Jhoota Hi Sahi : some thoughts

I'm not a big fan of John Abraham. Nor am I someone who would endorse his acting skills. Yet, the thing about actors is that sometimes, in the hands of the right director, they can even surpass their limitations as actors, and create a work that, even though not popular or famous, not bright like a neon light, glows like embers, emanating a quiet warmth.

I quite accidentally saw "Jhoota Hi Sahi", a really cool movie directed by Jaane Tu...director Abbas Tyrewala. I don't even recall when this movie was released. And most certainly, it never got the acclaim that Jaane Tu garnered. Of course, Jaane Tu....was itself a really well made movie, perhaps Imran's best yet, but what sets apart "Jhoota..." is the story, the superb cast , the almost effortless acting that everyone has put in, the excellent setting, and a general feeling of everything being nice and eventually turning out good. I wonder what made it not click with the audience.

In a way, it has many parallels with some of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's movies, wherein, even the most mundane character is well nuanced, and each one leaves a mark in the viewer's mind. And the narrative is the centerpiece, supplemented with ironic humour, reflective moments and understated form. Quite briefly, "Jhoota...." is the tale of a shy, stammering, and introverted guy, played with unassuming maturity by John, who accidentally becomes part of a phone service that provides suicidal people with hope and a desire to live. He befriends a girl, played by a very talented, natural actress, Pakhi Tyrewala, while convincing her not to take her life after her breakup with her boyfriend. In an attempt to cheer her up, he cooks up a false facade of his personality, and when she accidentally comes to his book shop one day and he meets her in person, to live up to his fabricated image, he pretends to be another guy and does not reveal that he is the same guy who talks to her everyday over the phone. The story is about how reality finally catches up with him, and how he finally wins her despite his shyness and diffidence.

What I like most about the movie is the characters that John hangs around with. We have this really really cute Pakistani sis-bro pair, played by the cute Alishka Varde( Jaane Tu fame) and a surprisingly good Raghu Ram( Roadies fame), who really support John in his misadventures and adventures alike. A lot of really amusing punchlines are delivered  by Raghu who weaves the Pakistani-Indian tiff very intelligently and comically into certain situations without being racial or fanatical in a single incident. Alishka's character has an added dimension to it coz she is 5months pregnant with her boyfriend's ( George Young) baby, yet refuses to get married to him in spite of his bizzare, theatrical and repeated attempts to convince her. Her dialogues are in Urdu and seem so poetic and lyrical. I must say she is fabulous to watch. And the character of John's already present girlfriend, played by Manasi Scott, adds another layer to the already complex situation.

In all, a very touching movie that gives a glimpse of these immigrants living in London and leading a life away from family but still enjoying each other's company and surviving on hope, joy and above all, love. I simply adore this movie......

Two of Deepti Naval's lesser known movies

I do not recall exactly how I came across Deepti Naval's blog. What I do remember is how I marveled at her versatility; actress, artist, photographer, traveler, philosopher. One of the earliest recollections of her is the TV serial "Thoda sa Aasaman", a Doordarshan serial I used to watch when I was a mere kid. Later, for perhaps her most popular role of "Miss Chamko" in "Chashme Baddoor". It is quite recently that I actually started to single out her movies and watch them for the sheer pleasure to see her act; what she does effortlessly, and most beautifully. Also, I never recollect her as a beautiful actress, but somehow, when I have started really looking at her, into her, she seems to me a very pretty lady, with an understated beauty, elegance, poise and ....her eyes.... that at once seem vulnerable yet strong and deep.

I was really taken in by her performance in "Memories in March". And the lady looks so damn pretty; the planes of her cheeks, her eyes, her lips.....wow!! But what I want to write about is two of her lesser known movies that I stumbled across quite recently on You Tube.

The first one is "Panchvati" directed by Basu Bhattacharya, starring her alongside Suresh Oberoi and Akbar Khan. She is introduced as an artist, who captures the essence of landscapes and mountains in her paintings. She hails from Nepal, and later, a lot of the scenes make use of Nepal's beautiful temples and picturesque mountains to show us her way of life, her parallel universe, her association with all things surreal and far removed from the material world she has to enter after she gets married to Akbar Khan, who is the younger brother of Suresh Oberoi, a successful businessman. Soon into the marriage, she realizes that her husband has no clue about her feelings, and she gets withdrawn into a cocoon of loneliness, despair and a desperate yearning to be understood. But what is shocking is that the only person who seems to be capable of doing that is her brother-in-law, played excellently by Suresh Oberoi. Oh...his baritone alone would make any girl fall for him.....and Deepti inadvertently falls for him, his brooding manner, his poetry and his equally lonely married life that has long ceased to exist with his rich and bratty wife. One day, in the middle of a big fight, Akbar Khan hits Deepti, and all semblance of bliss is shattered. She decides to leave the house and goes to Nepal, accompanied by Suresh, who goes to Kathmandu frequently on business. There, love finally blossoms between them, and they fall into each other and satiate their need for love and understanding. But reality is much harsher, therefore, Deepti goes away to stay with her Art teacher, a renowned Nepalese artist, and later gives birth to twin sons. Akbar Khan comes to reclaim them, thinking they are his, but Deepti patiently and firmly tells him that he is not their father, and they are hers only. A bold decision considering that now she is all alone. The character of Suresh realises that he needs to support her, but all he can do is buy her a place in Nepal, where, ages ago, Rama and Sita had resided, called "Panchvati".

Deepti's character is a troubled mix of yearning for love as well as a need to break free when she is smothered by that love. Her art pulls her through, and in the end, when she is pregnant, all she has is a paintbrush that her teacher had gifted her after her wedding. She wields that, to paint, to create, to dream, to escape and to live. Seeing her, we know, that no matter the despair and the loss of love, she has found her place in the world, her very own exile, her "Panchvati".

The second movie is even more off beat in the sense that considering it was an 80's movie, the theme of an extra marital affair seems to be dealt with quite maturely, without pandering to cheap gimmicks and overt sensationalism. Deepti is married to Suresh Oberoi( yes, again the same cast, yet the character of Suresh is quite the opposite in this movie), who is a very successful actor and they are in London for a shoot. Suresh the actor, is in every way the quintessential bratty "star" with a bloated ego and a very arrogant unprofessional approach to his work. Womanising is also one of his favorite hobbies, and although Deepti is aware of his promiscuous ways, she tries her best to maintain the semblance of marriage. While in London, she befriends a young Art student, played by Pradeep Varma( I confess I dont know who he is) and they get along as peas in a pod. After a while, a strong bond of attraction develops between them, and even though bound by custom, Deepti succumbs to her desire and they both become lovers. But soon, Deepti has to confront reality and choose between marriage and love.

What liked best about the movie is that they have used the backdrop of London to build Deepti and Pradeep's love. He drives a broken down car of some vintage make, and takes her to his cubbyhole of an apartment, filled with nude sketches of imaginary women, and they spend little blissful moments cooking small meals on his stove and making love ih his narrow single bed, getting cozy and nice and loving. Deepti, defying all trends, prefers to wear chiffon saris rather that the bell-bottoms she once wears, to Pradeep's amusement.How she braved London's cold in those flimsy silk sarees , I haver no clue. But the ending is really nice and apt. Here is a woman, well educated, well to do, empowered, so why cant she just give up the life that she is leading in the shadow of her actor husband, and seek love that another, much younger, less successful but loving man wants to give her. It is not a very profound tale, nonetheless, Deepti infuses a certain charm and depth to the character and we only applaud her for her final decision.

I'm going to see other movies of her, also read her short story collection, "Mad Tibetan". I'm in love.......

Campus Shots.....why I simply love NTU

     A recent transformation in life ....from being an RA in Dr.X's lab, to being a full time PhD student in Dr. Kline's lab, being part of Scelse, and most importantly, moving back to the campus.......

NTU, thou shall continue to heal me .....enthrall me, envelope me in your beauty.....a walk through your sylvan campus at twilight is so healing....its therapeutic literally.......one of the best things in life.......to be part of something so big, so serene, so beautiful, so peaceful.

All pics courtesy my Samsung SII.........many more such snapshots to come......

Ek Doctor Ki Maut

Thanks to a post I read of Jai Arjun Singh, I happened to see two of NFDC's movies that were released during the early eighties. One was Shyam Benegal's Suraj ka Satva Ghoda, and the other was Tapan Sinha's Ek Doctor Ki Maut. The former is an account of the raconteur played to perfection by Rajit Kapoor, who, in his debut role, portrayed the experiences of a young, hapless lover whose love gets jilted not once but thrice when his love for three girls( in three different stories) remains unrequited. Rajeshwari Sachdev, Pallavi Joshi and Neena Gupta portray the roles of the three girls, and each story, narrated by the hero to his eager friends who come flocking to his house to hear a fascinating tale based on jilted love,elicits a discussion on   love, as a reflection of the socio-economic status of the lovers. In each story, our hero is doomed from the beginning as he is one of the most passive lovers around. One of his friends, played by Raghubir Yadav, has an imagination that borders on paranoia.Whatever tales that he hears our hero narrating, he goes and dreams about the characters in the most grotesque and visually disturbing manner, so that his account of those same dreams is partly comic and partly macabre. At the end of it, some images from the hero's past come to haunt him and we are left with a sense of his failure to do anything worthwhile at all.

But the better of the two was the second movie, Ek Doctor Ki Maut. As a scientist, I think it completely enamored me to the doctor, played by the inimitable Pankaj Kapoor, whose trials and tribulations as a part time scientist on the quest to find a cure for leprosy, ultimately spelt doom for him.As far as my knowledge goes, this would have to be the only movie ever made in India, that gives you the inside view of how research goes on and what a scientist faces in terms of the struggle, the hard work, the disillusion, the high of new discovery, the pain of failure and....eventually how he needs to publish his paper to get his discovery projected to the outside world.

    Pankaj Kapoor, as the humble doctor turned scientist, with a passion for his research, is a delight to watch, and Shabana Azmi is simply brilliant as his long suffering wife, who initially craves his attention and feels completely left out because of the complete devotion to his work yet who eventually becomes his biggest support in his quest to get recognition for his work. The chemistry between the two is simply awesome, and they portray the ever changing pattern of love between two people who are together for such a long time that all they need to convey love is a smile, a nod, a look and yet remain madly in love with each other. Shabana, with her tear filled eyes, literally needs no dialogues to convey her thoughts, something I observed in another power packed performance in Arth.

     After ten long years of research, Dr Dipankar Roy finally discovers a vaccine for leprosy, which when innoculated into pregnant mothers, makes their child immune to the debilitating disease. His friend who is a science correspondent( played by the young Irfan Khan), writes about this in his newspaper and this starts an avalanche of criticism from all other doctors who simply find it unbelievable that a common average doctor like Dipankar, can do something so seminal and original. As he is a government Doctor, Dipankar cannot go ahead and publish his work without the government's approval. So begins a struggle in which Dipankar, who thought his lab was the world, now begins to see that the world is a much more difficult place and mere passion for work is not sufficient.

     Until the very end, we see a losing battle, and finally, someone else, a team from London, beats him to the  publication. But all Dipankar has to say is that finally, leprosy has been eradicated from the world. There are some great scenes in the movie which provide an insight into Dipankar's way of thought. The best one is , when he gets transferred to a village near Calcutta, and his wife comes to see him. He is sick, tired, overworked and lonely without his wife. Yet, he tells her, during a stroll on the beach, that at night, when he sees the stars shining, he thinks that they are mocking mankind that in the wide universe, there are so many umpteen mysteries to be solved, yet the only thing men on this planet do is find ways of fighting and backstabbing each other. We understand how his mind works, and later, when his wife is dusting his lab, she finds that in one of his notes, he has scribbled " So much to do, so little is done. Hurry up!" The smile on her face and the sadness in her eyes tell us that now, finally, she completely understands what her husband stands for. A must watch!!

Arranged marriage

Have a look at this. Will surely bring a smile on your face. Lovely short film.

Old man and the Sea

Check out this amazing pictorial representation of Hemingway's cult Old man and the Sea by Marcel Schindler.

If Books were to come alive!!

Check this out!!