So now the PAF season has crossed the halfway mark. On 26th evening we had the third PAF “Maai Maati” loosely meaning “Meri mitti/dharti”. And out of the 3 Pafs uptill now, I think this one is the most difficult to write about. For the earlier 2 PAFs I had a good enough picture of what I was going to write as soon as the paf ended. There were many obvious likes and dislikes in those two. But for this third paf it is not that simple. I actually thought and replayed the PAF, the story again and again in my mind. It was when I watched the PAF ‘preview’ again, that it hit me. There is one very true statement there by someone “Ye PAF us sadiyon purani PAF recipie ki tarah hai jismain bas kuch naya masala daalne ki koshish ki hai”. This about sums it up. I think this was the reason why the general response to the paf was “bahut accha tha” and not “bahuuuuuutt accha tha”. Those extra ‘u’s matter a lot. They tell you that the first one is appreciation of the effort but the second one is a reaction after enjoying the PAF.
The PAF centered around a very hot current issue “Naxalism”. To be honest I also didn’t know much about what is going on there. I always approached the issue as communist groups refusing to development. Atleast now my unintentional bias has been removed. The PAF from the word go got into this issue, covering a slight history and the actual state in these villages affected by it. However despite the through research and incidences cited during conversations they, atleast for me, could not bring out the pain of the people affected. Here is what I mean:
They very smartly had constructed this character of Rajeev shekhar, the reporter who is kidnapped by the naxalites. The use of this character is that he is like us, “urban” and unaware of the actual situation. The goal should have been for him to slowly discover the problems in the village. However what did happen was all the background info was thrown at the audience one after the other. And the only incidence that did show the injustice being done to them was the shooting of bittu at the station. In short, in my opinion getting into the issue from the word go and ‘telling’ (not showing) all the problems failed to really make the audience wonder. Infact just the video alone brought in more impact about the issue than the whole story of the PAF. Still to avoid the risk of being over critical let’s move on to the elements
The highlight undoubtedly was MUSIC. The vocals, sitar and tabla jugalbandi, folky tunes for the village scenes were also well thought out. Choreo for me was just average, how ever I did enjoy the ‘mahishasur choreo’ quite a lot. I never knew I could be intrigued by this type of dance so much. Prod involving the moving train was a good idea, however a few more people in it apart from the neta they were waiting for would have made it more realistic. Apart from that the village prod also quite beautifully done. Voiceovers for me were inconsistent, (especially female). There were regular mistakes, stammers and more importantly very few had a distinct trait especially in the village, where it was hard to make out who is who. Still a few VO did standout like the police inspector, bittu, champa rani and saved the day for them. Acting was okish. Most of the humor didn’t really work and the only funny scene that stayed with me was the DDLJ impression. Overall execution however could have been much tighter. Though no major putches, the scene cuts and abrupt choreos hindered the flow of the story. The streetplay though by now a bit of a cliché, was very very well executed and did get the audience going. Another scene that stood out for me was the one when Rajeev shekhar, after spending time in the village, starts a virtual show in the village itself. Supported by some really beautiful music this scene for the first time enabled me to feel the characters in the village. That is why I also mentioned earlier that more use of this character in exploring the problems in the village would have been much more effective than just the villagers discussing it like a history lesson.
So concluding I would say, though no major problem with script or the execution or the elements, this was still just another paf, with nothing there we haven’t seen before. Even the train prod ( though the prod junta involved might not know this) has been done before. Infact I was strongly reminded of PAFs like “Saare jahan se accha” and “1984”. Still for a typical PAF they came through, had their set of highlights and most importantly did bring out quite a few things about the issue not known to many.
Overall rating: 7/10
Showing posts with label PAF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PAF. Show all posts
PAF reviews: 2. Panchi Re!!!
First of all thanks guys for all the feedback on the previous review, please continue with your comments coz they do help a lot.
So on 22nd evening we had the second PAF of the season “Panchi Re”. The immediate verdict is obviously that it was very very good. The humor, the execution, the energy (in choreo as well as VO and acting) was spectacular. Prod junta did a great job too. The thing that set this PAF apart in my opinion was how they started with an entertaining script and slowly brought in some relevant points without making it abrupt.
A few words on the elements. Voiceovers really surprised me. The voice traits given to every weird character was funny and enjoyable. Infact it was these well delivered traits that saved the regular fumbling and incorrect dialogues. Its upto judges what was more important to them. Acting was good but not consistent. A few scenes clearly looked less rehearsed than others specially the flashes when sajalpur starts facing problems. Those scenes also lacked BG music which could have pulled it through. But still despite this dip the overall energy of the paf remained very high all throughout. Music and Choreo …. “DOUBLE THUMBS UP”. They really performed very well. Great original scores, although there should have been more meeting between script junta and music junta coz I still believe they missed out on BG music in a few very imp scenes. Choreo junta rocked. There were no really never before things but THE ENERGY in itself was something I had never seen before, the Ghana Ghana choreo and the holi choreo really set the pace. I am not a very big fan of UV personally but still the execution of that was also good. Lights junta for a change managed to keep their nerve( :P) so kudos to them too. The center stage prod was awesome, and the village prod was also very neat. Although they could have come up with a few more things for the village in the quadrangle.
Now we come to the one debatable point of the PAF. Almost everybody I spoke with loved the PAF, the humor the elements, etc but there were definitely some debate as to what they were trying to show in the end. I assume that no one’s intention was to take sides in the Marathi vs. bihari issue. But the way the debate was portrayed and the story went on, it sort of crossed the line of being politically correct. One should realize and actually believe that there are always 2 sides of the story, and there is some weight to both sides that’s why the argument exists. Otherwise it would have been solved long back. Still in the debate it seemed that the scales were tilted in the favor of gopu bhaiyaa. And this was a fact felt by many people sitting around me and to some I spoke to afterwards. The argument where the question of violence was raised gopu’s character defended that they “gandhiji protested peacefully coz britishers listened to it… but biharis can only be taught the lesson through violence” was really something you can’t expect people to digest. Infact someone in the audience got so offended that he actually got up and start shouting “ Band karo salo….”. His friends had to pull him down to avoid a scene. One has to realize that if someone can get so offended in the middle of the performance there was a problem. It’s not about saying the bitter truth but the way it was being said slightly crossed the line. I guess a healthy debate while writing this part could have helped iron out this issue, especially it being so sensitive.
Despite all that the final extension towards solution was great. Though not a path breaking solution, it gave a positive end to the story which in such situations is very important. And the final lines of how a bird needs to have both its wings working together to fly along with the choreo and the original score did create that emotional impact they were looking for.
So concluding I would say, great work, superb execution. I don’t remember many pafs in which the energy in everything was so high throughout the PAF. Humor clicked and really got the audience involved. Could have used some more work in a few scenes which were too short and lacked the intensity compared to others, but one can easily overlook that in the overall picture. The only thing that could give a slight negative impression to the judges was like I said the handling of the issue, especially with people getting offended right near the judges table. Still it would take a hell lot of effort to beat his one
Overall rating: 8.5/10
P.S: keep those comments coming people
So on 22nd evening we had the second PAF of the season “Panchi Re”. The immediate verdict is obviously that it was very very good. The humor, the execution, the energy (in choreo as well as VO and acting) was spectacular. Prod junta did a great job too. The thing that set this PAF apart in my opinion was how they started with an entertaining script and slowly brought in some relevant points without making it abrupt.
A few words on the elements. Voiceovers really surprised me. The voice traits given to every weird character was funny and enjoyable. Infact it was these well delivered traits that saved the regular fumbling and incorrect dialogues. Its upto judges what was more important to them. Acting was good but not consistent. A few scenes clearly looked less rehearsed than others specially the flashes when sajalpur starts facing problems. Those scenes also lacked BG music which could have pulled it through. But still despite this dip the overall energy of the paf remained very high all throughout. Music and Choreo …. “DOUBLE THUMBS UP”. They really performed very well. Great original scores, although there should have been more meeting between script junta and music junta coz I still believe they missed out on BG music in a few very imp scenes. Choreo junta rocked. There were no really never before things but THE ENERGY in itself was something I had never seen before, the Ghana Ghana choreo and the holi choreo really set the pace. I am not a very big fan of UV personally but still the execution of that was also good. Lights junta for a change managed to keep their nerve( :P) so kudos to them too. The center stage prod was awesome, and the village prod was also very neat. Although they could have come up with a few more things for the village in the quadrangle.
Now we come to the one debatable point of the PAF. Almost everybody I spoke with loved the PAF, the humor the elements, etc but there were definitely some debate as to what they were trying to show in the end. I assume that no one’s intention was to take sides in the Marathi vs. bihari issue. But the way the debate was portrayed and the story went on, it sort of crossed the line of being politically correct. One should realize and actually believe that there are always 2 sides of the story, and there is some weight to both sides that’s why the argument exists. Otherwise it would have been solved long back. Still in the debate it seemed that the scales were tilted in the favor of gopu bhaiyaa. And this was a fact felt by many people sitting around me and to some I spoke to afterwards. The argument where the question of violence was raised gopu’s character defended that they “gandhiji protested peacefully coz britishers listened to it… but biharis can only be taught the lesson through violence” was really something you can’t expect people to digest. Infact someone in the audience got so offended that he actually got up and start shouting “ Band karo salo….”. His friends had to pull him down to avoid a scene. One has to realize that if someone can get so offended in the middle of the performance there was a problem. It’s not about saying the bitter truth but the way it was being said slightly crossed the line. I guess a healthy debate while writing this part could have helped iron out this issue, especially it being so sensitive.
Despite all that the final extension towards solution was great. Though not a path breaking solution, it gave a positive end to the story which in such situations is very important. And the final lines of how a bird needs to have both its wings working together to fly along with the choreo and the original score did create that emotional impact they were looking for.
So concluding I would say, great work, superb execution. I don’t remember many pafs in which the energy in everything was so high throughout the PAF. Humor clicked and really got the audience involved. Could have used some more work in a few scenes which were too short and lacked the intensity compared to others, but one can easily overlook that in the overall picture. The only thing that could give a slight negative impression to the judges was like I said the handling of the issue, especially with people getting offended right near the judges table. Still it would take a hell lot of effort to beat his one
Overall rating: 8.5/10
P.S: keep those comments coming people
PAF Reviews : 1. Ramleela
It’s been after 5 years that in the month of March I am getting my full quota of sleep. So this being the first time in so many years that I am not involved AT ALL in the ongoing PAFs I thought I would give a shot at objective unbiased “reviews” (with a hint of personal take :P). So here goes
RAMLEELA (I won’t mention the hostels, as I need to be unbiased)
So the hype had been created by an awesomely shot and edited video. The snappiness, speed and the perfection of the trailer however was missing in the real PAF. This is the first time I think where each team is being given 4 days in OAT. The expectation of this I am sure would have been a tighter and well rehearsed PAF. However on that account Ramleela was found wanting. While watching the PAF I was reminded of this line our director in my first year would repeatedly say … “PAF main execution sab kuch hota hai”. Back then I thought it was just a speech to make us practice endlessly but after 5 years I know for sure that execution if not “sab kuch” is the most, most important part of the PAF.
Moving on to finer details. The concept was nice. I heard people complaining that dev d se uthaya kuch original nahi! Let me inform you … EVERY PAF I know has been inspired from some movie or other. At least here only the style was the inspiration and not the story. Still despite all the thought that would have surely gone into the development of the story, the ambition of of pulling something off like dev d in PAF was a bit too much for me. I think the wow of dev d (which I am assuming is what would have inspired the writers and directors of the PAF) atleast for me was not in the parallels drawn to the original story. Infact while watching dev d I hardly remembered devdas. The wow factor of dev d was from the characters and the artistic styling of the whole movie. Things like paro vigorously using a hand pump while shouting, design of chanda’s room and the dual life of her in the college. Instead the focus in the PAF was the parallels which in my opinion didn’t create impact of that level. Still being a firm believer of “trying something new” I appreciate the gamble.
As far as different elements are concerned, Lights and prod shifting were the obvious putches and choreo (though a couple too many) and music were the show stealers. Acting and voiceovers were inconsistent. The idea of having the music group to be a part of the stage was brilliant. Also the deliberate attempt of having scenes in between the choreos was also very commendable. I hope PAFs would start using choreo as a way to tell story rather than a gap filler.
Overall the length should have been much shorter, and the execution much better. I am not sure but it felt that a couple of scenes towards the end could not be acted out due to some problems, which definitely took away from the impact.
RATING : I hate to give individual rating, and I think I have included all relevant points that I remember in the text already. So for over all rating I would go with 5/10. The attempt to something meaningful was visible but not completely achieved.
P.S.: Please feel free to comment, appreciate and CRITICIZE (if you must) the review. Your feedback will be my fuel to continue writing the reviews for the rest of the PAFs as well
RAMLEELA (I won’t mention the hostels, as I need to be unbiased)
So the hype had been created by an awesomely shot and edited video. The snappiness, speed and the perfection of the trailer however was missing in the real PAF. This is the first time I think where each team is being given 4 days in OAT. The expectation of this I am sure would have been a tighter and well rehearsed PAF. However on that account Ramleela was found wanting. While watching the PAF I was reminded of this line our director in my first year would repeatedly say … “PAF main execution sab kuch hota hai”. Back then I thought it was just a speech to make us practice endlessly but after 5 years I know for sure that execution if not “sab kuch” is the most, most important part of the PAF.
Moving on to finer details. The concept was nice. I heard people complaining that dev d se uthaya kuch original nahi! Let me inform you … EVERY PAF I know has been inspired from some movie or other. At least here only the style was the inspiration and not the story. Still despite all the thought that would have surely gone into the development of the story, the ambition of of pulling something off like dev d in PAF was a bit too much for me. I think the wow of dev d (which I am assuming is what would have inspired the writers and directors of the PAF) atleast for me was not in the parallels drawn to the original story. Infact while watching dev d I hardly remembered devdas. The wow factor of dev d was from the characters and the artistic styling of the whole movie. Things like paro vigorously using a hand pump while shouting, design of chanda’s room and the dual life of her in the college. Instead the focus in the PAF was the parallels which in my opinion didn’t create impact of that level. Still being a firm believer of “trying something new” I appreciate the gamble.
As far as different elements are concerned, Lights and prod shifting were the obvious putches and choreo (though a couple too many) and music were the show stealers. Acting and voiceovers were inconsistent. The idea of having the music group to be a part of the stage was brilliant. Also the deliberate attempt of having scenes in between the choreos was also very commendable. I hope PAFs would start using choreo as a way to tell story rather than a gap filler.
Overall the length should have been much shorter, and the execution much better. I am not sure but it felt that a couple of scenes towards the end could not be acted out due to some problems, which definitely took away from the impact.
RATING : I hate to give individual rating, and I think I have included all relevant points that I remember in the text already. So for over all rating I would go with 5/10. The attempt to something meaningful was visible but not completely achieved.
P.S.: Please feel free to comment, appreciate and CRITICIZE (if you must) the review. Your feedback will be my fuel to continue writing the reviews for the rest of the PAFs as well