rkt.india Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 As the wave of Oscar nominations arrives at our shore, it is India’s turn to reveal its talent to the world. This time around, Geetu Mohandas’ ‘Liar’s Dice’ will represent India at the Oscars 2015, in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Liar’s Dice is set in a small Village, Chitkul, in Himachal Pradesh. The ruggedly beautiful and intriguing protagonist named Kamala is played by talented Geetanjali Thapa, who with her little girl and their pet goat sets out in search of her husband, who is unheard of since the past five months. Her husband, Harud, is a construction worker at a dangerous and possibly corrupt urban worksite. She was told repeatedly that he might not return because he may have started another family, but this tenacious young lady packed her bearings and travelled to Shimla and eventually Delhi in search of her better half. Enter, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the craggy army deserter, reluctantly offering to help and protect the remarkable young woman and her companions with his own ulterior motives. Actress Geetu Mohandas is the director and screen-writer of the movie; rising star Nawazuddin Siddiqui and the talented Geetanjali Thapa, its protagonists; and like an icing on the cupcake, a unique and untouched concept is the biggest take away from the film. Director Geetu Mohandas, in an interview with Amanda Lippert says the locations of the film are a big contributor and that they hold their own socio-political under-current for the narrative. “The movie was shot in order. It was like a backpack shooting, we were travelling and shooting and travelling again. It works well for the actors as well as the budget.†The film brings to light the situation of seasonal and unorganized labour in our country and the effect of their occupation on their lives. Liar’s dice was picked from a list of 30 Indian Oscar aspirants, among which were Vikas Bahl’s Queen, Hansal Mehta’s Shahid and Bengali film Jaatishwar. In the past we have nominated Salaam Bombay (1988) and Lagaan (2001) and as the years go by the flavour of Indian cinema is taking a turn for the tastier. Across the vast universe of mainstream Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films, commercially released and receiving a wide public viewership, there is a wave of refreshingly realistic films brewing in the background. Where once the year 2012 was known as the enemy of Independent films, we now stand at the frontier of avant-garde film-making which has given life to an invigorating and daring breed of film-makers seeking to tell a thought-provoking story. These directors have established a novel flavour of transparent cinema through the lens of their camera, a view which seeks not to sensationalize or decorate, but ironically, to show the world as it is. While most Indie film makers cite their influences as western films and satellite television, the core of their films remain whole-heartedly Indian. They seek introspection, intrigue and contemplation through their stories, without the attraction of a popular star, but with a confident theme. Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ and ‘Ugly’ Nagesh Kukunoor’s ‘Lakshmi’ Ritesh Batra’s ‘The Lunchbox’ Nagraj Manjule’s ‘Fandry’ Kamal K. M.’s ‘I.D.’ Hansal Mehta’s ‘Shahid’ Vasan Bala’s ‘Peddlers’ Anand Gandhi’s ‘Ship of Theseus’ Nishtha Jain’s ‘Gulabi Gang’ Ashim Ahluwalia’s ‘Miss Lovely’ These are small budget films made by contemporary film-makers who refuse to succumb to the popular and the typical; films which are worthy of giving competition to foreign films as opposed to our run-of-the-mill rosy Bollywood concoctions. Indian Film Festivals are an upcoming platform for independent films to thrive and expose the true potential of film makers in India, but it should not have to be that way. Almost 90% of independent films made in the country are unreleased for mainstream audiences and hardly see the light of day. It’s true that most audiences go to the theatres to escape from the travails of daily life, but there is a surreal charm in watching the reality on screen. A reality lived by Indians like us, living in a completely different world, a reality we often choose to ignore or turn a blind eye toward. Liar’s Dice is the winner of two National Awards- Best Actress for Geetanjali Thapa and Best Cinematography. As we enter yet another Oscar race, will Liar’s Dice be India’s crowning glory next year? More importantly, will you watch any of the movies mentioned in the list above? Will you watch Liar’s Dice? A robust wave of reality cinema is knocking on your door, will you open? http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2014/10/indias-oscar-nomination-liars-dice-represents-wave-refreshingly-realistic-films-india/
flamy Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 Nice. Back, when I was a movie-buff, it took a lot of digging to find any good Indian stuff.
maniac Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 Liar’s Dice is set in a small Village, Chitkul, in Himachal Pradesh. The ruggedly beautiful and intriguing protagonist named Kamala is played by talented Geetanjali Thapa, who with her little girl and their pet goat sets out in search of her husband, who is unheard of since the past five months. Her husband, Harud, is a construction worker at a dangerous and possibly corrupt urban worksite. Looks like it has all the ingridients to wow the Oscar Commitee :two_thumbs_up:
PBN Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 Nice. Will try to check out this list of movies. I actually enjoy these small budget movies as they're called. Others I liked Iqbal, A Wednesday, Shor in the City, Bheja Fry, Lunchbox, Kai po che. Forgetting a few though
rkt.india Posted October 2, 2014 Author Posted October 2, 2014 Not a fan of these realistic films. Why would one watch films to see reality which we already see in our day-to-day life. Why would one want to get depressive seeing depression of people in the films.
SLICKR392 Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 Not a fan of these realistic films. Why would one watch films to see reality which we already see in our day-to-day life. Why would one want to get depressive seeing depression of people in the films. That's why there are different genres for a 'different' set of fans. Most people like movies which they can connect to.
rkt.india Posted October 2, 2014 Author Posted October 2, 2014 That's why there are different genres for a 'different' set of fans. Most people like movies which they can connect to. If that was the case, reality kind of films would be getting 100-200 crores but they do not.
SLICKR392 Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 If that was the case' date=' reality kind of films would be getting 100-200 crores but they do not.[/quote'] I said most people and certain set of audience. These 100 and 200c-esque movies won't be a hit in a place like Kerala or West Bengal. Hindi movies do run but make a regional movie of that sort in these places, they won't earn a dime. And through a personal perspective, 'unrealistic' movies in Bollywood, not India, tend to be stupid. Even most 100c movies are realistic till some point, not fictions or fantasies.
SLICKR392 Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 To add- 100c movies are mostly because of the casting than the movie. Nothing new there.
rkt.india Posted October 2, 2014 Author Posted October 2, 2014 I said most people and certain set of audience. These 100 and 200c-esque movies won't be a hit in a place like Kerala or West Bengal. Hindi movies do run but make a regional movie of that sort in these places, they won't earn a dime. And through a personal perspective, 'unrealistic' movies in Bollywood, not India, tend to be stupid. Even most 100c movies are realistic till some point, not fictions or fantasies. There is only a certain set of audience that likes realistic type of boring movies, not most of the people. For them any film, which is slow, filmed realistically, has a lot of darkness is great. People watch movies to get entertain, to laugh no matter how silly they were that is why even poorest of the comedy films like Bol Bachan does 100 crores and not get bored and depress. I am not just talking about fiction and fantasy. Even in South, most big films have nothing real in them. These realistic films are made just to keep such awards in their mind.
rkt.india Posted October 2, 2014 Author Posted October 2, 2014 To add- 100c movies are mostly because of the casting than the movie. Nothing new there. Ok then why if those same actors do serious realistic kind of movies fail.
Lord Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 There is only a certain set of audience that likes realistic type of boring movies, not most of the people. For them any film, which is slow, filmed realistically, has a lot of darkness is great. People watch movies to get entertain, to laugh no matter how silly they were that is why even poorest of the comedy films like Bol Bachan does 100 crores and not get bored and depress. I am not just talking about fiction and fantasy. Even in South, most big films have nothing real in them. These realistic films are made just to keep such awards in their mind. no that is only for theatre audience where people go with family and friends people do watch these realistic movies on DVDs etc which is why there revenue is low
SLICKR392 Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 Ok then why if those same actors do serious realistic kind of movies fail. Good realistic movies? Which ones failed? And what exactly is realistic movies? Ones which are not stupid? I mean movies like Vicky Donor, Swadesh- a guy quiting NASA to help his village doesn't sound all that realistic but yet it was a brilliant flick. And as Lord said, it has more revenue because families and fanboys rush into the theaters to watch their movies. Have a movie like Chennai Express in Kolkata with their top actor, it would fail 9/10 times. The star power is there, but the movie is weak.
Crookbond Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 no that is only for theatre audience where people go with family and friends people do watch these realistic movies on DVDs etc which is why there revenue is low Most of these movies continue to earn revenue years after their release. For example, the movie Gandhi My Father continues to earn revenue even as of today.
rkt.india Posted October 2, 2014 Author Posted October 2, 2014 Most of these movies continue to earn revenue years after their release. For example' date=' the movie Gandhi My Father continues to earn revenue even as of today.[/quote'] Even DDLJ is earning revenue till now and it was a stupid movie.
rkt.india Posted October 2, 2014 Author Posted October 2, 2014 Good realistic movies? Which ones failed? And what exactly is realistic movies? Ones which are not stupid? I mean movies like Vicky Donor, Swadesh- a guy quiting NASA to help his village doesn't sound all that realistic but yet it was a brilliant flick. And as Lord said, it has more revenue because families and fanboys rush into the theaters to watch their movies. Have a movie like Chennai Express in Kolkata with their top actor, it would fail 9/10 times. The star power is there, but the movie is weak. Vicky donor was a fiction entertainer, not a realistic movie and was a hit. Most of these so called realistic films are pseudointellectual stuff example lunchbox. Regarding Chennai express in Bengal, why would you do that. Films are made to the taste of people, what gets them to theatres. So will make what they like to watch. But madcap entertainers work at most places. Even below average entertainers like main tera hero with no real star value are a hit while critically acclaimed pseudo stuff like citylights flops. Film like Shahid struggle to get their investment back.
Crookbond Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 Even DDLJ is earning revenue till now and it was a stupid movie. You need to understand the point we're trying to make. The movies we're talking about earn most revenues by DVD and do that over time. Now, there might be some other odd movie(s) outside the ones we're talking about which also do the same - it doesn't invalidate what we're saying. OTOH, movies like DDLJ make most of their revenues from theatres/cinemas.
rkt.india Posted October 2, 2014 Author Posted October 2, 2014 You need to understand the point we're trying to make. The movies we're talking about earn most revenues by DVD and do that over time. Now' date=' there might be some other odd movie(s) outside the ones we're talking about which also do the same - it doesn't invalidate what we're saying. OTOH, movies like DDLJ make most of their revenues from theatres/cinemas.[/quote'] DVD revenue is not as huge. Most films earn that. Such films even struggle to have good money from tv rights. Even star studded off beat films like barfi struggled in that regard. If they are able to, then that is at very low prices. Even big TV channels only buy films who they think will bring them TRPs.
Crookbond Posted October 2, 2014 Posted October 2, 2014 DVD revenue is not as huge. Most films earn that. Such films even struggle to have good money from tv rights. Even star studded off beat films like barfi struggled in that regard. If they are able to' date=' then that is at very low prices. Even big TV channels only buy films who they think will bring them TRPs.[/quote'] The film I told you "Gandhi My Father" hasn't only broke even but has been one of the highest earning films for Anil Kapoor as a producer. These movies make money in different ways - DVDs are one of them.
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