Friday, October 19, 2007

Black (2005)







Based in Simla, the McNallys are an Anglo-Indian family consisting of Paul and his wife, Catherine. Both are full of joy when Catherine gives birth to a baby girl, Michelle, but their joy is short-lived when they are told that Michellle cannot see nor hear. Both attempt to bring up Michelle in their own protective way, as a result Michelle is not exposed to the real world, and becomes increasingly violent and volatile. Things only get worse when Catherine gives birth to Sara, and Paul considers admitting Michelle in an asylum. It is here that Debraj Sahai enters their lives. Through his eager involvement, Michelle blossoms, grows, gives up her violence, even gets admitted in school with normal children. The years pass by, Michelle does not succeed in getting her graduation, and it is time for Debraj to bid adieu as he is having his own health problems. 12 years later, at the age of 40, Michelle does succeed in graduating in Arts, and it is shortly thereafter she will be re-united with her teacher. No longer the same alcoholic, eccentric, - but a bent older male, who cannot even remember speech, leave alone what he taught. Watch what happens when Michelle attempts to re-enter his 'blank' life.

An unending darkness... A world of shadows... A ray of light that found its way... A teacher's dream... A student's miracle... A valiant journey... From ignorance to knowledge... From darkness to light... An extraordinary story of an ordinary life

* The shooting of the movie ran into trouble in Scenic Hill Resort, with authorities refusing to allow shooting in the premises of a heritage building. Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) refused permission to shoot in the 120-year-old building as the arc lights could affect the vice regal lodge heritage structure. The building was home to British viceroys from 1886 until 1947, after which it became the summer home of the president of India and since 30 years houses the IIAS.

* A fire broke out on the sets at Mumbai's Film City and four fire brigades were required to put out the fire.

* After declining Sanjay Leela Bhansali's first three films, Kareena Kapoor was finally accepted to do his film. Later on, Amitabh Bachchan refused to work with her because of the broken engagement of his son, Abhishek Bachchan and her sister, Karisma Kapoor so Rani Mukherjee stepped in.

* Rani Mukherjee wore dark-tinted contact lenses to cover up her famous green eyes.

* Sanjay Leela Bhansali named the film after his favorite color.

* The movie's title was registered with Kumar Gaurav; Sanjay Leela Bhansali approached him and requested him to relinquish the title, as he wanted it for his movies. Kumar felt that the film was bold and path breaking and wanted to render any help that he could to the film. Hence the reason Sanjay expressed his gratitude to Kumar Gaurav in the opening credits.

* At first, Rani Mukerjee refused to step in, because she felt that she was unable to play the character she was proposed

* Unusually for a work by Bhansali, there are no songs featured in this film. So the background score became of paramount importance to the composer, Monty . To create more of an uplifting aura for the deaf-blind-mute character of Michelle McNally, he used pianos and strings, but kept the voices in the chorus at a low octave. For Debraj Sehai's character, a fighting spirit needed to be vocalized, so Monty used a little-known Middle Eastern instrument called a duduk.

* The film is based on screenwriter Prakash Kapadia's Gujarati play "Aatam Vinjhe Paankh", which was inspired from "The Miracle Worker"

* Director Bhansali hoped to make a film that was an extension of his critically acclaimed (box office flop) debut film Khamoshi: The Musical (1996). Both were based on a visit he made to the Helen Keller Institute.

* Snow was essential for the story, so for the first part of the shoot, the entire unit went to Simla in mid-January. It was cold but there was no sign of snow. Since the unit could not wait around, kilos of salt bags bought from the local market and snow making machines from Bombay helped complete that schedule. The shooting would be done early at 4 am. And when the locals emerged they'd be amazed to see so much snow; it looked so authentic that they would touch it to check whether it was real. Dogs would come and lick the salt. The day after the unit left Simla, it snowed heavily.

* While the movie is supposedly set in Simla, and has an undefined time period, the time period is variable, and can be measured in part by the presence of Charlie Chaplin movies, which are being presented in the background. These movies include The Kid (1921) and The Gold Rush (1925), and while we do not know when they were released in India, they give us a general time period, although this might not fully explain the extravagant European setting of the area, even though the British Raj was still in force.

Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu (2006)


Raghavan (Kamal Hassan), a top cop from the Tamil Nadu Police Department is faced with a series of rapes and brutal murders including those of his boss's family. The culprits are found soon enough but prove extremely evasive while they continue their murderous legacy undeterred.

A police from Tamil Nadu, a woman from New York and a game that plays them...

Murderer: [Pistol Jams] Shit! Shit! Shit!
Raghavan: Saying 'Shit' again and again? Is that your mother's name?

Politician: You don't know about me!
Raghavan: I know and I know what your mother does.

Sivaji (2007)






Sivaji (Rajnikant) is a US-returned software engineer who wants to use his largesse for social good. He decides to start a free medical college, and a free hospital, and faces a number of obstacles en route by way of corrupt officials and a political kingpin who sabotages his work. Beaten down by politicians, he decides to take matters into his own hands by overhauling the entire system using his own private army of supporters. Meanwhile, he romances Tamilselvi (Shriya), who unfortunately has been told by an astrologer that her future husband is doomed to die soon. Loaded with Rajni-style antics such as flicking coins, acrobatically bouncing chewing gum around, and swapping guns from hand to hand whilst flying through the air, the film has a lot to offer for Rajni fans, and also has the usual social development message featuring Rajni as the Messiah. The song picturizations are good and very entertaining. But the film is very long overall flawed by a weak plot, too many repetitive action sequences, and a extremely poor editing.

The Boss

* Originally, Ratnavelu was asked to be the cinematographer of the film, but rejected it because he wanted to work for Sukumar's Jagadam (2007). Eventually, Anand K.V. took the role of cinematography.

* The title track was the first song shot for the film. It was also the most expensive song shot for the film, costing Rs. 3.5 crores.

* The word "Balleilakka" is derived from the balalaika, a Russian guitar.

* The song "Balleilakka" features most of the crew in the film.

* The actresses considered to dance in the item number "Balleilakka" included Sadha, Shilpa Shetty, Manisha Koirala, Bipasha Basu, Asin and Mallika Sherawat. Nayantara finally got the part.

* The song "Style" was originally called "Oru Koodai Sunlight."

* The song "Style" was shot in Bilbao, Spain.

* The song "Sahana" was shot in a glass palace constructed solely for the song at a cost of Rs. 1 crore. After shooting, the palace was taken apart and all the glass panes were sold.

* In the film, "Boss" stands for "Boss of Social Service."

* The casting for the role of Thamizhselvi was legendary, possibly rivalling that of the original Superman (1978). To begin with, Aishwarya Rai had been considered to play the role as a favour for director S. Shankar, who gave her her first hit with Jeans (1998); however, she turned down the role, due to her marriage and crowded filming schedules. Then Ayesha Takia was offered the role, but she turned it down because she had problems with the Tamil language. Next, Rani Mukherjee was offered the role, but she asked too large a fee and so was dropped. Jyothika, Trisha Krishnan. ‘Nayantara (II)' and Sneha were all considered and rejected before finally Shriya was chosen.

* Vadivelu was considered for the role of Sivaji's "Mama" (Uncle), after he received rave reviews for his comic chemistry in Chandramukhi (2005) with Rajnikanth. However, despite these reviews, Vivek was selected.

* After helping make S. Shankar's last film Anniyan (2005) a success, Prakash Raj was almost immediately selected to play the role of Adisesha in this film. However, he couldn't accept the role due to conflicting schedules with other films, so the role was offered to big names like Sathyaraj, Mohanlal, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Nana Patekar, before it was finally accepted by Suman.

* The hospital seen in the film was actually a remodelled bank.

* Shivaji is the name of Rajnikanth's character. Rajnikanth's birth name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad.

* Was set to be released in April 14th 2007, was postponed to May and finally to June 15th 2007. The continuous change in the release date of the film has caused a confusion in the Tamil film industry. Many other big films stayed away because they don't want to clash with Shivaji, in the end there were no big release for the months of April and May. For the first time in the history of Tamil commercial cinema since the 50's there was no big summer release.

* Sivaji is one of the costliest Tamil and Indian film ever made. Rumoured to cost between 650-800 million Indian rupees.

* This is 168th film for AVM, the production company and the 100th Tamil film (not counting his other language films) for Rajinikanth.

* The movie was released with 4600 prints worldwide and created a record in India as the only movie to be screened with more than 700 shows on a single day. Hyderabad (142 shows) and Chennai (140 shows) together account for 282 shows on it's first day.

* First Tamil film and the first non Hindi Indian movie to feature in UK Top 10.

* As of July 2007, “Shivaji” is highest grossing Tamil movie ever. It grossed 100 crores (1 billion) Indian rupees in it's third weekend. First Tamil film and non-Hindi Indian movie to gross 100 crores and also the fastest Indian movie to gross that much.

* Sivaji is the first ever Tamil Movie to appear in the U.K Top Ten. It was released in just 12 screens all over U.K and gained the nineth place.

* Grossed 300 million rupees in it's first weekend. Most Tamil films would not make that amount totally.

* Rajnikanth appears as a white skinned European guy in a song sequence. The Digital skin grafting effects used to create the dark skinned Rajini into a white skin guy took almost one year with the help of 25 technicians. All this, with the help of computer graphics that lifts a European woman's skin and grafts it into the superstar's face. Each of the over 6,500 frames had to be worked on individually and he same process has been used to create an almost black Rajini in the song sequence too. This process is said to be the first in world cinema, if not in Indian cinema. "Whatever shot we took with Rajini sir, we took with a white girl we selected. We went for the girl because she would have softer skin and flushed cheeks. We took the tone and texture from her face and applied it on his face," said cinematographer 'Anand K. V.' .

* Sivaji is the first Indian film to incorporate the latest 4K resolution technology that is used only on big-budget Hollywood films. In India, 2K resolution for digital intermediate (DI) is the set standard.

Cinderella III - A twist in Time (2007)


The evil stepmother conjures up a spell that reverses all of which the fairy godmother did. Everything that she had made (the dress, the horses and the carriage) which were the reasons why and how Cinderella went to "The Ball". So when all the magic is gone will there be a happily ever after all? What will Cinderella do? Find out in Cinderella III.

What if the slipper didn't fit?

Prince Charming: Will you marry me Cinderelly?
Cinderella: [giggling] Actually, it's Cinderella.

Prince Charming: Would my perfectly, perfect wife put her on perfectly fitting shoes?
Cinderella: You found my shoes.
Prince Charming: [playing keep away with the shoes] Better hurry. Fairy Godmother's waiting.
Cinderella: What were the mice using them for this time?
Prince Charming: [turns shoe upside down and water pours out] Boats.

Hot Fuzz (2007)


Nicholas Angel is the finest cop London has to offer, with an arrest record 400% higher than any other officer on the force. He's so good, he makes everyone else look bad. As a result, Angel's superiors send him to a place where his talents won't be quite so embarrassing - the sleepy and seemingly crime-free village of Sandford. Once there, he is partnered with the well-meaning but overeager police officer Danny Butterman. The son of amiable Police Chief Frank Butterman, Danny is a huge action movie fan and believes his new big-city partner might just be a real-life "bad boy," and his chance to experience the life of gunfights and car chases he so longs for. Angel is quick to dismiss this as childish fantasy and Danny's puppy-like enthusiasm only adds to Angel's growing frustration. However, as a series of grisly accidents rocks the village, Angel is convinced that Sandford is not what it seems and as the intrigue deepens, Danny's dreams of explosive, high-octane, car-chasing, gunfighting, all-out action seem more and more like a reality. It's time for these small-town cops to break out some big-city justice.

Big Cops. Small Town. Moderate Violence.When the heat is on, you gotta call the fuzz.

Alone With Her (2006)


Invasion of privacy and domestic spying take on terrifying meaning in this unsettling tale of voyeurism. Colin Hanks stars as a young man with a secret obsession for a beautiful woman (Ana Claudia Talancon). By planting hidden cameras and listening devices in her home, he learns her most intimate secrets in order to manipulate her into a relationship that she innocently permits. Shot entirely through hidden cameras, including a "body cam" worn by Hanks, ALONE WITH HER, takes the audience to an extreme level of voyeuristic intimacy, exploiting both our fear of being watched and our compulsion to watch.

Anytime. Anywhere. He's watching.

Happily Never After (2007)




Don't Let Your Hair Down. Don't Go To The Ball. Don't Visit Grandma.

Fairy Tale Endings Aren't What They Used To Be...



An alliance of evil-doers, led by Frieda (Weaver), looks to take over Fairy Tale Land. But when Ella (Gellar) realizes her stepmother is out to ruin her storybook existence, she takes a dramatic turn and blossoms into the leader of the resistance effort.