Rani Mukherjee a Aditya Chopra sposi in Italia

La notizia, che pareva un pesce d'aprile arrivato in ritardo, è ormai confermata da tutte le principali testate giornalistiche indiane. Dopo anni passati a smentire la loro relazione Rani e Aditya si sono finalmente sposati ieri con una cerimonia per pochi intimi tenuta segreta fino a questa mattina. Incontenibile il desiderio di conoscere la location italiana prescelta dalla coppia, indicata al momento solo come una "tranquilla località di campagna". Altro non si sa e la curiosità cresce, soprattutto per il fans italiani. Intatto twitter e internet si scatenano con messaggi d'auguri da parte delle altre celebrità, e articoli dedicati. Al momento non è rintracciabile in rete alcuna foto ufficiale dell'evento, se non alcuni scatti rubati alla coppia durante le celebrazioni di Diwali in casa Chopra. Congratulazioni agli sposi! E grazie per aver scelto il nostro bellissimo Paese!

Total Siyapaa : Recensione

[Blog] Recensione di Total Siyapaa, divertente commedia degli equivoci con un cast di tutto rispetto : Ali Zafar (autore e interprete anche della colonna sonora), Kirron Kher, Anupam Kher e Yami Gautam. Diretto da E.Nivas.

Le prime del 25 aprile 2014: Kaanchi

Dopo una lunga gestazione, arriva finalmente nelle sale indiane Kaanchi, il nuovo attesissimo lavoro di Subhash Ghai. Definito un musical-thriller, la distribuzione era stata inizialmente prevista per l'agosto 2013. Ma Ghai, che è anche il produttore del film, ha preferito concedersi un periodo di tempo maggiore per dedicarsi meglio alle rifiniture della pellicola. Nel cast, l'esordiente, misteriosa Mishti. Rishi Kapoor interpreta il ruolo dell'eroe negativo. Ghai è forse il regista più autenticamente bollywoodiano, nell'accezione positiva e negativa del termine. I suoi lavori forse non ammalieranno la critica, ma le sue immense doti tecniche conquistano alla prima occhiata. Nessuno visualizza i brani musicali in modo così magnifico e potente come Ghai. La sua abilità di tradurre il suono in immagine è unica al mondo. Forse Kaanchi mi deluderà, ma non vedo l'ora di assaporare ogni fotogramma delle visualizzazioni della colonna sonora, composta da Ismail Darbar e da Salim-Sulaiman. Trailer.

Ranbir Kapoor gira un film con mamma e papà

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Il 30 settembre 2013 Euronews aveva caricato in rete un video in italiano dedicato a Besharam che includeva un'intervista concessa da Ranbir Kapoor. La star di Bollywood Ranbir Kapoor gira un film con mamma e papà:

'La più pregiata "fabbrica di sogni" orientale sforna una nuova commmedia d'azione con la superstar trentenne Ranbir Kapoor. L'anno scorso Forbes lo aveva catalogato come una delle massime celebrità indiane che peraltro vanta un notevole patrimonio di diversi milioni di dollari. Sentiamo dalla voce del protagonista come si presenta questo nuovo prodotto cinematografico destinato prima di tutto al vasto pubblico indiano: (...) "E' una commedia e il mio personaggio è un po' sopra le righe, estroso, volgare, un po' disgustoso. Ma è stato divertente interpretarlo. Non credo di voler far diventare questa commedia un marchio, è solo la quintessenza del film d'intrattenimento hindi. C'è la commedia, il romanzo, il dramma, l'azione. Concentra tutto ed è divertente, un nuovo genere per me". Fra l'altro l'attore si esibisce insieme ai suoi stessi veri genitori, il mitico Rishi Kapoor e Neetu Kapoor che interpretano una coppia di poliziotti. Cosa significa girare con i propri genitori? (...) "I preconcetti  direbbero che la cosa spaventa. Ho pensato che mi sarei alterato davanti a loro senza riuscire a creare il giusto dialogo. Soltanto perchè erano i miei genitori ma loro stessi sono dei grandi attori, bravi lavoratori, appassionati nel momento in cui andavamo sul set, ben calati nella parte quindi è stata una bella esperienza con una bella dinamica tra i vari protagonisti. Io interpreto un ladro, loro gli sbirri. Divertente".'

Why Vidya Balan rules

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Brunch, il supplemento settimanale di Hindustan Times, offre sempre interessanti approfondimenti di argomento cinematografico. Vi propongo la copertina del numero speciale trimestrale di novembre 2011-gennaio 2012 dedicata ad un'irriconoscibile Vidya Balan, nonché il lungo articolo Why Vidya Balan rules, di Vir Sanghvi, del 17 dicembre 2011. Di seguito un estratto:

'For two weeks now everyone I know and possibly most of urban India has been going crazy about Vidya Balan. Nearly everywhere you go she is the subject of discussion and the conversations are nearly always flattering. The obvious point of reference is The Dirty Picture. For two months before the movie released, Vidya was everywhere. Never before in the history of Indian cinema has a star done so much publicity for a film. And The Dirty Picture was not even a big budget special effects extravaganza. (...) But Vidya appeared on every television show you could think of (and many that you would never have thought of) and in every print publication. (...)

Could it be that everyone loved The Dirty Picture? The box office figures suggest that it will be a massive hit not just relative to its (somewhat modest) budget but compared to most other films released this year. Obviously, this is a picture that everyone has seen and liked. Or it could be that they all think that Vidya is terrific in the movie (which she is)? Few actresses could have carried off that role with so much aplomb and managed to hold their own against an actor of the calibre of Naseeruddin Shah who gives one of his best ever performances. (...)

My view is that India has fallen in love with Vidya Balan all over again (...) not because of her current ubiquity or because of any individual film but because we have finally come to terms with who she is. In an industry full of size zero figures, dancing bimbettes and self-consciously trendy bejeaned muppets, Vidya comes off as a breath of fresh air. Basically, it’s this simple: she is a real person. Everything about her is real: the curves, the little roll of fat that she makes no attempt to hide, the clothes that she chooses herself, the roles that she agonises over before finally selecting one that suits her, the hard work she puts into each performance and then into the promotion, and most of all, the guts she demonstrates in finding her own path against the advice of nearly everybody in Bollywood.

We talk of Vidya’s courage only in terms of her willingness to play a southern sex symbol in The Dirty Picture. But compared to the other things she’s done in her life, this is no big deal. In fact, her whole story is one of courage in the face of impossible odds. Born and brought up in Bombay to a middle class south Indian family, Vidya had a dream: to become an actress. But while other girls with that dream would want to be glamorous heroines, Vidya focused on the acting itself. (...) Vidya’s parents insisted that she (...) studied. She did her BA and then an MA in Sociology. “My father said that I could always become an actress,” she recalls. “But I couldn’t go back to college later in life. So I had to first finish my education and then I could do what I wanted. At the time I was not pleased but now, I can’t thank him enough. My parents were absolutely right.”

The education explains why Vidya started off late. But nothing explains why things kept going wrong for so long. She was eventually signed up for a Malayalam film and though it wasn’t the Bollywood career she dreamt of, at least it was a beginning. Moreover, she was starring with Mohanlal. (...) But Mohanlal had a problem with the film’s makers. And so, halfway through, the movie was abandoned, never to be completed. Because Mohanlal is such a big deal in the south, it was unusual for one of his movies to remain incomplete. And the film industry, ever quick to blame a newcomer, decided it was because Vidya Balan brought bad luck to the project. (...) What followed was heartbreaking. In the initial flush of excitement after she had been cast as Mohanlal’s heroine, she had signed a dozen Malayalam films. She was sacked from every single one of them.

She tried Tamil cinema and found a role. There too, things went wrong. The producer also decided that she was a jinx and she was replaced. She signed a second Tamil film, got to the sets and discovered that it was a sex comedy. She had been signed up under false pretences. Naturally she walked out. And as naturally, she was replaced once again. Desperate to find some work at least, she agreed to act in a (...) music video directed by Pradeep Sarkar. This time she was not replaced and the video was completed but there was a fight between labels and the release of the video was stalled. So, after three years in the film industry, Vidya Balan had been replaced in twelve Malayalam movies, two Tamil films and had made one music video which had been caught up in a legal quagmire and not released. (...) I asked her about her state of mind during that phase. She says that it took every ounce of will power to keep from giving up. (...)

Then, slowly, her luck began to change. She was cast in a Bengali film and discovered that she was a Bengali at heart and learnt to speak the language fluently. (She even sings Bengali songs, one of which she sang on camera for me when I seemed somewhat dubious about her linguistic abilities). Pradeep Sarkar (...) had planned to make Parineeta for producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and insisted that Vidya would make a perfect heroine. Naturally, Chopra was leery of investing money in a first-time director and a virtual newcomer as an actress. He insisted on auditioning Vidya and she says she has lost count of the number of auditions she did over a period of several months. Finally, Chopra gave in. He agreed with Sarkar that she was the perfect choice for the role and agreed to sign her. (...)

Lage Raho Munna Bhai gave her the stamp of commercial acceptability and it would have been easy enough for her to have joined the Bollywood rat race since success seemed to come so easily and naturally to her. But after some strange films (...) in which she tried to pretend to be what she is not a Bollywood bimbette Vidya decided that this was not part of her original dream. (...) The reason I like Vidya Balan (...) is because she was ready to start from scratch again. She was willing to walk away from one kind of success. She was ready to take risks that seemed like commercial suicide. All because she still believed in that original dream, not in the commercial fantasy that it had morphed into.

The films that have come in the latest phase of Vidya Balan’s career are not those that a commercially savvy actress would have signed. She agonised for three months before agreeing to do Paa even though it offered her a chance to act with Amitabh Bachchan. (...) It wasn’t that she minded playing Amitabh’s mother. It was just that she was terrified of screwing up. As it turned out, she was brilliant. She was terrific as a deglamourised Sabrina Lal in No One Killed Jessica. And she was even better in Ishqiya where she played the kind of character she developed further in The Dirty Picture: a woman who is willing to use her sexuality in the advancement of her own interests.

Even so, The Dirty Picture represented a huge risk. Hindi cinema no longer requires its heroines to be virginal angels of innocence. But I can’t think of a single other film where a heroine is shown as seducing a man simply to advance her career and is still treated as a sympathetic character. And then there was the terrible visual deterioration that her character suffered at the end of the movie. Which heroine would agree to do all this without wondering about the effect on her stardom? But Vidya took the risk. She liked the role, she said. It offered her a chance to take a character that society looked down on and to invest that person with dignity and depth. Her character didn’t have to be somebody you felt sorry for. You just had to accept that she was an independent woman making her own choices in her own interests. “‘Treat her with respect,’ was my motto,” she says. Now that the risk has paid off and the film is such a stupendous success, it is easy to say that Vidya was right to take the role. But had it gone wrong, it could well have been career suicide.

Except I don’t think that Vidya cares too much about that any longer. She doesn’t care about image or about body issues. She’s happy to be a star. But she’d much rather be an actress. At some level, I think all of us recognise that in Vidya we are dealing with a real person who is making real choices and not with some machine-made, image-manipulated Bollywood star. We respect her risks. We admire her resilience. And we know that even if we didn’t do all of this, even if we didn’t go to see her movies, it would not make that much difference to her. Because after those years of disappointment, rejection and experimentation, Vidya Balan has found her destiny. And her destiny is simply this to be her own person. To be Vidya Balan'.

Hasee Toh Phasee : Recensione

[Blog] Recensione di Hasee Toh Phasee godibilissima commedia romantica interpretata da Parineeti Chopra e Sidhart Malhotra diretta dal debuttante Vinil Mathew.

35 years on, the Sholay fire still burns

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La locandina è pura meraviglia e ne vorrei una gigantografia a casa. Il film è un magnifico classicone. Amitabh Bachchan è DIO e ciò vi basti. Insomma: impossibile averne abbastanza di Sholay, il titolo più celebre e amato della cinematografia popolare in lingua hindi e forse del cinema indiano. Il 24 luglio 2010 Hindustan Times pubblicava un bell'articolo, 35 years on, the Sholay fire still burns, dedicato alla pellicola:

 'It drew its inspiration from multiple Hollywood movies but went on to become the quintessential Indian film, perfectly balancing drama and tragedy, romance and violence, comedy and action. (...) Sometimes described as an Indian curry western, Sholay is still a reference point for Indian cinema and impossible to pin down to any one genre. (...) Director Ramesh Sippy was called a magician for the spell he cast. (...) "We had no idea that this will become such a huge film. We conceived an idea and when we started working on the screenplay, gradually it dawned on us that the film has more than two important characters," Javed Akhtar, who co-scripted the cult film with Saleem Khan, told IANS. "After 35 years, even the minor characters are used in ads, promos, films and sit coms," he said.

Ironically, there were few takers when Sholay, which translates to fire, released Aug 15, 1975. At three hours and 20 minutes, it was deemed too long. But, in an era where there was no television and no effective visual marketing tools, word of mouth worked. It ran for five years straight at Mumbai's Minerva theatre, for instance. "No multistarrer worked as Sholay did. It's got everything. It was a complete package. Initially, in the first two weeks, it didn't do well but it picked up from the third week onwards and became an overnight sensation," said trade analyst Taran Adarsh. "It remains the box office gold standard, a reference point for both the Indian film-going audience and the film industry. For Sholay is not merely a film, it is the ultimate classic," film critic Anupama Chopra wrote. (...)

Technologically, too, the movie was one of its kind - Sholay was India's first 70mm film and also the first stereophonic sound movie. (...) Produced by G.P. Sippy at a budget of about Rs.3 crore at that time, it was completed by Ramesh Sippy over a period of two-and-a-half years. It was released with as many as 250 prints. Scriptwriter duo Salim-Javed wrote themselves into posterity, their dialogues being mouthed across the country. They were at their creative best, from scripting action scenes, to flavouring it with romance and comedy, they served the tastiest ever curry for Indian audiences. (...) Sholay still has to its credit a standing record of 60 golden jubilees across India. It was the first film in the history of Indian cinema to celebrate a silver jubilee at over 100 theatres across the country. The plaudits have never stopped. In 1999, BBC India declared it as the film of the millennium. Its run at the Bollywood box office even caught the attention of the Guinness Book of World Records, where it was inducted for its five-year run'.

Kajol: As a single mother, it was tougher for mom

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Kajol a Karishma Loynmoon, pubblicata oggi da Filmfare. As a single mother, it was tougher for mom:

'Ferocious, uncontrollable and loyal to a fault. That’s Kajol for you. When she’s around, the octave levels in the room rise by a few notches. And in her roar, she’s all love. You realise she’s all bark and no bite. (...) Perhaps it’s this child-woman persona that has kept her endeared to a generation of viewers. (...)

How has the meaning of romance changed for you?

A lot. What Ajay [Devgan] and I have today is much deeper. Those 10 minutes we spend together in the day are enough. It’s just that you’re spending time with your spouse. You’re probably discussing stuff or doing your own thing. It’s the comfort and companionship. I used to do this with my mom (Tanuja). My mom, sister and me would sit in three corners and we’d all read. That’s how we’d bond. No one chatted at the time and we were content. Marriage is no different, you can be comfortable with the person even if you don’t say much.

How does he react when you throw a fit?

He gets to know I’ve had a bad day from the way I say hello. He asks me what’s wrong and that’s that. I’ll vent and rant and crib, then he’ll vent and rant and crib. In his defense, he’s not the sort to raise his voice often. But he won’t hold back when he’s absolutely pissed off. But for him to reach that point takes a lot. I get there easily.

What were you like as a newlywed bride?

It took me nearly a year to get comfortable in the house. It took time to come to terms with compromising or feeling at home. It took me six months to go to the ground floor to ask for a coffee. I used to come down every day like a sweet guest. (...) I had the right people backing me.

What’s your take on extra-marital affairs?

I don’t have them. (Giggles) Thank God for it! Frankly, it takes too much time and effort. I don’t know how people do it. As he (Ajay Devgn) tells me, one woman is more than enough. It works for me too. Seriously, I find one man difficult to handle, I can’t imagine handling two and three for that matter. (...)

What are the things Ajay loves about you?

(Laughs) You know after 15 years, you should ask me what are things he hates about me? And I’ll give you a list. Whatever’s not on that list, will be what he loves about me. Jokes apart, when he’s in a good mood, he likes me talking. I think he likes my sense of priority. (...)

What are family holidays like?

They are a mess. I need a two-to-three day holiday to recover from our vacations. I tell Ajay to not look or even talk to me after our holidays. I let the maid do all the work. (...) We take three to four holidays a year usually with the extended family with nieces and nephews. So we’re basically 25 people with the staff. We go for three to four days but for those many days we manage to pack in so much, run around like headless chickens to get things done and also handle kids' tantrums. And we have a blast. (...)

Do you see your mother Tanuja in yourself?

I see a lot of her in me now. I didn’t realise how much of her was in me till I got married and more so when I had kids. It’s happened unintentionally. Her sense of discipline, the way she looks at situations and people, the way she meets people - I think I’m a lot like her. But I’m not as nice or forgiving. We share a sense of conduct and confidence. We have our doubts and fears. But we don’t know what it feels like to be insecure.

She was largely a single mother. Now that you’re a mom, can you fathom the kind of sacrifices she may have made in her heyday?

Definitely. (...) In retrospect, I remember it so clearly. As a single mother, it was tough for her. Now that I think about it, every holiday there was no male figure or maid around to help her out. My mom took us everywhere. (...) We were seven children including my cousins. (...) She used to put us in the car and drive up and down for the weekend. It was amazing! She’s a wonder woman!'.

Anurag Kashyap: That day after everyday e spot Femina India

[Archivio] Il 29 ottobre 2013 Anurag Kashyap aveva caricato in rete il suo cortometraggio dal titolo That day after everyday, della durata di poco più di venti minuti. Da quella data, il video è stato visionato quasi quattro milioni di volte. E già che sono in argomento, vi propongo anche lo spot commissionato da Femina India, interpretato da Kalki Koechlin, diretto da Kashyap nel 2011.

Il flusso inverso dei cervelli secondo il film Swades

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Vi segnalo il lungo articolo Arrivano i nostri! Dal brain drain al brain gain: il flusso inverso dei cervelli secondo il film Swades, pubblicato da Crepuscoli Dottorali il 2 novembre 2012 a firma Aelfric Bianchi. L'autore, nella sua interessante analisi, affronta il tema della diaspora indiana e della sua rappresentazione nella cinematografia popolare in lingua hindi, soffermandosi su due titoli in particolare: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge e Swades. Bianchi cita anche Lagaan. Di seguito un estratto:

'All’iniziale diffidenza, se non addirittura manifesta ostilità, nei confronti dei “traditori” NRI [Non Resident Indians], alla cui cultura ibridizzata erano contrapposti i valori puri e incontaminati dell’autentico desh agricolo, subentra una loro progressiva rivalutazione, che finisce per farne l’elemento portante di tutto un filone. Scherniti e derisi in una prima fase in quanto imitatori pedissequi dei “corrotti” costumi occidentali, (...) essi assurgono negli anni al ruolo di eroi positivi, capaci di contemperare nel migliore dei modi modernità e tradizione, importando in contesti “altri” proprio l’attaccamento ai principi e agli ideali patri che in passato erano accusati di aver rinnegato. 

A sancire l’inizio di questa nuova tendenza è senza dubbio Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, (...) autentico cult movie ancor oggi amatissimo dal pubblico indiano. (...) La trionfale accoglienza da parte del pubblico indiano (locale ed espatriato) di Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (...) è alla base del proliferare di film incentrati sulle figure di NRI visti nella loro duplice dimensione deshi e foreign, come portatori di un nuovo benessere ma al contempo strenui difensori dei valori più genuini della terra d’origine. (...)

 

Tra le numerose pellicole imperniate su personaggi di Indiani non residenti nella madrepatria, accomunate dai sermoni di acceso tono patriottico, dalle inderogabili sequenze di danza e canto e dalle scene di matrimonio, potrebbe a un primo sguardo confondersi anche Swades: We, the People. Sebbene ne condivida la tematica di fondo, tuttavia, questo film (...) se ne differenzia in maniera radicale sia sul piano prettamente stilistico e formale sia a livello di impalcatura ideologica. Nonostante la presenza di Shah Rukh Khan (...) e gli elogi unanimi della critica, ricevette un’accoglienza piuttosto fredda da parte del pubblico indiano, assurgendo invece a vero e proprio cult movie presso le platee di NRI disseminate nel mondo. (...) Ancora più evidente è il tentativo di contemperare le istanze tipiche del blockbuster (il cui successo è riconducibile a una vasta gamma di fattori, a cominciare dal costante superamento di nuove frontiere sul piano della spettacolarità, dall’offerta di un’esperienza cinematografica immediatamente gratificante a livello sensoriale e dalla capacità di intercettare i gusti, le tendenze e le opinioni più diffuse nella società) con quelle dei film “d’arte” e di superare la tradizionale incompatibilità con il mercato occidentale. (...) Swades (...) rivela nella sceneggiatura la propria diversità. (...) Al pari di Lagaan costituisce un’opera esemplare della svolta epocale ormai in atto nel cinema di massa indiano, raggiungendo un pubblico assai vasto senza cedere alle facili lusinghe dei grandi titoli commerciali, in genere poco amati dalla critica, maltrattati nei discorsi quotidiani degli spettatori “critici”, ritenuti superficiali e semplicisti nella rappresentazione della realtà, ma soddisfacendone comunque i gusti e i desideri e sottraendosi in tal modo al destino della maggioranza dei film “impegnati”, spesso visti soltanto in Occidente perché neppure distribuiti a livello locale. (...) Da non sottovalutare è poi l’assenza in quest’ultimo film di un “nemico” vero e proprio, subito riconoscibile come tale: il “male” risiede infatti nell’ideologia retrograda, nell’arretratezza e nella rassegnazione, ed è quindi un nemico interiore e senza volto, dai contorni non facilmente definibili. (...)

Il processo di cambiamento interiore del protagonista è indagato con finezza in profondità, a differenza di quanto avviene nella grande maggioranza dei film popolari hindi, che, riducendo o addirittura azzerando l’enorme varietà di identità sociali, regionali, etniche e religiose di cui si compone la società indiana, mirano piuttosto a creare una sorta di Eden omogeneo e uniforme, carente di riferimenti alla storia e all’attualità della nazione e popolato non tanto da “uomini reali”, quanto piuttosto da archetipi, modelli perfetti e tipi fissi, sostanzialmente stereotipati (l’Eroe e il Cattivo, l’Eroina e la sua Migliore Amica, il Padre Affettuoso e la Matrigna Crudele). (...) Grande attenzione il regista dedica inoltre all’analisi psicologica dei personaggi secondari, i quali non si limitano a incarnare semplici “maschere”, ma risultano investiti di una marcata impronta specifica e individuale. (...) 

La questione stessa delle caste è affrontata con inusuale garbo e in maniera assai approfondita, senza l’enfasi retorica - e la sostanziale superficialità - che caratterizza molti film bollywoodiani di tematica “sociale”: Mohan [il protagonista], pur opponendosi alle discriminazioni e ai pregiudizi implicati da un sistema che ritiene ingiusto e arretrato, fonda le proprie argomentazioni su motivazioni razionali, argomentandole e discutendole nello spirito di una critica costruttiva, evitando condanne iperboliche e spettacolari e mostrando sempre e comunque rispetto nei confronti di opinioni che non condivide ma che sa bene essere radicate da sempre nella mentalità indiana. Improntata al medesimo realismo è anche la rappresentazione pratica della miseria che si cela sotto la facciata luminosa di una nazione in continua e inarrestabile crescita e delle iniquità di cui essa è permeata. Esemplare in questa prospettiva è la sequenza della proiezione all’aperto di un vecchio successo bollywoodiano (...), con lo schermo che divide non solo simbolicamente gli abitanti del villaggio in due (i membri delle caste inferiori essendo costretti ad assistere al film da dietro), almeno finché non si celebra il miracolo salvifico del cinema, capace di abbattere ogni barriera e di unire tutto il pubblico, sia pure per un istante, in un entusiastico coro di approvazione. Senza dubbio una così atipica e massiccia presenza di agganci alla realtà sociopolitica contemporanea (...) può aver turbato spettatori avvezzi a cercare in prima istanza l’intrattenimento puro e una sorta di rifugio ideale per i propri sogni, contribuendo a determinare l’accoglienza non certo trionfale riservata a Swades. (...) Alla luce di simili premesse, può apparire per certi versi legittimo definire Swades come una sorta di anello di congiunzione ideale tra il filone cinematografico dedicato agli indiani espatriati e i film sociali e progressisti del periodo nehruviano. (...) Emerge dunque con chiarezza l’estrema complessità di un film che si presta a diversi livelli di lettura, capace di coniugare, pur con qualche pecca, intrattenimento leggero e denuncia sociale, spettacolarità e realismo, spirito patriottico e assenza di retorica. (...) Con Swades Gowariker ha saputo senza dubbio rinnovare un modello ormai ritenuto superato, affrontando con sensibilità temi cari a molti registi del periodo post-indipendenza, in particolare a quelli bengalesi: l’oppressione dei più deboli, le diseguaglianze sociali e gli stenti degli strati meno abbienti della popolazione indiana. Parallelamente, ha dimostrato come sia possibile sfruttare un filone consolidato, quello appunto imperniato sulla figura del NRI, in maniera originale. 

Significativa è in quest’ottica la scelta di Shah Rukh Khan nel ruolo di protagonista, in quanto l’attore deve molta della sua immensa popolarità anche fuori dai confini del Subcontinente alle sue numerose interpretazioni di indiani espatriati, a partire dal già menzionato Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Non a caso la sua prova si è meritata il plauso unanime della critica, che ne ha lodato l’intensità e la misura, a loro volta piuttosto inconsuete nella carriera di King Khan, avvezzo a far convergere su di sé l’attenzione degli spettatori, spogliando i suoi personaggi di ogni parvenza naturalistica per rivestirli di cliché di successo sperimentati, dalla postura fortemente evidenziata alla dizione enfatizzata e lontana dal normale parlato quotidiano, alla drammatizzazione del comportamento fisico e affabulatorio. In Swades, al contrario, la sua recitazione è composta e controllata, scevra di gigionerie anche nelle situazioni dove ci si attenderebbe un suo atteggiamento da “mattatore”. E non è da escludere che una simile anomalia possa a sua volta aver inciso sullo scarso successo commerciale del film, almeno presso il pubblico locale, favorendone al contrario gli ottimi risultati conseguiti in Occidente, non solo tra i migranti indiani. A differenza di quanto accade in numerose pellicole appartenenti al medesimo filone, inoltre, Shah Rukh Khan interpreta qui una figura più complessa, meno ancorata agli stereotipi tradizionali: Mohan incarna in sé, infatti, proprio quell’ambivalenza (...) perlopiù assent[e] nei personaggi dei film commerciali. Lacerato da dubbi e da contraddizioni, fino all’ultimo è preda del dilemma della scelta tra due alternative, nessuna delle quali è del tutto soddisfacente. La sua decisione di tornare nella madrepatria è l’esito di un lungo processo interiore e in quanto tale non si riduce a un mero atto aprioristico, alla conseguenza “naturale” della piena positività associata nel cinema popolare all’eroe. Il suo antagonista non è esterno; risiede piuttosto dentro di lui, nelle sue paure e nelle sue incertezze. Il “nemico” che si oppone al lieto fine non è il terzo vertice del classico “triangolo amoroso”, tanto sfruttato dall’industria bollywoodiana; e nemmeno è, secondo una tendenza assai diffusa, un NRI “cattivo”, che, con le sue perversioni e i suoi vizi, rappresenta l’esatta antitesi del protagonista; bensì è costituito dal suo stesso “lato oscuro”, da un bagaglio di sentimenti contrastanti così “reale” e dunque così estraneo al modello canonico. Con la sua definitiva risoluzione, Mohan non si limita certo a incarnare l’auspicio che al brain drain subentri il brain gain, facendo leva sulla nostalgia, e magari sui sensi di colpa, degli indiani espatriati, ma si spinge oltre, giungendo a indicare una via in grado di superare l’antinomia tra vecchio e nuovo, tra tradizione e modernità, tra Oriente e Occidente, pacificando i due estremi e dimostrandone la possibile coesistenza, in linea peraltro con un pensiero che antepone da sempre l’unità alle differenze'.

Irrfan Khan: spot 7 Up

FA-VO-LO-SO !!! Dimenticate l'ingrigito personaggio di The Lunchbox e godetevi uno scatenatissimo, inedito Irrfan Khan nel nuovo spot pubblicitario commissionato da 7 Up. Da vedere rivedere e rivedere. Nel cast anche Raveena Tandon.

Aishwarya Rai: spot Kalyan Jewellers

Quest'oggi Kalyan Jewellers ha caricato in rete il video del nuovo spot pubblicitario interpretato dalla testimonial del marchio: una sfolgorante Aishwarya Rai.

The name is Bond, Ruskin Bond

Il numero di Brunch in edicola oggi include un'intervista concessa a Prachi Raturi Mishra dallo scrittore Ruskin Bond, nato (e residente) in India da genitori britannici, autore delle opere da cui sono stati tratti i film The blue umbrella (magnifico) e 7 Khoon Maaf, entrambi diretti da Vishal Bhardwaj. The name is Bond, Ruskin Bond:

'You’ve lived in Kasauli, Shimla, Jamnagar, Dehradun, London. What made you settle in Mussoorie?

A few years after my father’s death, my mother sent me to the United Kingdom for “better prospects” in 1951. Those four years were not easy. I had grown up in Dehradun and I missed my friends, my simple life back home. In fact, it was while I was in the UK that I started writing my first book The Room on the Roof. (...) I would work in the day and write at night. I did all kind of jobs to sustain myself. I worked at a grocery store, in the public health department and what was then Thomas Cook and Sons. The last job was particularly interesting but I got fired from it. I had a young woman who was my boss but she soon started having an affair with a fire attendant and was thrown out. I had to manage the show and I must say I made a mess of it. I often took calls and had to do hotel bookings. I never did and in fact don’t still get the hang of bed descriptions. So I often separated people who wanted to sleep together! Then I moved to London and worked at a photo studio. This was an interesting job. All this while though, I worked hard to find a publisher for my book. And when I did and got an advance of 50 pounds, I knew it was enough to get me home to India. Those days one travelled by ship. The tariff to get to India was 40 pounds and I still had ten pounds left!

What were the early days like?

I came back to Dehradun. To begin with, I was very ambitious. So I wrote short stories and poems and religiously bombarded newspaper and magazine editors with them. Sometimes I got lucky and some got selected and I earned a few hundred rupees. Since I was in my 20s and didn’t have any responsibilities I was just happy to be doing what I loved doing best. Also, when you are young, things happen around you rather than to you. So I still remember I was in school when I received a letter that my father was no more. I also remember how I was watching Blossoms in the Dust with a few friends in a hall in Dehradun when the show was stopped midway and we were told that Mahatma Gandhi had been shot. I guess I just trudged along. Fortune and name came much later. I also wrote for children and three of my books were published in London so that lifted my income to some extent. In the summer of 1963 I decided to move to Mussoorie because it had always been close to my heart. Also, it was the closest to Delhi and I wanted to be in touch with all the editors and publishers. I edited a magazine called Imprint from Mussoorie for about four years. It was in the 1980s that Penguin decided to come to India and asked me to work on a few books. I already had hundreds of short stories that I had been writing.

If not an author, what would you have been?

I wanted to be a tap dancer when I was very young. I also wanted to be a footballer and I did play decently. (...) I can still kick the ball well, running after it is another thing altogether. (...)

Do you still use a typewriter to write?

Well, I still have three old typewriters lying at home. Now I only write by hand, something I have always liked. The computer hurts my neck. Besides, I still have decent handwriting so I guess nobody minds much.

What is your day like?

Lazy. I do write every day but I respond to weather. So if it’s a nice sunny day, the kind I love the best, I am in a good mood. When it rains and snows, I am usually a little grumpier.

You have written love stories, children’s books, ghost stories. What do you enjoy writing the most?

It’s difficult to pick a favourite. I guess some of my early short stories like Night Train at Deoli. When it comes to writing, I keep moving between genres. The 1950s and 1960s is what I could call my romantic period... Night Train at Shamli, and The Eyes Have It. Writing for children is fun and in fact recently I had a young boy ask me why there are so many leopards in my stories. I told him, “Well, I’ve always had leopards prowling around the places I grew in.” Also, I guess I just like leopards. I must admit I write ghost stories when I run out of people. I often use my dreams to get inspired for these as I guess dreams have a ghost-like quality to them. But yes, as I grow older I enjoy writing humour because you learn to see humour in a lot of things.

Did you ever get close to getting married?

I did have my share of falling in love. I got close to marriage once or twice but I was finally rejected. You see, I was a very attractive young person. But combine that with being an author who didn’t make much money in his 20s and 30s. Looking back, I have no regrets. A young boy Prem came looking for a job in the early 1970s and I became his default father. Soon he married and had children. Today I have three grandchildren (...) who also have children. So we are actually three generations of the family in the house. (...) I guess I am lucky. I don’t really live like a single old man.

How do you write in a house full of so many people?

An author should be able to write anywhere. In a busy train, in a roomful of people. Once you are in your own world, the surroundings don’t matter as much. Plus l guess I like the feeling of the family around me. It probably helps me make up for the lonely childhood I had'.

Penn Masala: Evolution of Bollywood music

Il gruppo di canto a cappella Penn Masala si è formato nel 1996 alla University of Pennsylvania. I membri, provenienti dall'Asia meridionale, cambiano periodicamente, perché gli studenti che si laureano lasciano il posto a matricole dotate di talento. Il gruppo ha all'attivo ben otto album ed una compilation. Il 29 marzo 2014 i Penn Masala hanno caricato in YouTube un video divertentissimo, Evolution of Bollywood music, nel quale, in soli cinque minuti, ripercorrono la storia delle colonne sonore hindi a partire dagli anni quaranta. Il progetto è davvero geniale, e il filmato si è guadagnato ad oggi quasi 765.000 visite.

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.

Meet the Indian superheroes

[Archivio]

Vi segnalo l'articolo Meet the Indian superheroes, di Veenu Singh, pubblicato da Brunch l'8 dicembre 2013:

'Homegrown superheroes have been around for more than 25 years. Raj Comics’ collection of desi superhero comics have garnered a huge fan following not just in India but even in countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. Started in 1986 by publisher Raj Kumar Gupta, Raj Comics first began as Raja Pocket Books and published detective novels for children. Fuelled by the collective passion of Gupta’s three sons, Raj Comics gave a new lease of life to Indian comics, and also created a range of Indian superheroes. “When we were kids, the only Indian comics available were Amar Chitra Katha,” recalls Manish Gupta, CEO of Raj Comics. “Indrajal comics were almost dead. So there was a big gap. We decided to create our own Indian superheroes (largely based on Indian mythology) by getting some of the best creative writers of that time - Pratap Mullick, Dilip Kadam and Anupam Sinha - to flesh them out.” Today, though mostly published in Hindi, the comics also have special editions in English and are branching out in other Indian languages. (...) A look at some of the best-known Indian superheroes.

Nagraj

Nagraj

Who is he: The very first superhero, created by Raj Comics in 1986. The inspiration came from Spiderman. Raj Kumar Gupta, owner of Raja Pocket Books, was the one who suggested that he should be called Nagraj - the king of snakes. Nagraj’s blood cells have the power of snakes.

He fights against: Terrorism. Nagraj is known as the nemesis of all terrorists.

Area of operation: A fictional city called Mahanagar.

Look and costume: Nagraj doesn’t have a specific costume, but his body is covered with a snakeskin. He wears pink underwear and has a snake for a belt. However, when Nagraj needs to mingle with ordinary people, he covers the snakeskin. Even his hair is set in a way that it forms an ‘S’ shape. Currently, Nagraj is shown working as the manager of a security agency Snake Eyes. His new name is Nagraj Shah.

Personality: Nagraj has high moral values. He drinks only milk, he thinks it’s cool and healthy to drink milk. He is known to go to bars and ask for milk. (...)

Friends: Panchnag, a group of five superheroes who help Nagraj.

Love interest: While it’s not exactly a romantic entanglement, Saudangi is a snake woman who actually lives in Nagraj’s body and comes out to help him whenever he needs her.

Doga

Doga

Who is he: A man with a past. Doga has a dog-like mask on his face. That’s because he was brought up in inhuman conditions. After he was born, his parents dumped him in a dustbin. A daku [bandito], Halkan Singh, picked him up and used the baby to save himself from the police. But after that, he took the baby to his hiding place and the child literally grew up with the dogs and was even treated like one. Doga has a big following, including filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who is reportedly making a film on him.

He fights against: Any evil against humanity. He believes in uprooting problems rather than addressing the symptoms.

Area of operation: Mumbai. (...)

Look and costume: Doga dresses like a normal human being during the day. He goes by the name of Suraj and works as a gym instructor.

Friends: He has some sidekicks like Lomri (a fox) who loves him (though Doga is unaware of this) and Inspector Cheetah. Doga also has an army of dogs that work for him. He understands their language and values their loyalty. 

Dhruva

Super Commando Dhruva

Who is he: The son of circus acrobats; he is a trained acrobat too. His parents were killed in a fire, which seemed like an accident, but wasn’t. So he became a super commando to avenge their death. He was adopted by the police officer on the case.

He fights against: Any and all kinds of crime. But Dhruva always works within the law.

Area of operation: A city called Rajnagar.

Look and costume: He doesn’t have any specific look. His costume is very similar to that worn by circus acrobats. He has an array of gadgets to help him in times of trouble. His bracelet has a starline rope, and small blades pop out when needed. He always wears skates and a utility belt that stores flares and smoke bombs. He rides a motorcycle and is an expert at it. (...)

Personality: Super Commando Dhruva is the only superhero within a family setting and he upholds family values. He has a sister (the daughter of the police inspector who adopted him) and is very close to her.

Friends: He has his own commando force of Peter, Karim and Renu.

Love interest: Natasha is the daughter of Rajnagar’s biggest criminal and had her own force. But after meeting Super Commando Dhruva, she fell in love with him and is now a part of his squad.

Parmanu

Parmanu

Who is he: Parmanu has the power of atoms in his special suit, designed by his maternal uncle who is a scientist. His parents and schoolfriend were murdered and he was saved by his uncle who raised him. Now, Parmanu wants to take revenge with the help of this special suit.

He fights against: Criminals. He never takes the law in his hands though.

Area of operation: Delhi.

Look and costume: During the day, he is inspector Vinay, but in a crisis he dons his special suit with which he can fly as well as transport himself to any place. Parmanu can even reduce his size. He uses the power of atoms to create atomic blasts.

Friends: Pralayanka (Mamta Pathak) is like a superwoman who likes Parmanu and helps him. Sheena Mathur is the love interest of inspector Vinay. Probot is the robot created by his uncle to help Parmanu.

Bhokal

Bhokal

Who is he: Bhokal was born in the fairyland of Parilok but when some people from Earth killed his parents, he came to Earth to seek revenge. But a strange thing happened when he visited our planet. He found out that his real parents were also Earthlings.

He fights against: Any injustice or crime.

Area of operation: A fictional city called Vikasnagar, ruled by a king called Vikasmohan.

Look and costume: Bhokal dresses like a warrior as he is a warrior in the king’s court. But when he utters the word ‘Bhokal’ he magically dons his superhero persona - green and pink armour and a magical, unbreakable sword and shield.

Friends: Tureen (she is his wife now), Shootan (he can hypnotise anyone), Atikroor (powerful and heavy set). (...)

Shakti

Super Woman Shakti

Who is she: Shakti was a regular married woman who was severely wronged by her husband. He killed their girl child and when she found out, he tried to kill her too. But Kali the devi saved her and gave her the power to save women in distress. Shakti lives as Chanda in Delhi with a friend and works as a nurse in a hospital.

He fights against: Those who commit crimes against women.

Area of operation: Delhi.

Look and costume: Shakti has a very contemporary look. She wears a tiger skin and has a third eye (usually covered with a headband) that opens in extreme situations. She can generate fire with her hands and has the ability to change any metal into a weapon.

Friends: She works alone.

Parmanu

Doga e Shakti

Shakti

È morto Khushwant Singh

Lo scrittore Khushwant Singh è morto quest'oggi a Delhi all'età di 99 anni. La sua opera più famosa è forse il romanzo Quel treno per il Pakistan (1956).

Sanjay Leela Bhansali: I don't want more heartbreak

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Sanjay Leela Bhansali a Farhana Farook, pubblicata da Filmfare il 6 gennaio 2014. I don’t want more heartbreak:

'Was it a challenge to have Deepika Padukone as your muse [in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela], Aishwarya Rai Bachchan being your longstanding one?

I went to meet Deepika Padukone after the existing leading lady (Kareena Kapoor) left my film at a time when the set was already constructed.  Deepika was unwell and had fever. (...) Her eyes were watery and she appeared beautiful. (...) Many felt that she wouldn’t be able to do justice to the role. But I realised here was an evolved actor. She’s intelligent and speaks little, saving all the energy for the shot. When she walked onto the set, she looked every inch my heroine. That was the same feeling I got when Ash or even Madhuri Dixit walked in. When you view Ash on camera you’re hypnotised. Deepika’s beauty is earthy and confident.

Was it difficult reining a ‘hyper’ Ranveer Singh?

(Laughs) If Red Bull was a person, it would be Ranveer Singh. You can come laughing and jumping on my set and can continue jumping till the evening, I don’t care. What I want is work. And that boy, though over-energised, is at the same time talented and focused. He got his character of Ram bhai, a village Romeo, bang on! He worked hard on his body. He gave good suggestions, never behuda (irrelevant) ones. I’d pamper him but after a point I’d say ‘enough is enough, go and give the shot!’ But I never had to tell him to concentrate. (...)

What are those subtexts [in your work]?

You are your childhood. You are what you’ve experienced, succumbed to or fought with and overcome. I can’t reveal why I made Khamoshi but it had personal elements. That’s why my films have power. Your work can only resonate if it comes from within. (...) Devdas is a tribute to my father’s alcohol bottle. Black was based on a story, which my father always wanted to script - the importance of words for human beings. Ram-Leela is a tribute to my mother.

In your films, tragedy assumes a celebratory flavour...

I’ve done samjhauta (compromise) with my pain long ago. So when you’re no longer fighting pain, you can express it well. Being unhappy and sad are two different things. Unhappiness is destructive. But sadness gives a perspective. (...) But in spite of having lived a sad life, I’m a happy person. I want to sing, dance...

Why do you say that?

I was a kid when my father took me to the studio. I realised this was my world. Make-up, dust, lights... that is my world. I want to express even the saddest moments in a grand way. I love life. I believe in opening the door of the dark studio and letting the light come in. That’s why I made Guzaarish. It said celebrate your destiny. I don’t look up to the skies. My God is in the catwalk.

Can you ever envision a film without candles, curtains and chandeliers?

No, no, I love them. (...) Had I not been a filmmaker I’d have been an architect. (...)

You come across as lonely...

I am lonely. Even when there are 150 people working on the set, I’m aware of my loneliness. When the shift is over, I like to sit on the set alone'.

MMS Kaand: locandina

Kanti Shah è il sultano del softcore in lingua hindi a basso costo. Kanti continua imperterrito a realizzare parodie (involontarie?), spesso a sfondo sessuale, delle pellicole bollywoodiane di maggior successo. Ci riprova con MMS Kand, liberamente tratto (!) da Ragini MMS. A sinistra l'unica locandina che sono riuscita a scovare in rete. L'attrice protagonista è Sapna Tanveer, l'impavida moglie del regista. Una coppia voluta dal cielo.

Le prime del 14 marzo 2014: Neighbours

Tornano i Ramsay con un prodotto in puro stile horror/B-movie anni ottanta. È la volta di Shyam Ramsay, che produce e dirige Neighbours, una storia di vampiri. Sasha - figlia di Shyam - è l'aiuto regista. Gangu Ramsay è il direttore della fotografia. Trailer.

Vedi anche Shyam Ramsay: People say the ghosts in my films were not scary, 15 settembre 2022

FICCI Frames 2014

L'edizione 2014 dell'evento FICCI Frames si svolge a Mumbai dal 12 al 14 marzo. Come ogni anno, il cartellone è ricco di appuntamenti imperdibili, a cui partecipano ospiti di prestigio. Questa mattina Farhan Akhtar e Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra hanno discusso di film biografici. Nel pomeriggio Kajol ha presenziato al dibattito sulla censura. Domattina Abhishek Bachchan parlerà di pellicole seriali. Il 14 marzo Priyanka Chopra incontrerà il pubblico. 

Kajol - FICCI Frames 2014

Rajesh Parameswaran: Storie d'amore che finiscono male (o malissimo)

In questi giorni è in distribuzione in libreria la raccolta di racconti Storie d'amore che finiscono male (o malissimo) di Rajesh Parameswaran, pubblicata da Edizioni Piemme.

Randeep Hooda: I did not talk to Alia for the longest time

Ammettiamolo: è sempre un grande piacere ascoltare il suo timbro di voce e soprattutto ammirarlo in azione. Randeep Hooda forse non riuscirà a costruirsi una carriera sfolgorante come quella dei vari Khan, Kapoor o Kumar, ma la nicchia che si è ritagliato diventa ogni giorno più ampia, e lo stuolo delle sue fan ogni giorno più consistente. Come si può ignorare un uomo così? Perciò ecco qui, for your eyes only, il video del quarto episodio di Freaky Fridays dedicato a Randeep. E se non vi basta, segnalo anche l'intervista concessa dall'attore a Patcy N., pubblicata da Rediff il 21 febbraio 2014. I did not talk to Alia for the longest time: 

'You are quite a traveller and have travelled a lot for Highway.

I haven’t travelled extensively. For Highway, I travelled 2,500 kilometres by road. The experience was good. Every morning we would get up and travel to a new destination. The scenery was new, the clothing was different, the food was different, the feeling was different, and people were different in each place. When you travel by road, the etiquette of travel changes from state to state. Like people in Haryana and Punjab are very aggressive, people in Rajasthan are welcoming; people in Himachal Pradesh are so adjusting that they will wait for you to cross. I fell sick when I was in Himachal after I ate lots of pine nuts. A leader from Himachal came to meet us and she garlanded us with a pine-nut garland. I had not had lunch so I started eating it. I overate and was badly sick. I got altitude sickness too. Apart from that, the whole trip was well managed. (...) The stay and food arrangements were really good at all the places. Imtiaz himself is a foodie. He loves his food and still manages to stay so thin. Sometimes I would think that he selected a location to shoot because they served the food he likes (laughs).

Have you seen the telefilm on which the film is based?

I didn’t even know about it till much later, after the movie was shot. But I did get to see the picture of the two actors in the truck. The picture did not look the way the movie is. I didn’t think the male character in the picture looked anything like me, or what I played.

How different is your character from Alia’s?

When I read the script, I thought it was a requirement of the script that the two characters look poles apart. Alia and I both have a metropolitan upbringing. There is also a huge age gap. I think she is intellectually and emotionally more mature than me. It was very challenging to get the right look of the character that I play. I slept in the sun a lot to get the weather-beaten, leathery skin. I grew my moustache and beard, I stopped washing and combing my hair and applying any cream. I learnt the dialect of the Gujjar community, so when I speak it doesn’t sound like Hindi. I changed my voice a bit. When you see both the characters you should feel that they have nothing in common. That difference is very necessary for the script. India has two societies - of haves and have-nots. They are very different in every aspect - the way they deal with emotions is not the same. We have tried to get both these societies into Highway. Part of the film is about these two different classes of people, how they learn something from each other and get influenced by each other.

Alia Bhatt said you were a bit hard on her on the sets...

I did not talk to Alia for the longest time because in the film I don’t talk to her character and I am not very kind to her. I did not speak to her for 20-25 days. It’s only when we start interacting in the movie that I went and spoke to her. I did that because of two things: I was really trying to work on my character, and I wanted her to see me as Mahavir Bhatti (the character he plays in Highway) and not as Randeep Hooda.

What were your creative inputs in the film?

Every good director, when he casts an actor, writes the script or changes the script according to the actor. I am sure Imtiaz also did that. My character was well written. I didn’t improvise much. For all my movies I work on my character thoroughly, though sometimes I don’t get the script and sometimes I get the dialogues only on the sets. (...)

How come you are not typecast?

I don’t do conventional things like dancing and all. I pick things that are different and say no to scripts that are similar even if it’s for a big production house. It is important to keep filmmakers interested in you so they can offer you everything and anything. We actors are not given work on the basis of an audience poll; the filmmaker will cast you after seeing and liking your work. It is essential to do different kinds of films. There was a time in the past when I had no work. That time also I did not lose myself as an actor. (...)

Is your Polo team still functional? 

No, not yet. It is turning out to be far more expensive than I thought it would be. I have to do many more movies and still live in a rented house (to afford a functional polo team), which is not glamorous. But I have many horses. I cannot resist the temptation to buy a horse, that's where all my money goes'.

Vedi anche Berlin International Film Festival 2014

Le prime del 7 marzo 2014: Queen

Kangana Ranaut sembra tornata agli antichi fasti grazie ad un film confezionato su misura per lei: Queen, diretto da Vikas Bahl e prodotto da Anurag Kashyap e da Vikramaditya Motwane. Nel cast anche Rajkummar Rao, Lisa Haydon e Marco Canadea (attore svizzero di origine italiana). L'intrigante colonna sonora è composta da Amit Trivedi. Un gustoso assaggio nei brani Hungama Ho Gaya, London Thumakda, Badra Bahaar e O Gujariya. Trailer.

Aggiornamento del 7 marzo 2014 - Vi segnalo l'entusiastica (****) recensione di Raja Sen, pubblicata oggi da Rediff: 

'This is a story of girl meets girl, and you should know upfront that this is not a love story. Unless, of course, we refer to the relationship between the audience and the protagonist. Because I dare you to watch Queen and not fall in love with the character. (...) What happens in this film isn’t as important as the way it does. The plot is a mishmash of Meg Ryan’s French Kiss and Sridevi’s English Vinglish, but [Vikas] Bahl’s treatment is fresher and more vibrant, and - incredible as this may sound - his leading lady is better. Kangana Ranaut is gobstoppingly spectacular. The actress has always flirted with the unfamiliar but here - at her most real, at her most gorgeously guileless - she absolutely shines and the film stands back and lets her rule. There are many natural actresses in Hindi cinema today, but what Ranaut does here, the way she captures both the squeals and the silences of the character, is very special indeed. Her character is built to be endearing and Ranaut, while playing her Rani with wide-eyed candour, is ever sweet but never cloying. It’s a bold but immaculately measured performance, internalised and powerful while simultaneously as overt as it needs to be to moisten every eye in the house. (...) Ranaut stays firmly and impressively in character. (...) Rajkummar Rao is perfectly cringeworthy. (...) This is a massively entertaining film, even though it does run too long, and Rani’s fun travails are bogged down by a sense of tokenism, by her friends being White, Black and Asian. (...) Everyone in this film is playing a supporting role, even the director. When nothing else works in the shot, you can turn unfailingly to Rani, besotted, and smile at her with an affection you saved for your teenage crushes. She’s a wonder. (...) She made Rani and much as Rani’s making her, and for that we must tip our hats. Ranaut always seemed like a misfit in mainstream Hindi cinema, a stunning but strange creature who belonged to a different jigsaw, but now our movies are beginning to catch up with her. Queen is a good entertainer, sure, but, more critically, it is a showcase for an actress poised to reign. This is one of those monumental moments when you feel the movies shift, and nothing remains the same. I've seen the future, baby, and it's Kangana'.

Aggiornamento del 28 marzo 2014: Queen ha doppiato i 50 crore di incassi ed è ancora saldamente in vetta al botteghino. Queen è forse il primo titolo, dai tempi del blockbuster Gadar del 2001, a registrare incassi superiori nella seconda settimana di programmazione. Ciò significa che un film interpretato da una protagonista femminile è riuscito finalmente ad infrangere l'abitudine criminale del mordi e fuggi nel primo fine settimana, a raffreddare la febbre da record immediato, e a ripristinare la buona sana tradizione della permanenza prolungata nelle sale, che vivifica la possibilità concessa a pellicole di nicchia di crescere, farsi notare ed attrarre un pubblico sempre maggiore. Era ora.

Aggiornamento dell'11 settembre 2015: ieri sera Kangana Ranaut ha presenziato alla prima di Queen a Parigi, città nella quale il film è stato parzialmente girato. L'edizione doppiata in francese verrà distribuita nelle sale a partire dal 23 settembre 2015 (in Italia 'ste cose mai, eh?). Video Paris Videostars. 

Parigi, 10 settembre 2015