Vocabularically challenged

I don't know if there's a word for that. You think you are a decent writer, know what you wanted to say and the ideas are there in your mind alright, but the words are just don't come out. You wait for some time and, out of frustration, fill up the rest with some mundane words and close the piece. That leaves some bad taste in your mouth.

Alas, some people never seem to face that problem! The words just seemed flow for them just as smoothly as their fountain pen. One of them is Roger Ebert, the noted film critic. His site contains the reviews of almost all the movies made in Hollywood. I strongly recommend the budding writers to read those pages, if not just the film critics.

I can't help quoting from his review of 'Sideways' that made me gasp. Here I go.

The movie was written by Payne and Jim Taylor, from the novel by Rex Pickett. One of its lovely qualities is that all four characters are necessary. The women are not plot conveniences, but elements in a complex romantic and even therapeutic process. Miles loves Maya and has for years, but cannot bring himself to make a move because romance requires precision and tact late at night, not Miles' peak time of day. Jack lusts after Stephanie, and casually, even cruelly, fakes love for her even as he cheats on his fiancee.

What happens between them all is the stuff of the movie, and must not be revealed here, except to observe that Giamatti and Madsen have a scene that involves some of the gentlest and most heartbreaking dialogue I've heard in a long time. They're talking about wine. He describes for her the qualities of the pinot noir grape that most attract him, and as he mentions its thin skin, its vulnerability, its dislike for being too hot or cold, too wet or dry, she realizes he is describing himself, and that is when she falls in love with him. Women can actually love us for ourselves, bless their hearts, even when we can't love ourselves. She waits until he is finished, and then responds with words so simple and true they will win her an Oscar nomination, if there is justice in the world.


There's no justice in the world coz' I can't write half as good as Ebert.

Million Dollar Hatred

I haven't seen Million Dollar Baby yet. But I'm already disliking it because it snatched Oscar from Finding Neverland for movie and direction. And I hate Eastwood all the more because I don't relish the idea of him being the darling of the Jury.

Finding Neverland

Cast: Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Radha Mitchel, Director: Marc Froster, Music: Jan AP Kaczmarek

I didn't know Marc Froster is Finding Neverland's director. When I came to know, I couldn't hide my excitement and the expectation shot sky high. Then I read Swati's review. Then I saw the movie.

Everyone knows the story of Finding Neverlad and if not, there's IMDB or the official Web site to source it from.

I want to particularly write on the deliberately underplayed tone and performances in the film. You'll almost forget Johnny Depp's presence in the movie till in the last scene, when he whispers 'This is Neverland' into Winslet's ears. Such a mind numbing underplay of performance is something quite novel even in Hollywood standards and has become one of Marc Frostman's trademarks. Remember Halle Berry's smile that defined the climax in Monster's Ball. Froster apparently believes in very subtle and very minute play of emotions in his productions.

But if Berry's smile was one of its kind (that fetched her the well-deserved Oscar), Neverland is full of such nuances. As the movie slowly unfolds and as the crucial story-twisting sequences pass you by without any hint, you wonder if Froster really has the intention of telling you the story. Even the scene that defines J B Barrie's struggle due to ignored childhood is so casually narrated, it's easy to miss.

The movie progressess towards the typical Shakespeare in Love ending, and you know that the Peter Pan staging is going to be successful. Yet, you don't expect what lies in store when Barrie slowly carries Ms. Davies downstairs. And then when the scene unfolds, you can't help but explode into tears and watch so affectionately and helplessly as the children (and Ms. Davies' mother too) clap in a desperate hurry. You almost feel like opening the window flying away yourself.

The magical and enormously filling moment transforms into a very poignant and almost philosophical (and an expected) shift. In the end, When Barrie tells Peter to 'Believe', we too believe with Peter. Frostman knows well not to show Ms. Davies on the horizon. Because we see his mother along with Peter, it's unncessary to show her out there.

Finding Neverland will go down to become one of the most important movie of the year. It's subtlety, deliberate downplay, mixing vivid imaginations with grim reality, shifting boyhood with maturity and not to leave out the superb (Oscar winning) background score will leave you asking for more.

And now that Marc Froster has become my favorite director, I have no doubt that Stay, his next offering, will be far more fulfilling.

Talent Hunt
Boy Meets Girl Part III

I want to particularly answer Siddharth's query on Bollywood chasing the Tamil directors such as Cheran and Selvaragavan to do Hindi movies. This, Siddharth sees as a lack of talent in Bollywood and hence a weakness. He uses this argument to state that Tamil film industry is better.

I still disagree. Prima facie, I don't see that trend as a weakness but as a strength of the industry. We keep cribbing about Bollywood not having recognised 'great' actors such as Kamal Hassan. But how many times have we recognised Hindi actors in Tamil films? We use them either as villains or glamour dolls. On the contrary, Bollywood has recognized the directors from Tamil and Telugu. Ramgopal Varma is a reigning maverick there. Cheran and Selvaraghavan are sought after because they made successful yet off beat movies in Tamil.

Secondly, Bollywood not only uses talents from Tamil, they seek everywhere. Rituparno from Bengal, Varma from Andhra, Priyadarshan from Kerala and Mani Ratnam from Tamil. I can go on and on.

And well, I can't resist quoting Hollywood. Directors from Italy, Japan and South America have made Hollywood films. Even our own master Satyajit Ray received offers to work in Hollywood which he sensibly declined. Just because a Hong Kong director has made a few Hollywood films doesn't mean Hollywood lack talent. They take the best talents from the world over to enrich their industry. Michael Westmoore's work in Tamil industry saw movies like Indian (Hindustani) and Avvai Shanmugi (Chachi 420). Kannada film industry does not entertain outsiders as they feel insecure. Where's that industry today?

Let's not compare ourselves with some wrong examples and feel safe or think that we're making great films. Even the momentum given by the post-modernist directors such as Bharatiraja, Mahendran and Bhagyaraj seems to have been lost. As of now, sadly, we have hit the rock bottom.

Or have we yet?

Boy-Meets-Girl Part II

Some anonymous visitor to my site felt so strongly about the movie 7G Rainbow Colony, he stressed the same point repeatedly, exactly six times. Well, that's the problem with the comments posting feature in the blog. When you post a comment and click submit, it defaults to 'Page Not Found' error. But actually the comment entry is accepted. The error is a deception. From now on, those who want to post a comment, type in your entry in the comment section, simply click Submit and rest assured that it's been entered.

Coming to the topic, I want to continue my commentary on the movies front. One of the avid Tamil films supporter has commented that 'Kadhal' (Love) is about the prevailing casteism in our society. Those who watched Kadhal and praised it, never bothered to tell me about the 'caste-is-bad' message the movie allegedly carried! What's the story of this movie? A mechanic boy meets rich-businessman's school going daughter. Her parents oppose, and...and? You guessed it! They elope. They are hunted and brought back by the businessman's thugs and the girl is forcefully remarried and and...? You guessed it again! The boy turns lunatic!

I'm not against love and love (or failure) being portrayed in our movies. But how many times? Those who wanted to see how love failure and sacrifice is powerfully portrayed I strongly recommend Nenjil Ore Alayam or Dil Ek Mandir. I bet anyone making a better movie about failing in love and sacrificing for your ex-love. Watch Kalyana Parisu, I don't know if it was made in Hindi. And for brooding, hopeless one-sided love, watch Oru Thalai Ragam.

My point is we have made enough movies about the boy meeting the girl. Some are real classics. So why not explore other issues? Are girls-ditching-guys-and-guys-turning-looneys are the the only problem our country is facing right now? I don't think so. For a sample, I would like to look at the following:

- Terrorism
- Political Anarchy in Bihar, UP, etc. (Read William Darlymple, 'Age of Kali')
- One million people being uprooted and thrown out due to Narmada dam
- Religious Fundamentalism
- The pretentions and the hypocracy of the IT community in India
- Starvation deaths happening near FDI godowns
- Horrendous Traffic due to failed RTO offices all over the country
- The depressing state of government offices

If Hollywood was here, they would have made a movie on these topics. Well, these are the topics that are close to my heart. Perhaps you have a totally different list. Never mind that. It's quite saddening for me to think that a mass medium like cinema has not explored even the surface of the issues of our country. A successful society is where the cinema reflects its contemporary culture and lifestyle.

For fun, our mainstream cinema rubs those fatty navals and saggy cleavages in your face and for melancholy, presents a lower-class dark loser's mental disturbances due to his failed love with a fair marvari girl.

We certainly deserve a much better treatment.

Boy-Meets-Girl

It has been quite some time since I did a post. The impact of the culture and saffron brigade controversy was so intense that I couldn't think of other topics.

My friend and I went to Aviator and didn't get tickets. So we decided to go for a B-grade Tamil film. After half hour, we figured it's not B-grade. It must be somewhere between M and N. Then why did we go for it? The leading girl looked quite attractive. Yes, even in the movie she did.

But that apart, I'm appalled at the fall in the quality of our films. As of today, I see no hope for the revival of Tamil film industry. We had two saviors. Kamal, the self-pronounced savior, turned out to be a mere narcissitic copycat. Mani Ratnam, the public-pronounced savior, seems to be simply churning out emotionally charged commercials disguised in slick packages.

The rest generally border between two categories, utter-crap like the one I watched (we left during interval) or a mediocre stuff packaged as a realistic portrayal.

Bollywood, on the contrary, touches on sensitive and essential themes these days. Movies like Swades, Black, Page 3 and Company have simply changed the industry landscape and forced even a dyed in the wool masala man like Subhash Ghai to emulate. With people like Varma, Govarikar and Bansali, Bollywood holds huge promise for the future.

Hollywood, in the middle of run of the mills like Constantine and Anaconda Returns, explores issues such as lost childhood due to paedophilia (Mystic River), truama of a minority wife of a death-row prisoner (Monster's Ball), and amazingly, a superhero's struggle to retain normal-livelihood (Spiderman 2). Spiderman 2 is an unbelievable journey and shows how Hollywood wants to go beyond a typical commercial presentation, even for a superhero summer special edition.

Tamil industry, on the other hand, is fast dwindling down to anarchy. We haven't yet shaken ourselves off the boy-meets-girl formula and we seem to be innovating some numbing possibilities within this boy-meets-girl framework. For instance, the following stories are the recent offerings from Tamil film industry:

1. poor-boy-meets-rich-girl-parents-oppose-lovers-elope (they still make this movie)
2. boy-doesn't-meet-girl-but-loves-her
3. boy-meets-wrong-girl-girl-meets-wrong-boy
4. girl-ditches-boy-boy-kills-girl-and-other-girls-boy-meets-girl-girl-changes-boy
5. communist-boy-meets-capitalist-industrialist-girl
6. girl-ditches-boy-he-goes-to-court-court-"orders"-lovers-to-"unite"
7. boy-meets-boy

You know I lied about the seventh one. I haven't seen any of these movies. But I know all the stories because the people around just can't stop talking about them. Of these very predictable, very boring stuff, the sixth one particularly took my fancy. I still can't figure out how the judge can give such a verdict. I'm itching to watch that film.

Perhaps that's precisely is the hook from the director!

Taking Sides

As the heat on culture slowly dies down, another began, albeit expected. It threw open a few floodgates of thought process.

Here I go.

After the last post, many asked me if I'm a BJP sympathiser. before answering that, I should say I liked that term. They perhaps thought "Are you BJP?" would have been quite aggressive. Other day, during a discussion about Sania Mirza, I made a statement that Sania is getting so much of media coverage because she is a Muslim. Some one from the group retorted angrily, so you're a BJP supporter. The last straw was Swati's remarks that said "you BJP brigade".

Gosh.

I actually wasn't being critical of Sania when I made that statement. Incidentally, that's not my statement either. Columnist Zia Ul Salam wrote an article about this point. And I agree. Before reading that, I felt the euphoria on Mirza to be unnecessary and couldn't figure why. Now I do.

To continue on the thought process, How does quoting from some columnist's views make me a BJP sympathiser? Is it because I agree? Thankfully, the columnist happens to be a Muslim lest he would have been branded as an RSS sympathiser.

We seem to be in a tearing hurry to brand people and attach tags to them. I think I raised this idea a few blogs before too. Now, however, it's becoming a lot clearer.

We are uncomfortable with people with neutral leanings. At worst, we do not believe that there are neutral people. I believe it too. With a shade difference. I believe that there can be ideology-agnostics. I would like to believe that I'm one.

Nevertheless, the practical life does not leave you to remain one. For instance, regardless of your neutrality, you have to vote for someone. Abstaining from the polling booth may make you look like an intellectual. But you aren't contributing to the democractic process you so passionately criticise.

I believe in voting and selecting my representative. In order to do that I have to take sides. While I do so, I'm very clear that I do not become a member of that party. I weigh them based on their ideologies and past record and how exactly that fits into my aspirations for this country.

Considering that, I think Congress has done a lot more damage to this country than BJP. From Emergency to puppet governers to Operation BlueStar to 1984 Sikh riots to Shah Banu to Kashmir to nationalisation drive, the list is endless. BJP has its list too. Starting from encouraging Bajrang Dal, giving sanctity to Islamic fundamentalists by launching VHP brigades, smashing up card shops on Valentine's day, moral policing India, they too have their share. A keen-eye would have noticed the absence of Babri in this list. That's a different topic however.

That said, I believe their insistence on common-civil code is necessary for India. Abolishing article 370 is long overdue. At the risk of sounding like a rustic, I'm happy for our nuclear capability and feel strongly that Kargil was prevented from escalation purely because of our nuclear stand-off. Though initiated by Manmohan, economy performed at its best during BJP's ruling and the BJP still remains far less hypocritic than the congress about reforms.

Our pundits expected 34% FDI for our economy to touch 7% growth. During the last year of the NDA rule, the actual FDI was 24% and still our growth touched 8.6%.

The media do not propagand these things because hailing any achievement of BJP is a scar on their secular fabric and they can be branded as being backward. For instance, post-Tsunami, Outlook eulogised the relief works of Jamat-e-Islami and Ramakrishna Mission . The absence of RSS's name, which did fabulous job in relief was conspicuous. The mark of a secular intellectual lies in his ability to bash BJP and Sangh Parivar.

I refuse to belong to that group.

Sympathy of Brigade Roaders

The row on culture seems to have sparked quite a controversy. To the extent that the length of the comments exceed that of the blogs. They appear like sub blogs within my blogs.

Such is the effect of the term 'culture' that I wanted to avoid. People are quite sensitive and sentimental about this term. There are so many things in my blog that could have attracted controversy and it happened to be the thing that I wanted to avoid! This perhaps can get into the comedy of ironies list.

Well, without going into the details, (which as I'd mentioned earlier that I wanted to avoid) I'll say that we are all quite passionate about our culture and heritage. That's in a way a good thing.

A friend of mine recently commented that people in IT are BJP friendly. I couldn't quite understand his reasoning but in my own logic, it seemed right. I interact with mostly people from IT and they all seemed to directly or indirectly support BJP and were quite cut up when we didn't wage war against Pakistan post Parliament Attack. I know this line of mine is going to spark off another controversy, and to preempt that let me state that Swati is not going to agree to this.

That apart, the support to BJP arises from viewing them as the saviors of our culture and heritage, rightfully or not. The need to save also, understandably, arises from the idea of losing the identity. You want to protect something only when you think you are losing it.

The people in IT perhaps have that idea of losing the Indian identity. I can subscribe to this because, in IT, you are selling your values and ideas to buy food. There isn't an idea of contributing something productively to your community. You are actually enabling something for someone 20,000 kilometeres away so that you can afford your multiple credit cards, get irritated about the 'buy my loan' spam calls, and search desperately for what Chidambaram has in store for you in excemptions.

Believe me, that's a very good state to be in. You are a tax assessee, are working for some of the finest multinationals, process oriented, hard-working, thinking of a 25-lakh flat in some hottest locations and you're deeply, passionately concerned about our Indian identity. And additionally, you're quite proud about the Brigade Roads, MG Roads, ECRs, IMAXes, the multiplex Forum in Koramangala, and hence you really don't think a war on Pakistan isn't going to cost much. After all, didn't we see during Kargil that while the war was on, our Sensex remained stable?

At least, it doesn't cost much to discuss about our proud heritage, our Tagores, our Ayurvedas and pitifully talk about starvation deaths during a drinking session only return to office next morning in a hurry to attend a conference call.

If you have answers and want to contribute, please use the Comment feature in the blog. If you have a dynamite to throw at me, call me for a coffee.

Before someone pounce on me, let me release the disclaimer. I don't intend to abuse the dwellers of the IT-dom. I'm quite curious about what makes up an Indian IT-psyche. I'm saying this because I have been watching these people and wondering. I'm saying this because I know that the IT-dom is a separate universe within the various Indian communities. I'm saying this because I can see a clear difference in the behavioral attributes of them.

More importantly because I'm one of them.