The Hindu has an interesting article today on Metro Plus that features an interview with Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Toure.

The interview covers his take on various issues, but this comment is striking (especially in the Indian context):

Moussa notes that “Movies make you dream, rather than open your eyes.” The francophone filmmaker feels to bridge the gap between the rich and poor, there has to be a change in the subjects and issues explored in cinema.

Here's another piece that is relevant:

He declares that people who try to be like the Caucasians are the “new blondes of the world”. He states that the Senegalese are the true Africans, as they don’t try to whiten their skins. “We are essentially people of the sea and from the fishing community – so we are recognized anywhere as we have the darkest skins!”

A nice hidden message in it for us Indians, eh? Less "Fair & Lovely" and more sense needed?

"GaaLipaTa" is a purely entertaining film. It is a film that you would not like to watch with questions packed in your mind about the story. It is something like a present world fantasy movie that also makes you laugh. The cinema demands only a passive involvement from the viewer, lets the viewer enjoy the comedy and ends up as a good entertainer.

Witty dialogs spontaneously flow from actor in the lead role that keeps the audience hooked to the screen. Screenplay is lively if not meaningful. The music is very different and the songs seem well adapted in video. Cinematography is excellent. Digital effects are good and convincing although not perfect.

Ganesh fits in aptly into his role. Daisy Bopanna's character stays in the mind as an angel even after you leave the cinema hall. Supporting actors add to the goodness of the film with some fantastic acting.

For years now, we've had very less of quality films in Kannada, and here is one cinema that is good on quality, but never got to the theatres. Distributors here fancy films that have songs, dance and crazy fights which on most occasions merely are low quality mockery of Bollywood/Hollywood. Sadly, it is the song and dance films that bring in huge moolah for them as art films go untried.

The film screened was "Mukhamukhi" and the screening was at "Suchitra Film Society" on Saturday. The film bagged the (Karnataka) State film award for "Best Dialogue" in 2006. The director of the film who lives in Australia is an active member of the [:http://sampada.net|Sampada Community].

A Kannada art film, "Mukhamukhi" is being screened today at Suchitra Film Society. Time: 10.30 AM. Entry is free.

Be there this morning. :)

More details on the event [:http://sampada.net/event/6074|here].

Recently, I was surprised to see the name "Darjeeling" on [:http://apple.com/trailers|Apple's Movie Trailers] page. Turns out that there's an upcoming movie titled [:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darjeeling_Limited|"The Darjeeling Limited"] - a comedy set in India (and most probably shot extensively in India).

We were in a discussion today when an SMS informed us about [:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6921960.stm|Ingmar's death]. The discussion suddenly took the backstage and SMSes flowed in and out of mobile phones. A film student friend of mine wore a sorrow look on his face and while he tried to SMS the sad news to other friends, his hands were shaking. This might not surprise those ardent followers of artistic cinema who remember Ingmar's direction and the everlasting impression he's left with it.

There were articles all over the web pretty soon, and some TV News channels here ran features on him too. Some links below following the news:
* Time - [:http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1648084,00.html|Why Ingmar Bergman mattered]
* [:http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/ingmar_bergman_profile.shtml|BBC Profile - Ingmar Bergman]
* [:http://www.ingmarbergman.se/|Ingmar Bergman website]
* [:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6922552.stm|Why Bergman was an artistic gaint] (BBC)
* [:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20041463/site/newsweek/|Dark As the Night] (MSNBC)

Photo: BBC