My Favorites :-

Here, I present a list of my favorite celluloids (blog provides a bigger space) along with the people off the screen & on the screen. To be mentioned, none of the list on the lower floor, are arranged in the order of preference. Also, I am providing the useful links below to ease out the readers for getting details.

Directors :-
Akira Kurosawa
Martin Scorsese
Woody Allen
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Ingmar Bergman
Roman Polanski
Jean-Luc-Godard
Stanley Kubrick
Blake Edwards
John Ford
Manoj Night Shyamlan
Quentin Tarantino
Michelangelo Antonioni
Bernardo Bertolucci
Federico Fellini
Pedro Almodovar
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Satyajit Ray
Abbas Kiarostami
Francis Ford Coppola
Luis Bunuel
Frank Capra
Orson Welles
Guru Dutt
Vijay Anand
Gulzar
Vishal Bhardwaj

Movies :-
RAN
Safar e Ghandehar (Kandahar)
TEN
Citizen Kane
Casablanca
It happened one night
Silence of the lambs
Pulp fiction
Life of Brian
Maqbool
Pather panchali
Hable con ella (Talk to her)
Taxi Driver
Clockwork orange
The usual suspects
The Godfather
Three Colors : Bleu, Bialy, Rouge
Bande a part (Band of outsiders)
8 & 1/2
Guide
L, Avventura
Solyaris
Der Untergang
Annie Hall
Pink Panther (old)
The Sting
Requiem for a dream
Rear Window
The good, the bad & the ugly

Actors :-
Sir Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Lectar Hannibal in Silence of the lambs
Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler in Der Untergang
Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in Casablanca
Clarke Gable as Peter Warne in It happened one night
Gregory Pack as Joe Bradley in Roman holiday
Clint Eastwood as Blondie in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Anthony Quinn as Alexis Zorba in Zorba The Greek
Henry Fonda as Juror in Twelve Angry Men
Forest Whitaker as Dada Idi Amin in Last king of Scotland
Marlon Brando as Don Corleone in The Godfather
Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather 2
Ben Kingsley as M.K. Gandhi in Gandhi
Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta in The Raging Bull
Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Peter Sellers as Group Captain (G/C) Lionel Mandrake/President Merkin Muffley/Dr. Strangelove in Dr. Strangelove
Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump
Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy in The Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Robert Redford as Johnny Hooker in The Sting
Javier Camara as Benigno in Talk To Her
Toshiro Mifune as Tajomaru in Rashomon
Christopher Reeve as superman in Superman
Sir Alec Guinness as Professor Marcus in The Lady Killers
George Scott as General Patton in Patton
Mike Myers as Shrek(voice) in Shrek
Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill in North by Northwest
Gary Cooper as Marshal Kane in High Noon
Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbit in The Rain Man
Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of Carribean
Dev Anand as Raju in Guide
Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Verma in Deewaar
Prithvi Raj Kapoor as Jalaluddin Mohd. Akbar in Mughal-e-Azam
Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh in Sholay


Actresses:-
Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday
Claudette Colbert as Elie Andrews in It Happened One Night
Meryl Streep as Karen Blixen in Out Of Africa
Marilyn Monroe as Sugarcane in Some Like It Hot
Bette Davis as Margo Chenning in All About Eve
Ingrid Bergman as Ila Lund in Casablanca
Linda Blair as Regan Teresa in The Exorcist
Vivian leigh as Scarlett in Gone With The Wind
Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in Silence of The Lambs
Charlize Theron as Aileen in Monster
Katherine Hepburn as Christina in Guess who is coming to dinner ?
Nelofer Pazira as Nafas in Safar-e-Ghandehar (Kandahar)
Elisabeth Shue as Sera in Leaving Las Vegas
Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena in Boys Dont Cry
Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth 2 in The Queen
Ellen Burstyn as Sara GoldFarb in Requiem for a dream
Cecilia Roth as Manuela in Todo sobre mi made (All about my mother)
Isuzu Yamada as Lady Asaji Washizu in Kumonosu jo (Throne of blood)
Jean Seaberg as Patricia Franchini in A bout de souffle (Breathless)
Juliette Binoche as Julie Vignon in Trois Couleurs : Bleu
Judi Dench as Mrs Henderson in Mrs Henderson Presents
Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct
Madhubala as Anarkali in Mughal-e-Azam
Sharmila Tagore as Pushpa in Amar Prem
Hema Malini as Basanti in Sholay
Mina Kumari as Nargis in Pakeezah


So, here's the list of some memorable performance on & off the screen by both genders. Readers may not find some popular names but to be noted that the world of cinema has infinite stars in it. Many are yet to be discovered by me.

Adieu.

Oscars : Dust Settled

& the Oscars were announced on the early morning of 26th feb (IST). Though some disappointing turns took place at Kodak Theater this year but still I feel happy for Martin Scorsese. The man in fact deserved it years ago. Still, later the better, he walked with the golden statue, Peter O' Toole will have to wait for another of his life time to make it on the esteemed podium.

My some guesses were hit on the dot, Martin Scorsese, Helen Mirren & Forest Whittaker scored points for me. The biggest disappointment was the award for best picture going to The Departed. It's a good movie but reasonably not good enough to win the prize. I was adamant for Little Miss Sunshine for few reasons. First of all the humor in it. All the rest nominees were plots based on violence in some or the other way, including the queen ( & I give here the right to disagree to everyone). Little miss sunshine, on the other hand had such a subject that was capable enough to light the viewer. There is already enough violence around all of us & seeing that again on a cinematic view is the biggest folly that we tend to do again & again, including me. Little miss sunshine reminded me rather of Woodie Allen's Annie Hall, though both of them had different plot but were of a same idea.

Anyway. the osacars are announced leaving all the doors shut (being a true Indian I always vouch for a backdoor entry). Lets hope the Academy people retain their senses next year.

Battle For Oscar , Battle Field : Kodak Theater

This night surely would be agonizing for all the nominees of the prestigious Academy Awards aka Oscar. Most of them would be rehearsing silently in their mind about the last minute act when their names would be announced as winner. Oh My God! is going to be the most common expression with an addition for women of pressing their cheeks with both hands & showing the disbelief ( although within their kitty parties they would have boasted a lot about it). For men, a show of sense of pride will be sufficient although during their way to the Kodak theaters they would be perspiring.
All in all, every one would be biting their nails & while some would be trying to recover from the extra dose of alcohol consumed a night before in an effort to ease off the tension.
One thing is sure, the winners are going to spend a good time in bed afterwards, obviously not alone.

My guesses are :-

best picture: little miss sunshine
best actor: forest whitaker
best actress: helen mirren/meryl streep
best supp. actor: edie murphie
best supp. actress: rinko kukuchi (babel)
best director : martin scorsese / inarritu for babel

To be mentioned I have already placed a bet upon Little Miss Sunshine for best picture against the one & only Amit bhaiya.
I am going to win...Amen !
But if I am going to loose then I may suffer a short term memory loss.

Pedro Almodóvar : A Filmaker With A Female Insight

Pedro Almodóvar an artist whose every shot is like writing a poetry or running brush on the canvas, strikes back this year with his latest celluloid “Volver”. I saw the film last night & was again bound to fall in love with his work

Spain is a country where bull fighting is considered to be a mark of man-hood, Picasso’s art depicts the reality of life, Goya’s paintings showed people as they looked after a life of hard work. In such a country Pedro Almodóvar shows the power of woman in his film.

Almodóvar for me has always been a filmmaker who has a male body with a female insight. Most of the great filmmakers in history reflected the power & determination of man in their work, whether it is Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Fellini’s 8 ½, Coppola’s Godfather or Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Pedro Almodóvar stands aloof bringing in his films the courage of woman to deal with the life.

There is always a perfect balance of Yin & Yang in humans; an androgen tic quality. In Indian mythology we have depicted god as “Ardhnarishwar” (a god which is half female). Almodóvar is such a human being who knows this better half of his & tries to bring it very clearly in his work.

I saw his “Talk To Her”, “All About My Mother”, “Tie Me Up Tie Me Down”, “Live Flesh”, “Women On the Verge Of Nervous Breakdown” & now “Volver”. All of which a work of art, entirely based on female qualities (one may disagree including even Almodóvar).

He is like a wine, the older the better. I raise my hand in appreciation of “Volver” & wish him luck to stand again on the lauded podium with a statue of nude man with a sword.

 

8 1/2 : Magic By Federico Fellini

After a month long search I found 8 1/2 neatly placed in Amit Bhaiya's DVD closet( which I must add that it's the best collection I have seen yet, & all of them are going to be stolen by me ). He was the person responsible for arousing curiousity within me for the Film by placing it third in his top twenty list. Ta to him.

8 1/2 was a sheer delight to watch. A magic created by Fellini. Although he never wanted the film to be made as we all see it today. Originally, the script was based upon a writer but Fellini ended up making the film on a movie director. This was nothing other than his autobiographical account in which the director gets confused about the events revolving around him, leading him to fantasies, the problems of his married life, getting the movie underway proves challenging indeed,. Guido (lead character playing the director) is left clueless.The irony is this that there wasnt any film script for 8 1/2. The actors were given their lines each day morning, often verbally. Even Fellini wasnt sure about what he was going to make. This, he also admitted to his producer.All in all, the film started a trend which was to followed & copied by many.

A must watch film. Magical, indeed, none other by Federico Fellini.