Two new Facebook communities by media houses

Observed these two communities on Facebook recently created by Times of India (TOI) and ABP (The largest media group in eastern India) and felt like doing a quick post.

It’s the age of social media and print media houses have realized that they will lose connect with new readers if they are not what is now called ‘social’, i.e. active and effective on social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc).

TOI being one of the smartest in the business, had started being social long back. ABP being the quintessential Bengali-run business, has realized it much later. They have set up a division called ABP Digital to spearhead their digital initiatives.

TOI has recently started a Facebook community called ‘Kolkotha’ and has been widely promoting it on Times of India, Ei Samay (its Bengali daily) and other publications may be. The community is dedicated to unleashing the talkative Bengali Kolkatan share his/ her endless thoughts on selected subjects. However, it doesn’t proclaim to be meant for only the Bengali. Anyone game for talking is welcome.

ABP had probably made a quick note of it and it soon followed in opening a similar themed Facebook community called ‘ABP Tumi Na Thakle’. However, having said that ABP is a laggard in anything digital, Tumi Na Thakle has turned out to be more engaging than TOI Kolkotha.

How? Simple- TNK is bringing up more things for discussion and setting the patrons thinking and responding (by patron I mean someone who ‘like’s a community on Facebook). And that’s precisely meeting its objective. Whereas Kokotha has been running its 15-word story contest for quite some time and doing nothing else (Remember, in the super fast world of digital, even two weeks can be ‘quite some time’) .

ABP is connecting to basic elements of Bengali persona- Sense of humour, sentiment, passion- through its posts on the community wall with nicely done creatives. Its creatives have a bright yellow & black colour palette, whereas Kolkotha has a palette full of dull shades aiming to give its creatives a vintage touch. To me, the TNK creatives are more appealing.

Here are some of the creatives from ABP Tumi Na Thakle and TOI Kolkotha.

The popular pun 'DiPuDa', which sounds like someone elder 

called 'Dipu', means Bengali's eternal favourite holiday destinations- 

Digha, Puri and Darjeeling.

Wish to come back again on this sometime in near future.

  

#TOI #ABP #Kolkotha #ABPTumiNaThakle #KolkataConnect #BengaliConnect #TalkativeBengali 

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X: Past is Present- An intriguing experimental film

“X is going to be a genre-bending, one-of-its-kind cinema experience because we have at least eleven different styles of storytelling in one film.” –Sudhish Kamath

We are familiar with many-in-one films or what the cine buffs call anthology films where several interconnected short films, sometimes made by different directors, are packed into one cohesive film. A recent instance is Bombay Talkies (Hindi).

X: Past is Present, releasing this month, is a film with a single story, but made by not just a handful, but eleven directors, each doing one segment. And so far I’m aware, it is the first time in Indian cinema that such an experiment has been done. Helmed by eleven varied cinematic talents possessing strikingly diverse filmmaking styles, this cinematic treat is about a single man who recalls his passionate journey with various women spanning 25 years. And it happens all in a night at a film festival after he meets a mysterious girl who intriguingly seems to have something to do with every woman in his life.

Each segment, which is like one short film, deals with one of the ten ex-girlfriends with one or two of the twelve female leads acting in it. The male protagonist, K- the filmmaker, is played by Rajat Kapoor. His younger age is played by Anshuman Jha (of Love Sex Aur Dhokha).

The female leads include Huma Qureshi (Looking stunningly beautiful and sensuous), Radhika Apte and Swara Bhaskar.

It is pleasing to note that two filmmakers from Kolkata, Pratim D Gupta (better known as the film critic of The Telegraph, who debuted with Paanch Adhyay in 2012) and Q have directed two segments. Pratim’s film has Parno Mittra in the lead opposite Ronodeep Bose (playing the young K only in this segment), with Usha Uthup playing a character role. Q’s film has Rii in the lead (No prizes for guessing). Howrah girl Bidita Bag (of Ichchhe) has played another lead in one of the other tracks.

Parno in a still from '8 to 8'- Pratim's track in the film

The other filmmakers are Abhinav Shiv Tiwari (of Oass), Anu Menon (of London, Paris, New York), Hemant Gaba (of Shuttlecock Boys), Nalan Kumarasamy (of Soodhu Kavvum), film critic Raja Sen (whose reviews one has read on Rediff.com), Rajshree Ojha (of Chaurahein, Aisha), Sandeep Mohan (Love Wrinkle Free, Hola Venky), Sudhish Kamath (Good Night Good Morning) and Suparn Verma (Aatma).

The story behind the film goes as: The idea came from film critic Sudhish Kamath when he was at The Goa Project held in March 2013. He wanted to shoot a film during the event itself but as he could not because of lack of funds and time he "decided to take the idea forward and make it bigger in scope".  The project got backing from Manish Mundra of Drishyam Films and Shiladitya Bora (who jointly produced the critically acclaimed Masaan along with others) Sudhish was the driving force and he was instrumental in getting the other ten directors together.

The eleven tracks are varied in nature. As Sudhish puts it, “Someone's a light rom-com, someone's a twisted drama; someone soothes, while someone thrills."

The film had its world premiere on November 16, 2014, at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York, where it was selected to open the festival.

One of the reasons why it was indeed a risky experiment was eleven directors interpreting a single character. But this is what Christopher Bourne of Meniscus magazine, New York has said on the film- “The most remarkable aspect of X is the fact that in spite of the quite disparate cinematic styles and narrative modes employed by these 11 directors, the film feels quite coherent and cohesive. If one didn't know many directors were involved in this piece, he or she could easily conceive of a single filmmaker attempting different styles in order to tell the story."

A Sreekar Prasad is the lead editor of the film whose segments have been edited by individual editors. Prasad is largely responsible in giving the film the final shape taking up possibly one of his most challenging assignments.

X: Past is Present is releasing nationwide on November 20 by PVR Pictures. It has already generated curiosity on social media with many celebrities sharing the intriguing trailer which has generated more than 9.51 lakh hits on YouTube.

If you are inquisitive about the story of its making in further detail, read this interview of Sudhish Kamath.

(The digital posters are sourced form the film's Facebook page)

#XPastisPresent #RajatKapoor #SudhishKamath #HumaQureshi #PratimDGupta #Q #ParnoMittra

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A proud Bengali moment at National Awards 2014

Well, when I saw the above on Srijit Mukherji's Facebook page it suddenly struck that it was a great and rare Bengali moment! It hasn't ever happened that a Bengali president was doing the honours for national award for Best Director and Best Screenplay to a Bengali director-screenwriter for a Banglai film. The same recipient for the said awards is also rare, at least in Bangla cinema.

Here's wishing a proper recovery to the accomplished director from his fatal leg injury in New Delhi. 

Photographs are by Photo Division. Government of India.

Kolkata vintage I

Presenting a selection of pictures I loved from Kanad Sanyal's recent album (Read briefly about him in my second last post Saraswati Puja 2012). The famous Kolkata heritage (Mostly in the north part of the city) was effortlessly captured in his camera while he was out on a weekend trail on the streets of the city he loves.

1. Crossroad at Gossainpara Lane
2. 16 Mohun Banagn Lane
3. At the junction of Kripanath Lane and Shovabazaar Street
4. House of Butto Krishto Paul, the pharamacist at 92B Shovabazaar Street
5. Gossainpara Lane
6. Basu Bati at 65 Baghbazar Street
7. Lohia Maternity Hospital at 296B Rabindra Sarani

Saraswati Puja 2012

Glimpses of Saraswati Puja, on 28th January. Captured lovingly by Kanad Sanyal, a photographer by passion and a senior corporate person by profession.

A personal favourite is the shot of four girls. Wearing a basanti-coloured (yellow) cotton saree on this day has been a lovingly preserved custom among girls of all ages till even a few years back. But as Mr Sanyal observed, an invasion of pan-India fashion trends (thanks to daily soaps on national television) is fading it out among adolescent and older girls. I too have spotted this trend in recent years. He loved to see these younger counterparts of theirs holding up the custom in a north Kolkata locality.

Tandoori Nights on Chakhori Corner

Chakhori Corner: Tandoori Nights (Click to read)

Visited Chakhori Corner - the blog I wrote about a while back (Chakhori Corner - the Kolkata food blog), and came across the latest post on this wonderful restaurant called Tandoori Nights on Hazra Road. The kebab platters are finger-licking good, and a fish kebab platter comprising of ten types of kebab is absolutely unimaginable in a non-5-star set up. It's an understatement to say that the idea itself is great!

Give it a read. You won't be disappointed.

Kolkata random

A breather of a photo post after long. Kolkata as captured (in winter) by young journalist Bidisha Chatterjee. Loved the pictures in her Facebook album Shiter sahor. Bidisha regularly writes in Popcorn, the Friday entertainment pullout of Sangbad Pratidin.

1. Bow Barracks
3. New Market during Christmas
4. Flury's during Christmas
5. Morning at Maidan
6. Morning crickte practice at Maidan
7. Trams in front of Raj Bhawan

The eagerly awaited 'Bedroom' drama

Bedroom games (Click to read)

Loved this kickass two-page coverage of Bedroom in t2. Bedroom - the most eagerly awaited Bengali movie at the moment brings back editor-turned-director Mainak Bhaumik to big screen six long years after his debut in the brilliant Aamra. It flaunts an interesting ensemble cast and a captures a dark, hopelessly honest slice of life, spent in bedroom.