Kartikey Sehgal

This is the working/first poster of ‘Vide’, a forthcoming film in English. The film is about the life of a church musician.

Participants include Manoj G Nigli as director, Kartikey Sehgal as actor and Christopher Masand as music director.

We wish for its sucessful completion.

To sum up this note:

“The future is no more uncertain than the present.“ – said Walt Whitman…

but added that, “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.”

Kartikey Sehgal

The facets of Ganapati Visarjan. From ‘Langars’ to street dances to immersion.

[Link to Video]

[Link to Video]

Kartikey Sehgal

A collection of moving photographs from my recent visit to Kolkota. The audio has been edited to bring out the varied sounds of the city. The background music is set principally in Raga Khamaj. Click to Watch.

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photographed by kartikey sehgal
vocals: kartikey sehgal, seema sehgal
tune: seema sehgal (with kartikey sehgal) + an unknown bengali song

Kartikey Sehgal
(written for print media)

Festivals are opportunities to meet and discus shared interests and the success of any film festival should be measured by the discussions it provokes among the audience. The ongoing MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Image) film festival offers hardly any scope for the participating audience to meet and comfortably discuss the films. So much so that the Mumbai Young Critics’ Special Jury, organised by the management to promote youngsters to watch international films, seems like a lost opportunity.

‘The Young Critics’ are student representatives from various colleges in Mumbai. 
They will watch the films showcased in the International Competition section of the festival and decide by consensus the best film (Mumbai Young Critics’ Award)

These critics are affable, eager and polite. However, they have donned the mask of a film critic rather than a film-watcher. They go to the theatres with preconceived notions of what makes for a good film. The Turkish film ‘Majority’ seemed ‘funny’ to one ‘Young Critic’ because of the mannerisms of an actor in the film. “How was he acting? And the way he cried! We were laughing our way through the film”, said one Young Critic when asked about her opinion of the film and the effects of assuming roles demanded by the society, aka, the ‘Majority’. However, they were willing to reverse their position on the film after a small and simple discussion. We discussed the effects of strict patriarchy on Indian society and how several youngsters are abandoning their dreams to follow the comforts of ‘MBA and MNC’. We spoke of effeminacy among modern men who are bullied by societal expectations enforced upon them by their family. This made them reconsider their attitude towards the movie and reflect upon the effeminacy of the lead character and the reasons for his crying on the shoulders of a stranger (rather than his family).

It is not enough to ask some youngsters to be critics of films. They must reflect on themes, emotions and behavioural attitudes if they want to be successful in their evaluations. Discussions should precede decisions. This is where the PVR-Chandan combo fails as the venue of a thoughtful film festival. There is little space for the delegates and media to interact. The Young Critics discuss among themselves and attend some workshops and press conferences that do not serve to inform them about cinema.

(Majority later won the ‘Best First Feature Film Award’ and ‘Golden Gateway of India trophy for the Best Film’)

Santa Singh

One
Have a look at this lady [photo top: right]. She has acted in renowned and mostly-art-house filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s ‘Well Done Abba’. You would say that she is in the movie because she is pretty, graceful or beautiful. But then you learn that she has had a nose surgery done to rectify the nose that Mr. God gave her. While there may be something or nothing wrong in that (I find her pretty), it means that she does not consider herself as proper or even beautiful.

So you would imagine that she was chosen solely for her high powered acting skills. Oh, well…

Let’s face the truth. She may have been chosen because she is marketable, because that face is recognised and because she took little money. She represents the merger between ‘art films’ and ‘commercial films’. The producers wanted to add some sexiness to the film. So that the costs are recovered. So that—going by her earlier films where she wore almost nothing—people have something to look at. Something to imagine. So that even if she doesn’t wear bikinis and tube tops in this movie, people come to the theatre remembering her earlier… outfits.

 
(source)
“Hey look, it’s that girl from the earlier movie where she wore close to nothing. She is acting in a new movie. She won’t remove her clothes but do you want to check her out?”

This is better than people saying…”Who is this new girl? I have never seen her before. She won’t even remove her clothes in this movie. Do you really want to see this movie?”

So effectively, the ‘art’ filmmakers are drawing from the earlier underwear show of the heroine. This, my friends, is the power of the bikini. Do something sexy, anything, just get noticed and then do some art films to ‘complete’ your career.

I have written about Shyam Benegal in an earlier story. I quote from there…

“Why not theatre actors or some unknown ‘ugly’ chap who’d share the passion for cinema? Oh yeah! you want somewhat saleable actors for the market. But then, didn’t you make some low budget lovelies before?”

Two
Jahnu Barua, winner of one, two, three, four… eight national awards is making a film, which, according to our friend Wikipedia features Preity Zinta, Shiney Ahuja, Isha Koppikar and Dharmendra. No, No… nothing against the actors. But do you have to work with commercial actors to make films in Hindi. What about the time when you made low budget films in Assamese? Can’t you do something similar here?

Here’s more from Wikipedia:
”Initially, Dipannita Sharma was supposed to play the supporting role of Zinta’s room mate, but was later replaced by Isha Koppikar.”
Don’t you feel blessed to read the multiple options available to our talented director? Do you feel the power of plenty?

The shocker doesn’t end here…
”Dino Morea makes a special appearance in a song composed by Pritam Chakraborty.”
I claim again that I have nothing against commercial actors. I even enjoy their work. They are good for a rainy day when you are homeless, foodless and need some acting skills to revive yourself.

I am not saying that the film won’t be good and that the actors won’t act brilliantly. It is all possible. But it shows that Jahnu has to bow down to the Hindi screen demigods. It should be the other way round. He should work with the best actors and the demigods should try to fit into his scheme of things.

Sadly. Aisa nahin hota.

Kartikey Sehgal
Part One
Part Two

Another theatre writer, Vikram Kapadia, whose play is undergoing adaptation for film, thinks that “there is no fixed formula as to what makes a film work”.

Vikram’s play ‘Black With Equal’ is a black comedy in English about the trials and tribulations of a housing society and has been staged more than a hundred times.

Like Aatish, he is comfortable with placing an item song in the film but his concern is avoiding the ‘dumbing down’ ‘of content. He wants the audience to understand his film but doesn’t want to sacrifice the richness of the content; the reason the play was popular.

“This much I can do; I can shift some of the scenes from the building to, say, a garden”. But is he going to agree to the producer’s demand for an item number in the garden? For instance, a scantily clad girl dancing around the fighting residents? “This would mean giving too much importance to the song”, he says, pauses, and adds, “however, there is a role of a bar dancer in the film and we could include the song somewhere”.

Vikram is currently writing the final draft of the film that he shall also direct.

He says that he has so far faced no pressures from the producer regarding his vision for the film.

“I am noticing that the trends of filmmaking are changing and producers are realising the importance of the content of the film. That is why you can show one minute of any song in the film and people can hear all of it in the audio disc”.

Sanjay concurs; “Some directors and writers may have differences regarding item songs and marketing but finally they align with the marketing concepts”.

He illustrates the synthesis; “Khosla Ka Ghosla had a foot tapping Punjabi song that was used as a promotional song but was not a part of the film. Similarly, the item song in ‘Jab We Met’ was used over the closing titles of the film”.

And though Suhail would not want an item song to be placed out of context, he is okay with their inclusion in a film like Vishal Bhardawaj’s ‘Omkara’, where the songs were absolutely integrated with the film.

Atul is currently working on an adapation of a novel to film and also on the screenplay of Kamal Haasan’s ‘Marmayogi’ that is currently on hold. He hopes to keep his screenplay free from needless songs and item numbers.

“So far, I have not had to compromise”, he says. “I am trying to keep myself away from projects that require such adjustments.
But it would be difficult, I feel”.

Table

After talks with producers who don’t want to be named.
Films are made for different segments of an audience and each segment is targeted differently.

Example: a film like Dostana would fit mostly in the first three categories. It had ‘catchy’ songs, big stars and contemporary content (homosexuality) that was humourous.

This concludes the story, ‘One Item Less’.

Kartikey Sehgal
Role of songs in a film’s success and a filmmaker talking about his film losing out to an item song and marketing.
Part One here.

…continued
But Sanjay feels that though an item number does not define a film, “there is at least a chance that more people will go to theatres. Because of the item song and any marketing ploy, the film is not going to lose out on audience”.

This logic, however, does not justify why the film ‘Summer 2007’, directed by Suhail Tatari, lost out on success. The film dealt with farmer suicides but it was touted as a romantic college tale. Instead of the problem “that 70 percent of India has been facing forever”, as Suhail describes, the item song was given more prominence by the producers and newspaper headlines claimed that the film will ‘redefine item numbers’.

Suhail is sure that the item number and some other songs in the film were a hindrance to its success. “They made the screenplay look long and awry”.

 
Summer 2007: The film dealt with farmer suicides but it was touted as a romantic college tale… the item song was given more prominence by the producers and newspaper headlines claimed that the film will ‘redefine item numbers’.

Suhail believes that his film lost out due to “improper marketing”. He particularly opposes the usage of songs in trailers to promote a film.

“A film can work wonders without any song. How many songs were there in ‘A Wednesday’ or ‘Aamir’? ‘A Wednesday’ was carried to success by two old men”.

Although Suhail had agreed to the inclusion of the item song, he now feels that it added nothing to the film that showed farmers dying due to hunger and debts.

His experience has wisened him to the marketing aspects of a film. “Marketing is not about gimmicks. It should involve telling the people what the film is about. In India we hide the story behind the songs”.

While talking about his film’s marketing blunder he says, “The producers decided to not show or mention the village—which was central to the film— in the promotional campaigns. Only the trailers shown in theatres hinted that the protagonists go to a village and find something very amiss. Otherwise, people didn’t know what the film was about”.

Suhail says that he knows the reason why the issue was hidden from the people. “The producers thought that it was a financial risk to show a village to the city audience” and “we have an apathy to what is not ours”.

Like Suhail, Aatish has grievances with some of the songs in ‘Aankhen’.

Although the film was a big success, Aatish feels that “some of the songs hampered the storytelling and distracted the audience from the plot”.

Aankhen was an adaptation of Aatish’s popular Gujarati play Aandalo Paato (Blind Man’s Bluff). There were no songs in the play but Aatish had agreed for songs in the film to cater to commercial requirements of the producers. On his part he had wanted that the film doesn’t slack due to their placement.

 
Aankhen: Aankhen was an adaptation of Aatish’s popular Gujarati play Aandalo Paato (Blind Man’s Bluff). There were no songs in the play but Aatish had agreed for songs in the film… Although the film was a big success, Aatish feels that “some of the songs hampered the storytelling and distracted the audience from the plot”.

Despite the experience, Aatish doesn’t mind if songs are not integral to a film’s plot. “They must be ‘catchy’ and should not come in the way of the pace of the film”.

Aatish is assured that more than the songs it is the film’s content that brings success. However, he also feels that it is difficult to determine what the Indian audience really want.

He illustrates; “People who liked Aankhen and Waqt (another play adaptation) also liked some other styles of films. If I make a Venn diagram of the trend, then I will discover that the number of people who like two opposite styles of filmmaking is very large. The number of people who like only a particular style of filmmaking is very less.”

Written first for DNA

In Part 3: A theatre director adapting his popular play for the screen. Will he go for songs and item numbers?

Kartikey Sehgal

Written first for DNA

Director Shyam Benegal, who has captured myriad expressions of life in his various films, had to free himself from the clutches of the item-number when he was making ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’.

“He did not want to include songs in the film. He did so on the behest of the producers”, says writer Atul Tiwari who has worked with the director.

In one of the songs, that was probably required to be the item song of the film, a village girl wears tight pants and extensive make-up as her lover dreams of a life of bikes, cars and aeroplanes.

The song from Welcome To Sajjanpur: “The dream sequence was an attempt to avoid making the song into another raunchy item number.” Image source.

Atul, who has written the screenplay for Shyam’s ‘Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero’, speaks in the director’s favour.

“The dream sequence was an attempt to avoid making the song into another raunchy item number. It is to his credit that he tried to make every song integral to the plot of the movie”.

Perhaps the song and dance decision was propelled by the commercial failure of Shyam’s ‘Bose’. The epic was based on the last five years of Subhas Chandra Bose’s life and was without any item songs or self-generated controversies. It did not even create rifts out of the differing personalities of Subhas and Gandhi as some other films on Indian history had successfully done in the past.

Atul feels that  none of these gimmicks would have in any way proven beneficial to the film and could have, instead, spoiled the message.

The epic was based on the last five years of Subhas Chandra Bose’s life and was without any item songs or self-generated controversies… Atul feels none of these gimmicks would have in any way proven beneficial to the film and could have, instead, spoiled the message.

But producer Sanjay Routri feels otherwise. “Anybody who talks of marketing as being detrimental to the film in any way should put himself in the shoes of the producer; the man who is spending money and taking risks”.

Sanjay has worked as the executive producer of ‘Johnny Gaddar’ and ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ among other films. His range of work includes the assurance of the marketability of the movie; from getting saleable actors to listening and deciding if the item number would find favour among the audience.

He contrasts Atul’s line of thinking; “Songs and controversies are the best marketing tools for a film”, he laughs but doesn’t want to give examples. “In foreign films, trailers are released periodically to garner attention for a film; in India, our songs are our trailers”.

“You can check that in most films, it is either the item number or the controversy that aids the film”.

Atul, on the other hand, says that he belongs to a school of thought that consciously wants to avoid the pull of the item song and its interference in the film. He knows that in an industry where over 90 percent of the films find sustenance difficult, it has become mandatory to include an item song.

“But tell me, how many films do you remember that were declared a ‘hit’ because of the item song?”

Sanjay agrees that songs, and particularly item songs, are a tool only for awareness. “The solution to increase the success rate of Hindi films is better content. But songs and item numbers, if at all, will only attract more people into the theatre and not detract from the viewership”.

Writer Aatish Kapadia holds the same view on the power of the item song to garner attention but doesn’t think that people would go to theatres because of its presence.

He is the screenplay writer of the commercially successful film ‘Aankhen’ and had no qualms in including an item number in the film. “I look forward to the item song in every film”. Aatish is a fan of the song ‘Kajra Re’ (photo: right) from the film ‘Bunty Aur Babli’; “I adore the song”. But he doesn’t believe that an item song can attract more people into the theatre. “People went to the theatre to primarily see Bunty and Babli and they looked forward to the item song”.

In Part 2: A film that lost out due to songs and an item number

Kartikey Sehgal

Not the camera but the actors move aplenty and intone and tell us about the epic victory of theatre actors over film actors.

You’d imagine that the director had fun making this movie. Then you’d read about his hardships and how he had to mortgage or sell property to obtain some money. Then you’d think that this was a difficult movie to make, full of sacrifices. But let me tell you, the director had fun and so did the actors. You see it was great joy to translate the words and the lines to film. The problems were like the fringe actors of some amateur theatre performance; they were there but they never prevailed.

Harishchandrachi Factory is delightful.

Did the actors know of a world outside them. Did they listen to the director call out ‘cut’ or was it a world on its own where every actor complements one another and the scenes of life seamlessly flow in a wave.

Let me tell you that the camera was the happiest observer of events. Its job was to stand at various places and report the events; an art requiring severe dedication, with the current trend being to move the camera like its been bitten by a flea.

Not the camera but the actors move aplenty and intone and tell us about the epic victory of theatre actors over film actors.

The music is not set over bare thighs and is an actual part of the narrative; used successfully as a time-lapse tool and a complement to the joys and expectations of the actors. This is an Indian soundtrack and not an imitation of the folk music of villages modernised to feed the city audience. listen to the flow of violins and the chiming of the bells.

This is an Indian movie to be watched over every other movie in the theatres. I saw it first day first show.

Movie Details

Kartikey Sehgal

Despite the presence of several journalists at the recently concluded Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI ) certain ‘disturbances’ have not been brought out well in the newspapers.
Since it is being talked about for its ‘seventy percent growth in delegate registration’, the behaviour of the delegates (more like a representative than a common movie watcher) must be brought out publically too.

For instance, Iranian director Saman Estereki came to the premiere of his film ‘Empty Chair’ with big and seemingly heavy bags on his shoulders. When the master of ceremonies (MC) of the screening–a woman who welcomed and introduced him to the audience—offered to help him with the luggage, he refused and spoke to the audience with all the luggage on him. He then raised his right leg to make a kicking gesture and we learned through an interpreter that he had been spoken to rudely and kicked out of accommodation from his hotel. Some audience offered to give him accommodation while some others discouraged and mocked him when he had difficulty conversing in the English language. “Thank you very much, we have come to see the movie now”, a man said loudly and others expressed their disapproval only in hushed tones.

At the premiere of the Japan-Taiwan film Torocco (Rail Truck), the producers were mocked by a section of the audience and nobody stopped them or asked them to behave. The MC, speaking in heavily accented English, made some judo actions to impress the audience and to draw some laughs.

The media has mentioned about the organisation of the festival; from the inability to screen the movies in the proper format to the delays in timings to the films being out of focus. The audience behaviour was equally abominable. Some members, including some film personalities, at times reserved an entire row of seats for their friends and colleagues who were expected to arrive during the screening of the film. “They appear more like gundas”, a festival-regular told me after she bagged one of the reserved seats since an actor’s friend didn’t turn up.  The theatre management employees did nothing to stop or discourage this practice and the audience seemed too meek to ask the actors to behave.

“I have paid 1000 to attend this festival”, an audience member shouted when a film director took time with his English language. Some others joined him and asked why the organisers don’t respect the delegates’ time. “The films have generally started on time and the speaker is not comfortable in English”, I remarked to an irked neighbour. “But why should our time suffer?”, he remarked. The film started after a seven minute delay and the irked member didn’t wait for the credits to roll up in the end.

As such there was no atmosphere of ‘serious’ cinema after the screenings of the films. Saman’s ‘Empty Chair’ was an exercise in metafiction in films that was noted at FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics). What the audience got here was just the promise of a question answer round after the screening of the film. A few people I asked were happy to label the film as “interesting” or “tough”. As was the case in every film, the audience didn’t wait for the credits to roll up. Even the 1000 Rs member was missing.

If the organisation at FUN Cinemas can be marked for being clumsy, then the audience deserves an equal measure of blame for being discourteous to cinema; they complement one another perfectly.

“Indian culture is better than this”, Saman had noted well.