Tag Archives: Farooq Sheikh

18th Mumbai Film Festival 2016, Interviews

In Conversation with Akshay Singh – the inspiring writer/director of Pinky Beauty Parlour!

Video 12 November, 2016 Souranath Banerjee Leave a comment

In Conversation with Akshay Singh – the inspiring writer/director of Pinky Beauty Parlour!

A sensitive writer, an innovative director and also a fabulous actor – yes that’s Akshay Singh for you ladies and gentleman!

His film Pinky Beauty Parlour is already creating an audience for itself even before it’s been released.

In Conversation with Akshay Singh as he talks about his journey as a filmmaker!

Hi Akshay welcome to Cinema Forensic!

Thank you so much.

Your debut film Pinky Beauty Parlour created such a buzz in the Mumbai Film Festival recently and you have just revealed that it’s also been selected in the Goa International Film Festival! Congratulations – how does it feel?

Thank you! I am really happy, really glad, in fact I got overwhelmed with the response which my film have got!

Usually I had this idea that in festivals only those films get appreciated which are really intense you know. My film though it has a very serious issue but the treatment is very entertaining – it’s a multi genre film – there’s suspense in it, it’s a black comedy and
satirical as well. And then again it’s a social drama about the issue of the skin-colour bias which is very universal issue in a way.

Actually even before MAMI, the first screening we had was in Cannes Festival. There we had a market screening, people from around the globe were there and the response was again very encouraging.

So I was hoping MAMI will also be good but then again I was nervous. The first screening happening in India and being an Indian film, an Indian story – I was expecting a reaction that will give me an idea of how will it go when the film gets actually released in the theatres. And then you see people queuing up for your film and for the first screening some 30 odd people could not see the film because it was house full!

MAMI was indeed a great platform for me and this time they have organised it so well – yes, I am thankful to them.

The reaction of the audience was really good after the screening. Did you felt it too?

Ya. In MAMI the best thing that happened was after the screening I heard someone saying a dialogue of my film! It’s so encouraging when people say ‘apke film ke dialogues bohot sahi hai’ and being also the writer of the film that feels really great – i mean this is something every filmmaker craves to hear right?

Even there is a song in the film that is very catchy – a kind of folk fusion. And for the lyrics of this song I had given a few specific words to my lyricist like ‘talcum powder’ and ‘phair phair gal’ which actually means ‘fair, fair cheeks’ – you know in UP the pronunciation is a little (laughs) … and many people told me that I should promote my film through this song!

Some people after the Q n A session told me that ‘you are a revolutionary filmmaker!’ I was like ‘why?’ – but I think it was because we started a campaign called “Let’s unlearn”. It’s like the skin-colour-bias is something we are taught, not something we are born with. So let us unlearn this thing – you see? One person asked me ‘Do you really think your film will make a difference?’ and I said ‘Ya it might. Now since you are asking this question it is making a difference. And then this is only the first screening!’

Even Aj Tak covered this campaign in a big way.

So how did it all started, i mean the whole journey of this film?

It all started exactly one year back. We started the shoot in October last year. Because my film is based in and around Dussehra, so I shot the whole sequence in real locations in Varanasi during the festival! Lots of guerrilla shoots (laughs).

When I started planning for this film, I chucked out one thing out of myself – the fear of failure!

While writing the script – actually I get many ideas specially when I am travelling and listening to music but I used to keep coming back to this one again and again. This was not even supposed to be my first film – I have written another script which I sent it to Script Lab, Film Bazar, and it initially got selected also. But by then I was so much into this script of Pinky Beauty Parlour, i simply had to make it.

Around July we had a test shoot; I crunched my whole script into five pages and the whole thing was like a short film. So we hired a bungalow in Madh Island and our whole team was there. And me and my wife decided on some guide lines – like nobody will raise their voice during the shoot.

So from this one day test shoot we got the confidence to go ahead and shoot the whole film by ourselves!

Wow! And so you decided to produce your own film right?

Initially I had somebody who wanted to produce the film but at one point of time it was getting delayed because of the funds and all. And I needed to shoot the film in October because Dussehra is in October and my film revolve around that period. And again I knew I can never recreate anything like that. So we had the test shoot and all, we were confident but still we didn’t have the money (laughs).

And then one evening I came back home and told my wife ‘Let’s shoot the film. Let’s plan the first schedule’. And that same evening, you won’t believe me, within ten minutes I got a message from Citibank that you have a pre approved loan of this, this and this – and I was like ‘Wow the amount looks good!’ Seriously man, the universe really gives you if you really want something from your heart!

I totally believe in that Om shanti Om dialogue!

That was awesome! So you started production right away after that?

That was 29th of September when the funds came in and Dussehra was on 20th of October! So we didn’t have even one month pre production time. But the script was so detailed – I must have written more than twenty drafts and then lost count of it. So after working almost two years on this script I was crystal clear about every detail. And being the writer and the director there was no conflict there and so the shoot happened very smoothly.

We had to get up at 4 in the morning but the team was so charged up! We shot in real locations, we even shot a real Ram Leela and people didn’t had a clue! There I completely improvised a scene – just told my DOP to follow me with the camera and I went ahead and said live in front of the stage ‘Yeh 101 rupeeya Pinki Beauty Parlour ke taraf se’ – that whole thing was so spontaneous and completely improvised (laughs).

Again during the Ganga Arti shoot, there is a scene where Sulagna Panigrahi had to go and sit on those steps by the Ganges. And we got it all planned and shot the whole sequence but by the end of the shoot people started to recognise her. Then we had to quickly wrap up and take her away. But it was such a sensitive emotional scene.

You know in number of scenes I haven’t used dialogues at all, specially in scenes when a character is expected to react I have made her go quite, no music nothing. Because I believe silence speaks a lot!

Very interesting! Tell me something about yourself, when did you decide to be an actor, and then how did the transition from an actor to a writer and then a director happen?

I had my schooling from Dehradun, boarding school. I belong to a place called Ghazipur – a small town near Varanasi. So in my school I used to write skits in the annual functions and all, which were mostly spoofs of films. So from that time I knew I had to do something in the film industry. So gradually I realised I wanted to become an actor.

So the moment I passed out from school I decided I need to do theatre and for that I have to go to Delhi. So for my graduation, since I was a good student I got to a very good college in Delhi university. So my family was also happy. But I was more interested in theatres than studies. Soon joined a two year course of Performing Arts and did many plays.

Then after graduation it was time to come to Mumbai. And because of my theatre background I started getting work in television. And in television you are paid well, so that sometimes pushes you in that mode where you get relaxed. So that happened to me as well. In 2003 I got my first break in a show called Kashmir! I got praised for my role by Farooq Sheikh, I still have the message which he sent me!

I learnt so much from the director of the show – the technicalities and all but it was always like what if I had directed this shot myself? I would always sit near the monitor and i think somewhere it was there in my subconscious mind that I want to direct.

I did a few films as an actor, decently made films but not very well promoted – so people are not aware of them. Then I started writing and soon I was writing for some of the big names in the industry. But still somehow things were not really happening and it kind of made me angry.

Ultimately I decided I have to direct my own film now!

So you being the writer, director and also an actor in Pinky Beauty Parlour, it must have been an incredible journey for you!

(Chuckles) In the time of post production I didn’t have any assistants because I didn’t have the money to pay them. So I was alone doing everything. There were days when I slept in the studio only. But this whole thing was a blessing in disguise. I have conceived this idea, like from the first word that I have written till the post production – and today I know everything is my vision and I cannot blame anybody. So this was the journey and I loved it!

And then also after completing the film we didn’t have enough money for marketing and distribution, so we are going for crowdfunding through Wishberry. So in a way we are asking for money also and at the same time our film is getting promoted!

It’s just that I don’t sleep much otherwise everything is good (laughs). It’s huge pressure because me and my wife’s savings are all gone while making this film but then again we made the film in our terms!

And I think it’s people like you who are giving us that platform where I can talk and reach out to my future audience!

My pleasure Akshay. That’s the least I can do specially for films like yours that are made with such integrity and good taste.

Thank you. That’s very encouraging you know, thank you so much!

Uncategorized

An Actor – Farooq Sheikh

21 October, 2015 Souranath Banerjee Leave a comment

An Actor – Farooq Sheikh

Writing about Farooq Sheikh has been the toughest. Despite being, one of the greats Hindi Cinema has produced, there is so little to read about him, either in books or even on the internet. All that you know about this gifted actor is through his films and the characters which he played. Farooq Sheikh was one of the pioneer actors in the New Indian Cinema along with Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri. Yet he was not them.Farooq was one actor who had always underplayed himself. When he was asked once, that what he thinks of himself as an actor, he replied saying that he is a very lazy actor who hasn’t achieved much but is happy for what he has achieved. His brutal honesty towards himself is what people loved in him. He never ever got ambitious in his life.

Farooq was labelled as an actor who never had any commercial viability. But he had no regrets accepting this tag. In an interview, he had even accepted his failure at being ‘not so famous’, and still be proud of what he was. He had told, “I have never been commercially viable: People recognise me, smile and wave at me — but I have never received marriage proposals written in blood. In his heydeys, when Rajesh Khanna drove down a street, the traffic stopped — I don’t mind not receiving this kind of adulation. But I do miss not having been able to command the kind of work I wanted. I miss not being 100 per cent commercially viable.”

He was a gem in the art film corridors of our industry. Yet, he was different in the way other actors of the same genre went about themselves. Farooq didn’t do an ‘ArdhSatya’ or an ‘Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyo Aata hai’, yet he was present with his own finesse and style in films like ‘Chashme Buddoor, Kissi Se Na Kehna’.

Those who adore Farooq, are normally the ones who have seen ‘Chashme Badoor’. His absence from the film scene in the 90s almost made him forgotten for once and all. Television and theatre had then kept Farooq going. His, first love, was theatre. IPTA came as a breath of fresh air in his life after his short stint as a lawyer began to frustrate him. His acting prowess was seen at IPTA and then came the big break with M.S. Sathyu’s Garam Hawa for which he did not take a single penny.

Ironically, ‘Garam Hawa’ proved to be the cool breeze every young actor needs at the start of his or career. What followed was something that even Farooq had not expected of himself. Satyajit Ray offered him to play Aqeel in ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’. This was not one of the best Satyajit Ray had filmed, as per the critics but this film definitely fulfilled Farooq’s dream to work with the legend Satyajit Ray himself.

Farooq was a brave actor back then; he would choose movies no other actor would dare to say yes to. A case in point is ‘Umrao Jaan’. This film was all about Rekha and in those times when male-dominated films existed, I am sure it was a tough call as a male actor to do Nawab Sultan. Even the poster of the film had Rekha all over it.

With ‘Noorie’, he announced that he could deliver single-handedly. ‘Noorie’ went on to become the seventh highest-grossing film that year. For someone like Farooq, this would be a straight jacket entry into mainstream cinema as ‘Noorie’ was a Yash Chopra film. But he never let anyone categorised him. He did whatever came his way and this is why we see such diversified roles done by him in such a short period of time. If in ‘Katha’, he was the ‘Hare’ who liked chatting a lot and boasting about himself to woo people then in ‘Sath-Sath’, he played a stern man who could not sacrifice his principles. Then, in Bazaar, he was entirely in a different story. This versatility in him created an image for himself in the industry. Farooq Sheikh could do a ‘Siddharth’ in Chasme Buddoor with the same ease he did ‘Basu’ in Katha. All these films became classics with time. and Farooq had a major role to play in making them one.

But despite these great performances, what he got were just appreciations in the form of good reviews and the tag of ‘good actor’. It was, finally, in the year 2010 that we saw him getting the National award for the best actor in a supporting role for ‘Lahore’ – a film that won several accolades around the globe. This recognition came much later to Farooq who deserved more than what he got. But as he was Farooq Sheikh, these things – awards and recognition- never mattered to him.

I have written how he wasn’t an ambitious man. It was for this reason that he did even the smaller roles with the same excitement and vigour. Despite him being lost from the film scene in the 90s, he had no ego whatsoever to do serials like ‘Chamatkaar’ and ‘Ji Mantri Ji’.

And who can forget ‘Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai’, one of the best show Indian Television has produced and undoubtedly, the main reason for the show to get engraved in our memories was Farooq Sheikh. He wasn’t very glamorous and fizzy in the way he anchored. He was simple, genuine, calm in the way he handled the guests at his show. In two simple words, he was just Farooq Sheikh. Clad in Kurta and Pyjama, a dress he wore the most in his last 15 years of life, Farooq made sure there was no boredom in the show.

It is not correct to say that he wasn’t an aware star. Those who knew him on- screen, they loved him. And those who know him off-screen, they adored him for being a person that he was. Deepti Naval remembers him as a man who was part of her career. She acted with him in as many as nine films. For her, he was a constant part of her professional as well as personal lives.

After his funeral procession was over, teary-eyed Shabana Azmi came out and said, “There will be no ‘Tumhari Amrita’ Without Farooq. The curtains have fallen.” ‘Tumhari Amrita’ was one play which both of these greats had been performing for the last twenty years till 2013. In early December of 2013, Shabana and Farooq had performed the play in Agra and after the completion of play, Shabana had told him, “Let it be our last play, Farooq. I believe this should be the end of ‘Tumhari Amrita’ to which he resisted, “Why! I think we should do this role for another 20 years to come!” After two weeks or so, Farooq Sheikh left the world leaving everyone shocked.

Written By: Shubham Pandey

Caution: The opinion expressed in this article are the personal opinion of the author. Cinemaforensic/Bollywoodirect is not responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability or validity of any information in this article. The information/Opinion, facts appearing in it do not reflect the views of Bollywoodirect & Bollywoodirect doesn’t assume any responsibility or liability of the same.

Featured article from Bollywoodirect.

Film Reviews (Indian)

Children of War (2014)

17 May, 2014 Souranath Banerjee Leave a comment

My Ratings: 4/5

Children of War is one of the most sincere films I have seen in the recent times.

I won’t recommend this film for children or even adults with weak hearts since Children of War showcases some of the most visually disturbing images of rape, torture and genocide ever seen in Indian Cinema.

But most importantly Children of War voices the truth.

The film successfully recreates the horrific crimes orchestrated by Pakistan over the Bangladeshi (Bengali) people in the pre-independence era of Bangladesh in 1971.

For nine months the common people of Bangladesh (then-East Pakistan) were tortured and denied of their rights to form a separate democratic country. Surprisingly the world turned a blind eye to this genocide until India took it personally and overpowered the Pakistani troops (in more sophisticated words: kicked their asses big time) along with the help of Bangladeshi resistance force (Mukti Bahini).

Children of War makes us revisit those horrific pages of history and acknowledge the sufferings of those innocent lives of Bengali people lost in the battle for the independence of Bangladesh.

The film has a soul of its own that connects to you – hats off to the first-time director Mrityunjay Devvrat for making Children of War so real.

Indraneil Sengupta, Raima Sen, Tilotama Shome, Victor Banerjee, Farooq Sheikh – all did a good job but the man who steals the show is the evil Pakistani commander Pavan Malhotra – brilliantly wicked.

In the film Malik (Pavan Malhotra) who is in charge of a Pakistani war camp believes that if enough Bangladeshi girls (war prisoners) are raped and made to bear Pakistani children then the idea of revolution for their separate country will eventually die down. So under his observation women of all ages who are dumped in that war camp are routinely raped and tortured till they become pregnant with the so called ‘children of war’.

We also experience the story of a brother (Riddhi Sen) and sister (Rucha Inamdar) who has lost everything of their own including their parents – their only aim is to reach India where they can be safe. But can they survive till the end of their journey?

On the other hand there is the journalist (Indraneil Sengupta) who is forced to take up a gun instead of his pen to fight back against the injustice and also to search his wife (Raima Sen) who is imprisoned in the war camp of Malik.

The film tells us such tales of intolerable human suffering that somehow make us feel guilty – guilty of being proud of our over-glorified human existence.

Children of war is a film everyone should watch – not only because it’s a very well-made film but also to have a better understanding of the world history.

And then you only wish that history doesn’t repeat itself … ever.

Film trailer link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3xWa-pBtdQ

For the love of cinema