Knots Urbane - My first feature film

Seems like its all coming together now. The feature length film that I wrote a year back will finally be filmed in Feb 2006. Here's a first cut promo that I drafted over the weekend.

Also, listen to the theme song for the trailer. Right click on the link and save the mp3. Let me know what you guys think.

Artistic license for sub-titling

This is pretty hilarious!
Gives you the artistic license to subtitle old desi flicks. Check out my versions.

A scene from disco dancer, interpreted my way:)

An old tamil flick with a samurai swang:)


Now go make your own versions. Enjoy the weekend.

A dreary dream !

I woke up this morning, vividly recounting every frame, details of a dream that ended a minute or two before then. A rarity of sorts given that it was a clear state of REM. It was her. Its been almost 8 years now since that last phone call I made on her wedding eve.

The imagery, ironically, included all that ambient life that brought us together - design studio, war room in a print journal office and that coffee shop known for it cozy booths as much as for its extra chicory coffee.

It was dusk. She had the same heart stopping smile and the immaculate radiance that drew me to her initially. She talked - about her life, mostly about her kids. I woke up right around when she held my elbows and said that her marriage was failing.

Dreams - Do you act on them?

I wish I could. Perhaps not in this case.

I have always felt that our creative energies and lateral thinking is a direct manifestation of our dreams. Charlie Kaufman, for example, couldn't have conceived a screenplay, story idea like Being John Malkovich, if not for his twisted dreams. Einstein, I am sure dreamt of his body mass serving as a source of energy in lieu with or leading to his theory of relativity.

But the bigger question is ..

Dreams - Do they manifest your evolution as a better person?.. let alone the innumerable theoretical / scientific extrapolations that can be drawn from it.

The Mistle(toe) Legend and other weekend happenings

Syriana is a well researched movie. Has a great appeal for the erudite masses. The narration goes back and forth between the corporate skulduggery in the merger of two oil companies and its repercussions on ordinary lives. The nightcap (Courvoisier XO Imperial) that followed that viewing had a great appeal too, for a repulsively cold and windy night.

So boys! the next big asset to look for is a toe cleavage...as overheard at a holiday party. As weird as it sounds, just fake it and show them your admiration for this new fe(a)t of accomplishment. But, dont let it be a substitute for cleavages as we know by conventional wisdom or mojo shall we say. As the christmas legend has it, Mistle(toe) woes or what?

With mighty eaze, she compared and contrasted President Chavez and Venezuelan affairs to the motives leading to the annexure of Iraq. She was sporting cool combat style pants. Bespectacled. Graceful charm. She is a resident...at a DC hospital ! Perhaps she could practice in Atlanta. Keep the holiday parties coming!!

Wish me luck in trying to fake a midtown neighborhood for Jersey City for the shoot of Orange. I think with some ambient ship horn sounds and tight frames showing red bricked buildings, I should be good to go. The dry run on sunday was satisfactory. Chinese lanterns as replacements for professional grade light equipments ain't a bad idea.

Re-discovering this amazing artist from Senegal - Baaba Maal. I had been to his concert three years back at the variety playhouse. Absolutely mesmerizing voice - Especially this track titled Miyaabele.

Orange

I finally am all set to shoot 'Orange' the weekend of 17th December. Planning the production details for this project took me longer than I thought it would. Luckily, I have an Executive Producer whose power of persistence has been start-up company worthy.

I managed to romp in quite a remarkable DP talent in Travis. He is an indie film director's delight - provides creative, cost effective ways to achieve soderbergh-isque cinematography finesse.

Orange - the title of the film occurred to me this morning. Thanks to my ever dependable muse, BB. The title has been worked into the script at the right point to diminish its abstractness. Yes! Yes!! Krystoff Kieslowski will be proud that his color coded genre of film themes is getting a 21st century extension.

This film is a tribute to the murder of Rigoberto Alpizar at the Miami Airport yesterday and Jean Charlez De Menezes, the innocent brazilian who was shot a few days after the London subway bombings.

The real fear is fear itself!!! The manufactured, color coded fear is not going to make the world a better place to live.

Fear and Loathing in Vegas - strictly on business

• KA - The new cirque du soleil show @ The MGM Grand sure has a hydraulic center stage and all that bling bling, but the production aesthetics arent as inventive as "O"
• The gondoliers at the Venetian are more ambidextrous than the real ones. Bit of a idiosyncratic contrast to have visited the real deal and the fake one within the span of a month. You can tell which one 's the fake from these pictures.

• My company meets every year at Vegas. Four years back, I used to work with people who were like "where's the party dude". The same ones now are "My 10 month old keeps me awake all night". Quite a journey. Changes around you are inevitable.
• Got me a 2 hour education about Rodeos and their lifestyles and PBR events - On my flite into Vegas, I had the strongest patience of sitting beside a self-proclaimed redneck couple from Pensacola. Believe it or not, they had metal studded leather cases for their cell phones that matched their rodeo hats and their leather boots.
  
• What kind of name is Gaylord for an Indian restaurant - Only at the Rio!!!
• All laws of probability and regression equations will fail you to extrapolate the numbers to bet on at the roulette table. Stared at the betting display near the table for 25 minutes to zero in on a few numbers. Lost 40 bucks in the next 2 minutes.
• The University of Nevada's school of business administration offers a degree program in gaming management. I suggest that the screenwriter for Ocean's 13 do a crash course there to save the ignominy of Ocean's 12
  
• Watched Michelangelo Antonioni's Le Eclisse (The Eclipse) on the way back from Vegas. Thanks to my laptop's extended battery life. Take world class, imaginative photographs and sew them together with a stark, vaguely punctuated story line - thats what Le Eclisse was all about. It sustained 2 hours of my interest. Each frame had visual splendor that strangely alters your moods - no magic, no hypnosis.