Of unfulfilled promises and Illusions...

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Idea launched the new ad campaign targeting the elections. In one of the ads "Ullu Banawing" is the punch line used for the politicians who promised but never fulfilled those promises one election after another. And history tells us that they got elected too. We, the people, have time and again voted them to power despite the unfulfilled promises. We resigned to our fate that that's how politicians are. Without ideology and without principles. Remember the origin of term dalbadloo. Or the elected convicts in parliament and assemblies. Politics and politicians became synonymous with corruption and crooks. Perhaps they still are. Then how come we suddenly became so demanding of our unfulfilled promises to the extent that we started assaulting the politicians. Wait, not politicians, but one politician. Arvind Kejriwal.

Image source: Indiatimes.com

Years of unfulfilled promises and we never revolted but 49 days of AK governance in Delhi fuelled so much hatred that people started slapping him. Seems like disillusionment has a new definition for Indian psyche. We saw unfulfilled promises day in day out. We saw corruption becoming part of our subconscious nature. We sneered of scams and industrialist-politician nexus  and got on with our lives as if nothing happened. Perhaps 49 day governance was biggest of all crimes and AK was worst candidate in the history of India. I saw people taking sadistic pleasure on the assaults as if he had done something wrong to them on a personal level. Perhaps, they will find the same pleasure if some retard assassinates him in the street for the same unfulfilled promises. What have we transformed into?

AK might get decimated in these elections, all the AAP candidates might lose their seats and perhaps AAP will be history after the elections but we must not ignore the effect this fledgling party had on Indian Politics. 15-20 years down the line, AAP's emergence will be considered as a watershed event in Indian history. Whatever their intentions might've been, they tried and to some extent cleaned the Indian politics. The credit must be given to them for changing the very nature of politics. Not very long ago, being a criminal and Bahubali was sureshot ticket to a party and to parliament.

I am not a supporter of all the tantrums, dramas and turncoats by AAP but amidst the chaos, I find them lesser evil. One side there is highly polarizing, Ambani-Adani  endorser and an authoritarian whom his own party dreads. Another side there is a 44 year old boy who still hasn't got the idea of what's going on. Crores of rupees from  undisclosed  sources have been spent on propaganda by both.

Image source: Naragi.in, Rediff.com

Bombarded by TV advertisements, are these two parties courageous enough to disclose their source of funding? Perhaps, by next election it will become possible. When the effects of current politics trickles down and realization occurs. When AAP becomes a force in Indian politics with ideologies intact. Or When another small party emerges and changes the very fabric of Indian Politics.Till then, I am satisfied that Indian Politics got cleaner. Or is that just an illusion?

Predictions for Academy awards 2014

I shouldn't be posting this blog 2 hours prior to the award ceremony but what the heck. I don't want to miss the predictions which I've been doing for the last 6 years. This year saw some great movies, some unique stories, some amazing performances and some unbelievable cinematography. Let's take the nomination one by one.  

Best Picture
·         American Hustle: Great ensemble cast and great performances with all the leading characters getting nominations in their respective categories. A well written movie and great production design to recreate America of Eighties. The movie lags behind in creating the impact that other contenders have created.
·         Captain Phillips: Paul Greengrass’s adept direction along with gritty portrayal of Captain Philips by Tom Hanks gives the amazing drama which has its premises on Sea-Piracy and Somalian Pirates. Well deserved nomination.
·         Dallas Buyers Club: A powerhouse performance by Matthew McConaughey defines this movie. Superb performances by supporting cast. Jared Lato is a revelation in the movie. Jennifer Garner doesn’t have much sceen time but her understated portrayal of sympathetic doctor symbolic to what the viewer’s feel about Ron Woodroof. Great Direction and editing. Overall a good contender to the top prize.
·         Gravity: Commercially most successful movie among the nominees and perhaps that’s only reason that might pull this brilliant movie from winning the top prize. A super tight screenplay, stunning visuals, perfect editing and superb direction. Add Sandra Bullock’s performance and you’ve got the biggest contender to win Best Picture.
·         Her : Great story, superb acting by Joaquin Phoenix, great visual effects, nice background score. A love story from future. Hurried climax leaves viewer unsatiated. Nomination is enough.

·         Nebraska: A wonderful screenplay coupled with brilliant acting by Bruce Dern & June Squib along with an amazing cinematography makes it my favorite movie from the nominee list. Superb direction by Alexander Payne yet again. His movies have a distinctive American flavor. I’d love this movie to win the top prize but it’s lagging behind other nominees.
·         Philomena:  A serious subject treated with humor and sensibility. Good performance by Steve Coogan and Judi Dench. Nomination is good enough.
·         12 Years a Slave: Strongest contender to the top prize. Superb adaptation. Great direction. Great Acting by the cast. Chiwetel Ejiofor is brilliant. I’d have liked better editing though.  A neck to neck fight between this movie and Gravity.
·         The Wolf of Wall Street:  Another best picture nomination to a Martin Scorsese movie. Not sure if this movie is better than his other nominations over the years. Nomination is enough.

This year’s top award is a two horse race between Gravity and 12 years a slave. 

Top 3 out of the nominations are Nebraska,12 years a slave, Gravity.
My Prediction: 12 Years a Slave

Best Direction

David O Russel’s the weakest contender in this category. Alexander Payne’s got a much deserved nomination for Nebraska. Martin Scorsese’s treatment of The Wolf of Wall Street is very atypical to his other directorial ventures. It’s funny yet intriguing. Vulgar yet aesthetic. But in this category main fight is between Alfonso Cuaron and Steve McQueen for the golden trophy. My money is on Alfonso Cuaron for super tight and crisp space-science fiction drama Gravity.

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Bruce Dern’s is amazing, convincing and real in Nebraska. Christian Bale has shown his range yet again in American Hustle. Chiwetel is restrained and methodical in 12 years a Slave. Leonardo Di Caprio is intense, funny and evil as Jerdon Belfort in The wolf of Wall Street. But this year is year of recognition to McConaissance. Matthew McConaughey’s indomitable, indefatigable portrayal’s Ron Woodroof is way ahead of other nominees. Almost certain to win the trophy. Matthew McConaughey.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

A tougher fight in best actress category. Judi Dench is adorable and earthy in Philomena. Meryl Streep has got yet another nomination. What a legend. Amazing performance in August: Osage County. Sandra Bullock is fantastic in Gravity. Amy Adams has packed another punch in American Hustle. But, Cate Blanchett steals the show in Blue Jasmine. Her performance of a dazed, disillusioned, fallen from grace, once ultra rich wife of a Millionare is perhaps year’s best acting performance. A complex character was portrayed with subtlety and panache. She never lets the intensity of her character dip and gets better as the movie progresses. A performance where you might not remember the movie but her performance. She is almost certain to win the trophy. Cate Blanchett all the way. 

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Supporting Roles categories are always tough to predict as all the performances are amazing. Barkhad Abdi is brilliant as Somali Pirate in Captain Phillips. Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of over enthusiastic FBI officer is well done. Michael Fassbender is intense. But two performances are above these nominations. Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street and Jared Lato in Dallas Buyers Club. In my view, Jared Lato pips Jonah Hill by a small margin.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Another set of brilliant performances. Lupita Nyongo in 12 years a slave is great. June Squib in Nebraska is hilarious. Julia Roberts is amazing as always. Two performance which are frontrunners in my opinion are Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine and Jennifer Lawarence. Sally Hawkins should be given the Oscar just for the reason that she hold her character and acted brilliantly despite a towering performance by Cate Blanchett. But, it’s Jennifer Lawrence is portrayal of complex, unpredictable and  moody housewife which inches above all. I didn’t like her winning Best Actress trophy last year but Academy shouldn’t correct the course now. Jennifer Lawrence deserves to win the Best supporting Actress this year and I hope they let her win.

Best Animated Feature

Despicable Me 2 shouldn’t feature in this list. Monster University would’ve been a better choice. Croods is a good watch. I haven’t seen Ernest & Celestine and Hayao Miyakazi’s The Wind Rises but I can safely say that Frozen is frontrunner to the trophy and should easily get it.

Best Cinematography

A good year for this category. All the nomination are great and have unique styles. While The Grandmaster and Inside Llewyn Davis has brilliant play of light, close-ups and low-light cinematography. Nebraska is wonderfully shot in monochrome by Phedon Papamichael. Each frame of landcape in the movie can be taken as a good example of landscape photography. Emmanauel Lubezki had done stunning cinematography for The tree of life without any CGI effect but CGI effect laden Hugo won the top prize. Ironically, this year he might pip all other nominees with CGI laden Gravity.

Best Foreign Language Film

The Broken Circle Breakdown is refreshing take on a clichéd subject. Superb acting by the lead. Great editing and direction. Great music too. Similar traits with Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt. Superb acting by Mads Mikkelson. The Hunt has all ingredient to be an academy award winning foreign movie but it lags behind in terms of buzz which is around The great beauty. Academy’s nostalgia with Fredrico Fellini and infatuation with intellectual aestheticism makes The great beauty the movie to beat in this category. I’ve not watched Omar and The missing picture but overall, I’m betting my money on The Great Beauty to win the award.

Best Costume Design

• American Hustle (Michael Wilkinson)
• The Grandmaster (William Chang Suk Ping)
• The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
• The Invisible Woman (Michael O'Connor)
• 12 Years a Slave (Patricia Norris)

Best Documentary Feature

I’ve watched only The act of Killing in this list. The act of killing is chilling to the bone. It horrifies you.

•   Cutie and the Boxer (Zachary Heinzerling, Lydia Dean Pilcher)
•   The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen)
•   Dirty Wars (Richard Rowley, Jeremy Scahill)
•   The Square (Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer)
•   20 Feet from Stardom (Nominees to be determined)

Best Film Editing

• American Hustle (Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, Alan Baumgarten)
• Captain Phillips (Christopher Rouse)
• Dallas Buyers Club (John Mac McMurphy, Martin Pensa)
• Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
• 12 Years a Slave (Joe Walker)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
• Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Stephen Prouty)
• The Lone Ranger (Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua-Casny)

Best Original Score

• The Book Thief (John Williams)
• Gravity (Steven Price)
• Her (William Butler, Owen Pallett)
• Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)
• Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)

Best Original Song

• Happy - Despicable Me 2
• Let It Go - Frozen
• The Moon Song - Her
• Ordinary Love - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Best Production Design

• American Hustle (Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler)
• Gravity (Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard)
• The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
• Her (K.K. Barrett, Gene Serdena)
• 12 Years a Slave (Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker)

Best Sound Editing

• All Is Lost (Steve Boeddeker, Richard Hymns)
• Captain Phillips (Oliver Tarney)
• Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Brent Burge, Chris Ward)
• Lone Survivor (Wylie Stateman)

Best Sound Mixing

• Captain Phillips (Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro)
• Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Tony Johnson)
• Inside Llewyn Davis (Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland)
• Lone Survivor (Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, David Brownlow)

Best Visual Effects

• Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds)
• Iron Man 3 (Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, Dan Sudick)
• The Lone Ranger (Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, John Frazier)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton)

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Before Midnight (Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke)
• Captain Phillips (Billy Ray)
• Philomena (Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope)
• 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
• The Wolf of Wall Street (Terence Winter)

Best Original Screenplay

• American Hustle (Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell)
• Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
• Dallas Buyers Club (Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack)
• Her (Spike Jonze)
• Nebraska (Bob Nelson)

In another hour or two, the ceremony will start. Let's see how many predictions came true this year. 

Predictions for Academy awards 2013

Predictions for Best Picture

Amour: Warm, emotional and authentic. Good pick for the top10.
Argo: Has all the steam going forward to the oscar night. Might get the top prize.
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Nomination is enough.
Django Unchained: Nomination is enough. Not in top 3.
Les Misérables: Nomination is enough.
Life of Pi : Wonderful adaptation of the book. Deserved the nomination.
Lincoln: Excellently written and directed with some wonderful performances.
Silver Linings Playbook: Usual American family draman entry on the lines of 'The blind side' and 'The kids are all right'
Zero Dark Thirty : Better than the the hurt locker in every aspect, movie would've gone places had it been edited better.

Top 3 out of the nominations are Argo, Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln.
My Prediction: Lincoln
Reasons: American, Anti-slavery, Biopic, Oscar's baby Spielberg

Predictions for Best Director 

·         Michael Haneke – Amour

·         Ang Lee – Life of Pi

·         David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

·         Steven Spielberg – Lincoln

·         Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Ben Affleck should’ve been in the top 5 in place of Benh Zeitlin and Paul Thomas Anderson in place of David O Russel. I guess, Paul Thomas Anderson paid the price for Church of scientology lobbying.  I was glad to see Michael Haneke’s nomination. He has his unique style and vision in directing movies and Oscar nomination is just an affirmation to his craft. Ang Lee’s nomination comes on the heels of adapting a tough book to movie. Over all, Steven spielberg stands tall in this list and sure to get his second Oscar trophy.

 Predictions for Best Actor: 

·         Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

·         Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln

·         Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables

·         Joaquin Phoenix – The Master

·         Denzel Washington – Flight

Bradley Cooper is unbelievably good and very convincing in his role. Denzel Washington carried a rather a weak movie with his brilliant performance. However, of the five nominees, his performance doesn’t stand out as much as others. Hugh Jackman gave sterling performance. But best two performances of the year belonged to DDL and JP.  Joaquin Phoenix has given a monumental performance. If academy doesn’t like to give record third Oscar to DDL, Phoenix has a chance to win the coveted trophy. But as far as my prediction goes, Daniel Day-Lewis will be adjudged Best actor of 2012.

Predictions for Best Actress: 

·         Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

·         Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook

·         Emmanuelle Riva – Amour

·         Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild

·         Naomi Watts – The Impossible

9 year old Wallis’s nomination surprised many but no-one can escape the charm of her innocence and brilliant acting in BOSW. Naomi Watts was superb in heart wrenching tsunami drama ‘The Impossible’.  Jennifer Lawrence is like a breeze in Silver linings playbook and she has already on the radar of  Academy with her chilling performance as a teenager in ‘Winter’s bone’ (I rank that performance higher ).  Jessica Chastain has been giving amazing performances over the years. She was brilliant in 2011 with some amazing performances. With Zero dark thirty, she touches a new level.  The transformation of a hesitant new comer to a ruthless, obsessive and confident CIA agent is absolutely brilliant. Emmaunulle Riva also portrayed the transformation of a lively old lady to bed ridden due to deterioting health conditions. The performance is touchy and equally supported by male protagonist Jean-Louis Trintignant.  Out of these two performances, Riva’s performance is closer to my heart and I predict it to win the top prize.  However, I won’t be sad if Jessica Chastain wins it.

Predictions for Best supporting Actor: 

·         Alan Arkin – Argo

·         Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook

·         Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

·         Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln

·         Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

One of the most competitive categories in Academy is Best supporting Actor/Actress due to the volume of performances. There are times when a supporting actor looms larger than the lead actor and sometimes acts as a perfect folly to the stellar acting by the lead.
Out of these 5 brilliant performances I’ll put Niro, Tommy, Hoffman at one level and Alan Arkin, Christoph Waltz at one level above them. The main fight for the award is between Arkin and Waltz. Arkin’s quirky portrayal of Lester Seigal is very convincing and entertaining. But Christoph waltz inches past Alan Arkin. Waltz is immense in Django Unchained. So much that the movie dips considerably once he’s off screen and lights up whenever he appear.

Christoph Waltz> Alan Arkin > Philip Seymour Hoffman>Tommy Lee Jones>Robert De Niro

Predictions for Best supporting Actress: 

·         Amy Adams – The Master

·         Sally Field – Lincoln

·         Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables

·         Helen Hunt – The Sessions

·         Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Another bunch of beautiful performances.  Amy Adams is convincing. Jacki Weaver is brilliant. Haven’t watched The sessions so can’t comment on Helen Hunt. Two standout performances out of this pack are that of Sally Field and Anne Hathaway. Sally Field as Mrs. Lincoln is amazing  in her performance. She is intense, sad and angry and eases out in her role. But Anne Hathaway is phenomenal. Sometimes a single scene works wonder. I remember Viola Davis getting an academy nod for best supporting actress for ‘Doubt’ for one single remarkable scene in her already small role. Anne Hathway’s heart wrenching and emotionally draining rendition of  ‘I dreamed a dream’ is so intense that she’s sure to get the trophy. Not to undermine her overall performance which is also great. The trophy will be the perfect testament to her performance.

Anne Hathaway> Sally Field >Jacki Weaver > Amy Adams---( Helen Hunt)

Let's see how many of these predictions come true.  

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