Showing posts with label Films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Films. Show all posts
0
Parzania is one of those films which'll either bore
you to death or make you tear at your own hair with anger. Not at the film but
at those who’re responsible for all the shit in the world, the shit in this
case being the Gujarat riots. And if it bores you, well then, you can always
rewatch Himesh Reshammiya's efforts at acting. Based on a real life story, it
features a Parsi family which gets entangled in a fight between two other
communities who’re most famous for being each other’s blood sworn enemies than
for anything else. Some may call the film a little biased, showing only the
Hindus butchering the Muslims and not the backlash where Muslims came forward
with their swords, but the plot was not about Gujarat riots in totality, it was
about how it affected a small family in the worst possible way, a small tale within the larger horror story. A family of
four gets tied up in the upheaval where Hindutva party workers and other
assorted Gujarati Hindu citizen thugs came in thousands to kill every Muslim in
the gated complex Parzan, the 10 year old, and his family were living in. It
didn't matter if they were Parsis, at the end of the day, they were not Hindus
too. They were wajib-ul-qatal, to borrow a term from our Muslim fundamentalist
brothers across the border. *al Salaam*
Parzan
gets separated in the crowd and then is never found again. The father tries
religion to find him, but Ahura Mazda turns out to be as bereft of existence as
Allah and Bhagwan. Maybe Osho is the way. There’s also an American who of
course is doing a thesis on Gandhi, successfully pronouncing the name as 'Ghandi'.
There of course is also a mentor Gandhian character who speaks Gandhian pearls
of wisdom in a heavily accented English that even I'd trouble following but the
American miraculously understood perfectly. The mentor never told him that
'ghandi' and 'Gandhi' have slight different meanings here, it seems.
There were a lot of other characters, notably Raj
Zutshi and Sheeba Chadda's. They played the good Muslim neighbours who lose as much as the Pithawala family. Zutshi
turns from being an over-the-top secular Muslim to a jihadi to a more sane
level of secularity. Chadda played the voice of thundering reason that brings
him back from the hardliner-kill-all-Hindus road. Asif Basra as the man
regretting his actions against his neighbours does justice to his role. Sarika was so natural in
her act that if I were to choose between her playing the mother and THE
Naseeruddin Shah playing the father, I'd go with the lady. Shah being
Shah was top notch. The two kids were fine but too cheerful to actually seem
real. Especially the little girl who played Delnaz. Her OTT cheerfulness was
giving me migraines.The cinematography was surprisingly very good, considering
it was a low budget film. The sound editing was so good and equally so bad at
places that it made me think that they had two different sound editors in
place. The art direction was good too and they made Hyderabad look exactly like
Ahmedabad.
 |
| Good neighbour Zutshi while in his temporary Jihadi career |
Getting the movie-review-ish part over, now let’s get back to the
title of this post. It is a very bad idea to watch Parzania primarily because
you’re again reminded of the horror your countrymen can turn into. Gujarat of
2002 is an ugly blot on the face of Indian history and no amount of gharba
dancing and thepla eating and Falguni Pathak can erase the image that Gujarat
in general and Ahmedabad in particular has come to occupy in the minds of most
Indians. For the ones in the saffron brigade though, Ahmedabad remains the
promised wonderland their swami baba had promised them in their wet dreams.
Parzania acts like that all knowing aunty who without any spoken word can stare
you down into shame and embarrassment and try as you want, you can never deny
the silent accusations.
But the flipside of being reminded of the riots is that
every time a you-know-which-BJP-Chief-Minister supporter shows you images of
flashy buildings and smoother-than-Hema-Malini’s-cheeks roads and the general
euphoria that the Gujaratis somewhat deservingly have about Gujarat Shining,
show them Parzania. It should shut them down and how. It is good to be reminded every once in a while of all the not so pretty things in the world.
Nandita Das debuted as a director with Firaaq, a poignant tale of
the after effects of the riots. Showing intervening lives of different
individuals reacting vastly differently to the mass killings, it was a more
balanced telling of the horror sans the killing. Parzania has its flaws. The
more sensitive Hindu viewers’ll feel it to be too harsh on them. The only Hindu
neighbours shown with more than 3 seconds of screen time don’t let the children
in during the riots because they’re not Hindus.
The viewing of the film coincided with an online verbal fight with
members of a secret Facebook group called ‘Protect Hindutva’ which aims to make
‘Hindustan for Hindus’ only. The extra loathing in my replies to them can be
safely attributed to the childhood memories and fears rekindled by Parzania. In
the film, Parzan and Delnaaz have their own imaginary world, Parzania, where
the roads’re made of chocolate and the buildings of ice-cream. We can pass the chocolaty
and ice-creamy part of the utopia, but it can sure be far better without some
of the 17th century thinking that many still cling on to.
0
It's been quite a while since I last posted anything here. We can blame it on my oh-so-(non existent)-busy schedule. But then, since a bit of honest goes a long way (I hope it does), let my ever present procrastination be blamed. Having covered that part, let's move on.
It is a new year, so a happy very very belated new year. It might be 2012, but my mental calendar is still set at 2011. 2011 was a very very important year to me. Moved out of my nest, made new friends, re-discovered old ones in new lights, learnt that sometimes letting go is the only way and that sometimes, letting go is less important and more impossible. The timing of this post is very funny too, I'm ending my almost-year-long stay in Guwahati in literally a couple of days. Guwahati is a nice place to be in and has given me a lot of memories. Some of them'll last a lifetime.
Coming from a smalltown in a remote region of the country, live concerts've not been the most frequent presence in my life. The only one I remember attending before coming to Guwahati was a concert by Jal a few years back, where they sang their version of Vital Signs' cult anthem 'Dil Dil Pakistan', making it 'Dil Dil Pakistan, Jaan Jaan Hindustan' before it caused too much controversy in Pakistan and became too life threatening for them to sing anymore. Many more came, but none that I was interested in awfully. So the second live concert that I ever attended was Anoushka Shankar's at IIT Guwahati's 4 day long fest, Alcheringa. And to say that it was amazing'd be an understatement. I was always interested in World Music, but experiencing it live was another thing altogether! The lady singing with her in Spanish was so amazing, so were the accompanists with their instruments. An amazing night, it'd be remembered as. The evening after the next, a battle of bands happened and the sheer awesomeness of the bands from all over the country playing there was too much to describe that I'd let it pass. A friend almost lost his head head-banging. Another highlight'd be open partaking of...ah, *cough* grassweedtreeleavesseeds *cough* something on the institute campus, but that's for later.
The Quaff Theatre Group
On the evening of the last day, Quaff theatre group staged their awesome play-within-play play, 'The Real Inspector Hound' based on the play by multiple Tony and Oscar winning playwright, Tom Stoppard.
It was there I had my first 'oww-mai-Gawd-that's-a-Bollywood-isstar' moment, unless you think watching Mukesh Khanna blackmail kids to blackmail their parents to vote for Congress'd qualify for that, but then he was just Shaktiman and the coolest velvet wearing superhero ever. Like my previous long sentence may infer, I was very excited by it (poor my small-town self) and I should be, that was one of my most favourite actresses, Kalki Koechlin. The guy who played game addict Zubin Shroff in Shaitan, the ex Channel V VJ, Neil Bhoopalam was in the play too. I'm no high-brow theatre reviewer, unlike 2 of the characters in the play, so let it suffice that it was a riot, in a good short of way. The auditorium was full, which was a suprise considering what someone said, Art is not for the masses and all that. But that could also be accredited to the sultry Kalki Koechlin and her multiple onstage kisses. It was also around this time that I learnt the valuable life lesson of watching where you're seating but we won't be elaborating on that because of some painful memories of the blogger related to that. :|
Orphaned Land at Alcheringa. Hail my mobile phone camera.
Moving on, the closing act of the fest was Israel's top progressive-rock band, Orphaned Land. Steven Wilson is their producer, so obviously they had to be great. Which they were. Just that I found Anoushka Shankar far more entertaining and given a choice, I'd choose to watch her play again instead. But nonetheless, they rocked. I think I was going there with Porcupine Tree in my head and so boo to my unrealistically high expectations. The one track that I loved the most, pardon my not knowing the name, began with a traditional middle eastern stringed instrument. It was exotic and it was metal. Go youtube now!
The other thing that passed recently, well almost recently, was Republic Day. Now, in the calendar of an average patriotic Indian, it figures directly after Indo-Pak cricket matches, 'Lagaan' reruns on the TV and Independence Day in necessarily that order. Which was odd here in Guwahati because THE CITY WAS DEAD. We in the Southern Assam always used to hear about how on every Independence Day and Republic Day, all those myriad insurgent groups having all the abbreviated names in the world ban the said days in Northern Assam, especially Guwahati but to experience it first hand was strange. Partly because Independence/Republic Day have been permanently etched on my head with garish dances numbers on those same 5 or 6 'patriotic' songs (Rang De Basanti, Vande Mataram, Des Rangila et al) and people going about the town shouting out their love for the motherland and generally irritating my eardrums. This time, the roads were empeetee. And not because the people of Assam want secession from the Union of India and all that shit ULFA'd like you to believe. It'd because people fear being blown up by bombs by brother ULFA, even though the last bombing happened years back and ULFA is presently dying the slow death it deserves. The people of Assam, along with most of other Northeastern Indians, would very much like to belong to India only, thank you. I guess the psychological scars'd take years to heal. By night though everything was fine and people were again being their dress-like-a-catalogue-model self that most people here're and going for the late night show of 'Agneepath' (which was awesome in the 70s revenge movie way I must say, with two exclamatory marks!!).
Apart from that, nothing remotely exciting happened. At the time of typing this, the blogger'd just come back from the cheap 50 bucks morning show of 'Ek Main Aur Ek Tu' in the multiplex nearby. Detailed criticism and appreciation may follow later, but let it be a review enough for now that it's not a copy of 'What Happens In Vegas' AT ALL and I'd suggest you to watch this in the cinemas only if 1) You've a cheap Rs. 50/100 show option or 2) You're looking forward to spending some mushy quality time with your boy/girlfriend on the Valentine's Eve. The ending is not of a typical rom-com's, thank God for that, and at times it reminded me of '500 Days Of Summer', though not half as good. Not a bad movie at all. I'm just bummed that 'The Woman In Black' didn't release here. Very bummed. Also the fact that within a few days, there'd be no multiplex in the 300 kms radius around me is also positively daunting. This blogpost is already longer than necessary, so I'd take my bummed and daunting thoughts offline, while leaving you with the happiest-sounding song on my playlist. Hopefully the next post'd be soon. And then, I'd've long since left Guwahati.
The Passenger - Iggy Pop
PS: I know my small town hometown sounds like it's the monastary in Tawang on a mountain with tropical jungles around it, but it's not so bad really.
PS2: <3 you, Silchar, despite your short comings. I guess, that's true luuuuve.
It is a new year, so a happy very very belated new year. It might be 2012, but my mental calendar is still set at 2011. 2011 was a very very important year to me. Moved out of my nest, made new friends, re-discovered old ones in new lights, learnt that sometimes letting go is the only way and that sometimes, letting go is less important and more impossible. The timing of this post is very funny too, I'm ending my almost-year-long stay in Guwahati in literally a couple of days. Guwahati is a nice place to be in and has given me a lot of memories. Some of them'll last a lifetime.
Coming from a smalltown in a remote region of the country, live concerts've not been the most frequent presence in my life. The only one I remember attending before coming to Guwahati was a concert by Jal a few years back, where they sang their version of Vital Signs' cult anthem 'Dil Dil Pakistan', making it 'Dil Dil Pakistan, Jaan Jaan Hindustan' before it caused too much controversy in Pakistan and became too life threatening for them to sing anymore. Many more came, but none that I was interested in awfully. So the second live concert that I ever attended was Anoushka Shankar's at IIT Guwahati's 4 day long fest, Alcheringa. And to say that it was amazing'd be an understatement. I was always interested in World Music, but experiencing it live was another thing altogether! The lady singing with her in Spanish was so amazing, so were the accompanists with their instruments. An amazing night, it'd be remembered as. The evening after the next, a battle of bands happened and the sheer awesomeness of the bands from all over the country playing there was too much to describe that I'd let it pass. A friend almost lost his head head-banging. Another highlight'd be open partaking of...ah, *cough* grassweedtreeleavesseeds *cough* something on the institute campus, but that's for later.
On the evening of the last day, Quaff theatre group staged their awesome play-within-play play, 'The Real Inspector Hound' based on the play by multiple Tony and Oscar winning playwright, Tom Stoppard.
It was there I had my first 'oww-mai-Gawd-that's-a-Bollywood-isstar' moment, unless you think watching Mukesh Khanna blackmail kids to blackmail their parents to vote for Congress'd qualify for that, but then he was just Shaktiman and the coolest velvet wearing superhero ever. Like my previous long sentence may infer, I was very excited by it (poor my small-town self) and I should be, that was one of my most favourite actresses, Kalki Koechlin. The guy who played game addict Zubin Shroff in Shaitan, the ex Channel V VJ, Neil Bhoopalam was in the play too. I'm no high-brow theatre reviewer, unlike 2 of the characters in the play, so let it suffice that it was a riot, in a good short of way. The auditorium was full, which was a suprise considering what someone said, Art is not for the masses and all that. But that could also be accredited to the sultry Kalki Koechlin and her multiple onstage kisses. It was also around this time that I learnt the valuable life lesson of watching where you're seating but we won't be elaborating on that because of some painful memories of the blogger related to that. :|
Moving on, the closing act of the fest was Israel's top progressive-rock band, Orphaned Land. Steven Wilson is their producer, so obviously they had to be great. Which they were. Just that I found Anoushka Shankar far more entertaining and given a choice, I'd choose to watch her play again instead. But nonetheless, they rocked. I think I was going there with Porcupine Tree in my head and so boo to my unrealistically high expectations. The one track that I loved the most, pardon my not knowing the name, began with a traditional middle eastern stringed instrument. It was exotic and it was metal. Go youtube now!
The other thing that passed recently, well almost recently, was Republic Day. Now, in the calendar of an average patriotic Indian, it figures directly after Indo-Pak cricket matches, 'Lagaan' reruns on the TV and Independence Day in necessarily that order. Which was odd here in Guwahati because THE CITY WAS DEAD. We in the Southern Assam always used to hear about how on every Independence Day and Republic Day, all those myriad insurgent groups having all the abbreviated names in the world ban the said days in Northern Assam, especially Guwahati but to experience it first hand was strange. Partly because Independence/Republic Day have been permanently etched on my head with garish dances numbers on those same 5 or 6 'patriotic' songs (Rang De Basanti, Vande Mataram, Des Rangila et al) and people going about the town shouting out their love for the motherland and generally irritating my eardrums. This time, the roads were empeetee. And not because the people of Assam want secession from the Union of India and all that shit ULFA'd like you to believe. It'd because people fear being blown up by bombs by brother ULFA, even though the last bombing happened years back and ULFA is presently dying the slow death it deserves. The people of Assam, along with most of other Northeastern Indians, would very much like to belong to India only, thank you. I guess the psychological scars'd take years to heal. By night though everything was fine and people were again being their dress-like-a-catalogue-model self that most people here're and going for the late night show of 'Agneepath' (which was awesome in the 70s revenge movie way I must say, with two exclamatory marks!!).
Apart from that, nothing remotely exciting happened. At the time of typing this, the blogger'd just come back from the cheap 50 bucks morning show of 'Ek Main Aur Ek Tu' in the multiplex nearby. Detailed criticism and appreciation may follow later, but let it be a review enough for now that it's not a copy of 'What Happens In Vegas' AT ALL and I'd suggest you to watch this in the cinemas only if 1) You've a cheap Rs. 50/100 show option or 2) You're looking forward to spending some mushy quality time with your boy/girlfriend on the Valentine's Eve. The ending is not of a typical rom-com's, thank God for that, and at times it reminded me of '500 Days Of Summer', though not half as good. Not a bad movie at all. I'm just bummed that 'The Woman In Black' didn't release here. Very bummed. Also the fact that within a few days, there'd be no multiplex in the 300 kms radius around me is also positively daunting. This blogpost is already longer than necessary, so I'd take my bummed and daunting thoughts offline, while leaving you with the happiest-sounding song on my playlist. Hopefully the next post'd be soon. And then, I'd've long since left Guwahati.
The Passenger - Iggy Pop
PS: I know my small town hometown sounds like it's the monastary in Tawang on a mountain with tropical jungles around it, but it's not so bad really.
PS2: <3 you, Silchar, despite your short comings. I guess, that's true luuuuve.
0
Before Sunrise
Okay, this movie, like its sequel, is supposed to be very little known. But every person, whose taste in films I care about always knew about it! After so many recommendations, I finally sat down to watch it. And it wasn’t a let down. American Jesse and French Celine meet in a train going to Paris Vienna Vienna Vienna
Alright, alright. Think of it like this: jump ahead, ten, twenty years, okay, and you're married. Only your marriage doesn't have that same energy that it used to have, y'know. You start to blame your husband. You start to think about all those guys you've met in your life and what might have happened if you'd picked up with one of them, right? Well, I'm one of those guys. That's me y'know, so think of this as time travel, from then, to now, to find out what you're missing out on. See, what this really could be is a gigantic favor to both you and your future husband to find out that you're not missing out on anything. I'm just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, totally boring, and, uh, you made the right choice, and you're really happy.
The Frenchie went Touche.
They walked around the city, went to places Celine had visited as a child and to places new to both. They talked, they’ve their first kiss and they do a lot more. They mutually decide to not take eachother’s numbers or addresses. People send a few letters and call a few times and promise to forever keep in touch and then gradually forget eachother. They didn’t want that, they agree, even though they feel otherwise inside. The movie ends with Celine leaving in a train to Paris
Unstoppable (2010)
This movie’s neither exceptionally good nor bad. It is entertaining, entertaining as in in-your-face-adrenaline-rush kind of entertaining. It’s supposedly based on a real life incident and is not one of your mindless action flicks. Also, the train-not-stopping-and-the-heroes-trying-to-stop-it thing has been done too many times before. Apna The Burning Train hain na! But it’s definitely watchable, but you can live without having seen it too. Its that kind of a film. What I loved is the cinematography. A metallic train rushing through lush green Pennsylvania countryside. Amazing. Also, the Prince from the second Princess Diary film(yes, I’ve seen it and no, I’m not embarrassed :P), Chris Pine, is here too, along side Denzel Washington. That’s like only the third movie of his that I’ve seen.
Before Sunset (2004)
It’s the sequel to Before Sunrise. And I liked this one more. The conversation was more real, the setting being Paris Europe promotional tour for his book. And then they start their talkathon again, which is very, very real and so very harmlessly sarcastic. And that’s the main thing. The last time their conversation, especially on Jesse’s part, was too idealistic. But they kind of explain themselves here with the admission that they were “young and foolish”. If for no other reasons, I’d suggest Before Sunrise only to fully understand this one. Again, the ending is very open, as the film ends abruptly as Celine imitates Simone telling him that “Oh baby, you’re gonna miss your flight.”
Also, she sings a waltz for him and Julie Delpy, the actress, sings pretty decently!
She was the better of the two too!
Let me sing you a waltz
Out of nowhere, out of my thoughts
Let me sing you a waltz
About this one night stand
You were for me that night
Everything I always dreamt of in life
But now you're gone
You are far gone
All the way to your island of rain
It was for you just a one night thing
But you were much more to me
Just so you know
I hear rumors about you
About all the bad things you do
But when we were together alone
You didn't seem like a player at all
I don't care what they say
I know what you meant for me that day
I just wanted another try
I just wanted another night
Even if it doesn't seem quite right
You meant for me much more
Than anyone I've met before
One single night with you little Jesse
Is worth a thousand with anybody
I have no bitterness, my sweet
I'll never forget this one night thing
Even tomorrow, in another arms
My heart will stay yours until I die
Let me sing you a waltz
Out of nowhere, out of my blues
Let me sing you a waltz
About this lovely one night stand.
Out of nowhere, out of my thoughts
Let me sing you a waltz
About this one night stand
You were for me that night
Everything I always dreamt of in life
But now you're gone
You are far gone
All the way to your island of rain
It was for you just a one night thing
But you were much more to me
Just so you know
I hear rumors about you
About all the bad things you do
But when we were together alone
You didn't seem like a player at all
I don't care what they say
I know what you meant for me that day
I just wanted another try
I just wanted another night
Even if it doesn't seem quite right
You meant for me much more
Than anyone I've met before
One single night with you little Jesse
Is worth a thousand with anybody
I have no bitterness, my sweet
I'll never forget this one night thing
Even tomorrow, in another arms
My heart will stay yours until I die
Let me sing you a waltz
Out of nowhere, out of my blues
Let me sing you a waltz
About this lovely one night stand.
1
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Ragini MMS (2011)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Black Swan (2010)
Like I said before, Such a Brilliant movie after Such a Long time. A Beautiful Screenplay, Exquisite Visuals and Brilliant Acting makes this One of the Best Movies of 2010. While Mila Kunis was the much needed Spark in the movie, Deliciously Dark at times, the movie really rested on the shoulders of Natalie Portman. She’s one Star Actress who deserves more recognition. From playing a fragile girl to a malicious woman, she plays it all with such ease. Frenchman Vincent Cassel was great as the manipulating dance director. Barbara Hershey too was perfect as Portman's mother. The ballet was elegant and the use of special effects apt and justified. This is also the kind of a thriller movie which pretentious people can enjoy too without terming it ‘bourgeois’, as every other thriller gets branded otherwise. While some questions do remain unanswered, it’s a must watch for every other reason!
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
A Brother and a Sister born to a Lesbian Couple by Artificial Insemination try to find out their Biological Father. As the father gets more and more involved with the family, the dynamics of the happy house gets more and more disturbed. I liked this movie, even though *someone* seemed to hate it. Gah. Anyway, Superb Acting, no Stereotyped Lesbian Couple and a non-Hollywoody Ending. Even though Julianne Moore is great in her role as the Lesbian Counterpart of a Stay-At-Home-Mom-Wanting-To-Do-Something-More, she seems a bit uncomfortable in the kissing scenes. It was a Pleasant Surprise though at seeing Mia Wasikowska from Alice
Ragini MMS (2011)
You take The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, with a sprinkling of REC plus a bit of amateurish sex-scenes and you get Ragini MMS! Simple as that! It’s not that the movie was bad, but it was of a genre that has been Done to Death now elsewhere, even though it’s the Pioneer of its kind in Hindi cinema. The actor, Rajkumar Yadav, seems to’ve taken a Pledge to do only that kind of roles where he’s the Lusty Grey Character who has to make a sex-tape of some overtly trusting girl. In LSD, he succeeds to make one, here, the Bhootni-who-wasn’t-a-Chudail’s interference prevents him. The Bhootni isn’t the good kind, though. She bangs Miss Ragini left, right and centre. Also, she’s the kind that the Thackeray family’d approve of; she speaks shuddh Marathi only. Not a must watch, this is though the Perfect Date Movie, as the makers claim. It has plenty of silent moments which’d allow our daters to do exactly that only which our cinema halls’re popular for! :P
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Okay, I’m 60 years too late to see this classic, but in my defence, I began existing only 19 years ago. Cutting back to the movie, Vivien Leigh plays Blanche DuBois, a woman Too Primly Dressed for every occasion and who is haunted since and by the Suicide of her husband. She comes to live with her sister Stella and her working-class husband Stanley Kowalski, played by nonetheless Marlon Brando. The fact that Blanche and Stanley can't stand eachother is made apparent in the beginning only. Blanche is obsessed with the fear of Growing Old and is delusional more than half the time. Reality and Imagination mixes frequently for her as she tries to hide her Mucky Past from all. And then something Wrong happens to her in the end. This is one Psycho-Thriller that I’d recommend to everyone. Leigh over-acts with too much Frilly Movements but this is a character which well requires the Over The Top Mannerism. Kim Hunter is perfect as the loving sister and so is Brandon
