India Masala

Anurag Kashyap – the industry ‘outsider’

Anurag Kashyap hasn’t slept in four days. He’s been writing his next film and doesn’t want to stop till it is done. When I walk into his suburban terrace apartment, Kashyap is beaming because he’s just finished writing the climax and he is very happy with it.

He offers you some tea, shows you clips from his new film “That Girl in Yellow Boots” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, all the while chatting animatedly with his assistants about shooting schedules and movies.

In an industry where it’s all about being politically correct, Kashyap is delightfully candid, speaking about himself and the world he inhabits with an honesty that is difficult not to appreciate. Not that it should come as a surprise — he is after all the “rebel” film maker of Bollywood, the one who is out to change the way the game is played.

“Dev D“, his modern-day adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic “Devdas” was what many critics termed a turning point for Bollywood and the way it makes films.

Anyone else who hadn’t slept for four days would barely be able to stay coherent, but Kashyap is buoyant, alive and itching to move on to the next task. Can you really write a film in four days, I ask him?

“Of course you can,” he tells me gleefully. “I think about my films for a long time, maybe years, but I write them in days.”

He shoots them in days too, apparently. “That Girl in Yellow Boots” was shot in less than thirteen days, in an industry where it takes longer to shoot a song sequence.

A Minute With: Aishwarya Rai

For someone who came into the Indian film industry as a former beauty queen, Aishwarya Rai has done her fair share of unglamorous roles in Bollywood.

From playing an abused wife in “Provoked” or the middle-aged wife of an industrialist in “Guru”, Rai has always let her acting do the talking.

In her latest film “Raavan”, she plays Ragini, the wife of a police officer who is abducted. It’s a role which involved negotiating tough terrain, heavy rains and the creatures of the jungle.

Rai spoke about her role in Mani Ratnam’s “Raavan”, the challenges of working in a bilingual film and why she feels bad when she is criticised for her dressing sense.

Q: Both Abhishek (Bachchan) and Vikram have said that you are the true hero of “Raavan”. Is that true? A: “That is so sweet and generous of them but they have both done an incredible job. But I think the real heroes are the whole team of “Raavan”, the unsung heroes, whether it is the set designers, the workers, everyone who was on set everyday and working as hard, if not more than us. We used to start at five every morning and end at night. It was exhausting. We have all worked hard.”

Q: This film has two leading men. Whom do you share a better chemistry with? A: “I think that is something that all of you will happily write about later, but this should prove what we always talk about — that chemistry is in the screenplay. The moment is created by the screenplay and by the director. “It is not about an individual and the crackling chemistry with someone. But yes, what happens is that when you see me and Abhishek on screen, there is more of an instant connect. But I don’t know if that is perception or fact.”

Q: You have said this is a tough film to shoot. Did having Abhishek around make it easier for you? A: “Well, we are firstly actors and as actors we genuinely love working with each other. What is great about working with your spouse is that at the end of the day there is the comfort of coming home which is great, because this was tough. “I would be exhausted because of the dual films being made, so I wouldn’t get a minute off on set. It is comforting to come into the arms of love at the end of the day. “Also, when you are with each other, you are braver for each other. If you were away and heard that your husband had to jump off a 90-feet-high cliff, it would be very scary. You would be over concerned for each other but being together in this makes it better. It is tough but we are adventurous spirits and like to push ourselves, so it was good not to explain that to each other.”

WIFW 2010: INTERVIEW – Tarun Tahiliani

Designer Tarun Tahiliani speaks to Reuters on the sidelines of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in New Delhi.

Highlights from the Tarun Tahiliani show on Thursday at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week.

(Video by Urvashi Sibal)

IFFI 2009: INTERVIEW – Sonali Kulkarni

Actress Sonali Kulkarni, best known for her roles in “Daayraa” and “Dil Chahta Hai“, spoke to Reuters on the sidelines of the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in the tourist haven of Goa.

Kulkarni is in Goa to promote her critically acclaimed Marathi film “Gabhricha Paus” which takes a hard-hitting look at the issue of farmer suicides in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region.

The actress, who has also acted in a few international projects, said she will soon publish a book — a collection of her articles and writings.

(Click below to watch video)

(Flip cam video by Tony Tharakan)

MORE VIDEOS FROM IFFI 2009 INTERVIEW – Actress Sarita Choudhury

IFFI 2009: INTERVIEW – Tannishtha Chatterjee

Chatterjee, who was in Goa to present two of her films “Bombay Summer” and “The White Elephant“, has done a number of international projects. Her next film — Dev Benegal’s “Road, Movie” — is slated for a February 2010 release in India.

(Click below to watch video)

(Flip cam video by Tony Tharakan)

MORE VIDEOS FROM IFFI 2009 INTERVIEW – Actress Sarita Choudhury

Sona Jain on ‘For Real’

Rituparno Ghosh on ‘Sab Charitro Kalponik’

IFFI 2009: INTERVIEW – Actress Sarita Choudhury

Sarita Choudhury, known for her roles in Mira Nair’s “Mississippi Masala” (1992) and “Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love” (1996), spoke to Reuters on the sidelines of the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in the tourist haven of Goa.

Choudhury’s latest film “For Real“, an English film set in New Delhi, premiered in Goa.

(Click below to watch video)

(Flip cam video by Tony Tharakan)

IFFI 2009: Joseph Mathew Varghese on ‘Bombay Summer’

Director Joseph Mathew Varghese speaks to Reuters about his debut feature film ‘Bombay Summer‘ which is being screened at the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji, Goa.

(Flip cam video by Tony Tharakan)

Saif Ali Khan: A true professional in Bollywood?

When I think of a Bollywood media interview, what pops into my mind are — long waits, filthy sets, stars with a lot more attitude than they should have and clichéd answers I could have predicted long before I met them…

But Saif Ali Khan proved me wrong on all counts. He turned out to be a thorough professional.

Khan was very ‘corporate’ in his demeanour, taking us in for the interview as soon as we got there, giving us candid answers about his experiences as a first-time producer with “Love Aaj Kal”, being open about his relationship with Kareena Kapoor and making no bones about us appearing unannounced with a camera.

Perhaps Khan’s most interesting response was when we asked him about working with other production houses after he has worked on his own.

Khan compared it to a ‘dinner party’.

Working in your own production is like hosting a dinner, he said, while working in other films is like being a guest at somebody else’s party where you pick up tips (or not) for your next do…

Of Amitav Ghosh, Bollywood and opium

I wish someone would make a movie on the “Sea of Poppies.”

Amitav Ghosh’s latest novel has all the right ingredients for a film set in 19th century India — runaway lovers, a bankrupt Raja, anti-British sentiment, a white woman masquerading as an Indian peasant and a huge ship sailing down the Ganges.

But Ghosh is unconvinced.

“It’ll be very difficult. Will need a lot of special effects,” says the 52-year-old writer.

Ghosh just smiles. The silver-haired author, one of India’s best known novelists writing in English, is more affable than I had imagined.

There had been offers from Bollywood for two of his books — “The Hungry Tide” (2004) and “The Calcutta Chromosome” (1995) — but the projects fizzled out.

That doesn’t bother Ghosh.