Khan Vs Khan Vs Khan- Part 2

Two week sales for the BIG Khan releases on Bookmyshow. Need we say more!

Genova- A journey of grief in an Italian city

Michael Winterbottom’s film ‘Genova’ is an insightful, heart-squeezing study of family dynamics. It’s a coming of age story that observes the nature of forgiveness and grief between a father and his two daughters as they learn to find their way in the spooky Italian city of Genova. Switching from moments of harrowing grief to romantic cityscapes, the film gives its audience a rocky journey.

Why Genova?

Watching the film is a journey of cultural adjustment – it’s  as if Winterbottom wants to take his audience through the disorientating experience of landing in a completely foreign place. This is accentuated by Winterbottom’s signature use of hand-held cameras and informal style of doing takes.

The film was inspired by a visit to the city of Genova that Michael Winterbottom made some years before making the film. He was also inspired by the novels “Moderato Cantabile” by Marguerite Duras, borrowing the idea of two girls going to a piano lesson in a city with a port and Nic Roeg’s film ‘Don’t Look Now’for its Venetian atmosphere.

A film about multi-culturalism

It might seem unusual that Colin Firth, an English actor was cast into the role of ‘The father who moves from America’ – but in fact this greatly enriches the quality of the film as a representation of multi-cultural families. First and foremost, it accentuates the girls’ experience of displacement in the film, as the father is already a European. Beyond that, it is a refreshing reflection of the increasing multi-culturalism in families of the world today.

Talking about Colin Firth’s casting, Andrew Eaton says:
“It was important for Michael that the father be English as he’s English, as a director it was easier for him to tell that story.”

A very personal story

Michael Winterbottom talks at length about the importance of this film for him, saying: “For me the film is about a father’s love for his children and the children’s relationship with each other, the death of the mother is just a starting point, I was more interested in looking at how they get on with the rest of their lives, to the extent that they can and the repetition of those daily things that is at the heart being in a family and at the heart of getting over their grief.”

When Eaton had read the finished script he noticed how there were so many personal parallels. “If you look at all of Michael’s films, he’s always interested in dealing with family and displaced people and of people in situations of stress and danger and examining how they deal with that. The first thing that struck me when I read this script was how much of Michael’s life was in there. He has two daughters not dissimilar in age to the two girls in this story and there seemed to be echoes of Michael’s own life in it.”

Genova will be showing as part of the From Blighty with Love season across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, now from 5th to 18th March 2010, with a chance to put your questions live to British filmmakers live  after selected shows. The screening date for Genova is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday 9th March.

By Ellen deVries

Lavish Adaptation of Classic English Novel

Brideshead Revisited is a gorgeously shot, fabulous adaptation of the classic novel of the same name by famous English writer Evelyn Waugh. It is a film about class struggle, religion, forbidden love and the loss of innocence, and comes with all the opulence and British landscapes you could hope for.

Waugh wrote the book in just four months whilst on leave from the army during the latter stages of the Second World War in 1944.

The story begins at Oxford University in 1925, where Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) is befriended by the flamboyant aristocrat Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw), son of Lord and Lady Marchmain (Michael Gambon and Emma Thompson). Charles is completely seduced by his friend’s glamorous world and thrilled by an invitation to ‘Brideshead’, the Marchmain’s magnificent ancestral home.  Impressed by his surroundings, Charles becomes infatuated with Sebastian’s beautiful sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell). As his emotional attachment to both Julia and Sebastian grows, Charles finds himself increasingly at odds with the family’s strongest bond: a deep and abiding Catholic faith. Brideshead Revisited is essentially a story about the decline of the English Catholic aristocracy, and how divine grace operates, bringing diverse characters together against the odds.

Writer Jeremy Brock (Last King of Scotland, Mrs Brown) felt the love story has much resonance today: ‘The triangular love story between Charles, Sebastian and Julia seemed to tell a story about caste, which I found very contemporary and fresh,” he says. “And I thought there was a way to tell this story about an outsider coming into this family – a caste very different to his own -and dealing with that in a way that is very true to the book but also tells a modern audience something about fundamentalism and about how difficult it is to grow beyond our roots, to live beyond what has formed us in our childhood.”The producers were very keen to keep the acting cast British because of their inherent knowledge of the British class system. Julian Jarrold the film’s director explains: “I felt it was going to be so much easier – almost effortless for a British actor to drop into the role and understand the clash of manners, propriety of the period and intricacies of the English social system – than for actors who might not have grown up in it. “
The setting: Apart from the authentic setting in Oxford, and various opulent locations around the world including Venice and Morocco, the production team had to looked at houses across England to find the perfect set. One particular house offered them the architecture of the period, a Catholic atmosphere with its exquisite chapel, baroque features and religious iconographic artwork along with the all-important ‘wow factor’: Castle Howard in Yorkshire. Shooting in one of the England’s most spectacular country houses was not lost on the cast. Stepping into centuries of history, the well-trodden stone slabs of Castle Howard’s corridors gave them a valuable sense of their characters’ background and history.

Brideshead Revisited will be showing as part of the From Blighty with Love season across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, from 26th February to 11th March, with a chance to speak to British filmmakers via live Skype chat after selected shows. The screening date for Brideshead Revisited is tentatively scheduled for Thursday 11th March

By Ellen de Vries

Skid Row Concert Cancelled

We regret to inform you that Skid Row Concert scheduled for January 23, IIT Kharagpur, has been cancelled due to unavoidable circumstances.  Ticketholders please note, refunding is underway. Please allow upto 15 working days. For more information call 022-39895050

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Sherlock Holmes Free Screening (Mumbai)

It’s your turn Mumbai. Just answer the simple question and win a couple pass for Sherlock Holmes. The question- Who killed Sherlock Holmes and in which book? Post answers to editor@bookmyshow.com before Jan 5, 2009, 3:45 pm. Don’t forget to provide your phone number for confirmation.

Details of the screening

Date: Jan 5
Time: 8 pm (without intermission)
Venue: Eros Cinema, Churchgate, Mumbai 400020

Congrats winners! Deepak Kamble, Raghini Rajaram, Ankit Sisodia, Bhavna Thakkar, Virat Sarswat, Shailesh Motwani, Mahesh, Robinson, Tyrel Rodricks, Soumi Das

Sherlock Holmes Free Screening

We have 20 free tickets for Sherlock Holmes to give away. And here’s how you can get it! Just name Sherlock Holmes’ London address and post it to editor@bookmyshow.com before Jan 4, 2009, 3:45 pm. Don’t forget to provide your phone number for confirmation.

Details of the screening

Date: Jan 4
Time: 8 pm (without intermission)
Venue: Films Division Auditorium, Mahadev Road, Opp Pt. Pant Marg, Nr Gol Dhaak Khana, New Delhi 110001 

Congrats winners! Prasahant Rana, Kshiraj Telang, Yajur Kochhar, Harshit Bajpai, Vishal Rana, Abhishek Mago, Rahul Singh, Arjun Menon, Mohit Chakraborthy, Ashish Aggarwal, Mayank Dhingra, Aman Ahuja, Shushant Khairnar, Abhay Jain, Rahul Jain, Anupam Saxena