A Reply to Mr. Cyrus Surendranath

Someone called Cyrus Surendranath has posted some comments on this blog. We are quoting him at first :

On Antoraal (aka A Hiding)

Cyrus said...
This post has been removed by the author.
January 27, 2010 1:52 AM
Cyrus said...

The more I look at the glimpses from your films, the more appalled and disgusted I am. The voiceover in the film sounds like bad, Bengali little magazine gibberish with a garnishing of half-understood Mani Kaul and Chris Marker. The two morons you've cast here, look like side-benchers from an ETV telefilm. So much for "avant-garde"!

As for the Amiyabhushan passage, it has become so horribly predictable for a certain class of Bengali-intellectual-aspirants to dig out lesser known authors and cite them hoping they sound/look counter-culturish enough! Sorry, but reading the passage on camera is the most facile and unimaginative thing you could have done. Of course, it would take any of you a hundred years or more to approach an Amiyabhushan text as a film. I can bet some of you, if not all, do write in the so-called little magazines. The problem is precisely that technology has made it possible for people like you to appropriate a medium like DV, and thereby turn what could have been a revolution into a shitty farce.

Most of your cinematic inspirations seem to stem from France or Latin America. Do try and find out more about what is happening NOW in Asian cinema, and what Asian auteurs are doing with DV, before you make fools of yourselves jumping around with a digital camera, making 5 films in 6 months.

Sorry for being so nasty, but felt compelled to call a spade a spade! Hope you guys won't take it personally.

Cyrus Surendranath
January 27, 2010 1:55 AM

On JLG Had No Script

Cyrus said...

Frankly, my dear, you look like a clown trying to impersonate Godard. In case that is the avowed aesthetic intention, I guess its fine. Am rolling on the floor looking at the sordid make-up, and the fact of the "post-colonial" Godard speaking in Bengali! Poor Jean-Luc is past 80 and making a film called Socialism. Please give him a break!

It isn't the least bit funny to see poor upstarts like you pretending to be in Godard's shoes by making a film in shabby B&W, and with a new-found, digital movie-making toy. God bless new media!

Cyrus Surendranath

January 27, 2010 1:32 AM

On In Search of Dead Golds

Cyrus said...

Why are you guys trying so hard to publicise your "avant-garde" filmmaking through a blog in English when it is obvious that you are rather constipated in that language? Sorry to point out, but "Golds" sounds like grammar-translation from Bengali. Besides, you quote and cite mouthfuls of hallowed sources from Borges to Brueghel without knowing how to spell their names correctly. First grow up and then try to be avant-garde!

But, it doesn't look like you'll heed this advice (monkeys on heat never do). So, good luck!

Cyrus Surendranath
January 27, 2010 1:24 AM

Our reply :

To Mr. Cyrus Surendranath,

1. We are not trying to publicise our "avant-garde" effort through this blog. Sorry to inform you that the avant-garde has died long ago and its ghost has been smuggled to Kolkata, the 3rd world metro. Now, can you situate the meaning of the word "Ghost" historically? If you can, you will get what we are trying to say. Thanks for your advice anyways.

2. It is obvious that we are constipated in English. It's not our mother tongue, but we don't know any other language (e.g Spanish, French) to communicate to a larger readership.

3. Do you think that JLG Had No Script had any relations with Godard at all ? It's the ghost of Godard that we carry on our shoulders whenever we speak of a film movement. At least, Anamitra thinks so. A vulgar comic atmosphere is intended in the film. But you are such a c-factor that you roll on the floor, laughing out loudly and doing all that just seeing a trailer of a film which has been made at a cost of 1000 rupees. Are you a Hijibijbij or what? In case you are not a bengalee see the page on Sukumar Roy at Wikipedia to know the meaning of Hijibijbij. Don't think that we are pretending to be in Godard's shoes or something like that. We know the situation very well. Godard was a popular filmmaker in his early years. Though he tried to change the scenario, nothing to be fascinated about him. He was an off-the-track exclusive prostitute working for pimps, he knew that. He is unsuccessful in throwing the unwanted capitalist intervention out of the terrain of film the art and he knows that very well. Now, poor Jean-Luc is past 80 and making a film called Socialisme. He never wanted a break for lunch or coffee in his "career". Who the hell are you to ask one from us for him ?

4. If we say that we are making films and Cinema is only an industry, so let's destroy cinema, let's rape it together by making thousands of no budget films, can you make an effort to understand it?? Cinematic inspirations are only so to speak.... our real inspirations are some of the little known poets and writers of Bengal and of course IPTA movement.

Now, let us say, we are not even making films. We are mocking films, the toy in hand of the capitalist, the needle in hand of the imperialist and expansionist and we are doing this only to restore the proper amount of activism among the youth of Bengal. The process has just started, keep an eye....history proceeds from failure via failure to failure, but that doesn't imply everyone must be sitting in the field of confusion sucking their thumbs and watching in the big sky the blue birds to fly by.

5. It's not technology but the capitalists' marketing strategy that has made it possible for people like us to appropriate a medium like DV. Please send us some of your good actors and actresses to work for free with us and we won't be using those side-benchers anymore.

6. We've turned it all into shiity farce what could've been a revolution and Mr. Cyrus what have you done?? Until the 27th we were getting visits from 30 different IPs in average per day. Your comments have brought it down to 12 in last two days. Sorry to quote Rocha again, but we need to be self-consuming at first in order to survive, the so-called impotency can be overcome only later. Now quoting Satyajit Ray for your pleasure, we need more intelligent interpretations of our limitations...and that's what we are doing . We have finished five films and going to release a DVD tomorrow through the "non-existing" non-commercial distribution chain , all within a cost of 15000 INR. We guess NONE of your ASIAN "AUTEURS" have done this much in their countries. And please specify who are you speaking of, there are lots of them, from Miike to Ji-woon Kim, via Hsiao-hsien Hou and Ming-liang Tsai. So, please specify so that we can answer you more precisely. There is a recent trend among intellectuals to cite examples from the Asian New Wave Directors' works without knowing nothing much about them and we are aware of that, are you ?? One more thing, (another little known writer of Bengal, Udayan Ghosh is being quoted here), please get it by heart, revolution is not an embroidary. So, you dug it by now we guess, what we mean by that.

7. I guess, you are not some Cyrus Surendranath, if you are really, where are you from? Do you belong to a south Indian Christian family? Then how do you know so much about Amiyabhushan and the tendencies among the "Bengali(ee)-intellectual-aspirants" ?? Have you been to Kolkata ever? Then you might know that there are two kinds of films being made right now in Kolkata. a) Commercial and b) Festival films. We are trying to do something apart from these. We agree that it would take any of us a hundred years or more to approach an Amiyabhushan text as a film because we won't work with producers or the industrial set-up and without those it would be impossible for us to shoot a whole feature film somewhere in Koochbihar or Dinajpore. But, how could you know that? Please inform us about the translator and publisher because we are suspecting that we know you very well. Reveal your identity, no one is going to hurt you my dear.

8. A monkey can copy many actions of human beings, but as far as we know, they haven't been successful in copying the process of film making yet. If the Bengalee monkeys used to get heated up with these kind of activities we haven't even thought of making films at all. But there lies the problem. They write in little magazines to publish a book from ABP or Protibhaas someday. They join govt. funded theatrical groups to get into the mega serial business. They usually get heated up with songs like "toonir maa", new models of mobile phones and bikes, stylish sunglasses and sexy sister-in-laws. That's where we want to hit, but, leave it. It's not for you to think on. If you can, kindly post your reply as a comment ( and don't forget to mention your email id this time) as we want to get into conversation even with you ---- The Question is : What made you so heated up when you saw these Bengalee monkeys making films and going to make fools of themselves very soon as they are on heat ? ?

Please Do Reply......

Thank you, if you didn't show your inherited sarcasm in your comments we couldn't get issue for our newer posts on this blog so soon. So, thank you again.... a big THANKS from the house of Little Fish Eat Big Fish. Reply...