Rickshaaa! - A Film on Three Wheels

January 15th, 2005, Mumbai, India - the residents of Mumbai witnessed a race unlike any other – the Formula One for Rickshaws. Organized for the Mumbai Festival, the race, first of its kind around the world, attracted hundreds of rickshaw drivers who wanted a shot at the prize money, and the fame. “I want to participate because it is fun and my chance to move ahead in life, and be known” says one competitor. “They think they are the Michael Schumachers with their personal Ferraris... on the goddam roads!!!” claims a Mumbai resident annoyed with the chaotic driving. “Designed to rule the roads” annouces Bajaj, one of the biggest three wheeler manufacturers. Auto-rickshaws are the motorized three wheelers which serve as the daily mode of transport for a majority of Indian cities. On the roads of populated Mumbai, they weave through the chaos while adding to it. In the hearts of the city's residents, they find themselves in the ever conflicting juncture of love and hate. And through it all, they continue to evolve, just like their enigmatic drivers, to keep up with the pace of a rapidly changing nation. This quirky music-heavy documentary dives into the crazy world of the Mumbai Auto-rickshaws, and tries bring out their joys and frustrations, their music and their daily struggle for bread, and their fights against a largely chaotic system. This film is a collaborative effort between several filmmakers, all of who reside in different continents (check website for details). In other words, its being shot in India and US, and edited in the UK. The soundtrack for this film is provided by the outstanding Musician-DJ Swami, whose music has been creating waves in the UK and Indian music scene (also check: http://www.swamimusic.com). The film is scheduled for completion in mid-Feb, after which it would hit the festival circuit. The promotional artwork is the brainchild of Matti Pohjonen. Website: http://www.afilmonthreewheels.com

The Legend of the Elephant Headed God

Click image to play | 14.6 MB | Duration:2:51 min

A Very Short Guide to Indian Roads

A trip through the road that acquaints the newcomer to these mad streets of this chaotic nation, pointing to him the meaning of all that he calls quirky... eh... a place where a little bit-a crowd is thrown in with some beetle leaf shops and ice vendors... be sure to notice it all yeah?

Is He Drinking Too Much?

Can a drink change the landscape of a city? Sure it can. In the year of water disasters around the world, this experimental piece delves into the a cause-effect loop that tries to look beyond the blame game that we play, and gives another possible culprit... something that *could have been* responsible for some of the recent troubles we are facing here in Mumbai. After all, someone's gotta take the blame! Warning: To be taken with a sense of humor... [Link]

The Mumbai Rains - A Glimpse

For last one and a half week, Mumbai has been feeling the force of nature, full-blown against its massive population. In Maharastra, about a 1000 people have died due to the consequent landslide and floods. Few bloggers have set up a Mumbai Help blog - http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com The short clip, shot in a small neighborhood, shows just the beginning -- when we were still rejoicing onset of the rains. [Link]

Butterfly Love

One of the older vlogs I made and uploaded to archive, this video is one of my rarest of captures - two butterflies making aerial love, on a lone tree beside Hampi's ruins... The only goal in life for an adult butterfly is to reproduce. The males look for females to inseminate. The females lay eggs. Within the males' abdomen are the sperm producing organs. When the male mates, a set of "claspers" at the end of the abdomen will open and clamp down on the female's abdomen. Butterflies mate facing in opposite directions with their abdomens attached. The penis enters the female at the same location where the eggs come out. When the male ejaculates, the semen enters a small storage pouch inside the females abdomen. After mating, the female has about 100 eggs inside her and a pouch full of the male spermatozoa. Once gravid, she will perform a kind of self-fertilization. When she places an egg on the hostplant, as the egg is passing out of her ovipositor, it will pass this pouch. At that instant, one spermatozoa will fertilize the egg and determine its sex. When the egg is first placed on the leaf, it was fertilized less than a second before. ----- from http://centralamerica.com/cr/butterfly/

Performer - The Pushkar Videos [1 min]

The Ghats (along the side of the river) in the holy city of Pushkar, has worshippers and travelers alike, who gather to view the awesome sunset. That is when, the stick and poi performers collect for their evening practice/performance...

The Great Camel Fair - Pushkar [46 secs]

Pushkar is that magical place where the world meets to celebrate the Camel Fair. For a week, the quiet pilgrimage transforms itself into Fair grounds. Many travelers call it a paradise, and few never leave. This video is an invitation to come experience Pushkar at CSFVlog. Once every week, for the next two months, we will be covering quirky facts, clips and sound-bites from Pushkar, Rajasthan.

Meet your Meat

“Once you see for yourself the routine cruelty involved in raising animals for food, you'll understand why millions of compassionate people have decided to leave meat off their plates for good.” says Alec Baldwin on the website. This video, forwarded by blogger PeanutButterandGreenChutney, blasts the viewer with its striking images, and leaves one with a dilemma - is humanity causing evolution to take an unnatural path?

The Games We Play [1:22 min]

Filmed by a bunch of hip gentlemen down in Sri Lanka, this film portrays the darkest of human nature with a fine twist towards the end. We promise this thriller will keep you on the edge from the word.......GO! [DOWNLOADS HERE]

The Feed Me Turtle [3:23 min]

This turtle really wants to eat the tomato being offered.The feeder is trying to play games with it. Does he think the turtle doesn't know that?! Watch woefully, humans, as the wise, old turtle outwits the feeding hand and bites off what it wants to. 'Nuff said. [DOWNLOAD OPTIONS]

Hugging Mother Ceremony [ 3:46 min]

Behold the Amma, South India's famous hugging mother! After a brief appearance, we see the grandeur of the ceremony and the miles of people assembled to pay their respects to the woman who hugs for a living. Some freaky dances and costumes, and even a few bands perform too. And the twist at the ending, the outside... Downloads HERE.

Grim Reaper Haunts A Quiet Indian Town [1:51min]

This video shows a PETA (People For Ethical Treatment Of Animals) demonstration in Ahmedabad, India, with a grim Reaper trying to kill a cow with his sickle of death. Leather is murder, the onlookers are told. Dowloads HERE.

The Box Maker [53 sec]

The Box Maker, as you will realise after watching this film, is not a human being at all! It is a humanoid box-making machine that sits and makes boxes all day. Kindly notice that the speed of his hands is not a special effect by Soumyadeep Paul, the film-maker. The shot is presented to you as-is and wondrous! Download here.

Moustache Dreams [2:43 min]

Salvador Dali used to say that his moustache was antennae for alien signals, the way he recieved messages from outerspace. Check out this video clip to see the longest, coolest, funkiest, hairiest moustaches on the blue-green-gold planette! A film by Soumyadeep Paul. Download HERE.

Glimpses of The Land of Sand and Sun [ 59 sec]

This film is a montage of footage shot in Pushkar, Rajasthan.With no particular focus the film shows you images you might otherwise miss in the crowded streets... A film by Soumyadeep Paul. Downloads HERE.

Legends of Mud and Flesh [ 3:36min]

Durga, the Hindu Goddess, according to the Wikipedia: Durga was created as an warrior goddess to fight the demon Mahisashur who had unleashed a realm of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds. Mahisa means buffalo, Mahisasur emerged out of the form of a water buffalo. Durga is worshipped every year in West Bengal and the rest of India with great fervour, and this includes a long tradition of artists and sculptors. This breathtaking digital video trailer is their story... A Film by Soumyadeep Paul. Download or stream the video in various formats HERE.

Pushkar Horse Dance [7:07 min]

A film by Soumyadeep Paul: The annual cattle-horse-camel fair of Pushkar, Rajasthan (the western desert-state of India touching Pakistan) was meant to be just a weeklong animal market. Now, it is known as the most colorful festive extravaganza in Rajasthan, drawing tourists, backpackers, villagers, and filmmakers alike. This clip is a glimpse of a competition unlike any other... - A horse dancing competition! Downloads in various formats available HERE.

Chor! (The Thief)

Brief Storyline: Three students who share an apartment find themselves in a fix when a thief breaks in... Duration: 12:43 Language: Hindi (English Subtitles) Writing, Editing, Cinematography and Direction: Soumyadeep Paul Projected Image Productions Produced by: Saurabh Nishant Various download options (in MPEG2, MPEG4, Streaming) [HERE]

Invitation to Vloggie Doggies

CSF Vlog, as you can see, has been launched. This is a loud call from the Dog without Borders to all Vloggers, especially from South East Asia, to come forward and vlog here. There are several places where you can put your videos for free, for instance radio.indymedia.org will gladly put up 100MB files for you, honest souls that they are. Once you do that, vlog it for the world to lap it up, link it up, here. Let's bark and bite... bitch!

AlgoMantra 2005 Videos

People, the first AlgoMantra video has been released. DOWNLOAD MPEG [16MB] In the video, we played the scenario of a hive-mind police control room where someone is trying to send the message that 500 grams of cocain is being sent in a blue truck at a particular time from Powai. The game had people walking around like automatons on a tile-gird, so they shared packets of encrypted information and figured out the intended message due to crystallisation by hive activity.