TROUBLE IN PARADISE

DIRECTOR ERNST LUBITSCH

One of the finest romantic comedies of 1932, this superbly written directed and acted film, portrays the life of two theifs, [partners in crime] played by Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall. They spot a wealthy woman, kay francis, and want to rob her of her assets. The problem begins when Herbert actually starts falling for Kay and Miriam his actual girlfeind discovers it and decides to unleash the secret.

The film stands out in lot of ways:

The scene introducing Miriam and Herbert is amazingly short and written where the two are playing little prank on each other, as boy friend girl friend wntil the audience realise that they both are theifs and know every little move of each other and are one above each other.

the scene, [one long shot] of how one of the suitors of kay, edward everrt, describes how he has been cheated by one of the woman, who happens to be Miriam

the romantic scenes between kay and herbert are very well executed, long shots used so as not to break the chemistry between the two of them

THE ENTIRE FILM WAS SHOT IN THE SPAN OF 30 DAYS, which is some acheivement, considering the way romantic comedies are made now a days, with huge budgets and no real flavour. Its a master piece, and a school for all the romantic comedy makers. This one is definitely for the keeps.

TRAFFIC SIGNAL

DIRECTOR MADHUR BHANDARKAR
PRODUCER- PERCEPT PICTURE COMPANY
CAST- FISH MARKET [KUNAL KHEMU, KONKONA, RANVEER, ET ETC]

With a director of the calibre like Madhur Bhandarkar, who has given films like page three and Chandani Bar, [his stock is high, ] watching his film is an obvious choice. So , despite hearing lots of mixed and ultra mixed reviews I did go to contribute my bit, and my friends bit to the Indian film Industry and to the man who has made it the hard way. I some how thought he can't go wrong!!

The executive producer of the film is 'Madhur Bhandarkat motion pictures' And then the question what stuck me, invariably was, is it that the directors craft starts affecting the moment they pay more attention to the business side of the films. Well, it had happenned to biggies like Subhash Ghai, the one man show, but then that was a stupid thought because Yash Chopra, Vidhu vinod chopra etc have been able to give fine balance of both. Enough of the balance gyan, so coming back to my review, I would say I don't know what the story was, it was an amalgamation of 'nukkad' with documentary.

The story was neither moving at the traffic signal nor in their personal lives. We have seen enough of Mumbai life style in lot of films, so what was the story with the undeveloped and unwoven characters. Silsila, the kid who wants to become fair, the kid who wants to get through his parents, the girl from gujrat who wants to sell her garments, the character of Afzal Bhai, the character of bigger bai played by Sudhir Mishra [ I would want to see him more as a director though] etc. There was not one character, not one moment where you feel anything for any characters. When the signal is being broken obviously you don't feel anything, because there is no build up to feel about it.

Was the director trying to tell not to give alms to the beggars, or he wanted us to feel for their plight despite their strong manipulation tactics?

Please watch the film and do share, if you can, about what you felt about the film.