MYSORE AGAIN!!!

Hmmm... I think for the next five days or so...I might not get time to post a blog.

Reason... its Mysore time again!! Back @ shoot...the 'kumbalakayi' episode kicks off.

Tom, wil be heading for Mysore and in the days to follow, wil be through wid the shoot of NAM... the last five days ...where I will lay ma hands on the thalenovvu song and some patchwork. Its nice that m endin the film @ the same place where the shoot began...!

So, best of luck to me as the ship gets sailing. Back @ editing on 1st of sept...and the audio release too is to happen soon. Lots of plans for sept.. with the audio release and further promotions of the film. New trailers wil have to wait til Sept 4 or 5.

Btw.. finished writing the last scene of MATHUKATHE... the film 2 follow after NAOD...

'naa nin jothe...nee nan jothe ..swalpa maathu...swalpa kathe'... More on Maathukathe only after NAOD releases...

Wil try and make time to blog... but nt sure...

Wil b back soon...

NAM CINEMAgalalli ond dina...

'Tyaagada swaarthi naaniga' ! WOW! One of Hamsalekha's most interesting lines..call it poetry or chitra saahitya or whatever, these lines from a song in the film NENAPIRALI
Hey Beladingale...himbaalisadiru... preetiya payanake ottaayisadiru...
the song goes on and there is a line in English which goes 'hey hey hey....you fraud!'. To some , it might sound strange that amidst such interesting and meaningful Kannada lines in the song, suddenly this ENGLISH STATEMENT pops up. But to me that wasn't English. It was Kannada.
The ease with which we have made English and ever other language our own and have conveyed strong emotions through the use of the language is very evident here... Another fine example of this form is another Hamsalekha song '123 ..123..' from Shanti Kranthi...
Nenapirali, its music and its writing was in many ways signalling the arrival of a new breed of Kannada cinema to follow. Then came Mungaaru Male and then Duniya and nowadays in almost every other Kannada film you find wonderful music and wonderful lyric. Its wonderful that writers of the calibre of Jayanth Kaikani have begun contributing immensely to the 'writing' scenario. What happens is.. when writing comes along with strong 'concept', the way the songs are shot changes too and that is probably why see some pleasant cinematography in recent times. A fine example of this would be the 'ee sanje yaakaagide'song from GELEYA. Beautifully conceptualised and beautifully shot!
Here is a list of ma fav cinema , directors... .
As films, in Kannada , I loved would be ...( in order) OM, DUNIYA, Accident( the old one) , Ondanondu kaaladalli, Gowri Ganesha , A, UPENDRA, Sshh, Ganeshana Maduve, Minchina Ota( again the old one), Nenapirali (also because I dubbed for PREM) , Tabarana kathe, Shaapa

As filmmakers I think it would be... ( in order) Upendra, Shankar Nag, Yogaraj Bhat, Phani Ramachandra, Suri and to an extent Girish Kasaravalli.....

naod audio feeler

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc_ya-8CESU
link to an instrumental bit of the melody 'nenape from the film. CLOSE YOUR EYES AND LISTEN...

LIFE , FOOTBALL AND ANY GIVEN SUNDAY!

A football is so self sacrificing...! Gets kicked around and wins you glory. Its funny how a lot of sports films end up being so philosophical and motivational at the same time. One film that did not motivate me though was LAGAAN. Apart from the 'chale chalo' song... LAGAAN had nothing to give you goosebumps. Ofcourse, through the film there was an amazing background score by A.R . Its olympic time and right now its nice to know that INDIA has done a lot better this time round than before ... But still... come to think of it... in INDIA we love sport and we love playing sport but why is it that we kinda take a backseat when it comes to competing professionally? I wonder.
Same applies to making sport films in INDIA. There are hardly any sports films in INDIA though we love the sport. I can think of a couple of cricket movies like LAGAAN, AWWAL NUMBER and IQBAL. OVER AND OUT. CHAK DE was the most recent of the lot ...
This is a genre of movie making ,I think where Indian filmmakers can score...
SPEAKING OF MOTIVATIONAL SPEECHES...THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE. A MUST WATCH FOR ALL ASPIRING ACTORS... AL PACINO IN OLIVER STONE'S ANY GIVEN SUNDAY. REMARKABLE FILM MADE EVEN MORE REMARKABLE BECAUSE OF THIS SPEECH .. READ THIS... ACTUALLY THERE IS A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE SAME ... just search for ANY GIVEN SUNDAY ALPACINO SPEECH ...
On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose. The point is - can you win or lose like a man? I don’t know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell... one inch at a time. Now I can't do it for ya, I'm too old. I look around, I see these young faces and I think, I mean, I've made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I, uh, I've pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who's ever loved me. And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror. You know, when you get old, in life, things get taken from you. I mean, that's... that's... that's a part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losin' stuff. You find out life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game - life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I'll tell you this, in any fight it's the guy whose willing to die whose gonna win that inch. And I know, if I'm gonna have any life anymore it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that's what living is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think ya going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. Your gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it your gonna do the same for him. That's a team, gentlemen, and either, we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football guys, that's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?

GOOSEBUMPS ANYONE??

CUP OF TEA and POV

Today, i met this guy who had come home and wanted to be a film maker . He said he wanted to work with me (he said UNDER ME!!) and then become a film maker himself. This post is not about whether he should or not work as an assistant and then in the future become a film maker...! This post is all about the question... 'whose cup of tea' is it anyway ?
My friend Santhosh Radhakrishnan made a very interesting short film a couple of years ago and I think that film he has uploaded on the youtube ( Santh...if u haven't ...u please do!). This film is a very dear film of mine... . The film was called 'cup of tea'. I thought it was a very intelligent( pardon me for using the word 'cunning') film which talked about a couple of guys who have just returned home after watching a film that they hated and thought shouldn't have been made in the first place. As audience they demand to see something that respects their level of understanding and intelligence. I think (correct me if I am wrong Santhosh).. Santhosh was trying to make a point saying films should be qualitative..( in terms of ...story...humour... packaging... music... cinematography... )
The film ends on a very intelligent and witty note when the two film 'critics' are asked a question.. 'CHECK IF IT IS YOUR CUP OF TEA?' the narrator asks and the two guys 'escape' the burden of making a good film . 'BIO TECH' one guy says.. the other says somethin else...but they end up 'not becoming filmmakers'. THAT TO ME was the dearest part of the film. I had ma differences though in opinion about the meaning of the word 'quality' cinema. Personally , I dont think films are instruments of checking the audience's intelligence level. Personally, I don't believe in the concepts of 'what makes a good film! It is the POV of a director that brings quality to a film ...not story...not cinematography or humour !Nywz,
FILM MAKERS CANNOT BE MADE. THEY HAPPEN.
That's why in ma blog I say I am a filmmaker not by profession but by character. WOODY ALLEN has made some very good ( to me)films but then some equally horrendous films( to me) ! SAME WITH MY DEAR OL FRIEND RGV! He was someone whose cinema I grew up watching... be it good , bad or ugly. Will watch his films not because they are good or bad but because they reflect his attitude towards filmmaking. He is a filmmaker bcause his dying words would probably be 'ACTION'.. That's it .PERIOD. I am not saying 'everyone cannot make films... doctors..engineers...even 'biotech guys can make films ... good films (good is very subjective here)...but the point is.... WHY? DO WE NEED SO MANY FILMS AND FILMMAKERS?
The guy who came home today saying he would work 'under me' and that he wanted to be a film maker could have been a very good banker or a lawyer or a teacher too perhaps! WHY? WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE A FILMMAKER ? I asked him. He had no answer. I would have taken him in as an A.D if he had said 'its none of ur business' but the expression on his face was like 'SORRY SIR..I DON'T KNOW' The answer is 'It wasn't his cup of tea'.
Next time you see a wannabe film maker just ask him if loves drinking tea!

THE BLOG HAS ARRIVED!

Dear friends ,
Today's edition (Aug 22nd) of the Udayavani newspaper carries a very informative article about our own dear blog. Please check it out . Its heartening news that the blog has been accepted as something important and essential for a filmmaker.
It is wonderful that the press is supporting us in this...

kittogiro philosophy

....AREA....jagattalli saavraar areagalive...kashmeeradinda kanyaakumaari varegu , bhaarata deshada adiyinda mudi varegu design design hesariro design design areagalive...ee ella areagalallu baduktaa irodu nimma nammanta design desgin manushyare...!
This is how one of the most important 'speech' goes in the film..
Usually after having done a screenplay version of script, a dialogue version of the script is separately evolved....but for NAM this could never happen. The screenplay, shot division, dialogue and everything else was scribbled down on reams and reams of paper which my assistant director Manjunath used to very promptly file up!
To me, poetry is not about using words that are pleasant. Its strange how so many 'local' words manage to convey powerful emotions. Like the thalenovvu song...in which we say 'fixu kano magane ninge sadu songu'... It gives a clear picture of a guy who has lost in love and for the rest of the life has to make do with listening to sad songs..
The power of the word 'kittogiro' was constantly haunting me.To me in this film the word 'kittogiro' is the essence of the film story.
Its a statement. The reason i say 'kittogiro lovestory' is not just to say that this film also has one of those innumerable love stories we often see on screen. The idea behind using the word kittogiro is to describe the 'feel' of the lovestory. Because, here in this lovestory things are not perfect...love is not a bed of roses in the film.... the film has a lovestory that more or less talks characters who end up acting like 'kittogiro' characters...
Their lives could have been lovely too ...only if they weren't 'kittogiro' characters . That is the tragedy of the characters in the film.
Everything in our film , right from the hero's slippers to his personality is 'kittogiro'.
That's why...its a 'kittogiro lovestory'..