sixteen:nine
“Film as a dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down in the dark rooms of our souls.”
-Ingmar Bergman.

In technical terms 16:9 refers to the widescreen aspect ratio for video. It refers to the width and the height of the frame through which we experience the magic of films. But for me this simple ratio (16:9) is a window through which we experience the most secret and the least understood of all artistic languages; cinema. The reason I say that is because among all the other arts, cinema is the least known, it's history is generally ignored and above all, so is, it's nature.

Like cinema, technology too has given man a hope to live, a diversion to forget the harsh brutalities of life, an arena for fantasy and a few lessons for life. Man’s sensuous, aesthetic, religious, rational, emotional and social needs find expression through films and filmmaking. His moral viewpoints and beliefs get reinforced and justified through the experiences of his characters. Holistic development of every individual is done effectively and progressively through the medium of cinema. Man is only left with choices – of themes, of linguistic acceptance, of religious approaches and of social and cultural openness. All this is served on a platter for his taking.

It was like this, through writing, that one day I began to think about cinema, and discovered another way of prolonging it's vision, of realising it. In the summer of 2006, after having seen Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's, Rang De Basanti, I realised there weren't many films made in India that stayed with the viewer even half an hour after it's credits roll. Films that didn't spoon-feed but dared to push the envelope. Films that inspired me to wake up and react. To raise one's voice or put your foot down. It was the first time that such a thing happened to me. Three years have passed, though I have seen good films in this span, I wish to continue to express my views through this blog.

My blog is a sustained endeavour to build bridges through the medium of cinema. With some radical ideas, vigour and experential knowledge, I warmly welcome the youth, budding filmmakers of our global family to visit my blog and share their knowledge.
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Theatrical trailer of Sujoy Ghosh’s next titled Kahaani. *ing Vidya Balan. Releasing on March 9, 2012.

Genelia D’Souza: “Riteish knows me inside out”

Life’s coming up orchids for Genelia D’souza. Vivek Bhatia gets the lowdown

Which films are you working on currently?
I’m doing a film with Abhay Deol which is going to be this country’s first zombie film ever. (Laughs) There is another zombie film which I know Saif Ali Khan is planning to make but let’s see which one comes out first. Then I’m shooting Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya with Riteish. It’s an amazing love story and the character of the girl is brilliant. Down South I have Nayashtam which is a love story about this girl who likes someone else and not the hero. Finally, there’s Vellayudam which is close to Main Azaad Hoon that had Amitabh Bachchan and Shabana Azmi.

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Year and there…

At the end of every year we become invariably reflective about things we did and what we didn’t.

I decided to reflect upon the movies I saw this year and mention the one’s I’ve loved and loathed. So here’s a list of five of my personal favourites, in no particular order of preference, that re-instated my love for Indian cinema and the others that made me sulk and think twice about what I was doing with life.

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Trailer of Extremely loud and incredibly close :: A nine-year-old amateur inventor, jewelry designer, astrophysicist, tambourine player and pacifist, searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in the September 11 attacks :: *ing Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock

Trailer of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. *Colin Firth and Mark Strong.

Trailer of Bruce Robinson’s Rum Diary. Jhonny Depp like you’ve never seen before (obvious apart from Pirates). The last shot will make you roll down on the floor! Haha.

A husband and wife are cheating on each other…with the same man. What a concept! Official Trailer for Tom Tywker’s 3.

Tywker has directed The International and Run Lola Run before 3.

The race that never was…

Last night I made the grave mistake of watching Bodyguard. It was like an epiphany. Like divine intervention wherein 3 absolute truths of life were whispered into my ear:

1) The world is round.

2) We are all going to die.

3) Bodyguard shouldn’t have been made.

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Khoya Khoya Chand - Bartender Version :: Remember the morbid, sexy sequence from Bejoy Nambiar’s Shaitan? There’s another music video just been launched. Quirky it may be but doesn’t have the same charm as the sequence in the film. A good watch, nevertheless. Enjoy!

The Dirty Picture theatrical promo :: Okay, so I wasn’t a big fan of Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. But Milan Luthria seems to have hit the jackpot this time with Dirty Picture. Starring Vidya Balan as the 80’s sultry siren Silk Smitha and the three leading men in her life (Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor and Emraan Hashmi). THIS is the film i’m deffo waiting to watch.