BENGALURU:Delve into all things film at the first edition of Raw Stock Magazine and Film Club, curated by Imaad and Vivaan Shah (Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah’s sons). The club looks at the past of film and music, and the importance they hold in today’s pop culture. For this edition, the brothers will be delving into 1970s Hollywood, with film screenings that will look outside the mainstream and are essential in understanding the era. The idea, is to generate curiosity.
Talking to City Express, the brothers say that they will be focusing on films and music from different eras at the sessions, with a bunch of screenings each month and a monthly online issue of the magazine – a kind of extension of the film club. “We want to build a group of film enthusiasts of all kinds and hopefully, in the future, we’ll be able to take it to more cities and turn a few people into film geeks,” says Imaad, who made his directorial debut with a musical play last year called The Threepenny Opera, and is also one-half of the popular Indie-Alternative band, Madboy/Mink.
Talking about why they chose to host the first edition here in the city, Imaad says, “Bengaluru is one of our favourite cities, and the audience is really open-minded. I’ve always found them responsive and energetic. I’m also looking forward to going to the old bookstores, eating south Indian food and checking out KR Market, if I wake up that early!”
He adds, “Film history is full of gold, and there’s so much to learn from each era. We want to fill the gap in modern viewership, which seems to be largely based on streaming. This club would be like a buddy, whose opinion you trust in recommending some rare, obscure or forgotten films.”
Vivaan made his film debut with Saat Khoon Maaf in 2011, followed by a role in Farah Khan’s film Happy New Year and Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet. On working with his big brother on a project such as this, Vivaan says, “It’s great. My brother and I are interested in the same kind of cultural phenomena, and he has been more like a professor to me – everything I’ve learnt about these art forms, I have, in some measure, picked up from him and then been inspired to explore by myself. Our parents had the same kind of influence on us – they introduced us to the classics and gave us a completely-rounded cinema education.”
Vivaan adds that the brothers share pretty much the same taste in film. “We get into different things at different points of our lives. I remember, when he was into Punk music, I was really into Metal. When I finally came around to Punk, he had move on to Funk and Disco. We’re fellow geeks, and kind of like classmates in that regard, despite the age difference,” he says. Imaad echoes his sentiments, adding that analysing all things cinema, style an techniques is a lot of fun for the brothers, who always keep each other updated when they come across new and different films.
Vivaan says that films from the 60s and 70s made an impression on them, as well as the ones they grew up watching together in the early 90s. “Batman Returns, Jumanji, Little Rascals, Baby’s Day Out and so many others from the 90s, are films we watched countless times on LD,” he says. Telling us about one film that the brothers bond over, Imaad says that it has to be Indie cult favourite, The Big Lebowski. “We were younger and saw it at the right time, and have watched it together maybe half a dozen times since. It’s hilarious, has great music and some truly amazing moments,” he says. Vivaan, however, says the Kate Hudson-starrer Almost Famous has been special for both of them.The first edition of Raw Stock Magazine and Film Club is being held at The Humming Tree on Sunday, June 24, from 12pm-6pm.