88 Antop Hill: Movie Review
88 Antop Hill: Movie Review
Kushan Nandy has guts. He says his debut movie 88 Antop Hill is a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. Now, I don't know how Mr.Hitchcock would stir in his grave when he hears this. Kushan - following the Bollywood tradition - has royally plagiarised, and goes on and gives interviews and make statements like 'this is a different mystery story. If only he'd mentioned that his movie was -to say the least- 'inspired' by James Hadley Chase's paperback 'Tiger by the tail'. Yea baby, it is a 'ditto'. Kushan may try and come across as a 'genX' moviemaker but he is old shit in a new toilet. I was shocked at how Tiger by the tail was converted into a Hindi movie and how people kept writing about it... Now let's see what Kushan said:
Source: http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/jun/25sld2.htm
�Murder mysteries have always intrigued me. But 88 Antop Hill was not a conscious effort to film a murder mystery. After juggling with a lot of ideas, this one seemed most interesting," says Kushan about his first feature film."
Juggling with ideas? My ass. You juggled with a lot of paperbacks buddy. Now, my moviemaker friends might say 'coincidences happen...' But hey this time it was 'ditto' man. Go read James Hadley Chase's tiger by the tail (Hale, 1954).
The original story by Chase goes like this: A banker is home alone. His wife's gone to her folk's. His friend tempts him to go visit a hooker, who's supposedly hot. Our hero doesn't like the idea but finally gives in and ends up in a murder scene: the hooker is stabbed to death with an ice-pick (here too, our creative Kushan copied the idea). The story happens over 24 hours and it is about how our hero disentangles himself from the murder charge.
88 Antop hill supposedly has a script for sound effects. If that's true, it's totally ****ed up. Listen to this from the Yahoo preview:
A sound effects script was specially designed and kept in mind during the making of the film. The music and background score, composed by Rajesh Roy, adds to the mysterious feel throughout the film. Source: http://in.movies.yahoo.com/030624/128/25etp.html. The sound effects are at best 'gratuitous' and extremely irritating, what with a wails and screams exploding at every shot! Irritating.
Kushan needs to learn a lot about 'stylish' movie making, before he can shoot his mouth off in public. And, Bollywood moviemakers should learn to respect the audiences and their intelligence. And of course I'd be grateful if the Yahoos and Rediffs do some research before they write reviews.
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