Anything you
start, first take the name of the Lord. That’s the usual practice which
everyone does and so also it has been at the movies – while on shoot (we do the
auspicious Muhurath and Pooja’s) and while the film is complete, there is a
completion ritual. And when the film is released, there too an auspicious event.
But these days, the corporate world has taken over and the Spiritual and
Religious sentiments have vanished. The film begins directly with no acknowledging
Thanks and prayers to Lord’ but Thanks to the partners and the brands
associated with the film. But that has not been the case of Sandeep Malani’s
films. Be it from earlier days (few years ago of film making style) to even
today, as the film is an iPhone film – equivalent to today’s method of making,
yet – the film opens up with the Praise to the Lord. That being, Yeh CineMaa Hai.
Praise The Lord
The opening
of the film series itself (the video) is the beautiful ‘Our Lady of Miracles’
Church aka Milages in Mangalore, the interior with the statue of Mother Mary
and the Konkani song ‘Moriye Krista Maaye’ being played in the backdrop. This
is been taken forward by
the Huge Ganesha idol and the inside of the Banaswadi
Temple with the Kannada devotional song ‘Gajamukane Ganapathiye Nimage Vandane’.
And the Islamic prayer, the Fajr (Salat) picturised at the Cox Town ‘Hajee Sir
Ismail Sait Masjid’ followed by the ‘Ek Onkar Satnam’ Prayer picturised at the ‘Guru
Singh Sabha Gurudwara’ center at Ulsoor, Bangalore.
Remembering the Departed Souls
‘I am the
resurrection and the life, whoever believes
in me will never die’ with a musical chorus echoing for the photos of the
departed in the family – Ramesh Malani, Grace Molly Cutinha, Veronica, Julius
Sequeira and Celine Sequeira; followed by a tribute note to director Krishnan
Subaash and everyone’s inspiration Sreedevi. The little short video of flower bouquet being
taken from the Sridevi magazine is heart touching. The music piece is composed
by Ameya Naik.
The Sequences of the Almighty
There have
been many sequences in the film that is not forced but goes with the flow and
the requirement of the script. All the scenes are related to each other.
The first of
it is the Jaagran (Prayer) that features Poonam, Ritesh and Tusshar doing the
Krishna Bajan.
The next
video is of the St Antony Idol at Jeppoo followed by the Kulshekar Church with
the beautiful garden of the Old Testament and the Vailankanni Grotto and Mother
Teresa idol that is been honored by the artists Sonam, Deepika, Varun and
Ranveer. The musical score is by Karthik Venkatesh.
A musical on
the Christmas eve with that of greeting and wishing at the St Vincent Pallotti
Church, Banaswadi Bangalore features Sonali and family friends. The video also
has the glittering stars sparkles in the sky, the beautifully decorated Xmas
tree and the little crib; thus giving the happiness of the Christmas feel ‘Allelluia’
with the church bells rendered by Nitin Acharya.
A musical
piece of the title track of Yeh Cinemaa Hai by Prajoth Dsa pans from the
Gautama Buddha little idol to Sidharth who just wakes up from his trance period
wondering where is he located.
Prayers in
Silence with peace is the video featuring Sr Helen at the Bethany Convent at
Attavar, Mangalore.
The last two
sequences of this video being the highlight –
Jaya Maa kneeling
and praying silently for the safety and well being of her son at the Grotto of
Mother Mary, picturised at the ‘Infant Jesus Shrine’ in Mangalore. The hymn
playing in the background is ‘Namo Yeh Meri Maa’ sung by Deepa Narayan Jha for
composer Jayant Aryann.
.. And it is
been continued by the mind prayer of Karan in Tamil asking for all the intentions
of Jaya Amma to come true; bowing to ‘Shirdi Sai Baba’ Statue at the HSR Kalyan
Nagar temple in Bangalore.
The Cast and the crew
The collage of
the musical prayer videos features Reshmi Mirchandi, Thadani, Hemdev, Kkewal
Sharma, Prayas Singh, Shubha Raksha, Sharanya Kaur, Ranjeet Jha, Mahendra
Pandey, Reshma Malani, Marina Roopa, Asha Fernades, Roseline Sequeira,
Christopher Vijayanand, Isabelle, Sharon David, Bharath Lakshmikanth, Sarojini
Shetty, Juliet Savio Aranha, Sheetal Malani, Meena Malani and Velu Murugan.
The musical
scores by Jayant Aryan, Prajot Dsa, Nitin Acharya, Karthik Venkatesh, Ameya
Naik, Puneet Ranganathan. Edit by Vignesh Thanupillai, Coproduced by Santosh
Chawla, Ranjeet Jha, Edward Dsouza for The Studio Agency, RKJ Productions and
Malani Talkies, it is been scripted, conceptualized, iPhone camera and directed
by Sundeep Malani.
The video can be viewed here:
