Jack McBrayer Chats 30 Rock and Wreck-It Ralph on BT
Public Screenings – Friday September 17 9:00:00 PM VISA SCREENING ROOM (ELGIN) Saturday September 18 8:30:00 PM SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4
Sunday September 19 12:30:00 PMTiff Bell LightBox 2
The Toronto International Film Festival has traditionally showcased a
wide variety of films from the entire Indian Film Diaspora. In fact,
in wasn’t until recent years that commercial Bollywood film took over
the spotlight of Indian Films that are showcased at the festival. One
artist who’s work has yet to be showcased at the festival is that of
Anurag Kasyap. Anurag is the poster boy for ‘New Indian Cinema’. The
type of writer that directors beg to re-write dialogues, the type of
director who ‘new faces’ clamor to work with and the personality who
have the industry curious from Amitabh Bachchan right to Danny
Boyle.
In his latest work, That Girl in Yellow Boots, Anurag tells the story
of Ruth, played by Kalki Koechlin, a half Indian/half British girl
who finds her way back to India on a hopeless pursuit find her
estranged father who walked out of her life many years ago. To make
ends meet she works in a massage parlour, dodging everything from
serious commitments to slimy Mumbai locals who attempt to take
advantage of her. The story takes a few predictable twists and turns
before reaching a rather disturbing conclusion which closes the door
on the search but leaves a lot of her journey up in the air.
Anurag has the excellent ability to let his actors breath on screen.
He let’s the story unfold without trying to add to much flash and
effects (which have become typical of most directors shooting Mumbai
scenes) and lets and unconventional story keep the audience interested
in the film. Kalki Koechilin who plays Ruth is a force in the lead
role and could represent a stronger new crop of actors who have a
functional duality that some interesting roles could be made for. She
represents a new look, raw talent and and over all clean slate that
plays to the many ranges of her emotions well.
A smaller yet significant role played by Nasrudeen Shah offers a
familiar ‘indy’ element to the film and his scene stealing dialogues
leaves the audience wanting his character to play a bigger part in the
story. Finally the junkie, part-time boyfriend Prashant Prakash plays
a coke addict going to extremes to fight off his inner demons and a
group of South Indian thugs and does so almost too synthetically.
There has yet to be such a gritty, dirty character portrayed in this
type of cinema and though you may hate the character, the actor needs
to be recognized for some great work as well.
The question of whether there is a market for this ‘type’ of film will
haunt the surface level conversation about the movie, it is in your
face and the type of bold cinema India needs to showcase more of.
What you won’t be able to escape is talk about Anurag’s contribution
to forwarding Indian Cinema with a film like this. It’s the type of
ground work that will be studied in film schools later because it
offers a break from formula without trying to drive home a social
message. Instead That Girl in Yellow Boots showcases a pulse of India
rarely seen on screen without sacrificing the merits of cleaver film
making.
By : Mohit Rajhans Film Critic, Metro Morning, CBC Radio/Omni TV.
Follow his inside scoop on TIFF on twitter @thegooseinsider
Thanks to Chapters.ca for providing the books for this segment.
From Deadline Hollywood – Disney’s Alice In Wonderland is a monster hit alice in wonderland posterdespite blowing past its budget and bringing back mediocre reviews. It clearly becomes the biggest 3D bow ever and the best March release ever and the highest grossing movie of 2010 with $41 million on Friday and $44.3 million on Saturday. Remember, those higher priced 3D tickets make all the difference. Even so, the Tim Burton-directed, Johnny Depp-starring fantasy flick had the biggest 3D release of all time.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/100m-weekend-for-alice-in-wonderland/
