Good Night Good Morning

Now this is what I cal a perfect blend of plot, direction and music. Cinema is defined by Sudhish Kamath's second venture and boy, isn't he great? The cast is wonderful especially the leads are very appealing and apt for the characters they portray.

And I loved the music used in this piece which shows you that how can a conversation become an unforgettable sex appeal factor and can drive people to do what they are looking for so long. It depicts the lonely lives of the Y generation, although the characters here are 20 something, the situation is often experienced by the Y people. Maybe the YOLO generation might despise this theory, but for a decade or so, GNGM is fabulous and real-time.

Some parts were too gaudy and fickle that's why it goes for an 8. Also, I felt the movie ended arbitrarily and they could extend it for a little 15 minutes more. Good!

I seriously recommend watching this. Buy that DVD and you will not be disappointed. It'll make a perfect Sunday afternoon.

WATCH OUT FOR: the witty one hour long conversation.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? NO

Language: Yes | Sex: No; implied | Gore: No | Alcohol: Mild | Nudity: No, implied | Drugs: No | Mouth-Kiss: Mild

Manu Narayan (as Turiya Omprakash) and Seema Rahmani (as Moira) - Top Notch Acting, perfect chemistry between the leads. Oh Wait! What chemistry are you talking about when they don't see each other through out the film? Yes, Even though they don't see each other, there is this Excellent chemistry between them. After watching the movie, you will definitely agree with me.Raja Sen (as JC) was fantastic. Vasanth Santhosham (as Hussein) was good. People involved in Casting - You are one of the reason for Film's Success!

Script is simple and straight and its got to be that way (as said in the film). It is well written. Dialogues are funny, touching, heartbreaking and to top it all, it is very natural and subtle. Screenplay is Brilliant and Well-etched and you become a character in the film. Credits to Writer Shilpa Rathnam and Sudhish Kamath. Direction - You got to congratulate Sudhish Kamath for choosing such a daring theme and Pulling it off in Style! Overall, Fabulous Job.

When was the last time you watched a Black & White movie? Yes, Sudhish Kamath's Good Night | Good Morning is 80% Black and White and Cinematographer Nischalakrishna Vittalanathan's work stands out. Nice Lighting and Perfect Framing. He makes the movie look Rich with the Black & White tone.

Editing by Vijay Venkataramanan, M. Venkatram and Murugesh Thevar works for me! It was Slick and Crisp. He is also another reason for movie's success. Music by Ray Guntrip Feat. Tina May | Manu Narayan & Darunam | Blues Conscience Feat. Sudeep is a Big Plus. Outstanding Background score takes the movie to another level. Costumes by Shilpa Rathnam are OK. Other crew members hard work is evident and they deserve a huge applause.

I also see a lot of Pre-Production has gone into making this film a grand success. Job well done!

Good Night | Good Morning is way better than many mainstream Indian films! It is a Writing Masterpiece. Exceptional Writing. It is a Great moment for Indian Indie-Filmmaking Fraternity. I was So happy to see everyone glued to their seats for the Q&A. That was the impact the movie had on the New Yorkers!

• Naveen Varadarajan, Behindwoods

It is beyond unfortunate that the Indian film industry almost ignores its independent filmmakers. In fact, I'll go out a limb to even say that some of our most prestigious directors could learn immense lessons on originality, execution and the real art of film making from indie filmmakers. One such director includes the uber talented Sudhish Kamath. His film, Good Night | Good Morning was featured at a number of film festivals around the world including: The South Asian International Film Festival in New York and Mumbai Film Festival this year. The lucky lot who managed to bag tickets to the film raved nonstop about Good Night | Good Morning . Whether it was the simple story, the writing, the message or the performances, Sudhish Kamath had scored. So what is all the fuss about? You're about to find out!

A bunch of lads find themselves hanging out at a bar on New Year's Eve. Very quickly Turiya Omprakash's (Manu Narayan) finds himself spotting a lone lady at the bar and the group makes their way to see her. Moira (Seema Rahmani) is not interested and shoos the boys away, but not before Turiya takes a peek at her room number and hotel name. As the dudes travel back from New York City to Philadelphia, Turiya decides to call Moira who decides to indulge in a "one night stand" over the phone with him as his friends, JC (Raja Sen) and Hussein (Vasanth Santhosham) listen on. Over a span of a few hours, the couple talk about love, relationships, baggage and skeletons in the closet. It is then that Turiya and Moira realize this could be the love story that could have been…but will it?

To call Good Night | Good Morning good cinema is understatement; it's beyond good. The film is impactful in a number of ways. For starters, the director takes on a retro theme as the film is filmed in old school black and white, which really adds emphasis. But it's not dull, in fact, black and white has never been so colorful. All flashbacks however, are in color. The effect of this simple technique is impressive and it is as though metaphorically, the couple are hiding from colors in their lives and prefer to see the world in shades of black and white ala their past. And because the GN|GM is an hour and a half telephone conversation in the form of a film, the screen in split in half as you monitor the varied environments Turiya and Moira are in as they chat. But that's just the technical details. As a film, GN|GM impresses because there is no sho-sha with its execution. Rather, it's the writing and dialogues that keep you engrossed. The conversation between Turiya and Moira never runs dry or boring which is all courtesy of the script. You are forced to think, made to laugh and in end, learn to love because of one conversation. The screenplay is simply fantastic and engaging. As a director, you are simply wowed by Kamath who scores and how with GN|GM. He creates a situation that is almost unheard of and in all honesty as a film, could have gone terribly wrong. However, because of his in-depth understanding of the script, at no point does the situation seem unfeasible. You almost wish it could and should happen!

The cast is simply S.U.P.E.R.B. At no point do any of the stars seem like a misfit. Manu Narayan is funny, cute, vulnerable and charming as Turiya. You giggle at his innate innocence and his "lack of game", but you are drawn to him no doubt. Seema Rahmani is fabulous as Moira who plays a hard-shelled softie. Her facial expressions and attention to detail are incredible. As a new age kinda gal, you can relate to sentiments, emotions and her definition of love. The chemistry between Manu and Seema has to be noted. You know you have a great pair of actors when the chemistry is oozing despite the fact that they spend the entire film chatting over a phone. The supporting cast too adds and lends great help. Raja Sen as JC adds comic relief with his one-liners while Vasanth Santhosham plays the dude-get-over-it with great ease.

Good Night | Good Morning is a just a quick smack in the face to all those who choose to ignore Indian independent filmmakers. It's original, engrossing and entertaining. But what it does most is make you think. You find yourself pondering over old relationships, realizing the need to forgo and let go and more than anything, GN|GM reinforces your faith in love. What you take away is of course relative to your mind set but ultimately it makes for a fab watch!

If you don't watch any other independent film before 2010 is out, watch Good Night | Good Morning; it's a conversation you'll never forget. - Roshni Mulchandani, Bollyspice

"To call Good Night | Good Morning good cinema is understatement; it's beyond good… It's original, engrossing and entertaining. But what it does most is make you think. You find yourself pondering over old relationships, realizing the need to forgo and let go and more than anything, GN|GM reinforces your faith in love… it's a conversation you'll never forget," Roshni Mulchandani, BollySpice, wrote in her review of Good Night | Good Morning after the New York screening.

"Very few times do we come across a cinema that consumes you in a way that you're delighted, awed and indulged in a single shot. GN|GM is the very kind of cinema that tugs the heart for its earnest intentions and unadulterated cinematic treat. I found myself watching and re-watching some splendid scenes, from the initial awkwardness, subdued seductions, and unspoken confessions. It all feels wonderfully real that I am almost tempted to pick up the phone and have one such rendezvous of my own," Pooja Rao, BollySpice, wrote in her review of Good Night | Good Morning after the Delhi screening.

"Special mention to Sudhish Kamath's 'Good Night | Good Morning' which is in the 'Before Sunrise' space. The script by Kamath and Shilpa Rathnam is mint fresh with some great dialogues.," Harneet Singh, Indian Express, wrote in her review of the Mumbai Film Festival that played over 200 films over a span of a week between October 21 and 28. "Good Night Good Morning is lovely. Good mood, sharp lines, super acting and that jazz," she had also tweeted after the screening.

"The standout Indian efforts were Srinivas Sunderrajan's The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project, a film on filmmaking, made on Rs 40,000; Sudhish Kamath's Good Night, Good Morning, a romantic film about a phone talk between two strangers; and Girish Kasaravalli's Kanasemba Kudureyaneri (Riding the Stallion of a Dream), a tale of a grave-digger's loss of faith in the power of his dreams," Namrata Joshi, Outlook Magazine wrote in her review of the Mumbai Film Festival.

"I liked Sudhish Kamath's Good Night Good Morning. Touching sophisticated film with Manu Narayan, Seema Rahmani and a very cool Raja Sen," journalist Aseem Chhabra tweeted after catching the film at the South Asian International Film Festival and said on camera that it was very rare to see a film like this come out of India.

"Good Night Good Morning by Sudhish Kamath is an arresting watch. Slick shots and crisp writing," film critic Mihir Fadnavis tweeted after watching the film at the Mumbai Film Festival.

"It is touching, heart breaking and drives you down the memory lane. I can easily say this is the most daring movie ever made. It's a must-watch. I am going with 4/5," blogger Naveen Varadarajan writes on BehindWoods.

"It takes great skill to write something that sounds this off-the-cuff. Too clever, and the viewer beings to question the likelihood of two strangers spitting out one-liner after one- liner at three in the morning; go too far in the other direction, and it becomes commonplace, and not worth watching… The leads had to be charming for it to work, and they are, Narayan with his timid overtures, Rahmani playfully knowing," a movie buff called A Fan Apart blogged after the screening at the Habitat Film Festival in Delhi.

"If Woody Allen had wanted to make a conversation film based on two Americans of Indian origin, it would look like Good Night|Good morning," movie-buff Sai Prasad Narendran blogged in his review of the film, and rated it 9.3/10!

Making rounds of several national plus International film festivals, Sudhish Kamath's (co- written with Shilpa Rathnam) Good Night | Good Morning is an independent film about an all- night phone call between two strangers. Sudhish, an expert movie critic; fabulous host on a chat show (Hands up), goes behind the camera for the second time, with this 80 odd-minutes film.

New Years Eve in New York City, Turiya (Manu Narayan), out at a pub with his bunch of boys JC (Raja Sen), Hussein (Vasanth Santosham) plus another inebriated guy (though I'm unsure why he was needed) spot an unaccompanied Moira (Seema Rahmani). Even though the group is shunned by Moira when they approach her at the pub; upon leaving the place, Turiya (who is road-travelling with his lads) calls Moira (who is back at her hotel room). What starts as smart talk between strangers soon turns into a candid tête-à-tête about love, relationships, life and the fancy things that go with it.

The lead pair does an exceptionally competent job of enacting their director's vision to the 'T'. They are compelling, maintain consistent body languages and exude great screen presence to reach out to the audiences. Even though the characters are merely connected over phone, their chemistry shines throughout. It takes lesser time for the audience to be charmed by the duo, than it does for them to eventually fall for each other. Manu's 'Turiya' is the quintessential urbane boy - tries to say the right things, is dumbfounded when he quite often has his foot-in-his-mouth moments and turns to pals endlessly for prompts on the trickier questions. He constantly finds himself swinging between safe humor and measured clever talk, ensuring he maintains the right balance to impress (or rather not offend) the girl. Seema's 'Moira' is so relatable that I kept thinking this is EXACTLY what I would have said/done. She's confident but vulnerable, liberal but conformist. She wants to trust the guy, but remains guarded; slams him the first time he tries to make small-talk as a stranger, but almost instantly calls him back probably realizing he isn't a creep with weird fetish. Holds onto her identity, weighs her words, and flirts cautiously so as to not be perceived as easy. She goes through the same emotional roller-coaster that most of us single, new-age feminists do, secretly craving attention but being wary of any guy approaching us, thinking he is a chauvinist just like the rest, which (I quote from HITCH) "life experiences has taught, is a virtual certainty". The cameos are excellent as screen fillers, but sadly the quirks and one- liners are comparatively disappointing.

Sudhish had me bowled over at the opening credits when he decided to use jazz music score, it served the perfect momentum for the rest of the film. Without getting into much technical details, black & white scheme works perfectly to lend an old-world mystique of romances, split screen technique of showing Turiya's and Moira's settings is apt as it ensures we get to simultaneously see the reactions of both characters to a particular situation. Bingo!

The screenplay is the undisputed USP of the film. It's the usual boy-meets-girl premise but with an expertly drafted account of the varied stages of a relationship. Minute scene detailing, its backdrops, have been wonderfully thought about. My favorite bit about the movie is that it consciously restrains itself from resorting to clichés. Eg: Despite Moira's failed past, it does not put her off men completely. Even though she says she doesn't believe in love, she isn't averse to the feeling or the possibility that she could fall in love someday. When she professes that she's optimistic, makers give us reason to believe her. Another major comfort is the unabashed individuality the film maintains, taking us far away from Bollywood's brain- dead romances in which oversmart-confused boy is right, but secure-levelheaded girl is proved wrong. Apart from being delightfully entertaining, the film encourages to think - about new beginnings, 'the end', commitments, re-bound, holding up and letting go, forgiving, forgetting, the 'happily-ever-after'. In short, there is a little bit for everyone.

Reason 3 (and the most important) that made me fall in love with GNGM are the dialogues. For me personally, the headiest stimulant there ever can be, is being part of a witty, sharp conversation. GNGM gets full marks for not only keeping it absolutely real, but more so for never letting it slip away. The dialogues hold true to the vocabulary of the day, are supremely effective because they never come across as scripted, rather flow on naturally. Background score fills in nicely without being distractive, cinematography in general but in specific opening credits which briefly familiarizes trademark New York, is impressive.

Very few times do we come across a cinema that consumes you in a way that you're delighted, awed and indulged in a single shot. GN|GM is the very kind of cinema that tugs the heart for its earnest intentions and unadulterated cinematic treat. I found myself watching and re-watching some splendid scenes, from the initial awkwardness, subdued seductions, and unspoken confessions. It all feels wonderfully real that I am almost tempted to pick up the phone and have one such rendezvous of my own. Clocking at close to 77mins, Good Night | Good Morning successfully brings alive on celluloid one of my favorite sayings, 'If you won't let go of old memories, there won't be room for new ones'. For those who haven't had a chance to watch it yet, make sure you do not miss this one. Highly Recommended. - Pooja Rao, Bollyspice