Tag: india

Warner shakes finger at India over ‘Benjamin Button’

benjaminbuttonindia

Given the recent legal experience Warner Brothers had in court with Fox over rights to ‘Watchmen’ you may think Warner would have little interest in pursuing even more legal battles. However, when it comes to market growth and profitability, these concerns apparently fall by the way side.

With the motion picture market on a consistent boom in India, Warner has issued a warning to anyone who may want to remake ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ to seek legal rights and permission, otherwise face the wrath of the giant in court.

The preemptive stern slap on the hand from Warner came in the form of media advertisements appearing Monday in India after word that Bollywood producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah had considered developing a Hindi-language movie titled ‘Action Replay’. The movie would star Akshay Kumar and the story would be curiously similar to that of ‘Benjamin Button’ about a man who experiences his life aging in reverse.

“We took the step of publishing a notice regarding the possible unauthorized remake of ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ as part of that rigorous defense of our rights, and to ensure that the filmgoing public in India experience our movies in the way that they were intended,” Mumbai-based Warner Bros. India told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. — HR

While I’m a supporter of copyright laws (with all of their flaws) I do sort of find this a little humorous. I’ve never been to India myself, but do have some friends who have been and combined with a casual interest in the culture, it seems that Warner hopes to develop a larger interest in their movies playing in India than is likely. India loves movies, but they have their own market and their own filmmakers and for Warner to be so adamant about this just sort of comes off like they have no sense of humor.

“We hope that this will serve as a deterrent to any filmmaker planning an unauthorized remake,” attorney Chandler Lall said, adding that the Hollywood studio had issued similar notices in the past around such films as “The Departed,” which reportedly is slated for a Bollywood remake by producer Sajid Nadiadwala. — HR

This is yet another example in a long-running series of disputes between Hollywood and Bollywood over rights issues, involving films such as ‘Jerry Maguire’ and the ‘Harry Potter’ series. In regards to past notices, as mentioned above with ‘The Departed’, I wonder whether anything has ever or will ever come of them? Perhaps it’s all just a massive bluff that Warner doesn’t expect the Indian filmmakers to call. On a side note, regarding an Indian remake of ‘The Departed’… which is actually a remake itself of the 2002 Hong Kong film ‘Internal Affairs’ (Mou gaan dou)… how does this fit into their argument? It’s all about legal rights on paper, I suppose.

[source: Hollywood Report]

Review: ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

Travis:

Holy crap! This movie surprised the Hell out of me! I knew this movie was likely going to be good, based simply on the other reviews I’d read and the fact that it’s directed by Danny Boyle. What I didn’t expect was the type of movie I would experience once I planted myself down into the seat. It’s kind of a tough break, as I am still a staunch supporter of ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ for Best Picture, but no other film came close to being a serious competitor than this, and I may even go against the grain and separate my picks for Best Picture/Director based on my seeing ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Danny Boyle (‘Trainspotting’, ‘Sunshine’) is right up there with Darren Aronofsky as one of my top favorite directors working right now that I think are just starting to tap into what they’re potentially capable of. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is Boyle’s newest film, having made huge waves with festival audiences worldwide, the marketing thus far for the film I’ve found doesn’t really give a clear picture of what this story is all about. This is a smart move though, because as an audience we enter the theatre with a very vague, even slightly misleading, notion of what we’re about to see and then it hits us like a ton of bricks. The story follows two Indian brothers as they grow up from young boys into young men. These two brothers are from the slums of India, an area sullied with filth, crime, corruption, violence and pollution. The massive community of ramshackle shacks are deeply rooted in poverty and the children must endure attacks between rival religious sects, unsanitary living conditions, abusive law enforcement officers and the constant risk of being abducted for use as beggars or even prostitutes by organized crime syndicates.

The two brothers, Jamal and Salim, have a very different outlook on life and their potential futures from a very early age. Salim, the older of the two brothers, is ambitious and opportunistic. He looks at the world as his for the taking so long as he’s willing to do whatever is necessary. Jamal, on the other hand, is a simpler boy in the sense that he only wishes for happiness. After the boys’ mother is killed during a violent raid from a rival religious attack, the boys must venture out into the world on their own and learn how to survive by whatever means necessary. Early in this journey, Jamal meets Latika, a girl his age whom he quickly becomes attached to. Through the many hardships and dangerous encounters the three children face, the bond between Jamal and Latika grows stronger and into something more than just friends, whereas the bond between Jamal and his brother grows further apart as Salim slips further down the slippery slope towards a life of crime. In the end, this amazing story is one of enduring love and undying hope despite the most cruel and brutal of circumstances.

Every aspect of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is breathtaking. The film is utterly beautiful, but not necessarily in an “Ivory Merchant” kind of way. Boyle has managed to take some of the most disturbing images of poverty and desolation and turn them into bittersweet poetic landscapes, detailing the supporting character that is Jamal’s world. The cinematography in ‘Slumdog’ is absolutely brilliant, utilizing dramatic lighting that allures but doesn’t distract and the various action-packed chase sequences are masterfully crafted. Perhaps one of the most effective tools in Boyle’s arsenal (and he employed many to great effect) was his incredible use of traditional Indian music with a modern, often hip-hop appeal, that works to set the mood for a clashing of the “old” India with the “new” India. This is a crucial element to Jamal’s story.

So, you’re probably asking yourself where the heck the game show comes into play? I waited this long to bring it up because the game show, while important to the story, is the part that is being marketed to potential audiences. We don’t get to see the “real” grit of the story in the trailers. Jamal manages to land a spot on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? whereas he hopes to win the ultimate prize. No, it’s not the money, but rather a chance to reunite with his long, lost love Latika, who through an unfortunate series of heart-breaking events was separated from Jamal years before his appearance on the game show, which is watched by virtually everyone. He hopes that Latika will see him and make an effort to contact him… the chance at winning money is just a bonus of which he shows little interest in. The amazing thing about this plot, which is creatively woven throughout the film with Jamal’s recollections of his turbulent childhood, is that he manages to get so far in the game because he’s experienced so much in his life and can recall various things that allow for him to answer the questions.

Danny Boyle has created a compelling modern fairy tale with international appeal. His film succeeds on so many levels and truly does deserve so massive award recognition. Don’t be mistaken, this is a foreign film and certainly deserves being nominated for Best Foreign Film, although it probably will not. Finally, for those of you more familiar with Indian film, Boyle treats us at the end during the credits with a full-length Bollywood style song and dance set to enjoy.

[Overall: 5 stars out of 5]

Review: ‘The Namesake’

Zac:

Mira Nair has taken this adaptation of the novel of the same name and turned in a touching and entertaining movie that while remaining constantly enjoyable, never rises above being anything but pretty good.
Irfan Khan, Tabu, and Kal Penn share the lead in this movie with each giving us a fascinating look into Indian culture and the effect of raising a family in a country far from home can have on everyone involved. Ifran Khan is great as Ashoke Ganguli and we open the film with him in a train crash. We then go on to see the arrangement of Ashoke and his wife Ashima (Tabu) and they quickly move to America where Ashoke has been studying for his PHD. Gogol (Penn) is born as is his sister Sonya and the movie quickly moves up to Gogol’s high school graduation. The movie jumps large blocks of time though out though we don’t really feel like we miss a whole lot, which is a good thing. Along the course of the film we get to see Ashoke and Ashima’s adjusting to America, numerous visits back to India, we follow Gogol’s love interests as well as a discovery of his heritage through his family.
Kal Penn does some pretty good work here and I would love to see him get to spread his wings a bit more like this with some meatier roles. He is able to handle most of the drama well but he is not performing at the same league as Khan and Tabu. His love interests also do admirable jobs but leave you feel like we could have gotten more from them as both characters and actresses.
Tabu is just fantastic as the mother as the emotional core of the film. She is in the middle of everything and deals with a lot of the drama in the film but we get some great looks into her emotions as she deals with all the changes around her. I don’t think I have seen her in anything else, but I hope she pops up more cause she is great and a real find in this movie.
The movie as a whole is good, with some great camera work at Taj Mahal. The jumps in time are a bit jarring, but don’t let us feel like we missed anything to important, and there are some really great genuine moments along the way. The film just lacked something to give it that punch of greatness and I really don’t know what it is, but it’s missing something. Either way it is a film that is definitely worth your time if at all interested and for anyone up for a good family drama with a cultural twist.

[rating: 4/5]