Notes on similar themes in "Titli", "Memories in March" and "Listen Amaya"

      We are all possessive of the people we love. That is, in fact, one of the defining aspects of love, because when we love someone, the very idea that they may love someone else, have an equally intimate relationship with some other person, embitters us to no end. It is especially relevant when the person we love happens to be a parent, or, conversely, a child. And unlike love for a spouse or a girlfriend/boyfriend, familial love is somehow more anchored, more ironclad, more bound. Blood is, after all, blood.

     Recently, I saw some movies that bring out precisely these issues to the surface. "Listen Amaya"( directed by Avinash Kumar Singh), deals with the daughter ( Swara Bhaskar) coming to terms with her widowed mother ( Deepti Naval) falling in love with a man ( the charming late Farooq Sheikh ji), who has been a good friend to her. 

"Memories in March" ( Dir: Sanjoy Nag), that beautiful portrayal of the conflicting emotions of a mother ( the eternally beautiful and elegant Deepti Naval, again) who has to deal with the shocking revelation that her son, who died in a road accident, was actually gay and was in love with his senior colleague (played to perfection by Rituparno Ghosh).

The third one was a chance discovery on You Tube on a rainy Saturday morning, "Titli" ( Dir: Rituparno Ghosh), that dealt with similar themes of the daughter Titli ( a very young but immensely talented Konkona Sen), who is a big fan of a movie star, played by the dashing and charming Mithun, is left embittered and betrayed when she discovers that her mom ( the beautiful Aparna Sen) and Mithun had been lovers a long time ago, and is simply unable to cope with the revelation.

All three movies explore a theme that is not seen very frequently in our cinema, in part because we really do not perceive our parents as separate,sexual beings. Also, we fail to see that in the throes of raising us and our siblings, our parents, especially our mothers, seem to lose a part of their individuality, and most of them hardly assert even a minimal longing for a space of their own, having molded themselves in ways that always criss-cross our own. 

Titli's outright rejection of the very idea that her mother had been in love with the movie star she herself has idolized speaks volumes of the way children always assume that their parents are and were just that-parents, and not individuals with a life of their own. Amaya, though aware of her mother's loneliness and despite being very good friends with Farooq, is appalled when her mother tells her that she has decided to get married. As children, how selfish and myopic we become! On the other hand, as parents, we fail to understand that our kids harbor secret hopes and desires that are so different than our expectations of them. In India, this is even more so, as I myself have experienced. You are provided with the best education, are given access to the best books and media, you are lauded when you prove your individuality and uniqueness among your peers, but when it comes to choosing your career, your spouse, and even simple issues like when you want to take a stand with a particular ideology, you are expected to be safely conventional. But, that is another story altogether.

In all, it is great that there are still some film makers out there who pick these complex themes and portray the vicissitudes of life, at the same time do it so elegantly and artistically that it is sheer poetry to watch them. 

Satyajit Ray receiving an honorary Oscar in the 64th Annual Academy Awards

Felt like giving a standing ovation to this legend who had the courage,vision and passion that  redefined Indian Cinema and transformed the cinematic paradigm.

Larry and Friends: an illustrated take on ethnic diversity & racial harmony

I just came across this amazing new illustrated book for children that is an ode to the existence of cultural harmony and acceptance of ethnic diversity in none other that the cultural melting point of New York, estimated to be the most linguistically diverse city in the world today, home to more than three million foreign-born residents who speak over 800 languages. The book is illustrated by Ecuadorian-born, New-York-based illustrator Carla Torres, who partnered with Belgian-born, Venezuelan-raised, New-York-based writer Nat Jaspar to bring the project, funded on Kickstarter, to life. 

      In the story, Larry, the American dog invites all his friends for his birthday party. His friends belong to different countries and are a diverse ethic group, and each character has been illustrated beautifully to represent nuances from his home country. I was simply left smitten by Larry's wonderful group of friends. Here they are:

Larry, a juggler from Brooklyn

Magda, the Polish Pig, a tightrope artist

Henrik, the Irish Hare

Cecelia, the Peruvial Llama

Gugu, the African Zebra, lead percussionist at the Apollo Theater.

Sumita, the Indian Elephant

Coqui, the Puertorican frog, a violinist

Fu, the Chinese Dragon

Laila, the Iranian Cat, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History

Ulises, the Greek Owl, a chef who bakes a cake for Larry

Jin, the Korean Fox

and two of my most favorite ones, 

Rimshi, the Tibetan Yak ( I simply loooooved him.......)

and, finally, the very cute...Ashki, the Native American Buffalo

In the end, they all have a blast!!!

Can a tale be any better with such heart warming characters and such wonderful detailing??

Hats off....Carla Torres.......

Ten books that I simply have to have with me.....

Yes, I know it sounds weird, but that's how I am. If I move, or change phones, or buy a new tablet, all I want is to first download them as e books, or get them as paperbacks/hardcovers.In short, I'm lost if I realize that I cannot just reach out to these books whenever I need to.....

1) Jhumpa Lahiri's "Interpretor of Maladies"

2) Amitav Ghosh's "The Hungry Tide"

3) Haruki Murakami's " Sputnik Sweetheart"

4) Arundhati Roy's " God of Small Things"

5) "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

6) Kamila Shamsie's " Kartography"

7)"To Kill a Mokingbird" by Harper Lee

8) The Harry Potter series

9) Ayn Rand's "We, the Living"

10) D.H.Lawrence's "Lady Chatterly's Lover"

The world seems just a tad bit warmer and familiar when I know I have these with me....no matter how alone I am, or how lost I feel. As long as they are with me, I'm safe and happy.

Dharmendra: alternative portrayals

In continuation with my previous post, I'd like to make a slight point about the wonderfully charming, handsome and talented Dharmendra(ji). I mean, it is so ironic that the man is best known for his roles in action movies (most notably, Sholay), and his dialogue " Kutte, main tera khoon pee jaunga", and his jauntiness, his comical antics, his signature dance moves, and his overall "macho" persona.

    

I mean....it is so totally not right!!! I wish he was remembered more for his portrayal of the sensitive, thinking, idealistic common man that he so effortlessly played in movies like "Bandini", "Anupama", "Anpadh","Satyakam", "Guddi" and other such movies that he worked in during the 50's-70's. "Sholay" again was one of his highlight movies, and his garrulous, dare devilish, romantic Veeru was a perfect antithesis to Jai's brooding, contained persona.  Watching it today is a bit poignant because Dharmendra was never to star in anything worthwhile again. Though he continued to work as a hero till the end of the century, developing a tough new Garam Dharam persona along the way, the films he made were consistently appalling and by the time he went into semi-retirement in 2000, he was a B-grade movie star.

    

But watch Dharmendra(ji) sing "Ya dil ki suno" in Hemant Kumar's melancholic voice-over and you will instantly relate with his sensitivity and range, which unfortunately was not tapped properly in his latter work.

Or watch scenes from the movies listed above to understand that he was definitely better as an actor playing roles that gave him an opportunity to show his sensitive, understated, charming, slightly flirtatious side that will make any woman fall head over heels in love with him.

Bandini

Satyakam

Anupama

  

Guddi

The fascinating aspect of this phase of Dharmendra's career is that he became the vehicle for Bengali literary realism in Hindi cinema. Just as Guru Dutt's "Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam" was a Bengali film in Hindustani GARB, so too were "Bandini", "Anupama", "Manjhli Didi" and "Satyakam". That a strapping Jat hunk managed to play the bhadralok protagonist with such intensity and conviction is an achievement for which Dharmendra gets too little credit.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee's movies in the 60's and 70's

    After all the hullabaloo associated with my PhD confirmation examination, I've retreated into my good old cocoon, nestled against old books, movies, thoughts and dreams that are most dear to me. In fact, I've been watching movies like crazy. The week of my exam, I watched the new line of Hollywood movies that have been nominated for the Oscars, starting with "12 years a Slave", then "Her", "American Hustle", " The Wolf of Wall Street", and so on....

     After the exam, it was back to the good old Hindi movies. And as I watched "Guddi", "Abhimaan", then "Anupama" and "Satyakam", I sort of wondered as to how Hrishida's movies shifted in themes when you look at them ranging from the 50's to the 90's. I always considered Hrishida's movies to be rooted basically in humor, testimony- most of his popular work like "Golmaal"(1979), "Chupke Chupke"(1975), "Kubsoorat"(1980), "Mili"(1975), "Baawarchi"(1972), "Guddi"(1971). Even in "Anand"(1970), where the lead protagonist suffers from a fatal disease, the underlying melancholy is buoyed by humor and a "fun" outlook towards life.

    But if you look at his earlier work, especially his debut movie "Musafir"(1957), "Anuradha"(1960), "Anupama"(1966) and "Satyakam"(1969), you invariably feel that his earlier works reflected more serious, deeper themes and were dealt with less lightheartedness than his "signature" films. Not that they were of any less impact;just that they somehow seem different than his usual style.

   "Musafir" was in fact totally unique in it's narrative structure, because it was shot in an episodic format and dealt with three stories of three different set of people and their encounter with the three most significant events in a person's life i.e. birth,marriage and death. The cast was a formidable one, with stalwarts like Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen and Durga Khote. 

"Anuradha" had a lonely wife played by the beautiful Leela Naidu who becomes increasingly disillusioned by her Doctor husband wonderfully played by Balraj Sahni, who neglects his wife in his workaholic lifestyle.

"Satyakam" was again a serious movie that depicted Dharmendra as the no nonsense, hard working idealist who shuns the changing trends of society and refuses to compromise on his ideals. 

By far, my most favorite film, "Anupama" blew me away with its sheer simplicity, minimalism and beauty. I mean, as far as I know, Dharmendra never looked as handsome and romantic, and my darling Sharmila was never portrayed more vulnerable, beautiful and engaging. I mean, the film is sheer poetry. 

 His later movies were more garrulous and lighthearted, and believe me when I say that I've actually lost count of the number of times I've watched "Chupke Chupke", "Guddi", "Golmaal" and "Mili". I mean isn't that what good movies are about? The fact that you watch them repeatedly, discovering something new to wonder about each time, and every time you laugh and cry for the same reasons and yet you never ever feel bored or let down? Something that current movie makers need to really understand. A great movie need not make 100 crores. It only needs to live forever in the hearts of movie lovers, needs to continue to have a life in a DVD format, or You Tube views, still ascertaining its magic and impact on people.

      How I simply adore you Hrishida..... 

    

Ulvepigen Tinke aka Little Big Girl

        OK, I have a confession to make. Some of my very best books and movies are children's and Little Women, To kill a Mokingbird, Heidi and Shadow the Sheepdog have been and still are some of my all time favorites. There is something about child protagonists, their world and their thought processes, their unwavering optimism and sense of adventure that I love. Perhaps every such book or movie I see takes me back to my childhood days that were the best years of my life. I mean I feel so close to what they feel, and totally associate to what they perceive and the way they react. In fact, I love some characters as if they were flesh and blood......

      So, when I saw this lovely Danish movie, Ulvepigen Tinke aka Little Big Girl, on Cinemaworld (which showcases some of the best foreign cinema that you can lay your hands on), I was smitten. Simply swept off by the then 8year old Sarah Juel Werner, who worms through your heart and makes you almost give her a standing ovation, so effortless has been her performance in this delightful tale.

Briefly, it is the story of an eight year old orphaned Tinke, who sets out to search for her grandfather thereby fulfilling the last wish of her dying mother who gives her a medallion to prove her heritage. In her quest, she befriends a young shepherd Larus, who shelters her in the stable where he lives while working for an old couple. Later, her grandparents come looking for her, but she has a hard time proving to her grandad that she is indeed his grand daughter, what with her wily ways, belligerent behaviour and mischief.

Throughout the course of the movie, it is Tinke who evokes all the emotions in you, be it by her inherent predisposition to break all the laws, her stubborness in the face of any obstacle, her pranks and mischief or, on the other hand, her vulnerability that is not so easily bared, or flashes of her innocence that light up her face and tug at your heart strings....Tinke is the very soul of the movie. 

Tinke all soiled, dirty and hungry when Larus finds her in a cave. She is so stricken with grief and hunger that is almost animal like, but his affections win her over.

They soon forge a beautiful friendship that lasts forever, with each one taking care of the other in their own way.

He brings her to his place and the land lady sets to give her a bath, after which she emerges clean and nice, and Larus is surprised that her hair is actually red beneath all that dirt :)

 Meanwhile, flashes of the past keep floating in her thoughts, as she tries to recall her parents names so that she could set forth to find her grandparents, from whom her mother had fled and married her father who was a poor vagrant.

Her mother had given her a medallion as a keepsake and to prove her heritage.

The owners are an old couple who have a grown up son, but whom they keep locked up in the stable as he is mentally retarded and prone to sudden bouts of violence. But our Tinke is not afraid of him, and instead of shunning him, she befriends him and teaches his mother a thing or two about love!!

Her face is at times devilish, at times angelic, but this way or that, she simply moors you to her heart.

For everyone who cherishes childhood... please watch this amazing movie and this amazing child gifted with such a wonderful skill for acting. Bravo...Sarah!! Love you girl!!!