Jhing Chik Jhing - Releasing 11th June 2010

Cogito TV, Culture, Desi Pundit, Films, India, Jhing Chik Jhing, Media 3 Responses »
May 032010

Jhing Chik Jhing is up for release in June 2010.

It has been a long, long, long journey …. I have often told Shishir Kulkarni (my biz partner and the lead on this film) that the making of the film has all the twists and turns of a thriller. :) We are going to have t-shirts printed – made a film and survived the experience. and another one that says made a film – without killing each other :)

The awards on the film continue. The latest being the extremely prestigious Maharashtra State Awards. 7 awards last weekend ….. It feels even greater because we have no god fathers, low skills in networking, can deal but cannot wheel :)

Our friends in the industry, and outside it have been magnificent. Offering us unconditional support. The Marathi industry, perse has been fabulous. Unselfish, supportive and helpful.

They say that your first film is like your first lover, you will never forget the experience. I think the making of Jhing Chik Jhing is going to become part of the legend that we tell our grand kids (if we have any :)

Yesterday, we had our first ad release in the Maharashtra Times :

translation -
Chinmay Kambli – best child actor – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010
Bharat Jadhav – best actor – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010
Madhavi Juvekar – best actor – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010
Nitin Nandan – best director (2) – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010
Nitin Nandan – best director for a film with a rural theme – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010
Cogito Entertainment – best film (2) – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010
Cogito Entertainment – best film with a rural theme – Maharashtra State Awards, 2010
Nitin Nandan – best story – Zee Gaurav, 2010
Bharat Jadhav – best Actor – MaTa Sanman 2010
Chinmay Kambli – best child Actor – MaTa Sanman 2010
Madhavi Juvekar – best actor – Sanskruti Kala Darpan, 2010
Chinmay Kambli – best child actor – Sanskruti Kala Darpan, 2010

Releasing 11th June 2010 in selected cinemas …..

Sphere: Related Content

Posted by gargi at 9:57 am Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Jhing Chik Jhing - Director's vision

Cogito TV, Desi Pundit, Development, Films, Jhing Chik Jhing 2 Responses »
Apr 272010

Our film Jhing Chik Jhing is up for release in June.

Based in rural Maharashtra, with the backdrop of agrarian debt & farmer suicide, the story is that of a boy – Shyam (Chinmay Kambli – best actor MaTa Sanman, Maharashtra state awards) whom dares to hope for a better future, his never say die attitude.

Director Nitin Nadan – who also won the best story award at Zee Gaurav – shares his vision of the film

Jhing Chik Jhing is a phrase that the protagonist Shyam naturally uses to express joy; when he feels something positive has started happening for him. He is full of dreams and a go-getter just like many other children of his age. What makes his story unique is the fact that he has the audacity to hope even though he is surrounded by poverty, because his father is a farmer in debt.

I believe that only those people rise in life, that have absolutely nothing to fall back on – nothing to lose.

The dichotomy in my country baffles me. When the Indian economy witnessed a sharp rise in the last decade, ironically more than 10000 farmers committed suicide due to indebtedness in Vidarbha, Maharashtra (State in India). It was a phenomenon that took India by storm. They swallowed pesticides, hung themselves from trees, set themselves on fire or jumped down wells. Most of them were plagued by debt, poor crops and hopelessness.

I thought of this story when I came across more than 50 children in a remote village school. We were shooting an environment series for India’s national channel, in the interiors of Vidarbha, Maharashtra. These children surrounded our car looking very excitedly inside. That is when the forest officer told me that this was the area where the maximum number of farmers had committed suicides. I was sure at least one of those boys wanted to own a car when he grew up. My mind was flooded with questions –

What if one of these boys has dreams?

And what if his father wants to commit suicide with the whole family?

How will the boy survive? Where will he derive strength from?

There were many stories that I could have chosen for my first film. All entertaining and commercially viable! But I debated within myself as to what was more important – a film only for the sake of a glamorous career or a film based on the issues that I have deeply felt for, for years?

I picked up few real instances and weaved them into an imaginary story. To elaborate, in my personal journey from a small nondescript tribal school in rural India to Mumbai, the City of Dreams, I have survived by sheer ‘HOPE’. So my protagonist’s character is also defined by Hope. Simplicity in expression was my priority. For the same reason the story telling is linear. For me it was important to get the audiences to feel for the characters and sympathize with them. The characters live simple life yet there exists an inherent drama. It unfolds through the characters’ behaviour in situations. Even the solution I suggest is simple and right upfront.

I know for a fact that before my film many films have been made and after my film many will be made. Where I stand as a filmmaker is not the question nor is how my film gets rated. What definitely matters to me the most is how deep an impact my film will create on the people who see it. Whether it will make them want to alter their existing lifestyle (food) to organic lifestyle.

Thousands of farmers for almost 3 decades have been misguided under the pretext of green revolution (inorganic Farming). I as a director feel for it strongly and want to put it across to the consumers who can create a difference because I firmly believe that “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”.

Sphere: Related Content

Posted by gargi at 1:04 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Jhing Chik Jhing - The Awards So Far.....

Cogito TV, Culture, Films, India, Jhing Chik Jhing, Media 4 Responses »
Mar 212010

Last night at a star studded event at Bhaidas Hall, Vile Parle, Mumbai – the 10th Maharashtra Times MaTa Sanman Awards were held.

Cogito’s film Jhing Chik Jhing – was nominated in two categories for 3 awards – best child star (s) and best Actor. Both Bharat Jadhav and Chinmay Kambli won awards for their performance in the film

It has been a good month so far. The awards won by Jhing Chik Jhing have been :

Best Actor (Male) – Bharat Jadhav – MaTa Sanman
Best Actor (Female) – Madhavi Juvekar – Sanskruti Kala Darpan
Best Child Star – Chinmay Kambli – MaTa Sanman
Best Child Star – Chinmay Kambli – Sanskruti Kala Darpan
Best Story – Nitin Nandan – Zee Gaurav

the family

 

In all we have had 7 nominations at Zee Gaurav, 9 at Sanskruti Kala Darpan and 3 at MaTa. 5 awards in all -:) It is our first feature film as producers, and naturally we can’t stop beaming :)

Here is the latest promo:

The film is set around the problem of agrarian debt and farmer suicides in Maharashtra.

Bharat Jadhav plays Mouli – a farmer who ekes out a living on a 2 acre farm – trying his best to support his family. He is in debt to the tune of Rs. 10,000 to the local money lender (Uday Sabnis). Mouli’s wife Manda (Madhavi Juvekar) tries her best to sustain the family on the little that they have.

(Bharat Jadhav & Madhavi Juvekar – in Jhing Chik Jhing)

Mouli and Manda’s children Shyam (Chinmay Kambli) and Dipti (Aarti More) go to the local school – and both are bright children who have a lot to look forward to. Shyam wants to become ‘someone’ and Dipti has her first crush !

When it seems that all is lost – including the land -  and suicide is the only option – Shyam decides that he is not going to die and tries his best to save the family.

What he does and the alternative to suicide and debt free farming (the word used in the film is swawalambhi) is the crux of the film…..

 


Chinmay Kambli (Shyam) and Dilip Prabhavalkar (kavi) in the film Jhing Chik Jhing

Sphere: Related Content

Posted by gargi at 5:09 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Idea of India being Whittled Away

Desi Pundit, India, Society 6 Responses »
Mar 192010

This From Today’s ToI

If the state government has its way, it won’t be possible for students to dream of a seat in a professional degree course merely because they have been born in Maharashtra or because they have passed their Std X or XII from institutions in the state.

A change sought to be introduced by the director of technical education (DTE) provides that not only the student, but also his/her father, should have been born in Maharashtra for the student to be eligible for the professional degree course seat. Besides, the father should have been a permanent resident of the state for 20 years.

My former colleague, good friend & verbal sparring partner Vijay Sampath – wrote to me about this. Rather than add my two bits of comment, i will reproduce the mail in full:

Dear Harini

As you may have read in the papers these past two days, the Maharshtra Government has enacted the most ridiculous Domiciliary requirements for students aspiring to write CET (Engineering, Management) Entrance Exams.

The govt says that from this year, the candidate HAS TO BE BORN IN MAHARASHTRA AND THE CANDIDATES FATHER TOO HAS TO BE BORN IN MAHARASHTRA.

This rule has placed lacs of children in Maharashtra outside the ambit of their rights to admission to Maharashtra colleges.

The arbitrary ruling is surely unconstitutional and flies against all norms of defining Domicile . Going by this logic, the Govt can also add that the Candidates Grandfather should also be born in Maharashtra ? And why only father ? Why is the Govt discriminating against women. Is a woman born in Maharashtra less Maharashtrian than a man ?

I was born in Lucknow to Tamil Parents. My wife was Born in Surat to Punjabi Parents. My children were born in Maharashtra and have lived here all their lives. Where do I take them if Maharashtra is not their Domicile. Does the Govt of India have a provision to exclusively accommodate such Children as mine who have been Exclusively Excluded by Chauvinistic and Cruel state governments ?

Will the Govt of Maharashtra refund all the taxes it has earned from my 17 year stay in Mumbai, now that it considers me and my children as not Domiciles of this state- At least we can take that money and buy a seat in one of the colleges run by the Maharashtra Education Barons cum politicians. What happens to the millions of Indians who are in Railways,Armed Forces, Paramilitary,Banking, Central Govt, who move from state to state and really ensure the integrity of this country. Where will the children of Indian’s go if they are not considered Domiciles of Any state.

Are such arbitrary rules against my Children’s Fundamental rights ? Or is there is a different constitution for each of the states of India, with the India Constitution only applicable in the Union Territory of Delhi ? As time passes, the states of India are exercising their powers wrongly to destroy the unity and integrity of the country.

Is this Manmohan Singh ,Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi’s idea of “Inclusive India ”

Can this plea be converted into a PIL by someone in the Supreme Court, so that once and for all, the larger constitutional question of the rights of an Indian living anywhere in India is clarified on all aspects. As also staying the enforcement this retrogressive ruling of the Maharashtra government

Regards

Vijay

Sphere: Related Content

Posted by gargi at 10:56 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

In Memorium - 12/3 Bombay Blasts

Desi Pundit, India, Mumbai, Pakistan, Politics, Society, terror 2 Responses »
Mar 122010

March 12th 1993. A time when Mumbai was still Bombay. Lokhandwalla was a set of buildings in progress, where gangs regularly went to war. Where In Orbit & Hypercity Malad were rubbish dumps, when the expressway didn’t exist, when Asiatic and Akbarally’s were great malls and when Phoenix was a shut down mill !

March 12th 1993, a set of blasts that shook Mumbai to the core. Buildings blasted, people vaporized and the sense of innate security that citizens of this metropolis had torn to shreds. In all,

A series of bomb blasts ripped through 13 places in the city, killing 257 people and injuring 713. These were the first blasts in which RDX was used and the explosions were allegedly planned by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

This was before the 24/7 news era – and therefore the term 12/3 has not passed into popular lexicon ! No body remembers the anniversary or places flowers at key places where the bombs went off and people died

Locations attacked include (dead in brackets)

* Fisherman’s Colony in Mahim causeway[15]
* Zaveri Bazaar[12]
* Plaza Cinema[12]
* Century Bazaar[12]
* Katha Bazaar[12]
* Hotel Sea Rock[12]
* Sahar Airport[12]
* Air India Building[12]
* Hotel Juhu Centaur[12]
* Plaza Theatre near Shiv Sena HQ[16]
* Lucky Petrol near Shiv Sena HQ[16]
* Worli[17]
* Bombay Stock Exchange Building[10]
* Hotel Centaur, Santa Cruz[16]
* Area opposite of Century Bazaar[13]
* Passport Office[18]

I was a student at that time, away in London. I heard about it on the BBC. I was terrified. My dad worked in Air India Building, my brother studied at Xaviers, my mom taught at Sophia’s – all in town, and both passing the passport office en route to our home. It was a different time – no instant messaging, no net, no twitter – and the land lines were impossible to get through to …..

My mother told me about this BEST bus that was blown up near the passport office. many commuters were 12th standard students, who having finished their HSC exams were returning to their respective homes. Not enough scraps were found for last rites.

SR pointed me out to a spot next to Sena Bhavan – the site of a petrol pump – where a bomb failed to go off. Had it gone off the whole area would have been levelled .

The foot soldiers behind the blast were sentenced a few years ago. Those who planned it still run free.

The BBC’s coverage -

Sphere: Related Content

Clap

Posted by gargi at 9:18 am Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Week 3 - Post 26/11 - Reactions

India No Responses »
Dec 162008

The Facebook forwards are dying out. So are the SMS’s. Most people have either moved on with their lives, or decided to act.  And, in the third week it is pleasently surprised to see how many people have actually decided to donate time and energy to ‘do something’.

whether that ‘something’ is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is a matter of perspective. But, atleast many I know have come out of their comfort zone and begun discussing issues, looking at the law, looking at local self government, and interactions at the local level. The intention is there. it is the third week, and many people from the first week are still there – putting in time, energy and effort.

_______________________________________________________

Anjana, my masseuse had come over yesterday. She and i usually have interesting conversations. And, she is one of the reasons that my use of the language has increased and consequently improved is her.

She only talked about the victims at CST. She told me that she was terrified of travelling by train now. I asked her if the previous years train blasts hadn’t bothered her ? She said that they did and this has made her more fearful.

She wondered at what kind of boys will kill innocent people. While she was all for war she also admitted that the reason this happened was because we are disuited. ‘look at maharashtra’ she said ‘ vilasrao’ and ‘rr patil’ nehmi bandtat (always fight) and they let outsiders in. Raj ‘ne te tamasha kele ne baherche lokan baddal, bagha kay zala. Baheroon yevoon amhala marle.” (Raj talked about ousiders, and look what happened. outsiders came and killed us’. She said that we will never learn from history. we always fight and let the outsider attack !

_____________________________________________________
There seems to be an increased sense of paranoia. We went to see Rab Ne last week, and A mentioned after the superficial (and hence superfluous) security check that a place like that will be the next target. so many soft innocent targets. L & I shouted ‘shut up’ in synch. Having said that I had similar thoughts when I had gone to college !

Sphere: Related Content

Clap

Posted by gargi at 11:05 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Media as Filter

Caste, India, Media, News, Religion, propaganda 14 Responses »
Sep 182008

This morning I was in class teaching Media Studies. We were looking at different aspects of media — especially the ‘filtering aspect’. Dennis McQuail - media theorist – defines this as

…selecting out parts of experience for special attention and closing off other aspects of experience, whether deliberately and systematically or not…

And, then i got down to explain the nature of filters. For example, the ToI does not really believe in publishing news that will impact the self image of Indians on the front page. Senior members of the news industry have told me and all of us – go to any media event like FICCI Frames – that Indians don’t like watching news on Caste murders, political maneuvers and minority harassment. It does not jell well with this notion of India – the seat of tolerance, the seat of equality, the seat of culture, the seat of living in harmony. And, anything that takes away from this image is unappealing. So, Muslims or Christains attacking Hindus will make frontpage or lead story, where as the reverse will be tucked away. An Indian taking over a firang company will make front page news, and a firang taking over an Indian company will not. The Oscars or Brangelina will make front page news, but regional films that win a National Award or Caste murders will not.

The example that I used was of Priyanka Bhotmange – the 12th standard girl who wanted to grow up to be someone and join the army.. she and her mother were gangraped and murdered. And her brothers were brutalised and hung. It was just another murder that could happen anywhere in the country. Somehow filtering the gory and gruesome pictures off the front pages (or even the inside pages) helped to sanitize the crime. It also seemed to make us care less. If more people saw the pictures, then maybe the outrage would have been more.

The MSM didn’t even pick up the news, until it got too big to be buried. A couple of days after the verdict that denied the existence of caste in the murder of the family .. the story is as dead as the protagonists. No one – including the judiciary – wants to admit that maybe, just maybe – caste played an issue. We will rest content knowing a family was massacred and ‘justice’ may have been done. And we move on.

And, then one of the girls piped up and asked – why is the media quiet on Orissa ? And, the answer is the same. The bulk of the population are like ostriches – we don’t want to believe that ‘our’ people will kill, burn, rape and loot. Other people do it. Not us.

There could be another reason. And that is media bias. It is that news agencies are so infiltrated by Hindutva supporters that they spike the news that is unfavourable to the cause. Either that, or they are being run by morons.

I have suggested that my students go beyond the ToI and news channels for news – and look at other sources as well. And, while the whole truth may not be represented in the MSM, it is the start point to understanding any story. Read the Indian Express, Read the Hindu, read Tehelka, Read CounterCurrents, Read Atrocity News. Read what ever you can lay your hands on. All of them will contain biases – that is natural, the only unbiased person is a dead one! The truth will lie somewhere in the middle. What else could i tell them?

do check out Shivam Vij’s blog – he broke the Khairlanji story – and has stayed with it since.
Read the Tehelka coverage on Orissa.

And, Finally on Orissa –
if you are Hindu and reading this – maybe you would contemplate sending a message to the RSS and its allies. And, that is “This is not happening in my name. As a Hindu, I oppose this violence and hatred”. Just look at countries like Iran . Ordinary people didnt’ stand up against religious fundamentalism and look at the result. I hope and pray that India doesn’t become like that!

Sphere: Related Content

Clap

Posted by gargi at 4:58 pm Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

A Visit to the Market

Culture, India, Society 16 Responses »
May 122008

About a year ago we decided not to buy any food or toiletries at the mall.
My folks were fairly clear that the reason to stop was

a) the quality – especially on dal and rice, my mom kept cribbing.

b) the cost – while the goods themselves may have been cheaper, the tendency to buy a lot of non essential ‘pretty things’ at the mall are huge.

c) the volumes – buying 30 cakes of body soap because there is a good deal, and then figuring that there is no place to store it at home

d) the Convenience – the ‘corner’ shop delivers home, gives credit, and is open from 8 in the morning till 10 at night, and everyone knows the folks and the folks know everyone.

e) the ‘values’ – dad and mom believed that the corner shop is under threat and that they too need to be encouraged. And, this is their way of making sure that jobs and traditions are saved.

They still use the mall — for a nice afternoon of wandering in the AC’d comfort topped by a coffee . I still use the Mall – primarily for book shopping, but most of my other purchases are from the old style shops. But, as such the amounts we spend in the Mall is very specific and very limited.

So every so often we either trudge to Vile Parle (East) market or Kalina Market to buy veggies, fruits, greens, linen etal. Andheri (my parents declare) is far too nouveau rich and the prices are all too high and the quality is not too good.

Yesterday, amma and I went to Vile Parle to shop. And, it seemed that everyone was out shopping for greens, oranges and other assorted colours

The Tomato Seller
Tomatoes are half the price here than they are at Andheri. or in other words if you get tomatoes at “8 rupees a pav’ in andheri, you get them for ’8 rupees for half a kilo at Vile Parle’ (or atleast you did yesterday)

The Vegetable Stall
Somehow in the summer, the colours are enhanced and the greens look thoroughly sexy.

The Roadside Botique
And its not just oranges and lemons to eat that people are buying, the roadside clothes shops were doing a lot of brisk business

Chakna

And of course, there was the junk food stall … Deep fried & Yummy

3 Men & Two Cycles - Vile Parle, Mumbai

Finally, i grew up in Vile Parle (East). At that time it was a sleepy little suburb. Not much has changed about it. It still remains one of my favourite suburbs in Mumbai .. and just as for a lot of people buying a sea facing flat in Bandra is an ambition/aspiration, for me home is an apartment in Parle.

Sphere: Related Content

Clap

Posted by gargi at 12:53 pm Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Summer is Here

Photographs 1 Response »
Apr 082008

And How… it is blazing hot in Mumbai, the hills look brown and gold with heat and the flowers are blooming

DSC00076

good morning Twin Trees - Lonavala A spray of Colours against the sky

Aah for a bout of Megh Malhar now….. 

Technorati Tags:

Sphere: Related Content

Clap

Posted by gargi at 12:23 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Longing for a Break

Diary, India, Photographs 2 Responses »
Mar 122008

Since the new year, I haven't managed to take a weekend off… Lonavala seems like such a long time ago, that most of my memories are in black and white ….

Here is the path near my house leading to the hills… 

Man - Nangargaon

Maybe, next weekend…… 

Sphere: Related Content

Clap

Posted by gargi at 5:53 am Tagged with: , ,
Older Entries
© 2010 POV Suffusion WordPress theme by Sayontan Sinha