Blik | March 2009

Blik | March 2009

Blik | March 2009

index

Kate Winslet, Sean Penn and Penelope Cruz sharing a light moment.

First Look at Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

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Join Sehaj Singh as he takes a look at the development of the new Transformers movie directed by Michael Bay.

Cover Story A chat with Sir Michael Caine

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Sir Michael talks movies, Hollywood and his experiences.

Oscar Cocktails

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Drinks inspired by characters from this year’s Oscars.

Slumdogged

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View-Counterview of the Slumdog phenomenon.

Red Carpet review

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Oscar Night musings

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The best, the worst and those in limbo on the Red Carpet. Oscar Night blogged. Synopsis, views and opinions on the 81st Academy.

Harry Potter special

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Five Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince posters. Couretsy our friends over at Warner Brothers.

Cover Design Rachit Agarwal Ads Siddharth Behl Content Ashish Lal, Aryan Prakash, Sehaj Singh, Rachit Agarwal & Siddharth Behl Dummy Siddharth Behl Design Rachit Agarwal Computer Layout Rachit Agarwal. Blik | March 2009

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March 20-26, 2009

compiled by Aryan Prakash

1. Knowing Last Week: New Weekly Gross: $31,515,012 % Change: -

2. I Love You, Man Last Week: New Weekly Gross: $24,406,773 % Change: -

3. Duplicity Last Week: New Weekly Gross: $18,082,380 % Change: -

4. Race to Witch Mountain Last Week: 1 Weekly Gross: $15,947,425 % Change: -49.7%

5. Watchmen Last Week: 2 Weekly Gross: $9,201,251 % Change: -60.7%

Blik | March 2009

compiled by Aryan Prakash

...to a theatre near you.

1. 12 Rounds Starring: John Cena | Director: Renny Harlin WWE champion John Cena is New Orleans Police Detective Danny Baxter. When Baxter stops a brilliant thief from getting away with a multi-million-dollar heist, the thief's girlfriend is accidentally killed. After escaping from prison, the criminal mastermind enacts his revenge, taunting the cop with a series of near-impossible puzzles and tasks …12 rounds…that Baxter must somehow complete to save the life of his fiancée.

2. Adventureland Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Martin Starr, Kristen Wiig | Director: Greg Mottola SUPERBAD's Greg Mottola directs this comedy about a floundering college grad (Jesse Eisenberg) who decides to work at an amusement park when his post-graduation plans fall through. ADVENTURELAND's talented cast includes Kristen Stewart (INTO THE WILD), Ryan Reynolds (DEFINITELY, MAYBE), and KNOCKED UP cast members Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and Martin Starr.

3. Fast & Furious Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez | Director: Justin Lin Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed -Fast & Furious. Heading back to the streets where it all began, they rejoin Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert in the new high-octane action-thriller. When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O'Conner (Walker). But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmanuever him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what's possible behind the wheel. Blik | March 2009

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Blik | March 2009

Rachit Agarwal

Birth name Also known as Born

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen The Boss September 23, 1949 (1949-09-23) (age 59)

Bruce Springsteen, is an American songwriter, singer and musician. He records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock infused with pop hooks, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered around his native New Jersey. Springsteen's recordings have tended to alternate between commercially accessible rock albums and somber folk-oriented works. Much of his status stems from the concerts and marathon shows in which he and the E Street Band perform intense ballads, rousing anthems, and party rock and roll songs, amongst which he intersperses whimsical or deeply emotional stories. His most famous albums, Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A., epitomize his penchant for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily life. He has gradually become identified with progressive politics. He is also noted for his support of various relief and rebuilding efforts in New Jersey and elsewhere, and for his response to the September 11th attacks, on which his album The Rising reflects. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including nineteen Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award, and continues to have a strong global fan base. He has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and 120 million worldwide. The Boss is currently experiencing a career revival courtesy of the song The Wrestler from Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. Then you've seen me, I come and stand at every door Then you've seen me, I always leave with less than I had before Then you've seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more? Tell me can you ask for anything more? These words from the song apply as much to The Boss as they do to Mickey Rourke, or for that matter, Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Rourke’s character in The Wrestler). Down and out till the release of the song, Springsteen’s back at doing what he does best. Surprisingly, this song, which many consideredthe best song from a movie in 2008, was completely ignored by the Academy. Sure, the Grammy acknowledged the song’s worth, but the wise men (and women) over at the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences couldn’t be bothered less about the song. Did I hear someone call the Oscars a farce? Or maybe, Bilk?

Blik | March 2009

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at Transformers 2 As we all know, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is an upcoming science fiction/action film due for release on June 24, 2009. It is the sequel to 2007's Transformers, which was the first live action Transformers film. Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg return respectively as director and executive producer, while Shia LaBeouf reprises the role of Sam Witwicky, the human caught in the war between Autobots and Decepticons. The film introduces many more robots and the scope has been expanded to numerous countries, the most important of which is Egypt.

Sehaj Singh The evil Decepticons need to capture him for information. The climactic battle takes place at the Giza pyramid complex, where a temple is located within. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained the film will show the Transformers who visited Egypt before the pyramids were built, and "all our heroes end up here because of the Decepticons' master plan." Furthermore, Egyptian hieroglyphs resembling helicopters and other present day vehicles in real life will be explained in the film as being depictions of those Ancient Cybertronians who visited Earth.

development

In September 2007, Paramount announced as late June 2009 release date for the sequel to Transformers, and Bay began creating animatics of action sequences featuring characters rejected for the first film. This would allow animators to complete sequences if the Directors Guild of America went on strike in July 2008 (which did not happen as the DGA signed a new deal). The director considered making a small project in between Transformers and its sequel, but knew "you have your baby and you don't want someone else to take it". The film was given a $200 million budget, The main hurdle in getting the Bay explained the Transformers which was $50 million more than the first film, and some of the film produced was overcoming did not blow their disguise by action scenes rejected for the the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of battling in Mission City in the original were written into the America strike, as well as first film. "Everybody has gone possible strikes by the Directors ahead. It's realistic. Two weeks sequel. Lorenzo di Bonaventura Guild of America and the Screen after the tsunami nobody talked said the studio proposed filming two sequels simultaneously, but Actors Guild. Bay finished his about it anymore. It's very he and Bay concurred that was production on time with the help weird. We decided to do the of previsualization and a same with the Transformers. The not the right direction for the scriptment by his writers government talks about a military series.Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman originally passed Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, thing, says all is false, that it's a on the sequel because of a busy and series newcomer Ehren joke, and people don't know schedule. The studio began Kruger. Shooting from May to what they really saw." The courting other writers in May November 2008 predominantly human soldiers have joined the took place in the United States, Autobots' ranks in a team called 2007, but as they were unimpressed with their pitches, they including the majority of scenes NEST (Networked Elements: set in outside countries, a mini- Supporters and Transformers). A convinced Orci and Kurtzman to return. The studio also signed on mum of which was conducted in government front called Ehren Kruger, as he impressed those actual nations. McClaren Robotics covers up Bay and Hasbro president Brian the robot sightings, and the premise Allspark shard is kept by them in Goldner with his knowledge of the Transformers mythology, and storage. Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) because he was friends with discovers something about the Orci and Kurtzman. The writing origins of the Transformers and trio were paid $8 million. their history on Earth. Blik | March 2009

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Shia on set.

Shia (L) and Megan (R) play the two human protagonists. Blik | March 2009

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Screenwriting was interrupted by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, but to avoid production delays the writers spent two weeks writing a treatment, which they handed in the night before the strike began, and Bay expanded the outline into a sixty-page scriptment, fleshing out the action and adding more jokes. The three writers spent four months finishing the screenplay while "locked" in two hotel rooms by Bay: Kruger wrote in his own room and the trio would check on each others' work twice a day.

filming

The two locations were used for Qatar in the first film, and stood in for Egypt in this film. A scale model in Los Angeles was also used for some close-ups of the pyramids. Shooting at Tucson International Airport and the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group's aircraft boneyard took place in October under the fake working title Prime Directive (a reference to Star Trek). This location was delayed from July. The first unit (including Shia LaBeouf) then shot for three days in Egypt itself, at the Giza pyramid complex and Luxor. For security's sake, the shoot was highly secretive: but according to Lorenzo di Bonaventura, a crew of 150 Americans and "several dozen local Egyptians" ensured a "remarkably smooth" shoot. Bay earned the Egyptian government's approval to film at the pyramids by contacting Zahi Hawass, a fan of the first film, who made the director swear not to damage the buildings. A fifty foot tall camera crane was used at the location. Four days were then spent in Jordan, where the Royal Jordanian Air Force aided in filming at Petra, Wadi Rum and Salt. Filming continued at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, with the second unit taking shots of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. The cast and crew finished on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis on November 2, 2008.

Filming began in Los Angeles, California in May 2008. From June 2, three days were spent on an action sequence at the Bethlehem Steel site in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which was used to represent a portion of Shanghai. Afterwards, they shot at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The crew moved to Philadelphia on June 9, where they shot at the Exelon power plant on Delaware Avenue; the University of Pennsylvania; Drexel University; the Eastern State Penitentiary; Fairmount Park; Philadelphia City Hall, Rittenhouse Square Orci described the film's theme and historic Chancellor Street as "being away from home", with (which represents a street near the Autobots contemplating living Place de la Concorde in Paris); on Earth as they cannot restore and Wanamaker's. They moved Cybertron, while Sam goes to to Princeton University on June college. He wanted the focus 22. Filming there angered some between the robots and humans students at the University of "much more evenly balanced", Pennsylvania, believing Bay had "the stakes [to] be higher", and chosen to reshoot scenes at more focused on the science Princeton and script Princeton's fiction elements. Orci added he name in the movie. However, wanted to "modulate" the humor neither the University of Pennsylmore, and felt he managed the vania nor Princeton gave Bay more "outrageous" jokes by permission to be named in the balancing it with a more serious film because of a "funny 'mom' plot approach to the Transform- scene" that both felt "did not ers' mythology. Bay concurred represent the school". that he wanted to please fans by Bay scheduled a break for making the tone darker, and that filming beginning on June 30, "moms will think its safe enough turning his attention to animation to bring the kids back out to the and second unit scenes because movies" despite his trademark of the potential 2008 Screen sense of humor. Kurtzman Actors Guild strike. Orci joked created the film's title. The "Optimus and company are also filmmakers considered incorpo- the stars, and fortunately for us, rating the comics character of G. they are not part of a union!” B. Blackrock, but Bay considShooting for the Shanghainese ered the name too cartoonish. battle later continued in Long effects Orci cited the Phoenix Lights Beach, California. The crew shot incident as an inspiration for how at Holloman Air Force Base and The producers expected that the Transformers manage to stay White Sands Missile Range in with a bigger budget and the covert after the previous film. New Mexico during September. special effects worked out, Blik | March 2009

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The all new Bumblebee Camaro concept developed for the film. the Transformers would have a larger role. Peter Cullen recalled, "Don Murphy mentioned to me, 'Only because of the tremendous expense to animate Optimus Prime, he'll be in just a certain amount of [the first film].' But he said, 'Next time, if the movie is a success, you're gonna be in it a ton.'" Michael Bay hoped to include more close-ups of the robots' faces. Scott Farrar returned as visual effects supervisor, and anticipated moodier use of lighting as well as deeper roles for the Decepticons. He stated that with the bigger deadline, post-production will be a "circus". Hasbro became more involved in the designs of the robots than in the first film. They insisted on keeping the alternate modes of some of the returning characters similar, so people

would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots." Like Bay utilized real F-16 Fighting Falcon and tank fire when filming Revenge of the Fallen, Orci refused to guarantee whether he the battles. Many of the new and Kurtzman would return to a Autobot cars supplied by Gensequel, because "we risk getting eral Motors were brightly stale". colored to look distinctive on Orci has mentioned he would screen. sequel? like to introduce Unicron "for scale's sake". The co-writer also As a preemptive measure, said introducing Triple Changers Paramount and DreamWorks would be interesting. announced a July 1, 2011 release date for a third Transformers film before completion of Revenge of the Fallen. Bay Transformers: Revenge of the responded, "I said I was taking Fallen will be released in 3-D off a year from Transformers.Paramount made a tentatively on June 26, 2009. mistake in dating Transformers 3 - they asked me on the phone - I said yes to July 4 - but for 2012 - whoops! Not 2011!!! That would not have to buy toys of the same characters.

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interview by Alex Simon It’s fair to say that Michael Caine was one of the cultural architects that helped change the world during the 1960s. As part of the first generation of working class English artists that helped give that turbulent decade its voice, Caine, along with fellow blue collar blokes Sean Connery, The Beatles, Joe Orton, John Osborne, David Hockney, Albert Finney,

edited by Ashish Lal Tom Courtenay and Terence Stamp (to name a few) gave the English working class a voice, and a spotlight, into the forefront of popular culture, so much so, that middle and upper class English speaking kids the world-over suddenly turned into cockneys, accent and all, seemingly overnight. Sir Michael is a 6-time Oscar nominee and double Oscar

Blik | March 2009

winner. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in November of 2000 (under his real name of Maurice Micklewhite). Here we find out who Sir Michael really is... You first achieved fame when the working class in England had a renaissance, in the 1960s. People like you, Terence Stamp, the Beatles, all led sort of a cultural revolution in that decade, whereas ten years earlier, you probably wouldn’t have had the same opportunities. It was a renaissance and it was brought about by the writers. When John Osborne wrote Look Back in Anger, he introduced the first working class hero in the history of the English theater. Before that, all the characters in film and theater were middle class or upper class. If you want a very sharp comparison with America, Americans, when they made war films during WW II, they made them about privates. The British always made them about officers. Someone with my accent and my background, I was a private in the British army anyway, would have only had a very small part on the periphery. And ironically your first big break was playing an upper class fop in Zulu! (laughs) I know! That’s what I had to do! I had to dump my whole personality and accent and background in order to get a big part in a movie.

Harry Palmer, the lead character in The Ipcress File (and its three sequels), was also a working class bloke, with glasses no less! Yeah, up until that point, all heroes in action films had been perfect: Tyrone Power, Robert Taylor, even Sean Connery as James Bond. With the glasses, we gave him an imperfection, to make him more like an ordinary person. Also what we did in it, we had him cook a meal. One of the producers said “No, no, you can’t do that! Everyone will think he’s gay!” I said “All the great chefs in the world are men, and not all of them are gay, plus he cooking for a woman he’s trying to get into bed! What more do you want?” (laughs) So the meal stayed, I’m happy to say. Another great thing that happened from that film was Harold Lloyd came to London, saw the film, and rang me. He said “You’re the first guy since me I’ve seen wearing glasses who’s playing the lead in a movie.” (laughs) He invited me to dinner, so I got to know Harold Lloyd, which was wonderful. You also helped a lot of guys who wore glasses, myself included, when we saw this guy with glasses scoring with all these gorgeous babes. I helped out all those guys with glasses. They thought “I’m not such a putz as I thought I was!” (laughs) Alfie changed everything for you. Yeah, and you know I auditioned for the stage production several years earlier and I didn’t get it! That’s when I thought “To hell with the theater.”

The greatest part about Alfie, of course, was the research. Did a lot of field work, did you? (laughs) Right, a lot of field work. Do you think hardship and creativity are interconnected? Yes. For actors also a variety of emotions in a life are very, sort of, treasured possessions, because if you work in the Stanislavsky system, as I do, using sense memory, you go back to a certain place to get a certain emotion. Me, I go back to a certain place and bang, I’m in tears. And anger, laughter, big emotions like that, I know where to go, although I never tell anybody where those places are. One of my favorite stories in your autobiography about the class system in England is what happened when you went to buy your first RollsRoyce. It was a bit naughty on my part, actually, because I went very scruffy on a Saturday morning. I had a piece of paper, like a shopping list, and I brought the paper out in front of the guy (at the Rolls dealership) and it said “Razor blades, toothpaste, Rolls-Royce, eggs…” (laughs) And I said ‘Oh yeah, RollsRoyce. How much is that one?” He said “How many do you want?” (laughs) I said ‘I only want one. Are you usually this rude to people who come to buy Rolls-Royces?’ He said “Get out!” So I said ‘I’ll tell you what, I’m going to call you next week, and I’m going to drive by here in a Rolls-Royce I’ve bought somewhere else and I’m going to give you a wave, okay?’ He Blik | March 2009

said “Get out!” (laughs) And that’s what I did. I drove by and I gave him a very particular wave. When Americans do it, they only raise one finger, the middle one. When the English do it, they use two fingers, with the top of the hand facing out. It’s not a victory sign or a peace sign, which is the opposite way. What that is, is the two fingers go back to the battle of Agincourt when the British secret weapon, the atomic weapon which won that war, was the British archers. And when the French used to take them prisoner, they would cut off the first two fingers, so they couldn’t use their bows any longer. So before the battle of Agincourt started, all the archers held up their two fingers, to show they were ready. That’s where that came from, and that’s what I used on the guy with the Rolls-Royce, although I didn’t fire an arrow at him! (laughs) When you won your Golden Globe for Cider House Rules a few years ago, you gave a wonderful speech where you said “I’ve done some great movies, and I’ve done a lot of crap.” Is there always, no matter how successful you become, that little voice in that back of your head that tells you this is your last job, that it’s all been a huge mistake? Yeah, yeah. That never really goes away totally, although the voice is much fainter now than it was. I used to lead a life where I was struggling to make a living and I always thought that somewhere along the line it was going to stop. Now I don’t have to worry about making a living. I

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just do absolutely the scripts I really, really want to do. If you see me in a movie that isn’t any good, it’s because when I read the script I thought it was going to be great, and I’ve made a huge mistake. I won’t do crap movies anymore for the money or as a favor to anybody. Everything I do I absolutely believe is going to be great. I call it the offer I can’t refuse, like The Quiet American. It was the greatest opportunity I’d ever had in my life, so I couldn’t say no! And it happened when I was 68. So hopefully I’ll keep getting the greatest opportunity with each passing year. Your master class on acting, which has been released both in print and on video has become a staple for young actors learning the craft. How did that come about? Simple: the BBC kept chasing me for two years. They had a series called “Master Class” where they covered everything: ballet dancing, playwrighting, opera singing. They wanted me to be the one who did the movie acting class. I said ‘Well, I don’t know anything about movie acting,’ but in the end it did seem I had some stuff to tell. I didn’t write the book, they just transcripted what I said on the program, although the book contains the full four hours, and they cut it down to half an hour for the video. There’s nothing written that tells you very much about movie acting. There certainly wasn’t when I was a young actor. The only one I remember was by a guy called Pudovkin, “The Art of Film Acting.” You explain an interesting

method called “acting with one eye.” Right. You put one eye on the person you’re doing the scene with, and the other eye in the lens. You don’t look in the lens, but…it’s rather difficult to explain. If I’m facing you, generally I’ll have my two eyes facing your two eyes, right? Now if the camera is on your right, I take my left eye and put it in your right eye so my left eye goes into the camera. That’s the best way I can explain that.

audience to notice I’m doing an accent.’ And that’s what happened. It’s funny, when I first met my dialect teacher, he asked if I could do an American accent, and I did it for him. He paused and said “That’s California, Michael.” (laughs) You’ve overcome incredible odds to be where you are today. You’re a true success story. What would you say to other aspiring actors, writers, or directors who are struggling and, like yourself, didn’t

You won your second Oscar for Cider House Rules. Your New England accent was amazing, and that’s an accent that most Americans have a hard time doing. The attitude I took with that was, I said to my dialect coach, who was excellent, on my very first day ‘Look, I don’t want to be that British actor who’s doing the best American accent the audience has ever heard a British actor do. What I want to do is be an American, who’s doing nothing, and I don’t want the

come into the world with a lot of opportunities or advantages? Don’t listen to any negatives. Don’t ever let anybody say anything negative to you and let it affect you at all. Because people will tell you to get out, stop doing, that you’re no good. Don’t listen. Just don’t listen. Go ahead. The reason advice is cheap is because that’s all it’s worth.

Blik | March 2009

mixed by Rachit Agarwal What goes better than celebrities and cocktails? Nothing. Nothing at all. And, what better event to showcase celebs than the Oscars? Well, agian, nothing. So, why not mix the two? That’s just what we did. We took our favourite celeb characters from this year’s Oscars and turned them into drinks we feel capture their essence well. And then, we published them here so that you could also enjoy them. Take a look...

1. The Milk This one was pretty easy pickings-I mean, the dude’s called Milk so you’ve got to have milk in the drink don’t you? That, and the bittersweet taste of the drink, symbolise the character really well. 3 parts milk 1 part black rum Angstura bitter Shake all ingredients in a mixer with ice. Strain into glass, garnish and serve.

2. Anarchy How do you make a drink inspired by ‘a dog chasing cars’? How do you capture the essence of a true and die-hard anarchist? We came up with the idea of a flaming drink in the Anarchist’s signature colorspurple and green. And, to top it all, the alcohol content is bound to give you one hell of a knockout punch! 3 parts grape juice 1 part vodka 1 part absinthe(verte) 1 part lemon juice Shake the grape juice, lime juice and vodka together in a mixer with ice. Strain into a fireproof glass. Next, pour the absinthe very slowly over the back of a cold bar spoon taking care not to disturb the lower layer. Finally, ignite the top layer.

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3. Rachel Getting Sloshed In Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway plays Kym, a druggie, who returns home for her sister’s wedding. The drink version, even though it’s named after Kym’s sister, salutes the same spirit of addiction and debauchery as Kym. 3 parts vodka (Bacardi) 2 part cranberry juice 1 part tomate juice 1 part sweet lime juice Shake all ingredients together in a mixer with ice. Strain into glass, garnish with mint leaves and serve.

4. The Bloody María Inspired by Penelope Cruz’s Oscar winning turn as María Elena in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, this drink is a mix of the Bloody Mary and the tequila-based psuedoSpanish Margarita. 7 parts tequila 4 parts tomato juice 3 parts lemon juice Add dashes of Worcestershire Sauce, Tabasco, salt and pepper into highball glass. Rub its rim with a lime slice and make some salt stick to it. Shake the other ingredients with ice, then carefully pour into the glass (taking care not to dislodge any salt) with ice cubes. Stir gently. Garnish with celery, salt and lemon wedge and serve.

for more Oscar cocktails, log on to www.blik.com/bartender Blik | March 2009

Why you shouldn’t watch Slumdog... Siddharth Behl Are Indians so blind as to praise a movie that insults India?

Slumdog MillionaireJhopadpatti ka Karorepati Kutta-for you. Five minutes into this celebrated patchwork of illogical clichés, and you are struck by jarring dialogues. The cumbersome delivery, in a language which doesn’t come naturally to most of the actors, sounds like someone scratching on walls with one’s finger nails; it ruins the possibility of a connection. Had this film been made by an Indian director, it would’ve been trashed as a rotting old hat, which literally stands out only because of its stench. But, since the man making it happens to be from the west, we’re all left celebrating it. The real slumdog in the movie is not the main protagonist but India as a whole. The makers and those celebrating its hard-to-spot brilliance are

actually serving up India as an accidental millionaire, which in fact happens to be a slumdog and like shameless fools we are gloating over its success without realizing that it makes a caricature out of India. The real slumdogs who’ve hit the jackpot after wallowing in acres of human waste are the makers of this film, who are now raking in millions while those court jesters who’ve critiqued the film and showered tributes and awards need to ask themselves, why scores of years after our independence, they still feel the need to suck up to the gora sahibs. It’s not a question of xenophobia; the film is definitely well cinematographed. But the film has no soul, especially after little Jamal has jumped off the train and become a teenager. Blik | March 2009

The rest of the film is just a modern version of the West’s view of India where slums, slumdogs and Bollywoodian clichés have replaced the elephants and snake charmers. It’s a well made caricature of a country and a caricature can never be a Mona Lisa, for a masterpiece can’t be a one dimensional juxtaposition of sadistic extremes…and that’s my grumble with the celebrations. And, I say all this not because I don’t know what is India. I know its poverty and the real statistics around it a little better than most others-especially the Indian film critics who have given Slumdog an average of 4 to 4.5 stars! But, the fact is that the film’s entire narration seems like the germination of a terribly sadistic and complex mind with

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the sole aim of satisfying the western idea of India and its new-found growth instincts at their costs, and it’s done through the combination of logical happenings in order to show everything in a disgustingly negative vein. Not that it doesn’t exist, but it surely doesn’t exist in this fictitious manner. I’m sure that everyone is gloating not just because Danny Boyle has successfully peddled poverty, grime, squalor and hopelessness that surround much of India. They are gloating because the movie is a brilliant assault on the very Idea of India; the India that you passionately hate and denounce at every available forum. The film has so freely, indiscriminately and hysterically bandied about powerful words like genocide, mass murder, state terror, Fascism, discrimination, barbarism and feudalism while talking about India and Hinduism that sometimes even agnostic Hindus start wondering if they might be right after all. What bothers me more in the movie is targeting primarily the western audience, most of whom have fairly vague idea of what is happening in India. Through powerful cinematic images, sound and forcible imposition when none exist, Danny Boyle convinces the western audience that their worst perceptions about India re true. There is nothing positive about the film and it seems that a deranged sadist has painted his insecure negative self in each and every character of the movie. It illogically shows every negative thing in India happening in the protagonist’s life. Slums, open

air lavatories, riots, underworld, prostitution, brothels, child labor, begging, blinding and maiming of children to make them ‘better beggars’, petty peddlers, traffic jams, irresponsible call centre executives-everything apart from western pedophiles roaming about on Indian streets! And, its winning of so many awards and nominations only goes on to prove strongly that the paradigm of cinema and recognition of films are in the hands of a few retarded imperialistic minds. It’s a crying shame that our media hasn’t seen through this ruse and is touting Slumdog’s nominations to claim that India is shining at the Oscars, while in fact, it is lauding a film that mocks and ridicules the idea of ‘India’, pigeonholing its identity into the straightjacket of depraved poverty for a global audience.

Blik | March 2009

When the west wanted Indians to embrace them and their companies to come to India and capture lucrative markets, suddenly we had all the Indian women, some very beautiful and some not necessarily so, winning all the Miss Worlds and Miss Universes. Today, they are all in a crisis and India is looking unstoppable despite its slums and poverty, and they are losing their businesses to us. Isn’t it the best time to paint India as the Slumdog Millionaire? All in all, the film is nothing but an endorsement of an erstwhile imperial mindset of the west and its blinkered vision of India. Analytically, the film is the worst and there’s nothing great in it. Amitabh Bachchan was spot on when he said that Bollywood has made far better mainstream films. Take out a DVD of one of his old movies instead…

Rachit Agarwal

Critics have unanimously hailed it as “visually dazzling and emotionally resonant, this is a film that’s both entertaining and powerful.” But, no other film in recent history as managed to polarize the general viewing public as much as Slumdog has. People have either loved it, or simply hated it (the latter predominantly being an Indian reaction). Indians have taken exception to the rather ‘clichéd’ portrayal of their motherland-a land where wallow in human excreta, where communal riots are daily occurrences, and where half the population lives in Dharavi. Surely, this isn’t actually India, but merely a tainted caricature or out beloved land! Surely, the true India is that set of pictures

we saw in the ‘India Shining’ or ’Incredible India’ ad campaigns! Surely, the real India isn’t the slums of Dharavi, but the gleaming glass buildings of Gurgaon! Really? Oh REALLY?! Everyone has been so busy adoring all that gleaming glass that they have forgotten that this sugar coated pill ain’t no sweet candy, but a pill, after all! Just because your house doesn’t overlook an open sewer, doesn’t mean that that sewer doesn’t exist. The abject poverty portrayed in Slumdog is as much a reality as the MNC executives of Gurgaon. The maiming of children to make them ‘better beggars’, the brothels, the open sewers, and the communal riots, believe it or not, actually exist in Blik | March 2009

modern day India! Granted, you’ll have to be damn unlucky to have the sort of experiences Jamal had, all before turning 18. But alas! If only this were called Dharavi Diaries and nominated in the Best Documentary Film category…tchch tchch…then we’d really have something to grumble about! Slumdog never once pretends to be a documentary. All it aims to be is a highly dramatic fantasy, and it succeeds at that. So what if all the misfortunes of the land fall on the shoulders of poor little Jamal? It’s known as creative freedom and Boyle & Co. use it to great effect. I’ve seen more ludicrous uses of creative freedom to forward the narrativelike a New York sewer spitting

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out people (as in Enchanted), or the whole narrative of Forrest Gump-which have elicited a less hyperbolic response. So why this outcry? Why don’t people accept it as the fantasy it’s meant to be? More importantly, why are Indians creating such a hoopla about it? Is it because the mirror’s finally reared its ugly reflective head? India and Indians desperately needed this reality check to show them that it’s not ‘India Shining’ but ‘India Dividing’-the economic growth of the past five years has just increased the divide between the upper and lower classes. The two exist as separate universes-completely oblivious of the other’s existence. And, what Slumdog has really done is just show us the underbelly of the obese Indian society. It’s done it without being

preachy, and in a fun and vibrant manner. By doing so, the truth has been made accessible to the masses. This movie should be the starting point for a social revolution and not the ‘sadistic caricature of India’ it’s being made out to be. Watch it, curse its improbable story for being fantastical, but take home the message…

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Siddharth Behl and Ashish Lal

What are you wearing?

From L to R: Beyoncé, Robin Swicord, Heidi Klum, Miley Cyrus, Mary Hart Beyoncé’s a little teapot, short and stout. Why is she always there? You don’t see Amy Adams at the Grammy’s every year? Robin Swicord’s color choices and pattern (!) are disturbing me... even more than her screenwriting for Memoirs of a Geisha and Benjamin Button did. Heidi Klum usually makes best dressed lists but there was something atrociously busy about this number. Nice color on her (which color isn’t?) but all the cut outs and sharp angles and then all the bangles. Any of the elements are okay on their own but all together?, Miley Cyrus has been at the Oscars two years in a row and... I... I... don’t understand. Or I don’t want to understand. And we’ll wrap up with Mary Hart. She never leaves the house without a frozen smile. Even if she forgot to buy a new dress or iron an old one to go with it.

Next page: I’m not quite sure about this....

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I’m not quite sure about this...

From L to R: Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Angelina Jolie, Bridget Fonda, Phoebe Cates Actually all of these goddesses look beauteous. But we’re not talking A+ Oscar wear. The Doubt actresses (Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis) look better as a trio, all earth and fire and well matched. Probably the point... great for photo ops. But apart from each other the outfits were a little busy (Amy... but I actually love the huge necklace) plain (Meryl) or risky (Viola). Perhaps I should explain: I love the gold dress and the woman inside it but unless you’re a lock to win, I always think that color is asking for trouble. That statue looms large you know. It was nice to see Bridget Fonda and Phoebe Cates dolled up again but something is missing in both cases...and not just their careers.

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Yummmy!!

From L to R: Nicole Kidman, Reida Pinto, Leslie Mann, Amanda Seyfried, Marisa Tomei My choices for best dressed are the always ravishing Nicole Kidman (love the feather and shiny details which rescue this from being another boring white dress, Freida Pinto (Latikaaaaaa!) in blue and that sleeve is a beauty, Leslie Mann because her dress reminds me of a disco ball and I’ve been totally on a 70s kick (I blame Milk) and there’s something about her whole look, hair, attitude and all that screams decadent/sexy/underestimated woman. Amanda Seyfried continues to be awesome, despite Mamma Mia! And finally there’s my girlfriend Marisa Tomei. I have nothing to say about the dress but to tell you that Nick describes it perfectly on the upcoming podcast. From the back it’s even more deconstruct as if the strap was barely hanging on to itself to keep the entire dress together.

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What was impressive about these Oscars? What was not? Read on...

Left: Hugh Jackman was the host for this year. Above: Danny Boyle and the spirit of Tigger. Top: Hugh Jackman and his bag of tricks. Blik | March 2009

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Actor In A Leading Role Sean Penn -- Milk {"Harvey Milk"} Actor In A Supporting Role Heath Ledger -- The Dark Knight {"Joker"} Actress In A Leading Role Kate Winslet -- The Reader {"Hanna Schmitz"} Actress In A Supporting Role Penélope Cruz -- Vicky Cristina Barcelona {"Maria Elena"} Animated Feature Film WALL-E -- Andrew Stanton Art Direction The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button -- Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo Cinematography Slumdog Millionaire -- Anthony Dod Mantle Costume Design The Duchess -- Michael O’connor Directing Slumdog Millionaire -- Danny Boyle Documentary (Feature) Man On Wire -- James Marsh And Simon Chinn Documentary (Short Subject) Smile Pinki -- Megan Mylan Film Editing Slumdog Millionaire -- Chris Dickens Foreign Language Film Departures -- Japan Makeup The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button -- Greg Cannom Music (Original Score) Slumdog Millionaire -- A.R. Rahman

Music (Original Song) "Jai Ho" From Slumdog Millionaire -- Music By A.R. Rahman; Lyric By Gulzar Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire -- Christian Colson, Producer Short Film (Animated) La Maison En Petits Cubes -Kunio Kato Short Film (Live Action) Spielzeugland (Toyland) -Jochen Alexander Freydank Sound Editing The Dark Knight -- Richard King Sound Mixing Slumdog Millionaire -- Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke And Resul Pookutty Visual Effects The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button -- Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton And Craig Barron Writing (Adapted Screenplay) Slumdog Millionaire -- Screenplay By Simon Beaufoy Writing (Original Screenplay) Milk -- Written By Dustin Lance Black

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Amazing. Simply amazing. That’s what I thought of the Oscar ceremonies held earlier tonight up the street at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. So much was done completely right, and only a few things didn’t work very well. It was a very different show than in previous years, but refreshingly so. BEST LINE OF THE NIGHT: “And now ladies and gentlemen, the Craigslist Dancers!” I guess I’ll start off with Hugh Jackman as the Oscar host. I’ll be honest with you, I was really hoping to see him in the Wolverine outfit at some point and that didn’t happen. That being said, I was SO HAPPY to see an actual MOVIE STAR hosting the Oscars this year instead of some television personality. That’s been an issue of mine for a few years now. Call me crazy, but I think a night commemorating and celebrating the best of the year in the MOVIE business… should be hosted by someone IN the movie business. Hugh Jackman fit that description, and was a fantastic host for the show. I’ll go as far as to say it was the best job done by a host since Steve Martin did it. He was fantastic. I hope he returns next year. I LOVED the way they presented the acting awards. Having 5 previous winners come out to name and honor the nominees was a brilliant idea and I thought made those categories very special. I was hoping they were going to do the same thing for the Best Director award as well.

I hope this is a tradition they continue in the future for the show. It was also very symbolic having 5 performers who are already immortalized welcoming in the newest member making the ascension. Beautiful. The one major misstep I think the show made was with the top hat musical number with Jackman and Beyonce. I can understand why they did it… and I thought it was a good idea… but it just didn’t work. It felt a little clumsy and lacked spark or any sense of excitement. Instead I just kept waiting for it to end so we could move on. Other than that I have no real complaints. The 3 most obvious locks of the evening (Ledger for Best Supporting Actor, Man On Wire for Best Documentary and Wall-E for best animated) all won their respective categories. So really… besides Departures winning best foreign film over Waltz with Bashir, there were no real BIG surprises… which is fine. I think most people knew Slumdog was going to be the big winner on the night. 8 Oscars was a wonderful evening. By the time it came down to Best Picture there was no more drama left… we all knew it was going to win. Well deserved win for a beautiful film. Some people seem surprised that Mikey Rourke didn’t win Best Actor. I’m not sure why. He did indeed give an Oscar worthy performance in The

Wrestler… but clearly (in my opinion anyway) not AS Oscar worthy as Sean Penn in Milk (which I contend is the best performance Penn has ever given. It was such a strong and wonderful group of nominees for Best Actor. You wouldn’t have heard me complain had any of them won. It was nice to see Richard Jenkins getting the recognition he so well deserves too! I think there would have been riots in the streets if Heath Ledger didn’t win. He did deserve it and it was a nice touch that his family accepted the awards on his behalf. Thank goodness they cut the “Best Song” nominees down to just the one medley. I’ve always hated that so much of the Oscar screen time got dedicated to one of the least important categories of the evening. Less montages! Yay! Once again the “In Memoriam” part of the Awards were very special. However I didn’t like how the director of the show kept pulling the cameras away from the screen so that I couldn’t really tell who was up on the screen or read their names properly. I wish they just kept it on the screen the whole time. Other than that it was well done.

Oscar Quotes ‘Has anybody ever fainted in here? Because I might be the first one!' – Penelope Cruz accepting her first-ever Oscar for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. ‘Now I'm going to get really drunk!' - Kate Winslet planned to let her hair down after winning the Best Actress Oscar. ‘Say what is on your mind because you know we have a seven-second delay. But if you win, we switch to a 20-minute delay.' – Hugh Jackman to Mickey Rourke, who's well known for his loose-tongued potty mouth. ‘On set they can be your mother, your father, even your therapist. They can even manage hostage negotiations when a certain actor is having trouble coming out of their trailer. Not that I'm speaking about myself. But you know who you are, Ben Stiller.' Reese Witherspoon before presenting the Best Director Oscar to Danny Boyle. ‘I want to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often.' ?– Sean Penn referring to his reputation as being notoriously difficult, while accepting the Best Actor award for Milk.

‘How did he do it? How, for so many years, did Sean Penn get all those jobs playing straight men?' ?– Robert De Niro introducing Penn's Best Actor nomination as gay politican Aryan Prakash and Sehaj Harvey Milk. Singh

The show felt like it had a really nice pace unlike some in recent years.

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edited by Rachit Agarwal

Simon Weaving

Great art is sometimes difficult viewing, and such is Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, a film that will be remembered as Mickey Rourke’s greatest screen triumph as he suffers his way physically and emotionally through a simple story of persistence. Rourke is Randy “The Ram” Robinson – an ageing wrestler who was top of his game twenty years ago, and who is left at the end of a punishing career with no more than a rented trailer, a photo of a long lost daughter, and barely enough cash to buy at lap dance at the local girly bar. It’s there he befriends stripper Pam (Marisa Tomei) who is questioning how much longer she can go on grinding out a living with the nightly pole dance. It’s also she who suggests to Randy that he try making up with his daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), and who provides us with a clue about Aronofsky’s higher aims when she compares Randy to Christ and jokes about “The Sacrificial Ram”. Randy – a sociable soul and scared of growing old – tries hard to be something other than the legend he once was in the ring – father, lover, supermarket employee – but is drawn back to the gritty pain he must endure in the ring and the cries from the crowd that go with it.

Aronofsky films the story as documentary and keeps us body-huggingly close to the battered Randy in an intense hand-held relationship, and it’s here that Rourke’s extraordinary performance is evident – he inhabits Randy so totally that it will be difficult to see him as anything else for years to come. Rourke – who abandoned his movie career many years ago to make a return to the boxing ring – is longhaired, meat-faced, musclebound – but ultimately plays Randy as a sensitive individual, racked with the most human of concerns: how to stay connected. Much of the film is taken up with the punishing details of life in the ring – the opening sequence sees Randy at his work on a typical weekend, Blik | March 2009

whilst the film’s most demanding visual experience sees Randy in bloody hand to hand combat in an extreme wrestling bout with The Necro Butcher (Dylan Summers) where staple guns, barbed wire and glass are tools of the trade. Whilst the film belongs to Rourke, Tomei’s strong performance as the troubled stripper is a critical balancing force in the otherwise harrowing story. Wood has less chance to shine with a screenplay by Robert Siegel that leaves some questions about her rapidly changing relationship with her father. But it’s a minor quibble in a relentlessly visceral and very moving piece of art.

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Our Rating: 3.5 Music by: David Arnold Arnold really hit his melodic best with Casino Royale. He waltzed into John Barry territory with tracks like City of Lovers and Vesper. But, in Quantum of Solace, we see (actually, hear) Arnold doing what he does bestheavily percussive, off-kilter-atfirst action cues. In fact, some of the cues appear to be really random and unmelodious on first listen. But then, after repeated listening, themes start emerging amongst all the mayhem. What first seems like one rambling mess, turns into something divine. Especially, after watching the movie, and seeing how well the soundtrack fits it. The way the music's been performed, it complements Daniel Craig's ruthlessness really well. The orchestra pulls hard on the strings, blows hard into the brass, beats the drums black and blue, thus giving the soundtrack a rather edgy, gritty and driven feel. The album starts off with Time to Get Out, one of the better

tracks. Snippets from the Bond theme are mixed with driving percussion to deliver a nice, foot tapping action cue to accompany the amazingly good car chase seen right at the start of the film. This is continued right into The Palio, which gives us more of the same, albeit, in a more frentic manner. The tension of the Palio foot-chase can actually be revisited while listening to this track. Bond in Haiti is a rather dense, but lilting track. On screen, it works well in providing the necessary ambience, but on disc, its 37 second runtime is 37 seconds too long. Sadly, the album contains more of such incidental, crappy tracks in Talamone and Bolivian Taxi Ride. Such 'title card' tracks (in that they are effecive in just conveying what country Bond is at the moment) were better done on the Casino Royale soundtrack. Pursuit at Port Au Prince is a nice little action piece, but I suspect that 10 years down the line, it'll seem very jaded. The extensive use of electric guitars and repetitve drums firmly cement this track as belonging to this year, as opposed to the timelessness of traditional orchestral music. But, the track is rounded up in a very flamboyant and Bond-like manner, with a rendition of the 'pre-Bond' Bond theme from Casino Royale, which merges into the traditional Bond theme really well. Field Trip also features these two Blik | March 2009

renditions, and is one of the Bond-est tracks on the album. Night at the Opera features the Dominic Greene theme, which we first heard in Greene & Camille in full glory, performed on an orchestral harp, with army marching band like percussion driving it nicely along. The better moments of the album come when the Vesper theme from Casino Royale is reprised, like in What's Keeping You Awake, Forgive Yourself and I Never Left. They instill some humanity into Bond's character and help us in understanding what exactly is driving him along. By far the coolest reprise of the Bond theme comes in Oil Fields. The track starts off extremely dark and tense, and then about midway through it, we get to hear a rather determined and driven reprise of the theme. In its 2:30 runtime, the track conveys just how much of a bulldog Bond really has become. Gone are the days of the sleek yet hammy Bond, Craig's Bond is going to get his way by hook or by crook. Sadly, after this, none of the tracks quite matches up, with nothing of note in the next 5 tracks (including the theme song, Another Way to Die). All in all, this album, though a good compilation of action cues (like the movie it accompanies), doesn't quite match up to its predecessor (again, like the movie it accompanies). Buy it only if you're an avid David Arnold fan...

Gossip, Scandals & More...

Miley Cyrus Body Double? While millions of fans have forked over years of allowance money to see the star perform her Hannah Montana concert live, not all are pleased with the results. And it’s because not all songs are actually sung by Cyrus! From a recently released video, it’s quite evident that Miley uses a body double during one song so she can make a costume change. Understandly, fans are less than thrilled about the whole deal. “I paid good money to see the concert. I was disappointed and I felt like I was played for a fool,” an angered fan concluded. Tchch tchch...couldn’t agree more...

Elyse Umemoto at it again.... Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto seems hell bent on joining the ranks of Amanda Polumbo, Tara Conner, Katie Rees and Valerie Begue - all pageant contestants that have become better known for snorting cocaine, feeling up female friends and posing like Jesus. Why else would she go bandying about explicit gestures and various gang signs? Miss Washington Executive Field Director Mike Miller told celebrity gossip site TMZ the organization is “embarrassed.”

facts we bet you didn’t know.... a) Charlize Theron’s mother killed her father because he was drunk and had fired a gun shot. b) Orlando Bloom’s biological father died when he was very young. He assumed his guardian was his father until his mother told him the truth. c) Woody Harrelson’s father was a hit man. He died in prison while serving two life sentences. d) Michelle Williams’ father has tax evasion charges. The case is still pending. ...fact checked for your convenience by Sehaj Singh and Ashish Lal.

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Across 3. 6. 8. 12. 14. 16. 18.

19. 20.

This actor’s experiencing a career resurgence after his on-screen daughter was Taken. (4,6) Harvey Milk found a cinematical face. (4,4) They watch over us, who watches over the ____________? (8) Star of The Wrestler. (6,6) Played a character who aged in reverse. Got nominated for it. Didn’t win. (4,4) Won for Documentary (Short Subject) at the Oscars. Smile ________. (5) One’s a writer, the other’s a director. Both are Oscar nominated. This set of brothers is in huge demand after their latest mega-blockbuster flick. They are the Brothers _________. (5) Latest Bat-flick, highly commended, but hardly nominated. (3,4,6) Spanish beauty, won for her role in Woody Allen’s latest flick. (8,4)

Down 1. 2. 4. 5. 7. 9. 10. 11. 13. 15. 17.

Oscar winner, Congress’ new motto. (3,2) Slumdog helmer. (5,5) No Clou(seau) at all. (5,6) The late actor snagged his first ever Oscar this time. (5,6) Presented the Oscars this time. (4,7) Man who adapted Q&A for the big screen. _______ Beaufoy. (5) White Stripes rocker, wrote the latest Bond song with Alicia Keys. (4,5) Comic book helmer, brought the WW-II drama, Valkyrie, to life. _________ Singer. (5) Star of The Reader, finally got 6th time lucky. (4,7) Wrote those two golden words, Jai Ho! (6) 300 helmer, best known for his use of slo-mo. Zach ________. (6)

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