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Get busy living or get busy dying

Any person who calls himself at least half a movie buff would definitely have seen this movie. And most probably it would be in his top of his favorite movies list. Yet, I was zero biased when I started to watch and to say I was overwhelmed at the end of it is an understatement.

It starts off with one of the protagonists Andy ( according to me there are three important characters ) is tried and sent to a jail (named Shawshank) under the offense of killing his wife and her friend, but he is innocent. In jail he makes friendship with Red who is also serving life time.

There are those sadists and jail goons who unnecessarily insult and thrash Andy, who tries his best to stand up and fight but is always beaten up. Meanwhile in one of the best scenes, Andy using his banking knowledge, offers to help one of the officers to save money. In return he asks beer for his co-workers. In this one master stroke act, he not only wins friends, but also gains recognition as a guy who could do with banking and finance. Also, the officers, when the goons beat him up again, thrash the goons and reduce them to utter pitiable bodies.

There is another librarian, who after serving for 40 years is let free. The scene in which he wants to kill another prisoner, just so that he stays in jail, afraid of the life outside is a very touchy scene. He is set free and unable to cope up life outside jail, he kills himself.

Red is slowly becoming what he so clearly understands – institutionalized. After spending, so many years within the walls, he realizes there is nothing he could do outside even if he is let go. He slowly gives up hope.

Meanwhile, Andy is so silent. He gets promoted from laundry to assist librarian, does tax work, he teaches a new prisoner to pass his exam, he even manages the records of Warden and cover his financial scams. He also gets the clue to who had killed his wife, for which he is serving in jail, but warden prevents the case get any further. 20 years pass hence.

But he does not give up, he has a goal – an immediate one was to survive prison, long term is the life after prison. He plans to get out of prison and achieve them. How he achieves forms the surprise and is the beauty of the movie.

There is this scene which is one of my favorites – Andy plays the opera music to the whole of jail through the speakers which is meant only to give orders. He knows he would get punished or ill-treated for it, but he does not care. All jail inmates feel happy for a minute hearing to the song, and Andy sits silently there. Even when warden threatens to open up the door, Andy ignores and sits silently, allowing the music to go on for a little while more.

Another interesting lesson is in the perseverance Andy demonstrates – he keeps writing a letter each week to get grants for the library and finally after getting fed up of his letters they agree to give one time grant and send over many books. Not very satisfied, Andy plans to increase the frequency of letters asking for more !!

It is slow, but likable in a vague way. There are sequences which absolutely mean nothing to the story and there are sequences which look trivial but add up to a grand plan at the end. And at the end, I was left gaping.

No wonder it has been rated in top films even among top spiritually significant films.

Some dialogs are excellent :

The funny thing is, on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.

He’s just institutionalized…The man’s been in here fifty years, Heywood, fifty years. This is all he knows. In here, he’s an important man, he’s an educated man. Outside he’s nothin’ - just a used-up con with arthritis in both hands. Probably couldn’t get a library card if he tried…these walls are funny. First you hate ‘em, then you get used to ‘em. Enough time passes, it gets so you depend on ‘em. That’s ‘institutionalized’…They send you here for life and that’s exactly what they take, the part that counts anyway.

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are better left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was as if some beautiful bird had flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.

My wife used to say I’m a hard man to know. Like a closed book. Complained about it all the time. She was beautiful. God, I loved her. I just didn’t know how to show it, that’s all. I killed her, Red. I didn’t pull the trigger, but I drove her away and that’s why she died - because of me, the way I am.

Philosophy other than movie :

The movie, at its face value, is as excellent as it could get . It has a good story, good performances and well written. The cruelty invoke pity from the audience, the surprise elements leave the audience speechless and mouth open in awe for a minute. But for me the take away from the movie, is “hope”. I enjoy the movie while watching for what it is, but when I go over it again and again, when I munch over it, I draw extensions, I draw comparisons…and thats when I probably come to a better conclusion whether movie was really worth the time or not.

This movie could possibly be summarized in that one great dialogue Randy says to Red “Get busy living or get busy dyin.”. For 20 years, he hasn’t lost the hope and he was reconstructing his life. Silently, persistently.

Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.

That’s TWENTY years and I am always just too eager to give up ! I get frustrated , disappointed very fast. Many of us are all in our own dungeon and after a certain time we give up.

There are three different mentalities depicted nicely in three characters..one who has given up..one who is confused but is moving towards giving up ..and the one who holds up.

From

Since people call on hope in circumstances ranging from those where one has much control over matters to those where one can do nothing but expect outside influences to help, Andy’s use of “hope” is ambiguous. That is because given Andy’s basic circumstances, it may appear he’s invoking the latter meaning of “hope” — that is, he can do nothing but expect that his innocence will somehow, someday be revealed and he’ll be set free by these influences outside his control. However, as evidenced by Andy’s characterization prior to this scene, “hope” to him means the belief that the good, such as freedom, has a chance of being achieved, but such a chance can really only arise through one’s rational thought and actions

Whether or not Andy succeeded in achieving his freedom, it is his fundamental view of life, one which refuses to resign to hopelessness in the face of evil, that makes The Shawshank Redemption a great, heroic work of art.

Tagline of the movie goes “Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.” And it definitely does not just mean about prison. It is the principle one should adapt towards any helpless, any hopeless situations in life – it does not or need not solve the problems, need not show the solutions, but at least it makes it easier to breathe.

PS: Kashmir Singh (who got released from jail after 35 years) said “Hope kept me alive”.

You know what?

Fuck beauty contests. Life is one fucking beauty contest after another. School, then college, then work… Fuck that. And fuck the Air Force Academy. If I want to fly, I’ll find a way to fly. You do what you love, and fuck the rest.

Dwayne: I wish I could just sleep until I was eighteen and skip all this crap-high school and everything-just skip it.
Frank: You know Marcel Proust?
Dwayne: He’s the guy you teach.
Frank: Yeah. French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he’s also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh… he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, Those were the best years of his life, ’cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn’t learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you’re 18… Ah, think of the suffering you’re gonna miss. I mean high school? High school-those are your prime suffering years. You don’t get better suffering than that.

Olive: Grandpa, am I pretty?
Grandpa: You are the most beautiful girl in the world.
Olive: You’re just saying that.
Grandpa: No! I’m madly in love with you and it’s not because of your brains or your personality.

Sarcasm is the refuge of losers.

Inside each and everyone of you, deep inside the core of your being is a winner waiting to be awakened and unleashed upon the world.

Losers are people who are so afraid of not winning, they don’t even try.

- Little Miss Sunshine

• Expected the movie to be funny/sweet for some unknown reason.
• Kept waiting for some twist that could make it look like all good. But it keeps going, like real life, and all characters meet failures. That is at the end did I realize, this movie is really about majority normal life- where no miracles seem to happen, where no dreams get fulfilled, where failure is to be accepted.
• ‘Be there till the end’[& finally you loose though], did sound like a distant lesson to be taken away.
• Loved the vehicle and its tantrums! It felt like it too was a character of the movie (a failure too!)

I am confused how to react to this movie. First of all Kajol rocks as ever, as expected. Coming from me may sound biased and cliched - but the way Kajol manages to increase the average feel-good, average quality and to decrease the average dislike towards a movie, when everything/everybody else look like pulling in opposite direction is beyond explanation. Kesarinalli kamala. And everytime I feel, there is so much that could be extracted from her given a full fledged role of variety,instead her prowess is just in parts here and there. This is not particular to this movie but including previous few movies of hers.

Sidenote: Purely from a fan point of view, Fanaa first half gave greater happiness.

[Spoiler alert]

The movie is intentionally slow. Thankfully it is little beyond a stupid love story. Ajay Devgun’s direction is quite good. Performances, Ajay manages to hold the scenes in those dark moments but otherwise is slightly more than ok [possibly I write him off without even evaluating but can't help], others are barely tolerable.

The story starts old Ajay telling story of a person Ajay who falls in love at first sight with a cruise hostess 25 years ago. He lies and impresses her, but she also falls for his good intent and they marry. If the movie’s intended love story was this part (thankfully it is not), then it does not strike a chord at all. In between two couples’ who are friend of Ajay are shown - one of them is unhappily married and other happily unmarried. Just to fill the lack of substance. (If it was some other lead pair, possibly I would have credited their addition to the story ! )

Once married, Ajay faces a different problem, he realizes Kajol has Alzheimer. How he deals with it, how it affects the child and family is rest of the movie.

I got the clue about memory very initially and felt at the end, he could have just remade “First 50 dates”. Kajol in that role would be a treat (and of course SRK/Salman as hero).

Dialogues are not great.(Except one which I like personally coz I keep talking something on those lines, he he. It is the one where Ajay Devgun confesses that hum bane tum bane is fake and continues how everything is selfish at a point). There are few dialogues which attempt the word play by utilising the different meanings of same word. I was unimpressed though. The adult/sms jokes fall flat.

Songs are ok. Nothing great about picturisation, but the colour or the look of many scenes is good - be it the posh hospital or the interior decoration of the house or the cruise. Loved the Saheli jaise sayyan which is possibly the best part to a Kajol fan. Of course her costumes are pretty good in many places.

In the beginning of the film, Kajol looks quite uneasy and gives a forced expression - I was already cringing if that would continue - thankfully she finds her touch slightly later. Ajay does know the beauty is in those eyes, in those signature expressions and does his best to concentrate on them and put just the face on screen :).Kajol shines in nice scenes anyways, but there are few scenes ( thankful for their presence, but regret they are few in number ) where she gets to scream, to look worried, to look confused, to look in pain , to look lost and thats when the natural actress in her comes out and I can imagine the shooting crew just standing there and watching in awe, and the audience not even daring to wink lest they miss to see it.

We first went to book the tickets in advance but returned after hearing negative opinions about movie. The reaction was like “Is this the same person who used to watch almost all movies and used to write reviews.” Wow..I had a reputation to keep!! Yes, among other things like this blog had not been updated for 4 months or so, my tastes, thoughts, activities had all taken a detour for last few months. Oh, the details, the world will never know. Or it may. Anyways, for now I think I will restart blogging..will slowly re-invent myself. Or the resolve might long as long as I take to write this post only!

Coming back to movie, read few more reviews (esp of Bharadwaj Rangan’s ..which seemed to suggest it is watchable for certain factors and romance.) and decided to give it a try. Contrary to general conception about me that I like romantic movies, I actually am not particular - and especially am almost fed up of love stories unless there is breath taking newness or freshness in them - like Jab We met.

In Summary, movie did not work for me. If you either wish to see it or wish to like it, do not read further !

Jodha Akbar:
So this period romance starts with some history lessons. How Jalal grows up and builds empire etc, how he gets trapped in an intercaste marriage. Now, come on, I did not think he sacrificed a big deal or he took any major earth shattering decision -it was so simple..he could get the whole Rajput land, plus a beautiful Aishwarya all for allowing her to do a pooja in her corner and not to ask her to convert her religion. That simple decision!

Now I am not that interested in history but if I went to a historical movie I obviously wanted to know more about it..so that I could make up for my ignorance caused by showing no interest to history in high school. But I guess there is not much in this story. Since there was so much romance, instead of actual war and politics, I wonder why love story was not present in history text books. At least that would have made it little interesting - the history lessons!

But what a love story it turns out to be too…it never really took off for me…except for few great moments here and there. But surely it did not need a periodic backdrop if all there was to tell was this. The major reason people would visit halls for this movie is for the stars -Hrithik and Aishwarya, but unfortunately I am not a big fan of neither of them. Ok, they look good (oh! Ash’s costumes nd colour !! ), but I can not go to a theater for fashion parade! So I almost felt it was like Dhoom2 - esp when Hrithik displays his curves, sword swirls and glances at Ash, I almost heard “Are you ‘like’ checking me out?” dialogue from Dhoom2.

The one compelling reason that took me to hall was Ashutosh Gowariker’s name. In Swades and Lagaan, the romance was on backdrop, the central theme holds the pulses of audience and touches heart. Here,sugar candy was central theme-and it for some reason never really takes off-and the backdrop of politics is there as if it is a compulsion. For eg, after taking one decision about exempting piligrimage-tax (or some such thing), Jalal is hailed as a great king. The respect is never built up. Or at least I expected a major war sequence with all gory and glory but all that was shown was elephant crushing heads and a boring duel.

When it is a movie based on history, I am very concerned about how many things shown were for real - if you are taking cinematic liberties to an extent to change what exactly was - I would be disappointed. But here, since my history is weak, I don’t even know what is right - for eg, did they do the duel in the end instead of actual war ? Did Jodha know to use sword ?

There are few funny moments and I doubt if it was intended.Left to myself I would have mocked this movie like anything! My biggest grouse about the movie remains - there was no sign of Birbal.

The following is what I wrote on Flixter to my flixter account through FB

I wish I could give it 5 star rating! The progress is good, the first half builds the entire premise and second half goes around tieing the lose ends, but it is not until last few frames that the entire picture becomes clear. Classic novel-like script makes it a tight watch. All the actors pitch in with terrifc perfomances and leave a lasting impression.
A thoroughly impressive debut direction, impressively shot in Rajastan and the slow and steady flow not once bores.
Full paisa vasool but if you are looking for jolly entertaining no-braner stuff for a lazy sunday afternoon, then turn to some other crappy stuff which is being passed off as comedy these days.

Finished reading “Kane and Abel” - the first novel I have read of Jeffrey Archer.

Haven’t found a good review of the book, if you know, let me know. The search on Google throws up results about two musicians and their music.

My thoughts/comments :

Again enjoyed the initial story thoroughly. The struggles of Abel (Wladek) were thrilling to read. Even the business like smartness of Kane in his initial school years ( like collecting match box covers )  were detailed and interesting in the early pages. After he grows up that detail is missing.

Abel after became successful must have visited the lady who’d helped him in the train. There is no mention of it afterwards, though he visits embassy and all.

Though it was little distracting for me, liked the links and references to actual facts and history - like war, President elections, stock market crash etc. ( Though am not aware of Polish-German conflicts. ) And kept hoping/guessing this was a real story

The war efforts of both Kane and Abel almost looked like a forced distraction/deviation. It is so detached from the main story, looked like, from a meeting room they went out for a smoke and came back. Their meeting during the war, I thought would have some link/effect in their story later, but was disappointed, more disappointed that it didn’t even get a mention in the final letter.

Few sequences/passages I very much enjoyed are 1. the golf rounds Kane plays with Alan Lyold, 2. Zaphia meeting Abel surprisingly after he becomes successful 3. Kane’s sudden marriage in a foreign land.

As usual as these days, kept imagining how a particular sequence is realized on screen. Should watch this movie sometime.

I was expecting the feud to end earlier but it didn’t, and it seemed at the end as though it was getting elongated for no reason or with no happening. Also was disappointed that Kane got ill-treated though he was good and did right things - and he was a better human too - did not ditch his wife. It was also wrong that he lost the chairmanship - it would have been better if he had died before that.

For all the detailed smart moves of Kane, like hiring a detective who would be all knowing, Abel was too dumb. Was expecting Kane to buy out Abel’s hotels and give a slap back to Abel in his own business.

Why Kane’s friend had to die off abruptly like that - may be it was thought when the character is created itself coz his bank has to go to Kane but, for the reader it is abrupt. The unpredictability like this surfaces at many places right from Abel’s friend’s death to Kane’s losing chairmanship in his own bank to losing it finally in Lester’s to his death.

For me, the novel felt elongated after the affair of their children- which if at least had fueled/patched up their rivalry it would have been meaningful to invoke that plot. I dislike the plots which don’t necessarily add to the main story - which I thought was their rivalry because the cover pages & title suggested that - but for me it would have been perfectly fine to outline two characters and not have any connection - like in the early pages - thorough out the novel highlighting perhaps the similarities or the contrasts in their lives.

Wonder who the two anon people author mentions about/dedicates to in the first page and how they are related to the story.

For a novel, 550+ pages big, and for a novel that occupied my travel time for 15days or more, these comments/thoughts are less

# Watched “Heyy Babyy”. What a waste of money - Rex has increased its price overnight. I noted that the comedy scenes were all shown in the promotional videos. Rest is all emotional crap. This is the first movie where I feel, trailer is the only best part in the entire movie. What a cheating. Grrrr….

There is one totally entertaining scene in which I almost died laughing - the scene of slow-driving the car.

Also observed those who apparently hadn’t watched trailers were enjoying movie to the core. Especially two girls in front of us. Even in the scenes I barely managed to smile, they rolled on the floor (laughing). Only reason to forgive someone who actually believed he could extend the toilet jokes that he cracks on a TV hosted show to a movie and can call that movie a comedy, Sajid Khan, but you are forgiven - you managed to make some people laugh.

I so wished SRK married Balan. They should give choices of which climax I would want to see and I should be able to select them.

To console myself, I say that there was one single compensation for going to theater - 2 scenes of Vidya Balan. One throwing flowers in the introductory song sequence and entire song sequence is watchable just because of her (or that I did not see anything else). And another in red saree, I for a second felt I was seeing Kajol. Go Balan go, just for this one reason, I am ready to forgive small things about you which I don’t enjoy - oversmiling for one.

Given the box office earnings for this movie, we are in for films like this in the future.

Finished reading “To kill a mocking bird”. It was one of the few books which did not take off. For first few days again and again I was in initial pages and used to get lost in thoughts/ to go to sleep and I repeated same sentences. I knew not the reason, was it suddenly jumping into terminologies I did not understand. Or was it because it probably did not feel like the beginning itself. After hearing similar experience by SK, I was bit relieved. But I was determined to read this and it slowly picked up speed.

There were lot, a lot of things I wanted to note and make a mention in this post but I carried no marker while reading. There is an element of suspense through out and yet it did not make me impatient or hurry through the pages. I swallowed each and every sentence and moved slowly.

I liked the English. I liked the very small observations done, which could only be done by small children, from whose eyes the novel is seen. I think the writer maintained a diary and some things were picked up from that. The childhood stuff was good fun, at times a bit nostalgic too. How I wished it continued like that !

It gets complex and touches upon various aspects in a totally detailed way that I was doubting if it was on track (Same experience I am having now with Kane and Abel - the detailing part).

Mrs Dubose’s plot was moving.

In the cover it is mentioned, the author still maintains it was “a simple love story”. For most of the initial part I kept looking for that thread - was it between Scout and Dill ? Or was it b/n Scout and the hidden boy next door ?  But now after reading the novel, I am disappointed. Not that I was looking for a love story but I was misguided. Don’t tell me that it was about a “love for human kind” in general, I am not immature not to get that but that certainly does not deserve the claim that it was a “simple love story”.

There were some surprisingly thrilling moments like when the daughter sends back the people who had come to attack her father.

Tom Robinson’s death was totally unexpected and I felt the void suddenly.

After having gone into so much detail, perhaps it required a better treatment. And after the death, the plot moves irritatingly slow.

Since I knew this was made into a movie, I kept thinking how would a particular scene appear in the movie. Must watch it sometime.

I went to watch this play for the sole reason being - it was a thriller/suspence play. Been sometime since I opted for anything but comedy. The story in brief is like this: There is a couple who plan in detail to cheat the law and become rich, by ( perhaps very common in the stories) cheating the insurance company. There is an inspector who sees through their plot and tries to take advantage of the situation. And then there is a final twist.

The set and lighting arrangements were detailed and good. The performances were okay but for one or two scenes in which they manage to excel. I could never approve of the third person’s acting - probably it was meant to be like that !  The lady often said wrong numbers - like she mentioned 8 months since marriage once and next time 6 months and like 50 thousand for 50 lakh - when the audience loudly murmured in a way of correcting her that it was Lakhs and not thousands. Lack of preparation or nervousness might have caused which was strange because she did some scenes convincingly - the one where she explains her interview with Inspector. 

The final “twists” have become quite predictable nowadays and I always look for the inconsistency it causes with the whole previous happenings. And whenever I find some I disprove/dislike the final twists. In particular in this play, if the final twist was true, many things looked like redundant. ( There is a small justification though - the entire play was played out for the third person - I know this is not explaining correctly, but those who’d seen would get it).

The play is originally of Marathi by Yogesh Soman, translated to Hindi by Prashant Kirwadkar , which is translated to Kannada by Dr Tippeswamy. Directed by Anoop Joshi and the group was Rangayana. 

What an experience it was to watch “Chak De”. I have always loved a sports theme based movie - Iqbal, Lagaan, Million Dollar Baby, so it was almost a given that I would like this movie and add to that there were positive reviews. However the experience was something even better - the crowd, the shouts, the whistles. When I had been to watch Rajini I could not get so involved and wondered what was it. Or rather when was the last time for me - involvment and celebration together ? Was it Lagaan ? Was it a laugh riot like Hungama ? Was it Swades ? When was the last time ?

Now I can say, Chak De. I admit, it was surprising for me at few points, but overall it was cliched and predictable, yet it was totally entertaining. For which half the credit might go to the highest paid screen writer in Bollywood.  

It could have got a little more detailed, at least a cursory look, into what went into those 7 years. And why “7″.

I wouldn’t rate SRK’s performance higher than his in Swades.

Most importantly, the movie was more dearer for it was based on a real story of Mir Ranjan Negi. Got to know more details like he took active part in the movie and coached the movie’s hockey team. 

I knew few dialogues ( from reviews ) but my favorite is the one where SRK says, “Kisi gore ko pehli baar tiranga lehrate hue dekh ke maza aa raha hai”. Priceless ! I enjoyed many other moments.

There were few other points I wanted to make, not recollecting now. What a loss !

# Yes, somewhat old movie, but watched it recently only.

# Directed by Zoya Akthar, Farhan’s sisReema Kagti. (Corrected after C’s mail

# She also heads to Goa like her brother. Goa does not tire you.

# 6 (right?) couples go to honeymoon in a bus.

# Each of their story is told, not at once, but as it moves on. The advertising plug of Radio Mirchi was unintrusive and sounded natural.

# Whoa, that superman bit was one thing I felt was out of place. Frankly, I did not get a hint until it was disclosed and was very surprised. The lorry repair, the girl catching coconut made sense was what I could connect only later ! There are very few occasions where I am so clueless, and perhaps none with so many obvious hints.

# However on second thoughts, this movie was like a fairy tale, but is not careless and includes some serious reflections of life. I am surprised how the director/script-writer pulled it through, though, with such contrasts. At one corner you have an old couple, who probably both wanted to end their life, but have been on honeymoon and the sadness is just not completely forgotten, yet they smile in front of each other and get away to reach out to their inner feelings, separately, hiding from the other. Boman’s daughter’s tale was executed amazingly well - with so little screen time but with lot of impact. Except for the sermon by Shabana Azmi, which perhaps was required, but I felt it got a little preachy and a littler long, but could have been done in a different manner - just a slap, if you ask me.

# On the other corner, forget it, I would not want to discuss each tale.

# Had a hint at the different interest of Mridula’s husband. But did not understand, how the end was closed. What was that bathroom coughing scene ? What next for Mridula ? However the pair was mature from the beginning.

# Re-entrance of Diya’s tale was unexpected !

# Amisha looked like over-acted. But, actually, the character was thus.

# Reema Sen’s karate kick and probably her entire character is likeable. The parasailing bit was beautifully executed.

# Ah, I think I forgot something.

# Enjoyed the movie. Am sure there are stuff to make a sequel and how I wish Zoya does that as well !

# Oh, not to forget totally lovely groovy track.

Having heard that it is a free-flow like the director’s previous attempt - Bunty aur Bubli, I was all the more keen to watch it. I had a very good time watching BaurB, only grouse was the money spent watching in a multiplex. This time, I was wise. Watched on computer screen. Am surprised by thrashing reviews - this movie did not take it seriously, nor did expect you to. Also it did not pretend to be something other than what it set out to be - a light heart fun and free-flow movie, that rests mostly on the shoulders of the lead artists more than anything else - and the lead pair does not disappoint.

All - Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Priety Zinta, Lara Dutta - are perfect at their roles. I wish Zinta and Abi do more movies like this. Zinta is lovely to watch - scenes like  - the happiness and content that suddenly erupts of her face ( when she is running down the stairs and the lady asks what happened to the proposal, Zinta had rejected it)  are a treat to watch, wonder if anyone else would have done it so well ! (Oh yeah, lets leave aside Kajol and Madhuri Dixit). Abi’s flow is so effortless that, till that one bit of sad song, you will forget to notice that this guy is acting. Nail biting Bobby cracked me up with his innocent looks and nail biting. Lara, actually in two different roles is surprising.

There are various tributes/references to movies - from the number 786 (number plate on a car) - AB’s badge number in a famous movie, to the one I loved - Bobby and Abi going in the similar vehicle as Dharam and Big B singing song - Yeh Dosti hum nahin chodenge.

Finally loved the song. Yes did not mind the never ending song in between in what was a competition. The song just goes on and on but no complaints ! I loved the song so much that I thought that there was only one song in the entire movie (other than the sad song). At the end of the movie, when the song is again played I was practically swaying myself in the chair - at 2 AM in the night

What an apt title ! When you feel something is less, that means you want more of it. That is what the characters feel here - they want more in life. Thats what everyone wants but here is a difference - the characters are counting days. Totally loved the small kid - though some feel this is an un-necessary sub-plot I liked it. The kid was somewhat very similar to AB, both are counting the days and but want to enjoy life just before that, there is a hurry and they want to break the societal restrictions - kid wanting to watch movies he is not allowed to and AB wanting to marry a girl whose father is younger than him. Kid’s comradeship/rapport with Amitabh is the best thing. Next only to Tabu-Amitabh interactions. If there was one lady who could not only hold her head - as the character does - but also shine - even more than AB, then it is Tabu. Totally loved her. I had always felt, if there was a better actress who would effortlessly fit in both - art and commercial genre and if there was a better contemporary actress almost as good as Kajol, it was Tabu. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been ‘contemporary’ for last few years.

AB is fine, perhaps quite good considering other weekly fare he churns out. Paresh Rawal’s bit extended more than required and instead of AB’s speech, I’d wished his mother came and delivered a punch.

And this Cheeni Kum has succeeded in removing the bitterness of “Nishabd”. And it is interesting to note the contrasts and the treatment in both - in Nishabd it was all about lust, but it was masked behind some insanity or the intent was justified partly as seeking a joyful companionship. And audience saw through it. Here it is quite opposite - the actual love grows, the need for companionship and compatibility is clearly shown. But, without shying away from the subject, sex is explicitly hinted at. And audience sees through it.

Quite enjoyed - despite on monitor.

# Ramesh’s direction. Cast includes - Ramesh, Jennifer Kotwal, Daisy Bopanna, Anirudha, Mohan, Netra.

# Jaggesh’s brother Komal has, unknown to me, good fan following. Crowd cheered, clapped, whistled when he came on screen. There is a sub-plot for him which is not in the original.

# Its a remake of “Maine Pyar Kyoun Kiya”. Knew this before going to the hall, but last time we had gone to the remake of Biwi No 1 - Rama Bhama Shama and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Comparitively, Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya itself is quite funny and improvising it little difficult.

# Its good, ok, but due to this I-wanna-be-director-of-remake-movies mindset of Ramesh, I somehow feel we have lost a terrific actor to an average director. I mean this movie could have been directed by anyone. But remember Ramesh, the actor of Amruthavarshini ?

# There are few scenes which are different from the original. And these are specifically good. I liked the club scene very much.

# Sweet & eye-candy cast - Jennifer, Daisy and Netra !

# There are very many scenes where the audience cracks up. And despite being remake, I enjoyed very much.

# Full marks to Daisy. That is one performance which is notches above the original of Sushmita Sen’s. Anirudh is slightly better than Sohail Khan. Ramesh and Salman are equally good.

# Picturisation is good. Hotte chitte song is good

# Verdict: Not as much a laugh riot as RBS but still a very good comedy movie. Hang out with entire family - a nice outing. Even better if you have not seen the original.

In this post you will find my thoughts/opinions or just the things that cross my mind when I recall about the books I have read last few weeks. If you have read any of these, you could share your thoughts !

Kaadina Kathegalu:

#Read 3 parts of Kaadina Kathegalu, translated series by K P Poorna Chandra Tejaswi. It is about the experiences of hunting of man-eater tiger/cheetah by South Indian Jim Corbett - “Kenneth Anderson“

# Bellandoorina Narabhakshaka (1), Peddacheruvina Rakshasa (2), Jaalahaliyya Kurka (3).

# Quite thrilling stories. Totally enjoyed reading during the travel in office-cab. Did not feel like keeping down the book but unfortunately had to break several times as I had to get down to go to office or to home.

# Each experience is different but the basic philosophy is same and I think I can lay a successful trap to a man-eater now :). But unfortunately, now, let alone man-eaters, there are hardly any tigers in South Indian forests - as the author mentions. Instead of hunting them down, we are even struggling to preserve them.

#I wonder how the author did not get confused between various stories/incidents as there were so many of them and were somewhat similar !

# The ‘intelligence’ of tigers, the conditions in which they become man-eaters, their behaviour after killing a man etc are descriptively explained.

# The endurance required to hunt down is demonstrated well. The reasons of certain decisions that were taken get proved or the reason for backfiring is noted.

# Accounts are not exaggerated. The author treats the horror stories as impersonal as his own victories.  

# Downloaded a pdf of another set of experiences by Kenneth Anderson.

Chidambara Rahasya by K P Poorna Chandra Tejaswi:

# This is a famous novel in Kannada almost a classic and one of the best by Tejaswi, according to pundits.

# There are many faces to the novel - one is on slightly intellectual/philosophical level. The one where some characters are experimenting - they let a story-writer to extra-polate the natural incidents and test whether that is the truth. And they keep getting evidences in the way they search. The incident they have taken up is what I thought was actually the “rahasya”, but I am not sure that it is. Anyways the incident is quite serious and hence the experiment gets serious too.

# From one point of view, it is a quite simple but short love story - and this briefness and simplicity was what I enjoyed. There are, at many places, description of what goes in boys’ mind about girls, and their fear for losing respect in front of girls are all small bits I enjoyed separately.

# It also includes a revolt - there is the above mentioned group of students who want to change something, they want to revolt - for the sake of revolt.

# In other faces, there are more serious issues like religion, corruption, cheating, exploitation and even devils. It is a pot boiler in the actual sense - boiling too many ingredients. But it never loses track, nor it becomes more than necessary.

# I was waiting for the “rahasya” to be something and was expecting some questions to be answered. But it looks like it ended with open question. I have to read some reviews or probably my mind set to seek some answer, to seek some surprise ending was at fault. I thought this was an investigative novel, was not completely right.

# The best part about the narrative is that it just flows - fearlessly, thoughtfully with a mix of very light humour.

The Google Story:

# Has details about the pre-start, and initial phases the company went through. Covers in detail the growth pangs of one of the most important companies today.

# Was completely unaware about some facts about the company which is covered in initial chapters. But after a few chapters, it felt like reading the current affairs in news paper - I knew most of the things and it was connecting the dots in between.

# Digital library will be my most favorite project - mail and all is ok, great but not that couldn’t have been done without google. Whatever Google does, which it can only do, for the public good, will be the ones that will reflect on the good-will of the super rich and super talented founders.

Wings of Fire:

# Famous auto-biographical account by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

# Inspirational. He achieved extra-ordinary results not by being a gifted genius but by hard work, dedication, constant learning and vision. Just did the best to what came his way. Was somewhat lucky that good things came his way, though.

# Was disheartened by failure but did not let it affect his future. Instead took future projects as challenges.

# At times, the book gets little dragging, but overall it is fine.

Ignited Minds by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam:

# Illustrates real-life examples (not necessarily his own life’s) and inspires young minds to involve in achieving greater things for self and thus for the nation.

# I am old. He he!

# This is a play of classic story of mistaken identities. There are two pairs of twins and they mix up.

# Good name of the play!

# In brief - 1.1 (one set’s one of the twins) and 2.1 are initially friends. They come to a city which also had was inhabited by 1.2 and 2.2 who had run away from their houses many years ago. In the event they mix up and 1.1 confuses 2.2 to be 2.1. And so on.

# It is sometimes surprising to note how many plays pay a remote tribute to Shakespeare. This too is one of them “Comedy of Errors”  and a tribute to Shakespeare was announced before the start.

# The title and the poster - which lists the cast like this Sihi Kahi Chandru, Sihi Kahi Chandru, Srinivas Prabhu, Srinivas Prabhu - is a small give-away which I noted randomly while standing in the queue outside.

# Few minutes into play, it’s too evident - Ulta pulta the famous Kannada feature film starring Ramesh and terrific Kashi. And Ulta pulta itself was inspired by an old Hindi movie.

# This Ulta-pulta kept coming back to mind, and the mind compares - even if I tell it not to! And as usual, comparison spoils it, sometimes. I am convinced, seen independently, this play is quite good.

# Comedy play it was and had good moments. Like

• 1.1 is a novel-worm - that too a fan of investigative novels. He cooked up various imaginative names of the novels and I almost cracked up every time.
• There is a sub-plot which explains these two guys running away from home. Since this was relatively new, was quite funny !
• Sihi Kahi Chandru whom I have become a good fan after his terrific performance in Sankramana. His role is not as full-fledged as it is in Sankramana but he is as good as possible. [ However Kashi was superlative ]. Also Chandru impresses in timing and delivery of dialogues.
• Srinivas Prabhu’s facial expressions were note worthy.
• Last mad run of mayhem seemed a bit longer - it continued even after we stopped laughing !

# Verdict: If you have not seen Ulta-Pulta, watch and enjoy. If you have, check out some other play from the same team - for eg Sankramana.

# My previous reviews of plays seen in RS could be found here.

Sometimes you never know what hits you. Himesh Reshamiya (HR), yesterday in Saregamapa show, when asked what he feels about the feedback for his movie Aap Ka Suroor (AKS) which has got the biggest opening collection of this year, he said he is thankful for the audience and God for encouraging him. He also said, as usual the 1% of critics is unhappy about my product and has trashed it and ridiculed it heavily - but I will work harder and win them over next time. It could convey many things - is it his honesty or a doubt if this is just a masked sentence in the place of actual anger and arrogance, or is it just a sincere self-feedback that he has to work hard and he is ready to work hard, or is it a plain treat that the sequel is in the making ? But it hits - the honesty and hard work part hits.

It hits even further when the movie is watched because he makes fun at himself - the nasal singing becomes a part of the joke, the cap thing is a part of another. It is known that he has accepted that he is a nasal singer but to make it a part of joke and throw at himself takes some courage.

This movie was expected to open a can of worms, to answer few curious questions one has ever since the day we have seen him on TV - why does he not laugh, why is he in pain in all songs, why are his most songs about lost-love or something like that, why does he wear that bloody cap all the time, where was he before he started coming out of every channel and every speaker in the autos, what was he before and so on and so forth. The promos and speculations touted that the movie would answer everything.

Unfortunately the movie begins with him in the cap and instead of being a semi-biographical is instantly in a commercial story telling framework. That he is an already established singer - India’s rockstar at that - and the best performer in the world (whatever that means). That he is a very good man at heart. For the first time in his life he falls for a girl who also falls for him. Her father opposes their marriage strictly, as he is from a different lifestyle. HR is determined to win over him. Throw in between a denial of a singing contract , a third-angle Mallika who wants to seduce HR. And throw in a murder accusation and classic proving oneself innocent.

Performance wise, it would not have hurt if HR had shed his weepy image and looked somewhat cheerful. Giving any point to his acting would be major insult to him - he is acting himself ie he is HR in the movie and there is no way he should be any different than he is in his actual life - a painful face which he has mistaken to be the face filled with emotions. The teenager Hansika Motwani is not bad - her previous experience in movies makes it easy for her. But she does not have much to do in this HR worshipping movie, sorry movieee. Mallika chips in and does her part. The much publicized Mehbooba song is not a part of the movie, but it is just shown at the end, totally out of context, for which my explanation is this - producer had signed on Mallika for an amount for the movie but they also wanted a video song done by her. By making it a part of the movie, they saved on the extra expense on her! And I feel equal pity for the person who takes 3.5 pheres with Hansika but his face is not even shown!

It moves at Ok pace and sometimes it picks up more than enough - like one second he is bashing up villian, second his herione started her marriage third he gets the confession from villian, fourth the saath-pehre is stopped after 4 pehre in between after the heroine sees the live telecast of the confession. Wah, thanks to technology!

When one is not seeing Hansika Motwani or Mallika Sherawat but does not want to see HR, there is enough scenery to look at in the background which has beautiful locales of Germany.

There are no dearth for some cheesy dialogues. Like the one where his friend suggests “if i cut your nose …. how can you sing”, or Mallika suggests “if you want something, feel free to call me..any time in the day ….or night”

Given that it is a music artist’s film, there had to be enough number of songs, yet it just saved itself from being a story hastily thrown in between the video songs. It does better than that, for there is, however cliched and not-done, a story unlike many others that succeed despite the absence of any logic.

But I really wouldn’t have minded if the movie contained his old hit songs. They keep humming in the background music though.

Not sure what happened to the girl with heart problem. It was the most bizzare stuff that looks like a scene fallen from some other movie on to the editing table of this one. Don’t know what happened to Rajbabbar.

Though I drew for myself some parallel between Sivaji and AKS ( small things like both the stories start with the hero in jail and in the flashback and they escape after an attempt to kill them inside jail, so on and so forth, small things) I do not compare between the two. But let me just say, if you liked Sivaji and dislike AKS - there is some bias&difference in taste in your viewing, for both follow the traditional film making to the core.

And how can the talk about HR be complete without a mention of his caps. He wore around 13 different caps, yes I counted - but lost the count because even though he changed cap for every next scene, but he repeated his caps.

Since this is more of a personal interview than a movieee, there were few answers provided like why does he always keep a weeping face “why do you never laugh, HR?” - his dearest elder brother isn’t been around (I heard that right, no?) and he lost all interest towards life. ( But he sings even romantic songs with a weepy face which was why I always thought he was a singing Devdas ). Even in the movie he keeps his face as sorrowful and drunk as possible during all the times without any reason.

All said and done, this movieee is more about HR and his caps than anything else. Probably in the history of movies or history of anything for that matter, nothing has given as much importance to the cap as this does.

But the biggest question remains unanswered - why does he wear cap. And to know that, wait for the sequel.

Ps: As for myself, had ample amount of fun and laughter in the theater, no regrets at all ! We were more often laughing at it and not because of it. Low stakes and good company helps too !

This is a musical play using quite heavily the poems of “prema kavi” B R Lakshmana Rao to the music of C R Ashwath.

One part of the story is oft-repeated love story - the birth of the story, a third angle which was actually a misunderstanding, happy ending - in marriage. If there was any freshness it should be attributed to the natural performance of the lead pair. The story is intercepted with songs and dances - typical of a feature film - probably a reason story stretched with not much happening otherwise.

Second part is about the love leaving the couple after marriage and the minor fights that happen - probably due to lack of co-operation and the need to adjust. The fights lead to the point of separation but they realize and make up.

In between there are lots of digs about many social issues and many were cliched or already-heard-of.

C R Simha was quite jovial considering his age. He mimics a famous swamiji and his blessings is reserved for lovers Except for the lead pair - who gave natural good performance and a loud Ritwik Simha, others were passable. The other girls looked very happy and seemed to enjoy their role thoroughly. Sometimes it was little over-acting but better than average lazy acts by the boys. They looked out of place at times and looked inflexible.

Of course it is not possible to get Ashwath to sing for every show, but this recorded music was a huge put-off for me, given that I have enjoyed the plays for their direct interaction which includes the music playing at the side stage. Recorded music’s quality was also not good.

Overall, though touted as comical drama, did not make the audience laugh many times (unlike the ones where I really laughed till it ached). Probably also because it all looked either repetitive or cliched. But it did manage to make us smile few times - few dialogues and mannerisms by lead pair - and several messages were put across quite fine.

Its rare that I find myself agreeing to each and every point of a review by others. The review of Life in a Metro by B Rangan had me nod in agreement for almost everything (excluding perhaps Dharmendra part, which I did not think much about).
Excerpts to which I strongly agree:

[...] Go Bollywood!

There’s a lot about Metro that makes you want to get up and cheer. The story is a loose lattice of crisscrossing episodes about finding (and also losing) love – the film really should have been called Love in a Metro.

As with Shivani, there’s a refreshingly physical component to the love stories.

Shikha (Shilpa Shetty; [...] this is at least as good a performance, if not better – plus, she looks fantastic)

Kangana Ranaut, once again portraying a damaged-goods soul; she may be hitting the same notes in all her movies, but she does hit those notes extremely well

So you have adultery and betrayal and a lot of admittedly banal (in the sense that there’s not much you can’t predict) relationship drama, and it’s inevitable that Metro ends up resembling nothing more than a rather sophisticated soap – but no soap you’ve seen has had this kind of cast, these kinds of performances.

This is high-end ensemble acting, and I’d hate to single anyone out – but with a gun to my head, I’d probably admit to liking the story arc with Konkona Sen Sharma and Irrfan Khan the most. By now, it goes without saying that these two actors are terrific in whatever they do, but here they play that most heartwarming of rom-com staples: opposites who end up discovering that they may be destined for one another – and they’re just so good together. They’re funny and sad and confused and philosophical and they almost make you wish for an entire movie about their characters alone.

(There’s lot of rain in Metro, an indicator, perhaps, of the bad weather the relationships keep running into.)

Her umbrella is ruined in a gust of wind, and Akash uses a safety pin to fix it temporarily. And that’s the point, really. It – the fix with the safety pin, and the subsequent relationship with Akash – is only a temporary solution. The real issues still need to be tackled head-on. They won’t go away because you put a band-aid on them, and that’s as true of life in a metro as anywhere else.

Some my additional points :
1.The sad ending of Shika’s story is sad. Infact, I was disagreeing when she apologises itself. If in KANK, the adultery is justified by any weird logic, for Shilpa’s character it should have been a “right”, not even justification ! It was so easy to change the end, just make Kaykay enter the house after she has left (along with the child), because his return is the only “event” shown as a reason for her to stay back – apart from perhaps the child hugging her father – and not any other moral reasoning, which is why I feel that event could have been avoided. Even logistically, that climax would have made 2 people happy vs 1. But it looks like “compromise” is the theme – even Konkana’s character, Sharman Joshi’s character compromise.
2.The songs were finely blended in the movie and the lyrics too complimented so well that, dialogues and lyrics felt like extensions of each other. And with musicians appearing in the same frame as actors and through out the movie, songs were never this well a part of the movie !
3.Sharman Joshi looked/acted quite mature.
4.Dialogues sounded new. I was taken by surprise and clueless when Shiney Ahuja, on asking whether he left her or she left him, quite normally quips “Love left us”.

This was, again, a collection of three short stories by Vaidehi. Given the inclination/theme her stories has, the play too was an attempt to dive into woman’s mind.

There were three protagonists, the first one was most interesting for me. She was Shakuntala, the famous character of Kalidasa’s play. The director/playwright here takes few wonderful deviations (was reminded of the deviations by Farhan Akthar in Don) from the original. The play suggests that temporary memory loss was infact a lie told to the world and that the king just did not keep up his word. This challenges the self-respect of Shakuntala and she takes revenge - if she had wanted she could have shown the ring as proof, but she instead lies that it was lost in the river. And finally, when king tries to apologise, she doesn’t give in.

I liked the deviations because they were convincing and more practical than the original. And of course they are so consistent with the theme - self-respect and independence of woman is at the core.

Second story was of a lady who longs for love and marriage. I would not go into details but I felt it was treated a little over the top. Or may be because, I could not accept those reactions/feelings coming from a girl - we are very much used to see that from a boy just like many dialogues that she mouthed.

Two credits to this second story - one it had varied dimensions and density in the character. And while the former story invoked heavy dose emotions and was serious by nature - despite a romantic backdrop - this one evoked few smiles, so what if it combined pity with it.

Third story was a complex one. That, coming from me is saying a lot ! This character is a wife of a rich man, a poet herself but suffering by some complex. Probably an inferiority complex, or an identity crisis –somewhat similar in theme to other two- or even lack-of-attention syndrome. She indirectly questions the patriarchal society and walks out of her marriage and settles with someone who she thinks would love her.

While one lady performed other two ladies played supporting and it was interesting to watch a supporting cast don the main role in the next part, well & differently. Music support was quite simple - by the same person traditional harmonium for Shakuntala and modern keyboard for other two.

The play overall was quite low on entertainment value, but I appreciate the effort that went into it. However I guess it was quite interesting to art lovers like Dr.URA whom I spotted in the audience.

Salaam-e-ishq:
Whole lot of parallel plots..was quite interesting as an experiment. I did not like the Priyanka-Salman story which was done in an artificial manner. John-Vidya story was on an extreme of senti-scale. The small comedy plot was also not very worth mentioning. I seemed to like the rest three. Perhaps a little more attention could have been given to that of AnilKapoor-Juhi. It was good to see Govinda after a long time! The way the different characters criss-cross reminded me of Crash.
Overall, this movie got lot of +ve and extremely –ve reviews. Those who identify with the emotion seemed to like it and those who didn’t, didn’t. But from a cinematic point of view, with stricter editing and more attention would have made it better.

Black Friday: Had heard about this film years ago. Finally got a chance to watch it. Its bold, to the point.

In pursuit of Happyness: Was very satisfied about this one. The fact that its based on a real person (Chris Gardner) motivates all the more. The real-life details were displayed on the screen after the show. Will Smith breathes life into character – notable scenes are – when he attends interview in soiled/painted clothes, father and son (Smith’s son – cute n firm) hallucinate in railway station and many more.
I returned with only one thought in my mind – just keep doing it. Persistence is sometimes more important than the hard work. And I give up too easily.

Ekalavya I liked this. The settings, the colour, a play like plot - poetry on screen.

Nishabd: It was too long. I disliked it for many reasons. Had a rant in draft, if I feel like editing it, it would be posted here.

Posts of other few events I attended would follow.

Heegadre hege - A play.:
This is a funny play formed after putting together 3 different stories of T. Sunandamma. One talks about the Kannada vs English, one dream about winning the lottery, another about the life of writers, life after retirement. All make us look at the situation in light fashion. Lakshmi Chandrashekar and Sundar performed.
Since the play was sponsored by Kannada station on WorldSpace “Sparsha” , there was half an hour long introduction about the shows being aired in that station. It sounded pretty impressive.
A good review is found here.

Classic ! Vinay Pathak gives a lifetime performance in the role of –Bharat Bushan. He is a budding singer- who loves himself and his talents . Thadani(Rajat kapoor) is a music industry guy whose Friday night dinners are like Indian idol first round – making fun of people – but in this he along with his friends have fun without letting know the victim – that much decency they have. His wife one day walks out of him the day he had called Vinay Pathak for dinner. The same day, he has got his back terribly hurt. With his good intentions and superb body language, Vinay steals the show. He has right intentions but what ever he does or says results in more damage for Nandani. He turns the table around and the whole world laughs (the audience) at the nandani. Vinay, though very irritating is very amicable – one enjoys his actions. Even his wife has walked out on him. But how he has handled is different from how nandani is handling the issues. Meanwhile Milind soman, who was ex-friend of Nandani’s wife enters the scene. Another IT officer (Ranvir) also enters the scene. Together they manage to create a laugh riot.

This movie could have been set up as a play and I think that could have been better for it could have continued to reach people much after – not like these movies which get pulled out of theaters once the big ones arrive. Secondly the movie entirely relies on the dialogues and body language so much that, anything else is of little importance.

If tried it is possible to point out minor things which could have been corrected (like the pun on Bappi Da was unnecessary) but there is quite a lot to be enjoyed – even small actions from Vinay like closing the briefcase, or folding the cover in which he carries his “kahani suron ki zubani” or “its ringing” are quite fun to watch – that other things could be forgotten.

There is one important reason why this movie is terrific – all the characters around us have been made into characters in movies but the Bharat Bushans that roam around us were never shown on screen. A small attempt was made in DCH in the character of Timetable but this is the first one where complete attention is given. These Bheja-fry-bharat-bhushan characters are absolute fun in their absence and total headache in their presence. I have had many such acquaintances. The movie ends when the audience is still thinking there is more to it, that’s the best way to end rather than elongate

And guess what ..I could come away with a quote too -

Paap se door raho lekin paapiyon se nahin - Bharat Bhushan

“Kelo rasika” is a non-profit team of volunteers interested in making good art reach the people. They have several programmes like “poetry reading”, “screening movies” etc. Suchitra Film Academy is partnering with them for some events. One such event of screening of Alfred Hitchcock movies, I attended to see ‘Vertigo’. I have heard about the director but have not seen any of his movies.
The programme started with Sridhar Murthy (editor of Mallige) giving a small speech about “Tradition of Suspence-thrillers in Kannada Movie industry” (”kannadadalli pattedari cinemagala parampare”). He begun with the meanings of words like “pattedari” “parampare” and how they fit the Kannada cinema context. He explained the difference between what we consider as “suspence” or rather “bond films” and that of the idea of Hollywood cinemakers. He narrated the advent of such movies in Kannada and chronologically took us through what he called 3 stages/generations of such movies. I dont even remember the names of first generation movies but second generation movies had those bond movies by Rajkumar/Kalyankumar and third by SunilKumarDesai. He aslo put an analysis of suspence novels/novelists in Kannada and how some of them were made into movies. He explained the reasons why some suspence movies failed and how SunilKDesai tried to emulate/give tribute to Hitchcock. There were lot of details (and many names of movies that I have totally forgotten) in the interesting speech and what I liked about it was how he “stuck” to the topic (except for a small deviation when he talked about the suspense novelists whose novels were “not” made into movies).

This was followed by the movie. Since this is an old movie, I don’t mind talking about the entire story. Its about a famous detective who is adviced retirement as he gets scared of heights following an incident that happens during the job. While relaxing himself, he meets up with his old friend who had just come to the town. His friend’s wife, he explains, is acting very strange these days and he thinks, some dead person’s soul has possessed her. He explains things like she staring into something, going somewhere etc and asks his friend just to follow her and find out what it is after which he could take her to the hospital.
At first detective dismisses the idea of soul etc, but decides to give it a try. He follows her. She visits a museum and stares at a painting, goes to a hotel whose owner was once the lady in the painting, goes near a tree, goes to a cemetery and stares at the same lady’s tomb, goes to a forest and stares at a tree. This happens for few days and the detective collects enough details for him to confirm that that dead lady has possessed this girl. He meets his friend and explains him these findings and his friend tells - he had a doubt. Because that lady is none other than great grand mother of his wife, but he says they both had not communicated and also that his wife has started using her jewels - further proof to the wandering spirit. Next day the lady visits some water spot and jumps into it, our detective saves her and after that they become quite good friends. Detective tries to know things from her but she claims she does not remember anything. Over the time, the detective starts liking her and promises to cure her. Once suddenly she explains a dream and the details of the spot resembles to an actual location.They both go there and she starts running towards the top of the church where the bell is hung. He due to fear of heights fails to follow her and in between sees her body falling along with her scream. She falls down and dies.
After investigation, police/judge decide that she had tendencies of suicide and due to the valid fear of heights, even the detective could not save her. Judges do not believe about the spirit story but does not punish anyone and the case is closed. Detective is very distrubed again and he sees that girl in every other girl he encounters. He visits the places, hotels etc they had visited together. He can not come out of her memories. One day he finds a girl almost similar looking one and follows her. She gives all proof that she is a newcomer to the town. He convinces/forces her to spend more time with him. At this point the audience is told the truth that both the ladies are same. When she climbs up, the culprit - detective’s friend - was ready with his wife’s dead body and he throws that instead of the actual girl. The fact that they looked remotely similar was made use to fool everyone and the fact that detective was afraid of heights was exploited by his friend and he wanted respected detective to be the witness to the suicide scam to be safe.
Now our detective tries to change everything the lady does - from her dresses to the hair coulr and style - and it gets little dragged. He finally wants to take her to the same spot so that he can get over the fear and to confirm that he has lost her, so he asks her to get ready - at which point he sees her necklace - this is the same necklace he had earlier seen on the statue in the museum! Now he is clear of everything and now forces her to go to the same spot almost in anger that she is now afraid that he might kill her and she confesses the truth while climbing up. But she also tells him that she loves him and thats why she did not run away when he has found her the second time. However she is at the same spot from where she had supposedly fallen down and suddenly a sister comes from nowhere and says something. In the fear, shock and confusion the girl slips, falls and dies.

Once the screening was over, people were asked to talk about it. Many people shied away from talking and those who did (except for one - a prajavani cine-journalist) didn’t articulate their thoughts well - they spent most of the time thanking the organisers for giving us a chance to see the movie or they talked how great Hitchcock was - not why - and about Hitchcock making an appearance in his movies. Those were all right, but inconsequential. Only one interesting trivia was mentioned that “zoom” was first introduced in this movie.

There were two important points that got discussed after the movie but I am sure not many had understood it. First, everyone thought the ship-builder pushed down the doll of his wife, while I think it was “the wife” herself was pushed. Since the investigators went and saw the body soon after, throwing a doll would have got ship-builder under the scanner immediately. Second, not all were clear why the lady jumps off(it wasnt clear whether she jumped off herself or if she was pushed) - actually she does not jump off - she falls by accident. Why ? Because she saw a lady coming from the dark and speaking which was unexpected. In sudden shock she lost the balance and falls. Another way of explaining this (this was told by another person in the audience) is that sinners need to be punished so in the story she is made to fall off.
Also, if only the audience were not told the secret so early in the story it would have been even more better. After knowing the suspense, it kind of got slower and we just waited for the inevitable to happen - that of detective finding out the truth. Another point is if the detective did not know that girl is the same one till he sees her necklace, why does he forces her to do everything - to dress etc. Also, there is no detective intelligence - he does not try to find out some leads, does not put effort to find out if something went wrong, just forces her to look like earlier again, it just so accidentally happens that he sees her necklace. I felt these two points could have been improved upon.

However it was a good watch, the audience’s interest is kept till the end, audience is kept guessing what would happen next. There is another Hitchcock show on May 27th, planning to go for that.

This was an awesome play, one of the best ones I have seen. This is a Hindi play translated to Kannada and directed by S.Surendranath - director of “Nodi swami navirode heege” movie. The play also marks the return (or debut ??) of Girija Lokesh to stage after many years.

Its quite easy to see why I like this very much because it was so easy for me to identify with it. The stage setting is white everywhere¹ - one white painted stool, a white painted chair and table, one white cloth on the floor. There is a table fan sitting idle at the corner of the stool and there is only one time it is ever used - and what a stunning impact it leaves. There is a light bulb hung and just like the fan, this is lit up only once.

My intepretation about the usage of white so prominently - other than to depict widow’s saree for a cultural reason or to show simplicity in the father’s character - is that, it suggests how only one sided their views are. No black and white - no two possibilities, no two explanations - just one -and one’s own - belief.

There are three characters in the stage - but they never come on stage at once (except for a second, mother and son come together) and I can easily call it a collection of three mono-acts and monologues. But the acts are tightly coupled.

The intent is actually to show how one’s actions are in this family, why according to him his actions are like the way they are and how another person in the family views it differently. Some views and counter-views like that, slightly highlighting generation gap.

The first scene is that of a widow, cleaning the cotton, describes how her husband has been admitted to hospital, how he died. In next few scenes with the mother, she recalls how her husband had reacted at his retirement and going a little back how he had dreamt and built his house and few other smaller details. She also narrates how her son behaved earlier and how he reacted in hospital.

In between her many appearances are present one stellar performance by SihiKahiChandru in the role of the father. It was the longest monologue - almost an hour and one should see to believe it. There were plenty of opportunities to go out of sequence, or to use our own lines as long as it made sense (but I doubt he did that !), but still it was one superb show.

Then comes that of son’s, acted by Manjunath Hegde, another class act. During his part is the success of the play, for the very same audience who had accepted and clapped to every action of father as right, claps and agrees again to that of son’s. At this point director had clearly succeded in making the audience realize how different the viewpoint is and how both can be right.

Both father and son, though rant and talk seriously, have audience in split, or rather in crack. Yes, even the issue is not fun, it is shown in the lighter vein giving the audience great comic relief.

Mother’s is not very strong character for the drama. She appears few times but with shorter durations compared to other two. Also I failed to understand why her part is set in the present while the son’s and father’s are actually set in the past. Though the mother’s role adds sorrow, sympathy and also it shows her as a strong person. She keeps calm when her husband dies and she was calm earlier too - somehow managing both polarities in son and husband. This is so very typical.

Many incidents like the collection-repair of locks, lazy-irresponsible son, wearing pant only after reaching college, house repair issues and various various other things are so very common in normal household - which is the reason audience too enjoyed it! Keeping the door open, not switching off the lights, lock , returning home early etc were some of the very very real life scenarios. Nicely captured and presented. One of the superb funny lines is when son is questioning his father’s direction to return home because of the increasing crimes in the city. Son ponders “If I return home earlier, will the crime outside reduce? “ So tongue-in-cheek !

Even though the son’s views are totally opposite to that of father’s, once his father expires he follows his father’s actions in a hyper-active or maniac fashion. There is the irony, there is the highest point for the play and there is so much untold meaning in those small actions and thats where the play ends. (Audience expected more but it made perfect sense to end!)

No music (except water dropping sound in the background), no lighting effects, no changes in the sets, it is the most simplest arrangement for a play I have seen!

Overall it is a combination of vyangya, tarka, vidambane and haasya.

After having told all this, I still haven’t told you anything. This play is a must watch according to me and you can watch it at Rangashankara on 26th May 7:30.

27th May 7:30

27th May 3:30

Misc:
1. One old couple talking was loud enough to hear to entire audi and of course to observation of artists too. Even continued stares from the neighbours did not discourage them from talking loud. Another lady, yawned making audible sound, which was too another irritant.
2. In another play too, there were two ladies who laughed almost hysterically and sometimes when not needed. RS people take enough care to silence/switch off the mobile phones, what could be done to these throats ?

1. Tide could utilize the oppurtunity (just like they did to few movies) and sponsor the play so that more people could watch it! [back]