just because he is the flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood, we have agreed. Emraan doesn't have to work only with us. That's why Kunal Khemu is one of our major assets. We are going to invest in him. Randeep Hooda is another great actor whose potential hasn't been tapped by the industry. We won't lean only on Emraan Hashmi; we will move away from the safety of even an Emraan Hashmi if it cripples us. (...) The world is not a static place. People change, evolve. I am not the same and neither is he. I have never felt that he should limit his flight to my understanding. I was wrong when I advised him that it would be suicidal to play the role of Dawood Ibrahim in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai. My protective parental instinct said that it would be bad for him to play the role of the most demonised terrorist in India but he had the guts to say no to me and he did it. (...) Today he is a force to reckon with. He isn't my destination neither am I his destination. Today, Kunal Khemu needs me more than Emraan Hashmi. And if you ask me, between Kunal Khemu and Emraan Hashmi whom do I support, I'll say Kunal Khemu, as Emraan is already a star.

Vishesh Films is known for launching new talent. But was it a deliberate decision to not launch your own (...) daughter? (...)

Alia is lucky to get a break with Karan Johar. He is an A-grade filmmaker who has passion and who has the platform and makes the kind of movies that the masses like. She is a young girl, just 18 years old, just out of school, and that's the right kind of vehicle for her. She didn't have to work towards it; it just happened'.

Southscope Maggio 2012 : Ajit Kumar

La star del mese di Southscope Magazine è Ajit Kumar, veterano attore tamil conosciuto principalmente per i suoi thriller oscuri, action movies "da macho" o glitterati successi commerciali come il recente Mankhata. Ajit ha annunciato l'uscita del suo nuovo film Billa 2, secondo capitolo del fortunato film d'azione vagamente ispirato a Don.

3 : Recensione

[Blog] Recensione di 3, emozionante (e devastante) film tamil con Dhanush e Shruti Haasan. Diretto da Aishwarya R. Dhanush.

Kiran Segal: Zohra Segal - Fatty

Kiran Segal, figlia di Zohra Sehgal, ha firmato Zohra Segal - Fatty, biografia della celebre attrice. Fatty è l'affettuoso soprannome scelto da Kiran per la madre, da sempre attenta al proprio peso. Il volume contiene numerose fotografie che ripercorrono la rocambolesca vita di Zohra, ed è stato presentato due giorni fa durante la festa per i suoi primi cento anni. Il cognome Sehgal è stato volutamente modificato in Segal.

Rekha e Sachin Tendulkar nel parlamento indiano

Negli ultimi giorni, Rekha e Sachin Tendulkar hanno attirato l'attenzione dei media a causa del loro ingresso nella Rajya Sabha, una delle due camere che compongono il parlamento indiano (l'altra è la Lok Sabha) (*). Come previsto dalla costituzione, dodici membri della Rajya Sabha vengono nominati direttamente dal presidente dell'Unione, su proposta del primo ministro e del ministro degli interni, a riconoscimento dei loro meriti nei campi dell'arte, della letteratura, della scienza e delle attività sociali. Tendulkar, 39 anni, è il primo sportivo a ricevere questo onore. Quanto al cinema hindi, nella RS sono già presenti Javed Akhtar, Jaya Bachchan, Hema Malini e la leggendaria Lata Mangeshkar.

(*) Non mi è chiaro il genere di Rajya Sabha e Lok Sabha. Ho optato per il femminile sperando di non aver commesso un errore.

L'India e la Vespa

La mitica Vespa torna alla conquista del mercato indiano con un modello concepito per il subcontinente. Nel 2012 si prevede una vendita di 50.000 esemplari. Il target di consumatori è quello più elevato, e il prezzo (1.000 euro) è volutamente superiore del 20% a quello dello scooter più caro della concorrenza. Ma un altro articolo della Piaggio ha conseguito in India un clamoroso successo: l'Ape, il tipico taxi urbano locale. Nel 2011 ne sono stati venduti 220.000. L'India e il Sud Est asiatico concorrono al 40% degli attuali ricavi totali del gruppo Piaggio, con la previsione di raggiungere il 50% nel 2014.

Ajay Devgan: Film awards are a sham

L'India è il Paese dei grandi numeri, discorso che vale anche per le cerimonie di assegnazione di premi alla produzione cinematografica. Se escludiamo i prestigiosi National Film Award, risulta difficile districarsi nella giungla di nomination e premiazioni. Alcune star hanno però deciso, ormai da anni, di non partecipare a questo genere di eventi: uno su tutti, Aamir Khan. Lo schivo Ajay Devgan ha rilasciato delle dichiarazioni in proposito, raccolte nell'articolo Film awards are a sham, di Minakshi Saini, pubblicato il 26 aprile 2012 da Hindustan Times. Di seguito un estratto: 'They (the organisers of private awards) need maximum number of stars to attend their ceremony, so they call you up and tell you that if you attend their event, they will give you an award. So what is the point of getting an award only if you will attend the show? And if you are unable to make it at the last minute… the chit with the name of the winner changes and another actor gets the trophy. I have lost faith in such ceremonies'. Capito?

I primi 100 anni di Zohra Sehgal

Zohra Sehgal ha festeggiato oggi a Delhi il suo centesimo compleanno. Tutto lo staff di Cinema Hindi augura con affetto a Zohra altri cento (almeno) di questi giorni! L'attrice è assolutamente adorabile in versione serial killer, in procinto di giustiziare la torta.

Beijing International Film Festival 2012

La seconda edizione del Beijing International Film Festival si svolge a Pechino dal 23 al 28 aprile 2012. In cartellone anche Gattu, di Rajan Khosa.