Nothing has really changed?

Rang De Basanthi (Colour me with colours of spring, Colours of Sacrifice, Hindi; 2006)

The story is the same, irrespective of the times. It is always the own people going after their kind. The people in the lowest of the pecking order are still the victims. The leaders cajole the general public to agree on something. It then becomes a decree. Failing to conform to the law is classified as high treason and death become a justified form of punishment to the lawbreakers. The modus operandi is always the same. Only the setting differs.

This movie is said to be a milestone in stirring the nationalistic spirit commonly found in modern-day India. The culture of speaking out in the open against the powers that be, candle vigils and on the spot media coverage of 'breaking news'seems to have permeated into modern day living so seamlessly.

Creatively, this film tries to portray how the general public just ends up being slaves. If we look at a time before Independence, the people are taken for a ride by the colonial masters, depriving them of their rights and dignity. 

They thought Independence would change all that; that Indians would be their own master, free to do things as they wished. They thought life would be different. Surprise, surprise. Sixty years (then) into independence things remain the same. If before, it used to be that public had to resist the tyranny of the foreign invaders, now it is the powerplay of political leaders, religious zealots and unscrupulous businessmen. The struggle is the same, the issues are the same but only the time is different. Earlier it was the Indian Imperial Police playing running dog for the British to maintain law and order, now it is the Indian Police Service doing the same for the rulers of the day. In the eyes of the public, both leaders seem to be doing the same thing - robbing the nation in broad daylight and using rhetorics, jargons and media to whitewash their actions.

Maybe it is a wakeup call to the dwellers of this nation too. People cannot depend on our leaders to change our destiny. Only we, the people can improve our lifeline and headline with changing our leaders like diapers regularly. Eventually, they would all be soiled and stink to high heaven.

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Blast, Blast!

Dhoom 3 (Blast 3, Hindi, 2013)

I may not be the best person to write a review as I was hovering between slumberland and consciousness just an hour into this 3 hour long movie. No, there  was nothing lack of noise and gravity-musculoskeletal defying matrix infused type of mind boggling stunts to complement the story. Neither was there dearth of breathtaking scenery and landscape of Chicago (only the aesthetically pleasing parts of the city) or attention arousing Bollywood hip swaying  dances to excites you. Even the story which was plagarised from Christopher Nolan's 2006 film of 'Prestige' (review) could not stop the drooping eyelids. Perhaps Mr Bean would have used toothpicks! Even the pre-viewing meal washed down with double expresso could not do its trick - as it was way too long!

My favourite Hindi actor, Aamir Khan, gave a stellar performance of a disgruntled acrobat who had a bone to pick with the capitalist minded bank which was the reason for the suicide of his father. His father was denied an extension to his loan for his flogging Indian circus. (Why should an American bank loan to a circus company with an Indian name is anybody's guess!) The father's suicide is blamed squarely on a Mr Anderson of Western Bank. The death is witnessed by his son, Sahir. Wait! Indian's fascination with twins in movies never ended despite the advancements in special effects and pyro techniques in show biz. Anyway, the crux of the story in 'The Prestige' is the use of twins. Yes, Sahir has a twin, a stuttering facial ticked Samar. No, there is no good twin vs. evil twin, both are on the wrong side of the law.
Aamir Khan, with magnetic screen persona, literally ruled the whole movie with other the cast members hardly leaving any impression. Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra were literally steamrolled over. The love interest (Katrina Kaif) is falling all over the place, leaving little to remember.
What is it with Hindi movie these days? Do they find painting Tamil gundhas (gangsters) bumbling with their trade a laughing matter? This was the opening scene to showcase the prowess of our two cops in the recurrent squatters' hut wall piercing daredevil auto-rickshaw stunts in a Tamil neighbourhood. And it was supposed to be a comic relief with no bearing on the story per se.

1957 4th Asia Pacific Best Actor Award winner (Tokyo)

The double acting (twin, antiheroes) by Aamir Khan is commendable and the cinematography had advanced so much that the two character can cross each others path without needing a separating space. The different mannerisms exhibited by Samar and Sahir is quite distinct that the viewers always which is the character ion screen. Of course, it is a far cry from P. Ramlee's 1956 classic scene in 'Anak ku Sazali' of the final father and son encounter.
Back to Dhoom 3, the screenwriters decided to script the dialogue ala-Bruce Wayne, philosophical and poetic soliloquy on the part of the protagonist trying to justify his actions. The ending makes it possible for a sequel. After all, the twins have survived more death defying instances. What is jumping off into a reservoir?
Overall, a good CGI infused action flick. Just that it was a wee bit too long.... And again, 99% shot in USA.
Have a blast (dhoom) of a X'Mas and a New Year...

Everyone is searching for something...

Talaash (Hindi, Search; 2012)

This is another Hindi movie that whet my appetite for a wholesome film with a darn good story line. It is a combination of many plots which all search for the truth. The first is about a mysterious car accident, the second search is to come in term with the loss of a boy to his parents, the search of escapism from the vicious circle of poverty and prostitution and more...

On a quiet esplanade in Mumbai at 4am, a car plunges into the sea. Investigating team finds more questions than answers to the event and the victim, a famous actor Armaan Kapoor. His widow and his best friend cannot understand why he should be driving when he has a driver and a personal assistant.

In another scene, we find some hoodlums in the slums, somehow, involved in the whole fracas. And there is a lot of backstabbing, all in pursuit of wealth and happiness.

Then, the protagonist, Inspector Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Aamir Khan), the investigating officer having a strained relationship with his wife Roshni after losing their only son to drowning. Shekhawat blames himself for not doing more or taking preventive measures to prevent the mishap. Roshni is under psychiatric help to ease the pain. Then come a medium who bring news that the dead son is trying to communicate with his parents.

Shekhawat, a believer of facts and science, is furious on the wife's inability to come in terms with their loss.

Meanwhile, as the investigation becomes more difficult and was meeting a brick wall, a sex worker (Rosie, Kareena Kapoor) keeps appearing and trying to seduce the inspector. Like an onion skin, everything unfolds slowly. 

Roshni meets the medium behind her husband's back and actually becomes more chirpy. Upon discovering this, Shekawat goes ballistic with his wife for believing in spirits.

The hoodlums from the Mumbai slums are working in cahoots with Aman Kapoor's best friend. There are lots of money involved and everybody wants to lay their hands on it. One by one all the guys involved with Armaan get killed. 

Finally, Armaan's best friend Sanjay is implicated in the death of Armaan and others. Whilst driving him to station, Shekawat and Sanjay plunge into the sea at the same spot as Armaan met his death after trying to avoid Rosie who standing in the middle of the road!

Then, everything becomes crystal clear. 

All the while, Shekhawat's informant is a dead call girl who was killed in freak accident. The accident took place when he and his friends solicited a call girl on a night out. They left the girl by the road side when she was seriously injured. This call girl came back from the after world to avenge her own death through the broody unsettled inspector.

Inspector Singh then starts believing in the supernatural and finally reads his son's letter written to him through the medium.

Not your usual Bollywood fare which would upset many a die-hard fan! Gone are the flashy costumes, unless you consider the gaudy sex workers' attire as haute coutere! Also missing are the set dances and running around the park or ala-Michael Jackson's thriller kind of synchronised dance moves! The music is only in the background and the songs are there to express the grief of the characters. And no birthday or wedding parties with flamboyant dances and attires too.

In a way, some will consider it a neo-noir drama. I would say it is still a masala but a good mix of story from many other films including 'What lies beneath', 'Ghost'and many Hallmark channel TV dramas.  9/10

  

Dhoby Ghaut: Kamikaze or another wind of change?

Happy at work at Dhoby Ghaut

Just the day, I was having a friendly chat with an acquaintance who happened to be an Indian citizen and was passionate about Indian movies. Just for the record, I do not think you can pick out any Indian from the Indian subcontinent who is not crazy about movies. The silver screen plays such an important role in their everyday lives that only in India, you can have ladies going into labour in cinemas, adding more drama for the viewers. The scenes could either be too emotional for the mothers to stomach that they just went into spontaneous labour or that the mother just had to see the movie before she was put under 'house arrest' - due to cultural beliefs that a post partum mother is unclean and weak, hence she is not to be outdoors as evil spirits may eat on their souls together with her offspring!.
We were discussing about the recent Aamir Khan's offering from Bollywood named 'Dhoby Ghaut'. It is what one in India would call an art movie; where there is no mandatory boy meets girl, running about the park scenes and learning about relative speed by looking at lovers running towards each other in slow motion. In fact, that was how Mr. Chai Poh Keng taught us the concept of relative velocity in Modern Mathematics. Thinking further, probably, Dr Albert Einstein would have found about the motion of planets in the Universe and the Theory of Relativity a little bit earlier is he were exposed to Bollywood movies in his childhood!

Mumbaikar dhobis at work in the
Mahalaxmi area

Okay, coming back to the discussion. My Indian friend was furious that an Indian should make an Indian movie in India with Indian actors about India in a bilingual mode of communication (English and Hindi). He said that it was economic suicide (kamikaze) from the viewpoint of box office collection. No Indian worth the salt he was eating would want to see such a movie. And we know Indians eat 
a lot of salt. In fact, the salt march mooted by Gandhi was one of the turning points in Indians' march to Independence.
I did not want to oppose his views as I did not know him well enough. For all you know, he could just unsheathe a steely sword from his back on revenge for hurting his nationalistic and linguistic pride! Interestingly, he married a Malaysian and has put in his papers and is waiting rather impatiently for his Permanent Residency in Malaysia! I let it slip by. With the freedom given to me by cyberspace, I can have the peace to rattle my 2-cents worthless piece of opinion.
Just like my dear friend, many Indians migrate and have migrated more than at least a generation ago. These 2nd generation Indians are completely cut off the umbilical cord of 'Indianess'. They still eat spicy Indian food. watch Indian movies and listen to Indian songs -their language prowess may need a little polishing, though. Anyway, it is a known fact that 'English adulteration' of Hindi and Tamil is rampant. Just listen to any interview with any famous guest on the local programme, they would be using more English words than the intended language of communication. About 15 years ago, the Tamil TV channel of Singapore did a secret study by interviewing people in the streets of Singapore. The final conclusion was that Singaporean spoke better Tamil as the Tamil Nadu visitors to Singapore spoke as the visitors articulated with way too many English words interposed in their conversation. So pure unadulterated spoken language is only in classrooms and language classes!
I think the whole idea of Aamir Khan producing 'Dhoby Ghaut' is Grammy on his mind. After missing the coveted award in the foreign film category many times, what better way than to make a movie depicting true everyday life of Bombaywalas (ala Slum Dog Millionaire), put in a few naughty (spelt Indian taboo) scenes looking from an American Desi lens and viola you have a winner!
I do not reckon that collection would be low as there are too many NRIs (Non Resident Indians) who are willing to contribute to his coffers, feeling good about themselves and their forefathers for escaping the sorrows of living in a dog eat dog environment as depicted in the movies. I do not think money is highest on the agenda if you are only churning a movie a year.
I noticed that his movies of late have been different with liberal spread of nationalism in it, starting with 'Lagaan', 'Mangal Pandey -the rising', 'Rang Ki Basanthi'; humour with '3 idiots', autism with 'Taare Zameen Par' and life of NRIs with 'Dil Chhata Hai'.
I was particularly impressed with 'Rang Ki Basanthi' which showcased that nothing has changed with India from pre-Independence. First, the British were oppressing the people, now 60 years after Independence, suppression and oppression comes from the politicians (their fellow Indians) of present day! -nicely done!
Watching 'Dhoby Ghaut' reminded me of a movie screened in1982 in the USM campus in an international movie festival called '36 Chowrangee Lane'. It was the legendary Bollywood actor Sashi Kapoor's production with his Caucasian wife Jennifer in the lead role. It was an extremely slow moving show minus the glitz associated with Indian movies. It was a flop in Indian box office then but raved praises from literary viewers.
Just like that my Indian friend thinks that making 'Dhoby Ghaut' is kamikaze. Is it kamikaze or is it that the wind of change is hitting the Indian movie scene? We should not forget that kamikaze actually means divine wind. It was the typhoon that saved the Japanese from Kublai Khan's attacks back in 1281.
Anyway if you listen to what my wife says, then you should just watch the movie. Do not think a lot and do not ask too many questions!

The sun still rises