Vidhi

A story of a rag picker, his destiny and fate and a student who gives away his things in search of fortune.

People don't value things until they lose them.

"9"

A beautifully stylized movie. It is'nt one of those movies where you can what with kids but one of those movies which clearly shows that animation isn't just for kids.

IRONIC part is that there was a short movie created first before the actual feature length was created and that short was done by students of UCLA doing their final year in animation.

When will I get there? Hopefully soon.

Mafia Wars`

There's this facebook game called MAFIA WARS.

If your friends are on it, don't play the game even if you are a master at computers. It gets really addictive.

Facebook

Its quite funny how people use these social network websites. It was invented to catch up with friends and stay in touch with them but now most the people are stuck to the games and stupid quizzes.

Me too.

PEACE.

Namaskara

Its been quiet a while since i've written something and it irritates me. Every time I make up my mind to write, something or the other happens. So my solution to this is that I post short lines every now and then. Hope it works. :)

A film by Thanush B Raj, Rishikanth Somayaji, Kannan P, Pridhvi.

Vayam (meaning "we" in Sanskrit), a short-film made in 2009, is a story about two close friends who come from different backgrounds of life. Knowing no difference, they are close to each other like siblings. This film is about a small incident that takes place in their lives, which morals a powerful message about a common issue that India (and maybe the world) is dealing with.

This film won first place in an inter-coll fest held at PES-SE, Bangalore.

It's been quite sometime since it's been made.

The Holidays

Once our exams came to an end, our 2 weeks of freedom had commenced. The first thing that we, as in the whole family, do is to head of back home to Birthi(near Udupi) in our Hyundai Santro.

The trip was a divine ordeal, it was more like a temple tour that we'd been on because almost every day we unintentionally made it at least one divine place or a temple.

Contrastingly even though we went to so many temples we were always in a awe at their sight. One such temple is the Murdeshawar temple. It's simply a breath taking temple because of its location. A huge Shiva sitting right on the coast of the Arabian sea really a sight not to be missed. The entrance to the place was also massive. I literally had to sleep on the floor to capture the whole temple on close sight on the camera. The crowd that the temple receive is one of the things that should be kept aside but otherwise the environment is simply awesome.

Another such temple was the Temple in Horanadu. Placed in the middle of the valleys, this temple is also a very beautifully scribed temple. En route to this temple, you pass lovely sights of the rich Malnad regions and then you'll wonder and be lost in its awesomeness.

Coming back to the Murdeshwar ride, En route we stopped at my dad colleagues place for lunch in a place called Bhatkal. The colleague was extremely excited that he ordered for the best sea food to be prepared(that's the place's specialty) without knowing that we were vegetarians. On our arrival, he asked to sit in the hall and then few other colleagues who also stay in the same area arrived. And then the million dollar question" Is sea food okay with you sir?" and the dreadful answer for my dad's mouth were "No, we are vegetarians". KA BOOM. He was out of there like batman not to be seen for the next half hour. We kept ourselves busy till then talking to the others in the room. After half an hour he called us to the dining hall and introduced to the table. "All perfectly non-veg sir all non-veg" said Talha Sir(His name) out of shear tension. He then apologized and corrected himself to veg. We were having the food but Talha Sir, still overly excited, asks us to have everything but he had the least. THE SEA FOOD'S WAITING IN THE DINING HALL. Once done with the lunch we picked off from there towards home which was quite far from there, bidding our good bye's. I bet he must have had a lot on that day.

During our stay, we somehow made it to a movie "Love Aaj Kal". The theatre is quite good place, I mean you don't find such good theatres there so this one was pretty good and the fact that the tickets were priced at 40 bucks. Another positive is the students studying in Manipal also have to come there to watch a movie, so good place to meet new people also. All in all damn good.

It had been a long time since I went back home so they the regular routine also to be accomplished like paying our visits to close relative places and stuff like that are always there so they weren't anything special.

During the other days that we weren't doing anything I was playing on the computer which I had taken there and setup since the place hadn't had one and it was high time they did. Otherwise I was up to reading a magazine or otherwise a book or else watching the television which was boring most of the time.

Like a said All in all damn Awesome.

Youth's take on Election

Check this out. Done by my friend, Shreyas and me. We did this in 3 days.

Bangalore Youth

Bangalore, one of the bustling cities in India and the so called Silicon Valley of India have a very depressing youth. The youth here are all comfortable in their lifestyle and don't give a damn to the society and the best they can do is to blame others for their faults and doings. 

I recently was a part of a film making competition and my team ended up doing a documentary on' youth versus election'. To my surprise every one of them had the same reply which were 'lack of awareness' or 'to confusing and complicated'. Some of them were so disturbed on thinking about the issue that their reply was either "I'dont know" or "Sorry, nothing comes to my mind".

LOSERS

Thats all I have to say. 

And for those losers who don't want to vote or don't know anything about the elections and voting, here's a clue.  

And yea for the record. IT WORKS.

Beggars

Yesterday, one of my objectives for the day was to observe people in a park. Observing people helps me improve and develop the characters I create for animation or film.

So I was off to Cubbon Park, near M.G.Road in Bangalore, to observe people. I generally noticed many street vendors, family’s having their picnic and lot of couples sitting on the benches placed under huge trees and having their time. I walked around the park and of tiredness I found a bench to sit on. My vision was scanning around the whole park to try and observe all the people I could.

Suddenly I found a group of 3 beggars approaching one of the couples sitting at a near distance from me. My first reaction was to get up and move myself out of their visual radius since I hated being mobbed by such a group at least. But once I moved out from there, I started noticing the beggars who by now mobbed that couple, weren’t letting the couple to ignore them. It came to point where the couple ignored them to the extent that the beggars were touching the couple and giving their ritual blessing which normally are intercepted a curses in disguise. The couple at the end of it all couldn’t even escape by paying one of them alone but he had to shell out his wallet to pay all three, especially notes and not coins. The beggars, satisfied moved on with their aim to mob other people in the park.

The crowd was pretty huge since it was a weekend and in the middle of a buzzing city. The beggars carried on next to a group of families who were picnicking in the pleasant afternoon. The families jointly contributed to the beggar’s demands just for their quick departure which did happen and saved their picnic from a lot of embarrassment.

The beggars moved on and interestingly they moved in a group only and they only picked on couples or groups and not passerby’s or single’s.

They moved on with their mission to accomplish and I drifted out of there after following them for a short while obviously with them not noticing.

Some of my recent works

The above works were done in photoshop and it basically photomanipulation.

Right now am working on my college studies which is 3d on Maya 8.5

The Watchmen

Just today morning I was luckily free to catch the premiere of the “The Watchmen” in Bangalore.

The movie was simply breath taking. It portrays a completely different style of showing superhero movies. The movie was very visual, very narrative and the music was abstractly appropriate for the visual. The graphics are simply exceeding their expectations and it’s fascinating to watch.

I loved it.

If u were a comic superhero fan, you should make it a point to watch it.

Slumdog Success.

It's a bit too late but just a few minutes back I was wondering what was behind the Slumdog success.

I don’t understand. The whole’s world was going gaga over this film but what was so good in the film that it snatched the Oscar limelight winning 8 out of 10 Oscar awards which it was nominated for before making a stamp in the Bafta and Golden Globes also. Only the awards won for best sound, score, song, cinematography and editing were actually worth it because it shows.

I certainly didn’t feel that the film was over the top like how the world is putting it. It was like any other movie which had it laughs and cries. Otherwise the film never stood out.

I, to some extent, hated the movie because it was showing the slums and especially that of India’s and to make it even more insulting, the slums of that area where slums are blossoming (sad but true), Mumbai and on top of all that they give out a statement that the film is about the universal truth called love. What crap.

To make it even worse, they actually picked a UK based Indian teenager who has never been to India before, who doesn’t have a clue to speak our national language. Call him a foreigner as well; it wouldn’t change a bit since he fits the specification. I bet they could have got away with better actors who speak English as well as he did here in India than those in UK.

I should be giving a huge hand for the rest of the cast, especially those kids who have never been outside their little slum world. They actually portrayed the picture perfect of the slums in India.

The music was another major high for the movie. A.R.Rahman really poured his magic into this score and it shows especially in songs like Ringa Ringa which I felt was a perfect for the prostitute centre and then Gangster Blues, another perfect song, for the gangster. Another hand goes to M.I.A. Her voice is a bit peculiar but her songs were very unconventionally awesome. I loved it.

You’d be in awe when you see the picture perfect shots of the movie, especially those of the slum areas. Beautiful compositions and shots. A big hand to the cinematographer, he’s really kicked ass in the movie.

I must say, the producer of the film is a great guy. He actually took the major cast of the movie from the slums of India to the Kodak Theatre just for the Oscars, got them all tucked up in tuxedos and gorgeous dresses. To top it all off, called all of them to the centre stage to receive the award and they even got to hold the Oscar. That is really really cool.

Cheers

Salikeri Habba

My dad is from a place called Salikeri, a village in the interiors of Brahmavara, which is a small city situated near the popular city called Udupi.

A Habba means festival in Kannada. A festival is a reason for village people to get together and have many rituals performed to the village god. A festival is a reason for happiness, joy, games, fun and frolics. For many of the villagers, it also a reason to buy new goods, new clothes, new ornaments. It runs for a day, a minimum and goes on till the festive feelings begins to deteriorate.

Just a few a days back, I got the opportunity to attend Salikeri Habba and I’m sure I would have regretted it if I hadn’t come for it. I have never seen the village, I visit every now and then, so crowded and lit up at all. The music, the prayers, the crowd was really vibrant and shocking for once. The village parade was another sight that I loved and enjoyed especially the huge massive dolls, the local bands, and the chariot.

Another awesome feeling was the giant wheel. It really feels amazing and awesome. I always felt that it would be crap until actually sitting in it. The speed it went on was simply enthralling and no words could explain the feelings.

Another high point is the ice creams. Its summer at the present moment, so the amount ice cream we ate was simply amazing, totally amazing.

It simply was awesome. If you ever get an opportunity to attend such fests, don’t miss out.

Sorry about the photos, but I actually captured a huge video about the festival. The pictures below were just snapshots of the video.

Pakistan Cricket

I sympathize with Pakistan's current state of affairs. They can say a sweet goodbye to international cricket for at least a few years from now. The western countries already were second guessing their tours to Pakistan. India did it just after the Mumbai 26/11 which led to Sri Lanka showing solidarity to Pakistan, making a trip to Pakistan. And all they end up with is being targeted and attacked by whack’s called terrorists.

Hopefully, Pakistan Cricket is not terribly hurt by these unnecessary series of incidents. Hopefully, at least Pakistan domestic cricket will still carry on as normal. And again hoping that cricket in Pakistan will re-live like the past. Especially hope, the Indians go back there and kick some ass.

Am hoping that this wont affect the sub continent on the whole. But if it does also, the sub continent shouldn't that bothered because almost majority of the cricket that is being played by sub continents team and if they strike or stop playing the game, it would be unanimously boring and Cricket on the whole CANNOT afford it.


Here is a article about the attacks on the Sri Lankan Cricket team which I was talking about earlier.

RE Logo

The Animation Workshop at the BIFFES

The Animation Workshop which was held by ANTZ in association with the Association of Bangalore Animation had begun on the 16^th of January. Few Dignitaries from the film and animation Fraternity gave their views on various issues. After the dignitaries finished their talk, they handed over the mike to the representative from ANTZ who were going to conduct the workshop. The workshop was a complete waste of time. I was sitting amidst people who had no technical knowledge of Animation. The representative's kept on speaking technical terms which no one understood which confused the audience including me. Mid way through, people started walking off. I followed their footsteps and walked off never to return.

 

4 day later, I heard reviews that it was a poorly conducted workshop and that there was no understanding between the people conducting the workshop. I had hopes of enlightenment from this workshop but unfortunately, it confused me of what I already knew.

Thankfully, I didn't attend the workshop and due to that I enjoyed the amazing films showcased in the FILM FEST even more.

3 Dimensional Work Using Maya and Basic Textures

BIFFES Inauguration Program

Bangalore International Film Festival kicked off on 15^th of January at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall. The Inauguration program started of late like all programs held in India and like most of the inauguration ceremony this one was also filled with flattering speeches after which followed the loud and annoying claps which I also joined in with.

It’s what happened after the pestering, that interested me. A dance program followed by a German film were presented after the film. The dance was very vibrant and colorful. It wasn’t like the normal cultural dance but still showed fusion of various cultural dances. The dance was a very delightful and an awakening experience after the boring speech.

It was getting late and they were supposedly to premiere “Seven Pounds” a film from USA starring Will Smith. But unfortunately due to technical difficulties they had to replace the premiere with a German film called “Yella”. The film was excruciatingly slow but the way the whole film was built was splendid. One very sad part of the movie is after you see through all the slow parts of the movie and you expect for something more, it comes to a sudden end which will irritate you. The shots taken in the movie are splendid especially the ones the beautiful landscapes and the very slowness of the movie actually gave a horrific feel to it. Maybe that’s why these films do better than internationally arena.

All in all, A good kickoff to a promising film festival.

BIFFES

Recently I attended the Bangalore International Film Festival and it was splendid. I'll be penning down a review on all the movies I've seen in the festival so stay connected.

Happy New Year 2oo9

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009.

Sorry but I guess its better late than never.

Dentist

Dentist are very cunning.

Trust me, this is experience speaking.

Every time I visit the dentist, it some how or the other reminds me of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Looks are very deceiving and their apparatus look small but when you make yourself comfortable on their chair, it's a complete different ball game. First, it's their bright light pointing towards your face which blinds you a bit after which they bring their tools and start inspecting the mouth which you cleansed for 15 minutes before coming there. Then they tell you some big fancy words of theirs which in short means that their small cute little drilling machine of theirs has to go into your mouth.

Oh!!! Their drilling machine. The very small and tiny drilling machine of theirs are awesomely more powerful than many machines that has been seen to man kind(when I mean man kind, I mean what I've seen and not exactly man kind) and their drilling machines really give you the Goosebumps when they get started and when they are in your mouth, I'll keep it short and sweet, you are doomed to one and only one thing, PAIN.

Empire Of The Sun

'Empire of the Sun' is a Steven Spielberg film based on a novel written by J.G. Ballard. This film was released in 1987 and a famous actor, Christian Bale, made his first ever big screen act in this film.
The film had lows and they were intentionally done just to amplify and highlight the major sequences which followed the lows. Steven Spielberg's importance to music was again personified in this movie after he showed it in Jaws and Indiana Jones and many other films of his. Christian Bale's act is tremendous. The emotion he portrayed of the character he played was simply splendid. The actors played the parts to their best. The compositions of the some scenes were very pleasant and some sequences were very touching. To add to this serious movie

"To survive in a world at war, he must find a strength greater than all the events that surround him." - Empire of the Sun.