AWKWARD IS BEAUTIFUL - END OF THE FUCKING WORLD

Another Netflix series. I had my reservations. After Breaking bad, nothing could quite match up. And why would this be any different?

But I was pleasantly surprised. I read the graphic novel, so I was a reluctant starter. The first two episodes were decent. But then the characters came into their own.

What was so delicious about this was the awkwardness. People kiss awkward. Dance bad. Run funny. Freckles arent airbrushed over. Bad hair days are plenty.

And its all this that makes you love the characters more. Because we all are like that. Awkward. Tripping, spitting, bunch of loonies.

This happened even in Arjun Reddy. Where the first time the two leads kiss, is not this picture perfect kiss but an awkward moment, which made it all the more watchable.

So the next time you make a movie or write a story. It would be nice if you could think of this. How can the characters stumble a little? Trip a little? Say something off putting? Embarass themselves?

For thats how we all are. Perfectly imperfect.

HOW TO WRITE GOOD DIALOGUE IN A SCREENPLAY

Speak it out. Loudly if required. I dont care if you appear like a deranged idiot while doing it.

Just speak it out loud. And do it a few times over.

And then, at some point, it will sound just right. Just crisp enough to pronounce. Just easy enough to understand. Now write it down.

Then move on to the next character and speak out again. Continue this process.

Once you get to the end of the scene, go back and read it all over again, aloud. You may find little bits  of dialogue, that stick out like stubble patches. Shave them over. Clean em up. Until its all just right.

And how do we know,  if its just right? Speak it out mate. You will know.

After four years of trying to figure it out, I promise you, this is the only way I have found.

At the very least, your dialogue will be good. I dont promise you Tarantino. But  I promise you good, crisp, legible dialogue.  And for now, that will do. For this draft, that will do!

Take a room

Dear women, stop trying to know him better. If you know him.. truly truly know him, you would not wanna be with him.

And dear men, what do you mean you wanna have a good time with her? Why would you wanna listen to her, trying to impress you with half baked references to whatever little cultural overlap she has with your tastes.

Cut short that bloody conversation at the coffee table, pay the fucking bill and take a room. If you dont already have easy private access to a reasonable sized bed that is.

Its your best shot at a fleetingly fulfilling evening.

The Dual Nature of being a writer...

There is a conflict always...

You got to go out there and live a life... So you can  have something valid to say..

And yet, writing by itself, is an introverted, by my own desk, kind of a job.

I wont tell you how to solve this. I only wish to point out. You figure it out. And if you do, let me know as well.... I am on facebook.

Cheers....

Prasthanam and Tone

I watched Prasthanam today.
And What hit me in the cerebellum was the tone. Now I am speaking of tone on two levels.

TONE with regard to visuals

This is easier to understand. When the movie begins, the black and white, unified the image and the result was an amazingly dramatic beginning. Also, the cinematographer went the extra mile to make sure that there was a heavy contrast running through the image.

This kept me focussed and I was in. When the colour seeped in, there was a loss of this unity. There were multi colored costumes, there were green walls (which really felt out of place in this dark film)...

So a good que to pick from would be Gangs of Wasseypur, where the desaturated colours are consistent throughout, and so there is a visual unity to the film. This might seem superficial but it helps focus on the story and enter the world more completely. After all, the most time is perhaps spent on penning the screenplay and why would you not want one to submit to it entirely.


TONE with regards to storytelling itself

This is slightly more ambiguous, but far more essential to the success of a story.

Prasthanam was fantastic. I loved how flawed and grey some of the characters. I love the arcing and I fell hard for it.

But there are portions which easily could be edited out. I felt these parts might as well be replaced with Fair and Lovely ads instead. Atleast the audience will know its safe to go take a piss and the producers need not bullshit about their desire to make more money.

Now again, I wish to draw a parallel to Gangs of Wasseypur, where even the love and romance, belonged to the world of the story. It was integral. The music and songs as well.

Over all, I love the movie. I am glad Chicago threw up an ultra cold day. Gave me a chance to windback and catch up on some writing and watching goals.

If you havent watched Prasthanam yet, do it now. May the light shine bright and cut through the thickest of darkness... Cheers...

Wait Until Dark...

Every now and then, comes a movie, that is made not for you or for me, but because the makers fancied a miniscule little idea. North By Northwest exists solely because Hitchcock wanted a grand finale chase sequence culminating at Mount Rushmore. Inglorious Basterds exists because Tarantino wanted to see  a Nazi girl burn Hitler in a theatre.

And one such movie is Wait Until Dark. The whole of the movie, exists solely because the makers wanted to pit a blind Hepburn against a ruthless criminal in the absolute darkness of a house.

The rest of the movie is a complex, sometimes tough to believe, plot points. But when the darkness does arrive, I can only imagine what it might have felt like to be seated in a theater. This is what great movie moments are all about. About the experience, that makes us wonder and gasp and root for our characters.

 And I cant help but feel at a loss. For I am so born in the wrong decade. Perhaphs, this masterpiece of a film, I shall never experience in a movie theatre, in the dark, with a group of fellow audience.

The 50 best movies as I see them!

My top 50 films (Give or take a few)!

At the fag end of my two year stint at Film School... Here are the 50 films, I totally consider the coolest. The list is Biased and absolutely personal. I loved watching these films and there is no particular order in which I like them...

There are so many more, I loved, but these blew me away. It could be a performance, the story, the world within the film or just the one liners, but each film had something so unique to offer me, that I was taken aback...

Each of these, changed me forever, by that little bit... and hence, this is a list of what makes me (partially atleast)

Here goes...

1.Almost Famous - Cameron Crowe
2.Annie Hall - Woody Allen
3.Boyhood - Richard Linklater
4.Birdman - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
5.Cast Away - Robert Zemeckis
6.Cool Hand Luke - Stuart Rosenberg
7.Crimes and Misdemeanours - Woody Allen
8.Die Hard 1 - John McTiernan
9.Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind - Michel Gondry
10.Gangs Of Wasseypur 1 - Anurag Kashyap
11.Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 - Anurag Kashyap
12.Gone Girl
13.Good Will Hunting - Gus Van Sant
14.Grease - Randal Kleiser
15.Ground Hog Day - Harold Ramis
16.Hannah and Her Sisters - Woody Allen
17.His Girl Friday - Howard Hawks
18.In the Mood For Love - Wong Kar Wai
19.In Bruges - Martin MacDonagh
20.Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino
21.L.A Confidential - Curtis Hanson
22.Magic Mike - Steven Soderbergh
23.Magnolia - Paul Thomas Anderson
24.Dirty Harry,Magnum Force - Ted Post
25.Memories of A Murder - Bong Joon Ho
26.Misery - Rob Reiner
27.Mission Impossible 3 - JJ Abrams
28.Never On Sunday - Jules Dassin
29.Night Crawler - Dan Gilroy
30.Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock
31.Punch Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson
32.Purple Rose of Cairo - Woody Allen
33.Queen - Vikas Bahl
34.Raging Bull - Martin Scorsese
35.Sankarabharanam - K.Vishwanath
36.Sunset Blvd. - Billy Wilder
37.Terminator 2 - James Cameron
38.The Bad News Bears - Michael Ritchie
39.The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Sergio Leone
40.The Graduate - Mike Nichols
41.The Naked City - Jules Dassin
42.Thieves Highway - Jules Dassin
43.Tootsie - Sidney Pollack
44.Whiplash - Damien Chazelle