What do you get for someone with everything?

That was what I was thinking to myself as the days got nearer to the day of my favourite and respected uncle's day of indulgence drew closer. Not wanting to get something and regretting it later, I decided to leave this Herculean task to the eleventh hour.
What would be special enough to be appreciated by someone who has everything? Sure, we all have heard of the sentimentality and love put into the present rather than the price. But then, he is a result centered practical man of stature who decides by the head not by the heart. Perfumes and shirts sound inappropriate as they deem too personal, not right for a nephew to buy.
Accused of being the unimaginative man that I already am, I decided to wander around a premiere mall in pursuit of the perfect present and came up with a tie (a lame present, my daughter thinks). I thought that it would be practical as his profession would require him to be elegantly attired. A tie would make him that kind of man, not that he is not.
Ok, a tie it is, I told myself. Which tie, from where? I cannot be getting a tie which is just hanging off a rack somewhere sold on wholesale with buy one - free one offer, can I?
As I was walking aimlessly failing to locate a shop dedicated to specialty ties, which unfortunately all seem to have closed down as I think most Malaysian men are more comfortable dressing down then up! I thought, maybe the host was just wanted our fellowship, not our gifts. So, the attendance of all the relatives spanning the spine of the peninsular would be the biggest gift. But then, Uncle is always there with something in his hands at all of my important moments without fail. And I have never really bought him anything. Scrolling down Amazon.com one day, I did come across a box set of DVDs which I thought would excite him- a complete collection of Ian Fleming's spy James Bond's films from the 1962 Dr No all the way to the 2008 Quantum of Solace. But then, I pondered too long and procrastinated that by the time I decided on that, it was a wee bit too late to get the gift on time.
Then it manifested... A shop that would leave a mark, a shop that had class, a brand of international standards that would complete a man besides putting the gentle prefix to a man.

It was no garden party but 

was a bash nevertheless! Even

Shahrukh Khan was there!

Then another set of headache... The choice of tie - no! Too loud for a 70 year old, too bright for a lawyer... Finally settled for 2013 Spring Collection which was just out hot from the oven, so to speak, in collaboration with upcoming lunar new year and their entry into the Chinese market. Yeah, right! Business strategy?

G- Music Man 

The salesperson went on taking about their tradition of fabric making in Italy and how their ties can be handed down generations after generations. (I can almost hear the executor of the will reading, "To my last vagabond son, I leave my collection of ties...and the rest of my property goes to charity..." And the son going, "bloody lunatic old fool!" I digress...
I did not even bother to look at the price tag for fear of inciting a missed heart beat but charged it to the card anyway. Happy birthday, LM!

Cross cultural comedy

Almanya - Welcome to Germany (Willkommen in Deutschland, German, 2011)

This 2011 German award winning supposedly comedy film (not overtly funny - maybe by Deutschland standards) made by people of Turkish descent there. It is shown here as part of the European film festival.
Since the 70s, Turkish workers started working in Germany. This film is told from the viewpoint of a grand daughter of one such immigrant Huseyni Yilmaz.

Huseyni takes everybody for a trip back to Turkey. In midst of all, everybody has issues to handle. The youngest grandson, Cenk, is finding trouble whether he is German or Turkish. The narrator, Canan, a university student, living with her English boyfriend, had missed her periods!
The story of Huseyni's marriage in Turkey, his migration, then his family's, the culture shock, the language barrier etcetera is told in instalments along the way as the clan prepares and go for the holiday.

For a better life?

When Huseyni returns home for the first time, two of his children could not recognise him. After Veli, the eldest son, gets in trouble with the school after playing truant, Huseyni decides to take the family back to Germany.

The migration of the family cause cultural and language difficulties but they got by. There are many pork related jokes, like the immigration officer insists that to be a German citizen, one has to eat pork! Then there is Muhamad's (2nd son) friend telling him that German are canibals - they gather on Sunday to feed on a man hanging on the cross! And they just could not understand why the dogs in Germany had to be walked around on a leash unlike in Turkey where dogs stray around and that is what they are supposed to be doing!
The jokes here are quite sanitized, nothing as crass as Borat!
The movie does not explore deep into all the problems faced by the characters. It deals with it superficially. Anyway, it is supposed to be a light comedy.
The film ends with the grandson, representing Huseyni, giving a speech in presence of Chancellor Merkel in a gathering honoring the migrant workers in German.
It makes think how our migrant workers must be awed by our development and the loneliness the feel after looking at us with our respective families.

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

  

Move with times

Jalsaghar (The Music Room, Bengali 1958)

Director: Satyajit Ray

A spaced-out zamindar is sitting on his rooftop smoking his hookah. He is oblivious of the month and season of the year it is. He is a keen follower of music and is fascinated by the sound of a shennai (a traditional trumpet). His mind wanders to a time when he was younger when wealth was more abound, and the music was vibrating over every nook of the house. Sure, even the estate coffers and family jewels were in dwindling amount. During the son Khoka's initiation ceremony, Roy spends a fortune to host a music party, fireworks and musical band. Although his grieved wife alerts him about the lack of funds and advises him to close the music room, it just falls into Roy's stuporous ears, and he sleeps it off.

His distant neighbour, Ganguli, builds a new modern home with modern fittings. For the first time, he sees the depilatory condition of his home. Just to rival his neighbour, he has a mammoth celebration on New Year by selling the last box of family jewels.

The intoxicating classical music does not give him peace of mind as a storm is brewing outside. His wife and son, who are due to return, were still not back from a trip. So when he sees an insect drowning in his drink, he knows the omen is bad. He runs down to the river to receive news that both his loved ones have drowned.

Everything then comes crumbling down. Finally, his land is submerged in water, and his palace furniture is on auction.

Music appreciation time!

The depressed and recluse Roy put himself in a self-exile by confining himself on the second floor of his house with his two faithful butlers. 4 years passed...

One day, the music room, which had been closed from that fateful day, is opened by Roy. He sees an unkempt room with dust and cobwebs. On his favourite mirror, he realises how fast he had lost his youthfulness. With the remnants of his savings, he orders his butler to organise one last music party.

Roy, jealous of the nouveau riche neighbour Ganguli, manages to outsmart him. Feeling contended that his success is due to his noble bloodline, he realises that the light was dimming. The butler walks in to inform him that a new dawn has broken. Roy then dies in a horse-riding accident.

This film was made at a time when the transition of power from the zamindar to the people was ongoing. Gone were the days when one could just do things because he is from a good breed or background. Everybody started having the same level playing field from then on.

The tale of modern day Midas

Parash Pathar (Bengali, 1958; Philosopher's Stone)
Director: Sathyajit Ray
This is one of Ray's early movies which try to infuse a story with light satire, humour, folklore in a current setting. There are a few subtle jibes at the Indian culture which only someone well versed with the culture would appreciate.

It is 5pm and office workers are rushing home from work Some are also rushing to watch a big (probably cricket) game. Paresh Chander Dutt is one of those workers leaving but not to the game. He is a 50 something clerk who feels too old for games and such. He is eager to get home.

In the first scene, there is a subtle wisecrack! About the game being for charity and his friend asking for a beedi (as if for charity). Then while they are waiting for the lift, Paresh and his friend allow an high ranking officer to enter the lift first as a sign of respect. They, instead, are left behind as the officer brought in with him an entourage filling up the lift!
The traffic is all at standstill because of the game and infamous Bengali rain and Paresh has to walk home. Whilst taking shelter from the rain in a park, he finds a stone. Taking it as a gift for his neighbour's kid (he has no kids of his own), he discovers that the stone has the ability to alter iron into gold.
As expected, with his new found wealth, his life transforms. He becomes a philanthropist and harbours political ambitions.He is an in the limelight officiating various public ceremonies and presenting gold medals.

One day Paresh is invited for a cocktail party and is excited to rub shoulders with the learned and the affluent members of Calcutta. After a bumbling start followed by a drunken revelry, Paresh foolishly boasts of his magic stone and his gold turning stunt to the guests.

The following day, the host tries to discover the secret about the stone but is conned by Paresh. Realizing that his secret may be out in the open soon, Paresh leaves his magic stone with his secretary, Biswas (who seem to be more on the phone talking sweet nothings to his girlfriend  than actually working) and tries to leave for pilgrimage with his wife.
The next day, news of Paresh's ability to turn iron to gold is plastered on all the newspapers.
Paresh and wife are stopped at the edge of town as his bone shaker of a second hand car stalls midway! Apprehended by the police for fraud, he is interrogated. 

Meanwhile Biswas swallows the stone as the police is out to ransack the office.
The public, on hearing the news of gold price may drop after the discovery of such a stone, start a panic selling of their lifelong gold savings. Stock market crash and mayhem ensues in the town.

Simpleton to philanthropist

Paresh pleads with the investigating police officer of his honest intention of not cheating anyone. He justified that he created just enough gold to buy a house, keep his wife happy and afford a second hand car. The rest of his wealth were actually given to charity.

In the hospital, the stone in Biswas' tummy is monitored by serial X-rays. To everybody's horror (who actually had intent to possess it, including the police), the stone gets digested! All the gold ingots which had been turned earlier gradually revert to iron.

Paresh gets scots free and is more than happy to go back to his simple life. End.

As mentioned earlier, this film is a comedy but not in the slapstick fashion that most Indian movies are famous for. The jokes are subtle and takes few punches at the happenings of the day.
At the cocktail party, it shows how Paresh  is frown upon when he does not confirm to the etiquette of bourgeois (the high strata of society) but when everyone is drunk, this barrier is lost and everyone is enjoying his flair in Bengali traditional songs. When all inhibitions are lost, the love for the Bengali culture runs deep!
There is a scene where after talking  about preserving Bengali culture, Paresh, still dressed in traditional Indian clothes and after officiating a language function gets all excited when he is invited for a cocktail party (an obviously Western styled party!) - probably taking a jibe at the politicians who talk of conserving traditional  culture.

Memorable quote:
Doctor: (after looking at abdominal X-ray) Amazing case! Amazing case!
Police officer: Where is the stone? Is it in the colon or semi colon?

Another gallery of gems from the past!

Vought F4-U Corsair crashes on the deck of a carrier when the arresting gear failed. Most likely, it's sometime during WW2 in the Pacific Theater.

George Armstrong Custer and some of his fellow soldiers, during the American Civil War. (Colorized)

John F. Kennedy at NASA's Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex in 1962.

The photo is believed to be the last photo ever taken of the RMS Titanic before it sank in April 1912.

1884 De Dion, Bouton et Trepardou Dos-à-Dos is the oldest running car on the planet. It was the first car to participate in an automobile race.

This photo was taken in space right after World War II (1946). A team of soldiers and scientists used a German-made V-2 missile equipped with a camera to capture this shot—making it the first photo in space.

Douglas MacArthur signing the official Japanese surrender instrument aboard the USS Missouri, 1945.

Hitler inspecting the massive 800mm “Schwerer Gustav” railway gun from afar. It was the largest-caliber rifled weapon ever used in combat, and fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece.

General George S. Patton's Dog, Willie, mourning his best friend on the day of his death

Joseph Goebbels on his wedding day. Hitler was his best man and can be seen behind him in a trench coat and hat.

Howard Carter, an English archaeologist, examining the opened sarcophagus of King Tut. 

An RAF pilot getting a haircut while reading a book between missions.

Manfred von Richthofen, aka “The Red Baron”, petting his dog on an airfield during World War I.

Samurai ~ 1860 – 1880

A team of Brittish SAS soldiers in North Africa, 1943. The cans are full of water or gasoline for long range missions.
Note: They are using the American built, venerable Willys Jeeps instead of the far less reliable Brittish Land Rover.

Soviet soldiers stop for a break in 1945 on the outskirts of Berlin

Tsar Nicholas II goofing around with his friend in 1899

Walt and Roy Disney on the day that they opened the Disney Studio. Beside them are their wives and their mother.

Astronauts: John Young and Charles Duke are training for the Apollo 16 mission, in the New Mexico desert.

During the Apollo 16 mission, Charles Duke left a family photo 

on the moon that was enclosed in a plastic bag

Magicians do not exist*

The Illusionist 2010

This French animation film is about over the top Parisian illusionist who, after a dull performance in Paris, tries his luck in London. Not getting much of a standing ovation in a theatre there, he captures the heart of a drunken Scotsman in a private dinner. He performs high up in the Highlands on the Scotsman's invitation in a simple pub. For a short while, the going was good until a jukebox took the lime-light.
A simple minded young washer lady befriends him and follows him to Edinburgh for his next gig. After a few uninspiring performances, his savings took a dip as he tried to keep his female companion happy by buying her expensive coat and shoes. The relationship is more of a father-daughter relationship due to the age disparity but this type of things you can never say, especially when no words are spoken - he sleeps on the couch, if that helps!
To make ends meet, he leaves her lonely in the hotel room with only his trick rabbit for company whilst he works as an illusionist to an uninspired crowd and as a part time garage attendant. It was during this lonely evenings in the chilly Edinburgh that she starts getting fancy with a dashing bloke staying across her room.
She falls for him. The disappointed magician, after sighting them together, leaves town after his contract expires only after leaving his only other creature that he loved, the trick rabbit in the meadows. He leaves town leaving a note for the girl who looked up at him believing in his magic which said, "Magicians do not exist!"
On his train trip away from Edinburgh, he keeps himself busy trying to entertain a bored child. I guess, an illusionist's job never ends....
It is a pantomime with a smatter of French. You do not need subtitles to follow the story line. The familiar brilliantly crafted animation of the detailed landscape of Waverly Station of Edinburgh, High Street and the gravel stone paved roads of the Royal Mile struck a chord of familiarity and nostalgia to me of those cold long nights that I spent in the winter of '94 trying to change the fate of the descendant of Sungai Pinang and F-Block!

The Royal Mile

Simpson Memorial Hospital, Lauriston Place.

North Bridge - Waverly Station, Edinburgh

Waverly Station, Edinburgh.