Thank You All....

आज खुप वर्षांनी blog लिहायला बसलो . निमित्त आयुष्याची २७ वर्ष पुर्ण झाली . मी हे सर्व लिहितोय म्हणजे मी कोणीतरी खूप मोठा celebrity आहे या भावनेने नाही . वाढदिवस सगळ्यांचाच साजरा होतो पण माझ्या आयुष्यात सध्या मी ज्या ठिकाणी पोहोचलोय तिथे येण्यासाठी ज्या लोकांचा हातभार आहे त्यांना मला या माध्यमातून फक्त thank you म्हणायचं आहे.
मागे वळून पाहताना कोणीतरी माझ बोट धरून मला इथपर्यंत आणलंय असच सारख वाटत राहत , कारण सध्या मी जिथे आहे त्याचा मी स्वप्नातही विचार केला नव्हता . लहानपणी मी मित्रांना गणित शिकवल्याच मला आठवतय , दहावीला मित्रांना जर काही शंका आल्या तर सर माझ्याकडे पाठवायचे मी त्यांना समजून सांगायचो , दहावीनंतर एका मुलाला सुट्टीत गणित शिकवलं होत , ११ वी  १२ वी  असताना एका कीर्तन शिबिरात भाग घेतला तिथे अभंग कसा प्रत्येक शब्दाच्या अर्थासहित लोकांना आवडेल अशा कथा कविता गाणी म्हणत समजून सांगायचा हे शिकवलं , engineering third year ला असताना खूप मुलांना toc शिकवल्याच आठवतय नंतर योगायोगाने lecturer चा job मिळाला आणि  teaching हे माझ profession होऊ शकत अस पहिल्यांदा वाटलं ,job ला वैतागुन काहीतरी business करावा म्हणून resign केल आणि  ठरवल कि आपण घरच हॉटेल चालवूया पण तोपर्यंत हॉटेल च्या management चा एका वर्षाचा करार हा दुसऱ्या व्यक्तीबरोबर झालेला होता मग आपण क्लासेस काढूया अस डोक्यात आल आणि कुलकर्णी क्लासेस चा जन्म झाला . पहिल्या दिवशी ५ मुल सतरंजी वर आणि मी खुर्चीवर अशी सुरवात होती . सगळेच जण मला खूप हसायचे. पण मी आधी सांगितल्या प्रमाणे कोणीतरी मला बोट धरून घेऊन चाललय अशी भावना  नक्की होती . त्यानंतर जे काही आजपर्यंत घडत गेल ते विश्वास ठेवण्यापलीकडे आहे . यावर्षी क्लासेस च्या दोन शाखा झाल्या शिर्डी आणि राहाता . दोन्ही ठिकाणी आता स्वतंत्र branch  managers व खूप मोठा staff आहे , प्रत्येक ऑफिस मध्ये प्रशस्त classrooms with benches and chairs आहेत projector interactive whiteboard biometric attendance या सर्व सुविधा असलेला पूर्ण तालुक्यातला सर्वात hightech  professional आणि यशस्वी क्लास झालाय.हे सर्व मी कुठून सुरवात केली आणि कुठे पोहोचलो याकरता सांगतोय .  एकदा आम्ही सर्व कोचिंग क्लासेस संचालक एकत्र आलो तेव्हा समजल कि सर्वामध्ये मीच वयाने सर्वात लहान आहे. हे सर्व कस घडल असेल तेही इतक्या लहान वयात ह्याचा मी जेव्हा जेव्हा विचार करतो तेव्हा फक्त एकच उत्तर मिळत आणि ते म्हणजे साईकृपा. साईबाबा समोर उभं राहिल्यावर माझा उर भरून येतो आणि लाखो वेळा माझ्या संपूर्ण शरीरातून एकच आवाज येतो thank you thank you thank you......
बाबांचं इतक प्रेम मिळायला मी खरच खूप नशीबवान आहे .
या संपूर्ण प्रवासात माझ कुटुंब माझ्या पाठीशी खंबीरपणे उभ आहे , आई वडील भाऊ आजी या सगळ्यांनी मला वेळोवेळी मानसिक धैर्य दिल माझ्या सर्व निर्णया मागे ते ठामपणे उभे राहिले . ते सर्व घरात आहेत म्हणून मी निर्धास्त पणे माझ काम करू शकतो .
जेव्हा मी नोकरी सोडली तेव्हा माझ नुकतच लग्न जमलेलं होत त्यावेळी माझ्या निर्णयाला खूप कमी लोकांनी support केला त्यातली एक म्हणजे माझी बायको अनुजा . तिने मला माझ्या गुण दोषांसहीत स्वीकारलं आजही जेव्हा business मध्ये उतार येतात तेव्हा माझ्याबरोबर तिलाही खूप सहन कराव लागत . आवडीचा क्लास सोडून गेलेला विद्यार्थी  , मुलाचा निकाल कमी लागल्यामुळे खूप बोललेले पालक , शिक्षकांचे पगार करायचे असताना संपलेले पैसे , नवीन office करता मोडावे लागणारे दागिने हे सर्व विचार तिच्यापाशीच मोकळे होतात आणि माझ्या tensions मध्ये मला खरी अर्धांगिनी मिळते . so thank you family & anuja.........
business च्या tensions मधून जेव्हा जेव्हा वेळ मिळतो तेव्हा तेव्हा मी माझ्या college मित्रांना भेटतो आणि सर्व सर्व विसरून जातो . अमृता शर्वरी मधुरा मयुर तुम्ही सर्व आयुष्यात आहात म्हणून आयुष्य खूप सुंदर आहे कधी कधी वाटत कि आपण सगळे नेहमी एकत्र असाव माझे BE IT friends, माझे hostel friends आपण एकत्र घालवलेला वेळ परत यायला पाहिजे मजा येईल खूप  thank you.
माझे शिर्डी मधले मित्र संतोष विशाल मनटु शेखर सर अनिकेत सर खरतर business चालवायची शक्ती उर्जा मला तुमच्या मुळेच मिळते अस वाटत thank you
मी शिक्षक आहे पण मला सर्वात जास्त शिकवतात ते माझे विद्यार्थी. तुम्ही आहात म्हणून मला काम करत रहाव वाटत thank you
मला घडवणाऱ्या शिक्षकांना तर मी thank you म्हणूच शकत नाही मी तुमचा विद्यार्थी आहे हे तुम्ही मला कधीच जाणवू दिल नाही पटेल madam, विद्या madam,सांगळे सर , डांगे सर , राउत सर, पिंगळे madam तुम्ही मला जी शिदोरी बांधून दिलीय तीच मी विद्यार्थांना वाटतोय त्यात माझ काहीच नाही .
एका पुस्तकाच नाव घेतल्याशिवाय हा ब्लॉग  संपू शकतच नाही the secret. या पुस्तकाने मला अंधारातून फरफटत नेत प्रकाशाकडे आणल . thank you rhonda (लेखिका ) तुझ्या मुळे माझ्यासारख्या कितीतरी जणांची आयुष्य बदलली
माझ्याशी भांडलेल्या मला कमी लेखणाऱ्या मला त्रास दिलेल्या व्यक्तींना सुद्धा a big thank you. तुम्ही मला कणखर बनवलत .
एखादा चांगला सिनेमा पाहताना नाटक पाहताना कथा वाचताना काहीतरी चुकल्या सारख वाटत माझ लेखक दिग्दर्शक बनण्याचं स्वप्न अर्धवट सुटल्यासारख वाटत . पण मी कुठेतरी वाचलय if you got a dream, you have to protect it. मी हे स्वप्न जपून ठेवलय एका कोपऱ्यात . लवकरच मी हातात पेन हि घेईल आणि कॅमेरा पण…
या ब्लॉग मध्ये  मी खूप मोठा आहे वगैरे हे दाखवायचा माझा अजिबात हेतू नाही उलट मी जे काही आहे ते या सगळ्या मुळे आहे हेच मला सांगायचय . कुठे आत्मस्तुती वाटली असल्यास माफ करा . the secret मध्ये लिहिलंय ज्या गोष्टी करता तुम्ही thank you म्हणाल ती गोष्ट परत फिरून जास्त प्रमाणात तुम्हाला मिळेल.  तुमच माझ्यावरच प्रेम लाख पटींनी वाढून मला मिळू द्या . सर्वाना पुन्हा एकदा thank you thank you thank you........

Some Thoughts of Satyajit Ray

मी खुप आनंदी होतो आणि आजही आहे जेव्हा मला समजल की माझा आणि श्री.सत्यजित रे यांचा वाढदिवस सारखाच आहे.त्या दिवसापासून मी शोधत होतो की त्यांच्या आणि माझ्यामधे काही साम्य आहे का? आज त्यांचे चित्रपट निर्मिती विषयीचे लेख वाचताना मला माझे काही विचार त्यांच्या सारखेच आहेत अस वाटल .ते विचार .....काही त्यांच्या शब्दात....काही इतरांच्या.....
चित्रपटाचा विषय ::
He believed that behavior of people emerges from their existence in a particular place and time in a particular social context. This was and is, largely ignored in most popular Indian song-and-dance films. In an effort to appeal to different linguistic states of India, the makers of Bollywood films consciously avoid any references to a particular place. Even the names of characters and places are made as "universal" as possible.

On the other hand, the extraordinary believability of Ray's characters comes from their being firmly rooted in a well defined society- usually Bengali life in the nineteenth or twentieth century. Curiously, the feeling of "universality" stems form this authentic localism and specifics. He generally suggests the context by meaningful details, gradually forming an enveloping world.

कथा अणि पटकथा::
"When I write my own story, I use characters and milieus I am familiar with. I can deal with something I do not know at first hand only with the help of someone who does"

Ray preferred dialogues that were "realistic" as opposed to smart lines or natural speech. "It is not as if it's off a tape-recorder, because then you would be wasting precious footage. You have to strike a mean between naturalism and a certain thing which is artistic, which is selective", he once wrote in an article for a newspaper.

अभिनय::
He wrote, "Sometimes, with a minimum of guidance, an actor provides me with exactly what I want. Sometimes I have to try and impose a precise manner, using the actor almost as a puppet. This is my inevitable method with children". He believed, "Since it is the ultimate effect on the screen that matters, any method that helps to achieve the desired effect is valid".

कला दिग्दर्शन::
Ray usually shot the outdoor scenes on locations and preferred studio for indoor shoots.

"To the extent that a director knows what he wants, he can impose his ideas on the designer. The designer is independent only up to the point the director allows him"

छायाचित्रण::
"The style of photography should grow out of the story, and the director should be aware of what he wants and be able to convey it in precise terms to the cameraman," he wrote। He believed that the director should be his own cameraman or at least be able to impose a visual approach on his cameraman. To him, there was no such thing as good photography per se. It was either right for a certain kind of film or wrong.

He warned the over enthusiastic cinematographers, "It is dangerous for a cameraman to put forward creative suggestions unless he has the full emotional and visual sweep of the film in his head। If he does not, he should be content to do as the director tells him. Coutard is a good cameraman if only because he is willing to sacrifice his ego and submit to Godard, whose ideas, if unconventional, are at all times striking, and therefore worthy of respect."

His camera moves as per the needs of the situation, rather than out of any fixed notions of style.

संकलन::
Much of Ray's editing was done in the camera, as he was very clear about his intentions before he began shooting. He shot very little beyond the point where the cut would come. He did not shoot an additional take just for safety's sake. If the first take was really good, he did not do a second take. It made his shooting ratio astonishingly low. This was also dictated by the limited resources available to him to make films.

संगीत::
"... the pleasure of finding out that the music sounds as you had imagined it would, more that compensates for the hard work that goes into it। The final pleasure, of course, is in finding out that it not only sounds right but is also right for the scene for which it was meant". he wrote.

Satyajit Ray

If someone were to ask me why I make films, I wouldn't find it easy to answer. Not because there aren't any good and right reasons for my making them, but because there are so many.

I think the truest answer would be that I make films for the love of it. I enjoy every moment of the filmmaking process. I write my own scenario and my own dialogue. And, I find it fascinating to do so.

I select my own actors - sometimes from among the professionals, sometimes right from the street, and when I do that, it seems to me that casting is great fun, because you're actually looking for flesh-and-blood incarnations of the characters you've dreamt up in the process of writing.

Sometimes, you have to work hard with your actors. Sometimes, even an amateur, in his very first appearance before the camera, will do just the thing you want him to do in the very first take.

Shooting, of course, is the great occasion for the marshalling of forces. You as the director must plan and execute the strategy, whereby man and machine will work in harmony to complement each other. This is hard work and needs any amount of patience. But the exhilaration of a shot well taken makes it all seem worthwhile.

Editing is exciting too, but the excitement is on an intellectual level, and it is controlled and subdued by the need for precision and tenderness in the handling of what -- by the mere process of joining -- begins to show signs of an independent life.

Apart from the actual creative work, filmmaking is exciting because it brings me closer to my country and my people. Each film contributes to a process of self-education, making me conscious of the enormous diversity of life around me. I find myself trying, through my films, to trace the underlying pattern that binds this life together. It is the true stuff of the cinema -- this dizzying contrast of sight and sound and milieu. And, it's a challenge for any filmmaker to try and shape its various conflicting elements into a work of art.

Before I made my first film, Pather Panchali, I had only a superficial knowledge of what life in a Bengali village was like. Now I know a good deal about it. I know its soil, its seasons, its trees and forests and flowers, I know how the man in field works and how the women at the well gossip, and I know the children out in the sun and the rain, behaving as all children in all parts of the world do.

My own city of Calcutta, too, I know much better now that I've made a film about it. It isn't quite like any other city in the world to look at. Yet, people are born here and live and make love and earn bread as they do in London and New York and Tokyo.

And, this is what amazes you most and makes you feel indebted to the cinema: this discovery that although you have roots here --in Bengal, in India -- you are at the same time part of a large plan, a universal pattern. This uniqueness and this universality, and the co-existence of the two, is what I mainly try to convey through my films.

Mayur & Sachin

Now days I am listening ‘DOSTANA’ song

………Jo din mein tare vaare de jaga bas tu hi hai, jo rote rote de hasa who tuhi hai………

There should be some friends who can make you laugh when you are depressed, who can show you stars in a day with there wicked sense of humor.

Today, I will write about two of them. Mayur Khaire & Sachin Kale.

I remember when I first met Mayur. Tevha mala normal vatla hota. But I think he changed now. When I think about him, two things come to my mind. Confusion & Poetry. He is very confused about everything. He writes really good poems (even though I didn’t understand them). Sometimes I really hate him for??????, actually I don’t know why I hate him. I always feel jealous about him. He always creates his space in every relation. His every relation is different.
I don’t know why I am writing jealousy & hate stuff on his birthday. We are best friends. I want him with me till the end of my life. Mayurya, keep telling me about good films, novels & dramas. I need you always for inspiration. Don’t forget our favorite dialogue
Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies…

I really don’t remember when I & Sachin became good friends. I can’t write about him. I don’t have anything to write about him. He is not a person to define; he is a person to enjoy with. You will never get bore with him. Please don’t think that I am writing here for the sake of writing. You will understand when you will meet him. His business sense is awesome. You can surely take his advice but I need him for the small part of my life called happiness.

Many many happy returns of the day to both of you…………..

With the blessings of SHRI SAIBABA……

Jaane kyun dil janta hai, tu hai to I LL B ALRGHT

Asian Film Festival

I was in Pune from 16th to 23rd October for 6th Asian Film Festival. It held in City Pride, Kothrud. I saw many foreign & Indian language films. Nearly 35 to 40 films were shown in Festival but I managed only 20 of them. The films I saw in the festival are listed below.

16/10/2008

Tied Hands
Director: Don Wolman(Israel)

17/10/2008

A Record of Youth
Director: Keisuke Kinoshita(Japan)

Foreign Sister
Director: Don Wolman(Israel)

Gulabi Talkies
Director: Girish Kasaravalli(India)

Brutus
(Philipines)

Dus Kahaniya
(India/Hindi)

Wednesday
Director: Neeraj Pandey(India/Hindi)

Men at Work
Director: Mani Haghighi(Iran)

18/10/2008

Those Three
Director: Naghi Nemati(Iran)

Welcome to Sajjanpur
Director: Shyam Benegal(India/Hindi)

Ben’s Biography
Director: Don Wolman(Israel)

Rammi
Director: Babak Shirisefat(Iran)

19/10/2008

Checkmate
Director: Sanjay Jadhav(India/Marathi)

20/10/2008

Crocodile
Director: Kim Ki Duck(South Korea)

R(evolution)
Director: Mustafa Zaveri(India/English)


Father
Director: Hou Kun(China)

21/10/2008

On the wings of Birds
Director: A.N.Prasanna(India)

Achanak
Director: Yogesh Soman(India/Marathi)

22/10/2008

Nishant
Director: Shyam Benegal(India/Hindi)

23/10/2008

Mahek
Director: Kranti Kanade(India/Hindi)

Festival started with ‘Tied Hands’ by Don Wolmar. It was beautiful film. It was about an ill dying son who wants to smoke & his mother whose journey to bring smoke for him. Don Wolmar himself was present for the inauguration ceremony.
Before this film, there was an award ceremony. The 6th Zenith Asian Award is given to Nasiruddin Shah. It was dream come true to listen him live. He said that people should not differentiate films like ‘Commercial’ & ‘Parallel’ or ‘Art Films’. We should make only one differentiation ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’. He is hopeful about new directors who are making realistic films(the films which deal about our daily life). He said “There should be some mad people to make this kind of films & some mad people to see them”
I saw ‘Foreign Sisters’ & ‘Ben’s Biography’ from the same director. ‘Ben’s Biography’ was hilarious. It was about one psycho person Ben. ‘Foreign Sister’ was very emotional film. It was about friendship between two ladies who are from totally different social background. I like Don Wolmar & his work.
There were some very fabulous foreign language movies like ‘Father’. The story was about man who collects garbage for living found one baby on the street. He takes that baby to his home & takes care of him. After some years mom of that baby returns & claim child’s custody. It was like ordinary bollywood film but it was very well scripted & beautifully directed.
Some movies like ‘Those Three’ & ‘Brutus’ had shown the great camera work & very very beautiful locations.
‘The Record of youth’ was boring. I slept while watching ‘Rammi’. I can’t comment on ‘Men at Work’ as I saw only the last 15 mins. ‘Crocodile’ was nice. I can’t belive that it was director’s first film. It was about gangster who falls in love.
Now something about Indian movies. I saw some hindi commercial movies like ‘Wednesday’,’Dus Kahaniya’ & ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’ for change. I saw ‘Wednesday’ & ‘Dus Kahaniya’ earlier also. They both are really good. ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’ is very very nice film. Shyam Benegal proved that he can make good commercial film as well. I saw ‘Nishant’ which is first film of Shyam Benegal. You can really notice the transition in his work.
From India ‘R(evolution)’ & ‘Mahek’ was nice. R(evolution) was entirely shot in Goa whereas ‘Mahek’ was shot in Pune. These films proved that budget is not at all matters. You can make good films in small budget. ‘On the wings of bird’ & ‘Gulabi Talkies’ were good but was bit lengthy so boring.
From Marathi ‘Checkmate’ was complicated to understand & ‘Achanak’ was bad. I was expecting some good work from Yogesh Soman but I disappointed.
Many of this are shot on handycam. it encouraged me. Now I decided that on next asian film festival, my film will be there.

Ratnagiri

from 30th sep to 12nd oct i was in Ratnagiri, shooting for film 'HawaMahal'. Film is directed by Nikhil Mahajan. I assisted him for continuity. It was great experience for a fresher like me. I learned a lot there.
I will write about it in details in upcoming blogs........