Logbook of a Screenwriter
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…
Rajesh Sundaram joined TV Today a couple of years after me; by then, after toying with the idea of weekend programming through Auto Shows, features and news-specials, I had been assigned to produce a daily evening show called ‘Ground Zero’. It was designed to be an OB Van based half-hour with reporters around the planet, mostly mixed live in the…
For the better part of the first week of February, I was shooting at the Pong Dam Lake – a story about a bird-census and ecological conservation. This exposure to the domain of ‘birding’ did make me realize why a few of my best friends are so crazy about their feathered friends – it’s a completely new world altogether. I…
My camaraderie with Nepal began during my school days in Missamari, Assam, much like most of my other ‘language-group’ relationships. Staying in an army cantonment area has been a boon of sorts, because in terms of being exposed to a mixed culture, nothing can match an army-school experience. My math’s teacher, I still remember, was Mr. Limbu, from somewhere in…
Tapas Nayak has been working in the film-industry for close to two decades now, with a number of blockbusters and award winning films under his wings. Asking him to pick a few of them to discuss their soundscape is a real challenge, since every film in which he has worked is equally dear to him. Here, I asked him to…
When given an opportunity, Tapas Nayak likes to tell stories with sound. Even while making films completely intended for the mass-market– this high-on-demand Sound Technician based in South of India loves to put in his delicate ‘aural’ touches that enhances the cine-viewing experience manifold. Problem is, not many people usually discuss ‘sound’ when they brainstorm films. Or understand its importance,…
I have never been a huge fan of classical horror flicks; they freak me out. Probably because, despite my earnest efforts, I have never been able to grow out of my childhood. Getting spooked by ghost stories were a large part of that experience. That apart, those highly synthetic B-Movie comic-capers that bootlegged as horror-films in my young adulthood never…
‘To Let’, I sincerely believe, is a textbook in cinematic realism. Every student of cinema should watch it carefully, again and again, to find those various ‘moments’ and study their ‘making’ that makes this film memorable. A film like this can’t be possible without a like-minded team coming together and working in unison – to attempt something that remains somewhat…
‘To Let’ is a film that deserves to be celebrated. When I say that, please do remember, I am a Bengali, brought up in Assam and Kolkata, and based out of Delhi for almost two decades now; and yes, I do not understand a single word of Tamil. Yet, I cherished every single moment of this debut-film by Writer-Cinematographer-Director Chezhiyan.…
Dheeraj made his debut short feature ‘The School Bag’ at a time when jingoism was not yet trending hot in India. But yes, the storm clouds were very much growling across the horizons, and liberals were pretty much starting to lose their voices, and sometimes their lives. Free-thinking was definitely not the official mandate. Within those soggy circumstances, to make…
