Movie Murmur

The Bankrupts (Haal-e-Kangaal) V N Lakshminarayana, Critic, Mysore It was a fruitful experience to watch 'The Bankrupts' at Mysuru and again In Bengaluru. 'The Bankrupts' is a high profile movie packed with the dialectics of form and content, image and sound, verbal and the nonverbal expression, truth and falsehood, bluff and imagination, gender and human relationships, capital and cinematic art- and finally the ideology in the era of postmodernism that is embedded in the very fabric of social life of the people at large. An undercurrent of sadness born out of systemic deprivation of existential opportunities to realize one's talents adds to the absurdity of the entangled life situation the two artiste friends are placed in, gives the movie a tint of comedy too. The minimalistic approach adopted in creating the entire movie is not only novel but also path breaking in the production of Indian films. Rajiv Kumar, Film maker, Delhi 'Th...

A few days back, late at about ten in the night, I receive a missed call from a valued colleague. I call back after a while. Me: "You had called...?"  Colleague: "Yes.. this is not relating to work, but something else... Can we talk now?" Me: "Sure..." Colleague: "Ram, would you be interested in being a part of the Jury to the Panorama...?" Me: (Not sure) "Meaning...?" Colleague: "You know, there is a Jury that decides the films that are shown in the Panorama section... in the film festival in Goa..." Me: "Oh, the pre-selection of the films for the Panorama Section...?" Colleague: "Yes, the pre-selection committee... would you be interested?" I am not sure on what capacity he is offering me this post. I assume that the powers that be might have asked him to make his own pre-selection. Me: "Hmmm... well... when does this happen...?" Colleague: "It happens in Nov...

On the 14th of July, 2015, the first thing in the morning, I found myself staring at a Times of India report that stated that The Government of India spends Rs. 12,00,000 per student per year at the Film and TV Institute of India or The FTII. I assume that the figure relates to the year 2011, as the report also mentions that the recovery from the students, as academic fees, is about 11% for the year 2011. There were 350 students... so 350 into 12,00,000 is equal to... wait let me check with the calculator.. is equal to.. 42 and seven zeros... is it eight... no, seven...   42 and seven zeros which is Rs 42,00,00,000. In words, forty two crores for the Film Institute, I presume, for the year 2011. It is more than what the Government spends on students of Engineering, Management and Medicine, screamed the news item. Is it? One part of me felt elated as it boosts ones ego to know that at some point of time in your life, your worth was more than that of other wannabe pr...

Sometime in January, 2013, Jayashree Rajagopalan got in touch with me regarding an article that she was writing on Children's films in India. She had picked up four films for a detailed analysis - Santosh Sivan’s Tahaan (2008), Jayashree Kanal and A. S. Kanal’s Chota Sipahi [Little Soldier] (2005, in Hindi, Vinod Ganatra's Harun-Arun (2009) and my Putaani Party (2009).    Here is the link to the entire article by Jayashree Rajagopalan... Heal the World, Make It a Better Place: Social and Individual Hope in Indian Children’s Cinema  I am pasting the relevant portion of what she has written about Putaani Party .....   By involving children in politics, Ramchandra P. N.’s Putaani Party presents a completely different kind of idealism that deals with substance abuse at the rural household level and covers the larger argument of a child’s ability to reason with adults. Ramchandra P. N. reveals that his child protagonists “have discussions and dialogues thr...

A 'Work in Progress' version of 'The Bankrupts' (Haal-E-Kangaal) was screened at the Manipal International Film Festival on the 20th April, 2014. The film was not colour corrected, the sound was not mixed. The Film Festival was jointly conducted by the Manipal Institute of Communication and the Udupi Chirta Samaj.  As a part of the communication course, the students have to conduct an event, a film festival, in this university. This is the third time that the Manipal Institute of Communication is conducting a Film Festival; last year they had celebrated 100 years of Indian cinema; where they had also screened my 93 minute documentary on theater personality BV Karanth called  'BV Kranth: Baba'. A 118 minute version of 'The Bankrupts' (Haal-E-Kangaal) was screened for the second year direction students at the Film & TV Institute of India in Poona some time back this year. After an interaction with the audience, I did go back to the drawing b...

The Fish and the Sea

This is a fake trailer (3.35 mins) is made by two filmmakers Tripurari Gupta and Lokesh Sharma; for a film called THE BANKRUPTS (HAAL-E-KANGAAL), in which they have themselves acted. Details of the film 118 minutes Hindi / EST / India. Cast: Niraj Sah, Hemant Mahaur Associate Director: Suresh Gujar Sound: Santosh Kumar DOP: Narayanan Venkataraman Writer, Director, Editor: Ramchandra PN If you are looking to arrange a screening for your club / college / house / office please click HERE

Teaser of my latest fiction feature film 'The Bankrupts' (Haal-E-Kangaal) Production details: 118 Minutes / Hindi / India / 2013 / English Subtitles Synopsis: Two filmmakers meet after a gap of fifteen years but struggle to shred away their uncomfortable common past. Credits: Cast: Niraj Sah, Hemant Mahaur Associate Director: Suresh Gujar Hindi Dialogues: Niraj Sah Producer: Sushma PN Location Sound: Santosh Kumar Cameraman: Narayanan Venkatramanan Story, Screenplay, Direction: Ramchandra PN If you are looking to arrange a screening for your club / college / house / office please click HERE

  The schedule at the 'Manipal Film Festival', 2013 The subject matters of many of my films are often based in the state of Karnataka in South India. I should admit that there is an ulterior motive here. The idea was that it would enable me to squeeze in a quick trip to Udupi, the town in which I grew up, to visit my parents who were staying alone. In the 1990s I was extensively involved in the non fiction tele-serial ‘Surabhi’, and for quite a while although based in Mumbai, I was the ‘Karnataka man’ in the organization. Anything that was to be done in that state, and I was the chosen one. It was my right, so to say. I have been in Mumbai for over twenty two years and all these years I always did feel the need to maintain this connection. With both my parents having expired in quick secession a couple of years back, it did occur to me on several occasions as to how long this connection would last. I have been looking at subjects from other parts of the country f...

Shankarghatta - a view from the university My lectures at the Mass Communication Department at the Kuvempu University fell on the City Municipality Elections voting day in Karnataka. The University itself is named after Late K.V. Putappa (Kuvempu) considered as one of the fathers of Modern Kannada literature and is situated at Shankargatta, a small town on the outskirts of a reserved forest area that is around 45 minutes drive away from the city of Shimogga. Well, Shimogga is Mr. B. S. Yeddyurappa's constituency and Yeddyurappa's stories on corruption  cases are well known. The land that he owns right on the Shimogga-Shankarghatta road along with a 'few lkilometer long' compound wall that is attached to it forms a prominent part in the 'things to see' list and that the housing rent at Shimogga doubled to Rs. 3,000/- for a three boredom house as soon as Mr. Yeddyurappa became the Chief Minister of the State of Karnataka forms a prominent part in the 'th...

I was in Pune last week to conduct a six days short film making workshop for the TV direction students at my Alma Mater, The Film and TV Institute of India. Ravi Dawala, who was facilitating the workshop, and I interacted a lot during this period. We discussed about a host of topics which included amongst other things - the Big Bang theory, Stephen Hawking, the grand design, atoms etc… We also dealt with the question of making independent self funded films - like the one I am presently working on called Haal-e-Kangaal' (The Bankrupts) and the difficulty of finding an audience for such films, when we are not going through the mainstream distribution system. All of a sudden Ravi asked me a question, ‘Why are you making the film that you are making?' For a second I was speechless. Why was I making films at all? And then I said, ‘I have made the films that I have made because I have said that I would make them. Now, after having said so, if I had not made those those films,...

Please watch this five minute short film that I had made in 2003, the first short film that I had shot on Digital Video on my then brand new Sony PD 150. I promise you some fun. Heart Troubles of Ramchand Yavatmal Tiruchinapalli Azamghar

 The Children of Kannur In the month of July, 2011, Deepak Paramanand and a few of his friends ran a summer camp for a few under privileged kids in the village of Kannur, in Bijapur, North Karnataka, India. They conduct these courses every year, where teachers volunteer to teach the next year portion for the kids. The children are also engaged in a few cultural activities. In 2011, they showed 'Putaani Party'. The children who acted in the film were called for the screening. After a healthy discussion with these children, the next day the children of Kannur marched through the lanes of their village making a case against alcoholism. They petitioned the Gram Panchayat (Village Governing Body) asking them to stop units in their village that sell illegal liquor. The insistent children brought the government officials and the police to the scene. The children were aided by self help and some women's groups. The Panchayat then decided to ca...

Promo of Rice and Rasam ( ಅನ್ನ ಸಾರು ) Synopsis: ‘Rice and Rasam’ captures the daily struggles, routines, joys, conflicts, and the nomadic lives of an ensemble of professional artists of two units of a touring theater company as they struggle to remain relevant and survive amidst dwindling audiences; and in the face of rapidly changing economic, cultural and political contexts. Producer: Rajiv Mehrotra, PSBT Director: Ramchandra PN Duration of the film: 52 mins Also watch the  excerpt of Rice and Rasam (ಅನ್ನ ಸಾರು) At Kannada Blog -  Yenaark If you are looking to arrange a screening for your club / college / house / office please click HERE                                                       ...

(Downloadable; can be used anywhere) BV Karanth - Baba - A documentary film on the renowned theater personality Shri BV Karanth. Based on his autobiography 'Illiralaare, Allige Hogallaare' (I can't stay here, but I won't also go there...); complied by the Kannada writer Vaidehi . Produced by Films Division Duration: 93 Mins Camera: Sameer Mahajan Sound: Santosh Kumar Additional Camera: Pandurange Gowda Executive Producer, Editor & Director: Ramchadnra PN Stills from the film Working stills during the shooting of the film.  If you are looking to arrange a screening for your club / college / house / office please click HERE