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In the past decade, you must have seen numerous films either written around or completely based on the most deadly terrorist attack in America in September 2001. The sinful event took the lives of thousands of innocent victims and was condemned all over by the religious as well as the political powers of the globe unanimously. Since then, the subject has been adapted in various forms by many renowned film-makers repeatedly and the world has certainly gone through a drastic change post the day of 9/11, without any doubts.
But here, SEPTEMBER 11 needs to be considered with a difference as it is an exceptional collective attempt released in the following year (in 2002), remembering the deadly attack in a unique cinematic way engaging 11 extremely creative minds from the world over. In other words, it is an enlightening bouquet of 11 short films of 11 minutes each, directed by 11 distinctive directors coming from various parts of the globe with their own unrelated vision. And the list of these 11 visionaries includes names of Youssef Chahine, Amos Gitai, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Shohei Imamura, Claude Lelouch, Ken Loach, Samira Makhmalbaf, Mira Nair, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Sean Penn and Danis Tanovic.
Originally titled as “11’09”01 – September 11”, it showcases the impact of 9/11 on people living in different parts of the world along with America. All the 11 celebrated directors bring in their own contrasting viewpoint on the sad day which differs in tone, expressions and emotions too. Where a few stories force you to think about the state of today’s world affairs seriously, the others make you cry and feel the compassion towards every innocent terror activity victim in the world. Besides there are the ones, which simply leave you awestruck with the unique idea shared, like the one dealing with only a blank screen throughout and the other featuring the sunlight rays coming into the room for the first time.
Though the film was also taken to be as an anti-American venture by a section at the time of its release (around the anniversary of that deadly date), but that’s not true in my opinion, keeping in mind the transforming content of its plots in totality. It’s certainly a not to be missed emotional experience which is even capable of changing the way one feels about all those world events related to 9/11 and its aftereffects. The film features innovation in terms of cinema and empathy or concern for the families affected by the disastrous attack, which needs to be experienced as a must by every lover of meaningful cinema unconditionally.
Having said that, its surely not going to be an easy watch for few, since it might turn out to be a bit disturbing in nature and hard hitting in execution, beyond expectation. Moreover it also might unsettle them for a moment, which is quite natural as the directors try to depict the day through their fresh creative ideas never tried before.
So if you do feel related with this tragic event in any manner and want to witness an extremely important attempt remembering the 9/11 then do watch this unforgettable venture at the earliest and try to feel the enlightening moments hidden in its precious sequences attentively.
Directed by 11 well known directors along with their respective writers and chosen star cast.
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September 11 (2002), Movies To See Before You Die Drama, Historical, Not To Missed Movies List by Bobby Sing, Must See Films List By Bobby Sing, Films on 9/11, Films made on Twin Tower Attack, Terrorism in Films, Worth Watching Films list at www.bobbytalkscinema.com
His Master’s Voice Logo featuring a cylinder phonograph and a dog starting at it, is unarguably one of the most famous Logos in the world history. The picture is not only known to every music lover of the world but is also recognized by the people who are remotely related to music or not a keen listener too, quite easily. Interestingly the LOGO has a true loving story related with its origin and the artist Francis Barraud, actually painted it after getting inspired from his own personal surroundings.
Francis’s brother Mark, had a fox-terrier dog called Nipper who was hugely devoted to his master and had a great bonding with him. Unfortunately Mark died and now Nipper went to live with Francis who used to paint on a regular basis with Nipper sitting by his side as dogs normally do.
Once while the room had a Cylinder Phonograph playing some music, Francis noticed Nipper listening to the notes very carefully and looking into the cylinder with a surprise. Now where some web-posts say that those were the recordings of Mark only which Francis got as his inheritance along with the Phonograph, there the others are not sure that whether it was Mark speaking through those recordings or not.
But anyhow, Francis found Nipper hooked on to the phonograph with deep interest as well as amazement and that’s when he decided to paint this scene, giving the title “His Master’s Voice” to the painting. Here at few places it is also mentioned that Francis painted this after the death of Nipper but in any case it was Nipper, his master Mark and the phonograph which became the real inspiration for Francis to paint this historical painting altogether.
Next assuming that this might interest the phonograph manufacturing companies of those days, he took the painting to few of them who surprisingly didn’t get impressed and it remained unsold till 1899, when The Gramophone Company bought it with a vision. They later adapted the same as their official trademark with an addition of one of their disc machines being replaced in it representing the company. And after a few years, when it became hugely popular, they even changed the company’s name to HMV after the painting (in abbreviated form), as a part of their branding strategy which really worked big time.
So this is the actual story behind that loyal dog Nipper looking into the phonograph, probably listening to HIS MASTER’s VOICE in the world famous logo.
Cheers!
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The real story behind world famous HMV (His Master's Voice) Logo with a dog listening to the phonograph, Did You Know Facts about Music by Bobby Sing, HMV Logo Story, Marl's Dog and Logo, Unknown Facts on Music, Interesting Music Trivia by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com
Much has been written and discussed about Cannes Film Festival in the recent years and it’s further publicized to be a great achievement for a film to feature there in any form whatsoever quite loudly. The festival is said to be considering Indian films more seriously now with many path-breaking and innovative film-makers strongly making their presence felt like never before.
But not many know about a sparklingly proud fact that the Cannes Film Festival’s first yearof existence witnessed a classic Indian Film not only participating but also winning their prestigious Grand Prix Award (later called The Palme d’Or/Golden Palm) for the BEST FILM in the year 1946 fighting a pretty tough competition with many world cinema maestros. So it was actually long before the other pioneer personalities of Indian Cinema, Satyajit Ray & Bimal Roy, impressed & won over the western film-makers, that an Indian Film went on to win such high-profile laurels in a reputed International Festival standing tall amongst the giant stalwarts of the World Cinema.
This proud shining Indian cinematic achievement discussed above was NEECHA NAGAR talking about the social divide in the country even before the independence and was also the debut film of one of the most gifted, visionary yet under-rated directors of India, fondly remembered by the name of CHETAN ANAND.
In those last years before the Indian Independence, there were several restrictions over the creative expression in films, especially on the ones talking about any social reform or revolt. But being an active member of IPTA (Indian People’s Theater Association) and owner of many revolutionary ideas, Chetan Anand went on to make this ‘true masterpiece’ with the help of his group of friends in a restricted budget only. And the reference of its initial days of conception is also there in renowned actor Balraj Sahni’s autobiography “Meri Filmi Aatamkatha” (as both Balraj & Chetan were good friends). Due to the government restrictions they even faced the shortage of raw stock but somehow managed to overcome the problem with mutual efforts.
Well-known actress Kamini Kaushal made her debut in it as the leading female character along with Rafiq Anwar, Uma Anand, Hameed Butt, Zohra Saigal and more. Since it was the era of music, songs and melodrama, the film also featured some songs and dance sequences which were very intelligently edited out selectively in the print sent to the festival (a slide also reveals that in the beginning of the film). But despite these songs & dances, it still remains one of the most progressive, realistic and visionary films made in India, which was rightly rated to be “Ahead of its times” by many critics. As an additional unknown fact, NEECHA NAGAR was also the first film for which world famous Sitarist Pt. Ravi Shankar scored the music, before composing for many trendsetting films of Satyajit Ray.
But as its always been the fate of such futuristic films, the authorities (before independence) did not allow it to be released officially in the country itself and the film kept waiting to reach its own audience for years. So a film which was constantly winning ‘a rare appreciation’ abroad was not available for its own countrymen unfortunately and with the passing years its prints too got damaged and then were even reported lost. Later after more than a decade, one of the prints was thankfully recovered, saving the country from a great loss and that print was only used to make the presently available (poor quality) video versions of the classic for the Indian audience.
Coming to the film itself, it is said to be inspired from the play “Lower Depths” by the Russian writer Maxim Gorky. But here the inspiration or similarity was more due to the similar social divide existing in most of the countries at that time, eventually leading to many identical conclusions. And it was this universal applicability of the film only which in turn proved it to be an important international project of those times and one of the most memorable works by an Indian director before the Independence.
Surprisingly and shamefully too, the story of NEECHA NAGAR openly reveals the so called progress made by India in the last seven decades, since one can easily relate to its basic plot, even today in the year 2013. In straight words, if I narrate to you a script which talks about a powerful rich landowner who through his strong political connections gets a sewage system approved, which cuts right through a village situated on a lower land, then you are not going to find anything outdated or alien in it at all. Because sadly, we still get to read many similar scams in our daily newspapers and many remote areas or even cities are still dealing with these same problems only in the present decade.
Now NEECHA NAGAR, thoughtfully talks about this particular subject, which further crosses all the moral boundaries, when the execution of the sewage plans results in a contaminated water supply to the village and there is an epidemic kind of situation leading to loss of life. But the authorities are ready to take advantage of this grave situation too as they hurriedly build up a hospital to take care of all the diseased ‘free of cost’, posing as their only human saviour to depend upon.
With such a hard-hitting, socially relevant and realistic script depicting the actual ugly plight of poor Indian villagers, the film was bound to get noticed both in the country as well as abroad quite prominently. But apart from its burning subject, it also had the clear indications of a legendary director at work through his interesting use of images, creative montage and expressive shots, truly differentiating the film from many other being made all around the globe in the same genre. In fact the maturity with which Chetan Anand uses the camera movements, dialogues, silence and music in his various scenes, it’s actually hard to believe that this was the first film of the veteran director evidently.
However, today it’s sure going to be a tough watch for the younger generation as it does require a great amount of patience and passion to grasp the real essence behind all those superbly directed sequences by the maestro. Yet for the ones who truly wish to experience such precious Indian Gems widely appreciated by the world over almost a decade before Ray’s PATHER PANCHALI, the film is capable of both surprising and impressing together, making a solid impact. And that is the reason why NEECHA NAGAR still continues to enjoy a hugely respected stature in the history of Indian cinema till date (though many friends not have even heard about it, honestly).
Interestingly, it showcases another creative idea introduced by Chetan Anand (in 1946) wherein he didn’t use the word ‘Director’ in the credits of the film, but wrote ‘Film Creation’ along with his name, rightly indicating towards the history he was going to create in the later years of his career through many worth watching gems.
Ending with a different kind of sad praise for this important classic, NEECHA NAGAR can easily be called a priceless masterpiece which could not get released in its own country in the year of its making and still remains a lesser known or forgotten gem in a nation which is known to cherish cinema more than any other country in the entire globe.
As a matter of fact, such is the ignorance towards this rare classic that there was no poster available all over the net at the time of writing this article, apart from the one made by its home video company as their VCD Inlay. And that inspired me to design a new well deserved one for the film myself, which has been posted along at the top.
With a hope that we will soon realize the importance of saving and restoring our own rich heritage for the coming generations, may this article inspire few friends to find the time & courage to watch this timeless classic and witness the excellence achieved by our own Indian Cinema way back in 1946.
Directed by Chetan Anand
Written by Hayatulla Ansari
Starring : Rafiq Anwar, Uma Anand, Kamini Kaushal, Hameed Butt, Zohra Saigal and more.
Music by Pt. Ravi Shankar
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Neecha Nagar (1946), Movies To See Before You Die Drama, Did You Know Facts of Hindi Cinema, Unknown Bollywood Trivia, Not To Be Missed Hind Films List, The first Indian Film at Cannes, Must See Movies List at bobbytalkscinema.com by bobby sing, Interesting Bollywood Trivia by Bobby Sing
Coming straight to the point, if you think for a while then double role is basically incorporated in a script only for two genres. Either the twins plot is used in a comedy or in a fast paced crime thriller to give the viewers those thrilling/enjoyable moments featuring the two interchanging characters. Moreover all the films using this particular idea ideally need to have a much better second half wherein the contrasting identities get revealed to everyone with a shock and it all ends on a highly exciting note giving you a real good time in the theater.
Now if a film uses this plot of double role in an emotionally tensed crime drama and yet fails to give you that thrill and excitement as promised with a pretty mediocre second half then its certainly not a good film at all, even if it has some worthy performances delivered by its talented cast. In fact that is exactly the one line review of AURANGZEB which has Rishi Kapoor, Prithviraj, Amrita Singh and Jackie Shroff giving their best along with Arjun Kapoor trying it real hard but the film betrays them all due to its weak screenplay and uninteresting progression in the end.
Admittedly, AURANGZEB has a fabulous start which impresses you a lot, displaying a fine blend of commercial and thoughtful cinema with all the family twists introduced in its initial 15 minutes. The factual depiction of land mafia operating in Gurgaon & few dialogues representing the mindset of people living there from decades are simply great which indicate towards a fairly good film coming up in the next few reels, for sure. But sadly, the moment its twin characters get replaced in the script, the film begins to drop drastically and further enters a completely unentertaining zone all of a sudden which simply fails to give you anything equivalent to its notable start as promised.
The scenes become too long and the conversations utterly uninteresting making way for many childish sequences particularly in its second half. For instance just imagine a cunning girl who regularly sleeps with the twin no.1 as her lover. Now after the interchanging takes place, she also sleeps with no. 2 and only has to say this much in the morning that “You were not so violent last night”!!! Now for me it was undoubtedly one of the most hilarious cinematic jokes I have heard this year. Anyway moving over this bizarre love affair written carelessly, later we are also made to see some reckless, silly shootouts in the climax which further pull down the film to more ridiculous levels. It was as if the writers were not able to reach any mutually accepted conclusion therefore they decided to use few guns and kill everyone on the screen to finish it off quickly. So with such an ordinary second half AURANGZEB is not able to maintain the standard showcased in its own compelling beginning and crashes like a branded plane badly. Yet I can say that its debut director Atul Sabharwal has got the talent to bounce back with something worth watching for sure in the near future.
To say it in few words, the film can strictly be seen for Rishi Kapoor and Prithviraj alone as they have truly lived their characters on the screen superbly. Amrita Singh and Jackie Shroff are great too but their roles are not lengthy enough to come up that strong. Arjun Kapoor on the other hand works real hard which is clearly visible in his sincere efforts but he still needs to focus on his weaknesses. The debutant Sasheh Agha (Salma Agha’s daughter) does some extremely bold scenes in her very first film and is going to need a big favour of luck in order to get that fantasized stardom. Tanvi Azmi is effective as the mother of twins but here we have two precious actors simply wasted like nothing namely Anupam Kher and Deepti Naval in a very questionable manner.
Another laudable merit of the project is its Cinematography, which actually makes the film more interesting than it really is. It’s a non-performer in its musical department and has an uneven background score too which is good in certain scenes and just average in others. Also the film desperately required a crispier edit since it seems to be too long mainly due to a typically predictable second half failing to do the trick.
On the whole, AURANGZEB is not as huge as it name suggests. So you can easily wait for its DVD release and save your money.
Rating : 2 / 5
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Well-known actress Kamini Kaushal made her debut in it as the leading female character along with Rafiq Anwar, Uma Anand, Hameed Butt, Zohra Saigal and more. Since it was the era of music, songs and melodrama, the film also featured some songs and dance sequences which were very intelligently edited out selectively in the print sent to the festival (a slide also reveals that in the beginning of the film). But despite these songs & dances, it still remains one of the most progressive, realistic and visionary films made in India, which was rightly rated to be “Ahead of its times” by many critics. As an additional unknown fact, NEECHA NAGAR was also the first film for which world famous Sitarist Pt. Ravi Shankar scored the music, before composing for many trendsetting films of Satyajit Ray.
Surprisingly and shamefully too, the story of NEECHA NAGAR openly reveals the so called progress made by India in the last seven decades, since one can easily relate to its basic plot, even today in the year 2013. In straight words, if I narrate to you a script which talks about a powerful rich landowner who through his strong political connections gets a sewage system approved, which cuts right through a village situated on a lower land, then you are not going to find anything outdated or alien in it at all. Because sadly, we still get to read many similar scams in our daily newspapers and many remote areas or even cities are still dealing with these same problems only in the present decade. 
Interestingly, it showcases another creative idea introduced by Chetan Anand (in 1946) wherein he didn’t use the word ‘Director’ in the credits of the film, but wrote ‘Film Creation’ along with his name, rightly indicating towards the history he was going to create in the later years of his career through many worth watching gems.
