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Browsing All Posts filed under »Lights Camera Conversation«
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “The man of the story”
A documentary on Adoor Gopalakrishnan eschews biographical comprehensiveness in favour of fascinating glimpses into the filmmaker’s mind. How do you begin a documentary on a famous filmmaker? Prasanna Ramaswamy, the director of Lights on Adoor Gopalakrishnan, has the man walk into a room and ask an unseen assistant, “Is the lamp in the field? At […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “The life and times of a hero”
June 7, 2013
A book about Uttam Kumar attempts to get at the man behind the movie screen, with middling results. Swapan Mullick, the author of Mahanayak Revisited: The World of Uttam Kumar, writes early on about his curiosity about the man behind the larger-than-life personalities the actor depicted on screen. His curiosity is ours – for who […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Borne ceaselessly into the present”
May 31, 2013
Some thoughts on Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby.’ That’s right – not F. Scott Fitzgerald’s but Baz Luhrmann’s. Baz Luhrmann likes dramatic, scene-setting openings. At the beginning of Moulin Rouge!, over darkness, there’s the gentle roar of audience members settling into their seats. Then there’s applause as the screen brightens and a conductor is seen […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Our men… from Venus?”
May 24, 2013
Has there ever been a pure “guy’s night out” movie made in our country, or do we like our action only if mixed with lots and lots of sentiment? I heard an interesting phrase a few weeks ago, in connection with the film Shootout at Wadala. While I’d looked at the film as a stylish action […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “The lost action heroes”
May 17, 2013
Why are stunt professionals so invisible in Hollywood? Is it because it’s the writers who dream up those action scenarios in the first place? The new Iron Man movie is, thankfully, less about Iron Man than Tony Stark, the man inside the metal. Choosing to showcase a human being over a superhero is always a […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Taking a knife to a classic”
May 10, 2013
Thoughts on Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho,” Gus Van Sant’s remake of ‘Psycho,” and the ruthlessly butchered ‘Psycho’ that’s shown on television. Psycho is widely seen as the progenitor of the modern-day slasher film, yet watching it today, I wonder if that credit shouldn’t actually go to the movie Hitchcock made immediately after – The Birds, where the […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Dreams die first”
May 3, 2013
Can you believe QSQT is a quarter-century old? And can you believe that love, once, was so unattainable? I’m sorry if I’m turning this column into some sort of nostalgia machine, remembering movies simply because they turn a certain age – but there just wasn’t any way I was going to be able to resist […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Pictures for posterity”
April 26, 2013
A fascinating new documentary throws the spotlight on an indefatigable preserver of Indian cinema. Who is PK Nair? The release of Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s Celluloid Man should answer this question for a general audience – at least, the audience that gets around to watching two-and-a-half hour documentaries. A word about the form, first. Thanks to […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Twenty years after”
April 19, 2013
Some thoughts on seeing ‘Jurassic Park’ on the big screen after two decades. The human mind is amazing – like an attic. You’ve forgotten all about the things up there. And then, one day, you stumble upon something and you realise it’s been there all along. Sitting inside the cinema hall during the 3-D release […]
Lights, Camera, Conversation… “Seven years that changed the (movie) world”
April 12, 2013
Twitter has just turned seven, but it feels like it’s been around forever, given how completely it has transformed the world of cinema, for people on both sides of the screen. Seven years ago, when Twitter (spelt Twttr) found its way into the world, it was hard to see what it could do that sms-es […]
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June 14, 2013
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