Filmi Geek

Filmi Geek metapost - Geek of a new trade

I am so sorry for the extended posting hiatus here and at my other two blogs, Geek of all Trades and Sounds Like Power.  The past half-year or so has been trying for me, with lots of soul-searching and thinking and introspection.  I had to let something go, to have the energy for all that, and it was the blogs that suffered.  For you, Filmi Geek readers, that meant I wasn't watching as many Hindi movies, and I wasn't writing about the ones that I did watch. 

The good news is that I have decided to say goodbye to my career as a patent attorney, and in a little over a month I will be starting a new career and a new job as a technical writer. 

I don't know exactly what the future holds, but I miss Hindi films and I miss blogging and I will definitely be back.  So please stay tuned for postings soon, as I turn the page on my professional life and, with any luck, get back some of the energy I used to spend here thinking and writing and communicating with all you folks out there. 

Thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to getting back in touch with all of you. 

Filmi Geek metapost

Hi folks,

There is some kind of technical problem with the Dor post that is not permitting comments to go through even though comments are supposed to be open on that post.  I have submitted a support ticket to TypePad and will hopefully get it resolved quickly. In the meantime if you feel the urge to comment on Dor you should be able to do so in this post; I think I can move the comments to the Dor post later. UPDATE:  The problem appears to be resolved and I have moved the comments from here to the Dor post.  Please let me know if you still have trouble.

I've not been a conscientious blogger for the past month or so but now that the Dor review is up and I have a few more in the pipeline I hope to be back up to speed soon.  I miss watching Hindi movies and reviewing them, and I miss hearing from you about them as well.  Thanks for reading Filmi Geek!

ETA:  There are worse technical problems than that; apparently all the work I did getting Dor ready for publication last night has been lost, and the review that is published has reverted to a half-finished version of the post.  I have pulled it and am mightily annoyed that I've lost my work.  I'll try to reconstruct it as soon as I can. ETAA:  Fixed!  I knew there was a good reason I subscribed to my own RSS feed.  :p

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I have had to close the comments on the review of Fire.

The person who drove the flame war may not believe me, but my problem with his/her posts is not the underlying substance of the views they express; rather it's how s/he chose to express them, with name-calling, vitriol, and disrespect. That person fancies India to be a largely monolithic country where the vast, vast majority not only agrees with him/her, but would support forcibly expelling everyone who doesn't - starting with Shabana Azmi.

I know I am an outsider and that it's presumptuous of me to take up the banner of someone who takes controversial positions that I only begin to understand. I am not prepared to provide a forum for political debate with any of my blogs, but I have to recognize that Shabana Azmi is a political person and one cannot talk about her without talking about politics. That is why I do not censor political discussions, why I don't delete comments and why I allowed the debate on the Fire post to go on as long as it did.

Having said that, I have to demand a certain level of civility and respect for differing viewpoints. The person who ignited the comment war did not evince that (though the regular commenter who engaged him/her largely did, and for that I am thankful), and so I had to shut the discussion down.

The point of this post is not so much to call attention to that debate (though it will certainly have that effect), but to urge all of you to feel free to express whatever opinions you have, as long as you do so in a way that is respectful of everyone involved. I don't want either Filmi Geek or SLP to be a wasteland of vapid praise or boring sycophantism - I encourage substantive disagreement - but I can't let them be breeding grounds for angry invective.

Can we get back to talking about movies now?

There are reviews of two great movies coming soon - I am working on review of Shyam Benegal's Mandi and Nagesh Kukunoor's Dor will follow not far behind.  In the meantime please have a look at some wonderful new(-ish) blogs that I'll be adding to my blogroll at the right:  So they dance! by my friend Sanni, who loves old films as well as new and has a wonderful style;  Picturesque, featuring Sunny's detailed and thoughtful reviews; and Bitten by Bollywood, by Nida, who is new to Hindi films and offers the fresh perspective of the thinking neophyte. 

Filmi Geek metapost

Oops!

Those of you who read Filmi Geek via RSS might have noticed the accidental, premature publication of my post on Aaja nachle, which I saw a couple of nights ago. 

I'll get the real thing up in the next day or two.  I also owe you a long overdue writeup of a 1970s film that I saw over a month ago now. 

My rate of film-watching has slowed down a bit due to a variety of factors, but I haven't forgotten Hindi films or Filmi Geek, and I'm sure that as the year draws to a close and I take some lazy vacation days during Christmas week I'll make up for this temporary slowdown. 

Until then, thanks for reading!  See you soon. 

Metapost: Filmi Geek ko janam din mubarak!

I apologize for two metaposts in a row - you don't deserve that.  But real life has been busy lately and I haven't had a chance to watch any movies.  Still, I had to subject you to another metapost because I'm delighted to celebrate Filmi Geek's first birthday and I didn't want to do it alone!

I founded Filmi Geek a year ago to keep what was then my only blog, Geek of All Trades, from becoming too unbalanced with posts about Hindi films.  At that time I had been watching Indian movies for about 16 months and had seen a little over 50 of them.  I had on GOAT a short blurb about each film I'd seen, plus a handful of longer reviews.  I created Filmi Geek and started migrating the reviews over and expanding the shorter ones.  Filmi Geek opened its doors on October 6, 2006, with fewer than twenty movies, and over the following couple of months I got all caught up on the films I'd already seen and begun posting more reviews as fast as I could watch movies. 

I didn't know what Filmi Geek would be; I didn't know if I would enjoy doing that much writing about movies, and I didn't know if anyone would care what I had to say.  What's happened in the past year has been more fun and rewarding and interesting than I could ever have imagined.  I've made new friends all over the world.  I  got a little side job writing about movies.  I lost my head and launched Sounds Like Power, And I've learned a tremendous amount about Indian movies. 

Today, one year after its launch, Filmi Geek includes reviews of 129 movies (and one play).  It averages more than 550 page views a day, by nearly 300 visitors a day, from all over the world.  In fact, in just a few days, Filmi Geek will receive its 100,000th page view.  Ek lakh page views - not bad for a year's work.  Filmi Geek's success  has been beyond my wildest dreams.  I have to bow down and thank you for this, the people who come and read Filmi Geek.  And, special heartfelt thanks to those of you who leave comments.  Your thoughts, insights, recommendations, and commendations are deeply appreciated.  Interacting with all of you is far and away the best thing about writing Filmi Geek.

So stay tuned for another year of Filmi Geek.  I've still only just scratched the surface of Hindi movies; there's so much more to see.  Thanks so much for coming along for the ride with me. 

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I had a computer meltdown this evening - this was a brand new computer so I wasn't expecting it - and I've lost a bunch of stuff that I might not be able to recover. 

If you've ever sent me email, for any reason, and you'd like me to have your email address, can you please drop me a note?  You can send it to filmigeek at comcast dot net.

Filmi Geek metapost

What's going on?  No reviews in more than a week! 

It's tragic, but sometimes I can't quite make the time to watch Hindi movies.  I posted my last review about eight days ago but it's been more than two weeks since I've watched a film.

Monday is a holiday here in the US, so I've got a long weekend and that usually means I'll get to watch some movies.  I already have plans for two.  So with any luck, next week the reviews will start coming again (there's always a delay of a couple of days between watching and having a review is ready for posting). 

I don't always like to say what's coming because plans change, but I'm expecting the next handful of reviews to include Satyam shivam sundaram, Teesri manzil, and Munnabhai MBBS.  We shall see.

In the meantime, if you haven't already, please check out Sounds Like Power, my blog about Shabana Azmi.  There's a lot of fun stuff going on over there.  Also have a look at an interesting recent addition to my links sidebar: MemsaabStory has very thoughtful comments on some unusual films.

Filmi Geek metapost: where can I find these movies?

I am often asked, in email and occasionally in comments, where to get a hold of the movies that I review here on Filmi Geek.  I have been meaning to do a post setting forth some of the legitimate sources I use and know about.  I live in the United States - those of you in other parts of the world may not be able to get DVDs as inexpensively as I can.  I am afraid that I don't know as much about the DVD sources that people outside of the United States prefer; perhaps some of you will contribute that information in the comments. (Those of you in India can probably just go read something else!)

The good news is that DVDs of Indian movies are these days readily available, with English subtitles, from a variety of sources, either for rental or for sale.  Nearly all of the movies that I have reviewed on this blog are available in subtitled DVDs from internet sources.  The even better news is that DVDs of Indian movies - even legitimate, non-pirated DVDs - are very inexpensive.  The slightly less good news is that even many legitimate DVDs are of mediocre quality; poor transfer, poor digitization, occasional skipped subtitles or unsubtitled songs. 

Now on to some sources.

Your local masala shop.  If you live in a major metropolitan area with any sizable South Asian population, chances are there is an Indian specialty grocer you can visit.  I have three within walking distance of my home, not to mention dozens of others elsewhere throughout the city.  Most of these shops carry DVDs for rental or for sale - usually mainstream and/or popular films.  Quality can vary - rental DVDs can be abused in circulation, and some shops might have lower-quality pirates - but you'll usually do fine. 

On-line retailers.  My personal favorite, and the source of more than three-quarters of my collection, is the on-line retailer Nehaflix.  Their prices and selection are very good, especially if you are an oldies fan like me.  Toss in frequent sales and free-shipping deals along with an incredibly fast turnaround - orders are often shipped the same day - and it's easy to see why I tend to turn to Nehaflix first.  All their DVDs are legitimate originals and the quality is as good as can be hoped.  Another on-line retailer I have used is Eros - they are slower and not quite as reliable as Nehaflix, but they also have interesting sales, sometimes offering clearance DVDs for as little as 99 cents.  I have heard good things about India Weekly, but I've not placed an order from them myself.  Although some titles can be found on Amazon, I wouldn't bother ordering from them - all the Indian films in their catalog are actually sold through retail partners like Nehaflix, and you'll do better to eliminate the middleman. 

On-line rental sites.  The internet rental giant Netflix, which rents DVDs by mail, has a decent, and growing, selection of Hindi DVDs.  There's also an all-Indian site, iTalkies, that works the same way as Netflix.  iTalkies has a magnificent selection, and appears to be a good source for hard-to-find films that exist in DVD but are out of print; but I have not used it myself.

Libraries. If you live in a big city or a university town, your library may have a selection of Indian films.  I've not used this resource myself but I know people who have had great success with it.  Also I've been told that some libraries are receptive to purchase suggestions from library users. 

Apart from those means for obtaining DVDs, there are a few other sources from which I regularly watch Indian movies. 

The theater.  If you live in a major metropolitan area with a sizable South Asian population, there may be a theater around that shows Indian films, if not continuously, than at least from time to time. Theatrical releases can be spotty in the US, limited to major releases from the big banner studios.  One way to find out is to go to your local Indian grocer and ask.  Another way, when you know that there is a major new release, is to search the internet for local showtimes for that film.  If you can find out who is the local promoter of South Asian entertainment events, they may have a website announcing upcoming releases - like Aap ka manoranjan here in Boston.

Cable television.  My cable network, Comcast, has two channels that show Indian films.  AZN, which is part of our digital cable package, has a limited selection of South Asian films, many of which are not very good, that occasionally come into the rotation.  ZeeTV, a premium channel, has a more diverse selection and shows about two movies a week.  Other cable suppliers or satellite networks may have other channels that carry Indian films. 

Jaman.  Finally, the Jaman website (for which I am a writer and moderator) has a very good and growing selection of Indian films available for download.  Jaman is a particularly good source of excellent art films - they have a great collection of titles from the NFDC, the Indian government agency that funds many art films - and the video quality is very good. 

I hope that's enough to get you started - again, I apologize for the U.S. focus, and I hope folks in other countries will chime in and help out.

Filmi Geek metapost

Namaste dosto!

I'm interrupting the reviews with a metapost today because I have two announcements I want to make.

First, I am both excited and sheepish to report that I've founded a new blog which will be a place for me to channel the shameless gushing and worship of Shabana Azmi that occasionally pops up here.  As far as I know there is no blog or fan site dedicated to her and I figured if anyone was going to start one, it ought to be me.  Reviews of her films, of course, will still live here, but now I have a place to put other thoughts, links, news items, pictures, and the like that's just about her.  If you're curious please come check out Sounds Like Power.  I look forward to seeing you there. 

Second, I'd like to include another gentle plug for Jaman, the excellent on-line service that offers downloads of movies from all over the world, including an excellent - and growing - South Asian collection.  Jaman has recently added about 20 titles from the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) that include some of the finest art films India has ever produced - films by the likes of Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, and others. 

Jaman will give you three free movie rentals just for signing up.  In addition, if you follow this link, you can get five more free tickets, even if you are already a member.  So please consider giving Jaman a look. 

Okay, now back to the reviews for a while.  Up next:  Raj Kapoor's outstanding Shree 420, one of the finest films I've ever seen.  I've been stalling on the review because it was that good - I'd like to watch it again before I try to write about it! 

Filmi Geek metapost

Namaste filmi dosto.

It's been eight weeks or so since my last metapost.  That time has seen the addition of more than a dozen reviews to the site, bringing the total number of films reviewed here to a staggering 105 (plus one play).

That represents pretty much every Indian (or Indian-themed) film I have seen in the past two years, and means I've watched, on average, one a week for two years.  Obsession is a great thing.  I am watching more now than I was in the beginning.  In the first 20 weeks of 2007, I watched and reviewed 36 films, for a pace of just under two a week.  I have to have something new to keep you all coming back!  This past weekend, a three-day weekend here in the US, I saw three more Hindi films, including the brand-new Cheeni kum currently showing in theaters, so you can expect a review of that and other new posts this week.

In the meantime you can visit the discussion boards at BollyWHAT? or at Jaman to talk about what's new and old in Hindi films.  Jaman, where I'm a reviewer and moderator, has a good collection of Hindi films available for free download.