ऑडिशन

Okay! I usually take time to judge a film, i try to think about it watch it over and over, because i have figured that there are few films that you start liking once you start thinking about them, they tend to grow on you, also i have realized that the first opinion that you usually form about a film are mostly prejudiced, because you already know what you are going to watch-be it due to trailers and teasers you get to see on Television or internet or due to reviews that you read somewhere its hard now a days for a film to catch you off guard and say GOTCHYA!!

AUDITION(Odishon) does this for me,especially because this is a lesser known Japanese film that has fortunately managed to evade the Hollywood radar for such a long time, otherwise a remake would have been out by now.Its a sweet and heartwarming lovestory that works on various level,its a family drama and a equally effective comedy as well..its starts with the Ayoma (Ryo Ishibashi) loosing his wife ,who leaves behind a son and then the story jumps to few years later when the son has grown up and is 17, and he is worried about his father who have buried himself under tons of work and his professional commitments in order to deal with his grief and loneliness, the son wants his father to start dating again, fall in love and get married and manages to convince his father,well almost.
Ayoma works for a production house and his colleague device a plan to help him choose the right girl, the plan is to hold mock -audition for a film. Ayoma takes liking for mysterious Asami (Eihi Shiina) ,he is enchanted by her beauty and of the fact that she has lead a very difficult life but still haven't given up on it, at some level Ayoma starts to identify with Asami and fall in love with her. Asami is oblivious to the fact that the auditions were fake and looks at Ayoma as just another producer trying to exploit her but since she is aware how important that film is to her ,she leads Ayoma on instead of declining his advances,but the more time they spend together the more they get to know about each other and eventually end up falling in love, Ayoma confesses that the Audition were fake and Asami forgives him only on one condition that he (Ayoma) will love her and only her..
Its hard to find a film these days which is so simple and modest, a film that juxtaposes loneliness with true and unconditional love and how much are people willing to sacrifice for it- The son wanting his father to start dating again and ready to move out of the house once his father gets married, the colleagues of Ayoma who are taking efforts to hold mock audition just to get Ayoma a partner, Ayoma himself who has enough courage to confess to Asami that audition that meant so much to Asami, were actually a ploy and above all Asami who forgives Ayoma stating she doesnt needs the part in a film because she has got much more in the bargain(love of Ayoma).
The film takes its own time in establishing its characters, one good thing about the characters here is that they are not fairy tale good people, they are all gray ,they all make mistakes,they all feel the pain and guilt,the film also attempts to explain how complicated is the emotion called Love and how the interpretation of love is different for different people.
Watch this film before a remake of it comes out in America,watch this film because its so simple and straight forward and watch it with your family (errrrr..or maybe just watch it yourself and then decide if you want your family to watch it) .



GOTCHYA........!!!!!

Kerela - The lighter side of life.

When you are backpacking across a state,you sometimes get more than you can bargain for,not just the knowledge of there culture or photographs of immensely beautiful places in and around but some smaller details like for example this particular photograph that i am posting here separately,its by far the funniest film poster i have seen..



i mean, who puts a half naked Police officer caught with his pants down on a film poster..seriously..if this is not funny, then i dont know what is.

Kerela Reloaded.

Another trip to Cochin, another set of photographs- this place is Fort Cochin,Fort Cochin is the site of the St. Francis church which was built in 1510 by five Portuguese priests who arrived with Albuquerque. This church, said to be the oldest European church built in India, was the original burial site for Vasco da Gama in 1524 (Fourteen years later his mortal remains were exhumed and sent to Lisbon, Portugal.) Later the church was successively taken over by the Dutch in 1633, the British (when it became the Anglican Church) and, finally, the Church of South India. Telling this hoary history are gravestones inside the church as sell as an 18th century register of marriages and baptisms.

Also in Fort Cochin is the Santa Cruz Cathedral, a Roman Catholic church close to the St. Francis Church, also built by the Portuguese. It is said to have suffered severe damage when the British fought with the Dutch to take control of Cochin. Its attractions include some beautiful paintings and a decorative ceiling.
Unfortunetly-when we visited the Church, i had already exhausted all the battery of my camera,and therefore wasnt able to click any photographs there..but on my next trip i shall do a exclusive on St.Francis Church.

whoooowww..!!

This is a photograph that i came across recently, i was told that its of a shop in Bihar, i don't care where ever it is from..its just down right hilarious.





Relax..!! I think they mean " CHILLED BEER"

Thought i died and gone to heaven.

I havent been posting for long..as i got a little busy at work,but the payoff was highly rewarding as i got a chance to see a lot of Kerela (Cochin especially), i am just posting a couple of snaps which i felt relevant for this blog..have a look and envy me cause i was there.. :D

Die piggy piggy die die piggy

Have a Killer Valentines

If this wasnt worth reading..i wouldnt put it up here.

I got this article in a mail that got forwarded to me by a colleague..i usually dont read forwarded mails and delete them without opening but since it came from a person who doesn't forwards anything until it makes some true sense,i decided to read it..Maybe putting this up on my blog is not such a good idea or maybe it is, but i honestly feel that this is a story thats worthy of being told- so here you go

Two Choices

What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't
look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it
anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same
choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves
learning-disabled children, the father of one of the
students delivered a speech that would never be
forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the
school and its dedicated staff, he offered a
question: "When not interfered with by outside
influences, everything nature does is done with
perfection.. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things
as other children do. He cannot understand things as
other children do. Where is the natural order of
things in my son?"

The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe that when a child
like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes
into the world, an opportunity to realize true human
nature presents itself, and it comes in the way
other people treat that child."
Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where
some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay
asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's
father knew that most of the boys would not want
someone like Shay on their team, but the father also
understood that if his son were allowed to play, it
would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and
some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of
his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the
field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could
play. The boy looked around for guidance and said,
"We're losing by six runs and the game is in the
eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and
we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."


Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a
broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched
with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his
heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son
being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind
by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put
on a glove and played in the right field. Even
though no hits came his way, he was obviously
ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field,
grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him
from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning,
Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the
bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base
and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away
their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was
given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but
impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold
the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the
pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting
winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved
in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay
could at least make contact. The first pitch came
and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher
again took a few steps forward to toss the ball
softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay
swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right
back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up
the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the
ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out
and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the
first baseman's head, out of reach of all team
mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams
started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!"
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he
made it to first base. He scampered down the
baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards
second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the
base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base,
the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy
on their team who now had his first chance to be the
hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to
the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood
the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally
threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's
head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the
runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way
Shay"

Shay reached third base because the opposing
shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the
direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third!
Shay, run to third!"

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and
the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay,
run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on
the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the
grand slam and won the game for his team.

"That day", said the father softly with tears now
rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams
helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into
this world".

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that
winter, having never forgotten being the hero and
making his father so happy, and coming home and
seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero
of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send
thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a
second thought, but when it comes to sending
messages
about life choices, people hesitate. The crude,
vulgar and often obscene pass freely through
cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is
too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message,
chances are that you're probably sorting out the
people in your address book who aren't the
"appropriate" ones to receive this type of message.
Well, the person who sent you this believes that we
all can make a difference. We all have thousands of
opportunities every single day to help realize the
"natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial
interactions between two people present us with a
choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and
humanity or do we
pass up those opportunities and leave the world a
little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how
it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:
1. Delete
2. Forward
May your day be a Shay Day......

Celebrating Love this Valentines :HIGHT OF LOVE

HIGHT OF LOVE

My Girlfriend has been been pushing me to do something that she could put up in her office for the Valentines Day..she wanted something sweet and romantic,true to"Yash Chopra style", so i did this for her as i feel its only in Yash Chopra's films that the people are so preposterously rich that they can afford two seats in one toilet..however ,she didnt like it and called me perv and eccentric and various other names..i guess not everyone can appreciate art the way an artist does it, so i am putting this up on my blog ..Have a Nice Valentines Day..(atleast better than mine..)

You ask for one..i give you four

There you go..i was missing few of my friends from Hyderabad,so i tried to caricature them..wish i had some reference photographs as i havent seen them for last couple of years..

Heeeeeeerrrrsss Johny....!!

I did the Mafia's so i thought its time to do my take on Spheggettie Westerns..with of course a dash of local flavour..Masala Dosa and Samabar ishtyle..



Dis guy ish beeeg and eshtrong..but he ish getting beaten up..I likes thats..Kill the guy..spill some blood..Kill The guy..Spill Some Blood..HUKUHUKU..HUAHUA..jokes apart,now when i look back at it, i think there is a lot of Sunil Shetty(yea..the actor.)in this drawing, because every time he gets shot onscreen he spits all over the place.I think, for some reason,he feels the more the saliva = better the acting.




I wanted to color this but then decided against it..since it was looking too flat with colors..



This is Koyimoto..i am planning to model him in 3D..Lets see how it goes.



Was trying with another style of Drawing..this is close but still needs some refinements.

Stanley Kubricks : The Shining

There has been a long time that any film has managed to get under my skin and creep me out completely.I have seen almost everything when it comes to horror(from Ramsey Brothers B grades to Asian Horror,From Italian shockers to Hollywood Slashers ).Somehow i missed Stanley Kubricks:The Shining..until yesterday. Dont get me wrong, i am an ardent fan of Kubricks works..i loved his Clockwork Orange,Dr.Strangelove even Full Metal Jacket, but somehow i just gave this particular film a miss every time i got a chance to watch it (Probably because of my bias towards the adaptation of Stephen King's writing which are wonderful novels but lousy films,The Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption being few exceptions).Fortunately enough Kubrick being a master craftsman takes the subject from the book and gives it a complete spin of his own (which pissed off Mr.King real bad and arent we glad that it did..).

The story is again a run of the mill haunted house fare.Jack Torrance(Brilliantly played by Jack Nicholson)a novelist who is planning his next novel gets an opportunity to take care of an hotel while its kept closed for winters.Jacks takes it up hoping that being away from the bustle of city will give his some time to concentrate on his writing so he packs his bag and heads to the Overlook Hotel with his son and his wife(Sherly Duvall).But once there, the family realizes that maybe they are not all that alone in the hotel.Especially the son(Danny) who has extra sensory perception (also termed as the shining,and hence the name of the film.)starts making contact with the other side.Even before they realize Jack starts to descent into complete madness under evil influence and the ordeal that the family goes through makes the rest of the film.

The plot sounds ordinary, but in Kubricks hands it turns into a series of cleverly set peices be it the maze garden or blood flowing out of elevator shafts,the Gold Room or the Redrum scene.Its amazing how a film with absolutely no body count,blood and gore can scare the living daylights out of you just by wonderful camera work (i havent seen such good use of a 15mm lens), lighting and performances.The film is extremely atmospheric and the sets of huge lobby's and never ending corridors had been used absolutely well to give the feeling of emptiness and dread.Also watch it for mise-en-scene where you have long takes and a shot goes on for several minutes instead of it getting cut every now and then(thats what happens now).Its a must see even if you are not a Kubricks fan.

Femme fatale

Leatherface rulezzz

I miss 80's campy slasher films ..it looks like Hollywood have given up the idea of inventing any new legend like Mike Mayers(Halloween),Freddy Kruger(Nightmare on elm street),Jason vorhees(Friday the thirteenth)..and many more, however now a days all we get to see is sequels to these above films and no new genuine entry in this genre.. Well here is mine personal favorite Leatherface(Texes Chainsaw Messacre)..although i did took a few creative liberties but what the heck..!!





Just wanted to do something grotesque..nothing much..





I did a take on italian mafia some time earlier when my co-blogger and good friend Kamal_anjelo( kamalanjelo@blogspot.com) suggested to do something about the composition..well!!thats why i did this one all over again..

heres lies an artist who thought he can paint.

The Irish countryside has always fascinated me..vast open green meadows morphing into hills, ancient churches and castles, they are aesthetic and haunting both at the same time..(next time i shall try doing Egypt.)

Ma..Ma..fia

Tried pulling off a Italian Mafia type of thing..couldnt resist putting a moll right next to our good ol' Don Corleone (which btw looks more like Martin Scorcese than Marlen Brando..but who cares.)

Girl

here is a quick one..

Horses.

Here are few more of live sketches and a few memory drawings.

I Made It..yes i did!!

There you go..I finally manged to do something that i havent done for last 12 years..i did Water Color Paintings, Thanks to my co-bloggers Kamal anjelo and Rajashekhar..who inspired me enough to pull out my paints and brushes again..this is only a fresh start..better works will soon follow..Thanxx Guys, i feel so much better today.

Elementery ..my dear stallion..

Again did the whole thing in Photoshop Element(its still a WIP)..Do comment.

Goblin

I tried doing a goblin, entirely did it using Photoshop Element.

Occupational Hazzard

I tried doing something different with this one..Here is a bit of office humour ; if it gets populer i might just post one of such scripts every week..

You guys have got me goin ..here is another digital painting i did today..it will look pretty lame after a couple of months but right now i am uploading it..