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Film

Banning films is our new pastime

If we’re banning films anyway, can the State ban films that hurt our intelligence, several of which release this year?
by M@themetrognome.in

This has been some week for the film fraternity. SRK’s ‘victimised’ (or not) statement created quite a stir and a ban on Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam proved how flat the fraternity falls in a face-off with the State. But Vishwaroopam is not the first film to go perilously close to getting the axe. Many films in the past have been ‘modified’ to suit the sensibilities of a few people who find some material in it ‘objectionable’. Some films like Anurag Kashyap’s Paanch are still in the cans due to this.

Even Hollywood is not spared. Remember how David Fincher gave the Indian Censor Board the finger when he was asked to remove three scenes from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, that were apparently gore and sexual in nature? People who managed to get a bootlegged copy of the film and have seen it, will tell you how important the ‘unsuitable’ scenes are to the plot of the film. Similarly, The Da Vinci Code was banned in States like Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Nagaland because of its controversial plot revolving around the manifestos for Christianity.

In Malaysia, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was banned only for Muslims, while the film was deemed suitable for Christian and Buddhist audiences. The film had the potential to create unrest amongst Muslims, thus the unusual ban. In retrospect, it seemed like a wise decision – it makes sense to not watch it if you don’t like it. But now, the Malaysian Government has failed to do the same for Vishwaroopam; the film was removed from theatres just a day after its release.

If banning films in the name of religion irks you, then this would definitely make you furious. In 1917, Birth Control, a film on family planning was banned in the United States of America in the interest of ‘morality, decency, public safety and welfare.’ The only reason one can let this pass is the year of the ban, when a not-so-modern America upheld a stereotypical image of the real woman and her moral values. Maybe a hundred years from now, even we will stop banning films for unjustifiable reasons.

But, can a ban really make the filmmaker bankrupt? The answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Hollywood film that don’t get a release in a few foreign countries are seldom affected. They recover their costs on the home turf. But Indian movies banned in Indian states take a severe hit at the box office. Indian films are specifically made keeping the Indian (sometimes regional) audiences in mind. While some movies do extremely well with the Indian diaspora overseas, most of the moolah is generated at home. The ban on Vishwaroopam can cost Mr Haasan a whopping Rs 95 crore, by trade estimates.

Instead, there should be a ban on Non-Entertaining Films. These are movies that serve no purpose whatsoever, and require the viewer to keep his brains in the freezer before watching them. Like the No.1 series of Govinda – Aunty No.1, Anari No.1, Beti No.1 etc. These movies impair one’s judgement to the extent that one spends his hard-earned money to watch a grown-up man behave like a monkey. Maybe in the future, the Censor Board or the State can do the people a huge service by banning films that should have never be released.

Just to make the task easy for the Censor Board, here are a few upcoming films in 2013 that are very suitable for imposing a ban on:

Rangrezz. It stars Jackky Bhagnani. Censor Board, there’s your reason.

Zanjeer remake – The Classics should be sacrosanct and not allowed to be re-made, especially if Apoorva Lakhia is directing them.

Mere Dad Ki Maruti – Really? There is a big brand in the title. YRF has already recovered its production costs, so this one doesn’t need any box office collections.

Raanjhnaa – Sonam Kapoor cannot act. Period. Remember Mausam, with its riots, wars and 9/11? Sonam was worse than all these disasters combined.

These films (and more are coming up this year) are a bigger threat to the nation and hurt sentiments across religion. They should be banned purely on the grounds of offending the religion of Sanity. If the Censor Board fails to be the do-gooder, then maybe it’s time we take the matter in our own hands. Let’s impose our own ban on crappy films, by not watching them on the big screen and forcing distributors to take them down. It’s a thought fit for a utopian world, but hopefully we’ll get there soon.

M is a media professional with an eye on entertainment.

(Picture courtesy ndtv.com)

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Film

‘Bollywood has not called yet’

His national identity fades in the face of the character he plays. Satya Bhabha portrays Saleem Sinai in ‘Midnight’s Children’.

British-born actor Satya Bhabha will be seen this Friday in the Deepa Mehta-directed Midnight’s Children, based on Salman Rushdie’s novel of the same name. Satya, of mixed Parsi-Jewish roots, grew up in London, graduated from Yale and is based in Los Angeles.

In an e-mail interview with Salil Jayakar, Satya talks about his ‘identity’ as an actor, the challenge of playing Saleem Sinai and working with Deepa Mehta…

Salil J: You were in Mumbai recently for a wedding. Were you recognised as the lead actor of Midnight’s Children?

Satya Bhabha: Ha ha… no. At that point nobody had even seen the film!

SJ: Do you identify yourself as British, British Indian or Indian? As an actor does it matter, both at a personal level and a professional one?

SB: I consider myself British and American, due to the fact that those are the countries I was born and have lived in for my entire life. However, my ‘ethnic’ or ‘genetic’ identity is a more complex one which involves both my father’s Parsi family and my mother’s Jewish roots. As an actor, my national identity fades easily in the face of the character. In the face of the industry, however, it can be more of a challenge…

SJ: You’ve worked with an ensemble cast with some of India’s finest actors. What was the experience like? 

SB: It was a total honour and dream to have had the opportunity to work with such an exemplary ensemble. Each actor brought such depth and detail to their role, and I learned an invaluable amount from watching and acting with them.

SJ: Given that you had little or no Indian experiences before you shot for the film, how easy or difficult was it to play Saleem? Had you read the novel before being offered the film? 

SB: I have had a long relationship with the book, Midnight’s Children, and also with India as an ancestral home, which I visited over the holidays. However, in order to fill my mind and memory with images from Saleem’s story, I travelled extensively in India and actively sought out many defining experiences. It was challenging, certainly, even after all the preparation, but luckily most of the time the work supported me and I was able to play freely with my co-stars without consciously thinking about performing the nationality of my character.

SJ: Some actors often claim to ‘live the life’ of the character they portray to bring an authenticity to their work. Was that an option you considered?    

SB: There certainly was an element of that, spending months living in my grandmother’s home in Bombay (which is not entirely dissimilar to Saleem’s home), and then travelling alone through India by buses and night-trains, landing in unfamiliar cities and having to find friends, food, and shelter… It certainly echoed Saleem’s path to an extent.

SJ: Working with Deepa Mehta… what was that like?

SB: Fantastic! Deepa is a strong and trusting guide who steers you in the right direction and holds your performance up to a very high emotional standard. She is fascinated by truthful human responses and goes to any lengths in order to get them. It was a real honour to work with her.

SJ: Does it bother you that Hollywood does not have starring roles for actors from the subcontinent? That you and most others with an Indian connection are mostly considered for an ethnic role?    

SB: It is challenging at times, but I do hope that there is a sea change in this regard and I very much hope that once films like Midnight’s Children and others spread to wider audiences, the universality of our stories will inspire less mono-cultural story telling…especially when it comes to casting.

SJ: Do you watch Indian/Hindi films? Has Bollywood called yet?

SB: I love Hindi cinema but, no, Bollywood has not called yet.

SJ: To audiences everywhere, what would you tell them to expect when they go to watch Midnight’s Children?

SB: I would tell them to allow the story to wash over them and that they may see far more similarities with their own lives in the film than they may have imagined.

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Listen

‘I wish all films wouldn’t need item songs to sell’

Shalmali Kholgade discusses winning the Filmfare Award for her song ‘Pareshaan’, and what annoys her about Bollywood, among other things.
by Vrushali Lad | vrushali@themetrognome.in

Shalmali Kholgade sang the wonderful ‘Pareshaan’ from Ishaqzaade last year. Her heady voice, combined with the song’s beautiful lyrics, took the composition straight to the nominations lists of several film awards this year, and culminated in a Filmfare trophy for the 23-year-old. And ‘Pareshaan’ was her debut song in Bollywood!

In an interview with The Metrognome, Shalmali speaks about her win, what her pet peeve about the Hindi film industry is, why she doesn’t drink milk a day before a song recording, how she began singing, and why she looks for that ‘one’ moment of total harmony when she sings.

First of all, congratulations on winning the Filmfare award for ‘Pareshaan’. What was it like to hear your name announced as the winner?

When my category was announced, my heart was racing. But I have this cool ability to mask everything happening inside. But when my name was announced, my heart stopped beating for a second – or so I thought. I remember trying to look calm and composed, but I can’t say if I did that well enough. I walked up to the stage, and everything after that goes blank in my head. All I can say right now is that it must’ve been too intensely powerful a feeling to account for in retrospect.

You looked gorgeous on awards night. What did it feel like, getting all dressed up for the awards?

Thank you very much. All credit goes to the immensely creative, innovative and gorgeous Sonaakshi Raaj who was my stylist and designer for the Filmfare Awards. Feel free to add all the superlatives you can think of to Sonaakshi Raaj – she is extremely deserving of them all. The white jumpsuit that she designed for me hit that balance between red carpet ‘elegant’ and a musician ‘casual’ perfectly. Getting dressed up for the awards was like a scene from Cinderella! I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Can you describe the creative process that went into creating ‘Pareshaan’?

The selection process for ‘Pareshaan’ included me singing the chorus of the song twice and then Amit Trivedi (Ishaqzaade’s music director) saying, “Are you free tomorrow to record the song?” And just like that I was recording ‘Pareshaan’ the next day. We recorded over two days, as there were lyrical changes. Habib Faisal and Kausar Munir spent a lot of time explaining every word and every line of the song to me. All three of them – Amit Trivedi, Kausar Munir and Habib Faisal – were extremely supportive of me and showed a lot of belief in me. That was a huge plus. The pronunciation of the words was the other thing that needed attention on my part. I wasn’t used to singing Urdu words. But Habib sir and Kausar ma’am got it out of me.

Who are your favourite music composers? And who is a bygone era composer you would have loved to work with?

My favorite music composers are Nitin Sawhney, AR Rehman, Amit Trivedi and Vishal Bharadwaj. I would’ve loved to work with OP Nayyar.

If you hadn’t sung ‘Pareshaan’, which singer would have done as much justice to the song as you did?

It would have to be Sunidhi Chauhan.

Tell us about your childhood. How did you take up music?

My mother (singer Uma Kholgade) taught Indian classical music at home. She is the reason I sing at all. Till my mother was eight months pregnant with me, she went for music lessons at her teacher, Shruti Sadolikar’s. She believes that it affected my musical leaning in some way. My mother made it compulsory for me to sit for music class twice a week for an hour each, and though I reluctantly sat for it, I owe so much to those classes.

My brother, on the other hand, who is eight years older than me, listened mostly to English rock and pop bands like Queen, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins and Dave Matthews Band. His music, for some reason, was more inviting for me. I listened as he played his guitar and sang sometimes. I picked up the guitar watching him play. He has been my encyclopedia for English music.

How has the support from home impacted your career?

My father is a pharmaceutical consultant by profession, but is a lover of the Arts. He writes plays, short stories and poetry in Marathi and English in his free time. My mother, brother and I are always the proud first listeners of his writings. He also sings with the kind of confidence I have never seen, even though he isn’t trained in singing. My mother has taught Indian classical music at home till I was 16 years old. She is a fantastic teacher, who never taught music for the sake of making money. Her students love her and beg her to start taking classes again even today. I am so grateful to have parents who are so incredibly talented, supportive and encouraging. There’s no way I would’ve been here today if it weren’t for my parents.

Overall, what has been your musical journey been like? Have you sung for regional cinema as well?

My journey has been an utter joyride, with some incredibly diverse experiences of being able to listen to and sing with musicians from all over the world. (She is a vocalist with Mikey Mcleary’s popular act The Bar Tender and has performed as a soloist with a Latvian troupe in a cabaret named ‘Bombaloo’ which toured Moscow, Russia and Yerevan, Armenia).

I have had the chance to sing in regional cinema and that is something I thoroughly enjoy doing. I have a strong affinity for languages, diction and the tonal quality of every language. My first Tamil song ‘Raja Raja’ with music director GV Prakash released a month ago. My first Marathi song ‘Jag Saare Badale’ also released this month. I have recorded a Bengali track with the great Indradip Dasgupta, and also a Telegu song with Sachin Jigar. Both these songs release by the middle of this year.

What has been the most special moment in your musical journey so far?

When I was in college, I had a life-changing experience that convinced me that music was what I wanted to pursue. It was the final round of Western solo singing at St Xavier’s Malhar. As I sang ‘Desperado’ by the Eagles, with just a guitar accompaniment, I held the last note of the song till I ran out of breath. I felt like I wanted to hold on to that moment for as long as I could, because I knew it wouldn’t come again for a long time. That is the reason I am pursuing music today. I want to find that moment of complete harmony of voice, accompaniment and calm. It is indescribable.

What is the one thing you don’t like about the Hindi film industry? A lot of artistes complain about the lack of respect for time, for instance. What is your pet peeve?

Time would be number one on my list, too. But when it comes to music, there’s too much run-of-the-mill stuff, with little experimentation. I wish that would change. I wish all films wouldn’t need item songs to sell. I wish women in films would have better roles than just ordinary lovers to play. I agree that it is changing with films like Kahaani and Heroine. But my issue is with a majority of films having female actors that are used as marketing tools.

There are so many young singers today, each with their own USP. How is it possible to survive in this competition and bring your best to a performance every time?

I personally don’t think of anyone as competition. This does not mean I am unaware of all the talent around me. But I see it as people to learn from and skills to add to my kitty. It is all inspirational in one way or the other.

How do you train your voice on a daily basis?

I start my day with just humming any tunes. Slowly as my voice warms up, I do scales on lip rolls, humming, and plenty of other warm up exercises. I sing along with songs that play on my computer all day. I never count the number of hours I sing. I sing for as long as I feel tired singing. If I have a recording or a show on a particular day, I stop drinking milk a day before. That’s the only precaution I take. I am of the opinion that a positive mind always helps deliver well. When I think I am not singing to my full potential, I just sit over it and polish the song, a melody, a run up till it comes out effortlessly. This takes days, sometimes months.

Which projects are you working on currently?

I am doing a lot of shows, especially so in colleges all over India and that is something I am enjoying a lot. The youth is so full of life and love that it is always a pleasure singing to them. One of my songs from the film Mere Dad Ki Maruti will release this week. A handful more releases are due in the next couple of months and I look forward to them.

How has life changed for you post the Filmfare Award?

Winning the Filmfare award and the shower of wishes and expectations that followed have changed quite a lot in my life suddenly. From wanting to pursue music, to singing ‘Pareshaan’, to becoming a playback singer, to winning a Filmfare Award, all of it has in quick succession. I feel more responsible and I want to live up to the expectations of people, and more, over the expectations I have from myself.

What is a tip you would give aspiring playback singers?

Everyone is unique, with a different voice quality, a different range and a different personality. Use it to your advantage. Compete only with yourself. If you stop looking inwards and start indulging too much in the lives and feats of your contemporaries, you’ll lose yourself.

That is all that’s important. All the technicalities of singing in a studio and live can be learnt only through experience. I am also learning. I just keep looking forward!

(Pictures courtesy Shalmali Kholgade and karamnook.com) 

 

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Event

City NGO protests commodification of women

Demands quick redressal of sexual crime complaints; urges I&B Ministry to act against films, ads showing women as sex objects.
by Hamari Sanskriti

The public uproar and anger generated in the country due to the heinous rape and murder of the 23-year-old Delhi student compels us to introspect and find the possible reasons behind increasing sexual crimes against women. Though we speak about most of the reasons, we are not considering the root cause of the increasing incidents of sexual crimes – the portrayal of women as sex objects by the media.

One cannot deny the fact that the mass media is a very powerful and influential medium, and hence whenever an awareness campaign is started by the Government, whenever a public message is to be given to the masses, the civil society and NGOs, all  of them use the mass media. If the media can have a positive influence, then why are we not acknowledging that it may have a negative influence as well?

For example: addressing a woman as ‘Chikni Chameli’, songs like ‘Sheela ki jawani’ and lyrics like ‘Main tandoori murgi hoon yaar, gatka le mujhe alcohol se‘ and ‘Pallu ke niche chhipa ke rakha hai, dikha doon toh hungama ho‘ demean women and project them as sex objects. Such references to women, to parts of their bodies, certainly convey a lot about the intention of the creator of such content about the image of a woman. The gestures of dancers in such songs, and the lyrics, invite sexual aggression against women.

The posters of recent films like Jism 2 and Raaz 3 leave nothing to the imagination. Showing the naked body of a woman, with hands placed on her private parts, on huge hoardings in the middle of the roads, photographs of film sets printed on front page of the Bombay Times on December 12, 2012 showing Arshad Warsi holding Minissha Lamba’s breast, are shocking and are examples of the levels to which the entertainment industry can stoop to sell their films.

It will be foolish to believe that the poster of Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, in which a girl in micro shorts is pointing towards her buttocks with ‘Dekho Magar Pyar Se‘ written on her lower waist will not draw undue attention towards women on the road.

Be it films, advertisements, serials, newspaper photos, all of them are contributing in further demeaning women and commodifying their body. Such songs, advertisements, hoardings and posters, films and serials on television, are everywhere, in all media.

If such songs and scenes are not meant to titillate and arouse the viewer, then why are they created? Who are we displaying them for? How can songs like ‘DK Bose’ of Delhi Belly, or words like ‘Paincho’ of Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola be suitable for a U/A audience? Is this what film producers want our children to say and learn? The way the name of one entertainment channel Bindass is written on BEST buses and hoardings is also objectionable, it is written with ‘B’ on one line, followed by ‘in’ on the next line and ‘d ass’ on the third line.

All the above examples are related to women, parts of the female figure or abuses and sexually suggestive words. With repeated hammering of the same, it is reflected in the behaviour and thought process of society. The entertainment media needs to be more responsible while portraying women in songs, films and advertisements.

Hence the staged a protest against such depictions, and made an effort to make the law-enforcers accountable for permitting such violations. We demand that there should be a regulatory body (comprising of psychologists, child counsellors, sociologists, teachers, parents, eminent lawyers, representatives from print, electronic media and film-makers), which has punitive powers to which we can complain and get a redressal for grievances. Immediate action should be taken against the violators of laws.

We would boycott all films and film/television stars who depict women on a demeaning manner or treat them as sex objects. The I&B Ministry being the ultimate authority for enforcing the various laws in the print and electronic medium cannot shirk its responsibility towards society. So we urge you to take immediate steps to ensure that henceforth no advertisement or film in the media treats women in a derogatory manner or as sex objects.

We also demand that those committing sexual crimes against women and children must be given stringent punishments and such cases be sent to fast track courts, with a time limit of maximum six months to deliver the judgment.

 

Categories
Event

Feting Obama in Mumbai

A select few in Mumbai watched and applauded as US Consulate Mumbai telecast Barack Obama’s Inaugural Ball in Washington DC.

The US Consul General, Peter Haas and Atul Nishar, President of ‘Namaste America’, co-hosted an inaugural ball in honour of the 44th President of The United States of America, Barack Obama. The Consulate’s Inauguration Ceremony featured a live telecast of the Presidential Address from Washington DC. Bajaj Group was the presenting supporter of this prestigious event.

Popular Bollywood actor Rani Mukerji graced the occasion and was felicitated for her valued contribution to Indian Cinema.

The evening began with a dance performance by renowned choreographer Rahul Saxena and his team of accomplished dancers. The event was attended by a diverse cross-section of Mumbai society. Those in attendance included Dr Alka Nishar, Niraj Bajaj, Anne E Grimes, Deanna Abdeen, Satish Shah, Nisha Jamvwal, Poonam Dhillon, Talat Aziz, Dalip Tahil, Sushma Reddy, Sunita Menon and other prominent personalities.

‘Namaste America’ Indo American Association of Art and Culture promotes and fosters goodwill between the people of the United States of America and India by providing a platform for  cultural and trade exchange particularly in the areas of Education, Media, Entertainment, Science and Sports.

(Pictures courtesy Presidential Inaugural Committee 2013 and US Consulate Mumbai)

Categories
Film

A businessman who acts in films

Mithun Rodwittiya is not a struggling actor – he ‘chose’ to do ‘Inkaar’, and is looking for serious, sensible roles.

Our idea of what a first film role means to an actor generally follows a formula popularised by masala entertainers of the 80s: the would-be actor leaves his hometown and comes to Mumbai following a film dream, lives with friends and survives on wada pav and chai, does the rounds of producers’ offices and waits years for the elusive break. When the break comes, he is older, wiser, and an instant hit.

Mithun Rodwittiya’s road to Bollywood was the exact opposite of this filmi roadmap. The Malad resident got a role in the Arjun Rampal-Chitrangada Singh release Inkaar after a fruitful stint in modelling. A successful feature and ramp model for about eight years now, Mithun (34) has worked with a lot of big brands in the country and has shot numerous TVCs, apart from walking the ramp for several top designers in their fashion shows. “I became very interested in pursuing a film career after I watched Kaminey,” he tells The Metrognome. “I watched the film and I kept thinking, ‘Hey, I want to do this…’”

However, the desire to face the camera had always been there, even before he decided to take the Bollywood plunge. “Shooting for TV commercials helped me understand the techniques of shooting. Also, I realised that I was very comfortable in front of the camera,” Mithun says. His first TVC was for Tata Indicom. “It was an interesting experience for me – you work with 80 to 90 people on the set, you have to fit within a role set out for you,” he explains, adding that facing the camera was something he consciously pushed himself into.

“I used to have stage fright as a child. So facing the camera was not something I set out to achieve as a personal challenge. I was simply curious to know what the process would be like for me,” he explains.

When Inkaar happened

“I had been working with some brilliant casting directors, and one of them was Nalini Rathnam, who excels at fitting an actor with the right role. I have a certain sensibility in film, and Nalini understands it. She told me about this role in a Sudhir Mishra film, where I would play a small but crucial role as the CEO of the ad agency’s biggest client. I was happy to accept,” Mithun says.

His role, though a small one that required just three days of shooting in Mumbai, proved to be a tremendous learning experience for him. “See, I’m in this out of a choice I made. I run a business and ideally, I want to be able to balance my work and films,” he says, explaining that he is an NID alumnus. “People on the set were stunned to know that I was from NID, that I had something to work on apart from the role I was playing in the film. A lot of people don’t have that. I decided to be a part of Inkaar because I would get to work with stalwarts like Sudhir Mishra and Deepti Naval.”

He says that Sudhir Mishra is “a taskmaster,” but a man with commendable clarity. “He knows exactly what he wants, right down to the most minute details on the set. But he is very approachable, and though I have no formal training in acting, he was very helpful and accommodating. He knows how to use his actors.”

How was it working with the cast? “Of all of them, I enjoyed working with Chitrangda Singh the most,” he says. “She is an extremely intelligent lady who takes her work seriously and is such a wonderful person to work with and be around.”

Now that Inkaar’s in the theatres and Mithun’s being recognised, he’s also receiving offers for roles in what he calls “the same kind of cinema as Inkaar.” He explains, “I don’t see myself running around in a field of sunflowers. I identify with the kind of roles that actors like Pankaj Kapur, Abhay Deol and Irfaan do. Since there is no pressure on me to accept any and every work that comes my way, I can choose the kind of roles I would be happiest doing,” he says.

He is now awaiting the release of his next film, in which he plays one of the leads. “It’s a comedy and it’s a good role,” he says. And does he see himself getting into acting full-time? “At this point, I’d have to say maybe, but ideally I’d like to always be in a position to choose to do films. I chose Inkaar because I knew that I would have dialogues and screen time with Deepti Naval, Arjun Rampal, Mohan Kapur. It’s not about the length of the role for me,” he says.

(Pictures courtesy Mithun Rodwittiya) 

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