Tag: Anand Tiwari

Wanted to create prototype for digital media with ‘Bandish Bandits’: Anand Tiwari

Anand Tiwari, the man behind Love Per Square Foot is back with yet another directorial venture Bandish Bandits. Tiwari is a stage actor and director known for his roles in films like Kites, Udaan, Aisha, and Go Goa Gone. As a stage actor, he is best known for his role of a 'lamp post' in Rage Productions' One on One. For the uninitiated, Tiwari is the co-founder of the theatre company FAT Productions in Mumbai.

Set in the backdrop of Jodhpur, the Amazon Prime Video is a 10-part series. The series introduces newcomers Ritwik Bhowmik and Shreya Chaudhary as Radhe and Tamanna respectively. Romantic drama Bandish Bandits is a love story of Radhe and Tamanna who hail from diverse musical backgrounds.

In conversation with indiantelevision.com, Bandish Bandits director Anand Tiwari talks about the importance of music in storytelling, the idea behind creating the series, roping in the trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and much more.

Radhe's face when Tamanna enters

Same Radhe same…,,, pic.twitter.com/nRgNnOtL7a

— amazon prime video IN (@PrimeVideoIN) August 12, 2020

Edited Excerpts:

Please tell us about your journey from being an assistant director in Barfi to now directing your own show.

It has been fantastic, every day you spend on the set or with actors and technical team teaches you something. However, sometimes you have to learn and unlearn so many things. The circumstances are always different and not like an office job. I like to keep exploring new things. Even when I am shooting a romantic scene or any other scene, I pretend like I do not know this. I do feel that my storytelling has matured as I grew but it is a long journey, I have just started learning.

What was the concept behind making Bandish Bandits?

We have been making movies on music since time immemorial because that is how we have weaved our stories since theatre times. Music is an integral part of storytelling in India. Amrit (Amritpal Singh Bindra, producer) and I love music. From the time of Band Baja Baarat we have always told stories that get conveyed by music. When we looked at the content that is being created in today’s time, there wasn’t something similar to Bandish Bandits. It’s high time we create a prototype for digital media and we were convinced that audiences would also like to watch it. I believe music is the most transcending of art forms. And what better way to summarise India’s culture than mixing two forms of popular music – traditional and pop.

How long did it take to do the research and create the whole series?

Amrit and I have been making different kinds of content for the past five to six years. For a long time, we wanted to do a project together. It took us almost one and a half years of pure research. We spent good three to four years to make the entire series right from ideation to creation.

Also, did you approach Amazon Prime or did they contact you?

We took Aparna Purohit (Amazon Prime head of India originals) through our story idea and that is how it happened. Amazon Prime has always given us good originals; that is known internationally. We were hopeful that they will also like the content that we are giving to them.

Speaking about direction, do you think you have grown as a director? Also, you are an actor too so does it help you while directing?

Yes, it absolutely helps to be an actor because I understand that most of the time actors are struggling. It has very little to do with their fear or talent, sometimes it is so much to do with their understanding. There are so many things such as one might agree or disagree with the scenes or sometimes they are dealing with something which has nothing to do with the shoot itself. As an actor, I know the psyche of the other actors and I have a special relationship with every actor on the set. We all share a very special bond, so it doesn’t sound like an instruction which always helps.

Which is your favourite part of the role, actor or director?

I like being a storyteller, sometimes I can be a writer, director, actor, producer, anything. However, during a specific time, it is more exciting being a director. It also depends on the story that comes because accordingly, you will focus on that specific part. But as a director, you have a far greater perspective to the story. I really enjoy every role that comes my way.

Bandish Bandits also marks the digital debut of Music geniuses Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. How challenging was it to bring them on onboard?

When we were planning this series, Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy were on top of our list. Apart from giving music in movies, they have also done many albums. They have done classical, hip hop and every kind of music. They were the first people we approached. Here, storytelling was challenged through music that they took up with us. A lot of scenes which had music in them were planned after our discussion with Shankar Mahadevan. He was able to give us the insights into what happens in a studio when a song is created. It was a brilliant experience; all the songs that one can see in the show have been created in front of us.

August 13, 2020
Digital storytellers and content creators Amritpal Bindra, Anand Tiwari and Nikhil Taneja lauch ‘Yuvaa’

MUMBAI: Amritpal Bindra, Anand Tiwari and Nikhil Taneja, the producers and content creators behind shows on the digital space – Bang Baaja Baaraat (40 million+ views), Sex Chat with Pappu and Papa (55 million+ views), Girl in the City (50 million+ views), Chukiyagiri (30 million+ views) and the first original Bollywood Netflix movie, Love Per Square Foot – have come together to form a youth media company for purpose-driven content, “Yuvaa.”

It will be a platform that listens to, engages with and shares the stories that bring young India together, to create a community of empowered ‘yuvaa’. It will create and curate original, accessible and entertaining stories of, for and by the youth of India across genres of non-fiction and fiction web series, docu-series, talk shows, podcasts and short-format on all digital and social media: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

In year one, Yuvaa will put out over 1000 minutes and 100+ pieces of original content for free, focusing on some of the most pressing issues, struggles, challenges, aspirations and dreams of young India. From mental health and self-care to gender equality and LGBTQ inclusivity to identity and self-expression, the platform will tell emotional, empathetic, enriching, empowering and entertaining stories of young people that haven’t yet been told in mainstream media. It believes that ‘Every Story Matters’ and its tagline explains its inherent philosophy: ‘We, The Stories’.

The stories that it will produce, share and tell will come from insight mined from a pan-India road-show, where the young team behind Yuvaa is traveling across 30 cities including Shimla, Port Blair and Guwahati to meet, hear and talk to students in 100+ colleges and understand their stories in their own words.

Taneja said, “By 2020, India will be the world’s youngest country with 65 per cent of its population under 35, and an average age of 29. A new generation of young Indians will take our country into the future, but their stories are largely untold, unheard and under-represented in our media, and we have very little understanding of the identity and mental health issues they are going through. We have formed Yuvaa to be a mental health positive platform and community that listens to and shares authentic stories of young Indians so they feel more represented and less alone. Because their stories matter.”

Bindra said, “It’s an extremely proud and grateful moment for all of us at Yuvaa to have embarked on this journey which has been filled with learnings, experiences and real impact. The idea of creating entertaining and engaging content that deals with issues like mental health, body positivity and identity is fascinating and challenging in equal measures. Yuvaa is an opportunity to create a community that unites young India in a way that has never been done before. This also brings a huge amount of responsibility on us to create a positive equal and conscious community. “

Tiwari said, “The content of Yuvaa will be by, for and from the youth themselves. We aren’t coming from a 'preachy' place, where we will tell the audience and they will listen. Yuvaa is a platform where we are the listeners too and every young Indian is a storyteller.”

March 18, 2019
The Zoom Studios ropes in Anand Tiwari and Amritpal Singh Bindra for its third show ‘Imperfect’

MUMBAI: The Zoom Studios, the original content arm of zoOm styled by Myntra has roped in Still and Still Media Collective’s (SSMC) Anand Tiwari and Amritpal Singh Bindra to produce its third upcoming comic-adventure. Titled, ‘Imperfect’, the show revolves around a 24-year-old girl Isha Sanghvi, whose life takes a massive turnaround unexpectedly and soon she realizes she has to build her life from scratch. The show unfolds Isha’s pursuit of perfection in life and the misadventures that follows.

Anand Tiwari and Amritpal Singh Bindra are known to create high quality fiction content and have become synonymous with premium quality and coming-of-age stories. The talented duo has been highly appreciated for popular movies and series like Love Per Square Foot, Girl in the City and Bang Baaja Baaraat.

Talking about their association with The Zoom Studios, Anand Tiwari, said, “At SSMC, our development team is constantly looking out for stories that resonate with the widest possible audiences. When the story of Imperfect came from one of our team members, we dwelled into making it into a seasonable series. The show is about an imperfect girl with a fabulous imperfect story. She will win over your hearts and I am certain that, people, especially the millennials and Gen Zs would ask some extremely relevant questions about the notion of being perfect and the fairytale romance every person waits for.”

Amritpal Singh Bindra added, “We are very excited and extremely proud to present ‘Imperfect’, a quirky portrayal of the life of Isha Sanghvi. It is an honour for us to be collaborating with The Zoom Studios on this project. With their distribution, we hope to engage and entertain a wide spectrum of the audience with this show. SSMC is always focused on telling great stories and we hope that this show is another testament to that philosophy.”

The upcoming show will premiere on zoOm Styled by Myntra & The Zoom Studios YouTube Channel. Imperfect promises to captivate viewers with its unique narrative that will not only leave them asking for more but will also resonate with audiences.

October 8, 2018
Discovery Jeet postpones 2 show launches to late March

MUMBAI: The newly launched general entertainment channel, Discovery Jeet has planned to halt the launch of two yet to be released shows Gabru – Hip Hop Ke Shehzaade and Man Vs Wild with Sunny Leone.

An official from Discovery communication confirmed the news to Indiantelevision.com about the shows being re-launched at a later date by the end of March.

Gabru producer Anand Tiwari said that Jeet has just started and the channel is monitoring its prime shows’ viewership. The show consists of 35 episodes and the season will be over inseven weeks. The network doesn’t want the show to start off with average ratings.

He further added, “I’m happy with the decision that once the channel garners traction and all the eyeballs are at the screen during the prime time, the network will air our show.”

The channel went live with much fanfare on 12 February and claimed record-breaking viewership in its first week. According to Chrome DM, day two of the channel going live saw OTS of 87.1 per cent across urban Hindi speaking markets, 20 percentage points higher than the launch week of Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV last year.

Also Read:

Discovery Jeet signs content deal with Netflix

Discovery Jeet gets good spread at launch

February 22, 2018
Y-Films’s ‘Sex Chat with Pappu & Papa’ to enlighten young minds

MUMBAI: Why is it so tough to talk about sex in a country which is home of texts and temples such as the Kamasutra and Khajuraho? Children are not imbibed with appropriately curated or delivered sex knowledge in schools. Sex is still a taboo topic in India. Forget that, rather than providing an answer to the ‘curious minds’, most parents clam up when having to talk to kids about the ‘birds & the bees’. The bigger question that arrives here is: Why not satisfy them when in doubt rather than misinforming them or leading them to wrong sources of information.

Yash Raj Films’ youth arm Y-Films is here to deliver information across different themes related to sex / sexuality with its new web-series titled Sex Chat with Pappu & Papa. Divided into 5 parts of less than 10 minutes each, the fictional series will deal with everything from masturbation and periods to condoms, pregnancy and homosexuality. Each episode will deal with a new theme. “These are a few topics which are often kept in a closet and are never really discussed. Curiosities of children in today’s time are answered by Google. Research clearly shows that sex talk with parents is directly and clearly linked to safer sexual behaviour. They have incorrect perceptions about everything related to sex”, says Y-Films head Ashish Patil.

Sex Chat with Pappu & Papa is slated to launch by mid-July and will follow YFilms’s existing format with new episodes every Tuesday.

Patil further adds, “Through this series, we want to converse basic fundamentals of sexuality to everyone but in a clean, honest style with a lot of humour. It is a unique show of its kind in India and probably the world, certainly a show with a lot of heart.”

Targeted at everyone from kids to adults, the series is a story of the Watsa family featuring a curious 7-year-old boy, Punit Watsa (Kabir Sajid) nicknamed Pappu who shoots the most outrageous questions to his Papa, Anand (Anand Tiwari). The father attempts to answer them to the best of his ability initially with a lot of awkwardness and eventually with a lot of fun, simple anecdotes.

All this while his own father – the very traditional, conservative and possibly khadoos Pitaji played by Sachin Pilgaonkar- keeps questioning his actions. While his wife, the much pregnant, Shireen enacted by Sanjeeda Shaikh and mother, Usha Watsa aka Mataji played by Alka Amin get torn between this mad conflict and help Pappu & Papa find peace, balance and, of course, add a lot of their own masti to it.

The series also features Abish Matthew, Ali Fazal, Faisal Khan, Gaurav Pandey, Saba Azad, Sharib Hashmi, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Urvashi Rautela, Dr. Piya Ballani Thakkar, etc., playing different characters.

The show is directed by Ashish Patil while Nikhil Taneja is the associate producer of the series. Written by Devang Kakkad and Gopal Datt, the series has been shot by Adil Afsar, while the catchy music has been given by Superbia.. The promo with its fun element has already garnered 126,357 views within three days of its launch and is created by Taxi Films.

Y-Films has heavily researched and ratified the concept of this series by some of the foremost medical experts, top hormonal, gynaecological doctors of the country.

The series is not targeting any specific category of brands to get on board as sponsors. “I think everyone should invest money in this. We are not focusing only on sex related brands. Anyone from Basmati rice to a car brand can hop on in as sponsors”, voices Patil.

Apart from promoting it on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and its official page, the series is also available to be picked up by schools for free. “I think this show should be aired in all the schools for better understanding. I will give it for free if any school is keen to do so. We hope it creates some genuine social impact, not just locally but globally”, adds Patil.

Cheers to Patil and his team for providing sex education to impressionable minds, something that schools should have actually be doing!

July 4, 2016
Y-Films’s ‘Sex Chat with Pappu & Papa’ to enlighten young minds

MUMBAI: Why is it so tough to talk about sex in a country which is home of texts and temples such as the Kamasutra and Khajuraho? Children are not imbibed with appropriately curated or delivered sex knowledge in schools. Sex is still a taboo topic in India. Forget that, rather than providing an answer to the ‘curious minds’, most parents clam up when having to talk to kids about the ‘birds & the bees’. The bigger question that arrives here is: Why not satisfy them when in doubt rather than misinforming them or leading them to wrong sources of information.

Yash Raj Films’ youth arm Y-Films is here to deliver information across different themes related to sex / sexuality with its new web-series titled Sex Chat with Pappu & Papa. Divided into 5 parts of less than 10 minutes each, the fictional series will deal with everything from masturbation and periods to condoms, pregnancy and homosexuality. Each episode will deal with a new theme. “These are a few topics which are often kept in a closet and are never really discussed. Curiosities of children in today’s time are answered by Google. Research clearly shows that sex talk with parents is directly and clearly linked to safer sexual behaviour. They have incorrect perceptions about everything related to sex”, says Y-Films head Ashish Patil.

Sex Chat with Pappu & Papa is slated to launch by mid-July and will follow YFilms’s existing format with new episodes every Tuesday.

Patil further adds, “Through this series, we want to converse basic fundamentals of sexuality to everyone but in a clean, honest style with a lot of humour. It is a unique show of its kind in India and probably the world, certainly a show with a lot of heart.”

Targeted at everyone from kids to adults, the series is a story of the Watsa family featuring a curious 7-year-old boy, Punit Watsa (Kabir Sajid) nicknamed Pappu who shoots the most outrageous questions to his Papa, Anand (Anand Tiwari). The father attempts to answer them to the best of his ability initially with a lot of awkwardness and eventually with a lot of fun, simple anecdotes.

All this while his own father – the very traditional, conservative and possibly khadoos Pitaji played by Sachin Pilgaonkar- keeps questioning his actions. While his wife, the much pregnant, Shireen enacted by Sanjeeda Shaikh and mother, Usha Watsa aka Mataji played by Alka Amin get torn between this mad conflict and help Pappu & Papa find peace, balance and, of course, add a lot of their own masti to it.

The series also features Abish Matthew, Ali Fazal, Faisal Khan, Gaurav Pandey, Saba Azad, Sharib Hashmi, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Urvashi Rautela, Dr. Piya Ballani Thakkar, etc., playing different characters.

The show is directed by Ashish Patil while Nikhil Taneja is the associate producer of the series. Written by Devang Kakkad and Gopal Datt, the series has been shot by Adil Afsar, while the catchy music has been given by Superbia.. The promo with its fun element has already garnered 126,357 views within three days of its launch and is created by Taxi Films.

Y-Films has heavily researched and ratified the concept of this series by some of the foremost medical experts, top hormonal, gynaecological doctors of the country.

The series is not targeting any specific category of brands to get on board as sponsors. “I think everyone should invest money in this. We are not focusing only on sex related brands. Anyone from Basmati rice to a car brand can hop on in as sponsors”, voices Patil.

Apart from promoting it on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and its official page, the series is also available to be picked up by schools for free. “I think this show should be aired in all the schools for better understanding. I will give it for free if any school is keen to do so. We hope it creates some genuine social impact, not just locally but globally”, adds Patil.

Cheers to Patil and his team for providing sex education to impressionable minds, something that schools should have actually be doing!

July 4, 2016
Y-Films readies new web series ‘Bang Baaja Baaraat;’ ropes in Lakme as sponsor

MUMBAI: Buoyed by the success of its maiden web series called Man’s World, Yash Raj Films’ youth films wing – Y-Films is planning to launch its second web series – Bang Baaja Baaraat – on 4 November.

The five-part series is directed by Anand Tiwari and written by Sumeet Vyas, Amritpal Bindra and Anand Tiwari. Bang Baaja Baaraat is thestory of two crazy families that come together for one mental wedding.

The cast includes Ali Fazal, Rajit Kapoor, Shernaz Patel, Gajraj Rao, Ayesha Raza, Neil Bhoopalam. The series will also mark the debut of YRF’s new find – Angira Dhar, who has also been signed up by the studio.

Additionally, the studio has also brought on board Lakme as the sponsor of the series.

YRF talent management and Y-Films head and producer of the series Ashish Patil said, “Y-Films has always believed in pushing the boundaries of story-telling, our first series Man’s World was just the start of that journey on the web. With Bang Baaja Baaraat, we are upping the ante on the medium with one of the most incredible star casts that a web series has ever seen in India and a cinematic vision that’s never been seen on the net. The series itself is a fantastic ride, like a mad destination wedding gone wrong. Don’t miss it!”

HUL vice president – skin care Srinandan Sundaram added, “Bang Baajaa Baaraat promises to be an entertaining wedding story that the young audiences will relate to. We are happy to partner with YRF on this endeavour with our brand Lakmé as this is a good opportunity to strengthen Lakmé’s image on styling for special occasions such as weddings, a pivotal moment in a woman’s life.”

Mindshare Fulcrum leader Amin Lakhani said, “We, at Mindshare always thrive in coming up with unique ideas that connect a brand to its consumer. YRF’s forte of creating clutter breaking content & Mindshare’s expertise at driving innovations paves way for an iconic partnership. Given the grandeur & the star cast, we saw Bang Baaja Baaraat as a great opportunity for a contemporary brand like Lakmé. It has also given us a platform to engage the brand’s audience by creating interesting content around the series and its protagonist, Angira.”

The series’ costumes have been exclusively designed and styled by Diva’ni – a YRF & KBSH brand.

October 15, 2015
‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!’: Lacks twists & turns; is slow

MUMBAI: As is apparent from the name, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! falls in the detective genre, the kind that has not been tried in some time. Set in WW II Calcutta of 1942, it can be termed as a period detective saga. It is based on the famous detective character, Byomkesh Bakshy, created by writer Sharadindu Bandopadhyay, which has been made into many TV and movie versions.

Sushant Singh Rajput, who plays Byomkesh, is just finishing his college and is uncertain about his future plans. Anand Tiwari, a batch mate, learns that his father has gone missing and he asks Sushant to help find him.

Sushant has this knack for observing and making logical deductions. Sushant refuses to help saying his father may have committed some crime and vanished. This earns him a slap from Anand.

However, Sushant gets back to Anand and agrees to help him. He starts with checking in into the same guest house, Anukul Lodge. This where Anand’s father also stayed and from where he had gone missing. Sushant is an accidental detective and he beats around the bush, looking for clues everywhere. His suspicion hovers around a suddenly shut down chemical factory owned by a politician from where, finally, Anand’s father’s dead body is recovered.

The politician is booked but even while the DCP is interrogating him, it strikes Sushant that the politician is being framed. On his word, the DCP lets him go. The trial and error method of detecting continues while the truth is right around Sushant as he searches far and wide.

The plot thickens as the theme expands its scope from a murder of a chemistry scholar to heroin to the local politics to free the country to a plot to pave the way for the entry of Japanese troop through the river Ganga!

There is also a conflict between a Chinese drug dealer and a presumed dead rival who has hijacked tons of heroin of the Chinese.

After all this detective work done by Sushant, the film is taken to its conclusion in a traditional way by collecting people concerned under one roof. The culprit being one of them is a given. As happens in all detective stories, Sushant takes to retelling the plot, laying bare the intentions of culprit and who it is. How you wish you were told this an hour earlier.

The problem with Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is that it is too slow and lacks the twists and turns and red herrings that such a story needs. It therefore has no grip. The script needed to be tight. Visually too it is drab with indoor scenes being dimly lit while outdoor ones are dulled even more with smoke added for effect.

While the background score is effective, songs are chosen keeping the period in mind and, hence, lack appeal to today’s listener.

What lands some relief to the viewer is Sushant’s pleasant outlook (which other regional actors don’t quite have). Of the women, Swastika Mukherjee brings some oomph though as a performer she has limits. Anand is good and so is Divya Menon despite getting a limited exposure. Meiyang Chang is a good addition to character artistes. The one who impresses is Neeraj Kabi (who also threatens a sequel at the end).

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is slow and offers nothing to recommend it.

Producers: Aditya Chopra, Dibakar Banerjee

Director: Dibakar Banerjee

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Anand Tiwari, Neeraj Kabi, Divya Menon, Swastika Mukherjee, Meiyang Chang, Mark Bennington, Takanori Kikuchi, Shivam, Dr Kaushik Ghosh, Anindya Banerjee, Arindol Bagchi, Peter Wong, Pradipto Kumar Chakraborty, Manoshi Nath, Moumita Chakraborty, Tirtha Mallick, Prasun Gain, Aryann Bhaumik, Prashant Kumar & Nishant Kumar, Shaktipada Dey, Sandip Bhattacharya, Piyali Ray.

April 3, 2015
Poster of ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!’ launched in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Director Dibakar Banerjee along with his lead actor, Sushant Singh Rajput, released the first look poster of the upcoming film Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! at the Great Eastern Hotel in Kolkata (now The Lalit Great Eastern Hotel).

The film Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is set in the back drop of World War 2 and it captures the Calcutta (now Kolkata) of that time. The motion poster was also released as a fitting tribute to a World War II air-raid in the war-torn history of Kolkata.

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is an upcoming Hindi crime thriller film directed by Dibakar Banerjee and produced by Aditya Chopra in association with Yash Raj Films and Dibakar Banerjee Productions. The film is based on the detective character Byomkesh Bakshi created by the Bengali writer Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay and the film is titled ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy’ to make it more contemporary. The film stars Sushant Singh Rajput, Anand Tiwari and Swastika Mukherjee in principal roles. The film is scheduled for release on 10 April 2015.

Dibakar Banerjee told the media, “In late 1942 and early 1943, Calcutta was the last frontier of the British Empire, holding out against the Japanese invasion of Asia. As Japanese bombs were falling on Calcutta dockyard, around The Great Eastern Hotel, history was being created and Calcutta stepped on to the world stage. It’s right here that Byomkesh’s first adventure catapulted him from anonymity to dangerous fame. I can’t imagine a more fitting place to launch the first look of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! than this hotel and right on this day in 1942, this would have been full of chaos and mayhem as bombs fell around it seventy years ago!”

Shooting for the film began in early 2014, and ended in May 2014. A part of the movie has been shot in Kolkata and Mumbai. Some scenes were shot in an abandoned mill in Mumbai’s Byculla region.

“Shooting locations of the film in Kolkata was finalized in February 2012. Shooting did take place in Lalbazar, Presidency University, Coffee House and Bow Barracks. The cast was shooting for the film in Agarpara in January 2014,” said a cast member.

Dibakar Banerjee has paid attention to every detail and he further said that every aspect of his film brings back the bygone era.

“The planes seen on the poster of the film are the exact replica of the real Japanese planes which were used during the bombing in 1943. The planes at that time looked very different from the way the planes look today. Japan had done an aerial bombing attack on Calcutta and this is the central theme of the film,” he concluded.

December 30, 2014
‘Finding Fanny’…Some fun some yawn

MUMBAI: Once in a while we get these zany films with no head or tail. It is usually a local story. Also, in most cases, it is related to characters of a minority community which are easy to caricature with no protest expected. This is a road movie taking you on a sightseeing tour of the countryside of Goa.

Finding Fanny is Parsi director Homi Adajania’s take on small Goan village Catholic families. This is a small community where their preferences, hates, love and likes are limited to each other. So are their petty politics vis-a-vis families.

Deepika Padukone who lives in the village is an orphan loved by two men, Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh who are also close friends. While Arjun plays shy, Ranveer steals a march by asking Deepika to marry him. She does but at his wedding he is so excited, he grabs a big helping of the wedding cake and gulps it down not realizing that he is also gulping down the usual decorated plastic bride and groom dolls placed on the cake. He dies of choking within 15 minutes of his wedding vows. Deepika, an instant widow, spends her life with Ranveer’s mother, Dimple Kapadia.

This is a village where there is a post office but no mail is ever sent or received. The post master, Naseeruddin Shah, is always in lost memories of his childhood love, Fanny, to whom he could never propose face-to-face. The letter he once wrote to her returns undelivered after 46 years! Best he can do is sob aloud whenever he thinks of her.

Producer: Dinesh Vijan.

Director: Homi Adajania.

Cast: Deepika Padukone, Arjun Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Dimple Kapadia, Anand Tiwari, Anjali Patil, Ranveer Singh (cameo).

The village scene has two new entrants, Pankaj Kapur, an internationally renowned artist, and Arjun Kapoor, a guy who was said to have made it big in Mumbai after Deepika decided to marry Ranveer instead of him.

They all decide to go find Fanny for Shah in Kapur’s old car which Arjun fixes up. It is Deepika’s idea because she is fond of Shah. Arjun agrees because he still fancies Deepika. Kapur agrees because he has a glad eye for Dimple. The gang of five sets out to find Fanny. The rest of the film is about trying to create funny situations or dialogue which does not happen as often as one hopes. However, the film makes up with fun quotient in the last 20 minutes or so.

There is no solid plot as the story is one line: finding fanny. The director’s enthusiasm with the theme comes alive only later in the film. The end is on expected lines but fun. The film has veterans like Shah and Kapur who along with Arjun and Dimple do well but the film’s mainstay is Deepika. And Goa locales are always a pleasure to watch.

Finding Fanny will find its appreciation in select cities at elite location multiplexes.

‘Creature 3-D’…never-ending!

We have been watching run of the mill horror films since the days of Ramsay Brothers era. Many others have followed suit. But now international films get regular exposure in India and one is not competing with the local makers; it is time to match the international horror genre.

Hollywood films have various justification for an invasion by an extra-terrestrial being; it could be from an outer planet or a scientific experiment gone wrong or just a creation of a revenge-seeking man. Here, in Creature 3D, the makers justify the creature by creating a new myth about it.

Bipasha Basu has lost her mother early but has a gem of a father and both dote on each other. Her father has a lucrative job due to which he keeps maintaining a bungalow he has inherited in South Mumbai. No, they are not in Mumbai but somewhere in North. Soon, there is a powerful builder after him who wants to buy out his South Mumbai bungalow and use the plot to build a mall. The father’s continued resistance leads to him losing his job. The frustration and feeling that follows and he commits suicide.

Sad though she may be, Bipasha does exactly what her father sacrificed his life resisting. She sells the bungalow in question to the same villains who were the cause of her father’s death and, with the monies so realised, buys a boutique forest lodge somewhere in Himachal. Her dad keeps coming in her imagination but never asks her why she gave up what he lost his life saving.

The forest lodge is inaugurated on a Christmas Eve and nothing seems to work out as her supplies don’t reach her in time, the oven in her hotel is useless and her Christmas night band is late. However, the hero, Imran Abbas Naqvi, as heroes do in all films, comes to her rescue. She mistakes him for singer first and later for another guest booked at her lodge who does not show up. He has come on a mission at this lodge which remains unexplained until the end but, instead, falls in love with Bipasha at first glance!

The Indian audience, probably, does not buy the idea of invaders from outer space. So here we have a local mumbo jumbo for the presence of this creature. This creature is a soul cursed by God Brahma and hence called Brahma-Rakshasa because he did evil deeds while being in an honourable position of a priest or some such thing! He is the second of his kind, the earlier one having been killed by 23 bullets from a single load ancient gun purified by some holy water.

Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Kishan Kumar.

Director: Vikram Bhatt.

Cast: Bipasha Basu, Imran Abbas Naqvi, Mukul Dev.

The more recent Brahma-Rakshasa was content living on a peepal tree secured by red threads. The creature was let loose when, one fine day, a labourer decided to cut that peepal tree. Now the creature is angry and starts attacking people. It eats them up almost in entirety, maybe leaving a small part or a limb behind for curious investigators, the head of which is not interested in such cases beyond closing files soon as they are opened.

There is a village head around and hence there are also villagers. However, the creature would seem to have some grouse against Bipasha for it attacks only her guests, nobody else!

The problem is, the film takes ages bringing the creature on the screen in its full form and goes on to take eons destroying it. Where this needed to be a 90 to 100 minute film, it stretches to 135 minutes. The creature attacks get monotonous without any twists. There is no surprise element.

The computer generated creature is a triumph of Indian techies; this coupled with special effects are excellent to say the least. However this is a script of convenience with no concern to make it tight and plausible. The director being the story writer, he has no alternative but to follow his own convictions. His plus is the 3-D format which, thankfully, is not overused in this film and is usually effective. This being a T Series film, one expected the songs to be better but only one song, ‘Mehboob ki..’, has appeal because of its old world charm. The photography is very good. Performance wise, there is little that merits a mention. Bipasha is her usual self now lacking appeal for the audience. Imran fails to make his presence felt and lacks in expressions.

Creature 3-D loses its appeal as it carries on for too long. The film has limited prospects at the box office.

September 12, 2014