Bollywood

Till now the making of any film had been only a part of the promotional package of the movie before Living is easy with eyes closed Misunderstand all you see It’s getting hard to be someone but it all works out It doesn’t matter much to me
its release or an additional feature on the DVD after its release. Chale Chalo takes a step further If you love men and they are unfriendly, look into your love; if you rule men and they are unruly, look into your wisdom; if you are courteous to them and they do not respond, look into your courtesy. If what you do is vain, always seek within.
in the direction. Just the thought of making a full-length feature film for the big screen on the Her gentle limbs did she undress, And lay down in her loveliness.
making of a film like Lagaan is as implausible as the story idea of Lagaan was, when it was There’s an alternative. There’s always a third way, and it’s not a combination of the other two ways — it’s a different way.
conceptualized and repeatedly rejected. But then Lagaan turned up against all odds and so does the Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
disciple film on its making. Chale Chalo – The Lunacy of Filmmaking is essentially for lunatics, We talk of choosing our friends, but friends are self-elected.
fanatics and crazy lovers of Hindi cinema. Warning: For those who disapprove of the documentary Free will is a golden thread running through the frozen matrix of fixed events.
format of the film, this film is surely not your cup of tea. For all others, you just need a deep Almost anything is easier to get into than to get out of.
passion for films and an open mind. Write your own movie review of Chale Chalo The film starts Let all your views in life be directed to a solid, however moderate, independence; without it no man can be happy, nor even honest.
with a prologue by Ashutosh Gowariker, the director of Lagaan, where he talks about the conventional POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
norms and rules of Hindi filmmaking and how a filmmaker is not supposed to think outside that I grew intoxicated with my own eloquence.
domain. Ashutosh himself confesses of having made two films before Lagaan with a similar outlook – Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind.
Pehla Nasha and Baazi (interestingly he doesn’t take credit or even mentions his intermediate film As you begin to define your life in terms of goals, you automatically increase your level of excitement, aliveness, enthusiasm, self-confidence, and self-motivation.
Izzat Ki Roti). Chale Chalo starts in 1998 when Ashutosh had a rough story idea, which he narrated There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. KJV
to Aamir Khan and Aamir instantly disapproved of his unconventional yarn requesting him to drop the There is no arguing with him, for if his pistol misses fire, he knockes you down with the butt end of it.
idea right away. This hurt Ashutosh but he took the challenge of staying with his idea and wrote The understanding of art depends finally upon one’s willingness to extend one’s humanity and one’s knowledge of human life.
down the detailed script. When he re-approached Aamir after six months and asked him to listen to Find joy and happiness in each stage of life — as you live it.
his script-narration, Aamir was totally reluctant. However Ashutosh persuaded him to give it a With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway about the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
listen and at the end of the detailed narration, Aamir was a changed man. His preconceived ‘NO’ Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm, wrinkles the soul.
turned into an enthusiastic ‘YES’ and he even decided to produce the film when Ashutosh couldn’t I like business because it is competitive, because it rewards deeds rather than words. I like business because it compels earnestness and does not permit me to neglect today’s task while thinking about tomorrow. I like business because it undertakes to please, not reform; because it is honestly selfish, thereby avoiding hypocrisy and sentimentality. I like business because it promptly penalizes mistakes, shiftlessness and inefficiency, while rewarding well those who give it the best they have in them. Lastly, I like business because each day is a fresh adventure.
find a financer to his avant-garde idea. So far so good, this story of Chale Chalo till now was much If two New Hampshiremen aren’t a match for the devil, we might as well give the country back to the Indians.
known through the media circuits. The unknown part starts herein and the movie throws out a huge Liberals are very broadminded: they are always willing to give careful consideration to both sides of the same side.
load of Lagaan making trivia. One of the first members to join the production team of Lagaan was Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while.
Nitin Chandrakant Desai, the art director, with whom Ashutosh set out for a location hunt throughout Love all God’s creatures, the animals, the plants. Love everything to perceive the divine mystery in all.
India to find his town of Champaner in the latter half of 1998. After futile attempts in Rajasthan, If we suffer in the sufferings of others and feel happy in the happiness of others, we are loving God.
Nasik, UP, et al. they zeroed in on the Bhuj village in Kutch by May 1999. Two first-timers who People are always talking about tradition, but they forget we have a tradition of a few hundred years of nonsense and stupidity, that there is a tradition of idiocy, incompetence and crudity.
joined in the production team of Lagaan on Aamir’s request were Reena Dutta – Aamir’s ex-wife and “Hope”
Satyajit Bhatkal – Aamir’s childhood friend and the ensuing director of Chale Chalo who gave up his War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.
law practice to join the Lagaan team. The documentary focuses on some interesting aspects of the When we have enough confidence in the discerning power of the Spirit, we stop worrying so much about forms and are concerned more to open up what is really deep within us, things that we cannot even find words or sounds for. Then the Spirit translates and transmits our strivings. We can take our strivings, even those we cannot express, and know that as we silently, prayerfully direct them toward the Father and the Son, the Spirit will translate them perfectly. In turn, the Spirit can communicate the Lord’s response as can no other power. A great confidence and a great freedom can come when we trust the Spirit for that.
making of Lagaan like how a building in Kutch was transformed into a hotel to accommodate the 300 To be able to walk under the branches of a tree that you have planted is really to feel you have arrived with your garden. So far we are on the way: we can now stand beside ours.
plus crewmembers. The nervousness and apprehension shown in both Aamir and Ashutosh’s mind on the I claim that in losing the spinning wheel we lost our left lung. We are, therefore, suffering from galloping consumption. The restoration of the wheel arrests the progress of the fell disease.
first day of shoot is very much palpable. One of the best parts of the documentary is the Have you watched the fairies when the rain is done, Spreading out their little wings to dry them in the sun?
behind-the-scene look at the climax scene picturization (shot well in advance), which included a if i should enter the house and speak with my own voice, at last, about its awful furnitutre, pulling apart the covering over the dusty bodies; the randy father, the husband holding ice in his hand like a blessing, the mother bleeding into herself and the small imploding girl, i say if i should walk into that web, who will come flying after me, leaping tall buildings? you?
record 10,000 extras that turn in on the final day of the match in the film. To handle such a The true character of a race must be measured by the character of its woman.
massive crowd is no easy task and to appease these free junior artists, Aamir even crooned the Aati Moral education, as I understand it, is not about inculcating obedience to law or cultivating self-virtue, it is rather about finding within us an ever-increasing sense of the worth of creation. It is about how we can develop and deepen our intuitive sense of beauty and creativity.
Kya Khandala number for them. The scenes showcasing Aamir’s birthday celebration on sets, cast and DRAMATIST, n. One who adapts plays from the French.
crew playing Holi, a real match played between the Indian and British team where the latter win and Swallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.
a British crew couple marrying by traditional Indian rituals truly focus the spirit of the Lagaan Imagining in excited reverie That the future years had come, Dancing to a frenzied drum, Out of the murderous innocence of the sea.
team. The better part of the documentary is that it is chronologically edited and does not muddle up Man’s knowledge of science has clearly outstripped his knowledge of man. Our only hope of making the atom servant rather than master lies in education, in a broad liberal education where each student within his capacity can free himself from trammels of dogmatic prejudice and apply his educational accoutrement to besetting social and human problems.
like the standard ‘making of films’ formats that feature on a DVD. Also the pace is fast and the When a top executive is selecting his key associates, there are only two qualities for which he should be willing to pay almost any price — taste and judgment. (Almost everything else can be bought by the yard.)
flow does not evoke boredom. Background score used from the original movie soundtrack adds to the The true meaning of religion is thus not simply morality, but morality touched by emotion.
effect. Thankfully the documentary also stays away from being outright preachy. Monologues of In arguing too, the parson own’d his skill, For e’en though vanquish’d he could argue still; While words of learned length and thundering sound Amaz’d the gazing rustics rang’d around; And still they gaz’d, and still the wonder grew That one small head could carry all he knew.
Ashutosh, Aamir and Reena Dutta cover a major part of the film though each has been recorded We are at war between consciousness and nature, between the desire for permanence and the fact of flux. It is ourself against ourselves.
individually (seemingly after Aamir and Reena’s breakup). On the flipside, one wishes that a strong A bad past is no excuse for a bad present.
voiceover (like that of Amitabh Bachchan in the original film) could have invigorated the Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.
proceedings more. Director Bhatkal’s narration falls feeble at times. Moreover his repeated If A equal success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play, and Z keeping your mouth shut.
recollection of his wife Swati towards the end tends to get monotonous. Also the timing of a film is Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.
a little late. Nevertheless Bhatkal makes a sincere attempt at celebrating the spirit of Lagaan There are more men ennobled by study than by nature.
without any money-making intentions (as the film has been hardly publicized). At the end, Chale Never put your trust in slogans.
Chalo may go in as an important lesson in filmmaking schools. A must see for all aspiring The only thing that ought to be put off until tomorrow is the thing that never ought to be done.
filmmakers!

Original post by sonia