Sunday, May 4, 2014

The story behind the making of - 'SIRIENSTEIN'


SIRIENSTEIN

 

It was the week before last, at MICA (Mudra Institute of Communication Ahmedabad) https://www.facebook.com/MICA.Ahmedabad, when Prof. Pravin Mishra after his lecture told us all (the class of forty execs) to divide ourselves into groups and make a 3 minutes long AV in just one night with absolutely NO budget.  The theme for the story he said had to be around social media/digital innovations. I was quite reluctant in the beginning, obviously for someone like me, who hasn’t ever shot a video other than some bits and pieces of my nephew’s dramebazi—this wasn’t the most interesting task. However, what’s assigned is to be done. At least trying is important —is what I strongly believe in.
So with this thought the work began, thinking of a concept was one of the most important tasks also the one which would trigger conflict of opinions, I soon realized—especially when you were starting the work at 8.00 p.m. and the next morning the movie had to be presented. Just in the very beginning, I had a few creative differences with the group that I was in (a bunch of very good friends), hence I exited to join another group which majorly consisted of people, I hadn’t even spoken much to before this project, and thank God this happened-I’ve found great friends in them. 

In not more than half an hour we decided what was to be done. We had the concept and we were writing the script, backdrops/locations, etc.  We knew that we were running out of time, hence we started shooting (on a digi camera : =D) with the dialogues half written.  The whole shooting experience was a lot of fun and trust me, I have never laughed this much in one night, in my entire life. We wrapped up the shooting at 3.00 a.m. to edit the movie. And then, technology played dirty games with us —none of us had worked on Movie maker hence were not able to upload videos on it.  We tried converting the files to every possible format which was used for movie maker, but no result. We kept on struggling with this and it was 9.00 a.m. the time when we had to present the film. So we decided to show the videos separately, which we did. This was very funny and embarrassing especially when the other groups were showing some fabulously made AVs. But like I said trying is important. And to our surprise, we lapped up a lot of praise from the professor, who apparently was judging this primarily on the concept.

Introducing:

Sushant Lakshmynarayan  






Pallavi Petoo Singh


 






 Directed by:


Mukta Kalwani  















 Aman Arora





 












Camera woman:

Tejal Parab



 










Technical Consultant:

Shravan Namburi



 








Art consultant:

Vaibhav Madhavan


 











Publicist:

Aman Arora

Cast:

Ankush  Bhandarkar as Perfectionist  Boss


 








Vaibhav Madhavan as Vodafone Customer-Service Manager
 
and

Shravan Namburi  and  Aman Arora  as other patients at the psychiatrist's clinic

Plot:

Sushant is a loner and a tech freak. Because of not giving enough attention to his girlfriend-Aisha, she breaks up with him. He gets a an iPhone and is trying to set up  an alarm on it when the app Siri speaks to him, he is taken aback initially but then gradually starts liking Siri and gets obsessed with it/her. He speaks to her day and night, at office and at home. One fine morning when Siri asks him about confirming his meetings he realizes that its/her voice has changed. This sways his world, he goes to the Vodafone centre to check why ‘his Siri,’ would sound different and where has she gone? Apparently, the application has gotten updated and hence the voice has changed but Sushant being in his blind love/obsession for Siri wouldn’t want to believe that Siri is an app. He is devastated, and mourns over Siri’s absence all the time and has to see a psychiatrist. One evening when he is waiting for the bus at the station, a woman with a green umbrella  asks him the way to Bandra, he stands rooted and shocked, looks at her and shouts, “Siri!”

Here is the AV:




Do leave in your comments about how you liked the film.

Friday, February 8, 2013

A style-laden book launch...



Had immense fun in managing the launch of -
                                        
The Style Diary of a Bollywood Diva

by Kareena Kapoor  with Rochelle Pinto

(First book under the much awaited Shobhaa Dé Books)

on February 6, 2013, at Shangri – La Hotel, Mumbai.The launch was studded with renowned names  such as Manish Malhotra, Queenie Dhody, Ramona Narang, Pria Kataria Puri,  Sheetal Mafatlal, Rashmi Uday Singh, Vikarm Phadnis and many others. Toast of Moet & Chandon was raised to celebrate the release and special Penguin hampers were given away to two of the most bebolicious/stylish women present in the audience. Do not miss to notice the style diva badges...

 The unveiling moment!
 The Style Diva!
 Sheetal Mafatlal & Manish Malhotra
 A chit-chat moment between the author and the publicist!
 Lets raise a toast of Moet  to Kareena's style diary
 Vikram Phadnis, Poonam & me










Saturday, December 22, 2012

The Despicable Rapeublic




The Delhi bus gang-rape has re-instilled the horror in our minds of staying in a country, where major security problems are taken with a pinch of salt by the govt. NGOs and feminist organizations have been crying out for years to increase the security for women, to include sex education in the curriculum—to the ears of our indifferent government—filled with extremely misogynistic ministers who are in a way or the other, instrumental in violence against women. It has come to a situation now—that you sweat profusely when a woman from your family goes out of the house.
There is a need for a complete change in the attitude towards women. Women's commodification and the gender-bias approach in films, schools, and offices needs radical reform. And while that process is taking place, we need on-ground changes, such as better policing, change in the education system, and more.
Btw, sorry Mr. Katju – I know this gang-rape is not the only problem in India. But it reflects the upbringing of the people in our country, hence a graver problem. And the protest—unfortunately in this country, is important to get yourself heard. It’s not ‘hue and cry’ in vain.

What according to you is the solution? Death punishment for the accused? Stricter Laws? Social Change?

Friday, May 18, 2012

The Futile Walk

I walked foolish, I walked sane, I walked naked in the rain
I walked till eternity, little by little
For every step was a phase in itself
A phase of carefree tenderness
A phase of careful go-getter
A phase of bullied me
A phase of self-absorbed me
A phase of, me the rebel
A phase of evolution of thoughts.

The pace changed with every phase
Sometimes there was a desert of joy
Sometimes it was solitude my best society
I walked in a flock, guess I even left them behind
Some more joined and left again, cause nothing I had was truly mine.

I entered the land of known-unknowns and realized,
These are the ones I’ll have to walk with for years
They nudged me, I wanted to stop and rest
But there was never a choice, So now I walk with them
And am one of them and yet I walk alone.

I walk today, the scenery changes
Its morn, its noon, its eve, its night
I walk on the seen paths
And then come the unseen ones
And then the seen
And at times ones never known.

I walk through the woods
I walk through the streets
Through markets
Through theatres
Through brothel
Through taverns
Through corporates
Through houses
And I walk not knowing why.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I believe in NO
I believe in None

I believe-un-believe and Not believe at all
I don’t believe in you
Though you sound promising, and so I try to believe
Thus firm up my disbelief

I want to believe! Badly do
But the disbelief has taken over me
I am in the clasps of it and it teaches me to believe
Just believe! Just believe in disbelief.

A moment of belief even in myself would bloat me up
But disbelief in the other moment deflates my vanity, -
It questions my sanity. I believe-un-believe if I am sane or not
I question the belief of believing in myself.

You say you believe in me but do you believe in the belief of believing?
Yes, you believe in just being and leaving

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Clinical Communication Skills

Clinical Communication Skills
Emerging Backhand For Designer Doctors

Dr Vivek Chhabra DNB, Faculty, Clinical Communication Skills, UK

Follow the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St6g04cVLf4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvHRvd0iX64&feature=relmfu


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI9ov0EySlM&feature=relmfu


Thanks,

Aman :-),

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Pyar ka Panchnama Review


I’ll begin the review of Pyar ka Panchnama with a slightly misogynistic statement. The movie should be prohibited for women. This is because if you go to this movie with a girl be sure that you’ll come out fighting.
The movie has shown the realistic situations but from the perception of a man or I must say you see the real situations from a man’s glasses. Surely the movie misses two sided opinion on the matter, but if you ask me two sided opinions are uncalled for at times. The beginning of the movie is fantabulous with Liquid’s superbly bone tickling, frustrated dialogues. The boys bonding and masti has been shown in a real cool manner. Rajat’s puking at every dhaba and commode after getting sloshed and Liquid’s shouting at every other person venting out his office frustration is highly amusing. The boys’ life is shown filled with fun, frolic and friendship until women enter their lives.
Rajo (Rajat) who is the charming lover boy starts dating a girl after meeting her at a Karaoke night. Rajat and Neha are shown as the conventional babu me – shona me couple. Rajo and Neha’s PDA and cuddling romance irks Rajat’s flatmates a little. Rajat wants to avoid it and so Rajo and Neha move into another flat together. Believe me their shifting together can run shivers down the spine of guys who are planning to move into a live-in relationship. Rajo is the one who has to wash all the dishes, clean the house, go out shopping with Neha for curtains and crockery missing the cricket matches, suffer her nagging and finally cuddle his babu. There is a little exaggeration in the presentation of this couple but is not too far away from reality either. The girlfriend in Rajo’s case has been shown as a nagging machine who at times would sulk on the things which Rajo wouldn’t even know. His pent up frustration is again vented out in a 5 min frustration speech which is extremely hilarious.
Vikrant & Riya: Here is a handsome dude and his hot-bod girlfriend who seems to be suffering with satyriasis . She is dating Chaudhary while she’s still not out of her ex-boyfriend. She has been shown to be sleeping with a number of other guys as well and finds it cool and flaunts it. At the same time the ex-boyfriend is still chasing her and sends her gifts and flowers also threatens Vikrant to leave her. He also starts stalking Vikrant. Riya goes to Varun’s (ex-boyfriend) place to pacify him when he is crying and succumbs into making out with him. Now to keep herself guilt free, she confesses this to Vikrant only to leave him in a fit of rage. This part of the story shows the changing norms of the society, as Chaudhary had accepted all of Riya’s previous sexual encounters and affairs but couldn’t accept her infidelity while she was with him. Also this part of the story shows that its' not only men who have been stereotyped as zombies, its time to take a look around and see that women do it too. Time for an egalitarian society :-)
Nishant & Charu : This is the perfect case of an office chick's exploitative tricks. Although Charu has a long-distance affair with a guy she is truly committed to. She needs a shoulder in the new town to adjust and enjoy. For this she woos a knave guy who’s not been much into girls before, Liquid. She makes him pay her beauty parlor bills, complete her office work, take her out to parties and tours. She treats Nishant like a page. The guy has been shown as an innocent puppy who follows the girl, despite of knowing that he is being exploited. The background music in which the whining of a dog can be heard in these scenes is amusing. The enlightenment dawns upon him only when Charu chides him like a cur out of her way, once her boyfriend comes back.
The story could be marked by a little degree of hyperbole but will never make you shriek out, “No it doesn’t happen!” Although the scenes when the women force to accompany men to go to Goa look a little incredible. Still the super hilarious dialogues, perfect timing of expressions make all the three actors babbar shers. The actresses have a done a great job too especially Ishita who plays Neha's part in the film. The movie has a great entertainment and information (;-) Wink) value. All in all a must watch for all the men!