Logbook of a Screenwriter
Sometimes, an idea gets stuck in your head. It’s like that fragment of a tune or those staggered images that continues to play in a loop – and refuses to budge unless you do something with it. A musician will probably create a symphony out of it; an artist will paint his heart out; a performer will throw it at…
For the past few weeks I had been pushing people to write about Gautam Chatterjee – and now I don’t know what to write myself. It’s tough. He touched lives in multiple layers – and did so with such fondness and integrity, that you can’t pinpoint on a single thing, or even a couple of aspects, that would define the…
When Subhash Ghai came to the Subah Savere studio to promote ‘Taal’ – he had a preconceived notion that he might be meeting a bunch of arty-intellectuals who are neither aware not appreciative of his work. But Nilendu Sen, the producer of the show, soon convinced him that this was not the case. The way he did that was a…
To be honest, I never had the opportunity to work directly under Nilendu-da. During my early years in the Delhi News TV circuit, I might have seen his signature gallis-mounted frame a couple of times during my not so frequent visits to the Moving Pictures office at Jangpura, where I used to go meet my friend Laura Krishnamurthy. I remember…
My introduction to Hemant Chaturvedi could be best described as accidental. By his own admission, accidents are somewhat frequent with him, and more often than not, they have happy endings. I should include the one with me in that list. It was during the initial days of the first phase of lock-down – don’t ask me the date, I have…
Take a wild guess – what could be the silliest question that one can ask ace cinematographer / director Santosh Sivan. Especially when, being one among the busiest Industry professionals, whose comeback film in Malayalam Jack and Jill is ready for release – he is not likely to give you much time. Top of that, in all likelihood, staying at…
No, I can’t wait any more. This self-imposed exile from blogging is gnawing at my ligaments like a regiment of termites; the wobble in all my joints are asking me, can you really do anything at all about the ‘situation’ out there? If you can’t, why don’t you do what you can? Just write, without spreading misinformation; let the experts…
It does seem a bit odd to write a piece on a film that I consider to be a cult-classic even while the cinema halls are closed, and the nation is under a lockdown. While that’s true, certain things can’t wait, like anniversaries. Let’s revise a old snippet of wisdom a bit then. Instead of saying the show must go…
Right at the onset, let me get this straight, if you are looking for objectivity, then you are likely to be very frustrated with Leena Manimekalai. Her films are her statements, often of rage. Hence, they hurt. Nothing she has done so far is impersonal, at least not in the films of her that I have seen. Leena’s documentaries like…
Not all winter evenings settle down like a patient etherized on a table; not each swill of yellow fog enters your perception with an insidious intent; and yes, I do think – if I search hard-enough, the mermaids will sing for me. Am I sounding crazy? Must be, but excuse me, these are crazy times. For the past few weeks…
