What's up with DSAFF?

Hmmm ... I've been so buried with work stuff that the DSAFF part of my life has been almost nonexistant. But I'd like to start changing that a little bit at a time ... As I mentioned before we have moved the 4th Dallas South Asian Film Festival to Feb 2006. Our tentative dates are Feb 10-12, 2006. My goal is to update the DSAFF site this weekend with a brand new Call for Entries and other relevant content. If I don't get to it soon - it will be only become harder as fall goes on - with a bunch of work-related travel coming my way.

As far as my script - Version 1.5 is complete and sitting on my hard drive since last year. Need to do something with it - I think the first thing is to send it out to a few close peers to get feedback. What I still don't know is whether I want to pursue this as my own production or sell it to another production house - maybe only be involved as a writer or director? The latter is appealing because it will allow me to focus on the creative side of the experience - w/o having to drive the production side which is so very much like my daily work life anyways. But who to go to? Any ideas?

How do I spell my name?

Bipasha's blog

Boy - bollywood is really exploring the blogs as a marketing tool for new hindi films. You can check out Bipasha's blog for her upcoming film Apharan. I think reading about an actor's viewpoint as a part of a film production process would be more interesting rather than reading about things after the fact ... the best though would be an individual's blog that is project independent. That is the only way to make a connection with a human being rather than with a project - which is at best transient in nature.

Mangal Pandey Disappoints

Although I appreciate the exploration of a very interesting historical subject, on the whole I was disappointed by Mangal Pandey as a film. Although the acting by both Aamir Khan and Toby Stephens is commendable, the entire film just does not come together effectively. It seems disjointed. Loosely structured. It fails to create empathy for the lead character. It gets lost in building several sub-plots which tend to distract and further remove the audience from the main story in the film. And although the songs are actually pretty good when listening to them on a CD, they become another source of distraction in the film - with several instances where the film cuts from a pretty intense scene directly into a totally unrelated song - wasting the emotional energy that might have been built up by the prior scene.

The canvas of the film did not seem as grand as they could have ... should have been. The trip to Afghanistan seems like a waste - for a meager 5 ordinary minutes in the final cut. It seems that in the interest of casting a somewhat known "white" actor the director lets the story of Gordon Williams dominate the screen - instead of focusing on the main protagonist: Mangal Pandey. My hypothesis is that the script would have been a lot tighter had the movie jumped straight into the main plot - and stayed with it.

I know there is a continuing debate about the historical inaccuracies portrayed in the film. Just google "mangal pandey + historical inaccuracies" and you'll find plenty to read about this subject. My take on this: sure as a filmmaker you can adjust your frame of reference - but ... BUT ... if you start to stray from the essence of history than you are doing your audience a disservice. But let's get real - moviemaking is a business - and producers are constantly going to look for ways to brand a film "as a true story" and yet fill it with "all that sells" ... be it sex, violence or in the case of Mangal Pandey - a girl-on-girl dance that was fun to watch - but did it really belong in the film?

On a technical note, although I was not impressed by the cinematography and sets on the film, I was impressed with the sound design. This is an area where Hindi films have made a lot of progress in the past 5 years - and I was happy to see it take another step forward with MP. So should you go watch it? Sure, why not? At least that way you will have a right to have your own opinion! :)

Mangal Mangal

I have yet to see Aamir Khan's new film: "Mangal Pandey: The Rising" - but it's been getting pretty good reviews - which I have tried to avoid reading. And I read some reports that box office real good on opening day but spattered out a little - which is usually a good sign - from my perspective. Of late the mass and I do not seem to be so aligned.

In any case I ran across a blog that Aamir is running (as a promotion) for the film. Go check it out - we'll see how long he keeps it up. I know they're planning a US release under the name "The Rising" ... hope it's a successful venture. Looking forward to watching the movie (hopefully) this weekend.

Wong Kar Wai on 2046

One of my all time favorite directors new-to-America film "2046" will be released theatrically in August. I have watched this movie on DVD - not one of his best films in my opinion. But even an average WKW film is better than the most.

Here's an article about a screening of 2046 in New York.

The Casual Friday

The Casual Friday: I find this guy pretty funny. Perhaps it is the obsession with farts and alcohol. :)

One of my favs:

7. Took off the door sign from the Work Out room, and put it on my neighbors door.

Mastercard Ad Parody

A friend just sent me this link to a pretty funny parody of the Mastercard commercials - it's a little old - but nevertheless here you go:

http://www.yjd40.dial.pipex.com/mastercard.html

Clip has volume - so be sure to adjust prior to opening.

Weird-ass Day.

Take my word for it. Good night.

Murderball

Get on your wheelchair and race to the nearest theater to go and watch (IMO) one of the best movies of this summer: Murderball. My advice to you - don't read about the film - just go watch it. It made me laugh and cry all within the span of 86 minutes. A great example of how life generates some of the best fucking stories!

PS: Lance wins the 7th consecutive Tour! Zupan in Murderball! Austin, TX - you are represented! :)

Reading List - You've got to read these books!

Shantaram by Gregorgy David Roberts:

One of the best books I have ever read. Beautifully written and based on the author's own life. Made me cry several times. Soon to be made into a major motion picture - bought by Johnny Depp's production company. About an Australian kid who is a heroin addict, commits a bunch of armed robberies, goes to prison. Escapes from prison, somehow gets on a plane to India and lands in Bombay in about 1979. Spends the next 10 years living in the slums, running a free health clinic, working with the mafia, working in Bollywood, fighting with the Mujaheedins against Russia in Afghanistan ... and much more. Its almost 1000 pages long - and I am looking forward to reading it again.

The first page of the book opens beautifully as such:

"It too me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choice we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn't sound like much, I know. But in that flinch and bite of the chain, when it's all you've got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.

In my case, it's a long story, and a crowded one. I was a revolutionary who lost his ideals in heroin, a philosopher who lost his integrity in crime, and a poet who lost his soul in a maximum-security prison. When I escaped from prison, over the front wall, between two gun-towers, I became my country's most wanted man. Luck ran with me and flew with me across to India, where I joined the Bombay mafia. I worked as a gunrunner, a smuggler and a counterfeiter. I was chained on three continents, beaten, stabbed and starved. I went to war. I ran into enemy guns. And I survived, while other men around me died. They were better men than I am, most of them: better men whose lives were crunched up in mistakes, and thrown away by the wrong second of someone else's hate, or love, or indifference. And I buried them, too many of those men, and grieved their stories and their lives into my own.

But my story doesn't begin with them, or with the mafia: it goes back to that first day in Bombay. Fate put me in the game there. Luck dealt me the cards that led me to Karla Saaranen. And I started to play it out, that hand, from the first moment I looked into her green eyes. So it begins, this story, like everything else -- with a woman, and a city, and a little bit of luck."

I love that line ... so it begins, this story, like everything else -- with a woman, and a city, and a little bit of luck! Love it! And there are so many other lines in this book - over time maybe I'll talk about a few more ... better still - go read the book!

Freakanomics by Stephen Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner:

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime? Do parents really matter when it comes to how kids will turn out?

Levitt looks at data. Distinguishes correlation from causation. And validates some very eye-opening hypotheses. I really liked this book a lot and have been talking about it ever since I read it. Quoting it. Over and over. Ask the people I hang out with!

I have a few more but no time to write about them. Later. Hopefully it will be sooner than 6 months from now. (And isn't that how most bloggers end every single post!) :)

Date with Emily

Been a long time ... busy busy year so far at work. Travelling a bit too - sounds like I'm making excuses. Guess I am. Funny, you read many blogs and most posts start the way this one did ... you know "been so long", "so many things have happened", etc etc etc.

So you get the jist, right?

Move on.

Headed to Mexico tomorrow with the guys. "Guys Trip". 'nuff said. :) However, it seems Hurricane Emily is also headed to Cancun - ETA 2AM Monday. Our flight back to Dallas 6pm Monday. Phew! What do you say when lady luck rides with you?

Moving the festival from Fall to Spring for various reasons.

1. Too many big movies during the thanksgiving/christmas time to compete with.
2. Too many film festivals in the same timeframe as well.
3. Spring is comparitively low key and Hollywood usually saves its duds for Jan/Feb release.

So tentative dates for 4th Annual DSAFF are 10-12 Feb, 2006. Working on getting these confirmed within the next week or so. Missing Sindhu - our hardest working volunteer! Hey Sin - hope med school is treatin u good! :)

Outta here.