beingscreenwriter

12 Rounds - Except All Rounds are Empty

2009-12-17T02:10:00.000+05:30

'12 Rounds' is an excellent example of a fast paced action film. Watch this film for pacing. This film is action from the beginning to end. It starts with action and it ends with action. There are only a couple of character layer scenes in the entire movie.

The protagonist is a duty-loving and family loving cop who accidentally kills a criminal's girlfriend. The criminal is put behind the bars only to break it in a few days. The criminal (antagonist) abducts the cop's wife and will free her only if the cop plays a game with him. The cop has to accomplish 12 tasks of varying difficulty level to reach to his wife. The cop fulfills the 12 rounds while his cop friend working on tracking the criminal down. FBI gets involved acting as semi-deterrent to the cop's goals. At the end of 10th round, however, the cop realizes something fishy in criminal's rounds, but ends up nabbing him in the end.

It is a simple 3-act structure screenplay. Criminal's girlfriend getting killed is TRIGGERING POINT. The criminal abducting the cop's wife is PLOT POINT 1. There is no MID POINT to the story. The cop realizing the criminal's plan is PLOT POINT 2.

Despite the fast pacing and high action, the film looks ineffective. WHY?
It lacks soul. Blame it on bad acting, no characterization and bad story development. You can't relate to or find a reason to care about the character or plot.

The 12 rounds used by the criminal could have been used so effectively in unearthing the real intention of the criminal. But they are left unanswererd. You come to know they werre merely used to distract the cops in letting the criminal achieve his objectives.

There is a very nice scene in this movie where the cop, the criminal and the cop's wife are sitting face to face in public. But the cop can't rescue his wife (for the time being).

Check out the movie details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Rounds_(film)

Check out the movie reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/12_rounds/

Check out the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cev6xGJZKRs

(500) Days of Summer

2009-12-16T01:36:00.004+05:30

It is a simple love story with an innovative screenplay. Something Abbas Tyrewala has done with 'Jane Tu Ya Jane Na'.
It is a simple a boy meets a girl and the romance goes through the usual hiccups. But the specialty of this film is the way their romance is structured - the way it travels hence and forth among the 500 days.

Summer is the name of the girl the protagonist falls in love with at his workplace - a greeting card company. The film hops on a random day and narrates their romance or romantic development. It is haphazard. Though I strongly felt that days should have been arranged more coherently, it nevertheless renders a sweet experience. You travel with the characters - their emotional state.

The most important thing about this film is it puts smile on your face throughout the film. Even the secondary characters are very well developed.

The protagonist keeps on thinking Summer is his soul mate, which is not taken seriously by his friends and 12 years something 'I know everything' type sister. Summer, however, not ready for serious relationship keeps on confusing the protagonist with her 'I feel nothing' attitude.

The protagonist is a greeting writer and at the end of the film begins to think greeting card messages are devoid of reality. They mislead people and opts for his academic profession Architecture.

At the architecture firm interview, however, he wins a date with a beautiful girl named "AUTUMN".

All in all, it is a very sweet film.

Check out the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsD0NpFSADM

Check out the film details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(500)_Days_of_Summer

Check out the film reviews:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/500_days_of_summer/

Review of the review of Rajeev Masand on Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year

2009-12-15T01:18:00.003+05:30

The basic purpose of this post is to De-glamorize the consumerist reviews of this film. These mass reviewers take consumers' intelligence for granted by presuming general audience would not be interested in more than what meets the eye. Hell with their thinking!

Rajeev Masand

Rocket Singh is a clean, honest film with noble intentions.

Rajeev has basically concentrated on all the goodie goodie aspects of the film. They are good no doubt, but a film is not good if it is not written good - if the script is not laid out properly.
Rajeev says, 'meticulously written by Jaideep Sahni, the genius behind such gems as Khosla Ka Ghosla and Chak De India, the script of Rocket Singh is its real star.'
Excuse me, the script is not written meticulously for it has major loopholes. Read my detailed article on the script's loopholes:
http://beingscreenwriter.blogspot.com/2009/12/rocket-singh-film-of-year.html

Masand further says, 'But Rocket Singh touches a chord because it's that rare film that urges us to examine our lives and to question the rules by which we live it. It has a life-affirming quality that will appeal to every one of us who has ever hesitated before taking the easy way over the right way.'
Sorry sir, it doesn't do any of that. It, however, reinforces the importance of honest service in order to succeed in business. There is no taking the right way over easy way in that; it is a well known fact.

He says, 'The film isn't without hiccups, though. Overly long, especially in its first half, Rocket Singh suffers on account of sluggish pacing, and occasional indulgences like that unduly stretched-out confession monologue by Harpreet's boss in the film's climax.'
Well, the first half is long because the film, itself, is unduly long. There is no first half and second half to the film; there are plot points to the film. And I didn't find the Harpreet's boss scene stretched out one. If it was any shorter, it would have been ineffective. There was no other effective way but to have that scene. Although it could have been a cliche scene, Jaideep's dialogues saved the grace.

Here is Rajeev Masand's complete review:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/masands-movie-review-rocket-singh-a-film-with-all-heart/106947-8.html

Rocket Singh: We call it Plane, Excuse me!

2009-12-14T02:44:00.005+05:30

First of all, it is not a great or a very good film. This film is merely watchable and different than the stereotypical bollywood films. You are better off watching this film than other ongoing films. The normal audience may take this film by storm by calling it different and innovative but they would unanimously agree that something is definitely missing from that film.
You take out 'sales' from this film, still it wouldn't make a difference to the narrative of the film. And it is the biggest failure point of this film.

TAKING OUT SALES DOESN'T MAKE DIFFERENCE TO FILM

It is an out-and-out 'experimental' film and not a commercial one. Although my introspection and an endless discussion with my partner Sameer tells me the film is either good or bad (and not experimental or commercial), I reserve my term 'experimental'. Largely because the 'screenplay' of the two types differs significantly.
I'm assuming that the people reading this post have already watched the film. Because I'm not going to give the synopsis of the film. I'm just trying to analyze it from the screenplay's point-of-view.
The 'TRIGGER POINT' of the film as to why Rocket Singh joins AYS as a salesman is not absolutely clear. Okay, he just manages to pass the exam and apparently he is good at persuasion.
Remember, I'm just trying to reinforce the fact that why it is an 'experimental' film. In a traditional 3-act structure commercial film, this point would have been made absolutely clear or ignored downrightly. It, obviously, becomes clear further when Rocket expresses his penchant for liking people made him to choose sales. See, this point was important in the film because in one particular scene Rocket particularly mentions that 'salesman is not a good-for-nothing person'. So he had to have a strong reason to become one.

TRIGGER POINT IS EXPERIMENTAL (read subtle)

The 'Plot Point 1' is when Rocket Singh makes a sale independently and afterwards decides to form Rocket sales corporation.
Now there are two points - two important points. I didn't mark the time when this point comes but it comes out-of-a blue moon and I believe it comes at least a bit late than it should. This point comes after a bit confusion as to how the story is going to shape up further.
For example,

Rocket Singh joins the sales company and starts learning the ropes of the trade. Now we think the story would be about how Rocket becomes the king of the tricks. But, nope!
The earlier built religious conscientious prevents him from dishonesty. Okay, no problem! What's next? Point to be noted his religious conscientious is not fleshed out, it is subtle. It is not at all a traditional 3-act structure.

Next Rocket files a compliant against General Manager for which he is backfired was an excellent scene. It only showed: in sales you have autonomy to cheat customer but not to be honest. One has no independence. It is this very independence why his boss Nitin joins him further in the film.
So Rocket has no active job now and I start thinking the film would be about how Rocket Singh becomes a super-salesman through his honest ways or how he wins back his superior and works his way around the system. But surprisingly, no!

The office administrator gives him leads, he follows it, learns the dishonest pricing of the AYS and decides to assemble the PC for the young entrepreneurs (one of whom has the least regard for the salesman) on a reasonable rate (Plot Point 1). Now I understand what am I being driven to? Understand, the plot point 1 comes after much tossing and turning.

PLOT POINT 1 COMES OUT OF THE BLUE MOON

Is he cheating? Yes. Most probably he is taking revenge on AYS. The writer of the film, however, was clever enough to show Rocket even feels guilty about what he has done and he offers to pay for the usage of AYS infrastructure. Rocket goes further to form 'Rocket Sales Corporation'. Now this turn totally comes out of the blue moon. There is not even preemption about it. I'm not complaining about it. It's okay. It happens in real life. Since this point was the crux of the film, even the commercial cinema would have had it without preemption. But I would have loved it if brilliant team like Jaideep and Shimit would have incorporated it intelligently. All of Rocket's partners are justified except his senior Nitin. If his need for independence was more fleshed out, it would have been better. But may be the screenwriter didn't feel like giving it more attention.

There is no confirmed 'MID POINT' to the story. The supposed mid point Rocket attempting to confide in Puri comes in too early and is not used interestingly apart from glorifying the scene when Puri coins the term big-zero. What could well have been an interesting mid point when Puri is alerted about Rocket Corporation is not treated as mid point. It only indicates the soon arrival of plot point 2. It could have had more intelligent scenes.

The planks to drive the story to plot point 2 are inane. Why do they have to use the office land line, couldn't they have simply dedicated a mobile number for the service? Using the office land line is such a foolish and unacceptable act!

Anyways, the 'PLOT POINT 2' arrives when Puri catches them red-handed. Plot point 2 to Resolution is a pretty long but necessary journey. But can't deny the fact you start awaiting the resolution - it gets lengthy. They could have definitely made it shorter.
The climax couldn't have been negative; it ought to be positive.

PLOT POINT 2 IS DRIVEN ON STUPID PLANKS

These very loopholes keep this film from being complete.

You feel like something is missing from the film. This film feels different (read strange) partly because it is experimental (not a bad point) and partly because of the loopholes (bad point).

I couldn't understand half of the dialogues. May be because it was meant to be: to create the chaotic atmosphere of the sales. Something Sidney Lumet has done with Network. But it was justified. Or may be the theater had bad sound.

The sales people are going to relate to this film more readily because the visuals in the film look real.

THE SCREENPLAY IS NOT COMPLETE

Do check out the interview of Jaideep Sahni & Shimit Amin on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NChzZVC7Wfc