few desi movies which i liked

Just wanted to share the few great movies I have seen and which you might have missed.

1. Herbert : Yes, without any doubt, it is the best movie I have ever seen. The music , the surreal opening, the seesaw story telling, the dreamy locations of north calcutta, and offcourse all the actors. Hats off to Nabarun Bhattacharya for writing such an exceptional novel and hats off to Suman Mukherjee for his exceptional directorial debut. I saw this movie with my parents, and as usual before the movie I was pissed off. But the scene changed comepletely, I was the happiest person after the movie was over and they were embarrassed.

2. Bari theke Paliye : Ritwik Ghataks jump cuts, his desi movie making style , his musical sense and above all his scripts makes me hungry for more of his movies. I like the song "ami onek ghuriya sheshe ailam re kolkatta". Ritwik breaks his style of melodrama (which i like in his other movies)and adds a layer of subjectivity in this movie. He narrates the heartless calcutta from an outsiders point of view.

3. Calcutta 71 : CALCUTTA 71 is an indictment against violence and corruption throughout the ages. The film was directed by Mrinal Sen. CALCUTTA 71 is based on four short stories by writers of repute, each different from the other but all connected or interlinked to bring out a powerful statement. A searing study of the political turmoil of the seventies, CALCUTTA 71 is very harsh in documenting the agony of calcuttans. It had moments of high intensity rarely reached in Indian cinema. Sen had been collecting raw footage for this film since 1966. He did this for about five years or so. The film was released in 1972. The film dealt with Naxalism. Giving a subtle hint that the glorious sacrifices of those young students of late sixties and early seventies will be completely forgotten and we will turn out to be a coward race . Welcome to the reality cinema.

4. Gupi Gayen Bagha Bayen: It is the fairy tale which I always wanted to think about. Good kings, Good human beings, Bad ministers, war, songs, ghost dance, so Indian yet so universal.

5. Swas : The short story perfectly told accompanied by great performances. The locations of Konkan were probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Go to Konkan in the rainy season, you will thank me for this advise.

6. Black Friday and No Smoking : If first one tremendously realistic then the second one freaking surreal. Anurag Kashyap Is the genius of world cinema. He writes the best scripts. Then you will have the best background score, the best set of actors and the intense fight of light and shades with random camera movement. While in black friday his camera was slow moving most of the time except the chasing scenes, totally shot as a dark documentary, No smoking never follows the traditional angles and speed. His camera sleeps, then suddenly starts running, sometime only follows the main protagonist making the background look dead.

7. 3 Deewarein : Welcome to the world of Nagesh Kukunoor. He is probably the greatest story teller of modern desi cinema. He is like the matured Tnedulkar as far as story telling is concerned. A real winner with Naseer bhai doing magic again in this movie and Juhi Chawla with all her sweetness and beauty, this film never gives you the chance to predict what is going to happen. The minimalist approach Nagesh takes when it comes to technical aspects of the movie impresses me a lot. He knows what he can do best.

8 . Taare Zameen per : Only the first half. It is like some Mohsen Makhmalbaf movie, or some Italian noerealist artist creating images as the story makes its way being part of this continous image display. Second half is bullshit.

9 . Black : Sanjay L Bhnasali with his Ritwik Ghatak style melodrama always creates different images . His protagonists are loud, crying hard, and technically this man knows how to play with colors.