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Posted on 03.05.07 by Jeff @ 9:57 am
Literal translation of title: Truth Review By: Jeff  As a director and a producer, Ram Gopal Varma is one of the leading lights of contemporary Indian filmmaking. Varma specializes in crime films, and much of his best work has a common aesthetic: a gritty Mumbai milieu, naturalistic performances, flashy camerawork, and crisp editing. We here at Cinema Strikes Back have already alerted our readers to many of Varma’s more outstanding efforts, such as Company, D, and Ab Tak Chappan. However, we have yet to cover Satya, the one film Varma has made (to date) that is for the ages. Satya is a tragedy, the devastating tale of an impoverished man who is completely dehumanized by urban Indian society, and, ironically, can only regain some of his humanity by becoming a coldblooded killer. The first thirty minutes or so of Satya may constitute the most exciting half hour of Indian cinema that I have ever seen. These thirty minutes — breathless, technically dazzling, and brutally violent — herald the arrival of a major new talent, just like how the opening sequence of Takashi Miike’s Dead or Alive served as Miike’s calling card, encapsulating his adrenalized and shocking aesthetic. The movie begins with a pseudodocumentary montage of images of the city of Mumbai. Already at this juncture, the viewer is aware that he or she is watching a very different type of film from the gangster epics that Bollywood usually churns out. The images in this montage do not shy away from the very real poverty that pervades the city (a sharp contrast from the unconvincing shantytown sets that one often sees in Bollywood films). Nor does the montage shy away from shocking bursts of violence, weaving in flashforwards of pivotal events from later in the film. Filed under: General and Movie Reviews: India and Contributors: Jeff and Movie Reviews and DVD Reviews and People: Ram Gopal Varma and Rating: Great ★★★★ and DVD Reviews: India Comments: 7 Comments |
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Posted on 09.23.06 by David @ 6:47 am
Review By: David Austin
The Ramsay Brothers are the undisputed kings of Bolly-horror. For a period of some 10-20 years during the 80s and early 90s, this family enterprise churned out dozens of sleazy movies filled with things that go bump in the dark. Certain elements are de rigeur. You need a) one group of young attractive friends with a reason to be out in the countryside, b) one hideous monster to stalk and kill the group, c) an element of supernatural curse or connection between the monster and the some or all members of the cast, d) a bad comedy subplot. Now, that’s not to say that the Ramsays could never do anything different. 1981‘s Ghunghroo Ki Awaaz is actually a rather well-crafted take on Les Diaboliques and Vertigo that relies more on atmosphere, character and subtle chills than gore and latex. However, the beating heart of the Ramsay’s filmography lies in footage of rubber-faced monsters pursuing buxom starlets through creepy mansions.
Pete Tombs pointed out in his essential guide, Mondo Macabro, that the Ramsay brand of horror is also extremely disreputable, and that requests for their work, even at packed Indian video stores, are met with a cold shoulder. Having tried for myself, I can confirm this to be the case. Aside from the late period horror film Dhund: The Fog, released in 2003, no Ramsay films are for sale in my usual haunts, and only a few horror movies are available, period. Therefore, this DVD set is especially welcome. Finally, western audiences can revel in the seamy pleasures of Purana Mandir and Bandh Darwaza, two excellent examples of the Ramsay style. Filed under: General and Movie Reviews and DVD News and DVD News: Bollywood and Contributors: David and Rating: Good ★★★ and Movie Reviews: India and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and DVD Reviews: India and People: Ramsay Brothers Comments: 39 Comments |
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Posted on 07.11.06 by Jeff @ 7:46 am
Country and Year: India (1981) Review By: Jeff  The Ramsay Brothers are practically synonymous with the Indian horror-film industry. (Indeed, two decades after the Ramsay’s heyday, a Bollywood website recently posted an article dissecting their “formula.”) However, like many Western viewers, I learned about the Ramsay Brothers from Pete Tombs’s classic book Mondo Macabro. (If you enjoy the types of movies reviewed on this website, this book is an On September 29, 2006, the Mondo Macabro DVD line will release The Bollywood Horror Collection: Vol. 1, featuring Bandh Darwaza and another Ramsay film, Purana Mandir. I am fortunate to have seen Bandh Darwaza a few years ago, and DVD consumers will be in for a treat later this year when they check out this vampire romp chockablock with cool ghoulish props. (I recommend even more highly another Ramsay movie, Ghungroo Ki Awaaz, which is an atmospheric take-off of Vertigo and Les Diaboliques.) Like most Indian horror movies, Ramsay Brothers films do not closely resemble what most people think of as a horror movie, in that they simply add an additional horror “track” to the traditional Bollywood formula. Thus, viewers of a Ramsay movie should be prepared for a lot of other elements that may or may not have any connection to the movie’s central supernatural plot — singing, dancing, melodrama, and alleged “comedy.” Filed under: General and Movie Reviews and Rating: Good ★★★ and Movie Reviews: India and Contributors: Jeff and DVD Reviews: India and People: Ramsay Brothers Comments: 20 Comments |
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