Lootera Review Thread -Critic Reviews pg26 onward - Page 78

well i don't know why would anyone complain about LOOTERA not doing well at BO. the look for the film is artsy and it belongs to classes only. every person doesn't have the patience to go such a slow paced film. only people have tastes would watch this film. people should not overreact. it was bound to be a critical success and an average grosser. happy for sonakshi and director though ~

so is their a final verdict?

Originally posted by: Neetu_Unleashed

well i don't know why would anyone complain about LOOTERA not doing well at BO. the look for the film is artsy and it belongs to classes only. every person doesn't have the patience to go such a slow paced film. only people have tastes would watch this film. people should not overreact. it was bound to be a critical success and an average grosser. happy for sonakshi and director though ~

Originally posted by: starstruckk

hey, so you saw the film...did you like it overall?

Originally posted by: Neetu_Unleashed

YES YES ... I LIKED IT 4.5/5 😃

Originally posted by: Neetu_Unleashed

don't use 'hate' word its a very strong expression, u seem to be disliking him.

i never wanted lootera to do well. but after seeing the film, i wished it would have done really well ONLY IF RANVEER wasn't there. m sorry its very hard for me to digest him in the film, i remember i used to close my eyes when appeared, he disgusts me so much. but sonakshi made me sit back and enjoy it with full heart 😃

ya hate is very wrong but the truth is i cant stand his off screen personality 😆
i prefer watching this kind of film in DVD rather than in hall🤔
but i hope thisfilm will tag as above average or semi-hit

Pity it's a flop.

Originally posted by: chocolover89

Vikramaditya Motwane responds to our criticism of Lootera

what didnt work for me (and VM's reply below each point)

- i think people will love the 1st half more but i didn't feel that romance or passion in the first half. i am not sure why. or was it the heavy background that you were using to make the point which was distracting me.

VM : It's the same issue I have with the script in it's current form. Though when I tried to think back to my original intention when writing the screenplay, it was pretty intentional to make it a love story that wasn't quite a love story. It's wasn't supposed to be the achy type of love story and wasn't supposed to become that way at all, even towards the end. I always wanted a lightness to the film throughout. So can't say whether this is better or that. It is a flawed screenplay. Willing to live with that.

- actually the sound design at two places in 1st half was very odd, i felt. when the father starts narrating the story to Sonakshi in the beginning, the music suddenly fades in and goes so high. It was very out of place. i know you might be trying to make the easy connect with the sound so that it can be used in 2nd half with Sonakshi and tree. But it was too loud and so suddenly.

VM : The intention wasn't to connect the music with the second half. It was a background piece. Maybe it was too loud. Didn't seem that way when mixing it.

- similarly the use of that old hindi song that goes through all the montage when they are at the site and many such odd things, as in not romantic stuff but the song goes on, and just stops with the news of zamindari over. again very out of place.

VM : It stops with the zamindari news because that's where the plot changes a little bit. And it feels loud because it's mono and it cuts through the rest of the dialogue. Something we discovered too late and only at the final mix stage. No matter how soft we had it, it cut through,

- And this might be nitpicking ' when he climbs the tree, and the climax sequence ' when he is walking, she is coming out of the house ' at few places one can see the (VFX) jugaad ' foreground and background not in sync especially when Ranveer is walking towards the police, the light, the things you have cheated ' i mean it's nice but not pitch perfect. similarly with snow and when he falls from the tree, you can make out it's fluff. maybe if you are watching minutely then only.

VM : If you've seen the making video, you know what we had to go back to shoot snow sequences in summer with fake snow. Which means VFX work. Work that we have shot on grainy film, without green screen, with handheld camera. It's the worst kind of situation for a VFX team and under the circumstances, they did an amazing job. The whole tree climbing and shoot out is VFX created. There are shots and mattes and snowflakes that make me cringe every time I see them but it's just something we have to live with. Will do better next time.

- Basically, overall another good film. But you are so strong at filmmaking aspect, the craft, why tell a bollywood story. I hope you go beyond it now that you have done your conventional part. a more non-conventional/interesting/out of box idea/tale to match up to the talent of your craft.

VM : So the indie world thinks i'm telling a bollywood story. And the bollywood world thinks i'm too indie. You think this is conventional, they think this is too out of the box. So I can't win'

Fact is, I went to tell a story that I believed in, warts and all. I can make all the excuses in the world about not having enough time to fix the script before shooting because we only had two months of pre-production blah blah but it's pointless. This is the film I chose to make and I stand by it. Nobody knows and feels and understands the flaws of the film better than I do but that's a discussion for another day.

I don't want to get stuck making 4 crore films for the rest of my life because that's what happens in this industry. It gets very easy for them to slot you into a 'type' of filmmaker. For better or for worse, this film was my attempt to break out of that.

- Posted by @CilemaSnob

(Pic courtesy ' Lootera FB page)

http://moifightclub.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/vikramaditya-motwane-responds-to-our-criticism-of-lootera/

Ahh so others have pointed out the issues with sound etc. too...nice answers from VM...truly respect this guy as a filmmaker👏...and I guess they had to cut corners by the time the final product rolled out...kinda sad cuz this movie had potential to be something greater...it's still a good film...but it could be a lot more.

I liked his last answer about how he knew the script was flawed, he knows all the flaws closer than anyone else probably but this is the film he chose to make cuz he wanted to break out of a mould...I can respect that line of thought and I can respect the fact that he answered to the criticism so well considering most ppl are unable to be objective about something they've worked so hard on.

I think somewhere the issues at the scripting stage could have been fixed before jumping into filming...cuz there is a bit of a confusion there about what he was really trying to go for as a storyline...but oh well...will look forward to his next piece of work :-)

^The film had been delayed a lot...and then Ranveer was also injured I think for a bit which delayed it even more..eventually I guess they just had to make do.

I really liked this interview. I wish more filmmakers would discuss their films...address the criticisms, talk about the positives because ultimately no one knows their story better than they do. I see why he made it the way he did and I liked that he is not making excuses for it and is standing by his final product.

I wanted some slightly more spoiler-ish, detailed questions about the story and characters, but maybe next time. I'd love to know what actually his thought process was for the story...the characters...and what he thinks the flaws actually are.