A poet from the streets of Bombay fades into memory

"When I was born it was without a name
When I go, I will leave a name behind.."

He did. For those who did not know Narayan Surve, there is nothing much one can find on the web. I think the best publicly available documentation of the poet's life is Narayan Gangaram Surve, a Marathi film by Arun Khopkar. It had noted theatre/film actor Kishore Kadam playing the poet, and had touching visualizations of his poetry. Apparently, this was also the first Marathi film to win the national award for the best film in Short film category.

Narayan Gangaram Surve : Part 1 (25 min)


Narayan Gangaram Surve : Part 2 (20 min).

Surve grew up in the streets of Mumbai and was raised by a mill worker. He did not have the privilege of going to school. Yet he learnt to read and write, and wrote poetry on the life around him. He passed away yesterday. Just like the mills and mill workers, just like "Bombay", the poet of Bombay has also faded away into the world of memories.

Gabhricha Paus and Harishchandrachi Factory : Indian cinema is alive!

Indian films usually make one feel bad at festivals -- it is either intellectual crap served by the 'arty' directors or utter repetitive stuff from bollywood. So it was a pleasant surprise to catch two fresh, well-made, sensible films at one festival. It was Habitat film festival in Delhi, and both the films were in Marathi. (The only other film worth a mention at the festival was Dev D).

We are talking about Satish Manwar's Gabhricha Paus and Paresh Mokashi's Harishchandrachi Factory. Both these directors are from theatre and are new to film industry -- they have not studied at film institutes, and have not even assisted a film before.

I don't want to bore you with my commentary. I enjoyed watching both the films, and was impressed by the element of humour used in these films.

I can only say, go watch it!

* * *

[Visuals from Gabhricha Paus, from the film's website]

Happy for Rahman, Happy for Resul (and an Indian film to watch out for)

I'm happy that Rahman and Resul have been recognized at the academy awards.

Like many other Rahman fans, I also believe that he has done better compositions before.. But he did deserve to get into limelight at an international level. It had to happen some day or the other. I hope he will go on making good music.

With Resul it is different -- he is relatively in the initial stages of his career. I hope he will make it really big, and that it inspires more Indians to take technical careers in films seriously.

I am also happy for Sean Penn -- I had loved him in Dead Man Walking and 21 grams.

As far as Indian cinema goes, I am looking forward to Gabhricha Paus by my friend Satish Manwar. It has already bagged an award at Pune International Film Festival, and has got good reviews at Rotterdam festival.

Another review at Passion For Cinema says, "From the synopsis and the trailer, it can be made out that the film is not just “another tragic film on a tragedy” and that elements of black humor have been dosed in. In fact this reminded me of the korean films in which a tragic subject is taken and elements of black humor is sprinkled. I could also see a bit of Pather panchali and The Bicycle thief in it, and I mean it as a compliment."

Tingya does it, Paradesi does not

My friend Mangesh Hadawale's Marathi film Tingya is selected to Indian Panorama section of IFFI 2007 to be held at Goa. I am happy, though I am yet to see the film. Tingya, set in a Maharashtra village, is 26-year old Mangesh's first film.

Today I get news that Maharashtra govt has announced a special award for Tingya.

I am not too worried about Paradesi not making it. If Malayalam media is obsessed with that exclusion, let it be.

I hope Mangesh does not go into oblivion like many other talented directors who made an impact with their first films (and got awards for it). Anybody knows where Ajayan -- of Peruthachchan -- is? Ali Akbar and George Kithu settled for routine stuff, Suresh Unnitthan settled for TV serials when he came back after a long break..