More movies and complaints…..

Saw two important movies this weekend, The Bandit Queen by Shekar Kapur, and Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, directed by Sudhir Mishra. Earlier, Matrubhoomi - A nation without women, and Kamal Hasan’s Mahanadi were two of the most disturbing movies ever witnessed personally. Bandit Queen sure tops the list, more so it’s based on a true story and that makes it just horrifying for any human being.

I was left wondering about the really sorry state of movie making in India, while a soap opera like movie with loads of sentiment(KJ’s) or a movie with meaningless action (Chiru/NBK), or a movie which is a direct rip off of a Hollywood movie(countless?) enjoys good ‘collections’ and has success meets ranging from Dubai to Hyderabad, real cinema like Bandit queen either have to go through hell before they are released (’Censor’ board) and after -with poor collections, threats from various groups and cults or just fare poorly at box office.

How can one protagonist kill hundreds of white shirt and white dhoti clad, sword wielding, tumultuous hordes of people, overflowing in Sumos and Safaris. Heck, TATA (Auto Company) should be fined for manufacturing symbols of violence every time their vehicles are used in such meaningless movies (of course, I’m kidding). Actually, the producers and actors along with the directors should be jailed for inciting violence and hatred (I’m NOT kidding). How can these cheap movies pass the censor board, while the true story of a female tortured in the most heinous and unimaginable ways, and then stripped and paraded in front of a village and the related massacre of people unrelated to this incident by her, which is what ACTUALLY happened - be censored by the censor board. Is this not part of our history? A state government was bought down, is this not part of our geography? The chambal ravines were a stronghold for the bandits, Civics? caste clashes that have been and continue to run forever in rural India.

And then the audience like me and you- sickos, perverts and idiots, with media’s help. Why the heck should I be subjected to the son of a ’star’ who hasn’t had a single release and yet is touted to be the next ’super star’, whatever that means….success meets - where success is relative, every movie nowadays seems to run 100 days whataver crap you make anyway, let’s just donate money for the producers to STOP making such movies.

Hazaar Khwaishein Aisi - the best Hindi movie, I’ve seen in years. Narration, story, style, acting, one above the other. Shiney Ahuja, Kay Kay Menon and the stunning Chitrangada Singh, what adds to her beauty and elegance is the role she chose to play in a movie that has no big stars. She deserves accolades just for being one of the very few actresses who can actually act, it’s a pity she doesn’t act anymore. Set in the backdrop of 1970’s, the story of three people, and their ideologies and their relationships. If it’s called an art movie, it is just to honor it, because no common movie viewer will want to understand it, or digest it.

If it’s a commercial failure, it’s because the society hasn’t matured beyond Karan Johar’s savory cry-baby sagas, ridiculous Hollywood rip-offs, remixed as something between adult movie and porn, not to forget the 6 songs that never seem to integrate with the movie and yet exist for fear of a blacklash for audiences not getting their ‘money’s worth’. Of course, generalization doesn’t help, but I’ve avoided so much crap, but still watched so much more, that I can’t help. Tollywood’s obsession with 20 something heroines falling for and reverse wooing 50- something heroes MUST stop. If not anything else, it’s just perverted. No star’s son can be called a star unless he actually has a proper movie at hand, not one which is self financed and self made hit. And NO, don’t exploit students by showing ’student power’ as something one that will win over mafia, hard-to-convince parents, government and the intergalactic wars-just in case you had such an idea, never happens, actually the situation is so rare, but the filmi culture popularity just enables violence in college life. All students want and need is a degree and a software job (sorry docs and artsy folks, just generalizing again). And people, you don’t need to watch a movie just because I recommended it or not, see for yourself, what kind of movies are in the market, just don’t fall for the hype and hoopla. Watch such movies only if you get the pirated versions instead (oops!), but do spend money and watch ONE good movie that comes occasionally, how can you know? Well you are smart enough to earn a rupee or a dollar, you must be smart enough to sepnd it on something that is worth it.

A nice and scenic video for you  - might have to download to view - 6.8 Mb)
Alabama. The country to film in (click here). Courtesy: Alabamafilm.org

Love.

Sid

Magic

Been to a magic show today after Yeeeeeears!!

The truly professional one (not counting the ones in school and society sponsored ones in Dr.A.S.Rao Nagar) I went was a P.C. Sorcar Jr show in Ravindra Bharati years ago (’93-’94) with Sasikiran and Karthik, P.C. Sorcar Jr was well, good, not exceptional. For some reason, I’ve not been over awed to the extent I should have been, but again, how can I know something that I have not experienced. I remember some of his tricks, chopping his wife into two using a saw, another one telling you not to blink and I blinked as soon as he uttered that words :), tricks involving drawing on a blackboard blindfolded, while everyone had to draw a mathematical symbol, one smarty I remember drew a ‘#’, that eventually got converted to the jewel in P.C. Sorcar Jr’s turban after he added his mastered strokes on the blackboard.

In a strong quest towards spirituality and mysteries of nature/supernatural events that become my momentary passions several times a month, magicians stand at the lowest rung of the ladder, but most tricks are, even though not very obvious, understood to a large extent. Sleight of hand, card tricks, etc are as we all know, plain tricks, to fool the eye. However very few are unexplainable, I believed, Uri Geller for one was a man with extra ordinary brain power. His performances were not just mere tricks, however there are allegations he failed in controlled conditions. Then David Copperfield is just mind blowing, but I have not seen him live, so can’t say much.

Well, today Norman ng (pronounced Norman ‘ing’) wasn’t bad either, he is an entertainer along with being a magician. The energy around was exciting enough, all the participants among the audience were sportive and funny.

Below is a brief clip from his site, Normanmagic.net and most of his tricks on stage are in this video,

David Copperfield’s clip below

Ganesha - The Making

No - it’s not a movie

Mexican Clay, Acrylic paints, Ice cream sticks, colored paper, flowers and Faith. All combined.

The 7th pic has Ganesha’s mouse

Paul Coelho

Many of you might have heard about the The Alchemist…AN interview of the author in the TOI article here:

Paulo Coelho was sent to a mental institution at the age of seventeen. He was kidnapped and tortured because he believed in free expression. Then he walked the Road to Santiago, a journey which changed his life and continues to change the lives of millions. In an e-mail interview to Indiatimes News Network, the author says that he is still searching himself…

And some interesting questions:

You believe that “what matters most to the author is the honesty with which a book is written”: Honesty to the self, the reader, the subject or all the three?

Honesty to yourself. Writing is sharing yourself as you are, not to please others.

What does love personally mean to you?

Heaven with a pitfall to hell in the middle of it.

I think I will like his writing…

As Ortega Y Gasset once said “I am myself and my circumstances”. I can only speak about what I’ve been through, my story… not conjectures.

Another interview here

Movie Review

It’s been a while since I posted any movie reviews, I stopped because I didn’t see a point. However, I realized there may be some of you who get a chance to watch a movie this weekend and decide on whether to go or not, or maybe watch it on DVD (or watch instantly online on Netflix).

Pan’s Labyrinth.

Source: http://www.panslabyrinth.com

AMAZING!! Magical realism is my favourite genre of literature or movies. It’s a pity so few exist and fewer make sense to me (Salman Rushdie is err… a bit overboard). This is a movie worth watching a thousand times, no overdose of fantasy, a piece of art from a master story teller. It’s so hard to make a movie which just tells a very good story. Pan’s Labyrinth is one, though the movie is in Spanish, it’s not too hard to follow the subtitles, Ofelia makes an impression for sure, one of the best movies I’ve seen in recent times. Much better than a Harry Porter movie or any movie currently in theatres. The graphics are superb, so is the background score and locations. This movie has won major awards at film festivals and is set against the back drop of the Spanish civil war in late 1930’s. Ofelia’s fantasy world and the fascist real world at that time collide with each other and Ofelia has to decide what she wants. Going through a string of emotions with lot of love for her pregnant mother, her new Nanny Mercedes, belief in fairies and hatred for her cruel step father, who in turn has his own convictions about children and is obsessed with fathering a son. This is one GREAT movie.

—

Shoot em’up.

I might as well ask the director to shut’em up. Too violent a movie, photography was a little different, the movie wasn’t too boring either. Just an overdose of action. With stunts that would put Chiranjeevi, Bala Krishna and Rajnikanth to shame…..the hero can shoot and shoot well enough whether he is in bed with Monica Belluci, or sky diving from an aircraft or driving a stolen BMW. He won’t miss and has an uncanny ability to set up weapons in firing range with string and ropes and pulleys within a matter of minutes if not seconds. If you think bolly/tolly directors take it overboard in films where the hero can kill 20-30 people without getting shot even once, Clive Owen shoots’em up in hundreds. And he is obsessed with carrots, I remember seeing a Telugu movie where Prabhas munches carrot with an irritating background noise, in this movie the noise is absent, it is still irritating though to watch carrots being poked into the eye and taking the brain out (never knew carrot was a weapon of mass destruction, Saddam surely had some in his freezer or backyard). The final punch comes to gun laws in US and blah blah blah blah. If you have watched every other movie released in summer and must go to a movie then go, else let it not be said that I didn’t warn you. And yes, the way the villain gets killed, Telugu movies are not funny anymore…..

Wise sayings…

….over the Labor Day weekend

“What would be more surprising, if I told you LIFE existed elsewhere or if I told you LIFE didn’t exist anywhere else except earth?”

“The greatest luxury of LIFE is in postponing decisions for a later day”

“Sometimes, you have to let the situation deal with itself , so that you get a DEAL”

Thanks Adi.

Dear Cricket God,

Dear Cricket God (if there is one),

(Please note that the term ‘Cricket God’ is different from the God of Cricket, hence I’m not referring to Sachin or any other player).

As an occasional devotee, whose faith rekindles now and then, in one of the greatest sports of whom you were appointed God. There has been a new revolution, of course you are the all-knowing almighty, still for the benefit of those who dare to laugh and smirk at your existence and are reading this letter, I’m referring to the new (now old), Indian cricket League which has shown some beginning to a new sports era that could encourage local talent in many regions, though not as micro-managed as something like say college foot ball in the US, we did get a start, more players, more matches, more exposure and more awareness to the public. Something else to cheer for other than the 11 men out of thousands of hopefuls who haven’t achieved their dream, and those who never could in spite if being the greatest of your creations. The primary trust committee for your worshipers in India, BCCI has erred just like every God keepers committee for all religions have in the past, until their authority has been challenged by an unconventional revolutionary (like Subhash Chandra, the one with the money and guts to do so). Now that I have stated the background information here, I pray to you let the Indian team show their dismal performance in the series. No, this is not a ‘not’ joke. I think a couple of series with continuous losses and once the indifferent public come out with their meaningless hate towards the sportsmen themselves, some will see light in the Indian Cricket League(ICL). Maybe for this reason, BCCI wants team India to win the ongoing one-day series at all costs. What if, players like Sachin, Ganguly and other senior players retire sometime soon and join ICL either as players themselves or officials endorsing the ICL and their 20/20 format. BCCI is trying hard to maintain the monopoly on the sport, so hard trying to get ICC backing and to ban the players from playing for India indefinitely. Disgrunteld players from Pakistan and other players from South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand and Australia have joined ICL anyway if not either out of pure passion then for the money at least. While BCCI has hiked the players’ fee to previously unheard of amounts (click here), and complain of Kapil Dev’s greed anyway, I would say they dear God, that they are actually bribing the current players to keep them away from ICL, and this is blasphemy, how dare anyone associate the purest sport, cricket with money? And to all those youngsters who have risked joining ICL anyway, hats off, my cricket God salutes your balls..err, guts I mean. And God, make it clear to the BCCI that they are here for taking care of a SPORT apolitically, not play political GAMES themselves.

Yours faithfully,

a.devotee