Love and tenderness during times of distress, stress and terrorism.... Piyush Jha's film goes down that dark and treacherous road with a gentle grace, echoing the leisurely pace of a people whose lives once were tranquil.
Now the sound of bombs and guns breaks the serene quietude of the Valley, reminding us that paradise is on the verge of being lost.
Welcome to paradise lost.
Jha keeps his narrative purposely intimate. The characters seem more representative of the moral and ethnic conflicts that colour the verdancy than make strong socio-political statements on the plight of the violent Valley.
Wisely the narrative picks two talented children to play the protagonists. Parzaan Dastur (the cute little Sardarji from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) plays a gawky adolescent wannabe footballer who for reasons that appear more circumstantial than metaphoric keeps getting repeatedly hit in the head by the football, nozzles, hands and feet.
Head start?
Ayesha Kapoor (her startling turn as the blind and mute girl in Black still fresh in our minds) is the prematurely mature and quiet thoughtful Nasreen. Veil and tragic carrying her schoolbag like an existential burden she walks the coniferous splendour with a quiet restlessness.
There aren't too many characters in this portable epic. The politicians' terrorists and maulavis form a muffled circle of cleaned-out conflict, and that suits the film's purposes fine as long as the drama doesn't get diluted.
Sadly the reservoir of resonances and echoes gets progressively smothered in the will to create a neat twist at the end of the tale that would work in A Wednesday, but not in a film that purports to draw a line of morality between terrorists and civilians in the Kashmir Valley.
Still, the stillness that surrounds the scenic splendour of Sikandar is never compromised. The director is discernibly in love with Kashmir though not to the extent of dwarfing the character when juxtaposed against the immense natural beauty of the Valley. Somak Mukherjee's camera kisses the valleys and streams without getting servile and soppy.
The two child actors are natural as far as the unnatural disturbances guiding the plot allow them to be. Sanjay Suri as the deceptively suave politician smiles mysteriously through an under-written role. Madhavan amply and intelligently fills the very limited space offered to him play the fence-walking army-man. Arunoday Singh as the not-so-reluctant terrorist had a watch able screen presence.
But somewhere in this short and sweet look at a paradise-subverted you miss that elevating quality which defines socio-political reality in cinematic terms. Nonetheless Sikandar is a sensitive and gentle depiction of life in an idyllic place where guns have overpowered the roses.
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BollywoodHungama.com Features | 21 Aug 2009 | 6:54 am
Prime Focus VFX, a division of the India based post production house Prime Focus, has announced that it has contributed 124 visual effects shots for the Stephen Sommers-directed movie G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra from Paramount Pictures. Prime Focus' Los Angeles, Winnipeg and Vancouver visual effects studios
most notably provided expertise in previz, digital environments, fluid simulation and high-volume particle rendering for the movie's action-packed finale sequence involving a complicated aerial scene.
Prime Focus operates nine facilities in India, four in the UK and four in North America, with a talent pool of over 600 visual effects artists.
Prime Focus contributed roughly 70 visual effects shots for the finale's aerial sequence, which features a plane being eaten away by Nanomites, a U.S. developed bio-weapon usurped by evil forces that disintegrates metal on contact. Said Chris Bond, senior visual effects supervisor and president of Prime Focus VFX, ''This sequence
was particularly challenging because we weren't relying on any aerial photography, which would be nearly impossible to shoot at these speeds, but instead created nearly everything digitally â the plane, sky, clouds and the destructive Nanomites that eat away the plane.''
In addition to developing a custom toolset to generate 3D cloud and sky environments, Prime Focus built a Nanomite animation pipeline and a hybrid matte painting, environment and 3D animation pipeline. The company also dedicated extensive R&D to improving its in-house scene collaboration system that allowed its LA and Vancouver
offices to work seamlessly together.
''We created a system whereby no single shot lives as a whole, but rather as a collection of project, sequence or shot assets,'' explained Chris Harvey, visual effects supervisor for Prime Focus VFX in Vancouver. ''Assets could range from models, shaders, animations, scripts, light rigs and anything in-between. These assets would then
be assembled on the fly based on the specific requirements. This facilitated a number of important aspects to our pipeline - artists would always have the latest approved assets regardless of their global location, and we could make changes en masse and have them propagate through various levels of the show, shot, sequence and even across the entire project.''
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BollywoodHungama.com Features | 21 Aug 2009 | 6:54 am
We all know that how Bollywood actors, these days have nose-dived into method acting in order to get into the 'skin' of the character. A perfect example is in the form of the eternal 'Perfectionist' Aamir Khan and his dedication towards any roles that he plays. Seems like, Akshay has decided to walk the same path, but in his impeccable 'Khiladi' style. That explains the reason as to why the actor has been seen sporting a 'Blue;' tattoo on his neck. And the reason is that 'Blue' is also the name of his upcoming underwater action flick starring a whole bunch of B-town residents for company!
Produced by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd. and directed by debutant director Anthony D'souza, Blue has sure spiked up everyone's curiosity with its promise of breathtaking underwater sequences, thrills, adventure and fast paced action. For starters, Akshay Kumar plays the character of a rich businessman who is obsessed with money and is thirsty for more who does not hesitate to flaunt his arrogance and status.
Based on the oceans, the significance of Blue doesn't end here. He even owns a business called 'Blue Shipping & Fisheries'.
Blue's director Anthony thought it would be a brilliant idea to have 'Blue' tattooed on the back of Akshay's neck as it would add 'that' extra edge to his character. While it was sheer presence of mind to call Akshay's character as 'Aarav', as he had already inked his son's name 'Aarav' on his back.
Looks like Akshay has once again proved his dedication to his craft and his penchant for perfection. What really needs to be seen is that whether Akshay's fellow actors go 'Red' looking at Akshay's 'Blue'!
