Another sign that things are not as bleak as they seem. The soundtrack to Black Friday, Anurag Kashyap’s second film ( technically speaking, his first, because the first film he made is….well, let me put it this way, if I am really lucky, I might just get to see it before my grandson is born) has just been released. The film itself will be in theatres on Jan 28th, and there are plans to make it a five-episode TV series after it has completed its theatrical run.( Information courtesy rediff) Pretty good, I must say, especially if there is a well-packaged DVD release in the offing.
And why is it a good thing that the soundtrack has been released? Because the score is composed by this group of gentlemen who call themselves Indian Ocean. Yes, Yes, Yessssss. The CD is priced at 195 INR, I have already bought it, yes, and the first three tracks are original songs ( though the third song, I suspect, is a redone track from their first album ), and the rest are instrumentals. Paresh Kamath, lead guitarist of 90’s bands WitchHammer and Krysys, plays the electric guitar on the album, and boss, let me tell you, an Indian Ocean song takes on a different dimension altogether when the electric guitar kicks in.
The lyrics to the songs are by Piyush Mishra, and it took me quite sometime to figure out whether the lines have a communal edge. Apparently they do not.
I haven’t listened to the instrumentals as yet, but the fact that it’s not just the standard IO-lineup ( vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, tabla and drums is augmented with the saxophone, recorder, the electric guitar. Thankfully no electronica) makes me very gung-ho about the pieces I shall shortly hear.
Find of the Day: the score of Bulworth, by Ennio Morricone. Bulworth was a political comedy of the late nineties which I remember solely because of the Pras D/Wyclef Jean song “Ghetto Superstar” that aired on DD2 for some time, and which, I later found out, was a reworking of the Bee Gees track “Islands In the Stream”. The movie soundtrack features the track I mentioned above, and loads of hip hop tracks by the likes of Dr. Dre, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, and the Black Eyed Peas ( I didn’t even know the Black-Eyed Peas were *this* old). However, the score, the one I bought, has two tracks, each spanning 20 minutes, and with music composed by Il Maestro, and with vocals by Edda Del’Orso, the lady with the operatic vocals in the Once Upon A Time In America and other Morricone tracks. The best part, I got this CD for just 125 INR. Yeah, baby!
Woo hoo. Last Friday (which I have christened White Friday, just to make up the snazzy title of the post), I found and bought my first Takashi Miike movies. Audition and One Missed Call. Also bought DVDs of House of Flying Daggers, Hero(finally!), Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and 2046. Picked up a DVD of Lagaan which turned out to have a seventeen-minute long deleted scene.
Certain people I know turned out to be right, after all. Francois Ozon’s See The Sea ( Regarde le Mer) was really good. A film with a screentime of less than 50 minutes! The DVD had a bonus short film by Ozon called Summer Dress, which has this outrageous sequence featuring two guys doing you-know-what with someone singing a French version of “Bang, Bang, My Baby Shot Me Down”. Though I didn’t like Sitcom too much. Ozon’s Swimming Pool is up next, most likely this weekend.
I won a free copy of Hero, on DVD! Go me!
Still haven’t seen House of Flying Daggers, but it’s supposed to open this weekend, and I can’t wait! Course, I also can’t really afford it…
All those purchases, and still no Grave of the Fireflies? tsk-tsk-tsk… *shakes head, sadly*
He had purchased ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ sometime back but someone he knows, hijacked it for this season :P
Humph!
You lucky guy!
House of Flying Daggers, as everybody is saying, is high on style ( and Zhang Ziyi), but lacking in the storyline, especially the coherent-ending part . I would definitely like to watch it on the big screen, though. Try and grab it, if only for Ms Ziyi. :-D
Oh, like moccacino said, Grave of the Fireflies is here, my friend, along with 13 other Ghibli movies. I just need to make some time ( and get them back from the hijacker) to watch them all.
Ha! I knew that you’d had one ordered, or something, but if you mentioned it had arrived, I must’ve missed that post… And, er, any chance that *ahem* others may benefit, from your having the collection?
I think I’m going to try to see House of Flying Daggers, in the theater, Monday. Monday’s a pseudo-holiday, here in the states, though (in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), so I’m not entirely certain the theater will be open…
if you mentioned it had arrived, I must’ve missed that post…
I didn’t make an lj-post about it, actually. :)
My offer is still on! Plans went awry because I am in a different city right now, for a limited period of time ( 3-4 months) on official work. The DVD writer that was to be bought before the year was up has been postponed, because all my stuff ( DVDs, personal computer ) is stuck in Hyd. I have been buying these books and DVDs here in Bangalore…
As soon as I get back, I buy a DVD writer and make copies of these for you.
Lagaan has a DVD? Legit? With a deleted scene? Wha? Where?
Please enlighten.
If you go to amazon.com and search for “Lagaan” in the DVDs section, the DVD you see will have two special features – bio and deleted scenes. That seems to be a copy of the same DVD that has made it’s way to this place.
The scene that was deleted tells us the following – how Eliza Russell came to wear Bhuvan’s locket around her cape, why the army bigshots came to watch the match, Bhuvan’s first night in jail, and who really brought the umpires over from Cawnpore. :-D
Tip- If you see a Lagaan DVD which says “B4U music” on the cover, buy it. That’s the one!
I knew about the Amazon DVD, but I was waiting for an Indian release. Which, of course, is sadly lacking. Ah well, if Mr. Khan wants me to pirate…
OK…so there IS something that I have seen/read and you haven’t…apart from Grave of The Fireflies of course. Swimming Pool is a really nice movie that I came across quite accidentally. There are of course the mandatory, and sometimes unrequited, full-frontals that French and Spanish movies can’t seem to do without. The story’s great too.
Ah, ok. So IITians downloading the movie (and spreading it all over India) are the reason why the college-team just before us in a recent KQA quiz could identify the movie, thus depriving us of half a point ( we got the director’s name, though) ;-)
I *do* have Grave of the Fireflies, and Porco Rosso, and thirteen other Studio Ghibli movies, all on DVD (courtesy of), which I mean to watch whenever they are unhijacked. :-D
swimming pool will have your mind twisted into conculated vicious circles you roam around and around in for days after.
I liked it.
And Hero was beautiful.
Hero *was* beautiful. I suggest you check out House of Flying Daggers, also a visually spectacular movie, though a little hare-brained at times.
Ok, so you know what to bring along next time you are home (this weekend, perhaps?) :D
Hero, Flying Daggers and Black Friday!
A colleague of mine has borrowed Hero and Flying Daggers ( and Battle Royale :) )for the weekend. I will get Black Friday and some other stuff. Interested in Audition or any of the Ozon movies?
So, the mastah recommends the OST for Black Friday ??
didnt get the time to check it out, yet.
Well, FIND the time, boss, it’s definitely worth it! :)
Aye Aye