Posts tagged sujoy ghosh

Etka Kapoor ropes in Sujoy Ghosh for a thriller?

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5 days ago
by Fenil Seta in

Mehul S Thakkar (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 17, 2013)

 

Sujoy Ghosh has signed a film with Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures. Elaborating on the film, a source from Balaji said: “It is a thriller and the formalities are being worked out. Once Ekta is back, details about the casting will be discussed. The project will go on the floors next year.” Sujoy remained unavailable to comment.

According to a source close to Sujoy, the director is already working on two projects: Kahaani 2 and Badla. Both the film has Vidya as the female lead.

100 years of Indian Cinema: Mahesh Bhatt on 18 great filmmakers

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2 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta in

BOMBAY TIMES (May 4, 2013)

 

In 1951, the Hollywood Moghul David Selznick was strolling through an empty, ghostly movie studio when he was struck by an uncomfortable thought. The maker of such giant classics like Gone With The Wind was in heavy debt. Television was beginning to be a threat to the movie business. Pointing to the empty stages, he said to his writer friend Ben Hecht ‘Hollywood is like Egypt… full of crumbled pyramids. It will just keep crumbling until finally the wind blows the last studio props across the sands.’

Thankfully, Selznick’s prophecy did not come true. The global movie business today is a multi-billion dollar industry. No wonder then that India, the film family’s most hyperactive child, is celebrating its 100th birthday party this year.

If I was given the chance to invite filmmakers for this bash, who would be on my list? Undoubtedly, the first person would be Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Dadasaheb Phalke), who is the Brahma of Indian Cinema and whose 40-minute film Raja Harishchandra set the cinematic ball rolling in India. It was this brave son of India who understood that it is mythology that motivates cultures, not reason, race, or ideology. Next to him would sit Satyajit Ray, the only genuine auteur Indian cinema has ever had. Ray not only wrote his scripts and dialogues and songs, but also designed the sets, costumes, posters, operated the camera, edited the film and composed the music. He is the only Indian who has got a lifetime award at the More >

I would never dare make any of his films-Sandip Ray

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2 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta in

Sandip Ray pays a tribute to Satyajit Ray on his 92nd birth anniversary (May 2)

Subhash K Jha (DNA; May 3, 2013)

 

I remember him as an affectionate and caring father, though the onus of bringing me up, taking care of all my day-to-day requirements fell entirely on my mother. She looked after my school, my homework while my father was busy making movies though he did care a lot about what went on in my life. He was definitely a family man. He always wanted us to be near him. He’d plan his outdoor shootings around my school holidays, so my mother and I could be with him. More than the chance to be with my father these vacations became an opportunity for me to imbibe his filmmaking acumen. I guess I began observing the ‘master’ at work at a time when other children are only bothered with games and homework. My three mandatory school holidays during my growing years — the summer, winter and Durga Pooja — were devoted to watching my father shoot his great works. I was there during the shooting of his film Pather Panchali though too young to understand what was happening. No one knew it would become such a classic. We all looked at the shooting as a picnic. We knew he was working on something different. But we were all more enamoured by the wonderful rural Bengali outdoors. I can still remember the hut where the film was shot and that railway track with the steam engine chugging on it. They don’t make steam engines or movies like Pather Panchali (1955) any more. I also remember More >

Amitabh-Vidya-Naseeruddin in Sujoy Ghosh’s Badla

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1 month ago
by Fenil Seta in

The Kahaani director has managed this unbelievable casting coup

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; April 11, 2013)

 

Bombay Times has learnt from sources that Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh’s next film titled Badla, is a revenge saga with three of Indian cinema’s finest talents — Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah and Vidya Balan. The film is slated to go on floor by the end of this year. Amitabh and Vidya stole hearts with their sensitive portrayal as mother and son in R Balki’s Paa. And, Vidya and Naseer made a combustible couple in Abhishek Chaubey’s Ishqiya and in Milan Luthria’s The Dirty Picture. Now, let’s wait and watch how this kahaani unfolds.

Sujoy Ghosh turns actor for Rituparno Ghosh

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1 month ago
by Fenil Seta in

Ruman Ganguly (BOMBAY TIMES; April 4, 2013)

 

After his Kahaani won the National Award, Sujoy Ghosh is stepping in front of the camera. He’s turning actor for another National Award winning director, Rituparno Ghosh’s upcoming movie being shot in north Bengal currently. And what’s more, Sujoy is playing the role of detective Byomkesh Bakshi.

The Kahaani maker concedes that he agreed to act “only because it is Rituda’s film’, and not because he gets to play Byomkesh. Says Sujoy, “I am suffering from an inferiority complex. I envy Rituda because I lack his extreme clarity as a director. He can even extract the best performance from from a non-actor like me.”

How govt officials, BMC employees create nuisance during film shoots

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1 month ago
by Fenil Seta in

Filmmakers reveal how often government officials, by sheer dint of position, demand to be humoured on film shoots

Soumyadipta Banerjee (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 29, 2013)

 

Call it a professional hazard but if you are a filmmaker who has to avail a public utility for his film, you just can’t afford to offend the government official (s) in charge, overzealous or interfering as they might be.

Sujoy Ghosh is a case in point. While shooting at the Kolkata Metro for Kahaani, the director was forced to lend his ear to the official in charge, who insisted on composing the lyrics for the filmmaker’s next. Recalls Sujoy: “The man came to me with the lyrics he had written while I was shooting. I listened to all his poems and even praised him. He was eager to compose the lyrics for my next project and I told him I would definitely consider him. I had to continue with my shoot then. I didn’t want to give anyone false hopes but there is no plan to rope him as the script of my next is still not in place.”

Like Sujoy, Sudhir Mishra too was left with little option but to humour a ‘budding poet’, who also happened to be a railway employee based in Lucknow.

Says Mishra: “He was reciting his poems while my shots were on. Imagine the situation: my eye was in the viewfinder, I was waving to my DOP to continue the shot and there, he was reciting his intense poem. Had I offended him at the time, my shooting would have stopped.”

In another such instance, “an entire family landed up on the sets simply More >

Nawazuddin to celebrate his National Award win with Sujoy Ghosh in Kolkata

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1 month ago
by Fenil Seta in

Urmimala Banerjee (MID-DAY; March 29, 2013)

 

Looks like Nawaz is in the mood to spread around the cheer that comes from his National Award win. The actor, who is currently shooting for Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa film in Shimultala, a seven-hour drive from Kolkata, wants to share his joy with Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh.

He says, “I am really glad to be back in Kolkata. I feel that this city has given me a lot. Kahaani was shot here and it got me recognition. I was here once after the film’s release and I got a very warm reception.” And no wonder he misses Sujoy. “I hope to take out some time to catch up with Sujoy. I am very happy for him and vice versa. I remember Sujoy showing me around the city when we were shooting. We also ate at some fabulous places. A nice dinner will be the perfect celebration for all our efforts and hard work.”

Kahaani’s story is far from complete-Sujoy Ghosh

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1 month ago
by Fenil Seta in

Soumyadipta Banerjee (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 25, 2013)

 

Ironically, while the sequel to the National award winning Kahaani was announced in the film itself, part two hasn’t progressed beyond the writer’s desk.

Apparently, director Sujoy Ghosh, who is under immense pressure to meet the kind of expectations spawned by the original, has been unable to complete the script for the past one year, despite his best efforts.

In January this year, the filmmaker took refuge in the same Kolkata lodge that inspired Kahaani, just to be able to write the script of part two. According to reports, he completed the script before returning to Mumbai in time for the awards season.

However, even after a flurry of awards, the filmmaker admits he is still working on the script. “My script is not locked. Unless that happens, I won’t be able to say anything about the sequel. Let me finish my script first,” he says.

During his stay in Kolkata, Sujoy met up with many of his friends. At least three of them said he was finally feeling the pressure the original was bringing upon him.

“He stayed locked up in the guest house and only worked on the script. He met some journalists but his visit was only about writing the script. Then, he had to return to Mumbai for the awards season but he told me while leaving that there’s a lot of pressure on him to deliver a good story and he is still not satisfied with the script. He said he would not announce the sequel till the script is finalised,” said one of Sujoy’s More >

Where have the good old bad villains vanished from Bollywood?

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2 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

As the line between good and bad gets blurred, the villains have disappeared from Hindi films…

Upala KBR (DNA; March 16, 2013)

 

Bollywood has always had heroes and villains. All our stories are about good vs evil. There was Kanhaiyalal and Jeevan in the ’50s, Ajit and Pran in the ’60s, Ranjeet and Prem Chopra in the ’70s, Amrish Puri and Danny Denzongpa in the ’80s Gulshan Grover in the ’90s…and then the baddies vanished.

Now there is a whole breed of filmmakers (Karan Johar, Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Basu, Aditya Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani, etc) who don’t have villains in their films. There was a time when heroes played the good guys and the villains the bad guys. The lines between the good and the bad have blurred and grey characters have emerged. The success of films with leading men as anti-heroes (Khalnayak, Baazigar and Darr) is responsible for the villains being pushed into retirement. The actors who played baddies started playing character roles. When we need a terrifying character now, we import them from the South (Vikram (Raavan), Prakash Raj (Singham and Dabangg 2) or the heroes play baddies.

A quick survery of recent hits reveal that the concept of villain doesn’t exist anymore. 3 Idiots, the biggest hit in recent years didn’t have a khalnayak. Neither did Zindagi Na Mile Dobara, Barfi!, Rockstar, Cocktail, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Student Of The Year. Kiran Rao says “Baddies will always be there in mainstream films for as long as there are stories to tell. But perhaps the More >

Celebs narrate how they gatecrashed into Bollywood

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2 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

Shubha Shetty (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 13, 2013)

 

A recent media event at FICCI Frames saw an interactive session between outsiders who have made it big in the film industry. Aptly titled, ‘Gatecrashers who made the party: The out of towners of Bollywood’, the session had Sujoy Ghosh, Kabir Khan, Gauri Shinde and Amit Sadh as panelists. While most chose to remain diplomatic, it was interesting to see Kabir Khan take on the moderator, Karan Johar. “There were times when I would wonder why filmmakers like you, could not spare even five minutes for newcomers like me and hear my script. There is no platform that gives us outsiders a chance to meet someone influential in this industry,” he said. However, he also mentioned: “It was out of this concern that we had started the script cell with Aditya Chopra. Unfortunately we had to close it down as random people started alleging that we were stealing the scripts submitted by them.” While Amit Sadh narrated an incident how a director once broke his morale by tagging him as a misfit, Sujoy Ghosh spoke about knocking on every door with his script for years.

The highlight of the evening was perhaps Karan’s recollection of his first meet with Shah Rukh Khan. He said: “I didn’t know him back then. I first met him at Anand Mahendroo’s office where I had gone for a role in a TV serial. When Mahendroo walked in, Shah Rukh just said: ‘Sorry, I don’t want to do television any longer. I would rather do films,’ and left. So, there was this man, More >

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