Thursday, March 15, 2007

M.Night's Next Film THE HAPPENING















Shyamalan, UTV to make The Happening

Hollywood director M Night Shyamalan will collaborate with UTV and Fox studios for his next film, The Happening. The film will be jointly produced at a cost of $57 million.


This is the first time that the Pondicherry-born director will work with an Indian company.
"The Happening is a global film and will highlight the environment issue," said Shyamalan in a video conference from his home in Philadelphia. The film will focus on the earth versus man battle, and portray the environment as the victim of mankind's villainy. It is slated for a July 2008 release.


"I want you to be afraid of this film," Shyamalan added.
The director shot into the big league with the brilliant horror film, The Sixth Sense, following it up with thrillers like Signs and The Village. However, his career took a downturn after his last film Lady In The Water bombed at the box office. Shyamalan also won 'worst director' at the 2006 Razzie awards.


Asked how he coped with the failure of Lady In The Water, Shyamalan replied, "I will not use the word 'failure.' It's too harsh. The film was precious to me and time will prove the others wrong. I feel happy and strong about my film.


"There are artistic ventures which are risky," he continued. "And my job is to be brave and take those risks. I want to be brave and make films. Success is a tricky thing and your other movies get burdened by your success."


It was reported earlier that Hollywood studios were not ready to finance his future films and also demanded script changes in his films, which Shyamalan refused to do.


Explaining why he decided to co-produce the film with UTV, Shyamalan said, "The business model in Hollywood is changing. They want to make 20 films instead of 10. It is an interesting concept. The studios prefer to co-produce movies because it lets them spread their risks. They can make double the movies with the same amount of money."


Shyamalan also said he had rarely followed Bollywood films, and is still undecided about casting Indian actors in his films.


"Recently, I saw a film with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. I think it was Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and I loved it. They expressed their emotions beautifully. It is a different kind of acting. When I watch those films, I get emotional. I also start weeping," Shyamalan joked.


Ronnie Screwvala, UTV, chief executive officer, said, "Night is an immensely talented writer and director. I have followed his work closely and admired it."


Asked why he was doing a film with Shyamalan, when Hollywood studios were not willing to work with him, Ronnie replied, "After Aks, people said the same thing about Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra. We believed in him and he made Rang De Basanti, which became a big hit. I have experienced that people do very well when they are down. They come back and make it big by improvising themselves."


Source : Rediff

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Director who made Tamil Cinema Proud




Mani Ratnam




It might be unfair to categorize this genius as the property of any one industry. His movies have something for anyone in any part of the country. He has this amazing ability to connect and provoke thoughts. Roja, Bombay, Yuva and Guru are all examples of his skill that penetrates boundaries of region and language. The stars seem to wait for his dates to work with him (that is not an exaggeration). National acclaim is a thing of the past for this man. International acclaim too has just happened with Guru’s Canada premier. Just an international film left to be done. He is the only director who never work as a assistant to any director.






Shankar


The master technician is undoubtedly one of the best in the country. A brand on his own in Andhra and Kerala, Shankar commands great respect from the top actors in Bollywood too. Rumors are strong that his next might be a straight Telugu movie with Chiranjeevi in the lead. Though his Hindi movie, Nayak, a remake of Mudhalvan was a flop, signs are very strong for this big dreamer to once again give it a shot beyond the Vindhyas.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Satyajit Ray - The Master Storyteller


Satyajit Ray, an Indian filmmaker and among the dozen or so great masters of world cinema, is known for his humanistic approach to cinema. He made his films in Bengali, a language spoken in the eastern state of India - West Bengal. And yet, his films are of universal interest. They are about things that make up the human race - relationships, emotions, struggle, conflicts, joys and sorrows.


Satyajit Ray, the master storyteller, has left a cinematic heritage that belongs as much to India as to the world. His films demonstrate a remarkable humanism, elaborate observation and subtle handling of characters and situations. The cinema of Satyajit Ray is a rare blend of intellect and emotions. He is controlled, precise, meticulous, and yet, evokes deep emotional response from the audience. His films depict a fine sensitivity without using melodrama or dramatic excesses. He evolved a cinematic style that is almost invisible. He strongly believed - "The best technique is the one that's not noticeable".

Though initially inspired by the neo-realist tradition, his cinema belongs not to a specific category or style but a timeless meta-genre of a style of story telling that touches the audience in some way. His films belong to a meta-genre that includes the works of Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Chaplin, David Lean, Federico Fellini, Fritz Lang, John Ford, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Renoir, Luis Bunuel, Yasujiro Ozu, Ritwik Ghatak and Robert Bresson. All very different in style and content, and yet creators of cinema that is timeless and universal.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

M. Night Syamalan's Lady In The Water....




a bed time story written and directed by m. night shyamalan

The movie centers on the superintendent of an apartment building who finds a rare type of sea nymph swimming in the apartment pool.

Production began in August on location in Philadelphia, for a release worldwide on 21st July 2006.

Shyamalan's last four films - The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs and The Village

Alfred Hitchcock ......The Master Of Suspense....





Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (1899 – 1980)
The acknowledged master of the thriller genre he virtually invented, Alfred Hitchcock was also a brilliant technician who deftly blended sex, suspense and humor. He began his filmmaking career in 1919 illustrating title cards for silent films at Paramount's Famous Players-Lasky studio in London. There he learned scripting, editing and art direction, and rose to assistant director in 1922. That year he directed an unfinished film, No. 13 or Mrs. Peabody . His first completed film as director was The Pleasure Garden (1925), an Anglo-German production filmed in Munich. This experience, plus a stint at Germany's UFA studios as an assistant director, help account for the Expressionistic character of his films, both in their visual schemes and thematic concerns. The Lodger (1926), his breakthrough film, was a prototypical example of the classic Hitchcock plot: an innocent protagonist is falsely accused of a crime and becomes involved in a web of intrigue.
An early example of Hitchcock's technical virtuosity was his creation of "subjective sound" for Blackmail (1929), his first sound film. In this story of a woman who stabs an artist to death when he tries to seduce her, Hitchcock emphasized the young woman's anxiety by gradually distorting all but one word "knife" of a neighbor's dialogue the morning after the killing.

Psycho (1960) , one of his masterpiece. The Master's most notorious film is still terrifying after all these years, as larcenous Leigh picks the wrong place to spend a night: The Bates Motel (12 cabins, 12 vacancies and 12 showers), run by a peculiar young man and his crotchety old "mother." Hitchcock's murder set-pieces are so potent, they can galvanize (and frighten) even a viewer who's seen them before! Bernard Herrmann's legendary (and endlessly imitated) score adds much to the excitement. Script by Joseph Stefano from the Robert Bloch novel. Followed by three sequels (the last for cable TV) and a TV movie (Bates Motel) decades later!

The film only cost $800,000 to make yet has earned more than $40,000,000. Hitchcock used the crew from his TV series to save time and money. In 1962 exchanged the rights to the film and his TV-series for a huge block of MCA's stock (he became their third largest stockholder).
Robert Bloch's original novel was inspired by the notorious serial killer Ed Gein who was also one of the inspirations for the character of Hannibal Lector (The Silence of the Lambs/Manhunter).
Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel anonymously from Robert Bloch for just $9,000. He then bought up as many copies of the novel as he could to keep the ending a secret.
The blood in the shower scene is actually chocolate sauce.
The shot of Janet Leigh flushing the toilet is believed to be the first such shot in American cinema history.
The MPAA refused to pass this film because they claimed to be able to see Janet Leigh's nipple during the shower scene. Hitchcock didn't edit it out, but merely sent it back, (correctly, it seems) assuming that they either wouldn't bother to watch it, or miss it the second time.
Hitchcock insisted that audiences should only be allowed to see the film from the start so as not to ruin the surprise. This was unheard of back then as people were used to just coming in at any point during a movie.
After the film's release Hitchcock received an angry letter from the father of a girl who refused to have a bath after seeing Diabolique and now refused to shower after seeing Psycho. Hitch sent a note back simply saying "Send her to the dry cleaners".

Friday, March 31, 2006

Mani Ratnam...... A Legend In Film Making...


Mani Ratnam both the words mean two types of Precious Stones in Tamil. And of course, he really is!!! The name Mani Ratnam needs no introduction. Mani Ratnam is certainly the biggest director in South India today and a much-respected one all over India as well.He has revolutionised the Tamil Film Industry, the Indian Film Industry in general with technically strong films that are beautifully photographed, excellent music, a tremendous script based on stories which are very close to reality (Nayagan, Roja, Bombay, Kannathil Muthamittal, Aayitha Ezhuthu, Yuva). Every frame in a Mani Ratnam film is perfectly composed and beautifully backlit even if this style involves total violation of tonal, focal and colour continuity.He is the man who introduce the great music director A.R.Rahman to India Cinema. He is the pride of the entire nation and an idol for many filmmakers.

Nayakan (1987) one of his masterpiece. A take off from The Godfather (1972), the film is based on the life of the Bombay based gangster Varadarajan. The film, with stunning cinematography by P.C. Sriram (taking its cue from Gordon Willis) and art direction (The entire Dharavi slum was recreated in Madras!) with meticulous detail to cars and décor much like the Hollywood gangster films, established Ratnam as the leading Tamil director of his time and won its star Kamal Hassan the National Award for Best Actor. The film draws on 30 years of Tamil Nadu's star/ politician images .