tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post7785964457832756468..comments2024-03-27T14:57:37.031+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: Overheard at Cinefan; and moron categoriesJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-19707513127532778602007-07-28T05:54:00.000+05:302007-07-28T05:54:00.000+05:30Poor guy who asked about scenes. Our local newspap...Poor guy who asked about scenes. Our local newspaper would often try and make movies like "Police Academy" sound saucy with captions like "Exciting, sexciting fun." <BR/><BR/>ggggophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13152025930955161430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-71576111446645554822007-07-27T14:35:00.000+05:302007-07-27T14:35:00.000+05:30CCC: or "blooper". We remain grateful for small me...CCC: or "blooper". We remain grateful for small mercies...Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-31554092471430739962007-07-27T13:32:00.000+05:302007-07-27T13:32:00.000+05:30In other news, here’s proof that I'm now a Cinefan...In other news, here’s proof that I'm now a Cinefan veteran: I've been quoted in more stories about the festival this year than I've actually written. And one of them called me “Jai Arjun Singh, a local blooger...” Yay yay.<BR/><BR/>Hahaha. But at least he didn't call you 'Jai Arjun Singh, a local booger', no?Cute Chunky Chickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10646563834272026024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-55349635950048460562007-07-27T09:48:00.000+05:302007-07-27T09:48:00.000+05:30Neha: just to clarify, I didn't watch anything but...Neha: just to clarify, I didn't watch anything but mainstream Bollywood (and the very lowbrow mainstream Bollywood of the 1980s) until I was around 13. Also, the films I'm talking about in this post aren't necessarily "arty (subtle, realist, slow)". <BR/><BR/>And don't knock your tastes because you liked Shammi Kapoor films!Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-22983263714424125742007-07-27T08:27:00.000+05:302007-07-27T08:27:00.000+05:30Oh I am at the other end of the spectrum (with res...Oh I am at the other end of the spectrum (with respect to you). My parents would love watching these arty (realist and subtle and slow) movies when my brother and I were kids. The halls used to be empty and I remember just moving around trying my best to ignore the big screen. Probably it doesnt say much about my tastes but as kid the only movie I could watch would probably have Shummi Kapoor in it. <BR/>Then I lived with my uncle's family for a bit and he had a habit of turning on movies on TV, which would bound to be hard to stomach, and leaving the room. I would wonder into the living room and often find myself staring at something that was so disturbing that I would spend the rest of the night trying to get the scenes out of my head.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-73609012887135689452007-07-27T07:34:00.000+05:302007-07-27T07:34:00.000+05:30Nightwatchmen: happily, and strangely, there hasn'...Nightwatchmen: happily, and strangely, there hasn't been much problem with cellphone users at the last 2-3 editions of Cinefan. On the rare occasions that a stray phone does go off during a screening, people lose no time in hissing the offender out of the auditorium.<BR/><BR/>Anuj: didn't think too much of it. Would have liked to be able to tell people airily, "Y'know, I saw this great Tunisian film the other night" (because that's a sentence I haven't spoken yet), but just didn't find it very involving. Loved a couple of individual shots though, like the ones at the railway tracks.<BR/><BR/>Tipu: thanks for that comment. Lots I can relate to there, and it clarifies some of the stuff I left out - like the "never paid their dues" bit.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-8695465668662906982007-07-27T07:24:00.000+05:302007-07-27T07:24:00.000+05:30Alok: I didn't mean to imply that I've lost those...Alok: I didn't mean to imply that I've lost those lonesome feelings and now live in a comfortable bubble where everyone around me discusses "eccentric" films. In fact, these days the feeling of discomfort/being cut off is often heightened - especially when I see people discussing a foreign film that they've seen in isolation, without having any context of the director's career (or without being too interested in cinematic history in general).Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-78395635886747110002007-07-27T07:17:00.000+05:302007-07-27T07:17:00.000+05:30Ghost of TTG: very possessive about humour/cynicis...Ghost of TTG: very possessive about humour/cynicism. No silly social institution will take those away from me. <BR/><BR/>Vaibhav: I didn't say there was anything "wrong with democratisation" in an overriding sense, I simply said I feel personally ambivalent about it in this case - probably because of sour grapes/general insecurity. It could be a version of a thought process that has defined human attitudes for so long: why should kids today have what I didn't have in my time?Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-31864129908127171902007-07-27T02:25:00.000+05:302007-07-27T02:25:00.000+05:30JW, I am a little mixed about your views on the de...JW, I am a little mixed about your views on the democratization. My experience watching non-commercial movies in Calcutta in the 80s & early 90s has been very much like your's. Thanks to my father, I became aware of such movies in Calcutta at a very young age. But USIS & the local Calcutta film societies were a very closed group. British Council was expensive. In Presidency College in the early 90s some friends & I managed to revive our film club & get some good movies from the Film Federation & Archives folks to show. Later in the 90s I moved to Delhi & depended on a very unreliable public transportation system to get to Sirifort or IIC or the French Embassy from my home in Noida. And once you got there, there was no guarantee that you could get in. It totally depended on the mood of the guards. I have made many trips to these places & come back disappointed after hanging around the gates for up to an hour after the movie started pleading with the powers to let me in. There are many war stories, which warrant something in my own blog :-) But basically, my point is that it was VERY DIFFICULT to watch good movies. And that is why I had only a handful of friends with tastes in movies similar to mine. But now, there is a much wider proliferation of movies thanks to DVDs & so the audience has grown too. I try to think it is all for a good cause. More people wanting to watch non-commercial movies = more distribution of such movies. But I feel the guys today have got it much easier than us. They never paid their dues like we had to. I wish I was born 10 years after I was :-) But then again, in the US where I have been living the past 7 years, I find myself waaay more aware of non-American (& usually, even classic Hollywood) movies than most people I know. Except for a handful, they don't know about these movies. Maybe it is the crowd I hang out with :-) But they know more than me about bad 80s movies, TV shows & (for some strange reason) Chinese martial arts movies. We never bothered with these back in India. Maybe, God forbid, we were too intellectual for our own good?<BR/><BR/>Apologies for the long post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-79990984228529096002007-07-26T23:37:00.000+05:302007-07-26T23:37:00.000+05:30btw, how did you like 'tender is the wolf'? also, ...btw, how did you like 'tender is the wolf'? also, contary to your experience of cinefan this year, mine has been of being surrounded almost completely (except at the 9 pm screenings) by professional filmwallahs (including film students, filmakers, etc etc)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-58392161901360107522007-07-26T21:13:00.000+05:302007-07-26T21:13:00.000+05:30Jai,You forgot the category of obsessive-compulsiv...Jai,<BR/><BR/>You forgot the category of obsessive-compulsive mobile phone users and they are not restricted just to film festivals they seem to be just about everywhere.<BR/><BR/>There was this film club we had which had explicit rules about switching off cells inside the auditorium and yet you would catch people loudly giving instructions as to how to reach the auditorium and not just checking SMS'es but typing away as though Armageddon was on us.<BR/><BR/>The best replay came from a lady who when asked why she was furiously typing away at her cell's key pad came up with "I wanted to know the time!!".<BR/><BR/>Makes one wonder whether civilization existed before the advent of cell phones.NightWatchmenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08514039967852446590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-69192197298060322782007-07-26T20:15:00.000+05:302007-07-26T20:15:00.000+05:30What's wrong with democratisation?Without the DVD ...What's wrong with democratisation?<BR/>Without the DVD culture, I don't think as a student I would have access to as much world cinema. It also makes it possible for film clubs in colleges (I'm talking about Delhi Univ here) run by a small number of cineastes to bring these movies to a larger audience.<BR/><BR/>And isn't declining elitism also a sign of a robust cinematic culture?...Vaibhav Vatshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13283267442406276407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-51530054855230006652007-07-26T19:10:00.000+05:302007-07-26T19:10:00.000+05:30I am one of those people on the other side -- the ...I am one of those people on the other side -- the late comers. Growing up in small provincial towns, I had never imagined that one day I would be able to see all these classics. <BR/><BR/>Still if you want there are so many ways even now to feel lonesome in one's eccentric tastes!Alokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12947383354732747209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-25521134577444143192007-07-26T16:54:00.000+05:302007-07-26T16:54:00.000+05:30Thank God I work from home - so it was just TH tur...Thank God I work from home - so it was just TH turning around to see what was tickling me so much.<BR/><BR/>Hey, don't grudge those of us who arrived late to the party (I don't mean the unpunctual category)... you could be glad you are not lonely no more :-D<BR/><BR/>I'd better research the films well before I decide that the son is ready for some lessons in 'world culture'...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-71051982044817169882007-07-26T13:45:00.000+05:302007-07-26T13:45:00.000+05:30Oh, that's exactly how I feel, about this whole de...Oh, that's exactly how I feel, about this whole democratization phenomenon, I mean. When I was a kid, I had just one other friend who had similar tastes in reading, classic films from the 30's to the 60's, music of that era etc... And now, I can't help but feel a twinge of annoyance when I hear all kinds of people suddenly wax eloquent about Citizen Kane, or quote PGW or Douglas Adams, or spout Beatles lyrics. Not sure why I have this nasty, elitist attitude towards this democratization thing...surely it's not right, and yet, there it is. Sigh.Empress of Blandingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12322390142033298911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-108433623506646832007-07-26T11:20:00.000+05:302007-07-26T11:20:00.000+05:30"Is Phillum me scene hain". I am bending over with..."Is Phillum me scene hain". I am bending over with laughter at this observation -- rather fact. However this is the mindset of many Delhiites and more specifically rude 'Punjus'. Before anybody crucifies me for antagonising a particular community , let me clarify that I have found most of Delhi's rich Punjabis amongst the most uncouth and spoilt brats found anywhere else in 'Bharatvarsh's many states.<BR/><BR/>Also if a movie has a lovemaking scene and is asthetically shot ,I am sure there are ways to appreciate 'erotica' than leering and making others watching it uncomfortable.Shwet Awasthihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04707072898697709519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-13236965603136390562007-07-26T11:14:00.000+05:302007-07-26T11:14:00.000+05:30It's nice to see that Marriage hasn't tempered you...It's nice to see that Marriage hasn't tempered your humour or cynicism. I was almsot about to fall into the "Cubicle Laugher at work" category due to your post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com