Vasu Ramanujam's Blog

*phew* managed to send in my application to the Chennai International screenwriting workshop. As usual, procrastinated till the last moment ( today is the last day, you see ). 

This is a great initiative by the industry stalwarts and veterans who are willing to share their experience and expertise with wannabe movie aspirants.  The eligibility criteria is pretty straightforward – a. Resume b. 200 word synopsis of your favorite movie c. list of 5 favorite movies d. passport size photograph. 

It is a difficult choice to pick only 5 of one’s favorite movies. But it had to be done, so the methodology I adopted was simple – any movie that was on top of my mind, 2. it had to cover one specific geographic location/ genre 3. it had universal appeal 4. it should be “zara hatke” kind of a movie ( i know, it contradicts #3 ),… Well, here’s the list I came up with

• Agantuk aka “The Stranger” – by Satyajit Ray
• Dr. StrangeLove – by Stanley Kubrick
• Cinema Paradiso – by Giuseppe Tornatore
• Amores perros -  by Alejandro González Iñárritu
• Bacheha-Ye aseman aka “ Children of Heaven” – by Majid Majid

As for the synopsis of a favorite movie, here’s what I wrote on PI- the movie…

What do you get when you juxtapose Chaos Theory,Wall Street greediness, a maverick genius in search of a formula and a fringe cult which believes in God’s ultimate equation for the Universe…Well, You get Pi, by Aaron Sarforsky.In these days where Twitter reigns supreme,one could summarise it as follows - 

“Original, Brilliant, Clever, Exhilirating and Diabolic (in that order)… “

 Shot entirely in Black and White, you are hooked onto the movie, right from the word “Go”.You get to experience the “mind’s eye” of Max cohen, a brilliant mathematician, albeit on the fringes of insanity.He is in pursuit of cracking open the Wall Street madness, working in solitude in his cramped NYC apartment, on his self built super computer.His passion to find a solution to PI is accentuated by the splitting migraine headaches that hurt him so much that he blacks out often. He trusts no one, except Sol, his professor, with whom he plays “Go”. Sol warns him of his affliction, but is unable get him out of his mad pursuit. Wall Street vultures get a hang of what Max is upto and are after him. So is a religious cult which believes Max holds the key to their tryst with God.

 As Max progresses with his solution, you are sucked into a vortex, leading to a thrilling journey, with a heady cocktail of suspense and intrigue. Does Max succeed? Who gets to have his formula? – The answers to these make up the rest of the story.

 For a directorial debut, Sarforsky shows mastery over the art of movie making.He is infinetely helped by the phsychedelic techno- fusion music, amazing cinematography, clever editing and ofcourse a brilliant cast.

 For any aspiring film maker/ screenwriter/ reviewer or just a movie fan like myself, PI would definetely make for an intellectually stimulating and satisfying watch.