Moving Pictures

Moving Pictures

Birth of an Actor

Throw stones and I will build a house try 2 burn me and I will use that fire 2 light my life.if u chase me I will reach goal faster.


I was astonished to see the above statement when maverick film maker Ramgopal Varma tweeted it long ago.What an incredible confidence this guy has!!!He is the best example for optimism and confidence. Most probably he is one of the best character actors Indian cinema has ever witnessed.Yes i am talking about the Prakash Rai also known as Prakash Raj.

One of my earliest memory of  him is from t.v serial Guddada Bhoota telecasted on Doordarshan in early 90s.Needless to say,it had an unforgettable theme song which was rehashed from a Tulu Folk song and Prakash Rai made a name for himself from that serial.He slowly started to act in movies in supporting roles,most memorable are his small role in epic war movie Muthina Hara,Nishkarsha,Lock up Death and many Ravichandran's movies.


One fine day he got a call from guru K.Balachander and he offered him a role in the movie Duet which did wonders to his career.A small time actor from Bengaluru who started acting in stage plays, suddenly became a household name in South India and then a superstar.

According to me his three best performances are Iruvar in Tamil,Nagamandala in Kannada and Anthapuram in Telugu.His potential as an actor came out very well in Iruvar and he won National Award for it.It is considered as one of the best works of Mani Rathnam as well as Prakash Rai.It is the fictionalized account of the life of Tamil film icon MGR and writer politician Karunanithi.Prakash Rai played the character influenced by Karuna who speaks pure Tamil and Prakash Rai being a non Tamil carried the role very well.Coming to Nagamandala directed by multiple National Award winner T.S.Nagabharana,the way he spoke North Karnataka dialect Kannada in the movie is priceless.It is very hard for the guy who came from South Karnataka region.His acting is over the top once again and it became a surprise hit in the box office even though it was made with a artistic feel.After his Telugu blockbuster Okkadu he became most sought after villain in Tamil and Telugu and actually acted in  lot of mindless commercial cinemas but invested the money he earned from it in making sensible cinemas through his production house, Duet movies.He made some critically acclaimed movies like Velliterai,Poi,Mozhi,Payanam,Puttakkana Highway etc.Most of them were commercial success as well.


I personally feel his acting skill is comparable to Hollywood giant, multiple Academy Award winning actor Jack Nicholson.In India, movies are very star centric and are made for masses.There is huge dearth of sensible audience who appreciates serious cinema.Generally, movies with rich artistic value is considered as elite and very less amount of money is spent on that kind of cinemas and also it gets very little amount of attention.Some of his brilliant Kannada movies which i know, deserved more recognition but ended up being an 'art' cinema with lack of promotion and he him had to choose mainstream commercial cinemas which hardly did justice to his enormous talent.


What surprises me the most is his command over the language and understanding the local culture and literature.He proved his versatility by doing lead roles, supporting roles,villian,comedian and also won two National Awards[Actually he deserves more] and many State awards,Filmfare awards.Indian cinema needs more intellectual producers,film makers who truly loves literature,cinema.Prakash Rai is one of them.He just needs respect and appreciation from the audience.

Paramathma First Look

Movie: Paramathma
Director:Yograj Bhat
Cast:Puneeth Rajkumar,Ananth Nag
Music:Harikrishna
Release:October

He gave us epic Mungaru Male,and with Pancharangi he made us laugh.The man Yograj Bhat is back again with Paramathma starring the biggest box office star in Kannada filmdom Puneeth Rajkumar himself.The film is expected to create box office records.The film is shot in the beautiful locales of Sakleshpura,Dakshina Kannada and the surrounding coastal areas,Shimoga.Here is the first look

Saint of Indian Cinema

The name is G.V. Iyer,Ganapathi Subrahmanya Iyer,'Bheeshma' of Kannada Cinema.He was born in Mysore to a orthodox Brahmin family in British India.He is known for making first ever Sanskrit film in the world.

He started his career in pioneer of modern Kannada theatre Gubbi Veeranna's drama company as an actor along with Dr.Rajkumar.Then he moved to cinema from theatre and acted in any mainstream commercial cinemas.He along with Rajkumar,Balakrishna and Narasimharaju produced Ranadheera Kanteerava with Rajkumar in lead which is the turning point in his career and also it is one of the most notable cinema of Kannada film history.He also acted in many commercial movies along with Rajkumar.Then he produced Vamsha Vriksha which brought three geniuses together.It was directed by  great theatre personalities B.V. Karanth and Girish Karnad which went on to win National award for best direction in 1971.Another Kannada Superstar Vishnuvardhan made his acting debut through this movie.


Then he made musical Hamsageethe,a land mark in his career with then upcoming actor Ananth Nag in the lead.Its music is scored by Dr.Balamuralikrishna which won him critical acclaim and awards.The movie is based on a novel by Ta.Ra.Subbaro which was already made as a Hindi movie Basant Bahar in early 50s.


Adi Shankaracharya,a Sanskrit movie directed by him fetched him awards and international recognition.He became the first film maker in the world to make a movie in the most ancient langauge Sanskrit.

He made movies in Kannada,Tamil,Hindi and Sanskrit.He also made a movie on Swami Vivekananda in Hindi starring popular actors like Mithun Chakraborthy and Hema Malini.He made another Sanskrit movie Bhagvad Gita based on the Indian epic Mahabharath.


He passed away in 2003 in Mumbai.


  

10 movies to see before you die!!!

Every Friday movies comes and many vanishes from the mind of audience but some stay and very few haunts.Alfred hitchcock's Psycho released in 60's but still the immortal bath room murder scene continues to remain in every film lovers consciousness.Our own Mugambo of Mr.India still brings chills down in the spines of many people.That is the power of cinema,the most loved and popular art form in any part of the world.So i am gonna write about some of the English movies which i think are masterpieces.I didnt include any Quentin Tarantino's movie here,because i think almost all of his movies are must see.

10.The Exorcist:One of the most popular horror film of all time directed by William Friedkin.Plot of the movie almost looked like it is inspired from many stories we hear from Indian villages.Everyday i used to hear similar stories in my hometown where i saw some of the so called exorcists.Story deals with the desperate attempt of a mother to bring back her daughter through exorcism who is dealing with demonic possession.Yes it has a ridiculous plot but trust me it will scare the hell out of you.

9.Rocky:The classic sports drama tells rags to riches story of a small time boxer played by my favourite hero(mark my word he is the real hero) Italian Stallion Sylvester Stallone.I watched the movie at least 5 to 6 times so far and each it unfolds the possibilities of will power of human being and inspires me a lot.Stallone himself written the screenplay based on a famous fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner.Many sequels followed it but any day first one is better than others.

8.The Jungle Book:Evergreen animated Disney classic based on the story by Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling and produced by Walt Disney himself.It tells the story of a 'man cub' Mowgli lost in the deep jungle and raised by wolfs.I think this is one of the most popular animated feature film ever.

7.Psycho:A psychological thriller directed by master of suspense thriller genre movies Sir Alfred Hitchcock.This is probably his best work till date and also one of the best movies in this genre.The shower murder scene,one of the most celebrated scene in the film history,it spawned many myths and legends over the years and also i think its one of the most controversial and debated scenes ever.

6.Schindler's List:An intense biographical drama directed by Steven Spielberg tell the story of Oskar Schindler who tried to save Jewish from Nazis in German invaded Poland.Steven Spielberg won an well deserved Oscar for this movie.Spielberg,being a Jew understood the pain of Jewish people very well.

5.Ben Hur: One of the most expensive movie of its time and also the most successful grossing over $90 million.An epic movie directed by master film maker William Wyler with a huge budget based on a novel.It was nominated for 11 Oscars matched only by Titanic and Lord of the Rings Return of the King.The chariot race scene is one of the best action sequence ever filmed,read somewhere that it took 3 months to complete the shooting.

4.The Kid: It is the story of  the Tramp played by legendary Charlie Chaplin,who finds a baby and adopts the baby.Produced,directed,written by Charlie Chaplin and the character the Tramp became one of the most memorable characters in history of cinema.

3.Forrest Gump: My favourite movie of all time.It tells the story of Forrest Gump who was told he has a below average intelligence.One of the finest performances by Tom Hanks and also one of the most memorable performances ever.The film is wonderfully directed by Robert Zemeckis,it challenges societal norms with comical overtones.Most of the characters in the movie are memorable be it Bubba or Lieutenant Dan Taylor or Forrest.

2.Titanic:Most popular expensive epic romance film directed by James Cameroon,the movie is based on the sinking of The Royal Mail Ship Titanic in 1912.The love story and central character is fictional.Everything is so perfect in the movie.Be it casting,visual effects,sets,screenplay,direction everything.It is a flawless masterpiece and impossible to make it again. It was nominated for 14 Oscars and won 11,again a great achievement.Hail James Cameron for such a wonderful movie.

1.The Godfather:When marverick film maker of India Ram Gopal Verma made movie called Sarkar,stated that "Like countless film makers all over the world,i have been deeply influenced by The Godfather".Such is the impact of this movie on every film maker all over the world.American gangster drama movie directed by Copolla based on the novel of same name by Mario Puzo starring legendary Marlon Brando as Vitto Corleone,Al Pacino as Micheal Corleone.Everything in the movie is so popular and immortal."I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" is one of the most popular movie quotes ever and also its soundtrack.Two sequels followed it but original always remains as the best.The Corleone family lives on in the mind of every movie buff even after 40 years.

There are many other movies like Lord of the Rings triology,Saving Private Ryan,Gone with the Wind,The Dark Knight,One flew over Cuckoo's Nest etc etc etc which are my personal favourites but couldn't add in the list.

A man with Midas Touch Upendra,the director

Upendra, fascinating story of a street boy who rose to fame as a writer,director,actor by his unconventional presentation,weird mannerisms,lots of controversies,anti women remarks,weird lyrics etc..etc..He debuted to silver screen as a director through a extremely low budget  comedy movie "Tarle Nan Maga" after assisting master of low budget flicks Kashinath in many movies.He also wrote lyrics to some of his movies,besides acting in small roles.

His debut movie is memorable for its wacky comedy,double meaning dialogues,and funny man Jaggesh(incidentally it was his first movie as a hero).Recently i watched the movie and laughed,laughed and laughed.But before watching the movie one should keep his brain in the house because there is no much logic in the movie,only magic.It was a box office success.

Then next he made a cult horror movie called Ssshhh!!!.What a movie it was,simply superb.Again a low budget movie with lots of chills and thrills.It was 1992 and Upendra got critical acclaim as well as a super hit movie to his credit.It almost changed this dudes life from a street boy to a most promising directors of Kannada film industry.The movie revolves around a movie crew and a estate called Onti mane Estate which means Single house estate.The movie was made with a debutant actor who also produced the movie.

It was the time when budding journalist Ravi Belegere used to write articles on Bengaluru underworld by meeting rowdies in wee hours.Greatly inspired by that articles,Upendra made a script on an underworld subject based on a real life incident that happened in Bengaluru.He wanted to make the movie with the actor of his previous movie Sshhh but somehow met Parvatamma Rajkumar,the leading lady of Kannada cinema.She liked the script immensley and agreed to produce the movie.Lead actor was her first son most happening actor of that time(still he is) Shivarajkumar and the masterpiece made its way to silver screen.This movie quiet literally caught the attention of the nation(after this movie he got an offer from ABCL which he couldnt complete due to his other commitments).As far as i know it was the first movie which exposed the underworld to movie audience in India.Rgv's Sathya came later,only Nayagan is the notable film which came with an underworld subject but it was completely different.Nayagan is Godfather kind of movie and this movie is Scarface kind of movie.One is political and this one is pakka street.He made real underworld goons to act in the movie and its name is Om..Later remade or inspired kind of movies came in many languages but nothing matched the original.Even after 15 years,the satellite rights of the movie have not been sold.Still people flock to the theaters whenever it releases,it re released almost 8 times!!!and last time with digitally remastered print.

Then he made a forgettable movie called 'Operation Antha' sequel to yesteryear classic 'Antha' which made huge waves in early 80's and made Ambarish a star.It was a good concept but somehow he failed to bring it on screen,i think because of budget constraints.Trust me,Tamil blockbuster Anniyan movie had atleast 3 to 4 scenes which is almost similar to this movie.Both the movie dealt with corruption.

And then he made a huge mistake by acting and directing in a movie called A which became huge hit both in Karnataka and Andhra and he established himself as a lead actor.And he slowly concentrated on acting.There is no doubt that this movie is one of his best but it killed his love towards real cinema.Later in his acting career he almost lost his magic touch and lost his fan following but earned a lot of money.Back to this movie,one of my favourite movies of all time.The movie came with a tag line Only for intellectuals.So the name of the movie is A only for intellectuals.A is the cencor board certificate given in India for R rated movies and he used it in a positive way(yes he is creative and knows how to sell his movies).Screenplay is ultimate,it is like non linear screenplay just like Pulp Fiction yet appealed to mass audience.It was controversial because of anti women remarks.

Then he made Upendra movie,also a controversial and super hit movie but it was almost like a continuation of  a character that comes in his previous movie A.This movie got released in dubbed and released in Japan.I heard one Japanese guy watched this movie in Bangalore and impressed by it as he felt story is similar to Buddha who leaves all the worldly pleasures at the end.Again a big hit and in between he made another movie called Swastik but failed.Raghavendra Rajkumar is the lead actor,even this brilliant Upendra couldnt help to relaunch his sinking career.

  
Then he acted in many crappy movies and wrote stories for some movies but most of them are not worth mentioning.One movie called Hollywood is worth mentioning here.Even it dealt with a human android robot like Endhiran,a hugely successful Tamil movie.Both movies had almost same plot.Somebody else directed it and was a box office bomb but is memorable for sci-fi subject and use of animatronic technology and it was completely shot in Hollywood,California.Anyway Kannada film industry cant afford a huge budget but still it was a very good effort.

Now he is back to direction after a hiatus of 10 years with 'Symbol' or Super,or whatever people call it.The movie has no name but a symbol which is similar to Dhyana Mudra.(Once again he proved he is extremely creative).Heard it is a Psychological thriller(or is it futuristic movie) which is releasing on December 03 which is today.Hope to see something crazy as well as creative.It is a trilingual movie made in Kannada,Telugu and Tamil.Kannada version is releasing first and others follow it later.

For me he is one of the finest directors of India and a great thinker,philosopher(his dialouges used to have philosophical over tones) creative and unique.Its almost impossible to think like him,most of his ideas proved it,especially names and posters of his movies.He is the master of tricks,marketing and gimmicks.Now its a trend to make gimmicks before releasing a movie which he used to do long time back.But now the question is,can we see Upendra Mania once again?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1oisbI5GRA

My affair with Cinema

I was born in a small village in South Karnataka in a middle class family amidst western ghats where it rains heavily in rainy season and also screws you badly in summer.The land where watching movies is almost a taboo especially in middle class family,the land where education is the most important aspect of life(Yes it has number of colleges and can see students from all parts of the world in Mangalore).It is called as Buddivantara Naadu which means Land of Intellectuals(though it is losing its tag especially after the pub attack).No wonder its education rate is far above the national average.It is also called as the Cradle of  Indian banking as most of the nationalised banks like Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank are evolved here.Manipal,one of the foremost universities, evolved in this place.In spite of growing in this place,studying in school or college didnt really attract me as much as cinema or literature.

My affair with cinema dates back to late 80's and early 90's.Some times around 88 or 89 all of our family members got together(may be for a special occassion) and brought a television and vcr for rent and watched 100 days Hindi movie,Kamal Hassan starrer silent movie Pushpaka Vimana and i think Rajkumar's Babruvahana.It was the time when one of  my uncles bought a tv for the first time and my day used to start with it and end with it.I still remember some of the tv shows,i watched in those days mainly Zee horror show,Antakshari and also still remember watching Hoga Tumse Pyaara Kaun(Rishi Kapoor dancing on the top of a train) song .In early days there was no Kannada channel and we all were waiting to catch a Kannada movie on Sundays in Doordarshan.It was playing one regional movie on Sundays back then.Life was super cool and very simple back then.Very nostalgic.My mother always remembers how she used to take me to my neighbours house to watch Mahabharat in late 80's.I also have a pale memory of watching Premaloka movie,my sister in law was crazy about that movie.And may be.As far as i remember that was my first affair with cinema. 

And later when i went to boarding school for primary education,i met people grown under different cultures,guys from different parts of the state.It is here i really started to talk about cinema though i didnt get an opportunity to watch any movies.By that time my father bought a television and in holidays i used to eat,drink and sleep in front of it.I watched many Kannada flicks mostly Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan's movies at that time, but i dont remember most of it now.As a kid i liked some of the children's movies of teen aged Arjun Sarja(Now big star in Tamil who is known as Arjun) who used to flex his well toned muscles and show his martial arts abilities(Yes he is black belt in Karate).He was hero for me back then,(ya,after seeing this guy i came to know about Bruce Lee).Then when i was in 1st standard or something i heard about a movie called Jurassic Park.I was desperate to watch it.Most of my friends who watched it used to say about a special animal called Dinosauras.In holidays watched it finally and thus it became my first English movie.As far as i remember,it was Hindi dubbed version.I almost cried in fear when i watched it in school i became one of the proud and elite members who watched a English movie.Also watched another children's film in Kannada which i remember still is Chinnari Muttha.It rocked my imagination.

Pulp fiction
In primary school days i heard another English movie's name but couldnt watch it at that time is Titanic.Year after year i became a huge movie buff.At that time i was a big fan of Hollywood action flicks especially Jackie Chan,Stallone,Arnold.Also watched a lot of sci fi movies just because it used to have a lot of graphics.Once me along with many friends from hostel went to watch Jackie Chan's First Strike movie after 10pm without telling our warden.There was a mini theater called Vasanth Video Vision in my native town.They used to play every movie from pirated cd's and it was a movie hub for us back then.Me along with many hostel mates watched a lot of movies in that theater. In high school or college i preffered to watch Hindi and some English action flicks.I liked watching posh locales,body builders type of men and hot chicks of Hindi cinema.Very hardly i used to watch Kannada movies,but i was a huge fan of Upendra and watched his classic A in tv.His rebellious attitude,philosophical dialouges,awkward looks, unconventional themes attracted me a lot.Then one fine day i watched making of Matrix movie and that made me to think about film making.

Song from Upendra movie
Then i landed in Bangalore to study Animation and that further made me to think seriously about films.I started to watch movie like a critic,started to criticize lot of Indian cinema.This period of my life will remain as one of the most memorable time of my life.We used to watch at least one movie daily,got exposure to other regional language films,became die hard movie buff.Also started to sit in cyber shops browsing about movies and that made me a  internet addict(nowadays its hard to live without internet).Then came Mungaru Male,a movie which revived my interest in Kannada cinema.It came like a breeze,became a storm and smashed all the box office records.Now i am one of the keen follower of Kannada cinema as well as Hollywood,Bollywood and also other woods.

I spend most of my earnings to buy Dvd's and books or spend it to buy movie tickets.I want to make a huge Dvd library,now i have a collection of Kurosowa's Japanese movies,some other Western classics,Indian classics,one Italian movie.I watch lots of Korean movies and also a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino whose movies always gets on your nerves.But for me he is the best.Now dont say i should be jerk to love his movies.Actually you know what,i dont give a damn.