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Posts tagged brokeback mountain
I’m gay, but not a ‘gay director’-Onir
05 months ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
National Award-winning director Onir talks about how India’s homophobic film industry is still uncomfortable with the idea of a movie showing two men making eye contact
As told to Jyothi Prabhakar (BOMBAY TIMES; December 9, 2012)
“This is not a happy piece. This is an angry one. Today, many of us are getting on with our lives, with the way things are, but kind of living invisible lives, where you don’t talk about it, because in India, like all over the world, society is not intrinsically homophobic. Homosexuality is accepted… till you talk about it. For me, from the time I started My Brother… Nikhil, even before that, I was very clear I wanted to address my sexuality. People opposed.
I was told idiotic things like ‘iss character ko bisexual bana do’. But I said no. I wanted to do it my way, it was my identity.
Today, it irritates me whenever someone goes, ‘a gay director da da da’. Does that report end with ‘a heterosexual reporter reports’? Why am I being tagged?
Though I don’t want to be called a gay director, I’m not ashamed of being gay. I come from a very small town in Bhutan. I didn’t know the word gay till I was in college, when I discovered that I was attracted to men. I didn’t go through mental agony, I didn’t think ‘Oh my God, what’s happened to me?’ I accepted it and moved on.
In Berlin, at the Christopher Gay Parade, I saw three hundred thousand people marching — one third of the whole of Berlin was there on the streets, and there were people with children More >
Hollywood currently lacks freshness-Ang Lee
06 months ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
Academy Award winning director Ang Lee explains why the West is finally looking towards the East for novel ideas
Shakti Shetty (MID-DAY; November 1, 2012)
For someone who has made films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hulk and Lust, Caution, Ang Lee comes across as nothing less than a monk. His voice is essentially low but clear and his thoughts are enlightening. In Mumbai for the promotions of his film based on Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, the Oscar-winning director shared his views on cinema, influences, Irrfan and lot more.
What’s your motivation behind making films? This is the only thing I ever wanted to do. In fact, the only thing I’m good at! To me, filmmaking started off with curiosity and gradually moved towards ambition and as of today, it’s about sharing a story with others. Or should I say, sharing an illusion.
Speaking of illusions, what was the toughest part about your forthcoming film? To maintain that illusion for a long period of time… because we dealt with water, 3D and lots of other technical details on a large scale while making this specific movie. And it wasn’t going to be an easy ride and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into (laughs). Perhaps that’s the beauty of cinema.
Your film deals with faith too. Do you believe in God? I don’t know for sure but I’m certainly not religious. We humans have this void in us, which we try to manifest through some external elements. It could be anything. In this story too, Pi encounters several More >
Have a ringside view that no one else has-Original Sin DOP
01 year ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
A chance encounter in Mumbai with Hollywood’s hottest cinematographer Rodrigo Preito
Kunal Pradhan (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 8, 2012)
At the modest terrace restaurant in Bandra’s Rang Sharda, an affable Mexican man is among a small group of friends and acquaintances who’ve gathered for an evening of cheap binging. Rodrigo, in Mumbai to shoot an ad film, is talking good-naturedly about living in Los Angeles, growing up south of the border, and about how his home country is so much like India, though perhaps not quite as friendly.
At one point, the fact that he worked on a few films in Mexico comes up, and the name of Curtis Hanson’s Eminen-starrer 8 Mile is briefly mentioned at another. But the references are lost somewhere in the strands of the loud, multi-threaded conversation. It is only later, after Rodrigo has been bid farewell, and when the group is heading back home, that there is a Sherlockian sense of “having missed something”. Someone casually logs on to google and a search with the keywords Mexico, Rodrigo, and 8 Mile, leads to an IMDB page with strikingly familiar posters on it.
Our random drinking companion, the group realises, was Rodrigo Prieto, 46, born in Mexico City, and the man behind the camera for films such as Babel, 21 Grams, Biutiful, Alexander, 25th Hour, Broken Embraces, We Bought a Zoo, State of Play, Lust, Caution and Brokeback Mountain, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. Among the “few films” he made in Mexico before he moved to LA More >
Movie Review: DUNNO Y… NA JAANE KYUN by TARAN ADARSH
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in External Reviews
By Taran Adarsh, November 12, 2010 – 12:59 IST
In an informal chat with me a few months ago, after watching DUNNO Y… NA JAANE KYUN at a private screening, director Sanjay Sharma enlightened me that his endeavour in making the film is to drive home the fact that there’s nothing anomalous about being homosexual. “Through this film, I want to highlight and draw attention to the relationships between gay people. Their sentiments and emotions. The idea is not to poke fun at the gay community. In fact, the intent is to make a film that looks at the issue and the gay community in a very serious perspective,” he remarked.
BY BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA.COMVery noble intentions, I must pronounce, but do the gracious objectives of the director that he sets out to achieve come across effectively on celluloid? Does the film come across as an emotional, sensitive and a ground-breaking experience? Let me attempt to examine…
Homosexuality is still taboo in India and DUNNO Y… NA JAANE KYUN attempts to tell a story that’s shades different from FIRE and GIRLFRIEND or even BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. Engaging at times, but amateurish at places, the film has the courage to go where most Hindi films have not dared to enter. The writing [script: Kapil Sharma] holds your interest in most parts.
The storyline follows a gay model forced to compromise his morals for his career. He then forms an intimate relationship with another man, who is already married and lives with his family. It would More >
Minissha Lamba: Gyaani MAMI
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
We threw a surprise quiz to Minissha Lamba to test her knowledge of international cinema, since she is hosting the MAMI opening
Sonal Chawla (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 20, 2010)
While the jury had its specific eligibility criteria for choosing Minissha, we decided to list some of ours in the form of a rapid-fire quiz to her on Indian and International cinema.
Who directed Brokeback Mountain ? (Effortlessly) Ang Lee
Who directed Bad Education? There are so many films on Bad Education. (Er, Minissha, it’s the name of a film! We gave her a hint: this filmmaker has also directed Volver and Women On The Verge of A Nervous Breakdown)
I give up. (The correct answer is Pedro Almodovar)
Who directed Psycho ? Alfred Hitchcock
Name the director of Chungking Express? (After thinking for a while) Wong Kar Wai
Who directed Pather Panchali? (Confidently) Satyajit Ray
Four on five. Nice job Minissha. Mumbai Mirror deems you quite eligible for hosting the MAMI opening.
Sonu bags role in Ang Lee film
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
The Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain and Lust, Caution has cast the Dabangg villain for Life of Pi
Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 18, 2010)
Ang Lee, the internationally acclaimed director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, who cast Anupam Kher in the 2007 espionage masterpiece, Lust, Caution, will be shooting the film adaptation of Yann Martel’s Booker Prize-winning novel, Life of Pi.
And now word is out that Dabangg baddie, Sonu Sood, has been cast as Pi’s father in the film, which goes on the floors in Pondicherry next year.
While the title role of the 16-year old Piscine Molitor ‘Pi’ Patel, aka Pi, is to be played by an undisclosed 17-year-old newbie from Delhi, Lee has zeroed in on Sonu Sood to play Pi’s papa, the second-most pivotal role in the plot.
Ang Lee personally called up Sonu after watching his work and suggested a meeting. The two met at Taj Land’s End two weeks ago.
However there’s just one hitch.
Sonu Sood is too buff to look like a 16-year-old’s father and will have to lose those 8 packs for the privilege of playing Pi’s papa.
When contacted, Sonu said, “Yes, I’ve met Ang Lee for a major role in Life Of Pi. I can’t say anything about it at the moment.
But I must say it was a huge privilege meeting Ang Lee, such a great filmmaker and so humble.
He had seen my work before meeting me,” chuckles Sonu. No more gym for you, Mr Pi.
Family disowns actor for playing gay on screen
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Prithwish Ganguly | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; September 26, 2010)
The Delhi High Court’s judgement in favour of homosexuals last year hasn’t had much impact on the family of actor Yuvraaj Parasher, the lead of Dunno Y… Na Jaane Kyun that has India’s first gay kissing scene in it and also shows love-making and several intimate moments between two men. Yuvraaj, BT has learned, has been disowned by his family for playing a homosexual on screen and has been thrown out of his home in Agra. Worse, his father is ready to go to court and officially cut off ties with his son.
Seen as India’s answer to Ang Lee’s sensitive drama Brokeback Mountain that boasts of remarkable acting from Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, Dunno Y … Na Jaane Kyun sees Yuvraaj partner with actor Kapil Sharma to breathe life into their bold characters. Yuvraaj’s father Satish Parasher told BT, “I feel what he has done is against the culture and tradition of our country and it challenges the purity of the relationship between a man and a woman. He kept us in the dark right from when he signed the film and told us that he is acting with a girl. When we heard about the poster and the things he has done in the film, we were shocked, hurt and humiliated. People will make fun of us and we won’t be able to live peacefully ever again.”
Satish believes Yuvraaj will never get a girl to marry him. “His mother is totally devastated,” said the aggrieved father. “We are a respected More >
Aamir-Kiran to throw bash for Gustavo
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao throwing big Bollywood bash for Argentine musician Gustavo Sanataolla at home…
Mark Manuel | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; June 19, 2010)
This promises to be the mother-of-all Bollywood parties in recent times and it’s being held tonight… by that most reticent of the film industry’s party animals, superstar Aamir Khan. Aamir and wife Kiran Rao, who are playing host to the Argentine two-time Oscar musician Gustavo Sanataolla, are throwing the party at their Pali Hill residence in his honour. And invited to meet and interact with Gustavo are all the biggies of Bollywood who are friends of the couple and happen to be currently in Mumbai.
Gustavo is here to get the feel of the city, to experience the rains, because the musician and film composer-producer is scoring the music for Kiran’s directorial debut Dhobi Ghat. Work on this front hasn’t as yet started, but when Gustavo expressed the urge to be in Mumbai, Aamir and Kiran were delighted to play host. And all of this week, Kiran has been taking Gustavo around, pointing out locations that feature in the film, so that he might get the right atmosphere for the soundtrack and background score of Dhobi Ghat.
Now, the party! According to a source, it will be an exclusive (naturally!) and elegant evening, with Gustavo slated to perform unplugged for his Bollywood guests. The Argentine superstar, whose number A Love That Will Never Grow Old from Brokeback Mountain won a More >
Ang Lee casting film in Mehboob Studios
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
The Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain is in town scouting talent for The Life of Pi
By Mauli Singh (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 17, 2010)
// // //
Ang LeePost Slumdog Millionaire, which put India on the international map, the West has started scouting India for more setups. After Julia Roberts who shot Eat, Love and Pray in Delhi, the Academy Award-winning director of Brokeback Mountain and Lust, Caution, Ang Lee, has landed in town to cast for his next.
Ang Lee’s next is based on Yann Martel’s Booker Prize-winning tour de force The Life of Pi. It’s an adventure story of an Indian boy, in his early twenties, from Pondicherry who is stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a giraffe and a tiger. The filmmaker has landed in Mumbai to cast for the film and scout locations.
A source informs, “Ang Lee is in town to lock the cast for his film. He is staying at Taj Land’s End and is accompanied by an entourage. The filmmaker also made a quick trip to Pondicherry a few days ago. The whole trip has been kept highly guarded.”
The source further adds, “Ang Lee had hired a few casting agencies to shortlist actors for the film and is now deciding the final cast.
The auditions have been going on full swing for a few weeks but in a very hush-hush manner as the Asian-American filmmaker wants the whole thing to be very secretive. Ang Lee met the shortlisted actors at Mehboob Studios yesterday.”
Ang Lee (l) in PondicherryAnother More >
India’s answer to Brokeback Mountain
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
GETTING SERIOUS: A still from Dunno Y.. Na Jaane Kyun
Come, new year and Bollywood is all set to make its first gay love story as an answer to Hollywood’s Brokeback Mountain that was released in 2006. Sunjay Sharma’s Dunno Y.. Na Jaane Kyun deals with a serious relationship between two men. Director Anil Sharma’s brother Kapil Sharma is playing a wannabe gay model in the film. Competition and survival compels him to succumb to exploitation. “Most strugglers will connect to my role,” says Kapil. While most actors develop cold feet to play gay characters isn’t Kapil scared to get slotted at the beginning of his career? Kapil replies, “I feel today’s audience is mature enough, and they don’t want to see typical run-of-the-mill kind of films. Look, at Hollywood, Hasn’t Tom Hanks played a gay character? An actor should be open to playing any character conventional or unconventional. The only thing I was particular about, was that this character should not come across as a caricature or just as an object of mockery. I am truly happy with what I have chosen.”
BOMBAY TIMES (January 7, 2010)