Amy Winehouse the new face of British music

She’s wild, she’s gutsy and as a singer-songwriter, she is the most talented female artist since Bjork. Instep takes a look…

By Maheen Sabeeh

Artist: Amy Winehouse Album: Back to Black ***** Artists all over the world often have stints at rehabs. Just ask Pete Doherty or Britney Spears. But no one has been able to construct an entire song on stubborn refusal to go to rehab except for the 24-year-old soul diva Amy Winehouse.
On ‘Rehab’, her first single off her second album, Back to Black, she says, “They tried to make me go to rehab but I said ‘no, no, no’/Yes I’ve been black but when I come back you’ll know know know/I ain’t got the time and if my daddy thinks I’m fine/He’s tried to make me go to rehab but I won’t go go go/I’d rather be at home with ray.” The reference to “they” is to her management company that urged Amy to attend rehab after various substance abuse reports. The other reference, “ray” is of Ray Charles, whose soul music is a definite inspiration to this record.In 2003, Amy Winehouse arrived with a critically acclaimed album, Frank and to her word, the album was just that, frank. And even though it was a huge hit in Britain and led Amy to pick up Best Female Artist at the Brit Awards, it didn’t put her in the spotlight in the US of A.
With the follow-up to Frank, Back to Black, Amy has really arrived on the international music map. She is the new face of British music and easily one of the most original female artists this generation has seen.British tabloids love her. She is wild, always on the go, and usually her boozy ways make her the star of every show. But all that diva drama is acceptable because Amy has the kind of talent that’ll take her far in the fickle world of British pop stardom.Her new album, Back to Black is irresistible. The rich wall of retro sound mixed with Amy’s boozy, scuffling and often sulking vocals and gutsy, raw lyrics just hit you hard.
Back to Black is filled with 11 tight songs that take cue from soul and jazz music but what makes this album and by extension Amy so original are her writings of the songs. The reference in most songs is about haywire relationships but this isn’t the same as say Dido. It’s Amy Winehouse’s different moods and the reflection can be seen in all the songs. From the soft and melancholic, ‘Love Is A Losing Game’ where she croons, “Self professed profound /Till the chips were down/…know you’re a gambling man/Love is a losing hand/Though I’m rather blind/Love is a fate resigned/Memories mar my mind/Love is a fate resigned”, this track sees Amy in her most vulnerable mode.
The slow beauty continues with ‘Some Unholy War’ with purely seductive vocals from Amy. Even more interesting is the fact that Back to Black changes pace frequently, wandering to and from the dance floor to serious personal moments which reflect the truest feelings of Amy Winehouse. Music is personal and in her case, it applies to every song.And speaking of pace, a change comes with the upbeat and jazzy ‘He Can Only Hold Her’ with beautiful saxophone in the background as Amy brawls, “He can only hold her for so long/The lights are on but no one’s home/She so vacant/Her soul is taken/He thinks “What she’s running from?”.A lot can be said about an artist who starts off an album on ‘Rehab’ and ends it on ‘Addicted’. If ‘Rehab’ was refusal, ‘Addicted’ is a guiltless acknowledgement of substance abuse as the track unravels, “I’m my own man so when will you learn/That you got a man but I got to burn/Don’t make no difference if I end up alone/I’d rather have myself a smoke my homegrown/It’s got me addicted” with a knockout of a bassline and wicked wordings. As her wordings suggest on the record Back to Black, Amy is a troubled woman, and on ‘You Know I’m No Good’, she admits to her role in the termination of a relationship as it goes, “I cheated myself/Like I knew I would/I told you I was trouble/You know that I’m no good”. One finds the modern, slightly obsessive and somewhat pissed off woman on ‘Me And Mr Jones’ with its age-old soulful feel and classic style singing as the lyrics go, “Nobody stands in between me and my man/It’s me and Mr Jones (Me and Mr Jones)/You made me miss the Slick Rick gig (oh Slick Rick)/You thought I didn’t love you when I did (when I did)/Can’t believe you played me out like that”. Almost every song is like a few minutes of love-ridden angst like ‘Just Friends’ where Amy warns a lover about his erroneous ways as she croons to the sound of a thumping trumpet, “I’m not ashamed but the guilt will kill you/If she don’t first” while ‘Tears Dry On Their Own’ is an acknowledgement of not being able to walk away as the words go, “Waiting for you in the hotel at night/I knew I hadn’t met my match/But every moment we could snatch/I don’t know why I got so attached/But to walk away I have no capacity”. On a more melancholic and introspective mood, one finds ‘Wake Up Alone’. This track analyzes the low point of waking up alone without someone who was once a constant. Winehouse keeps herself busy as she says, “I stay up clean the house” to avoid thinking as she further says, “Run around just so I don’t have to think about thinking”. What a wonderful post break up song. For the most point, it is a sassy and essentially a direct album. And straight, direct to the point of blatancy and no fluff attitude continues with ‘Back to Black’. As the track goes, “We only said goodbye with words/I died a hundred times /You go back to her/ And I go back to Black”, it’s sharp number. From the dark beats to the reference to drugs and lost love, it is a hard hitting song. This is bad girl attitude but it is so raw and ballsy that Amy just might be singing about you and perhaps it is this reason why her album is doing extremely well in Pakistan. Even though Back to Black has a definite old-school jazzy soul, it is modern in approach. Back to Black is a definite step up from Amy’s debut, Frank. It sees a daring woman who frames her word in any way she pleases and we better listen up! *YUCK **WHATEVER ***GOOD ****SUPER *****AWESOME

Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag has no fire!

If you thought Umran Jaan’s remake was bad, think again. RGV Ki Aag is undoubtedly the worst remake Bollywood can boast of to date. It is a distortion of a classic and plagued with flaws. Instep takes a look… By Maheen Sabeeh  There are some films that don’t need to be remade to be remembered. And Sholay is one of them. It is India’s spaghetti western, with the age-old moral tale of standing up to wrong. What sets Sholay apart is that it is a basic film with great moments, fabulous acting that came to define a historic film. Sholay is the ultimate masala movie (friendship, romance, revenge, morality all tied together in a neat western package) but at its finest hour. To this day Amjad Khan is remembered as Gabbar Singh and those immortal lines, “Kitnay Aadmi Thay?” remain embedded in memory.Ram Gopal Varma, in one of his many interviews, has stated that he has seen Sholay umpteen times and claims that RGV Ki Aag is his most original film to date. “Did he really see Sholay?” – That is the question that comes to mind after one is done watching the awful, awful film that is RGV Ki Aag. Varma has achieved a new level of distortion with this film and from a filmmaker who previously gave films like Rangeela, Satya and Company, it is an unthinkable disappointment.
Sholay was set in a village and villages define the real India. Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta may be the home to the stars but the heart of India resides in villages. But for this film to be modern, Varma just had to move the location to Mumbai. Then again, leaving films like Iqbal, Lagaan and Swades, modern day India is equivalent to the major metropolises-alone in Bollywood so one can make peace with that. As for the story, it is still the same but the setting has changed. The novelty that comes with a film, that freshness is gone. You know the beginning, the middle and the end but you still want to see what Varma has done and that is a silly mistake.
Here’s what he has done: he has taken some fine actors (Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Sushmita Sen) and new comers (Prashant Raj and Nisha Kothari) and has reduced them ALL to zero. There are none of those immortal lines (“Kine aadmi thhe?”, “Soja, warna Gabbar aa jaayega” or “Yeh haath mujhe de-de Thakur”). You miss those lines. Sholay wasn’t just about the melodrama. It was also about the dialogues that have disappeared from RGV’s remake.In the original Sholay, Veeru (Dharmendra) teaches Basanti (Hema Malini) how to use a gun to shoot mangoes off trees. In 2007, Heero (Ajay Devgan) teaches Ghungroo (Nisha Kothari) to do so because she likes guns. The innocence is lost!
A major subplot in the film was the friendship between Veeru and Jai. “Yeh dosti hum nahin choraingay…” In this film, that chemistry between Heero and Raj just doesn’t exist. This film is a testament to the complex reality that surrounds us. And hence, Babban muses that whether people die on his hands or Al-Qaeda or America, it simply doesn’t matter. But this texture doesn’t save the film at all because it is uninviting.Every witty moment or moments of tragedy, grief and faith are gone. Prashant who plays Jai (now called Raj) shamelessly tries to copy Amitabh Bachchan’s Jai but misses every time. It’s as if he is incapable of emotions that sweep you in.His buddy, the otherwise brilliant Ajay Devgan who plays Heero is not as charming as Dharmendra, pouting his way to the end of the film. When he puts a gun to his head as he brags about committing suicide, you wish he’d just pull the trigger.Post Omkara, Ajay Devgan has delivered a series of bad films like Golmaal and Cash. RGV Ki Aag can now join this list.
Sushmita Sen is average because she just couldn’t carry the emotional baggage of a widow as the brilliant Jaya Bachchan. But she is mostly in the background and you’re grateful for that. Mohanlal does an awful job of playing the skillfully understated Sanjeev Kumar. With that beard and that accent, he looks more like an angry Inzamam than the great Thakur of Ramgarh or in this case Inspector of Mumbai. Dude, this isn’t Company. The same rules don’t apply.However, the worst acting honours belong to two actors: Nishat Kothari for that over-the-top hyper behaviour that is referred to as acting. Clearly, it was a lot more than acting. It was over acting. In the original Basanti was a talkative but lovable village girl. Nisha as Ghungroo is a loud, somewhat lewdly dressed pain to watch.
When one first heard that Gabbar’s name in this film is Babban, it was odd. Now it fits. Amitabh Bachchan is seriously bad, in tems of interpretation. How he ever agreed to do this film will always remains a mystery. He is a pale shadow on Gabbar Singh. Babban is like a drug addict, and it seems that he hasn’t taken a shower since the film started rolling.In between Babban mumbles and the reference is to George Bush and Al-Qaeda but it is as if it’s more of an attempt to make Babban seem modern than anything else. He rolls his eyes, snarls, swears and is just a mockery of Indian cinema’s greatest villain. The asthma-like laugh of Amitabh doesn’t make you want to copy him. You feel disgusted at the unkempt villain residing in a cave. What is wrong with him? Gabbar was psychotic but on a different level. This one belongs only in a zoo and certainly not onscreen. You would think that technology would be the saving grace of this film. But no. In a film like Nishabd, the camera was focused on Jiah Khan. From her eating to her dancing in water, the camera would zoom in all the time. It was Varma’s way of seducing the audience. But here, why is the focus on Nisha Kothari’s legs or Sushmita Sen’s dupatta or Mohanlal’s beard? Come on, that is just not visually gripping.All you want to ask RGV is this: why did he make this remake? Was it because his last few productions barring Sarkar didn’t do well at the box office or was it a smart ploy of making money off a classic? When you announce a remake of Sholay, it will generate enough curiosity to get people to watch the film. Remaking a classic is a daunting task. Look at Umrao Jaan’s remake or even Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s remake of Devdas. While Umrao Jaan takes the cake for being an absolute horror, even Bhansali’s Devdas was not as powerful, even if it was a commercial success, as the original. It even messed with the classic by making two characters, Paro and Chandramukhi meet.The remake of Don was a commendable effort. It did belong to the new age but when compared to the original, it had a variety of flaws. Same was the case with Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice. A film is a classic because every angle, be it the story, the acting, the cinematography or the music, stands out. In this day and age, remakes hardly ever work even if they end up making money. The soul is usually missing even if the level of glamour is at its peak. Take Miami Vice from Hollywood. Even with Jamie Foxx and bad boy Colin Farell, it couldn’t hold its ground when compared to the original. It is more difficult to make a remake than an original. Because even if an original film is bad, it can’t be compared to anything else! Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan, both of whom RGV has criticized – Shah Rukh is too stereotypical for RGV to work with and Karan Johar makes frivolous films according to Varma – are probably laughing away at the monstrosity that RGV Ki Aag is. According to one trade report, RGV Ki Aag is the biggest box office dud in history. And that’s not surprising at all.

Rush Hour 3 ***1/2

*ing: Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan
Directed by Brett Ratner

They’re back! After 6 years, Detective James Carter (played to perfection by Chris Tucker) and Chief Inspector Lee (played by the fantastic Jackie Chan) have returned for the third time in what can only be termed as one of this year’s best summer films. The Rush Hour movies have been about two things: (a) cops versus the bad guys and (b) bridging the East & West divide. In this film, those elements have been retained and hence, it makes for a highly entertaining flick. Our re-introduction to the cast first begins with James Carter, who has been demoted to a traffic cop because of his inability to work within the law. But this is James Carter we’re talking about and he finds ways of amusing himself in the most strange, somewhat perverse situations. On the other hand is Inspector Lee, who is dignified as always and the special guard to the Ambassador of China. A shootout takes place and the two cops are thrown together by circumstances once again and this time, it’s Paris and New York where they go to hunt for the bad guys.
The story is funny but ordinary. It is not as fabulous as the first film where you wanted Inspector Lee to really get Juntao (the blonde-hair bully). But the reason why Rush Hour 3 will work is because of its actors. Chemistry between two lead actors is crucially important. It is this reason why Brad Pitt and Edward Norton’s Fight Club is hailed as one of the most gripping films. Their chemistry was incredible. The same was seen between George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the Oceans movies. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker still have that friendship. In this movie, you see that these two actors are happy to be in each other’s company. Onscreen, the two are like brothers but in the undercurrent, James Carter is always looking for Lee’s approval. That approval finally pulls through and you discover things about Lee’s past that leave you stunned. American critics have called it the “anti-American” comedy. It is true. But whenever there is America-bashing, it is said in a context that makes it believable. For instance, when in Paris, the two cops take a cab. The taxi driver, a French man, refuses to accommodate James Carter because he’s American. In his eyes, America is about wars, bloodshed. It may be anti-American sentiment but for good reason: Iraq and Afghanistan come to mind. Sequels essentially work because one is familiar with the characters and you want to see where the end up next. This year as sequels have come in throngs, the element of freshness has gone from films. Be it Ocean’s Thirteen or Shrek the Third or even Spider-Man 3. But Rush Hour 3 has returned after six years. The last film came in 2001, the year the world changed and that change works superbly in the favour of this film. Another interesting bit about the film is its action. Jackie Chan, a stunt director himself, is an ace at action. It his forte and he shines here once again. This is street fight-meets-kung fu moves so imagine what that is like. A huge credit for its sequences goes to director Brett Ratner. After X-Men: The Last Stand, it comes as no surprise to see him pull this off. Ultimately the bond James and Lee share is like brotherhood. They disagree… a lot and they bicker all the time. They subtly insult each other but in the end, they come through for each other when it’s needed and that is heartening to see in a film that is all about finding the evil-doers and bringing them to justice. It has been one hell of a year for Hollywood. Rush Hour 3 may not be making as much money as the other big films but in terms of content and entertainment (which is the real point of all these sequels), it surpasses most films like Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third. Whether Rush Hour 3 will spin magic at the box office in the coming months remains to be seen but just for the sheer pleasure of watching Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker’s reunion after six years, do give it a shot. – Maheen Sabeeh *YUCK **WHATEVER ***GOOD ****SUPER *****AWESOME

“I’ll quit making videos by the end of this year.” – Sohail Javed to retire

Sohail Javed has more than 100 videos to his credit and this year he picked up a Lux Style Award for Best Music video. The award came in the wake of his recovery from a deadly tumour. Instep caught up with the director to find out why he is adamant on quitting music videos in the coming months and a lot more.

By Maheen Sabeeh

Instep: You picked up two nominations for Best Music Video – Sajjad Ali’s ‘Chal Rein Day’ and Manjeet Singh’s ‘Ishq’ – at the Lux Style Awards this year. How did it feel? Sohail Javed: I’ve been nominated many times. Winning doesn’t mean more money but people look at you different. It felt great. The time before that was a low period. So it was a pleasant surprise. I am happy that ‘Chal Rein Day’ won because I put a lot of hard work in it .Instep: How is your health nowadays? SJ: I’m in recovery. I have my good days and bad days.
Instep: What happened to you? SJ: I had a large tumour in my chest. I got chemotherapy and a surgery that lasted for ten hours. It was like a big car accident. I’m still recovering from the aftershock. So from last July to this July, it has been one difficult journey. And it’s things like this that make you realize what’s really important. I almost died. I re-discovered my faith in God. He brought me back. And there were very few actual friends around at that time. But the industry I belong to… it is unforgiving. It is upsetting. They don’t forgive you even when you’re ill. And if you survive, there is shock as to how you survived.
Instep: When you say industry, do you mean other video directors? SJ:Them and others. The shock is: why are you working? I mean I have a family, I have two children. I have to earn a living. That is why I stay away from all that hoo-ha. I’m a simple man. One car is fine. One house is fine. I believe it is all pre-decided. If I’m supposed to get a video, I’ll get it. I have decided that by the end of this year – after wrapping up all prior commitments – I’ll quit making videos.Instep: Are you quitting because the industry has turned vicious? SJ: I’m bored, the scene is saturated. As far as music videos go, there are only so many favours one can do. You can’t do 10,000 favours. Musicians know that, ‘Hey, let’s go to Sohail, he’ll get excited and do the video’. I’m done with favours. There is too much stress and even when I say no, I end up doing five videos, which means I’m working all the time.
Everyone wants to be a director so they pick up a camera and that is it! I can tell you ten videos where the boys are sitting in a certain manner. We lack in originality and then hard work.Respect is also important to me. What used to happen before is that if somebody wanted an Asim Raza video, he would simply go to Asim. If Asim was out of the country, he’d wait. Now he’ll talk to me and to Asim, Jalal, Saqib, everyone at the same time without realizing that different directors have different styles and work in a certain manner. The professionalism is gone.Instep: Is the industry less professional than it used to be? SJ: Yes. It depends on one’s upbringing. People are lacking in ethics. The industry itself has turned into a dhanda. You look at models with this strange, disrespectful eye. It’s wrong and unprofessional. It is easier to make it as a director now but the quality is suffering. It was better in our time because you had to go through the grind.
Instep: So what’ll you do after quitting music videos? SJ: I’m thinking of getting back into commercials. I’m writing my fifth and sixth story. I’ve written four stories already. I do a story every year and then I think it’s dated so I trash it. I’m doing two more stories right now and then I’ll shop for a financer. I have a couple of people interested. There is a commercial story and not-so-commercial story. I’ll see how people react to both stories and take it from there. I want to make a film on my own terms. I’m not tensed about it. If it happens good, if not so be it. I’m doing a pictorial book with Zain Haleem for a client. All the text will be done by me.I’m planning to take a vacation. In just the beginning of my recovery I started working. There was depression from last year that I sort of got over, anxiety, and I hardly spent time with my family. I’m not a rich man. Whatever I have to do, I have to do for my family. I want to look at options. I have many offers to do lots of different things. But I want to do something that is extremely low stress. In fact, I want to do no-stress job that I enjoy doing.
Instep: Is it financially viable to be just a video director? SJ: Impossible! Instep: Why? SJ: Making music videos is a dead business. There is no money in it yaar! People want to look at videos and say, ‘oh that video is good’ but no one wants to remember that Pantene ad that was shot in Paris. In reality that Pantene ad gave the director 25 lakh rupees just as his fees.Instep: Your videos reflect simplicity. But what do you have to say about the plethora of dark videos that seem to be coming out of nowhere? SJ: As a director my last attempt at darkness was with Call’s ‘Kuch Naheen’ and people didn’t get it. There can be a problem with concepts too but usually it’s the people who have issues. For instance, when you make happy-goody videos, you’re criticized because of it. If you attempt dark themes, it’s still the same response. And sometimes it is out of spite that people make vague videos. But to make a video dark simply because it is trendy is a no-no. There are ways to do it. Instep: The big guns of the music industry can still pull off big budget videos because of sponsorships. But if a young band is looking to make a decent video, what would that cost? SJ: It’s not about money. It is about using a small budget intelligently and planning. Cutting costs is not a big deal. I’ve made videos in very strange amounts that I can’t even disclose. You just have to use your brain.Instep: Musicians tend to go to India to get their videos made. Directors go to India and shoot videos there. Instep: Why is that? SJ: It is more professional, organized and technically they are superior. Yaha camera nahie hai, cameraman nahie hai. If I want to shoot a war scene and I need a DOP who has shot a war scene, I’ll get a list of so many people from India in a jiff. And these people are extremely proficient. Instep: Why are we lacking in the technical department after so many years of progress? With media spreading like fire, we are still struggling technically SJ: That is because people here like to make money off everything. I mean people make money on processing, traveling etc. I don’t think anyone will put up a lab. It is a lot of investment. I use this guy called Nick because he is so fast. It is a pain to go out all the time to Bangkok or India or Malaysia but the quality is worth it.Instep: Can’t directors or companies invest together? SJ: There is a confidentiality issue. No matter what you do – even if you pay 5000 dollars and say, ‘let me see someone else’s work’, it won’t happen – your work will never be leaked in Bangkok. They’ll never spill the beans of your work to someone else. There is no animosity but we all want to keep our work to ourselves until it is released. I don’t even share it with the artist. Instep: How do you decide on a video? SJ: I need to like the song. The second thing is budget. The third is ‘favour’ category where people call and say ‘yaar please’ and I say ‘fine’. I have made mistakes. By accommodating favours, I have made videos that are not up to the mark. People need to realize that music video is about the music first. Often what happens is directors get carried away with making a statement. I do try to control myself in that sense. Instep: Out of the new lot of directors, who do you think has potential? SJ: Zeeshan Parwez has an interesting approach. Bilal Lashari is good. I was blown away by ‘Aadat’. I was scared by it. And then Umar (Anwar) lost it I suppose. His last few videos have been disappointing and I take him a part of the industry and I know he can do better. Sohail Akhtar did ‘Ujalon Mein’ for Mizraab and it was fabulous and then he’s made a plethora of videos that have failed to impress me.