Monday, December 24, 2007

Go Rajat Nagpal !

The last days of WIMWI second term.. The examinations.. The last straws.. And as I tried to recover from the onslaught of the mighty QM and EEP end-sems (See what exams can do to your grammar, et al), I you-tube my way to some of the finest documentaries and music videos out there - all directed by the one and only Rajat Nagpal. The fact that Rajat was my class-mate at Don Bosco does not in any way bias my opinion of him as one of the most promising director that Bollywood has to offer. You can sample him at:



Sadho Re



Mahamaya



Keiner




Yahin Kahin


Mahamaya not only has a very rich sound-track and video, but also has a very visual and powerful message and philosophy. A perfect blend that compares very well with Nirvana. Sadho Re, visualises the world through a child's eye. Again, lovely music and visuals.

Rajat's Yahin Kahin brings you up close and personal with contemporary India and the climax is just that - climaxical (Repeat: Exam-time and my vocabulary is full of distasteful business lingo which I am sure you don't want to read. So 'climaxical' will have to do for now!) Keiner seems to be revolved around a similar theme but based in Germany.

Well, a very welcome break from all the characteristic muggai of fuchchadom at WIMWI.

2 comments:

ArSENik said...

Sadho Re takes a dig at what the corporate world has made us - mere walking corpses going about life with a myopian focus. I thought the premise of the little girl in the red dress in the sepia backdrop of all the mortality, so to speak, a nod to Spielberg's Schindler's List, was very interesting and not at all tacky - a huge risk filmmakers run into with such off the center effects.

I have become a big fan of Rahul Sharma ever since I felt his music live in concert a couple of months back. The Mahamaya video is different in that it showcases creation between the creator and the creation, albeit a little incestuous. I would have done away with the black magic effect, unless the director wanted to portray that Rahul is at a loss to understand what exactly he has created, but nothing about his expressions seemed to suggest that.

Keiner was fast-paced with a good ending. Just found it a little too dark visually, but that may have been partly because I saw it on Youtube's little screen and I am sure the makers were on a shoestring budget. Also, the music seemed a little light and not sinister enough. Great effort though.

I was sitting there liking Yahin Kahin more than Keiner because it was longer which served to heighten the tension with a better suited score and better use of lighting to portray the right moods, and then the climax is one big tease. If this film is shown right after Keiner, I think it can be termed a very good film. Just by itself, it peters out towards the end.

Rajat Nagpal said...

thank you. the interpretations of the films are so close to the way it was ideated, that it spooks me...